A Living Museum

The villages of Bungamati and Kokhana are only 8 km from city of Kathmandu, but they look like they belong to another era. These rural villages lie right next to each other and date back to the 16th century.

The Windows of Nepal

One of the first things that jumped out at me as I rode through the streets of Kathmandu was the intricate carved windows that adorned the facades of even the most impoverished homes. I've always been fascinated by the cast iron window treatments in France, as well as the wrought iron windows/balconies in Spain, but I've never seen carved wood windows like these before.

Rendezvous with Everest

  Kongde Ri

This was definitely the highlight of our Nepal trip. I wish I could sound like an extreme mountaineer and say I trekked to get to Kongde. But our hosts, EO Nepal, wanted to give us an experience of a lifetime the safest and most comfortable way. Trekking? Hmmm.. maybe not. After all, we were a group of entrepreneurs, not mountaineers.

Normally it would take 5 trekking days just to get to Kongde. This was not "base camp". This was an area lower than base camp, but the closest and highest one could get to have a magnificent view of those glorious Himalayan peaks.

Shopping for Sunglasses

 

I haven't had a pair of sunglasses for many months now since I keep losing them! But a trip is coming up and I need shades badly.

Off to the mall I went, and into the first optical shop. I almost fainted with the prices of the sunglasses they were trying to sell me! P25,000?!?!  Are they crazy? It took a while before the sales people finally stopped showing me all these branded shades, and brought out regular UV lenses. Shades are almost disposable, so it doesn't make sense to spend a fortune just to have an obscene double CC or a Prada triangle on them.  I need to see snow-covered mountains, and I don't need to look fashionable up there anyway (well...not THAT fashionable). 

 The "viewing test" without polarized lenses

I went into the first optical store and tried on a few before I got sales-talked into buying polarized lenses. I'm excited to do the real test with my new shades and see if my polarized lenses are better than regular shades. 

And now with polarized lenses--you can see the sailboat.

After I bought my shades, I had to go to the Speedo store at Bonifacio High street to buy G a black suit for her  swimming lessons which start this week. What an amazing store. Tons of suits and other swimming paraphernalia. It makes me wish I was a competitive swimmer.  At the counter, Speedo had polarized lens sunglasses at such a reasonable price compared to that optical shop! I had to buy another another pair (for B to use, so he doesn't borrow mine).

I know we'll be able to see the mountains better, but I think we won't be able to read texts on our phone while wearing it. Sometimes polarized lenses have that effect.

Eager to  try them out. 

Mudejar Architecture in Zaragoza, Spain

 

 The Aljaferia in Zaragoza

Zaragoza was our first overnight stop in our Spain road trip itinerary. We had just left Barcelona that morning and stopped in Lerida for lunch at the Celler de Rosier restaurant.  After a heavy but delicious late lunch of paella and pork ribs (among many other things) we walked around Lerida for an hour or so before continuing on our way to Zaragoza where we were going to spend the night. 

Bamboo Beach Club in Nasugbu

Those familiar with the western Batangas coast in Nasugbu will tell you that the best swimming beach in the whole coast is Bamboo Beach. 

In decades past, Bamboo Beach was reachable only by sea, so only the townsfolk of Barrio Wawa who had access to bancas, and the more affluent boat owners from neighboring beaches like Tali Beach, Munting Buhangin or White Sands (now Terazzas), Natipuan,  and Maya-maya reef club were the only ones who could reach the place or bring people to Bamboo Beach.

A Love Song

I found this on my desk.  "It's a song I wrote for you, mommy" G said.

They are at that precious age where they adore me. Wish they could stay this age forever. 

The Whalesharks of Donsol

With Omar Nepomuceno, our Butanding Interaction Officer (BIO)

One of the more unforgettable experiences of the kids' young lives will be the whale shark adventure we did a couple of years ago.  I had been hearing about the butandings in Donsol for some time but just never got around to planning a trip there. Then one day in the middle of summer, my take-charge and adventurous friend, Cecilia, volunteered make all the plans for the group as long as we could make ourselves free at a moment's notice. Does it get better than that? We were in.