a trip to UP diliman and Antipolo

While we were in Coron, I missed the opening of our group exhibit called "the Panel Collective." It was really an exhibit of comic book panels but the only artworks I had that were available were my t-shirt works. We had no idea how to display my shirts so I just hung them on hangers and printed out the heads of my artworks to mirror the shirts they were wearing. Admiring a classmates witty exhibit pieces

Artists who made it to the opening of the exhibitMy stuff!!!
It's just too bad that a freak thunderstorm flooded Manila at the time so people, even some of the artists were unable to come.

We were able to visit the Vargas museum the weekend after our trip to Coron and were very impressed by the works. It's still ongoing till June 28 so I hope more people can come!

This was the first time my family had visited UP Diliman not counting entrance exams and graduation so I toured them around and took them to the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice, which features the works of 4 National artists, Leandro Locsin, Napoleon Abueva, Arturo Luz and Vicente Manansala. Wow, that's an art gallery by itself!

Ma admiring a statue of Mama Mary

It is just so sad that the murals are slowly peeling off due to exposure to the elements...

Then we went to Chocolate Kiss, the pricey resto of my socially progressive school...
before going to Antipolo church for our annual tradition of hearing mass and buying cashews !

Finally, the sulit family had dinner at a small carinderia which served a hot bowl of lomi and paksiw na lechon!

duhat update 3

When we came back from Coron, Manila was in the middle of a summer storm. Bad news for people who had summer plans but good news for duhat lovers! It seems that the secret to plump, juicy duhat is lots of water. Our tree was literally bursting with duhat goodness just aching to be plucked!

coron part 3

Day 3 in Coron was just spent going around the small town looking for souvenirs. We bought some shirts and necklaces and cashew brittle (P50 a pack) Lunch at Seadive's resto. Menu for the day: Steamed lobster and Chili lobster (P400 per 200 grams) Tip: You won't find lobster in the nearby market as the restos have cornered them.

For merienda, we decided to fill up on carbs for energy as we would be climbing Mt. Tapyas so off we headed to Bistro Coron again, this time for their famous pizza.

This huge pizza only costs P389 but it was soooo good. The fresh tomatoes, the cheese, the foccacia crust...This gets my vote for the best meal in Coron. It was as big as a cafeteria tray! I thought we wouldn't be able to finish it...But just a few minutes later...it was that good! Then it was time to go to Mt. Tapyas. There were huge helpful signs on how to get there but be prepared for a 700+step climb! We were still feeling our calves ache a day or two later!

By sunset, we had to go down as a thunderstorm was approaching. Luckily, it only rained after we got down.

Here's Twinx doing a sun dance from the movie "a very special love" to no avail. But it was fine. It was like getting a free shower right after a workout.

On our last day, Ma surprised us with a giant lapu-lapu fish (2 kilos for P300) for breakfast which she had cooked at Aling Trining Bacsa's resto. This is a good place for budget meals. A whole meal for 5 people would usually cost P500 or less. The only trouble was that the fish was so huge, it took a lot of time to cook so we had it split into two. We had the tail part steamed with soy sauce , scallions and chili and brought home the head for dinner.

coron part 2

We went to one of the wrecks and fed some fish while snorkelling...

This is a short video of me trying to feed the fish while shooting. Wait till the timer reaches the one minute mark. Fish aren't the brightest creatures in the ocean. It took a while for them to realize the shiny white thing was bread.

Then it was off to the twin lagoons where you have to swim through a small hole to get to the small, secluded lagoon which Twinx voted as her favorite place for its romantic possibilites.

This is a video of me in the lagoon and I had no idea all sorts of fish were swimming beneath me! Next stop was Kayangan Lake but before you get there, you have to climb some 10-15 minutes but the view from the top is postcard-perfect! They say this is where the soap "Dyesebel" was shot.This is a cave we chose not to explore because Kayangan Lake was beckoning.It's the country's cleanest lake and it's not hard to see why. It's crystal clear and you can see the bottom no matter how deep it is.And it is very deep! Jon accidentally dropped my snorkel here and we couldn't get it till a small Tagbanua kid dove down and got it for us.

I like the fact that there is no moss on any stone though I can't figure out why. There are tiny long-nosed fish and snails that live in the lake and also some shrimp who like to tickle my Papa's toes!

As a final treat, here's Twinx showing us Kayangan Lake while singing the theme from "Dyesebel"

Note: Kayangan Lake is open until 4 PM only so get there early to get the most of your P200!