Posted: January 7th, 2009 | Author: Ben | Filed under: Food, Travel | Tags: Aria, boracay, d'mall, pizza, station 2 | 1 Comment »
I’ve been wanting to eat at this place since I got to the island.
We ordered pasta. It was good but I wasn’t quite happy with it.
I will recommend however their pizza. We tried their Quattro Stagioni. In Italian, it means “the four seasons pizza.” The pizza has 4 flavors… Aria (smoked ham), olives, seafood, and mushrooms.
Establishment: Aria
What to order: Pizza. I recommend Quattro Stagioni.
Location: D’Mall, Station 2
Posted: December 4th, 2008 | Author: Ben | Filed under: Travel | Tags: Encircle, Mount Pulag, Mt. Pulag | 5 Comments »
My friends (Allan, Verchie, Trinka and Katja) and I joined the mountaineering group, Encircle, to climb Mt. Pulag.
Here’s an incomplete photo of the group…
Here’s the complete photo of the group (minus Chester, the photographer. hehe)…
Guys and gals, thank you so much for making my first climb fun and memorable! =.D
Posted: December 4th, 2008 | Author: Ben | Filed under: Travel | Tags: Mount Pulag, Mt. Pulag, summit | No Comments »
By 4:00 am, Narod and I were already set to climb the summit of Mt. Pulag. I believe we’ve also packed our stuff in preparation for the trek back to the Ranger Station. Around the same time, Verchie and Allan were already awake. I shared breakfast with them. “Ang walang kamatayang peanut butter sandwich!” (Brought to you by Gardenia and Lily’s) That was for our carb-intake. For our protein, we had Eng Bee Tin beef jerky. Yummy! Finally, we had safari chocolate bars for our dessert! Solb!!!
Around 5:00 am, we started to climb to the summit. It was dark and muddy. Halfway thru the trail, the wind started to blow again. Towards the end of the trail to the summit, it was drizzling again. I felt cold again.
The 2-hour seemed too long. The hills seemed endless. But finally we got there.
It felt good being on top of Mt. Pulag. However, it was a bit frustrating because there was no site to see. It was foggy, windy and rainy. Later we found out that it’s best to climb Mt. Pulag during summers.
It was my first time to climb. I practically wasn’t physically fit for this climb. Thus, reaching the summit of Pulag was an achievement for me.
Posted: December 4th, 2008 | Author: Ben | Filed under: Travel | Tags: Mount Pulag, Mt. Pulag | 4 Comments »
Soon as we arrived at the camping grounds, Brian, our trail leader, advised us to setup our tents before the weather gets worse. By 5:30 pm (November 29, Saturday), I was already inside the tent. I didn’t bring my own tent. Good thing Narod was willing to share his tent with me. Thank you, pareng Narod! =.D
Soon as I was inside, I changed to prepare for the cold night. I wore thermals underneath. On top of that, I wore a thick cotton or wool jogging pants, football socks and another pair of cotton socks for my legs. For my my upper body and on top of my thermals, I was wearing my Men’s Health T-shirt, white long sleeves, Ateneo jacket. Moreover, I was also wearing a scarf around my neck, hand gloves, and a thick bonnet.
The wind was blowing so hard that you hear it whistle from inside the tent. Moreover, it was also raining. The water was sipping inside the tent that we had to put Verchie’s poncho over out tent.
By 7:00 pm, I already felt cold. I was trying to sleep but the cold weather kept me awake. This would soon become the the longest night of my life. Then, an unwanted thing happened. CRAMPS! Both of my legs! It hurt so bad that I was screaming inside the tent that I awakened Narod. He told me that the cramps was probably due to cold weather. He advised me to just relax my legs and keep it warm.
Around 9:00 pm, I heard voices outside the tent talking about Adobo, our dinner. It was too cold for me to go outside. Moreover, I didnt wanna risk changing my position on my sleeping bag. Changing my trigger another attack of cramps. Thus, I had no dinner that night.
I tried sleeping again. Unfortunately, I would be awakened every half an hour. Most of the time, it was because of my wet head caused by the water the sipped thru the tent. The poncho was too small to cover the whole tent. I had to wipte my head and the wet walls of the tent.
There were times when I woke up shivering. I would try to look for an extra clothing to put on but I have already used all of my clothes. The clothes I wore during the trek were already wet including the shemag and bonnet, which would have helped a lot in keeping me warm.
I also had a couple of bad dreams. I would wake up gasping for air. It was very unpleasant.
Next thing I knew it was 2:45 am (November 30, Sunday) and I could hear the alarm clock in my cellphone. Shortly after, Narod woke up. He went outside to take a smoke. I remember him not finishing his cigarette because of the cold weather outside the tent. We later found out that the temperated dropped to as low as 11 degree celcius.
Around that time, it was very peaceful. Everyone was still asleep. There was no wind blowing. But it was extremely cold, it’s like you’re inside the freezer.
But despite the cold, the sky was so clear. It was filled with stars. I’ve never seen the sky so clear and so beautiful. I tried taking a picture of the sky but I had limited equipment. Here’s the attempt from my SE K750i camphone…
Overall, the experience was very humbling.
