It's that time of the year once again when we make our dads feel extra special. Us here at The Banana Book know exactly how you can touch his heart! 

Dad deserves a special treat this Father's Day. Come to the Banana Book for all kinds of personalized photo products from Photo Books, Photo Tumblers, Photo Magnets, and Personalized Stationery. 

We are located at the upper ground floor of Banilad Town Centre and 2nd floor of SM Northwing. Check out our website at www.thebananabook.com or give us a ring at (032) 2386863 and 0917-7BANANA.

Advance Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there! :)

   The most special woman in our lives deserves only the best gift for their special day. Why not give them a present that they could cherish for a lifetime? 

Who ever said that summer can't last forever? With The Banana Book's latest memory keepers, trips to faraway places and get-togethers with friends and family, can be cherished and shared with just a flip of a page! Don't let those pictures go to waste! The Banana Book lets you get creative with your pictures by turning them into Photo Books and many other photo memorabilia. Introducing two new additions to our ever growing Banana Book family! The Spring Bound Photo Books and the Leather Bound Mini Photo Books!Spring into summer with our Spring Bound Photo Books! Our Spring Bound Photo Books are available in Large and Medium sizes and are light and handy enough to bring around with you as you share your summer vacation photos to your friends and family. For introductory prices of P895 (Large) and P650 (Medium) only!Have you seen the smallest photo book ever made? Well, we have it right here at The Banana Book! The Banana Book's Mini Photo Book is only as big as your thumb but can actually hold up to 20 pictures! Beautifully hand crafted and bound by leather, we can even turn these Mini Photo Books into key chains or cell phone charms! What a way to show off your memories! Only P395 for 2 pieces!So what are you waiting for? Make this summer a summer to remember with our latest memory keepers! 

Hi everyone!It's that time of the year again when we tell those very special people in our lives just how much we love them. It's Valentine's Day! and what better way to say I Love You than through Banana Book's photo books and photo gifts!

Personalized Gift Tags - Php 195 for a set of 30 pcs

Hey guys! The Banana Book is turning one year old this November 30, 2008!

Can you believe it's actually been one year since The Banana Book started operations? How time flies! We've been through a lot over the year, encountered so many bumps along the way but hey, we're still here and we're better than ever!

To celebrate this special occasion, we here at The Banana Book would like to say thank you to our dear customers by holding a week-long mega sale. For every order of a large hard bound photo book, customers are entitled to a 50% off on their next large hard bound photo book! 

Here's how you can avail of the discount:

1.) After you order your first book, you will be given a coupon. This coupon will contain the availability of the discount.

2.) The coupon MUST BE PRESENTED when you place your next order to be able to avail of the discount. 

3.) The 50% discount will only be valid up to six months from the customer's first order. 

4.) This promo is only available for large hard cover photo books. 

5.) For orders from the internet, customers will receive the coupon via email. 

6.) This promo is only available for orders that come in between November 23 and November 30, 2008. 

So what are you waiting for? Start compiling your photos now and grab this great opportunity to get big big savings on your photo books! :) 

This morning we received horrible horrible news. The Banana Book's dynamic team of architects Edison & Charade Lee (http://8designstudio.multiply.com) both passed away last night in a tragic car accident. They've only been married for three weeks and they just got back from their honeymoon. I am so utterly devastated by this. To all of you who might know the couple or who might know people who know them please help spread the news. We all need prayers for their souls and also for their grieving families.

September 25, 2008

Our third and last day in Bangkok. *sigh* how did time fly by so fast? it's like we just arrived! waaaaaaaah! and we felt like there's still so many things to see, do and taste! we wanted to smack our heads for deciding to take one day away from our original plan when Mausy cancelled. hai... regrets regrets. but anyhoo... here's how Day 3 went. 

Lau and I got up super extra early to make it to the Damnoen Sadoak Floating Market about 2 hours south of Bangkok. as in 5:00 am early. We hurriedly packed our things, did the paperwork for early check out, left our luggages with the concierge, then hopped on the waiting cab. The cab driver was the guy our friendly lady driver from yesterday recommended to us. We felt so safe with him that we slept in the cab the entire 2 hours of the trip. I was so looking forward to this part of the trip. All my photographer friends told me this is the ultimate Bangkok photo op. Nothing screams out Bangkok more compared to the Floating Market. THIS is the definitive Bangkok moment. Weeks before the trip I've been given tips and pieces of advice as to what to do and what not to do at the Floating Market. So we were more than ready to take on the Bangkok Floating Market Experience.

Upon waking up from our sleepy slumber inside the cab, we found ourselves in this remote area not at all looking like the Floating Market i saw on the internet. I just told myself that well, we were quite early. That's probably the reason why it seems like there's no one else here but us. A friendly looking guy then approached us, gave us bottled water (for free!) then told us to pay the fee for the motorboat. Lau and I were still so dazed from lack of sleep that when the guy told us we had to pay 1,200 baht for the boat we almost didn't complain. At the back of my head i was thinking, hey, that's a bit too expensive. But i just reasoned to myself that maybe the prices have gone up because the last we checked on the net, it was only around 300 baht for a boat. So anyway, we paid up and got on the boat. At that point i clearly remember one of my photographer friends telling me that the first thing we need to do is to look for a bridge where i can take pictures from the top. There was no bridge in sight. Well, maybe we had to ride the boat going to the bridge, I thought to myself. Before we disembarked, I made myself clear to our guide that I needed to get to a bridge soon to take pictures. I needed to go to that bridge fast because I didn't want tourists crowding around my "very Thailand" photos. The tourists were scheduled to arrive around 1 hour and 30 minutes from that time so I was quite confident with the time. In response, the guide merely told me "ok ok ok!" So i thought nga ok na dba??? i thought nagka sinabot mi. 

 

Lau and I were super excited to start our Floating Market experience. Our motorboat went from one narrow strip of water to another. At one point i started to ask myself why that did not resemble any of the Floating Market pictures we saw on the internet at all. Where was the busy strip of water where all the vendors were? Again, i told myself, maybe sayu lang jud kaayo mi. Our guide then took us to one store after another with each vendor telling Lau and I to please buy something from them because the first buyer will bring them good luck for the rest of the day. So of course, nag palit2x sad kunuhay mi. After about 20 minutes of riding we finally reach a clearing and enter a familiar scene. Aaaaaahhh... this is it. The actual market. On the first bridge that i saw, i started telling the guide to stop the boat and park so that i could take pictures. To my utter shock, he told me NO NO NO. Huh??!!! Why NO??! Then he couldn't explain anymore. I started to go berserk. "I want to go down NOW!!!" The guide, panicking, told me again, NO! CANNOT!!! Omigod!!! nganong Cannot man intawn oy?!! I needed to get to that bridge so i could take top angle shots! hello?! can't he understand?! and besides, didn't he agree to what i said even before we left the dock? As time went by i started to notice that the crowd was becoming thicker and thicker. Tourists on boats started to  appear out of nowhere and before we knew it, i had lost my one and only chance to take good pictures of the Damnoen Sadoak Floating Market. Wala na... I can't take pictures of authentic Thai people trading with one another in the early morning with just a hint of sunlight filtered by the early morning clouds. By then the sun had shone so brightly pangit na kaayo to take pictures. Pakshit. I was soooooo mad at our guide for not letting us get off the boat. It was at that time when I told Lauren with a sinking feeling that shit, i think we just got ripped off. 

 

Ripped off. effin' BIG TIME. The driver we thought we could trust with our lives took us to a different boat rental way farther from the main market. No wonder nothing looked familiar in the beginning. No wonder we took his own sweet time taking us from one shop to another at the "outskirts" of the main market. No wonder he couldn't fucking "park" his boat! Because his dock was not in the main market. Pak-fuckin'-SHIT. It was all the way back in that far out isolated area where there were no signs of civilization. hai. Minatay doh!!!!!! I was so frustrated I was almost in tears. There went the ultimate Bangkok photo op. It just slipped out of my hands. Just like that. We didn't even know who to blame anymore. When i couldn't take being on that fucking 1,200 baht boat that didn't even take mt to my main purpose for going there, i told to the guide I WANT TO GO BACK. I was seething mad. Even Lauren didn't know how to make me stop. Sorry, Lau. I just couldn't help it anymore. So we made our way back to their dock, met up with our driver and made it clear to him nga gi sapot mi. I explained to our driver that i needed to get on a bridge so i could take pictures. bahala nalang pangit na kay daghan na tao basta kay at least i can just take pictures from the top. The driver, sensing our anger, immediately drove away. Later on we found ourselves entering one stretch of a road with a big sign that sad "WELCOME TO DAMNOEN SADOAK FLOATING MARKET". It's then that we realize that we should have come here in the first place. The driver, if he was in his right mind, and didn't have plans of ripping us off, should have taken us there! Damnit! As we approached a bridge I didn't even have time to marvel at the beautiful scene beneath me. I was already seething with anger. If only the driver had taken us there first! waaaaaaaaaaahhh!!! 

 

Lauren and I alighted from the cab and told the guilty looking driver to wait for us. As we entered the row of restaurants, shops, and boat rentals it dawned on me to ask one of them just how much a boat would cost us. I said, Lau, unsa man, u still want to know how much ra jud ang boat?" Shit uy. We knew it would break our hearts to know but we couldn't help it! we had to ask! and ooooooooooooomigod. Literally naka hilak mi ni Lauren sa ka sakit. the truth hurts. Because the truth is, a paddle boat would only have cost us 200 baht. WTF!!! That seriously was the lowest point of our entire Bangkok trip. Knowing that we had put our trust into this one person hoping that he'd let us have the best Bangkok experience we could possibly have but he turned out to be a total liar. We were so frustrated, angry, and tired that even if we forced ourselves to enjoy an order of sticky rice with mango, we couldn't fully appreciate it kay tungod sa among kalagot. Lau and I then decided that we didn't want to ride with that driver anymore going back to Bangkok. Never again!!! When we found him, we just told him to take us to the bus station. Making pakyaw the taxi to Bangkok would have cost us another 800 baht whereas we knew that getting on a bus would be way way cheaper. In fairness nalang jud, even if we were super angry na with the driver, he was actually nice enough to still drive us to the bus station. i mean, hello?! alangan man noh. We wouldn't have paid him if he didn't take us there. hahaha!!! At the bus station, the driver asked us, why you not go back with me to bangkok?" I looked him in the face and said well, because you're a liar! a boat is only 200 baht! Not 1,200 baht!!!!!!" dah!!! take that! he replied pa jud, Because you got a motorboat. 200 baht is only for paddle boat". then i said, SO???? WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE??!?!?!" ARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

The bus ride to Bangkok gave us the chance to cool off and sleep our frustrations away. By the time we were in the city we were already feeling quite better. I was still angry though. I mean, who knows when I could ever go back to Bangkok right? When will i get to take good pictures of the Floating Market? i was already given the chance but it was robbed away from me. pakshit. anyway, I told myself, well, what happened, happened. I can't let it ruin my last day in Bangkok. So with more cheerful spirits, Lau and I hailed a cab to take us to the Grand Palace and its surrounding temples.

 

Needless to say, when we got to the Grand Palace, Lau and I were already physically and emotionally exhausted. We hadn't eaten anything save for the mango & sticky rice and some spring rolls at the Floating Market. The temples were beautiful, so ornately carved, so intricately designed, and so colorful. Too bad we were way too tired. Lauren mentioned one too many times that her feet were literally giving up on her already. ako sad noh! di na madala. We've been on our feet almost 3 days straight except for the times we rode on cabs or trains or buses. And plus to think we are not the most fit people in the world. Hai... mau tu.. we spent around 2 hours exploring the temples then headed to the Grand Palace for a photo op. Our next agenda was to get to the Reclining Buddha . We knew it was just near the Grand Palace but we were too tired we decided to get a tuk-tuk instead. The first tuk-tuk we made para told us that the Reclining Buddha was closed for the day. When we asked why, he said,  because today is Buddha day. Would u like to go to the giant standing Buddha instead?" Ay pakshit naman o. Reclining Buddha nga e!!! We went to another tuk-tuk and they said the same thing. Such assholes. By that time we were getting tired of lousy locals who just want to make an extra buck out of poor innocent tourists like me and Lau. Hoy! Pa mili sad kuno mo ug ilaron nga people! Not us! kay we're just poor like you! hmf! 

We had no choice but to walk all the way to the Reclining Buddha. Some guys from the tourist information told us that it's not really that far away. So mau to... Lau and I walked walked walked under the heat of the sun with empty stomachs and legs that were about to collapse beneath us. Kalbaryo na kung kalbaryo. haha! We passed by food stalls on our way and decided to feed ourselves bisan gamay lang just to tide us over 'till we got to sit down and eat real food. So we stopped by one stall and ordered sticky rice with pork floss topping. In a matter of minutes we devoured everything and washed them down with ice cold softdrinks. aaaaaaaahh!!! well, not really sulbad. kay murag wa ka abot sa intestines ang food namo. hahahah! but at least nalang we were able to eat before any of us fainted. 

 

The Reclining Buddha was a sight to behold. It was so huge it filled an entire room!   If i weren't too tired I would have taken some time to compose a good shot of it. But there were too many people, most of them big icky sweaty Panas (eeewww!!! cover nose and mouth!!! haha!) that I just took a few snaps and I was out of there in no time. Whew. O basta naka adto nami sa Reclining Buddha! We explored the rest of the area almost literally dragging our feet kay grabe na ka kapoy. Suddenly we felt a wave of homesickness come over us. Na homesick si Lauren for Noy Berting, her trusty driver. Ako a homesick sad ko for my 14 year old gubaon car. Hai... what i wouldn't give to have my car magically appear infront of me that time. or actually maypa si Noy Berting nalang kay I wouldn't want to drive sad. There we were.. two exhausted tourists nga di na ma drawing ang mga faces. All of a sudden we couldn't wait to get home :(

 

Our flight that was scheduled at 12:06 midnight. So we still had about 5 hours to kill before we had to get back to the hotel and proceed to the airport. So the next item on our itinerary was MBK. The giant shopping mall filled with cheap stuff. When we got there the first thing we did was feed ourselves. Lord knows namatay na among ma bitok sa tiyan. wahahahah!!! we went inside this chinese restaurant that served cheap but yummy dishes and we were instantly busog! among eyes na busog sad thanks to the eye candy guys across our table. woohoo! exotic looking cuties!!! When we were finally satiated we explored the mall and marveled at all the cheapo stuff. Bags and shoes all for 199 baht only! imagine that! for a moment there i actually forgot how tired i was already! hahaha! when Lau and i entered this shoe place that said ONLY 199!!! we started trying on many different cute pairs. Ang ending? I got 3 pairs for msyelf - 1 for dich and 2 for me. oooo dba?! :D nag shopping galore si manang! hahahah! if only i had more money i would have bought so much more stuff from MBK. the bags... oh the bags! only freakin' 199!!!! When it was almost time to go Lau and I headed to the supermarket to buy food nga only in Thailand and wala sa Cebu nga food for our hungry ka-pamilyas back home. I got Capuccino Maltesers and White Malt Ovaltine among others. yay! Sulbad na! and almost na sad ma empty ang pockets! yay!!! hahahah!!!

Our cab ride going back to the hotel was a heart-stopping, panic-causing one. Up to the end Lau and I were debating wether we should take the train or get a cab going back. In the end we decided on the cab. When we were stuck in the worst Bangkok traffic we ever experienced, we almost thought we wouldn't make it in time. The driver took a different route that was not familiar to us so we thought napud nga gi ilad2x mi. haha! mga praning! but just as we were about to go behind schedule, our hotel came into view and we breathed a huge sigh of relief. WHEW!!!!!!! at the hotel we quickly stuffed all our purchases inside our bulging maletas. as Lauren was checking her stuff she realized that something was missing. the battery of her digicam was nowhere to be found. I remembered clearly putting it in the charger last night but she didn't transfer it in the morning. when i was packing also i remembered that i took the outlet transformer but left the charger and battery where Lauren could see them. Lau frantically searched her maleta as tears of panic started to roll down her cheeks. oh no!!!!! patay jud siya ni Maricel Escanilla Villaver! waaaaaaaaaah!!! She asked the hotel personnel if she could go back up to the room to check if maybe she had left it there but to her utter dissapointment wala jud didto. I told her to check her bag again and soon she found the tiny white thing inserted in some article of clothing. WHEW! big sigh of relief na sad! Maayo gani na kit-an! 

 

Lau and I freshened up at the hotel's bathroom - washed our dusty faces, brushed our teeth, changed into a fresh top then we were off to the airport. We bid the Bangkok night scene goodbye, checked in at the Cebu Pacific counter then explored Suvurnabhumi International Airport. Again, our eyes were super busog as Lau and I took turns pointing out uber yummy eye candy popping out from almost everywhere. hahaha! yummmmmmmeh!!! After a quick dinner and some last minute pasalubong shopping, it was time to board the plane. By then we were so exhausted we just couldn't wait to fall asleep. 

All in all, our Bangkok experience, I would say, was a delightful mix of highs and lows. We met great locals who helped two lost tourists find their way, we also encountered people who just wanted to rip you off your hard earned money. The sights were splendid except for Safari World. The food, well, we wouldn't say we were able to experience real Thai cuisine. Because of our schedule we just ate whenever we needed to eat and whatever food was available. So that's one thing we really missed out on. Sayang kaayo. But hey, when it comes to food, never jud mi mag mahay. So whatever we spent on food, they were definitely worth it. :)

Lau and I came home with lots and lots of stories to share, hundreds of pictures to upload and make a Banana Book out of, and memories to last us a lifetime. Thank you, Bangkok. Thank You for hosting The Bouncing Beach Balls' first International trip. It was indeed an experience we will never forget. Now we say Khap Khun Ka with all our hearts. :)

 

And to everyone who made this trip possible, for my mom and brother for their financial support, for Dr. Erwin Lim for all the travel advice, to my bro again, for taking on my BB duties while i was gone. To my ultimate travel buddy Lauren, salamat salamat salamat. :D 'Till our next trip! Mwah!

On our second day Lau and I were so low on energy that we woke up an hour later than the scheduled wake up time. We were supposed to go to the Damnoen Saduak Floating market located about 2 hours south of Bangkok. When we found out we weren't going to make it in time, we decided to change our itinerary - Safari World and Siam Ocean World today then Floating Market tomorrow. Since the zoo won't be opening 'till another hour we took our own sweet time eating breakfast at the hotel. In fairness ha, even if our hotel was cheap and old, the food was pretty good. Enough to fill 2 giant hungry girls about to spend another long day  walking under Bangkok's impossibly awful awful awful heat. 

Our motto for the 3 days that we were there was "today is our lucky day".  Indeed we got lucky for we found ourselves, rather the bellboy at our hotel found us a very sweet and super helpful lady cab driver. We were supposed to follow what we had researched about how to get to Safari World. After explaining to our driver she told us that we got it all wrong and that our destination was way on the other end. As in far out najud kaayo mi. hahaha. So she suggested that she take us all the way to the zoo instead of us having to ride a train and look for a bus to get there. Being the lazy commuters that we were we just agreed with her. Lucky for us also, she was willing to go by the meter and told us that it was up to us to giver her extra for driving very far from her usual route. She was super nice and sweet that Lauren and I asked if she could take us to the Floating Market tomorrow and to the airport also that same night. Unfortunately, we said she had other appointments so while she was driving she looked through her address book and kept on trying to contact her taxi driver friends to be our drivers for tomorrow. The drive going to Safari World took about 1 hour and by the time we got there she had booked us a driver who was going to pick us up from the hotel the next day to go to the Floating Market. However, for the airport ride she told us we'll have to call her later that night via her mobile phone to confirm if she's found us a driver. Effort kaayo on her part noh? suuuuuper nice gyud kaayo si ateh driver. When we gave her almost extra 100 baht aside from what the taxi meter indicated (kay rich girls man mi :p) she even wanted to give it back to us saying it was too much. Wow. I mean after all that effort we really believed that she deserved it. What an angel. :)

Upon reaching the entrance of Safari World I started to feel a surge of excitement. Being around animals always always brings out the kid in me especially knowing that i'd be seeing more elephants. weeeeee! Upon approaching the entrance, however, Lauren suddenly said "shit mick, asa ang ticket?" panicking, she started rummaging through the plastic bag that was given to us but all she came up with were brochures and flyers. WTF. i said maybe di na kailangan ug ticket to get in because we already paid when we went through the first entrance. so we lined up but as our turn came closer we saw that we indeed needed our tickets! waaaaaaaah!!! "Lau, asa man ang tickets?!" we tried looking in the plastic bag again and to our ultimate relief, we found them inserted somewhere in the papers. HAY! BE STILL MY HEART! i swear my heart just wouldn't stop beating. i was already thinking about having to pay the 750 baht entrance again just because we stupidly lost the ticket or left it in the taxi. WHEW! 

So we went inside as the zoo staff greeted us with "sawadee kha, welcome to safari world!" we were among the earliest visitors aside from some kids who were on a field trip and some random tourists. we plotted our day around the show schedules and decided to go to the Orangutan Show first. On our way to the show we passed by a group of girls who were gathered around a cage. Lau and i curiously walked over and when we saw what the fuss was all about, i swear i literally heard my heart break into pieces. Inside an incredibly tiny cage were 2 beautiful tiger cubs with the saddest eyes i've ever seen. They were cooped up in that small cage i guess waiting for visitors to have pictures taken with them. I could only hope that they actually have a bigger area to roam around compared to that tiny cage they were locked up in. I swear my Daschund's cage is even bigger. and that's a freakin' Daschund! these are two (TWO!!!) tiger cubs. Suddenly my previous excitement waned. I just wanted to open that cage and let those tiger cubs run free to stretch their long legs while the zoo staff wasn't watching. Grabe kaayo ka sad ang scene, i swear. :(

The next attraction we passed by was no better than the tiger cubs. We went inside the Polar Bear area and the moment we stepped in, the scene brought poor Lauren to tears. Picture this: two gigantic polar bears on big rocks bathing under the sweltering Bangkok heat. When one of the bears took a dip in the pool we saw that the pool was only a few feet deep. The bears looked so sad, they made moaning sounds that omg, just so totally broke our hearts. Lauren couldn't help but cry out of pity. What were these arctic creatures doing in an incredibly hot place like Thailand??? We couldn't, for our lives, imagine just how much heat they were feeling when even us humans who are used to tropical weather were already melting underneath our clothes. OMG! grabe ka luoy!!! The zoo could have at least placed them in an air conditioned enclosure five times bigger than what we saw! god!!! i made resolve right there to write a letter to the World Wildlife Fund about how much abuse these animals are experiencing inside Bangkok's Safari World. To think this was only our second stop! Suddenly Lauren and I became so depressed we just wanted to leave already. But sayang sad kaayo the day, sayang what we paid for to get there, plus the entrance fee. We might as well make the most out of our stay there despite the huge gray clouds already hanging over our heads. 

When it was time for the Orangutan Show to start Lauren and I immediately headed to the venue and got ourselves nice comfortable seats. Suddenly about 5 minutes before the show started a huge group of "Pana" as what Lauren likes to call them (I don't want to mention any nationality kay naa unya ma offend). There were so many of them then before we knew it we were surrounded by Panas everywhere. minatay doh. We could hardly breathe the whole time we were watching the show. grabe ka lain ug baho!!! waaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!! i wanted to cover my mouth and my nose but that would have been too impolite and disrespectful right? So Lau and I had to endure around 30 minutes of the most intensely foul smelling body odor that you could ever imagine. I think that kept me from really enjoying the Orangutan Show. Sayang unta kay the show was really fun and entertaining with lots of awfully cute orangutans dressed in different costumes portraying a scene from a boxing match, a concert, and lots more. The weird thing was, the whole time I was watching the orangutans, at the back of my head i kept on thinking what kind of training these animals had to go through to be able to perform such complicated acts. I mean i know, monkeys are the closest to humans in terms of intelligence but somehow i kept picturing them being abused in the hands of their trainers. I wonder what made me think like this. I've been to different animals shows in other countries but I never felt this way about the animals. Was it just me growing old and bitter? Was it the depressing the mood that Lau and I were both in after seeing just 2 animals looking so miserable? Hay... ambot... I mean, yeah, i laughed in some scenes, i couldn't stop taking pictures, i thoroughly enjoyed it. Just except for that one sad thought ringing at the back of my head.

After the show we proceeded to explore more animals. Too bad we only got more and more depressed. We saw ducks, swans, geese in murky ponds filled with mud, fallen leaves, and the occasional piece of garbage. We saw birds, god the birds, just perched miserably in small cages without much room for them to fly around in. At one of the bird cages a zoo staff met us and gave us some grapes to feed them. That was quite fun for us as we tried our hardest to put the grape inside their sharp hungry beaks without putting our fingers in as well. Challenge kaayo toh. haha! But the cute birdies were so friendly we almost found it hard to move away from their cages. we wished we had more grapes to feed all the birds! As we explored more parts of the zoo we just grew more and more depressed. I haven't seen animals more miserable-looking than inside Bangkok's Safari World. 

We watched the Sea Lion Show, the Dolphin Show and the Elephant Show the whole time just wishing that the zoo could take care of the animals better. The sea lions looked like their skin were sun burned, they hardly made any noise unlike the noisy, screechy, sea lions in Ocean Park Hongkong. Of all the shows we went to, we only got to conclude that the dolphins were better taken care of as compared to the other animals. Their swimming pools was huge and deep and they seemed well fed. At the elephant show we were grateful that we were allowed to go up close with the elephants. Bitin kaayo to our elephant experience in Ayuthaya so happy kaayo mi that when the show was over the trainers made us audience go to the front to feed the elephants (40 baht for a basket of fruits!) and to take pictures with them. weeeeeee!!! i am now a big elephant fan. they're super sweet and gentle despite their size! Another zoo highlight was the Safari Terraces. There we got to feed the humongous giraffes who had the longest toungues i've ever seen on any animal. The giraffes were suuuuuper nice too. Just as long as you keep on feeding them. haha! The view at the terrace was spectacular. The zoo has this gigantic field filled with more exotic animals - zebras, rhinoceros, gazelles, birds, all co-existing with each other. I almost felt like i was in Africa. hahahah! i wish!!! I loved it when a group of zebras galloped together. *sigh* what a beautiful sight. Lau and I stayed at the terrace for a while to rest, freshen up, and just admire the view.

 

On our way back to the zoo's main walkway, to our utter surprise, we saw a cutie patootey orangutan walking hand in hand with it's trainers. Lauren screamed and ran towards the orangutan. It was such a sweetie that it gamely put its arms around our shoulders, it held our hands, and kissed us on the cheek. I fell in love right there! hahaha! It has always been Lauren's dream to be able to hug and cuddle an orangutan so this was definitely one moment that made our day at the zoo memorable despite the depression we felt the entire time. hehe! i almost wished i could have my own pet orangutan! At around 1 hour before our planned time to leave the zoo, we decided to call it a day. We've definitely had enough Safari World. Of course we won't ever recommend anyone to come here unless the zoo improves its facilities and make better homes for the animals. I still haven't started on my letter to the World Wildlife Fund but i promise, one of these days i'll make that letter for the sake of the animals we saw in that zoo.  

 

We made pakyaw another cab (500 baht) to head all the way to the heart of Bangkok on to our next destination - Siam Paragon's  Siam Ocean World. It took us another 1 hour to get back to the city but we were grateful for the chance to cool off inside the air-conditioned cab and to rest our tired weary feet. I think that was the first time we experienced real Bangkok traffic. When we were around the huge malls the cars hardly moved and we were getting hungrier by the minute. We skipped lunch at the zoo not wanting to spend money on the lousy food they served there. When we entered the super posh Siam Paragon we instantly felt so out of place in our less than fashionable outfits, harassed faces, and sweaty bodies. hahaha! but we didn't care! we had some money changed at the nearest bank then looked for a nice cheap place to eat. There were too many great restaurants in their food court that we had a hard time deciding on what to eat. Finally, we made up our mind to eat at this Japanese fast food that served cheap katsudon with free drinks. wooot! and since we were super duper hungry we continued filling our selves with dessert. We had crispy roti with milo powder, chocolate and milk, plus 3 big scoops of ice cream! aaaaaaaaaahhh!!! S-U-L-B-AD doh!!! needless to say, we again became energized to go about the rest of the day. Before heading to Ocean World, Lauren and I popped by Siam Discovery Center another one of the Siam Malls right across Siam Paragon to check out if they had a Crocs Store since we heard Crocs were cheaper in Thailand. We found the Crocs store and i got myself the pair i've been eyeing for quite some time now - the brown suede Alice. wooohooo!!! happy happy! I wore it immediately to relieve my feet from the pain i've been feeling wearing my sneakers. Lauren bought her nephew Elijah a cute little pair too. 

 

After experiencing a wonderful surge of shopping excitement we left Siam Discovery and headed to the next item in our itinerary, the Siam Ocean Center. We purchased tickets that included a glass bottom boat tour and a 3d movie too! cool eh? The glass bottom boat tour started with Lau and I buying a cup of shrimps to feed the fishies and sharks underwater. A nice pleasant lady explained to us about the aquarium, how the animals were taken care of, about how they all co-exist in one giant enclosure that makes them feel like they're still in their natural habitat. What an entirely huge difference it was from this morning's zoo disaster at Safari World! hahahah!!! :D After the boat tour we finally went inside. We were immediately awed by the many different sea creatures some in tiny aquariums, some in bigger ones, all in multitudes of colors swimming happily! i couldn't stop taking pictures! its like we forgot how tired our feet were! as we went from one  level of the aquarium to another we oohed and aahed at the fishes and omigod!!! the shaaaaaaaaaaarks!!!! can i just die now?? hahaha! i think Lau and i stared at the shark area so long trying to get the perfect shot with the most sharks swimming by the background. the rest of the time we just stood and stared in amazement at the beautiful creatures swimming gracefully sooooooo close to us! aaaaaaaahhhhh!!!! minatay doh! SIam Ocean World is sooooooo the bomb!!! woohoo!!! :D super duper worth it! mahal ang entrance fee (960 baht i think) but worth it na worth it!!! :D The one thing i missed though, was the penguins. oh nooooo!!! i only saw like 2 penguins shivering in their cold cold aquarium while the rest were probably inside their cozier homes. I was lucky there were some statue penguins that i got to take pictures with. i just had to make do with them. haha! :D All in all the Siam Ocean World experience was, i would say, one of the highlights of our trip. :D wooohooo!!!

 

Just after a few hours of walking inside Siam Ocean World we suddenly felt hungry again. grabe. food trip na ito. Lau and I headed back to the food court for a fancier dinner. Nag all out nami sa food kay we were running out of time in Bangkok and we had yet to sample some of their local specialties. hehe! We each ordered a dish plus the most heavenly pad thai i had ever tasted. deeeeeeeelish!!! the fresh shrimp, the nuts, the veggies, the noodles all mixed together with yummy sauce. haaaaaaaaaii... thank you lord!!!! haha! and omg! i almost forgot the dessert! i told you nag all out nami! haha! Lau and i shared a slice of the yummiest ever banoffee pie with layers and layers of the freshest bananas and the sweetest chocolate we'd ever tasted. grabe na ito! :D 

The third item on our itinerary (by the way, it's only now that i'm finally finally sure of how to spell this word. wahaha!) that day was the kinkiest area of Bangkok famous for its kinky shows - Patpong. We said goodbye to posh and swanky Siam Paragon, hopped on a train, and headed downtown. Upon alighting from the train Lau and I hailed a tuk-tuk  and told the driver to take us to some "shows". We've heard and read of these "shows" and told ourselves we should at least try and see what it's all about since apparently, it's part of the whole Bangkok experience. haha! so we found ourselves enjoying the tuk-tuk ride along the highway. later on we realized that the driver had been driving for way too long already. we checked the map and saw that Patpong 1 or 2 was just so near the train station. Just when we started to panic the driver started making turns into these really small, really really dark and scary looking alley ways. Lauren and I could almost feel like our hearts would thud out of our rib cages that moment. Scary looking guys approached our tuktuk and our driver told us to go down and follow them into their scary looking bars. ooooooomg. grabe ka minatay as in. I told our driver and insisted that No! This is not the Patpong that we wanted to go to! NO NO NO! take us to fucking Patpong!!! so the driver drove away again and said ok ok! i take you to patpong! we though ok na. but then again he started driving into these small streets again. pakshit doh! i got really mad this time i was about to go hysterical. i think the driver got scared of me that he finally, after almost 30 minutes of driving around, he finally brought us to bright, shiny, noisy, crowded Patpong. The Patpong  we read about on the net. When we asked some friendly looking locals about this bar that we wanted to go to, another guy started to approach us. The next thing we knew the 2 guys were already fighting over who would take us to the bar. grabeh! nabuang na ang mga tao! Lau and I were so panic-stricken that we dashed to the nearest 7-11 to hide from the scary guys. minatay oy! adventure na kung adventure! wahahaha! Later on after going around the Patpong night market and thinking of the right time and right moment to go inside the bar, we just realized that we actually didn't want to go inside anymore. Missing the kinky shows would be minus one thing on our must-go places in our itinerary  but we just couldn't bear to see fellow ladies being watched by hungry men as if they're food. yikes. murag in the end gi luod nalang mi. hai... we decided that no.. wen just didn't want to be a part of it all. the next thing we knew we found ourselves seated comfortably inside a massage parlor having our tired aching feet kneaded and massaged by wonderful Thai masseuses. Ay! heaven na heaven! we even got to catch some sleep throughout the 1 hour massage. SULBAD NA ITO! :D 

So for day 2 we had a few bumps along the road but we still managed to have fun the Bangkok way. All the ilad2x part, all the depressing parts would have to be charged to experience nalang. hahaha! One more day in Bangkok and already we were starting to miss our trip. 

September 22-23, 2008

After what seemed like 48 million years of waiting, our first international trip finally happened. :D We took the Cebu Pacific Cebu - Manila - Bangkok route in the afternoon of September 22 and reached Bangkok safely in wee hours of the morning the following day. As in 3:00am ma-o'y pag abot namo sa Bangkok no thanks to the several hours of flight delays we had to endure at NAIA 3. The original plan was to get there by 11:35 pm. grrrrrrrrr!

 It still felt surreal that we were actually in another country because Bangkok looked a lot like Manila. but when we saw an elephant walking down the high way while on our way to our hotel that's when we said aaaahhh.... we really are in Bangkok. the driver almost had a heart attack when Lau and I screamed OMG!!!!!! ELEPHANT!!!!! wahahahaa!!!

We checked in at Inn Come Suite Hotel in Lad Prao area which is in the outskirts of Bangkok. Two sleepy receptionists greeted us as we handed them our hotel voucher and they gave us our room keys. By this time we have been traveling for almost 12 hours already since we left Cebu at around 4:00 pm the day before. We were just looking forward to catching whatever sleep we could get as we had to be up by 7:00. Grabe, can i say pressure kaayo sa time?  But before turning in, we decided to grab something to eat at the nearby 7-11 because we were, in an understatement, FAMISHED. gutooooooooom najud kaayo. we ordered these microwaveable rice meals nalang para ma busog jud. That was our first meal in Thailand. ka sad oy! :p

Lau and I only had about 4 hours of sleep that morning then we were off to start our first day in Bangkok. We had a hearty American breakfast at the hotel then proceeded to the North Bus Terminal via taxi. At the bus terminal we purchased tickets for Ayuthaya our first item in the itinerary. The bus ride took about 2 hours so thankfully, we got to catch some sleep there. When the bus driver said something like "last stop" or signalled to us that we have reached  Ayuthaya and the bus is already going to turn around and head back to Bangkok, we started to panic. We stupidly thought that the bus was going to take us direct to the temple ruins  that we wanted to see. When we asked the driver he couldn't understand us. We started asking around in the bus "anybody speak English?" and people just shook their heads. OMG. panic mode. our research didn't tell us anything about getting to the temple ruins!!! we had no choice but to get off the bus feeling lost and disoriented. luckily a friendly looking guy with "tourist police"  on his shirt approached us and endorsed us to a tuk-tuk driver who could take us around the temple ruins. WHEW!!! 

we made pakyaw the tuk-tuk for 1,200 baht for 4 hours and off we went to the first of about 3 or 4 temple ruins. the day was so sweltering hot that i wanted to slap myself for not bringing sunblock. for sure negra na mi ig uli namo. waaaaaah! but the beautiful sights almost made Lau and me forget about the heat. there were many many moments during our stay in Ayuthaya where we said amazing thailand, indeed! it was just amazing how the locals were able to preserve these majestic creations despite all the progress that the province had gone through. ooooohhh soooo beautiful. i'd say Ayuthaya was definitely one of the highlights of our entire Bangkok trip. 

aside from the temple ruins, Lau and i also went on an exciting elephant ride. woohoo! we had one elephant each, of course, kay maluoy ko nila! hahaha! omg, by the way, grabe ka severely expensive ang ride. 1,000 baht mi each for a 30-minute around the park. rip off kaayo i think! hay! but sige nalang... i hope the elephants will benefit from that highway robbery. the ride was nice and bumpy, the elephant sweet and gentle, the sights still breathtakingly beautiful. Lau and her guide got along really well. thanks to our trusty handbook with some pages in basic Thai she actually got to converse with him. ayeeeeeeeee!!! :p we had so much fun with our guides that Lau and i reminded ourselves to make sure to give them a big tip. we already had that in mind. but the moment we got off the elephants one of the staff immediately demanded that we give our guides tips. mura ba'g HELLO?? we were really going to give them tips! just you wait! ano ba?! we're not that stupid as to not give them anything. hai! maka topas kaayo! that seriously ruined our elephant moment. then when i wanted to take more pics of the elephants the other staff would ask for payment. anan! na shao shao na! hay kalagot kaayo i swear!!!!!!!!! but anyhoo... ok nalang. basta kay must-experience-thailand-moment number 1 is done - to ride on an elephant. :D

before i end my entry on Ayuthaya i'd just like to mention that we got so lucky with our tuk-tuk driver. he's suuuuuuper nice! at one time he stopped the tuk-tuk, went inside a convenient store, and bought us 4 bottles of ice cold bottled water! for free!!! then when we gave him money for lunch he refused it. and on our last stop, he invited us to savor a super refreshing buko drink under the shade. grabe ka refreshing that buko ha. after hours of walking under the heat of the sun nothing could be more refreshing than fresh coconut juice drank via straw right out of the coconut itself. can i say heaven? when we insisted on paying for the buko he refused to accept our payment. grabe ka nice si tuk-tuk driver! plus we met a cutie at that coconut place. hahaha! grabe ka cutie he looked so out of place in that remote area! we couldn't help but ask to have a picture taken with him. we wanted to tell everyone at home that we met a Thai celebrity during our trip. nyahahaha!!!

the bus ride going back to Bangkok from Ayuthaya  took another 2 hours. we had to cancel our original plan of going to Ancient City due to time constraints. next in our itinerary was to get to Impact Stadium for Lauren's tennis match. we headed to  Mo Chit BTS Sky Train station because according to Lau's research we'd find a shuttle that will take us to the stadium there. At the train station while Lau was still figuring out how to get to the shuttle, i suddenly started feeling woozy. hunger, heat  and exhaustion are awful when combined. i literally felt the ground shake beneath me.  so i attacked the nearest food stall selling breads and bought almost 200 baht worth of bread. murag ko'g nag panic buying i just wanted to fill my stomach or else i swear i'd collapse. Lau and i devoured our breads in no time. when we saw a milk tea stall we bought napud the biggest order we could find. still not satisfied with our food we went to the next food stall which is a sushi bar with a bit of an enclosed AIR-CONDITIONED place where customers could eat and relax. we ordered more food not caring anymore how much they cost kay intawn gutom jud kaayo. hahaha! 

when we finally felt better, Lau again started to analyze how to get to the shuttle that would take us to Impact Stadium. lucky for us, there were a couple of girls who spoke great english and explained to us exactly how to get to the shuttle. thankfully it was only a few steps away from where we were. whew! thank you lord for english speaking Thais!!! before heading to the shuttle ni hapit pa jud mi ni Lauren ug juice kay you know, wa pa ni na satisfied with what we ate. we must have spent almost 300 baht on nonsense food basta lang ma busog mi. 

The Impact Stadium was sooooooo huge that when we got there we didn't know how to get to the tennis match. again, god blessed us with another english-speaking Thai, a friendly school girl, who helped us get on motorcycles. she was so nice that she was the one who actually explained to the drivers where to take us. what a sweetie! :) thank you kaayo girl! Lau and I hopped on 1 motorcycle each and seeing as i'm not very skilled at riding motorcycles, i was so thankful that the ride was not that long. whew. We hopped off the motorcycles, purchased our tickets, and finally found our seats inside the stadium. The place was huge! bigger than Araneta coliseum definitely. I busied myself with taking pictures here and there even if my lens wasn't really long enough to take decent shots of the players down there. i'm not a big tennis fan but mau man jud ni ang gi anhi ni Lau Lau, ang tennis. so being the supportive amiga that i was i just had to go with her. Thank goodness the place was nice, cold, and comfortable. 

After the tennis game we were so tempted to just call it a day and head back to the hotel already. We've only had about 4 hours of straight sleep that morning and we were tired beyond imagination. but we knew we only had 2 more days in Bangkok and we shouldn't waste our time. so we gathered what little energy we had left and got on a v-hire that brought us to a nearby train station. We then proceeded to Suan Lum Night Bazaar. The first thing we did there was eat our super late dinner. that was around 11:00pm already. minatay doh! we ordered chicken barbecue with rice from this food stall, some juice, and noodles. grabe ka yummy ang chicken!!!!!! loved it!! :D i got energized a little bit after dinner so we tried to go shopping. but nooooo.... kapoy najud kaayo. Lau told me, "mic, my feet are giving up on me!" oh no!!!! hahaha! so what did we do? nagpa massage of course! and can i say that authentic Thai massage is da bomb?!! heaven kaayo i swear!!!!!!! i've always loved massages and i've tried several spas here in Cebu and Manila but omg! nothing can ever beat that massage. i'll always remember the glorious heavenly feeling everytime the masseuse poked and kneaded my tired aching feet for the rest of my life. 

at the strike of midnight it was time to head back to our hotel. since the train station was already closed we decided to get a cab all the way back to Lad Prao. our area is so far that it's like traveling from Fuente all the way to Consolacion. yikes! at the hotel i didn't care that my bed was not that comfy. i just wanted to sleep. 

With Day 1 over, we knew that we were in for more adventures and surprises for the next 2 days. the exhaustion we felt was indescribable but oh so worth it. :D 

It's never too early to start christmas shopping! Why don't you check out some of The Banana Book's latest products! 

The rules are simple.

At the end of the post, the player tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?

Year 1998, i was in 2nd or 3rd year high school having the most carefree years of my life. aaaaaah.. high school. it all seems like a blur to me now. back then my top 3 priorities were school, theater, picture taking for the school paper, and swimming. i dreaded chemistry but i was quite the average student. hehe :D i miss high school!!!

2. What are the 5 things on your to-do list today?

- finish making comic life samples for BB

- finish making magnetic memo pad samples for BB

- prepare for saturday's big photo shoot at the studio. i'll be shooting 25 people all at once. goodluck to me!

- give a surprise exam for BB's two new employees

- attend Dondon Colinares' wedding together with some guys from the club

3. Snacks you enjoy:

- right now i'm crazy about butterscotch with mango chips from iloilo. 

- pizza!!! handuraw or yellow cab

- grilled cheese with egg sandwich from orange brutus

- donuts, cakes, and anything sinfully sweet

- cheese nan from bread talk

4. Place(s) where you've lived:

Cebu City - born and raised here and will probably live here for the rest of my life. i love Cebu!

Manila - stayed there for 4 years back in college. i enjoyed my stay there but i never got to adapt the manila lifestyle. too fast-paced and not to mention too expensive for me. haha. probinsiyana ko forever!

5. Things I'd do if I were a billionaire:

- travel the world, go on an African Safari, spend a week in Santorini, swim with Dolphins in the Bahamas, go on a Mediterranean cruise, spend a night or two at the Burj Al Arab, visit the temples and ruins in Southeast Asia

- watch at least one olympics! opening and closing ceremonies, gymanstics, swimming, volleyball, tennis

- hire a good fitness trainer, a health food specialist chef, have my own gym at home and have a spankin' healthy body. woohoo!

- give a home to all the homeless doggies. start a doggie foundation or something.

- own as many dogs as i want to

- watch broadway shows in broadway

- have a dinner date with Brad Pitt

- if i do get married and i was a billiionaire, i'd hire Yervant & Buissink to be my photographers

- own my own photo studio and open in malls all over the country, expand BB and open it for franchising

- franchise QQ rice and bring it here to the philippines!

- use only La Mer products for my skin care regimen. La Mer!!! laysho!!! hahaha!

- build a nice 2-storey rest house by the beach 

- buy my own yacht so i could go island hopping or snorkeling every weekend

- heck, i should just buy my own island! haha!

- this list could go on and on and on. so i'll stop here :)

Tagged the following:

Jihanee Tan

Anya Lim

Marmie Wistehuff

Pam Jorolan

Lei Mitchen Sta. Maria

Genalyn So

Melissa Mateo

Lady is my first close friend to ever become a mom. I took this picture of her at the studio when she was still pregnant a few months back.
  Isn't he a darling?

OMIGOD. I AM SO SEETHING WITH ANGER RIGHT NOW.

April 27, 2008

We were told to be ready by 6:00 the following morning. But apparently Lauren turned off my alarm. The next thing i knew Ilene was up and about yelling "Shux! 5:58 na! Hapit na 6:00!!!" We quickly got dressed and headed to the dining area for a quick breakfast. It was there where we discovered the best bread ever! it's called Surfer's bread and is in fact shaped like a surf board. The bread was cooked in a brick oven and has some coconut extract in it. Lami kaayo. Si Ilene na addict gyud. She told Mam Anita mu order na siya for the following day. haha! Aside from the bread we had egg, meat loaf and Milo (or me and I) and coffee for Lauren. 

Unfortunately for us the weather was still as gloomy as ever. There was a bit of sunshine but the sky was mostly covered in grayish clouds. Bummer kaayo. And here i thought i'd be able to take glorious pictures of the trees, the blue skies, the clear blue water and all that. Sayanga gyud uy. Why oh why did we have to go there on a rainy week? :( Hay sige nalang.. we were determined to make Day 2 happy no matter what. 

Our schedule for the day was to visit the 3 islets then go to Sohoton Cove for our last stop. We boarded the Jadestar pumpboat and headed off to Guyam Island. Guyam Island is this really really small islet surrounded by mostly coconut trees. We were hoping to go snorkeling and all but sadly the waves on the shore were too huge that we were not able to swim properly. Ilene got so disappointed that she started writing on the sand "Siargao Sucks!" and she also wrote "Sucky time in Siquijor" Yes, she said Siquijor. wahahahah! na saag jud si Ilene! wrong spelling mam! :p 

We didn't stay at Guyam for long... next stop was nearby islet Daku Island. Daku Island is obviously bigger than Guyam and there's actually some village life there. I saw several houses and pumboats owned by the locals. This time the waves on the shore were even bigger. I didn't want to go in the water at all. Nag suruy2x nalang mi ni Lauren while si Ilene kay nag muni-muni on the sand. While Lau and I were strolling i met this super friendly doggie who followed me wherever i went. the doggy was super friendly that nag kissing na mi on our first meeting. wahahaha! such a cutie! at that point i started missing my babies again. :( the sun was still a no-show the entire time we were at Daku. So sad...

Next stop was Naked Island. On the way to the island the sun miraculously stopped hiding behind the clouds. The sky started to clear up and the color turned from gray to blue. i was hap-hap-happy! woohoooo!!!!! finally!!! :D Naked island was incredibly lovely not just because the weather started cooperating but also because the island really is beautiful. we literally had the entire place all to ourselves and there was hardly any sign of life there except for a few plants. the water was crystal clear and the sand was soooo fine it felt like powder in my hands. i went crazy taking pictures of lauren and ilene jumping and running, of the breathtaking view, and all that. just when i was about to keep my camera to start swimming lauren told me it was time to leave for Sohoton. Huwhaaaaaaat??!! wa pa gani nako na savor ang place! ka sad gyud uy! but i had no choice kay Sohoton was still 2 hours away and we had little time to spare. At least nalang i was already able to take pics. that's more important. hehe. :D 

I was quite bummed that we had to sit inside the pumpboat for the next 2 hours to get to Sohoton. But lauren told me she'd seen a show about it some time ago and it's really going to be worth the long ride. shet kapoy kaayo ang boat ride ha. my butt cheeks started to feel really sore only 30 minutes into the ride. waaaaaaah! thank goodness the waters were surprisingly very calm. By this time a slight drizzle started to fall from the sky again and later on it really started to pour na. Grabe ang weather oy di jud ko kasabot! As we were nearing Sohoton the sun started to shine really really bright again! Yes!!!! 

Sohoton Cove is one of Siargao's most treasured tourist spots. It can only be reached during low tide. Sohoton is named so because you literally have to "suok" like duko your head and all since the entrance is quite tight. When we reached the visitors' center we had to sign up first and listened to a short orientation of what we were going to do there. Our first activity is swimming with the stingless jellyfishes. yep, jellyfish that do not sting! amazing kaayo! we went on individual bugsay bugsay  boats called "barotos" with our own individual guides. On the way to the jellyfish area i already knew that we were going to have a blast in Sohoton. The entire place was like paradise with blue green water, with trees all around, even the occasional exotic bird flying around, the peacefulness and the serenity of the place... aaaaaaaaaah! grabeh! 

The stingless jellyfish were quite freaky at first. As we went in the water we'd cringe every time our legs brushed against their slimy bodies. But the manong guides told us nga ok ra lagi na di ra na sila mangunsa. Mau tu later on we realized that hey, they really are friendly little creatures! we started holding them in our hands and taking pics with them. hehe! :D according to our guides the only other place you could swim with these jellyfishes is in Palau Micronesia. So we were really lucky that they were there that time. That truly was an amazing experience. I mean i don't know many people who could say that they got to swim with jellyfish but came out of the water without a single rash on their skin! cool kayo dba?! After the jellyfish activity we went back to the visitors center where a nice lunch of grilled fish waited for us. Super lami kaayo ang gi prepare ni Mam Anita for us. i'm not a big fan of fish because i've always been more of a pork person but man that was delicious! we talked about how morbid we were like being so close to the fishes beneath the sea at the same time eating them for lunch. wahahaha! 

Next activity was the Sohoton Cove tour. We filled ourselves up for lunch then  went on a bigger pumpboat with about 5 very friendly manong guides. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the incredibly beautiful Sohoton. grabe kaayo ka back to nature ang experience. Lauren was quick to say that Sohoton has topped her list of best destinations she's ever been to. Number 2 na daw ang Apo Island because Sohoton is way more beautiful. Grabe gyud bitaw ka nindot uy. My pictures don't do the place any justice at all. I felt like i was on the Amazon river! ana ka nindot gyud didto! When we reached the actual Sohoton Cove we really did have to duck our heads so we won't hit the low ceiling. and if only the tide was a bit higher we couldn't have entered at all. So everything went according to plan. We then visited the first cave called Haguk haguk Cave. It's called so because in the morning snoring sounds can be heard from inside the cave. The manongs said they don't really know what causes the sounds but they just do. Ingon gud si Ilene "Nong, ato nalang ni himuan ug mga story kanang murag legend kunuhay ba." Not a bad idea bitaw so that the manongs would have stories to regale the tourists with. Inside the cave the water was so incredibly cold and the color was almost luminous. super kaduper beautiful! After swimming and taking a few pics we swam back out and got back on the pumpboat. Poor manong had to act as our "stairs" para maka saka mi baik sa pumpboat. As in he had to go underwater and we had to use his shoulders to heave our super heavy selves up. i hope he has some Salonpas or Bengay at home. hahaha! poor thing. 

After Haguk haguk cave our next stop was the Diving Cave. They had another exotic sounding name for it but i forgot what it was. They call it the diving cave because the locals there built something like a dive board some 10 feet above the water. The manongs told us we had to go inside the cave, do a bit of rock climbing, then go to that board and jump all the way down to the water. Shyeeeeet! adventure man!!! The rock climbing part was super difficult for me. had i known that we'd be doing something like this i would have exercised at least 2 weeks man lang before the trip. effort kaayo ang climb ha! plus it was super dark ! waaaaaaaah! thankfully i made it to the top safely. when i got to the diving board and saw how far i'd have to jump i got a bit scared. but ok lang.. cuz i've tried jumping around 40 feet off a bridge in Cagayan De Oro a few years back. i thought to myself, well, chicken ra kaayo ning 10 feet. so i just went off and hit the water butt first. ouch. grabe ka sakit akong ass hole! wahahaha! Next to jump was Lauren. with her it was another story. we spent about 20 minutes coaxing her to jump already. but she got super scared that she might hit the rocks and fracture her femur (whatever that is). Dugaya jud naka jump ni Mam Lauren oy. the guide wanted to push her nalang gud. but eventually she jumped. hehe... actually she had no choice man sad jud. there's no way she's going back down through that cave. Yay Lauren! you did it! wala lang ko'y proof that you really jumped kay na lowbatt akong cam! sayanga oy! Next time nalang Lau! Ilene was the last to jump and she did with a huge scream. i so didn't expect that ha! 

Before going back to the visitors center we dropped by this nearby beach to swim with the fishies. Omg! best kaayo ang coral reef at that part of the island. All sorts of shapes and sizes, all colors, and the fishes were beautiful! Grabe ka sayang that my camera's battery died before i got to take any pics of the rich marine life there in Sohoton. Bummer. We spent about half an hour swimming and admiring everything underwater before we had to make our way back to the visitors' center. It was around 4:00 when we finished packing up. We left Sohoton feeling so amazed by our experience and wanting so badly to bring our families and other friends to the place someday. 

The pumpboat ride going back to the resort took another 2 incredibly long hours. by then the waves were getting bigger and the weather took a turn for the worse. I am not allowed to tell exactly what happened during the ride basta kay we got back to Jadestar in one piece. Lau, I, secret nalang to nato. :p

So all in all Day 2 started a bit sad but we ended up having one of the most memorable travel experiences in our lives. Sohoton made me appreciate the beauty of our country even more. as in WOW PHILIPPINES gyud kaayo!! :D 

Day 3 Travelogue to be posted tomorrow na.

April 25-26, 2008

Aaaaaaaaahh... finally. The long awaited Siargao trip pushes through despite my sister's cancellation at the last minute, despite my feeling the first signs of cough and colds and the awful weather reports which we only found out about a few hours before our ship was to depart for Surigao. *yikes* as in cloudy with thunder storms ang show. hapit jud wa ma dayun! wahahaha! but we decided that we might as well risk it kay naka leave na silang Ilene and Lauren from their offices. we just made sure to pack a rain coat.

We boarded the Cokaliong MV Filipinas to Surigao (Via Maasin) at a bit past 7:00 in the evening after fighting tooth and nail to get on the shuttle to the boat. Grabe ka awful ang system nila sa pier ha. It turned out we didn't have to ride the shuttle after all. When the guard wasn't watching we decided to make a run for the boat kay if we didn't we probably would have been left behind. ay grabe adventure. Na harass among mga beauty with the carrying of our heavy bags and all that. Thankfully we settled in at the Manukan Tourist room and with a bit of pleading and pa cute with this korean or japanese looking guy i ended up on a bunk bed right across Ilene. Lauren went on the bed below Ilene and she slept all the way 'till morning. Kami ni Ilene nag chika2x pa gamay before turning in for a night at the boat. 

The rest of the ride went alright and we landed safely in Surigao City at around 8 in the morning. After hailing a safe-looking pedicab we headed to the nearby Cokaliong office to buy our return tickets then to the Montenegro Lines ticket booth to buy our ferry boat tickets to Siargao Island. Next stop was Chowking for a hearty breakfast. I made sure to fill up my stomach well since another half day of travel still awaited us. Before heading back to the ferry terminal we dropped by a nearby grocery store to stock up on provisions - strepsils (since nagka grabe na among sore throat ni Ilene) and mineral water among others. 

We then boarded the Montenegro Shipping Lines ferry headed for Siargao Island at 12 noon. Grabe.. another 4 hours in a boat! super ka taas ang travel time maka buang! We tried sleeping the entire ride through but Ilene and I eventually woke up upon feeling the slightest pangs of hunger. Naka order nalang intawn mi ug instant noodles plus crackers. haha... Soon we strated seeing signs of island life. Trees trees and more trees surrounded our path until finally we saw civilization. The ferry docked at the town of Dapa where we met our friendly host Mam Anita of Jadestar Lodge. Thank goodness the package we got from her included transfers from the Dapa going to General Luna where our resort is located. Another 45 minutes inside the van and we finally finally finally reached Jadestar. Whew. Ka kapoy ba adto nga biyahe oy!

Jadestar Lodge is a simple yet functional beach front resort with several small cottages. Our room had 3 beds and a private bathroom and was very near the dining area. Apparently we arrived just one week after the first Philippine Game Fishing competition. It was such a huge event that Madame President was even there! After the event the entire island was deserted. I really felt like there were no other tourists on the island except for us. At our resort we were the only guests at that time too. Grabe namu na feel ang ka mingaw sa entire place. It was like we were detached from civilization. For some reason we started feeling quite lonely. Plus pa jud it started to rain when the 3 of us started exploring the island. Lauren was feeling a bit woozy from hunger kay wa man siya nag noodles at the ferry unlike Ilene and me. She said she could hardly wait for dinner which was going to be served about an hour and a half later pa. So mau to we set out looking for some carenderia or something but the locals we met told us that all eateries have been transferred to Pilar and none were left at General Luna. ka faets. We kept on walking and walking and slowly the feeling of loneliness creeped in. With the matching drizzle, the gloomy atmosphere, it was enough to make us feel awfully homesick. We were tired from the travel, also feeling a bit hungry, and well, we just expected the place to be more lively and exciting. but nooooo... mingaw gyud kaayo. Ilene said mura siya nag immersion! waaaaaaaaah! to the point nga kahilakon na kaayo mi! hahaha!

Just when we realized that there really is nothing more to explore in that part of the island we met a vacant pedicab. salamat nalang. We decided to ride nalang and asked the driver to take us to the market. When we got there Ilene bought oranges and bananas while i took some pictures of some kid locals. I also saw this little puppy which reminded me so much of my babies at home. gawd. the sight of that puppy made me yearn so much for home i wanted to cry right then and there. grabe jud kaayo ka mingaw ang show. haha.. actually thinking about it now it just makes me want to laugh. ridiculous kaayo feeling homesick on your first day of vacation. losers kaayo mi noh? hahahaha!!!

Upon returning to the resort we had to wait a bit more before dinner was ready. Luoy kaayo mi nag stay lang mi inside the room eating our bananas and orange. thank goodness i brought with me my lappy and naka play gyud tawn mi ug music. For dinner Mam Anita prepared for us good home-cooked  chicken and tinolang isda. That night we went to bed extra early just because there was nothing else to do and we had to be up super early the following day for our island hopping. 

With a dreary Day 1 behind us we were hoping for Day 2 to be more exciting, to be sunny, and most importantly, for our homesickness to go away for good. :)