Hubba Bubba © Karol See

Taiwan 2012

2014-02-14T08:50:00.000-08:00

With my travel buddies Jensen and Riva

We lit up a floating lantern to symbolize our goals for 2013

Taipei 101 from below

I met a friend!

Dogs will always be man's best friends anywhere.

Milk tea!

Hot Star fried chicken. Nomnomnom

Overlooking Taipei 101

CKS Memorial

Riva and Joanne being prettier than the CKS Memorial

Photographers doing their thing

Dion

2012-01-28T01:41:00.000-08:00

Dion @ 10 days old

Carlos Celdran Intramuros Tour

2012-01-26T03:11:00.000-08:00

Joined the Carlos Celdran Intramuros tour last January 14 2012.

His love and passion for Manila is quite catchy. Growing up, we've all been taking Manila for granted. Hating how populated it is, how much traffic every intersection has. How many squatter areas loom every corner of the city. How much robberies occur each day, the amount of pollution we inhale.

I have to say I'm guilty of always telling people I meet outside the Philippines to travel to the Philippines, but go straight to the beaches/provinces. There's nothing to see in Manila, except for the extravagant seemingly useless but everyone goes to, gigantic malls.

Apparently, there's a lot more about Manila left to discover. There's a huge people our generation take for granted and never really take into account as soon as we pass those history quizzes. (in my case, I even tend to fail them!)

We forget to take into consideration all the history our little city had to go through. It's has been the center for centuries and we haven't grown to love it as much as Celdran has.

Everyone wants to go far and wide, but we all take for granted where we are now.

Transsport Show 2011

2011-11-08T06:20:00.000-08:00

May 28 2011

Got to visit the Transsport Show last May at the SMX Convention Center. Turtle Wax Represent!

The Juggernaut

Foiled Mini Cooper

Lamborghini!

Plus, got to get in a limo!

Ad Placement!!

All photos are available at US Chemicals Philippines . Website designed by Katrina Teh developed by me.

Yellowcard Live in Manila!

2011-02-22T01:31:00.001-08:00

Here are a couple of photos for one of the most epic concerts I've gone too! \m/

Grand Entrance

Ryan Key and Sean Mackin

Ryan Key :: Vocals/Guitar

Ryan Mendez :: Lead Guitar

Sean Mackin :: Violinist

Longineu W. Parsons III:: Drummer

Videos can be found at my youtube account.

16th Philippine Hot Air Balloon Fiesta

2011-02-13T01:03:00.000-08:00

Location: Clark Air Base, Philippines

Long day. Left home at around 3am, thanks Ejay for the drive! Arrived Clark at around past 5am. It was still super dark out! Finally the sun was starting to rise, and the event was about to begin!

Getting Ready for Liftoff

Upside Down Balloon

Star Studded Flag from Switzerland

The fog actually worked to my advantage in this photo.

Frosty the Snowman

Balloons in Flight

Paraglider

My friends playing around the field

Renae's First Birthday Party

2010-12-24T00:44:00.000-08:00

Shot for a birthday party of my friend's niece.

The Location

The Cake + Food

The Kids

Lady Casanova

2010-08-29T19:31:00.000-07:00

A Fashion Shoot

Styled By: Johanah Co and Michaela Meinecke

Modelled By: Kar Sison

Co-Photographers: Ara Dacay, Jamie Espadilla, and Derrick Mapagu

Camiguin Island Tour

2010-08-29T05:11:00.001-07:00

Day 2 was focused on the different tourist locations of the small island.

Hiking through the 12 stations of the cross. WHY??

Sunken Cemetery

Marco's intense climb up the wall. Monkey talaga!

Sexy Legs!! @ an old Church

Swam and ate so much at the Cold Springs. :)

Took so much time at the Ostrich Farm!!

It was raining when we went to the falls. Cold water + strong winds + Rainshower = not a good combination. One of the best experiences nevertheless!
Photo by: Jensen Ching

Camiguin White Beach

2010-08-29T02:24:00.000-07:00

After a hectic day at CDO, we were off to Camiguin for white sand, awesome food, and swimming.

Day 1.

1 hour ferry ride from CDO to Camiguin

Goofed around at our HUGE hotel room w/c can accomodate 12 guests! @Paras Beach Resort
Almost all establishments we went to had free wifi. Watching youtube videos during lunch.

Lunch @ an Italian Restaurant.

White Beach

Enjoying the beautiful rainbow following a light shower. WHICH followed a strong rainfall which rendered our cameras useless.

Itinerary by:
Paras Beach Resort
and Beep Beep Travel Adventures

Antonio's

2010-08-08T23:00:00.000-07:00

Lunch out with Jen and Kab :)

House Salad. I'm not a big fan of too many greens, and this wasn't an exception.

Soup of the day. Creamy soup with Chorizo bits. Yum!

My dish: Grilled Seabass with Tomato Risotto

Kab and Jen's dish: Seafood Risotto with Aligue

My Dessert: Chocolate Souffle

Jen's Dessert: Assorted Sorbet--Watermelon, Apple, and Calamansi

Kab's Dessert: Poached Pear
Ultimate adventure trip.
Meeting up at Starbucks Tagaytay
Getting stuck in traffic because of a bike marathon.
Going through an unknown detour, and having gravel splashed inside the car.
Kab's missing Bone Marrow :(
Getting lost in the South.
Using Google Maps on the iPhone to navigate FTW!

Kaitlyn Ashley Lim See

2010-08-04T23:05:00.000-07:00

Kaitlyn is turning 1 this month! Thus, I, together with Jamie Espadilla, gave her a pre-birthday shoot. She's just the cutest everr :>

Check out her default face! :)

Kaitlyn with her favorite toy, with her face!

In her beautiful dress :)

Celebrity smile :>

Yes you!

Happy Family :)

Dijon Lo Jalandoni

2010-08-03T07:02:00.000-07:00

First attempt at baby photography.
Dijon, at 1 month! :)

Balay Indang

2010-07-31T03:52:00.000-07:00

One random trip to Cavite with Riva, Xtian and Glenn. :)

"Balay Indang is a garden refuge comfortably located in Indang, Cavite. The wide, expansive gardens are filled with some of the finest flowering plants, trees and cacti making them some of the most relaxing and beautiful settings you could ever imagine. Our sanctuary boast of a variety of amenities including a large, well-maintained swimming pool, a luxurious and airy pool-side pavilion with billiards, mahjong and a collection of classic board games, a fishing pond with Red Kingfish Tilapia where you and your family can enjoy hours of fishing, and a well-stocked kitchen and restaurant specializing in local and foreign home-cooked meals."

--Copied off Our Awesome Planet, who probably copied it off somewhere. His post already had the " ".

Room Lighting

Massage your feet and walk on these stones, barefoot.

Piano Keys in the Lobby

The Pianist

Date

The Food: Never fails. =P~

Salad: Lettuce, Egg, Corn, Nuts, and Peaches =P~

Shrimp Skewers

Pasta was unfortunately too spicy for Riva and I. But Xtian and Glenn loved it.

Shrimp in coconut sauce something :) My favorite!

Stuffed Chicken

Dashboard Confessional

2010-05-27T21:56:00.000-07:00

Live in Manila! All photos and videos by my very trusty 6x Optical Zoom digital camera :) All in all, awesome night! :D

Hands Down

Screaming Infidelities

Belle of the Boulevard

Vindicated

Everybody Learns From Disaster

The Good Fight

El Scorcho(Weezer Cover)

Swiss Army Romance

Stolen

And now, a few photos for everyone to enjoy.

Dog Photography 101

2010-05-24T01:44:00.001-07:00

Because I haven't exactly been busy these past few days, I've been playing a lot with our dogs, and the different locations of the house.

Chloe and her makeshift "white box" that isn't white yet.

So, it's our bottom bookshelf, and this is how Bruce looks inside. Because of his big dog mentality, he actually looked like he felt squished. Haha. I will fix this space soon to really become my box.

Bruce with fountain hair

Happy 5th Birthday Chloe!

2010-05-16T01:52:00.000-07:00

Sporting her new haircut.

Mother's Day

Random days outside the house.

Caramoan

2010-05-10T08:53:00.001-07:00

Caramoan.

Isolated from the rest of Camarines Sur, it is no surprise why Philippine's Secret Paradise remains unexploited from commercial tourism. Caramoan gives 'island hopping' a new meaning. Enjoy its beauty in many ways. Great ocean adventures for kayakers, snorkle and scuba dive to experience the diverse marine life, trek and search for the enigmatic lagoon, rock climb the limestone cliffs, explore the caves or just star gaze at night.
- Caramoan Islands

After the amazing Butanding experience, we headed off to one of the most awesome beach paradise you would find in the Philippines--Caramoan.

It was one misadventure after another. We were attempting to take public transport from SM Naga, but we had difficulty in looking for the vans, plus we were under time pressure to get to the ferries on time, so Carol's driver Marco, decided to drive us over straight to the port instead. (Thank you!!) When we got there, the ferry had just filled up, so we were the first people to enter the next ferry, thus giving us 2 hours of waiting time for that one to get filled. The commute was horrid. At least 2 hours sitting on wood plank seats, not counting the amount of time you had to wait for the seats to get full.

As we arrived to Caramoan, the roads were a mess. Jen got carsick from all the bumps and turns and it felt good to relax in the room at West Pen Villas. But time was ticking, so we headed off to our very late lunch, and were off to our first island by 3:00pm with Kuya Gil.

Now, I can't really remember what the names of the islands were, but rest assured, every island was AMAZING. All the intensity we went through to get there paid off.

Here are a couple of photos from the first island we went on, which actually had a set of Survivor Israel :):

Since we started late, the tides were very low.

On the way to the 2nd side of the island. The sun light is bouncing beautifully off Jen's skin :)

Feet markings on the sand. Sand was very soft and calming to walk on. <3

Bad time = light was ugly. But on the way back to the city, we got a glimpse of the sunset @ Caramoan.

Right after having our dinner at West Penn, power went off. It was horribly dark. But this was the first time we all said, "Thank God there's no electricity!"

The night sky.

Now, if you contact most hotels at Caramoan, the most advisable schedule you should have is at least, 3 days 2 nights. This is due to the fact that the first ferry reaches Caramoan at 930am, and the last ferry leaves at 11am. Since we had limited time, we asked for the hotel to plan a trip for us for 2 days 1 night.

For most guests, the last day is spent sleeping in until you're ready to board the ferry. But, since we arrived later than expected, they gave us another ride of the boat to explore the islands of Caramoan. See, West Penn is awesome. :)

In total, we got to visit 4 islands. 1 from the first day, and 3 on the 2nd day. We hopped from one island to another until 10am, and caught the last ferry back to the port. Since I can't really tell which island is which anymore, I'm just going post my best photos of the remaining islands.

At Caramoan, you could have the whole island/waters all to yourself!

The crashing waves.

Us 3 :) Thanks to our guide for taking our photo!

peace.

Starfish!

Waterzone

We Love Tina!

Lastly, one of the very few photos we had at Legazpi. Taken at our hotel, St Ellis.

Here ends one of the best trips ever.

Sorsogon - Butanding(Whale Shark) Watching

2010-05-03T23:23:00.000-07:00

May 1 2010
with Janelle Chan and Kirsten Brito
video by: Karol See

Location: Donsol, Sorsogon; Bicol

How to get there, refer to: Donsol Eco Tour
Pricing: P3500 for the boat rental inclusive of spotter, and guide. Max of 7 people.
+ P100 for registration fee for Filipinos and P300 for foreigners.

Butandings are very friendly. Don't let the music scare you. :)

Mt Pinatubo

2010-04-12T07:15:00.000-07:00

Trek to the crater of Mt Pinatubo

Getting to the top with the help of a 4x4

Scenery through the 4x4

Dog drinking lahar water on the side

Stop over for the adventurers!

JE Ramos. Karol See. Andrea Ong. Jensen Ching. Rykiel Uy.

Nez Santos. Chelsea Celestino. Ejay Mangaliman. Nonoy Go. Carl Bautista.

Lloyd Cua. Len Sayoc. JP Carlos. Justine Salagubang.

Ricco Torres. Glenn Chua. Xtian David.

Lloyd enjoying the stopover

Notice the 4x4 trail? We were already walking then :o

25 mins trek to the crater!

Trek struggles

We're climbing that! Joke. Haha!

Final hurdle to the top!

We're here!!!

View from the top!

I like Jensen's hair, it does shadows :)

The crater was beau-ti-ful.

The crater. Water was amazing. Swimming there was awesome!

Organized by: Beep Beep Adventure Tours

Travel Costs: 1900PHP excluding food

Food: Pack a lunch, bring it to the crater and have a picnic!

Cambodia

2010-02-18T22:33:00.000-08:00

After a long and grueling bus ride to costing us 70USD, we arrive to Cambodia at 1230am. From there we were to ride a Tuktuk, costing us 10USD. Way, WAY overpriced since our hotel was so near.

The bus got into this barge to get to Siem Reap.

Didn't take a photo of the Tuktuk, so I just got this from flickr.

Salina Hotel-- 32.5USD. If you're feeling adventurous, we saw hotels costing around 10USD per night, but there might not be online reservations. We didn't really stay much in this hotel, just 9 hours, so I don't really have much to say about this other than, breakfast buffet was amazing, and the staff were really friendly. There were a lot of rooms and halls!

Our room in Salina Hotel

Arriving to Angkor Wat -- We were pretty much rich tourists in Cambodia. To get to Angkor Wat, you could easily rent a Tuktuk for 15-20USD. Our hotel was offering it for 20USD. But we also found out that we could rent a car with a driver for 30USD. 10USD difference for airconditioning for the whole day? We were sold!

Now, I can't exactly remember which temple was which in the photos. So I'm just gonna display a few photos of the Temples of Angkor.

One of the ignored temples make for great photos with no tourists!

Details of a temple

Abandoned Pathway

Temple under construction. Tilt your head to the left to see a smiling face. :)

A temple head

For 15USD, you can take an elephant to go around the temples. Memorable moment: I was tickled by an elephant. His nose touched me! :))

Spot the difference.

Looking Far

There's a bird in the sky.

Monkey Head. There were so many people going up, but apparently you can't go in if you're wearing shorts :(

Another Detail

The Angkor Wat

Kazna Hotel-- After the long day in Angkor Wat, we stayed at Kazna Hotel for 26.4USD. The room was beautiful, and the hosts were all very welcoming. We even had a hotel dinner for just 8USD. We could have gone out but we were unfamiliar with the place and it was already dark out. Sad to say, we weren't able to try their buffet breakfast. And to think they serve it in your rooms!

Our room in Kazna Hotel

To end our trip, we went back to the bus station for 3USD using their Tuktuk. And thus another 15hr bus ride back to Saigon, to catch our flight back to Manila.

Getting ready for another great adventure soon! :)

Vietnam

2010-02-18T04:05:00.000-08:00

Things to know:

1. Vietnam and Cambodia's in a timezone that's an hour later than the Philippines.
2. As of travel date: 1 USD - 46.8 PHP = 18500 Vietnam Dong = 4000 Cambodian Riel
3. On normal circumstances, Siem Reap is 12 hours away from Ho Chi Minh. But since we're travelling cheap, don't expect efficiency.
4. You can go as cheap as you want!
5. All computations in this blog is for 2 people. I was with my sister the whole trip.
6. All hotel reservations were booked from hotels.com.
7. Tours and bus was booked by Tuan Travel. Would probably have been cheaper to look for tours on our own, but since it was the New Year, there weren't much travel agencies open.

Vietnam

The Liberty 3 Hotel - For 45USD a night, we got to stay at a 3 star hotel with full breakfast buffet. Service was amazing. The beds were comfortable, we got REALLY STRONG wifi, which gave it a big thumbs up, cable tv with Star World, another thumbs up, plus the hosts were all welcoming. The booked all our trips around Saigon, plus the bus to Cambodia. The hosts gave a more personal approach to our stay, and even offered a few freebies along the way such as phone calls and printing. Nothing big but anything free's good. They also picked us up from the airport for 18USD. Quite expensive actually but it's nice to be assured of your safety especially if you're arriving to a foreign country at 1230am.

Our beds

Sights around District 1. For 2 days, we would just walk around Saigon (when it's not too hot) and take shots of the famous buildings in the city. We didn't go too far from our district because we were too cowardly to cross the deadly streets of Vietnam. Every book or website's saying that you just have to keep forward, but no thanks. Haha.

Notre Dame Cathedral
The Parliament
Post Office
Opera House

Because it was the Lunar New Year, there weren't much people in the city. Most of the people we encountered were foreigners because of this, and most of the things we did were price inflated. But on the up side, there were a lot of interesting flower displays and new year ceremonies we got to witness.

Decors at our hotel's lobby. They say that all houses in Vietnam have these plants to bring in luck for the new year.
Golden Tigers at the center to welcome the year of the tiger.
Sunflowers everywhere!

Cu Chi Tunnels - Built during the Vietnam War. Disturbing weaponry, small tunnels, everything underground. 9USD for two. 20USD was paid to the travel agency for both Cu Chi Tunnels and the Cao Dai Temple tour.

This isn't the tunnel yet. Hahaha! But it's on the way there!
One of the traps. Step on it, and you're dead :-S
One of the entrance to the tunnel.
Miniature model of the tunnel
Cao Dai Temple
"Indigenous to Vietnam, Cao Dai, is in fact a fusion of the teachings from Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism, with elements of Christianity and Islam. Founded in the 1920’s, Cai Daism was seen as the answer to the ideal religion and they also worship western icons with the like of Victor Hugo, William Shakespeare and even Joan of Arc. The religion has about three million followers, all in Southern Vietnam and there are several Cao Dai temples in the Mekong Delta too but none as grand as this."
- travel Vietnam info
In front of the temple.

Inside the temple
Was able to catch one of their services.

Mekong Delta - Beautiful tourist attraction. Loved the sceneries. Paid 20USD for a whole day trip! With lunch and everything!
Quality of photo isn't really that nice, but they were friendly tourists on the other boat, how could I not post!

Didn't have the guts to do it myself, so just kept myself busy taking pictures of them having snakes on their neck :-S

How they make Coconut Rice
Going back to the big boat, with a small boat, with our Vietnamese Hats.
Bridge to the boats

Can't get over the craziness of the motorcycles in Vietnam.
Night View from our hotel. Look at those swerves!
So many motorcycles!

Since I was afraid to bring out my camera at night for dinner, we use my sister's camera for food shots. Overall, food was average. But they say that sadly, we haven't tried the really good restaurants. Although I took pictures of our meal for New Year's Day. And, we tried the Saigon beer on New Year's Eve. We spend around 5-10USD on meals. But we usually order too much as well. :| They say you can find the best meals for cheap price. But we weren't that much adventurous, and it would have been sad to just eat Pho for 8 days! As long as we were able to try the Pho!

Saigon Beer!
"Morning Glory" - Don't be fooled if you see this in the menu. It's just Kangkong. Haha!!
Pineapple Rice. I actually like the one in Old Chinatown Kopitiam better. This one had too much stuff in it.
Fish in Clay Pot - Had this for two days straight! Both were amazing! :D

Bicol Express

2010-01-24T06:20:00.000-08:00

As my family and I visited Bicol a few weeks after the expected eruption of the famous Mayon Volcano...

Mayon Volcano on a regular day in Bicol. Cloudy on the top.

On lucky rare occasions, the volcano shows it's perfect cone shape.

Here's the family, enjoying the good fortune of seeing the volcano in all its magnificence.

A few kilometers away from Legazpi City, is Misibis Bay. A beach resort with full accommodations such as jet ski, ATV, vast swimming pool, playpens for the kids, villas and cabanas along the beach side.

Beach side benches along Misibis Bay.

For the perfect photo-op experience in Legazpi, go to the Cagsawa Ruins, give your camera to the kids, give them a few p50's, and just follow their command.

World Pyrolympics 2009

2010-01-18T18:43:00.001-08:00

Red Spikes
Originally uploaded by karolsee

Smokey Puff
Originally uploaded by karolsee

Day 1 of world pyrolympics, 2009.
Things to remember for fireworks photography:
1. Low ISO
2. Slow Shutter Speed
3. Big Aperture
4. Framing isn't important (yet).
5. Cropping is EVERYTHING.
6. BRIGHT COLORS :)
7. Failure is always possible.
8. Check weather conditions.

Katrina Dacay II

2009-10-05T03:40:00.000-07:00

It was day two of the Katrina photoshoot. We were missing one teammate, Riva wasn't around. It was a very long and tiring day. We went from one location to another, trying to get the feel of the places and one another. The previous photoshoot was centered on just Katrina. Now, it's Katrina and her props. Just Kidding :) This shoot seemed more family oriented than a pre-debut shoot. From the very beginning, some things were already going wrong.

1. We or at least I was very late. Hehehe. I trusted my dad on his timing instinct, but unfortunately, he forgot I had plans for the afternoon.
2. Ultimate lesson of the day: always, ALWAYS check everything. Since my Cebu trip last August, I now always ALWAYS check my memory card slot. This time, I forgot the batteries for my sb600. So we only had 1 flash for the day. :(

Katrina and Tracy: Polka Dots in the park

Katrina and Ara: "twin" shots

Katrina and Don aka The Mafia

Katrina and mom

Head/Fashion shots for Tracy, Katrina, and Don

And once again, last time I placed a photo where a fellow photographer was having fun at work. This time, lemme show you guys a shot of how someone so dedicated in taking photos looks at work. :)