Chanos' Reunion

Last April 28 I had my very first reunion with the Chanos' group - my college friends! It was supposed to be a whole day affair but some things never changed...we all ended up waiting for the last person to arrive which by the way took me two hours before I finally met up with them! Nonetheless, it was all worthy. I never realized how much I missed them and how much I missed our college days, escapades, group studies, the neva-ending brain storming for our thesis, the pancit canton near PLM, the professors, the parties, the library, Rny's place, ahhhh the exciting life of college!! (Taxation II classes are not included in my list! darn! I don't even want to remember that professor!)

Our first stop: Asian Hospital (Filinvest, Alabang) We visited Thonnie who gave birth to her son 2 days earlier. Thonnie (another chanos) was one of my closest friends in college, my buddy... The short visit was enough for us to talk about almost everyone in our batch especially our blockmates. And I'm proud that most of us are now successful with our own careers..It was also nice to hear about what had happened to those who we didn't like much during college, our other blockmates who are now married and who have their own families. Ex-suitors, ex-boyfriends, ex-lovers...Like they say...those were the days. So to Thonnie who refused to posed with us in this shot, your loss! Haha! Cheers to the new mom in town!! Congratz!! Next stop: Festival Mall
Since we're too hungry to actually take our time to decide where to eat, we went to the nearest restaurant as soon as we have parked the car. Thanks Emman and Gandz for the lunch treat! :) We were all recharged after having that heavy lunch at Teriyaki Boy, so we then headed to where else but the Videoke Bar! We didn't even realized that we've been singing and dancing and munching and drinking for the next 3 hours! It's just unfortunate that I had to call it a day at 630PM since PJ is expecting me home by 7 for our late night Subic trip. :( (kimmie, if you're reading this, I know exactly what's on your mind - Conne, you're a KJ, as always - shadap....)

Anyway, I definitely had fun! It may be short but it was definitely worth my time..I enjoyed every single moment of it! haha! Obviously, I've missed them that much! I can't wait for our next get-together, hopefully soon and by that time, I wouldn't allow myself to be the "KJ" in the group.

Trivia: *chanos chanos is the scientific name for milkfish

Weekend get-away @ Puerto Galera (Part 2)

Let's have a recap: Kim and Mitch, my 2 loudest friends, forced me to go with them to Puerto Galera last weekend. Why? Simple. They needed someone to pull the plug when the volume got too loud! Peace guys!

Still on Day 1:
1830H - Kim and I went to the boat station to change our schedule for the following day. We were initially scheduled for the 1545 trip, but we found out that we needed to check-out by 12 noon. We were a little lucky that the 1245 trip still had 5 available slots.

This is a pretty cool shot of the sunset silhouette.


1930H - Dinner time! Kim and I made instant friends with a gay waitress on one of the resto bars while we were on our way back to the room. Don't be surprised if you see lots of them there, they have invaded the whole White Beach resort! LOL! Nothing against them! In fact, they provide better service compared to the other M/F waitresses. So, we decided to have our dinner @ Paul's Beach Bar and Bistro. Their grilled kebabs are worth your Php110+!! After that, we got ourselves coffee from another bar and we walked for an hour just to burn some of those calories from that heavy kebab meal!


2030-2200H - Shopping, haggling and more shopping!!!
Got myself a "kikay" beach dress,(don' know actually what they call that, but that's my version!) souvenir shirts for my 2 boys, blue earrings to go with my blue swimsuit (kelangan talaga terno ;P) razor-back shirt for my dear friend Sty, and these pictures for Chrissy! LOL!

2200-midnight... - Spent the rest of the evening in the sand drinking beers with the girls. The bar that we chose offers "banig" or sleeping mats for free that customers can use if they want to drink or dine by the beach. The moon was perfect that time also! So, we talked everything and anything under the moon till midnight! Ooopps, I forgot! I was the first one who called it a day, since there's no chance that these 2 would retire by 12. I was really too tired and exhausted to spend another hour awake...

(To be continued..)

Weekend get-away @ Puerto Galera (Part 1)

Here is one place I would always love to go to - White Beach, Puerto Galera, Mindoro. I swear, I'll never get tired of coming back there. We initially planned to have this trip 2 weeks ago, but thanks to Kimmie she had to cancel a day before the scheduled trip. This is one of those cases wherein its better if you plan things the last minute and then all will go well as expected.
Its just too bad that I went there without my 2 dudes, so its basically an all-girls escapade from work and family, more so for me, because I'm the only mom amongst the 3 of us. I have to call at home and ask how CJ was doing every 4 hours! Yes, I really felt so guilty :( but no regrets because I certainly need to get-away, relax and "think things over." Hmm...

So, what can I say about Puerto Galera? Travel, food, accommodation, bars and of course the beach is really worth your Php1,500.00 for a two-day-one-night stay, not to mention the irresistible souvenirs they offer.

Here's our itinerary during the whole trip, with some take-away tips if you plan to see the place for yourself:

Day 1: Saturday (February 24, 2007)

0710H - Meeting time with Mitch @ McDonalds, Sucat. It was supposed to be at 0630H, but then again, what can I do? My 1 1/2 hrs. of packing and other preparations for this trip was just not enough! Good thing, Mitch was in high spirits so she didn't pull my hair!

0730H - Picked up Kimmie @ McDonalds Greenbelt, Makati with her take-out breakfast for us!! (sausage mcmuffins, love 'em!)

0815H - Buendia LRT Taft Station. Boarded van going to Batangas Pier (Php150.00). I'm telling you, you won't have a hard time finding the bus/van going to Batangas pier, because dispatchers will be all over you once you get out of your car! You can also ride from Tritran at Quezon City and also at Alabang. So long as its heading to Batangas Pier.

0830-1030H - Travel time from Buendia, Makati to Batangas Port. I swear, it was a two-hour ride with the two loudest friends I have. They just never get tired of talking, LOL and chit-chatting!

1030-1100H- Bought round trip boat tickets (Php340.00) and Terminal Fee (Php10.00). There are scheduled trips every 30 minutes which you can choose from the different ferryboats but we opted for the MB Commandos 7 because the next trip was scheduled at 11am, and this one is going directly to the White Beach unlike the others that heads straight to the Sabang Beach (about 15mins tricycle ride going to the White Beach). Same case also with the bus terminal, as soon as you get out of the van/bus, these guys will be swarming you like bees and telling you to choose their boat!

1130H-1300H - Travel time from Batangas Port to White Beach, Puerto Galera. The 1 1/2 hour boat ride wasn't that fun as I hoped it would be, thanks to the Korean family we were with during that trip. Argh! Anyway, people will approach you as you get down the boat and offer you places where you can stay. (That is if you haven't made any reservations yet.)

1320H - After much haggling for a place to stay in(yes, you really need to be good at haggling, otherwise...) we were able to find a good one. Very nice bungalow type with 1 bed, good for three persons, 1 electric fan and 1 bathroom. This one cost us Php1,200.00 and I was able to convince owner to give us an extra electric fan. (Not bad, huh?) We didn't choose an air conditioned room because I find it very impractical since we will be out of the room most of the time. After unpacking our stuff, change to our swimsuits, picture takings, off we went for lunch.

1530H - Swimming and sunbathing time!! yipeeeee!!!

(To be continued..)