beautiful destinations – Density Runs

September 30, 2022November 25, 2022

38th | And my August Pt. 2

So after spending a week in London, off to Paris we go.

We took the Eurostar to Paris, just 2 hours train from London.

This was actually near Kings Cross Station, where platform 9 3/4 is but we did not have the time to visit the place. Maybe next time.

Day 1

We met up with Arcie to check in at our hotel, we checked in at Hotel Colisee at the heart of Champs Elysees and just killed time roaming around the place.

Arc de Triomphe

One of the famous monuments in France and just a short walk from our hotel.

Day 2 | Walking City Tour

Went around Paris riding trains, getting lost and blistered feet.

Place de la Concorde

Jardin des Tuileries

The Louvre

Eiffel Tower

Day 3 | Disneyland Paris

At the happiest place on Earth!

Day 4 & 5 | Shopping, shopping, shopping

Went outlet shopping and more shopping! 😂

Galeries Lafayette Haussmann

And random things along the way.

Day 6 | Stranger Things

They had a pop-up store right at the corner of where our hotel was, lined up and had a blast.

Compared to London, you really feel the summer in Paris, it was really hot when we went 🥵 but overall, Paris was a wonderful experience. Paris is always a good idea.

Thank you to the overly awesome and crazy company I was with, the lost episodes and the never ending laughter, my August was perfect.

xx DMV

April 4, 2017April 4, 2017

I’ve read somewhere that family vacations are “happiness anchors” for kids until they grow up, banking on treasured memories and bonding moments. Instead of spending so much on gadgets and expensive toys and since March was a month of so many celebrations (Joaquin’s birthday, his and Miguel’s transition to 7th grade and Juancho’s moving up from toddler class), we decided to take the kids out for a treat. So Oceanpark and Disneyland it is.

Day 1 | Take off

Early flight to Manila and the kids were very much behaved, thank you. Got our Rame Nagi fix and free donuts because the light was on.

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Left Manila for HK around 5ish in the afternoon (flight was delayed), took the A21 bus to Mongkok, met with the AirBnb person and had late dinner nearby.

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Touchdown! Kids seem happy (lol).

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Day 2 | Ocean Park

Early start and noodle breakfast.

There’s a train line going directly to Ocean Park and Disneyland, how convenient.

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Curious little kids.

My little adventurero 🙂

Kids’ new friends.

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Transferring to watch the Dolphin and Seal show, picturesque view from the cable car.

And the big kids off to go on the big kids’ rides.

This view to cap off the whole day event. It was overwhelming to see the kids have so much fun.

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Victoria Peak

We headed to Victoria Peak after to catch the sunset and well, was in for a surprise.

No we did not take the tram because the line was like 10 years long. We took a taxi instead and it was much cheaper, $49HKD vs. $88HKD and more than an hour of waiting to board the tram.

Entrance to the Sky tower costs $32HKD, kids half the price. Can’t really remember (haha).

It was a case of expectation vs. reality. The place was overly crowded.

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On the way down the sky tower, there was an area where you could take 3D photos. This was not the Trick Eye Museum, the museum was on the other side and had a $100HKD entrance. This one was for free.

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Day 3 | Disneyland

Off to the happiest place on earth!

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Pretty flowers all around!

Choochoo train that takes you on a tour around Disneyland.

Everything is exaggeratedly overpriced in Disneyland (rice costs $18HKD!) but when Juancho passed by a souvenir shop with the entrance displaying Tsum Tsum toys and was like super excited when he saw it, well, I just couldn’t break his heart.

And his reaction? Well, there are just some things money couldn’t buy.

I find that Disneyland is more for small kids, the rides and attractions in general, although the older kids (including us) did enjoy the experience.

Day 4 | Free day

Harbour City

Roamed around Tsim sha tsui, shopped a bit and lunched on some Canton Dim Sum Expert chicken and pork buns. The siomai was also good but no photos because it was gone in an instant.

Caught up with my friend Reg and treated us to some Korean dinner. Thanks Reggie! My treat in June (haha).

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Mongkok

The place where we were staying was right where Ladies Market is and just around the corner was sneaker street. So, off we went to hunt for some cheap shoes and buy some pasalubongs before they close. Some stores close round 11pm.

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Street food…street food…street food!

Day 5 | Homebound

Flying all day, tiring week but with the wide smiles on the kids’ faces and the endless laughter makes it all worth it.

Goodbye Hong Kong!

Hello Manila!

and hello Bacolod! Home finally!

Starting a new family tradition. Til the next summer trip!

Oh, by the way, we got our Disney and Ocean Park tickets on Klook. They sell much cheaper than the tickets sold on the official sites and when you get to the park, you don’t have to wait in line.

DMV

March 24, 2017April 4, 2017

Borabiba | 2017

Let’s open summer!

My friend who was celebrating her birthday and at the same time her and her husband’s 5th wedding anniversary, one random night, was looking through old pictures of our laboracay trip 2 years ago. Nostalgia got the best of her so 26 of us decided to celebrate in Boracay and it was one helluva trip!

Day 1

We rented a bus to accommodate all 30 of us (lol).

And the party started waaaay too early.

Pit stop at Ramboys! Mouthwatering-melts-in-your-mouth liempo for lunch. Yum!

Off to the island!

Checked in, lazed around for a while and met everyone around sunset. We stayed at Beachcomber in Station 1.

The only thing pretty about this place. Boracay sunsets are the best.

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Epic party. Happy birthday Michelle!

Day 2

Party day. Everybody’s complete!

Body clock woke me up pretty early so went down, had breakfast and did a ~~little~~ sunbathing. I think I overcooked myself. Waited for the rest to arrive from Cebu, Capiz and Iloilo and call time was 5:30pm.

Sunset sesh about to start!

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All set for the party!

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DJ Melvin Baridiano

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This view would never get old.

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Beer and beach = perfect mix

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Dig!

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DJ Slippy

All out party. I leave all the memories and juicy stories in our Viber group (hahaha)!

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Day 3

Chill Sunday. Beach was clearest this day so we did a bit of paddle boarding and took lots of pictures.

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Sunset sesh at Spider house.

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Chilled by the pool till late evening and talked about GYM and WORKING OUT (lol).

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Day 4

Time to go home!

But first one last photo shoot.

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Stopped over at Rosa’s for that famous longganisa.

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Thank you Raymond and Michelle for the awesome weekend! Thank you Boracay for the great memories and thank you friends for the super fun time!

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DMV

Photo credits: BORAbiba Viber group

January 5, 2017January 5, 2017

Holiday | When trying to be a tail

Juancho’s day out (Photo set)

DSB | Canlaon

2016 year ender

Best friends are home so — road trip!

My future hiking buddy!

2017 starter | 1st road trip of the year

This massive tree is said to be more than 1,300 years old!

And the kids found a new playground.

Great way to end 2016 and start 2017.

DMV

August 3, 2016February 24, 2017

32nd

Hello August!

So what went down last week.

Bukid kick off

Went up to Michelle’s farm and stayed for the day. Chilled, hiked for a bit and had some incidental digital detox because there was no signal there (haha).

This and Risa’s cansi FTW!

What’s awesome with the farm’s area is that it includes a 20 minute hike to this hidden treasure.

And nice that the fam and some friends put up these signs along the way.

This is part of the Lunao sulfur river. Entry point is on private property and the owners decided to not keep it open to public to preserve this precious gem. It used to be open and shared to everyone but sadly lots of irresponsible tourists would leave their trash behind.

Portiko Trivia Night

First time to go and it was so much fun! Good brain exercise.

Team R-18! We’ve to stock up knowledge for next Wednesday.

Check out Portiko Cafe & Lounge

Eat like a Viking

Celebrated with family before flying to Manila, us August celebrants 🎉 Yay for free buffet!

My loves!

Check out Vikings SM City Bacolod.

Manila bound

Originally my flight out was 9am but Cebu Pacific moved it to 1pm.

Flight was 3 hours delayed and I was stuck in Manila traffic for 4 freakin hours. Hell.

Had late dinner at Gringos with Jobelle, mojitos and lights off by 12 midnight.

Happy birthday Surf trip

Road trip to Zambales to catch us some waves. First time to try surfing. Left Makati round 4:30am, arrived Crystal Beach 9ish, I think. Way to north was so picturesque and I made super cool new friends.

Good morning 32!

Such an awesome day to go to the beach, weather was great!

Who’s under your table?

They make surfing look so easy but it’s really exhausting! So got out of the water, bought me some beer and chilled on the beach. Perrrfect.

Sunset sesh.

Check out Crystal Beach in Zambales. The place is really nice, the instructors are so friendly and accommodating and the resort’s rates are affordable too.

Got back to Taguig around almost 10pm and had late dinner at Burgers and Brewskies (always) with this bunch. I just can’t miss their burgers, sorry.

Home bound

Brunch at Locavore. The food is soooo good!

And off to go find some Pokemons (lol). This craze.

Grabbed coffee with these crazies before my flight. Sooooo bitin! I wish I could extend another week haha!

Amazingly traffic wasn’t bad, my flight was only delayed 30 minutes. Super awesome birthday week!

Cheers!

DMV

Encore

I feel the love! This from my friends and colleagues when I got back to work.

May 30, 2016June 23, 2016

Where are you now?

Moalboal, Cebu

They say that one of the things you need to do before settling down is travel with your best friends. Well, none of us are settling down (me is a totally different story), we just like doing stuff and going places together, that’s all there is to it. Seascape before summer ends and getting that much needed vacation.

Jobelle, Joyce and Reggie were coming from Manila and taking the last flight to Cebu so me, to avoid waiting for them for too long, took the bus since most of the flights from Bacolod going to Cebu are really early. WRONG MOVE.

Weather was crazy and I swear, I’m never taking the bus again! It took almost 9 hours to get to Cebu! My ass and back was literally hurting from all the sitting.

So anyways, I hanged with my friends who’re in the city while waiting, did some catching up and grabbed me a few beers. Manila flight arrived round 3am (last flight from Manila is 11pm so they were supposed to arrive a little past midnight), I met Jobelle, Joyce and Reg at the airport and we left to go straight to Moalboal. Passed out the moment I got in the car. I think I must’ve been awake for almost 24 hours, don’t ask me why.

Day 1

We stayed at Blue Orchid Resort. The place is really nice with really friendly and accommodating staff.

While me and Jobelle were passed out, Joyce and Reg did some sick drone action. The things you do when jet lagged (lol). All things pretty.

Some sun finally!

Rented a boat in the afternoon and went on to search for Dory. Brought with us some cold beer too. The boat life, the good life.

We got back to the resort at just around sunset, chilled by the beach and just enjoyed the scene.

Day 2

Joyce and Reg went to see the Whale Sharks in Oslob and left really early while me and Jobelle just hanged by the beach.

When they got back, we went on to do something new: Intro Dive. The things Jobelle make me do.

Steve, the dive instructor, actually gave us a booklet about diving the previous day which we were supposed to read and answer in advance. Lazy me only got to read it that morning and found it quite confusing. Having to go through all those underwater signs and stuff made me anxious, I wanted out. But when he taught us the basics, it was rather easy. I just did not like all the stuff hanging on my back though. I had to like carry 25 kilos to the shore.

Down we go…

Then this.

It was totally different from what you see when snorkeling, this — you get to see super up close. Quite an experience! Felt like singing the little mermaid song. Thanks Steve!

After dive happy hour!

Kiss from a sea hare. Bill said it squirts beautiful purple ink as defense if it feels like it’s being attacked. Hmmm…how to make it squirt.

Then this amazing sunset. Makes you just want to ditch life and get lost.

Decided to have dinner outside the resort so we took a pedicab to Panagsama. It was rather far.

It was a strip of food stores and bars. The most popular one being Chili’s. But it was really crowded so we ate at the resto right beside it. I forgot the name of the place but it was empty so we had it all to ourselves, the food was really good, super busog! And the music from Chili’s was loud enough that we could sing and dance to it.

Day 3

Wouldn’t mind waking up to this every day. But then all things must come to an end. Jobelle, Joyce and Reg will be going to Boracay and Palawan after here. If I extend, I might not have a job waiting for me when I get home (haha).

Went back to Cebu round 1pm, stopped by Carcar to buy some chicharon and checked in at Allure Hotel; went to Ayala to buy some drone batteries and hung out at John’s vape shop. It’s just opened recently, bout 3 weeks ago. Rcos Vape Shop. It’s at I3, where Bean Leaf used to be.