Tag Archives: Quezon City

Bloggings, Travel

Quezon City to Los Banos

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Today we woke up around 9. I could have slept more but the roosters outside were going crazy. Plus I could hear other people getting up. So I woke up Don and he was a little hungover. We ate breakfast and then got ready. Once everyone was ready we all went to the cemetery to see Lolo’s resting spot. It was very emotional. You could see how much their grandfather was and still is loved.

After that we went back to the house. We looked at Tito Rom’s chickens and roosters. He has a lot. I believe he is raising them in hopes of putting them in fights…Then we had lunch and hung out for awhile. Then we got back in the van so we could be taken to Los Banos. Tito Boni had helped us book a resort in Los Banos. We will be staying there for 2 nights. It’s called the 88 Hot Spring Resort and it’s a Korean owned resort. We got to Los Banos around 2 and we checked in. The place was really nice looking. There were a lot of pools and the resort was beautiful. After we got checked in we went over to Tito Mar and Tita Doree’s house. There we visited with them and saw Jonas and Eunice. We were also able to see Tito Boni and his wife.

Tito Rom wanted to go back to Quezon City so we stayed a bit longer with Tito Boni. He let us try coconut water straight from a coconut. After we drank all the juice we put ice cream in the coconut and scraped off the edible pieces. It was very good. This was the first time I had eaten fresh coconut and drank coconut water. After we had this Tito Boni took us back to our resort. On the way we were able to stop at a pharmacy. I needed new deodorant because mine broke and some first aid stuff for my foot. It is still not healing from when I cut it on the rock in El Nido.

Once we got to the resort we wanted to check out the pools. There were so many of them! We have one big one right outside our room. When we got in we were surprised that it was warm, like hot. But it felt really good. Then we moved to the next area where there were 9 round hot tub looking pools. They were very hot, I couldn’t even get in them. The sign said you were supposed to stay in each one for 5 minutes. We didn’t want to do that! We tried out all the pools we could find. We found one that was colder but still warm.

After we were done with the pools we got cleaned up to go to dinner. They have a restaurant here that is Korean food. We ordered bibimbap and a noodle dish along with some spicy beef. But then they brought all these little plates with things on them. It was a little weird, I’ve never seen anything like it. I was also very surprised when I got my noodle soup and it was cold and it was supposed to be this way. Like really cold. I wasn’t expecting that and I didn’t like it really at all.  When I first saw the soup I thought “oh that’s weird there’s ice cubes in my soup.” I do not remember the name of this dish and did not mention it was cold noodles so needless to say I was disappointed haha.

After dinner we relaxed in our room. It has been the best room we have had all trip. We splurged a little for this hotel. It is our own little bungalow. The room is very nice and the TV actually works! The shower is great and the water gets hot! Ahh…love this place. Only thing is, the bed is very hard. Like sleeping on a floor haha, maybe the Koreans like it this way.

Bloggings, Reviews, Reviews - Travel, Travel

Leaving El Nido Headed to Quezon City

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This morning we got up and made sure we were packed because we were leaving El Nido. It was sad to leave. This place was so beautiful and relaxing. We got our breakfast and then our van came to pick us up at 9.

I was worried what our van experience would be like since our trip here was not so good. Luckily, the company we were originally supposed to do our transfers with got their van fixed. The hotel booked our ride with Day Tripper.

The van was really nice. The seats were roomier it was just more inviting and friendly. There was a water bottle for every passenger and even a little snack! The snack was dried pieces of banana…they were kind of like eating chips. It was really good. There was one passenger in the front seat and then one passenger in the next row of seats. We sat in the next row. Later though Don moved to the row behind me since there were only 4 passengers we could all have our own space! It was awesome!

I was able to look out the window more on the trip home because the driver was much better. I didn’t feel car sick. It was a complete upgrade from our previous experience. It was comfortable and it made the 5 hour ride back to the airport much easier.  Here’s some pictures from the ride.

You can see in the last picture that people would ride on top of buses. It was crazy.

When we got to Puerto Princesa Airport there was a line outside the door. I thought that this would mean it would take a long time but it really didn’t. Once we got checked in we realized our flight was later; it had been moved. That was a little annoying for me because I hate waiting. But we made it.

Tito Rom and Tita Nitz picked us up at the airport in Manila. We picked up Robbie on the way to their house in Quezon City. Once we got to their house we got settled into our room and saw RJ and Regan. Regan showed us his pets. He has a ball python named Sally, a tarantula named Brownie, and a scorpion (can’t remember his name). Crazy pets! I held the snake but wouldn’t touch the tarantula. After we had got settled in a bit we decided it was time to go out.

We got to meet Robbie’s girlfriend, Bambi, and we also met up with Franz. Then we went out to the first bar, it was on a rooftop and had a view of Manila. It was a nice place. Then we went to the next place and we all drank a lot. RJ ordered 2 Filipino cuisines, pig ears and pig intestines. Of course he made us try them before he would tell us what they were. The ears were okay. But I did not like the texture of the intestines. Very weird haha.

After awhile Regan kept saing we should do karaoke. People were ready to leave though so he said he had karaoke at his house. So we went back to the house and started up the karaoke video. Regan and Don were singing songs. They stayed up to around 5 am. I went to bed at 4….so tired.

Bloggings, Travel

Philippines Trip-Makati

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Woke up a little later around 8. Layed in bed and finished my book. Then had McDonald’s for breakfast. Don’s Aunt and Uncle came to pick us up around 11 and we went to the Peninsula Hotel to visit some family. Then we went out to eat. After eating I starting feeling a little sick.

We checked into our hotel,the BSA, and while most everyone went shopping we stayed in. We went across the street to the mall Greenbelt and walked around. Went to a museum and learned about Philippine history. Then we ate at Wendy’s because I wanted something American. It wasn’t that great, and then I got the craps.

At 9:30 I was so exhausted but all the cousins wanted to go out. We went to a couple bars. Reagan, Robbie, RJ, Justin (Liz his wife), Mariel, Francis were who we went out with. Ended up doing some shots and having beer. Came home and pretty much passed out. We slept til about 1 pm! We both woke up with diarrhea and I have a headache and my throat feels funny. Hopefully tomorrow we feel better.

We went out to eat at Chili’s because we woke up late and didn’t want to go shopping with the others. Then we came back to the hotel and decided to try out a zoo. The zoo wasn’t very clean and smelled like poop and made us feel sicker. The area was kind of sketchy and our cab ride home was crazy. At one point the cab driver got out and took a pee alongside the road…never seen that in NYC hahaha.

So now we are in the hotel, don’t know what to do next.

Here are some pictures from our hotel.
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Bloggings, Travel

Philippines Trip-Quezon City

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Today we woke up around 6 and had breakfast. We laid around for awhile. We thought we would be picked up today to be taken to Los Banos, where Don’s mom is. There was no one available to pick us up today though so we will spend one more night with Don’s dad.

First we started watching a bootleg version of the Clash of the Titans. I was tired so I took a nap instead. Then we decided to go to the mall to the internet café. Once we got to the mall we decided to see a movie since we had all day. We saw Prince of Persia. It’s different here because you actually pick seats before the movie. So it’s like reserved seating. People were dressed up like the characters from the movie and I took a picture with them.
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We did some shopping of course. Shopping is weird here because at just about every section there is a salesperson there, watching your every move and trying to sell to you. It’s kind of annoying.
After the mall we just went home and chilled out. Ended up taking a nap and it rained really hard. First rain in a long time. Then we had McDonald’s. Then Don’s dad put in a DVD that has copies of a bunch of Bruce Willis movies on it. We started watching 16 Blocks. I got tired of it, since I’ve seen it and decided to write this…

Bloggings, Travel

Philippines Trip-Manila/Quezon City-Fort Santiago & Aquarium

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Today we woke up and had Mcdonald’s for breakfast. Showered and learned that there has been a drought in the Philippines for the past 6 months, so from 2 pm-8pm the water is turned off. Don’s dad keeps a bucket of water in case we need to wash in between those times. So it’s important when you’re showering to try to conserve water by turning it off when you’re lathering up.

Then we went to a mall in Manila to meet with Don’s Aunt, Tita Nitz. She had to have us bring our ID to make some corrections on the airline tickets for our resort we are flying to next week. First, while we were waiting we had a drink at Gloria Jeans hahaha! Then we went to an internet café so I could email my family and Don could check some work stuff.

After we got the stuff done with the airline we had lunch and then got a cab to go to some tourist attractions. We went to Fort Santiago. It was very cool. I took lots of pictures. We went to a museum about Jose Rizal, he was a writer who wanted the best for his country and ended up being executed.

Then we walked to a park, saw a lot of people that were begging. One beggar came up to us, he was really dirty and asking for money. He wouldn’t leave and a cop came over and hit him over the head with his hat. I was kind of shocked by this. It’s really different here. There are tons of stray animals (dogs and cats) and roosters crowing. There’s a lot of poverty. I feel bad.
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We went to an aquarium after the park. It was pretty cool because we recognized some of the fish we saw snorkeling.

I wish we saw these snorkeling.
I wish we saw these snorkeling.

Then we at a place called Max’s Restaurant. Don’s dad really likes the place. We had fried chicken and chop suey.

The driving here is crazy. Some places there are no lines to distinguish between lanes and when there are lines they don’t matter. There are tons of motorcycles. It is scary to be in a cab! We were almost hit several times. At most intersections there are no stop signs or traffic lights so people have kinda just formed their own way of knowing when to go and usually that means just pushing your car out into the middle and making people stop for you. It is way worse than anything I’ve ever seen. I don’t even think I could do it! I drove in NYC for 2 years and that is NOTHING compared to this. People will just walk out in front of the cars…like 4 lanes of traffic and just start walking. It isn’t like this is a small city or town. This is a city like I think with more population than Chicago and NYC. I will look it up later…and no stop lights. No traffic rules really at all. Just drive.