My Orchard at Tierra Nevada

We started planting guyabao, durian, mangosteen, longgan, lychee, jack fruit, pomelo, lemon, anonas, chico, avocado, coffee, cacao, miracle fruit, mango, pili, santol, blue berry, abiu, sampaloc, castanas, iba, star apple, lanzones, rambutan, dragon fruit, grapes, guava, ugob, gumihan , tisa ,cashew, atis,  kiat kiat banana, papaya, pine apple,   tungaw tungaw lol, yes were propagating it. Its wild and sweet. So we have 38   fruit bearing plants all in all

Sana mamunga lahat.

We dont have bignay, duhat , balimbing, aratelis, 

Pursuing Its Faith Journey Towards Shalom

Today (April 16, 2017) UCCP NEC is celebrating 2 important occasions, 102nd anniversary and  Easter Sunday. Our Guest Preacher is Bishop Emergencio D Padillo.

TEXT :Hebrews 12:1-12, 1Kings 3:9-14

The old testament text is a story of Solomon asking God for wisdom in leading the vast kingdom during his time. And God granted him his request and give him riches and honor in his lifetime.

The New Testament text talk about running with perseverance, fixing eyes on Jesus, enduring hardship as discipline, discipline producing a harvest of righteousness.

Sermon

The message delivered thru Bishop Padillo

There are 2 requirement in Pursuing the Faith Journey Towards Shalom. No 1. Know your direction as a person, as a church, practice prudence and vigilance. Jesus should direct our journey. The bishop emphasize on the need  for wisdom, specially today when evil thing when repeatedly done seems good thing, and good thing that no one or seldom done seems a passe. We need to ask wisdom to Discern between good and evil

2nd requirent in pursuing faith towards shalom is  Adequate preparation, like an athlete , individuals and church as well must ne ready to face the challenges and have discipline

Note: not the exact sermon of Bishop Padillo, just what was retained in my mind after the service

CALOCO BEACH

Caloco Beach, in Caloco Tinambac, is the best summer destination for those who likes to enjoy a beautiful beach but on a tight budget like me.

It has a fine yellow sand, and the shoreline stretch up to 3kilometers(just my estimate). We had the beach all for ourselves, we are only 3, for one whole day for FREE

I heard that Caloco Beach is owned by LGU Tinambac, and it is the Barangay of Caloco that manages and take care of the beach. We only pay 15 pesos per head for an environmental fee. Saan ka dadalhin ng 15 pesos mo? Sa Caloco Beach haha.

We parked our car outside the Caloco Elementary School for free. We brought our own food, we have to , there is no carenderia where we can buy someting to eat. There is no cottage in beach but the trees along the seashore gives a better shade.

There’s a newly constructed small building about 60 sqm, just my estimate, and it will be offered for rent soon. According to the caretaker the rent is only 500 per day for the entire house.

You may ask me if its safe to go there? Caloco itself is a safe place. The people are friendly and helpful, but the one hour drive(we are only 60km/hr speed) in Tinambac Siruma road may be frightening to some . But to enjoy any unfamiliar place , just trust the goodness of the universe haha

Its lowtide

The shoreline

Fine yellow sand

No need to bring a hammock

Wood bench sculpted by the wind and the waves

Seaweeds farming is one of the livelihood in Caloco.

Tinambac to Siruma road

There are still portion not yet cemented.. construction is ongoing

Baguio City

The famous teleserye Forevermore had just ended when we  travelled   to the summer capital of the Philippines,   Baguio City!  Due to the popularity of that serye, the location which is La Presa(not the real name of the place)  became a tourist destination for  months This house draws a lot of  local tourist . This is where Agnes  (Liza Soberano) lives . Picture taking outside this house makes  a lot of money for the owner. The fee is 20 pesos per person  and there are  hundreds of people who lined up there to have a pictue of the house. If this was  not used for location shooting who would like to have picture here. Fans are indeed  crazy haha, me included.Bonita the famous piglet is no longer in this pigpen

The tent where Xander(Enrique Gil) lives  just outside Agnes house.

 Sitio  La Presa is a fictional strawberry farm in the soap  but the real name of the place is Sitio Pungayan Tuba Benguet

The place is really beautiful,this is  the 2nd highest mountain next to Sagada

Crowd going to the house of  Agnes

At 2 pm our driver cum tourist guide advise us to leave because of the thick fog  in the late afternoon that causes zero visibility.

From La Presa we went to the Wright Park for horse back riding

Boating at Burnham Park in the late afternoon

This is where  we stayed there are 3 rooms and it can accomodate up to 15 persons

On our second day, we went to the strawberry farm  in La Trinidad , Benguet

From the strawberry farm we went to the Tam awan village.

From Tam awan we went to the  Mines View Park

Ric likes the strawberry taho so much

Kenon road

Pasacao

Balogo, Pasacao is the  nearest(only 25 km) and the cheapiest summer destination from Naga City . The sand and the sea may not be as beautiful as the beaches in  Caramoan or Burias  or  Siruma,  but its not that bad,  for a quick weekend get away. The good thing is  , we can visit the place every weekend  due   to its proximity to our home in Naga City. 

Along the  long stretch of seashore of Balogo, Pasacao, are lots of beach  resorts to choose from. There are small  resorts  with basic amenities  such as   open nipa huts  and toilet, no shower and dressing room.  There are also resorts with  swimming pool and aircon rooms.  

We visit this place many times in a year   due to  our health concern. We believe that the sea breeze on early morning is good for us. So we find ways how to spend the least we can. We  only spend 50 pesos for parking fee, and entrance fee is free. We did not get a hut, and we brought our own food. We stayed in the resort for only 3 hrs. 6:am to 9 am. Sometimes instead of paying for the hut, we rent banca for 350 pesos and go to Daruanak island which is  just 10 minutes from Balogo. We do this when the resort is crowded during summer.

Daruanak Island as seen from the beach of Balogo

A small resort with no business name yet. The have a shaded parking area, parking fee is 50 pesos

There is a stair being constructed today in Daruanak, its 260 steps, hopefully it will be finished by summer in 2018. We can have a good view of the nearby  mountain and sea below.

Who do you say I am?

My reflection on Matt 16:16

A question that measures the degree of intimacy of the person asking and the person being asked. If I were among the 12 closest friend of Jesus what would my answer be. Or if I am asked today “who do you say I am”?. Would I just quote St Peter “you are Christ, the son of the living God”. Of course I do believe that, thats the core of christianity,believing in Christ. But I want a more personal answer , a personal experience Sometimes I do things out of tradition, of obedience of what the older generation have told us to do.

“Who do you say I am” You may ask me today. This I would say: I can tell You all my deepest fears and hurts and doubts without fear of being judged and look stupid.I can tell You all my dreams and aspiration, all my needs . I can pour out to You all that is in my heart, I cannot do this to others. When Im in a big dicision to make , it is You whom I confided . It is You who guide me and lead me.I believed that You know me more than I know myself, You are the source of every good and perfect gift I received . Many times I have failed and offended you , but because you loved me even before I have loved you, I can still be forgiven and you forget everything and I can start over again. How can a supreme eternal being love a mortal like me , I call it grace . Such grace sustains me .

To sum it up You are the Son of God, my Lord and Saviour , that is my personal knowledge and my personal relationship of You.

Travel While Young

I dreamed of travelling since I was a child, but due to time and financial responsibilities , it took me more than two decades doing my 8amto 5 pm job before I started going out of my country and travel within the asian region . Our first destination was Hongkong. We are four in a group. My companions are my friends from my workplace , they were two retired women and one nearing retirement like me. To make things easy for us , we joined a travel club where everything was taken care of from landing to liftoff. We were picked up from the airport on time and we were allowed to check in early in a 4 star hotel where we stayed for 4 days and 3 nights. There was a welcome dinner buffet, a traditional chinese fine dining in a luxurious restaurant. The program ends at 9 pm. The night was still young but we decided to sleep early to prepare ourselves for the next day activity . So while our young members are enjoying the night because our hotel is centrally located and is the best location for night outings , we the older members of the travel club were already snoring.

Come morning, the breakfast buffet is superb with lots of international cuisine to choose from , we ate to our hearts content and feel guilty afterwards. Can we not just eat and forget the calories and cholesterol in every bite? The funny thing is we brought our anti hypertensive drugs in the buffet table.

Then our 1st day tour started . Our tour guide drop us off at the Oceanpark and will pick us up at dinner time. The Ocean park is very huge. It is divided into two parts the waterfront and the summit which can only be reached by cable car or underground train .After seing the panda in the waterfront we decided to go to the summit by cable car. its a first time for the 4 of us. It seems that all of us has acrophobia . While we are there up high, thousand feet above the ground , I can hear my heart is pounding..We are not talking with each other. Then I slowly looked down , what a beautiful scenery, the vast blue sea and the park itself. At last I conquered my fear of heights, what an achievement.!! After our lunch we walk around and see the giant roller coaster..the thrill of the young people in the rides is so inviting,but no it may cost our lives.So we just walk around , pause for picture, and sat on every bench available after a few distance walk. We laugh at the thought that we paid for a whole day tour for sightseing and unlimited rides just to sit around and wait for our guide to pick us at 6 pm for our buffet dinner . We enjoy the tour though most of the time was spent on picture taking, and watching street shows. The next days were city tour and a bargain hunt .

One thing I realise in our travel, it pays to stay in a comfortable place that after a tiring day we can dip in a warm jacuzzi. Backpacking is no longer a thing for oldies like us. So that means spending more than we should have spent when we travel young.

Boracay

Our family outing in summer of 2014 was in Boracay. We purchased plane tickets 10 months before the trip,its a seat sale from Cebu Pacific so we saved a lot.

My youngest son , 1st time to rode a plane

We stayed at Nirvana in station 2, for 2 nights. The place is not beach front but is 5 minutes walking to the beach. It is an apartment with two aircon rooms at the 2nd floor and a living , kitchen dining and toilet and bath at the 1st floor. There’s a small swimming pool infront of the 5 door apartments. What I love most in this place is the kitchen with complete utensils . We are 5 in a family so eating out will be very expensive, we bought what we need in the market and cook our own food ,that way we saved much on food.

We had fun , only that my daughter had an asthma attack, may be due to the very hot weather, its April or maybe due to the exhausting ride from Kalibo to Boracay which is more than 3 hrs . So next time instead of Kalibo I’ll choose Caticlan flight . And another lesson I learned in this travel is to make sure we have our medicines on hand. I brought the nebulizer but I forgot to bring the nebule. At 2 am , me and my son was walking in town proper looking for meds. No available meds of known brand. I took the risk of buying a nebule of Korean brand, I cant even read the label, I just trusted the store owner and prayed that everyting will be alright. Indeed, that Korean medicine was effective.

Three days and 2 nights is not enough to enjoy Boracay. Next time we will stay little bit longer for my children to try some of the water sports and for me and my husband to try the best spa in the island.

The restaurant at pool side of Nirvana Hotel

A small swimming pool just outside our room

Looking for souvenirs at the mall

Boracay is indeed has the finest white sand

The famous Willy’s rock at the background

Its holy week. The 4 days vacation draws a large crowd

Its good Friday, theres a religious procession in the beach.

Celebrating my husbands’ birthday inBoracay

Paraw sailing is the only activity we had. We will be back for more , next time..

Sunset in Boracay

We will be back

And we will stay longer

Holiday Inn Atrium, Singapore

Holiday Inn Atrium is located at 317 Outram Road , Singapore. It is near the famous Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay and Merlion Park , about 15 minutes by car. There’s no heavy traffic in Singapore unlike in Manila

The deluxe room is huge, 1 double bed and one single bed. It is clean and smells fresh , pillows are soft and bed is comfortable .

Fruits in the side table. Their deluxe room is really for 3 person

There’s a ref ,coffee maker and complimentary bottled water , Dilmah tea, and nescafe coffee , all are replenished daily.

This is the view from our room. Holiday Inn Atrium is near the Singapore river, but we did not try the river cruise because I had a fever on our first day . I just slept the whole afternoon.

Fried carrot cake, upma and naan are some of the singaporean food I tasted in our breakfast buffet. There are wide variety to choose from but I really see to it that I tasted local foods in every place I visited.

Those are some of the familiar foods we ate on our 3 breakfast buffet

Our dinner buffet

Lots of dessert on our dinner buffet

The bar beside the ground floor lobby

The upward view from the lobby

The view from the glass elevator

The outdoor swimming pool is ordinary

In the 6th floor of Holiday Atrium theres a garden just outside the restaurant

Hotel view from their garden on the 6th floor

The restaurant lobby

The ground floor lobby

Holiday Inn Atrium is a 4 star hotel . We stayed here for 4 days and 3 nights. The facilities, food and services are all very good, I will definitely stay here again.

Vikings

We tried Vikings at the Jazz Residences at Makati during my birthday. It was Monday so we did not make reservation. I thought guest will be few since its working day, but I was so wrong. I forget that its christmas party time . We arrived at 10:00am , 1 hr before the opening and we are w3, so theres 2 walk ins ahead of us. Then comes 11 am..throngs of guest arrived with customes and gifts . I was glad we are only 2 so we were called ahead of other walk ins in group.

Before I go to any buffet I already have in my mind what to eat first and what next ..But when we entered my choice was on the lesser crowd. So I tried first the Japanese section and Im happy I did.

The maki and sushi taste better than the japanese resraurant we have been to the other day.
The korean foods is also yummy.

I haven’t tried the Italian foods since most of the guest are lined up there and besides Im already feeling full. Thats why Im not a fan of buffet but this is free for those celebrating their birthday with one paying companion , so its alright.

Am I a Good Parent?

Last week I attended a parenting seminar in a christian school where my son is currently enrolled. This is the nth time I have attended this kind of seminar, but each time I attend , I got new insights even if the topics such as parenting styles, myths in parenting etc are almost the same. Proverbs 22:6 is a well loved verse of all parents, with its practical implication” Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it”
But what strikes me most in what the speaker said is this ” the ultimate goal of parenting is to help our children mature into Christ likeness, to learn to be independent from us and be dependent on the Lord. Most parents focus on external behaviour”

I am responsible and accountable to my God on the spirituality of my children. Providing their spiritual need is equally important to the physical and emotional needs.

Someday when the final grading of life comes, I hope my Master will say” Well done, my good and faithful servant”

Gods’ Conditional Promise

I just realized , when God promise something, He requires us to do someting before He give us what He promised . Take the case of Joshua , God promised him the vast land”every place where you set your foot” and protection”No one will be able to stand up against you….I will never leave you”

But theres a condition: “Be strong and courageous,” “be careful to obey the law” “meditate on it day and night”

Here’s another promise ” If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done to you”

So before asking anything from the Lord, it is important to abide in His word first.

I am not a Bible student, this is just my personal interpretation. Any thoughts about this? I will be very glad to hear from you.

CHACHA and Martial Law

“Ay Badong ika palan, Kumusta? Nag dakula ka man giraray?” an makusog na boses ni Tiya Ontay na garo na nag kukurahaw sa paki competencia sa ribok kan makina kan TM liner .

“Anong grado mo na noy?”

“4th year high school na po”

“Ay , may ma kolehiyo na man palan si Pading Lucas, ako garo dai ko kaya pa escuelahon si Meling sa Naga ta baratohon na bagang maray an kopras, apisar pa kayan pig babawasan pa quince sintimos an kada kilo para sa kuyan daa yan …inda dai ko aram basta pag boot daa yan kan gobyerno”

“Coco levy po, an apod kayan” Gusto pa ni Badong mag explain manungod sa monopoly asin coco levy pero pag hiling niya sa likod niya yaon si Pay Willy an maisugon na CHDF . Dai na nag girong si Badong baka siya mamaluan rebelde , baka siya kulatahon.

“Bakasyon na kamo? may barayli baga sa atyan sa bariohol”

“Ay iyo po, kaya po palan dakol pasiring sato na mga militar”

“Iyo ta an curfew alas dies. Kaya mapoon an barayli pag diklom sana”

“Gurano na po an entrance fee.. an palaog po?”

” Ay inda daw noy kun gurano, dai ko aram. Sakuya na kamo mag bakal cocacola ha”

Excited si Badong sa barayli, actually 1st time niya mag bayli sa barrio ta sa banwa siya nag pipirme ta mayo man highschool sa barrio. Nasa isip niya na kun siisay an ibabayli niya. Napapahuyom siya pag iniisip niya si gusto niyang ibayli.

Nakaturukaw na an mga babae sa sarong parte ni barrio hall, habang an mga lalaki naka tirindog sa saibong na parte . “Magayon talaga ining si Meling” sa isip ni Badong.” Dapat dai ako mainotan pag kabit saiya”.

Nagkirikiti pa sana an plaka sa tugtog na chacha , nag ruroso na an mga soltero pasiring sa mga daraga. Alagad uya na an mga militar, pigtutulak si mga soltero na nagkakabit sa magagayon na mga daraga. Si mga militar iyo an nag kabit sa magagayon na daraga, si natada iyo an para sa civilian

Dai pa nakontento so militar nag announce pa. ” An tugtog na ini para sana sa militar” An tugtog sweet music.

An suminunod na tugtog para sa gabos militar saka civilian ..Chacha. Pero mainot an militar mag kabit sa daraga. An natada para sa civilian.

Ini si Badong ta halangkaw an saiyang standard sa pag pili nin ibabayli , puminuli na sana.

Calaguas

Parang Boracay ang puti ng sand pero hindi pa develop masyado ang lugar, wala pang electrical connections, hotels and other amenities

. Waling Waling is the only resort that have close cottages .If budget is not a problem , maganda mag stay sa Waling Waling pero kung nagtitipid tent lang or open cottages . Tour packages ranges from 2 to 3 thousand. If you are in a group of more than 10, its better to DIY. Pero ako at ang eldest son lang ang pumunta so we joined the group na lang and paid 2,400 peos each. It includes banca fare from Vinzons to Calaguas and back , one night stay in tent and 3 meals.

Maganda ang Calaguas is an understatement, dahil ito ay napaka ganda.

Gobyerno asin Relihiyon

Nakatanaw ako sa bintana, dinadalan ko si mga nag sasanggot nin niyog , . Kadakol sinda , igwang saro na nagmamanda , maray an pustura. Dai ko sinda bisto, mga dayo. Nadangog ko ki Tatay takot siya ta may mga badil ining mga dayo. .Tano may badil sinda? Bako man sinda militar, lalong bako man sinda rebelde. An apod sainda ni Tatay para agaw posisyon (land grabber) nag pa bisto so saro , may kapot na papel an apod niya titulo (land title), sinda daa an tunay na kagsadiri kan daga.May abogado daa sinda saka harani asin makusog sinda sa gobyerno An sabi ni Nanay” Ano ngunyan sana kamo nag butwa? Kami haloy haloy nang tomatawo digdi. An aram mi na kagsadiri kaining daga bako kamo. Dapat maka aram kaini si among mi. “.

Kina agahan nag pasiring sa ciudad si Nanay ta masumbong sa saindang amo. Pero an saindang amo sobrang boot, an sabi sana” pabayai sana nindo , maharali na lang yan, bako man ninda yan daga..Madadaog ko man yan sa kaso”.

Mayong naginibo an sakong ina kundi mag puli na nag iisip nin pa agi kun pano na kami magkaburuhay ta si samuyang pigcocoprahan mayo na samo

Pagal si Nanay sa biyahe, nag kakan tulos ta maturog amay, kan nag arabot so mga dayo, an tuyo mapahayag kan saindang relihiyon. Anggot si Nanay sigi an gumodgumod sa kusina. Dai pigpapadangog sa bisita ta takot man si nanay sa may badil . Sabi sako ni Nanay” daing supog ining mga tawong ini, matapos kta agawan nin daga , madgdi ta bibinsiron kta mag laog sa relihiyon ninda”

Nag puon na an pagpahayag, sinda daa an tunay na relihiyon ,an kaanib sana sainda an mali ligtas. Napangisi si Tatay,kinua sa kaban an saiyang bibliya na parak-it na, nagbasa nin kadakol na bersikulo . Maogma akong nagdadangog kan saindang debate. Napuli sa diskusyon an urolay . Maimbod na maray si Tatay sa saiyang pagtubod dai lamang ini mabibinsir sa isip ko. Medyo pikon si lalaking may badil. Nakamalisya si Tatay . Sabi niya”magayon an saindong relihiyon ,magagayon an saindong simbahan sigun sa pinahiling nindong retrato, burunyog kamo, saka sabi nindo may mga abugado kamo na minatabang sa miembro na may kaso, pag mayong trabaho tinatawanan nindo . Sabi nindo harani kamo sa gobyerno, gusto ko man yan..Masali ako saindo, pero sa sarong kundisyon , akuon nindo na si Kristo aki nin Diyos asin Dios”. Kun dai pasensiya brod dai ako makakasali saindo .Ining kaniogan na sabi nindo kamo an tunay na kagsadiri , sigi saindo na. Bahala na samuya an samong Diyos.

Nag puli si mga lalaki,pero kinaagahan nag sanggot ulit, inubos an niyog maski dai pa laya, maski sino pa sana.

Dahil mayo na si Tatay nin ataman na kaniogan , Nag iba sinda nin hanapbuhay . SI Tatay nag rigaton nin sira , si Nanay Nag tinda nin kurokakanon

Makalipas an sarong taon, Buminagyong makusog, nagka aranitan an kadaklan na niyog , an iba natumba. Napangisi si Tatay, sabi niya”Salamat sa Diyos, ginamit niya an bagyo para mapahali an mga nag aanab kan satong pigkokoprahan”. “Mabaralik yan pag may koprahon na” sabi ni Nanay. “Magtiwala ka, magibo ulit an Dios nin pa agi”.

Totoo mananggad , kan medyo nakakabangon na an kaniogan, sobra na kabarato kan copra dahil sa monopoly and coco levy. Halos habo na mag kopra kan mga paraoma ta lugi sinda sa kapagalan .

Huminali manangad asin dai na nagbaralik si mga lalaking dara an badil asin relihiyon.

AN KUHOL NI IMELDA

Sa mga kapararehas ko paraoma, Nagigiromdoman pa daw nindo na saro sa dakulang peste sa satuyang paroyan iyo an golden kuhol na pinanao ni Imelda Marcos kan siya pa an first lady.

Ini totoong istorya. May sarong para oma duman samuya. Aga aga hinihiling niya an kuhol. Inaataman niya ining maray ta an pagtubod niya ini an mapayaman saiya. Ilinaag niya an mga kuhol sa sadit na sapa sapa sa gilid kan oma. Habo lamang pakaputan sa iba, padaba niyang maray an mga kuhol . Binabahog kangkong , gusto niya kayang padakulaon . Ta may mabakal daa. Pag may minadulok kinukurahawan “hali kamo diyan mawara ngani an kuhol ko “. Pig hiling lang mawara na OA.

Makalipas an perang aldaw, nawara si mga kuhol ni Imelda . Kala niya hinabon, Ito palan naglakwatsa si mga kuhol niya , pagka banggi luminakaw, tuminukad sa basog,

Nagustuhan na maray kanga kuhol an oma, mas comportable kaysa sapa sapa. Hanggan sa an kuhol ni Imelda nag sugok , madalion mag dakol, Napano sagkod sa kataraid na mga amihan . Kan nagparadakol na sinda, problema na kan paraoma ta pig kakakan na an paroy na tinanom. Pigbabasol na kan mga tawo si Imelda. Mayong paki aram si Imelda , labot niya kun nakakaperwisyo an kuhol niya

Si inaasahan kaining pobreng paraoma na an kuhol an mapayaman saiya dai nangyari ta mayo man palan buyer. Matibay pating maray an buhay kaining mga kuhol, maski pig spray na nin hilo , buhay pa giraray .padagos pa giraray namimirwisyo nin paroy. Mala ta si Berto , an pobreng paraoma, sinasaro saro puruton an mga ogbon kan kuhol ni Imelda, sa kaanggutan niya pig pupokpok niya ning gapo hanggang sa maronot an napupurot niyang kuhol. Pero sa kasamaang palad dai sinda nauubos.

Hanggan ngunyan , an Kuhol ni Imelda peste sa oma.

My Martial Law song

“Iniipit kan darakol, an saradit

Pirit na sanang taw anan ikahungit

Kun dai nang ikahungit

Ay ay matingad na sana sa.langit”

Halawig an kanta pero sa kahaloyan kan panahon iyan na lang an natatandan ko.

Chorus yan kan si kanta na pig composo kaidtong pay Totoy .An tono ” Ano daw Idtong sa Gogon”

An kanta base sa experencia ni Pay Alejo saka ni Pay Merto, sinda mga tomatawo( tenant) nin sarong haciendero sa Partido Area na ma impluwensiyang maray sa gobyerno . An hacienderong ini poderosong tawo. Nag ka interes ako sa kanta ta diit lang ang aram kong kanta, an kadaklan kayan si pigtutukdo sana sa school arog baga kan “Pamulinawen.”na pigpaparapakanta samo kan elementary ako sa Tierra Nevada . Dawa dai mi man naiintindihan sige sana man kanta mi. .Salamat sa google nahanap ko na ngunyan so English translation nin” pamulinawen “,an pigpaparapakanta samo kan nasa elementarya ako. In fairness magayon palan an kanta, pero bako pang aki. Siempre dai ko naman toom ta pano ko matandaan an dai ko ngani naiintindihan.

Kan panahon kan martial law kaipohan mag sunod maski dai mo naiintindihan. Arog kan pagkanta.

Sumo Sam

After my executive check up I was craving for food that would satiate my tastebuds to compensate for the 12 hrs fasting. It so happened that my daughters’ boyfriend invited us to eat at Sumo Sam, so we headed to their branch in Shangrila Mall in Ortigas to give it a try. We ordered rainbow maki, tantanmen ramen and chicken teriyaki salad. Well the ramen is just so-so and the rainbow maki was cancelled because the waiter forgot that we ordered it, but it’s not all bad. The chicken teriyaki salad is yummy with greens and chunks of peaches and orange. But I will not recommend this to my friends given the kind of service and the quality of food that they have.

My Martial Law Story

Alas cuatro na nin hapon medyo malimpoy na, orogmahon an mga magurang saka mga aki ninda na yaon sa barrio hall. Orogmahon kawasa  taradikan nin ribbon kan mga nasa elementarya sa Tierra Nevada. Sain man yan? mahapot kamo, saro yan sa dakulang barrio kan Tinambac Cam Sur.

Marso 1973 kaidto, recognition day kan mga may honors,  saka may programa ,may ma kanta, ma folkdance,  matula . Grade 1 ako kaidto, sabi sako kan maestra ko pirang aldaw pa  bago an closing 1st honor daa ako. Ogmahon akong maray ta may rason ako magpabakal nin bagong bado ta masakat baya sa stage. Iyo mananggad tamang tama naka copra pa sana , binakalan ako ni nanay nin bagong bestida na sa huna ko magayonon na maray.

Kaaldawan kan taradikan, cguro kaya alas singko minapoon an programa para malimpoy na ta mayo nin atop an barrio hall, saka an mga magurang halos gabos paraoma, makaka attend na ta tapos na sa trabaho. Bago magpoon  an programa, kadakol nin mga lalaki na naka  ,uniform saka may badil , nakapalibot sinda sa barrio hall. Martial law daa. Dai ko man aram kun ano an Martial Law aki pa ako.

Pina andar na an maribok na generator, Nag poon na an programa –  magayon , maogma, kaya lang so guest speaker mi halawigon an speech, mala ta dai pa siya tapos mag taram may suminakat sa stage nin naka uniform na lalaki na may badil tapos nag gilid c speaker mi ta may tg ulayan sinda pakatapos nag announce na

“pasencia na mga tugang inabot na kita nin curfew , sa agang aga ta na sana idagos an programa. C mga tatadikan ribbon mag balik na sana” .

Kan nadangog ko ito nagparahibi ako ta an naisip ko nasul ot ko na c bago kung bado, naatian na pati ta nagparakawat na ako bago pa an programa. Sa aga ano na sosol oton ko?, ma pa retrato pa pati ako, nag deposito na c nanay k Balimbing sarong pitik sana pero duwang kopya . Excited akong maray sa ribbon na itatadik sako pero dai ko pa madara pagpuli. Mabalik pa kami sa aga , ano sosol oton ko, gusto ko ini ta bago pero maati na, maparetrato ako habang tinatadikan ribbon, ano sosol oton ko, lalo akong napahibi.

Nag puli na kami ,madiklom, mayong bulan .Nag makot c tatay nin karaba para gamiton mi pag lakaw sa irarom nin kaniogan. Habang naglalakaw kami tg kakantsyawan ako kan c sakong pinsan ” o , dai natadikan rebon herak man …sabi daa bawal na mag luwas sa harong pag matanga na (by the way an matanga sa barrio kan panahon mi alas otso)ta dadakupon ni marshalo”

Nag parihibi naman ako ta dai na ngani natadikan na kantsawan pa .

Napa ngisi si  tatay sabay seryosong nag sabi ” mga aki pa talaga kamo, dai pa nindo maintindihan kun ano an Martial Law, dipisil ipaliwanag, an masasabi ko lang, pirme mag arang sa mahal na Dios na ilikay kta sa karatan”

Avenue Plaza Hotel

Avenue Plaza hotel is the only 4 star hotel in Camarines Sur. It is located at Magsaysay Avenue, Naga City. We had an overnight stay here for our Team Building activity . We stayed in superior queen room for two but they are kind enough to allow us to have 4 guest in a room , maybe because its lean month and also our company is frequently holding our corporate activites here.

Hotel staff are helpful and friendly Reservation is hassle free, thanks to Ms Kaizza, room assignment was pre booked and because of that, checking in takes only 5 minutes.

Our room

The rooms are new and is clean although not as spacious as other 4 star hotels in metro manila and other cities. The mattress is soft and comfortable .

We were given 3 card keys but only one is functioning and on the following day all of it can no longer open the door so we have to go down to the reception area to ask for assistance and they gave us another key

Facilities

Infinity pool, Gym
Only two guest per room are allowed to use the pool . So if you are 3 in a room , one has to give way

The locker , shower and dressing room is at the Olympia gym. We have to go up wet in the gym which i think not good because the stairs will be slippery unless the janitor will have to mop the stairs and the floor everytime the guest would use the room. And there is only few units of shower room which is being shared by those using the pool and the gym.On peak season it will be very crowded

FOOD

Breakfast buffet has limited choices and is ordinary, rice and only 4 viands, hotdog, ham with pineapple sauce, corned beef, and badi na dilis which you can find only in cam sur. There is also pancake and several croissant variety. There is only 3 kinds of fruit ,pineapple, melon and banana,there is also green salads and few variety of cold cuts and cheese

But the roasted pork loin with garlic sauce for our dinner is yummy and has a very generous serving

Overall we enjoyed our stay in this hotel. I would definitely recommend this to my friends inspite of the small shortcomings because of the good customer service and good location and so far I believe this is the best hotel in Naga City

OceanPark, Hong Kong

    1. Ocean Park Hong Kong is a very wide park . A whole day is not enough to try all the rides and visit all the attractions, so we choose only few.That way,  we maximized our time. We arrived at 10 am at the park and  skipped the line becaause it has been pre  arranged by our host

      As mentioned in my previous blog post , our transportation from hotel to Ocean Park, our ticket for the whole day tour, and our lunch and dinner inside the Ocean Park was provided by our Dreamtrip club .

      At the entrance of Ocean Park

      It was so hard to take a nice shot with so many people around.

      We sat down to plan where we will go next

      At the middle is our new friend , Manu from Nepal with her husband Siva who took the picture.

      Our tour guide warned us not to visit the Oceanarium in the morning because of the very long line, that is the Ist attraction that you will see right after the entrance gate so the tendency of all the guest is to go there first.

      Instead he advised us to see the panda first and other nearby attraction in the waterfront

      After that we decided to go to the summit by riding the cable car. OMG , my knees shakes just by looking down from the 10th floor building , this cable car is more than a thousand feet higher than the ground . Im very glad i tried the cable car ride, I conquered my fear of heights. I think this is the nicest part of our whole day tour in Ocean Park.

      After a few minutes inside the cable car I was able to look down to see the unhindered view of the sea , the hills and the park. Im very happy I did it.

      Its already lunch time when we arrived at the summit . We had our lunch at Bayview restaurant. was not able to have good picture of the place and the food.

      After eating we explored the place and did a lot of walking. We never tried any rides for obvious reason ,lol

      After an hour walk here we are, sitting on every bench and chairs available

      From the summit , We decided to go back to the old Hong Kong at Waterfront

      And see the bird show

      And some street shows

      At the fountain , show starts at 6 pm

      While waiting for our dinner at 6 pm we decided to go to the oceanarium , there no more visitors this time. We also have Ocean park in Manila and I think the fish species are just the same only thay this oceanarium is a lot bigger.

      ,

    2. And

And now the exciting part is our buffet dinner at the Neptune Restaurant. This was made exclusive to us by Dreamtrips. The restaurant is inside the big aquarium, fish is all around in the glass all over the wall and ceiling. The

food here is good and i like the nutty sweet red wine.

Our dinner ends 8 pm and it was so cold outside , 9°c. I will be back with my family and try the Ocean Express- the train going to the summit , and other attractions we have not yet visited

Clearances in Naga City

My daughter recently needed three kinds of clearances for local employment purposes and we noticed it would be convenient to some people if they can find a blog online that would lay out the requirements for getting these clearances. There were some blogs about the clearances and some government sites have a list of requirements but some things like location, how long is the process and other stuff are not usually blogged.

She got three types of licenses: Barangay Clearance, Police Clearance, and Fiscal Clearance. Here are the details:

Barangay Clearance in Naga City

In getting a barangay clearance, know first in which barangay you belong to and locate your barangay hall. What you need:

  1. Community Tax Certificate (Cedula) (usually they require an ID wih your address. If you’re from another place and you just moved in to another, of course you will not have an ID with your new address yet. What they will require from you is your rental contract or billing statement. You have to pay for your cedula and the amount of tax depends on your income.)
  2. Barangay Clearance Fee
Copy of Cedula.jpg
Sample of Cedula (grabbed from net)

Actual Payment: 5 (for student, retired or unemployed) plus 30 (barangay clearance fee)

Cost: Minimum of 35 pesos

Time Budget: Around 15 minutes

Police Clearance in Naga City

In Naga City, police clearances are processed in the police station near Barlin St. Before going there for your police clearance, you need to pay for the clearance first in the city treasurer. You can either pay at the 2nd floor of Naga City People’s Mall (market) or at the Naga City Hall. What you need to bring at the police station:

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Actual Requirements Poster at the Police Station

The additional 80 pesos processing fee is to be paid in the police station. They will give you a receipt similar to the one below which will double as your claim stub because the clearance will be released after 2 hours. While waiting, you can process other requirements you might need for your local employment.

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Don’t lose this!

Cost: 130 pesos

Time budget: Around 15 minutes

Fiscal Clearance in Naga City

The fiscal clearance is processed at the prosecutor’s office which is inside the Hall of Justice in the City Hall compound. You may go to the Hall of Justice building (the left one) and ask the guard on duty where the prosecutor’s office is. What you need to bring before going:

  1. Documentary Stamp (Get this at the BIR office, just a few walks away from the City Hall. Buy 1 doc stamp. It costs 15 pesos.)
  2. Barangay Clearance
  3. Clearance Fee (this is paid in the prosecutor’s office)

Cost: 50 pesos

Time budget: Around 20 minutes

Tips:

  1. Wear comfortable clothes when you’re planning to have your local employment requirements processed.
  2. Be an early bird. Time budgets listed in this blog is only applicable if the lines are short. Best time to go is on mornings and the worst time is 11:30 am. People are usually grumpy at these hour since they are already hungry.
  3. Be courteous/polite at all times. Getting mad and involving yourself in some things will only inconvenience you and all the other people in line.
  4. Bring a bottled water and check your requirements before going.

For other requirements, the Naga City Citizen’s Charter might be of help.

Good luck!

New Logo and the Fat Feet

Just recently, my daughter made me a logo for my WP account which is now my header picture. It’s a level up, and it’s something! The site now looks clean and the logo gives a preview of what to expect when you browse inside.

Before I was reluctant of having The Fat Feet as my blog title because it gives me an image of a disease, or a sickness, or something else bad about your health but my daughter (yes also her) insisted that I name it this way because one: I’m fat, and two: it’s mostly about travelling and my itchy feet. So I gave in and this is it!

By the way, she also sometimes serves as my editor and proofreader. I’m saying this so you can blame her when you see something wrong inside. *wink* I’m actually wondering whether I have to give her a space here and make her contribute as well because she’s got itchier feet than me.

Maybe soon.

 

Universal Studios Singapore

The Universal Studios in Singapore is a theme park located within the Resorts World Sentosa. This was our second day (Aug 28, 2016) on our tour hosted by Dreamtrips. The temperature at that time is like summer in the Philippines, 39°c, and we were glad we were on our most comfortable outfit-cotton shirt, shorts and sandals. A bottle of water was provided by our host from which we saved 3 SGD each.

We had a less than an hour travel from Holiday Inn Atrium at Outram road to Resorts World and this is the view approaching Sentosa. Sorry for the thumb.

Inside the resorts world are lots of dining options and shops of good brands. I was again a kid with these stores.

 This picture was taken near the gate of Universal Studios. I think it’s best to see the fountain at night. Notice that cute and multicolored merlion.

This globe is where almost everybody gets their picture taken whenever they visit the USS. It is just outside the gate of universal studios so you can take your picture here without getting inside and save 50 to 60 SGD entrance fee if you don’t really plan on exploring.

I mentioned on my last blog entry that our ticket was provided by Dreamtrips so we skipped the line. Hurray for perks!

We first got a map before starting exploring. The Universal studios is a 20 hectare theme park divided into 7 zones: Hollywood, New York, Sci- fi, Ancient  Egypt, The Lost World, Far Far Away and Madagascar.

From the entrance gate, we walked clockwise and took pictures on each zone .

Hollywood Zone

We had our snack at Mels Drive Inn..

New York Zone

Sci-Fi City Zone

Ancient Egypt

The Lost World

We had our lunch here where they are serving original Singaporean food. Legit Hainanese chicken tastes good.

The highlight of our Universal Studios Singapore tour is watching the Waterworld Show. The stunts on water and overhead plus the special effects is spectacular. I have not taken pictures or videos because the shows had my full attention that I had to hold my breath at some point. Yep, it was that good.

Far Far Away

Madagascar Zone

This is a picture from the Hollywood zone.

Souvenir shop

Even if we did not try any rides, and have only seen one show at the Waterworld, we enjoyed our one day tour in Universal Studios Singapore. We enjoyed walking around taking lots of pictures, and visiting every souvenir shops available with one or no item purchased.

I’ll definitely go back to Universal Studios with my family. My children will surely love the unlimited rides when we book in my own booking engine Dreamtrips. I am really satisfied of the service and perks this travel club is giving us. They provided us 20SGD allowance for our snack and lunch, a bottle of water plus hotel transfer and a pre booked ticket to the Universal Studios. This tour is included in our 4 days 3 nights stay at Holiday Inn Atrium, with free meals , and one and a half day tour including this one. I only paid Php 10,000. It’s worth joining a world class travel club Dreamtrips.