Archive for August 2012
Earthquake Before August Ends
So just a few minutes ago, the Philippines had just experienced a 7.9 magnitude earthquake. I was wide awake even though it was already time for me to sleep. The event somehow made me feel good on staying up late since I got to witness my room wiggling. I was first thinking of the Blue Moon but things shifted instantly because of the earth's shaking.
There's just one thing that I would love to ask each reader of mine, what was the first thing you grabbed when the earthquake started?
My cellular phone, I grabbed it as soon as I felt the shaking. I was listening to some OPM Original Pinoy Music while scrolling down to see more of my Facebook wall when I heard my neighbors shouting then I just started feeling dizzy. I stopped the music and started saying "in Jesus name!" then immediately took my phone. The faith had stayed in me and I never really left my seat until the shaking stopped. I know God is in control.
Melting Ice Cream at Molave Milk Station
My taste buds can't help but crave when the group talked about this station somewhere in Barili where ice cream made from pure cow milk is being sold. It is unusual though to find something like this in a province but it looks like the said town is quiet full of natural wonders, from beautiful beaches like the Sayaw Sayaw Beach to high waterfalls, the Mantayupan Falls then to ranches full of animals such as cows.
A few minute ride from Mantayupan falls and we found ourselves on this vehicle packed area, in my mind I thought this was a cockfighting arena but I was definitely wrong. The place's label says: Molave Milk Station. I instantly realized that this was what Caloy has been talking about, about tasty ice creams made of pure cow milk. I was indeed very surprised by the numerous visitors who were sitting in the benches and enjoying their own cone of ice creams or those cup ones. Aside from Ice cream, they offer fresh milks too and pizzas! You would never think something like this is present on an area like this.
BDO Online Account - How to Unlock
Oftentimes, I would forget the passwords I set on the websites I log in to especially if the website requires me to create a strong, unique password which needs a character, an upper case letter and a symbol. This websites will not allow me to put my birth-date, name or even my previously used passwords in creating a new one and the most hated part here is that you are required to replace it every 90 days. So indeed I would always end up hitting the forget password button. I know it sucks to remember all of them plus my work log in does the same thing, all of them are rambled inside my head and as soon as I face the log in page, it takes me a long time to recall what is it that is for this and this. Most of the time, I would need to try again twice but I need to be extra careful because on the third attempt, if I would miss it again, my account will get locked up.
Compared to my work password, whenever my account gets locked up I just have to inform my immediate supervisor about it and in three to five minutes, I got a new temporary password at hand however the online account such as the BDO one does the other way around.
Three months ago, I forgot to share that I got locked out with my BDO online account. The story was, James awakened me from a long sleep and asked me to log in to my account for some matters. I was damn sleepy and can’t even compose myself that I immediately logged in even without thinking what my password is. It was very careless of me that even after receiving the second incorrect password error message; I still tried to type another one and boom! You know what happened next.
Road Trip: Mantayupan Falls
After the photo shoot session, of course the trip will never be documented without those pictures so it's the first to-do thing before eloping with the waters. So right after that we gathered our things in one single place and cover them with towels and jackets. Area doesn't have that much place to stay on though there were umbrellas planted on the sideways, the soils were not that accommodating as well, slimy and rocky. It's hard to look for a spot to secure our things, we first thought of getting to the corners but there were waters coming from the falls and we were too afraid our things might be carried by it. So we ended in the hot rocky part of the place where no one opted to stay because it doesn’t have any shade on it.
Numerous Koreans and other foreign bloods were in there with us, some were busy barbequing and some eating their “baons” or packed lunch while most were soaking in the waters, feeling cold and merely staying in the shallow parts. We want adventure that point that staying in the shores is not a good idea.
Kill Pain? Take Tramadol
There are different types and kinds of pain reliever also known as pain killer. I like the latter term though, I can sense the grief and the want to eliminate this terminator! I seek for the right one, tried each one of those being introduced and though they are really effective, I learned about this specific one which has been proven very effective when it comes to relieving pain.
So, let’s take a peek on this so called Tramadol, what it is made of and how we can acquire it.
Dancing at Sayaw Sayaw Beach
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| photo courtesy of Carlo Ella |
Literally, we had some dancing in Sayaw-Sayaw beach in Sayaw, Barili as a start of Caloy's whole day birthday celebration. Almost an hour by motorcycle travel and we had a glimpse of the crystal clear sea waters of the said beach. Prior to getting there, we had seen the beautiful view of an unknown port, I sometimes think that was Toledo's but most of my companions disagree.
Can't really say that the beach is perfect but it had indeed good waters, nice sea air breeze and polite people. Had read a blog about this beach and its mysteriously caves but we didn't had the chance to wander the caves because they were already restricted, for reasons I never was told of.
DPWH vs Car Car City's Ancestral Trees
I don't understand why the Department of Public Works and Highways had come up to this thought of cutting the heritage trees of Carcar in the southern part of Cebu province just because of DPWH road widening project? I don't know what the basis were and why they had come up of this decision. They may have not thought about how these trees had given not just shelter but nice ambiance to the south province.
Barili Tour For Carlo's Day
I would rather spend my big day as such but it was not my birthday nor my anniversary day but Carlo's. I on the other hand was very lucky to be a part of this event because I got to add another place in my travelling experience. An addition to my monthly goal: to go to a place I never been before.
Last week was Tanya's impromptu birthday celebration, impromptu because we never planned it compared to Carlo's yet it was Tanya's unforgettable birthday. According to her thank you message, we made her special day extra special and that her memory won't ever forget it. While it was an unplanned event, Carlo's birthday was planned since Monday, the 13th. We first thought of going to my ever longed Kawasan Falls but since it was still closed; we need to find another place out. Then by Wednesday, we considered Tera Mana which most of the group had disagreed of and the next day we agreed to go to Moalboal but Darwn wouldn't agree. We were hopeless as to the success of the birthday plan but by Saturday, the night before the said day; we made up our mind and decided to go to Barili specifically in Sayaw sayaw beach.
Waterfalling in Red River Valley
Is it just me or there's really a mystery hidden in the waterfalls?
I lived in a province where I thought waterfalls didn't exist, that these wondrous gifts of nature can only be seen outside the country and that it would take me all my treasures to be able to see and experience myself how it would feel underneath those free flowing waters. All of these assumptions were erased when I started to travel and explore other places, I should say that to work in a BPO company had really helped me go to different areas around the region and made me crave more travelling. Then I came up to this life's goal to go to a place I haven't been to once a month.
And so I am blessed to have friends who are from Negros Oriental who helped me discover and experience the three amazingly wonderful waterfalls of Malabo, Valencia’s Red River Valley.
Photo Essay: Our Way To Red River Valley Waterfalls
A trail we need to take towards Red River Valley Waterfalls.
Overwhelming rock mountains indeed!
The True Beauty of Valencia
Our dear Mia was very strong during our Dumaguete adventure, though it was her first long travel, she had endured the tiring trip, she had wandered on the lands of Dumaguete and Valencia as well, never did she had complained throughout the exploration. Right after the encounter with the Oozing Mount Talinis, I had just realized what Valencia has that other Negros Oriental towns didn't acquire – Water. Indeed, water was actually flowing everywhere. I saw it coming out from the mountains, the rock walls, the rivers, the soil beds and everywhere. It was a day full of water falling from here and anywhere. We had explored and played along with four waterfalls that day.
Unknown falls – this was the first falls we found and yet we found it just on the road side. Quite and still, the Unknown Falls continued to lay there, all sort of land vehicles travel on that land yet they never had noticed this wonderful work of heavens. It was slim and at rest, didn’t create even a single sound of though water was pouring, the waters was flowing gently on smooth rocks and soil then goes to a tunnel turned to the big water banks – the sea. The sun was shining brightly from above and the temperature was boiling up yet the waters coming from the Unknown falls was cold, cold enough to get all of our spines chilled as we felt the waters running on our feet. Our two little companions, Ken and Mai2x were not able to help themselves and immediately laid their bodies for the water to fall down them. Pure happiness and enjoyment filled the place, their giggles made me miss childhood once again.
Oozing Mount Talinis
Tanya's residence is in Talay, just a 10 minute ride from Dumaguete City and Don on the otherhand is in Valencia, town after Dumaguete. I never imagined that his hometown has more to offer. And indeed I had met an oozing volcano in Mount Talinis, more than 15 minute ride from Tanya's home.
Going up there is not that tough, nor that steep either. Some parts of the road are not cemented but are cool enough when travelled. The damage made by last year's bagyong Sendong was very severe that made the rivers widened and most buildings had been destroyed too. Huge rocks were washed into rivers, water running strong fast along those rivers made me wonder how the much harder those were during the typhoon.
Road Trip Via Dumaguete
It was an over-the-week plan, weather was acting up a bit when James, Darwin and I were on our way to the southern part of Cebu. We used the South Road Properties to avoid traffic yet strong winds had welcomed us there. Darwin was afraid of how this trip would go on considering the weather, I on the other-hand felt heartbrokened yet James was strong willed, he had the positive vibes even after we forgot to fuel up our vehicle and yet we needed to turn back to our route.
As we went back towards the high way roads, the rain poured out. In my mind, God was maybe giving us a sign to turn back and return home but in my heart I felt pursuance, so off we went when the rain slowly stopped. It was three in the afternoon when we moved our way, wet and tired because we had just gone out of work.
Surprisingly, the next city had no traces of rain, not even a single drop of it until we reached Oslob where the gentle giants reside.
Our trip to Dumaguete was once more tested when we missed the six oclock barge trip in Liloan Port in Santander. James begging to the barge officers did not help, Darwin arrived five minutes after the barge took off.
Mouthful Week For Team Spankers
Eating at an expensive food place without spending a cent is one of the beauties of working in a BPO company. The company spends some amount on each employee quarterly so he or she can go out either visit a new place, spend time with their teams on a team social session or either eat on some expensive “slash” eat all you can restaurant.
Because of the account support change which I had gone through last four months ago, I was not able to use my second and third quarter budgets and so are my colleagues and so, my ex-lead got our entire budget and resulted to a very big big sum of money. Our team was called the Team Spankers by the way for no exact reason why it's named that way.
We first planned our team building and decided to go to Moalboal, my dear friend Darwin’s home town and we were very much thrilled about the thought of going out of town until our ex-lead busted that huge bubble dream because of unforeseen circumstances. That may be heart breaking but our stomach become full because of it, why? Because we ended up having allocating the budget for food instead, boy we had filled our stomachs with gladness!
See You Soon City of Gentle People
Gener Gener go away come again another year, little Jean wants to travel!
Yeah it's August and last year, James and I went to Dumaguete City for our third year anniversary celebration. This year, we are again gonna go back to the city I fell in love with. Tanya, my good friend will be going home for her nephew's first birthday celebration and we are gonna be tagged along too though James, Darwin and I will be going on Saturday while Tanya is going tomorrow.
I am quite excited about this trip because we are going with our own Baby Mia. This will be our first long trip together and we are gonna cross seas so it's really adventurous.
