Happy that the Underground River in Puerto Princesa, Palawan made it to the list! So far, we have been to 3 out of the new 7 wonders of nature:
We are all set for a trip to Palawan before the year ends and another visit to the now-world famous Underground River is definitely part of our itinerary!
Just like we did last year in 2009, we dedicate this blog entry to reviewing our travel footprints for the year that was.
2010 was a great year for us mainly because we made a huge step of stepping out and living on our own this year. Getting domesticated was an adventure all its own but that still did not stop us from taking time to do our bit of exploring the outdoors this year. Here are some of our travel highlights in 2010 :
1. Trekking the Himalayas was an A-MA-ZING experience and definitely one for the books! As ‘amateur’ hikers, we feel that this story is one that speaks of human triumph and endurance. We are humbled and awed by the majestic Himalayas but proud to have an exciting tale to tell others today and years to come.
2. Boracay, has always been and will always be, a favorite holiday destination no matter how expensive and commercialized it already got – starbucks? check! yellow cab? check! – over the years. We sometimes reminisce those days when my sisters and I can actually camp out overnight in one of the beaches (now known as Shangri-la Boracay) so we can see the bats at dusk when they go out by the hundreds to forage for food. We are also first-time visitors to the neighboring island of Guimaras this year where we had a close encounter with a sea snake while swimming inside a cave!
3. This year, I managed to go to Singapore 5 times. For work. And one weekend getaway to spend holidays in Singapore with Mr. Rono where I MISSED MY FLIGHT BACK TO MANILA. Yes, for the very first time in my life, I arrived at the check-in counter for my flight to Manila 10 minutes before the scheduled departure. The consequence of waking up late? I had to wait around the airport to see if I can get in any of the next 2 flights to Manila. FAIL! So, I had to stay one more night in our hotel in Sentosa to go back to the Changi airport again the next day. I was finally given a seat on PAL’s midnight flight to Manila. It was such a big hassle! I missed work, wasted time and money shuttling back and forth Sentosa and Changi Airport to haggle for a seat and did not enjoy my extra day in Singapore at all. Moral lesson of the story? Never be late for a flight!
Thank God I have happy memories from Universal Studios Singapore in this trip!
4. Arriving at the Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka was a pleasant surprise. I was bracing myself for this trip to Sri Lanka not knowing what to expect as a first-time visitor and, to my surprise, landed in a pretty rich airport of Colombo. Much better than our own, I daresay.
5. Going south of Thailand for the very first time! This year, I was able to steer my path from the usual Bangkok scene and stayed a few days in the coastal town of Hat Yai. Since Hat Yai is very near the border of Malaysia, the food is noticeably different from your usual fare in Bangkok (even the pad thai is different!).
The calm and quiet beach of Hat Yai, South of Thailand (near the Malaysia border)
It’s a very quiet university town, almost like Dumaguete City, where most of the people either work or study at the huge Prince of Songkhla University. The Princess was also there on the duration of our trip and the organizers kept adjusting our itinerary to accommodate the royal schedule (we had to avoid being stuck in traffic while the royal caravan is passing). This little gestures really shows how highly respected the royal family is in Thailand.
6. For the first time in all the years we’ve been travelling, we had the unfortunate experience of losing some valuable items in our check-in luggage (read: a brand-new iPad, an iPhone charger, etc.) through a Cebu Pacific flight from Ho Chi Minh. I hate that Cebu Pacific still do not claim any accountability over the loss. Cebu Pacific sucks big time!
Speaking of airports, we appeal to the government to please, please fix NAIA 1 – or better yet, transfer all non-PAL international flights permanently to NAIA 3. I shudder every time I fly in and out of the country through NAIA 1. It just looks so…old and dingy and poor. Where do all our travel taxes go anyway? Did you know that the Philippines was listed #6 in the Top 10 Best Value Destinations for 2011 by Lonely Planet? Give these foreign backpackers a chance to have a great first impression of the Philippines by improving the airport security, airport amenities and public transport facilities please!
7. Moving on to a more calm scenery in the Philippines, we absolutely LOVED that we got to accompany my siblings who are members of the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines to Candaba, Pampanga for some birding action!
8. Memorable short trips for Mr. Rono are mountain-biking in Killer Loop trail in Bataan and doing a night ride at La Mesa for the very first time!
9. We also got to showcase WOW Philippines to foreigners from cultural dances at Barbara’s Restaurant to simple conversations over coffee while soaking in the sights of Taal Volcano from Tagaytay City. We even managed to help a Spanish guy who is travelling the Philippine islands on a BIKE(!) by giving some extra bike parts we have on stock. Our country really has so much to offer to tourists and all its thousand islands never fail to be part of our travel destinations. You really do get value for money here! WOW Philippines talaga.
10. And lastly, about this blog. We obviously do not have the time and discipline to write all our travel footprints but we seem to be doing ok, which we are grateful for. We had a lot of firsts for www.roamingronos.com this year: we were featured as Nuffnang’s Blogger of the Month and was able to launch our first-ever blog contest!
It was a year filled with fond memories. We’d also like to thank all those who supported our love for broadway musicals and making our playdate of Xanadu The Musical a big hit! We are excited to see what 2011 has in store for us. But this much we can say at this time, we will be doing a lot more walking in some foreign land this year! 
We just got back from a long road trip today and made a beeline to the laptop where Mr. Rono and I are set to declare the winners of our first-ever blog contest (yes, that’s how excited we were :p) No matter that it was a long day tour to and from Pangasinan! We went to Our Lady of Manaoag Shrine today to petition our uncle who is stricken with cancer. He’s flying from the US (where he underwent chemotherapy) to Fuda Cancer Hospital in Guangzhou, China this week for alternative treatment. We kindly request you to say a little prayer for him as you read this latest blog entry as well. It would mean a lot to us
Now, on to the good news! Thanks so much for all those who visited our blog the past few days and actively participated in our contest. We hope this will not be the last time we will be seeing you in our blog! We weren’t sure how to organize the raffle entries at first but thanks to random.org, we now have our top 8 winners –
CONGRATULATIONS! You are now proud owners of P1,500 gift certificates from Slimmer’s World Face and Skin Clinic! I will still be notifying each of you via email for details of claiming the GCs from us. I’m quite sure a lot of the winners are actually members of W@W (Weddings at Work) so thank God I have a little something to help you brides-to-be get prepped for your BIG DAY!
Happy pampering girls! And stay pretty!
Went to R.O.X. to attend their Travel Talk Series last night! Topic for this week is Travel Blogging, with Dominic (www.dongisim.blogspot.com) as guest speaker.
The Travel Talk series is part of R.O.X.’s ‘Where Have You Been in the Philippines?’ campaign. You can also participate in their photo contest and win exciting prizes like a trip to Batanes for two and lots of travel items! Check out http://www.rox.com.ph/wherehaveyoubeen/ for more details
R.O.X. is the biggest outdoor sports and recreation hub in Southeast Asia located in Bonifacio High Street, Taguig City. With three levels of all outdoor sports recreation gears and equipment from Hiking, Climbing, Water Sports,Surfing, Adventure Travel, Wellness, Cycling and even Scuba Diving.
From http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/178466/bangkok-in-shambles
I can’t believe the riots in Bangkok elevated to this intensity already! We were in Bangkok last April 10 for our flight back to Manila from Kathmandu and the security checkpoints along the highway from the airport was enough to scare us off and stay as far away from the city (and closest to the Suvarnabhumi airport). And, good thing too, because it was during that time that a large crackdown on those anti-government protesters occurred leaving at least 15 people dead and almost a hundred more injured. Now, the so-called Red Shirt protesters are torching the city! Tsk.
My distinct memories of Central World were shopping for shoes at Nine West about a year ago (the great Thailand sale!) and meeting a friend for coffee at the main lobby of Offices at Central World. I’m sure they’re gonna find a way to rebuild the mall somehow. I just hope the situation in Bangkok settles down peacefully in the next days.
If you don’t see the video, click here!
Thank you Nuffnang!
You guys do have impeccable taste! lol Kidding aside, we are immensely delighted to be chosen as the featured blog for the month of May especially since we are newbies in the wonderful world of blogging! We are giddy and ecstastic and definitely honored to have been selected!
Keep up the great work and more power to all of you! You guys rock
As soon as I got out of the Tribuvhan International Airport in Kathmandu, the chaos – sight, sound and smell – around me seemed to evoke memories of my first arrival in Uganda a couple of years back. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but there really is something about Kathmandu that I find very similar to Kampala (capital city of Uganda).
Maybe it’s the fact that it’s dry and dusty or the crazy honking of cars and motorcycles as pedestrians mindlessly cross roads while vehicles weave in and out of traffic or that the electricity goes off every so often (load-shedding/ brownouts/blackouts of 16 hours in a day at most).
I have been told countless stories of how it is like this side of the world but really experiencing what it has to offer is a whole different thing. This is the first time I ever set foot in a South Asian country. No words can ever describe how my first impressions are. Everything still looks surreal.
We’re leaving for Nepal today. After months of training and travel planning, our Nepal holiday will finally start today. It will take us 2 days – today and tomorrow – to travel to Kathmandu alone (Thai Airways flight has a stopover in Bangkok). We are expected to arrive in Kathmandu mid-day tomorrow.
During the weekend, we once again scoured outdoor shops for additional gears we will be bringing along for our trek. It was important for us to bring thermal clothing that are water-resistant AND lightweight. Majority of the gears we bought were from Columbia. We even got to be certified Columbia Titanium card holder because of our ‘loyalty’ to the brand. We hope Columbia lives up to expectations during our trek in the Himalayas. And we do promise to give a gear review after our trip along with the other gears we bought (e.g., North Face, Aigle, Habagat) from ROX.
We’re keeping our fingers crossed that we will be safe and sound (and comfortable!) throughout the trek. In the meantime, cheers to pad thai and tom yum soup as we take time to relax in Bangkok first before the next great adventure of our lifetime!
Last Sunday, we went with a group of friends and family to see the long-anticipated return of Avenue Q in the Philippines. Mr. Rono managed to catch the first run of this Tony Award-winning musical play here in Manila back in 2007. He was so amused by the play that he bought the soundtrack home with him. His little sister was particularly fascinated by the play’s music. Maybe it did have a ring of Sesame Street songs to it, albeit more mature, but the music particularly appealed to this grade schooler. So when we told her we are bringing her to see Avenue Q last Sunday we were met with big, loud cheers! This was gonna be our pre-graduation gift to her as she enters high school next term.
Avenue Q is hugely entertaining! Not just the music and the funny lines (politically-incorrect most of the time but that’s why we love Avenue Q!), the performers were certainly astounding and awe-inspiring starting from Rachel Alejandro (pre-school teacher Katie Monster/seductive Lucy the Slut), Felix Rivera (new graduate Princeton/closet queen Rod) and Joel Trinidad (pervert Trekkie Monster, bum roommate Nicky and one of the Big Idea Bears). Aiza Seguerra as forgotten child star Gary Coleman, Frenchie Dy as a Japanese psycho-therapist Christmas Eve (with songs like The More You Ruv Someone) and Calvin Millado as an aspiring stand up comic with Thea Tadiar in a supporting role were also sheer delight to watch.
Acting and singing (sometimes for two characters in one scene!) while holding a puppet is no easy feat. The cast delivered their stellar performance like one well-oiled machine and Mr. Rono’s little sister had the time of her life all throughout the play with shy giggles and heartfelt laughter scene by scene! The talented cast really had us all stupidly grinning throughout the show
Avenue Q is on its final run this week until March 27. If you want to catch Rachel Alejandro and Felix Rivera in their next musical, don’t miss out on Xanadu! This surprise broadway hit musical will be brought to the Philippines for the first time this September and we are oh so excited to see it. Rachel and Felix is again paired as the two lead stars – Clio the Greek muse and Sonny the struggling artist. Their encounter will lead Sonny to achieve the greatest creation of his life – a roller disco! Yes, the performers will be on skates onstage and Felix says this is gonna be one uber-fun musical! Do catch the show this September! Check out www.xanadumanila2010.blogspot.com for ticketing details 
Last Saturday, we were at Fort Bonifacio for our usual weekend work-out in preparation for the Nepal trek. Mr. Rono wanted to let loose on his bike so he hit the route within Fort Bonifacio we call AFP Trail. I, on the other hand, did not feel like biking so I instead went to Boni High Street, parked my car and did some running.
I soon stumbled upon an event happening in the Fort Boni Open Field called the Nestea Fit Camp Hot and decided to check it out. For only Php50, I got an all-access pass to all the ‘classes’ offered like Beach Volleyball, Ultimate Frisbee, Touch Football, Hip Hop, Beach Basketball, Flag Football, Yoga, Zips. Since I was waiting for Mr. Rono anyway, I decided to join the Yoga class which was slated for 1.5 hours. That pretty much got me preoccupied until Mr. Rono arrived from his biking session
I’m glad we got to catch the Nestea Fit Camp Hot before its final schedule on March 27! Some more pictures from my phone camera:
P50 all-access pass comes with one cool Nestea iced tea bottle!
Yoga session for everyone!
