Egad! Egay!

Remember how I used to whine before on not having any plans for summer getaway this year? (Actually, it’s more like having a really nice swimwear without any place to wear it, haha!) It turns out that I was wrong about it. The month of May has got me busy with consecutive weekend trips (oh thank you holidays!) and here’s a photoblog of where and when:

May 1: Crismar Fishing Resort, Los Banos, Laguna

First of all, shame on you GMA for not moving the Labor Day holiday to Monday! Anyways, this was with the Laguna folks. It was really sweet to be here because everybody’s just missing me, specially the kids. (awwww!!!) Almost everyday, they were texting me, “Ate KC, kelan ka babalik dito?” God, I love these kids! (ages range from a naughty 5-yr old boy to blossoming 16-yr old girls). It’s the first time for most of them to see me after I left Intel. (I stayed in Laguna for the latter part of my years at Intel, fyi)

May 12-14: Gumaca and Pitogo, Quezon!

Yep, May 12! After arriving from Davao, I packed (again!) my bags for a journey to Laguna first where the meeting place is (Padua’s residence). Though still tired, I’m sort of obliged to come here to deliver some of my fruits for pasalubong and the malongs for my Besty Joy since next weekend is already planned. I’m glad she loved the print ‘coz my instinct really told me that pink one was best for her. :) This time I’m not with the kids but rather, the elders (Tita Vener, Tita Millet, Glenn, Bundy, Joy, Kuya Jeff and Kuya Gabby). But however matured they are, the saying “There’s a little child in all of us.” holds true as shown in the pics below. We had so much fun with my phone’s multi-shot capability, haha!

Aside from the swimming, a heavy downpour occurred around 2 PM in the Sunday afternoon; Kuya Gabby and I found ourselves having a shower outside the house we’re staying. (How I love rain! :)

After swimming, I found my face looking like this:

They say I look like a Japanese. :)

May 18-20: Party Hearty Puerto Galera :)

This is considered to be a reunion of my Intel superfriends: Myk and Lisa. (Xtian is in Penang, bad!). Being the party lovers that we are, we’re so so so excited to see the place. It’s my and Lisa’s first time to be there. Even Mike is anticipating I suppose the last time he went there was really fun.

Lisa was the appointed organizer for the event. She settled for Coral Cave resort she spotted in the Internet after getting pissed with how the Coco Beach agents in Malate treated her. So around 11 AM, we arrived at Sabang beach where some crew from the resort will pick us up. Before long, we arrived at the resort eagerly.

In the resort, we were like “Ok, so where’s everybody? Where are the people?” It appeared that we’re the only borders of the resort for the night. Mike was explaining that this is not where the party is. It’s in the White Beach, the other side of Puerto Galera. We are in Sabang beach! Lisa’ was so apologetic because we have yet to travel around 45 mins – 1 hr in order to get to the place. But everybody’s spirit was cooperative. It’s as if saying in unison, “We’re already here! Let’s make the most out of our stay. Look at the positive side; we’re having this resort only for ours in the night. And tomorrow some 12 guests will be arriving.”

While waiting for our orders for lunch, we roamed around the resort and found that it’s not bad after all. We found out that it’s a diving center so most likely only foreigners visit it. The view is really beautiful as seen from the resort and really tranquil. Well, take out points for not having a videoke. :D See pics below:

See? But still, we think that the resort is good for some retreat and not for party people like us. We intended to visit the White Beach the next day and come back Sunday morning. It’s low tide in the afternoon so we frolicked for some time in the coraled waters after lunch (btw, we all wore surfing shorts unintentionally that day;) and had some photo-ops.

But for me, it’s still THE BEACH! The clear water looks so inviting, my spirit immediately permeated through them and we all changed for swimming. Weeee!!!

Apparently, we can’t do so much on the beach but just hurt our feet with the rocks. We saw some kayak boats and decided to rent it but they’re all wrecked. Fortunately, on the most right side of the resort is like a small village where the common occupation is fishing. They allowed us to rent their boats so we paddled and paddled for some 2 hours. The boat is only good for 2, Mike stayed on the boat and Lisa and I have to each take turn. But everybody’s wary and afraid to propel beyond due to the current. So after taking my turn, one man was kind enough to ride me in his boat and accompany Lisa and Mike’s boat to tour the island some more. We got to see more of the place and I get to snorkel a bit and see sea creatures: lotsa blue starfishes, angelfish, unidentified fishes (hehe) and some scary sea plants. (Praise God for the beauty of the undersea, I’m really eager to learn scuba diving.) Everybody enjoyed it and got exhausted paddling, except me only the mama is paddling. Haha!

We changed and we had our dinner. Allow me to mention, the price of the food there is skyrocketing. The one serving their talking about is already good for 2 so we had to budget our meal coz we’re not sure if there’s an ATM machine in Puerto Galera. The night was so peaceful, engaged in some talks while Lisa and Myk puffed. Stayed in the room, enjoyed the cable and slept early. So early that I wasn’t able to catch PBB.

‘Til now I can’t explain but there’s this thing in the provinces that causes you to wake up early. I woke up 7 AM and I already found Lisa and Myk having coffee outside. (Everybody knows how I use to wake up around lunch time on day offs!) Had another skimpy breakfast and changed again for swimming. The water has risen up and after getting acquainted with what lies underneath it, I braved the sea and swam far away. (Unlike the beach in Quezon where there are a lot of jellyfishes, ewww!) True enough I was able to set a record in doing freestyle in my entire life; it’s considered an accomplishment. :) Well, truthfully, I was more interested in the amount of calories I burned, haha!!

In as much as Myk and I really like to stay in the water, we had to leave the resort temporarily to probably have a cheaper lunch outside and find a place where we can shell out some dough. Unfortunately, the ATM is not working in a resort somewhere in Sabang. So we headed to White Beach just to have some taste of banana boat for us and party life. Upon arriving, a sight of crowded restaus, teeming beach, packed lodges and congested lanes filled my cornea. And suddenly I longed for the serene surroundings I was just with 2 hours ago. It’s as if I already made a connection with nature in that environment, I wanna come back! I don’t anticipate anymore the party even if I see lot of cute guys around. I brought up the idea but coming back will only cost us more. *sigh*

It took us some time to find a house to stay for just the night; no available room near the beach and prices are still high for houses near the roadside. Thanks for our bargaining power, we were able to find a room within the budget. Among us, Lisa was the one most interested in partying. Though I have a sexy outfit for the night (no pics I didn’t bring my phone from the lodge), I just feel sleepy and keen to return to our lovely resort. The music just kept me dancing a bit; famous of which is the howling of people in Gwen Stefani’s Sweet Escape. Stayed in the sand where Lisa did her eye contacts and all and Myk sleeping, haha!

Lisa’s hooking power was once more proven as someone bought her a drink and talked to her. The guy has company but I’m not interested in meeting them. I just played with my I600 games while she chatted with him and Myk still sleeping, hehe. Their conversation took some bloody minutes that I had to call someone to busy myself. Around 2 AM, we’re still there sitting prim and poised. We noticed some set of guys who are so obviously looking but didn’t have the b**** to approach. Shame on you, guys! Unlike this guy Nico who shocked me when he slouched himself next to me (well, minus for that part) but his methodology is so gentlemanly. Introduced himself properly, chit chatted with us casually and parted with us nicely (with a matching beso with him *gush*) Sad to say he’s looking for three girls to introduce to his friends because he lost in a drinking match. Have I mentioned that he’s a real CUTE Korean? ^_^ Oh well, his presence was enough to complete my night. And I do hope to bump with him someday in one of the party places in town. Can’t forget him.

Around 3 AM, we headed back to our room. Slept and tried once more the ATM in the same Sabang beach, but again it’s offline. (Such a shame Puerto Galera, there are swarming foreigners and tourists visiting you but there has been no decent ATM machine, phbbbt!) My agenda for today is to beat my record but heck! I found myself trying once more DIVING!! It’s my first again after lost count of years doing so, would you imagine? I also encouraged Myk to try it, he really haven’t done it and learned it after some tries. So this is another capture-worthy moments and really thanks to my D900i’s multi-shot function. Enjoy trail and video below. :)

Our check out time is 12 PM, we had to hurry our last photo-ops in the water. Our money wouldn’t allow us to have anymore lunch in the place. Good thing they’re accepting credit cards so we were able to pay the bills in the resort. The combined money we have is just enough for the transpo. Yay! Had our last pictorial and video of the resort and left Coral Cove. It was with a heavy heart when I left the place but I already negotiated with the landlady to give us discount ‘coz I promised myself “I shall return.” *sigh*. I made a video (sort-of-hosting) the place, that was my party outfit. Hope your head won't ache after viewing, hehe.

It took me some time to get over it, I spent the next days looking over and over the pictures. Such a short stint but I fell in love with the place. I do look forward returning this same year. Anyone?

That’s a rundown of my escapades this year. The aftermath? A really egay version of me. Never have I been unconscious of how my complexion will be when I’m in the beach. But who cares? I had fun, fun, fun under the sun! :)