Panicuason Hot Spring & Adventure Park

Hello everyone!

Summer is here again. There’s no escaping the heat. They said we are experiencing the El Nino phenomenon right now, and there was also the water shortage in Metro Manila which was all over the news a few weeks ago. Yes, it’s summer time, indeed. Summer heat may be aggravating but with it comes the excitement of adventures to come and dreaming about trips that we may or may not actually take but enjoyed planning for anyway haha.

So, my first summer adventure was just within the city, we went to Panicuason Hot Spring Resort and Adventure Park. Everyone in Naga probably has seen this place before, it’s the main go-to destination. Even I have been here before.

The resort is located at the foot of Mount Isarog and if you are the nature lover type, you will most certainly like it.

We had fun in their hot and cold spring pools. The temperature in the kiddie pool was just right (not too hot and not too cold like the other pools) so I lingered there even though it was pretty crowded. 

The most fun part though was our adventure uphill to see the infinity pool. We did not expect that there would be that many steps. The best thing about it though was the view (and the exercise!).

A lot more walking than we signed up for…………

Across the fields, we went….

Only to find that the infinity pool was being cleaned and we will not be able to swim. Darn it!

The view was still nice though, so we took more pictures like normal people.

In the canteen, they also sell organic produce and products. Unfortunately, we forgot to buy some to take home.

This trip was a nice way to kick off our summer. I must admit that if it weren’t for that uphill hike, our outing would be kind of bland and ordinary. So, if you visit Panicuason Hot Spring Resort, make sure you’re up for a hike to the top of the hill where their infinity pool is.

Entrance Fee: Adult – Php200.00, Kids – Php160.00

Entrance Fee to the Infinity pool: Php50.00 (additional)

 

 

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Naga City Ecology Park

I’ve Google searched this park a few times before and I’ve read some Trip Advisor reviewers say that Naga City Ecology Park (located in Barangay San Felipe) was mediocre, “so-so,” not well-maintained and not even worth the Php20.00 entrance fee. However, I beg to disagree because our trip was worth it.

I admit those unsatisfied reviews and the lack of pictures on the internet were the reasons why it took me so long to visit the park. We went there just this morning though and I am glad to learn that we have a beautiful place like this in Naga City.

As I noticed that there are not a lot of features and blog posts on Naga City Ecopark online, I am now going to share what awaits you, what you can expect when you visit and the things to see and do. Let’s go!

Take a relaxing walk while enjoying Mother Nature.

Discover the different kinds of trees, plants and flowers… 

Even some fruits like this unripe chico and these curious berries (which are not edible BTW).

Explore the maze.

People seem to think that the maze is the main attraction of the ecopark but for me, this place has more to offer than just the maze. It was a dry spell when we visited this morning so it was not very green as I would have liked it to be. Looking at my photos, you cannot even tell that it’s a maze.

Visit the Topiary Garden

The Topiary Garden was where I felt that the short trip was worth it. It was well-kept, clean and as you can see, well-manicured trees!

Flowers are everywhere in the Topiary Garden.

Let your kids enjoy in the Graceland Ecopark Playground.

Visit Ellen White Garden (where all the flowers are white)

Find Inner Peace in Hardin ni Ina

Visit Jose Rizal Mini Eco Park

You have to kinda lower your expectations though and maybe you should save this one for last because it was not well-maintained and not much to see.

Over-all, Naga City Eco Park is a great place to visit in my opinion because there is no other place like this in Naga City. It is a great place to commune with nature and enjoy its beauty.

A VERY VERY IMPORTANT reminder though, please clean up after yourselves. Let’s not throw away trash anywhere around the park.

Till next post! Bye!

Xentro Mall (Polangui, Albay)

Hi again everyone! Okay, this is going to be very brief. Just need to update on my posting and share with you the new places to go and see in the land of sili and gata– Bicol!

So, if you ever have plans to head south bound and visit the Bicol  provinces, particularly Albay, you would probably be glad to know that you can now stop, shop and eat (or freshen up) at the newly opened Xentro Mall in Polangui. 

This is what we did on our way back home from Sorsogon to Naga City. Yoy was really tired and hungry, and Julienne, she just wanted to go to the mall, period.

First, we needed to use the rest room and on the way, we passed by the lounge.

Then, the rest room was nice and clean and I liked that they have art works hanging on the wall. The cleaning lady was also helpful and friendly.

 

As we were really hungry, we then headed to the food court! This is what it looked like.

I ordered Strawberry and Cream Crepe and brewed coffee from this shop called Waffle and Crepe. I don’t remember how much I paid but I remember that it was just a little over Php100.

Strawberry and Cream Crepe was delicious and has just the right amount of sweetness.

Yoy bought Sisig (spicy pork skin, bits and innards) and rice meal  from I don’t know which shop. He said it costed around Php65.00 and the sisig was not crunchy (soggy) and not that great after all.

Other stuff we ate were kwek-kwek (fried quail eggs in dough) and goto (rice porridge).

After eating and resting at the food court, again we were ready to hit the road. Thanks for travelling with us!  =)

 

 

 

All Day Supermarket is Now Open! (Del Rosario, Naga City)

Good news for the residents of Del Rosario, Naga City, nearby barangays and towns, All Day Supermarket is now open! It is located at Vista Mall, a mall which is still under construction as of this writing. However, the residents of Del Rosario, such as myself, will find it accessible to do their grocery shopping at All Day Supermarket which opened last June 15, 2018 with Alex Gonzaga as the celebrity guest.

I was meaning to post this real time but I was struggling with my own… oh, just got a bit lazy, I guess.

Anyway, we went there during the opening night because we figured there’d be too many people during the day who would wanna go in first. When we arrived, Alex Gonzaga was just being called to the stage, which was situated outside the mall near the entrance. We stayed during her first two song numbers but went inside the supermarket soon after that because we were really far and couldn’t really see anything anyway.

So, there were still a lot of people inside the supermarket.

I have seen all sorts of food items that you would expect from a supermarket – grains and beans, canned items, eggs, milk, fresh produce and a lot more. They even have various kitchen tools, bags, slippers, toys and even underwear.

In the fresh produce section, I got excited to buy some fresh black cherries because I never had fresh cherries before. It doesn’t grow here in the Philippines and we don’t often see it in our grocery stores. It’s kinda expensive though at around Php500 per kilo so I just bought a few pieces just to taste.

They also have other imported fruits such as peaches, strawberries, kiwi fruits, grapes and lychees.

Local fruits that were on display are avocadoes, guyabano, papaya, bananas and coconuts.

What they have that other supermarkets and groceries around here don’t have are these imported ready-to-heat food such as pizza, pasta, risotto, roti and burrito.

Another thing they have that others don’t is this service called “Paluto” where you can buy fresh seafood and meats and have them cooked inside the supermarket. There are tables and chairs there where you can relax and enjoy your meal, much like Dampa style.

The only thing they have to improve on though is the cashier being too slow. People get frustrated while lining up at the cashier because, let me say it again, really slow. Almost not moving.

The All Home, Vista Mall’s appliance and furniture store, is also now open. This store is huge and the employees are friendly.

I think Nagueños and other town folks will definitely like their display of household items, lighting, home decorations, furniture and appliances. The words I can think of to describe their stuff are updated, affordable and plenty of choices.

So, there it is, if you happen to be in the area, you might wanna check this new supermarket out and pretty soon, the Vista Mall will be opening too.

Thanks a lot for reading! Till next time.

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrating Christmas (Naga City Metropolitan Cathedral)

Yesterday was Christmas Day and it was all about fun, love, food, lights, family, togetherness and the best gift ever- Jesus! We spent it in a simple way and we were happy with it as long as we spend it together.

We didn’t forget to go to church on Christmas Day. We went to Naga City Metropolitan Cathedral as we know San Francisco Church will be so full.

This is how it looks on the outside:

So when we got home, I greeted everyone on Facebook with a picture saying “Jesus is the reason for the season.” Someone asked me yesterday that if Jesus is the reason, then why did Santa Claus become the center of Christmas? And things like why do we even have a snowman decor when Jesus wasn’t even born during winter? And proceeded to say how it is a Western influenced fake tradition, etc. etc. He probably asked this because it is what he sees everywhere and I also don’t agree about how Christmas has been turned into a commercialized and secularized tradition that most people have lost the meaning of it. I mean, why do we really celebrate Christmas? We celebrate it because when Jesus Christ was born, we were SAVED from eternal damnation because no amount of good works can wash away all our sins to make us acceptable in the eyes of God. This is the reason why we rejoice and “give  love on Christmas Day.”

So, what if Jesus wasn’t exactly born on December 25? What if we like to eat, drink and be merry this season? Or what if we make our kids believe in Santa to get them to be nice? That doesn’t make us bad people. That doesn’t exactly put us in the same category as terrorists now, does it?  But to say that we shouldn’t celebrate Christmas at all and calling people who celebrate it as gullible fools is overstepping the bounds. For the record, we do have free will. And we should all use it to however we see fit. You may not celebrate the season but really you cannot judge those who do. We should all be tolerant of each other’s differences because if we can’t be tolerant and respectful of other’s beliefs, we’d all be terrorists. And it’s not nice to call others gullible or fools just because their set of beliefs is different from your own. Remember, your truth is not the only truth. Who knows if what you know to be the truth is even the truth? Confucius said that “To know that you know what you know and that you do not know what you do not know. That is true wisdom.”

That said, I will continue to celebrate Christmas the way I want, and not the way other people think I should do it. Ho ho ho!

 

 

 

Merry Christmas Sorsogon!

Merry Christmas one and all!

Christmas is only a couple of hours away and I’m sure lots of us are busy doing last minute Christmas shopping. I should know since I’m about to get ready to do some last minute for tonight’s Christmas dinner myself. Just some stuff we haven’t yet bought, like cake maybe.

Anyway, I just got back from visiting my folks in Sorsogon City. As usual, it was too short of a visit. We only stayed overnight, so we haven’t had a chance to even see a lot of places  or meet with friends. I noticed there were a lot of new establishments though – like the Gaisano Mall for instance. We haven’t even been to Gaisano. All we did was go to and fro to buy stuff for my folks’ Christmas dinner, catch up with them and then catch up on some sleep ‘coz so dead tired. And it was always, always raining!

On the night of our stay in Sorsogon, however, we braved the rain and our soaked feet and went to the park infront of Sorsogon Capitol Building. Just because I was intrigued when I momentarily caught a glimpse of the bright lights on our way to Asia Novo Boutique Hotel.

Drop lights adorned the trees while there was a long line of bright colored yellow trees lighting up the whole park inspite of the rain.

Below is the very bright and all lit up Sorsogon Capitol Building. We just stood there as we watched the whole building change colors.

We had the park all to ourselves because nobody else was there save from three little boys who stripped buck naked and used their little butts to slide on the wet tiled surface of the elevated stage we stood on. So slippery ,and “Weeeeeeee!” they all went gleefully sliding on their butts while we were beside ourselves laughing. They didn’t give a rat’s ass about what other people thought, they were happy.  

I missed my hometown Sorsogon, and I always regret not having enough time to reconnect with and really get to know the city I spent the most part of my childhood in. As time goes by and I get older, I get less memories and flashbacks that I connect to the places of my childhood as I visit less frequently.

Till then, Merry Christmas everyone!

AMAZING CHRISTMAS LIGHTS IN LIGAO CITY, ALBAY

Hi everyone!

I have always wanted to see the much talked about Christmas lights and displays in Ligao City. The Ligaoeños, I hear, take their yearly Christmas displays rather seriously. And it pays off, since Ligao has always been featured on both local and national television this time of the year.

So, I thought it was really lucky that my co-workers and I got to go on a side trip to Ligao after our Christmas Party in our regional office in Legazpi City last Friday. It was almost 8:00 PM when we got there, and at first, we hesitated since we did not really know which way to go. It was our first time to go to the centro of Ligao but it did not take long for us to find the church and the lights display was so easy to find that we didn’t even need to ask for directions. All we needed to do was to “follow the light(s)” hehe. So by this time, I was already very excited and I haven’t felt that way about Christmas in a while, or maybe I just got excited to find new material for my blog? Hmm.

We parked inside the compound of Saint Stephen Promartyr Parish Church. This is what the church looks like at this time.

And just outside the church is the 54 meters tall Christmas tree made from blue LED lights with a star on top. It’s kinda hard to take a photo of the whole tree though because some guys just stood around it (really closely) even when they’re obviously not having their picture taken. Anyway, the tree was amazing!

Then we went to their plaza which is adorned by hundreds of star-shaped lanterns locally called parol in the Philippines. It was such an amazing sight to see. Just three colors- dark blue, sky blue and purple.

Isn’t it weird how a bunch of lanterns lighting up the dark night can stir up some feelings of child-like excitement and wonder? Things one may have forgotten in his quest for a better shot at the future by slaving away infront of the computer meeting deadlines, and being oblivious to the rest of the world. Such a toxic life can be a real pain in the ass in the long run because time flies and we will not live forever.

Henry David Thoreau wrote, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” So the lanterns were there to remind me I should live a little, or live more.

A little trivia, do you know that the Christmas tree and the star lanterns were hand-made by jail inmates in Ligao? It’s good that they have used their talents for a good cause. Their work is not too shabby, by the way.

When we were there, a lot of people were in the plaza to watch “Patiribayan sa Ligao” which was a singing contest. Everywhere, the smell of popcorn, barbeque and hotcakes was very inviting but I kept thinking if only there was somewhere I could get a cup of coffee. I didn’t get my cuppa though because we already had to leave.

The people of Ligao must be very proud for coming up with such a great way to put their place in the map, so to speak, by making sure that the festive mood of the holidays can be felt by everyone who visits. It sure is something to look forward to every year. Christmas is only a few days away, I hope you all are excited and feeling the Christmas spirit already!