Photo Blog #5: Travel Post about the Mountain Province (Banawe, Batad, Sagada)

Blog blog blog.....am a little lazy.

Haven't run for a week. But had lots of trip, it took toll on my strength...thus, I needed a lot of rest.

My business partners and I went to Banawe, Batad and Sagada....well we didn't go around Baguio- we just took our dinner in that place and took we intend to take our bus ride on our way back to Cavite.

I dunno after seeing Banawe, Batad and Sagada- I lost my appetite to hang around Baguio.

Baguio City is so congested. The place is filled with Smog, heavily trafficated and well most of the views aren't what it used to be. The place is so commercialized that it losts its mystique-the way I remember it late 80's and early 90's.
I fell in love in the place of Batad- the Ifugao village, Tappiyah falls and the vegetable pizza.
But heck! The price of food, water and other beverages is really expensive.
I realized- they have to put some overhead because transporting the goods on foot is really difficult. In fact, I have only my back pack with less than 3kg load yet I feel like it's the heaviest load of my life.
Sagada on the other hand is like a mystic place....the cave, hanging coffins, falls and even the food at the yoghurt house, the lemon pie and the egg pie the mountain tea.....taste like heaven.


Lemon Pie! Hmmmmm I wanted a piece of you lemon pie =)



The water terraces inside the Sumaguing (Zoomaging) Cave



We (Me, Poks and KK) wanted a taste of this chocolate cake formation inside the Sumaguing cave.


The beautiful wild flower just outside Sumaguing cave.


The Banawe historical marker.

Tappiyah falls---> I was awestruck by the height of this falls- according to my friends, this is the highest in the Cordillera region.

Eye focus, taking pix on Batad's rice terraces.

Three days of nonstop adventure

Yes, I had three days in a row of nonstop adventure:

First stop, hot air balloon festival (Feb 14).

Next stop, beach galore in Pundaquit, San Antonio Zambales (Feb 14-PM).

Sunday stop, Camarra-Capones-Anawangin island hobbing (Feb 15).

Monday, Exploring the crater of Taal volcano (Feb 16).

I guess, these events took me closer to my PS SX110 IS.

Photo Blog #4: Valentine, adventure, thoughts....thoughts....

I still have this post valentine mania.....hmmmm......still very much inlove after 10 years of marriage and still lingering one of the most memorable valentine.

We took it as a date with the kids and a family friend- our valentine will be spent at the hot air balloon festival. We leave home 2 AM on the 14th.....it was great! But after all the balloons were gone and flying....we were left with other various attraction. Good thing the weather is good the sun is not scorching, but the kids and us are getting bored.

So I had an idea- why not spend the rest of the hour along the beach. Boy! not just a beach I suggested- anawangin cove.

Well our friends were naturally adventurous too....they hop on my idea, even if hubby is a little hesitant.

Gosh! We were not even prepared on this activity, we have no sunblock, beach essential etc- but our camera's ready. And of course this is PS SX110IS time to show off what he's got baby......bring on the shooting!

Hot air balloon festival

Pundaquit kite flying/swimming

Camarra island

Capones island (viewed from Pundaquit photo courtesy of MoranoPhotography)

Anawangin cove ( photo courtesy of MoranoPhotography)

Photo Blog #3: Getting to know PS SX110 IS2

I am still in the getting to know PS SX110 IS. The controls are great and I find it really exciting....I can't wait to have more shooting opportunity.

And here are some of the sample photo- from work.

And some of my experiment using the aperture priority.

This IPOD shuffle is my favorite companion during looooong runs. (Sigh! speaking of runs- Its been 2 days since my last run and my next run will be sunday's power run at 10K woooh!).

When hubby arrived he saw me trying out the camera on the IPOD. Then he was coaching me that using the macro setting would help ensure good focus. I didn't realized he has some flowers for me and my baby girl.

So here is some more of the flower and aperture priority experiment. =)

P.S. am not so good in portrait.

All photos were straight from the camera (no alteration).

Happy Valentines!

Photo Blog #2: Getting to know PS SX110 IS

My new baby is giving me really a hard time figuring out how to make the best photo using the manual mode.

Sigh! The Av (Aperture priority) and Tv (Shutter priority) modes proves to be very challenging in producing visually appealing photos. There is just a lot of shake trace even if the camera actually have this image stabilizer.

I have to admit that the preset menu is a lot convenient specially in producing "moments".

I am so glad that hubby recommended PS SX110 IS for my photo exploration....it's all what I needed.

It does not only have great reviews, but it is also budget friendly.

And this morning I learned that this camera is actually a beginner's telephoto series of Canon's powershot....wow not bad having a 60-360 mm lens at a very compact package.

Wow! I think I am starting to fall inlove. =)

See photo shoots:

P.S. Toys were shoot in an aperture priority and the sad baby was shot using the preset (kids mode).

Running Blog #14: 10K practice run

They say consistency is the key for discipline.

An act becomes a habit if you are able to duplicate the act at least 22 times.

Hmmmm .....I have been doing a 10K practice run for 3 consecutive practices.

So I have 19 more practice runs to go before I can say that I am now an official 10K runner =).

Ok that's a deal- but nobody can stop me from running 10K on sunday's Power Run.

There was just a lot on my mind today while running.

Yesterday's photo blog hit me. I know I am not a good photographer but there is just a lot of wonderful subjects....and I guess my blog really lacks picture from my own composition. Usually photos are from someone else.

I am seriously thinking of making my new powershot SX110IS a serious buddy.

One question though is can I bring this camera during my race run? Is the camera sensor safe?

Yah.....am not a serious photographer I would say, but I'd like to capture a moment. And that is something that I'd like this camera to make use of. Sometimes my blog is bare and it lacks photo.

So I guess I have to work around on my new Canon powershot- get to know this baby more hehehe.

Photo Blog#1: Challenging K610i

This morning we woke up 1:30 AM with a wailing Matti....he said his tummy's aching.
Hubby got him milk (we all thought he was hungry)- but then the wailing didn't stop.
6 AM we decided to take him to the ER......Alas! Mabolo crossing is terribly traffic, of course it's monday! Ei!....I was asking Matti how he was feeling- boy! the tummy ache was gone....no medication, not even food...hey what went wrong?
Hmmmmm.....maybe the boy wanted a time alone with daddy and mommy minus Tj =))
So Man & I decided to bring him to the island cove for the sweet breeze of the manila bay (it's still early so maybe not yet smelly).

The island cove have a lot of interesting photo ops- today we didn't have a camera except my K610i celphonehahahaha....we were out for a challenge (Did I capture the rainbow? nyahahaha). Below are some of the photo results.

P.S. I show my daughter the yellow flower I photographed at the island cove and she interpreted it in her drawing notes (I also used the K610i to photographed her- post island cove).

Sunday Blues

I woke up today 5:30AM.

I heard Matti crying- maybe he was affected by his slight fever.

Hubby took a paracetamol for his medication to lower the temperature- I was trying to figure out if we will gonna run. He didn't ask...he went back sleeping...so I did the same.

The next thing we know it was 8 AM...we were suppose to go to the market and buy some fresh produce for our one week dietary requirement....whew! family matters etc etc

I didn't run today and still can't do it....my menstrual period is just stopping it- the painful dysmenorrhea is just absolutely bothering every nerve in me. I managed to make it to the flea market and do some grocery but my abdominal cramps is shooting from time to time.

Next week I'll be racing my first 10K but I am not even sure if I can do practice run tomorrow. I am heavily bleeding......

So while am stuck at home I did some research for our biz and well it was really educational. In between I try searching around the running netwoorks and hey what did I found on the web....courtesy of photovendo.

Well added to my blues is the fact that I can't even purchase the soft copy of my pix (at 99 pesos each) because minimum order should be 250 pesos.....sigh! maybe, I can nudge S40 to buy his pix- I think he's got a lot of shot, then I'll buy mine through him =(.

I like above shot and I am dying to have a copy of this one....this is running in action!