family trip

hello everyone! sorry i was not able to blog immediately about our trip. it took some time before i could upload all the photos and i have been quite busy... sleeping that is (^_~) since we arrived, except for today, i fixed the condo. (^_^) anyways, here are the details of our family trip. (^_^)

to naga and day 1
the adventure of this family trip started when we rode the bicol express train from manila to naga city, camarines sur. it was our first time to ride this specific train and it was our first time to ride in a sleepers coach. the travel time was approximately 12 hours, but supposed to be it was only for 10 hours. we didn't mind the long travel time because we were enjoying the experience of sleeping and eating in the train. (^_~) oh, i almost forgot, by chance, señor jaime fabregas was on the same coach with us, only on a different sleepers chair/bed. anyways, when we arrived at naga, we ate breakfast at jollibee. then we visited the san francisco church. after our church visit we rode a taxi to pasacao, camarines sur. there we stayed for a night. when we arrived at the resort, we got our room and immediately prepared for the agenda for that day. we rode a boat to an island and swam there. when you look at the pictures closely, the foot of the island is not a beach. it's actually black rocks immediately meeting the sea. i was really amazed! after about an hour of swimming we went back to the resort for our lunch, which was prepared with freshly caught seafood. delicious! we had about 15 minutes of rest then we headed to our next destination, the suminabang cave, via boat. we saw stalactite and stalagmite formations. after that we went to another part of an island and we had our second round of swimming. the sand at the second venue was yellowish and we saw these amazing colored stones. we were there for quite a time before we decided to call it a day and return to the resort. it was still a little early for dinner so we had snacks, bread and whatever leftovers we had during the train ride. i had a bottle of tanduay ice while my parents had beer. my brother still wanted to swim so i accompanied him at the beach which was just a few steps from our resort. come dinner time, we had this large shrimp. yes! a large shrimp! it was the best dinner that we had. and that was the end of day 1.

day 2
we had our simple breakfast, leftover from the train ride, and then we got a taxi back to naga city. on our way, we passed by an old church, the st. joseph the worker church. we said our prayers, looked around then we continued our travel. we attended mass at the naga cathedral. after the mass, we started looking around the church. after that we went to our hotel, golden leaf hotel. though my parents did not like the fact that we were on the fourth floor, they still liked the balcony. (^_~) special mention, the doves beside the balcony. anyways, we then walked around to find souvenirs. after that we had our lunch at the mall. again, the food was delicious! despite the commercial place, the food tasted quite authentic and fresh. after our meal, we went to the supermarket to buy some food to eat during our church visits that afternoon. we passed by the hotel to drop off some things then we rode the tricycle to the our lady of peñafrancia basilica. the church was huge and there were beautiful colored glass designs. we went behind the altar and wiped the statue of the our lady of peñafrancia, and prayed for a few minutes. after the basilica, we then went to the our lady of peñafrancia church, it was the original church of the our lady of peñafrancia. the church was smaller but still beautiful. after visiting the church, we visited the cemetery behind the old church. we took pictures of the designs of the tombstones. you rarely see these designs on the present tombstones. we finished early with our church visits so we decided to take a taxi to another church which was at the other town. we visited an old church, the bombon church and the leaning tower of bombon, the bell tower of the said church. it's not clear on the pictures but the tower was really leaning on it's side. you really have a feeling that it was about to fall. after we said our prayers, we looked around, then went back to the hotel. we rested for some time before we went out for dinner. the dinner was our father's birthday dinner so we ate at a japanese restaurant. oh, his birthday was the next day but we decided to have the birthday dinner that night because the next night, we would be traveling back to manila. anyways, for dinner, we had shabu-shabu and okonomiyaki. really delicious! it did not taste commercial like the japanese food here in manila. the japanese food really tasted authentic. it was such a great meal! after eating we headed back to the hotel to rest and get ready for our last day at naga city.

day 3 and departure from naga
for our last day, we only had one agenda, to visit the museo del seminario conciliar de nueva caceres. the museum is beside the cathedral. it featured memorabilia of prominent bishops from the town, ecclesiastical vessels and artifacts, paintings and archaeological finds like burial jars and chinese wares. after the tour, we had some rest at a small shop near the area. we then headed back to the hotel to eat lunch and to prepare out things for the trip back to manila. while we were fixing our things, we noticed that it was raining. we were really lucky to finish all our visits before it started to rain. (^_^) before we left, i took a last picture of the view from the balcony, the isarog mountain. (^_^) we did not go straight to the train station since it was still too early for our train, so we went to the mall to buy food for our trip and to each early dinner. after about two hours, we went to the train station. luckily we were able to get tickets for the sleepers bad/room. we once again took our own beds, ate some and slept the whole trip. we arrived at manila after 12 hours.

my family spent most of the day sleeping when we arrived. but for me, i had a different agenda.

please see next post. (^_^)V

oh! by the way, did you all notice that i was wearing dresses the while trip? (^_~)

backpacking

i was searching for tips about backpacking.


i saw this,


"Assume that your backpack will be mistreated in ways you never thought possible!"


i know that this is true,


but there is something in the way it was presented that made me laugh.


(^_^)

travel will push through!

minna!

do you all remember the Vietnam-Cambodia trip i was planning that did not push through because of a problem in the flight?

well, now the trip will push through because i was able to find a flight! (~_~)

i have purchased the tickets and now,

papa, rei and i are discussing about the things to bring,

the dos and don'ts,

and where ryo and mama will be staying for a week while we are on the trip.

i'm very excited!

friday family reunion

last friday, we went out for dinner with our relatives who just arrived from Australia. the last time we saw each other (well, jessica my cousin) was 15 years ago so we sort of had a "how are you/ getting to know you" chat. though we are aware of each others existence, we never really had communication. (-_-)

anyways, i'm glad that we were able to see each other and that is very much a big thing for me. (^_^)

the whole time, i had a great time with my relatives! we had lots and lots and lots of laughs! (^_^) too bad they had to go the next day to cebu then go travel to another country. the next time i will see them would most likely be another 10 years from now. but hey! at least i did not miss this opportunity (^_^)

we had dinner at Itallani's, and while i was looking at the menu, i noticed a dish that's called...

baked ziti! (>_<)

i had to read it again because i thought it said baked zukki!!! oh! one great facepalm! i was just too amused! i had to order that! XD

i was looking at the menu for a drink, unfortunately, they did not have tomato juice, i ended up ordering a maltshake. when my cousin jessica looked at the menu, she was excited to see her favourite drink, Vodka Cruiser Raspberry. when i saw the drink was red and it looked like tomato juice, i immediately asked for one order of the said drink. (○^_^○)

for desert, i wanted to eat chocolate ice cream, as i was looking at the other flavours for the ice cream, one flavour caught my attention...

pistachio! (^_^)

i suddenly remembered Dream Live 7th were taisuke wada kept on saying "peanuts, pistachio and coconuts" backstage and on stage. ooohhh! i just had to order it! XD

oh! the crackness of me! (~_~)

cupcakes + thesis revision + st. niño + lakbay aral

i just woke up. (-o-)

i was so tired when i arrived from our lakbay aral for our history class yesterday.

i will only give a summary of what happened for the past (counts her fingers) four days.

that was half a week. xp

i believe the pictures will tell the story so just check my multiply site. ^_^

http://silverkrux.multiply.com/photos/album/105/105

anyways, i'll start of with friday, january 15.

i went to fuji-senpai's cupcake event. ^_^

they were selling cupcakes. ^_^

when i arrived, they were already packing though, but that was fine with me. ^_^

i stayed with her friends for some time and i am glad kei was there. ^_^

before i left, senpai gave me a cupcake. ^_^

tita wilma, fuji-senpai's mother, gave me a lift to the lrt station.

saturday, january 16.

we had our midterms exam in rizal and we had our reporting in philippine constitution.

after that we had a two hour meeting with out department head, Dr. J. Enrique Saplala, for the editing of the APA (American Psychological Association) format of our thesis.

it was a very tedious process and we have to resched because we have not even started with chapter two and there are five chapters. =_=

sunday, january 17.

FEAST OF STO. NIÑO!

there was a procession of statues of sto. niño and a display at our church. ^_^

monday, january 18.

i attended the lakbay aral for our history class.

i was seated in the middle seat of the bus. ^_^

we went to the supreme court, makati city hall, malacañang museum and senate.

there was a lecturer on board but i always fall asleep when he starts talking. =_=

we had lunch in makati city hall.

delicious food i must say. ^_^

we were behind sched though but we were able to finish the itinerary. ^_^

we arrived around 9pm and we were all very tired. =_=

i arrived home around 10pm.

i attempted to blog but it was a failure. :(

that was my four days. ^_^

see you next time minna-san~