Pico de Loro

My dad's group of friends (seriously, all senior citizen-retirees) decided to go to Pico de Loro. My Dad can't move around easily, so my Mom had to accompany him. And since my Mom can't manage my Dad, the luggage and what-not by herself, my brother and I got free, all-expenses paid "vacations" in exchange for assisting and being gofers and errand boy and girl for the parents.

In between all that, I managed some pictures. ;)

The entrance at the Pico Hotel Sands where we all stayed. Or Pico Sands Hotel. Or Hotel Pico Sands. Or some arrangement thereof.

The back lawn of the hotel

At the clubhouse

View of the beach from the St. Therese chapel

The  infinity pool fronting the beach

A panoramic shot of the man-made lake (click for full size) behind the hotel

The beach was okay by my standards -- no rocks, no seaweeds. But there were fish swimming with you. And once when I was just floating, I saw an eagle soaring in the sky!

Kainan sa Dalampasigan

On the way to Pico de Loro, we had lunch at Kainan sa Dalampasigan (somewhere in Batangas). It's a beautiful and airy restaurant with a lot of plants.

We had binalot which was rice (lots of it), chicken and pork adobo, and inihaw na hipon (roasted shrimps?), all wrapped in banana leaf. Hence, binalot = wrapped. We also had roasted tomatoes, bulalo, and since there were a lot of us, we got free leche flan for dessert. Yay! I wasn't able to finish all my rice, so my brother and I swapped. Some of my rice for his roasted shrimps.

Pictures! (no food pictures though)

The sign at streetside:

 The welcoming doorway:

Ceiling and floor:

The fountain. Oh, there's me too.

Baguio Country Club

Overcast two-day stay at the Baguio Country Club. It was for work but it wasn't so stressful and I got some much deserved (lagi naman) R&R.

Little nook over our seminar venue

View from our bedroom window. It's so peaceful, isn't it?

Facade at dusk

Pictures were taken with my camphone so there aren't as high-def as I would like, but you get the idea.

Acuatico

So the family went to Acuatico for the weekend. Place was great and the staff were great. The food was a bit so-so but then again, I'm on a diet. Hehehe.

At that time, the place was fully booked, but you wouldn't feel it. the cottages were grouped around the infinity pool and it was quite private.

Even fully booked, the pool was never more than a third full, it was that big! I realized I don't have pictures of the beach, but it was good too. Sand wasn't really powdery, but it wasn't rocky either. And it didn't have seaweeds. :)

Loungers were generously placed around the pool and on the beach.

I could definitely come back here!

Paper Quilling: Christmas Decorations

Way delayed post and out-of season. LOL! I know Easter just passed, but here are some christmas decorations made through paper quilling!

Paper quilled pictures

Paper quilled snowmen

Quilled christmas tree

All courtesy of my creative sister! 

Happy New Year!

In line with my goal to CREATE more, I decided to take pictures of fireworks! Yeah!

I don't usually go out on New Year's Eve because I'm asthmatic, plus, I'm afraid of stray bullets. But I decided to do so this year just so I can take pictures. I stayed out on the second floor balcony. The view wasn't really that clear as it was cloudy that night. And the fireworks were a bit far away. Good thing, my camera had pretty decent zoom.

I thought it would be easy to take pictures but it was actually frustrating! I had to zoom in, and get the timing right. Which was really hard!!! I used the fireworks preset on my camera and it was a bit slow in processing the pictures. Anyway, here are some of my attempts (I had LOTS!!!):

Difficulty getting them into the frame and timing's off:

I really couldn't get the explosions at the right time

Here's some success. This one's a bit nearer but blocked by some trees and power lines. Didn't have to fiddle with the zoom:

Happy New Year! I had some lucky shots and I uploaded them on Starry-Eyed Photos :)

Jaipur - Amber Fort

From the road

We needed an elephant to ride up to the fort. Views during the elephant ride:

This is a really huge fort, with walls and  guard houses(?) up in the mountains:

The elephant ride ended inside the fort's courtyard

Inside the fort, there are palaces. I was kind of lazy to take pictures already so, here are some that I managed to get:

There was even a building decorated with mirror slivers arranged in beautiful patters.

There's still a lot to see in India and someday maybe I could go back there!