September 11th

[Part I]

It's 9am, Saturday.
My Dad's old friend from high school, Andrew, owns a string of hotels in the Philippines. And we're at one right now, for a birthday luncheon.

The Miss Bicol 2010 is here in attendance.
She isn't so bad looking.
So, not many good things could come out of this. Haha

Here are three possible outcomes:

1. Nothing happens. And no one does anything embarrassing.
2. She notices me for my magnetically charming good looks, and imagines herself on top.
3. She notices me, because Andrew (as the MC) points me out of the crowd in attendance to Miss Bicol, forcing an unavoidable embarrassing moment.

[Come on, the outcome is obvious. Haha.]

Lessons 7:
I need a damn girlfriend.
Lol.

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[Part II]

Damn it seems really late.
It's 9:30.

I've been taking down San Miguel's, like a house party in Jax.

This feels familiar.
But with my parents, and parent's friends around instead.

[I want to listen to techno now.]

Lesson 8:
I think this is the first night I missed being home.


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September 10th [Photos]

With bags packed high to the sky, to my right and left.

And discomfort in my legs for a good 8 hours...

The last thing I worried about was taking pictures of the blurry road, that I surely wouldn't be able to capture with my Hipsta.

So I waited till we got into Bicol.

After checking into our hotel in Naga, we went to the mall to see what was all the rage.

And for food.

Some seriously good pizza.
It's a Filipino staple, and I believe that have some franchises on the West Coast.
That'll be on my to-do-list next to In-N-Out, when I go back out west.

Desserts

Doesn't do any justice, to how many were actually there.

The Market

First Floor, Second Floor

Madre, Padre

Books are all the rage.

Old Cathedral

There was a pre-festival to the real festival.

That blue cross reminds me of Romeo + Juliet.
[The modern one with Leo and Claire.]

It was a late night [especially from the time on the road].

So back to our quarters; sleep is good.

///

September 10th

Leaving Tagaytay for Bicol now.
From what I understand it's a 8 hour drive, so it should be dark by the time we arrive.

Cooped in the back seat with bags packed head high...
Sounds like it will be quite a poke at my claustrophobia.

Hopefully I arrive to some decent WiFi.
That would be a present for my troubles.

Lesson 6:
I found out dogs that nurse pups have utters. I think they're called something else though.

Weird.


///

September 9th [Photos]

The day started and finished in a white company car.

One of my parents' motives on this Philippine trip was to find a place; a property that they can stay at when they travel back into the Philippines (which will be common and soon). 

Tagaytay is just a short trip from Metro Manila, thus would be an appropriate place to invest thats both far enough and short enough from the busy-ness.

So, we looked at South Forbes Golf Community in Santa Rosa.

Long story short... my parents bought a condo. Or apartment.
Frankly, I don't know what to call it; I wasn't really paying too much attention. Haha.

View from the balconies.
Serene.

Loft stairs.

Lots of windows.

My dad wasn't quite excited about the lack of privacy in a loft.

More display of windows.
Natural light like whoa.
...Has to be the best way to go green.

View of the other side.
Weak sauce.

I liked these shutters, and the awkward composition.

Parking lot side of the condos.

Diagonals

Road cut through the hills.
Nature vs. infrastructure.

Hypnotiq.
Nah, not really.

Paperwork and estimations.

The conceptual master plan of the South Forbes development.

This brought me back to my days when I used to collect pamphlets
and brochures for looking at houses and communities with my parents.
I always had a fascination for land developing and architecture.
[Kinda still do.]

The golf course was a beauty.
[But I later found out, it wasn't too much fun. Target golfing is foreign to me.]

The 18th hole.
Par 3, 150 yards... down.

Pastries and desserts.
Road side.

Seriously, I have never seen dogs with utters.
I saw tons of this trip.

///

September 8th [Photos]

Super short day... or maybe just a flat battery on the iPhone.

I think this was the last day in Tagaytay. 

I like to think of it as getting to the 1/3 point of the trip.

China-like.

They should have saved money, by having just one arrow point all.

This was proof of my horrible conditioning.
But it was great getting back on the court.
Does anyone want to play with me on a normal basis?

Didn't get to school my dad.
But its obvious how it would have turned out.

Last stop on most the nights in Tagaytay [in the clubhouse].
As said previously, the WiFi was there... but might as well not be.

///

September 8th

I believe it's Day 9. [Correction: Day 8]
It's hard to tell with the time zone change.

At this very particular moment, I am pretty irritable.
I'm in the clubhouse right now.
WiFi isn't available anywhere else on the resort.

But what pushes me over the edge is that this WiFi is terrible.

Fucking...
Terrible...
Connectivity.

It might as well not exist.

Moving forward.

------------------------------

I'm pretty damn exhausted so far.
And it's not a bad thing I suppose, cause it means I've been active.

• Waking up at 7am everyday.
• 2 rounds of golf (on foot).
• Horseback riding and trekking a volcano the other day.
• Tennis this morning.
• And all free time in between, spent walking through the town.
• And can't forget... eating. Lots and lots of eating.

All of this put together is mentally and physically exhausting.
My inner thighs are burning hardcore.

Today though, it's raining.

So, this marks my chance to recuperate.

Lesson 5:
[Lesson 5 is more of a self-realization, but oh well.]

I'm more out of shape than I've ever been in my life. And binge eating at every meal, isn't really helping.


///

September 7th [Photos]

Relax. 

September 7th was chill. The whole day was like a day of napping.

But with the ocean in your ear.

We drove out to the coast with my uncle and aunt.

They got us into their gated community.

Real exclusive.

By this point, I was looking at the pool and the cabana areas.
And then when I checked my phone, I had WiFi.

Shht, I was fucking set.
[In my head, I was thinking... I'm not going no where.]

Like a mirror.

The infinity pool overlooking the South China Sea.
[Did I say that I was fucking set?]

Minutes after looking at that pool and clubhouse,
having perfect WiFi, and figuring out what sissy drink I should order...

We left.
Fkk Lol.
[I should think less, and say more.]

We went to a beach resort. Lol.
And I know what you are thinking. [Matt... you're a dick.]
Fair assessment, but this resort didn't have WiFi, haha.

Seriously beyond the fact that I had no WiFi, I had a really chill time at the resort.
Actually, this pool in particular (the one above) was being used to shoot a full blown action movie.
Guns, knives, and girls in bikinis [All the makings of a straight-to-DVD movie].

(I recorded a scene with my Playsport, like a true pirate.)

XX

Dos Equis

Cabana

Clusterfuck

Dad staring at the sun.

Uncle

One of the best photos of the trip.

Filming crew or hotel crew. One of the two.

Reminds me of Jack Johnson.

On And On

BluBlocker filter for my iPhone.
Lol, real expensive shit.

Graphic quality.

This looks something like paradise.

Ok, this is basically paradise...


Without WiFi.

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