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Wednesday, December 23, 2015

"December" Christmas Song

I learned this Christmas song entitled "December" when I was in grade three, taught by my teacher Miss Dahlia Padua. I don't know if anybody still sing this song. May I share it......

December
The month that comes through the changing year,
And I love them all, they are kind and dear,
Some pleasant things it is sure to bring, 
But the best of all is December.
Then together you can see,
Fruits as many fruits can be,
Blossom to you and for me,
On December magic Christmas tree.


Merry Christmas everyone!!! God bless us all!

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Kandaya, Daan Bantayan, Cebu

My children gifted their parents an early Christmas present in the form of a superlative family get away vacation at Kandaya Resort, Daan Bantayan, Cebu.

Superb is the word! The view from the swimming pool to the sea is most captivating. One look and you'll think you are in a beach paradise. The entire beach resort is extremely well kept and well attended. Kandaya is beautiful and gorgeous, best in amenities and service. I do not even care or mind when later, I find out that the resort is almost entirely man made. I love the place and enjoy my vacation to the fullest. Personnel are so courteous and helpful. The hotel attendants, etc, do not have those expectant looks that crave for gratuities or constantly accounting for lost towels, hehehe. The vacation is so relaxing, indeed an idyllic resort anyone will like to go back to.

Going to Kandaya, we are fetched from our hotel in Cebu City. Inside the van, they provide us with cold bottles of water and juices, also dainty basketfuls of cookies and cakes for the long drive. We are served welcome drinks at the lobby and is met by the hotel manager upon arrival. The regular room in Kandaya is big and spacious, just like a suite. It has first class imported amenities. On the coffee table is a boat of well arranged apples and grapes to welcome our stay. On the lounge table infront of the wide screen tv, are magazines for reading. At the back of the room is a spacious veranda that sits next to a beautiful koi pond. In the late afternoon, housekeeping comes to pull down the shades and puts a jar of delicious cookies for tea. Two beach towels are provided inside the closet. Brown beach towels are rolled inside a handy twined bag, where you can also place your lotion, eyeglasses and personal items to carry. It is very convenient and nice. We eat all our meals at the hotel restaurant. The servers are extra attentive to our beckoning. The food are delicious, well prepared by a Thai chef. In three days, we almost order everything out from their menu. Hahaha. The resort is very hotel-guest friendly!!! It is quite  awesome!

Thank you Roy, Tomas, Emil, Martha and Marion for the great family vacation!!! Your papa and I love you all. God bless you always.
(Pictures to follow later.)

Pictures from Kandaya

The resort hotel

Most captivating!






With Dylan, Yuri, Angel and Emil
At dusk
Yoga at sundown
Marion texting
At the hotel restaurant
A happy father and one happy family on vacation at Kandaya Resort, Daan Batayan, Cebu, Philippines.


Monday, December 7, 2015

1730 Jesuit House in Cebu City

While in Cebu City, My son Tomas brought us to see the most unique museum I ever visited called the Jesuit House, located inside an existing hardware bodega, owned and operated by Mr. Jimmy See, a Chinese Filipino businessman. The old house was built in 1730 at the Cebu Parian where businesses flourished during the Spanish era. It went through historical intrigues, fires, wars, transferred ownerships; yet despite its age, the structure stood strong and firm. Visibly, you can see the posts were made from sturdy molave wood and the walls from sea coral bricks. When Jimmy See went to Ateneo, he discovered the historical value of his old house. And upon the encouragement of the Jesuit's priests, he made restorations to the place and the rest became the museum we saw in Cebu today.

To add more story to the narrative: Just very recently this year, during the pre APEC meeting held in Cebu, some delegates were bought to see the old Jesuit House. One of the Japanese delegates was awed by its uniqueness, he told Mr. Jimmy See not to even relocate the working family warehouse. Indeed, the hardware anterior and interior, the steels and bars, and the barrels and bales of stocks, plus the working personnel inside and everything else; rightly added more charm and uniqueness to the historical find.

 

The oldest recorded house in the Philippines.
 Carved inside the house. Previous owners did not take notice of its significance.
Mini replica of the old parian
The inner house is the now standing museum
The molave post, the intricate painted ceiling and the dragon tail beam.
Lucas and Marion posing inside the museo en-capsuled inside an existing warehouse.

Friday, December 4, 2015

In Cebu City

The family flew to Cebu City to reunite with Tom, Angel and the kids:
Angkong and the grandkids
Tom. Roy, Emil and Dylan and Yuri
Marion and Martha and their nephews
Having lunch together
The family all together in Cebu


Welcome Home Party

The family tendered a welcome home party for Roy. Relatives from both the Tan and the Ledesma families came - a happy homecoming gathering.

 -
The Ledesmas
The Tans
The young ones
With Boy and Ollie at the buffet table.
More food to partake
The lechon was everybody's favorite. Oh so yummy!

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Family Vacation at Pico Sands, Batangas

Roy came home from United States for a vacation. He came during the time when Philippine was hosting the APEC meeting. Because of APEC traffic congestion problems, his connecting flight from Japan to Manila was held for 7 hours. It so inconvenient him and many other people including us, his family that the plane landed at Manila International Airport at two in the morning. Because of the delay, everybody else had to suffer the consequences. Roy's siblings fetched him from the airport late at night and everybody else was not able to sleep well because of it. Despite that, our trip for a family vacation had to proceed that same day because the hotel was already pre-booked many months ago. Poor Roy, he suffered a much prolong jet lag because of the continuing journey. So sorry for him and also for Emil who was driving, but the land trip must go on. Probably they could rest at the resort, or so I thought. Roy said the vacation was worth it though. Here are some pictures taken from Pico de Loro:



Pico de Loro Resort is a very picturesque place. The gardens are beautiful and well maintained. They have three dining places that carter to their eating patronages. They have shuttle buses that do not let you wait for ages to come to pick you up. The beach is clean and the sands are very very nice. There are however partitions for the use of the beaches between the resort's members and the hotel guests. (Of course we did not go beyond our limits.) We are a family of beach persons and I can say I really love the sands of Pico de Loro. It extends from the shore to the far sea just like those of Boracay. You can walk the shore barefooted without fear of rough stones and sharp corals. The beach shore is very very enticing. By the way, there is also a chapel inside the resort where you can attend the Sunday mass. It is overlooking the sea and the beach front. The scenery is quite breathtaking.

However there are down sides to the resort hotel. Number one is the poor housekeeping services - Housekeeping forgot to clean our room and they did not provide the proper amenities for the number of occupancy. There was no hot water for showers. My first time to stay in a hotel without hot shower and the staff forgetting to clean the room. I called up their attention on the second day of our stay but still no hot showers on the succeeding day. I felt I was robbed out of my money. I may not go back to Pico Sands, if not only for that beautiful beach and the fine sands.


Wednesday, November 18, 2015

APEC in the Philippines

It is such a farce, a fiasco that hosting the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) meeting in the Philippines, the nation has to suspend classes, declare bank and working holidays, cancel local flights, reroute highways, delay regular international flights, round up homeless people... etc to impress dignitaries from participating foreign countries. It has so inconvenienced many ordinary people, that in some instances, commuting public opted to walk the distance because of the horrendous traffic caused by the rerouting. They advise people to go out of town during these APEC-declared holidays but how can you go out of town when most local flights are cancelled. Who among those silly foreign countries would intentionally come to invest in such falsehood and false scenarios of window dressing. And if the government can make good cleaning during the APEC, why can't they do it for the ordinary people on daily basis, spending as much money anyway.
I am beginning to hate this administration which I verbally supported during the first few years of its "Daan Matuwid" system. Now I say, it's hopeless because many things have gone worse. The president after all was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he has proven that he does not empathize nor understand the plight of the hard working ordinary citizens of this country. What can we expect from him now, only self serving rhetoric.

Updates: And his Marie Antoinette of the Philippines sister Kris Aquino compared her supposedly blemished skin from hosting dignitaries wives under the heat of the sun, equal to that of the suffering thousands of traffic stranded walkers caused by this APEC fiasco. Shame on you, off with your silly head and your blemished skin!

Friday, November 13, 2015

Condemning the Paris Attacks

I strongly condemn the disgusting attack of civilians in Paris. It is detestable and sickening to attack innocent defenseless people. They are evil and cowardly acts. What kind of culture and mentality do these insane group possess? They are no religion, they who take and use the mighty name of God in vain.
Oh France, I grieve with you...... O Lord, keep the world safe.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Roof Deck After Repair

This is how my roof deck look after a month of waterproofing treatment:

Hopefully it will last for more than another 35 years and keep my love ones and family safe all through out the years.