A few months ago Cebu Pacific announced a very enticing “Wandering Juan” contest for travel bloggers. The goal was to highlight the best posts by travel bloggers under a number of different categories. I wrote a few posts about by recent travels myself and sent them as entries for the “Cebu Pacific “Wandering Juan” contest.

During the August 13, 2010 episode of “Trip na Trip”, a travel show in ABS-CBN, the winners were announced as follows:
Read the rest of this entry »
Earlier, I’ve mentioned about selling my current Nikon D40 DSLR and buying a new Nikon D5000 next month. I’m currently looking for interested buyers who’re willing to purchase it for a low low price of P7,000 (body only). The package includes the original EN-EL9 Battery, Charger, USB Data Cable, Box, and Software CD. Here are some points to consider if you’re interested:

Read the rest of this entry »
For regular readers of Ambot-ah, you might have already noticed some changes in the look and feel of the blog. This is only the first step in my plans of improving Ambot-ah to a whole new level. This is in light of my plans of venturing out of my hometown, Iloilo, this year and traveling to more places around the Philippines starting. I’m very excited on where blogging will lead me in the months to come.

Read the rest of this entry »
Seeking to catapult yourself into TV stardom? Get a chance to become famous by sending a short video audition online and join the search for the next PLDT Watchpad crew!

Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve had my first DSLR, a Nikon D40, for over a year now or approximately 50,000 shutters clicks ago. Last January, it accidentally suffered a 3 foot drop from the table. It’s still working, much to my relief, but the traumatic incident caused a minimal blur in all the photos. The damage isn’t so bad if I was only using the photos for blogging (and I can always cover it up a bit after editing) but it bothers me since I wouldn’t want to be compromised by defects in my camera. So I’m in this dilemma on what to do …
Unfortunately, the in-store warranty has expired so the first thing I did was to have it checked out in a camera repair shop. I waited for weeks but every time I revisit the shop, they tell me that there are lot of repairs on queue and they haven’t taken a look at my camera yet. Most of the time, I wasn’t in the mood of going out of the house (even blogging) since I didn’t have my camera with me and felt a bit depressed. During my Dumaguete-Siquijor trip, I had to borrow Vince’s camera just to have something to work with.
Read the rest of this entry »
Having a digital assistant is very important for a travel blogger or even traveling in general. I bought an iPod touch just recently and I love it! not only does it keep me entertained but with so many apps available, it has made me more productive even when I’m on the road. Mostly I use it to read travel research I did prior the trip (like travel itineraries), make notes while I’m on the trip (so I keep track of everything), make things to do lists, view calendar entries, view offline Google Maps (neat, huh?).

Read the rest of this entry »
The Western Visayas Tourism Assembly is an annual gathering of all provinces and cities of Western Visayas geared at showcasing the tourism potential of the region. Roxas City and Capiz Province hosted the event this year held last December 4-6 . I was able to witness event with fellow bloggers Junelle, JunJunn, Eric, and Sheila. During the first day, we were treated with the unique opportunity of seeing some of the best festivals in Western Visayas. The street dance parade started from the city plaza all the way to Villareal Stadium, where they performed their spectacular 5 to 10 minute choreographed dances.
Read the rest of this entry »
While scourging through my feeds yesterday, I came across the International Photography Awards 2009. I checked it out wanting a pick me up before touching my long to-do list for my blogs. The gallery at their their website is superb! I was easily inspired by the clever concepts and degree of skill of these photographers.

Read the rest of this entry »
Now that my October travelling spree is over, I’m finally back home … back to blogging. You’ll probably notice my online activity rising because I’ve cleared up my schedule for the next month so that I can do some major work on my blogs (actually, it’s more like I wont be going anywhere because I’ve got no more money left to spend). During the first week of October, I spent a week in Manila to take some pictures for a new blog I’m developing named “Pueblo Philippines (more about this later).” While I was there, I bought a one week MRT/LRT unlimited flash pass (for P250) and visited many spots in Metro Manila. Though, the highlight (and main agenda) of my trip was actually attending the 2009 Philippine Blog Awards, in which Explore Iloilo was nominated under the Best Travel Blog category.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you have time, you’re all invited to see a gallery exhibit by a couple of Ilonggo photographers in Red Steakhouse & Gallery. Spectrum Iloilo will run from May 27 to June 28, 2009. I’ll be posting 3 of my works, I think this is my first photo exhibit, ehh … I was apprehensive at first because I’ll have my stuff posted side by side with other more established photographers in Iloilo and my photos aren’t exactly as remarkable as theirs. My usual subjects are landscapes, not conceptual artsy stuff so I was thinking that my works would pale in comparison and I would spontaneously melt or combust. I agreed to join after discovering that I humans spontaneously melting or combusting might not be a possibility.
Read the rest of this entry »