It was a weekend well-spent in Subic. We planned this weekend with the kids and made sure there's a day to enjoy swimming and just bumming around, a day with the dolphins at Ocean Adventure , and a day at the Zoobic Safari to check out the tigers and other animals in the zoo. Early morning, and we were ready for our 3 hour journey to Subic, the former American military camp which has been transformed into a Freeport Zone as well as a major playground . It actually took less than 3 hours as we drove through the Northern Luzon [View Full Entry]

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This beats many a collector's dream. I am not sure whether to thank the collector, to envy him, or what. We accepted a friend's invitation to spend the weekend in Pilar, Bataan and prepared ourselves for a somewhat dull weekend visiting the local market, Mt. Samat War Memorial Shrine in Pilar, Bataan, and enjoying fresh fruits in season. "Ciudad de Acuzar" was not part of our itinerary. Neither have we even heard of this heritage town where the owner's collections included many historical turn of the century houses, town hall, school and chapel! The drive northwest of [View Full Entry]

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Left Manila Dec 31, 2007 with the entire family (all 6 adults and 2 kids) , back after 3 nights. It was very cold in Hongkong and Macau and we loved it! I’d say the best ever New Year and family trip we ever had! Aged 10 (Patricia) and 7 (Martin), the apos never missed a beat in the ten hours we spent in Disneyland. Ten hours! To think I worried sick about the kids’ energy levels, and was quite ready with a book to while the time till the 9pm fireworks! I never managed to read even a page. Just [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in shanghai midnight sept 21-22, slept a few hours before taking the 2 hour train to Nanjing with the Sanchezes. We did not waste time as we promptly hired a van to cover the sites in historic Nanjing. Back at the hotel by 5pm, we rested before venturing out again by 7pm to sample Nanjing’s salted duck dinner. Just Mario, Gabz, Sarah, Mayette and I. Horror of horrors!! Just a block off the hotel, i took a nasty fall. I slipped, fell on my right side, broke my eyeglasses. The right side of my face hit the pavement so [View Full Entry]

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May 27, 2007 Sunday While Eve, Boy and Paolo went to hear Sunday mass, Emy and I were busy packing our bags for the Alaskan cruise. We spent the morning packing, and making arrangements with the Princess desk for our cab ride to the cruise terminal. We breezed through immigration at the Princess cruise terminal. We were there early, and we’re glad we decided that way. It was packed by the time we were lined up to get on board the ship. The Princess crew checked out our visas and kept our passports. We were given a cruise card which we [View Full Entry]

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May 25, 2007 Friday It was a very early flight to Seattle at 6 am. And traffic was bad! Good thing Mar was at the wheels, tried 3 detours, and managed to get us to the airport in the nick of time. Thank God! Again, we got ourselves booked at unbelievably low rates in Westin Seattle through Bebeth. At $69 per day, a hotel in this fabulous location, is basement bargain! All the posh shops surround the hotel, and we only needed to cross the street to get on the skytram to reach Space Needle. Or go to the other corner [View Full Entry]

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May 22, 2007 Tuesday We woke up early enough and decided to split among ourselves. Emy was to have her day out with high school classmates while the Guerreros and I were fetched by Romy for the ride to Long Beach to meet up with Kuya Endo who prepared lunch for us. I also managed to meet up with my Grade 1 classmate Willy Ilagan! I was surprised to learn he lives just 3 blocks away from where Kuya Endo lives. Willy brought me to the school where he teaches, which is about 2 kms away, and introduced me to his [View Full Entry]

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May 21, 2007 Monday The flight from San Francisco to LA went smooth. Just as smooth as this guy at the Frontier check in counter who, upon learning we’re from the Philippines, went “Wowowee” and chatted with us about Piolo being gay! For these guys to learn of this noontime show, Wowowee’s popularity is truly phenomenal! We were still laughing as we got nicely settled on our leather seats on this new airline. My thoughts ran …… “I’d take another Frontier flight in the future……….” We got not only good seats but g [View Full Entry]

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May 16, 2007 Wednesday It has been 4 years since my last trip with a “group”. Well, that year was really with family…… but having grown used to “twosomes” as Emy and I turned out to be in the past years, this trip held so many promises. Plus, having included so many reunions with dear friends on this trip provided so much excitement. In a way, it’s a reunion trip with Boy and Evelyn too, with whom I traveled (with my then young nieces) back in 1994. That was a month-long trip and young that we were then, we had all [View Full Entry]

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St. Paul's Subterranean River National Park in Puerto Princesa, Palawan certainly deserves to count among the 7 wonders of the world. My friends and I thought it's about time we visit this famous underground river which has been declared a UNESCO Heritage Site , and check out the many other attractions of this southern part of Palawan (the northern part deserves a separate blog!). We were pleasantly surprised to find many more wonders in Puerto Princesa. And this is how our adventure went. St. Paul's Underground River It took us a couple of hours to reach the place. That's over land. [View Full Entry]

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