Move Forward, Not Back

I couldn’t sleep the past few days. I was thinking and thinking, feeling guilty for what I’ve done to her and to myself especially. The only thing I did was to be honest and be open for whatever I was feeling. And despite of this, he still put me into this situation where I am a loser both ways. When he told me about it, I was fine and took it as it was. But then, I think I wasn’t able to react the way I should because I was too insensitive of my own pain. He asked me to hold on and wait for the right time so he can fix everything for us. That us crossing paths again after more than five years could really mean something. I know he didn’t intend to do this but it was done already and he can not bring back the time.

I can’t move on still because I need time to deal with this anger towards him and towards myself, but I know I have nothing to go back to and the only choice I have right now is to do what is right and move forward. :(

Our Pangasinan Adventure!!!

(May 1-2, 2009)

Against all odds, the delays and challenges we had encountered during our trip, the Silang Pangasinan Adventure was still undeniably a big success!!!

Personally, it was way better than the Zambales trip last year, not because more people joined and who participated or not but because we were able to spend more time together (in the van…finding our destination hopelessly), had more unforgettable memories, got to visit lots of places and of course I had that trip with Nica. My euphoria from that trip even lasted for more than a week! If only our budget was not limited, our physical bodies not yet giving up and we didn’t have jobs to worry, I think we could have stayed longer in Pangasinan. Haaay….

Ten of my fifteen friends met in our house where we had our quick lunch. Mama cooked sinigang and lumpiang shanghai which we just bought and prepared hastily that morning, but it turned out to be “masarap”. Nas even joked me on the spot that he couldn’t make it and everyone whom I shared the news with was cursing him already for doing that, when suddenly he showed up and said “joke lang”, gggrrrrrrr. We departed around 12 noon and picked up Epay and Eilron and went straight to SM North Edsa to pick up the last three people. However, on our way there Nica texted me that she couldn’t make it at 1pm because the other manager who would replace her would come in at 2 pm. So we wandered around the mall for a while until 2pm. Jeng and Liz were waiting for us there as well. So finally, we were already complete and were ready to start the journey. Nica and Eilron struggled to eat their lunch that I prepared for them in the van. Haha!

We expected a 4-5 hour travel from Manila to Bolinao Pangasinan, but we spent 8 HOURS traveling alone. Imagine the butt pain we all had. We went down to several McDo’s on our way to pee and grab snacks. We entertained ourselves the best way we could but some ended up sleeping, other chatting, playing and fighting their boredom, haha. Good thing we had a clown with us (thank you arnel) that kept our spirits high (naks!).

Anyway, around 5pm, we reached Pangasinan, the scenes, the ambiance, fresh air, the urbanity of the place itself really drew me in. Inside me, I was thanking God for the wonderful gifts that I was witnessing then and also for pulling me out of the city life for a while. Everybody was getting impatient already with all the signs on the road pointing us to our destination because they seemed endless. But we just ended up making jokes out of it and laughing at ourselves. It was dark already, the roads were narrow and zigzagy. Beside us were mountains and hills, in short it was really scary. The good thing was that the people of Pangasinan are kind, welcoming and really helpful in telling us directions. Thank God, we reached Bolinao Town proper at around 9pm. We had our really late dinner and checked in to our Inn. The rooms were comfortable, simple and clean. It was worth it, two rooms for just P3,600. I didn’t know until we arrived there that Rock Garden is a beach resort also. So we decided, after putting down our things to visit the shore. We saw some families still enjoying the beach that late at night. The water was warm, so shallow and even if you walked like 5 meters away, the water was still knee deep. We didn’t stay long and just took few pictures and then decided to prepare ourselves to sleep. But no, we even had the energy to play card games and chat until 2am, (remember our call time was 4:30 am). It was really really fun, we just laughed our hearts out literally.

We left Rock Garden around 6 am the next morning. Jayson, Jeng, Lis and Nas even had time to ride a balsa before leaving. We had our breakfast on our way to Patar Beach. It took us around 1 ½ hour ride going there from the Inn. Everyone was so excited to finally see the fruit of our long labor (Yahoo!!!). We could smell the sea air that was so magnetizing.

Patar Beach is an unsullied place even if it is open to the public. The sand was like polvoron and was so fine. There were some sea weeds on the shore but it did not diminish our longing for the beach. There were some rocky parts but there were also some sandy ones where we swam. We had to walk few meters to feel the waves and ride with them. Ofcourse, the water was salty (hehe!) but not salty enough for you to give up swimming. We took pictures, ate snacks, played volleyball and dodge ball. Arnel even had a high blood pressure! My goodness! We panicked for a while, hehe. We just bought our lunch there that was done in a flash. So I bet, everyone got really hungry then. Before leaving, we decided not to take a bath because we would still head to hundred islands and swim there. The only minus point in our Patar adventure was the public comfort rooms. Relatively, they were still cleaner compared to other public places but not comfortable enough to use.

Hundred Islands Adventure was more remarkable. It was my first time to do island hopping and doing it with my friends made it more special for me. We rented a big boat for P2,000 and another P1,500 for the vests, snorkeling apparatus and salbabidas. All of us couldn’t wait to jump in to the boat and start the banca moving. Sad thing was that Kuya Larry, our driver couldn’t join because the banca fits 17 people only, with our two banca drivers. We were all quiet while rolling our eyes, looking at the islets and bigger isolated islands, counting and naming them. We first headed to the Governor’s island where we climbed up a long winding stairway to reach the summit where we could see the entire hundred islands, well almost. Then, we went to visit few more islands and stopped at Lopez I think to swim and snorkel. I saw giant clams and few fishes and headed back to the banca together with nica, shai and eilron to give my vest to Arnel. It was so funny that we discovered that Arnel was afraid of water and was literally shaking when he got down the first time…hahahahaha!. That became a running joke on our way home. Before we left the hundred islands around 5 pm, we still stopped at one island and swam. We owned that island for a while and it felt really good to be literally away from everything.

The minus point for Hundred Islands was also the comfort rooms. We really struggled to clean ourselves because the CRs did not have water! Imagine that! We fall in line, paid for 10 bucks and cleaned our bodies with leftover water from the drums. Haay… we left at 7 pm there.

We had our dinner at Chowking and headed home. I thought we would be home at midnight but it took us another 6 hours to finally get home. And we almost got lost because our “timon”, arnel was so busy playing Eilron’s PSP instead of directing our driver (who I think has a directionality problem…hehe). We almost passed by two towns that would bring us back to Pangasinan instead of heading us back to Manila. So I didn’t have a choice but to transfer to the front seat and guide our driver. I was really feeling nervous then that something bad might happen so I prayed to have few more energy just to stay awake and bring my friends safely back home.

Thank God we reached San Mateo at 2am.
I Thank Daddy Jess for this treasured experience. I really enjoyed it and would go back to it over and over again. I am praying that there will be more of these in the years to come, hopefully more Silang could join then.

I LOVE YOU SILANG!!!!!

Bolinao Trip Itinerary

ITINERARY FOR BOLINAO PANGASINAN TRIP
May 1-2, 2009
Budget: P1,200 each
Group Budget: P 15,600 (breakdown below)
P 6,000- van, gas, driver c/o jayson (thanks rivera!)
P 4,000- accommodation (Inn)
P 2,000- Hundred Islands Boat rent and Patar Beach cottage rent (estimate)
P 2,000- food allowance (Dinner and Lunch)
P 1,600- extra money

MAY 1: (afternoon)
11:00 am-12:00 nn: assembly at Phnas’ residence (walang late!!! May batok ang late)
LUNCH kila Phnas (kung libre…still thinking about it..haha)
(Phnas, Ael and Kiko, Shai, Jayson, Yam, Eilron, Pol, Nas, Jeng and Liz, Arnel)

12:00-1:00pm: sundo kay nica at SM North Edsa (special kid kasi..love you nicapot!)

1:00pm- 6:00 pm: byahe!!!! Zzzzzzz (chika-chika) init!!!!!

6:00pm-7:00pm: Bolinao Town Proper
Go to market to buy food and stuff that we’ll be needing
Ask around for the boat ride to hundred islands hopping

8:00 pm: Check-in at Rock Garden Resort
DINNER

9:00-11:00pm: Relax, Swim if you want (P75 per person)
SLEEP!!! zzzzzz

MAY 2:
4:30 am: Wake up call, prepare things for “Bolinao Tour” (sorry super aga, saying kasi ang time!)

5:00 am: BREAKFAST

5:30 am-11am: departure
BOLINAO TOUR
(Hundred Islands, Patar Beach, Caves)

11:00-12:00 nn: Ligo and check out sa Rock Garden Beach Resort

1:00pm-3:00pm: *Lighthouse, Cape Bolinao, Church and UP Marine (If we have time)

4:00pm Uwian na! zzzzzz ulit!

7:00 pm: DINNER on our way home

* order or places to visit could change ah

IMPORTANT reminders:
1. PACK LIGHT! (ouchy! I’m not gonna bring my infamous maleta na to save space!! Ahahaha!). No seriously, kasi we are not at the Inn all the time so make sure that your stuff won’t be a hassle. Just make sure to bring extra clothes, sun block, water, extra money in case you need it and cameras ofcourse!). Bring card and board games and music as well.
2. BRING YOUR COMFORT FOOD AND PERSONAL SNACKS. If you did notice, we are not bringing food (sorry, no time to think about it pa…). To avoid the last year’s “starving-can’t find a fast food- no snacks at the van-incident”, let’s make sure na we have extra foodies for yourself at least na dapat ding ishare to everybody!..haha)
3. GET READY FOR AN ADVENTURE: Let’s be cowboys for a few days. Honestly, I am not sure about the places we are going to explore. But don’t worry, we’ll find our ways (we could always use our charms to ask around manongs of the town! Hihi!). Please walang iinit ang ulo in case magkanda ligaw ligaw tayo! Peace….
4. PLEASE PRAY FOR A SAFE TRIP AND PERFECT WEATHER. (no more explanation for these two).
5. ALWAYS CONTACT ME… (just to make sure everything will go the way we planned it…and please just bear with my ka OC han!)

*hugs*
See yah! So excited!

i'll be back soon...

hello! i missed this sooo much! writing....

unexpected things happened...
a lot of it...
i lost some.. i gained more..
a BIG Thanks to Daddy Jess..
He still knows how to make me happy...
despite of and inspite of...

i would like to write again...
to do what i love to do...
now that i have all the time in the world...
to think...