Last November 26, 2007 m
e and my friends went back to “Manaoag”. (Manaoag is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Pangasinan, Philippines. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 54,743 people in 10,563 households. The municipality is known for its historical image of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, which is venerated in the Manaoag shrine.) We all vowed to return and luckily after a year we kept our promise!
I can remember vividly same time last year I went there by accident (here is an insert of my first experience as I wrote it from my multiply site. I remember not getting enough sleep when I woke up at 7 p.m. November 23 and this was a Wednesday, I slept around 1:30 p.m. if don't know lately I haven’t had quality sleep, I said to myself ha don't worry anyway tomorrow is my day off and we'll be going home early at 5a.m because it's thanksgiving yey!!! I can sleep early and maybe when I wake up go to my dang's (another term of endearment for a gay friend) place because he is kinda mad these days with me coz every time he asks me to help or accompany him I wasn't able to be there for him because of my busy work, so moving on I told Cecilia that I will go home with her coz I don't want to wake my dad at an early time, though I know they'll be up at that time I just don't wanna bother him, but Cecil told me that she wouldn’t go home early coz they will be going to manaoag and told me to come along with them, I said to them and Dianne that I would think about it first coz I am not bringing any money, she told me upfront that she would lend me money that was break time while she and Dianne were eating breakfast at the pantry,. So came 5 a.m. and when Cecil saw me she told to just come along. I already told lue our designated driver she said and to tell you frankly I was so pysched by the way she drives! as in.. so in short I went along, my fends went off to mini stop (a convenience store where we can hang out )again that morning I didn’t have any plans of going with them because I said earlier I want to go home and sleep, so when were still in the bathroom dhu, Cecil, Dianne and lue were busy brushing their teeth and they were teasing me to pay 2500.00 pesos bwahaha, when we got to the car dodong was there too to go with us, we all paid 150 for the gas, we gas up at ptt and we exited at the mabalacat gate to pick up Erwin so in all we were all 7 in the adventure, we had a stop over at bondoc's the famous bakery at mabalacat to where it reminds me of my late ima(my grand mother) who always buy san Nicolas biscuits and burkilyos, I told Erwin to buy me and yes he did he bought me a pack of cute burkilyos, they also bought pandesal and butter, so on our way we were all eating burkilyos and pandesal, lue is our designated driver, seated at the front seat was dhu, seated beside me is dodong then Erwin next to dodong and at the back the ladies Cecil and di, it was so fun I can remember the words of the day SOSI SOSI while erwin dancing with his hands doing the chop chop while dodong doing his epileptic moves!! bwahaha, what else ah yeah word of the day salapang, lalagitik those were the words we all uttered and laugh hard while on the way to pangasinan, it was a very happy trip for me cause I’ve been wanting to go to manaog for quite some time now but just didn’t have the time and while on the trip I said to myself that I am exactly where I want to be at that time. it was a long drive but it was a fun long drive not to mention we got lost because we had an early turn we should have turn to the next turn but what the heck you don’t mind when your having fun and what's important was that we reached our destination, finally we reach manaog church we lit candles first, prayed to the lady of manaog, went to her hold her, bought some stuff I bought a cross for my parents and of I go to borrow money with Cecil again bwahaha!!! After that another word of the day proper documentation meaning picture taking, afterwards we went to mass, after the mass the priest will bless the stuffs you bought, after the mass another proper documentation was held near the candles! Bwahaha, after that we went back home and we decided to eat at kfc still in pangasinan man!!! We were all starving to death and it was all worth it, additional word of the day when we went home kadyut!!! Yuck I hate that word and Cecil the jakol thing ewww I don’t know with Erwin and dodong where they got all of these words that I wish I will never hear again!!=)..We took some pics inside the car where it took a lot of takes before perfection and I took some pics of the scenery which I longed to see which reminded me of the times during summer breaks way back in elementary and high school. And finally lue got tired and Dianne was the replacement driver... no regrets i went with my late shift friends as i earlier wrote i was exactly where i want to be...thank you guys for inviting me to go with you and for the warm welcome you gave me...).
So you have an idea now how crazy and super duper fun it all was!
Moving forward to the second trip it was a blast as it was the first time it was just that this time Leah was not able to go because her wedding was up to speed and Diane as well because she is now in Ilocos (The Ilocos Region or Region I (Ilokano: Rehion ti Ilokos, Pagasinan: Rihiyon na Sagor na Baybay na Luzon or Rihiyon na Ilokos) of the Philippines is located in the northwestern part of Luzon. It is bounded by the Cordillera Administrative Region and Cagayan Valley to the east, Central Luzon to the south and by the South China Sea to the west.). They were replaced by jean and mommy Sheryl. This time we came all prepared by bringing digicams and food.
Lue as always the designated driver together with dhu picked me up at exactly 4 in the morning. Then up we go to pick up the rest of the gang…dodong, jean, Erwin and lastly mommy she in Tarlac(Tarlac is a landlocked province of the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is Tarlac City. Tarlac borders Pampanga to the south, Nueva Ecija to the east, Pangasinan to the north, and Zambales to the west. It is a part of central Luzon, which is composed of Pampanga, Bulacan, Bataan, and Nueva Ecija.) While we were inside the car we did the usual eating breakfast, we bought pandesal (Pandesal (or pan de sal; literally, salt bread) is a rounded bread usually eaten by Filipinos during breakfast.[1]. It is a bread made of flour, eggs, lard, yeast, sugar, and salt. It has a soft, powdery texture and can be prepared in a number of ways by using numerous sandwich spreads. It is also used for dipping into tsokolate (from Spanish chocolate), a Spanish chocolate drink very much like hot chocolate but with pure cocoa as its main ingredient. Despite the literal meaning of its name, the taste of pandesal varies from bland to slightly sweet. It usually costs one Peso (about 4 cents U.S.), with larger varieties costing 2 Pesos.) And we put some butter and cheese on it. That made our day! Yum!
So after 4 hours of giggling and driving we made it to our destination. We prayed, took pictures and hear mass. We ate lunch at some beach resort in Pangasinan. (Pangasinan is one of the provinces of the Republic of the Philippines. The provincial capital is Lingayen. Pangasinan is located on the west central area of the island of Luzon along the Lingayen Gulf. The total land area of Pangasinan is 5,368.82 square kilometers. The total population of Pangasinan is 2,434,086 as of 2000, and projected to be 3,039,500 in 2010. (National Statistics Office, 2000 Census). [1] The Pangasinan language is the primary language in Pangasinan. The estimated population of the indigenous speakers of the Pangasinan language in the province of Pangasinan is 1.5 million.) We didn’t care if the storm will eat us alive because by the time we went there, there was a storm brewing. No storm can stop our hungry stomachs we ate pindang (sweetened pork meat) with tomatoes and bagoong (Bagoong Terong or simply bagoong, and bugguong in the Ilocano language, is a common ingredient used in the Philippines and particularly in Northern Ilocano Cuisine. It is made by salting and fermenting the bonnet mouth fish. This bagoong is coarser than Bagoong Monamon, and contains fragments of the salted and fermented fish; however, they are similar in flavor. The odor is distinct and unique. Fish sauce, common throughout Southeast Asian cuisine, is a by-product of the bagoong process. Known in the Philippines as patis, it is distinguished as the clear refined layer floating on the thicker bagoong. Patis and bagoong can be interchanged in recipes, depending on personal taste and preference.Bagoong is used as a flavor enhancing agent in the place of salt, soy sauce, or monosodium glutamate (MSG). It is used to make a fish stock, the base of many Ilocano dishes, such as pinakbet, dinengdeng, inabraw; or as a dressing for cold steamed greens in the dish kinilnat (ensalada), like ferns, bitter melon leaves, or sweet potato leaves. Bagoong is also used as a condiment, or dipping sauce, for chicharon, whole fried fish, green and ripe mangoes, or hard boiled eggs. It is similar in taste and odor to anchovy paste.) There was a scarcity of rice because of me I thought I brought enough for everybody. Oh well we just bought some rice at the resort where we stopped over. Right after lunch we headed back home. I don’t mind going to far places for as long as I am with this group I can go there over and over. I included our picture last year and our latest picture with a map of Manaoag. additional information from wikipedia.com
e and my friends went back to “Manaoag”. (Manaoag is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Pangasinan, Philippines. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 54,743 people in 10,563 households. The municipality is known for its historical image of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, which is venerated in the Manaoag shrine.) We all vowed to return and luckily after a year we kept our promise!I can remember vividly same time last year I went there by accident (here is an insert of my first experience as I wrote it from my multiply site. I remember not getting enough sleep when I woke up at 7 p.m. November 23 and this was a Wednesday, I slept around 1:30 p.m. if don't know lately I haven’t had quality sleep, I said to myself ha don't worry anyway tomorrow is my day off and we'll be going home early at 5a.m because it's thanksgiving yey!!! I can sleep early and maybe when I wake up go to my dang's (another term of endearment for a gay friend) place because he is kinda mad these days with me coz every time he asks me to help or accompany him I wasn't able to be there for him because of my busy work, so moving on I told Cecilia that I will go home with her coz I don't want to wake my dad at an early time, though I know they'll be up at that time I just don't wanna bother him, but Cecil told me that she wouldn’t go home early coz they will be going to manaoag and told me to come along with them, I said to them and Dianne that I would think about it first coz I am not bringing any money, she told me upfront that she would lend me money that was break time while she and Dianne were eating breakfast at the pantry,. So came 5 a.m. and when Cecil saw me she told to just come along. I already told lue our designated driver she said and to tell you frankly I was so pysched by the way she drives! as in.. so in short I went along, my fends went off to mini stop (a convenience store where we can hang out )again that morning I didn’t have any plans of going with them because I said earlier I want to go home and sleep, so when were still in the bathroom dhu, Cecil, Dianne and lue were busy brushing their teeth and they were teasing me to pay 2500.00 pesos bwahaha, when we got to the car dodong was there too to go with us, we all paid 150 for the gas, we gas up at ptt and we exited at the mabalacat gate to pick up Erwin so in all we were all 7 in the adventure, we had a stop over at bondoc's the famous bakery at mabalacat to where it reminds me of my late ima(my grand mother) who always buy san Nicolas biscuits and burkilyos, I told Erwin to buy me and yes he did he bought me a pack of cute burkilyos, they also bought pandesal and butter, so on our way we were all eating burkilyos and pandesal, lue is our designated driver, seated at the front seat was dhu, seated beside me is dodong then Erwin next to dodong and at the back the ladies Cecil and di, it was so fun I can remember the words of the day SOSI SOSI while erwin dancing with his hands doing the chop chop while dodong doing his epileptic moves!! bwahaha, what else ah yeah word of the day salapang, lalagitik those were the words we all uttered and laugh hard while on the way to pangasinan, it was a very happy trip for me cause I’ve been wanting to go to manaog for quite some time now but just didn’t have the time and while on the trip I said to myself that I am exactly where I want to be at that time. it was a long drive but it was a fun long drive not to mention we got lost because we had an early turn we should have turn to the next turn but what the heck you don’t mind when your having fun and what's important was that we reached our destination, finally we reach manaog church we lit candles first, prayed to the lady of manaog, went to her hold her, bought some stuff I bought a cross for my parents and of I go to borrow money with Cecil again bwahaha!!! After that another word of the day proper documentation meaning picture taking, afterwards we went to mass, after the mass the priest will bless the stuffs you bought, after the mass another proper documentation was held near the candles! Bwahaha, after that we went back home and we decided to eat at kfc still in pangasinan man!!! We were all starving to death and it was all worth it, additional word of the day when we went home kadyut!!! Yuck I hate that word and Cecil the jakol thing ewww I don’t know with Erwin and dodong where they got all of these words that I wish I will never hear again!!=)..We took some pics inside the car where it took a lot of takes before perfection and I took some pics of the scenery which I longed to see which reminded me of the times during summer breaks way back in elementary and high school. And finally lue got tired and Dianne was the replacement driver... no regrets i went with my late shift friends as i earlier wrote i was exactly where i want to be...thank you guys for inviting me to go with you and for the warm welcome you gave me...).
So you have an idea now how crazy and super duper fun it all was!
Moving forward to the second trip it was a blast as it was the first time it was just that this time Leah was not able to go because her wedding was up to speed and Diane as well because she is now in Ilocos (The Ilocos Region or Region I (Ilokano: Rehion ti Ilokos, Pagasinan: Rihiyon na Sagor na Baybay na Luzon or Rihiyon na Ilokos) of the Philippines is located in the northwestern part of Luzon. It is bounded by the Cordillera Administrative Region and Cagayan Valley to the east, Central Luzon to the south and by the South China Sea to the west.). They were replaced by jean and mommy Sheryl. This time we came all prepared by bringing digicams and food.
Lue as always the designated driver together with dhu picked me up at exactly 4 in the morning. Then up we go to pick up the rest of the gang…dodong, jean, Erwin and lastly mommy she in Tarlac(Tarlac is a landlocked province of the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is Tarlac City. Tarlac borders Pampanga to the south, Nueva Ecija to the east, Pangasinan to the north, and Zambales to the west. It is a part of central Luzon, which is composed of Pampanga, Bulacan, Bataan, and Nueva Ecija.) While we were inside the car we did the usual eating breakfast, we bought pandesal (Pandesal (or pan de sal; literally, salt bread) is a rounded bread usually eaten by Filipinos during breakfast.[1]. It is a bread made of flour, eggs, lard, yeast, sugar, and salt. It has a soft, powdery texture and can be prepared in a number of ways by using numerous sandwich spreads. It is also used for dipping into tsokolate (from Spanish chocolate), a Spanish chocolate drink very much like hot chocolate but with pure cocoa as its main ingredient. Despite the literal meaning of its name, the taste of pandesal varies from bland to slightly sweet. It usually costs one Peso (about 4 cents U.S.), with larger varieties costing 2 Pesos.) And we put some butter and cheese on it. That made our day! Yum!
So after 4 hours of giggling and driving we made it to our destination. We prayed, took pictures and hear mass. We ate lunch at some beach resort in Pangasinan. (Pangasinan is one of the provinces of the Republic of the Philippines. The provincial capital is Lingayen. Pangasinan is located on the west central area of the island of Luzon along the Lingayen Gulf. The total land area of Pangasinan is 5,368.82 square kilometers. The total population of Pangasinan is 2,434,086 as of 2000, and projected to be 3,039,500 in 2010. (National Statistics Office, 2000 Census). [1] The Pangasinan language is the primary language in Pangasinan. The estimated population of the indigenous speakers of the Pangasinan language in the province of Pangasinan is 1.5 million.) We didn’t care if the storm will eat us alive because by the time we went there, there was a storm brewing. No storm can stop our hungry stomachs we ate pindang (sweetened pork meat) with tomatoes and bagoong (Bagoong Terong or simply bagoong, and bugguong in the Ilocano language, is a common ingredient used in the Philippines and particularly in Northern Ilocano Cuisine. It is made by salting and fermenting the bonnet mouth fish. This bagoong is coarser than Bagoong Monamon, and contains fragments of the salted and fermented fish; however, they are similar in flavor. The odor is distinct and unique. Fish sauce, common throughout Southeast Asian cuisine, is a by-product of the bagoong process. Known in the Philippines as patis, it is distinguished as the clear refined layer floating on the thicker bagoong. Patis and bagoong can be interchanged in recipes, depending on personal taste and preference.Bagoong is used as a flavor enhancing agent in the place of salt, soy sauce, or monosodium glutamate (MSG). It is used to make a fish stock, the base of many Ilocano dishes, such as pinakbet, dinengdeng, inabraw; or as a dressing for cold steamed greens in the dish kinilnat (ensalada), like ferns, bitter melon leaves, or sweet potato leaves. Bagoong is also used as a condiment, or dipping sauce, for chicharon, whole fried fish, green and ripe mangoes, or hard boiled eggs. It is similar in taste and odor to anchovy paste.) There was a scarcity of rice because of me I thought I brought enough for everybody. Oh well we just bought some rice at the resort where we stopped over. Right after lunch we headed back home. I don’t mind going to far places for as long as I am with this group I can go there over and over. I included our picture last year and our latest picture with a map of Manaoag. additional information from wikipedia.com
