Thrillseekers - Day 3, Holy Tuesday
April 23, 2006Ni-upload ko nalang lahat ng photos, just to get it out of the way. So in a nutshell, here are all the pics from the holy week vacation 
A Day of Many Firsts - Day 1, Palm Sunday
Minsan Lang Sila Bata - Day 2, Holy Monday
Thrillseekers - Day 3, Holy Tuesday
In Cebu
I’ve Looked at Clouds From Both Sides Now…, Day 7, Black Saturday
Tuesday started out very early. Wake up call was 5:00 because we had to get aboard the boat by 5:30. Why? For dolphin watching!
The sun was just rising when we got to the beach, so I tried to get a nice, dramatic picture of the sunrise. I shot several photos, but none of them really satisfied me…
This is the boat we used for the entire dolphin watching and Balicasag trip:
We were on the boat for a good 30 minutes before we saw any dolphins. Along the way, we just let the morning breeze roll off our faces while getting a good whiff of the sights and sounds of the sea. Our tour guide on this trip, Edmond (He’s da man! You’ll read about it later on…) pointed out a group of fishermen on their tiny bangkas finishing up their morning fishing run. It’s amazing that they could get all the way out there in the ocean only with their tiny boats, relying only on arm power…
After around 30 minutes on the boat and god knows how far off into the ocean, we finally saw some dolphins; and I learned one valuable lesson as a aspiring photographer: Dolphins are damn hard to photograph! Of all the shots and minutes of video I took, this was the most decent photograph I got away with:
Dophins are as hard to photograph as they are fun to watch. Nuff said.
After another 30 minutes of dolphin hunting, we decided to call it quits and head off to Balicasag island, where we expected to spend another day in the water. When we got there however, we immediately realized that this wasn’t going to be the case… Why? Rocks, pebbles and stones… that’s why. We went there expecting a white sand beach, and what we got instead were hard, pointy stones. Not to mention the fact that after only several meters into the water, there’s already a thick coral bed waiting for your feet… So no, this “beach” wasn’t exactly conducive to swimming. It is, in fact, meant for scuba diving… If you’re a scuba enthusiast, or just want to try it out, Balicasag is the place to go.
We had breakfast there, then my parents strolled around the island, the girls caught a little sun, while me and my bro lounged around with our headphones on… all in all a pretty dull morning.
Right now, after realizing that this beach was not that fun, the plan was to get back on the “Paradise” (the boat’s name) and head back to Panglao to spend the afternoon there. At around 11:00, we boarded the boat and headed back to Panglao beach.
We hadn’t gotten far before my mom saw a part of the island where a few other boats, same as ours, were “parked” and some people were swimming in the beach. He told Edmond to head towards that direction and maybe the beach there was better for swimming in. So we headed that direction, and true enough, the beach there was much much better. The coral bed was further off, there were fewer stones and the waves were awesome!
We spent a good couple of hours on that beach, swimming and braving the waves (I haven’t experienced waves that strong since then.) We had fun on that part of the island… but the “fun” really started when we headed off back to Panglao.
At around 2:00pm, we noticed that the waves were getting a little to strong for comfort, and so did Edmond. Along with this, it was also starting to rain and the wind was getting stronger so we packed up and got on the boat to head back. Once we were all on the boat and Edmond’s sidekick (oh yeah, I forgot to mention that there were two of them…) was easing the boat from off the shore, this gargantuan wave caught us from behind… WHAM! It caught us unaware because we were all looking at the opposite direction. It drenched all of us and some of our stuff, as well as putting a good amount of water inside the boat.
When things were somewhat stable, and Edmond’s sidekick untied the boat, Edmond started to get the motor running… the only thing was that it wouldn’t get going… well at least not imediately. It took several tries before he could get it to start, amidst the worried looks on some of our faces. But finally, the motor got whirring and we finally got off the island and lined up for Panglao.
After a minute or two into the return trip, when we were all set and waiting for the sight of land, there was another “minor” mishap… The motor which Edmond had a hard time starting begun to sputter. I was nearest to the motor so I noticed it first. It went back a-whirring after a few seconds so I let out a sigh of relief. But after another few seconds, it started sputtering again… and then eventually the motor died. We were stuck out there at sea, with a dead motor, which our tour guide had a hard time starting.
The fact that I’m here to write this means of course that we all made it back to land safe and sound, so basically that’s all that needs to be said about that day. After around a minute of tugging on the motor, Edmond finally had it running again. When he had it going, we spent the rest of the 30-minute long trip rocking and meeting small wave after small wave, which Edmond maneuvered expertly.
Minsan Lang Sila Bata - Day 2, Holy Monday
April 18, 2006For a complete set of the pics for Day 2, you may visit the Day 2 Gallery.
Ok, to kick things off for the Day 2 entry, let me just say that this has to be my favorite picture I’ve taken EVER:
I was supposed to name the Day 2 entry “Tour of Bohol” since that’s what it was, but I decided to change it because of the set of pics I took of these kids above who so clearly reminded me of that social documentary “Minsan Lang Sila Bata”. I think I saw that documentary around 10 times from grade school up to college, and I also know a good number of people who also know that film.
Ok, eto na kwentuhan nanaman. Let me take you on a tour/history lesson of sorts of Bohol.
We got up at a reasonable time that day - around 8:30am, had breakfast along with those cute cute kittens and their mom. Mama specifically told the caretaker of Villa Anita to prepare filipino breakfast… but we ended up having a continental breakfast: Jam, toast and juice. Okay naman. Masarap pa din.
After that, we got out of Villa Anita and were taken by George (Bohol’s daredevil driver tour-guide) for a tour of the place. After a fairly long drive, our first stop was the Blood Compact Site. This site commemorates the Blood Compact between Miguel Lopez de Legazpi of Spain and Rajah Sikatuna of Bohol. Although there’s clearly an interesting history behind it, the place was basically boring and lackluster. The view behind it was quite beatiful though.
After another fairly long drive, next stop was Baclayon Church. As the description in the entrance reads, the structure has been there since 1727 and it is the oldest coral stone church in the Visayas and Mindanao. It’s also the 2nd oldest church, next to the San Agustin church in Intramuros; and, one of the best-preserved jesuit churches in the Philippines. Hehe… Jesuit.
After that, we were supposed to have lunch on the floating restaurants on Loboc River, but we made a short stop in the place that featured what Bohol is most famous for: Tarsiers!
Tarsiers are nocturnal creatures. They sleep during the day and are wide awake at night… jjust like owls and bats. Unfortunately for them, humans will visit and view and take pictures of them during daytime, which is why my mom said that they are sadly “harrased”. In other words, halos hindi na sila nakakatulog.
This picture gave me an idea that maybe George Lucas got more from the Philippines that Ewoks speaking in Tagalog… Methinks he based Yoda on the image of a tarsier. Judge for yourself:
As we left our nocturnal friends, it was barely 11 o’clock, so it was still pretty early for lunch. To kill some more time, we walked to another nearby church - Loboc Church: Home of the world-famous Loboc Children’s Choir. We got a lengthy tour of the place, but after Baclayon, I wasn’t all that interested in it anymore. Interesting though… Baclayon church and Loboc church were built by the same people, which is why they look almost identical:
Anyway, we left that place just in time for lunch. But before I tell you about lunch on the floating resto, let me share this picture first:
See that structure that looks like a discontinued bridge on the left side of the road? Do you have any idea what it is? … … … It’s a discontinued bridge :p Hehe. Some years back, plans were set to build a bridge from the other side of Loboc River, to the other side, and then further on. However, when they got to the other side of the river (as seen in the picture above), they got a restraining order to stop because in order to continue, they had to demolish Loboc Church. Needless to say, that wasn’t possible as Loboc Church is a national heritage… … …talk about lack of planning. That was just plain stupid.
Anyway, on to lunch. We had lunch in one of Loboc River’s famous floating restaurants. Nice concept: You get to eat good food, you get a tour of the river, see the sights, and get entertained by local musicians. Trivia: Loboc River is where Cesar Montano shot his film “Panaghoy Sa Suba (Call of the River)”.
This was also the place where I shot that pic way back at the start of this entry. We were going back to the dock, coming from the far end when I saw our boat heading for these kids who were swimming in the river. Only their heads were sticking out and were headed right for them with no sign of slowing down! Since no one else seemed to be worried, I didn’t see a serious cause for alarm. Apparently, the modus operandi of these kids is that they wait for the boats to come their way and then when they’re close enough, they go under the boat and to the side, where they hang on for a free ride! Cool. What I got from it were my favorite pictures from the entire trip
With our stomach full and having had seen nice scenery while filling it, we headed back for land and continued our tour onboard George’s van. Next stop was the site that Bohol is most known for. Yup, what else could it be - The Chocolate Hills. The trip was from Loboc river to the Chocolate Hills was a long one so we were able to have a shot siesta while going there. When we got there, we climbed a long staircase - a rough estimate of around 250 steps - to get to the viewing platform where we had an unobstructed 360 degree view of the hills. The place was cool, a gentle breeze was blowing and the sights were refreshing to the eyes.
What makes the hills so popular? From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate_Hills:
What makes them intriguing is their mostly uniform molehill shape and size ranging from 30 to 50 meters high. The hills are covered in green grass that turns brown during the dry season, giving the hills their name.
(Hehe. Everything you need to know, you can find in Wikipedia… Amazing.)
The next stop was a quickie which we stopped by in-passing. It’s known as the man-made forest. It’s a forest full of Mahogany trees, which were planted there by people. I guess that’s all I can say about it.
Okay, moving on… to the final stop on this tour… The Hanging Bridge.
The Hanging Bridge is a 60-meter or so bridge, consisting of nothing but overlapping pieces of split bamboo suspended and supported only by long ropes, which are hinged on both sides of the river. At first, crossing the bridge could seem scary, but once you’ve gone a few meters forward, you realize that it isn’t Fear Factor material after all. On the other side of the bridge were all these stalls selling locally made items at a discounted price as a prize for actually crossing the bridge. We still didn’t buy anything. Hehe.
Here is my dad and my sister after successfully crossing the bridge (I was the one taking the pictures so I was the first one who crossed to take all their pictures while they were crossing. Pfft.) Of course, we had to cross again to get back to where we came from, but the second time was easy already.
And that, my friends, was the end of the tour. I hope you enjoyed :p
The nights during our stay in Bohol was basically devoted to eating and sleeping and… playing Texas Hold ‘Em Poker! Me and my brother were the only ones who knew how to play so we had to teach the game to my sister and Mau. In a classic case of beginner’s luck. They won the first two tournaments in convincing fashion. Heh.
A Day of Many Firsts - Day 1, Palm Sunday
April 15, 2006I’m back from holy week vacation. Let’s get a-bloggin’…
Palm Sunday started out early - around 6:00am. We had to get ready quick if we wanted to make it to the airport without too much hassle of terrible traffic, and so we could also get good seats. So to cut the long story short, we got up and going… and got to the airport by around 8:30am. We were to meet Mau here, but since she was still on the way we got in line already to check-in. I let them go ahead para sabay na kami mag-checkin ni Mau…pangit naman kung hiwalay siya ng seat sa amin… she could get squished in between to big sweaty guys and trigger a claustro-attack…
So I waited, hoping she could catch up before they got to the counter (para di na namin kelangan pumila pa ulit)… and in heart-stopping, olympic photo-finish fashion Mau made it on time… just as my family was finishing up their business at the check-in counter.
With that out of the way, we headed for the waiting area, and as the name implies, all we did there was wait… and wait… and wait… and wait some more until we were called via this announcement:
“…maari po lamang na tumungo sa lagusan bilang tatlo at lumulan sa ating sasakyang panghimpapawid…” (wow. deep… muntikan ko nang hindi matanto…) Oh, and I only found out that day that “seatbelt” translated to “sinturong pangkaligtasan” Now I know where the Eraserheads got the title of their song. Hehe.
And so we made “lulan” na the “sasakyang himpapawid” and made sigurado that our “sinturong pangkaligtasan” was locked… thus started my first plane ride. Yes, you read that right: My first plane ride. The trip to Tagbilaran, Bohol was also my fist time going out of Luzon. Up until this week, the furthest I ever got to was Baguio, so this was pretty much an experience for me.
Now, I can truthfully say that: I hate planes.
Why? Because my ears get a beating. Let me explain… See, I like the idea of flying above the clouds, looking down below, and getting to where you wanna go hella fast without that darn thing called traffic. However, my ears just can’t take it. A change in altitude means there is also a change in air pressure, and this means: popping ears! It just so happens that my ears were made in such a way that this popping-ear phenomenon is just plain annoying. Going up isn’t much of a drag, but going down… ugh… going down is the problem! My ears felt like they were literally gonna pop, and blood and tutuli was gonna shoot out of it. I could still hear the people around me, but they sounded like there was a wall and they were on the other side of it. It just felt like crap.
So in anti-climactic fashion, my first minutes on non-Luzon soil were spent trying to pop my darn ears and get them back to normal. I tried chewing gum, yawning (which eventually got me sneezing) and whatever suggestions people could throw at me. Finally I got them to pop when I blew my nose. Great. Yun lang pala.
We spent our time in Bohol in Villa Anita. This was very near Panglao beach, so we could just walk there anytime we wanted to.
The beach was a beautiful white-sand beach with cool, clear water and it wasn’t deep at all too! I got a good distance away from shore (around 30-50 meters?) and the water was still below neck-level… 5 feet I would say. I just stopped because if I went any further, I would be walking on a thick bed of seaweed and god knows what could be in there.
Panglao beach was filled with foreigners of all shapes and sizes (hehe) and nationalitites. There were Americans, Norwegians, Germans, Dutch and I bet a few more we missed out on. This was also the first beach in the Philippines I’ve been to na walang naka t-shirt at shorts! (except the guys who had beach shorts) Even one-piece suits were a rarity. Most guys had just their beach shorts on, and most girls had two piece suits.
We strolled around the beach a bit, and then we had lunch at a nearby beachside resto at around 2:30. After that, we headed back to Villa Anita to get changed, and then… … …beach na! We were in the water from around 4:30 - 6:30 so I didn’t see the need for sun block.
We headed back to Villa Anita pushing 7:00pm to freshen up and then had dinner at a beach-side ihaw-ihaw. An outdoor dinner of seafood with the sound of the waves at your back is pretty nice and refreshing… If only they didn’t have dogs that waited like vultures for their meal.
Then, we headed back to call it a day. Thus ends the day of many firsts.
Now, a few more pics:
This is my favorite pic of the day. I think it was a good call to shoot it in black and white. Than again, I’m pretty biased for B&W I just like it. I wish I shot one where the subject was off-center though. Mau’s reaction: “Wow. How phallic…”
This is the family of cats that were living in Villa Anita. I swear, those kittens are the most fun kittens I’ve ever seen. Sobrang playful nila. …should have caught them on video… tsk tsk….
For the full-sized versions of the pics and a few more which didn’t end up on the post, see the Day 1 selection: Day 1 pics
Kitkat
April 8, 2006Will be in Bohol/Cebu for Holy Week. Wit my family; and Mau! Yey! Rest, recreation and photo-ops!
Here’s to hoping I can provide badly needed updates to my photo album soon.
Nintendocore
April 2, 2006Nintendocore. As much as I enjoyed playing those cool nintendo games years ago (actually, I still do), I’d have to say that it’s kind of a dorky name for a musical genre…
“Nintendocore” (lets just put quotes on the thing… it just seems right) music centers around - you guessed it - video game music! Super Mario, Castlevania, Contra, Zelda… you name it, and if it came out on Nintendo, “Nintendocore” bands cover it.
I was listening to a certain “Nintendocore” band called The Advantage when I realized that if done right, this kind of music can become both sentimental and cool at the same time… dorky cool. Hehe.
The Advantage have two albums out:
The Advantage (2004)
Elf-Titled (2006)
Check out the track lists! The song titles in themselves are fun to reminice on!
You can go here for some samples:
