Another quarantine birthday. Out of town, out of reach.
(Sooooo sooooo late to post)
Spent the day at Manggapuri Villas to celebrate Jyuan’s 16th last September 2021.
Road trip!






Happy birthday Jyuan!


xx
DMV
Just some random stuff here.
Another quarantine birthday. Out of town, out of reach.
(Sooooo sooooo late to post)
Spent the day at Manggapuri Villas to celebrate Jyuan’s 16th last September 2021.
Road trip!
Happy birthday Jyuan!
xx
DMV
Photo set | Northern Island, New Zealand
I stopped celebrating my birthdays when I turned 20 for silly reasons most people wouldn’t really understand. Not that interesting so don’t be curious.
Every year, on my birthday, I leave and go on an adventure and for the last leg of this quarter life crisis, I went to Middle Earth. 12 days full of missed flights, stairs, bottles of wine, herds of cow, flocks of sheep, steak, steep trails, fish and chips, broken luggage, sorting baggage, magnificent views and loads of fun!
Flew Qantas. Flight from Manila was delayed so I missed my connecting flight and was stranded in Sydney airport for a few hours. Booked the next available flight to Auckland. Fortunately, my Wellington flight got moved to a later schedule so I did not miss it. Good thing there was also free booze on board, good enough compensation to the exhausting sprint I had to make to my connection only to arrive to a closed gate.
After 13 hours of flying…
Northern Island winter road trip
The places we went to on our 10-day road trip from Wellington to Auckland.
My cousin and her husband cooking me up a feast at their new home and what a coincidence that a friend of mine from way back also lives in the same suburb as them! She saw my Instagram stories arriving in Wellington and messaged me. Chance meet up of course and she also brought me 3 bottles of wine haha!
Cape Palliser
Road to Cape Palliser, such picturesque views outside my window!
We passed by some wild seals too! Stopped by the side of the road and took some pictures of these cuties. Careful enough not to get too close as some curious pups were growling at me haha.
Mount Victoria lookout
360-degree scenic views of Wellington. Always chasing sunsets.
Te Papa Museum
Did not finish exploring and will need to go back!
Weta Cave
When you love Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, you just have to visit this place. Home of the talented people behind these amazing conceptual designs and visual effects.
Martinborough – Poppies
Passed through this town going to Castlepoint. The town features over 20 wineries, most within cycling and walking distance of the village square.
We stopped here for late lunch and some wine tasting. I am not a wine person but this place is definitely a must go to. Wine and food, superb.
Castlepoint
This small beach-side town on the Wairarapa coast is just beautiful.
Dessert Road
Road crossing to Ruapehu district. Landscape of the Northern Island is so diverse. Majority of the road trip, all I see is lush green forests and cattle and sheep ranches. Then we come to this. Both sides covered with low scrublands and snow capped Mount Ruapehu, Mount Tongariro and Mount Ngauruhoe as backgrounds.
Mount Ruapehu
It was snowing when we arrived and first snow fall experience for these kids in the 7 years they’ve been living in New Zealand haha! Pretty winter wonderland.
Parked our car by the hotel. We took a bus up to Mount Ruapehu as the road was very slippery and we did not bring chains.
Huka Falls
The Huka falls—largest falls in the Waikato river. The flow rate from the water drop of the falls could fill up 8 olympic size pools in roughly a minute. Amazeballs.
Wairakei Terraces
Relaxed in the silica enriched thermal pools as we were dead tired from all the walking and hiking. There is also a walk where you get to experience a recreated Maori settlement, said to have settled some 1,000 years ago, drawn by the thermal activity and the abundance of food. They believed that the hot pools contained healing powers and therapeutic benefits. Amazingly, the houses are so small and considering that most Moari are largely built people.
Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland
Wai-O-Tapu (Māori for sacred waters) is an active geothermal area by the Taupo volcanic zone, some 27 kilometers south of Rotorua.
Whakarewarewa Forest – The Redwoods
Magnificent stands of towering native and exotic trees in this beautiful forest.
Lake Tikitapu (Blue Lake)
Lake Tikitapu is also known as “Blue Lake” because of its gorgeous sapphire waters.
Rotorua Museum
This magnificent structure used to be an elegant spa retreat called the Bath House in 1908 and was later on converted into a museum and art gallery. Sadly, this beauty closed in 2016 for seismic strengthening and remains closed til now.
August 6th, BIRTHDAY!
Matamata – Hobbiton
Where else to celebrate the last leg of my quarter life crisis but at the lush pastures of the Shire in Middle Earth?
Waitomo Glowworm Caves
I swear we went. They just did not allow us to take photos. According to our Maori guide, the glowworms are sensitive to light and sound which is why they prohibited use of cellphones and cameras and also, said gadgets are expensive and they do not want to be spelunking the caves just to retrieve these.
Grabbed some pictures from Google Images (maybe back when it was still allowed to take photos, I dunno).
What an awesome day! Ate truffle burgers and truffle fries for dinner, lazed at our Airbnb by the lake and downed 2 bottles of wine. Happy birthday to me!
Cathedral Cove
These familiar scene out of Narnia. Shorter way by boat, Longer way by hike. We took the latter. Even found a few blooms of Sakura. View was worth it.
Hot Water Beach
An underground river of hot water flows from the interior of the earth to surface in the Pacific Ocean at this beach, thus it’s name. Visitors can dig large holes and soak in the thermal water.
Disney on Ice
Because we are never too old.
Last stop for this trip. Met up with friends who are based here and was so happy they celebrated my birthday with Korean food and ramen!
SEA Life Kelly Tarlton’s Aquarium
Killed time and went to the aquarium while waiting for our Korean dinner.
8 Colors of Korean Bbq Buffet Restaurant
Thank you for indulging my Korean obsession!
Sky Tower
It was really nice that the guy by the escalator going up the tower told us to check the skies first before deciding to pay more than $20 and just be disappointed. It was raining nonstop and was really cloudy. We did not go up. We went shopping instead lol.
Last day (huhuhu)
Breakfast at Kreem
Went shopping at Dress Smart and had dinner at Ramen Takara because it’s my last night and everybody knows how much I love ramen hahaha.
Homebound
Arrived around 10pm in Manila, stayed at my best friend’s place, was so exhausted fell asleep the moment I went to bed and was snoring. Went to church the next day (thank you LORD for my awesome vacation), had lunch at Soru (always) and flew home to Bacolod in the afternoon.
And I feel like I’m still hungover.
Thank you to Krissy and Alvin for my room (haha) and for going on this trip with me, Micmic for seeing me in Wellington and bringing vino, Aubrey for meeting me in Auckland, Ching and Patrick for letting us stay at your ginormous place and Ilaine and Bambi for coming out for ramen and dessert. 12 days is tooooo short! I wish I was on vacation 24/7.
Photos from:
Krissy & Alvin of Knotting Wong Photography
My DJI Osmo Action camera (yes I switched from GoPro)
xx
DMV
If you weren’t there, you won’t get it.
Spent my 34th with these crazies in breathtaking Siargao.
Photo set
Day 1 | Cebu
And off we go!
We had to wait for April to arrive from Manila so we killed time at the Casino just across the Mactan Airport.
Literally pigged out at a Yakiniku for lunch
and chilled at Politics Cafe for the night.
Day 2 | Siargao
Almost 1 hour plane ride from Cebu to Sayak Airport and we went straight to our first stop for the trip (which is just like 5 minutes away). We booked all our tours with Galatea.
Kawhagan Island
Pit stop for lunch since eating/cooking and drinking is no longer allowed at the Sugba Lagoon.
Sugba Lagoon
Very picturesque turquoise waters. Definitely a must see. Nice that when we went, it was not that crowded.
We left around 4pm to go to General Luna which is like 45 minutes away from the airport and checked in at the Bravo Hotel.
We had dinner at Harana and at 9PM they cleared the dance floor. Apparently, every night there is a different party at a particular venue. Saturdays are for Harana.
Day 3 | Siargao
Woke up around lunch time and headed off to Kermit. Food is really good, did not disappoint.
And we started our salubong sesh by the beach. Sundays are for Bravo. Super fun night, thank you friends!
Day 4 | Siargao
Party boat by Galatea. Happy birthday to me!
Daku Island
Clear blue waters, fine white sand, beer in hand, soaked up the sun. Lovely.
Corregidor Island
Island is not as crowded compared to the others. You could snorkel and hike here too.
Naked Island
Toilet break.
Cloud 9
Regularly rated as one of the top 10 surf sites in the world. Bonus for beautiful sunsets.
WILD. But we’ll keep that to ourselves.
Thank you universe for yet another year of awesome.
And thank you too to this crazy bunch. Hugs!
xx
DMV