The Wandering Leon

 (July 2011) No, Virginia, we did not go to Lilliput nor did we see Gulliver or the tiny people known as Lilliputians. We went to a not so popular beach park in San Julian, Eastern Samar --- The Liliputan Rocky Beach Park. It was the last day of my short vacation in my hometown of Borongan so my folks decided to have some  R & R and head on to the beach after the fiesta in our barangay. But instead of just going to Cabong (a favorite place by Boronganons) they decided that we go to the nearby town of San Julian. Photos from isanjulian.bravehost.com Liliputan literally mean where one turns around a point, from the root word "liput" meaning to turn around a point. This can also mean a short cut. The way to the Liliputan Rocy Beach Park Rocky Beach Park Fees As you can see in the photo, rates are pretty cheap: Entrance Fee: Php5.00 Cottage Fee: Small - Php75.00 Medium - Php150.00 Large - Php200.00 Open Space with table: Php25.00 Use of shower/com...

ALABANG, Muntinlupa City – SPYDER, the brand that brought top-quality and high-performance multisport and motorcycling gears in the country, launched its summer season campaign for an more exciting, super active, and healthier summer activities with Spyder-Charge Your Summer 2012. Spyder hosted the week-long Spyder-Charge Your Summer 2012 mall event where newbies are introduced to the discipline of multisport by offering the highest quality of products – helmets, shades, eyewear, and other protective gears, accessories and products to enable a fun-filled engagement. The event featured a series of activities to invite the interest of mall-goers. A range of activities including hourly raffles, photo-ops on standees and photowalls, and trivia games were held throughout the whole week to spice up the event. Spyder-charge was conducted against a stage resembling a mountain beach resort to capture that summer ambience. Team Spyder checking out the hottest gears on display at Festiv...

    Quiet, unassuming, modest. These may be the words to describe Quick-Snack, a popular but hidden dining place in Carvajal Street, Binondo, Manila. The street itself is filled with wet market finds like vegetables, fruits and sea food (minus the wet part, which deserves a thumbs up) you will not notice that Quick-Snack is actually inside.   We were brought to this hidden food haven by Jeff Siy, the man behind the popular website Boy Kuripot and his girlfriend, Melody Co also known as, Girl Kuripot along with some new found friends who tagged along with Journeying Jame s on the first day of his 100 days of  backpacking in the Philippines.  Quick-Snack serves Filipino-Chinese dishes and the prices are reasonable. The servings are good for two if you are not that hungry. I ordered their Lomi and was surprised that it was a really big bowl of piping hot noodles in thick broth. It was a LOMI to remember. Also recommended according to Yahoo Philippines are...

It was a slow day at the office and I was not really expecting something in the mail so it was a surprise to receive the postcard sent by the uber popular globetrotter Gay Mitra Emami a.k.a. Pinay Travel Junkie . I don't remember the last time I got a letter or a postcard via snail mail and I surely appreciate receiving something that is not electronic. I met Gay in February of 2011 when we were chosen to go to Batanes along with other bloggers. We all quickly hit it off like we knew each other from Adam. If you want to know more about her, you can just read her awesome blogs and watch her in this promotional video for Couchsurfing. What is in the postcard, you ask? Well it is from Teotihuacan, which according to the ever reliable Wikipedia is an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico , just 30 miles northeast of Mexico City, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas . Apart from the pyramidal structures, Teotihu...

The Swiss may had more fun back in 1951 but it's now 2012 and the Philippines is bringing in more fun. Break it down, Y'all! Ok, my rapping skills are not up to par but you cannot deny the fact that the new slogan, copied or not is catchier and more fun (pun intended) than its predecessor. So why don't we just support the Department of Tourism and help in promoting the 7,107 islands we call home to potential visitors (Yes, you Swiss are included, we don't care if it's more fun in Berne or Zurich). Here are some of my entries to the slogan which has gone viral in the world wide web. More to come peeps.

In a few hours we will be celebrating Christmas so I chose to post the photos I took of of our city hall here in Muntinlupa. The government building's Christmas theme for this year is Alice in Wonderland and it has quite become a tourist attraction as some people go there to take pictures or just admire the bright lights. I passed by the city hall and I could not help but take some pictures.These were taken using my Nikon Coolpix L20 point and shoot camera's night mode. Merry Christmas everyone, may we all be remember the real reason for the most wonderful time of the year.

I bought this book way back in high school and it intensified my wanderlust. It's pretty mind boggling for someone to travel sans the comfort and speed of airplanes but I did understand what he was going for.  Here's a description of the book: By the time that travel writer Jeff Greenwald hit his late thirties, he had covered more ground than Magellan, Marco Polo, and Columbus combined. But he also came to a sobering conclusion: airplanes had reduced his exotic explorations to a series of long commutes. So he set out to rediscover the mass, the gravity, and the size of the world. His mission: to circle the earth without leaving its surface. What followed was a remarkable odyssey, as Greenwald scaled an active volcano in Guatemala, rode a rat-infested ferry across the Persian Gulf, dropped by Paul Bowles's flat unannounced, saved a baby snow leopard in Tibet, and spent his fortieth birthday marooned in the Sahara. And no matter where he found himself, he sent ...

All Saints Day is being celebrated in the Philippines today so people trooped to the cemeteries to visit their dearly departed loved ones. Since I do not have anything to post about this day, let me just post this photo. Ang mga Bugoy This was way back in college when our professor ask  us to visit certain historical places in the Metro. It was my first time to pose for a photo right beside a grave. In this case the old grave of Dr. Jose Rizal. And we were all smiles. What were we thinking?

  I had the privilege of meeting the gorgeous Shamcey Supsup, you must be familiar with her and all as she had recently won 3rd runner-up in the Miss Universe beauty pageant. A simpleton like me would never imagine that I would get close to her lest be in the same room with her. But thanks to the people from Pizza Hut Philippines, I finally met her along with other bloggers who were invited to meet her as part of their marketing campaign for the new Tuscani Pizza. Is Shamcey really pretty in person? Yes, svelte and tall, the kind of girl who I stare at from afar and know would never fall for me in a million years. Oops, TMI dear readers.    The new Tuscani Pizza actually reminds me of Yellow Cab's, not the pan pizza you grew up with but it is not also the thin crust variety. It comes in four variants: Supremo, Premium All-Meat, 3-Cheese Bacon and Spinach, Gourmet Chicken and Roast Beef. We sampled the Supremo and Premium All-Meat and all I have to say is it is tasty. As...

I have been living in Muntinlupa for the past 10 years (not counting the 5 years I spent back in grade school) and I am ashamed of the fact that I have not checked out the sights in this lovely city I call home. Had it not for my office mate Rai who mentioned that there is an interesting statue very near Festival Mall, I would have continued to be oblivious of its existence. The Triumph of Science over Death (Left) The statue I am talking about is a replica of The Triumph of Science Over Death , a clay sculpture made by Dr. Jose Rizal as a gift to his friend Ferdinand Blumentritt. According to my good friend Wikipedia, (aside from Google) the original sculpture is now displayed a the Rizal Shrine Museum at Fort Santiago in Intramuros, Manila. Another replica, made of concrete, stands in front of Fernando Calderón Hall of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine along Pedro Gil St. in Ermita, Manila. To satisfy my curiosity and redeem myself for my ignorance of thi...

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts’ (NCCA) annual celebration of National Indigenous Peoples’ Month moves to Davao Region in Mindanao with Tagum City as its main venue. This October, Dayaw: Indigenous Peoples Festival 2011, under the auspices of the NCCA’s Subcommission on Cultural Communities and Traditional Arts and Mindanawon Foundation, in partnership with local governments, government agencies and the private sector, focuses the spotlight on the country’s indigenous peoples, celebrating their arts and ways of life, discussing important issues and making more people aware of the richness and importance of indigenous cultures. The leaders and representatives of more than 100 indigenous peoples of the Philippines will converge together for the five-day event in the first week of October to showcase their rituals, performing arts, cuisines, games, crafts and others. Additionally, they will be joined by delegates from six Southeast Asian countries in simultaneous excha...

I left my hometown back when I was four years old and did not come back till 2006 when I came for a vacation after resigning from my first job. It was a great trip as it energized me and gave me time to think about what I should be doing with my life. I came back in 2009 and have been going "home" for the past three years. I schedule my annual trip to Borongan every second week of July as it is the fiesta in our small barangay, Brgy. Pepilitan. Borongan's feast is held every September but I choose to come home for Pepilitan's celebration. Christenings are usually held during this time and I was even asked to be the godparent for a cousin's daughter last year. For the second straight year I traveled alone and thanks to an office mate, I was able to buy tickets at a promo fare. There is no direct flight to Borongan so Tacloban is the usual gateway to Region 8 (where Eastern Samar belongs to), from there you just have to endure the four-hour land travel to Borong...