Sail + Swim in Lake Pandin

          The moment I opened my eyes from camping, I prepared myself to descend to Lake Pandin...I was the early bird then, and why not? I had a complete rest vs. the other mountaineers. I brushed my teeth with limited water, yes it's possible :) I am more excited to see the Lake and swim, being a mermaid in my entire life, swimming really excites me and it will always will.

More than 10,000 steps, 10 stop overs, 1,000 milliliters of  combined mineral water and coconut juice intake, 10ml of sweat, 100% of my energy were utilized from Mt. Mabilog to Lake Pandin. It was scenic view from top but even better when you get close, especially if you came from an overnight camping with no real  dinner and breakfast. I swear my eyes twinkled like a meteor shower when finally I saw that Lake. 

I didn't waste my time, though my stomach was empty, the fact that I saw body of water relieved me. But we had to go to the deeper part of the lake to swim, after all food were loaded to the balsa, we sail through. This is also the first time that I'm gonna swim in a lake, hmmmm. The balsa ride with 4 female sailing to reach the destination is an adventure already. Pinay power to the extreme! 

The water is crystal green, hot and cold combination. There were portions like you're in a hot spring, and the cold part like you're in a refrigerator. I dunno how science would explain that, for me it was just an awesome experience. 

The water coming from the bukal freezes me, it's really cold! It feels like im taking a bath in Baguio City with no heater at all. This is where the locals get their drinking water, so we refilled our bottles too. Taste better than the distilled and purified water, imagine the nature's magic...

I keep on swimming the whole 5 hours that we were there. I don't need goggles here, though I brought  one. We tried to check the depth of water but it's impossible with life vest. I tried to remove my vest but our guide got mad. 

 

She said I shouldn't do that even though I'm a swimmer, so I better listen. These are some of my funny pics. Looks like they're watching me!  What would be the best caption here?

What amazed me more was the structure of Balete tree beside the river. I though it was planted in the lake, so we checked closer. What we saw was just roots of Balete tree find it's way to the lake. Looks like getting supply of water through its roots. According to our guide, it took hundred years before these roots grew like this.

Never contented, we climbed the Balete roots, oh ghost forgive us! Were just having fun, trying to detoxify through bonding with nature.I believe that nature has healing power, because every time I feel sick and tired, I didn't take medicine, just few moments with nature and I'll be ok.

Swimming is my multi-vitamins from A-Z, my stress-buster, my cough relief and my good friend.  I swear. And its proven, been stressed out several times and I just went swimming, drove away from the toxic city. 

After that, I know I'm okay again to face everything. So I guess, more swimming adventure awaits me.

Mt. Mabilog, The Story of My First Climb

          Immediately after I quit my job, I've been thinking of new places to go, beaches I've never been yet, adventures worth trying and learning that I still need to improve myself.

         Been doing a lot of new things, until I saw several friends posted their photos at the summit of Mt. Batulao in Nasugbu,Batangas. The view on top is breathtaking, nothing but nature's bountiful gift to human; and that's made me curios how does it feel to reach a mountain's summit. 

          So there, through my brother in-law, Alex and I joined a group of mountaineers to climb Mt. Mabilog in San Pablo/ Nagcarlan Laguna. 

             I though it's gonna be easy! And I was wrong. At first I was excited, had my adventure documented by photos even our tricycle ride going to Sta. Catalina where the climb will start. 

From the base, it looks easy to climb right? Looks could be  deceiving, that's true! 

From the start of the hike, I was ahead of the group. I was always next to our guide :)

             I sweat like I didn't sweat for a year, 10x as that of my zumba sweat. I don't wanna share photos, I looked like a wet dog on the street, i dunno how i smell anymore, all i knew was i kept on climbing and pushed myself hard to finish the climb. My hair turned like a witch broom and GOD, the hot pink sole of my shoes turned dark brown because of the mud. 

          What keeps me climbing was the fact that I am definitely loosing weight, and I can eat chocolate bar without guilt. 

           And of course, I brought my favorite Nissin Wafer which I munched all throughout the climb. And look, I unloaded 1 bag to my brother-in-law. He helped me anyways.

Few meters before we reach the summit, I used all my energy to keep ahead of the group. This maybe is a natural will for the first timers. You feel like it was a race but it's not. 

And I will be forever proud that Andin and I were the first 2, to reach the summit of Mt. Mabilog. Amazing view at the top, I can see all the other mountains, even higher than Mabilog, looks like twice of the height of Mabilog. And look at the two lakes ( Lake Yambo and Lake Pandin)! 

According to folklore, these lakes are couple ( Ambo and Andin) as what the elderly believed. The scenic view from top took away my stress but it was temporary. Couldn't help but sleep the entire night because my back hurts and my shoulder aches so bad.. Need to regain my energy for the next trip to Lake Pandin. 

And then all I heard was the wind, laughter of mountaineers which I failed to mingle with... I'm sorry guys, felt really sick then. I really wanted to join, but my body didn't cooperate.





         

Loving instagram

It's been a month since I hooked up to #9pmhabit of #igersmanila! It's an organization of photo lovers wherein instagrammers are ask to tag photos according to theme of the day. There are lots of igers contest actually, but it's igersmanila where I got new friends, unite with my fellow hobbyist, where photos + filters bind us every 9pm to 11 pm. It's amazing how instagram transformed me and my perspective on things. I now appreciate mess and turn it to masterpiece. Through photos and likes from my followers, I keep on improving my photography skills and it keeps me fascinated to bring things to a new dimension. I had lots of good and not so good photos uploaded in instagram but this one made it to be "the chosen one".

I was shouting for joy when I found out that my photo was chosen. I was in hotel 950 in Clark back then.

What's more addictive to instagram are the experiences, cultural differences, and individuality of instagrammers defined through their photos. Through instagram I've reached Paris, New York and Chicago. I've roamed around Disneyland, experienced cherry blossoms and a lot more.

Going places has been easy and digital. Oh I love instagram!

One morning in PPA batangas, we spotted two mushrooms on the field. Good thing I had the slr with me. This was edited in pixlromatic app for iPad and I applied vignette as finishing touch.,

Finding Everland

I first heard of Everland in Korina Sanchez's Balitang K, as she features one of the world's biggest theme parks in the world. From then on, my heart lingers to experience the majestic fun and festivities in Everland Korea. 

In our second day in the land of morning calm, we finally get the chance to see and experience fantasies, adventures and awesome attractions plus the freezing weather at -2 degrees. Despite the cold, chilling atmosphere, we fearlessly explored Everland.  

First ride was a simple ups and downs at the human sky :) 

Next ride was at Double Rock Spin; the powerful spinning and rhythm of this ride gave us an almost-vomit experience, plus the thrill that we don't know what's gonna happen next! 

Finally we're out! We made it :)

Next ride is common in most theme parks but the size and speed of Everland's   Rolling X-Train is super exciting with two 360-degree revolutions! 

And how could I forget Pororo? We didn't understand the language but I'm sure he's a superhero for the bubbles; thanks to 3D technology.

There are lots of photo spots everywhere! 

Day or night, Everland is a picture of fantasies, magnificent architecture and happy faces. Thanks to Alex and Paul for the photos.. 

A wonderful vacation indeed!

Welcome us to your heart; SEOUL KOREA

5:25 am today, the pilot announced our arrival in Incheon Airport, Korea. Ground temperature as announced is at 0 degrees, lot lower than the 7 degrees forecast last week. This announcement excites me, being a woman who grew in a tropical country, this temperature could be an awesome experience! Just like most of the kids from Philippines, i am dreaming of a crystal white snow but caught in this situation unprepared is a whole new story. 

This has started our new journey... cold but meaningful our hopeful hearts are now chilling with happiness.. 

We were picked up by a snob Korean guy and drive us to Backpackers Korea. This is a cozy cafe with rooms upstairs perfect for budget conscious travelers like me. It's a good choice actually, it gives us the comfort that  we need in a family set-up dorm type rooms. 

Our  journey begins with a cup of coffee, snapshots and happy hearts that we bring with us all the times. Breakfast was made by my dear husband a.k.a "Korean Chef" who loves to cook more than ever. After we filled in our stomach, we planned our itinerary and began exploring Seoul :) 

Though we had a hard-time communicating with Korean nationals, I'm really thankful to iphone's available applications like itourseoul and Learn Korean. These apps ease out the communication barriers. 

Finally after a detour and several wardrobe improvements to combat the chilling atmosphere, we were able to reach the magnificent Myeong-dong Catholic Church. Its beauty stands proud, leaves every visitors amazed by the charm of an old church at the center of progressive  Seoul.

When we get inside, there were couples receiving the holy matrimony, indeed Koreans also value and honor family and marriage. 

And like flowers in Seoul, the journey of these two hearts continue... Rache and Paul in Korea :)

Life is a journey, you can only live life to the fullest when you take away your fears to explore the road less travelled.

Loving the LOVE Month

Love month? It's very simple! Girls definitely love it, men don't for lots of complicated reasons. Admit it guys, this is one of the heck celebrations that causes you troubles, sleepless nights and hmm sinful indulgence. Women's sinful indulgence is into chocolates and cakes, well men is into sweet escapade as well^^

Loving the love month? Definitely yes! Here are reasons why^^

My Valentine's Birthday - Yes, birthday is a lot more special for me because everyone remembers the date. It's not 14 but Feb. 13, to effect it's still easier to recall. This year, I am going 30, scary for some but it's the other way around for me. I always say yes, it's 30 going 13. Let's not fear of growing old, be matured but stay young at heart and

of  course maintain the youthful glow.

Valentine Gifts / Birthday Gifts - Sweet and nice, pretty and cool, small yet charming - I receive all the best gifts during this season. Whether they combine their gifts into 1, it will always be special. Love letters, friendship bonds, heart shaped necklace with photo inside, bouquet, balloons, bears, a poem, a wishing lantern etc... real sweet presents :)

Love Songs -  I'm into alternative songs, it's very rare for me to listen to music that are too sentimental! Weird :)

Valentine Events - Of course, I'm into events and advertising industry. This is part of loving my work. But aside from that, I really enjoy working with creative people, doing centerpiece that's pleasant to the eyes. Here yah, I wanna share our latest project for Valentine's Day.

This is our centerpiece this year. A giant heart shaped wood painted with different pink and red pantones and covered with tarpaulin designed with hearty crafts! This is about 12 ft. tall, our star for all season red sofa is given a make-over ^^

Spell it right with  L-O-V-E!

This is a very nice concept by Ruth, my Marketing Officer. We featured Valentine symbols, love horoscopes, love quotes and pick-up lines!

Valentine Cards -  Who wouldn't love it. But the most romantic Valentine's Day Cards for me are black and white with cute anime' or cartoon images.

Happy Heart's Day!

Frugality Sparks Creativity

In every seasonal activities conducted in SM Supermalls, one factor is definite; it will always go big time, as big as SM’s name in the industry.

In today’s Marketing approach, we do not just entice people to shop, dine and have fun in SM. We have given our shoppers what they are looking for in a shopping mall, modesty aside SM is now far beyond being the second home of millions of shoppers nationwide. The challenge has leveled up to creating a lifestyle which people will admire to be part of. This really sounds costly because innovation and creativity always twin up with pricey investments. Success stories of SM is an open book to all of us but aside from the many reasons behind, SM definitely was able to inculcate the value of prudence to all its employees.

The challenge to Mall Marketing is to outdo its performance vs. last year in terms of event implementation, budget management, creative efforts and a lot more. Therefore we shouldn’t run out of creative juices, or else we wouldn’t fit anymore to the trends that SM is eyeing forward.

The Chinese New year being the very first seasonal campaign for the year has been a great start for Marketing. We saw all equally beautiful centerpieces across all malls; atriums were decorated with Chinese lanterns creatively hung on different heights giving us a really Chinese ambience. I am pretty sure people enjoyed the celebration; it was evident in the social networking sites as I see fellow Batangueños post their photos in our Chinese temple and Ang Pao tree. It is rewarding to hear good comments but seeing people enjoy the fruit of our labor is good enough to inspire us to do more and keep our passions alive. Indeed, it was all applause beyond words.




Chinese New Year Centerpiece - view from 2nd floor

 


Batangas KIPSI students performed an authentic chinese dance. Our temple fits well :)



When everyone else thinks it’s easy to hire a contractor to deliver our needs for thematic set up, it’s impractical to pay them our entire month’s budget for one centerpiece. This is the time when we need to improve our perspective on available resources of the company.  Passion is the key to create beauty out of a scrap. Our ideas for Chinese New year centerpieces were overflowing but for it to materialize within the given budget were a totally different story. The good thing with the situation, it pushes our creativity to the next level, most of the times we are surprised to discover alternative materials of the same effect with the expensive one but of totally lesser cost. Perfect example was the red carpet that we used last year; this time around our flooring was a bright red taffeta, with superb luster and easier to maintain than the red carpet. A trip to our storage also helped as we found good materials to recycle to build the Chinese temple. And who would think our Ang Pao tree was recycled?  It was an old red tree that we keep; it was used several times in different seasonal activations. It has been an Easter Egg tree, it was even borrowed by other malls. This year it was repainted with sunlit gold, fuchsia cherry blossoms were extended on the branches to symbolize good fortune, low-priced gold foil were added to achieve balance of colors between red and fuchsia. The result is an abundant ang pao tree, signifying a prosperous Chinese New Year.



Lucky Ang Pao Tree



The creative minds of Marketing team, the artistic hands of our VDD team and support from Operations made it all possible.  This certainly proves that two heads are better than one and stunning centerpieces need not be costly.  Without a doubt frugality benefits us in unexpected way – it prompted the creativity within ourselves!