I have been inactive for the past week, The reason is that I have been sick because of my massive boil and my uncle just died of due to complications on his prostate cancer.
I haven't seen my uncle in the past 3 years. His wife had a huge fight with my other relatives which our family also got accidentally involved as well. This resulted to them moving far north and didn't even gave us any information onto their whereabouts. But last 3 weeks before my uncle died, He went back to visit my father and my grandma to make amends on their broken relationship.
I was really close to my uncle, He was the one who always fetch me every friday night at our house to spent my weekend at their house (my father's ancestral home). We was the one who introduce me to Shawarma. He made us ride his motorcycle around the subdivision together with my friends. He was always jolly and full of jokes. Me and my husband (who was just my boyfriend then) spent our sembreak at their house at Nueva Ecijia. He was a bundle of joy to our family, especially to me.
I never had felt a massive loss such as this.
That's why I'm writing this. Writing this might give me a feeling of release, in terms of emotions.
In this particular trip, I didn’t did much in terms of choosing the resort and reservation. My friend Ivy did all the dirty job. It was her first time to organise this kind of trip, she and Philip haven’t really been doing a lot in terms of our group trip. Usually, I do all. They were just there to pay, sit back and watch me do all the work.
I was always the “Mom” of the group
But since me and Paul were just back from our Puerto Princessa Escapade, I was not really planning anything to do during the Holy Week. but since Ivy insisted to have the last hoorah trip before she start for her new job, I let her do all the research and turn the tables on them. Luckily, She found a resort that was right for our budget. I in particular don’t want to spend much since Me and Paul still haven’t got a job and we’ve just recently splurge on our last vacay. My budget was just 5000 Pesos for Me and Paul. Here’s the break down of what we’ve did.
Morong Star Beach Resort Deck
THE STAY
We have rented a room good for 4 people for just 3,750 a night. We stayed at Morong Star for 3 days and 2 nights that’s 7,500 Pesos. 50% downpayment was paid upon reservation.
From Left: Me, Philip, Ivy and Paul
For the room, it was pretty much just a room.
No TV, No Wifi, No servicephone.
Just 2 queen size beds which was humungous. The comfort room was small, but it was ok. The room was also air-conditioned (a Philippine necessity). for 3,750 a night it was ok since outside the room, the resort offers a lot of activities to do.
They offer:
Zumba (one in the morning and one in the afternoon)
Movie by the shore (starts at 8pm)
Zipline
Water Activities (banana boat, kayak, etc.)
Island Hopping
Swimming Pools (for Kids and for Diving Practice)
Adventure Park (mini biplane, one line bridge, etc.)
Karaoke
If I miss something please do check their website. They have a complete list there.
Adventure in the beach?
Philip and Ivy
Other than the activities around, We got to talk more with each other. Ivy bought a card query game, it was fun. We got insights on the boy’s thinking, fantasies and dreams. We also had a lot of time walking by the bay and just beach bumming.
Me and Paul trying the mini zip line
THE FOOD
Since We were on a tight budget Me and Paul (Ivy and Philip, too) bought food along with us.
DAY 1 – THURSDAY
When we got there, it was lunch time – I have cooked Adobo and Ivy bought Lechon Manok at the bayan area of Morong so, the chicken was still hot when we got there.
Shot from the deck
For Dinner, We decided to try the resort food. For Me and Paul, we’ve ordered Sinigang na Isda -since it was Holy Week and we are Catholic, we are obligated to eat anything either than meat and to make-up for the meaty lunch we had (The Adobo and Lechon Manok). For Philip and Ivy, they’ve ordered Chicken Pastel (I don’t know what the heck they were thinking, We just ate a whole chicken during lunch time still crave for more chicken at dinner). For our surprise, the serving of their food was humungous. It was really worth our money, for it was not just generous in terms of serving size but it was really good. Me and Paul spent 245 Pesos (170 for the Sinigang and 25 [x3] per cup of rice)
DAY 2 – FRIDAY
We have bought our water heater with us, for breakfast we ate cup noodles, pinoy tasty (loaf bread) and coffee.
For Lunch Time, we have bought canned tuna and vienna sausage.and just bought cooked rice outside the resort at the karinderya (a small store selling cooked foods) for only 10 pesos per cup.
Dinner, again we bought cooked rice outside and saw a small barbecue stall and bought 2 sticks of pork barbecue for 30 pesos each. plus we bought 1 order of dynamite sticks (green chilli in a for of spring roll) for only 20 pesos.
DAY 3 – SATURDAY
Same as yesterday, cup noodles, pinoy tasty (loaf bread) and coffee.
Lunch Time, we drop by and ate at Mcdo – Subic on our way home.
OVERALL
Paul in Zenn Mode
Although, the lack of television in our room made us a little disappointed at first but later turned into a good thing that happened because during our down time, We got to bond in the most natural way of bonding – thru sharing and talking to each other. We’ve discussed things we’ve never talked before and had a lot of reminiscing during our college days. We did a lot of things people do before the wifi era, walk and explore the bay area without updating our status or sharing an instagram groufie.
Almost prenup picture material
all of the social media updating happen when we got home. it was just a chill 3 days at the shore and I really felt the beach bum vibe. After the trip, I realise that I can survive 3 days of no internet and no news from the television and just living at the moment. with that happened I think, I can survive camping but in a for glamping (glam + camping). It just open a door for another opportunity to try next for our future trip, and since glamping sites are now becoming a thing here in the Philippines, sooner or later I will be trying it. and although my no meat diet during the holy week was not really consistent but the thing that substitute it was days of no social media, which I think was more of a big deal than a no meat diet.
It was really a sacrifice, social media is a part of my everyday life.
but during our trip – funny, but the idea of not being on-line – I thought was not liveable. I thought, I won’t last a day. I supposed that nothing really beats good company. The thing that I can’t really survive is a day without good company.
Sharing my July Haul video, In this video you'll be seeing:
Hello Kitty x Tokidoki Lunch Bag and Thermos
Jollibee Funko Pop
Palette (Sea Punk) Tokidoki Keychain
Hello Kitty Ciao Ciao Keychain
My Melody Sandwich presser (Mcdonalds Happy Meal)
Of course this haul wouldn't be complete without mentioning my favorites and steal deals.
My favorite item on this haul is the Hello Kitty x Tokidoki Lunch Bag. I will not be using it as a lunch bag but will convert it into a hand bag, I think it's possible and not that obvious.
The real steal deal item is the Hello Kitty x Tokidoki Thermos. I got it on sale at Sanrio SM North Edsa. From Php 1200+, I got it for Php 850.
So that's it for this blog / vlog, Looking forward for more video hauls, Hope you loved this video.
This is a shared content from my other blog PancakeCarrot, which me and my husband managed. We happened to vlog a little on the day we went to AsiaPOPComicon. Witness the day that I became AGGRETSUKO. Video Highlights:
Buying of Jollibee Funko Pop and Obtaining Jollibee's Signature
Netflix Booth
Tokidoki Booth
Simone Legno Signing Session
Hot Toys Collection
Quick glimpse of Finn Jones
The CAGE (Cosplay Authority Global Challenge) Results
What we didn't have on video was:
Hall D by Disney - it was strictly no phones and other electronic / recording devices on that Hall.
Other artist on the floor local and international
Despite of the whole drama before the event it self, We still managed to have a good time that day. (If you don't know what I'm talking about checkout my previous blog AsiaPOP Comicon 2018). Exhausting and tiring but still it was definitely a day to remember.
It has been 3 days after my experience at AsiaPOP Comicon (APCC) and I have so much to blog about. I might cut my blog into series 'cause We have been out of the house since saturday (July 28) up to monday (July 30) and everyday is worth blogging. Plus some exclusive toys, trailers, hauls and other stuff we've experience at comicon, I'll try to blog it all.
Event schedule on the day we went
THE EVENT
Me and friends went to APCC on it's 3rd and last day - Sunday. Actually, we have been planning on going to this event since June that we've rented an airbnb room near the SMX Convention area. Our original plan was to go there on Saturday to get some waiver for the Hall M by Marvel on Sunday. Marvel requires all comicon goers on Sunday to get some waiver the day before the actual event, for us it was a bummer because the SMX Convention area is so far from our home. SMX Convention is on the south side of manila while we reside at the far north and beyond manila. I just wished that they had an online waiver of some sort for folks like us. You might be wondering why I mentioned it was a bummer when we will be on an airbnb room, your guess is right, We didn't end up on that room. Agoda which is an app/website for booking rooms in reasonable price had made a huge mistake on our booking. It hadn't booked the room which we paid months before the event. My friend who booked the room also has a fault on it by not checking or contacting with the room owner if the transaction went thru. He only checked on the room, on the day that we were going to check-in. So, that's a goodbye for the Hall M by Marvel access. But we've managed to booked a last minute hotel around Manila but we needed a ride to be able to go to SMX and we've booked it around 6pm, everybody on our group was pretty much exhausted. I'll be posting another blog on where we've stayed so stay tuned for that.
Next day, we went to SMX around 8am got there within 20-30 mins. The line for the people without tickets and people with tickets are separated in two lines, so the line wasn't that long, I can say we were probably the 20th person in the line of people without tickets, that's pretty much in front of the line.
While at the Convention, First on our agenda was to buy the Jollibee Funko POP!
We managed to snag this elusive toy, currently in high demand. I did a blog post about this on my other blogPancakeCarrotyou could check it out on that link. Meanwhile, here's a video of our unboxing
It was a successful haul, other than that our next mission was to go to the Hall D by Disney, luckily this doesn't require a waiver to be able to get in but all electronic devices was confiscated before entering the Hall D.
HALL D by DISNEY
Our Hall D by Disney experience consists of exclusive trailers on shows that they will offer on their new DisneyLife App. Me and Paul already had a free 6 months subscription via Globe Telecom and we've been using it for a month now and I may say so, it's better than our Netflix Subscription. It has Star Wars and Marvel exclusive behind the scenes video and complete Clone and Rebel Wars series on it. and of course, a lot of Disney Princess.
"They had us at Star Wars"
At Hall D they showed us the working title of the new Star Wars: Clone Wars series, New 101 Dalmatian series, New freaky friday series, A sneak peak on the behind the scenes of the Descendant 3 and a new toon.
Besides that they had a guest speaker, fellow filipino, the award-winning artsit - Kenneth Cobonpue, who revelead his new Star Wars Inspired Furniture Collection.
Mark Henn a long time Disney Animator, who created hand-drawn animation for Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, Moana, Lion King and many more shared exclusive first look on the Ralph breaks the internet. It has been said that the Hall D by Disney at APCC was the first one held in Asia. I'm so glad to be a part of it. Meeting Simone Legno My APCC experience it's complete without my Simone Legno interaction.
Last year, was my very first time to meet Simone Legno, as mentioned on my previous blog, I have been a huge fan of Simone since college and have just been too broke to attend his events here in the Philippines. He has been in the Philippines for so many times but last year was just my first ever encounter with him.
This year, I didn't made the cut off on the line on meeting him. I was just 6 person away from the queue. But that didn't stop me on having my Palette signed.
Luckily, I had the chance to ask for another person in front of me who made it in the queue to signed my toy. This year, Tokidoki booth was same as last year due to some customs issue at his area, he didn't managed to bought stuff here in Manila. Usually, he releases same SDCC exclusive at APCC. I hope next year he'll be having no customs issues and bring some merch here.
The Experience
In Genereal, We did have some issues here and there but we still managed to have a good time at APCC 2018. I'll do some video collage of some parts we did get by video and post it here on my blog, In the meatime, Thanks for reading my long blog and be sure to follow me on various social media sites!
