gone fishing II

so again, i conquered another place called General Santos City, nicknamed as the "Tuna Capital of the Philippines" on the southernmost part of my country. its economy is primarily agro-industrial due to its rich soil, good rainfall and typhoon-free climate. the area is the largest producer of corn, coconuts, copra, pineapples, asparagus and rice. it also produces other high value crops such as potatoes, vegetables, cut flowers, and exotic fruits like durian. yeah, the one that smells like hell but tastes like heaven. [debatable]

but this is the best part: gensan accounts for the largest total daily fish landings in the country and is the leading producer of sashimi grade tuna. locals boast that fish and seafood do not come fresher than in their city. [which i wouldn't agree] the coastal area is a rich fishing ground. it provides good trade access to major foreign markets like Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Pacific Islands, Japan, Hongkong, Middle East, Continental Europe and the United States.

so we went to catch the tuna activity early in the morning @ their port but unfortunately we were not allowed to go down the car nor take pictures...hmmm well...i did manage to catch a few actions huh... these are like 150 to 250kg tunas @ $6.50 per kilogram.


gensan is also home to the former world IBF super bantamweight and WBC flyweight champ manny "pacman" paquiao. that's his house right there.

anyways, we came to this place cuz we got invited to play tennis. for me, that wasn't really my purpose. it was to revisit this famous place again after 21 years, during the edsa revolution. i was here to play table tennis. thanks to our overly hospitable host, dodong sun who introduced us to "blow job". also to jun rosales and the guys of b-meg!!!bravo to you guys!!! you were all so good hey!!! beyond expectation!!!

to get there by plane would take a few hours. the trip bored me so i read "the god of small things" and would you believe the flight stewardess served me this capuccino?>

update: the most boring of all the books i've ever read. but am treading on...



update: pacman is now officially the wbc super featherweight champion OF THE

WORLD! in my opinion, that fight against juan manuel marquez was by far his toughest! but it does have an aftermath...so many questions linger even among filipinos. but as for me, he won that match no questions...with flying colors for the philippines. long live PACMAN!

and one more thing, PACMAN will join KOBE and TIGER in one explosive commercial for a sports gear company. guess what...NIKE no less!

kookie on mars

It’s quite a while I’ve been hibernating. And while I was, I sent kookie to mars and she became the first pug ever to be on mars. I was disappointed that she didn’t conceive. Probably, she was too busy and stressed with her very fast and high profile lifestyle now. Need to wait a few more months for her next period. Again, I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

Nothing much happened, except that my best nephew of the year, arf, will now be very far away from us. Arf is the ever entertaining kiddo and always full of surprises. He instantly became the apple of our eyes. So long arf. [hu hu hu] we will so miss you...my cutipie...hope to see you again soon!!!

kookie says: mum, i've licked arf's hands and it tasted so yummy!!! we also played huggie huggie in your room...hehehehe...am gonna miss him so...

[arf and tonio d'great]

we are the champions...

i must have woken up on the right side of the bed today because i felt like blogging. ha ha. am just so excited to share this candid shot that i took. last weekend, our tennis club had a 3-day friendly tournament and my hubby played in the men's B category, and i also played in the ladies category and we are both beginners. we were luckily paired to the best players and so we were dragged to become one of the champions. we felt that we cannot take pride in being called a champion cuz it was not a 50/50 effort. but then we could say we did our level best. and we did end up at a local paper.
but that is not really what i wanna blog about...

one day we were giggling about a woman wearing a tennis skirt whose sweat outlined her g-string. and a friend of mine said she has the audacity to wear one cuz she's got the right...and that if you have it, flaunt it!!! then on the last night of our tournament just before dinner, this friend of mine took off her shoes and i was able to see this scene from behind. i mean her behind...hmmm. am so eating my heart out!!! i cannot even wear a skirt or a pair of shorts cuz i have these ugly varicose legs and so many round scars all over not to mention my chicken legs...then i caught on my mobile cam again another of our girlfriends on that same night wearing exactly the same tongs but white color. then i showed the picture to her but she grabbed my phone and deleted her nice bum photo. it was just so bizarre that i caught two of those in a span of one hour. i am just so entertained, i cannot imagine...

oh btw, we are the champions is a song by queen that we usually sing during college when we win even just one game to make our opponents crazy. and it has no connection to this post. heheh...
i placed our trophies on the throne, an important place in the house.
this is the thinking area...no disturbance...

it's not every year that you see yourself in the local paper. thanks to my partner marsha maniego. that was one great game marsh. you go girl!!!
andre de hertogh and manu gidwani, men's c champions! you did break some young legs guys.
congratulations!!!

second photo without permission but i know my friend is game!

fried green bananas

it's been a long time that i put my blog on the backseat. so much has happened during the past five months. i've gone to visit my folks three times (each time of that broke my heart to see my mum cry when we leave), my best nephew of the year, ARF, got hospitalized twice, my other best nephew, jashkah, will be in high school, my son is in college, we all have aged gracefully...even i mourned the death of my ever loyal hp laptop that has also aged and served its purpose well (eyeing for a better, lighter one. any suggestion?).

this change of my life i see and think is for the better. our lives has been fast paced not for so much work but more on the lighter side of life. we get to play tennis four or more times in a week. i could say, at this early, that we have been so blessed in this new place where we moved. it was beyond belief, i was crying buckets not wanting to move out of cdo. but here, we were welcomed with a brand new tennis circle of friends and they are just so amazing people. not because they are well-to-do in life but because they are of such low-profile attitude. well, some...

*i met this very respectable power bol-anon couple who just seem to have every good thing in life... good aura, energy, looks, height, love, nice family, lots of happy kids, and so much power in the game (both of them). they have quite maintained tough muscles, too...i call them the all-around pair who, am sure, will do an ironman someday!!!
*then there's this really funny, could crack up a green joke at anytime, a bit nasty woman who, in her mid 30s could still wear an xs size!!! and whose hubby is a sweet tooth. this is the couple whom i call very organic, and a good pair in tennis (though not invincible anymore).
*and then there is this "special" friend, who could be cocky sometimes and so fond of coaching anyone "lucky" enough to become her partner. predictably unpredictable!!!a bonus is that her husband, of all people... is kookie's clinic vet slash owner , the best in the whole of bacolod city, i should say. the time we didn't have contacts and kookie had high fever, my hubby browsed the phonebook looking for some vet. it was this vet who entertained us through cellphone calls and even texted to ask for my beloved puggy's condition a day later. what a great contrast this couple are...
*then another one, a very unassuming couple whom i call the young guns of center court. they do mountain biking and goes to the gym. and they don't seem to feel guilty when they eat so when the wife opens a pack of chocolate, i had better steer away. i miss the wife now, she is such a good person, great character and so cheerful. they don't play that often anymore.
* also another couple who i think owns half of the indian ocean, and they play really awesome at the net. although i've never seen them play together as a couple. the wife is soft spoken and there is something mysteriously nice about her. i like her aura and i like being around her. she keeps us gurls "grounded" haha. her hubby is such an admirable man, doesn't look his age, so straight forward, humorous, and he has this wit i really like in a man. he easily adjust to any situation like a caumoflage.
*then another couple whose wife doesn't play but very much with us on trips. we love her that we thought we could bring her to one of the thousand places to see before we die, it turned out that we were her students. her hubby is really good in tennis, good physique, fit and trim and would like to go back to the navy at his age ha ha.
*then another couple who are so down-to-earth, sassy woman and plays tough, whose dad we met at the wake of her mum, a trully trully amazing person. we will never forget the time we spoke with him just at one time, my hub and i enjoyed so much. we salute you sir. you have one great legacy!!!
*there is also this german couple whom i will never forget their exact words after the first time we played...he said " it's very boring to play with you..." ugh!!! er...i'll do better next time...
*and yes, there is this other cheeky german guy who i call "the call center" of the tennis court cuz he is always on his mobile phone. but he is the hunkiest of all the guys...hmmm... he was such a snob though. but later on when i got to know him better he was ok and funny, too. so straight forward and speaks his mind with audacity...
*there are still lots i could go on... the court has become a coincidental rendezvouz of the bisaya folks which has helped us get a loadown of the new dialect we have to face. and i don't need to describe them cuz we are just as colorful as the rainbow. however, i would like to note that one of the guys reeeeeeeeeeeally love extreme sport adventure!!! whatever...

there's just one thing very diffirent in their customs though. when we enrolled scott in la consolacion college, i noticed teenagers kissing their friends when they greet each other. so when i made friends at the tennis court, i felt reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaally awkward when we greet and kiss. poor me. unacustomed as i am. it was such a very uncomfortable situation. back home, we only kiss our mum and dad, brothers and sis, relatives, and super mega close long-time friends only. i just thought that kissing as a form of greeting could be hypocrisy more often than not. what if we make a friend who is not "kissable"??? bypass him/her during the greeting period? ha ha...until now i am still painstakingly trying to master that art!!! there are times, though, that it comes natural for those who has become close to me...even to those whom i consider my friends, i still am so partial . deep inside me, i know and feel some are not for real and couldn't be trusted. sometimes i would like to think that i could rewind and...oh swell...

to top it all, kookie is now an expectant mum. so i have to keep my fingers crossed and take a break...no, just a coffee break. and hey...would you believe starbucks now serves fried green bananas? i love them!!! no no...don't believe! that's my fried green bananas at home in cdo. one of my favorites!!!







kookie says:

mum, where's that fried green banana? that's my favorite, too!



hmmm...these are all empty...

the last frontier

this is kookie's dad's palawan adventure

a few weeks ago, my hub went to this exotic islands situated in the western border of the Philippines on a business trip. An hour's travel by plane from manila, puerto princesa city, palawan is a tropical island paradise with it's unspoiled beaches, world-class diving sites, lush virgin forest, endemic flora and fauna, ah well...on and on...

palawan is also home to one of the world's famous diving spots which is called the tubbataha reefs. the city's bays abound with magical underwater coral garden reefs, home to fascinating marine life. palawan is considered as the country's last ecological frontier and the locals take pride in it's name. the people are generally warm and friendly and makes your stay a lasting experience.

puerto princesa today has gained the recognition and honor as the country's cleanest and greenest city under the leadership of Mayor Edward S. Hagedorn.

kookie's dad getting ready for a sidetrip

dos palmas, where gracia burnham got abducted by some bandits

getting into the world's longest navigable underground river @ a length of 8.2km

underground river

opps...i think i see jack sparrow

simply palawan

as told to me by kookie's dad

mambucal resort

as our stay in this new place progressed, the mess almost done, internet connection purely by luck, we took a breather. surprisingly to another volcanic wonder which is way too close to our place at less than an hour drive. the place is called MAMBUCAL right at the northwestern foot of the active Mt. Canlaon (2465m asl). this place has continued to awe me and i am a tourist in my own country.

just around the place they have these hundreds of mini hills sprawled that looks exactly like the famous chocolate hills of bohol

they also have a miniature rice terraces like the 2000 year-old banaue rice terraces

another one is this amazing waterfall that just sprouted out of a cliff, no river

hot pool where temperature is controlled from a mixture of the sulfuric hot spring

boating lagoon

i call this the smoking rock cuz smoke is coming out of it only i wasn't able to capture a clear shot

i tried to climb the seven falls alone and shunned away the tourist guides as i know i will be climbing up to the first falls only. but there is this wise kiddo who secretly went ahead and met me along the way and presented himself as my guide.

my "unprofessional" guide zoren who keeps talking like a proffesional. i gave him some cadbury and potato chips and a bit of school money for the whole week. the more he talked non-stop.

my extra hot coffee at the sulfuric hot spring where the temperature ranges from 90 to 100c

the heart of mambucal

as my hub and i were taking shots at these boiling mud i saw our shadows and remembered nabeel's little heart. i made a bigger, hotter, and boiling heart.

sad to say that two days after i took this shot, we heard from the local news that a man fell into this boiling mud area and burnt himself badly.

kookie, missing in action...

and so we conquered a new place called BACOLOD CITY, the sugar capital of the philippines...but not quite. not yet. we havent even seen the tip of the iceberg. so many places to go and so many food to try. that will be for later. scott says, "it's sugarcane left and right, mum!"

there is so much work to do. i got this permanent job at the kitchen, and doing some interior designing in this newly renovated place we are going to call home for the next few years. moving is not an easy thing to do. we packed our stuff in just half a day. that's all 16 years of conjugal property in a box...our pieces of lands, carabaos, goats, and chickens put in to one big tv box.

i miss blogging. i miss visiting my favorite blogs. i have been out of circulation for more than a month but hey...am still alive. except that we have the worst internet connection of all. after all these mess, i'd surely be back on track.

anyways...the trip alone was one big adventure. it was an 18-hour boat ride. kookie was not allowed to stay with us in the suite room of the vessel. instead she was placed together with a thousand chicks i got so worried she might get bird flu. ahh choo!!! what do we call it then? pug flu? so i moved her to some other place, this time with the fighting cocks. awww... she met her match.

anyway, we left kookie at the economy section with a few passengers but i let her out of her carrier and put her on her leash so she'd be comfier. we put her to sleep and left late. and in the middle of the night as we are comfortable in our suite with thick blankets and good music...outside was storming and thundering we never had a clue from our deep exhausted sleep...

in the morning my hubby went for coffee and straight to kookie but...found only the leash and the collar!...no kookie at the tip! he said he honestly didn't worry for kookie, he worried for me. what would happen to me if kookie went over board or what...

anyway...to make a long story short, some of the ship's crew went to him and informed him that during the storm kookie went ballistic and broke free from her collar and just went running around no one can ever catch her. there was chaos in the economy section all the passengers participated in trying to corner kookie. but to no avail.

i was wondering why no one ever informed us when all the guys there knew kookie's got a very caring owner. we went to visit kookie a hundred times before we retired. we even had a few drinks there.

then the guys showed my hub where kookie was...there in one bed, cuddled, snoring, and deeply entangled with the rythm of the waves. some kids gave her a blanket. ohhh...i went to thank those kids for their kindness and they asked me what creature kookie is...hmmm. how 'bout an allien? and so that was kookie's misadventure in the ship...

and oh! we found kookie a boyfriend. a huge black pug named elvis.
he is so cute and adorable. in a month or so, they'll have a union and kookie will soon lay black pups! i can't wait to become a mum again...opppps!!! a granma? ha. ha.

one last look

here's a little volcanic island near my place that my family frequent when we get together. it is called camiguin. the locals would take pride in telling you that camiguin means "come again". rich in natural resources, which include sulfur deposits, geothermal energy, agricultural lands and fishing grounds. it is said to be "Born of Fire" with its seven active volcanoes. this amazing island is one of the top tourist destinations in the philippines. it has also one of the best diving spots in the country and is believed to be my country's most beautiful island paradise.


camiguin island is an all-in-one tourist destination. if you go round the island you can make it in a day with just 238 sq. kilometers in land area. it has a variety of destinations you can choose from. but as this trip is my family's fourth trip back here (mine 6th), we just went to our favorite spots as time is of the essence.



if you wanna go mountain climbing, mt. hibuk-hibuk at 1250 meters above sea level will enchant you. at the summit, you will find a lake and steam outlets where you can also have a panoramic view of the entire island.(1st pix)

my son scott, saw this beautiful blue star fish at the white island

the white island is an uninhabited sandbar and constantly changes its form depending on the tides and weather condition. it has a magnificent view of mount hibuk-hibuk. just a 10-minute banka (wooden small boat) ride from where we stayed.

can you read it???















some freaky shots at *ardent hot spring (night time). can you see the glare?





*ardent hot spring is a mineral pool with its water coming from the dormant mt. hibuk-hibuk volcano. this is the usual place where we spend the night but at that time it was *"snowing camille" and we got two babies with us so we found another place to stay. it turned out to be the gateway to the white island (this black beach).










*katibawasan falls, a 70m waterfall will invite you for a chill and so with a couple cold springs.











vina and arvin ros




*the ruins of a century old church










hey bing, no need to bring bottles!!!






*camille tree similar to cotton with its cotton-like pollens i call it snowing camille












scott behind the cam


there is so much to this island i could go on and on...but most of all i should say that the place is world class but cheap to stay. and the people are friendly.

just one last look at this amazing island for this year that is.
and once again i will leave my foot prints in the sand...



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