A Day in the Life

AAP 2nd Caravan - Last Stop: Provincial Capitol of Batangas

November 27, 2010

Before heading to the Provincial Town of Batangas, we passed by the Municipality of San Nicolas. San Nicolas is recognized as a terminal point if you want to head to Volcano Island where you can visit the Taal Volcano National Park, the 1911 Crater Lake and the 1965 Crater. While standing on the beach, Mayor Epifanio Sandoval gave a short speech on how we, as domestic tourists, can inspire other people to come and visit their locale to boost tourism and thus help their local economy.

San Nicolas is also where you'll find the ruins of the Old Taal Church, the original church of Taal. It was destroyed by several earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and the ruins are all that remains from the old church. It was rebuilt on a new location, the current Taal Basilica.

Our last stop was the Provincial Capitol of Batangas. We were really pressed for time and the energy was lagging by this time. We reached the Provincial Capitol around 7PM, around 3 hours behind schedule. The kids were tired and cranky but we soldiered on. . Upon reaching the Capitol, we were pulled to it by the smell of Batangas Barako coffee :) It was like what you see in cartoons, where you see the wisp of smoke beckoning you to enter :) Patrick and Dylan headed straight for the Christmas tree and were pretending to be part of the Belen. Dana, as you can see, thought it was all so foolish! LOL

We were all treated to Batangas native snacks and endless coffee! :) Dana loved the puto (which she had a lot of !) Patrick loved the suman. I just drank and drank the coffee hahahaha The Press officer gave a short briefing about what the Province of Batangas has been doing. There were some raffle prizes that were given away too :)

And that was the 2nd AAP Tour Caravan!!! It was tiring. It was educational. It was fun. It was an adventure. I sure hope we'll be invited to the next one! :)

AAP 2nd Caravan - 3rd Stop: Taal Heritage Village (Taal Town Proper)

November 27, 2010

So far, we've been to the Museo De La Salle and the GBR Museum in Cavite. The next part of the tour will take us to Batangas Province, to the Tall Town Proper to be exact. We passed some great scenery too that kept the kids entertained on the way.

The Taal Town proper, I just learned is a bevy of historical treasures. The Taal Heritage Village is in fact famous for its ancestral houses and are in the process of renovating and restoring much of the dilapidated structures to bring them to their former glory. (Notice the 7-11? haha)

After the ride, we stopped at the Taal Basilica where right beside it was the Escuela Pia and the Taal Cultural Center where we all had our lunch break. It was a native buffet of adobo, tapa, atsara and native delicacies. The best part for me and Dana was the coffee! hahaha Batangas brew is the best! :D If you're interested in knowing more about the Taal Town Proper, feel free to visit their website, http://taal.com.ph/ and I found another website, http://www.lakwatseradeprimera.com/batangas-exploring-taal-heritage-town/, that has a lot of good pictures, descriptive prose and generally good information! :) Oh and before I forget, we also bought a lot of souvenir goodies like panutsa (sweetened nuts, like peanut brittle but different), pastillas and uraro.

AAP 2nd Caravan - 2nd Stop: GBR Museum

November 27, 2010

To continue with my journal about the 2nd AAP Caravan, our next stop was the GBR Museum, in the compound of the Gateway Business Park in Gen. Trias, Cavite. The Museum contains more than 3,000 vintage photographs chronicling the History of the Philippines. Once you reach the compound, you'll see the monument to the Cavite Mutiny.

There are five (5) pavilions inside the building: Pavilion A showcases 19th century photographs; Pavilion B has the Underwood and Underwood archives from 1898-1905; Pavilions C & D showcase collections of different model aircrafts and paintings; Pavilion E has photographs during the 2nd World War. Here are some interesting pictures from inside the aircraft pavilions.

Space Shuttle Lapel Pins

Space Shuttles

Here on the right is a Flight Certificate awarded to GBR for riding the Concorde in November 1995.

To the left is Charles Lindenberg's plane, the Spirit of St. Louis, which he flew when he made the first solo trip across the Atlantic. To the right is a piece of mail, signed by the original crew of the China Clipper during her maiden voyage in November 1935.

In another pavilion, I took the liberty of taking these photos (of photos) which really made me smile. I had such a fun time going around and gazing at photos from this period becaue it's like being taken to that point in time even when I can see and touch the "now" version. Photos from Quiapo, Binondo, Avenida are so endearing because you see them in their heyday - clean, well-dressed folk, trains and calesas. There were just too many pictures to take in and to savor. :)

Being a kid from Sampaloc, Manila I am familiar with the Malacanang Palace. Here's a picture of the old Malacanang Palace on the Pasig River (left). If you love visiting Tutuban, Divisoria, here's the original facade of the main terminal station of the Manila-Dagupan Railway inaguarated in 1891 (right).

Coming from a replica of the "Bahay na Bato" from the Museo De La Salle, here are actual pictures of the 'sala' of the photographer M. Rodriguez's sister's house during that time. They really are very opulent !

Dana was delighted to see pictures of the Philippines' national heroes on display as they have been studying them in school. She especially found it funny to see the picture on the leftmost side because there was an exact replica of it in JT's Manukan Grille, one of our favorite restaurants. I even took a picture of the names because in JT's picture the names were blurred and we couldn't read it LOL

I found it funny to see our national hero, Jose Rizal in such a relaxed pose with Juan Luna, here after a bout of fencing :) Coolness! :D Emilio Aguinaldo sure looks handsome! :)

We took such a long time looking at the pictures that we were the last ones to leave the Museum hahaha Dana even found time to relax inside. After, there was a snack break at the Petron Station in Tagaytay where we all enjoyed ice cream! :)

More to come in the next post! :) Stay tuned! :)

Meng & Vio's Wedding

It's always a good day when there's a wedding. It's especially great since Dana has been invited by my cousin Meng to be one of the flower girls for his and Vio's wedding. Dana was very excited! It was also her first time to be a flower girl so she was nervous and wasn't particularly fond of wearing a dress hahaha What she did look forward to was the ManiPedi we had a day before the wedding hahaha

Here we are upon arriving at the Church.

The beautiful bride and Meng with his Dad and Mom.

Here are the couple with their Ninongs and Ninangs.

On the right is their entourage..

Here are the kids. :)

Naturally, we can't have a wedding without us goofing off hahahah but we did this at home so as not to embarass ourselves and our newlyweds! hahahaha

In between activities

This post is a combination of the small though not trivial activities that happened in between major events in November.

November 04 - We found out that Stevie, Patrick's brother, was rushed to the hospital due to a tummy ache. His wife, Toni, has been in touch with me during the day because she feared that Stevie was taking the pain too lightly and may not reach the hospital in record time. Apparently, Stevie was in Bulacan working on a project when he felt that his stomach was giving him pain. It took a long time for him to get to Manila which left Toni worried. Around 6PM (by my recollection) he was already brought to surgery for an emergency appendectomy. His appendix hasn't ruptured but there appeared to be infection around it and so the doctor had to remove it. We went to the hospital that same day but it took a while for the anesthesia to leave his system so we didn't see him. We came back on Friday. Oh and we saw the appendix! hahaha Patrick thought it gross! LOL

November 12 - Both kids did well in their report cards. Dylan has great improvements. Dana got awarded the 3rd Top Borrower in School ! :) Guess who she takes after? LOL

November 13 - Happy 16th Anniversary to me and Patrick. Unfortunately, this was a sore day because we didn't get to celebrate it because Patrick stayed overnight at the Hotel H2O at the Manila Ocean Park for the annual Top Gear Planning. I could understand it, it's work, it's important, but to not send me a text message (AT LEAST!) that was the worst thing. He didn't even call us that night!!! okay, enough with the rant, but I thought I'd just shout it out LOL

November 19 - Dana and I tagged along when Patrick went to Mall of Asia to cover a car show there. We decided to watch Harry Potter 7 because we were at the mall early and I thought there wouldn't be a throng of people in line because school and offices haven't really let out. I like it but I knew it would be a tad slow because they had to stretch it to cover one whole film. There were some highlights and I especially liked the dialogue. It is recommended that you watch the first movies or at least read the prior books to have a better understanding of the movie.

Since we were there at the mall, Dana and I had a ManiPedi session at the Mint Hand and Foot Spa in preparation for my cousin's wedding. I was a little worried because I just had a traumatic ingrown infection that took a while to heal. Fortunately, Gina, the senior technician was able to deal with my toe quite nicely. It was also the first time I went to that nail salon and I must say, it was a good experience. It was quiet and clean and the technicians were efficient. :)

Reuniting with old friends

Once again, time has permitted former office mates and great friends to meet. This time, it was at Martin's son, Kevin's 21st birthday and graduation bash, held last October 30. It took a while to get most of the pictures so this post is a bit delayed. So, sorry for that :)

There was a casino theme as you can see, which was a perfect backdrop for our getting together. We all shared good times, entertaining moments and unforgettable blunders that mostly centered around clubs, drinks, girls (for the boys) and general frivolity during the years we all worked for Senator Ramon Revilla, more than 15 years ago.

Here's a toast to Kevin - Good luck on your new path!
Here's a toast to my friends - It's good to have found you all once again!

Here's a photo chronicle of the night: