Part 2: camiguin-CAGAYAN DE ORO-bukidnon

After our short visit at Camiguin, we had to endure again that 4-hour byahe back to CDO. Here's how we always are when brought together, within 2 feet of each other. You might want to keep that volume of yours down. :D

Merry Christmas from all of us! I know what you're thinking. Pang-station ID, right? As in LRT Balintawak STATION ID! Very palengke lang. Bili kayo, kamatis, talong. Okra, sibuyas ochenta per kilo. Isda, isda sariwa! :D

At around 12:30, we were at Mindy's restaurant for an eat-all-you-can lunch. Afterwards, we checked in at New Dawn Pensionne. Php 1,080 per Superior Room, good for 3 pax na. Spacious rooms and clean toilets, strongly recommended for budget travellers. :)

Eto na ang pinaka-rurok of our trip - White Water Rafting! The guys from Kagay picked us up at New Dawn. It was a more or less 45-minute jeepney ride to the starting point of rafting. Along the way, the guys also had to load the boats we were going to use. The water looked murky, medyo nag-uulan kasi that morning.

We had several instructions before we braved the river, only we didn't get much of them because this was what we were doing while Kuya Aries of Kagay was talking.

I guess what most of us only picked up from all the instructions given were: High Five (rafters raise their paddles for a "toast" after getting past a rapid successfully, or in our case, whenever and wherever we feel like doing it :D); Forward paddle & Back paddle; If in case, we fall from the boat, to remember which is the river right & river left; and the most important thing: Don't panic! (which we forgot about even before we got to the first rapid haha)

Life jackets - check!

Head gears - check!

Paddles - keri na!

Ready now! High five tayo kahit wala pang ganap!

As we were being given final reminders before we all rode the boat:

Kagay: Guys, don't let go of the T-grip, okay?

Allen: Ano 'yung T-grip?

Patay kang bata ka.

Then the rafting began!

Ate Matet, one of the guides assigned to our group is bongga! If you guys have watched that Sam Milby-KC Concepcion movie, Forever and A Day, siya ang double ni KC in that scene where she fell to the river dahil sa kagagawan ng character ni Sam Milby. PS, mamamatay si KC sa movie. Pero not because of rafting ha!

All of the 14 rapids have names which your lola can no longer recall. I don't know how to tell you how exhilarating, overpowering, exciting, energizing, thrilling, titillating, intensifying (running out of adjectives now!) that adventure was. I'll let these photos do the talking. :)

The rafting experience lasted for almost 3 hours. Sobrang sarap-saya lang! I definitely wanna do it again. :)

We were brought back to New Dawn by the guys from Kagay. Went to a nearby Vandep store to buy pasalubong. Not going home without that yummy pastel!!

We had dinner at Bourbon St., a nice cozy restaurant at CDO town proper.

Later that night, we went to Whatever KTV and sang like our throats and vocal chords weren't exercised enough from screaming all day. :)

Cagayan de Oro, bow. ♥
07 Nov 2011

Train in Manila

Watching Train perform is not in my bucket list (again that list I haven't created yet), but when I saw its promotions the night before, I realized that wow I wanna watch; hence, my ambisyosa/kapalmuks/asa-ka-teh tweet:

libre nio naman ako ng Train concert! pabirthday nio na sakin sa april :D

God must be reading His timelines that night and decided to give this pobreng girl an early birthday present in the form of free tickets!!!

It's kind of a secret how the ticket got to our hands. Hehe. Basta, THANK YOU! You guys know who you are. Etong sa inyo - matunog na combo kiss!! :D

I recorded only the songs I'm familiar with. Kapag malikot ang video, I think I was doing that thing I don't usually do in front of people - dancing or something like that! Bwahaha

Train - If It's Love

Train - Shake Up Christmas

Also liked this song you probably have heard from a Coca Cola TV commercial. Kerek, sila kumanta nun!

Train - Marry Me

MARRY ME is my favorite out of all their songs. Lakas lang makapagpawish ng jowa to hold hands with!

Train - Hey Soul Sister

Habang kinakanta nila ang Hey Soul Sister, finocus sa screen si Zanjoe. nagpanic ako at napasigaw ng Marry Me, Zanjoe bilang hindi pa ko nakakamove on sa fave Train song ko. Excuse me Bea Alonzo, bakit ka pa kasi sumama manood?! Bitter lang! hahaha

Train - Drops of Jupiter

Sayang di ko na-memorize this song bago ang concert!

Perfect chillax night! Thank You Lord. :) Concert po ni Katy Perry sa January. Pushing my luck lang ho!!! :p

What are you particularly thankful for?

Me? My loveys. :)

Thank you Lord. :)

Part 1: CAMIGUIN-cagayan de oro-bukidnon

This, by far, is the most exciting and fun vacation I ever had! I won't call it RELAXING because it was faaaaar from it. We only had 3 days to spare during which we intended to visit Camiguin, Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon. And how would I describe this trip relaxing when I'm with some of the craziest people in my highschool who all seem to have swallowed Motolite-powered built-in megaphones in full volume?! :D

Meet my awesome friends who made every second of this trip anything BUT boring!

Aren't they cute?!! Ria is always so ready for the cameras, I had to do something to make her less photogenic! Saaaarreh my friend! :D

I took care of our itinerary and all other arrangements while Carla who is the undisputed most responsible person in our group, acted as our mother hen, making sure we don't drift away from our schedule and budget. Kuya Randy, our designated van driver, was waiting for us upon our arrival at CDO Lumbia airport. We were set to go straight to Camiguin, which meant 2 hours of driving, an hour on board a ferry and another 45 minutes of land travel via multicab. To sum up, almost 4 hours of pag-uutuan to reach Camiguin!

Before checking in at the resort, we dropped by Katibawasan Falls. When I was a little girl, falls were my favorite water forms. At school, we were introduced to the Maria Christina Falls and the Hinulugang Taktak - I haven't been anywhere near either of these two, sadly (story of my life!). Just when I thought I have forgotten about this fascination, I witnessed this beauty, i couldn't help but FALLS in love and be fascinated all over again. ansabeeeh ko? ;p

We checked in at Paras Beach Resort. This room below which they call Dormitory can accommodate 12 people for five tawsam pesos konggrachuleyshens per overnight stay. Not bad, eh? They have a nice swimming pool which makes up about 80% of my criteria for a good hotel! :) And their bed comforters, wow sarap iuwi!

After changing our dugyutin clothes, Kuya Chris, our multicab driver and tour guide at Camiguin, took us to the Walkway to the Old Volcano and Stations of the Cross. We were not able to finish the whole trek up the old volcano since our lalaugans were already lawit from pagod and we did not have much time before the sun set.

Next stop was at the Sunken Cemetery. nyaaaay! I am not known to be a very brave girl when it comes to sunken somethings! I almost chickened out when my brave friends decided to ride a boat which will bring us over to where the giant white cross was. Pero siyempre hello, ayoko maiwan mag-isa sa pampang noh?! This was one of the few times when I was not excited about sailing. Dead people buried underneath, wag po kayo aahon please!!! Held my breath for several minutes.

Perfect ang timing namin, sakto sa beautiful sunset! It was so dramatic, just perfect for arte-artehan na photoshoot. I also wanted a nice photo like Asiong's, I faked bravery and did this. If I fell to the other side, diretso libing na siguro. Salamat naman at hindi hinila ng mga amiga sa ilalim ng dagat ang paa ko. I appreciate it po, sobra! ;p

O dava?! Winnuuur! I also love this group shot!

We stopped shortly to see the Old Catarman Church Ruins. We then took a dip (more like a talon-tikim-lunok-ahon) at Soda Water Swimming Pool. We enjoyed the Hot Spring better since medyo masakit na mga kasu-kasuan namin. More swimming for some of us back at Paras Resort.

We had to be up by around 5 in the morning the next day to visit White Island. It was a short and sweet visit. Wished we could have lingered a little longer at the beach but then again, tight schedule!! :)

That's Camiguin for us :)
06-07 Nov 2011

the Jason Mraz concert experience

This is one item crossed off my bucket list! Okay, kahit hindi ko pa nasisimulan gawin ang list na 'to. Charotera! :D

I can't remember when and how I've come to learn about and become a fan of Jason Mraz and his music. I've listened countless times to his songs even when I can't seem to sing along with most of them. Mala Gloc-9 din siya minsan eh, tapos english pa! Kalerke!

I am happy beyond words that I did not miss this concert. I might be breaking down at every mention of the name Jason if I did - Jason Kidd, Jason X, JaySonza! Bwahaha

I love you Jason Mraz! I know you'll come back in this country and I am sure to be part of the crowd again, dancing and shouting with all my litids! You are really amazing. Your friend Toca too!

Here are the videos I captured. Sorry guys kung masakit sa tenga ang tili ng KATABI ko, grabehan!! Hindi ako yan, mamatay man ang lahat ng mga ipis sa mundo!! :D Basta, hindi ako yan!!

Jason Mraz - The Dynamo of Volition


Jason Mraz - Live High


Jason Mraz - Across The Universe / Lucky


Jason Mraz - A Beautiful Mess


Jason Mraz - You and I Both


Jason Mraz - Remedy


Jason Mraz - Rescue


Jason Mraz - Butterfly


Jason Mraz - I'm Yours

Encore! Encore! Encore!

I repeat, I love you Jason Mraz! Nakakakilig ka to the bones! Pa-kiss!

Jason Mraz World Tour

Smart Araneta Coliseum

Oct 30, 2011, 8PM