Wordless Wednesday: Vibrant mascots

My daughter with the vibrant Chinese opera mascots!

Ain't they the liveliest and the friendliest!

   

The panoramic ocean

Bored one summer and just wonna relax in the seaside, hubby planned a backpacking trip for us. The next daybreak, we traveled for 6 hours towards the beach capital of Taiwan~ Kenting, where we stayed for three adventure-filled days. The first day, we  rented a scooter and traveled around the place for scenic views.

We stopped by Jialeshuei on our way to the surfing area. This was on top of a summit overlooking the Pacific ocean.

Hail the Pacific view! Clear blue ocean and clear white clouds. What a perfect day to get out!

Daughter and hubby enjoying the panoramic view.

Isn't this breath-taking!!!

Such a glorious day! We thanked God for such simple miracles of nature!

This was last year and Joey was still so small, now she's almost as tall as me. Again, time flew by fast. 

The top of the world. The Rock.

Trying to feel how it feels to be on top of the world. So windy! This was taken after we took a dip in the ocean and on our way back to our rented place. 

Linking for Our World Tuesday,  Wednesday Whites, Watery Wednesday, Skywatch Friday 

The Tent

Summer excursion at Kenting, Taiwan. The sun was so glaringly hot that I and my daughter desperately tried to hide from its anger lol. Hubby made us a cute shabby tent made out of sarong for temporary protection. Don't worry, we didn't hide forever and we had so much fun surfing the waves. :)

So funny! The tent barely covered us from the sun.

The tent's shadow was so cute as if trying to tease us that we needed to curl to stay within its coverage lol.

Wordless Wednesday: Strawberry pickers

My little ones. Harvesting, eating and playing.

Verena's Wordless Wednesday

The Pagoda

Located up high on a mountain (Mt. Sha Ba Lan) and around the picturesque Sun Moon Lake (the only natural big lake in the country), the Cih-en Pagoda stands mightily at 46 meters high. It's an octagonal building with a total of 12 floors. The first three stories were neatly painted in snowy white while the upper 9 stories with golden red. This lovely tower was built  by Taiwan's former president Chiang Kai-Shek in 1971 in honor of his mother. Cih-en Pagoda overlooks the spectacular scenery of Sun Moon lake and the panoramic Lalu Island.

Three years ago, I and my friends rented two vans and traveled around central Taiwan. We invaded one of its  famous landmarks, the Cih-en Pagoda.

Hail the beautiful pagoda in a glorious weather! base is blindingly white!

More from the escapade...

Friends having fun! 

Two beautiful ladies and both my good friends on the topmost floor of the tower (left: Ms. Bolivia & right: Ms. Romania), enjoying the gorgeous mountains. 

On top of the world. Running out of breath after climbing the steep staircases, we were then greeted by the breathtaking views of the lake and the mountains. The gushing strong chilly wind further gave us the taste of an amazing top-of-the-world adventure lol.

The  group on our way to trek the 700 meter track towards the Pagoda and enjoying the refreshing sights of trees and flowers along the way.

Most of our friends on this photo already graduated and left Taiwan for their home countries. Those fun-filled days and good memories shared together are truly cherished! The beautiful Cih-en Pagoda (postcard perfect) will surely be missed too.

The Beach

I am linking this post to the  Best of 2011, having the most comments on my blog for this year.

For a three-day conference at Boracay island almost five years ago, I seized the moment to mix business with pleasure. Thus, I brought my two kids and their two nannies along with me. For three days, my guys enjoyed the beautiful white sand beaches and the clear blue sea of Philippine's famous Boracay island.

Behold the beach!

Early morning beauty of Boracay!

My then 5-months old Aron enjoying the cool refreshing water.

Yes, the white sand.

My then 4-year old Joey enjoying the white beach .

This is Paradise! the other end of Boracay!

with my little Joey.

Island hopping with my colleagues!

On board the motorized "bangka"/canoe on the wavy sea! Fun!

Snorkeling on the clear blue water.

Enjoying the beautiful pristine part of the island. 

Enjoying the great waves!

Enjoying the beautiful sunset!

Photos were taken with my then vintage 2.0 mega pixels Sony Cyber-Shot U camera.

Wordless, Wordful or Whatever Wednesday

 

  

Whitewater Rafting

Cagayan de Oro City, a gateway to Northern Mindanao, Philippines (a region where I hailed from), is becoming the country's  thrill seeker destination for whitewater rafting. Cagayan de Oro river boasts 23 rapid counts ranging from difficulty levels 1 to 4.

Last January 2007, six of our friends and fellow students (from Russia, Germany, Turkey, Czech and Poland) went with us on our way home from Taiwan to Philippines. They enjoyed touring our home university, touring Samal and Camiguin islands, riding our crazy jeepneys and even hitch-riding the tubo-tubo (a huge cargo truck for sugar canes). On such particular tour, we enjoyed whitewater rafting at Cagayan de Oro City. We took the beginner rapids.

Here are some of the highlights:

The jeepney that brought us to the site.

Us ready to rumble with the rapids!

Paddling the white rapids.

Clinging to each other as not to fall in the cascading water. 

Clinging on or we might fall! so funny and scary! 

Rapids or not, we still managed to smile lol!

Look at these scary noisy rapids! 

Paddle paddle!  

Conquering the rapids! Oh yeah! 

Surfing the rapids! 

Fell down!

Me and a friend outbalanced and fell, scary! we need to grab the rope asap or we might get carried away by the strong current. 

That was really fun! 

At the same time enjoying the panoramic view. The forest along the riversides are havens for monkeys.

The river was clean and refreshing!

Plunging to our deaths lol. No, this scary jump was for our graduation (crazy me, 3rd from left).

That was fun! Indeed, adrenaline-pumping one!

Us after the fun (meaning, after eating barbecues with our bare hands lol)!!

So, what are you waiting for? Come and feel the rush of nature's wildest at Cagayan de Oro City. Click here for more info. I wonna get back there myself and experience the fun once more.