Hits & Misses

I'd say the best things in life are free. And random. The sweetest experiences I had_ mostly came unannounced and happened unplanned. Talk about free spirited people like me, you wouldn't have to wonder.
Ofcourse, a coin has two sides. My randomness is not always a happy ending. My being a snappy traveler also  brought us some random misses, haha.

Okey, I'll share a very graphic example of my randomness. One after-a-rain-noon, we were on our way back to Manila from a short visit of my farfar away hometown. But before we even got out of the town, brother mentioned that we were about to pass by a barangay with a cave he recently visited. In fact he added it was just like 10-15 minutes away a little detour from the main road. My random bell rang so loud, I went ahead to persuade driver husband to entertain the detour, haha. To cut the long convincing scene _  we reached the rural outskirts and all we needed was to change our foot gears cos we would be doing a little hiking.



Not so fast my dear! My ever protected/conservative/opposite of my random- self husband had to make his bylaws speech first as usual. This time with my brother around, he was letting us go without him. He actually not so liking this kind of snappy trip and would only go with us to protect us.



Afterwhich we were ready, but wait.. brother had an issue_ he totally forgot how to get there! wt#@%#!!!

So now we had to look for a local guide. He then went to a house nearby and when he came back, he brought with him our guide___



Meet little Angelito :))) The boy volunteered or was it like he was sent by his mother to guide us to the cave. The boy swore he knew the cave so well it was one of his play areas in the neighborhood. Ahh, ok.

So we followed the little boy leads. He said that it was just very near from the main road where we started the hike. He was so right about the cave not so far. Only this young fellow forgot to warn us that it wasn't going to be as plain as the beginning.







It was not at all obvious in the photos above, but the trail was actually not made easy by the previous rain that day. It was muddy and slippery. Many times, we couldn't hold to anything but to thin twigs only which were not very helpful. I guess the situation limited brother (who was behind the lens) on taking photos of our trail. It wasn't only once that we nearly fell down the river below the hilly muddy road we were walking on. It's good husband never read my blogs. The secret is safe from his worries.



The boy was right, it wasn't that far. Really, just few minutes and difficult muddy trail from the mainroad. Brother was not convinced that it was the cave he was looking for.



The boy insisted that this was the one! Brother was sure_it was not!!

You decide who's right ! This was the cave the boy-guide said it was! haha.



To give you a better perspective of the size of the mouth of the cave_  how do you think I could fit in to enter thaT?? crawl !!! haha.

The boy swore it was a cave and people in their community went in to catch some___... now I forgot what! Not snake, I'm sure of that.



Brother was so sure it wasn't the one. The boy out of embarrassment  ran out of the woods and left us all by ourselves to trek back to the main road. wheeww!!

All ended well in laughter and well as usual as I say to my girls__ charge it to experience!!!

Can't yet. .

I have to take some  minutes from "my off- blog" break ( I'm busy attending so important matters in my private life.. sorry can't share here) to imprint my good bye to you Muymuy.
pause# can't look at you right now, it tears me. . . can't do this .. yet..maybe later..have to stop here ..

will come back later to update this post . .

When the sun goes up. .

Sad.. summer is over. The recent typhoon Butchoy ( heard still around in the country today and tomorrow a new one is said to come :( ) says a lot about the onset of the season I hated most_ the wet ( reads as typhoon ) season.



The whole summer, we never missed our mornin' jog everyday, until the second week of June which cut my denial that sunny days were truly over. Can't do anymore roofless fitness. Means to settle down with  indoor activities such as cook + eat + eat = weight gain :( yaeeks.. hate it x100!!

You say, I can always go to the gym. Been there.done that. Failed cos when the rain fell, my feet were too cold to go to the gym to sweat.



One fateful day of the concluded summer2012, during our stay at Acasia Hotel Manila , husband and I woke-up the following morning early to workout in the hotel's gym.( this was at the height of our self-inflicted/personal fitness program that we didn't let any disruption got into our daily fitness routine), only to find out that the hotel's gym wasn't ready yet for the guest. Good thing the interested guests were sent free to Golds Gym (in Alabang) instead. So we hopped in the hotel car and were brought to the Golds Gym. The car left us and reminded us to just call the hotel to fetch us back. The gym's guard met us at the gate to announce that the gym was close that day ( I forgot what day it was..) cos it was some cleaning/maintenance day. wtf!
We didn't call the hotel for the car back, we decided to just jog around the area. But ofcourse I did confront the concierge when I got back, haha.

Anyway, what I'm trying to arrive at is how we discovered our latest jogging hub that summer. It was at the vicinity of Filinvest, Alabang. We saw that many people were already frequenting the area. But we don't always love crowds, so we walked furthermore. .



passing by some high-end residences and The Palms Country Club, at this point we're now free of the jogging crowds that seemed to mushroom at the previous part of the area.

Since then, we frequented the area the whole sunny mornings of this year's summer. It was a haven. We love that it was secluded, the air seemed fresh. .









with a beautiful landscape ever. .

beautiful not only to the eyes but for the legs too. There were hill-y parts that were quite challenging and therefore more benefiting to our fitness goal.

. . greens everywhere. How could you not start the day right with that freshness? In a city? It's a rarity.



We really miss our mornings there. Well, it's out of our control now. The weather has the say for the mean time. We'll be back when the sun goes up again, I guess.
This reminds me years back when the MOA (SM) was yet on the construction phase. It was still crowdless and we used to jog there then too. One day when we went back, the buildings were all up already and the crowds were hopelessly massive, that's the end of our mornings there.
I know the same thing is coming to this latest fave of ours, hope not that too soon thu'.
We want more morning runs there :D

Microtel, Batangas

There was this day that we came from a company outing, with no sleep from the previous night, our driver ( husband) was too tired to continue his task. The only choice left was to get a place to recharge his needed energy. We were already at Sto. Tomas, Batangas and we went to check-in at Microtel Suites.



The lobby is humble but with very courteous and accommodating front office staff.









We were housed at a third floor room. The floor lobby was very typical ,lining up were quiet close doors.




Nothing grand about the room but we liked it right away because it smelled so good. It was neat and simple and the beds were great_two kings.




Cutting all the fuss, I immediately hit the bed. It was dinner when I woke -up, still groggy.




 cable tv, a mini dresser and a mini ref.












A little consolation for the size of the room, we got a little green view to freshen our eyes.




The pool is clear and quiet, with Mt. Makiling (oh, I'm not sure, but it looked like her) as backdraft.








A pool addict, my younger daughter made her way to sample a splash. There was no life guard around, so I stood as one.

The following morning, we woke up recharged and energized. We headed to the breakfast hall.








I was surprised when I opened the buffet pots. Aside from the eggs, bacon, ham, breads, fried rice, there were around four viands that were good enough for lunch. There was also a breakfast nook with cerials and  desserts.








We enjoyed our stay here, more because of the very accommodating staff. We will try their other chains next time.

Padre Burgos, Quezon

I hailed from Quezon and it's funny that I had only discovered Bondoc Peninsula just very recently. Although I would glance at the welcome arch (photo) when we passed by on the way up to zigzag road , I had never passed thru it not until this summer when we went to Borawan , in Padre Burgos , a town in Bondoc Peninsula.










After Lucena, there's Pagbilao then Padre Burgos if you're not coming up the zigzag road in Atimonan. It is approximately 160 kms. from Manila, an easy four-hour drive in non-rush hour traffic.




If you are coming from Manila,this is the best landmark that you can get.From here,it's only 15 minutes zero traffic drive to reach the town of Padre Burgos.



Padre Burgos is the first town of Bondoc PeninsulaThe town proper is small and has a charm of a barrio. Quiet and quaint yet offers some of the best beaches and islands in the country. Nature beauties that are fresh , green and not yet commercialized.














We entered the town and followed our map to take a turn to a fork road. A short rugged road brought us to the gate of the resort we chose to stay_  The Tamarind Tree, see here.








front beach of the resort

we had a marvelous island hopping

the couple islets

more unnamed islets sitting pretty in the middle of the ocean

Dampalitan Island with lots of sea turtle resting on its beach side. See Dampalitan Island here.




the iconic Borawan which brought the town of Padre Burgos in my map. See more of Borawan = = > click here

Nothing disappointed us in Padre Burgos. From the resort, beach, islands, islets , ocean . . we were happy with our short stay. Never to forget the local folks were very courteous and added charm to the place.