Iloilo + Roxas

For this year's summer escapade, my family and I boarded a plane and visited the smallest of the 3 islands here in the Philippines, which is Visayas! 

My sister and I sat next to each other and in spite of the uber dirty and bird poop stained windows, she got her groove on and started taking pictures of the pretty fluffy clouds. She's been really immersing herself in spontaneous photography lately as in she takes photos during her walks around the bustling streets of Makati and I just love that. It makes me giddy that she can see the beauty while enclosed by looming towering buildings because it's something that I find really hard to do hehe. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that most of the photos here were taken by her since a) she really has an eye for nice things b) she whips out her itouch so quickly she could be a paparazzi and c) my laptop is crumbling and it can't read memory cards so it can't read the barely used slr's card (which doesn't have much in it since I got too lazy lugging around a huge chunky camera while out and about). 

One of my favorite photos!!

We got to the airport and we were just brimming with excitement and...autism. We jumped around and did synchronized jumping and counting and everything HAHA. 

Ate Stef looking oh so Ati-atihan chic

Kunwari new hairstyle......

The reason why we stopped by Iloilo before we went to Roxas, my dad's hometown, was because my dad's   good old friend wanted us to see Iloilo and so from the airport, tito Edmarc and his family (his uber nice wife and their super adorable baby Mel) picked us up and became our tour guides for the roadtrip.

Our first stop was at Ted's, the famous batchoy place. I remember the days when we'd go malling as a family and we'd eat the food court and pops would ALWAYS order from Ted's! It was so cool finally eating at a legit restaurant and not just ordering from a kiosk at a food court where the smell and the faint popping sounds from the staple sizzling place wouldn't tempt us hehe. After breakfast, we were ushered to our hotel which was located in the heart of Smallville which is...well...a small vill....age? It was a plaza with a ton of clustered establishments that mostly come alive at night naks. 

After resting for a bit, we got picked up and I graced the beach with my Indian princess-y presence chos. We ate at a restaurant by the beach and my sister played around with baby Mel and we ate and we drove for a long time and reached our host's house which was oh so peaceful and then we drove for yet another long time and got to Estancia! We ate an early dinner at another beach side restaurant and droooooooooove for a very looooooong time. By the time we got back to our hotel it was already past 9 in the evening!!!

After resting for a while, we headed out and checked out the local scene. We ended up at Pirates since it had a huge ass pirate ship sticking out and wala lang hahahaha. To cut the long story short, I ended up singing on stage for 2 songs before they ended their first set. It really sucked since they didn't have much songs to choose from and so I settled with a karaoke veteran, Dancing Queen hehehe. 

The next morning we got up bright and early to swim before we left for Roxas City. We already knew our hotel had a touch of Egyptian thingies but the El Dorado Resort which was somehow connected to our hotel (not really sure how), shocked us. It had native Mexican stuff all over and it even had an elephant in the pool! How awesome is that!!!!

I dub the huge guy on top Omac

From Iloilo, we rode a bus to Roxas City. It felt like it was the longest bus ride I have ever been to and riding buses is my means of transportation whenever I commute. The aircon was so bipolar, I'd sleep soundly all dry and wake up with my neck more moist than a chocolate cake :( But alas!!!!! We foinally arrived at Roxas and we got to ride a tricycle just like the old times and it was so fun cruising around town hanging on for dear life hehe. 

We hurriedly satisfied our tummy tums at our grandma's place and then went on to my uncle's fabulous dress shop, Vestes! The shop was so suave and sleek and oh so sophisticated with its black curtains, very chill aura and resourcefully recycled black hangers all over the shop. It was so mataray!

The rest of our trip passed by in a sunny and happy blur. We spent our early mornings by the pool just soaking up the sun, our lunch times with our family and the evenings were spent exploring the local hotspots. Our vacation was definitely one for the books! It took me such a long time to make a post about it because I really couldn't and still cannot put into words how good it felt to bask in the sun all day everyday hehehe and to be surrounded by the people you love the most hihi hay nakakabakla sa feelings.

I don't remember much what we did exactly during our stay but the important ones are A) we bonded a lot with my dad's side of the family :D B) we ate like we we'd be executed the next day C) we got so dark D) on a whim, my mum, my sister and I finally took swimming lessons hehehe since the resort we were staying at had ongoing lessons woop E) I developed an allergy to wearing clothes with sleeves hihi.

Hehe hay lovelovelove

Gabbi Don't Preach #1

The Origin of Love has got to be one of the most amazing and well-written songs in history for me. The first time I heard it I got so annoyed since the guy singing had such a low voice and I couldn't sing along hehehe and if I sung in a higher octave, it would be too high for me to reach. I chucked it to my list of 'Unsingable and Unforgiving Songs' and grew quite bitter towards it but then, looking back, I realized that because I wouldn't be able to drown out the original singer with my own voice since I couldn't reach it either way, I had the opportunity to really and I mean reaaaally listen to the song...and fall in love with everything about it.

When the earth was still flat,

And the clouds made of fire,

And mountains stretched up to the sky,

Sometimes higher,

Folks roamed the earth

Like big rolling kegs.

They had two sets of arms.

They had two sets of legs.

They had two faces peering

Out of one giant head

So they could watch all around them

As they talked; while they read.

And they never knew nothing of love.

It was before the origin of love.

The origin of love

And there were three sexes then,

One that looked like two men

Glued up back to back,

Called the children of the sun.

And similar in shape and girth

Were the children of the earth.

They looked like two girls

Rolled up in one.

And the children of the moon

Were like a fork shoved on a spoon.

They were part sun, part earth

Part daughter, part son.

The origin of love

Now the gods grew quite scared

Of our strength and defiance

And Thor said,

"I'm gonna kill them all

With my hammer,

Like I killed the giants."

And Zeus said, "No,

You better let me

Use my lightening, like scissors,

Like I cut the legs off the whales

And dinosaurs into lizards."

Then he grabbed up some bolts

And he let out a laugh,

Said, "I'll split them right down the middle.

Gonna cut them right up in half."

And then storm clouds gathered above

Into great balls of fire

And then fire shot down

From the sky in bolts

Like shining blades

Of a knife.

And it ripped

Right through the flesh

Of the children of the sun

And the moon

And the earth.

And some Indian god

Sewed the wound up into a hole,

Pulled it round to our belly

To remind us of the price we pay.

And Osiris and the gods of the Nile

Gathered up a big storm

To blow a hurricane,

To scatter us away,

In a flood of wind and rain,

And a sea of tidal waves,

To wash us all away,

And if we don't behave

They'll cut us down again

And we'll be hopping round on one foot

And looking through one eye.

Last time I saw you

We had just split in two.

You were looking at me.

I was looking at you.

You had a way so familiar,

But I could not recognize,

Cause you had blood on your face;

I had blood in my eyes.

But I could swear by your expression

That the pain down in your soul

Was the same as the one down in mine.

That's the pain,

Cuts a straight line

Down through the heart;

We called it love.

So we wrapped our arms around each other,

Trying to shove ourselves back together.

We were making love,

Making love.

It was a cold dark evening,

Such a long time ago,

When by the mighty hand of Jove,

It was the sad story

How we became

Lonely two-legged creatures,

It's the story of

The origin of love.

That's the origin of love.

I should probably type down my thoughts and such about this song. But now I feel like I shouldn't. Like I should just leave you be with your thoughts since the lyrics above are magical enough hehe and that's what I should probably do and that's what I'll do..in a bit hehe after I add in my 1 cent (because 2 cents would be too long). 

This song for me just exposes the true beauty of love in general and loving another person. I don't believe in the whole meant to be chorva wherein you'll find someone and poof (it became koko krunch joke hehehe) everything will work out because you guys were made for each other, you guys are made by the sparkly gods of Mt. Olympus and all you need is love yadda yadda. I don't like that. I believe that yes just like what was pointed out in the song, we do have someone made for us buuuuuuuuut it really is still up to us whether things work out or not romantically, whether we hold onto them or we let go to maybe pursue our careers and stuff I don't know. All I know is that love is beautiful because it can be very happy happy like everything is good and it can be very painful like everything is bad bad but in spite of everything, it still is the best thing in the world. 

I'm just a very pubertial teenage girl.

But since we are talking about love, let me just say that life is good and that we should follow rule #32 which is to enjoy the little things. Hug your mum, tell your dad you love him before he goes off to work or before YOU go off to work, bake, open the door for your sibling or something hehe and sit outside and just relish in the feeling of the sun on your skin (but not too much you might get heat stroke and the police would see my post and I'd be somewhat responsible for your death not that I'm saying you're gonna die already because I don't want that but if you're a rapist or a serial killer and you're reading this A) maybe you should die already? (I don't mean to sound rude or anything but if you're not gonna change your ways and keep hurting and killing people then you might as well go poof! but please if you can, please change yourself thank you) B) if you got offended and now want to murder me, please don't, close the tab, erase the history and forgive me hehehehe. 

My Answer To 'What's Up?' #1..2..3..4

1. 

Something has been, I hate to use this word because it sounds wild and feral than what I really want to express but, yes something has been unleashed from within me only this summer. I'm constantly craving for any form of adventure be it exploring Manila to checking out dilapidated malls. Anyhoo, my sister and I have been frequenting the nearby ukay spots in Southland since last summer and my love for thrifting has been rekindled since I have nothing better to do at home hehe and so I can be found earlier frolicking along the expanse of the Alabang Zapote Road donning a backpack waiting to be filled with my latest haul and a thirst for ransacking racks of (a. glorious b. magnificent c. rad d. mysterious) clothes.

2.

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away~ hehe jas kedeng. I had the honor of finally setting foot in not 1, not 2 but three Indian groceries all in one afternoon! Located near the Khalsa Diwan Temple in UN is the strip featuring the Indian stores that I shall now be dubbing as India Land. I have been on a quest to look for a place here in the Philippines that retails bindis after googling for online stores and finding that only people from the US and far off places are selling bindis on ebay. So yes, I got to the stores, they asked me what I was looking for and after pointing to my forehead and managing to only get out 'bind-' I was whisked off to one side wherein a box FULL of bindis lay ahead, waiting to be raped by my very eager and shaking (with utmost excitement) hands.

3.

I just wanted to include this since my hands smell like Xonrox (bleach; I don't know if only Xonrox has this distinct smell or if all brands of bleach have the same smell hehe) right now and it's bugging me a bit. I finally put my favorite pair of shorts to rest and submerged it in a bucket of water and bleach so I can have white shorts HEHE. I did this earlier right after lunch since I reallyyyyy was bored and yearned to be productive. I checked on this after dinner and since the sink wherein the bucket was located was outside my room (by the window) it was quite a struggle cos I had to go out of the house and walk in the semi-dark. It was okay tho but the thing that was not okay was while checking on the bucket, something moved nearby like on the counter...it started making tiny noises and it looked like a cross between a naked turtle and a sisiw from a balut.  

4. 

I screamed for my sister and she got the camera and took pictures from her place inside her room. After zooming zooming zooming, we solidified our guesses and agreed that it was indeed a kind of bird! I hastily patted my hands on my shorts and got the camera so I could take a ton of close up photos hehe it was also a way for me to get a clearer view since it was so dark I could only make out its shape. My sister called my mum and showed her the pictures and my mum called ate Joy and theeeeeeen ate Joy explained that there is a nest up on our roof and that the Momma Bird is a bit clumsy and she keeps on dropping her poor defenseless bebes.

Ate Joy as seen below had the balls to touch the baby bird hehe and place it on a rug for the Momma to come pick her up. If the Momma doesn't come back for her..hehe we'll have ourselves a new pet hehehe. I swear if she becomes my pet bird, I'll call her Birdy so I can tweet 'hehe hanging out with Birdy' or Mascara Arms because her arms look like dem Mascara brushes.

SHE LOOKS LIKE SUCH A BIRD HAHA

Bungangera agad

Dramatic

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!

Yesterday was my mum's 46th birthday and instead of staying at home and just breaking out of our shell to eat out for lunch and dinner, we woke up bright and early and after a hearty breakfast, we made our way to Tagaytay! The traffic was ugh-ful at its best but we made it to Sonya's Garden in one piece hehe. 

Sonya's Garden was, for a lack of a better word, very green considering it IS a garden. We were ushered to the Morning Glory hall thingy wherein the buffet was located. All I can say about the food is that it was DIVINE. From the bread that was given to the super kick ass salad ingredients that were served to our table to the main course of very healthy pasta and salmon belly and shitake mushrooms huhu to the dessert combo which was mini turons and sweet potatoes in sugar glaze and even to the tarragon tea they served after our meal!!!!

Sweet potatoes!

Salad with the secret dressing 

Tarragon tea so herby so natural

Chocolate cake they served after our meal hihi

The birthday gal

After stuffing ourselves silly, we explored the venue and took lots of photos hehe.

This statue of a horse was outside some sort of museum slash store since the furnitures inside were for sale

 We met a very very cute and very very fat dog near the exit hihi. It was just lounging near a bench that I sat on when I noticed something very black by my feet and instead of growling at me or anything it just stood up, sauntered quietly and nuzzled my leg huhu it was so adorable and so fitting since my mum is such a huge dog lover!

After Sonya's Garden, we had nothing better to do and instead of going straight to the tallest ferris wheel in the Sky Ranch, we decided to go pay the Guiness Book of World Record title-holder, the Puzzle Mansion a quick visit.

Since the Puzzle Mansion was located way below the road, they had a jeep service thing if you're wary of going down the steep road like we were hehe 

IT WAS SO FUN RIDING THE JEEP!!! It was wobbly and the air was so cool hehehe it felt like a very mild rollercoaster :D

THERE WERE SO MANY PUZZLES!! The owner had cartoon character puzzles, Renaissance painting puzzles, P-Noy puzzles, vintage Coke ad puzzles, animal puzzles, a Vampire Diaries puzzle and so much more hehe! 

Her biggest with 18, 000 pieces if I recall correctly? She has another one in the works with a whopping 32, 000 pieces!

Such a cool 3D puzzle of a wolf woof woof

~feel

The hardest puzzle in the world! Lookit all the black parts woo, the guy said that she spent more or less 300 hours working on this beaut!

The souvenir shop upstairs overflowing with...puzzles

Downstairs, they had a ton of herbs and plants for sale as well! They also had a wishing well that I enjoyed using hehe.

We stopped by this market that we always go to whenever we'd be in Tagaytay and my sister and I fell asleep....we woke up and saw the Philippines' tallest ferris wheel in the Sky Ranch!

There was a horse riding thingamajig!

There were lots of...performers too! I added a new entry to my bucket list hehe which is to dress up like one of them in public and just do my thang hihi

The birthday girl was so reluctant to get in the cab!! I just pretended to have my big girl pants on but once the ferris wheel started moving on, I'll admit we all got a bit sweaty-palmed and nervous. It really was so high!

Kunwari di kinakabahan hahahahaa

Pops trying to look all nonchalant

Look at dat gripppppppp

 I so wanted to get on the Super Viking ride which resembles the Anchors Away one from Enchanted Kingdom but no one wanted to go with me since they're adamant it would just ruin their mood what with the dizziness and all. And after watching the ride and hearing the screams, my desire to get on the ride dwindled a bit and so in exchange for not getting on the Super Viking and after making a promise to get on a ride like that one with my friends in the fyucha, we bought tickets to get on the uber kid friendly Nessie Coaster.

SO HARDCORE HAHAHAHA

The view from the Nessie Coaster

The Nessie Coaster runs 3 times and I felt so bad ass while riding it since 1) it still is a rollercoaster no matter how tiny it is and 2) I had my hands up and did not feel scared at all huhuhu what an achievement. I seriously had fun while riding the mini rollercoaster!

After all the hubbub, we went to Nuvali to buy my mum's running shoes and to have dinner there. While walking around, we saw a guy wearing a car costume! He turned out to be Japanese and he was apparently one of the many people in car costumes advertising the F1 toy car racing they were to have later on that night over at a restaurant called Ryuma.

We walked walked walked around, my mum tried on shoes and finally settled on one pair that she deemed very nice and suited her feet very well hehe. It was night time already and we were all quite hungry but Santi's caught my eye and I just had to go inside! It was like being in heaven or close to it. There were so many healthy food inside and the amount of cheese inside was just amazing hihi. My sister bought caviar just for fun and just to try it HAHA after that, we were looking for a nice restaurant that could not be found in Manila (hipsters) but found none so we went over to another building and got a bit lost hehe.

We entered the building and upon looking up, we were met by a weird sight. The second floor looked like a children's party threw up all over it but at the same time it had touches of Japanese stuff like zen things and samurai costumes on display! So we went up and to our right was the Ryuma Restaurant wherein the racing event was to be held, over on the left side were the Ryuma Grocery and Ryuma Baby Shop and at the back was the Ryuma Grill. EVERYTHING WAS NAMED RYUMA HAHA! It felt like we stepped into the Twilight zone. 

The place was so........ODD. It seemed that they believed in the saying 'the more the merrier' because seriously there was a lot going on decoration wise! So we satisfied our hunger and our craving for trying out new things by settling down and ordering at Ryuma. When we got there, a very Hawaiian looking quartet was on stage and was really killing it; they were so good! I took a video of them but their song ended all too quickly and they disappeared. After placing our orders, I went out and explored the other Ryuma establishments. 

I must say, they were all very quirky. The grocery had a ton of Filipino products considering it was a Japanese grocery..and it was so deserted it could pass for a store during a zombie apocalypse. But the one thing that caught my eye was the liquor they had for sale that contained pieces of gold!! As in gold the expensive gold gold with the karats and all! I left the place and went to check out the baby shop. It was creepy to say the least. The lighting was dim and there were a ton of baby clothes and weird pants with lots of jewels and sequins on them. 

Lovely lovely people

RACE TRACK HAHAHAHAHA

I went back to the restaurant and got uber giddy since the quartet that I fangirl-ed a bit over was apparently roaming around per table and stopped by ours! I had them sing Pusong Bato HEHEHE and Happy Birthday for my mum and All My Life since it's my parents' theme song and for the last one I asked them sing something upbeat and something that had a kickass blending, and they did and they chose Waka Waka huhu. THEY WERE SO GOOD!!! I really enjoyed watching and listening to them and if I could, I would've had them sing for me forever hehehe.

So our food came and we ate when a waitress stopped by our table and asked us if we'd like to join the race car event. Since we had nothing better to do and we were curious, my parents signed me up HAHAHA. 

A guy who had big boobs and was donning a wig went up on stage and suddenly the people were dancing hahahaha it was so funny!! After their performance, the contestants were announced and I thought I'd be playing against these guys who looked to be a bout 14 or so BUT NO I was playing against little girls HUHU HAHAHA. I HAVE NEVER FELT SO BIG IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!! 

I was just laughing and having such a blast throughout the entire race HAHA all I had to do was push the forward button and my car was moving all by itself already no need for the left and right buttons!

ANDDDD I WON 3RD PLACE!! HAHAHA they even had these podium thingies for our photo op!!! It was just such a surreal experience I couldn't stop laughing!! 

I brought home a medal with a car on it, an invitation to the grand championship to be held on April 21, a remote-controlled toy car... and a printed out picture of me and the other girlies onstage and it was even placed on this folder thingy with a plastic cover!!! Talk about effort!

April 13 was a very very very random day filled with a ton of new unforgettable memories! It was the perfect celebration for my mum's day. It's perfectness matched mum's perfectness hehe. I cannot ask for a more loving, more beautiful and more supportive mother hehe love you mum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3 p="">

Down below is the collection of videos we shot over the course of our adventure hehehehe enjoy!!!