secret destinations o.O
But then I guess they won't be so secret if I'm posting them here, right?
When I wrote an article about the top ten hidden vacation destinations in the Philippines on Wikipilipinas a year ago, I was really just acting on a fantasy. I wanted to find ten places in the country that haven't been hyped up yet, yet are touted by people on the internet as being worth visiting for vacations. Actually, the research for the article was ongoing at least a year before it was written and before I even saw Wikipilipinas, while I was still slaving away in a BPO and saving my sanity by dreaming about the places I would want to go to if I had the time. They were my ten to-go-to places, not as hyped or as crowded as Bora or Baguio.
Well, Caramoan it seems is hidden no longer. Far away as it is, tucked in a farflung corner of Bicol (as I learned first-hand, what a long, long ride it is getting there), people are flocking there already.
My personal first preference is Baler, Aurora. There's something about a place caught between mountains and ocean that appeals to the earth-person in me.... I was born in the Year of the Earth Sheep, after all.
Personal deepest fantasy:
Pull an Agatha Christie. Drop everything-- work, name, past life. Pack only the essentials and go on that long, long trek to Baler. Find a tiny nipa hut between the mountains and the ocean and just chill, living the simple life. Insert soundtrack here: Don McLean's Castles In The Air.
I used to dream about a nice little house in Pandi, Bulacan, but things aren't that straightforward anymore. Little supervening factors like real life needs to pay hospital bills for a major operation, one's career such as it is on the upward track and the other's on the downward track, got in the way. Still trying to work it out, but sometimes it is so easy to just throw it all away.
That little nipa hut in Baler, Aurora, looks very tempting right now.
Castles In The Air
Don McLean
And if she asks you why, you can tell her that I told you
That I'm tired of castles in the air.
I've got a dream I want the world to share
And castle walls just lead me to despair.
Hills of forest green where the mountains touch the sky,
A dream come true, I'll live there till I die.
I'm asking you to say my last goodbye.
The love we knew ain't worth another try
Save me from all the trouble and the pain.
I know I'm weak, but I just can't face that girl again.
Tell her the reasons why I can't remain,
Perhaps she'll understand if you tell it to her plain.
But how can words express the feel of sunlight in the morning,
In the hills, away from city strife.
I need a country woman for my wife;
I'm city born, but I love the country life.
For I cannot be part of the cocktail generation:
Partners waltz, devoid of all romance.
The music plays and everyone must dance.
I'm bowing out. I need a second chance.
Save me from all the trouble and the pain.
I know I'm weak, but I can't face that girl again.
Tell her the reasons why I can't remain,
Perhaps she'll understand if you tell it to her plain.
And if she asks you why, you can tell her that I told you
That I'm tired of castles in the air.
I've got a dream I want the world to share
And castle walls just lead me to despair.
When I wrote an article about the top ten hidden vacation destinations in the Philippines on Wikipilipinas a year ago, I was really just acting on a fantasy. I wanted to find ten places in the country that haven't been hyped up yet, yet are touted by people on the internet as being worth visiting for vacations. Actually, the research for the article was ongoing at least a year before it was written and before I even saw Wikipilipinas, while I was still slaving away in a BPO and saving my sanity by dreaming about the places I would want to go to if I had the time. They were my ten to-go-to places, not as hyped or as crowded as Bora or Baguio.
Well, Caramoan it seems is hidden no longer. Far away as it is, tucked in a farflung corner of Bicol (as I learned first-hand, what a long, long ride it is getting there), people are flocking there already.
My personal first preference is Baler, Aurora. There's something about a place caught between mountains and ocean that appeals to the earth-person in me.... I was born in the Year of the Earth Sheep, after all.
Personal deepest fantasy:
Pull an Agatha Christie. Drop everything-- work, name, past life. Pack only the essentials and go on that long, long trek to Baler. Find a tiny nipa hut between the mountains and the ocean and just chill, living the simple life. Insert soundtrack here: Don McLean's Castles In The Air.
Click to viewI used to dream about a nice little house in Pandi, Bulacan, but things aren't that straightforward anymore. Little supervening factors like real life needs to pay hospital bills for a major operation, one's career such as it is on the upward track and the other's on the downward track, got in the way. Still trying to work it out, but sometimes it is so easy to just throw it all away.
That little nipa hut in Baler, Aurora, looks very tempting right now.
Castles In The Air
Don McLean
And if she asks you why, you can tell her that I told you
That I'm tired of castles in the air.
I've got a dream I want the world to share
And castle walls just lead me to despair.
Hills of forest green where the mountains touch the sky,
A dream come true, I'll live there till I die.
I'm asking you to say my last goodbye.
The love we knew ain't worth another try
Save me from all the trouble and the pain.
I know I'm weak, but I just can't face that girl again.
Tell her the reasons why I can't remain,
Perhaps she'll understand if you tell it to her plain.
But how can words express the feel of sunlight in the morning,
In the hills, away from city strife.
I need a country woman for my wife;
I'm city born, but I love the country life.
For I cannot be part of the cocktail generation:
Partners waltz, devoid of all romance.
The music plays and everyone must dance.
I'm bowing out. I need a second chance.
Save me from all the trouble and the pain.
I know I'm weak, but I can't face that girl again.
Tell her the reasons why I can't remain,
Perhaps she'll understand if you tell it to her plain.
And if she asks you why, you can tell her that I told you
That I'm tired of castles in the air.
I've got a dream I want the world to share
And castle walls just lead me to despair.