14th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta

I went to the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta at Clark, Angeles with my family last Sunday. We left Manila at 5:00 AM and were at Clark by 6:30. We saw the balloons as they were getting inflated while we were inside the car looking for a parking space. But after that, we had to get in the long line for additional tickets so while my mom stood in line for us, I went with MG and Lester to the nearby Ministop to get breakfast. MG was able to take these photos of the hot air balloons in flight.

Beautiful aren't they? Oh, is that a floating mug???

I saw a Coke balloon from a distance but I didn't see it in the air so I'm not sure if it was just a giant balloon (I didn't see it in the grounds though) or a hot air balloon. Too bad we didn't get a photo.

After the hot air balloons disappeared in the horizon, the airshow started. It was my first time to see an airshow live.

A plane flying upside down. It flew like this for a few seconds.

Can you see the pilot? This was taken with MG's telephoto lens. In the original hi-res photo, you can zoom in and actually see the pilot's profile. Amazing! It's good to know that those expensive lenses actually do have a purpose. I had to resize the photos for faster uploading though.

Two planes: the plane on the left is flying upside down.

Another one of those planes... I forgot what these are called.

Puerto Galera - How to Get There

Dear friends,

I know summer is approaching when I start receiving text messages asking me how to go to White Beach, Puerto Galera. Every year, I never fail to receive at least one inquiry. And sure enough, I received the first inquiry for this year this morning!

I gave most of you this spiel before. I decided to just write it down to save myself the P1.00 per text message that I spend replying to all your inquiries. I think my total text spiel is about 5 messages long right? Now, the next person who asks is getting a URL, and I save P5.00 (sorry Smart).

By the way, let me first clarify that my last trip to White Beach, Puerto Galera was in May of 2005 so I'm not sure about rates anymore. A friend of mine who went last year told me they haven't changed much.

How to go to Puerto Galera from anywhere in Metro Manila and surrounding areas:

Step 1: Take a cab and tell the cab driver to take you the JAC Liner station in Kamias.
I know there are other bus lines and stations but this is the only one I know (so JAC Liner, thank me for the free promotion.)

Step 2. Take the bus going to Batangas Pier.
Bus rates from Kamias should be around P200 I think, I am not sure) one way. Travel time is between 3-4 hours if you start out early (and by early, I mean before the sun rises over Metro Manila).

Step 3. When you get to the Pier, look for the ticket counter for M/B Brian or M/B Natividad.
These 2 will take you directly to White Beach. I STRONGLY suggest you take only either one of these 2. They have the most boats going to and from White Beach. I think during peak season, either one will have a boat leaving the pier every 30 minutes. I think fare is around P300 one way. I really don't remember.

When you get to the pier, there will be other people who will offer to take you on different boats to White Beach. What most of them really mean is... you will get to White Beach eventually. Other boats dock somewhere "near" White Beach where they tell you you can take a "shuttle" to White Beach. And when they say "shuttle", they will not always mean airconditioned vans... it can mean any vehicle that will not offer you protection as you traverse the dustiest roads imaginable (I exaggerate, but trust me, the experience was not pleasant). There are other boats that will really take you to White Beach directly, and at a cheaper price. I don't know. What I do know is I have several friends who got waylaid because they took those boats. One of my friends took a boat that they overloaded probably hoping they won't be inspected but they were so they had to let other passengers off... passengers who paid because they wanted to leave at that time and will now have to wait for the return trip of that same boat (4 hours wait?) fron White Beach.

So if you're my friend, I STRONGLY suggest you just go with M/B Brian or M/B Natividad. If we're not friends, you can be as adventurous in your choices as you want, I don't care :)

Step 4. Make sure you are near the loading dock a few minutes before your scheduled departure so you are one of the first in line to board the boat.
You can choose seats with the least probability of getting wet. I'm joking... sit anywhere you want, it doesn't matter, you will probably get wet wherever you sit anyway. But if you are near the front of the line, you and your friends can choose seats where you will all be together. You can start taking pictures on the boat. Pang-Friendster/Multiply/Facebook din yun.

Step 5. When you get to White Beach and you don't have room reservations, you will have someone offering to get you a room the moment your feet touch sand.
So don't worry. Just tell your guide you want a room on the beach front. You can check out as many resorts as you want along White Beach until you find one that suits you. When your guide tells you there are no vacant rooms along the beach front, he is just probably affiliated with another resort farther back :) You can choose to eithrt ditch your guide and walk along White beach and inquire along the many establishments lining the beach front, or whine and wheedle and insist to your guide that you really, really, really want a room along the beach front and you might get lucky. Either way worked for me :)

Step 6. But before you go looking for a room, make sure you look for the M/B Brian or M/B Natividad booth along the shore to buy your return ticket first. As of 2005, you can't buy return tickets from their ticket booth in Batangas Pier. Not sure if they do now. But if they don't, make sure you buy your return tickets immediately. Especially if it's a weekend.

And there you go. You are in Puerto Galera.

Oh before I end this post, I have one more tip: Start your trip early. I am usually the sadistic b1t*ch in the group who suggests that everyone be at the bus station by 3:30AM. Yes, 3:30 AM. I have been to Puerto Galera several times in the past and I have learned to time my arrival on the beach perfectly ;)

My itinerary usually goes like this:
3:30 - 4:00 AM Bus station
4:00 - 7:00 AM Trip to Batangas Pier
7:00 AM Arrival in Batangas Pier but by this time, the earliest available ticket for boats is around 8:30 already. If you arrived much later, then you get a ticket for a later trip.
7:00 - 8:30 AM Wait for boat in Batangas Pier
8:30 - 10:30 AM boat ride to White Beach
10:30 - 11:00 AM look for accomodations. When you find one, you can't check in until afternoon yet so you look for somewhere to eat first.
11:00 - 1:00 PM lunch
1:00 PM walk back to your resort and check in
2:00 OM take a nap, because some b1t*ch made me get up at 3:30 AM! Oh wait... that was me :)

Enjoy your trip!

xoxo Janelle

Home Improvement Project - Part 3

My couch has arrived!!!

It actually arrived around 4PM last Sunday but I was too lazy to take photos.

Looking at the photos, my living room looks a tad... empty... don't you think? But when I'm actually there, it feels cramped. Oh well, I think I need a set of drawers to the left side of the sofa, a new armchair/lazy boy, and new curtains. The walls are still empty. We plan to hang the frames after we complete the furniture set-up (March! I swear to me it will be complete by March!)

BEFORE: old purple couch

AFTER: new yellow couch

my couch with the new pillows

Closer look at the pillows. I so totally knew the yellow-blue-yellow green color scheme would work!! I should get that yellow green armchair I want.But who said the work was done? :(

Action Items:
- get new entertainment center
- get set of drawers for the corner
- get a new armchair/lazy boy
- get a small corner table
- hang frames on the wall
- get another bookshelf.

More to come!

Home Improvement Project - Part 2

I'm getting my new couch this weekend and I'm excited :) The couch is the dominant piece of furniture in our small living room and as such, sets the general color motif of the entire area (including the dining area). Our old couch is purple so everything in the living area is in either pink or with a shade of violet. When we had our living room repainted, I insisted on having yellow trim. My new couch will also be yellow. I am aiming for a yellow and blue motif for the living and dining areas. I wanted a yellow, blue and yellow green motif, but MG is so opposed to the yellow green X(

In preparation for the arrival of the "queen" of our living room, I started buying small items that will reinforce the yellow-and-blue color scheme. I replaced the table cloth in the dining room with one in deep blue and had the dining chairs reupholstered in a close-matching color (MG also did the reupholstering, another one of his DIY projects... photos to follow). Then I bought a couple of vases in yellow and blue.

This corner table is still a work in progress. I still have to work on the flower arrangement. I was actually aiming for a different arrangement but I couldn't get the flowers to bend the way I want so this is what I ended up with. I initially wanted to hang a painting in this area but those darned light switches are in the way! :(

This is my other corner table, but the entire thing has to go because I'm replacing the coffee table set in this area with either an oversized armchair or a lazy boy. It's too bad, I kind of like the way this table turned out. The pink curtains will also be replaced.

I'll be posting photos of my living room with the new couch next week :)

Lost Photos

Yesterday, as I was selecting photos that I want to print, I discovered that we lost all the photos we had from November 2007 to February 2008. I still don't know what happened to them.

I remember that before we got our external hard drive, I was backing up all photos in CD's. From what I remember, we had 21 CD's: Volume 1-20 already had printed covers (I print covers which lists all the files in that CD so I'll know what's in them) and the last one. Volume 21. had no cover and no marking but it was inserted in the sleeve right next to the 20th CD. When we got our external hard drive, I know I migrated all the files in our laptop and in those CD's.

Sample CD cover :) (this is the CD cover of Volume 20 that went missing)

I had a lot of friends who got married near the end of 2007 and I was looking for those photos yesterday when I discovered the missing photos. When I got home, I checked the back-up CD's and discovered that both Volume 20 and 21 were missing! I found an unmarked loose CD just inserted between 2 sleeves and when I tried to check it's contents, I discovered that the CD was already corrupted (I don't know why! There was no scratch on it). Volume 21 is still missing.

I checked the laptop and as expected, I already deleted all photos earlier than June 2008 from the hard drive. I uploaded some of those photos in our Multiply account but those are no longer high resolution copies. I can live with losing most of those photos but I wish my brother has a copies of our photos from New Year 2008 in his PC :(

Home Improvement Project - Part I

MG and I have a lot of books scattered around the house. We have this one bookshelf downstairs which also doubles as the house eyesore and mini-tambakan of everything little thing we don't know where else to put.

If you have been to my house, you can not have missed this metal monster.

I have been trying to redecorate the house for the longest time but MG has been opposing me for reasons I will never understand. What could you possibly have against a nice house??? So I've been trying to do it little by little, corner by corner, so he won't notice so much. We already had the downstairs area re-painted, courtesy of MG's parents . I already succeeded in getting a kitchen cabinet for the dining area corner (getting rid of the green plastic shelf that stood there for the longest time). I also succeeded in getting a new center table to replace the big wooden one that takes up a lot of our small living room space.

Getting a new bookshelf was not that easy since there were so many things we had to consider.

1. We both have to like it (BIG problem already since we have different tastes);
2. It must be able to accommodate as many books in different sizes as possible;
3. It must fit in a space where it won't obstruct the delivery of my new sofa this weekend (so definitely not in the hallway leading to the living room where our metal monster used to be);
4. The tone of the finish must match, or be close, to the tone of the current furniture we have.

These and other things. Number 1 already was a big enough obstacle. Everything I chose MG didn't like and what he liked I don't like. So we decided to make our own.

Ta-daaaaahh!!

The boards were already pre-cut and laminated so it was a matter of installing the support on the walls. I believe MG had fun putting the whole thing up. He loves those DIY thingeys. I arranged the books according to the probability of me reading them again. I like how the books look uneven. But MG doesn't (grrrr!). But unless he plans to re-arrange the entire thing, it's staying as it is.

MG's toys made their home in spaces between books.

This does not in any way mean we are done with our bookshelf issues. We still have a cabinet-full of books that need to be put in proper shelves. We just have to decide where (in our small house) to put them.