International Photography Awards 2009; Importance of Being Inspired as a blogger

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.

intlphotographyawards International Photography Awards 2009; Importance of Being Inspired as a blogger

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Hong Kong and Macau 3 Days and 2 Nights Itinerary

4053285536 ea655b2d91 Hong Kong and Macau 3 Days and 2 Nights Itinerary

Here is the detailed 3 days and two nights itinerary we had during our recent trip to Hong Kong and Macau:

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Hong Kong and Macau Tour – My first trip abroad

4052683749 b093e14d62 Hong Kong and Macau Tour   My first trip abroadOn the steps to St. Paul Cathedral Ruins

Last month, the day after attending the Philippine Blog Awards, me and my siblings (four of us) travelled to Hong Kong and Macau for 3 days and 2 nights. It was our first trip abroad and it took months of planning because we wanted to personalize our itinerary and did not want to be part of a constrictive tour group. Planning for the trip was quite easy because there are a lot of information available online about Hong Kong and Macau but we just wanted it to be flawless and cram as much sights during our short visit. We actually flew in to Hong Kong and stayed there for two days, visited Macau on the third day, and then flew back to Manila via Macau later that day.

We originally just planned to visit Hong Kong for our trip but Macau was too tempting to pass off. It’s just one hour away by ferry … much like crossing the strait from Iloilo to Bacolod, *heh*. I was the one who convinced them to include Macau in the trip given that I was responsible for planning the Macau leg of our itinerary.

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Finally! Experiences at the Philippine Blog Awards 2009 – Awards Night

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.

4051960199 748100b362 Finally! Experiences at the Philippine Blog Awards 2009   Awards Night

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Easy-to-do and Cheap Paperclip Magnet DIY Photo Wall

Photographers always have this feeling of exhibiting their photos either for other people or even for their own viewing pleasure. For me sharing my photos is a way of getting my perspective out, and letting other people know more about my life and my perspective. I’ve already done spreading my photos all over the internet and on some print media, and this time, I was thinking of doing something a bit more personal. So I decided to make this cheap and easy-to-do photo wall for my room.

3967816138 58bc9ccb23 Easy to do and Cheap Paperclip Magnet DIY Photo Wall

Photo Wall Ideas

While searching online, I came across two interesting ideas, which included magnets and metals as the core materials. The first one, included painting the wall with a metallic paint and then laying over magnet/s on top of the photos to suspend them. The second used several pieces of colored metallic strings draped across the wall instead of the metallic paint. I scrapped the metallic paint idea since it is quite expensive and labrious to cover a whole wall of metallic paint.

I’m not sure if there are colored strings available in our local hardware/craft stores but the first thing that popped into my head when I started thinking about improvising, is using paper clips. Perfect! because they are cheap and easy to find.

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My Tuna Tofu Vegetable and Egg Stir Fry Recipe

I’ve never thought of myself cooking stuff, more so blogging about it, but recently I’ve been experimenting on coming up with different ways to maintain a high protein diet. My body is naturally ectomorphic (slim) and I guess I want a change by adding more weight. I’ve honestly tried to eat horrendously but to no avail, my metabolism is just too fast for the calories to get a good grip. So now, I’m trying a new strategy by muscle building instead. I’ve been reading a lot of articles online and so far and I’ve discovered that to maintain optimum muscle anabolism (growth), aside from doing muscle building exercises, I’ve got to eat around  1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. Since I’m just starting, I don’t think I’m up for protein supplements (whey) yet so I decided to get protein from whole food sources like egg whites, tuna, tofu, beef, chicken, skim milk etc… for now.

Which is why I have to plan out my meals throughout the day/week and integrate those high protein sources into my diet. One of my favorite things to do is to cook a stir fry with a bunch of those ingredients with vegetables. It is something easy to do, especially for a newbie cook like me.

This is my Tuna Tofu Vegetable and Egg Stir Fry Recipe:

3958687215 883a336aef My Tuna Tofu Vegetable and Egg Stir Fry Recipe

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My Vote for Visayas Blogger’s Choice Award – Explore Iloilo

4010306757 9d41c71bfb My Vote for Visayas Bloggers Choice Award   Explore Iloilo

My Vote for the 2009 Bloggers’ Choice Award (Visayas)

I vote for Explore Iloilo! for the Bloggers’ Choice Award in the 2009 Philippine Blog Awards.

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Time to start posting again

After a seriously long time of inactivity in Ambot-ah, I’m back posting about my travels over the months. While I take some time to jot down my journals, you can view some my photos at my flickr account. Here’s a photo of me during my most recent visit (and very first trip abroad) to Hong Kong:

4008884715 55f487605d Time to start posting again

Soaking up the Hong Kong skyline at Vicoria Peak in Central Hong Kong

Anini-y, Hamtic, San Jose Day Tour – June 2009

3629614277 b797b9d721 Anini y, Hamtic, San Jose Day Tour   June 2009

Last week me and my friends most of which I met over at flickr, went photo tripping in Antique province. We visited a few spots in Southern Antique (Anini-y, Hamtic, and San Jose) for a day trip. We first met at Molo Terminal, Iloilo City where a few van drivers were squabbling for our attention, we had to choose between a spacious new looking Mercedes Benz Van and an L300 van, which looked like it had experienced too many trips. We picked the L300 van because the driver promised to leave immediately for us. We were lucky enough because the driver was very friendly and even made a deal with us to take us to where we wanted to go until Hamtic and San Jose and then take us back to Iloilo City.

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Bacolod City, Negros Occidental Trip – June 2009

I was supposed to go to Baras Beach Resort in Guimaras for the weekend with my friend and her classmates. Me and my friend were already prepared to go on with the trip, we’ve already packed our bags and met in the city. Unfortunately, her classmates bailed out on the plan because it was raining and opted to watch a movie instead. We were quite upset about that because the trip was already planned weeks before and the rain wasn’t strong enough to be worried about, there were also no reported storms coming. Wanting to go on with any trip, we decided to go backpacking to Bacolod City instead.

3608447482 bfb437d906 Bacolod City, Negros Occidental Trip   June 2009

San Sebastian Church at Dusk

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