My Good Friday Flashbacks

WARNING: Some photos may be disturbing for you so read at your own risk.

I could not help but get nostalgic today because I am sorely missing my home country during this time of the year, the Holy Week. So I've decided to check my photo archives and voila! I found my Holy Week snaps back in 2008 using just my mobile phone.

If you still do not know where I am from, let me tell you that I am from the country that is made up of 7, 107 islands called Philippines. It is located in South East Asia along with Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and a few more countries.

If I am not mistaken, we are the only Christian country in that region and being a nation with majority of its people as Christians, Holy Week is one of the most important events that we celebrate. Basically, the Holy Week commemorates the last few moments of Christ before His resurrection or what is more known as Easter.

Mamusan Krus Magdarame

Magpalaspas Magdarame

Mamusan Krus Magdarame without their crosses

In the Philippines, there are Holy Week traditions that Christians religiously observe during this time of the year. For example, in Pampanga, my beloved hometown, Catholic devotees would have their Pabasa / Pabasa ng Pasyon (Reading of the Passion). This is a popular Holy Week ritual wherein devotees will chant the life, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ thru a narrative that is composed of carefully selected words to fit the eight syllables per stanza requirement. Everyone is welcome to chant during the Pabasa and I have had my own chanting experiences.

Our Puni back in 2008

Our puni has been using the same Pabasa Bible ever since I could remember!

Our Pabasa handwritten in Capampangan

Anyway, aside from the Pabasa, penitence rituals is another famous Holy Week tradition in Pampanga. Catholic penitents believe that one of the ways to repent for their sins is to experience what Christ had experience before He was crucified. Some penitents or magdarame in Capampangan (a local Pampanga dialect) would carry a huge wooden cross just like what Christ had carried and walk their way to every puni (a makeshift area where Pabasa is being held) and church that they can visit usually barefoot. These penitents are called mamusan krus (in Capampangan) / nagpapasan ng krus (in Filipino). Another kind of penitents are those who self-flagellate known as magpalaspas (in Capampangan) or nagpapalaspas (in Filipino). Their backs are deliberately wounded so they'll start bleeding and then these flagellants would start hitting their bleeding backs with their palaspas (a whip with a bunch of wooden sticks in the end). There are also those called magsalibatbat (in Capampangan) who crawl their way to the puni or church. Lastly, there are those penitents who get themselves nailed on the cross during Good Friday. They are called kristos.

 

 

In our street where we have our very own puni, the penitents who visit are those from the first three kinds. We do not have the kristos because those penitents are usually found in Cutud, San Fernando, Pampanga. It gets flocked by local and even foreign tourists during Good Friday to see penitents get nailed on the cross.

Station of The Cross Procession

Devotees joining the Station of the Cross Procession

Children at night waiting for more magdarames.

The children are the barkers whenever there's a magdarame coming so that the people in the puni will start the special Pabasa chant for magdarames.

Since today is Good Friday and I cannot feel its presence here at our current "home away from home", I could not help but get sentimental. It is because aside from the spiritual and religious aspect of this day, being together with my family and watching movies like The Ten Commandments and eating mader's sweet dish are what make my Holy Week truly special.

Okay, I am officially SUPER homesick right now. Somebody take me to the Philippines please!

Our Foodie Experience in Palawan

Babs and I are never really adventurous eaters. I mean, we like to try new food but if it's exotic food, uhm, that's a different story.

Anyway, before flying to Palawan, I know that "tamiloc" is the must try food in the province. It is a mangrove worm that locals eat raw. All you gotta do is dip it in vinegar and then put it straight into your mouth! I remember in one of the episodes of Amazing Race way back, the contestants were ask to eat tamiloc and the look on their faces said it all. We didn't have the guts to try this local exotic food so yeah, we ordered room service for our meals most of the time (if we are not out gallivanting) and ate at one of the most famous restaurants in town.

Babs liked Dangkalan Resort's chicken afritada so we ordered it for lunch one time and another time during dinner.

Chicken Afritada and Garlic Rice

Aside from Chicken Afritada, we also ordered Pork Sisig for dinner one night.

Why so serious me? Us enjoying our brekkie of rice, sunny side up egg and fish (for moi) and beef tapa (for Babs).

Dangkalan Resort Menu as of March 2011

What we enjoyed in Microtel Palawan was their breakfast buffet. They had everything that we were looking for in a breakfast and if only we can borrow an extra stomach for breakfast, we would have eaten more.

The drinks area during the breakfast buffet. They serve coffee, juice and hot choco. I couldn't remember if they have tea too.

Dining area and you can see the buffet spread behind.

Yours truly munching on my favorite brekkie bread PANDESAL!

 During our island hopping adventure, we ate our seafood lunch at one of the islands we visited. The food was included in our tour package.

Grilled Seafood is LOVE

Another meal that was included in our tour package was the lunch we had during our underground river adventure.

Chicken Adobo and Sauteed Water Spinach with a chilled bottle of Coke served by the beach!

There are two famous restaurants in Puerto Princesa that tourists and locals alike rave about. We tried to book both several times but we only succeeded on one and that is at Kinabuchs. It is a sports bar/restaurant. I remember us enjoying all the food that we ordered but I already forgot how much the total damage (yes, I'm talking about the price of course! hehehe!) was. It was a nice restaurant with good food. Oh! I think they were serving "tamiloc" dishes but of course, we didn't order that.

Someone's busy stuffing her face! LOL

NOM NOM NOM

I am ALWAYS ready for a GOOD cheesecake!

Though we did not go to Palawan for a foodie adventure, we are still thankful that the province did not only fill our hearts and minds with fun memories but the place also filled our bellies with good food.

Are you hungry yet? Hihihi!

Happy Friday guys!

Til next time!

How About in a Tree House? Our Accomodations During Our Palawan Trip

One of the most important aspects in every trip is the place where you will stay. I understand if there are people who would say that it doesn't matter where you'll be staying at if you'll just stay there during the night for some good snooze. It makes sense especially if one is being practical. However, it wouldn't hurt if you'll be choosy about your accommodation even just for a little bit if you are going somewhere to celebrate something special like in our case, we are on our honeymoon.

During our 5D4N honeymoon in Palawan back in 2011, we never really intended to stay at 2 places but our first choice couldn't accommodate the full four nights of our stay so we did not have a choice but to book another place.

We wanted to try something unique and special at that time and I have read about this resort in Puerto Princesa that offers a tree house for a room. I told Babs about it and he liked it so that was our first choice.

DANGKALAN RESORT

Clever! A spot where guests can take souvenir photos.

Dangkalan's Reception Area

For the first two nights, Dangkalan Resort became our home away from home. We were actually lucky to get the tree house for two consecutive nights because as I've said earlier, they could not accommodate our entire stay in Palawan because someone else had book the same room before we did on the dates of our last two nights. And mind you, there is only ONE tree house in the entire resort so we got really lucky at that time.

Look! There's our tree house! We stayed at the top room.

Rain maker on our door.

Our amazing view from the tree house.

What I really like about the Dangkalan Tree House is its rustic vibe. Once you enter the room, it contains the basic stuff you'll need during your stay such as a nice big bed good enough for two or even three if you have a small child with you, a television (with no cable though), an AC and a basic bathroom. I mean come on, you want to live in a tree house and you expect it to have 5 star room features? Where's the fun in that? Besides, the priceless thing about the tree house is the view you get to see whenever you open the door. It's beach front baby!

MICROTEL INN & SUITES

Front facade of Microtel

Our room was the second door on the right.

On our third day in the island, we left Dangkalan Resort and transferred to Microtel Inn & Suites. It is a hotel chain in the country that have other branches in places such as Boracay and Manila. I don't know what happened during the reservation of our room. We specifically requested for a beach front room on the second floor of the building but somehow during our check in, they were initially giving us a ground floor beach front room. Of course we refused and thank God our travel agency was able to rectify the situation with Microtel.

Back facade that faces the beach.

Pool area and the dining area where breakfast buffet is served.

Another angle of the pool with the back facade (right) facing the beach (left).

Our room consists of two double beds with a nice flat screen tv (with poor cable connection though) and a nice bathroom. Oh! Just a quick fyi for you guys. Did you know that we were in Palawan busy island hopping and all that when Japan experienced the strongest earthquake ever and thousands were killed because of the tsunami? I mean, thank God Palawan was not one of the other places who got tsunami warnings because if that happened, maybe I wouldn't be here now sharing my experiences and ramblings with you guys.

Anyways, back to the topic, now, if you ask me which one is better than the other, it actually depends on the kind of accommodation that you are looking for. If you are looking for something unique or that you really want to feel the country vibe of Palawan, you may want to consider Dangkalan Resort for that matter. But if you are after modern and stylish, then maybe Microtel is what you need.

I hope this post will help you even just for a bit if you are still on the lookout for the perfect accommodation in Palawan. And if you are reading this for time pass, I hope I still entertained you even just a little.

Laters!

Save the Best for Last! Our Great Palawan Adventure Part 3

Yep! This is the final installment of our great Palawan adventure in 2011 and what better way to end this series than to show how much we've had fun during our 4th and 5th days in photos!

So without further ado, let's get the story and the photos rolling!

DAY 4

Before I start firing away photos, let me just give you a quick recap of what we did the entire day. HONDA BAY ISLAND HOPPING. Yes, we consumed our entire day visiting one island after the other, taking pictures, swimming and snorkeling in the waters and getting toasted under the sun. Haha!

Unfortunately, my memory could not help me remember exactly the number of islands we visited during that day. Babs said we visited three to four islands but I remember less than those. BUT don't worry because I remember the two main islands where we had so much fun and those are Pandan Island and Snake Island.

Pandan Island was called such because of the many Pandan plants found in the island. We stayed there for a good amount of time that we were able to snorkel (We found Nemo AND Dory!), take loads of pictures and eat lunch (seafood all the way baby!).

The name Snake Island was derived from the shape of the island that is similar to of course, a snake. In aerial view, the shape can be very obvious during low tide. Now, when you are on the island, you can still quite see the snake like shape since you can see the sand wriggling it's way all the way up to the other end of the island. We stayed here the longest so we swam, snorkeled and took lots of photos.

 

We had a blast that day that when we arrived back at our hotel, we had wide smiles on our faces even though we were bloody tired and got roasted by the sun.

DAY 5

Our flight back to Manila was scheduled early in the afternoon so we just enjoyed our last few hours in Palawan at our hotel. After eating breakfast, we just roamed around the hotel, took pictures then prepped up for our flight.

There you have it guys! Our 5D4N honeymoon adventure in the beautiful province of Palawan, Philippines!

Hope you enjoyed the entire journey as much as we did!

If you have not read the first two installments of this series, you can find them below.

And So Our Great Palawan Adventure Begins! PART 1

And So Our Great Palawan Adventure Just Got Better! PART 2

Now for my next post, I'll be sharing with you guys where we stayed and ate in Palawan during our five day adventure.

Laters!

And So Our Great Palawan Adventure Begins! PART 1

And So Our Great Palawan Adventure Begins! PART 1

And So Our Great Palawan Adventure Begins! PART 1