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February 12 andito na naman ako yep, back to good old nz... e ayaw ko pa naman sana umuwi... nakakainis. last tuesday pa... hanggnag ngayon la pa rin akong nagawa... ang gulo ng kwarto ko.. started the process of unpacking, hanggang ngayon ay unpacking pa rin. parang nanggulo lang - inalis ko lahat ng damit ko sa bags and now they're in different places around the room. couldn't get past the heat. and having to settle down again. sino bang nakakaalam na ganon pala ang epekto ng pag-uwi? or maybe d naman ung pag-uwi pero ung pag-alis??? think cambo started it... saw too much, heard too much, felt too much? naks.. drama daw ba. vietnam and malaysia were cool, but they were holidays. no big upheavals there. then ung pag-uwi sa pinas... yep, that was unexpected. familiar places, familiar faces... everything felt strangely familiar... in a way na iba sa mga dati naming pag-uwi. felt almost at home... almost. then ang daming nakikita na nakakainis - like the traffic system (what traffic system???) and kung anu-anong kalokohan that tells you you've seen enough of the outside world for you to settle right back in. pero ok ung mga bonding. super enjoy catching up with people na i haven't seen in ages, and to find kindred spirits among people you haven't seen or heard from or even thought about in a long time... meron pala nun? d mo nakita ng matagal, pero pag nagkita kayo, parang nag-align ulit? anyways... all good. nakakainis lang kasi this time, parang bitin. all the other times na umuwi ako, i was pretty much ready to come back pagdating ng flight pabalik... this time? not so... ok, umintindi ang nakakaintindi at i've had enough... tama ba naman un? nami-miss mo na nga ung lugar, tapos you torture yourself just a little bit more by writing about it??? hmmmm... kalokohan! January 26 the joy of spontaneous road trips so had dinner with tanj and cel and irene and alex and heidi and dominic at teriyaki boy last wed, and it kind of just got brought up out of the blue.... how bout doing mt pinatubo? it's been almost 18 years since it blew up, now you can go swimming in the crater and it should be loads of fun.. and we all said sure! why not? should be fun! so the time was set for friday, 3 people pulled sickies and off we went!!! =) the drive down to tarlac was pretty uneventful, apart from the fact that you know you've hit the lowlands when you start to feel the heat again... but that's ok... delayed gratification - think of pinatubo! hehe stayed the afternoon in tarlac and rested before heading of to numer's place for dinner... the couple put on a real feast for us!!! longanisa and tinola and papaya fritters and fresh watermelon and ripe mango!! was ready to pop by the time it was all over.. love those guys!!! headed back to the inn for the night's rest to get as much zzzzzzzzzzzzzs as we could before hitting the track the following day. woke up at the early hour of 5 am to join the long queue to the bathroom for showers etc. hopped on the van and headed off to the spa village to catch our 4x4 trucks to take us to the track. the coolest ride!!! an hour on a 4x4 going through sandy plains and shallow parts of the river, up mountains trying to avoid banging your head onto the rails of the car during the bumpy ride - cool azzz!!! =) got to the track and did our hour long tramp through the dry and not so dry river bed - then we were there!!!!!!!!!!!! the crater doesn't look so scary when the volcano's sleeping... hehehe. had lunch, went on our little dip (the water was COLD!!!!) and soaked a bit of sun before heading back.. another hour on the 4x4 to the spa village where i got my first ever massage!!! yay!!!!! numer insisted we go back to their place for a meal before heading back to baguio... another feast!!! had sinalaysay, tocinong kalabaw, hilaw na mangga, kamatis at alamang with bananas and orange juice... was ready to pop again!! haha slept the entire trip back to baguio!!! had an awesome time!!! new experiences on this trip: swimming (kinda) on the crater of a volcano having a massage (which was surprisingly pleasant, though i had to resist the urge to squirm a LOT - massages are super ticklish) tasting the following - papaya fritters, tocinong kalabaw, sinalaysay bring on mt pulag!!!!!!!!!!! =) January 20 on the last stretch of the journeybeen here for a couple of weeks now... and only have just over a couple of weeks left before i head off - back to good old aotearoa. don't think i want to go back yet. don't think 3 months of being away was enough. don't think i want to go back to work or the real world just yet!! =)
the phils has stayed the same in most ways... i got reminded of why i chose to let my student loan become outrageously large because i spent all my savings on trips home.... haha. the family's good - as expected, everyone's moved on (as you do). was really good to touch base with those who are still here. and it's good to see that they're all doing well for themselves.
loved the trip to sagada and going back to the waterfalls and the caves (that's part of the ritual of going back there - checking out all our old haunts and climbing those mountains. was happy to see that bomod-ok was still the same. was half-afraid that it wouldn't be so good because of all the tourists going there now. love that place! hope it doesn't change.
 i got my fill of mountain tea and uncle joseph's coffee... yuuummmm... his coffee beats everyone else's coffee, hands down! it's the best coffee in the whole wide world (bawal ang kumontra, and no point trying to argue, because i'm right and i know it! hehe).
now that all the weddings are over, will hopefully manage to do a couple more day tramps. mt pulag should be interesting. sto tomas wold also be good, if we could do it. January 04 in the natural sauna that is KLhaving a blast in KL! soaking in everything there is to soak in that we possibly could in 5 days. done a few of the touristy places - petronas towers, china town, central market, done the walk through the city at night with all the buildings lit up - so nice to be back in civilization!!!!
 had planned to check out the batu caves today, but that wasn't to be. woke up to a rainy day that went on the whole day. so spent it indoors in a massive mall beside our hostel with an indoor theme park. so the hightlight of today in terms of activity would have to be the indoor rollercoaster - haven't been in one of those for years!!!!!!!!!!!!!
crossing my fingers for a better day tomorrow (if it's not, the mall next door is still waiting!) December 28 leaving on a jet plane soon. ok, almost done with sim reap!!! had the coolest time ever just
relaxing and being tourists! haha... got to check out the temples
yesterday... highlights of that lot would def be angkor wat, bayon and
ta pronh (i think that's how its spelt). then got to check out the
floating village this morning... a bit disappointed with that.. was
led to expect just a little bit more, but had a great time checking it
out. don't think i'll go back there for a second look, though. was
cool seeing floating schools and floating offices, orphanages, even
floating churches!!!! how cool is that???? and just had the coolest ice cream pig out with daph... and now just checking my mail and buying souvenirs before we leave EARLY tomorrow morning to go back to phnom penh again... yay!!! then 2 days and am off back to KL!!!! feel a bit sad that i won't be able to go back to svay rieng again, but there's always next time... could not bring myself to say goodbye... so, don't have enough time, and am still very homesick, but feeling much more cheerful now that i'm meeting heidi in 3 days' time. then seeing dominic when we get back home to baguio... but other than that, it's all good!!!! |
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