Tidbits

I think it was a great idea to go out and have lunch with the people I worked with for almost four years. Though not everybody were able to join us we superbly enjoyed each other's company and promised to schedule another one with the growing number of XNSP people...hehe! Immediately after being with them made me yearn for the things I've been missing:
1. Unlimited technical support for my gadgets!! (badly need one for my new toy)
2. New movies & tv series that I can watch during lunch break
3. Wearing casual clothes everyday or in my case at least every Friday because I enjoy naman wearing corporate clothes and dressing up.
Then again don't get me started with the things I'm grateful to miss...hehehe!
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Having this for a view while having lunch with Aze and Adonnis made me feel guilty that we can afford the luxury while they're down there fighting off the harsh effects EVAT will do to their already impoverished state. Note that I don't make political statements here because I do feel hopeless and helpless that I don't even want to think about it. Hopefully my Phil. History professor who gave me a flat one for her very revolutionary subject (maybe seeing that I can make a difference) doesn't read this. If she does I'll tell her that I at least followed one of her advice -- not marrying someone from school (whatever she meant by that advice).
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Although internet access here at the office is not so limited or secured I can't believe how terrible the connection is. As much as I want to use YM instead of MSN (kse wala naman ako friends na naka-MSN huhuhu) my YM doesn't work! I can sign in and send messages but can't read the text I am typing, sending or receiving...how useless! So Ryan and I made an MSN account at the same time I asked my best friends Auie and Cid to have one too. So sila lng ang friends ko dun...hahaha! Ryan and I do not need to call each other all the time because of this. If we feel like it sa chat na lng kme nagkukulitan so as not to disturb each other if the other one is very busy with work (kse you can easily shoo each other off). However, our connection nowadays is fluctuating after I send a message to him I get cutoff unable to read his response. Instead of getting pissed off I can't help but laugh everytime because he named our network after one popular island in Puerto Princesa, Palawan - luli (for lulubog lilitaw). He added: Grabe kung ganyan ang network namin dito last day ko na siguro! (how true!)
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Just would like to congratulate my married friends who now have very cute babies! Puro boys?!! For now I'll be content gushing at them because can't imagine myself being a mother just yet...maybe next week..haha! Or at least when I'm brave enough to endure the birthing pain...Just thinking about it makes me quiver. Yaiks!


Ethan of Joey & Cecil


Ali of Denise & Aldo


Nino of Monet & Anton
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It took me weeks to post this (all because I want to finish my Palawan story first)! I now have my YM courtesy of the net-ads I befriended...sshhh!You can always catch me online everyday but I may be too pre-occupied to reply! Plus I can install any program I want.

Celebration for two (Part II)

Day two at Palawan

It's 6:00 am and it's really happening...I don't want to wake up but we have to. Waaah!
Today we're supposed to go to the underground river. The longest underground river in the world! So I took a quick shower, woke Ryan up and packed our bags for the day. Then we realized we forgot to charge the digicam. Hoping to at least charge it for a while, we left it in the room and had breakfast.

I ordered adobo flakes & Ryan ordered his favorite continental breakfast (w/ bacon). They didn't have adobo flakes yet so I settled for the corned beef hashed. The place was packed. We recognized some folks we were with at the crocodile farm.

Already in hurry, we went back for our things and of course the digicam. We we're informed that for each tour the minimum is 6 people so we were with other groups on that day. Our guide even introduced us to them as honeymooners...mega-react naman kme kse mas maganda accommodations namin nung honeymoon noh?! Haha..kidding aside, we set them straight telling them that it's our anniversary trip.

Hayy ang sarap ng feeling! Ryan and I were so hyper kulitan kme ng kulitan. Our tour guide informed us that we'll make a quick stop at the grocery store to buy water or snacks but Ryan and I need not go down because our bags are packed with Pringles, a big bottle of absolute water and a few bars of Cadbury. Lunch was included in the tour. Bringing enough food has been my habit since elementary...sabi nga ng mga nagiging seatmates ko "takot daw ako magutom" my bag was always full of something to eat.

It was a looong and rough trip. We were all laughing at the expertise of our driver who, despite the very very rocky road, drives like he's at North Luzon Expressway. Nobody argued with him when he told us that if he drives a little slower, then we would all feel how bad the road was and feel dizzier than we are now.

This is where we stopped to appreciate the bumpy road we have endured so far and to see that there's more! Of course our trusty tripod is doing its thing. While the other groups are having difficulty taking pictures of themselves, already embarrased of asking our tour guide to do it for them, Ryan and I just keeps on posing and taking shots. Our tour guide said that the government is developing that far side of the mountain as a bird sanctuary and maybe early next year offer that as one of the tours in Palawan.

We travelled for almost another hour after the stop. We are so grateful of the small patches of cemented road because we were able to rest not only our butts but also our ears. You can really say the travel was stressful. Finally we reached the Sabang wharf. Before we went down we were all putting off lotion afraid that we encounter unfriendly mosquitos that cost Reyster Langit's life. Deadma sa Coppertone! At the wharf, an English speaking girl approached our companion and asked her.."Hey wer ar ya from?" with the accent and all...only to find out the girl was a Palawan native. We kept on teasing the little girl that we thought she's from Jamaica because of her hair and english accent. We even told her to let us go first kse taga-Palawan naman sya. Ang kulit nung bata!(Check them out at the background of our picture below)


The underground river was a short hike away. Although our guide said that there are monkeys and monitor lizards in this area we didn't see one on our way to the cave.

It's time to explore the St. Paul's underground river! The boat goes inside the cave for about 45 minutes, we were told that we will not see the entire stretch of the underground river, after all it was 8.2 kilometers! Our boatman asked us who wanted to hold the light and all of our companions who were girls refused, insisting that Ryan holds it because he's the only guy. I'm glad we did! We sat in front of the boat and held the spotlight plugged in Motolite battery. The advantage of holding the light was I could choose to point it towards whatever direction I want to check out or where Ryan wants to take picture. Though, the disadvantage is that the light gets hot. Good thing I have a small towel with me. Out of excitement I totally forgot that our digicam's flash can be adjusted. Since it was soooo dark inside we only had a few good shots. Mr. Boatman was sooo kwela pero pramis sobrang corny ng jokes na tipong sya yung pinagtatawanan namin at hindi yung jokes nya. Well, for anxious tourist I'm sure his jokes could at least calm them down. I just wonder how he'll entertain foreigners because all his "cave jokes" were in tagalog.

The cave was so marvelous inside. We could see all the sleeping bats hanging at the ceiling. The rock formations were beautiful especially the part they call Cathedral where you could make out saints, angels and even the holy family. Some tourist insist on going down there because the Cathedral was pretty much a big mountain of stone with plenty of rock formations. However, there are plenty of tarantulas in the area, a topic I would rather not discuss nor hear about. In fact, the information made me so eager to get out of the cave...at least before I realized that they cant swim. We were lucky enough to have the cave all to ourselves because on our way out there were 3 boats coming in and it could be a little noisy to hear what your boatman is explaining.

It was time for lunch and now we saw all the monkeys and monitor lizards. We were warned to hold on to our things because the monkeys are very good snatchers. They are very attracted to plastic bags. So our bags were in our laps while we ate. After lunch and no incident of snatching happened in the picnic area I placed my bag beside me but I was still holding it just to be sure. Unfortunately, the unopened pringles was exposed and I didn't feel that someone was already pulling it discretely. Ryan just called my attention because he was trying to pull it from the monkey. The pringles was in between me & Ryan and may sandalan pa yung wooden bench. It was hard to imagine how the can of pringles fit between the small space of the wood yet the monkey succeeded. Ryan, underestimating the small monkey's strength was defeated in the very quick tug of war for the Pringles. Suddenly ALL of the monkeys ran toward the direction were the thief headed. While we all wondered how they will open the can, Ryan was so pissed that he wasn't able to eat at least half of it before it got stolen. Tsk tsk...what an unforgettable experience for my dear husband who loves Pringles so much.

Shopping time! We had a little boat incident going back to the wharf because the engine won't start and we were stuck for about 10-15mins in the sea...well, as long as I could still see the shore I wasn't worried. Sabang wharf has the cheapest Palawan shirts & other souvenirs...ummm..sadly, when we left our XDA's at the vault he also left my wallet without grabbing the cash. We didn't realize it sooner because we didn't buy anything from the grocery that morning. So I told Ryan I will look around and if I liked anything....sheesh this is so embarrasing to put here but out of desperation I will borrow money from the other girls. And I did, I sooo wanted to buy the fushia pink baby tee with matching white one for Ryan. Swallowing my pride and all...I borrowed money from the people I just met this morning. Grabe! Even Ryan was embarrassed with what I did but I can't resist buying the tees. I wanted to buy too for pasalubong but was worried because we were told we are going to passby the Vietnam Village on our way back. Viet Ville had killer garlic french breads that can compete with French Baker but there was not much to see so we just bought their famous french breads.

While Ryan will never forget the monkey who stole his Pringles, I will never forget borrowing money from a new acquaintance. As soon as we stepped in the hotel, I rushed to the reception desk to get my wallet and immediately gave back the money I borrowed.

Dinner time for day 2 was at Kina Butch. Restaurants here at Palawan have funny sounding names huh?

to be continued...

Celebration for two (part I)

We've been waiting for this celebration for a year while we were still on our honeymoon ...We enjoyed Bohol and Boracay so much that we promised we'll do it again after we refilled our piggy bank.

We weren't really after the lavish accommodations we had at Bohol and Boracay (although of course we can't help but wish for that). Palawan resorts tend to be more costly than going abroad (Singapore, Hongkong, Thailand or Malaysia) so we purchased the very friendly packages of PALakbayan and stayed in the heart of Puerto Princesa City.

Just like what I did for our honeymoon I contacted the hotel itself (despite easy & complete arrangement c/o PAL). I requested for the best room that they have and inquired for the places to see and a lot more.

d: Miss please make sure that you're giving us the best room in the hotel
hotel staff: Sure ma'am I'll put you on the third floor!
d: Is that the best floor..meaning it has a good view and the rooms are better?
hotel staff: Yes ma'm you have the view of the mountain. Just don't be surprised because we don't have elevators.
d: huh? Ilang floors ba kayo?
hotel staff: 3 lang ma'am...(*insert embarrassed giggle here)
d: ahhh...okayyy...(*trying to supress my laughter)

To our horror (okay okay more on mine) all are tours begin at 7:30 am. Whatddda????!!!! Not to mention our flight is at 7 am and we have to be at the airport at least 2 hours before...If ever...this was going to be the downside of this vacation. Before we left, our itenerary was well planned. We have booked all tours we plan to take except for the city tour on the first day. I was up for adventure and for 500 per head I'm sure we'll spend something less than that. (Adventurous and kurips!!that's me!)

Two days before our departure my brother informed me that our flight will be delayed. Good: I need not wake up too early, bad: kse sayang yung time we should've been there early. Just the same, we woke up early to have good seats...playing safe just in case a lot of passengers didn't get the message about the delayed flight. I also had an approval for a half day leave the day before our departure, so extra time to pack our things. We are soooo excited!! When I took the rest of the day off (Ryan by the way took the whole day off) we did some last minute shopping of snacks, water & vodka cruiser.

Friday. 5:00 am. I was up so early and I prepared extra special ham & cheese sandwiches for breakfast (left some na rin for my aunt & brother). Ryan was surprised not on what I prepared but on the time I woke up to prepare it. Hehehe...iba tlga pag excited.

We arrived at the airport 7:00 am an hour early if our flight wasn't delayed. After we checked in (at literal na kme ang nag-open ng counter for Puerto Princesa ha) they told us to present our ticket at Saint Cinnamon for free snacks. We thought it was for everybody but overheard that it was for the passengers of the delayed flight...hmmm...4 ensaymadas and a glass of iced tea is not enough bribe for the time we lost (charing!as if favorable ang earlier flight sa akin).

It was a long wait at the airport. Believe me there were more pictures than this one dahil walang magawa si Ryan..and of course once you're at the airport you can't hold your excitement so parang feeling mo ages ka nang naghihintay. Ryan played games at his xda while I read my new pocketbook I bought for this trip.

Finally at 10:00 they boarded us, then we're off to Palawan. When we arrived as if I wasn't contented with all the research I did, I went to their tourist assistance desk. They gave me another map of Palawan...we bought ours two weeks ago for around a hundred bucks and that was for free?! Oh well, now Ryan and I have our own maps wala nang agawan..hehe.

It was a short trip from the airport to Hotel Fleuris as in literally you can take the tricycle for a minimum fare of P 6.50 and I love their tricycles! I wonder why I didn't take a picture of it. It was huge and spacious. Even the 3rd person inside can still sit comfortably and you can put your baggage at your back na inside pa rin ng tricycle. Sabi tuloy ni Ryan "o ano gusto mo nang maguwi ng ganyan sa Manila?" (looking back and riding these crammed tricyles here at reposo I wish I did so)

Hotel Fleuris was expectedly small, what do you need elevators for? At least I was prepared that it was no Nami or Panglao Island Resort but Ryan got a little disappointed it totally wasn't. When we entered our room first thing we checked was the TV because we brought our beloved PS2 with us. Unfortunately it cannot be plugged on their tv set?!!!Haayy...sayang we were so careful pa naman carrying it to Palawan tapos we cannot use it pala..huhuhuhu.

In time for lunch, we went to Ka Lui's (I overheard the hotel driver telling the other guests about it). The restaurant's small entrance led to a very cozy hut inside, nestled in a garden. You walk barefoot inside and they have a very clever native locker for the guests' shoes. We ordered their catch for the day (it includes sizzling pusit, fish & prawns) but no! we we're wrong...it didn't stop there. We were full from the generous servings when they brought out one whole medium sized steamed fished followed by a bowl of fruits served in one half of the buko. My tummy really ached...it was only our first day and we were already pigging out.

Afterwards, we decided to head for the crocodile farm (ignoring the incessant offer of the hotel driver of a tricyle rental for a city tour). We didn't go wrong with the instructions the girl from the tourist desk gave me.

Highlight of our trip to the crocodile farm- I held the baby croc! (ummm...for a fee P30) so si Ryan naki pose na lng para libre hehehe. There were big spiders too and Ryan can't believe na mas takot pa din ako sa spider kesa sa crocodile...as in I was freaking out! What do you expect spiders yun.
I loved the skin of the croc it was smooth and he's so tender ...the one you can see in the picture is not a string tied around his neck...I think I'm squeezing him too tight.

After our tour inside the crocodile farm, led by one of their staff, other tourists left on their vans which is part of the city tour package. We were left alone with no ride home...and since it was already getting dark and the only other place to go was the butterfly farm we called it a day and decided to go back to our hotel. I was so amused at the hospitality and generosity of the multicab (jeepney in Palawan) drivers. Going to the croc farm kse, the driver did not ask one passenger for her fare. He said "sige na sige na kamusta mo na lng ako kay kumpare". It was no cheap treat because there weren't a lot of passengers (unlike the jeepney drivers here in Manila who doesn't leave until they made sure they've squeezed all passengers and can't fit another one) and the ride was really long, ours cost around P17.00 each. On our way home, the driver naman did not let a group of passengers pay and another kumpare he picked up along the way. Hmmm....maybe here in Palawan the drivers can run for the election. Or maybe if you're a jeepney driver a lot of people get you as ninong of their children. While I played at the random ideas about the multicab drivers of Palawan, Ryan busied himself musing over how clean the city is, because at every electric post there is a huge green garbage bin. You really will not have an excuse to litter.

At the hotel room, we were still finding ways to plug the PS2...as if! We even contemplated on buying whatever mechanism we need to attach for it to work. All of a sudden nag-brown out. Oh great! We can't believe it...we we're wondering tuloy if it's like this in the Puerto. Instead of trying other recommended restaurants that night we decided to have food delivered from Jollibee, besides we're still soo full from the lunch we had at Ka Lui's. Jollibee was at the corner lng of the street, sadly they told us they cannot deliver because they do not have a generator and they are just finishing the food they have. We didn't have a choice but get up and walk to Chowking (at the opposite side of Jollibee). Ang saya ng ending ng 1st day namin noh? Take-outs from Chowking for dinner. =)

to be continued.....

TOXIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My goodness I want to scream!!I'm sooo busy to the nth power and although I'm used to multi-tasking jobs/responsibilities. HR in an academic setting is entirely different.

I have so many kwentos I don't get to finish writing because when I get home I only want to do no-brainer tasks like watching Encantadia at 9pm... playing digital monopoly (na pwedeng ma-cheat), playing zuma in the laptop (hmmm....until the wee hours of the night hehe). I wanted to prepare pa naman a special gift for Ryan for our anniversary. With only a week to go I wonder if I'll have the energy and time to do it. Aaaarrrgghh! I can't wait for our Palawan vacation na muntik pang maging Pearl Farm sa hirap ng booking. Oh and I'm finally a "Mrs" using my new surname at my Mabuhay Miles. hahaha...ang babaw.