What I learned about Surfing

On top of my list when I was in my early 20s (Goodness! I'm saying this now!) was to surf, first was to climb a mountain. I usually have a timeline for my plans, Climb a mountain: 18, Travel abroad: 25, (both were realized before the deadline by the way. haha) but for surfing, it was just in my list but I never believed in actually doing it. 

I learned lessons from my first ride (hoping to get a chance for a second ride) that remind me on how I should look at life when not riding the waves:

1. Impossible really becomes not possible if you never give it a shot. My list doesn't say that I should be a professional surfer but for a long time, I was thinking that even just trying it... is absurd. 

The photo below shows how scared I was on my first try:

2. Patience is always a virtue. Life is not designed to be flat, it has ups and downs, right and wrong, but we have to keep the faith and keep moving. If you didn't ride the wave the first time, be more alert and try it the second time. If you fall, hug the board tight and try again. After a few try, you'll know. :)

As cliche as it is, "something that does not happen doesn't mean that it won't happen."

3. Listen & use your senses. In today's world, everyone wants to talk which oftentimes make things complicated. In surfing, you need to use your senses, don't just look, listen and feel the waves coming. Listen to the wind blowing, look at the waves beside you, quickly close your eyes to feel the waves and concentrate on your senses. You can't afford to lose a wave cause you might not experience one anymore!

4. Sometimes, you just don't have the chance to backout, so rock it! Sometimes, life gives us things that we think we don't need but is actually for us to experience and we have to be brave enough to try what's in-store for us out there. Most of the time, we need to risk then our lives will never be the same again cause it just gets better.

5. It will always be hard to keep the balance, but only the wise can do it (Read: wise- with knowledge & experience of falling and standing up over and over. haha).

6. Be prepared (you can't afford to miss one wave, remember?).

7. Enjoy the ride. There's a feeling of euphoria when riding a wave, it's addictive. The feeling before, during and after riding a wave is indescribable but you can never tell a story about only "after the ride," it needs to be a whole process to make the story complete so you have to enjoy every second of it.

FREEDOM. It was a liberating feeling to ride the waves. 

Awesome Idea: What I always do is to imagine the feeling when I was riding a wave, then I imagine my worries as the wave- scary and huge...after a few breaths, rode over my worries, then they go away! 

Maybe that's a good idea for you to try surfing, so you'll know what to imagine when worries come again!

So here is what I've found out in my hard drive, my "chimpanzee" first ride:

*This was a quick trip to Zambales, read the whole story here.

Tagaytay: Peace & Quiet

Nothing beats a quick drive or even an overnight peaceful trip to Tagaytay to recharge and slow down from the stressful city life. I put together a Tagaytay Peaceful Weekend Itinerary that you can add in yours. Have a peaceful one!

Surfing trip: Zambales

Roadtrip. Fresh fruits. Waves. --Some of the few things that keep you high in Zambales, a province in the central part of Luzon (Philippines). For some people in Manila, it's good to go to South and wander under the sea but some prefer to check out what's there going North and ride on top of the sea. But I suggest to do both and cherish the two unique experiences with genuine appreciation of the beauty of their purpose.

With my enthusiasm to explore and experience surfing, I packed and went on a quick trip to Zambales. I just had surfing in mind with no other expectations about the sea and accommodations. But I was surprised on how that simple trip turned out as one of the best trips I had, first, because I was able to cross-out something in my long bucket list- surfing. Second, because I realized that I had explored and had a wonderful break. Who would ever think that I'll do so many things in that place aside from surfing? (Here's the things I learned about surfing).

We stayed at my friend Josh's usual hiding place, the Crystal Beach Resort. With very amiable staffs and very friendly locals, I enjoyed breathing fresh air and listening to the waves while:

1. walking around the shore and attempting to play beach volleyball.

2. Playing and climbing up in their obstacle courses with a real-life chimpanzee friend (that's a joke among us cause we look like chimpanzees when falling from the surf board), Daisuke.

3. Being one with nature and having quality time to rest and recharge my spirit in the tranquility of the place in their duyan made from tires.It was really nice to close my eyes, feel the sun shines to my face, breathe in, smile and listen to the birds chirping.

4. Campfire we met again! Yey!

5. Pretending to be a pro when checking out surf boards.

6. Playing around. Wonderful conversations.

7. Getting more and more wounds.

8. And of course, San Miguel Beer in the middle of the day with my wonderful people.

9. Becoming invisible like me in the photo below:

I will always recommend a trip to Zambales, whether you'll be trying out surfing or just simply lying on the beach while playing music all day. Even if you'll visit alone, it just feels good to be surrounded by very lively people trying to ride every wave as if it was the last.

By the way, that guy below, my Kuya Josh, was still starting to surf when that photo was taken. Look how he falls! haha. But now, he's riding unlimitedly and winning! Thanks for the fun trip Kuya!

Crystal Beach Resort

San Narciso, Zambales-Pangasinan Road

+63.47.913.4309

I got my sanity back!

We just celebrated our first anniversary last month and we decided to push through with our long-term plan to visit the majestic Palawan. Taku was sweet when he convinced me to push through with this trip to refresh my "system" since I've been through a lot weeks before that trip. Thanks to him, I got my sanity back. :)

Palawan is very beautiful and this amazing experience made me say what everybody's saying, "It's more fun in the Philippines!" (The Dept. of Tourism's tagline is really working, huh?) When I first visited Coron, I stayed in El Rio y Mar and that was a very amazing and serene escape for me but this time, we stayed in their sister resort, Club Paradise, which exceeded our expectations. You may opt to have a tranquil escape from the city (since they just have TV and wifi in their clubhouse) in this island or try out the unlimited things and trips that they offer. But the part that I enjoyed the most was the intimate moment with the sun, waves, a pen and my notebook, a good book and Amoretto Sour. Plus we met a wonderful couple who were in their honeymoon (It was really nice meeting you Irene & Raine!).

Since we were so hooked with video editing that time, we tried to do the storytelling through video and here's the teaser (haha):

And here's the whole Palawan experience:

Enjoy the sun and the sand this summer!

Please visit http://hoywherewewere.tumblr.com/ for more. :)

(We flew to Busuanga via Air Philippines and flew back to Manila via Cebu Pacific Air)

Growing Older.

 “Please go to counter 10 for verification. Please ask counter 4 for the schedule. Counter 1 please…” Imagine you have to do this for more than 5 times, I tell you, it is patience-draining.

Forums about the current situation of the pre-need company, College Assurance Plan (CAP), are everywhere. This shows how many Filipinos was hoping to secure good education and retirement (for some) years ago and my dad was one of them.

Since college, though I lived with my aunt and cousin in Manila, I was doing and learning most of the things on my own (well, this is how my dad raised us). Since my dad worked in a Real-Estate company (before he moved to work independently) and mostly project-based, he hoped to secure my college education through CAP’s College Educational Plan which went down during the time that I was in college. It was so disappointing having that piece of paper on hand but couldn’t do anything to pay my school bills because the pre-need company don’t have funds plus the fact that they would never give back the promised ROI to its plan holders. It was a gamble and my parents need to start over.

I normally have no drive to try and visit the CAP office because I’ve experienced the rude and very slow process for reimbursement but when I was playing around with my phone and thought of calling them, for the first time someone answered their hotline and told me that I have check to collect. But that didn’t entice me that much because the last time I got a check, it was 599 pesos which was almost just what I spent for transportation and time to pick it up. As I go through the old papers, I’ve seen that my parents started thinking about securing my future at the age of 5 and I’ve realized how much money they invested on it especially now that I am working.

I went to their office to check the status of my reimbursement and as expected, there was a long line of people hoping to get money from their investment from different parts of the Philippines. It was so sad to see people, mostly old parents, from different regions/provinces endure 5 to 8 hours of bus ride to go back home with nothing. I tried to observe just to let the time pass by. I had long conversation with people, listened to their complains and watched them smile as they start a new friendship to the people they spent almost a day with waiting for the office to give them answers to their questions. But even if it turned to be an easy and happy experience, I still don’t want my parents to experience the long waiting and not-so-nice process. As I looked at the huge room packed of people waiting, I realized that the window serving the educational plan holders was busier than the window serving the pension plan holders. I was fixing my dad papers for his pension and was done in less than 30 minutes while the educational plan reimbursement inquiry was finished after 3 hours (including not having lunch). I’ve seen angry and disappointed faces in the packed window and grasped that Filipinos are not that educated or don’t put much priority on thinking about “retirement.” Filipino parents normally give everything to their children’s education which is very adulating but may or may not be the reason why some parents force their children to support them on their retirement as return. I am a daughter and I care about my parents so much but I’ve seen a lot of Filipino parents putting all the responsibilities to their children after graduation that force them to just think about earning and not do what they want in a long run. I’ve seen parents blame their child of not having a good life after spending so much for the child’s education. I’ve seen corrupted children that seems to stay in where they are for 5 years just because they needed to stay “just earning” monthly just because they are not thinking of the “long-term” and they chose to be blamed.

Every society has a good and bad side and I think this is a part that the Filipino society needs to improve: the education on retirement. I also think that Filipino youth should think more of their long-term plans and the cause and effect of their every action. This is what I like with the Japanese society, they always leave you with the question “How do you see yourself 5 or 10 years from now?” (But I hope there’s back up when the insurance company closed down. Haha.)

The power of posting and reposting.

I have been busy working on with the tasks that piled up at work after being away for almost a week for the Southeast Asia Blogger’s Conference in Bali, Indonesia. Aside from work, I’m still worried about how my dad reacts on his current condition. There were so many things that happened that makes me want to blog 5 times a day. Haha. In the Philippines, Social Media has played an indispensable role in the past election and some disasters like the typhoon Ondoy. Lately, the trend in Philippine’s Social Media inspired me, it was not just about the former President Gloria Arroyo being arrested but also, when a Facebook user (Jeddie JS) has helped an old couple find each other amidst the crowded city through posting and sharing a photo in Facebook.

The story of Lola Aurelia & Lolo Luis was in Facebook and Twitter the whole week and I was surprised to see in the local news today that Jeddie and Lola Aurelia finally met each other to greet and thank each other.

According to reports, Jeddie saw Lola Aurelia in Roxas Boulevard sitting and wearing a daster pinned with flyers at front and back, of the husband that she was looking for in weeks. The good-hearted Jeddie was touched how Lola Aurelia patiently gives out the flyers to every person who passes by, hoping that someone will lead her back to her husband, Lolo Luis Matias. The photo that Jeddie took and shared was reposted more than 60,000 times in Facebook that lead to the attention of a GMA News Team that later on helped Lola Aurelia in her hunt for his one and only love.

I’ve seen in my Facebook News Feed and Twitter Timeline touching posts of friends about the moment of reunion of the couple and I was intrigued on how it went. Here’s the video of the touching reunion:

I was touched with Lola Aurelia’s interview when she mentioned of how worried and sad she is whenever she eats because she thinks about if her husband has something to eat or if he has a place to stay. It reminded me of my dad saying that he needs to go home in our province even if he’s sick because my mom is alone. Being a hopeless romantic as I am, this incident taught me 3 important things:

1. That true love exists. Fighting for your love (and his welfare) is never a waste of time.
2. That a good heart can make this world a better place to live in and our good intentions can help others through our own simple ways.
3. That New Media or Social Media is truly playing a vital role in today’s generation so we all need to be responsible in everything that we share in the internet.

According to some articles of John Russel of asiancorrespondent.com, Japan is the model for mobile social networking, Hi-5 is the most popular social mobile networking in Thailand, Jakarta has the largest Facebook population of any city in the world with 17.5 million users, while Philippines has the highest proportion of users per population naming it the Social Networking Capital of the world in his article in May 2011. You can also refer to Tonyo Cruz’ post on the Nielsen’s first report on Southeast Asia’s Digital Consumer Report.

As I switch from one channel to another, I’ve seen so many news about a person’s ruined reputation through blogs and social networks that remind me that whatever we post can make or break a person or organization. It can also make some people furious and annoyed. I like what Dian Paramita, an Indonesian friend and blogger that I met in Bali, have said in her post that talks about how people should not react or comment on things that they don’t fully understand. (Haha. I don’t understand why there are some funny people who just talks without understanding the whole picture, generalize and force others to believe in what he/she believes in.)

Anyone is free to write and express their thoughts in the internet anytime and anywhere about anything. But I really hope that everyone should always think that there’s a consequence in our every action and every post. Remember, internet is not limited to your network, it is global and has the power to make this world a better place.


As what Maria Ressa said in her interview with Philippine Star, “As social media becomes bigger and bigger in our country, it has the power to spread the following: Terrorism. Fear. But also hope.If corruption spreads through social media, we can also counter it. If we spread that within our networks, and share the action they can take for it, then we begin to change reality.”

Few days left for New 7 Wonders!

New 7 Wonders of the Ancient World

As a kid, I used to dream about visiting the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Until now, I passionately aiming to see The Pyramids of Egypt because I connect it with my favorite constellation, Orion. Whenever I look at those stars, I know the time to see the pyramids will soon come.


But now, we only have a few days to participate in deciding who's gonna be the New 7 Wonders of the World! I like Halong Bay in Vietnam, Grand Canyon in USA, Islands of Maldives in Maldives, Bu Tinah Island in UAE, Dead Sea in Jordan, but of course Puerto Prinsesa's Underground river is my favorite! Philippine Primer, a free monthly lifestyle Japanese magazine and website participated in the promotion of Puerto Prinsesa to the Japanese and Filipino communities!

Please vote on or before November 11, 2011 via text or online. Let's all make history. :)

I chose to get loose!

It’s Thursday. Aside from the usual Thirstday of Couchsurfing Manila, it’s De La Salle University’s 100^th year and the celebration of our company president’s birthday. It’s such a busy day for me but I realize that the “unfortunate incident” happened almost a week ago.

Thinking back, I know how things and the way I think and behave changed a lot. Every day is a learning opportunity. There were many mixed reactions from people who found out this incident, some blamed us, some were threatened, some learned and some cheered us up.

The incident happened at around 4pm, then, after reporting it to all concerned individuals and parties, to cheer us up, we got free tickets in Star City from my sweet friend, Che! Yahoo!  I know you won’t believe but it was my first time. And Taku was funny when he said “It’s weird seeing you in a cold place!” Then we had tequila shots and mojito at Café Havana. Luckily, we both know how each other unwind and get loose.

Just like what my cousin Zarah used to say, “There’s no way but up” so after a few days, I got back to my feet and moving on. It’s funny because I had some basic make up set, the cheaper but essential ones. Thanks to my summerbuddy, Roxy, for a wonderful dinner because I don’t have money (haha) and to Marquee for accompanying me and for the photo of my new makeup set!

Goodbye Naked Meetings!

And I am truly blessed; my friends know the right time to say “I miss you Cy!” You guys cheered me up big time!

I miss you toooo, Girls!

Plus, I got a gwapo fat boyfriend who can say “Mahal Mahal Kita!” and sent me a post card for our monthsary last month!

very good Tagalog, diba?

How we react on things matters more than the unfortunate incident. Also, I am a Filipino and there are studies that show that the Philippines is the happiest country in Asia! Just like what Mr. Robles said, for Filipinos, happiness isn't a goal, it's a tool for survival! Remember, in a conflict, you always have a choice.

Reasons why you would want to tap the Japanese market in RP.

With all the panic in what’s happening in Japan nowadays, efforts of penetrating the Japanese market in different industries are now being withdrawn.   

Worries that it’s not a good timing to introduce or reintroduce their products and services to that very niche but rich market are in everyone’s discussion. But it’s different with Japanese, for them, Time is really gold. There’s no point of holding back, business is business. This explains why despite of what happened and what’s happening in Japan this month, Japanese arrivals in RP increased by more or less 1,000 and why the World Bank said that they expect the economic impact of the disaster on the East Asian region to be fairly short-lived.

Marketing and advertising with Japanese is quite different. They’re more into details and so much into maps (I was surprised how objective they are!). Here are some descriptions of the Japanese Market:

o   High Barrier entry due to language (English language capability is very limited)

o   Closed society with high potential but not yet fully tapped

o   Prefers and trust Japanese source more than English source

o   Conservative and do not take action unless familiar with the company  or recommended by a Japanese

o   Strong tendency to gather and want information as much as possible before taking action.

And the description of the Japanese Travel Cycle:

Meanwhile, it’s good news that visitors arrival in RP grew by 18% in the first 2 months of 2011.

The total number of inbound visitors for January and February 2011 reached 668,625 for 17.88% growth compared to the arrivals for the same period in 2010.  This feat may be attributed to the growing confidence of the international market on the Aquino Administration.

In the first two months, Korea maintained its position as the biggest and top source market with 165,868 arrivals, with a share of 24.81% to the total visitor traffic, and growth rate of 35.22% vis-à-vis the previous year.

This market is followed by the USA with 17.05% share for 114,022 arrivals, Japan with 9.83% share for 65,755 arrivals, China with 5.77% share for 38,590 arrivals and Taiwan with 4.26% share for 28,461 arrivals.  Combined arrivals from these top source markets constituted 61.72% of the total inbound traffic.

India, Russia, Australia, and Canada were the fastest growing markets during the period with 74%, 36%, 22%, and 21% increase in visitor arrivals compared to 2010.

European markets, on the other hand, accounted for 11.08% of the total visitor traffic for 74,073 with the United Kingdom posting 8.48% growth and Germany recording 4.67% increase in arrivals.   The Scandinavian markets showed double digit growth while arrivals from France modestly increased by 4.67%.

The ASEAN market expanded by 13.70% for 49,634 arrivals with Malaysia and Singapore registering 20% and 16% growth rates, respectively.  The ASEAN market accounted for 7.42% of the total visitor arrivals during the first two months of 2011.

There are 17, 757 registered Japanese residents and expats in the Philippines according to Japan Embassy and there’s a growing number of Japanese tourists, who would not want to be known to the hard-to-penetrate-rich-market?

Traveling to next level?

Have you ever heard of the song "Breakaway" by Kelly Clarkson? I fell in love with it the first time I heard it. My imagination flew to the future, did U-Turn, then, flashbacks. 

It's my song (now in my possession. Haha). 

I grew up in a small town and when the rain would fall down, I just stare at the window. Dreaming of a could be and if I end up happy, I would pray. I'll do what it takes til I touch the sky, make a wish, take a chance, make a change, and BREAKAWAY.

Since I was a child, I know I would like to travel the world and discover its wonders. But I think, before beginning the sally to world's discovery, I must master my own little archipelago. So, for the past 24 years of my life, I've tried exploring it as much as I can. I didn't care how should I get there, when it comes to travelling, I try to be spontaneous and open-minded. I believe that we will only see the best of the world if we don't hinder or limit ourselves from what the world could lay at our feet.  I think I'm prepared to take this self-imposed benchmark of world discovery to its new heights because I've already climbed, droved, trekked and cleaned up mountains; cooked with stones and drank with bamboos; ridden the waves and glided with the fishes and became amazed with the beautiful corals; drunk and danced til I dropped...

...met wonderful creatures...

...met wonderful people... 

Lapu-Lapu, Jose Rizal, Enchanted (what's his name?) and kissed the hand of Josefa Llanes Escoda.

I still have a lot of places to discover in the Philippines and it awes me everyday. I'll visit Mindanao soon!

Based in my LIFE GOALS which I've written when I was in gradeschool, I should have traveled most of the places in the Philippines and experience being out of the country at the age of 25. Oh my! I'm included in the long list of "EDSA babies" so I'm turning 25 this year! I panicked when the year started and booked a flight to somewhere out of the country right away! Haha. Well, time indeed flies so fast, I'll be leaving on Friday for Jakarta and looking forward to the fun and exciting new experience. 


Then, my next stop will be Hong Kong to meet halfway with my boyfriend! That will be more exciting! 

The food, language, people and culture--- I'm delighted!

FLEXITIME no more.

When I was working in ABSCBN, one of the leading broadcasting companies in the Philippines, I didn’t experience having a “time card” for the company to monitor the time I come in and out of the office. It was because we normally work in broken time, longer hours or should I say, mostly, 24 hours. I was used to having an indefinite schedule. Aside from the schedule, the workload and lifestyle are extremely different from what I call the “usual” job. What I meant by usual is the job mostly in the corporate world in 8am to 5pm shift. Before, I used to think that the production or the media industry is for the crazy and brave people- people who are very spontaneous and adventurous. After working there for 2 years, I found out that it’s true. And I adulate those people who opt to work and become experts in that field.

Having all the perks like meeting and interviewing the most famous personality inside and outside the country (may it be actress, politician, author or singer), having special treatments from several places (restaurants, resorts, hotels and even in hospitals) and even from people like the person from the government or the traffic enforcer, the network became my “comfort zone.” I got used to the FLEXITIME and I loved it for a period of time. But due to several reasons, I decided to leave my comfort zone.

Leaving my comfort zone means leaving all the perks and the flexitime. Yesterday, after a long time, I rode a train (MRT) going home and I realized the hassle of riding it during “rush hour.”

at MRT Ayala Station

Aside from the fact that it’s getting hotter now in the Philippines because the summer is fast approaching, inside a jam-packed train feels like you’re being grilled. I started to think positively and creatively by observing about the movement of people upon entering the train then, I imagined that I was like water, flowing uncontrollably. Haha. It was fun during the first two stations, though I was hearing several complaints from an old lady (which was quite annoying), on the third station, I got suffocated and got too tired. I guess I got tired because of the old lady’s complaints because I don’t want to see old people experiencing tough moments and complaining how bad their situations are, and that made me realize that I have to work harder to have a good life, retire with a life that I’m dreaming of and possibly, help my parents to have a wonderful retirement. It’s not that I’m saying that riding a train is not a good thing what I’m saying is that we have a choice to live the good life that we all deserve, we just need to set a goal and work on it.

Flexitime no more, I know I have to live with the rush hour because this is where I want to be.