Mahilig.

The Happiest Place on Earth

It`s Belle`s first time out of the country and first time to visit Disney Land, so forgive me for what most consider a photo spam, as we were all excited for her!

…And I guess we couldn`t help but indulge ourselves in our own childhood as well. :D

Hong Kong Craze

A small fraction of the photos we took in Hong Kong. Of course, Disney Land deserves its own post!

Beijing Pt. IV: The Last Of

Our last full day in Beijing was spent shopping in Joy City along Xidan District. I was too engrossed with shopping, so the only photos I was able to take were the ones before and after our not-so-little buying spree. One of my favorites is of a Uniqlo ad with a model that looked like Jian from afar. Naturally, we forced Jian to pose the same way. I was about to take a picture of him beside the ad, but one of the store personnel shooed us away. We had to resort to shooting outside the store, which was kind of a killjoy though the result of the two photos placed beside each other is still funny.

We rushed to the airport the next day, leaving barely any time for picture taking except for squeezed in outfit shots. It was around 1:00 p.m. when we arrived at the airport, though due to a misunderstanding between the Dragon Air staff and Tita Jeanette, we wouldn`t leave until nearly 8:00 p.m. By the time we had reached Hong Kong, it was just a few minutes short of midnight. We hardly had enough hours to sleep and freshen up for the flight back to Manila the following morning. It was a good thing our tickets were upgraded to business class, giving us much needed relaxation before going home.

This concludes my Beijing diary! I`ll finally be able to resume my outfit posts, so keep visiting. :)

Beijing Pt. III: Summer Palace and so on

Our fifth day in Beijing was probably the most hectic, having visited four locations where the Summer Palace was first on our agenda. It was a bit of a shame that we visited it during the fall. The haze proved to be too thick for us to enjoy most of the view; albeit I still enjoyed staying by the bridge just because I thought it looked relatively elegant. Again, I seemed to have found the simplest of structures the most quaint.

We briefly visited one of Beijing`s silk factories, then proceeded to a tea house. I must admit I`m more of a coffee person, though I was genuinely amused by the whole ceremony involved in serving and drinking the tea, and the vast array of tea flavors. By the end of our tea ceremony, I figured the fruit tea was my favorite.

Before heading back to the hotel, we went to see the Bird`s Nest and the Water Cube, from afar of course. We tried to take jumping shots, except we never succeeded with a decent one. Still, all that jumping brought up our energy levels until it was time to conclude a good night.

Beijing Pt. II: Jade Factory & Great Wall

We started the day with a quick visit to the jade factory. It was amusing to see the different kinds and colors of jade. I didn`t even know there were other colors of jade aside from green until then. I was rather regretful because I didn`t bring much cash and I wanted to purchase a jade bangle for my mom. Fortunately, we left for the Great Wall before I could start sulking.

The Mutianyu region of the Great Wall wasn`t very crowded, which allowed us to wander at a more relaxed pace. Jian and I couldn`t help but notice how the simplicity of its structure highlighted the age and grandeur of the Great Wall. Then, a sweet kind of awe occurred to us, as if it were only then that we realized we were in China together.

Hong Kong Photodiary

Before we left for Beijing, I stayed with Jian`s family in Hong Kong for a day. Tita Jeanette, Jian and Sean picked me up at the airport at around 3:30 in the afternoon. It took us around an hour and a half to settle at Tung Chung Crescent. Afterwards, Jian and his brothers took me out to the nearby streets, and in exchange I bought the kids their Chocolate Cream Frappuccino. We watched the sunset by the bay, and arrived back in their flat just before nightfall.

27 July 2011: Captain America

Jian and I took his brothers (and ourselves) out yesterday to have a quick snack after lunch and watch Captain America. THE MOVIE WAS JUST DAMN AWESOME, and to those who haven`t watched it yet, wait for the after-credits! After the film, we hung out at Fully Booked so Lance and Patrick wouldn`t get bored while we were waiting to be picked up.

I haven`t gotten around wearing much make-up since our summer trip to Boracay. It has given me a much lighter and cleaner feeling, really, but whenever I see myself looking like this in photos, I can`t help but cringe ~~just a little bit~~. It was too early in the day to overload my skin with products though (We watched the 12:10 p.m. screening.), so maybe that`s what finally convinced me to skip the maquillage.