C’est Beau CEBU!

I can’t believe it’s been a year since I’ve last written. My apologies to my readers – I hope I haven’t lost your interest. Where do I even start? Since my last post about South Africa, my life has changed dramatically. My entire year in a nutshell is composed of peeing on a stick (it showed two faint pink lines), hormones (lots of it), quitting work, suspending school and VOILA! Came a beautiful baby boy. Yes, I have been busy with motherhood, which will be a new section in my blog. Don’t worry guys, this post is not about the details of my precious boy (I will save that for later). Being a full time mom is difficult and satisfying all at the same time but it definitely will not stop me from doing what I love…travelling.

I haven’t been home in two years so I was really excited for this trip. I will be a tourist in my own country, why? Because I will be with my partner’s family who have not stepped foot in my beautiful country before and I will be their tour guide for the next two weeks. I was happy to show them how I lived my life before moving to Australia and immersing them in my culture. It was an amazing family reunion. So here’s our 2-week trip in Cebu City

Last Hurrah in Mt. Apo

6 months have passed since my Mt. Apo climb and I haven’t written about it. If you don’t know yet, I moved to Sydney, Australia exactly 5 months ago so you can understand how hectic moving to a new place can be, thus, the delay and the silence in my blog. I’ve a lot of catching up to do.

I started my mountain climbing craze in January 2015. To sum it all up, I’ve gone up 9 summits this year – Mt. Pulag, Mt Kanlaon and Osmena Peak to name a few. I wanted to prove to myself (and my muscles) that I am capable of hiking the highest peak of the country. I thought it would be a great way to say aurevoir to the Philippines before I leave it indefinitely. How better to shout goodbye to the place I’ve lived my entire life than 2,954 meters above sea level? I thought it was a pretty breath-taking gesture – literally.

This was by far the longest climbing trip I have ever done. To prepare my body for this trip, I had to enrol in a wall climbing class, I biked every morning and instead of taking the elevator to my office, I took the stairs up 10 floors (Repeat everyday for 3 weeks).

Mt. Kanlaon: Highest Peak in Visayas

I’m getting pretty addicted to climbing mountains. I question myself why I never thought of doing this before. Now, I have an endless list of mountains to climb. I have conquered the highest peak in Luzon and though it rained on us the entire time, I still reached the summit. (Mt. Pulag, I will have my vengeance!) Next stop on my list was the highest peak in Visayas which is Mt. Kanlaon.

Fun Facts about this mountain:

*It’s the third most active volcano in the Philippines – yes! It is active and can erupt anytime!

*It’s 2,435 meters above sea level

*It’s the highest peak in the Visayas region but 28^th highest in the country

Mt. Kanlaon Video

MISSing SAIGON

Hurray for Piso fare purchases from Cebu Pacific! I get to travel more around South East Asia without the guilt of overspending. My ticket to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam was 4,000 pesos return (US$100). My best friend is a busy woman so I was thankful I got to drag her out of her schedule to spend 4 days glued with me in Saigon.