Splashing with the Weekend Warriors
August 18, 2009So what do you get when you toss three guys and a girl into a car, make them drive all the way to Laguna, and then present them with a water park to cool off in?
Well, aside from the part where hilarity ensues, you get another episode of Weekend Warriors coming soon on Flippish.com. This time, Chris was away (preparing for the Asian Poker Tournament in Macau) and Jinno was available to shoot (with provisional script, to boot). Once again, I was the only girl they could get on short notice to be the Girlfriend of the Week. Thanks to Ton for inviting me during Amina’s party, I got to revisit a childhood wonderland, one I was last at when I was 13 years old.
Jinno, Al, and Ton didn’t offer to take my photo. Boo.
After banging on Al’s door to wake him up (dude needs an alarm clock, seriously), dropping Jinno’s car off to get his bumper re-attached, and sating five hungry bellies including our cameraman’s, we finally arrived at Splash Island around 12pm in our Ford Everest, on loan from the car company.
The park hasn’t changed from my childhood memories of it, except: the grass is longer, there are more dead leaves in the water, and there’s less water flowing at all since some of the slides were closed. It’s only open Saturdays and Sundays in the off-season, but open all days of the week during the summer.
What’s great about visiting parks with these guys is we get to ask for rides to open just for us so we can shoot on them.
“Get into the hot tub with me,” says spider Al.
One thing I forgot about Splash Island is you always have to climb several storeys up a tower to get onto a slide. But once I slid down our first ride, Magellan’s Drop, everything came rushing back at me: the long lines starting at the base of the tower, the anticipation building as you got nearer to the slide itself, and then finally those short ten to 15 seconds you slip and slide down to the water below.
Jinno took ass shots. Grrr.
I took my waterproof camera with me on the slides, so I took video which they might use for the episode. Aside from the video-taking distracting me from my acrophobia, my advancement in age took away the terror I used to feel getting into the King Pilipit body slide. When I was younger, that ride made me pray aloud.
I got to play while these guys worked.
There was one ride I sat out while the boys tried it out: the giant plastic balls in the wave pool. Aside from having only a limited supply of oxygen inside, I just didn’t want to be seen falling all over myself. Besides, I was afraid of any wardrobe malfunctions that might happen (or that they were counting on to happen, hahaha).
So I let them do their thing while I took photos! Wasn’t my job to sit still and look pretty anyway? Hahaha. And I was conserving my energy for the Kenny’s Open Urbanite Run I was participating in later that night.
Bubble Boys
Thanks again to the Weekend Warriors for taking me on the road trip to Splash Island. It was more fun than a barrelful of monkeys! Oh wait–
Update: The episode is out! Watch Weekend Warriors: Splash Island on Flippish.
Globe Run for Home
July 23, 2009I’m an on-again, off-again runner and I’ve never competed in a race, so I ponied up the cash and joined the Globe Run for Home race last July 19. It was a charity run to benefit Habitat for Humanity. Read about how I ran the race, and take a look at my official race results!
Crossposted from In My Pocket.
"Weekend Warriors: Surfing" on Flippish.com!
July 12, 2009Remember that surf trip to Club Manila East I went on last month? It was a shoot for “Weekend Warriors”, one of the many web-only shows featured on Flippish.com, the first online Pinoy video channel. My surfing episode is the second one, and now it’s up online! Check it out below, or head on over to Weekend Warriors: Surfing on Flippish.com.
Funny, I could swear I had better footage than that. LOL! 
Philippine Blog Awards 2009
As you might recall, last year this blog was a finalist at the Philippine Blog Awards under the Travel category. This year I’ve had a chance to evaluate what this blog is about, and it’s not about the nitty-gritty details of traveling to destinations (which is the description of the travel category). It’s about my fascination with travel and the things to do when you get to the destination. It’s a small difference, but enough to make me re-categorize this blog under Hobby & Recreation.
Hopefully I make the finals again this year. 
R.O.X.star
June 12, 2009Even though I’m a certifiable (yes, certifiable) beach bunny, I know there’s so much more to do and discover. There are mountains to be climbed, trails to be biked, waves to be surfed and oceans to swim… I just haven’t been able to get off my butt and do these things. But a girl can always dream, right?
(Photo from R.O.X. website)
I found myself at R.O.X. (Recreational Outdoor eXchange) at Bonifacio High Street three times this week. First it was under the pretense of looking at bikinis; I had the mistaken notion I should rock a Roxy or a Billabong next time I went surfing. (I ended up buying a hot pink bikini at Pink Belter.) While I was there, I got sucked into the bike section where I drooled over a Giant mountain bicycle designed for women that was small enough for me and had sexy paint details. This, despite the fact I do not bike up mountains and don’t even know how to shift smoothly between bike gears.
I liked the bike so much I took photos.
The second time, I was looking at rash guards and found a nice local brand, Fluidsurf, selling both rash guards and board shorts. But while I was browsing the aisles I found myself getting excited over fanny packs and wash bags, of all things.
(Photo from R.O.X. website)
I found myself lost in a daydream about hiking and needing a fanny pack at my hip so I could have freedom of movement, and using a wash bag to contain all my toiletries as I roughed it in the wild. Then I realized the wash bag couldn’t hold my makeup kit.
Well, today I gave in to one of my R.O.X. fantasies and got myself a Fluidsurf rash guard. Before I hied off to the checkout counter, I caught myself casting a longing gaze at the DC skate gear in the corner.
I’m in retail therapy trouble, aren’t I?
