Alubihod Beach, Guimaras

June 19, 2005

This was one of the most memorable family trip that I did (my siblings are intact and complete :)). Although I can't exactl say we are complete because my husband was not with us (he went back to US a week before scheduling this trip...and we were 9,000 miles away from each other that time), I got much time with him privately with several trips we did last month :)

Anyway, I just thought of planning this trip to spend more time with my family before time comes that I will leave them and my beloved country to finally join my husband in his country, whom I considered my second home - the USA.

It's a long trip getting there since we still come from my hometown 45 minutes away from Iloilo City. From the city to Guimaras, it is another 30 minutes by boat, and from the port to Alubihod is like more than an hour away..(correct me on this, coz I had a hard time recalling all the length of trips that I did, LOL).

Anyway, the trip was worth it. I got many shots only to find out that all those photos were all black and only two out of those did work! :( We had an overnight stay which we rented two rooms.

Alubihod beach is located in Nueva Valencia, one of the town in Guimaras. The sand is off-white, nearly close to Boracay beach sand, but I can consider it just as close to Boracay settings. The only difference is it is smaller and no industrial buildings in the vicinity.

Me, my brothers and sister, together was worth cherishing :)

Our Family Garden Pass

While I was checking our mail today, our family garden pass ID's arrived from Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. We have been to this garden several times and so we thought of just getting a garden pass for discounts when we go back again for a visit. It is renewable every year.

It came with a regular size ID card and 2 small sizes for keychains. they look cute :)

If you're a nature lover, you can't just afford to miss the garden's colorful beauty every season. That's what made us decide to get the ID because there is so much more to see not only for a one time visit. A single visit is not enough :)

Trip to Zoobic Park (Subic, Olongapo)

June 6, 2005

Our trip going to Subic was fine, although it was raining most of the time. We checked in at one of the inns located along the beach in Subic bay area. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the inn. It was silly of me that I wasn't able to document these vital part of the trip. I hardly can no longe trace back the entire trip except for some few pictures (as usual). How I wish I can add some videos too, but I can't seem to upload them yet. I still am figuring out how the videocam would work in playing it through my pc, and hopefully could just save them for videostreaming. Gosh...soooo complicated to do since it's a largedata file. :(

We decided to do some trip to Zoobic Safari, which I can say is one great attraction that can be found at Subic Bay Freeport's Forest Adventure Park embracing a 25 hectare land. It features a wide range of habitats present in the forest due to the terrain, presence of streams and fringing grasslands. These represent the major habitats for varied exotic animals featured in Zoobic Safari Forest Adventure Park.

The Attractions that we saw:

The Petting Zoo - the setting is in a tropical jungle where in you can pet some animals like where you can have a live interaction with deers, ostrich, albino carabao, bear, monkey, eagle, miniature horse, ducks and a lot more. I was able to pet a sheep. Of all of the animals there, it was the sheep that I was attracted to because of its meekness I guess :) (Sorry, no photo).

Serpentarium - A close view of snakes, lizards, iguanas, turtles and a lot more cold blooded animals like this below :0

Tiger Safari Adventure - they call this a once in a lifetime adventure! For me, this is the most thrilling experience I had including the Close Encounter with the Bengal Tigers (2 ft. away)! It was fun!

What will you do if you are in that jeepney being swarmed by Bengal tigers?? Don't worry, I ws not in there. That was just an empty vehicle for them to get curious and familiar with :)

By the way, this is a real tiger cub having his milk. He loves his "dede". It was a bit uncomfortable for me sitting in there, but since he was busy with his milk, he was not concentrated on placing his big paws on me :) But gosh, look at the paws...he is holding on tight to his bottle. They are really BIG :0

Tour in Lahar Devastated Areas (Pampanga)

June 5, 2005

I can't hardly remember every specific detail about this trip since it was two years ago, but I am trying to recall it was 6 hours tour for that day, (including traffic) which made us being stuck to the road from time to time.

We also had a quick tour to Clark, but everything was closed including the museum since it was Saturday. We just proceeded to the church which is the San Fernando Cathedral.

Not much to share except some photos within the lahar devastated place.

The background is a huge area covered by mudflows and lahar when Mt. Pinatubo erupted. The area used to be a densely populated community, but now became a barren land. Many still believes, many lives were lost and buried on this area.

San Fernando Cathedral is one of the oldest churches in Pampanga that was half covered by lahar.

Bantayan Beach Resort

May 30, 2005

The rest of our day was spent going to Bantayan Beach Resort, still in Guimbal, Iloilo, few miles away from Garin's farm. The resort is just along the highway. The name "bantayan" means watchtower. A watchtower is located beside the resort. I haven't seen the actual watchtower yet, but I am looking forward to it as our next itinerary.

Lunch time at Balikbayan beach, Guimbal, Iloilo

Garin Farm Visit

May 30, 2005 -

My husband had been enjoying my family's company since the first visit he made. So, this was another one of the few outings we made within Iloilo, - my hometown.

Garin Farm is at least 40 minutes away from Iloilo city by vehicle, located in Guimbal, one of the provinces in Iloilo. This was just a short visit (about 30 minutes) so, I can't discuss and share much about the farm, except from the observations I had during the first 30 minutes :)
Actually, this was my first visit to this place. I admit, being an Iloilo resident for 20 years, I am still a "foreigner" in my own native land. LOL!

Anyway, Garin farm is also classified as a resort, they say, probably because it has been considered as the first modern farm dubbed as the farmer's paradise, where it is an ideal sanctuary for family retreats. It is a 10-hectare area.

One memorable thing in there was when we tasted their farm-processed dairy, ice cream made from buffalo's milk. It was tasty!

We missed boarding the "caromata", a cattle-pulled sled that could carry 20 people. They can't find the carabao I guess :))

Me, hubby and family

Me and hubby @ Garin farm

Cavite and Tagaytay Trip - November 02, 2004

Bamboo Organ - Las Pinas:

Our first stop:

The Las Piñas Bamboo Organ is one of the Philippines' national treasures. It's home is the Parish Church of St Joseph located in Las Piñas City. The organ, the church and the surrounding buildings have been restored to their 19th century state by Architect Francisco "Bobby" Mañosa and associate Ludwig Alvarez, making a trip to the site a popular excursion for Filipinos and foreign visitors alike.

The bamboo organ has been restored several times. Due to it's oldness, many ways habe been done to save the organ. The organ has been under repair when we had our tour. How I wished I could have heard its music, but I guess it was not our luck that day :(

Parish Church of St Joseph Entrance


Parish Church of St Joseph Old Bell

Our second stop:

SARAO Motors - Jeepney factory in Las Pinas, and and preparation of body parts. Some are photos of jeepneys being assembled from scratch to welding and final assembly. We also got some shots of old models that are being preserved and kept.

Tagaytay - TAAL Volcano.

Getting the experience of taking a peek at Taal volcano, the world's smallest active volcano. It is actually a volcano within a lake within a volcano.

Overlooking Taal volcano.

Hong Kong Trip Tour - DAY 3

DAY - 3 - 10-28-2004 MACAU

We went to Macau for our last day of tour, this time it is a one full day tour. How we wished we could stay there by night, but since it's a tour, we can't choose to stay. Anyway, we boarded the ferry boat and we arrived at the port with another tour guide waiting for us.



Our first stop was the A-Ma temple which is the oldest temple in Macau. The A-Ma Temple is a destination offering silence and spectacular views. The temple contains six main parts, all of which make up a series of classical Chinese architectural treasures, and this is all guarded by stone lions. We were not able to take a shot of the entire temple, except for photos of me , one inside the temple, and another couple photos outside.


Ruins of St. Paul:
The Ruins of St. Paul's (also known as Sam Ba Sing Tzik) stands adjacent to the famous Mount Fortress and Macau Museum. The front façade and the grand stone stairs are the only remains of the greatest church in Macau.First constructed in 1580, St. Paul's Church caught fires in 1595 and 1601. However, reconstruction started in 1602 soon after the church was burnt down. Completed in 1637, the church became the biggest Catholic Church in East Asia at that time. Unfortunately, a violent typhoon hit Macau in 1835 and the church caught fire for the third time leaving its glory a history. According to historical materials, St Paul's Church, built with white stones, had a grand vaulted roof. It had three magnificently decorated halls.



Institute of Civic and Municipal Affairs Buildings:


Choi Heong Yuen Bakery:
We dropped by here for a "free taste" samples of Chinese homemade biscuits which are actually ideal for "pasalubongs." Biscuits are tasty, too :)


Statue of Kun Lam & Ecumenical Center, Macau:


Taking centre stage along the outer harbour waterfront is this breath-taking statue of the Goddess of Mercy. Kun Iam is the most popular goddess amongst Buddhists and plays a special role in protecting children, as well as bringing affluence.

Hong Kong Trip Tour - DAY 2

Day 2 - 10-27-2004

Our first stop was Kowloon Waterfront. Kowloon is located on the edge of the mainland of China and just across the water from the central part of the city of Hong Kong. This section of the Hong Kong sprawls down to the Victoria Harbor - the promenade provides an impressive view of the Hong Kong skyline and the numerous ships gliding up the channel.

Down the harbor are some shops and museums. Since this is the tour's first itinerary for the day, we didn't have much time to go around some shops and see museums. They said catching a ferry boat ride is fun, but we didn't feel like doing it.

Next stop was TSL Jewelry Factory. They offer good prices, much more affordable than a typical jewelry store in the market.

Aside from the store, inside was where you can see the actual carving and polishing of diamonds.

While on our way to our next stop, we were able to take some shots of the typical way of living for many of the people working in HK...the ones they call lower middle class income people. This is one side of HK that seems to be hidden covered by the big skylines of the city.

The whole building are mostly apartments where people rent for an affordable or cheap rates. Still, much better than Philippines!

Factory Outlet was our 3rd stop. We didn't take shots, but we got a lot of things for "pasalubongs." Goods were cheap and tax-free, so we got all worth taking, hahaha!!!

The rest of the whole afternoon was a tour to Shenzhen City, but unluckily, we were not able to go with the group because currently at that time, it so happened they won't be accepting US citizens' passports going inside...we were wondering why?...our tour guide said it was politically motivated?! Instead, we were given an option to go Ocean Park and Middle kingdom. It was worth fun going there...no regrets! It was my first time seeing dolphin shows, large aquariums, Pandas, etc...

Our Ocean Park Adventure:
We were only given 4 hours to tour the park since our tour guide will be picking us up at a designated time and place outside the park entrance. So, off we go running inside the park. :)

Hong Kong Ocean Park is located on the south end of Hong Kong Island. With an area of 170 miles, it's one of the largest ocean parks in the world. The two entrances to Ocean Park (Tai Shue Wan Entrance and Main Entrance) are connected by cable-car.
And speaking of cable car, it just scared me to death riding in it. I have a phobia of high places, but going to the Middle Kingdom is only accessible by cable car. So, what the heck? Everybody's in there, so I joined the thrill!! I can't look up or down, close my eyes, whatever...I only opened my eyes when my husband was getting me a photo. Aside from that, hubby was able to take some shots while we were up there in the cable car.

Other trail photos going to the park:

I was so excited to see the dolphin show, so we proceeded to the Ocean theater. Ocean Theater is the most famous and popular spot in the whole Ocean Park. It is an open-air theater in which dolphins and sea lions stage a wonderful performance in a huge pond. Under the guidance of trainers, adorable dolphins and sea lions stand in a line or jump into water and raise theirs heads out of water. It was a good experience :)

I wasn't sure but we were in an underwater viewing tunnel where we viewed dolphins and other aquatic friends during their swimming fun :)