i am so dark i don’t even recognize myself anymore. reviewing the shots taken in my friend’s camera, i go like "uy, that’s my bikini…. ako yun?!?" hehehe. when i got back from a 5 day vacation in boracay, my mom and cora (our yaya for 18 years na) both commented after the usual, kamusta ka? nakakakain ka na?, greetings, "umitim ka." Cora was kinder o less insulting with "umitim ka ata". i need to change my bath soap again to papaya soap. hehehe
Given i’m not a very patient person and it takes a whole lot of patience to study for the boards, this would indeed be a big challenge for me. Many have studied and successfully passed the boards (though, they admantly won’t relive the experience ever again), i suppose I could do this as well. It such a feat spending your waking moments studying and feeling guilty when you are doing something else. And here I am complaining and whining, I’ve only started studying, and on my first subject.
Everyone seems psyched to see the new Star Wars movie. I’ve been hearing (from DJ’s on the radio), reading (blogs, and news articles) and watching (hosts in TV shows) about it. I can’t even remember if i saw episode 2. I must have had seen it, considering I’m a movie addict but then I can’t really remember the movie. I’d watch Lord of the Rings over STar Wars anytime. But then that is just my opinion.
enjoyed cebu. we got to so many places without spending much, thanks to our hostess, our cebuana i/v, and her very gracious,fun and game-na-game gumimik relatives in cebu. right off from cebu international airport (which i could say is the best airport i’ve been to within the philippines and outside manila), i/v immediately brought us to tourist spots in the different cities of cebu: magellan’s cross, mactan shrine, basilica de sto nino and ayala mall (hehehe). we also went to the port to purchase our tickets to ocenjet for bohol the following day. lunch was at one of i/v’s tita’s houses where they had so many dogs in baby diapers 
roaming inside their big bungalow house. meanwhile, dinner was at her grandparents’ house. dinner was followed by coffee at coffee beanery. and coffee was followed by videoke sessions. sang 2 songs (the first was an old, practisadong song included in our playlist everytime we have our videoke sessions, a sad song really about heartbreak - "Til my heartaches end" and the second was a more upbeat number, a song i’ve never tried singing along to before, "dancing queen") nonetheless, got 100 in both songs. hahaha. i surprise myself sometimes.
on our 4th day, arriving from bohol, all tanned from the beaches of bohol, we took a 2 ho
ur night trip to the northernmost town of cebu, daangbantayan. one of her titas has a beach house there. i retired early for the night while the others gazed out on the stars and sky on the beachfront. during the day, they have a lovely view from their porch facing the beach. took more pictures, nagfifeeling i’m a professional photographer when i still couldn’t entirely figure out my 1 year old camera until now. then we rode a boat named "phillip" (after i/v’s brother), to malapascua, an island off daangbantayan made famous for its beaches. there were a number of resorts there teeming with foreigners. since i couldn’t go for a swim anymore, i stayed under a shade and watched them play with 3 colorful water noodles in the waters. on our way back to the beach house, her tita bought ice cream for everyone, perfect to beat the summer heat. it was such a nice, perfect day for relaxation.
we returned the following day to the city. rushing to another tita’s house who will take us for another boat ride to the fishing sanctuary and floating restaurants in mactan. she made us baon so many bread and pastries which we found of use feeding the fishes at the sanctuary. lumalapit yung mga fishes and they kinda make dumog you if you feed them with bread crumbs. lunch at one float restaunrant consisted of various shellfishes i used to draw, know the complete scientific name of, can classify to which family, order, etc it belonged to in animal taxo before. i didn’t know you could eat those stuff! pero yummy.
on our last day, we went to shangri-la mactan for a tour, of course photo opps and halu-halo before boarding the plane back to manila.
bohol was beautiful. we could’t decide which we liked best: the chocolate hills or the tarsiers. lunch while cruising loboc river comes in close third. super natuwa kami sa chocolate hills. at first, i was skeptical when our driver/tour guide mang jun said there are 1700 of them! but when we got on top of one to the veiwing deck, it is really possible that there could be 1700 hills. there were mounds and mounds as far as the eyes can see. we were amazed, amused. we took pictures of them, of us with them, videos of them, of us with them. ang ganda. some hills are pointed, some were round. we did not mind the 214 steps up the viewing deck nor the 1.5 hours drive to carmen from tagbilaran. trivia: chocolate hills are located at carmen, and were originally called carmen hills. it was a foreigner who nicknamed them chocolate hills since they look like chocolate kisses in the summer.
we also liked the tarsiers. i did not imagine them to be so small. they look like mice perched on plants. mang jun already prepped us that tarsiers are nocturnal animals and may be lazy during the day. thus, we’d make various sounds, hooting, snorting, unintelligible sounds really, to wake them up for a photo opp. and i swear, these tarsiers do know how to smile for the camera. check my picture out with one of them! hehehe. we were not allowed to touch them, pero pinayagan si lala by 1 of the caretakers to stroke one on the back hanggang 3x. i did too. super nakakatuwa. i want one for a pet!
sulit din yung lunch namin at loboc river. we also met a big family here. they’re based here in quezon city, vacationing at bohol for 2 weeks. the dad/lawyer we met is originally from bohol, moved to manila, but still manages a family business in tagbilaran. he was friendly and politely butted in our conversation. we sounded like tourists kasi, speaking in Tagalog and talking about our plans. he introduced himself as a native in Bohol and gladly answered our questions. we met them again the next day at alona beach. they were staying at tagbilaran city and took a day trip to panglao. they invited us to join them on their rented boat to pamilakan island. the boat rent costs P2000 so we 4 could not afford alone. we got a free boat ride to pamilakan island plus we got to know the children (there were 6 of them, aged 7 to 20) and the tito and titas more. it was an afternoon of sun sun sand sand and sea. we got off the boat all looking like lobsters, red and burnt from the sun. ang saya.
oh by the way we stayed at aquatica resort along alona beach. the sand was white and fine although malumot and there were so many boats docked sa area namin of the beach so we’d walk 200 meters to alona palm beach resort were the shore is cleaner and less boat on the beach. we made this our hang out place. at night, clad in our bikinis and armored with our sarong, candles we found in our room, our strawberry-gin mix and chi-chi we’d troop to the shores of alona palm, girl talk, revelations, kalookohan, our 2 minute phone calls, plus a boholano made our first night memorable and fun.
before we went back to tagbilaran on our 3rd day, we asked mang jun to pass by dumaluan beach where bohol beach club and the public beach are located. this is where the natives go for a swim. dahil saturday, super daming tao when we got here. pero super nice. the sand was fine and white, the sky was clear and blue and the waters were various shades of blue. better than boracay or pagudpud or yung napuntahan namin sa palawan. and we oh so wanted to go for a swim! we just had our pictures taken there. ang ganda.
(pictures, trip to cebu to follow)
yay! i’m off to cebu tomorrow for a seven day vacation, hopefully, if our wallets and baon from our parents permit, we’ll push through with our bohol plans as well. going with my 3 other girl blockmates, all single and members of the walang kamatayang NBSB club. yay! puros girl talks and girl gimiks. manlalake kami. hahaha…. as if, we are capable of doing this. hanggang salita lang naman kami. i’m just excited to go on a vacation and to the beach. sun! sun! sun! and sand!
what the heck. i’m not a blog person (hahaha, if ever there is one). i mean, i’m not into thought broadcasting. i’ve been keeping a diary/journal since i was aged 7 but that’s it. i was napilitan to open this account because i wanted to have my own photo album on the net. i am a camera person. been taking pictures and keeping them in album since i was 12, i think. my close friends will attest to that.
gash. just finished my internship. i’m a certified bum and part of the unemployed population. spent my first 2 days in bed with a flu. my diagnosis: systemic viral illness. been lounging in my parents’ bed for 2 days, kept the TV and aircon on the whole day. ate nothin but Mami noodles with egg, ice cream and bananas for 2 days. am anorexic. yey! buti na rin coz i’m planning to go to cebu-bohol with my blockmates on wednesday. kaya i have to flush out this infection from my body fast. i have to be well by tomorrow.
what could be worse than an unlicensed MD?
