Photos: Cagayan de Oro 2012

Less than 2 weeks before my licensure exams, I boarded a plane and went to Cagayan de Oro for my Lola's 1st death anniversary, and stayed there for six days. Because that's how I roll. Hahaha. Thank heavens I passed or I'd be feeling pretty stupid about taking this trip. :]

We didn't go sight seeing anymore (because I was just there last October, yo), mostly just spent the time hanging out with my cousins and pretending to study while watching horror movies. Here are the very few photos from this trip:

Xiao Long Pao at Su Zhou

Su Zhou's Xiao Long Pao

February 21, 2012: More than four years after my first Xiao Long Pao (Xiao Long Bao on other Chinese menus), I finally learned how to eat one properly, i.e., without soup dripping on my chin! :]

Xiao Long Pao is a dumpling with soup inside, so eating it involves gently teasing a dumpling onto a spoon without breaking, poking a hole at the side, and draining the soup onto the spoon or into your mouth, before actually taking a bite. I wish I had learned this sooner, it would have saved me from a lot of messy dinners! 

There are several places in Manila where you can get this, but I've only been to Su Zhou in Malate (they have another one in Binondo). It's a small, nondescript place along Mabini Street, but the place is always filled with groups of Chinese diners, which I take as a sign that it serves good Chinese food. (Actually, this was the exact reason why my friends and I entered this place way back in 2007!)

Oh, and Su Zhou serves the best tasting soy milk I've tried anywhere, too! :]

Pan Seared Fish Wrapped in Bacon at Faustina's

After the results of the medical boards came out last night, our family had a small celebratory dinner at Faustina's, a cozy but really nice restaurant just outside the UPLB campus.

I was thinking of getting their Silindro Ribs again, or maybe a lamb steak, but I wasn't in the mood for a big hunk of meat so I chose their Pan Seared Fish Wrapped in Bacon. It was served with ranch dip,  rice and a small side of salad.



Before I say  anything about how the food was, can we just agree first that this salad looks very pretty? :]

Photos from the Holidays

Aaand I'm back. To my loyal readers (all three of you hahaha) sorry for the absence! I misplaced my camera cable, and the rest of my life wasn't very interesting anyway. I spent most of my time either reviewing, buying/ wrapping presents, eating, sleeping or watching reality TV. (I have been sucked-in by the bobo-tube! I am so addicted to Survivor Philippines, Hell's Kitchen, and Junior Masterchef Australia!)

Here are a few photos from the holidays, mostly of food! Haha. As they say: new year, old habits. :)

Photoblog: Christmas is in the Air

I love spending Christmas in UPLB, because the campus is very pretty this time of the year.

Presenting some of the first few photos taken with my new Sony Cybershot DSC TX55 which I won in a giveaway/ contest. :D It's in "red rouge" so I'm naming it Scarlet hihihi.

I wanted to take nighttime photos to see the lights better, but I was rushing home. I'll just take another photoset at night. :)

11-11-11

Banchetto's lantern event got cancelled, but we still celebrated 11-11-11. I know it's just a date, but you have to take every opportunity to celebrate! :)

View of Panagatan Restaurant and Other Seascapes

I love taking pictures of the sea, because they always come out pretty even with a crappy camera.

On our fifth day in Cagayan de Oro we went to a beach in Opol (about a half-hour drive from the city) for a Sunday afternoon swim and picnic. Apple Tree Beach Resort is the popular beach destination for tourists, but since we weren't staying for the night and there were around fifty of us, we just went to the next-door Marvilla Beach Resort, where the entrance fee was a meager 20php per person, half of which was consumable! We got there late in the afternoon so we only had a few minutes to take pictures.

Not my favorite shots because the lighting was poor and the skies were gray. :/ (My point and shoot doesn't take the best photos so it needs all the help it can get from Mother Nature!)

Gray skies. It rained after sundown.

Kids. :)

My brother.

The following day, my uncle took us to Panagatan (a seafood restaurant, also in Opol) for lunch. It overlooked the same sea, and under a bright and clear sky, it was gorgeous. The restaurant extended far into the water and had no walls, which assured a good view of the sea on all sides. And even though it was a very hot day, the sea breeze made it very presko. I forgot to take pictures of the food because I was too busy either taking pictures of the view or gorging on the scrumptious fare of seafood, sisig and crispy pata. Rawr.

There's a viewdeck, but it was too hot!

If you find yourself in Cagayan de Oro, you should go the extra mile and visit this place for lunch.  The cab ride from the city proper cost around 160 pesos, and the food was cheap and good! You'll have a great backround for your photos too, something we clearly took advantage of.

Hrhrhr.

Vacation Diary, Mostly in Photos: Cagayan de Oro

Kapoy! (Tired!)

It was a busy week, with Lolo's and my cousin C's birthday celebration, visits to Lola's grave, and a flurry of family lunches and dinners and karaoke parties and bonding sessions with my cousins, I wasn't even able to go white water rafting!

Day 1

Departure from Manila to Cagayan de Oro
I hate traveling during the peak season! The lines are awful, even at the web check-in counter. Oh and WHAT LINES? Pinoys are horrible when it comes to falling in line and waiting for their turn. Even paying for the terminal fee and falling in line to board the plane felt like hustling for the MRT! :/ Ano ba, the plane won't leave you!!! I don't get it, it's not like the last one to get on the plane will have to travel standing up. People, chill.

Our flight was delayed too. Apparently the plane had to turn around twice before landing because of the runway traffic. We had time to take pictures at the cut-out photo wall and shop haha. And when we had boarded, we had to sit there and wait for more than half an hour for takeoff. I finished my Smile magazine even before the plane left the airport! We were supposed to land at 4:25PM but we got there a little past 6. Sunset on the plane was gorgeous though. :)

Top: line at the web check-in counter, more lines at the
terminal fee booth, flipflops we bought while killing time, photo wall.
Bottom: finally boarding the plane, my Smile magazine,
and my gorgeous view of the sunset (except for the plane wing haha)

Day 2

Lolo's Birthday Party
It was Lolo's 85th, and my cousin's 25th birthday, so it was a grand grand affair complete with lechon from Cebu! :) (BTW, thanks to Picasa 3 for the instant tarpaulins. I love you to death Google!)

Day 3  

Trip to Divine Mercy Shrine in El Salvador City

All those stairs were tiring! But the place was really beautiful and quiet. It's a really good place for prayer and meditation. Or in my case, for enjoying the scenery and taking pretty pictures.

Picnic at lola's grave
Hello 'La. I hope you were watching us. :)

Day 4

Zipline at Dahilayan Adventure Park in Bukidnon
Adrenaline ruuuuuush! Dahilayan Adventure Park purportedly had Asia's longest dual zipline which was 840m long. According to my Smile magazine, it starts at 4000m above sea level and swoops down to end at around 100m ASL. Whoa, intense! And it really felt like flying! I was terrified at first, buti na lang there were also 320m and 150m ziplines which were like trial runs. :)

It felt so good, I did all three rides twice because I couldn't get enough of the feeling you get when you're swooping in the air above the trees!

I was less scared on my second round, so on the 320m ride I was able to hold my camera with one hand while holding on to the ropes with the other.

Cousins' night out

Our first night out without the parents! :D Don't judge us, we live miles apart hahaha. We had dinner at Mooon Cafe, a quaint Mexican-ish restaurant which serves cheap but yummy food, and watched Praybeyt Benjamin which was funny not exactly good. Hehehe. Oh well, it's the company that counts!

Day 5

Xavier University

English mass at the chapel, then watched our cousin L play frisbee

"For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?"
-St. Francis Xavier

Beach Trip

Because no family outing is complete without a trip to the beach. 

Post-dinner entertainment
My cousin O and my nephew AJ ham it up for an audience. :)

Day 6

Lunch at Panagatan
The food was yummy, but it was overshadowed by the view. Awesome. If you find yourself in the vicinity, you should eat there because I can't think of a better place to eat seafood.

It made a pretty good background for photo-ops too. :D

Vigil at Lola's grave
AKA another picnic. In the spirit of halloween, we brought masks and bought matching devil horns. Hrhrhr.

Day 7

Last Minute Shopping, Departure to Manila :(
Sad sad day. I didn't want to leave yet! If I didn't have the boards to study for I would have asked to be left behind.

On the plane I was seated beside the window AGAIN. Boohoo, and the Manila skyline was so pretty, too bad I couldn't take decent pictures.

It's the best vacation I've had ever. I love how big our extended family is and I loved being surrounded by so many uncles and cousins and nephews and nieces! I really wish I had gone home more often before, my cousins make the best company. Of all the things we did, I enjoyed our nightly bonding sessions over alcohol and karaoke/ movies the most.

I already miss the noise and the endless kulitan.

Photoblog: Divine Mercy Shrine

Still photoblogging because I'm too lazy to write about what I actually did on vacation. Anyway, a picture paints a thousand words. Haha!

Photoblog: Sunset on a Plane

Our flight was delayed. Traffic at the runway was apparently so horrible that our plane couldn't land and had to turn around twice, and then couldn't take-off after boarding until almost an hour later. A literal pain in the ass.

Photoblog: October 25

Desaturated

Photoblog: Chocolate Explosion at Max Brenner