SONYA'S GARDEN

Really gorgeous. The ambiance, the garden-grown food, the decor, the rooms, the landscaping, the flora, the fauna. Puts Martha Stewart to shame.

You can tell from the design and the attention-to-detail that a LOT of love, care and nurturing went into the place.

Way to go, Sonj

The LLDD had some trouble getting in

Fortunately, no bouncer on earth can say no to the LLDDL

Only the LLDD can turn something so beautiful into something so creepy

Ma! It's the creepy guy again!

the LLDDL gets some zzzzz

if...you...can...read...this...flower...

awww...

Ma-aaaa!!! Now the creepy guy's smelling the wedding veils!!!!

The LLDDL decides she's had enough nature. Heads to the Sta. Rosa outlet stores.

Ready for some close-ups? I swear, the place was so postcard pretty, it was impossible to take a bad close-up of anything.

well, maybe it is possible...

THE LLDDL

The LLDD can wax eloquent about the Lady enough to crash this blog's server, so he won't even bother. For your purposes, suffice to say she's wicked smart and smoking hot.

If you want to know more about the LLDDL, you can check out her Friendster page (just hope she accepts your invite; heck, even I'm not a sure thing).

In the meantime, here are a few pix I've taken of the LLDDL. I'd attach more, but nobody would pay any more attention to me on my own blog.


the LLDDL loves her her pan de sal

babae sa bintana

the LLDDL maintains poise in the face of harassment from other DD's

She'll welcome you anytime, anywhere . . .

...but will strike a forlorn pose whenever the LLDD is away on travel (like you wouldn't want to come back to that!)

And, at night, she glows =)

ROAD TO SAGADA

Sagada itself was nice, although the trip was so long over rough roads that people were a bit testy by the time we got there. Plus, we weren't able to go to the famous caves, and there didn't appear to be any shooting of Sex Trip 2. Barely avoided open revolt.

But those views on along the way. Oh, man. Are you kidding me? Jaw-droppingly beautiful.

Beautiful. Just beautiful.

An incredibly gorgeous scene along the way. A quaint town on the side of mountain, terraces to its side, and a sparkling river in the green valley just below. I really should have asked for the name of the place.

A fellow DD adjusts the hanging coffins a wee bit.

Head in the clouds

If you think this is big, wait'll you see the car dashboard

Left: Tufts jacket. Right: Georgetown jacket. Can't imagine either school's that proud right now.

BANAWE RICE TERRACES

A lot of things went wrong on this trip: a six-hour landslide delay, unbelievably patronizing guest speakers, a bus break- down on the way home, a failed attempt to party with some foreign tourists, you name it.

On the other hand, the food at the hotel was great, wine tastes better in really cold weather, I got to climb down some real, non-tourist terraces and plant rice, and I never thought I'd ever go swimming in the Cordillera mountains (major shrinkage aside). And, of course, the sheer natural beauty of the place and the laid-back coolness of the locals made it all worthwhile.

Remember what I said about sheer natural beauty? Um, this aint it.

mmmm.....squishy mud between the toes.

The coolest woman on this planet. I love her

Weaving. Always fascinating.

The locals get jiggy

LLDD : "... and that's why i think the government should allocate more resources for the preservation of the region's heritage for future generations"
BS : "i love you, man"

DAY TRIPPERS

It was like I was back in grade school: field trips, museums, dioramas, teachers desperately trying to herd everyone onto buses, getting beat up by bigger kids. Good times.

Corregidor: so much history; so much emotion; so much rain

Ayala Museum: anytime you can be exposed to culture AND a nearby gonuts, i'm in.

Malacañang Press Room: "Yes, Ann Curry, I'll take your question .... and your phone number"

North Harbor: nice to finally see the site of so many bad action movies

Angono ancient cave drawings. I honestly did not expect to find them in the middle of a golf and residential development, but there they were.

Rizal artists' studio. The men's and ladies' room doors had paintings of a guy and a girl with the doorknobs where their . . . um . . . "knobs" should be. Classy.

Channel 4: "Seriously, baby. It's time to ditch Bert and Ernie, and be with a real man"

"FILL IN THE BLANK" DIPLOMACY

One clever cool thing about cadetship: you can take any ordinary activity -- and I mean any -- attach the word "diplomacy" to the end of it and, viola, you've got yourself a cadetship module.

To name just a few: we had movie, music, dancing, drawing (lots of drawing), and reading diplomacy. Below are few other actual subjects. No names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Textile diplomacy
(note the spiffy barongs)

Formal dinner diplomacy

Golf diplomacy
(the LLDD so approves)

Adobo diplomacy (yes, you read that right)

Wreath-laying diplomacy

I'm lobbying for spa, afternoon variety show, and pugad baboy appreciation diplomacy for next year's curriculum

INTRAMUROS

Ah, Intramuros! (Spanish translation: intra - meaning "within"; and muros - meaning "15 minutes drive of Mall of Asia"). Our trip here was muy interesting and once again brought back grade school flashbacks -- although I never realized San Agustin was so much bigger and more interesting inside (and I'm pretty sure that driving range wasn't from Spanish colonial times)

damn slow Spanish escalators

oh yeah, our heroes must be so happy dying for this bunch

The LLDD and his mujers

A Da Vinci Code-type church search gone horribly wrong
(a.k.a. so who's the sacred feminine in this relationship?)