Dingalan is a third class municipality in the province of Aurora. It is bounded on the west by the provinces of Nueva Ecija and Bulacan, on the south by Quezon Province and Pacific Ocean on the east.




Let me introduce this newest attraction in Dingalan, Aurora and dubbed as "Batanes of the east".
Upon touchdown to White Beach Resort, we hiked up to the mountain where the lighthouse stood.
Ascending was easy at first but there were steep and slippery parts (*Madulas yung daan. Mainit. Matarik. Basagan ng tuhod ang laban - bagay na nakasanayan ko na ng mabasag ang puso ko*) because of the continous rain that make the hike even more difficult. You can get to the top 20-30 mins approximately
Everything will be worth it once you saw the view on the top. As you ascend, you'll notice the strong breeze you'd think it'll carried you by it. Surrounded by the mountain ranges and sea breeze would be the most peaceful sceneries and took your breathe away.
The majestic, awesome, spectacular view that made me feel like I was in Batanes.


Embrace the Nature!






PS: We rented a van from Manila- Nueva but you can also take this itinerary
From Cubao, take a bus (5star, ES, etc) going to Cabanatuan. Fare is Php185. Ask the driver to drop you off sa Cabanatuan Terminal. Travel time is around 3-4hours.
From Cabanatuan Grand Terminal, take a van (Php100) or bus (Php80) going to Dingalan. Ask them to drop you off sa Dingalan Port or bayan(you may rent a trike to get you to feeder port) Travel time is around 2 hours.
From Dingalan port you need to ride a boat to get there , it would normally cost 500-750 and take 30 mins travel time.
Take note:
Last trip from Dingalan to Cabanatuan is 3:00pm.
You may pitch your tent sa white beach.
Buy all the stuff you need if you're planning for an overnight in the beach.

If you want to hike and escape away from Manila's heat. Mt.ulap will suit you well. Mt.Ulap Eco-trail  is in close proximity to Baguio City , a less-than-an-hour drive.

One of my office close friends set this hike for his birthday celebration. From Manila, we rented a van going to Baguio around 11pm. We're on the way and my officemate didn't have any idea that we have a surprised for his birthday by 12mn.
(We wrote our greetings on a sticky note and put it on the jar with matching birthday cupcake).

Happy Birthday my frenemy  Felmer 😘

We arrived in Baguio around 4:30AM in the morning. We registered first at the baranggay hall and started to hike at 5:30AM
A number of peaks and points of attraction are traversed via this relaxing trail: from the grassland slopes of Ambunao Paoay to Gungal Rock, and then to the highest point, Mt. Ulap







Hiking time is roughly around 4 – 5 hours, according to your hike pace and will return to the Barangay Hall after.

Im PINE here 😂 #HugotBundok

                                             

The trail was surrounded with pine trees, some still glowing with a youthful green color, their leaves bathed in yellow morning hue.


We reached the summit around past 10 in the morning but got no clearing (Sobrang labo, parang tayo) We rested and took some “pang-profile pic” photos near a rock hanging of a cliff. “Onting usog pa, 200 likes na ‘yan,” I said to the amusement of others.

Sobrang Fog at Gungal Rock

ITINERARY
21:00 Take van- Itogon Benguet
04:00 Arrived Itogon Benguet Baranggay hall
05:30 Start ascend
07:30 ETA Gungol Rock
10:00 ETA Mt. Ulap summit
10:15 Start Descend
11:30 Back to Baranggay Hall
01:30 Travel back to Baguio
04:30 Back in Baguio (Drop by in Baguio market)
06:00 Dinner at Goodtaste
07:30 Back to Manila
By public transport
Take bus from Manila to Baguio)
Take jeepney from Baguio to Brgy. Ampucao (P50)
ETA Brgy. Ampucao. Head to barangay hall. Register / Secure guides
Start trek
ETA Gungol Rock
ETA Mt. Ulap summit
Visit Burial Caves
Arrival at Sta. Fe exit point. Wait for jeepney back to Baguio
Back in Baguio City (and then to Manila)

Location: Brgy San Jose, Tagaytay City, Cavite. It is just near the Tagaytay Rotunda, less than 5 minutes walk from there. It it just below the Cityland Tower.

We usually go to a cafe to meet up, but most coffee shops are crowded with people having meetings, but this time i found place where It's the perfect place to chill with your friends especially when you're the type who wants to try out different places and want to catch instagram worthy posts

Dreamland cafe is a indie theme cafe located in tagaytay few hrs drive away from the city. It is where you can dine and dream and also shop for arts and crafts at the same time.
According to the Phoebe Duran, a fellow dreamer and the owner of the cafe, he once dreamt for this cafe and boutique at the same time. That's why came up with "Dreamland", on the other hand arts and crafts cafe means "let's share our love for arts and crafts



***IT PROMOTES  SOCIAL MEDIA DETOX!!!
It is very different compared with other coffee shops, this is a no wifi area. I love that idea, cause everytime we're having friends hangout, everyone are glued on the phonescreens and don't really talk with each other.
you can rest easy and fill your time with activities that brings simple joy and contentment -- coloring, doodling, arts and crafts, reading...or just closing your eyes and relishing the beauty of doing nothing.





They also offer shoes,accessories and other stuff. What attracts me the most inside the cafe store is the Dreamcatcher of various sizes, colors and design that you can also purchase.
A dreamcatcher is a handmade decor consisting of a small hoop containing a horsehair mesh, or a similar construction of string or yarn, decorated with feathers and beads. It is believed to give its owner good dreams and were originally made by American Indians.
The cafe is open 24/7.
So what are you waiting for, let's start and begin our dream here.

Selfie with the DreamCatcher!

Selfie, enjoyin the food!

Thank You Ninafe, for being my travel buddy always!

The most controversy about this restaurant is the Goto Monster Challenge. It has nine toppings : Tinapa flakes,tokwa,beef tripe,bagnet,shiitake mushrooms,lumpiang shanghai,toasted garlic spring onions and salted egg. Its equivalent of 6 to 10 servings. The brave one who will take the challenge needs to finish the content within 45 minutes or else pay PHP 750. Those who succeed get a free meal, a souvenir T-shirt and video documentation.

The Goto Monster restaurant was also featured in Unang Hirit and Umagang kay ganda recently, which really means it is a must try restaurant!

 The mountain ranges view from Mt.Hapunan Banoi

To the guy whom I thought my answered prayers


Its amid in the summer when our story begun
And the leaves started to fall like what happened to us.
One must let go to see brighter days

And for the last time, I want to say sorry
for leaving and keep you hangin on to a sea's of maybe
But i want you to understand that just because I'm the one who said goodbye
doesn't mean I already left.

Most of the days, I still find myself here 
left in the ruins of our love

Considering all the heartaches, and meals i skipped
reading those old converation and reminiscing all the memries
we spent for awhile

I remember the nights when i used the pillow sheets
to dry those eyes, begging myself to fall asleep to numb your loss
I used to avoid walking along the streets we usually pass by
I deleted great tunes on my playlist, afraid of the memries that keeps me haunting
I remember how i spent night staring at our old conversation 
I plead guilty of my crime for desperately stalking your profile

And I'm still waiting...

It took 3 months, 6 days, 5 hours and 45 seconds before i finally looked back
and feel no hurts anymore
And then i started this piece, Its an achievement unlocked
I've been out of prison hell now. 
I was able to stand up and healed those bruised and aching heart


And now I'm not waiting, waiting for an apology that may never come
waiting for that moment when you finally realize you lost a star when you chase the diamond.

And like what happened to love story in the movies
One day you came back knocking at the door
Told me all the dramas i've never heard from you before

But let me remind you, You're not gonna meet the same person twice
I'll shall not fail and trick to your sugar coated words no more
For how you had taught me to play games, And I used to like it now.

Maybe everyones reading this, may ask why I'm writing this if i didn't have any care at all


I wrote this, cause i want him to know that I forgive him
For all those heartaches, for killing me while I'm saving you

I forgive you for not uttering any word or phrase of apology
Dont need to feel guilty anymore, 
And you can stop sending me mixed signals
I will stop asking for explanations
I will stop pondering on what Ifs.

I hope you could forgive me for this,
My hands are now filled with scars and too tired
Too scared to continue holding on

That's life , we tend to love and got hurt

So this time, I need to burn the bridges 
To stop myself from crossing them again
We'll stand both ends of the burnt bridge, look at each other from the distance
but can never be too close enough

For now lets turned around from each other,
And maybe someday, somehow
We'll crossed our paths again, But not in the same bridge
Holding each other hands of the true love that we found. 

I'ts been a month since we had our last hiking adventure. The sun is brilliantly shining and before the summer ends , my hiking office buddies and I
decided to organize a summer hike with beach side trip. Originally we planned for a summer beach outing but ended up the other way around.
Around 8'oclock sunday morning (Saturday shift ended since we work in a graveyard shift. In short we didn't have sleep at all) When were heading off to batangas , I noticed that my wallet is missing. I tried to find it and realized that I left it in the restroom, to make the long story short, I thank God that I found my wallet. Of course, due to the unexpected things happened that morning, we didn't manage to follow our itinerary.

So we took a bus from Ayala going to Buendia LRT and the group meet up in Jacliner Bus station where we ride a bus going to Batangas Grand terminal. Since its a Sunday it just took us an hour and a half ride. From there we took a jeepney going to Phil Phan Dive Resort. Upon reaching Phil Phan dive resort the jumpoff point of Mt. Gulugod Baboy, we went straight to the registration site.



 Since it was a bit late already the group decided to just rent a room at Aguila beach resort (just a 30minute ride away from the jumpoff) and we asked a tricycle driver to fetch us before dawn then we'll start the hike.


The cottages are quite pricey, until we agreed to pay 650 pesos/ head. We just set our things inside the room and had a walk and swim in the beach till sunset.
Here are some pictures taken while stayin on the resort.



We're back to the resort when the heavy rain started to fall, and it lasted for several hours the struggle is real, when the rest of the team prepared for dinner and had a black out in the resort and got electricity back up after 2 hrs, its really a better idea to stay in the resort rather than camping on the top mountain with this kind of weather, At last we had roasted Liempo and Chicken for dinner. Yum! It was followed by a quick socials before lights off. The calming breeze made us sleep and hoping for a good weather tomorrow for our hike

As we checked the weather outside it seems to be a good weather ahead, Around past 4 in the morning, we packed all our things and prepared for an early day hike.
We start to ascend around 4:30 in the morning, For the security and safety of all hiker, every group are required to secure a guide and pay a minimal reg fee and we got 2 local guides

Along the trail, rest areas are provided and maintained by the local guides association. Trek here may take around 2 hours or more depending on one’s capability and the weather condition. Locals also sell soda    




We reached the summit around past 6 in the morning, A view from the summit will be the chasing sea of clouds, sun rising from the horizon, A breathtaking view up above and we took pictures before heading down

We did not have difficulties going down for it only took us half an hour to descend. We went back to the resort and had our breakfast, packed up all our stuff and left the resort at exactly 10 in the morning. We took a tricycle ride from Anilao port going to crossing where we can take a Jeepney ride going back to Grand terminal. We arrived at the Terminal around 1 in the afternoon and rode a bus going back to the City! After all the challenges/hardships (you choose) God guided us all throughout. It was a spontaneous weekend getaway with the most awesome friends i have. Looking forward to more hiking adventure with this squad!