the year in review

places i've been (# times i've been there)

• baseco, tondo (1st)
• mt pinatubo crater (1st)
• end to end ilocos sur (2nd) and norte (1st)
• boracay (4th)
• baguio (4x, nth)
• bacolod (1st)
• banaue town and batad rice terraces (1st)
• lucena, quezon (1st)
• cagayan de oro (2nd) roadtrip to butuan (1st)
• pampanga (nth)
• subic (nth)
• tagaytay (nth)
• batangas (nth)
• bangkok (3rd) and ayuthaya (1st)
• taal lake (1st)
• iloilo (2nd)
• binondo (nth)
• intramuros (nth)

(new) things i've done and stuff that happened to me

• trekking up mt pinatubo crater and down batad town
• rode on a 4x4 truck via lahar valley from tarlac to mt pinatubo's base
• rode the Philippine National Railway end to end (before the aircon coaches were up and running)
• viewed the Spolarium at the National Museum
• went to the hot air balloon festival, panagbenga festival, baguio foundation day, panaad sa negros
• watched a mixed martial arts fight live (ringside!) + saw someone KO'd yeah! haha
• sold event tickets to a scalper and befriended him so i have "discount" na daw next time i buy whatever from him nyahaha
• watched a 4x4 off-road race
• tried the alamid coffee
• seen the bangui windmills up close, think it was my first time to go up a lighthouse too
• rode topload on a jeep along mountain province road. as if that wasn't exciting enough, it started to rain! then had to cross two landslides on foot to get to the other jeep to get back to banaue town :D adventure sobra! hahaha
• me and my friend accidentally got a free ride on bangkok's river ferry :D
• almost got scammed in Patpong
• finally went to Ayuthaya, the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew (yuh, only on my 3rd time there!)
• discovered earle's, gasthof, myron's, thai patio
• transferred account assignment from p&g to ltg (work-stuff eeeww)
• finally a beer drinker - used to not "like" beer so much
• bumped into an ex after 5+ years
• busted phone's lcd, had it fixed but then lost it, bought a new one, got a free one
• met and unmet a bunch of colorful, interesting people
• good friend's bf tragic death, same friend's move from HCM to Melbourne
• new niece in the family :)

'08 was a really terrible year for me, save for my trips (Bicolandia Legaspi-Naga-Donsol, HK, Vietnam-Cambodia-Thailand adventure). '09 was slightly better. a busy, fun, adventure-filled year. there's the usual misadventures and non-adventures sprinkled in. but as i always say, the things that happen to me just has to be the most interesting. one for the books :)

have a good feeling about 2010 though. there's a hint of something...umm, nice, that i can't place yet. for one, there's the upcoming bali + java indonesia wanderlust in may.

all eagerness and (sigh) hope that it will be a better, sana good, year. keeping my fingers crossed!