Seoul Sisters Part 1

For my birthday last year, Omay, Chic and I went on an all girls trip to South Korea! RB was supposed to join us, but his visa was not released in time for the trip. Sad! :( Anyway, we still had a good time though!

Seoul is such a vibrant city that is an interesting mix of traditional and modern. We visited a couple of palaces, including the grand palace of course.

And then there’s Seoul Station. The architecture was very European, and it was adjacent to the very modern main station building. The contrast was incredible.

We also went to a couple of hanok villages. Hanoks are traditional Korean houses. The hanoks in Bukchon are the most famous in Seoul, and up to this day, people still live in the houses there!

If you are into antiques or other traditional souvenirs, then head to Itaewon! While we were there, we discovered this tourist center where we got to wear traditional hanoks and take lots of pictures.

There are so many things to do and see in Korea, a week is not enough! Watch out for more stories about this Seoul sister trip.

XO,

telai

Summer of 2012

I know I am guilty of ignoring this blog for months on end, but here I am again - with a little spare time in between reading and having my Sunday brunch - to give you updates on the lives of me and my friends!


We didn't travel together this summer. Each of us had our own agenda.

Danica
Chic went to Hong Kong and Macau last March with some friends.

Frank

For Frank's first trip abroad, he went with a friend to Vietnam. They visited Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi and Halong Bay.

Before their trip back, they met with Lady and her travel buddies in Ho Chi Minh.

Lady

Lady went to Indo-China without me (sob sob). She went on a 9-day trip to Bangkok, Cambodia and Vietnam with Lloyd, Ian and a couple of Ian's friends.

Omay

Omay finally graduated from Med School this summer. She was in the Top 3 of her class! Congratulations! Before she started her medical internship, she went to Palawan with her familia.

RB

RB spent his 19-day mandatory vacation leave muttering about how ungrateful a friend I was. We didn't go to any trips together since I had work. But he did go on road trips with his friends - if he wasn't standing under a tree in some busy sidewalk, counting cars that passes by for hours on end.

Jude


We haven't seen Jude in more than a year I think! Although some time last year, Lady did bump into him at Ayala Cebu. But I saw on Facebook that his family went to Hong Kong 4 months ago. I was in Manila for a whole week to attend a training and orientation, but I still missed him because he want to a secret place - where his mom was - for mother's day.

Donna

Her membership to this friendship is almost expiring according to RB. We haven't seen her in a while, but a few days ago, she met up with Lady in Cebu so yay! Finally they saw each other again!

Telai


I was supposed to fly to HK with grade school friends last February, but we got left behind by the plane so I stayed in Manila for a whole weekend instead. And then I went back there mid-April to attend an event at the US Ambassador to the Philippines' home that was hosted by AmCham. And then I went back two weeks ago for a week-long training (work!), detoured for a weekend in Cebu before going home.

***

While we didn't have any major trips together, we did see a lot of each other. We've been having dinners, lunches, game nights, etc together. Such a laid back summer for me, at least!

telai

Summer to Fall

Last night I realized that I haven't updated this blog in ages! I'm sure a lot of things happened between May and now, but I'm too lazy to go into details so I'll just share with everyone a few of the highlights of these past months...

Surigao, Let's Go!

Frank, RB and I, along with Cams and Lloyd, went on a road trip to Surigao del Sur on the long weekend of August! I grew up between Agusan and Surigao, but the rest of the group are first timers.

We stayed in Northway Hotel in San Francisco, which was an hour drive away from Surigao del Sur. For our day trips, we visited Tinuy-An Falls in Bislig, Enchanted River in Hinatuan, and Letty's Terraces, a private resort, in Lianga. And because I wrote about this in detail already, go read it here.

House Party at Chic's

We were still hung over from a crazy road trip when we met up again at Chic's. She was in town 2 weeks after her birthday, but we still partied like it was her natal day!

I don't have a copy of the photos we took, but allow me to still share how crazy it was. There were too many food - all of them DELICIOUS, if I may add - and there were too many drinks! Again, thanks to tried and tested games, and very creative punishment negotiations, Frank had stripped naked before the night ended. HEEHAW! Who says we don't make good deals?

Omay: Still Young at 23

We were all crazy busy so we celebrated Omay's 23rd days late. But awesome people that we are, we celebrated it with a bang! and a splash, and laughter, and tears, and more laughter!

The winning line of the night would have to be from RB. Read more about the sleepover here.

Oktoberfest

Fast forward to October - since we didn't see much of each other following Omay's birthday. It's another semestral break for students and Lady was back in town! I went to the salon for a supposedly quick visit and hola - I ended up having my hair dyed! After dinner at Lachi's, I cancelled on going to a friend's party, and decided to drink and christen the Fontilla's new crib instead. We had an impromptu sleepover with the bubwits because I ended up sleeping in the middle of watching a movie. Oops. 

And then came RB's birthday. He invited us for dinner with his family. I intentionally ignored all his text messages and calls the whole day, and it was only Lady who mentioned about going since the rest of them are either busy or out of town or just couldn't care less. Our surprise consisted of ourselves and a cake! Yay! Plus we ended the evening on a discussion about love, life, and sex over a hot cup of coffee and 2 slices of Blugre's chocolate moist cake. Happy birthday, RB.

It was also Jude's birthday a few days later, but we didn't get to see him so... Belated Happy Birthday Jude!

Happy Halloween

While Lady and I were hanging out at the newly opened D'Leonor Inland Resort, we've decided that she'll be going with me to a halloween party my friend Zhaun is throwing at Marco Polo. I convinced her mom that they should donate some GC's to promote their salon. That aside, we ended up going with Eric, their new stylist. I had a blast especially since I got a little bit drunk, but not enough to make me lose my mind and drive intoxicated! 

Fancy Night Out

And just last Sunday evening, Frank, RB and I went out for a fancy dinner at Mamu's. A bottle of bubbly (because they ran out of cheap read wine haha), some really delicious food, and an intimate ambiance was perfect for the relaxed mood I was looking for that night.

And we had coffee at the Roof Garden of Gaisano Mall for a nightcap. Ahhhh, life!

xx,

telai

Teaser

Just got back from my trip with Lady, Chic and the buliliits! Here's a photo teaser of what we've been up to!

Can you guess where we've been?

x,

Telai

Thrilla in Manila

Found myself on a plane with some of our friends over the weekend. RB and I took a mid-morning flight to Manila with Bryan and Telaw. Frank was supposed to go with us, but he bailed out a while back because of class. Lady wasn't sure until the last minute, but this escape was much more worth it than any of her med school dramas, I think. LOL

JV, as usual, picked us up from the airport and then we headed to Greenbelt for lunch. We met up with one of our first year high school classmates, Karl Pedregosa at Kitchen.

Discussing the wonders of sex, fame, and money.
Just kidding. They were talking about school, I think.

Glad you could make it to the party Karl!

Stepsisters

MORE PHOTOS AFTER THE BREAK.

Trip to Kapalong

It seems like we're always finding reasons to go back to Kapalong - home to the Alegre's! It was my third time to go back there last week!

The first time I went to Kapalong was back in 2006; for EJ's (Omay's neice) baptism. I went there with Abe (Omay's beau), Chic and Frank. We didn't know how to drive then so we took the bus to Tagum, and then Omay's family driver picked us up from there for Kapalong. 

My second time in Kapalong was this September. Omay had a belated birthday celebration there, and so RB and I went with her and Abe. Unfortunately, RB had to leave really early the next morning so he really didn't get to see much of the place.

My most recent trip was only last week. After we had our little Christmas Party, Frank, Lady, Omay and I had a road trip to bring home Scarlet. We made a deal that we'll drive her to Kapalong so long as she joins the party. LOL It was Lady's first time there, btw. Chic wanted to join us but she was supposed to arrive only later than night so it wasn't really possible! 

We really had loads of fun going there - especially in Omay's dad's prayer garden! Totes awesome! 

I am definitely looking forward to our next barkada road trip. Perhaps to Agusan / Surigao next time? :)