Forest Park, Bacolod City

I didn't have any expectations of the place save for the animals, which I wanted my son to see (whatever they were). So when we got there I went, "Wow! this IS a park!"

It's an enclosed property (much like Eden Natural Park in Davao) only 30 times or so smaller. The greenery was a feast for the eyes. There were three playground sites complete with monkey bars, swings and see-saws for kids and feeling-kids. Lovers could take a stroll and settle on the many wooden benches around the park. We actually saw at least three pairs during our visit. Hmmmm, was that other girl still in her school uniform?

The lagoons and the bridges made a perfect site for the much needed emo moment. I made my mother pose in one of them, choreographed it even to make it more dramatic (echos!). Picnickers could bring their own food or order from the canteen located near the mini-zoo. We bumped into a few teenagers on the way to the cottage areas carrying bagfuls of junkies. I hope they know how to dispose of their garbage properly.

For the animal lovers, there were the rabbits, guinea pigs, birds, snake and monkeys in the cages and the kois in the ponds. One of the resident monkeys (lolo monkey, we called him) was a bit hostile though, banging on the cage and threatening to bite us. That's just because I touched the baby monkey's back a few times.

If action is your game, you can also check out the airsoft game site and ask around about memberhip.

Forest Park is located near St. Francis Village in Brgy. Taculing, Bacolod City. It is open from 7am-6pm daily.

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City of Friendship: Tagbilaran City, Bohol

Finally, Bohol! glad the office picked this venue for our national convention. The team is pretty organized this time, even integrated a tour of the island into our itinerary.

What I enjoyed most:

The serenity of the place, sunset at Bohol Tropics, this wooden bridge at the Tarsier viewing area, the port fronting Baclayon Church and the Tagbilaran Pier at dusk.

Bohol's finest.

Loboc Children's Choir. We were fortunate to have been serenaded by the famous Loboc Children's Choir. It was like listening to angels sing. They recently bagged awards during their stint in Spain and even the Vienna Boy's Choir gaped in awe with their performance. Cesar Montano once commissioned them to "harana" his then girlfriend Sunshine Cruz when he proposed marriage to her. I bet she got carried away with the background music, hence she said yes!

The Tarsiers! History books tell us a lot about them. I'm glad the trip set a few things straight and factual. For one, they are not monkeys and they are not the smallest of their kind. They're not endemic to Bohol alone but they are territorial and afraid of cats.

Loboc River. Until today, I've never seen a river so deep in color and so clean even with the commercial activities in the area. As in, wow! and it's really so placid! I haven't watched Panaghoy sa Suba but I bet it's immortalization is as good as the real thing!

The Chocolate Hills. Now here's another fact I learned during my trip. The soil in these hills are salty hence no trees would grow in them. The hills are at their glorious during summer months when they look like mounds of chocolate kisses. There are two viewing areas, one in Carmen, which is really accessible to tourists and the other in Sakbayan which is still about 45 mins away (please don't trust my estimate, I was asleep during the transfer, hehehehehhe).

Things I Brought Home with Me

Loads of Pasalubong. Like any other trip, I was prepared to buy stuff for the folks back home. Of course I bought some tarsier key chains, ref. magnets, Bohol shirts for the hubby, mother and the two chuwariwaps, chunkie nuts instead of the usual peanut kisses which are readily available almost everywhere . I also bought baked polvoron, some cookies, ubi polvoron and ubi jam.

The Ubi Story. We learned from our tour guide that Boholanos take the planting of ubi rather seriously with a ritual which involve women with naturally big "bumpers". The planters hire these women (preferrably married) to do the planting in July during the full moon. Bare naked, they chant "mu daku ka ing ani, mu crack ka ing ani" or something like that while planting. The guys in our bus had a few laughs about it, "wala bang demo?"

How do tarsiers mate? During the mating season, female tarsierspee on a tree branch or something to advertise that she is "searching" for a mate. The male tarsiers then search for the pee scent that they like and they leave their saliva on them. The female then surveys her pees for her perfect match and then the mating. The actual mating thing happens in just a few seconds. (Daw si Flash ba!)

Some quips from HIM:

• Never ASSUME, for it will make an ASS out of U and ME
• Murphy's Law. If something goes wrong, it will.

Mixed Feelings.
Bohol brought those who were close, closer and rifters far more apart. It brought me sad news about the hubby's friend taking his own life and my son almost sticking a pencil through the househelp's eye. It brought me feelings of frustration for the lack of affirmation from HIM about our work and the hubby not happy about my buying him the wrong sandals. The negative feelings lingered quit a while but when I look back, I can't help but laugh at all those jumpshots and hilarious photo ops we brought ourselves to do. After all the hardwork and low morale that we've put ourselves into, we deserved all the fun. Thanks to our ever humble servant-leader who never fails to look after our best interests, life is still a beautiful thing!

Numancia, Aklan

Bonni, the hubby's long time friend invited us to his daughter's christening and his mom's bday celebration in their hometown, Numancia. I've heard a lot of good stories from the hubby about their fishing escapades and their drinking sprees with friends. And I was told that there's a cool resort nearby which we could visit.

Here are the 10 things that I brought home with me:

1. First 4-hour bus ride with Boz.
   
2. Meeting Bonni's folks, see his kid and sleep in their house.
3. Waking up in the morning and smelling the salty air of the fishponds.
4. Marveling at nature right at their front door.
5. Meeting a few more friends.
6. There was an army truck parked near the church where the christening was so Boz got excited about having his picture taken on it for souvenir.
7. Boz gained a new alias. They called him Jumong and he's been calling himself that whenever strangers ask him his name.
8. An unfortunate circumstance presented an opportunity for me to meet and to know better Bonni's relatives. Especially after they all helped out and showed their concern when Boz's middle finger got stuck on the swing door's jamb and turn black and blue. It was a very horrible sight! But Boz and I was able to manage well, thanks to them.
9. Red Balloon on Board. We accidentally had to bring home a red balloon after a fellow guest, who took the same bus ride home as ours left it when they went down, two towns before we did. The inconvenience of traveling with a child and luggage, plus a balloon! But what the heck, my son wanted it!
10. Boz had a great time playing with Kate and Issa, Bonni's neices. Like any other kids, they were like all over the place - playing, bumping into each other, crying, playing again, jumping up and down any cushioned surface.

We didn't get a chance to go to the resort, they've been telling me about but that's okay. I was already content with the sights and sounds of the fishpond and lakeside view from their house. Alas, it was time to go home. Boz cried a little, not quite willing to go back to the mundane routine of daily life. I was a bit sad too. Life and work has been a drag these days and I've been drawn to opportunities for adventure and travel to counter the lasting boredom of the ordinary life.

Check out our pictures here:

www.flickr.com roxieyap's Numancia, Aklan photoset

Old Manila

Here are some photos from my recent trip to Manila. For a change, we didn't go to Divisoria not the malls. My very good friend Nanaks arranged for us to go on a cultural trip of Old Manila. We went to the National Museum, walked through the Manila City Hall, saw the butt of Kalantiaw (or was it?, saw Luneta Park, horse-driven coaches, lovers showing a bit of affection, students practicing some dance steps. It was fun!

Nanaks also introduced me into this whole jumpshot tradition that she and Rey started just recently. I got two jumpshots here. They are not so good though, a little practice and more choreography.

The trip was short but really really fun. As they say, wag maging dayuhan sa sariling bayan!

Caluya Island, Antique

Caluya is a 4th class municipality in the province of Antique, Philippines. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 20,049 people in 3,942 households.

Caluya is politically subdivided into 18 barangays:

Alegria Bacong Banago Bonbon Dawis Dionela Harigue Hininga-an Imba

Masanag Poblacion Sabang Salamento Semirara Sibato Sibay Sibolo Tinogboc

How to get there:

Iloilo -> San Jose, Antique
travel time: approx. 2 hours
fare: P125.00 (van)
San Jose, Antique -> Libertad
travel time: approx. 4 hours
fare: :103.00 (bus)
Libertad -> Masanag Wharf, Caluya
travel time: approx. 4 hours
fare: P220.00 (ferry boat)
Masanag Wharf -> Poblacion, Caluya
travel time: approx. 30 minutes
fare: P40.00 (tricycle)

Accommodation:
You may stay at the Caluya Lodging House owned by the family of the municipal mayor. They charge P150 per head per night. Food can be pre-arranged. But I have to warn you, there's not really much choice save for fish dishes , shells and chicken which are abundant in the island.

You may also consider staying with some locals who would be willing to take you in for a minimal fee. In our case, we stayed with the Dela Torre's a friend of Roger, an officemate. They didn't charge us for the accommodation and we were only made to pay P200.00 for three meals shared by 4 people beat that! Just be kind enough to give a little extra for their hospitality.


Ups:

1. If you are big on adventure, then this trip is for you.
   
2. Caluya Island is coveted for the elusive coconut crab, Tatos, which populates the extensive coconut plantation in the island.
3. It's the 5th largest seaweeds producer in the country. Most of the island's surrounding waters are dotted with white styrofoam floaters of the monolines that hold the seaweeds.
   
4. The breathtaking view of the island! the seas, the hills, all those coconuts! The island offers you a chance to walk off the stubborn cholesterol deposits and burn all those stored fats. You can be adventurous and you can go visit the other island components of the municipality, check out the seaweed farms, dive for shells or just enjoy a swim.
   
5. Another two hours by boat and you are already in Semirara, two more hours and you will make it to Oriental Mindoro.
   
6. The shells, of course, they are endangered. But you could at least sample on a variety of shell fishes in the island.

Downs:

1. Way too much time on the road. If you're not one to enjoy long road trips and rough terrain, this trip is not for you.
2. There's only one way to get to the island, that is through ferry boat that leaves at 4am daily. Which means you either have to sleep on the boat til it departs or you make the most of the available accommodation near the wharf. It's nothing posh really, a bahay kubo with the papag to lie on, a private bath good for the bladder and nothing more.
   
3. There's really not much to see in Poblacion, Caluya. It's the usual banwa atmosphere, no traffic, lots of children playing on the road and the seashore. No fastfoods, only the occasional carinderias here and there (check out Jam's Eatery, that's where we dined). There are no facilities to support any recreational activity except for the videoke machine at Tatos Cave.
   
4. Add to the fact that electricty only runs from 4pm til 12midnight.

Personal Notes:

1. Unless you have personal business in Caluya, it is best to go there during the Tatusan Festival. An encounter with the Tatos and the energy of the performing tribes will make the whole trip worth your while.
   
2. Travel with a buddy who's open to new adventures and wouldn't mind the hustle of too much road travel, a hard bench for a bed, come what may food and pitch black midnights.
3. Enjoy the beach! it's not everyday you get to sample the white sand beach of Caluya. But don't go too far, you might get entangled with the monolines!
4. Stay long enough for you to enjoy the island but leave before it bores you.
   
5. Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, kill nothing but time. Or at least try.