Wednesday, July 10, 2019

My Trip to the Philippines

Hey guys, I hope you're all doing well. So I didn't get right back into blogging once I finished school because I went to the Philippines and Hong Kong in May.
When my family and I booked this trip back in August 2018 the timing sounded perfect for the upcoming school year. My cousin was going to get married in September, I was going to graduate from university (blog post here) and all the little adventures in between. I haven't been on a vacation in soooo long and I spent all of my summers prior working and going to school. Basically, this vacation was long awaited.
I'm so thankful I got to explore more of the motherland, reunite with my family and make more memories.


Week 1 Highlights
The day after our arrival was my cousins' salon opening. They opened their 3rd location and we celebrated the only way we know how, with lots of food. It was a full house during opening day so if you're ever in Lipa City or Batangas City, check them out hereI've been to the Philippines before but my past trips never included the touristy things that I finally got to experience during this trip. We went to Mall of Asia (MoA) in Manila for the first time and also spent some time exploring SM by the Bay, which is like a little amusement park. My little nephew wanted to ride the bumper cars where I broke a nail (it hasn't even been a week and it broke 😩). Honestly, I wasn't really in a shopping mood but now I wish I bought some Filipino makeup brands to play with (and review)! I was really excited that my mom got to celebrate Mother's Day with her sisters and nieces that she doesn't get to see often. We spent Mother's Day at Laiya Beach which we've been to before but we stayed at a different resort last time.

Week 2 Highlights
We went to Alabang Town Center in Manila, another shopping mall. It was pretty here too. Another opportunity to buy Filipino makeup brands, ugh I swear my cousin bought makeup here. 
Anyways, I got to attend another wedding! My cousin and his now wife said that their wedding was going to be super simple and nothing extravagant. But nonetheless, I love weddings and it was beautiful to see my cousin marry the love of his life. 
The next day we traveled 3 hours to Pico de Loro - Beach and Country Club. It was hands down the nicest beach and pool I've ever swam at. I loved how private and clean the beach was. We stayed there for only one night, which most definitely was not enough; I would go back in a heartbeat.


Week 3 Highlights
During this week we spent 4 days in Hong Kong! Read more about it here!
When we arrived back in Manila from Hong Kong it was 12AM and my cousins picked us up. During the ride home, one of my cousins offered to take us to another tourist spot I wanted to visit, Venice Grand Canal Mall. So the adventure was literally nonstop, because we left at 11AM that same day. I literally wanted to go to this mall just to ride the gondola lmao. I went during the day; I could only imagine the gondola ride at night 😍

Week 4 Highlights
Week 4 was a lot of family time. At the end of this week we went to Tagaytay. We arrived at around lunch time and ate at a restaurant with the most scenic view of Taal Volcano. After lunch we spent the rest of the day at Sky Ranch, an amusement part with probably the biggest ferris wheel I've ever seen. To close our Tagaytay visit, we ate dinner at Kenny Rogers Roasters.

Week 5 Highlights
Our final week 😔. This week was spent with an extra emphasis on family and buying last minute souvenirs (pasalubong!) to bring back home to Canada. One of the nights was spent at a bar which my cousin's band plays for. The last night was spent celebrating my sister's birthday in advance. It was so cute, the kids had a "surprise" performance for my sister, my grandpa and my aunt each bought her a cake, ugh it was a great last night. 


This entire vacation was amazing. I'm itching to go back, literally we've already talked about the next Philippines vacation lol. This blog post was unexpectedly long lmao, if you made it to the end, I appreciate it, thank you 💜
With love & light,
C
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