Makati

I'm in Makati right now. Wow! I never imagined Makati is this beautiful. The skyscrapers, the well-groomed and organized streets, the malls, and especially Greenbelt... I feel like I'm in another country. This is my only second time here, my first was more than a decade ago, and so much has changed.

We visited two hospitals this afternoon. An uncle of mine is being admitted in Makati Med because he met an accident while at home. An aunt is right now undergoing D&C in PolyMed because she has polyps in her uterus and ovary. Both hospitals look really decent.

Outside Makati, though, the traffic is awful. Buses are everywhere. The streets are teeming with people. All sorts of billboards compete for your attention. And I've never seen so many overpasses and skywalks!

I'm having a hard time communicating in Tagalog, so I'm just speaking less and listening most of the time.

Early tomorrow morning we leave for Baguio...

Baguio-bound

I'll be going to Baguio with my family the week after the finals exam. I guess I ought to be excited, considering that it will be my first time ever to visit the place. I had a chance to visit it a long, long time ago (when I was still in Grade 4 hehe), but I traded my ticket for a betamax! (My father made my brother and I choose between a trip to Baguio or a betamax; of course, considering how things were then - movie rental shops have just sprouted all over the city, and we were hungry for movies - we chose the latter). But I really don't know what to expect. Everybody says Baguio is a beautiful place, but really I can't picture how it'll look like. I wonder if it's still cold there the way it was when my family went there.

Will be bringing of course the essentials for a long trip: digicam, a book, and some audiobooks for that long, long bus ride to Baguio from Manila.

Davao plaza

Here's a beautiful photo of Davao plaza that appears in today's PDI front page.

Glimpses of Sanke

My grandparents own a sizeable tract of land in Negros. These are taken in Sanke, their home town (courtesy of my bro) last All Saints Day.

A blink of an eye

I was gone for 10 days and yet it feels like I just blinked my eye and here I am again back in Cebu.

It's like a dream. I prepared for this last night, when my pangga and I walked in the streets of downtown Davao in search of durian. I held her hand tightly, felt her hand's pressure on mine, to concretely register the moment to my memory. I watched our feet as we walked, watched our shadows, felt the coldness of the night.

I pondered long and hard inside the room where I slept, I took in all sensation I can to record the moment while it unfolded. I thought, "I'm going to miss this room, I'm going to miss this house, I'm going to miss this place..."

And most of all, I thought, "I'm going to miss your presence ga, your smile, your face, your eyes, your voice..."

I drowned my senses because I knew in a matter of hours all that's going to be like a dream.

True enough, I'm here, back home, and Davao and everyone and everything there that I experienced and hold dear feels like a dream.


Getting ready for the kabab-attack at Majid's.


Mmmmm mmmm...


How to eat a kabab (um, at least how to prepare to eat a kabab).


The videoke diva and the videoke prince at Gimik's.


Ginagmay'ng negosyo.


Donnie in his more innocent moments.




The University of Mindanao choir. Part of the Cancer Survivors Day organized by Smiles, a cancer support group in Davao. The event took place in Matina Town Square last Saturday. They sang beautifully.


In MTS.


Mother and future son-in-law hehehe.


Matina street at night.


"Satan's Army". A candidate of The Venue's holloween costume contest. He didn't scare us. My favorite was the "cursed bride".




"Night of the Phantoms"


The winner: King something and Queen Sofia.


Durian. I'm a convert!


That is one giant durian.




Bye Davao.


Majestic clouds over Mindanao.

All set for Davao!

I'm all ready for Davao. I'll be leaving tomorrow morning (at 5am!). I'm excited to see my baby, whom I haven't seen for about four months. I'm excited to see Davao again; and of course, I'm looking forward to my plane ride. I look at it with such childish anticipation.

I'll choose a seat next to a window if I can. I'll take photos of the view outside, especially of the clouds, which marvelled me so much the last time. This is the advantage of those who get to travel by plane only very rarely, they get to really appreciate the experience of flying.

I'll be gone for 10 days, yet I've packed clothing that can last me for about 3 weeks. It's always like this when I travel. It's a sign of being a segurista.

Our family will be in Negros on All Soul's Day. So the day after my return from Davao on the 30th, I'll be travelling again. We'll be going via the land route. It will be my very first time to drive from Cebu to Negros. It's going to be a very looooong drive. But I'm also excited because it's been many, many months (perhaps more than a year?) that I haven't seen the southern tip of Cebu, the channel between Bato and Sibulan, and of course Dumaguete, sweet old Dumaguete...

I can't wait to watch Pride and Prejudice (the one produced by the BBC) with my pangga. Yes, I'm finally done downloading it through BitTorrent, after more than a month of waiting! Unfortunately, I'm only able to burn 2 of the 6 episodes. I didn't expect it takes forever to burn a single episode into a CD.

Till then, sayonara.

Holiday in San Remegio

My family and I, together with my Pangga, went to Victoria Hard Rock beach resort in San Remegio yesterday. That's in the Northwest part of Cebu. We spent the night there. We all had a wonderful time. My father did a lot of fishing (the resort had a fishing farm), a hobby he loves so dearly and which he hasn't done for decades already. The place is so beautiful. The beach, too, was nice, although it wasn't well-maintained. The pools were great!



We rented a room in this cottage.



Another cottage will possibly rise on this site.



A superb photo of the sunset my brother took. That's the sea West of Northern Cebu.



Another view of the sunset. My brother surely has an eye for beauty.



Fishermen. Early in the morning.



The fishing farm.

(To be continued)