There is something fishy in this post. Believe me :) 

I remember when I was a kid, I went to the market to accompany my mother to buy goods for a week supply. Market is the mecca of various finds. I’m very used to seeing meats, fishes, veggies to name a few and to the concoction of smell they made all together. I was always present every week back then for the sake of meryenda (snack) after interacting, haggling and hording all the corners of the market for fresh finds with my mom. Nowadays, going shopping for food becomes easy thanks to the sprouting grocery stores on every side of town complete with meat/fish/veggies section at the most convenient and air conditioned way. Now life became easy. 

Going to a market often reminds me of Yishai Golan and his adventures at the mercatos of the world. As much as possible, I want to immerse myself in the market to see, smell, feel what’s behind at busiest place of the town apart from its tourist attraction, which can tell us more about the place and its people and how market reflects their culture.

When I go traveling with my family, we always have this side agenda to visit their market. One reason was products sold in the market were cheaper aside from fresh goods and lots of variations to choose from. But apart from buying goods, I had this interest of observing life inside the market. I often not include a camera with me during market shopping because it can lure robbers or people will keep on gawking at me or more often even though there were plenty of pretty subjects to photograph at the Mercato, I was too shy to point the gear towards somewhere because back to reason number 2, my insecurity strikes when people look at me or on what I’m doing. How I wish I could be braver when it comes to photo taking..

But last April, we went to a talipapa (small market) in Dingalan, famous for its fresh fishes. I took advantaged when I saw lots of tourist with cameras tied on their necks so might as well take ninja shots. Which I did. I made it a point that my mom bought stuffs first (which is necessary) as an approval of taking photos of their goods or them as well. :) I took photos of fishes, vendors, five peso kropek, more fishes, stores, people, that edible fern, and more fishes. Certainly made this post fishy, agree?

I was born in Nueva Ecija and residing almost all my life at Science City of Munoz besides the years spent in college in Manila, but sadly that it took me almost 24 years before I was able to go and discover places inside my province. I was lame, yes, that little do I know that there were paradise existing here screaming not just the usual rice fields that we boast as our province’s main staple and livelihood. Last week (May 28-29), I was invited by my former house mate slash friend together with few of our co-RN HEALS 2 to their family rest house in Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija. We planned about this trip a year ago only to push thru just now.  One thing that really captivates me when we pass by Gabaldon during road trips before was the amazing picturesque, painting looking Sierra mountain ranges, so I am really enthralled when I knew that we were spending the night in a place beside the mountain. 

It was a paradise filled with varieties of flowers blossoming everywhere as if it were happy to see people like us, endearing us with its colors and beauty. It was a flower haven indeed. I fell for it at first sight and took photos of it like forever.  The place itself was conducive for relaxing as it selfishly keep itself privately (yes, we were only 8 that were present there plus the caretakers), with the absence of the wires of TV and all was abundantly catered by the nature to the guest was the eerie sound the beetle made serving as the OST of the night. But, we rolled the opposite way. Instead, we had a sleepless night of singing our lungs out, drinking our worries away, catching up with all the chickas, pigging out, pool dipping and playing ungguy-ungguyan (monkey-monkey) till the sun lightened our faces and called it a day. We literally rested for just an hour even though the tiredness kept on sinking in all our body parts but we still can’t keep up from dozing. After rolling at the bed for few times we rise up and decided to have breakfast. Charmed by the balsa floating at the fish pond, despite of fear of embarrassingly getting drown, I tried it out with Ashley. It was fun though we were out of track when it comes to direction most of the time and cant paddle with the bamboos making our frustrations rise up even more. After the frustrating balsa ride we went for a walk being allured by the beauty of nature and the photo junkie in me sipped into my veins again for the nth time of my life (well usually most of the times, LOL) and decided to have photo ops despite wearing “pantulog/pambahay/PJ’s” . Whatever, we didn’t really care. It doesn’t really stopped us even self consciously wondered how we look like in the captures. I absolutely love the yellow meadow that serve as a pretty venue as we relentlessly took photos of ourselves, sitting, lying down and posing to death. How I wished my self photos were not out of focus but unexpectedly it was, but still thanks to my friends because I can’t do it all by myself without the aid of tripod. As travel nomad slash travel blogger wannabe, I always make it a point to have at least have my own self be seen in the photo to the places I went to, to atleast make my blog post more of “ME” even it was enough and all good to see just the places and things and not me. LOL. All in all, I was happy to be able to spent a day with friends in a laid back atmosphere after almost 6 months. Our stay there even its just a night made us forget all the stress and worries even the need to Instagram. LOL. And oh if you’re interested to stay there for a night with friends, the whole place can be rented for php5K but we were spoiled being a friend’s guest that’s why we stayed there without spending a penny. Yeee.. :) How I wish our plan to join a summit maybe Pulag will push thru next year after all we were already been beside the mountain. Haha. Ok, that was a nice start up! :)

Last weekend (May 18-19), my family and I together with few families went to the eastern side of Central Luzon for the annual Free Masonry Lodge 326 family day. We were a part of a convoy of more than 10 vehicles including one coaster van that made way to a mountainous and dangerous sloping, twisting road trip through Sierra Madre mountain ranges. But travelling this way is not for fainthearted. Seriously. But if you love nature, surely you’ll surpass with your eyes fully satisfied with the greens. I can’t remember how many mountains we passed into but road tripping at this way with this kind of scenery offers not just virgin forestry and laid back neighborhoods but more of a change of perspective. We also got to see two pretty dams, the Pantabangan Dam in Nueva Ecija and Canili & Diayo Dam in Maria, Aurora which the only one I managed to have its photo taken against the bumpy travel, but both were a total eye porn. It brought more pain in the travel when we came across to some roads that was under construction and the bridge I called “one way pass at a time”  that not just insanely aggravates the hardships over the rocky and dusty roads but the danger as well. Hopefully the next time that I will travel again to Aurora, it will be way easier and comfortable after the promised developments in the province. After all, Aurora is becoming a tourist attraction lately. It just means, tourism equals more town income, more developments, more jobs. And I will live promoting tourism always in my own little way.

When we reached Aurora, it was a never ending road of coconut plantations traversing mountains beside the vastness of coast lines of Pacific Ocean. It was 2 hours more far than Baler, and I became more restless than ever, but I believe that the farther you get to, the prettier!

After 4 hours of long drive (from Munoz, but its an 8 hour drive from Manila), we finally arrived into our destination, the Dadiawan Beach Resort in Dipaculao, Aurora. Unlike the usual touristy surfing hub Baler, Dinadiawan is much more peaceful, tranquil and un-populated, A total remote area away from the bustling world, thus a perfect getaway for unwinding and relaxing. Though I packed a rash-guard in case of surfing, I was really surprised that the sea was flat (no waves) contrary to what I pictured about Aurora. Remember the crazy waves during our unexpected dip in Dingalan, Aurora??  Thus I floated away all my worries and relax myself to an endless sheets of the sea.

Dinadiawan is a white sand beach resort facing the Pacific ocean with an intoxicated view of mountains. It’s seascapes and landscapes rolled into one place. The beach resort has cabanas, cottages, tree house and air conditioned rooms for accommodations at affordable price but I saw few tents too if you’re up for a camping experience.

The beach resort is clean and pretty with music playing at the background until late night. There is also a small bar if you wished to hang out for few drinks or just sip buko juice while relaxing at the huts. At night, you could do bon fire or fly some light lanterns which we did after supper. There is a volleyball net at the beach if you wish to play ball but if you’re a thrill seeker type then try jet skiing or boating. And if you’re up for a more relaxing way then go for house massages also offered by the resort. But being a photo junkie, I rather take pictures first before anything else. I saw this part of the beach beside the resort with lots of rocks in different sizes scattered everywhere. I wished to bring home one huge rock as a souvenir that will last almost forever but I forgot about it until I got home. There were also few numbers of huts that houses families wherein fishing was their main livelihood. It was a pretty site for captures but I’m just too shy to cross the boundary that’s why I settled for few distant shots. Though Dinadiawan is some how remote, there are plenty of things to do when you’re there. Only one thing that I didn’t like was there was no Globe Telecom signal, so my phone was totally outcast for two days Boohoo. Okay, but if you’re up for a peaceful stay, then stay away from cellphones.

Aurora is one of the places of the country least explored but ever since Baler waves came crashing as a speedy gossip luring hard core surfers and even curious tourist to come over and experience its massiveness, little by little, it became known to almost all, attracting tourist everywhere around the globe. Moreover, It boast not only its beaches but also it is very rich in terms of history and nature. Would you believe that there is a balete tree in Aurora growing for almost 600+ years and now’s the Asia largest? A must see. There are lots of great things to discover in Aurora. More hidden treasured places awaits. Yayy.. I’ll definitely come back for more.

These photos were taken at a place called Tanawan (in english : viewdeck) in Aurora last April. After our swim day out in Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija, we decided to en route to Dingalan, Aurora for fresh finds to take home. Passing through a sloping road and at its peak is the Dingalan Bay View Site providing a panoramic view of green mountains of Sierra Madre, blue sea, and few huge rocks. We just stopped there for only about ten minutes, just too quick enough for few landscapes photos, photo ops and breathing fresh air while being captivated the entire time. The area is also lined with yellow bells and few rocks at the edge that I was too brave enough that I sat there and have my picture taken. And if I move wrongly or slide accidentally, I could die. Yayy. “Yan ang buwis buhay pose” (life threatening pose). Lol. And oh, did you notice the almost heart shape looking sun? I think that’s my favorite photo. :)

How I wish, mountains will remain green forever, however despite legal issue concerns, illegal logging and burning of land are still prominent in some areas . Too sad but that’s reality. I wonder how global warming conditions will be like after 5 years if nowadays we’re experiencing too much heat?  Boohoo!

If I have to make a blog post about my mother, I’ll certainly create a very long post about her but will still never be enough to describe how grateful I am to have her. Looking back, I saw the struggles my mom has to make to brought us all up. It’s never easy to be a mom. I know someday I’ll be one and I’m gonna understand my mother more. ( I guess that’s why my sisters understand her more)  I love my mom so much even though I’m not so vocal on how much she means to me. I may not be the good child all the time, But really, I love her and one day I know I can repay her back from all the love,time and effort she gave me.

This mother’s day I compiled four candid photographs of my mom and three of my sisters. Coincidentally, four photographs were taken at the beach of different places. It’s the mother’s hold, grip, touch, carry etc.. which equals to protection, love, care etc. I love capturing candid photographs because I believe true emotions are clearly shown instantly at a look. 

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there :)