M.C.P.

Manila, Coron, Pundaquit. Our major destinations for our vacation this year (^_^) 3 weeks have gone by and it was filled with food, fun, friends, more food, sights, sunburn, even more food ... and now we're back 5 lbs heavier, 2 additional suitcases and a ton of pictures in tow. You'll have to wait for the pictures tho, there's a lot to sort and edit (i took around 4,000 photos).

07-17-10, Saturday: Left NY after midnight and arrived in Incheon, Korea after 3am on the 18th. The AC at the airport was off, no shops were open, and we had to wait there for around 5 hours for our connecting flight (0_o) Arrived in Manila before noon and went straight to Duty Free. Had lunch at Jollibee, went home to unpack and then Finn slept over at his cousin's.

07-19-10, Monday: Finn and his cousin went to the basketball court nearby early in the morning. At noon we left for Galleria and had lunch at Max's. The kids played in the arcade afterwards.

07-20-10, Tuesday: We planned on going to Greenhills, but ended up in SM City North (>_<). All these U-turns and dedicated lanes are confusing. Anyway, we had an appointment with Aggie at 2pm in UP. On our way there, traffic was horrible! It wasn't normal, and we soon found out there was a fire and they closed all the lanes.

We had to take another route so we arrived late for our appointment. Aggie and Nards kindly took our photos in different locations in UP. So fun! Can't wait to see the pictures. After the shoot, Jojo and I had our isaw fix, while Finn had his sorbetes.

07-21-10, Wednesday: Last time we were here, SM City Marikina wasn't open yet. We went there and Finn had a blast with the Bungee Jump. He's always liked doing the same thing here when we go to theme parks and so he was so happy they had it there, in the mall even! He went 3 times (^_^)

07-22-10, Thursday: Jojo and I went to Sta. Lucia, had lunch at Mushroom Burger in Katipunan, then went to Makati to visit his Headstrong friends.

We then headed for Greenbelt to meet with Rona, ate dinner at Krokodile Grill, then took her home.

07-23-10, Friday: The 3 of us went to Sta. Lucia, ate at Shakey's (Finn loved their thin crust pepperoni), went to Riverbanks and then home. For dinner, Jojo and I met with Issa and Dexter in Eastwood.

07-24-10, Saturday: Finn went with his cousin to his soccer class early in the morning. They let him play with them (^_^) Jojo and I went to Trinoma to see Karen and Lorie. Met them at Starbucks, had lunch at Kimpura and coffee at Seattle's Best.

07-25-10, Sunday: Went to Church, and then to SM Megamall. Finn is so amazed by all the SM malls =P "How many SM malls are there?! Is there an SM in New Jersey?" hehehe. We bought a lot of our pasalubongs in Kultura Filipino. For snack we tried Stick House, gelato on a stick. Finn got 2 sticks - mango with chocolate drizzle and plain milk. I had this pistachio ... mmmmmmmm.

On the way home we got stuck in really heavy traffic ... as in not moving at all! Turns out there were some protesters who closed off all the lanes and we had to merge into one lane going through the driveway of the police headquarters to go around these protesters (-_-*) Who's going to sympathize with whatever their cause is when they're inconveniencing so many people?! Uuuurrrggghhh.

07-26-10, Monday: Jojo and I went to Sta. Lucia again (it's nearby and they have a tiangge too, no need to go to Greenhills) and we watched The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Had my nails done too (^_^). We went to Glorietta before dinner to meet with our barkada at Fely J's.

07-27-10, Tuesday: As a continuation of our dinner date, the 6 of us plus the 2 kids had lunch at Seryna in Little Tokyo. We then went to Megamall for dessert.

The 3 of us went straight to the 96th Anniversary Celebration of the Church of Christ that was held in Marikina.

07-28-10, Wednesday: Our barkada, without the kids (sorry Finn and Arianna), met at the airport to go to Coron, Palawan. Our flight only took 30 mins, shorter than the Pascual's travel time from their house to the airport =P.

We arrived in Busuanga at 8.15 and we were picked up by the hotel's driver. Once at the Coron Village Lodge, we had enough time to freshen up and relax a bit before having lunch at 11.30, then straight to the pier for our island hopping tour. Our tour guide was Lala, with boatman Ariel and his assistant Junemay (have no idea how it's spelled). All of them were great and was able to put up with all our kakulitan ... hehehe. 

Our first stop, Siete Pecados.

We got to snorkel and feed fish here.

Then on to Cayangan Lake to see what I think is the most photographed landscape in Coron.

We went down to the lake and along the way got bit by tons of mosquitos which have no idea what Off is for (O_o). But the lake is gorgeous.

Next stop is Atuwayan Beach.

Then to Twin Lagoon.

Where we had to pass through this, on a bamboo raft, to get to the other side.

Our last stop for the day is Maquinit Hot Spring.

Back to the hotel after this, had dinner at 7.30 and we all turned in early coz we needed to wake up very early the next day.

07-29-10, Thursday: 5 of us (Liza is pregnant and chose not to join us) left at 5.30am to walk up 786 steps to the top of Mt. Tapyas for sunrise. Well, we took more than 786 steps coz we walked quite a distance from the hotel to the base of Mt. Tapyas so it was more like 1,500 or so ... hehehehehe. It was a cloudy morning and was drizzling for a bit and when we got to the top, the sun had risen already =P But the view is still wonderful up there and well worth the very tiring walk up.

The Sleeping Giant, boyfriend of Maria Makiling.

When we got back to the hotel, we had breakfast and then it was off to the pier again for day 2 of our tour. First we stopped off a WWII Gunboat. It was very shallow and is said that the tip can sometimes be seen during low tide.

See? Even I can stand on it's edge (^_^) We stayed here for a bit of snorkeling, then we went to Calomboyan Island where we had lunch. It is breathtaking here and there are so many butterflies!

After lunch we went snorkeling and the corals and fish are just stunning! There are even areas where it is so shallow that you should just float and not move so much so that you don't accidentally touch them.

Then we went to the Coral Garden for even more snorkeling. This area is a bit scarier coz at the edge of the reef, it was so dark and deep ... you can't see anything at all.

Our tour is now over, so we headed back for the hotel. After dropping off our stuff, we left again to buy souvenirs, then had dinner at the hotel. I forgot to mention that the food here is just great - like having buffet everytime because of the quantity of food! And it tastes really good too! I highly recommend Coron Village Lodge if you ever find yourself here. Great value for your money, I guarantee it (^_^)

07-30-10, Friday: Had breakfast at the hotel, and then we had some time to finish packing before leaving for the airport. We arrived around 12.30pm - another 30 minute plane ride, then headed for the Pigao's residence. Rested a bit then went to Dampa sa Libis for a late lunch. After lunch we went our separate ways. When we got home, I freshened up and left again. This time to Trinoma to see my schoolmates from elementary and high school (^_^)

07-31-10, Saturday:  The 3 of us went Kart Racing with Karen and Eugene. Fun! Even if the karts didn't have seatbelts (O_o)

Teriyaki Boy was our lunch stop and then we had to go home. We went to church today so that we didn't have to wake up too early the next day.

08-01-10, Sunday: We left for Pundaquit, Zambales with some of Jojo's relatives. Arrived at Nora's Beach Resort past noon, had lunch and then prepared ourselves for the beach.

08-02-10, Monday: We hired 3 boats to take us to Capones Island. We were the only people there (^_^)

Then we walked to the other end of the beach and crossed over a mountain to get to the other side of the island.

After having breakfast here and enjoying both sides of the island and getting sunburned, we went to Anawangin Cove, where the river meets the ocean.

Finn waterbending in the river (^_^)

The red tint in the water is from the dried leaves of the trees that fell in there.

We went back to the resort for lunch and then packed our stuff for our trip home. We had dinner along the way.

08-03-10, Tuesday: We had lunch at Cabalen with Jojo's family. Their buffet is really affordable! Then Jojo and I met with a few of his high school friends for dinner at Woodfire Grill in Metrowalk. Can't believe I forgot to take a picture here =P I only have this of Finn eating his calamari with his sprite in a fish bowl.

08-04-10, Wednesday: I have started packing and then we went to The Block to buy more pasalubongs. For dinner, we went over to Jojo's cousin's house with some other family members.

08-05-10, Thursday: Rona and Menands gave us gift certificates for an Executive Massage at The Spa so we went to their Trinoma branch to claim it. Aaaaahhhhh .... In the evening, the 3 of us went to Eastwood to go bowling with the Pigaos and Karen.

08-06-10, Friday: Our last day, we went to SM Marikina coz Finn requested to go bungee jumping again.

We also bought extra suitcases since we have a lot of shoes to bring back =P Jojo's dad made them for us (^_^)

08-07-10, Saturday: We got to the airport before 9 and our flight was before 1pm. After the long flight back, we were home before midnight.

I started unpacking on Sunday and then it was back to work on Monday. I still sometimes get sleepy in the afternoon but I don't sleep it off. And now I'm finally finished with this entry! I wonder when I'll be able to edit the photos and post it to an album? Hmmm....