Real, Quezon

Last year, my dad bought a small bungalow in Real, Quezon, which lies near the point where a river meets the sea, and over the last few months he's spent quite a princely sum having it renovated. Although the house isn't finished yet, he is terrifically proud of it, so when he asked the whole family to spend the holy week there, none of us had the heart to say no, even if my sister and I didn't share my dad's passion for the countryside and couldn't imagine life without cable TV.

To make sure the entire vacation wouldn't be dreadfully boring, B and I asked some of our closest buddies to tag along -- Winston, Sam, Darwin and Maeng -- and brought playing cards (for tong its), a volleyball set, a TV, B's laptop, and Sam's playstation. Some of our titas and cousins came as well, and that turned the whole thing into a mini-reunion.

And what a vacation it turned out to be! Although the TV couldn't pick up any station -- not even channel 7 -- we didn't get bored at all, as my sister and I had feared. We had fun playing beach volleyball and laughing at Winston's acrobatic (trans. belly-first) digs, gulping down lambanog with my dad, playing charades, frolicking in the sand, and squealing in our most girlish voices -- ooops, wasn't that just Winston again? -- while getting tossed around by the huge waves. And although the place was no Boracay, it had a certain charm to it, which, city slicker though I am and will always be, will definitely make me come back for more.

Just too bad our other friends -- Arc, Melvs, John V., Nelson, Papat, Richard and EJ -- couldn't come with us. It would have been a blast if they had been around.

Well, maybe next time. :)

(Beach volleyball with the gang, my brother-in-law, Jay, and his cousin, Noel. Unfortunately, Winston, B, Mael and I lost and had to buy Jay and Darwin's team buko pie and Coke.)

(Winston and Maeng after a few shots of lambanog. Hmm, may ahasan bang nagagaganap hehe?)

(Just 10 minutes from the house is this two-level waterfall, which, according to Noel's dad, is also called Taktak, just like the one in Antipolo. A narrow, winding path lined with gorgeous flowering plants leads to the falls. You can jump from the second level into the deep waters below. One cute guy did, much to B's delight.)

(Here are two of the pictures taken by Darwin. Turns out he's not just a terrific singer and landscape architect, he's a pretty good photographer as well. Oh and yes, he can do amazing tricks with a handkerchief too. :))