"FIRST TIME"

ATLAST! I can tell people I've been to Boracay already! Imagine after living in Philippines for 16yrs, It was after 14yrs when I finally reached this island! first time! and it was AWESOME!!!

I went with my Bryant, my cousin Tricia & her husband Randall. I loved the sun! I can't explain it, but I JUST LOVED IT! I can't get enough of it. And after all of those change of boat trips, and small plane. I did not expect that I'll like the island. I thought at first that it will be just like another kind of the trips I had before.
Bry and me shared one room and we stayed at the Boracay Regency Hotel. Our room is ok and it was very clean. And i love their bathroom! It is not that huge but I like how the shower door is clear glass, it gives purity and cleanliness at the same time.

After stopping at Jonah's (the island's best every fruit shake / juice), we went back to the hotel and we took a nap. (Our flight was so early that's why! We reached domestic airport even before 5am, yikes) And when we came out for dinner, you can really see the sunset! It was just so beautiful. God is sooo cool He created all these beautiful things. (see photo) Then after dinner, we went in to this place where a band was singing live, an acoustic one. They are good! They can sing! One of the lead singer, a guy. He sang most of Ne-Yo's songs. (That includes 'Go on, Girl; Mad; Because of You) Plz take note; he sang it in acoustic. I wasn't expecting that it will sound good, but it did! His voice just matched the tempo when he sings it slowly. I had mojito & the guys had a bucket of beer (see photo). Our 1st night ended with their voices in our heads :)

So my 1st morning at Boracay.. we had breakfast infront of the beach!!! yeehey!! (coz the place we were staying, they face the beach) The money we paid for is really worth it! All i can say.
Anyways.. breakfast was full! Filipino breakfast style (in buffet!), fried rice, plain rice, garlic rice + sunny side up, scrambled eggs + hot coffee, hot choco, juice + french toast, plain white toast, 'pandesal' (a native kind of bread), hotdogs, german sausage + freshly sliced fruits and my list just can go on!
This day, i tried 'para-gliding' (it was cool! i can see the whole island!) then continued with ATV, where we all get our own 'fat' bikes, i call them 'fat' bikes coz the wheels are so much fatter than the normal ones, however in the end, i have to sit with Bry coz i fell! I FELL!!!!?? (me? driving my ass so fast here in Taiwan fell in Boracay?!) oh well, it gave me a chance to take more photos though, eventhough my right hip was hurt, coz when i fell, i fell from my right side, the bike kinda' put me down evidently. *bummer* my hip turned red soon as i got up, then at night, turned purple-black. (yuck!) Oh! and after the ATV, we tried walking under the sea. We went first to a deeper level of the water, and from there, they taught all of these 'i-got-scared-just-hearing-the-rules"! Especially when i saw the big helmet that we have to put when going down, and at that moment i just felt that i really do have claustrophobic. For before i did think that i might have one, cause there were several times when i go to a public washroom where there is no space left above & beneath, i felt the urge to go out as fast as I can. However, after the tears and all the encouragements, I went down. Appromixately we have 15-20mins, but ... i think i only lasted 5mins. (I'm not even sure if that was even 5mins!)
Then for that night, we met up with my cousin's boss, her family went to Boracay for that holiday too. We just wandered around and u can see in some of the photos that i was burned crisp that day! ALL RED!
And for the last day, we all went island hopping together. It was a nice trip and I had a great time! Me & Bry kept saying that how we wish Mom & Sis were there with us. Cause i think we all deserve to be together in this trip :)


P.S. I'll be back!

"White As Snow"

Set out early morning for my Ching Jing Farm Trip with Ginette, we met at the MRT station and from there we went to the meeting place, there was a bus that will take us there. We’ve wanted to go, and Ginette had been asking people, and somehow, it ended the two of us who were left. The farm is somewhere south near Nan-tou. Taiwan’s sitcoms had used this farm for several scenes, as I recon.
So, as I was saying, the trip started really early and i can say it was a good thing cause when we reached the farm, it was already around 1pm. Took out 6hrs more or less. Good thing Gin thought of downloading Grey’s Anatomy, season4; and brought several bag of chips so we can munch when we’re awake (Cause if we are not watching Grey’s, then we were sleeping!) The place we stayed was ok, it was pretty big and kind of remind me of a school dorm, like long hallways, different corridors, echoing footsteps.. Pretty homey though. After we checked in and everything, off we went to get something to eat (it was already lunch when we reached the farm so eventually the hotel were not offering any lunches inside). But it was a good too, for me & Gin got the chance to walk outside and checking out their stalls as well. I was a bit surprised coz I thought that the place was big, I mean really big. Since the farm is famous here. We were so happy when we saw Starbucks!! (we two sometimes can’t get enough of it, especially when I remember last year when we went to Korea…) So, we went in to this Chinese ‘small hot-pot set meal’ place, the food was just ok.

The weather there was really nice. It reminds me of Baguio (Northern south of The Philippines), where our family used to take vacations there every year, especially on Holy weeks. After filling up our tummies, we just wandered around and went in to this small tourist spot, where they have different buildings & small architectures that showed each country’s main view. (Like for Paris, they had Eiffel Tower; or for Holland, the put the windmills) It’s not really much, but it was ok for us because the ticket includes when we paid for our hotel. And I had a good time taking photos. Oh! And guess what? I never liked Sunflower anyhow, but in the farm, they had tons! I mean, YOU SEE THEM ALMOST EVERYWHERE! So I starting taking these photos, not only sunflowers, and others as well, (I think one of them were Lavender) But I must say, I loved how the yellow color in the flower reflects back to me. I was surprised.

So, after these non-stoppings of me taking flower photos (Coz Gin was trying to make me stop!) we headed back to the room for a rest, since the dinner will be around 19:00. (And they told us that there will be some lights show same time as dinners)
But we however ended up grabbing the dinner at the hotel first (two free steaks – includes when we paid for our hotel too), then off we set to the small tourist place again. I looked through my photos after I took the shots, oh man, was I disappointed. Coz I haven’t buy the external flash so obviously there will be a huge difference with or without those, especially at night time, don’t forget to mention it was outdoor thing.
Three more things I want for my camera are (1) External flash; (2) Macro lens; (3) Wide lens. Anyways our first night ended at midnight by finishing the season4 of Grey’s! lol.

Here comes our morning the next day, breakfast was also included so we didn’t have to fuss about this matter. Their breakfast was Chinese all you can eat buffet style. We only had porridge and we went to Starbucks to get some coffee again while waiting for the bus to take us to the farm. You know what? I really do love their early mornings & late afternoons. I just love feeling the coolness of the place. I’m not sure if it was because it brings me memories or just the fact that I just love how it seems very peaceful and away from the city. Or maybe both?! So.. When we finally reached the farm, we were really excited! Can you imagine experiencing to see big herds of sheep all together? And actually can touch it? (Photos) WAS COOOOOL! At first it was pretty yucky touching them, coz the wool was really rough. Like the texture of ropes. (or maybe even rougher than that), and even when they were all in a pen, when you give them food, those big ones would just jump up, feeling as if they were going to jump at you directly! but the small ones were pretty cute, we even have to stoop down to feed them.
And they introduced a sheep dog named Jimmy; he’s the one who do the chasing and getting the flock of sheep staying all together , keeping them in line as well. I and Gin even went to buy to taste the local ice cream they made in the farm. I’m really glad we finally pulled this trip off! ^_^