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Island Tour to the Islands of Romblon, Philippines

Romblon, Philippines

Located in the heart of the Philippines lies the marble island of the country, the beautiful islands of Romblon. The 3 main islands that makes up the province are named Tablas, Sibuyan and Romblon. Separated and surrounded by the blue waters of the sea, these islands are abundant with the best of nature from the beautiful white sand beaches to the clean wonderful waterfalls, untouched small islands with uncrowded resorts and a lot more tourist destinations.

I am a proud Romblomanon, born and raised in the capital of the province, Romblon, Romblon. With my family, blessed and know how lucky we are to have seen the wonders of these islands. Island hopping adventure was one of our hobbies especially going through a motorcycle island tour. These are compiled stories of adventure that will navigate you to the unspoiled wonders and undiscovered treasures of this small island, Romblon.

ROMBLON, ROMBLON

Considered to be the marble island of the country; this island contains the main product that the whole province is known for. The island is rich with Marble Stone in which the people or the locals earn their way of living. The marble stone gets handcrafted or machine processed and are then sent to businesses to different parts of the country and even exported by some locals to different parts of the world.

Romblon, Romblon is not only about marble stone, you can also find fine white sand beaches in the main island to the small islands that surrounded it. Some islands are uninhabited and some are uncrowded which are inhabited only by few local people and are very attractive for tourists and island adventurers. . There are 3 small isolated islands in Romblon,Romblon, these are the virgin islands of Logbon, Alad and Cobrador.

Few kilometers from the main town of the island is the place called Brgy. Lonos, where my family’s residence is and where you can find the white beaches that are considered as the 2 main attractions or tourist destinations of Romblon,Romblon. You can walk in a long white sand bar of Bonbon Beach, a very peaceful place to relax and where you can be one with nature. But if you would want to stay in a resort and experience the same, you can visit Tiamban Beach Resort located just few steps away from Bonbon Beach.

The white sand beach of Tiamban Resort in Brgy. Lonos, Romblon,Romblon

SIBUYAN, ROMBLON

Almost 37 kilometers away or two hours travel by boat or RoRo ship from Romblon,Romblon is the Island of Sibuyan. Considered as the “Galapagos Island of Asia”, the smallest among the three islands that consist the province of Romblon. Different from the island of Romblon, Sibuyan was not known by its beaches but by the numerous beautiful waterfalls, clean rivers and is the most visited by hikers to explore the Mountain of Guiting-Guiting. These are the main attractions that can be visited by anyone who seeks adventure in the deep forest of the island.

View of Mount Guiting-Guiting, Uphill of Sanctuary Garden Resort in Magdiwang, Sibuyan Romblon

When we visited Sibuyan, we stayed for 2 days in 2 different places but both were owned by my Papa’s friends, private residence in Brgy.Magdiwang and in Sanctuary Garden Resort. We Packed all the things we needed such as bag of clothes, snacks, water, hat and sun glasses, My brother and I took the challenge to visit each and every falls that Sibuyan offers. We traveled by a motorcycle to reach each location, hiked through the woods of the forest, followed the path of the river until we reached and witnessed the unique beauty of each falls. The long journey going through the forest, rocks and difficult narrow trails were all worth it when we reached the very end. We were amazed how pure and clean the water is, flowing down the falls going through the river.

Lambingan Falls in Magdiwang, Sibuyan Romblon

Bila Bila Falls- 3rd level in Cajidiocan, Sibuyan, Romblon

Cantingas River in San Fernando, Sibuyan Romblon

Due to a very limited time we missed to visit some of the places but the experience was great and very memorable.

TABLAS,ROMBLON

Facing the island of Romblon,Romblon, 5.6 kilometers away and an hour travel by boat or Roro ship from the capital, you will reach the island of Tablas. The largest among the three island of Romblon is Tablas Island, where you can find the only airport in the province, Tugdan Airport located in the locality of Alcantara. Tablas is also the closest island to Boracay, which is the most popular Philippines tourists destination. Though it’s the biggest island, there are only few resorts that are known to people there like Tablas Point Resort in Sta.Fe, Villa M. Exclusive Resort in Looc and Cummings Highlands Accommodation. Tourists destination here also include Looc Bay Marine Refuge Sanctuary- which are fish sanctuary treasured by the locals of Looc, the Groto de Banloc and the lights of Bantigue Resort located in the same locality.

Beautiful sunset setting off at Tablas Island, Romblon

My father and I visited Tablas for an island tour, it took us almost 5 hours to tour the whole island by the motorcycle and few minutes of stop over in a store to grab a drink and food. We passed through concrete roads and rough roads along the way and most of it were near a cliff or near the bay looking over the wide ocean of Tablas Strait. The island has rivers too but it was not as many as what Sibuyan island has. Some rivers here are wide that we have to passed through bridges to cross some roads.

July 4, 2017
DISCOVERING OTHER SIDE OF BENICIA

Lake Herman Recreation Area

Peaceful, calming and very relaxing view from the lake water reservoir of the City of Benicia.

We have been wondering what’s in there behind those mountains and asked ourselves if there’s even a road going up, so out of our curiosity we took ourselves to a ride for an exploration adventure.
We headed up north of Benicia in a hot summer afternoon and drove for about less than 30 minutes from where we live. As we geared up high to the mountains, I felt the sun’s heat getting more and more intense as we passed through dry roads and wandering around the hills of brown dry grass. Finally our aim to find something behind these mountains was over when we got to see the landmark sign of Lake Herman.

From the surroundings, the trees blew strong wind that you can no longer feel the heat of summer and only you can hear nothing but its sound; it was quiet and peaceful. There were benches and tables under the trees, very preferable for some family picnic or outdoor family get together gathering. It would also be perfect to de-stress yourself to just experience silence while enjoying the cool wind. We walked a little bit more going inside the park and we saw the beautiful view of the lake. The calm water of the lake made it very desirable for people to go fishing, in fact we’ve seen some people who were already there before us, have their seats and having their good time fishing. Even though the calm water looked ideal for swimming, anyone is not allowed to go into it for the lake is considered to be a water reservoir serving the entire city of Benicia. We have also seen an overflow spillway settled on the water not far by the bay and upon walking more was a long trail connecting to the other side of the lake.

We passed through the long trail and walked through a small trail path around a hill. The place was also good for hiking, just be aware with some insects which you might get from the tall grass and weeds. While walking around the hill, we discovered interesting things such as the small river lining the borders going through the lake probably a part of the flowing creek filling up the water reservoir, the captivating view of a bird silently resting on a tree branch in the middle of a small lake and the big nest laid upon the branches of a very tall tree.
Lake Herman Recreation Park is a lovely place to meditate. This place would be perfect for someone who likes outdoor activities such as hiking and fishing.

July 3, 2017
Pregnancy

My First Pregnancy

Being married was already a life turning point for me, the change in my way of life had been very different and after just a few months we were blessed with our first baby. For a new mommy-to-be like me, pregnancy gave a big impact of change in my body and in my life. Going through the stages of pregnancy was not easy especially that it is my first and I’m new to all of these adjustments.

I’ve gone through my first trimester and I believe it was my toughest months so far though in the first month I didn’t really feel different but on the second and third months, I experienced morning sickness and I felt sick everyday like there was a sudden transformation of feelings, my mood varied fast from cheerful to feeling sick, I felt nauseous most of the time that resulted to a lot of throwing up, I’ve been picky with my food and craved for a certain kind, my skin gets so dry and I got tired very easily. I didn’t have the bump yet during those times but already felt weird with my tummy. I could still wear my casual clothes but my undies got more fitted, I believe my breasts had grown a little and began to gain weight which of course was normal.

In my second trimester, I felt more relieved with my morning sickness, less nauseated and throwing up but headaches were often. I also experienced some difficulty with my balance which made me very cautious with every step I made when walking. I started to realized that from the beginning of my 4th month of pregnancy, I started to pee a lot that I couldn’t hold it even with just a sneeze. With a single sneeze comes the drop of urine even before I reached the toilet, it would continue to its very last drop.There was an increased urine output than my usual daily urination no matter how much fluid I take everyday. I tried to consume fluid as much as I can to be hydrated and also to avoid any dizziness or headaches. With my eating habits, I tend to eat more food than what I consumed in the first 3 months and I always felt bloated after, it felt like there was no space left inside my tummy that it could explode anytime and this has caused a difficulty in sleeping at night. During these months, I also started to have some back pain but it was not a constant pain, it comes and goes away fast.

Though I know that this was just the beginning and that there will be a lot more ahead of me being a new mom, I know for sure that nurturing this special new life inside my womb is worth all the sacrifices and as parents-to-be, my husband and I are very eager to meet our little one soon. I would like to know your experience and any tips for new mom-to-be like, I would really appreciate it. Thank you.

July 2, 2017
A visit to the Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge

After completing our daily chores at home, I came up with the idea to take my family somewhere so that we could chill out and recover from our lost energy. The first place that came to my mind was to go visit Napa CA. I invited everyone who wanted to come. While we were in the car everyone was quiet and did not seem cheerful. All I could tell is that they wanted to leave home and go somewhere but were reluctant about going to the place I had chosen because I never asked their opinion about where to go. When we were about to take the exit heading to Napa I decided to ask them if they would like to go to San Francisco instead and they all said yes excitedly. So we headed to San Francisco passing through San Rafael, Mill valley and Sausalito before we arrived to the Golden Gate bridge.

The view of the bridge from the highway was just stunning that we could not resist to stop by and take a look. We arrived there at the right time because it was not really crowded comparing to our previous visits. We followed a narrow path that snaked its way to the perfect spot. As we walked the bridge seemed to zoom in closer and closer and it was getting pretty windy. Of course we had visited the bridge before but we had seen it from a different angle in a different place. This by far had to be my favorite spot. Standing over a mountain that overlooked the bridge, it felt mesmerizing!

The bridge is gorgeous, and the city of San Francisco was right at the other side. We stood next to it, contemplating its beauty.

California has so many beautiful places to visit and San Francisco is one of them. I love this city a lot mainly because it has been giving me unforgettable moments to enjoy with my family.

June 29, 2017
The Sky Has Cleared

It’s summer, the sky has cleared announcing yet again another California season. By now flowers have settled into their usual routine, unfurling their petals to the sound of the birds chirping around in the morning and then slowly folding back again at dusk. The tip of blades of grass are turning yellow from the sun, warm wind weaves through trees. Its June, it’s the harvest season and it’s finally summer!

Mom’s garden still resembles spring, not yet ready for a change in the weather. Every morning there is the sound of splattering water while she waters her flowers, corn and tomato plants. On the backyard, against the fence corn plants are carefully lined up as if ready to yield their offerings. On the other side the three tomato plants are crowded with fruits. Under the fig tree there is another tomato plant leaning against the trunk and then there is my strawberry plant hanging just beneath the umbrella-like fig leaves. It had three or four strawberries after that…nothing. We have our orange and apple tree that we planted in early spring, they won’t bear any fruit until the next two years or so.

There was once an old plum tree opposite the corn plants, right next to the bamboo trees. It had the most beautiful blooming flowers, white and pink, you would have thought it was a snowball. The tree was adamant in giving its best harvest this year, green plum fruits were everywhere, very distinguishable through the leaves. We loved it. In the beginning of this month the fruits were starting to turn purple, some were already washed down with the rich deep color. That tree was alive, the vigor of life held it strong and steady. But then one afternoon a strong gust of wind came, shook the tree to its roots and it tumbled over, falling hard on the ground. It hit the ground with a loud thud and that was it. Later when we examined the tree, wondering what had caused the incident, we discovered that the tree had no root at all. The trunk was all dried and rotten, no sign of ruptured veins or anything of that matter. It amazed me how healthy and strong the tree looked, it hid it so well.

A wide hole remains after dad dug up the remaining of the old tree. I miss it’s shade especially now that it’s very sunny outside. I miss it’s presence and it’s shadow during sunset. We’re thinking on replacing it with an orange tree, a lemon tree? Or maybe a plum tree. We’re indecisive. But oh that plum tree was strong and beautiful.

In other news our small peach tree in the front yard bear only two fruits this year. Two nice round juicy fruits, why two? I don’t know honestly. Everyone has at some point come close to the fruits, stared at them for a good few seconds or so, tempted to snatch them off the stem and ran off. I know I have but I always restrain myself. I know mom keeps a good look at them, she knows the thieves are lurking around. She has said that when the right time comes we’ll eat them, together. A little tiny piece for everyone. How delicious!

But guess what? One of the fruits got stolen and everyone pointed fingers at one another. No one took the blame. Mom grabbed the one remaining fruit cut it into small bite size pieces and gave it to all of us, even Rio got his share. Next year hopefully everyone will get a whole peach to eat.

The garden looks brilliant and colorful. Soon the green tomatoes will reveal its colors, red and yellow. Baby corn will sprout under the arm of the long leaves. This month there will be harvest, all of mom’s and dad’s hard work will show fruits, colorful fruits.

June 17, 2017
A SPONTANEOUS FAMILY GET AWAY

Monte Rio

It was a nice hot sunny day and we were going to spend it like any other day, as simple as it could be; stay at home. In the middle of our morning routine, my husband’s cousin calls him to invite us to spend the day somewhere. It was a spontaneous trip to East of Monte Rio.. We took an hour and a half road trip ride to reach Monte Rio Recreation and Park District located below a bridge right after we pass the Rio Theater in the town of Monte Rio California.

It was the natural tranquility of nature that brought this place so perfect to relax and enjoy for families like us. We got very excited when we reached the place and saw the sparkling water from the flowing river. What’s best here is that there is NO entrance fee for visitors or tourists which brings a lot of people to come to enjoy the serenity of the place for free. We were able to bring our own stuff like food,umbrella and a tent. We arrived there around 9 A.M, by that time you could already see people enjoying their time with their families and dogs too. Yes, that’s right! it’s a dog-friendly-beach unlike other beaches but unfortunately we were unaware of that because we had deliberately left our dog Rio at home and we wished we had brought him along with us.

Russian River as it is named is scattered with small pebbles mixed with sand, It felt more like as if we were at the beach and like the usual beach there was strong cool wind that was blowing from the trees that were surrounding it. The river was very appealing with its sparkling flowing water that I had to restrain myself from diving into it to feel its cleanliness and coldness right on my skin because before we could do anything else, we had to find a nice spot to settle in. We decided to start grilling what we had brought to eat first while enjoying the calmness of the river and shared some laughs with everybody in the family. After getting full from a very delicious barbecue lunch we jumped off to the water, swam into the shallow part of the river and enjoyed the massage effect of the flowing water.

While we were in the water, groups of people passed by with kayaks, canoes, paddle board and lifebuoy heading downstream and into the deepest part of the river. It looked fun so we swam ashore and went to discover how to get one for ourselves. We found out that all those were for rent in different rates, one of us had to surrender an I.D before we could get hold of one. We ended up getting a lifebuoy, a kayak and a canoe and paid the renting fees for each of $35 a day which included life jackets too. We had to be extra cautious though because there is NO lifeguards or any patrolling guard around the area to check for everyone especially for those who are in the water, so we had to keep a close eye on the kids. We had a fantastic time paddling through the current of the river going downstream but struggled against it coming upstream. We explored much of the river’s wonders and its beauty was breathtaking.

It was indeed a fun and memorable family get-away experience, a spontaneous trip becomes very special because it is never planned and you never know what type of adventures you will encounter. Moments like this is what we live for and it is essential to appreciate what life offers us and live it to the fullest..

June 15, 2017
Choosing the Name of Our Baby Girl.

Baby’s Name

For a lot of parents-to-be like us, being parents for the first time made us very excited to choose what name should we give for our first baby. It is wonderful to read a lot of beautiful names from different resources and like many others we’ve had a difficult time choosing the right one amongst all that’s on the list.

At the beginning, we started to look for a lot of different names from short to the longest can be, but then we decided to think about the length, we had to answer the question, should her name be short or long? Once we had the answer to this question our list drastically narrowed. But still we had hard time choosing the one we love and our daughter would love to have.

A lot of name suggestions came up from friends and relatives but none of them really sounded well to our ears. What my husband and I did was to pretend that our baby was already walking on her own and call her using all the possible names that we had picked because eventually the name that we will choose will identify her for the rest of her life. We had a lot of debates about the sound and every time I picked a name my husband would be like “That does not sound right” or “It doesn’t go with our last name” and many more expressions from him.

We wanted a more unique name for our baby, so we started constructing names in different ways. Many of those names turned out to be hard to pronounce or easy to be mispronounced and that had to stop us choose some of these unique ones because we don’t want our daughter to be correcting people throughout her whole life when people start to call her name and be recognized.

At this point, coming up with a name was very difficult and that really overwhelmed us a bit but we had to keep looking and looking for that special name that our daughter would use when she finally gets here, then in the middle of nowhere we came across the name Mia, which means “mine”. The meaning of the name somehow touched our hearts and that’s when we officially decided that’s how we were going to call our most wished child.

After choosing the name Mia for our baby, we knew that there was something that we still needed to do, and that was to make sure that our baby’s initials would stand out when it comes to the time for her to just use her initials. We would never want it to turn out like M.A.D or M.A.N. you know what I mean. So once we made sure that her initials were okay, we were at long last ready to have the name of our daughter that will age well with her.

Here are some of the tips we considered throughout our special experience:

1. Be unique as possible?.
You don’t have to be unique, you just need to love the name. The name Mia that we picked is not unique but the meaning and the simplicity of the name made us fall in love with it. However, we still believe that it is a good idea to go with a unique name as long as it is not long or hard to pronounce because ultimately the one that will get stuck with the name is our baby. Each of us have our own identity and of course babies will have theirs therefore it can be a good idea to go with a unique name so that he/she can stand out among all other kids or people in the community just by having a name that is only owned by a few and not that popular like the other names.

2. Be short and simply spelled.
This is the other reason we chose the name Mia, we thought it would be an advantage for our baby to learn her name as soon as she learns to babble words and write the letters of her name at her very young age. Baby would be able to say and and even write her name without any difficulties or confusion as she learns all the basics. We can now tell that in the future most people won’t get confused on spelling her name.

3. Search names with special meaning.
Most people believe that every single name should have a meaning or at least have a reason behind that name of their child especially unique ones. I believe they are right, Why? My husband has kinda a unique name, and every time he tells his name to new people he meets, he always gets asked about where his name comes from, does it have a meaning and so many more. So having the answer to those questions is great and that is why we encouraged ourselves to go with a very special name that represents the meaning of having this beautiful gift that God has blessed us with.

4. Agreed and loved by both parents.
My husband and I had a baby name battle, both of us had the veto power but no matter what, we knew one thing; we were on the same side. So to keep things in a calming way we had to carefully listen to each other by naming names by turns and that helped us agree on names we both like. I’m so glad that both of us got the final say because that made it more meaningful for the both of us.

June 13, 2017
CHEESECAKE (NO-BAKE) FAST & EASY RECIPE

MAKE YOUR OWN CHEESECAKE WITHOUT BAKING!

Ingredients

1 or 2 packs of Sugar Wafers (vanilla/strawberry or any flavor you desire)

8 ounces Cream Cheese, at room temperature

1/2 cup Sugar or less

2 tbsp Sour Cream

2 tsp fresh Lemon juice

Banana Slices

Preparation

Crush wafers and set it aside. Then start making the filling by beating the cream cheese and sugar in a mixer for about 2-3 minutes or until smoothly combined. Add the sour cream and lemon juice until well blended, about a minute. Scrape down extra filling mixture from the side of the bowl. Prepare and line the cups in the pan and spoon a layer of wafer crumbs into the bottom of each. Then add a spoonful of filling into the cup and finally top each cheesecake with a banana slice, strawberry or any fruit desired. Refrigerate overnight or until set. Serve & Enjoy each bite!

Serve: 12

June 10, 2017
Take a Closer Look

In the middle of a street, a quiet street you’ll find a small white and green painted trim house. In the front yard you will find two tall trees that are almost as old as the house itself. They stand tall welcoming you with open arms. In between the two trees there is a paved walkway that leads to the porch, front door. That’s right, you have found yourself standing at our front porch. Now you wonder how on earth did you get here. This is an ordinary house, like any other in the neighborhood. You have walked down the street and you have looked at all the houses. Houses with roses on the garden, houses with mowed lawn, houses with swings dangling on its trees, new painted houses, old houses with chipped paint and all sorts of houses. Somehow though you are standing right in front of this particular one and you are wondering how or why? That is my friend because I have brought you here.

When we bought this house it looked nothing like it does today. It had been in the market for some time, it certainly wasn’t begging for a new owner. It is one of those special houses you have to love no matter how flawed or dilapidated it is. No one saw its potential, when people looked at it, sure it looked nice on the outside, the lawn needed to be mowed and the trees needed trimming. The moment they opened the front door, however, they would frown and shake their heads in disbelief. The house was at its worse, it wore stains on its walls, smudged floors and dusty windows. And there was the terrible mold stench. On the backyard there were weeds everywhere and bamboo trees had invaded it. The forlorn old fig tree stood there helplessly bearing a lot of figs. It was summer, it was sweltering hot and all anyone could do is stand back and walk away.

We were living in this same street. We had been wanting to buy a house for so long but we had a hard time finding the right one. We had gone to different cities, we toured dozens of houses but we were looking too hard it was hard to see that what we had been looking for, for so long was standing right in front of us. It was mom and dad who discovered it. It was them who saw the beauty of this house, they neglected its defects and saw something that everyone else had overlooked. Although it took some convincing for us to accept it because no matter how much we tried it just wasn’t easy for us to see their vision, it required a lot of imagination and inspiration to believe that there was actually a way to bring that distressed house to life again.

But they believed and here we are. After a lot a lot of restless hard working days, we can finally take a breath and take a step back, not to walk away from it but to admire it. So this is what mom and dad saw, this is the reason they believed. This taught us a valuable lesson, don’t be deceived on what you see at first sight, take a closer look and you might just have found what you had been looking for, you just got to believe.

May 30, 2017
How to make Delicious Banana Bread

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

½ butter (one stick)

2 eggs

½ cup sour cream

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 large ripe bananas

Preparation

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

In a large bowl pour in butter, egg and vanilla and beat at medium speed. Then add sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix well. Slowly add in flour . Mash bananas with a fork then add it to the mixture. Beat until well blended. With a spatula stir in the sour cream. Grease loaf pan with some butter and pour in mixture.

Bake for an hour. Try inserting a tooth pick in the middle of the loaf, if it comes out clean the loaf is ready if not let it bake for a few more minutes. Once the banana bread is ready let it cool for 10 to 15 minutes.

May 30, 2017