2016 has been a fantastic year. Lots of things happened, experienced and learned. But 2017 will surely be a new year. 2016 has been a great start for the big life ahead and 2017 will be the continuation.

Katelyn as a lady bug

My wife gave birth to our first child and that day made me the happiest man on Earth. It was really a journey for me and my wife. Since the start of pregnancy to the time that she delivered our baby girl. She is a warrior. I think every mom is a warrior. I really did not imagine how brave a woman is until I saw my wife giving birth.

On the morning of the 24th of November, my wife already knew she will be giving birth that day. I was with her the whole time, feeling brave on the outside but really nervous on the inside. I inhaled and told to myself, "this is it. oh my god. this is really happening". 

I am proud of you. Those are the first words I told to my wife after 3 hours of excruciating pain of delivery. I can't explain the joy in my heart when it skipped a beat the moment they pulled our child out of her and held it up high. Our child did not cry. She was just looking at her mother and to everyone, maybe wondering, "where the hell am i?". From that day I knew, Oh boy, this girl will be brave.

"Where the hell am I" - Katelyn Isabelle

4 months later, this is her. Our very adorable cutie little pumpkin. Say hello to my daughter, Katelyn Isabelle.

Katelyn Isabelle celebrating her 4th month

I was never this proud before. I was never this proud in my entire life. But this is just a start. a beginning. And I am enjoying every bits and pieces of it.

Have you experience slothing out, watching tv all day then suddenly you end up watching food/travel shows? That's that you get if you want to travel and explore but you don't have time and money to do so. So I just watching this travel show when a beautiful host went to Malaysia looking for good food. They end up at this cafe named Le Bread Days where they showcase their famous salted egg croissants. Wow - the cafe look very chic and cool, the host is pretty, the food looks amazing and delicious and this cafe is located at Kuala Lumpur! From that day onwards, I never forgot Le Bread, told to myself: I do not know you, but I will find you and I will eat you!

So I made it! Voila - I am here at Le Bread!

The Gang at Le Bread Days

 To my surprise, the people behind the counter and in the kitchen are Filipinos! I never imagined that in this suburb area of Kuala Lumpur, there are still Filipinos.

The famous salted egg croissant!

Verdict? It's amazing! Everything they said in the show is true. The tenderness, the texture, the taste - oh god. This is heaven. It is more delicious when consumed hot.

Since I will still be driving all the way north, I partnered my croissant with cappuccino!

Cappuccino and a bits of the croissant

The trip is not complete without take away!

The ambiance is cool. Like every cafe with a chic looking style, antiques stuff and jazz music. Very nice place to relax.
Though I noticed that the drinks are priced way above average for me, maybe this is the typical price for KL but not in Ipoh.

I will definitely go back and try their other pastries!

Verdict:

Le bread location:
68, Jalan SS 2/72, Seksyen 19, 46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

 I was not spared from experiencing the disturbance and disruptions caused by the APEC summit recently held in the Philippines. I was on schedule to attend my best friend's wedding in Laguna when my flight going from KL to MNL was cancelled. Though I actually understand the reason behind cancellations, what I can't accept is the fact that they cancelled it less than 24 hours before my flight. Other flights from Cebu Pacific and PAL were cancelled too but they announced it earlier. If they have cancelled it weeks or even days before, I could have devise my plan B and routed my flight to Clark, but it was way too late that the flight from KL to Clark was already fully booked. There was no choice left for me as the only available flight to go to the Philippines was thru Kalibo, the gateway to Boracay, so I immediately booked the flight and went to the airport afterwards.

I was hesitant that time to proceed and book that flight to Kalibo since I haven't tried to travel by RORO (Roll-on Roll-off). For most of you who don't know RORO, it is just basically a ferry, which transport trucks, cars and buses. I think this was a project of former President GMA to connects and transfer people using ferries to travel from one island to another island.

I made my research on how will my travel/adventure will be. I need to be on details since I will be traveling alone and far from my hometown. Unfortunately, there were little information I got from the Interwebs, but nevertheless I managed to know the important points and major ports I need to go to. So this was my travel itinerary:

1. Arrive to Kalibo International Airport
2. Ride a 2-hour van going to Catliclan ferry port
3. Ride a RORO ferry from Caticlan port to Roxas port in Mindoro
4. Ride again a 2-hour van going Calapan port
5. Ride a ferry from calapan to batangas port
6. Ride a bus going to manila and alight to Tanauan

From the list, it seems that it is so simple. except that I havent tried to ride a RORO and never been to Kalibo or Boracay. :)

11:00 AM
So then my adventure started. It was a good day! except that the airasia plane was forced to return from taxiing and taking off back to the boarding gate because of equipment technical issue. But hey it is better than flying with faulty equipment! 

5:00 PM



It was my first time here at Kalibo International Airport. It is quite small considering it is an international airport. One thing for sure that I am in the Philippines is the long queue! I think it took me about an hour waiting for my turn to clear at the immigration. It was a really long and slow process, very Philippines! Boarding a van from the international airport was not that hard, all the vans going to Boracay are there waiting for the arrival of passengers. The total travel time took around 2 hours for P200 each.

8:00 PM
Arriving to Caticlan ferry port is far from what I expected. I imagined a Cubao-like terminal, instead it was a sleepy-looking port. But it looks safe unlike places in Metro Manila. The terminal going to Boracay is good and modern looking, maybe because it houses all the foreigners and tourist that will visit boracay. I asked some bystanders where I can buy tickets for the ferry, unfortunately the ticket window is closed until 10PM. Luckily there will be a RORO on schedule to depart around 11PM.



I also asked if there will be a bus coming for the RORO but they said the last trip of the bus were around 6pm. If I boarded that bus going to manila thru RORO, I do not need to alight at the Roxas port to look for the van because the bus will go straight to Manila.

11:00 PM


This ferry is so huge. There were lots of trucks, jeepneys and some private vehicles. There were also a handfuls of passengers like me who chose to use RORO since all the flights were cancelled. Inside the ferry, there was a space for the passengers to sit in. It was spacious and clean, but hot as I assumed they didn't open the air conditioning. There were bunk beds available and a small cafeteria that has noodles and coffees. Overall, I was delighted to see the inside of the ferry, it is kinda comfortable.

3:00 AM

We were all still sleepy when we arrived at Roxas port but the sound of the ferry, the waves of the sea and men shouting out will wake you up. It's relieving to see and feel that after 3 hours in the sea, you may be able to walk at land again. There were vans waiting at the gate of the pier waiting for passengers that is why I didn't have a hard time thinking how can I go to Calapan.

6:00 AM

The sun is already starting to show up when we arrived at Calapan Ferry port. This is more convenient and easy for us since they have a lot more companies to cater the Calapan-Batangas route so you can just choose whichever ferry you like. I chose the OceanJet for 200 pesos as they promised to bring me in Batangas port in an hour unlike other ferries/companies which normally take 2 hours and more.

7:30 AM

And they did their promise, after 1 hour, we arrived at Batangas! YES! My beloved Batangas. I was really smiling when I set my foot at Batangas Pier although I tried not to publicly show it to avoid being looked as a freak. I was really happy that time, but the journey is still not done yet, I need to look for the bus station.
After asking some locals, I have managed to find the bus station. All of these buses are going to Manila either Alabang, LRT or Cubao.

9:00AM

At last. The end point. The finish line. Success!
After 24 hours of non-stop travel, I finally arrived at Tanauan City. I can finally yawn and take my much needed rest, of course after I hugged and kissed my family who welcome me when I arrived at our doorstep.

It was a fun journey overall and a great experience for me. It may be very simple to other people, but to me that haven't tried any of that, it was really a big thing. So for you guys who are planning to go to Visayas, why don't you try using RORO, it will be a very different adventure!

Note: This post is about APEC summit which happened on November of 2015. Due to some delays and lot of proscrastination, this post has just been finished recently.