Proudly Up In the Air Again at the Lubao International Balloon and Music Festival

Wazzup Pilipinas!

All things came into place as if we were destined to be there flying up in the air again in a hot air balloon. To be specific, I rode on the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) hot air balloon but flown by a foreign pilot.

From the availability of restaurants to feature, and a luxurious accommodation to become our temporary home, our planned coverage of the Lubao International Balloon and Music Festival turned out to be more glamorous than we expected.

We basically never expected the opportunity to ride a hot air balloon. We were actually contented with just seeing them getting inflated and taking photos and videos (including selfies and groupfies) as they flew up into the skies of Lubao, Pampanga.

However, someone up there has better plans for us as He has given us more than what we wished for.

Incidentally, a request to feature a new restaurant at SM Clark, Pampanga also played a big part in our Pampanga tour. When we found out the restaurant owner also has a villa for rent, we asked her if she could also let us stay overnight, and quickly jumped on the opportunity when she agreed.

But we were still pushing our luck. With her having a second (and even a third) restaurant, we swallowed our pride and asked if she could let us feature her other restaurant, and we were in Cloud 9 when she agreed.

Yet still our luck was going non-stop as we met a friend of hers who happens to own another restaurant, and it is as if fate has connived with destiny to make our Pampanga story a lot more interesting, we were happy we got ourselves another restaurant feature.

That and another buffet restaurant at SM Clark, since we still have unused Gift Certificates that we could use, made it a total of four restaurants to feature in our blog.

How to Elevate Your Blog at the Ready Set Blog 2.0: Merging Empowered Bloggers Event

Wazzup Pilipinas!

From one of the founders of the Ready, Set, Blog bloggers event, I decided for a low-profile participation instead and wanted to join as just one of the attendee. This was because I was back working on an 8 to 5 job which equates to a lot of limitations like I can't stay late at an event because I will surely have a hard time waking up the next day (unless it was a Friday or Saturday event).

Since most events are done during lunch time, I also missed out on a lot of opportunities to personally witness potential news to share on my blog. Sending over a representative is totally different since I prefer to experience the events on my own, and I tend to be less satisfied with the coverage done by others since I am too conscious about getting better videos and photos, plus the interviews not too many do at their coverage. Call me a perfectionist but I guess it's all because I just prefer to be on the field myself.

But my fellow blogger and co-founder of the Ready Set Blog event had something better in mind. She wanted me to talk as one of the speakers with a topic she believes I am capable enough to discuss.

Elevate Your Blog - as if I am already at the top of the blogging community. I may be getting a lot of invites to events and many other forms of collaborations and partnerships, but I believe I still have a lot to learn.

And from the list of bloggers attending the event, I asked "Do they really need to hear it from me?" Since many of them have already been blogging for a long time already.

The Book Museum Cum Ethnology Center: More Attractions and an All-Improved James Dean Cafe Await Visitors

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Here are the videos we made from our visit at the already huge complex located in Marikina city featuring Rex Bookstore owner Atty. Dominador Buhain's impressive collection of books and artifacts from his travels throughout the years at different countries.

They recently had an expansion which now also highlights equally stunning new collections and other facilities making the center a bigger and better educational destination. Their showcase of books and relics got a lot more bigger as it now features various collections of rock formations and head gears from all over the world.

If you're really into historical relics from all over the world, their wide and assorted collection will definitely amaze you. A must visit that won't disappoint your curiosity.

This is the second time we got invited at their place so instead of a full article, we thought we make it a series of videos instead featuring everything from the previous to the new ones, including a short interview with the owner himself (Now this is a big bonus since it was unplanned. We are grateful that Atty. Buhain granted our request for a video, and that is included as part of the video series).

Plus an all-improved café created in homage of James Dean and thus it is fitting to be called the James Dean Café, where we got to try some of their American dishes from burgers, to hotdogs, sandwiches and of course,  coffee (both hot and cold variety).

The only surprising images at this café is the characters from the Peter Pan fantasy series that adorned the bathroom. We learned that aside from James Dean, Peter Pan is also one of the favorite characters of the owner. You'll even see inside the bathroom a photo of him dressed up as Peter Pan.

True enough, the traveler cum collector cum businessman is still somewhat a child at heart for he still looks back and incorporates his childhood into his current undertakings. This is something commendable as most of us seems to lose the fun we had and become so serious when we grow up.

I would want to be doing almost the same things as what Atty. Buhain has done... not only collecting but also sharing his discoveries to others as part of his museum. He may have been busy operating a business selling books at Rex Bookstore, but he still finds fun time for himself.

I want to retire having the same luxury as the man. But for now I could only dream as not all of us are born that lucky.