We went to Pangasinan, right? The trip was quicker than I anticipated. Instead of 5 hours, we made it just a little bit over 4. The scenery during the trip was beautiful and, in hindsight, I should have took pictures of the wonderful trees, plains, fields and mountains. The afternoon sun really helped to show the charm of the places we passed by. If ever I am on a road trip with friends I would ask to stop by at certain places and then we'd just take photos and run around like idiots. Anyway, we arrived in the house lent to us by my mother's business acquaintance(she's a teacher, go figure.). We ate, I slept, they(the other teachers; it was a company vacation and I just tagged along) sang really loud and horrible versions of songs you don't want to hear when you are tired. So much for a good night's sleep.

The next day we went to the Hundred Islands. We arrived at the port at around 8 and left it at around 930. Why? Because the freaking boat wouldn't start. The waiting time was spent reading Uncle Tom's Cabin and taking photographs of the water.

Once the boat started, I took some more pictures but they were crappy so I won't post it. Anyway, it the islands(pictures later) were really fascinating. I wonder how they ended up like that. After a short ride, we finally glimpsed the islands. Many visitors say that from afar the HI look like a huge mass of land and as you go nearer you start to see how wrong you were. I agree.

We went to Quezon Island first. The most "developed" of the islands. There were many people but it wasn't really crowded. Unfortunately, the sun was starting to gain momentum and the rays really hurt. It was a good thing I had my cap with me.

My parents wanted to "explore" the island before plunging into the ocean and I was dragged along. There were two "tourist spots" in the island, Quezon's statue

and the Mermaid figures. The mermaids look so sad.

After the exploration, I was pretty much left on my own. I took the camera with me in case I see some really interesting things. I also had a pretty full bladder so I went to the CR. The path was a really nice spot for picture taking, unfortunately, I don't have anyone with me who I'd be able to trick into doing the weird poses. This one is the path to the CR.

And along the way, you see these rest areas. Finding the area devoid of people, I took these...

They didn't come out as the way I would have really wanted. Compared to the vanity shots I did during our Bicol trip, the above pictures sucked.

The area where the CR was located was a good spot for shots of the surrounding islands.

They came out a bit too postcard but I still like them. Take that high megapixel cameras!

After running out of things to shoot, I went to the beach and swam. I surprised myself by doing a backstroke without sinking. I really find it weird how I learn in jumps and not in a straight path(saidin... saidar...). It is my first time in a beach and after getting tired of ingesting salt water, I went to the sandy area and played by myself. I wasn't able to make a sand castle. Boo hoo... I just took these instead(note: the two on the right side were taken in another island).

A little while later we had lunch. I think they cooked too much food because we had to bring home a good number of cooked fish. I do not like eating with my hands but they didn't bring any utensils, so much for that. The food was good though. I really liked how they cooked the squash. It wasn't mushy and perfect for eating without utensils. No pictures of those, dirty hands remember?

After lunch, I went for a walk and took some more pictures. The colored versions weren't really good so I made them black and white.

It was hot so I swam again. The sun was really strong and I eventually got sun burned in areas with no sufficient sun block. My mom bought sun tan lotion instead of just sun block so we all became dark(not tan) near the end of the day, which sucked.

A little while later we returned to our boat to go to other islands. As we approached our destination, our boat broke down. It was a good thing that the sea wasn't rough such that we weren't dragged to other places. Eventually, the boat men managed to fix the boat and we landed safely. Along the way I took more pictures.

After landing, we explored the island again. We climbed a hill and I forgot to take pictures of the view from the summit. We also went to a sad looking cave. It was not much of a cave really just a hole in the island's rocky wall. Then again, what do I know about caves? Except that they are just storage areas of fungal diseases.

We returned to the beach and they swam again. I was tired so I just sat and took more vanity pics. I unknowingly sat down near an ant's nest and got bitten. The bite came at a good time though because I managed to capture this weird shot of me.

To ease the itchiness, I soaked my feet in the sea water(not sure if it worked though, I still felt itchy afterwards). I was bored to I made this.

That pretty much sums up our Pangasinan trip. I'll end with this picture of a sculpture in the port area.