misstinapie

When we planned our trip I never imagined we would need somewhere to stay in Banaue. I did inquire for Sagada hotels, and this is quite misleading because Banaue is a bit far from Sagada proper so if it's your first time going up to Sagada, make yourself a favor and reserve a room in Banaue if you're going to visit Banaue and vice versa. There's only a handful of inns in Banaue and primarily because tourists are much more concentrated in Sagada. Most of the time, inns here cater to travellers who just needed somewhere to spend for the night. Perhaps one of the rare things you could ever find here up in the mountains is parking. There are few cheaper inns but we chose to stay in Spring Village Inn because they have ample parking that will make us comfortably sleeping in the night :-D The room they gave us have two beds and a hot shower. We even have a balcony that overlooks the Cordilleras. The price of the room (2k) makes up for the earlier inn we went to (pri...

From the Banaue Museum, we asked if there is anywhere we can go that is within range. You see, what most bloggers don't tell you is that Banaue is filled with places to go: hotsprings and treks and old villages that I hate it that I didn't know earlier or we would have set the roadtrip earlier so we would have gone. Anyway, the curator said that Banaue Hotel is just around the corner and we can have our dinner there. So we did and sure enough this is the only hotel in the area that has much space for cars to park, and enough space for more rooms than other inns. The reason why we didn't booked here is well, you guessed it, it's because of the price. It's just too much for a stop over. Before dinner, we went around, which is okay even if you're not a guest and were able to spot their souvenir shop. We didn't get to see their so called village, we only saw one Igorot house and that was it. I was able to buy myself a bag from the shop as souvenir ...

Note: This post is like a year late. I hope I was able to recall my impressions on this hotel :-D I may not have stayed in so many hotels but in all sureness, the room Mariott has given me made me feel like a boss for the day. The suite has that classy style to it that a man of trade could never construct an insult. Just look at that bed. It's so comfy and firm and all the pillows to cover all corners of the bed. And look how immaculate that is. How white. Wouldn't it be awful if someone's menstruation get into it? :-P ** The bath is amazing, I can imagine a loving husband watching on the other side and teasing his wife on the bathtub which is right next to the bed. Yeap you read it right. Only a piece of see through glass separates you from anyone bathing. YOu can have privacy of course by having the blinds roll down (there's a switch somewhere near the bath's door). However I think I remembered how the entire bath have no locks in it.* But either w...

It's already late in the afternoon and Sagada is too far away so we looked first for a place to stay for the night. They gave us a map of Banaue which upon inspection and much deliberation, we ended up not getting any of those Hot Springs and Village visitations since it will require at least hours of trek. It will be hard for us to get back. Banaue Rice Terraces The nearest we could go to was the View Point. Our map says it's just before the bend where the houses ends so we went there, still by car to save more time. Other than 2 or 3 foreigners, we are free to gawk at the lovely site. There's a lone souvenir shop up here and I bought a carved small Ifugao house worth 30 pesos. After the sight seeing we went back to try to look for the Banaue Museum. It took a while for us to see it that we ended up on a dead end. It was a grueling task for my father to drive our car back down because it was really narrow but he managed anyway. Back down we realized that t...

While most women take this as an opportunity to show skin to the point that they'd crash diet and go the gym to lose their holiday bellies, I'm cursing the summer to just go away. It's not that I'm bitter on how I could not wear a two piece to save my life, but I seriously hate this season. It's a combination of two things I hate: blistering heat and waterpools. Every morning when I go to work, I have atleast 10 mins total of walking. Some of it requires me to be out in the open that I require an umbrella. And since it's part of my daily routine that I could not remove, I am forced to dive in on the heat of the sun who mocks me by doubling it's power when I'm out. And whenever I reach office I am at my lowest, like as if a sunshiney version of a Dementor kissed me. And then there's pool season again. Borrowing a line from a friend of mine, "my skin has not touched chlorine " (or salt water) for a long, long time. I agree with ...

I have a confession to make. My only vices are over purchasing books and bags. I don't smoke, I don't gamble, I rarely even drink alcohol. But I'm ashamed to admit, that I, a sane individual, has succombed to a vice that has gone out of control. Hoarding Eco Bags. I rarely took notice of eco bags the first time it went out but slowly, and more than ever, will you find that most stores nowadays have eco bags, taunting me to give in. From SM, to Purple Oven, to Japanese Daiso shops. Yes, I have it all and more. I have all sorts of eco bags from SM which releases designs as much as they go on a sale. I rarely go shopping but when I do, rest assured that whenever they offer an eco bag, I'm so buying it. Mercury Drug? Are you kidding me? I'm buying 5 tablets of Vitamin E and that bag is mine even if it costs more than what I went there for. My latest addition would be Mom's Ensaymadas, who the sales lady, as much as she's trying to convince me to buy th...

More trees. And houses. After 2 hours, my sisters have to do a number 1. We figured it will be another long drive so they went out to the last gas station of the day. I've already spent 1500 earlier and we filled now with 500. We're using diesel so we have a much cheaper option. By 2 pm we reached a cute gas station. You will never miss it as it has a really distinct decor. The Safari Adventure (Gas) Station Kids will surely enjoy this place! It's refreshing to see a quirky station out of all the monotony of the day. And what do you think about that Mr. Bean right there? Kinda cool don't you think? For as long as it's the morning anyway. I would totally freak out seeing that in the middle of the night. Just look at those eyes boring in your brain. Eee!!! Unnamed View Point I might have missed if there were any signs to declare the name of the view point it but we stopped for this special place anyway. It overlooks the turn to Banaue and ...

First pitstop of the day was Kuya Lar's. It's a small airy place for travelers who wanted to grab lunch before a much longer journey. We arrived here almost 12pm exact but not that much customers around. We were seated as soon as we went out of the car.  They serve local food, carinderia style so if you're really picky, you're better of going back and find yourself fastfood or any fancy food you can think of. However, they do have servers and heat your food so that is a plus.  We had fried fish, laing and ginataang langka. We also brought out our adobo. Their food is really carinderia-ish (haha) so don't expect too much. I was a bit disappointed with the langka, the bangus is a huge cut, as for the laing, well, I never touched laing in my life so I've no idea but family said it was perfect.  And oh, before I forget. Out of snacks? Well, grab yours here too: (Sorry if I can't post our total bill because I missed logging i...

This year we planned on going to one of the most sought after vacations in the upper region of Luzon-- Sagada. Officemates planned on Boracay but I'm not really a fan of beaches so I'd rather spend it in the cold mountains, far from the humid salty air of a lower sea level region. Initial IT was Manila-Banaue-Sagada-Banaue-Manila but we ended up doing a Manila-Banaue-Sagada-Bontoc-Baguio-Manila trip. Cool huh? We get to do a round trip around the Cordillera region! March 27 We left Cavite around 4am, arrived at MoA to fetch my sister from work and left around 5am and had a sweet quick ride via NLEX. When I woke up we're already at Cabanatuan (around 9/10 am).  There are 3 of us in the photo. She's also not aware she's on it. Maybe one of the attributes of being there that early is because not everyone is out on the streets yet. So if possible, you find yourself planning for a road trip, be early ahead of everyone going up. It's not...

The Road to... For the past weeks I have already accepted that I won't see them once more because the time I decided to buy a ticket, not a single one was available. For days I couldn't bear listening to them as it pains me so bad. But one night, when I went home early, Reagan gave me a tip that they were now selling tickets again!! Hastily, without questions asked, I bought the best seats I could ever get. Phew! The Day... Fresh from our Sagada Road trip, I still have enough energy and was really excited that after all this time I was still able to go. We arrived there around 8 and you got to believe that the place is sold out by the line outside! And when we got in, what do you know, this is more than last time we've been there and it's so overwhelming. There's no front act again, in much favor to me because we still have time to eat our dinner (burgers) and prepare for a whole night of standing. A few minutes before 9 the lights are dimm...

Now that I'm trying to visit the gym everyday I notice how at times just below the ribs I feel a stabbing pain. Quick search says that these are called side stitches, normally felt at the right but at times also at the left. It says that it's a coping mechanism of the body once your body notices you move more than normal (especially if you've been sedentary for too long). So how to fix this? The easiest way is to breathe in and out with large gulps of air. I tried it a few times and it does work! Back to exercising again!

Due to an extremely busy workweek I have failed to write anything of worth for the past weeks. There's our Sagada roadtrip and The Script concert last Easter. I am also planning on writing a review about my new gadget, Sony PJ230 and me and Reagan's food trips. I really wish to get back to writing soon because then I'd have more to write on the next few weeks (Schedule includes: Seda Hotel experience (I still have my Mariott hotel experience unwritten and it's been a year already), 3 upcoming concerts + 1 music festival and our first time at Texas Roadhouse which is already scheduled for next week). All of these and my eyes are still as puffy as it could get because of lack of sleep! Oh man!