after weeks of waiting, i'm finally having my well-deserved and much-awaited US vacation. i'm now at my aunt's house in fort lauderdale and living the suburban life. i tell you, that "suburbia" song by pet shop boys plays on my head whenever we pull in and out of the drive way. i love it here, everything is clean and the streets are wide and no traffic jams! so far we've been downtown to los ojos and miami. the rest of the time we're out shopping. i think i spent half of my budget for shopping here in florida already, and i haven't been to most shops yet! yikes! and oh, we heard mass last sunday. everyone is old (at the mass at least). i was half expecting to see jerry seinfeld's mom and pop whenever i turn my head.
i've been keeping myself up to date with that swine flu scare here in US. it's bad that most of the cases are in NY, where i'm planning to spend 2 weeks of my vacation! i hope it doesn't get worse.
pictures soon.
finally
family holiday
It’s Sunday night once again and I’m about to wrap up all these stuff I usually do on weekends – which is to download tv shows, songs, and read pages and pages of stuff on the web. Some good but usually bad. I didn’t discover any good sites this weekend unfortunately.
Anyways, the trip to Hong Kong with the family went well. This time around we didn’t get a package tour so we can save a few thousand pesos. (I have not started to calculate how much we actually spent since I need my good night sleep - haha - and would not want to wake up in the middle of the night thinking how I’m going to pay for my credit card bill when the statement comes in). We stayed in YMCA Salisbury at Tsim Sha Tsui, which is beside the very posh The Peninsula. It was a great hotel, a bit expensive, but worth it since my dad was impressed with how nice and clean it is. We didn't do much on our first day in HK since our 8am flight (which we got up 3am for) was delayed to 10:30(!!!) so we just rested when we got to our hotel. I did check out the nearby Adidas and Esprit stores next door though after checking-in. Then for dinner we headed to the very fancy McDonald's.
Second day, which is our mom and dad's 32nd wedding anniversary, we went to Disneyland. It was our (my mom and I) 2nd visit so I wasn't too excited. We did try out some of the shows and rides we skipped out last time.
Third day was spent in Ocean Park. The park was in some kind of renovation so it wasn't too picture pretty. I noticed that they moved McDonald's, and the place for viewing the giant pandas was renovated as well. A new attraction was the jelly-fish aquarium, which I find really cool.
Our last day was spent shopping in Mongkok and Parklane in Kowloon Tong. I got this really cool biker jacket which I'm hoping to wear really soon!
I enjoyed shopping in Hong Kong and on the way to the airport on our last day I realized I like it because it’s one big scavenger hunt for me. I love shopping for good finds you see…going about rows and rows of shops is as much fun as actually finding a cool one-of-a-kind item. Speaking of which, I did not get to buy a be@rbricks toy…though I did see a shop selling them in the airport. Oh well, next time.
me, the beach baby
i'm here now at puerto princessa palawan, vacationing with my family. here's our house, and my dad leaning on the balcony. this photo was taken just this morning after breakfast. palawan, like most provinces, has a very slow-paced lifestyle. there's nothing much to do here but lounge around, play with the dogs, and go to the beaches. i could seriously live here.
this was photo was taken yesterday while island hopping in honda bay. we just loved how the sea was calm during the boat ride.
then here's me, the beach baby. behind me are the people snorkeling. i think one cannot truly enjoy the beach without snorkeling (at least if one isn't into diving anyway). there's another world out there to enjoy and discover! i think i saw around 7 or 8 kinds of fishes...and that's a lot considering i didn't go too far!
tomorrow we're going to el nido. it's all our first time, even for my cousins and aunts who grew up here. more pictures on my next post!
a world waiting for me to discover
during the long weekend before labor day, some officemates and I went up north to see the grand banaue rice terraces. the place is included in the book "1,000 places to see before you die" so despite the long bus and jeep rides we need to endure just to get there, i decided to make a go for it.
there's so much to discover in the philippines, and i hope to continue discovering all the beautiful destinations our country has to offer and tell about it :DFlickr
