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| My Sister Denise and her boyfriend Aljo |
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| My Sky Surfer ♥:) |
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| The owner's beach house |
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| My Niece Mikee (in yellow) and Me |
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| Row, row row your boat:) |
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| chillaxin |
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| It's a cloudy day |
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| (from L-R) Denise, Arthur, Danielle, Mikee, and Aljo |
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| Got eaten by the waves. hahaha |
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| ahh..bangka again:) |
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| My turn to jump, SUPERMAN style, ha ha |
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| I don't know exactly what to call this jump :/ |
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| Mikee:) |
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| LUNCH:) |
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| LUNCH:) |
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| Mikee's jump |
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| Kinilaw na Bariles |
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| a shot of the barge/ferry boat |
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| Deng and Mikee |
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| Lover's Haven |
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| Tita Ellen's work of art:) |
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| from the other side |
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| take a closer look |
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| mikee-chan |
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| another shot |
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| She's having fun:)) |
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| tired, ha ha |
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| The BEACH ^___^ |
Typical summer month but crazy weather. A hot day and rainy nights. My boyfriend and I decided to take a drive to the beach, originally with my friends as they too, were planning some getaway since everyone's going to be free on a Saturday. We planned the whole thing right before we even gathered them up. It would be on a family friend's private resort in Samal Island (Island Garden City of Samal).
A day before the supposed beach trip, no one confirmed to join us. That same day, we decided to eat out for dinner. While on our way to a local Fastfood chain, we dropped by my friend's house to ask if they were coming with us. She said she wants to go and will inform the others to come as well. After having dinner, we dropped by again at her place and, TADA! Another friend came to drop by. So yeah, while they were having dinner we were discussing our getaway. The transportation, the food, everything. A little later after 8, we decided to head home as we had to drop by the grocery store to buy some snacks for next day's outing.
While at work, around 11:30pm, a friend sent me a message saying she couldn't come for some important reason. After a few minutes, another friend of mine sent a message saying she also couldn't come because she has to accompany her mother's friend to the doctor and another friend can't make it coz it's her brothers birthday. A little depressed of what happened, I started crying. I thought of the stuff we bought earlier, the plans we made, the reservation for the resort, everything. I then thought of my niece who earlier wanted to come but doesn't want to spoil my date with my friends. I knew she's still awake at that hour so I called her up to ask if she'd like to come. Yes! It somehow brightened up the mood. I then sent a text message to my sister if she could call me that night. After a few minutes, the phone rang. I asked her if she could come and join us, and she said, Yes, together with her boyfriend.
It was really a sigh of relief that somehow, the beach date was going to happen. All I needed at that time is to talk to my boyfriend and inform him of the change of plans (well not totally since it's still pursuing but with a different set of people). Luckily he was still awake, got to chat for a few minutes then back to work and thoughts of THE BEACH:)
We decided to come early so we could enjoy the day. Called up my niece and my sister a few minutes before 6am. We then picked everyone up then headed to the market to buy some meat and raw fish for lunch. Arriving at the Ferry Boat Port at around 8-8:30am, a long line of cars and people heading to the same island greeted us. We spent hours waiting for our turn. Reaching the Island, we still need to drive around 20 minutes to reach the resort. At last! At around 11:30, we arrived at the paradise, The Garden of Ellen (Ms. Ellen Selim being the owner of the resort). It was a scary almost 40-degree downhill drive from the highway gate to the actual resort, a big garden with a lot of coconut trees and flowers landscaped by the owner itself, a view of the white sand beach, the open cottages and the overnight cottage on the beachside. Yep, also a breath of fresh, sea water air:)
Since it was almost lunchtime, we had to prepare our food. We bought pork meat to be grilled and Bariles fish for Kinilaw (Filipino version of Creviche). It took us almost 2 hours to finish everything up. Others took a walk at the low tide beach and took pictures, listening to some music at the cottage, while taking turns in grilling the meat and preparing the Kinilaw. The best thing when you're at the beach, aside from the beach itself, is FOOD, especially the grilled ones:) It was like a feast, even though we only had 2 kinds of food served on the table. We were really stuffed with a great meal:)
A few minutes after lunch, the water's starting to rise up, we decided to enjoy the cold blue water:) There are two docks, on each side of the resort. Since there was construction going on on the nearby resort, we decided to stay on the other side. It was a good way to burn what we had for lunch. There are three bangkas available. We used one and took turns in riding it. Around 3pm. Water was high enough we could dive and jump into the water from the dock. Everyone made ridiculous and funny jumps. Leftover Kinilaw and TAGAKA: a mixture of Tanduay (Brandy), Gatas (milk), and Kape (coffee), a drink considered similar to Baileys, were brought to where we were staying so whenever we get tired of jumping around, swimming, and paddling, we could just sit there, relax and enjoy the place while having merienda:)
A little later after 3, the waves were getting a bit harsh, slowly slapping us to the dock (we were at the dock's stairway, ha ha) so we decided to stay at the seawall at the shore. They're not big enough for surfing but
they were like eating us alive. ha ha ha! We couldn't sit or stand properly as the waves were pulling, throwing us away, but in a funny but harsh way, ha ha!
We left the resort at around 5pm, thinking not to get stuck in traffic at the Ferry Boat line on our way home. We managed to get through the City at around 7:30pm, and yeah, there was a long line of vehicles again:/
Nonetheless, it was one of the best summer days I had in my entire life. Everyone was joking around, playing, and enjoying the day. It was a very worth it and memorable experience with some of the people I love most. We managed to take pictures of that beach getaway, something that would remind us about how great that day was:)
GREAT VIEW. GREAT CONVERSATIONS. GREAT PEOPLE. ONE OF THE BEST DAYS EVAAAAAR! :)
