My very first Wordless Wednesday entry for this blog..

Photo courtesy of my relatives in Bacacay, Albay, Philippines. The sign at the back ‘Pamibi sa Getsemani’ translates to ‘Praying in Gethsemane’

The Philippines has very strong Catholic traditions and the Holy Week is one of the most anticipated events in our country. In most towns there are a lot of religious activities and one of which is the procession. Life-size images statues depicting the last days of Jesus Christ are shown during the week. Our family takes care of the “Agony in the Garden” scene and this image statue has been handed down from several generations of our ancestors already…

You can view more photos of the previous years Holy Week Procession on my photos page.

In a bid to promote early bookings, Cebu Pacific, one of the Philippines budget carriers is having a half the price seat sale for travel period May 1-July 31, 2010. You can avail 50% off on your fare if you book from February 5-8, 2010.

This is a really fabulous deal since its applicable to all destinations and also on Fun Tours Packages and Hotel Plus bookings.

Cebu Pacific flies to 14 international destinations – Hong Kong and Singapore , Osaka, Incheon, Pusan (via Cebu), Taipei, Macau, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh and Jakarta. It also flies to over 30 domestic destinations.

Hurry and book now! Bookings can be done online, through www.cebupacificair.com or call the reservation hotlines at (02) 7020-888 or (032) 230-8888.

For some it’s scary, for some a spectacle but for me its a  part of my childhood. Home. Familiar. That’s what I would describe Mayon Volcano. I was born and raised in Albay Province, and there the majestic Mt. Mayon just looms all over us. The whole province sits just below its almost perfect cone.

Everyday from my hometown in Bacacay I would travel to my school in Legazpi City and Mayon Volcano is always in the background, a familiar scenery.  It’s just there, and there are times it gets easy for me to ignore it, but there’s no denying its beauty. And awesome power.

My father used to tell me stories about eruptions in the past when residents near the base of Mayon would know when eruptions are imminent. In times where volcanology is a science at its infancy, warnings and safety products almost unheard of, these residents relied on warnings given by nature. Wells would dry up, the smell of sulfur getting stronger, wild animals coming down from the slopes, all signaling for residents to relocate – the ever subtle Mayon is getting ready to unleash its fury.

Oftentimes Mayon Volcano would erupt subtly. Perhaps that is why its name was taken from the Bicol phrase – “Daragang Magayon” meaning beautiful maiden. It seldom erupts with strong and violent explosions. Just recently, Mayon Volcano woke up again and  went on to display some really subtle, picturesque but dangerous eruption. Now that I’m living in Phnom Penh, I could just content myself with watching this on the news and checking out videos on the net.

Found this clips really so awesome ..

A video shot along Padang, Sto. Domingo, Albay. A small where previous lahar flows from the volcano has totally leveled and left almost like a ghost town..

I must have missed this one I’ve been watching out for updates to the agreement between  Cambodia and the Philippines to establish direct flights. You can read my previous posts here and here.  Anyway, here’s an update to the to-be launched direct flights between Manila and Phnom Penh.

Check out the article about this on the Phnom Penh Post..

Philippine budget carrier Cebu Pacific has been given the go ahead to fly direct routes to and from Manila to Phnom Penh to start on the spring of 2010 (no specific launch date yet) . This was announced by the Minister of Tourism Thong Khon.

“Cebu Air is authorised to start flying to our country in March or April next year,” he said, citing a memorandum of understanding signed by Cambodia’s State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) on September 16 to open the airways between the two countries.

SSCA Cabinet Chief Long Chheng said the two sides were currently working on ironing out the details of the flights. “I am not sure of the exact date the flights will commence because I have received no confirmation,” he said, adding that an Air Service Agreement (ASA) still must to be signed by both parties.

Now at least there is some developments…Hopefully, these the direct flights between Manila and Phnom Penh will be a reality soon.. Spring months are March, April and May, right? I’m still crossing my fingers. Obviously I hate the stopovers and connecting flights, well its a big waste of time =)

Budget cuts? Don’t let it stop you from traveling. I love these budget airlines and I find myself taking advantage of their super value promotions. I’m even a regular email subscriber of these airlines so I get to know when they have fare cuts. Here’s another fare promo from Cebu Pacific, the Philippines’ budget airline.

Cebu Pacific is offering ‘Go Lite’ P1 seat sale to all international and domestic destinations starting now until November 2, 2009, or until the allotted 100,000 seats are sold out. Travel period is June 15 to September 30, 2010. For online bookings only. Hurry!! Book Now.

The promotion covers all domestic routes as well as its international destinations – Kota Kinabalu, Taipei, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Guangzhou, Ho Chi Minh, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Busan, Shanghai, Incheon and Osaka.

‘Go Lite’ means no check-in luggage but if you go heavy on shopping, you simply need to add in P100 for check-in luggage.

Christmas is just a few months away and I know this season is just about the busiest time to shop. When I was in the Manila, I used to scour Manila’s bargain paradise, Divisoria a couple of months before the season to buy those gifts for my scores of “inaanaks” (godchildren).

Shopping for gifts is no small feat for anyone. Specially if you’re shopping for a number close to hundreds. Well it all starts with careful planning and the three most important things – a list, of course – money, and the sincere thought of giving.  Going to bargain places, and shopping malls is surely enjoyable for  any shop o’holic  like me but there’s really a limit to how much you can take. It would eat up a lot of time and just squeezing through those crowded places would be enough to drain you of energy.

What I would usually do then is to combine shopping the traditional way with online shopping. I pick things I can get from the malls and I have things listed I could buy online.

When I was in Manila I was a big fan of Ebay.ph, Auction.ph as well as Multiply sites. Though at first I was wary but  I only had one bad experience with online shopping when I bought a web camera and when it arrived it wasn’t working but the seller was still very helpful and replaced it as soon as I contacted him.