ABRA! (part 2)

Day 3: March 29

We all woke-up late from last night's revelries. We were supposed to wake-up early, but it seems no one was in the mood.

After our morning rituals, we prepared to go to the market to buy some things we need for lunch and dinner. We also needed to buy some pasalubong like "kakanin" and the more sinful "Bagnet". After buying all those, we quickly stopped by the house and then proceeded to the farm to have lunch.

An entire Lechon was being roasted on the farm when we got there which got us all excited. Excited to a point that no one took pictures while we were eating!

After lunch, we laid the blanket again to have a not-so-quick game of in-between!

Mga adik sa in-between!!!

After a few hours of playing, we headed back to the house to clean-up to prepare for our travel back to Manila.

Once in the house, Tin's barkada started plotting a "surprise" for her. They have this recent tradition in their barkada that whoever has a birthday will have an egg bashed on their head. (weird yet funny tradition, right?)

Tin made the mistake of pointing-out that they weren't able to do it to her. She spoke too soon...

Her barkada called for a group picture, which starts out fine:



Then, someone yelled for a "wacky shot". Then bam! Before you know it, 2 hapless eggs are now dripping from Tin's head!

Anyone ordered scrambled eggs?

After cleaning-up, we rested for a little while.

Tin post egg-in-hair treatment

Soon it was dark. We had dinner, and as usual tomato-and-bagoong was still a blockbuster.

After resting for a little while, we decided to hit the road back to Manila. But
before that, of course, picture-taking sessions!

The "formal" group picture:



And then someone yells "wacky shot!"... Thankfully, no eggs were harmed this time.



After saying our goodbyes and thank yous, we all jumped into the van. As usual, everyone was in high spirits. We stopped over some pasalubong shops for some tidbits.


Day 4: March 30

Soon we were already in the Expressway. By this time, almost everyone was sleeping.

Kuya Ronnel, as a joke, put his head on Chot's shoulders while driving. Dang and Ate Apple who were seated at the back saw this and screamed at Chot. Chot who was at that time, sleeping, woke-up in panic-mode and tried to get a hold of the steering wheel. Kuya Ronnel managed to stop Chot. He told her that he was just kidding. Obviously, this woke everyone up! (all, except Tin!)

We decided it would be best if we stopped for coffee. We stopped at the first gas station which had a Starbucks in it. Luckily, we got some coffee a few minutes before they were about to close-up.

After that quick break, we were once again on the road to Manila. By 3am, we were already at near Tin's house in Pasig. Tin's dad was there to meet us, and once inside the house, her mom was there aswell, waiting for us. This is the first time I am meeting them. Can you just imagine my awkwardness?!

After the usual "hello po", and other niceties, we dropped our stuff and went to Tin's bedroom to sleep.

We woke-up early morning and proceeded to fix my stuff. Tin did the packing as she was so much better at that than me. :p

By 11am, we were on our way to Makati to meet-up with my lunchberks for lunch. Now that's for another blogpost. :D

ABRA!

As I've mentioned in a previous post, Tin's 25th birthday was last 29th of March. In celebration of her "silver" year, I went with her and her barkada to Abra.

Day 1: March 27
I arrived in Manila by afternoon. I skipped lunch while in my flight back, in anticipation of a hearty late lunch at Danny's grill. I had Lechon Kawali and Enseladang Talong. I ate alone, but was definitely NOT lonely. 

I was too excited to eat that I forgot to take a picture of the food! :)

By 5.30pm, I arrived at Tin's office to pick her up. Then, we bought some provisions for the 8-hour road-trip ahead.

yes, apparently, ginormous lollipops are necessary for long trips

We then proceeded to Alon's place to meet-up with the others. We had dinner (even though I was still very full from lunch! :) ) and some chit-chat. After some time, we decided to hit the road. It was already past 12, so technically, it's already Day 2... :P

Day 2: March 28
Later in the trip, we stopped at Starbucks Araneta to pick-up the rest of the gang. The trip, as expected, started-off noisily, thanks largely to Nep who was seating on the passenger seat near the driver, making sure he's awake all through-out the trip.

Nep and Chot in the passenger seat, making sure Kuya Ronnel does not doze-off while driving

Jen, Me, and Tin

Rona, Alon, and Joyce

Em, Cha, Dang, Ate Apple, Chang(back row)

A few hours into the trip, we decide to stop at one of the gas stations along the North Luzon Expressway. Some smoked,or stretched-out, or went to the toilet, or stayed in the van to sleep, or just took pictures.

Stopping for nature's call, and of course, for pictures!

Soon enough, long distance travel has taken it's toll on us. A few hours into the trip, the laughter turned into sleepy silence. Some managed to wake-up once in a while to make some random noise, while some stayed asleep as a baby all throughout the long drive.

After a few more hours it was daylight! We were told we were already a few minutes from Alon's house in Abra. However, we were stopping at one of the local "mami houses" for breakfast. I've forgotten what the noodles we ate was called, I think it was Lomi or something like that.

Noodles?

After breakfast, we beelined to the van, but before going in, we had to take some photos.

Everyone seems to have some sensor when a camera's on-sight, that prompts them to pose at the right moment.

Mga hayok sa pictures...

Bantay ng van while we were out eating... he is a dog afterall... :)

Soon as the "pictorials" were done, we all jumped into the the van so that we can finally reach our final destination.

A few more minutes of driving and we're finally in Alon's house. Some decided they needed to lie down to get some decent sleep (me and Tin being one of them), while the rest spent some time playing cards.



After a nice little nap, we started preparing for lunchtime. Alon decided it would be nice to eat lunch near the river. The river was just a few minutes away via van.

Off to the river we go!

The path towards the river was very rocky. So at some point we had to park the van and just walked further to the river. We were literally skipping and hopping on rocks. There were "panghilod" type of rocks everywhere! So this is where they get those!

Mahangin ba sa labas?

The food was great! Everyone seemed to appreciate the tomato and bagoong "sawsawan" most, as midway into lunch, we ran-out of tomatoes!

After eating, some of them decided to ride the "balsa". Most of them didn't want to get wet, like Em, Nep, and Cha. But the others had better things in mind... like turning the "balsa" over!

Pigs screaming during slaughter would be put to shame by Nep and Cha's screams as Ate Apple and Kevin started rocking the balsa. Ah! Good times! :)

After staying a little longer to chill near the river, we headed back to the van. We went back to Alon's house to rest and clean-up. While resting, they decided to play in-between. I joined in, but it seems luck (not even beginner's luck) wasn't on my side. Burotness... :P

By the time we finished it was nearly dark. And you know what that means? Dinner!!!!

As usual everyone was still salivating over the tomato-and-bagoong-combo. I can't count the number of times that they had to prepare a new set of freshly cut tomatoes. We may have single-handedly exhausted the tomato supply of Abra!



After dinner we went over to the farm which belong to Alon's family. We had a big blanket, and ice box full of beer, a bottle of tequila rose, and some chips.

Off to the farm, we go!

Once there, we started-up a bonfire, turned on the headlights of the van, and turned-up the volume of the music. We laid the big blanket and sat around. Everyone had to drink at least one shot of tequila rose in honor of the birthday celebrant.

It was a very relaxing moment. Just a group of friends, drinking beer and swapping stories...

pwede ba namang walang group pic?!

After a few more drinks, we decided to go to the nearby "Perya". Em managed to win 300pesos from sheer luck at one of the stalls!

Since there wasn't much to see there, we decided to go back to Alon's house. Once there, we assumed the usual "card gaming" positions in the table, as we prepared to play in-between once more! As expected, I didn't win anything!

By midnight, it was officially Tin's birthday!

A few minutes more, me and Tin decided to rest for the night.
Thus ends Abra Day 2.