Warped Skies

Camarines Sur Watersport Complex (CWC)

2011-11-22T12:07:00.000+08:00

Wake boarding here I come...

Right after Lago del Rey, we instantly headed to watch how wake boarders do their thing. It was amazing, fun to look at, entertaining and at the same time scary. We were reluctant if our powers can handle this tough activity up to a point where we got our self hungry. So we ordered three rice meal and a Laing Pizza.

CWC

There's a free WiFi throughout the sport complex, hence a status update or a quick 4-square check-in is possible. Also, there is a free ride every 2 hours from Naga to CWC and vice versa.

Our meal

To wrap up our last activity in Camarines Sur, we wake board on their beginners spot. We took turns and pushed our luck if anyone of us can do this without falling. We all failed but in the end Jay managed to make a whole turn.

There's a lot of frogs in the pond..eeewww

After 1 hour of trying in vain, we headed to the showers and left the premises around 9 to catch our bus ride going to Alabang. Were definitely trying again this water sport in a much closer location...in Nuvali.

Budget: 800

Park Ratings:

Type of Trip: Fun/Activity

Water : 2.5 stars
- A lot of frogs on the water
Cleanliness: 4.5 stars
- maintained by the operators
Value: 4 stars
- every pesos/dollar is worth it

Fun: 4.5

- Hell Yeah!

Food: 3

- CWC resto serves affordable tasty meals

Ease of Travel:
- From Sabang to CWC : 1.5 - there's no regular trip, must rent a van

- From Naga to CWC : 5 - Free trip every 3 hours

Price: 4
- Affordable entrance for the extreme sport
Amenities : 4.5
- Locker rooms, big shower room, bar, restaurant, ATM's
Resorts/Rooms/Cottages : 4
- CWC has its own resort composed of villas to humble nipa huts.

People/Service: 4

- Accommodating staff happy to serve or take pictures of you!

"The Biggest Cable Park in the Philippines"

Lago Del Rey, Camarines Sur

2011-11-09T10:01:00.000+08:00

Right after our Caramoan Nature Adventure, we headed to one of the most visited water park in Camarines Sur: Lago del Rey. It is another man made water park intended to balance the extreme wake boarding on its adjacent cable park in Camarines Watersport Complex, also known as CWC. It boast of many family game activities such as kayaking, water volleyball, jet skiing, paddling, swimming, and also wake boarding.

The hardest part was from the water to the green platform below.

Perfect

From Sabang Port, we rented a van to CWC and arrived there almost 4 in the afternoon.

We immediately rented 1 hour access and make ourselves busy with the obstacle float in the park.
The water is nice except for the weeds that's kinda scary when they somehow grace your skin. There are fishes in the lake too.

Ron and Jay had a race on some of the float as I was too tired transfering to one float to another.
Here are some of our pictures.

Jay, Ron and Me

Luckily, one of the lifeguard assisted us and was kind enough to be our photographer.

First time to try Planking : )

amazing jumpshot of me...

Bouncing in the trampoline

I had a really hard time getting on the float so Jay helped me for about 10 mins of my struggle. (About time to have my diet)

Urggghhhhhh...

Posing with kuya Leo

Top of the Big Iceberg

We really had fun at Lago del Rey.

Off we go to our last adventure in Camarines Sur, the famous cable park in CWC.

Budget: Php 350

Park Ratings:

Type of Trip: Fun/Activity

Water : 2 stars
- The plants on the water is itchy and irritating
Cleanliness: 4 stars
- maintained by the operators
Value: 2 stars
- since your in the complex, why not try it

Fun: 3.5

- Tramploine, Volleyball, Limbo rockFood:
- A couple of eatery on the Sabang port serves plain bland dishes : 0.5

- CWC resto serves affordable tasty meals : 3Ease of Travel:
- From Sabang to CWC : 1.5 - there's no regular trip, must rent a van

- From Naga to CWC : 5 - Free trip every 3 hoursPrice: 4
- Affordable entrance for an hour enjoyment
Amenities : 2
- Portable bathrooms stinks
Resorts/Rooms/Cottages : 4
- CWC has its own resort composed of villas to humble nipa huts.

People/Service: 5

- Accommodating staff happy to serve or take pictures of you!

"Wet Playgrounds"

Caramoan Islands, Caramoan, Camarines Sur

2011-11-08T16:22:00.000+08:00

I really don't like the wilderness at first....but Caramoan change all that. The Islands, the happy and hospitable people, the breeze of salty air,the pure white sand,the clear water and the majestic view. Whew! Breathtaking...

The unexploited islands of Caramoan are exquisite and stunning. I will never forget this trip because there were several First Time I did here.First land travel for 9 long hours, first rock climbing, first time to stay on a remote island, first time to sleep in a tent, and first time to experience extreme horror!

The travelers were Jay - a high school buddy, Ron - a true blooded adventurer (this is the second time we met, the first was on Puting Buhangin,Quezon) and finally Me. Ron called this "Triple-Trip-Tripan".

Cagbalinag Island, Caramoan, Camarines Sur

Me, Ron and Jay

Here's how we got there

From Alabang, ride a bus going to Naga City or directly to Sabang
From Naga city, ride a jeep or van going to Sabang
From Sabang Port, ride a ferry boat to Caramoan Port
From Caramoan Port, ride a trike to Central or contact the person or resort you availed

We left Alabang around 10:00 in the evening and arrive in Naga city around 5:00 in the morning. Dont worry cause there's definitely some stop-overs to cater those full baldders. Then, we immediately took a jeep ride going to Sabang that almost took us a 3 and a half hours ride.

Sabang port have daily trips to Caramoan every 6:00 am, 8:00 am and 11:00 am, so be sure to leave Naga not later than 8 in the morning. We arrived around 9:30 and missed the 2nd trip, I suggest that if a van is available, be sure to get it rather than a jeep cause it will consume a lot of time from the commuters along the way. ( I really suggest to take the Bus from Manila to Sabang or directly to Caramoan by RORO).

Ron boarding the ferry

The ferry boat leaves around 11:15 and it takes approximately 2 hours.

Jay prepares for the ride

We also got a glimpse of the majestic Mayon Volcano, famous for its perfect cone shape.

Mayon Volcano

We arrived at Sabang Port past 1:00, and Mang Rey, our contact tour guide immediately assisted us, and prepared a trike that will take us to his humble home.Mang Rey doesn't normally give meals for his tourist (except if it is included in the package) but it was a coincidence that the town was having it's fiesta and he prepared a small feast for us before we explore the islands.

Mang Rey's boat

The first island we visited was Hunongan Islands.

The Trio

Rocks at Hunongan Isle

Our first dip

Then visited Cagbalinag Island, where there's a giant rock as its centerpiece.

be careful Ron

We also got to see the Gota Village and the Island where the Survivor shot their tribal council.
Speaking of survivor, a lot of their international franchise happened in Caramoan. Survivor Serbia for two consecutive season, Survivor Israel, Survivor Bulgaria, Robinson 2010 ( Swedish version of Survivor), Koh-Lanta season 8 ( French version), and Survivor India, which was the last country to shot before we arrived. It is rumored that Survivor USA or Israel will be next to shoot on the Islands. It is advisable to inquire first if there will be a shoot on your planned dates to not spoil your vacation.

Gota Village

Next to explore is the Lahus Island.

Lahus Island can be described as white sand between two rock formations. The side facing the pacific has sturdy waves while on the other side, where much of the other islands are located is tranquil.

the island behind me is Catanduanes

Lahus side facing Catanduanes

Lahus facing the rest of Caramoan

Just right of Lahus is a turtle like island

The last Island we visited was the Matukad Island, where we spent the rest of the day.

Matukad have the finest sand among all other island we visited. It also has its eerie story of some fish. Mang Rey told us that the lagoon in this Island is the home of a large milkfish (kinda remind me of Avatar, the yin and the yang).It is said that originally there were two milk fish but a local fisherman caught the fish and fed it to his family and died. Mang Rey told us not to believe in it. We asked the caretaker of the Island, Manong, if the legend is true and He said that there were two milk fish back then.

Originally, staying overnight in Matukad is forbidden. It is a private property owned by the Governor, but thanks to Ron she managed to get the approval of Mang Rey and Manong.

We were the only one's which were given approval to stay on the Island and was advised to build up the tent (inside, not to be seen on the shore) aroung six in the evening. We are at Matukad before four, so we took a quick nap to rest our tired bodies. We woke past five and the other visitors were leaving, still we were hesitant to build up the tent until the rain comes and we quickly construct the tent to save our baggage from being wet.

In the end, we were the one's who got soaked in the cold rain. Rain water were dripping on our clothes after we finished the tent, so we take a quick swim and they were surprised that the water is still warm, so as an engineer, (NERD ALERT!)I told them that molecules of water are somwhow loosen unlike of those of solid which are close to each other. By convection and conduction.. so on... We swam until the rain brought two of its friends: Lightning and Thunder, we ran immediately to the shore.

After the rain stopped, we cooked rice, opened some canned goods for dinner and heated some water for coffee.

Naturally there is no electricity, but nature has its way to light things up: the fireflies. They were numerous as if they are lighting the whole island and like Christmas light on the trees. A very awe-inspiring sight. Sadly, as much I wanted to share a photo of the insects, much to my dismay, I was unable to get a shot (even if there's no flash)

I think I got one in here

Fireflies were all over, too bad I cannot get a shot.

Then, we drank two bottles of vodka to somehow heat our body.

After drinking, the three of us curled up in the tent to get some sleep.This is when things got really scary ( for me).

It was extremely dark, no star can be seen as it was oftentimes raining and the sound of insects can only be heard. I was able to sleep for only 3 hours until my knee hurt of too much bending inside the tent. My eyes are closed but I'm wide awake trying to sleep again, that was when I heard something unusual. The cooking kit Ron brought were being used as if someone is eating and there's possibly someone playing with the bottle as I can hear them being hit of some sort. I focused if my mind is playing tricks on me and it wasn't. I started to pray many times but the noise weren't going away. I was afraid to open my eyes. It started to rain again and thunder can now be heard, I can feel lightning as its flashes on my close eyelids.

My heart was pounding as I opened my eyes waiting for the lightning and hoping to see a silhouette of someone... but there's no one. It scared the hell out of me. I wanted to get up and open the tent but I just couldn't.

I was unaware that Ron was awake and she finally got up and opened the tent to investigate the sounds. She used a mini flashlight and was surprised whats the source of the scary disturbance. The frightful cause was some....

Crabs

(Dont worry, we cleaned our mess early in the morning)

Morning at last, some bread for breakfast and were off to see the milk fish in the lagoon. Off to go rock climbing.

rock-climbing time

Top of the lagoon

Matukad's Lagoon

The famous milk fish rumored to protect the Island

The lagoon can be seen at the top of the rocks, but one must go deep down to fully look at the place.

Going down

We're sweating a lot so we took our last swim.

Powdery white sand.

We text Mang Rey to pick us up at 10 in the morning. So we could catch the last trip to Sabang port at 12 noon.

Bye for now...Off to Lago del Rey and Camarines Sur Watersport Complex

This is got to be a good life

Budget: Php 4000

Beach Ratings:

Type of Trip: Nature/Adventure

Sand: 5 stars
- Powdery white sand
Water : 5 stars
- Crystal clear waters
Cleanliness: 4.5 stars
- Almost untouched by humans
Value: 4 stars
- Worth the money to visit
Water Supply: 0
- No potable water and one must bring own drinking water. 1 Bathroom
Food: 0.5
- A couple of eatery on the Sabang port serves plain bland dishes.
Ease of Travel: 1.5
- long travel by land and sea
Price: 2.5
- Expensive trip
Amenities : 1.5
- Snorkeling
Resorts/Rooms/Cottages : 2
- Gota village is the only resort on the place

"A must visit place said to match the sands of Boracay"

Laiya Beach, San Juan, Batangas

2011-10-26T19:49:00.000+08:00

First and foremost, the title should have been Calaguas Island, Camarines Norte, but due to a tropical storm that hit the Bicol region, the trip was cancelled. Many had withdrawn because of safety reasons, after all there's a 2 hour bumpy boat ride. Another reason, as many of them had DSLR camera, was the gloomy beach( yup that's right), gloomy skies, gloomy atmosphere and they wont make great shots and all that. But it did not stop me from having the weekend at the beach! Yey!

Laiya, Batangas

Me, Greig, Pe, Aiko, Mico, Mark, Ronette, Ella, and Cecil taken by Nico

Luckily my college friends had planned a trip that is much closer to Manila. It coincide with the date but on a lot later time. I immediately accepted to join because its about time to catch up with them.

The planned meeting was 8 PM on Jollibee San Pedro, and as usual many of us kept waiting till 9 cause some was still at work ( they were working in Makati and it's Friday, traffic southward is hell), I guess that's forgivable.

I was surprised that our ride is a jeep, and I thought it will be rented by us but it carry a lot of other commuters with a lot of baggage. (Whew, so much for my expectation).

Direction to Laiya, San Juan, Batangas

Laiya shoreline

from Manila, take the South Luzon Expressway

take the Batangas, Lucena, Legaspi Exit & the head towards Sto. Tomas

from Sto. Tomas turn right to the Star Toll Way Entrance

drive all the way to Lipa City

take the Tambo Exit at the end

turn right & head for Lipa City

turn right to the road before the Mc Donald’s restaurant

traverse C. M. Recto Ave. then turn right at P. Torres St. (Mercury Drug) towards Padre Garcia

head straight to Rosario

at the Intersection turn left (Tricycle Terminal) at Gualberto Ave. to San Juan

in San Juan turn right (Municipal Hall) to Laiya

drive until you can see tons of resort, which is on the left side of the road

Manila going to Laiya: 3-4 hours

The group planned to stay on Triple G Resort for 2 Nights and 2 Days.

We arrived around 12 midnight and rented the Sky Blue cabin.

After tyding up our things, we drank, played cards the unusual game "The Killer: Ella Style"

Here's how it is played:

2 Kings that represent the killers.
2 Aces that serves as policeman that will catch the killers.
1 Queen that correspond to a doctor.
Number cards that will symbolize the citizens.
A facilitator - this can be drawn to or assigned.

Rules and Procedure:

1. The facilitator shuffles the card and let everyone pick.
2. The facilitator lets everyone close their eyes and tell a make-up story. The facilitator is the one who commands here to when to close and open the eyes of the participants. The interaction between the facilitator must be strictly silent in this part.

a. The killer/s are the first to open their eyes and they must agree to kill a
participant, and closes their eyes again.
b. The facilitator then inform the doctor to open his/her eyes and save someone
- it could be anyone including oneself.
c. The facilitator then commands to open the eyes of the policeman and let them
choose who to catch, then facilitator will tell them by thumb if they guessed
correctly or not.
d. The facilitator then instruct everyone to open their eyes and must tell if someone
died and tell the identity of it.
3. Everyone will panic and will be afraid that they can accused any 2 participants.
4. They must then defend their self that they are not the killers.
5. Everyone alive will now vote who will be punish to death.
6. The evicted citizen will then show his/her card.
7.Repeat Number 2 till 7 until either the killers or the police prevailed.

This game seems complicated at first, a dry run will get everyone pump up and know the flow of the game. Sometimes, the doctor can be a bomber to fast things up. The bomber can kill a single participant if and only if he/she got voted in the trial.

After we got weary of the game, we take a dip in the water and lay down on the beach watching the stars, catching up with each other, comparing jobs, and mostly gossiping on our other batch mates.

Morning comes and Mark, Mico and I take a long walk along the shoreline. Going back is another thing cause we really walked a distance and got to crossed several resort along the way. We then have breakfast and got ready for snorkeling!

The 20 minute boat ride to the snorkeling spot

Lots of unusual fishes

Picture Snorkel

Going back

Happy faces

Vain Perfect

Later that day, we stayed on the water and catch huge waves..

Wave Hopping

Weeeeee

Swimming

In the evening, we played charade and the punishment will be a mark on the face!

Our group was composed of Mark, Grieg, Ronette and Me.

Clearly we were losing

the other team was Mico, Nico, Ella and Pe.

Happy clean faces

Here's the final result....

We didnt have much to do on our last day, sp we pretty much played cards and chat.

Getting ready to go back home

A 10 mins walk to the terminal going to Lipa

Overall, it was fun

Goodbye!

Budget: Php 2500

Beach Ratings:

Type of Trip: Outing

Sand: 2.5 stars
- white sands beneath charcoal ones
Sea Water : 2 stars
- The water on the shore is grimy
Cleanliness: 3.5 stars
- Clean environment but need regular maintenance of the shoreline
Value: 3 stars
- A good place to relax
Water Supply: 5
- Abundant Supply of water
Food: 3
- May vary depending on the resort
Ease of Travel: 2.5
- Long travel hours
Price: 3
- Reasonable pricing
Amenities : 3.5
- Snorkeling and Taal Volcano Tour
Resort/Rooms/Cottages : 5
- Vast choices suitable for your budget

"The place for a quick get-away"

White Beach, Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro

2011-10-04T14:28:00.000+08:00

Puerto Galera is one of the most visited beaches in the Philippines. This is my first time to have a vacation there.

White Beach

We stayed at White Beach, Puerto Galera.( not to be confused with the white sand)

Here's how we got there:
From Dasmarinas, Cavite; we rented a van to Batangas Port.

Picture Taking @ Van

From the Port, we rode a ferry boat that will take us to Puerto Galera.

Posing at Batangas Port

We stayed for 3 Days, 2 Nights.

Day1

At the boat(Joel, Max,Norman, Me, Lea)

Right after we got off from the boat. Its picture taking time!

1st Picture at the place

Joel, having traveled a lot and knowing many contact persons, rented a house for us to stay.

Our Place

Hanging around

The Group

Vain

Hopping Around

Adam

C2 Model

: )

c,' ' )V

Marina o Dugong

I wonder what's in there?

Lea's Moment

Night Sky!

Beverages

Night life

Ian and Gabby

Drunk Norman

Getting Sober

Day 2:

We planned to go snorkeling and Island hopping! We also visited the giant clams, too bad none of us had an underwater camera.

Getting ready

@ boat

500 pesos for 3 activities: snorkeling , visiting the clams and underground caving

top of the cave

Me and Adam

Smoking inside the cave

Group Picture

Ready for snorkeling!

Lea

It was my first time to try snorkeling, and I LOVED it. Since then, I craved for more! It was scary at first and the goggles are somehow tricky to use, but once you got the hang of it, it's actually pretty easy

I saw lot of fishes, colorful corals, giant clams, sea urchins and a sea snake.

At the snorkeling/diving spot

A quick halo-halo stop

After the tour, most of the group had a henna tattoo

Got a tribal dragon tattoo

Daddy Dragon and Baby Dragon

2 hours later, FUN at the beach

sand-buried me

Night comes, and were ready to party again!

Fire Dancing

Lighting a cigar

I wonder what the tattoo means

Semi-Drunk

Sleeping Norman

At a Bar

Ian trying to be a jock

Ian got really really drunk

Dancing

Sleeping time

Morning comes and we booked a 12 noon ride to get us back to Batangas Port. Final Picture Time

Packing Up

Heading Home

Goodbye Galera

joel

Leaving

Feil and Lea

The boat ride from Mindoro to Batangas is almost 1 hour and I got back in Alabang at 3 pm.

Overall, the place is nice. Nightlife is good, there a lot of bars to try.
Souvenir Shops are cheap, clear water, white sand and most of all, a lot of nice people.

Goodbye for Now!

Budget: Php 4500

Beach Ratings:

Type of Trip: Outing/Relaxing

Sand: 4 stars
- Pure white sand
Sea Water : 4 stars
- Clear waters
Cleanliness: 4 stars
- Nice clean place
Value: 4 stars
- Worth the money to visit
Water Supply: 5
- Abundant
Food: 4
- A lot of bars and restaurant to choose from - American, Italian, Filipino dishes
Ease of Travel: 4
- uncomplicated and trouble-free travel
Price: 3
- Budgeted trip
Amenities : 5
- Other activity includes diving, kayaking, para-gliding and others.
Resorts/Rooms/Cottages : 4
- A lot of place to choose from depending on the budget.

Other notes:

White beach has no banks

"One of the well known beach in the Philippines"

Puting Buhangin Kwebang Lampas, Pagbilao, Quezon

2011-09-27T23:15:00.000+08:00

This trip was awkward yet rewarding. For all the reason I should not be here in this paradise, BUT yes, It was destiny.

Puting Buhangin

It all began in a coffee session at Starbucks when my close friends Star and Jay, asked me to come to this 1-day tour in Quezon. I did hesitate at first cause of my morning work schedule for tomorrow (Monday) and my mentality that it is far away from Manila. After hours of convincing, they were able to force me to say OK! It took us only 4 hours to pack things up and leave.

Here's how we got there:
From Alabang, we rode a Bus going to Lucena Grand Terminal (two and a half of almost flying bus ride). In the terminal, I got to meet 17 anonymous yet friendly peeps.

Power Plant

From the terminal, we rent a jeep to Brgy. Bantigue. Here you'll see the Pagbilao Power Plant as a landmark.

Then a quick 3 minutes boat ride to transfer us to the other side. Lastly a 5-10 minutes trekking.

There's a gate and a caretaker that will collect a 50 pesos entrance fee cause after all, this is a private property. Here it is Puting Buhangin Kwebang Lagpas...

White Sand indeed

My friend Star

The Whole Gang

View from the side of Kwebang Lagpas

Kwebang Lagpas

Siesta

Me, Star and Jay

Preparing lunch

LUNCH TIME!!!

The Comfort Room

There is no potable water supply in the area so be sure to bring lots of water. Their comfort room is just a toilet (for emergency call of nature), the water you will use in the CR is also salt water, so if you like to rinse out, most probably you'll do it on the grand terminal or you could just do the same for the 19 of us- WE DIDN'T

WHAT A GREAT VIEW

Budget: Php 1200

Beach Ratings:

Type of Trip: Nature/Adventure

Sand: 3.5 stars
- semi-rocky shoreline
Sea Water : 4 stars
- Clear waters
Cleanliness: 3 stars
- Needs maintenance
Value: 5 stars
- Worth the money to visit
Supply Water: 0
- No potable water and one must bring own drinking water. 1 Bathroom
Food: 0
- No restaurant
Ease of Travel: 3
- Somehow a hard place to find
Price: 4.5
- Very cheap
Amenities : 2
- No other activity other that swimming and exploring the cave
Rooms/Cottages : 3
- A few cottages

"A must place to experince - the nearest white sand from Manila" - so far

Train's Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)

2011-08-21T23:50:00.000+08:00

Before their hit song Hey, Soul Sister and If Its Love, there was Drops of Jupiter. The song was nominated for 5 Grammy back in 2002, and won two awards, one for best arrangement and the other for best rock song.

The song according to the lead vocalist Patrick Monahan was inspired by the death of his mother that came to him by a dream which was later turned into a love song.

And if you are wondering if there are more astrological terms in the song, there are plenty. Venus, Milky Way, shooting star, sun etc. Poetically, the use of references to planets, stars, and galaxies gives an ethereal feel to the music, contributing to its popularity. The lyrics propose a lost lover who has 'found a shooting star', explored the Universe, but comes home.

Personally I view this as a jab at those poeple who get so caught up in temporary, superficial things that they lose sight of what's really important at the end of the day.

There are two music videos for this song, the first one shows the band performing it on a stage, with a large banner reading "TRAIN" in the green-lit background.The second video shows Pat Monahan performing the song on a stage, backed by the band and a strings group. As the video progresses, people come in to watch the song being performed.

"She acts like summer and walks like rain, reminds me that theres time to change"♩ ♪ ♫ ♩ ♪

Here's the music.

No one ever really dies or go away, their just waiting for you up in the skies. : )

John Legend's P.D.A (We Just Don't Care)

2011-08-07T01:52:00.000+08:00

I'm not really a fan of Public Display of Affection (PDA: kissing, hugging and, holding hands in public places), but this expressive song and naughty lyrics just keeps me coming back for more.

The sweet piano ryhtm, the melodic drum beats plus his soulful voice makes this song one of my favorites.The soothing effect will reminisce that you have had ~~an urge~~ to make love romantically to someone.

This song was the third released single in 2007 form his album Once Again and I been listening to this track up to this day. It just makes me smile.

The video was taken in the colorful city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and it demonstarte love an affection, obviously on the streets. Interracial affection was also given emphasis and I think the underlying theme of the music video is that there's no shame in loving who you love regardless of race.

Also, That vintage video camera is awesome, I admire black and white media specially photos.
Here's the music video. Enjoy ♫ ♪ ♫

"Lets go the park, I wanna kiss you underneath the stars"♩ ♪ ♫ ♩ ♪

Suave beats + sexy chorus = love sick!