A Date with My Niece

Shanen Lei Yuna F. Matulac

My “super kulet” niece. She’s 2 years old. Her favourite line- “ano yun?”, “ano to?”. She loves to sing. She can sing the alphabet. Her favourite song to sing “All by Myself” by Celine Dion, when in the mood bumibirit pa. She loves Dora, Spongebob and Angry Birds.

One morning, im so jaded and I have to do the groceries for our store. I noticed my niece playfully aggravating at my side and I thought she would be up to a day out so I brought her with me to the supermarket.

On the supermarket’s back  entrance, she pointed out people on the side taking snacks and said “ano yun?!”, I told her “mga tao un” and she answered me back “mga tao pala yun?!” hahaha!

I told her I’d snapped a photo of her and she postured this kind of pose my mom really hates, her eyes pitched.

she saw a big lollipop..

Shanen: gusto ko lollipop

Me: wag yan mahal yan tsaka sobrang laki baka di mo maubos

Shanen: ubos ko yan

Shanen: ay mahal pala to! (on the counter, holding the lollipop)

As if she realized its price  haha!

When were already on the counter, she pulled me to the tiangge across the supermarket’s counter and…

Shanen: gusto ko laruan, bili tayo

Me: wala tayo pera

Shanen: meron

Me: asan? Wala nga!

Shanen: eh meron ka pera dyan sa wallet mo

Me: (laughing already) hindi pwede to kasi pambayad naten sa grocery

She stopped pulling me and we went back to the counter. Madaling kausap hehehe

When I have to pay for the groceries I opened my pouch and she saw the money…

Shanen: ayan oh limang daan! Tara bilhin naten yung laruan, tara tara

Hahaha! I cant stop laughing. Children’s innocence were really cute.

when were done with the groceries…

Me: uwi na tayo

Shanen: ih ayoko

Me: eh saan tayo pupunta?

Shanen:  dun sa tom tom tsaka sa bajee (her version of Tom’s World and Jollibee)

Posing with her favorites.

Me: nagugutom ako, kain tayo

Shanen: dun tayo kain sa bajee

Me: wag na ang dami tao eh, sa Mang Inasal na lang tayo kain

Shanen: sige (madali talaga kausap)

In Mang Inasal she just watched me eat.

Me: kain ka oh

Shanen: ayaw

Me: pano yan papanoorin mo lang ako kumain, wala kang pagkain

Shanen: meron na ko pagkain ih

Me: asan?

Shanen: eto oh! (Referring to her lollipop, matipid hehe)

Me: oh pose ka dun sa tabi ng maniquin pipicturan kita

Shanen: ayoko!

Me: bakit?

Shanen: takot ako ih..

Me: bakit ka naman matatakot eh maniquin lang yan

Shanen: takot ako..kasi wala mata..oh tingnan mo wala mata

But still she possed with the non-eyed maniquin hahaha.

We walked through the boutiques and when Im supposed to enter one she said, while pulling my hand against the boutique’s door, “wag ka na  pasok dyan, wag ka na bili dyan uwi na tayo” and I was like “ok, ok uwi na tayo”. But then on our way out she saw slippers with her favourite character on it, angry birds, she try it on. “gusto mu ba yan?” umiling lang sya hahaha and I told her “di mo pala gusto yan sukat sukat ka pa halika na nga” buti hindi nagalit yung tindera hehehe.

“A child can ask questions that a wise man cannot answer.”

“Having a 2-year-old is like having a blender that you don’t have the top for.” –Jerry Seinfeld

“Children make you want to start life over again.” –Muhammad Ali

My TRAVEL Quotes Collection

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine


“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” – Robert Louis Stevenson


“He who does not travel does not know the value of men.” – Moorish proverb


“People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home.” – Dagobert D. Runes


“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.” – John Steinbeck


“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” – Lin Yutang

“All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.” – Samuel Johnson

“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller

″A traveler without observation is a bird without wings.” – Moslih Eddin Saadi

“To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” – Freya Stark

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” – Miriam Beard

“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” – Martin Buber

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” – Jawaharial Nehru

“Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.” – Paul Theroux

“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by.” – Robert Frost

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” – Lao Tzu

“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” – Lao Tzu

“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” – James Michener

“The journey not the arrival matters.” – T. S. Eliot

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” – Tim Cahill

“Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.” – Benjamin Disraeli

“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” – Maya Angelou

“Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.” – Seneca

“What you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do – especially in other people’s minds. When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.” – William Least Heat Moon

“To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” – Aldous Huxley

“Travel is glamorous only in retrospect.” – Paul Theroux

“The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – G. K. Chesterton

“When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” – Clifton Fadiman

“A wise traveler never despises his own country.” – Carlo Goldoni

"When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money".

"Most travel is best of all in the anticipation or the remembering; the reality has more to do with losing your luggage". --Regina Nadelson

"When setting out on a photographic holiday, always provide yourself with two cameras, one to leave in the train going and the other to leave in the cab coming back." --W.C.Sellar & R.J.Yeatman.

"A tourist is a fellow who drives thousands of miles so he can be photographed standing in front of his car." --Emile Ganest

"'Travel' is the name of a modern disease which became rampant in the mid-fifties and is still spreading. The disease - its scientific name is travelitis furiosus - is carried by a germ called prosperity." --George Mikes.

"Kilometers are shorter than miles. Save gas, take your next trip in kilometers." --George Carlin

"To travel is to possess the world". --Burton Holmes

"The worst thing about being a tourist is having other tourists recognize you as a tourist". --Russell Baker

"Don't tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you have traveled."  --Mohammed

"Travelling is like flirting with life. It's like saying, 'I would stay and love you, but I have to go; this is my station". --Lisa St. Aubin de Teran

The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes "sight seeing". --Daniel J. Boorstin

“Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.” --Alexander Solzhenitsyn

“Travel is the frivolous part of serious lives, and the serious part of frivolous ones.”  --Anne Sophie Swetchine 

”A good traveler is one who does not know where he is going to, and a perfect traveler does not know where he came from.”

CORON - Enchanted Paradise

Coron, Palawan- a paradise.  

When I first saw pictures of Coron in the internet I told myself, I must witness its beauty! Whenever I want to go on a vacation Coron was, indeed, my first on the list, but circumstances and budget never compromise, until…hmmm my friend Ashell called me one night of February and ask me if I want to go with her and her boyfriend, Paulo. They’ve already booked a flight to Coron as a celebration of their 9^th year anniversary as bf-gf, I didn’t think twice, right there and then I immediately booked a flight. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for…and comes april 2, 2011!

Our fare costs Php3,200+ roundtrip, but promo fares were cheaper.

On-board, we saw the Apo Reef.

Francisco B. Reyes Airport in Busuanga. We arrived in Busuanga Airport 2:30pm and we travelled to Darayonan Lodge through their service vehicle for about 30 minutes.

We stayed at Darayonan Lodge.

The owner of this lodge was my friend’s client that’s why our package tour that originally cost Php6,000 became Php5,200. Package inclusions:  roundtrip transfers from airport to lodge, 4d/3n hotel accommodation with lunch and breakfast, island hopping (boat, all entrances to islands included). 

I didnt got to have the opportunity, so if ever you'd read this I would like to thank you Sir Chin of Darayonan Lodge for the best accommodation ever and also the complimentary dinner ;). Hope to be here again!

We took our late lunch at 3:00pm and after a 15-min rest we started our Coron Adventure. The package tour includes the tour guide and our guide took us first to Coron Souvenir and Gift Shop. 

After  we bought some souvenirs we headed to climb the 700 steps of Mt. Tapyas. 

Our tour guide said that natives call this view as the sleeping male giant. I’ll leave it to you wondering why a male giant..hehehe…

The large metal cross on top of Mt. Tapyas.

On the other side of Mt. Tapyas.

Our tour guide told us that Maquinit Hotspring would be on our next day intinerary but we insisted to go there right after the climb at Mt. Tapyas. The 40-degree Celcius temperature was almost sweltering at first dip, but we eventually got the hang of it. The water was just very soothing, really perfect after an afternoon climb at Mt. Tapyas. This is the only saltwater spring in the whole of Asia and its waters sprouts from the nearby Dalara Mountain, a dormant volcano.  It was open from 6am – 10pm (guests may stay longer if they wish but the lights would be turned off by 10pm). 

After an hour of sleep we decided to took our dinner at Kawayanan Grill Station. Eventhough its slightly cozy it’s still a very nice place to dine plus they have some acoustic  singer to serenade the people while eating and their food was also appetizing.

A view of Mt. Tapyas.

The gateway to my favorite Kayangan Lake.

To reach the lake we have to hike uneven stone stairs. Worst than hiking Mt. Tapyas but its really worthit when you see the lake...mesmerizing, captivating, once I saw it in front of me I immediately fall in love with its magical beauty.

Kayangan Lake is known to be the cleanest lake in the whole country.  

I just really don’t want to come up off the water. I want to stay here until night falls cause our guide told us that the waters of Kayangan look even more magical on a full moon. Visiting hours for the lake however is limited between 8am to 4pm so I guess a special arrangement would have to be made in order to witness that affair.

This cave is located at the half-climb to Kayangan Lake.

Known to be as the most photographed part of Coron, this is the breathtaking view from the cave.

Twin Peaks.

 Also a snorkelling area, but we decided not to go down to the water because there were so many sea urchins. I was afraid of them so we just did a photo session, my favorite hehehe.

Caliwantay Beach, here we ate our lunch, played in the sand and of course pictorials..haaaay this is life!

Twin Lagoon – two lagoons separated by a wall of rock. During low tide, an opening at the base of the cliff appears, enabling swimmers to cross to the other lagoon. And luckily it’s a low tide when we got there. If you don’t feel like swimming to enter the lagoon there is a “balsa” for rent which can take you back and forth the lagoon. If I’m not mistaken its Php20.00, but manong was kind enough to let us ride for free hahaha. 

On our 3^rd day we headed to Siete Pecados for snorkelling. Its more enjoyable if the current was not that strong. It freaked me out when suddenly my hand slipped the rope that was connected to the boat hahaha!..

Behind the stones- Barracuda Lake

30-80 feet high they say its called Barracuda Lake, cause they’ve been seeing barracudas here, not just barracuda but really big barracuda.

 I once read, that nothing really compares in eating good food outdoors, on a beach with your bare feet dangling and touching the fine sand below, well, it cannot be more right.

I hope, somehow, these could help you on your future travel to Coron.

"A traveler without observation is like a bird without wings." -Moslih Eddin Saadi