I miss traveling. But for now, I’m revisiting my past travel videos and photos and make a vlog out of it.
Last October 2019, I went to Boracay with my family. We stayed for only 2 days and 2 nights. As we are only in a tight budget and schedule, here are the affordable activities we did in Boracay. PLUS Awra tips!
Hope you enjoy this video of mine. Please help me grow my channel as this is one of my 2020 Quarantine goals. If you also have youtube channel, let me know. Let’s support each other!
It’s that time of the month. Time flies so fast just like the birds in the sky. That’s why in this this video I used the sound of birds to accompany you as I flip the pages of my August Bullet Journal set-up with the team “Dream House”. This is also a sneak peak of my September Bujo cover page. So sit back and relax. Hope you find inspiration. Journal on!
For inquiries and collaborations, LET’s CONNECT!!!!!!
September is here?! Can you believe it? It’s actually making me anxious. I would like to draw but I can’t for the life of me. I’m not in the mood to bullet journal even. But I fought the feeling because I know I’ll feel more down if I can’t . So this month I decided to just cut and paste, no drawing and no ruler. I also chose funny memes to be the main theme of my bullet journal so I could have a good laugh. In the end, this whole process became therapeutic for me. I’m glad that I did not give up. How about you? How do you face September? Hope you’re safe and feeling great.
“There’s a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in” —Leonard Cohen
HI Friends! My bujo cover is plain and boring. In this video I’m going to give it a twist.I will decorate it using washi tapes and stickers. I want it to give-off a vintage travel-inspired vibe. I hope you enjoy this video and find inspiration.
One of my friends in Instagram has been posting her pages in her journal. And for the longest time last year, I only see only one hashtag which is #bujo. I dismissed it before. Uninterested to know what it means. But I do love reading the pages she shares in her Instagram every week. She put doodles in it and her handwriting is clear and divine. So just after the new year, I decided to finally explore the contents in hashtag bujo.
Exploring that hashtag opened a whole and exciting world for me. Bujo is short for Bullet Journaling. At first I thought that the reason it was called Bullet Journaling was it mostly utilizes “Bullet listing”. Most bujo that I’ve seen uses these technique in writing daily happenings in this form rather than spontaneous long paragraphs. So I thought it came from that concept.
But digging more in the interwebs, I learned that Bullet Journal was coined and invented by Ryder Carroll. And it is actually a method to improve productivity and achieving goals. I was surprised that there are actually definite terms to know and sections in applying Bujo system. I will not discuss those since I did not apply most of them yet. But if you are interested to study the whole Bujo system. I think this site tackles it in simplest way. I will apply this on March.
For most people, Bujo is a customized planner and diary. I just love the way it also serves as creative expression. Unlike planners you can buy anywhere, bujo gives you freedom. It can be as minimal as you want or as colorful as you want it to be, or both.
Here’s how I start my January Bujo:
First, I went to Greenbelt and Glorietta to buy the essentials.
I. BUYING BUJO SUPPLIES
Hunting the notebook: Most notebook popular for bullet journalist is the dotted notebook. It has pages with small and equally spaced dots which helps in making straight lines and spacing when writing. And it’s not noticeable unlike the usual lined notebooks. My choice,however, was blank pages. I also wanted the cover to have vintage feel but gives me freedom to design it. So when I saw this notebook in MUJI, I knew I found what I am looking for.
Here is my notebook. I put a minimalistic design on it.
Well you have to know that this is not the actual color of the pages. I was using ambient light from the window when I took this photo. It was a cloudy day. The coffee designs here was stickers I bought from “The Craft Central”, Greenbelt Branch in Makati.
the very first page
Verdict for this notebook: I am already using this notebook for more than a month and I would say I kind of regret choosing this. Don’t get me wrong it’s an amazing notebook. Not just for bullet journaling. I advised to stick with the popular choice: the dotted kind of notebook. I should have chosen Limelight brand. Or bought a dotted noteboook in Craft Central. But thankfully, Craft Central has this dotted paper pad. When I am tired and have no energy for straight lines, I paste a dotted paper into the notebook page. It also adds thickness to my pages. And yes, I have to tell that small dots in dotted pages will make your life easier in bullet journaling. So stick with that! In addition, choose a notebook with thick pages.
2. HUNTING FOR THE PEN and PENCIL. Another important thing I bought was the ballpen and pencil I would use. I also bought them at MUJI. I have no high standard with pencils so I bought what was available. It was the pen that I am quite picky about since the gel pen I have smears a lot and makes my writings messy. Thankfully, Muji has amazing retractable gel pen. I have put this pen in to smear tests before I bought it and I love the results. I have seen it featured in a lot bullet journalists IG’s too. Here’s how it looks like. It’s called “Smooth Gel Ink Ballpoint Pen Knock Type 0.5 Black”
“Smooth Gel Ink Ballpoint Pen Knock Type 0.5 Black”
This is how it looks like. It is called Smooth Gel Ink Ballpoint Knock Type 0.5
3. RULER: I bought two rulers. One is the ordinary transparent ruler. The other one was a wooden ruler that shaped like a giraffe. I bought the latter simply because it was cute. But I have to say I mostly use the transparent one the most.
4. CALLIGRAPHY PENS, WASHI TAPES, STICKERS, GLUE STICK. These are just optional. Before I went shopping for my supplies, I already knew the color scheme I want. I am leaning more these days to vintage feel of brown color. And for the first month I chose a coffee and pastry as a theme. So I bought stickers and washi tapes that aligns to my theme. I also bought a brown calligraphy pen.
Zig Fudebiyori Calligraphy Pen: National Bookstore, Glorietta Branch
Glue stick:National Bookstore, Glorietta Branch
Pens and Pencil: Muji, Greenbelt Branch
If you are not familiar, Greenbelt and Glorietta are two adjacent malls in Makati City, Philippines. Actually there are four neighbor malls in this area. Landmark, Greenbelt, Glorietta and SM Makati. They are even interconnected to each other by bridges so it was not hard to go from one to another. Landmark has amazing dotted notebooks and planners too. Not popular brands but they have adorable cute designs. It just so happens I want a clean slate, no design notebook. So if this area is accessible to you, I recommend for you to shop here but only in weekends. You’ll probably be traumatized to go here in weekdays. The traffic in Makati is terrible.
II. Bujo Set-up.
I get inspiration and format mostly from the bullet journalist I followed in Instagram. From super minimalist to colorful bujo. Mine was kind of in a middle. I am not good in drawing so I compensate it with cute stickers. I also pick the parts of bujo mostly from instagram. I was mesmerized by the different section that make-up their bujo so I pick those that I’ll find useful for me.
Section I: Just some general cover page stating my name and my theme.
Section II: Meaning of the Theme of the Year
Section III and IV: Washi Tape Swatches and cover page of my lists. In this section I am planning to include my bucket list, movie list and other list related to my plans.
I am not yet done working on my list so I’ll skip those pages in this section for the meantime.
Section V: TRACKERS
One of my favorites. Trackers are like touchpoint monitoring of the goals you want to achieved. Here I created a tracker for my Workout Progress, word count for my novel and social media tracker. All are related to the goals I wanted to achieve this year.
A close up on my Weekly Exercise Result tracker.
Section 6: Monthly Cover. Keeping it simple with the calendar and my goals for this month. Other monthly covers include future logs which could be birthdays, anticipated events and other scheduled activities.
Section 7: Habit Tracker. This month I wish to develop the following ten habits. Every habit has a badge and the goal is to at least earn at least 5 each day. This is one of the section that I feel very useful.
Section 8: Weekly Diary Spread. This is my most favorite because first of all, this is the reason why started bujo. I used to have a diary before but I am not chatty in paper these days. I am not as comfortable to blank pages unlike before. I just want to write down the highlights or things to be grateful for everyday. So a weekly spread diary is perfect for me. There is no pressure to write long paragraphs when I don’t usually have the mood to do so.
For the first week, my weekly spread has priority of the week checklist, productivity tracker and mood tracker.
Some details.
Second Week: This time I tried a horizontal lay-out. I am not fond of making straight lines so I let myself not to do it.
I added phone usage tracker. I was able to know my exact hours of usage by a free application I downloaded in Google Playstore. It’s name is YouHour. It’s an amazing app. I added this because I recognize my social media addiction specially Facebook. You could scroll for hours, endlessly and I felt like it really rots your brain.
Third Week: This time, it was still a horizontal layout. I went crazy with calligraphy but I like it. I love the stickers.
Fourth Week. This time I added a daily tiny calligraphy doodles. I still have a productivity tracker, mood tracker, and the list of my weekly goals. This time I tried the vertical layout.
You are capable of so much more!
Push! Push! Push!
Section 9: Payday Tracker!
I decided to do this so I could consciously divide my payday and track where it goes. I followed Truly Rich Club principles in dividing the salary. 50%. Monthly expenses and bills. 20% Savings and investments. This will go to savings account. Or buying stocks and other investments. 10% Tithe/ charity. Support your church or donate in a charity. 5% Emergency Fund. They say you must have at least 6 month-worth of salary to have a reliable emergency fund. This will serve as your fund just in case there are emergencies like work termination, accidents or calamities. 5% Enjoyment Fund. Fund for watching movies, eating-out with friends and family. 5% Educational Fund. Continue to grow by enrolling to a course that will help you improve or attain new skills. 5% Empower fund/ Luxury fund. This is the fund to buy gadgets or any luxuries.
I think this tracker would be a regular from now on. I really need it because I tend to forget my budget for particular area. By the way I haven’t seen this tracker to other bullet journalists so far. But I’m pretty sure others have their own versions of it.
Section 10: Month-End Evaluation. Wrapping this month with my accomplishments and areas to improve.
That’s it for my January Set-up. I am inviting you to watch a 1-minute flip-through of my coffee-themed January bujo. Please also subscribe as I will create more bujo related contents soon!
My Bujo is not actually the best out there but I hope this will inspire you to have your own bujo and make it as your tool to achieve your goals this year.
Before I end this blog I would also like to invite you to be my International Blogger Friend. The idea is to invite everyone in blogosphere and have at least one friend in each country so that means at least 195 blogger friends. It’s not limited to wordpress blogger, or to blogsite platforms. If you are a instagram blogger, facebook or youtuber, you are welcome! For more details, you can check out my About Page here.
I hope you accept my invitation and help me build my list 😉
Thank you in advance,
Remember, you are awesome and wonderfully made,
GUREZU
❤ ❤ ❤
For inquiries and collaborations, LET’s CONNECT!!!!!!
One of my travel goals is to visit Jomalig (pronouced as Humalig) Island. But for these past years, I was intimated with the fact that this would take a 6-hour boat ride. I don’t know if I can. But this year I finally gave in when WeekendExplorersPH invited me as a joiner on a tour group as they tailor an organized trip to Jomalig. Our group would consist of 14 people. A big group that would split the cost nicely as this is a DIY Jomalig trip.
Just a brief folktale about the origin of the name of the island. Long time ago, the leader of the island has a beautiful daughter. A suitor came to ask for her hand. However, the leader of the island gave him a challenge to win her daughter. And that is to spear 3 fishes in every seawater of the island. The man accepted this challenge but did not succeeded. As a consolation, he requested a kiss from the leader’s beautiful daughter. When the girl kiss the man, the people were shocked they started shouting “Humalik!” which means to “Kiss” in local language. Soon Humalik became Humalig and now spelled as Jomalig due to American occupation. Love these kind of tales! I have many questions though. So the girl also like the young man? What happened after that? Did they elope or something?
But that does not matter though. It’s time for the photo documentary of our trip to Jomalig Island.Our group meet-up place was in Petron along Boni Avenue. I am nervous because I know the travel time I have to endure and also, it’s my first time to be a joiner. I only know a single soul in this trip. (Main concern: Who would take my photos specially my bikini pics? :P)Our van departed from Boni at around 1am.
Some notes about the Van Rental (cost slit among 14 people) Driver: Mikel Calimag Rental Fee going to Quezon: P6,000.00 (to be split between 14 passenger) Driver Food: P150.00
Port Real Quezon
Then we arrived at Port Real Quezon at around 5 am, We took our breakfast around the area and finally got a chance to talk with some people in the group. It turns out I am not the only one who’s a joiner here. Also I felt relieved to see that our ride was not exactly on a small boat just like we had in Calaguas. We were about to ride on a ferry boat! With seats and a top load where we can lie and sleep!
Time check: Our boat departed the port at around 7 am.
Ferry at Real Quezon going to Jomalig
These are some scenes at the topload of the ferry boat. I totally recommend to grab a spot here if you want to catch some sleep. Also it’s not so hot there.
Sun rise
Someone old me that this pic looks like a drug trafficking scene. Haha!
Free lunch! I did not expect that our ride has a free meal inclusion. And I love the food. It tasted good, even better than my breakfast that morning.
The free luch aredeliverd by plate
My Jomalig Travel Buddies
Some notes about the Ferry Boat Trip (cost split among 14 people) Port Fee: P140.00 Environmental Fee: P2380.00 Boat: P5600.00
Arrival at Jomalig and Lunch at Ate Lara’s House
The ferry boat is prohibited to touch the shore. So we have to transfer another smaller boat in order to finally reach Jomalig Island. It turns out that we will be staying at the house of “Ate Lara”
In addition for the house, Ate Lara’s added service is cooked food. They welcomed us with Filipino staple food “Adobo”.
Introducing our temporary humble home
Even if we were tired and sleepy, one should not waste the opportunity the catch swimming time under sunset in Salibungot Beach.
Some cost notes. Split among 14 people Entrance Fee at Salibungot Beach 1400 Boat to Resort by Ate Lyra P840.00 Home Accomodation (P380.00 room, P200.00 papag only) P3800.00 Rice + Adobo by Ate Lyra P1010.00 Water + Ice 170.00
Home Accommodation by Ate Lyra Contact Numbers: Globe-09561048356, Smart-09307968665
Second Day: Habal-habal (Motorbike) Tour
I did not expect that the essence of Jomalig adventure is the motorbike tour. They can be acquired on the spot. Just ask a local or Ate Lyra’s assistance if want a habal-habal tour . I’m scared of riding motorbike because for me it is accident prone mode of transportation. It just feel so unsafe in the city. But of course, will I let my fear spoil my Jomalig trip? I have no choice!
1st STOP: Ang Puno ng Walang Forever (The Tree of No Forever)
The tree is lonely because it grew in the middle of a space or field. Likened to a love that will forever be unrequited so you end up alone like this tree. Due to that, it became immensely popular that it was one of the tourist destinations. Picture taking here comes with a minimal fee of P65.00.
The tree might be sad but it might be angry too. With all the tourist riding its branches for pics the whole day, it might be bottling some resentments to humans . I just hope that the tree will be taken care of. I sounded like a killjoy here somehow. Instead of climbing the tree I made make-believe photos of me riding the motorbike on my own.
By the way here some snaps of our habal-habal bikes and guys.
By the time it’s our turn to take a pic with the tree, the light rain fell causing some mist and confusion in this pic.
2nd STOP: Golden Sand
It was raining when we arrived here. So the photos are kind of gloomy. I prefer sunny days during travels. And this honestly bummed me out. I prayed that the it won’t be like this the whole afternoon.
The beach was rocky and the golden sand would have been shining under a summer heat.
But of course, we will still push through with our bikini pic plans. Although quite prankly I am not in the mood here.
Yep, totally not in the mood.
3rd STOP: Little Boracay
At last! The Lord heard my prayers. The rain went away and the sun finally shone above. Just in time because Little Boracay looks so great. The white creamy sand truly resembles “Boracay” the most popular beach in the country.
Finally I was able to proceed to take a lot of pics this time around.
Aside from swimming, you can chill while drinking fresh buko juice.
Here’s my new friend @ steffiiish who collaborated with me to have each of our own bikini photos. I am so lucky.
Free Lunch at Stranger’s Household because It Fiesta Season in Jomalig!
Now, to add our lucky stride with the weather, our habal-habal drivers invited us to eat lunch at a nearby town which was currently celebrating their Fiesta. It’s a customary here in the PH to invite and feed strangers during this times for free! We had lovely lechon kawali. If you are curious when we toured Jomalig, we went here from April 27-29. This is really a good time to visit Jomalig I must say. The household invited us for dinner too but of course, we declined politely this time. We don’t want to abuse their kindness.
4th Stop: KANAWAY
One of the most breathtaking sites here. Golden sand,clear waters and sandbar. A very serene place.
5th STOP: LINGAYEN BEACH aka LITTLE BATANES
Wow Jomalig really has something to boast about. It has nuggets of popular destinations in the country. I have never been to Batanes myself so I could not really compare. But it could have been because of the rock formation, the sight of the large waves and strong breeze why they call this the little Batanes of Jomalig. The long stretch of a golden sand is also a great sight here.
A “Lost” inspired group-pic
Photography by Pabs
End of Habal-habal tour
By the end of the Habal-habal tour, I could say that my fear of motorbikes was wiped away. For the first hours, both of our hands clinging to the driver’s shirt for our dear life. But by the end of the tour, we were taking videos and pics already. Below is the short clip of our ride. It was truly an enjoyable and exciting experience seeing vast fields and farm life on our way.
By the end of our adventure, I was thankful that this is a habal-habal trip. Because if its not, like if its inside a car, trike, or anything that has comfortable seat, I could have been tinkering my mobile phone to upload pics for myday or browsing photos in my camera. In habal-habal, we were forced to detach ourselves from mobile phones and strictly enjoy the views passing by. It also helps that there are little to no mobile signal along the way. It’s good to detach in digital world sometimes and appreciate God’s creation. Moreover, at the end, I trampled my fear of riding motorbikes.
Some Notes of Expenses. Split by 14 persons. Puno ng Walang Forever P65.00 (as group) White Beach/Golden Sand Entrance P260.00 (as group) Little Boracay P390.00 (P30.00 each per person) Kanaway Entrance: P650.00 (50.00 each person) Little Batanes: P650.00 (P50.00 per person)
Going Home
At around 9:00 am in the morning we traveled back to the port to catch ferry boat back to Real Quezon. Here we bought souvenirs while waiting. Here are some pics I captured at the port to catch some final glimpse of this paradise.
And once again, our ferry boat ride has an inclusion of free lunch. It was Mongo Stew for now. It tasted great.
Just a clip of our ride. I am just so amazed with the sights of the mountains and trees of nearby islands.
Notes on Expenditure Ferry Boat with lunch :P400.00 each Van Rental + Driver Meal: P6150.00
SPECIAL THANKS !!!
Special thanks to WeekendExplorersPH for organizing this DIY trip and doing their best to make this affordable convenient for the joiners like me. Like their Facebook Page here WeekendExplorersPH . They are team of adventure lovers dedicated in sharing weekend travel itineraries and affordable tour packages. You may like and inquire at their facebook page. Just click this link: WeekendExplorersPH
Introducing the couple behind the Weekend Explorers PH, Patrick and Ella.
Thank you all the boys of the group who did all the groceries, chores and cooked wonderful breakfast and dinners for the group.
The following photo is not mine. Credits to Ella of Wandering Explorers PH
Thank you also to Steffy for the patience of taking photos of me. Please follow her ig. She’s a certified adventurer who’s contantly conquering mountains. Read and be mesmerized by her adventure stories. This is the link of her ig: steffiiish
Here’s the summary computation for our group. As you can see below, the estimated expenses for each person was p3119.00. But bear in mind that this does not include other meal expenses we had. I suggest an individual should at least have P4500.00 and join a travel group for more savings.
Important Contact Numbers: 1. Van Rental + Driver: Fb: Mikel Calimag Contact Numbers: 09771557607,09567359807 2. Homestay Acommodation by Ate Lyra: Globe-09561048356 Smart-09307968665
And…that’s a wrapped! So is Jomalig worth the grueling 4-hour land travel and 6-hour boat ride?
A big YES! Jomalig surprised me with its variety of beach offerings; a beach with golden sand (sometimes pink),a beach one white sand , a beach with rocky formations and a beach with amazing sandbars. It boats nuggets of Boracay and Batanes. Not only pristine beach waters but it also showcases vast farm and field life sights. Everything rolled in one place that is Jomalig.
Thank you all for reading our Adventure. I hope you include Jomalig in your travel bucket list because it’s definitely worth it.
5:43 A.M. Pavements are wet. Roads are starting to get busy. No rain but the gloomy sky suggests it is just warming up for another batch of rainfall.
I don’t mean to discourage anyone from sleeping early with the title. It is just this made me remember why I am not fond of sleeping early. I slept at 11:00 pm last night. I considered it early since for the past weeks I am sleeping at 2 am. For the record, I once successfully slept at 9pm but woke up at 12 am. And I was not able to feel sleepy again until hours that I am supposed to be productive at work. I have been attempting to sleep earlier again since last week. I feel sick the whole long weekend due to piled-up exhaustion so I promised that last night, I will do it FOR REAL. As a result, I woke up at 3:50 am. I attempted to sleep again but my hungry stomach wouldn’t let me. So at 4:45 am, I decided to just get up, eat , go to work and if I ever feel sleepy, I might take a nap in the office.
There is a tapsilogan just beside the dormitory. They said they are open 24 hours. They are indeed open but they could not accept orders yet because they were cleaning up. So they are temporarily closed. I felt they lied to me. Haha!
Moving-on, the next plan is to go to 7-11. But wait a minute,the newly-opened Jollibee is operating for 24 hours!!!
The giant Jollibee on it is still creepy.
I’ve been passing this Jollibee when it was still closed. I think it was creepy because the said branch was still dark and there was still no sign of life. But now it is already open, I still think it looks creepy up. He looks like he’s about to jump and tore someone to pieces. Nyahah!
This is what I ordered. Breakfast Chickenjoy because I am a fan of Chickenjoy. But I did not enjoy it. The chicken was too dry.
Anyway by the time it was finished, the sun rose already.
If anything good comes out from waking up too early , it is I was able to find time to blog and write. Although this particular post has crappy underexposed photos from my mobile phone, it made me feel good that i was able to unload my thoughts through writing. Without putting much thought into it, the formatting, the editing of the photos. Letting every words flow spontaneously. This past weeks I’ve been complaining about how I could not able to write unlike I do before. I believe I am a writer but I feel like I am letting myself down. Last week I read my offline diary and felt sad that I could not write like that anymore. It felt its because I tried hard to not feel emotions anymore because of what happened from many moons ago. That in expense of learning how NOT to feel, I could not write anymore. I named it as Writing Paralysis.
But congrats to me. I have written this long post with a tinge of emotions and sarcastic hyperbole’. It is a start I guess. Maybe watching Brooklyn Ninety-Nine during my sickly weekend helped me to somehow let English words flow.
Anyway some updates,
1. I’ll be joining a trip to Marinduque this coming weekend. It means more photoshoot! Yey!
2. I booked my trip to Palawan for August. I actually did not booked it myself. My friends helped me because I am lazy to spot promos. And I don’t have credit card.
I think that’s all for now. I have to rush back to my dorm because I need to occupy the bathroom before my roomies. Xiao!
By the way I’m thinking of Cafe’ portrait series. (A portrait photoshoot inside a cute cafe’)
Do you want to be a model of your favorite cafe in a minimum price (Lol. Maybe just treat me in that cafe’)? Just comment or contact me in my social media!
Last Thursday, March 14, 2018, our photography club finally pushed through with our biggest practice shoot yet. This is the first time we will be shooting a couple who’s going to marry for reals soon. The location was our office building roofdeck which I already featured in my blog before. Even this is only a practice for our club, I can say that our team is a complete package already. Aside from photographers, we also have videographers who also got drone shots for this shoot.
Without further ado, here are my output.
Camera: Fuji-Xa3
Lens: 35 mm 1.4 Fujinon
Post processing:Lightroom (NoobGFX Creamy Preset Skintone2)
Actually, my most favorite is this silhouette shot.
But of course, I also enjoyed taking “behind the scenes” shots too.
Actually we were a little bit disappointed that the staircase area was restricted for this photoshoot. We were able to climb that last time when we had an ocular visit. My mentor and I had a lot of plans for that already. *SIGH” But still we had a great time shooting our couple because they are so cooperative.
When the sun has already set, the view from the roofdeck was shouting for cityscapes shot but honestly we were too exhausted. But somehow, I gathered some energy left inside to me to snap a few. Mostly are blurred because I was really tired.
UPDATE: Adding the ” Save the Date” video edited by EJ Deliquina. He’s a freelance videographer and video editor. You might want to acquire his services. Just check out his video fortfolio in his Vimeo Channel straightforwardvideo!
And another one! Our photos for this session was converted in to a PHOTOBOOK care of the groom. One of my photos was selected. I’m very happy of course 😉
Ending this post with a picture of me of course. I was not in the mood to have my pictures taken because I looked so haggard already with all the shooting. Good thing the weather has been good. It was not hot or raining. Weather is just in the middle. It was really ideal. Thank God. (Also for cancelling all my meetings that are conflict with our photoshoot schedule. Grabe love na love ako ni God hihi)
How about you? Do you also want to be the next roofdeck models? (Haha!)
A big thanks to TNG Management and Infor Facilities. Thank you also to my co photographers: Sir G2Photography, Meann, Sir Ariel, Sir Jem. Videographers: EJ and Edwin.
My sister wanted to celebrate her 26th birthday at Baguio. I was not that thrilled because I already toured Baguio years ago. But thanks goodness, while researching something to add in our itinerary, I stumbled in a facebook blog about “Northern Blossom at Atok, Benguet, two hours from Baguio. Finally, it felt like this is the twist I am looking for our Baguio trip. I immediately added this on our second-day itinerary.
*Monday, March 5, 2018, 6:30 am, we went out of our transient home and hailed a taxi going to Dangwa Bus Station. According to the facebook guide, we would ride a bus going to Bontoc or Sagada. We were just in time because the next trip going of the bus was 7:00 am. I told the conductor that our drop-off would be the Municipal Hall of Sayangan Atok, Benguet. The tickets caused P73.00 per person.
* We arrived at around 9:15 am. The municipal looked like this. We entered and asked around how to register as tourist and we were redirected to a tent booth.
*To tell you the truth, there was a slight misunderstanding during the registration. After we signed up in their log-book, we were offered to purchase a day tour that would cost almost P1500.00 for our group. Although the tour is exciting, it would be way beyond our plans and our budget. I made clear that just wanted to visit Northern Blossom and Benguet Kochi Sisterhood Park where there are real Sakura flowers. They said we don’t need a tour if that’s the case. It’s just a walking distance from municipal hall. Someone from the registration guided us on our way.
*Anyway here’s the tour packages they offer. I would love to go back and avail this. When I go to Sagada, I would make this as part of my trip.
* Finally! We arrived at the Northern Blossom main house. We signed up and pay P200.00 per person. I was asked to choose between Area 1 and Area 2. Area 1 has shorter route but most of the flowers were harvested already because of the recent Panagbenga Festival. Area 2 is untouched but way longer. I chose Area 2 without blinking. Who cares if we get tired?
*I must say the photoshoot started inside the registration house already. The wooden interior made us feel instantly relaxed,
*And finally, the flowers! The tour guide actually know the name and some trivia about the flowers by heart whenever we ask. But who would remember the information anyway. The important is to ENJOY THE FLOWERS!
This door is inviting…promising for more breathtaking views!
Along the way, I met this really cute kid who obviously want his pictures taken.
This is the cabbage rose. Not a flower but a vegetable. Actually Northern Blossom is not new to me a anymore. Local tv show “Kapuso Mo Jessica Sojo” already featured this garden because of its Cabbage Roses. But it was shown long time ago so it slipped out of my mind. The facebook blog reminded me just in time.
TWINNING WITH MY SISTER. I purposely bought same style dresses to wear for this trip so we can have our twinning moments in this farm. I am so prepared I am amazed with myself.
AND MORE PICTURES!!!
BACK TO THE REGISTRATION HOUSE …
After the trip to flowers, we returned to the relaxing registration house. We were humbled to meet the owner of Northern Blossom. He toured us inside their transient house. (Yes you can sleep inside the Northern Blossom Farm)! And he even offered us soda and Benguet coffee.
And another bonus! There were two sweet puppies roaming around the house. They are so friendly they lick you when you touch them. I want to bring them home with me. Even when going back to Baguio, I’m still thinking about them. I miss them so much. They are really sweet.
I FEEL SO ATTACKED!
After this, we ate lunch at the Van station going back to Baguio. It was just a walking distance from Northern Blossom. Just look for Marosan’s Restaurant. The trip going back to Baguio costs P100.00 per person.
Sadly, we did not push through of going to another flower farm which has authentic Sakura due to our mother and her friend were so exhausted already. It was also really hot that time. If you are going to visit, better to ride a bus at around 4am going here. And besides, the locals said that Sakura are not in full bloom yet. I’ll promise I’ll go back in Atok Benguet. Even our bus ride became so enjoyable because of all the breathtaking views of the mountains and rice terraces. I’ll definitely go back to see what Atok, Benguet has to offer. Hopefully the cherry blossoms are already in full bloom that time.
Ending this blog with my most favorite picture, “the hills are alive with sound of music”. It makes sense since my name is Mary which is also Maria.
Hope you enjoy my photo overload post. How about you? What beautiful place have you discovered recently?
Summary
Northern Blossom can be a nice side trip when you are in Baguio or you are on your way to Sagada. Entrance Fee is only P200.00.
From Manila: Victory Liner bus-P455.00, Joy Executive Bus P730.00.
Dangwa Station to Sayangan Municipal Hall Bus. P73.00
Tourist Registration at Municipal Hall
Northern Blossom. P200.00 Entrance Fee.
Van going back to Baguio in front of Marosan Restaurant, P100.00 each.
To contact Northern Blossom, here’s the calling card.
GUREZU 