a lot of first as the year ends...

...I reflect on some photos that made an impact in my 2012

Hala Bira!!

My first time in attending this colorful festival in Kalibo, Aklan. Ang saya maki sadsad hehe party all day and night in the streets is a good way to begin the year

A miner's life

I was given an opportunity to do a story on the small scale gold mining in Camarines Norte under the NGO Ban Toxic. Its a eye opener story about the dangers of the mines and their health risk in being exposed to mercury. This inspired me to do a long term story on this issue.

City of dancing lights

My lola and cousin travel Hongkong for 5 days its a tiring trip but worth it :)

Like a miniature city

Riyadh on top view my last photo of Saudi

Caramoan!!

Its like little Coron hehe its good to swim again  :)

Sustainable mining

The second part of the mining story is a small mining town called Gaang in Kalinga. Here the miners have been practicing mercury free mining for a year now. I really admire the effort of the Banao people in their high regards to health safety and protecting the environment. Hope to be back on this place next year even though the climb up there is sooooo harddd!!! hehe  its worth it especially if I'm able to take home something that is more than gold.

New hairdo ^_^

What can I say hehe got myself a new haircut and i love it!!

Wedding vows

The first wedding I've ever attended and its in India weeh!! Congrats my dear friend Nishant :)

Run for your lives!!

The first ever zombie run in the Philippines! Its exhilarating and full of thrills :) I'm planning to join next year as a runner hopefully I can survive it

Tour of the Firelies- Bike for Sustainable Energy!

My first time to bike around Metro Manila hehe so fun!!!

 Goddesses No More

I thank the Lord for giving me an opportunity to be part of the 8th Angkor Wat Photo Workshop. I was able to do a story of culture and to meet this beautiful and talented dancers. Kudos to the art of dancing!!

The Last Mambabatok

What good way to welcome the end of the world by making a story about the last mambabatok or traditional tattoo artist in Kalinga. More power to you and your art master Pangud!


As the year closes to an end I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Lord for giving me the gift of photography without it I won't be able to meet this amazing people :) Domo arigatou gozaimasu ^_^

8 days, 2 countries, 5 cities, new friends

Its that time of the year again when Chiloy and I travel :) this time our destination is the land of spices and sweet, India. We took an 8 day leave of absence to explore 2 countries and 5 cities.

First stop: Malaysia

We supposed to stay here for only one day and one night but unfortunately we got left by our plane and got stuck for another day. But it still fun and this is the place that I want to go back to and explore more. We only saw the Petronas tower, china town and the a bit of night life in the backpackers area of Jalan Changkat but I know the city offers a lot more than that.

Second stop: Chennai airport

Waah after the hussle of being left behind the airplane we finally reach Chennai :) The most wonderful thing that happened in that airport is the smooth process of our visa on arrival. The lady officer just asked our purpose of travel and how many days we will stay then she just said the amount gave us some papers to fill up and tada! we had a visa!!!

Third Stop: Mangalore!!

We're almost there!! Upon arrival we were welcomed by the hired driver of our friend with our names written in a piece of paper. That is the first time I was able to experienced someone waving my name in the arrival area hehe :)

Fourth and final stop: Udupi :)

We're finally here!!! Upon seeing our friend Nishant we immediately hug each other (waah that is the best moment of this trip) After all the warm greetings he let us wash up first then we shop for our Shalwar to wear for the wedding. We also went to the hotel where his family is staying to have our Mehandi. In the end of the day his cousins brought us to Diana's sweets a family restaurant that has been in Udupi for 50 years and experience different Indian food from the most spicy one to the sweetest :)

Our second day is the wedding itself. The first ever wedding I've attended in my entire life :) Its a very intimate and colorful Hindu wedding ceremony and we're so lucky to be part of the most important event in our friend's life. Its a one of kind experience and words are not enough to explain the joy of seeing Nishant so happy with Swapna ^_^ His relatives were so hospitable that they explain almost every part of the ceremony. The most interesting one is the hiding of Nishant shoes of the groom's family and the mission of the bride's family to find it. If they find it, Nishant's family must pay them their price just to get it back. Nishant's cousins were very clever because they put up a lot of decoy shoes to confuse the bride's family hehe. Its was really funny to see people in formal dresses running and fooling around the wedding hall just to find our friend's shoes :)

Third day in Udupi was spent for temple visits weeh!! Udupi is called the city of temples more than 100 can be found in its vicinity. The one that we visit is attributed to Shiva and Ganesh (meaning). Its a very hot day and we walk bare footed inside the temples and eat free lunch with the people (the best food I've eaten :) Its one of the best experience sitting and enjoying the relaxing atmosphere of their temples. In the afternoon we meet up with Prashant, Varun, Naina, Ratchika, Shresh and a lot of Nishant's cousins and went to a private beach. Hehe its really an unusual thing to do in India but we enjoyed the short boat ride, the walk in the fishing village and the simple relaxing moment in the sand :)

This is also our last day in Udupi next stop: Trichy

Its a small city in South India with the worst traffic that we've experienced and no street lights!!! We arrived at night and ride an auto rickshaw to the Rock Temple to shop for some souvenirs. I can say that this trip completes our India experience because we witnessed how crazy they are in driving. There are no proper lanes everyone can just take over no matter what the size of the vehicles are and there is no street lights!! Everytime we try to cross the street we feel like its our last day on earth every vehicle is just fast and again there is no street lights!!! Luckily we survived that crazy experience ^_^

Trichy is our last stop then off to KL again we waited there for 6 hrs on our flight back home.

These 8 days are just full of fun, adventure and the best memory of all is gaining new friends hope we can see them again in our next visit to the land of spices and sweets and crazy traffic hehe :)

more photos on this sites:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151262004064048.516033.748929047&type=3
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151260744694048.515847.748929047&type=3