Tarlac Timangguyob Falls Trek

I finally completed my first trek! It was awesome!!!

Timangguyob Falls

How We Got there From Manila
We left Mandaluyong City at 4am. There were nine of us, so we brought two vehicles: an Innova Van and an  Altis car. Both cars had full tanks when we started. I mentioned that so you'd have a solid reference of our gas expenses.

First and only stop over was in Petron NLEX (the first gas station along NLEX going North). We grabbed a quick breakfast and drove straight to SCTEX where we took the Luisita Exit into Tarlac City at 6:30am.

From there we met with our trek hosts in Camiling, Tarlac. We took a 40-minute truck ride to our jump off point.

Scene from truck ride

Truck ride: holding on for dear life

Scene from truck ride

Then begins the trek!
For regular paced trekkers, it will take you two to three hours to get to the falls.
Then a shorter time coming back down.

Actual Expenses

Toll 45 x 2 = 90

Toll 173 x 2  = 346

Toll 89 x 2 = 178

Packed Lunch = 1000

Toll 89 x 2 = 178

Toll 218 x 2 = 436

Gas Vehicle1 = 1040

Gas2 Vehicle2 = 1160

Total  =  4428

Next on the list: Mt Pinatubo!

Before it expires.

It's actually you, not me

I have a million flaws. One of them is worrying about other people --

"Why isn't A enjoying like the rest of the group, I better check out on her/him..." 

"What if no body brings a snack, I better bring some..." 

"It will be more convenient for B if I do this for him/her, so I will..." 

"I bet C and D will like it if I do this, if I bring this, if I..."

It's taxing. It's overwhelming. It makes it fun for everybody else and makes it less fun for me. And the moment I decide to stray from that usual frame of mind, I end up thinking "I should have..."

Now I ask "Why does it have to be me?"

If you want me to join you in that party, "why do I have to make it happen?" 

You want to go, you make it happen. 

If my lack of initiative is getting in your way, then deal with your situation to still make it happen. It's what I do when I want something. But those are the things that I want, so I work for them. There's enough of those things on my list, don't expect me to worry about you -- I most likely will, but don't expect it and don't demand it.

A sorceress is born

We've done it. We've turned her into a sorceress. 

Bowling - First win!

Played bowling. I'm usually terrible at it - I couldn't get the form right and my ball lands on the strip with a loud THUD! Well this time, my team got luck! Prior to the above game, we, ladies, had half the scores. We don't know what happened... I think we actually figured out how to throw the ball properly!

There was me + boyfriend, male officemate + girlfriend, another male officemate, and a female officemate. That's why we decided to split our last game to boys vs girls. They guys were teasing us with "losers pay". If we only knew we'd surprise even ourselves, we'd have agreed!

TonTon Massage

My chosen activities are physically demanding: I run at least three times a week early in the morning, and I do free weights in the gym, also at least three times a week, after work. On a good week, I'd have after office activities with officemates - running, badminton, bowling, swimming.

That's why I enjoy, as much as I actually need it, getting a full body massage. I prefer dry massage because it focuses more on pressure points and on stretching muscle.

I sometimes treat myself to a massage in any TonTon Massage parlors. Their masseuse are often skillful and since they follow a certain pattern that I find relaxing, it's almost always a sure thing that I'd a great massage. Almost always...

Unfortunately today wasn't one of my good massage days. The lady who handled me did such a terrible job that I had to ask her to stop before she injured me. I still paid for the full price but politely told the person at the counter that I received lousy service and explained in detail how my massage was bad. I hope they figure out what went wrong - seems to me like my masseuse actually lacked training; she could even apply enough pressure on my palms and but applied too much pressure on my tailbone by putting all of her bodyweight on it.

Now I can only look forward to having a trip back to Tarlac - the masseuses in Rio Spa are monsters. In a really really good way. They're all nice and feminine when you meet them outside the rooms but when they're working on you, they go all Incredible Hulk (I like my massage hard so that's amazing) without messing up their technique.

Soon... Hopefully really really soon.