Our Ray of Sunshine

Sage, short for Solana Alvarez Genabe, celebrates her first month today. Since her birth, I have taken about 500 million photos of her. But since I cannot share all here, I have selected 15 of my favorites.

with her abuela: my mom

with her dad: Drach

with her mom: Maite

Paris, 2011

As I prepare for another trip, I cannot help but reminisce on the last major trip I took in 2011. Since I did not have an active blog then (so publishing photos was limited to my Facebook account) please indulge me as I (re)share the experience with you, my dear readers.

As my love for photography is rooted in portraiture, let me start by sharing photos of the friends I was with. To this day, we still call ourselves Team Europe, and each one of us, a Euro-chum. The team is made up of my sister Maite, her then boyfriend, now husband Drach, Dsj (pronounced dish), Gigi and yours truly.

Left to right: Dsj, Maite, Gigi and Drach, Jardin du Luxembourg

Drach, outside Père Lachaise Cemetery

Dsj, Paris Subway

Maite having her first cafe near our home

Gigi, Sacré-Cœur Basilica

Drach and Maite, Musée du Louvre

Dsj and Gigi, Outside Quick - Paris' Jollibee

A Walk In The Clouds

Here are more photos of Tagaytay. My 3 day stay was quite the experience as I've never seen it so wrapped up in fog. Til then, I thought the "Tagaytay weather" was a myth (Lol). Although we were pinned down to our hotel almost the whole time, the weather was kind enough to let us have a safe journey home, which included a quick stop at Bag of Beans (with photos) & Rowena's (no photos).

Big Yellow Cleaning Hood

During my stay at the Tagaytay Vista Hotel this week (I was there for work), I managed to take nice photos before, after & in between our quite hectic planning schedule. Here are a few with my muse, the hotel's cleaning guy sweeping away the fog. Brrr.

Versions of the Philippines

Traveling is and will always be a great passion of mine. I consider myself lucky to have travelled to different parts world others only dream of. These places vary in beauty, and are very different from what I am used to. This year, I have gone to two cities one may describe as a slight variation of the Philippines.

The city landscape of Kota Kinabalu reminded me of our provinces - provinces only 30 minutes away from the metro - with taxi drivers as inflexible as those in Manila.  But do not let this discourage you. KK has so much more to offer, if you know where to go. With its lush greens, magnificent mountain ranges, beautiful beaches and breathtaking sunsets, it is a nice place to visit, but even a better one to explore.

This is my first trip to Bangkok, and unfortunately, it was very much like my first trip to Singapore years ago. Although I was warned, I wasn't prepared for the heat. For those who had the pleasure of listening to my first SG trip story, you know my perils. Ouch. Anyway, stepping out of BKK's airport, I find myself thinking 'Skyway' 'Broadway Centrum' 'Escolta'. Although this is my initial impression, I find it to be a very nice mix of Manila, Hongkong and Singapore. With a hectic schedule of trips to the malls & constantly stuffing ourselves with great food, we still managed to visit Bangkok's Grand Palace, where I finally had a reason to stop eating & start taking photos.