BOHOL PHOTO DIARY

When we say Bohol, congruently what comes to mind are Chocolate Hills and Tarsiers. Somehow its a mystery how these hills have been in formation but mostly an acceptable answer would be due to geological phenomenon. It's amazing how nature can create beautiful visuals. It was raining when I visited the hills so I was caught off guard with no umbrella running around the place searching for cover. Which was not of a success ended up walking in the rain. But the rainbow was enough to make me smile after all.

Another sweet encounter of mine were those tiny creature hugging tree inhabitants, Tarsiers. I was in awe when I saw how delicate and little they were.They say you're not allowed to touch them because they will commit suicide, I wonder if this is true.

Beyond the Chocolate Hills and Tarsiers exist the Bohol Bee Farm Resort and Restaurant known for its organic vibe.  It had a homey feel and here I went a little crazy buying products from lotions, shampoo, conditioner, and I could not even remember the rest because of its variety. Plus I had that moments of sweet indulgence with their uniquely flavored ice cream. Mind you, you could even eat flowers since some recipes have ingredients of flowers in it. How edible!

photos by Ian Criman and Me

Finally glad to collectively put all these photos, there are a whole lot more in my files but I think these are enough snippets to share (or I might be guilty of photo bombing). If you have strong love for nature, Bohol is a place to visit. Truly it gave me that rustic feel ambiance of nature.

BLUE MONOCHROME

Lately I've been posting photos of flowers in my Instagram account, my penchant for flowers seems to be growing. And I thought these photos when I was in Subic Bay, which has been hiding in my hard drive for quite a while, were perfect to justify my strong liking. Sashaying around in my yet another chiffon blue vintage blouse (sick of chiffon now?), Bayo skirt, CLN wedge sandals was the outfit deemed necessary for the weather. I like how the monochromatic blue gives contrast to the overly powered hued colors in my surroundings.

 One of the prettiest places I've seen so far. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said "Earth laughs in flowers."

BACOLOD

 Bacolod City, the most densely populated city of the province Negros Occidental. Indeed it has been my second home since some of our relatives live here other than Iloilo where I grew up. Highly notable for the MassKara Festival (ironically, I haven't experienced yet) and most of all the friendly smiles you get from people thus bearing the nickname the "City of Smiles". Plus I love the sunny weather in the city, it gave me enough reason to take lots of photos.

Let's direct the topic on the photos, well some of the photos here are shot by Ms. Meng Amihan in which after, I just did a little tweak on Photoshop. Enough of me blabbing, hope these photos feed your visual minds. x

photos by: Meng Amihan and me

"My cheeks were reflecting the longest wavelength...", I believe so, literally. Playing tourist in my second hometown, running around Ruins, indulging on Calea cakes, and being with my family were some of the activities to mention.  My last day before leaving was dedicated to buying a lot of bring home gifts and eating a lot of "chicken inasal" which is pretty authentic in Bacolod. I could say it is much more delicious though it is available in Manila. Let's direct the topic to the last photo which is kind of my favorite, Provincial Capitol building, the structure says it all. The quintessential neo-colonial design draws attention, in my mind I was wishing if only I came during daylight.

I tried arranging the photos according to sequence of situation but clearly I failed ended up, disheveled.

P.S.: Gained knowledge on how to edit the first photo through Pugly Pixel's blog. Cheers!

RIVER

Intending to share these for a while but lately I feel like I've been caught up in web-like situation literally and figuratively. Spent days contemplating on designing my website, burning the midnight oil with css, html, and java (those three words appear even in my dreams) and there are those days where situations start as dreamy and end up nightmare-ish, wishing that I am skydiving instead of being stuck up in that whole fiasco. Enough blabber about uncertainties in life.

 

A few months ago I was in Bacolod visiting my relatives for birthday celebrations and gathering. Going around the city, playing tourist, was fun. This particular resort we went to is known for its hot spring, people swarming all over the place justified it indeed. Mambukal resort is not as ordinary as you may think because even I was surprised that it caters to different areas of leisure such as hot spring (which has sulfur in it as they say), pools, bat watching, waterfalls, butterfly garden, kayaking... oh believe me the list goes on. I become eventually acquainted with nature walking, chasing bats, hopping over stones in the river and a comforting foot massage at the spa to complement my almost tired feet. 

 

The sun was just not too friendly for me during those moments, blamed it on noon time. Striking hot resulted to face undergoing a low blow meltdown. On the bright side the soft shade of oversized pink chiffon thrifted blouse effortlessly paired with Ksubi denim shorts gave me the good feeling of walking around. The blouse gave me that winged feeling making it necessary to twirl in circumference. The hand me down loafer shoes kept my feet ache free despite the maul of endless walk.

 

The place captivated me in all sorts of definition connected with nature, a simple reason for me to go back.

photos by Meng Amihan