Sadness...

...is sinking in.

I miss your face.
I miss your jokes.
I miss your kisses and hugs.

I miss you, моя любовь. :(

32nd

Geez, I'm 32. Honestly, I start to feel that birthdays are nothing special. I guess it's becoming more and more ordinary when we age, eh? Oh well.

The past year has been good to me and my family. My mom and kiddo finally got to visit me here in sandpit. I've been meaning to do this for quite some time. I wanted my family to know how life is treating me here at Abu Dhabi. It's also a plus that my niece came along with them to look for job opportunities here. I believe it's now time for her to live on her own and be independent.

I also got to visit Oman with Vlad. Oh boy, I never realized how beautiful Oman is. It should definitely be one of the places to be listed in your bucket list and be ticked! I promise to post a blog about our trip to Oman soon.

Anyhoo, back to today's news. It's my birthday. What should I be thankful for? Well, for everything! The air that I breathe, the emotions that I feel, the events that I get to experience, and finally, the realization that I am still well and alive and that I am not alone in this nasty world.

Okay, I'm off for a dinner date. Cheers!

x

Xioms' First in Sandpit!

It was almost five years ago when I came to Abu Dhabi, UAE (aka sandpit) to search for better opportunities. I cannot say it was a hard battle, actually, I was lucky enough to find a decent, good-paying job at a university. The only thing that's keeping me to be completely happy is living far away from my kiddo. Given the fact that communication nowadays are quite easy, it's still hard to be away with your most precious possession in life. But I sucked it all up as they say, "for the benefit of your child's future".

Indeed it was a good benefit as I was able to provide Xioms whatever she needs in life, even extra ones that usual kids can't have, and have Xioms enrolled in a good school. I always thought of bringing her here to see how I have been living my life and for her to realize (in some sort of a way) that life ain't like a piece of cake. I'm not one of those OFWs who have miserable lives and are being brutally managed by their employers, but I want to show and teach my kiddo, as early as now, how I am excelling at work and how patient and honest I am to earn money to get all the things she needs so she'll be proud of me and appreciate all tangible and intangible things even more.

Anyway, at first I have never imagined I would be able to bring Xioms in sandpit even for just a vacation. I have the means, don't get me wrong, but I always think that it's better to save it for future emergency needs. But there was this one person who made me realize that money is not everything. The longer I have been living outside Philippines is the amount of time I already missed seeing and knowing my child. Although I always come home at least once or twice a year, it's still different! And the fact that I have the power and means of having her here, even for a short period of time, I shouldn't have any excuses at all! Money comes and goes which isn't really that important, the one that has great significant value of all is the quality time you could spend with your loved ones.

And so hurriedly I processed all Xioms' (and Mom's) documents and have them flew over and they stayed here for a month :) Documented pics are all here and the below is my most favorite one.

Stoked at Dubai Mall's Aquarium

Toodles!

Hundred Islands, Pangasinan

On our way back to Manila from our recent Palawan trip and before the new year starts, we were off again for another adventure and this time to the northern part of Philippines -- the famous Hundred Islands, Pangasinan!

It was actually Mom who organized everything and this time, the whole family is included. Mom rented a house that could fit us all. She also managed to organize a full-day boat ride to go island hopping.

We decided to go on a road trip to Pangasinan and left very early morning to avoid traffic. Usually, it is a 4-hour or so drive from Manila straight to Pangasinan (without traffic of course) but we made a detour to Mom's land somewhere in Nueva Ecija first which adds up a couple more hours to drive from there to Pangasinan.

Bahay kubo

Vlad and Xioms trying to make friends with Mr. Cow

I don't know about you but province life seems to be boring yet relaxing and calming. The quietness is just so full of happiness within. Birds singing under the magnificent bright sun, wind blowing that helps trees dance, cows lazily munching some greens and so on -- all reminds us how simple life could be and they are all actually free! Carpe diem! Anyway, getting out of my zen now, we eventually went back to the road for Pangasinan.

We reached during nighttime, well, because we got a bit lost haha. Important thing is that we reached our final destination so we just relaxed, gulped some cold beers and snoozed for tomorrow's adventure.

Morning came and we are now off for island hopping! Yey! Few pics below.

Such an amazing view

with  my baby Xioms

shades of blue and green

I must agree that the view from the top is absolutely amazing but mind you, these islands are not the same as Boracay or El Nido that are actually accessible and easy for people to swim. There are some spots but it's either full-packed or quite dirty. I couldn't actually say that it was a spectacular experience and that we really really did enjoy the island hopping though the place is worth seeing. And oh, you cannot go see and hop on all those islands - they say it is "prohibited" to go to most of them. I wonder why? Anyhoo, that's it. Till my next adventure. Toodles!

Puerto Princesa and El Nido

T'was the time of the year to again explore some beautiful islands of the Philippines. I usually head back to Philippines anytime of the year but these past two years, I've been lucky enough to spend Christmas holidays with my family and Vlad.

This year, we wanted to go back to the amazing Coron but instead chose Puerto Princesa and El Nido for a change which is btw, also in Palawan island. Of course, all air and land arrangements were settled upon our arrival and we basically spent 3 days in Puerto Princesa and 2 days in El Nido.

Touchdown PPS!

The moment we landed Puerto Princesa, we just dropped our luggage, ate lunch and then went out for a city tour. Quite honestly, there really isn't that much to see in the city. Puerto Princesa seems to look just like Manila, quieter but in a more industrial way. From what I recall, we've been sent to some uninteresting places where we felt obligated to either pay fees, donate some cash, or buy stuff we don't really like or need. Despite this experience, we tried to make the most out of this city trip. We just hoped that the underground river trip the next day will change our views over Puerto Princesa.

Happy terno!

Xioms somewhere in the PPS city proper

Croco Xioms!

We were told that subterranean river in Puerto Princesa is amazing and spectacular. It was even labeled to be one of the seven wonders of nature, sooo exciting! With much anticipation, we woke up early and was picked up by a mini van to go to the range station. When we arrived, we were supposed to ride a motorized boat to Sabang, an entry point to the underground river, but was told that waves aren't friendly at the moment. As we are about to raise our eyebrows, our tour guide came back and told us that there is another route but by foot and it's a 5-km long jungle trail -- this brightened up our mood and we thought that this is even better! Apparently, we need to leave Xioms behind and she's cool with it. Besides, she's been there just a few months ago. And oh, we were told that during trekking time, whenever we see monkeys, we can smile but we have to avoid showing our teeth. Why? Well apparently, these wild monkeys seem to find humans smiling widely as a threat. Plus, we shouldn't be bringing any plastic bags and we need to leave any shining stuff we have, unless we would want to be robbed by these freaking monkeys! Hahaha... and so the trekking begins!

At range station

Road to the jungle

Road to the jungle

Vlad at some cave during the trek

The jungle is quite impressive! The sound of our feet walking past the slippery trail, winds blowing, and some unusual birds and other animals are kind of refreshing to ears. When we reached the end of the trek, we were welcomed by those huge lizards who act so cool as if they own the place and of course, loads of nasty yet funny looking monkeys. Then off we go in a canoe trip to the underground river. The canoe trip lasted for an hour of chills and darkness. So what can I say? Hmmm... I wasn't impressed. Sure, it's one of the places you would tick off of your bucket list but I don't have plans on returning. To be blunt, I DID NOT enjoy the underground canoe trip. What I surely enjoyed (and I can speak for Vlad as well) is the hiking and trekking to and from this underground river. That, I would definitely do over and over again.

All sweaty but super happy!

Hello there!

Why so serious?

Beautiful rock formation, isn't it?

The small boat that takes visitors to the underground river

Yep, after the entry point, my phone is totally useless

So we went back to the hotel (kinda disappointed) and just positively pondered on the next day's Honda Bay tour. In our minds, this should never go wrong as this is an island to island tour. Palawan is known to have breathtaking islands and pristine beaches. The next day came and oh my, we were never wrong! We spent the whole day swimming and snorkeling around Luli island, Starfish island, and Cowrie island. The only downside is that it is very crowded but hey, it's super peak season so what else to expect but we definitely enjoyed it!

The jam-packed Cowrie

Docking out Luli Island

The night on the same day of our Honda Bay tour was a bit tiring because we went for a 6-hour land travel to El Nido. Funny fact: we spent our Christmas eve inside a van either sleeping or munching chips for noche buena. So lame! Haha!

We reached El Nido past two in the morning yet the streets are still fully awake with drunken tourists walking and hanging out in some nearby small bars. We decided to put Xioms to sleep while the two of us went for a night cap in front of the beach. Yes, our resort is right in front of the beach and the best part aside from the cool sea breeze and the splashing sound of the wave crashing onto the shore is that... there are hammocks :) Vlad and I literally just sat there, gulped our beers, and grinned at each other. Such an amazing feeling. The next day...

Early morning relaxation while my man and kiddo are still on bed and zzzzzz...

...is another island hopping day and this time, at El Nido!

Yep, that's our boat ride

We've seen different types of lagoons and beaches. We went to both small and big lagoons, Shimizu island, and Seven Commandos beach. Similar to Coron, we were again awestruck with those stunning limestone cliffs and turquoise-green waters. Ahhhh... must have been nice to wake up every morning seeing that beauty.

Rock formation

Small lagoon

Big lagoon

Seven Commandos

So there you go, our almost a week adventure in Palawan. Call me biased but Philippine islands are definitely impressive and beautiful! Okay, enough of the bragging, till next time, ciao!