kesh

In behalf of PHP User Group Philippines, UST - Information Systems Society, and Tomasino Web, we would like to invite you to the

PHP Roadshow 2008 - UST Leg
30 August 2008, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm
Beato Angelico Auditorium

FREE ADMISSION!!!

Hi! My name is Kesh Mac-person… and I’m an addict. Addicted to this… hihi

The Anawangin Cove is one of the famous destinations of mountaineers a while back. Since it’s easy to get there, with no trekking and less danger, it’s now being frequented by mountaineers and “common” people alike. We, as “common” people, went there to enjoy what the cove has to offer. Unlike the others (some of them are my friends), we did something different in Anawangin. We tried to take different photos and we tried to experience it differently as opposed to what the others did. To tell you the truth, almost every other day, a new blog or a new set of photos are being posted on the Internet about Anawangin. So, we brought costumes and did a glam shoot. Yup, “E” for effort. haha

My friends didn’t do this either: we visited the Capones Island and also went to the Pundakit Falls.

Some notes about the place
- It is advisable to go there during weekdays if you don’t want to see that much crowd. When we went there, it’s Thursday and solo namin ‘yung camp. However, all the bangaws will swarm your food (as in in perfect attendance).
- Remove the rain fly of your tent at night: (1) Mainit and (2) star gazing right below the pine trees is awesome.
- No sunrise to look forward to unless you climb the hill behind.
- There are teeny-tiny stingers on the beach (you know, the Puerto Galera stings).

List of things that you MUST do
- beach swimming
- take a picture of the camp site with pine trees
- take a picture of the swamp
- climb the hill (for sunrise or sunset)
- take a picture of the entire cove from the hilltop
- star gazing underneath the pine trees
- bonfire (there are twigs around)
- experience the restroom. hehe
- buy fish in San Antonio market and grill it
- sun block before the boat rides
- side trip: Capones Island + light house
- side trip: Camara Islands (and pray that the “sand bar” is there)
- side trip: Pundakit Falls
- don’t forget to zip lock/plastic your things inside your bag; just like what they frequently say “you MIGHT get wet during the boat ride”. hahaha

Here’s our itinerary
Day 1 | June 5
06:00am – 10:00am - Caloocan to Iba; Victory Liner; Drop off: Public Market
10:00am – 11:00nn - Take out Lunch; bought fish to grill; Tricycle ride to Pundakit
11:00am – 12:00nn - Brgy. Pundaquit – Boat ride to Anawangin Cove
12:00nn – 01:00pm - Setup camp; cook lunch; Eat
01:00pm – 06:00pm - Enjoy the cove – Photo shoot
06:00pm – 10:00pm - Dinner; Bonfire

Day 2 | June 6
06:00am – 08:00am - Breakfast; Break camp
08:00am - 09:00am - Boat ride to Capones Island
09:00am - 11:00am - Enjoy the island - Photo shoot; swimming
11:00am - 12:00nn - Boat ride to Brgy. Pundakit
12:00nn - 01:00pm - Trek to Pundakit Falls; swimming
01:00pm - 01:30pm - Final shower in one of the resorts in Brgy. Pundakit
01:30pm - 02:00pm - Eat lunch in small karinderia; Tricycle ride to San Antonio Town
02:00pm - 03:00pm - Bud ride to Olongapo
03:00pm - 06:00pm - Olongapo to Manila; Victory Liner

You’ll spend around
P500.00 - Two-way Bus
P60.00 - Two-way Tricycle
P100.00 - Camp fee
P300.00 - Boat ride (P1000.00 to Anawangin + P500 to Capones; If you’re 5 people, P300.00 each)
P200.00 - Lunch at karinderia + Fish to Grill
P20.00 - Shower fee in one of the resorts in Brgy. Pundakit
=======
P1,180.00 TOTAL (per person)

I think you can save more if you haggle for the boat ride fee or look for others who will offer cheaper price.  Instead of taking a shower in one of the resorts in Brgy. Pundakit, you can just take a shower in one of the deep wells there (ask the bangkero). There are two camp sites in Anawangin, one costs P50.00 a day (P100.00 overnight) and the other costs P150.00 for the entire stay (even for one week). We stayed in the P150.00 camp and just asked the caretaker to pay them P100.00 since we’ll only stay overnight.

Here are some of the pictures we took:

For the entire album, go to my PicasaWeb
@PicasaWeb - Zambales - Anawangin Cove and Capones Island

Here are some of the glam shoot pictures:

For the entire album, go to my PicasaWeb
@PicasaWeb - Zambales - Anawangin Cove and Capones Island Glam Shoot

More Information
Zherwin’s Blog - Anawangin How To’s
Our Awesome Planet - Anawangin’s Mystical Beach

We just had this awesome trip to Sagada, Mountain Province. The 12-hour trip from Manila was really exhausting plus our bus broke down in the middle of the mountains making the trip a non-pleasant experience.

We ate in the famous Yoghurt House (food? Not that good! hehe), also in the Lemon Pie House (food? I like the lemon pie. Yum! However, the menu says “longganisa” and it was just a frustrating 1 thin slice of it. haha. I ate a lot of cherry tomatoes here though. Loved it! Haha) and in the Masferre Cafe (food? Kinda the best.)

We went spelunking in the famous Sumaguing Cave. This was a super wet and awesome adventure. I was expecting a small cave with tons of bat poopoos (just like the other caves I’ve been to), but this is really awesome. It’s a huge cave with bat poopoos only in some parts of the entrance (hehe) and inside were amazing stalactite/stalagmite formations. If they ask you if you want to continue in the deeper parts of it, just say yes. And trust the rocks, they can really “hold” you.

We also had a very early trek to Kiltepan peak and witnessed the majestic sunrise above the clouds and above the Sagada Rice Terraces.

After breakfast (in Lemon Pie House) during the second day, we went trekking again but this time to Bomod-Ok falls. Trekking along the rice terraces was really awesome! And the Bomod-Ok Falls? Well, let’s just say you and your friends try a firing squad game with “ice tubig” as your ammo. hehe

Before leaving Sagada and going to Banaue, we visited Lake Tae, oops I mean Lake Danum. It wasn’t really what we expected. It’s just a small lake + the water is brown + there were cow and carabao poopoos around the area. Go figure. Hehe

Finally, on the fourth day and on our way home, we had our lunch in Banaue overlooking the famous Banaue Rice Terraces. We also had our merienda in Banaue Hotel while waiting for our bus to Manila.

I know our pictures are kinda nice (humble dapat ako kumuha eh hehe). But nothing beats the experience if you’re really in the wonderful place.

No. of Caves we visited: 2
No. of Falls we’ve seen: 1
No. of Terraces we’ve seen: Sagada, Banaue, Bobby, and 2 more along the way
No. of Cherry Tomatoes I’ve eaten: 12
No. of “Bangins” which wanted to take our lives: 413
No. of Libby’s Sausage I’ve Eaten: 15
No. of Sunrise above the clouds, above the terraces I’ve seen: 1
No. of skulls I’ve seen: 1
No. of guides we had for the entire trip: 1. Hi, Gareth! Thanks.
No. of pictures I took (originally): 1,200 Whoa!
No. of times we said “tae”: a lot. Hahahaha. They’re almost everywhere. Lol.
No. of times the bus broke down in the middle of the mountains: 1
No. of hours we waited for the next bus to get us: 3 =(

And yeah, I did buy a shirt that says “I Survived Sagada!”. I even chose the one with three exclamation points. I Survived Sagada!!!

Our Itinerary
Day 1 | May 23 (Friday night)
07:30pm - 08:30pm - Assembly at Cable Tours, E. Rodriguez (near Trinity College St. Lukes)
08:30pm - 08:30am - Manila to Bontoc

Day 2 | May 24 (Saturday)
08:15am - 09:30am - Bontoc to Sagada
09:30am - 11:00am - Registration; Check-in at George Guest House
11:00am - 12:00nn - Lunch at Yoghurt House
01:00pm - 02:00pm - Echo Valley, Hanging Coffins, Burial Cave, Underground River
03:00pm - 04:00pm - Bokong Waterfalls
05:00pm - 08:00pm - Sumaguing Cave
08:00pm - 09:00pm - Dinner at Log/Alfred’s Cabin

Day 3 | May 25 (Sunday)
04:00am - 06:00am - Kiltepan Trek; View of Sunrise over the rice terraces
07:00am - 08:00am - Breakfast at Lemon Pie House
08:00am - 01:00pm - Bomod-Ok Falls
02:00pm - 06:00pm - Mt. Ampacao Trek via Lake Danum
06:00pm - 07:00pm - Sagada Weaving; Shop for Souvenirs
07:00pm - 08:00pm - Dinner at Masferre

Day 4 | May 26 (Monday)
07:00am - 08:00am - Breakfast at Rock Inn
08:00am - 09:00am - Sagada to Bontoc
09:00am - 11:00am - Bontoc to Banaue
11:00am - 12:00nn - Lunch at Banaue
01:00pm - 04:00pm - Gui-Hob Cold Spring; Bangaan Rice Terraces & Village
05:00pm - 03:00am - Banaue to Manila

You’ll spend around
P650.00 - Manila to Bontoc | Cable Tours Bus
P40.00 - Bontoc to Sagada | Jeep
P40.00 - Sagada to Bontoc | Jeep
P100.00 - Bontoc to Banaue | Bus
P400.00 - Banaue to Manila | Victory Liner
P500.00 - 2-night accommodation at George’s Guest House (Penthouse); Max people per room: 8
P1,400.00 - 2 breakfasts, 3 lunches, 2 dinners @ P200.00 per meal
P10.00 - Environmental Fee; Municipal
P10.00 - Registration Fee; Bomod-Ok
P1,200.00 - Tours; Guide Fees + Transportation (depends on itinerary)
=======
P4,350.00 TOTAL (per person)

I think you can save more if you’ll bring your own food for some of the meals. But you really need to try their restaurants. You can also choose the places where you’ll go because some requires a tiring trek and Lake Danum for me is not worth it. And there are other accommodations with cheaper rate (common CR, older inns).

Here are some of the pictures we took:

For the entire album, go to my PicasaWeb
@PicasaWeb - Mountain Province - Sagada

Itinerary Options
The Sagada Genuine Guides Association

More Information
Visit Sagada
Official Sagada Website

Hey second years!

Here are your grades in ICS7 - Design Interface and Web Technologies (Summer):

FINAL GRADES [2007-2008 Summer - Grades for Posting.xls]

Here are your Project scores:

PROJECT Scores [2007-2008 Summer Project.xls]

If you have concerns about these grades, etc. feel free to e-mail me.

Before going to the 2008 Pahiyas Festival in Lucban, Quezon, and after going there as well, we stayed in Liliw, Laguna. Liliw, is known as the “tsinelas” capital of the Philippines and every time I go there, I don’t buy any “tsinelas”. hehe

We visited the “orange” church, ate tons of food like siopao, siomai, palami (palabok + mami), puto-palabok, mangga’t bagoong, pansit, fried chicken + chopsuey, Arabella (not this time by the way), my favorite liliw-tokwa, and swam in the icy-cold spring pool.

Here are some of the pictures we took:

For the entire album, go to my PicasaWeb
@PicasaWeb - Laguna-Liliw during Pahiyas

Lucban, Quezon is the home of “pansit hab hab” and giant “kalabaws”. The municipality celebrates the Pahiyas Festival every May 15 which showcases houses decorated with fruits, vegetables, rice products, food and “kiping.” (wikipedia.com)

It was raining during that day that it became an umbrella festival. We weren’t able to see a lot of “kipings”, just like what they used to have, we thought maybe because of the rice crisis. Most unforgettable part? It’s when the giant carabaos swayed their tails on us sprinkling us with we-don’t-wanna-know fluid. Well… it was raining then, so maybe, it’s just the rain. hehe

For information about the festival, visit their website:
Lucban San Isidro Pahiyas Festival

Here are some of the pictures we took:

For the entire album, go to my PicasaWeb
@PicasaWeb - Quezon-Lucban Pahiyas 2008

La Luz Beach Resort in San Juan, Batangas is one of the best RnR places I’ve been to. With white-pebbled beach, buffet lunch, dinner and breakfast, very nice accommodation and relaxing activities to do, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t go back. However, one thing we really really hated about them is that it’s so hard to contact the resort. Their numbers are always busy and unattended most of the time.

For information about the resort, like how to go there and how much, visit their website:
La Luz Beach Resort, San Juan, Batangas

Here are some of the pictures we took:

For the entire album, go to my PicasaWeb
@PicasaWeb - La Luz, Batangas

Hey second years!

Here are your grades in ICS7 - Design Interface and Web Technologies:

FINAL GRADES [2007-2008 2ndSem - Grades for Posting4.xls]

Here are your Project scores:

PROJECT Scores [Project_ICS7.xls]

My Consultation Schedule regarding grades:

18MAR08 - 6:00-7:00, Faculty Room
19MAR08 - 1:00-2:00, Faculty Room
(Please SMS and inform your classmates about this.)

If you have concerns about these grades, etc. feel free to e-mail me.

Hey fourth years!

Here are your final grades in IM253 - Management Information Systems (4ITA & 4ITB) and IT112 - Multimedia Technologies (4ITA, 4ITB, 4CSA & 4CSB).

FINAL GRADES [2007-2008 2ndSem - Grades for Posting.xls]

Also, thanks for making my weekend by letting me see all your works. The DVD and Radio ads gave me a *kabag.* I laughed a lot. I know you guys really tried so hard. Honestly, I was so proud because looking at the printed materials you did make me feel “effective”. However, THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE. Hehe. Here are the results.

MULTIMEDIA PROJECT RANKING [Project.xls]

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you and congratulate you for making it in MIS and Multimedia… and hopefully, in other subjects as well. I’m pretty sure you did not hate me for all the time-consuming assignments I’ve given you. Right? I hope you’ve learned a lot not only about those things related to our subjects but also those life experiences I’ve shared with you.

Good luck on job hunting! Breathe and celebrate.

BTW, my Consultation Schedule regarding grades:

04MAR08 - 5:00-7:00, Faculty Room
05MAR08 - around 1:00-4:00 Faculty Room
(Please SMS and inform your classmates about this.)

If you have concerns other than these grades, feel free to e-mail me.