Mash Up Adventures: March to May Travel and Hiking Round Up

May has come and gone and it's the start of another month! We are almost halfway through the year already! It's mind-blowing how fast time flies. In all that time, I did quite a lot and didn't have the chance to share it, coz well, life is faster than my ability to write.

Anyway, a quick round up of some of the trips that I did since Project Bohol in January and Mt. Pulag in February:

1. March - Mt. Mariveles a.k.a Tarak Ridge in Bataan

My friends from the office organized a hike to Mt. Mariveles in Bataan and I must admit that trail wise, it was much more challenging than Mt. Pulag. In my short track record of mountain climbing, Tarak Ridge is the hardest I've ever done because of the steep assault to the campsite after the Papaya River. The climb to the summit required us to scramble and really hold on to rocks, else fall off the edge. The view from the ridge was spectacular and the wind gave a good kind of chill. It was a different sort of fun too, because despite the difficult trail, the climate was more forgiving and I slept quite soundly in my tent because I didn't have to share it with 7 other people. We had a chance to also swim in the cold river when it was time to go down, so it was super refreshing and it gave us a boost to push further, even if we were dead tired from the descent. (Hello ailing knees!). A sense of achievement was had, because apparently, it's a major climb according to Pinoy mountaineer, Gideon Lasco.

Cue music: Is this the reaaaal liiiiiife? Is this just fantasyyyyyyy? Even my bangs were impressed. Nag standing ovation sa view.

Oh you know, it's just me and Jim hanging out at some rocky edge at the mountain. No biggie.

Leslie and Ronnie and the obstacle course that is the Mt. Mariveles trail

View from our camp site. Is this awesome or what?

My 40 Liter Conquer backpack. Tested if for the first time during this climb. Will give a review soon!

Papaya river! This is where we refilled our water bottles for drinking. Look ma, no tummy aches!

Group rest, coz you know, we've been at it for 3 hours already. 

View from the summit

2. April - Mt. Maculot in Batangas

My mom turned 64 last April and I remembered a conversation with her that she wanted to climb a mountain at least once in her lifetime. She hails from Cuenca, Batangas so the decision to do a day hike at Mt. Maculot made perfect sense. The Rockies were super near our house in Cuenca and my uncle knew people who could give us a tour of the mountain. I initially thought Mt. Maculot was a fairly easy climb similar to Mt. Batulao, but found out the opposite. Apparently, they created a new trail to reach the Rockies and we ended up hiking at a more difficult one. The good thing about it was that there were several buko juice stops throughout the hike, and because it was a day hike, we didn’t have a lot of stuff on our backs. I am exceptionally proud of my mom and titas though! Aged 64 and 51, defying limits and conquering the rockies, y’all! And to top it all off, my nephew Yuan at age 5 was able to do his first hike without so much as a complaint for tiredness. That boy will go places, I know it.

Hugfest with my mommy

My family being weird and mature at the same time. 

Hello Taal Lake, nice to see you!

 Color coordinated. May production number kami sa bundok, hindi lang namin kayo nainform agad.

 Scrambling up the Rockies. Nauntog ako. 

My 5 year old nephew Yuan and his boy bawang. :) This kid!

3. May – Ilocos

An awesome adventure with my best friends that took 6 years to happen. Sleeping at the beach, eating tons of awesome food, sand boarding for the first time, celebrating birthdays with family—so many memories were made in 5 days! Well this requires a different post on its own.

Photo sharing shall commence instead.

Cape Bojeador. It was being renovated at the time so we weren't able to go up.

Photo sesh against the brick wall and the distressed windows

Okay so my friends are also weird. What did you expect?

Paoay sand dunes and the super fun (yet kinda dangerous) 4x4 truck ride

Bangui Windmills! I-avail ang electric fan!

Blue Lagoon beach. It's more commercialized now, but my bandmates and I still had tons of fun here. Photos in another blog post!

It seems that every month of 2014, I have been doing a quick out of town getaway, from week long volunteer work (Bohol) to simple 2 day hikes (Pulag) and a sandwich of the weekend to visit some places I've never been to before. It’s no extraordinary feat compared to seasoned hikers and travelers, but I am thankful for these weekends that break the monotony of corporate life. I will probably always be inlove with nature and I will forever crave the outdoors. Living in the city may have strengthened this craving, because despite the convenience and the ease of daily routine in the city, I tend to appreciate life more when I'm somewhere near the mountain or the sea.

Now I can’t break that once a month streak, can I? Planning for a surf trip this June and a weekend in Mindoro in July! Can't wait!

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Psychedelic Adventures: Nagsasa Cove, Zambales

My friend Leslie and I were talking about bucket lists one day at work, because we only have 1 year left before turning 30 in 2014. We agreed to seize the moments and not waste any time, go to places we've never been to and during our talk, she mentioned about going to the beach before the year ends. I was up for anything that can be done on a weekend, because  I was reserving my vacation leaves for a week in Bohol to do some volunteer work in January. We agreed on going on a no-fuss, semi-impromptu beach getaway to Nagsasa Cove in Zambales. 

We managed to come up with an itinerary in less than a week thanks to Leslie's friend who gave us a contact person in Pundaquit. The plan was to take a bus from Manila to Iba and then a tricycle to Pundaquit, Zambales. From there, we would be taking a boat ride to Nagsasa Cove which would be our campsite for the weekend.



The group consisting of 3 girls (Leslie, Daday and I) and 3 boys (Ronnie, Lloyd and Jim) met up at around 2:00 AM at the Victory Liner station in Cubao. There weren't any buses going directly to Iba at that hour so we decided to wait for the Olongapo bus which leaves at 3:00 AM. The ticket to Olongapo costs around 200 pesos and it took us around 3.5 hours to get there. From Olongapo, we boarded another bus going to Iba, Zambales which cost us around 56 pesos. The whole trip from Manila to Iba was a long ride (total of 4.5 hours), but I didn't mind because I am exceptionally good at dozing off in moving vehicles. Haha. Finally arriving at San Antonio in Iba, we headed to the market to buy food, drinks and other essentials that we would be needing in our camp site then headed to Pundaquit island via a 20 minute tricycle ride.

The happy campers ready for island hopping!

We met up with Ate Fe, our contact in Pundaquit and she let us rent some cooking utensils and a tent then we bought ice and beer before heading out to our island hopping adventure. We went to Camara and Capones to take photos and goof around. 

Camara and its awesome tides

Girls striking a pose before doing the requisite "on the rocks" photo. 

Boys on the rocks

Our awesome bankeros

The failed pero medyo success jump shot! Haha

The tropa shot with the Jimboyps

Initially, the group was thinking of going to Anawangin, but a few friends mentioned that Anawangin Cove can be too crowded. We chose Nagsasa Cove despite the fact that it's almost twice the distance from Pundaquit because there were less people. When we got there, a few tents were already set up, but we still had a sense of personal space because we were provided with our own nipa hut where we could leave our stuff, eat our meals and cook our food. 

My friend Ronnie who is a seasoned backpacker took care of the food. He brought his own cutting tools and seasoning! We had grilled pork, sinigang and the most perfect kinilaw ever. In his huge ass backpack, he managed to take out a couple of tequila bottles that we ended up consuming in evening during discussions over the state of our country, Janet Lim Napoles and pork barrel and rants about work. We also reminisced good times with our teammates from our old Project and even settled arguments about coffee versus yosi.

Our campsite for the weekend!

Simple things in life. Boy bawang and Clover chips!

We woke up early the next day and thanks to the good effect of tequila on me, I didn't have the slightest hangover. The weather wasn't as sunny and bright the next day, and I was actually worried that we might not be able to leave the island by 9:00 AM because around 3:00 that morning, it started raining really hard and we had only our sturdy tents to thank for the shelter. Thankfully the rain stopped, so I prayed that the sea would be kind to us during our boat ride back to Pundaquit. 

What I loved about this trip is its spontaneity. We didn't really have a plan except to get away. Well, we planned when to leave and how to get to our destination, but when we got there, we simply let things happen. We had our tents, our overnight backpacks, and all the basic needs. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy getting pampered, room service and fancy staycations, but nothing really beats the outdoors. Being on the island and getting away from the city was already an achieved goal in itself that what was left for us to do was enjoy each other's company. My friends and I embraced these precious hours before plunging back into the fast paced, high pressure yet sometimes mundane office environment that we work in. I am always thrilled at the fact hat even though it's already December, I can still enjoy a lovely weekend at the beach and pretend it's summertime. :) 

Ah, Pilipinas. Mahal talaga kita! 

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#YolandaPh

Over the past three days, I've been receiving emails from my colleagues in different countries, asking how my family is and how badly affected I am by the storm. I'm really thankful that Manila was spared, but I didn't realize how bad the damage was until I tuned into CNN on Sunday evening. Apart from the loss of power in B.F. on Friday evening, no damage has been done. I was on weekend mode, doing arts and crafts with my cousins and working on a promo material for the cupcake business on Sunday. After the news had sunk in, I was feeling restless on Monday because I had to go to the office and felt quite guilty that I was breezing through with the same conveniences and privileges of everyday life, while others are going through the worst time of theirs. But guilt won't make things better. The most immediate help that we can provide if we cannot be physically present in repacking goods is monetary assistance. I was spreading links to my onshore counterparts on how they can donate online. For us here in Manila, the easiest way to donate is through SMS. At this day and age, everyone has a cellphone after all. 

You can donate to the Philippine Red Cross through text.

Type in RED and send to:

4143 for SMART

2899 for GLOBE

You can donate the following denominations:

Globe: 5, 25, 100, 300, 500 or 1000

Smart: 10, 25, 50, 100, 300, 500 or 1000

Other ways to help:

  1.     In-Kind Donations

Donations can be dropped off in Accenture offices in Manila and Cebu. Please see the Accenture offices below. If you happen to be in this area, you can drop off your donations to these offices. 

Mckinley Hill, Taguig

Mckinley Bldg A, Campus Ave, Taguig City

Ayala Ave, Makati

MSE Building, Ayala Avenue 1200, Makati City

Pioneer, Mandaluyong

Cybergate Center Tower 1 (Pioneer St), Mandaluyong City

Eastwood, QC

Eastwood City Cyberpark (E-Commerce Ave), Quezon City

LBC Branches also accept donations in kind

 The following items are urgently needed:

·         Rice

·         Canned goods

·         Biscuits

·         Blankets

·         Sleeping mats

·         Over the counter medicines for children and adults (cough, cold, fever, etc.)

·         Water

2.     Cash Donations

You may directly remit your cash donations through bank deposit or wire transfer through any of the following Philippine Red Cross bank accounts: 

Banco De Oro
Peso: 00-453-0018647
Dollar: 10-453-0039482

Swift code: BNORPHMM

Metrobank
Peso: 151-3-041631228
Dollar: 151-2-15100218-2

Swift code: MBTCPHMM

Philippine National Bank
Peso: 3752 8350 0034
Dollar: 3752 8350 0042

Swift code: PNBMPHMM

Unionbank of the Philippines
Peso: 1015 4000 0201
Dollar: 1315 4000 0090

Swift code: UBPHPHMM

3. Relief Goods Pre-packing efforts

You may also volunteer on your own with the following organizations doing relief work.  Please pre-register to ensure your slot in the activity.
 

NAME OF ORGANIZATION	VENUE	PHONE NO.
ABS-CBN Sagip Kapamilya	13 Examiner St., West Triangle, Quezon City	4152272 local 3765, 4114995
DSWD-National Relief Operations Center	Ninoy Aquino Ave., Cor. Chapel Road, Pasay City (behind Air Transporation Office)	852 8081, 851 2681

I've always been proud of Filipino resilience, hospitality and bayanihan. Despite the hardships and trials that our nation is going through, I still believe that we can rise again and recover from the damages of Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda, all in God's grace.  Bangon Pilipinas! Kaya natin ito!

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Psychedelic Adventures: Coron, Palawan in Pictures

It's funny how my blog can't seem to catch up with my (mis)adventures. I still haven't finished writing about my Day 2 and 3 in Coron last April, and here's another post about Bohol already lined up! I don't want to write a lengthy entry about Coron again, so here's a few more photos from that trip.

 Smorgasbord of colors at the Coron Public Market. Fresh fruits and veggies, anyone?

Amazing blue fish at the wet market! I just had to take a picture.

Do you remember him? It's Kuya Danny!

On our way to Barracuda Lake. More turquoise waters and amazing rocks await!

Before the plunge! Cheerleader lang ang peg! Hahaha

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Psychedelic Adventures: Coron, Palawan (Day 1)

Let's be honest, Manila is a mess. With its traffic, its unbearable heat and overpopulation, going out of town is a welcome escape. Don't get me wrong, I love my Manila. It's my home and I wouldn't trade it for anything despite my eternal search for new places. After my stint in the U.S for almost two months, there was nowhere else I'd rather be but home. After reuniting with friends and family and after my pores have opened because of the heat, I was ready to proceed with another adventure. My friends and I have been talking about going to Coron months before our flight, but we decided on our lodging and confirming our booking for the tour package just a couple of weeks before. We were set to fly out on April 20 then return on April 23. This was enough for me to forget the snow in New York and New Jersey and welcome the summer heat together with the sandy beaches and clear waters of my own country.

Coron Island is part of the Calamian Group of Islands located at the northern part of Palawan. It is separate from the main island where Puerto Princessa is located. We landed in Busuanga airport at around 10:30 AM and were immediately picked up by our van c/o Darayonan Lodge. The trip from Busuanga to Coron took us about 30 to 40 minutes--just enough time for Jim to doze off again and for me to take pictures of the scenery from the airport to our inn. Upon arriving at Darayonan, I immediately changed into my bikini and prepared my beach and snorkeling essentials: Sunblock, goggles, towel, frisbee disc and my phone and money tightly zipped into a makeshift waterproof container a.k.a. Ziploc.

First Day:
We rode the tricycle to the Coron Port and boarded the bangka to our first destination: Smith's Point Beach where we were welcomed by a hearty lunch of crabs, adobo and ensaladang talong. This was part of our package with Darayonan, which was super convenient because we didn't have to worry about buying our meals and instead simply enjoy our activities for the day. The beach is surrounded by rock formations which reminded me of one of the beaches in Guimaras. The white sand and clear waters were nothing short of breathtaking and though it may be just the first stop, I felt like I could stay there and still be happy. Quota na! Ang sarap mabuhay! Sulit agad! Perhaps it's the fresh tomatoes, grilled eggplant and crabmeat in my satisfied belly (no longer ready for a bikini shot, I might add) that made me so happy, but apparently, our tour was only beginning and we haven't scratched the surface of Coron's jewels.





We proceeded with the tour and swam at The Twin Lagoon which was nestled in a large rock formation called The Callis mountain. Sadly, our tour guide Ate Badet didn't allow us to take our cameras with us (unless they're waterproof) as we parked the bangka on the cove. The swimming area boasted of clear blue waters which was separated by a limestone wall. You have to swim across a two and a half meter wide hole to get to the inner lagoon. The outer lagoon where our boats were parked showed off rock formations and corals at the bottom while the inner lagoon which was deeper and more serene required us to dive further down to see the bottom.  We were surrounded by towering limestones and trees, and it felt like being transported to another world. It was breathtaking and in the middle of it all, I was struck by this conundrum: TEKA, ANO ANG DIFFERENCE NG LAGOON SA LAKE?! *facepalm*

Okay, for you people who are smarter than 5th graders, you don't need to read this. But for those of you who don't know any better, a lagoon is a body of water formed from the ocean leading to a beach while a lake is a body of water completely surrounded by land which may be fed into a river. In short, completely separate ang lake from the ocean while the lagoon is a smaller, more shallow basin of water which is still connected to the sea. Odiba, now I feel less stupid!

After ooohing and aaahing over the beautiful waters of the twin lagoon, our next stop was Kayangan Lake. This stop required us to do a short trek. My balikbayan friend Carmi set the pace as she gamely moved up the mountain trail. A quick tip to those clad in havaianas, be sure of your footing as the rocks can be slippery at times. Before heading down to the lake, we made a quick detour to a small cave where we found this breathtaking view of the sea. While taking group photos and selfies, Ate Badet gave us an inside scoop about celebrities that she toured with. A certain ubiquitous artista is apparently a real diva and another celebrity who was rumored to be a bitch turned out to be nice pala.

As we went down the trail, we were greeted by another glimpse of sparkling turquoise waters. This never gets old, I swear. Destination after destination, Coron just keeps on getting better. The lake welcomed us as if to say, go ahead and take a plunge! And take a plunge, we did.

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