Pandas (!!!) of Ocean Park Hong Kong

When we were planning our Hong Kong trip, we were torn if we should visit Disneyland or Ocean Park but we ended up going to both attractions! Haha. Disneyland is more child-friendly while the rides at Ocean Park are definitely more extreme. Me being very afraid of heights, I opted to sit out on some of the rollercoasters. What I enjoyed the most were the pandas!

I forgot how camera shy the pandas were not until I was browsing all the pictures and I can't find any photo that they are looking straight ahead lol

My First Disneyland Experience | photodump

According to the right timeline of events, I'm supposed to be writing about my Universal Studios Singapore trip last year but I figured it's such a waste to not post something about my first Disneyland experience in Oct 2017 (not to mention - my first out of the country trip).

So going back 17 months from now, I'm at happiest place on earth 💖! We booked our discounted tickets from Klook (I've also used this on almost all of the attractions we went to in Hong Kong & Singapore, as well as some local destinations).

I'm not sure how anyone can get a decent picture here lol always expect a crowd especially this one's a very famous attraction in Hong Kong. We went early - right before opening time but a lot of people were there already.

Coron, Palawan: My favorite place in the Philippines + 4-day itinerary

In my previous blog, I mentioned that I will compile the highlights of my 2018 next but I decided to create separate posts as I would really like to share as much details and photos as I can 😀 This time last year, I went to Coron with two of my high school friends. Coron is actually a very famous tourist destination in the country. Those with limited time in Palawan are torn between Coron & El Nido. Personally, I prefer Coron (I still haven't been to El Nido but I'll visit in less than 2 months!!!) because the town is quieter and less touristy compared to the latter.

Day 1

Our flight was 5:50am - not complaining as I love early flights, I feel like I'm able to make most of the day if I start early. We flew directly from Manila to Busuanga Airport (Francis B. Reyes Airport) in Coron. Some people opted to fly to Puerto Princesa but it's time consuming. It's more suitable if you would visit Puerto Princesa first, then El Nido before going to Coron by boat.

We arrived before check-in time but fortunately, the reception allowed us to leave our things first so we can explore the town and eat. Later in the afternoon, we went out to explore Mt. Tapyas. I don't consider it as a hike as there are concrete stairs all the way to the top where a huge cross is situated.

We watched the sunset and the view from the top was amazing.

Hello 2019 + looking back at 2017 (2018 in part 2)

Wow, my previous post was exactly a year (and 4 days) ago, so much for promising to be active here again. Reflecting in the past years, it's just sad to lose your passion for a lot of things. Personally, my interest in blogging, photography and even video editing have toned down incredibly. Sadly, I'm not sure how to get back at those things again.

Career-wise, I'm still working as a homebased graphic designer for an Australian company. Fortunately, I've been promoted to a higher position and the pay's good enough to sustain my travel bug needs. Though cons, I'm feeling a bit down lately maybe because working-from-home really does keep you away from socializing.

I also realized that I've been feeling low-spirited because I don't do anything besides work. I don't have any small/side projects that I used to enjoy (specifically this-blogging & writing). So I'm giving this a shot once again, I feel like this is a really great way to express my thoughts and I just want to share all these nice things and places I've been to. 😀

A lot of catching up to do so here's a photo dump of all things interesting that happened last 2017:

San Juan, La Union

A famous surf town up North. I remember talking to two of my closest college friends and ranting about how stressful adulting and work life was when we decided to hit the beach just to have a break from all the hustle and bustle of the city.

Flotsam & Jetsam 

We stayed at an open air kubo in Urbiz Garden Bed & Breakfast. So peaceful and serene!

Baler, Aurora: 2D1N in the "Birthplace of Surfing in the Philippines"

Baler is a 6-hour drive from Manila but it took us almost 9 hours since we went on a long holiday and the expressway was practically packed. We left at around 3 am and arrived past noon, but because we weren't able to book a hotel/room beforehand, we had to look for a place to stay first

We were only staying for one night so we immediately drove around Baler to visit as many places as possible.

Hi

I actually feel bad about neglecting this blog so much. Maybe I lost my passion to write last year since a lot of things happened and I've been to many places as well that I can't juggle life, work, & blogging anymore :( Fortunately, I missed sharing stories & photos so here I am trying to catch up!

So last year, I
- Quit my first job (and..)
- Found a new job. I am currently a homebased graphic designer working for a company based in Australia
- Opened my first Instagram shop (but can't update it now because I'm still looking for new products that I can sell)

And new places I've been to (which reminds me that I also need to update the Bucketlist section of my blog):

- Baler, Aurora (surfed for the first time!)

A post shared by MARIELLE GONZALES (@mariellegonz) on Apr 14, 2017 at 4:59am PDT

Bolinao, Pangasinan: Falls, Rock Formations & Beaches

I've been eyeing Bolinao since last year and was actually the first choice for our family's year ender trip. Unfortunately, the bad weather that time forced us to either cancel or choose another destination instead. We opted for the latter because we really needed that break, we ended up in Zambales & still had a really great time (I blogged about that here)!

Fast forward to 2017's first holiday, I finally went to Bolinao and it was even more special because it was my high school group of friends' first out of town trip.

San Antonio, Zambales: Pundaquit Beach, Camara Island, Capones Island and Anawangin Cove

This post is long overdue but let's just pretend that I posted this on schedule (haha!) which should be on the first week of January. I started 2016 by going to the beach but that was for the purpose of my thesis. I concluded the year the same way but for a totally different reason, just for relaxation and a quick escape from the work-home routine!

I stayed 2 days at Pundaquit Beach in San Antonio, Zambales with the whole family. We just relaxed, ate and stayed in the pool on our first day- something I wish I can do atleast once a week hahaha!

Antipolo, Rizal: Cloud 9 Resort & Hotel

Ever since I was a kid, my grandparents always picked me up from school and even when I started college, they were just one text away whenever I needed a ride. I can say I'm super close to them that I still sit on my grandma's lap haha! And now that I'm working, I've been wanting to treat them out, so last Sunday, we attended mass at Antipolo and ate lunch at Cloud 9 (they are currently making buzz on facebook because of their overlooking location and their famous hanging bridge!).

Morong, Bataan: Morong Beach

Hello! I know I've been inactive for months but fortunately, I have something to write about now plus I can explain why I was busy lately. Well, I am part of the millennial workforce for 2 months already haha! So far, I can still handle the stress but having work on a saturday is too draining for me huhu.

Now on to something good: I just got back from the holidays (Halloween, All Saints & All Souls Day) which my family spent on the beach. Actually, same weekend last year, we were on the beach too but it was part of my thesis. This year, the trip was completely spontaneous. We left the house at 10:00 am without any plans on where we were going! I was searching for a nice beach weekend getaways while we were on the highway and my slow mobile data wasn't helping lol. Finally, we chose Morong beach- it's 174 km from Manila, not that far but still an enjoyable long ride.

Zoobic Safari!

I've always wanted to visit Zoobic Safari as a kid (if we consider a 6th grader a kid haha). I can still remember them promoting their close encounter with tigers where visitors can ride a totally-secured vehicle and drive around the cage.

8 long years later, I was browsing MetroDeal's website and saw that there was a discount for Zoobic! It was just perfect since long weekend was also coming.

CEBU Day 3: Swimming with whale sharks & Rock/Waterfalls climbing

I understand now why Cebu is famous to both foreign and local tourists, this province is the total package! I know we weren't able to visit ALL its attractions but for the whole 3 days, we were able to experience a historical/ cultural tour around the city, climbed a mountain, saw a very rich marine life, chased waterfalls, swam with whale sharks and even did a combination of rock and waterfalls climbing!

Swimming (or snorkeling haha) with whale sharks (Oslob, Cebu)

This is a must-visit destination in Cebu. Our guide told me that all year round, there are a lot of tourists so there's no specific "peak season" but of course, summer is still the most crowded time!

CEBU Day 2: Morning trek, Snorkeling & Chasing Waterfalls

Here's the continuation to my previous Day 1 post and our second day on the 6th best island in the world! Since we were so satisfied and happy with our trip, I would like to mention and thank Kuya Jojo for arranging our South Cebu adventures. His team were responsible from all the things we did that you'll see starting from this blog post hahaha. So if you guys plan to visit Cebu and go on adventures, my friends and I gladly recommend him!

Osmena Peak (Dalaguete, Cebu)

Our 2nd day started very early- we were picked up at 6:00 am from where we were staying in the city and had more than 2 hours ride going to our first destination. We arrived in Dalaguete before 5:00 am and we had to stay inside the van for a while because it was too foggy yet. The trek was an easy one but considering that we're (especially me) "couch" people, we got exhausted easily hahaha but fortunately, our guides were so patient!

The fog still covered the view by the time we reached the summit but our tour guides' photography skills were so awesome! They were also enthusiastic about taking our photos so we had plenty of great shots.

CEBU Day 1: Unplanned little tour around the city

If you're following me on instagram, you'll know that I recently went to Cebu (also known as the 6th best island in the world according to the readers of Travel + Leisure magazine, as seen on their website) with my college buddies. It was our first time going on a trip together that requires a plane ride. Hahaha. On our original booking, we were supposed to leave Manila on July 18, 7:00 pm but our flight got cancelled and we had no choice but to sleep on the airport! We rebooked our flight to 7:00 am the following day and again, it got delayed.... And finally, after waiting for almost 20 hours on the airport, we boarded and arrived in Cebu at 2:00 pm. 

Weeks before our trip, my friend Mina got us a 2-day tour package but because our schedule got mixed up, we got a free whole afternoon to explore the city! After we checked-in on our hotel, we hurriedly searched on how we can get to the iconic locations near our place.

Magellan's Cross

001 @mariellegnzls photodump

I'm starting this instagram photodump thing-y partly because I haven't been anywhere lately so I really don't have anything to blog about (huhu) and also I just love instagram so much! Here are some photos and life updates from a couple of months ago.

3rd row: Baccalaureate Mass is one of UST's much-awaited events yearly and this 2016 was our turn to be the students celebrating it! There were fireworks, holy mass, lighting of candles, writing on uniforms and a lot more lasts moments. I shed a tear that night during the fireworks huhu it was so sad to leave the university that became my home for 8 years but it was also great that I was finally graduating. You can watch the 60-second video I made here. Watching it still gives me the feels.

Batangas Beaches: Nasugbu, Matabungkay & Laiya

This is my last thesis-related post as I combined all the remaining beaches into a single entry so this is going to be quiet long but full of photos!

NASUGBU BEACH

Calatagan, Batangas: Burot Beach

Burot is climbing its way up on beach-goers' list of must visit beach destinations because of its unspoiled charms. Also, I experienced beach camping for the second time here because this place doesn't have any resorts or rooms... yet.

This is the 4th out of 10 beaches I featured on my thesis and blogged about. I would just probably merge the remaining 6 beaches into a single post next time but you can check out my previous posts for the other 3 beaches.

Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro: White Beach

This is just the 3rd out of 10 beaches I visited for my thesis that I have to blog about haha so expect more overdue posts! This destination is actually famous here in the Philippines for having diverse attractions- may it be above or below the waters, and its close distance from Manila, the capital city.

Mauban, Quezon: Cagbalete Island

Hello, I just passed my thesis defense and I'm back here blogging! As I mentioned before, I took photography for my thesis and my topic was about the beaches near Manila that my busy target market can easily go to because of its short distance so expect a few overdue posts of beaches haha.

Lobo, Batangas: Faro de Punta de Malabrigo

Faro de Punta de Malabrigo, or more commonly known as "Malabrigo Lighthouse" was built in 1896 to serve as a guide for those who are passing along the Verde Island. On November 27, 2006, the lighthouse was declared a National Historical Landmark. The place is well maintained and is open to the public though entering the premises without permission is not allowed.