I could live here

Budyong Beach, Bantayan Island

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Scratch that

Scratch that. The Starbucks in SM Southmall is a bit big. And the construction's pace is blazing! This photo was taken on May 9.

Scratch that. Our Boracay trip in August will not push through. Their Hong Kong trip, however, still has the go signal. Oh well, it's probably La Luz for me anyway.

And I can't wait for my Cebu trip with friends. It's gonna be hella fun. I'll be wasted. For sure.

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Jealous

Our family has been on a recent travel frenzy, following our trip to Boracay. It was actually our first complete holiday. My dad and I once went to Hong Kong and China, my sister and mom once went to Singapore, and my brother went twice to Thailand. We went to Pearl Farm three years ago, minus our mom. Of course, we were complete last year, when we went to Eagle Point, but that was just in Batangas.

Anyway, we've been planning on taking more trips this year, and even planning our trips for next year. My parents and my sister just booked their flights to Hong Kong today, and I'm jealous. I also wanted to go, but I can't. You see the last time we went there, Disneyland was not open yet. And due to bad weather, we weren't able to go to Ocean Park as well.

I'll just have to content myself with the upcoming trip back to Boracay. Oh Lord please let that push through. It's highly unlikely though, but I'm still hoping! I like bumming around the beach than entering some childish theme parks anyway. No, I am not bitter.

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Rejuvenate

Our Boracay trip was not exactly spent sunbathing or reading books. But it was a welcome respite from my hectic life here in the city.

But now, a week after the trip, I must snap back to reality and focus on matters that are important. Thesis thesis thesis and thesis.

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Paraws

I already miss Boracay. Truly a paradise.

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Left behind

Puerto Galera
Originally uploaded by joshbousel.

My high-school friends are leaving for Puerto Galera tomorrow, and naturally, I cannot join. I have summer classes on Engineering Economy, which I cannot totally understand. Reminds me why I took up Engineering and not Accounting.

Even though they are not really my closest friends, I still wanted to go. I haven't seen those guys, in what, 3 years? Since our high-school reunion actually, which was held less than five months since we graduated.

They say we'd have our getaway at Boracay next year. Uhm, is anyone willing to pay for that trip?

Sigh. To quote Sandwich, I just wanna be on the beach.

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Beach break

My friends and I originally planned to have drinks after our last final exams last Monday. But my friend Nikki suggested we rather go to Puerto Galera instead. I've never been to Galera (sad I know) so I was excited, but a bit doubtful. For the past 3 years we've known each other, we've never made a trip out of town. A scheduled trip to Enchanted Kingdom was did not materialize, and I even had to beg them to have afternoon snacks at Serendra. No, that did not push through either.

But being the beach bum that I am, I was determined for this trip to happen. I've never been on a trip with my friends, college or highschool, unless it was a scheduled school activity. I handled reservations. It was not easy - I had to work with everyone's budget, including mine.

We finally settled with Virgin Beach, where my family and relatives took our own beach break last year. Sadly, Milenyo damaged the town of Laiya and left the beach dirty and unruly.

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Despite several setbacks - a friend cannot make it - the trip was on. We met at 6 AM and started our almost 3 hour journey. But when you're with your friends, you certainly won't feel the trip to be that long.

There were only six of us, but we were determined to have fun.

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And so we did. We played cards and frisbee.

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Took photos.

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Good thing the beach this time was truly virginal. It was refreshing.

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We embraced our inner child by playing 7-Up. All of us lost and ended up having sunblock on our faces.

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We had lunch at the pavillion where the view was amazing.

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We took some more photos.

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And attempted to create a silhouette photo, but in vain.

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We tried snorkeling, but we saw nothing but sand, rocks, and a few small pieces of trash here and there. Good thing this little starfish got lost and joined us.

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It was time to go home. And this trip has definitely left a mark on us.

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This was the post I almost ended up not finishing

This is a very long and overly-late vacation post. Proceed with caution.

After the University Week and a couple of quizzes sucked the life out of me, my body desperately needed some R&R. So the family vacation came at the perfect time.

We headed off to Eagle Point Resort at Anilao, Batangas. Our (new-found) German friend Birgit came with us. She is in the country to work for a couple of months and is currently renting our condo unit. Birgit naturally wanted to check out the beaches (if possible, every week she said), so she tagged along.

The trip was a long and bumpy one. We were following detailed instruction on how to get to the resort. Unfortunately, it was innacurate.

I was getting restless, but after a good three-hour trip, we finally arrived.

Our loft was simple yet clean and spacious.

The balcony offered a magnificent view that I would never grow tired looking at.

We quickly unloaded our bags and took a boat ride to have lunch at Sepoc Island.

Sepoc Island was beautiful.

Being the overly-active family that we are, we hiked to the top of Sepoc Island. It barely took five minutes to reach the top.

We played frisbee,

snorkeled and kayaked as well.

But I made sure that I had some time to relax and enjoy the sun. After all, this is the part of the trip I was looking forward to the most.

Fun at Sepoc ended and we headed back to the main core. This beautiful sunset welcomed us.

There were several power outages during the night. The total darkness and eerily quiet atmosphere was really freaky. Good thing the power was back by the time Pinoy Big Brother was on. Yes, I'm a fan.

As we are leaving by noon, we had breakfast really early the next day.

I love how the restaurant offers a panoramic view of the sea. Such a sight to behold while dining.

We swam with baby sharks in the saltwater pool. It was pretty scary as the baby sharks were not so "baby" at all - they were big! But once you get the hang of it, it was a pretty memorable experience.

The swimming pools were very inviting and we obliged to the invitations.

Soon enough, we had to painfully say goodbye to this little resort we grew to love in under 24 hours.

Coming back to Manila, I was greeted with a lot of work to do. Doing this entry along took me around three weeks. And doing this blog entry made me relive the memories all over again.

I miss Eagle Point. I know I'll be back.

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