TinNiE

Day 1: To be honest I thought the APO Island Tour package was too pricey. We basically paid 2200/each for a 45ish minutes boat ride and for the snorkelling gears. We had to pay for our lunch ourselves too. There's really not much of competition around since there were no commuter boats, one would have to hire a private boat anyhow. Now on the brighter side...it felt totally amazing swimming with huge sea turtles in the open sea! They were feeding on dead corals (algae) and seaweeds and seemed pretty used to swimming along with people. They won't budge unless you invade their space. I wasn't expecting they'd really be huge and plenty. We saw groups of them, it was a great snorkel experience. Just a shame some of the tourists kept holding them, the guides ... read more

We woke up sore from our record breaking five hours spelunking trip through the Lumiang & Sumaguing Caves the previous day. And for our last day we decided we’d go to the Echo Valley, but then we met a lad (name is Dan) on the way and decided to hire him as a guide. From the Echo Valley we will now go onwards to the underground river and to Bokong Falls. Sagada is known for its hanging coffins placed strategically between the gaps of the Limestone Mountains scattered around town. We saw a few coffins at the Echo Valley and at random stone mountains we passed by, some coffins were placed so high we thought how on earth did they put them there?! And Dan had the answer - the Igorots Mountain People were able to ... read more

An article I wrote for a virtual team at work, it goes... A travelling girl whether alone or in a group has its advantage and disadvantages; we can either be a liability or an asset. We are usually capable of getting away with things with a flutter of eyelashes or with an enchanting smile. We do know how to make use of that feminine charm to get ourselves out of trouble, or at least win us a discount. We are the first ones to be offered a seat or ushered out in times of urgent situations; perhaps the reason why there are more women than men is because the latter are often left behind in a sinking ship, see Titanic. Albeit it doesn’t work all the time, because once in a while we’d come across ... read more

It’s the time of the year…our warm summer days with its blue skies, hot humid air, and the scourging heat; it was a fine day for a flight out of town except that ours was delayed again. The troop is off for our second time in Bicol, a late birthday trip for me having gone older three days earlier. It was supposed to be just a short 45 minutes flight but when it was time for our plane to descend towards Naga, our captain announced that we couldn’t land due to zero visibility caused by the change of weather and that we would have to go round for 45 more minutes and wait for the clouds to clear up, else we will have to go back to Manila. More than the disappointment, I was more petrified ... read more

My parents had a little trouble with the immigration; since they are government employees, they were supposed to secure some kind of clearance from their heads which we didn’t know about! The good thing was, we had it all sorted out thanks to being Waray-Waray. Everyone is here for Tatay’s (Dad’s) Birthday Trip! Every single one is home for our little get-away -- my two brothers, my sister, my Nanay(Mum), of course Tatay(Dad), and even the extended family/family-in-law is here! brother-in-law, sister-in-law, my sister’s mother-in-law, and my three year old nephew who has been telling his playmates that he is headed to Hong Kong. HK was an easy choice since my sister & I have already been and we found it easy finding our way around. Also, my nephew wanted to meet Mickey and my Mum ... read more