New songs that caught my attention

A few days ago, I was in a cab and heard a song I found nice. I've been hearing it for the past weeks whenever a taxi driver has his radio tuned to one of the FM stations playing current/new songs. Anyway, after making a point to remember at least part of the lyrics, I found out today that the song is entitled "Nothin' On You" by B.o.B featuring Bruno Mars. Now, Bruno Mars' voice sounded familiar as well so I did some search on the web, and indeed - his song "Just The Way You Are" is what I've also been hearing around the radio (note: I don't always have the radio on, it's only during those trips in the cab that I get to hear new songs, so I haven't been able to catch the title of those songs that I find nice).

Long story short: I found it striking that I liked two songs that are actually related to each other. They have slightly different styles, but both definitely caught my ear - and they are both good in their own special way.

Here's the official music video of the two songs...

Boracay, here we come!!

Last November 19-23, I finally got the chance to go and see for myself what the famous Boracay is all about. Even though it's basically the rainy season (starting June) in Philippines, my friends and I still went ahead on this trip to avoid the usual large crowd during peak seasons (December to May). Despite having rains during the evenings and overall slight downcast weather, we weren't disappointed and were able to Banana Boat, Sail, Island hop, and Snorkel. I really enjoyed this trip, and I'm already thinking of going back some time in the (near) future.



Day 1 - 11/19/2007
Our journey begins by air via Cebu Pacific, and we boarded the plane at 9:30am. The flight was a bit shaky due to the rain clouds we passed through but that's fine. This did not lessen the excitement we feel. After about 40 minutes, we arrived at Kalibo Airport. Kalibo Airport has this nice "booth" about the Ati-atihan festival Kalibo is known for. From here, we traveled for 1 1/2 hours by Van to Caticlan. At Caticlan, we met Ate Lea who is to serve as our guide and help us get to the place we're going to stay at. From Caticlan, we rode a boat to Boracay. The ferry/boat ride is about 20-30 minutes.

At around past noon, we arrived at Boracay. We rode a tricycle that took us to the house we'll be staying at (very near Boat Station 1, southern tip of White Beach). After quickly dropping our things since by now we are hungry - we headed to D'Mall (this is where popular "fast food" restaurants are located, as well as other souvenir shops, located between Boat Station 1 and 2) and ate at Mang Inasal ... where we sampled the place's Chicken "Inasal". :D

We then headed back to unpack our stuff, and rest a bit. Before we know it - it's already time to eat dinner and we went back to Mang Inasal in D'Mall. On our way back, we passed by numerous sand castle built by the locals where you can have your name written on a space on the right side and have your photo taken - for a fee. But, it's free to take a photo of the sand castle. To commemorate our first day in Boracay, I took a photo of it:

Blog template changes...

Today, I made some minor changes on this Blog's template. I wanted the Blog entry area to be a bit bigger. I sacrificed the default template's rounded corner for the header, footer, and content area - but have retained this in the Profile and Links section. I'm planning to make more changes one of these days - probably do something about the header or so.

For documentation purposes, here's a Before and After screenshots I took to show the changes I've made:

Before

After

Hanging out with friends from Saipan

Last June 21-29, friends from Saipan came to Philippines. They were: Jon, Frank, and his sister Ernesta. In the duration that they were here, I was able to hang out with them only three times. But those were really good times, and I enjoyed hanging out with them immensely. :)

The first time we hang out was last June 22, and we met at Glorietta/Greenbelt. We had some snack at this place called Cafe Havana located in Greenbelt 3 (if I am not mistaken), and the food there were really superb. I wasn't able to list the food we ordered (or rather, Frank ordered) but they were all really good. After that, we basically went around Greenbelt doing some shopping (actually - just them). It was good for me to see Glorietta/Greenbelt again after two years or so. :) This also gave us time to catch up on each other.


The second time I was able hang out with them was at Gateway, Cubao. Frank and Jon had been in Philippines for a few times now (this is Ernesta's first time), and has been familiar with the many shopping malls we have here. And so, finding out that they haven't been to Gateway, Cubao - I suggested we meet here, since I hadn't been able to explore the mall myself yet.

They loved the mall - and wished that it had been a little bigger than it is. I myself liked the way the mall was designed - and also the fact that it's not that big that you'd get tired walking around or so. But I do agree with them: if only it were a bit bigger. But - all is fine as it is. Inside Gateway, we found this nice place - I just forgot to jot down the name of the place! :( But it's located on the 3rd floor, if I am not mistaken, and it's wonderfully setup - with one wall made of glass overlooking outside the mall. I like the ambiance of the place, and we enjoyed yet another time just talking.

After that, we decided to try riding the LRT-2 (purple line) ... since I haven't been able to try this myself too! :blush: Anyways, the trip went really well - we avoided the rush hour, and we used the connecting bridge to take LRT-1 and reach Pedro Gil. From there, we went to Robinson's Place and had dinner at TGIF. As you can see on the photo, we all had a very filling and tasty meal. :)


The third time I hang out with them, we started early. We were supposed to walk around inside Intramuros, but since the taxi driver dropped us just in front of Manila Cathedral, and near the entrance to Fort Santiago - we decided to go there instead and take a look. It has also been a long time since I've last been here, and so it was really nice to see the changes IA (Intramuros Administration) has made on the place. The ground/park is well-maintained, and you can really see that a lot of effort has been made to preserve the historical value of the place.

Inside Fort Santiago is the Rizal Shrine, as well as an exhibit on Rizaliana Furniture. Some time in the future, I will devote one whole day exploring Fort Santiago alone, and probably be able to talk more about it here in my Blog. Overall, the trip to Fort Santiago is really worthwhile.

The gang and I then proceeded to have brunch at Max's Restaurant inside Intramuros. Having replenished our energy, we then took a stroll on top of the Intramuros wall and have passed 3 Universities along the way. Among them are: Letran, Lyceum, and Mapua. We then exited Intramuros and headed to SM Manila where we attempted to find a good place to just hang out and have another snack (one has too after that walk - although it's not really that far). But alas, SM Manila is packed (no surprise here considering the many schools and Universities found within it's vicinity) - and so we again decided to head to Robinson's Place. :D

Another noteworthy event in my day with the gang from Saipan is our going to Baywalk. We got there just in time for the sunset. And it was really a very, very nice experience especially for me who has been away from the country for a while (and hence, hasn't been at Baywalk - along with the new developments that were made). This is also the first time (for a very long time) for me to see Manila sunset in its glory. :) Here I share with you some snap shots I was able to take before my camera's battery died out on me.

Sharing the sunset with Jon, Frank, and Ernesta has somewhat reminded me that that will be the last time I'll be able to hang out with them in this particular trip. For, at that time - they were bound to fly back to Saipan the next day.


Anyway, I really enjoyed hanging out with them - and I would surely love to have them back in the future. For now, I am glad that I have these photos to remind me of those "adventures" we had, the company, and the experience.