Nicquee's Nook

  • Home
  • About
  • Free Printables
  • Cook with Me
  • Contact
  • Disclosure Policy

Exploring the rest of Bolinao, Pangasinan

As mentioned in my previous post, we decided to eat at the town proper on our second day. It was a very hot day and we thought it would be hard for us to look for a place to eat. No, they didn’t have fast foods there so we settled with canteens. We ate at Adora’s Restaurant. Their meals are ok in terms of price and serving. What I loved most about this place is their halo-halo. It’s full of different ingredients topped with dirty ice cream! Ohhhh, I want Adora’s halo-halo now! If only they can ship it here in Manila. Hahaha! Too bad though I don’t have a picture of it. But I can guarantee you, it’s the best I’ve tasted so far. Dinaig ang Chowking or even Digman’s! Di ko pa kasi na try ang Razon’s eh

After our lunch, we went to a water refilling station to but some purified water. This is where Ayex had her first close encounter with a cow.


The cow is eating the leaves of the Malunggay tree. When Ayex saw that it was able to reach a higher branch and successfully detach it from the tree, Ayex shouted and giggled at the same time. Mommy naputol nia yung puno tapos kinain niya! She narrated to us what happened as if we didn’t see it ourselves.

After the water refilling station, we went to our first destination – the Enchanted cave.


In this trip, there’s no such thing as an elderly with arthritis or a pregnant woman. Everyone’s game. In the picture are my in-laws going down the cave. The stairs were steep, narrow and wet that is why the guide kept on telling us to be very very careful.

The view inside is amazing. As soon as I saw the water, I wanted to take a dip already. Of course I did not. I had to wait for hubby’s go signal.


Yes, I think we are an adventurous family. If I’m not pregnant, I would have tried traversing the water from one side of the cave to another just like hubby. I actually envy him but I can’t take the risk. Hahaha!

My Tito who have visited the Bolinao before and also stayed at Puerto del Sol said that there are plenty of caves in the area. However, since our time is very limited (since we started late in the afternoon), we didn’t check the other caves anymore. Other caves you may want to check for yourself are Cindy’s cave, Wonderful cave, and Tara cave and falls.

After Enchanted cave, we went straight ahead until we saw Cape Bolinao, the second tallest lighthouse in the Philippines. Since we already saw Cape Bojeador, the tallest lighthouse in the Philippines, last year when we spent the Holy Week in Ilocos, we didn’t bother going down the car anymore except for SIL to take the picture below.


I don’t know how it looks inside but judging from the outside, I think this is more well maintained than cape Bojeador.

The sunset is nearing and we haven’t seen the Patar White Beach. We drove again and when we reached the beach, we thought we’re in the wrong place so we drove again. We kept on asking locals for directions but they kept on giving us different answers. Finally, we got two similar responses. The beach we reached earlier is indeed the Patar White Beach. For me, it was not as beautiful as the beach in Puerto del Sol. It’s water is also very clear and deeper and the sand is very fine but not white contrary to its name. We thought of taking a short dip but Ayex refused because she saw seaweeds near the shore and they were plenty.

What we did instead is wait for the sunset for some sunset shots. Iba talaga ang nagagawa ng magandang camera.


After taking some pictures, we decided to head back to Puerto del Sol as it is already late. We had dinner then some more swimming before we called it a night.

Our second day in Pangasinan was indeed tiring but full of adventures we’ll probably experience just once in a life time. Unless of course people we know will invite us to see the place again for free. Hahaha! Seriously speaking though, having spent my childhood vacations in Pangasinan in my younger years, I never thought that that province has so much beauty that is yet to be discovered.

Read more…

1 Comment Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: Ayex, family matters, hubby + me, vacation, weekends

The uber delayed teambuilding post

Late last year, there was again another organizational change in the company where I work for. However, this time, the impact to our team was quite big. Admittedly, when we were first informed about it, I felt bad. I was agitated for a lot of reasons. Ok, that’s another story.

So to cut the long story short, our team was “merged” with another team from another department. We now all report to 1 big boss. So to foster camaraderie and for everyone to get to know each other, we arranged an overnight teambuilding event at Eagle Point Resort in Batangas.

Too bad we missed Shindie this time. Last teambuilding, it was Sel. When will we be complete?

I can say that the money we paid for this event was all worth it. Every resort personnel greets us when they see us. They are very attentive to our needs. The serving and the taste of the food is way better than in Antulang. The amenities are also great! My whole experience in the resort was very enjoyable and memorable.

If there was something that I didn’t like in this event, it would be the travel. The traffic was so heavy (maybe because it’s almost Christmas time – but duh!).

I’d also like to acknowledge in this post the staff and crews of Chowking Startoll branch. As usual, I had bottles of expressed milk with me on our way back to Manila. Since the traffic was so heavy, I had to put them in ice to keep them cold until I reach home. To my dismay, the Petron treats (Startoll branch) does not sell cube ice and instead, the crew told to me ask Chowking staff if they could give me some! What duh! Fortunately, the staffs and crews of Chowking gave me a half bag full of ice cubes – for FREE! Many thanks to them, my bottles of breastmilk reached our fridge safely.

Till next outing/teambuilding!

Leave a Comment Filed Under: mom's corner, Travel Tagged With: office happenings

Before Summer Officially Ends

Finally, our team had our first ever summer outing together last May 27-29. As far as I remember, the last team activity that we held out of town was back in 2004. Connie was still here then.

Our team outing was in Antulang, Dumaguete. All of us joined except Sel, who went to Palawan for their honeymoon.

I’m so lazy to describe the whole place so I’ll try my best to comment on the things which we failed to capture with our cameras. 😉

  1. Their food is so-so. The most that I enjoyed was their breakfast meals.
  2. Their service is overly slow! When we realized this, we learned our lesson. What we did was, if we’re having dinner at 7pm, we go the restaurant and order at 6pm then we leave and wander around. So when we get back, we’re sure that our food was ready.
  3. They scrimped us on ice. During one of our dinners, we told the waiter to just leave us a bucket of ice so that we don’t have to call them anymore. His reply was something like “Pwede po pero kelangan po kayo magdagdag ng 20 pesos per bucket”. Our reaction was “What?!”.

So much for that. Here are the pictures instead.


This is my first time to ride an airplane. Woot woot!!! Thanks for capturing this. 🙂


Jeng, Shindz and me. I’m trying to get the feel of it.


Hello from Dumaguete airport!


We were supposed to be picked up by a coaster but it left early. We thought that the driver wasn’t informed properly so we had to wait and take pictures! Hahaha!


When we arrived in Antulang, we were greeted with a “lace”. What’s with the cooler? It contains my breast pump. I will be expressing my milk while I am away from Ayex and bring it home.

We had brunch in their restaurant because we arrived at 11AM. After that, we were supposed to settle to our rooms but the only room that was ready was our Boss’ room.


This is our Boss’ room. Sooooo fit for him!

We had a three-hour long meeting, which we tried to enjoy despite the heat and the call of the pool.


Finally, we were able to settle to our own room after the exhausting meeting! Our room wasn’t big but that’s OK. I was joined by Shindz and Therese.


We went sightseeing after we fixed our things in our room and dressed up for some swimming!


Their beach is not very nice but I’d say, their infinity pool is really great!


The next day, we rode a yacht to APO Island for more swimming and snorkeling! First yacht ride and snorkeling. That island is divine!!! Its marine life is awesome and a true feast for the eyes! There was a school of huge fishes swimming around me and for a while, I thought they will bite me! I super duper enjoyed my first snorkeling adventure.


We had a day tour of the city before we went back to Manila on our third day. Of course we went to the pasalubong shops too! We brought home Dumaguete’s famous silvanas.

Leave a Comment Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: Ayex, first times, office happenings

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2


Hi there! I'm Nicquee and this is my little space in this world wide web. I'm a mom of two and is happily married. I started this blog as literally my online journal where I dump my emotions. Over the years, I realized that there is more to write about. Feel free to browse through and I hope you find a thing or two that is relatable to you. If that happens, give me a shout-out!

Stay Connected

Get Updates Via Email

Recent Posts

  • Barique: A Premium Filipino Lambanog from Quezon Province
  • PEPA CELEBRATES 75 YEARS OF DEVELOPING FILIPINO TEXTBOOKS
  • Gimme Five for a Greener Philippines! Taiwan Excellence PH Releases Eco-friendly FuBear Merch Made of Philippine Water Hyacinths
  • Montesa Aesthetic Center Celebrates 25 Years of Timeless Beauty and Transformative Care
  • Rex Education Honored with Two Major Wins at the 47th CMMA Awards
  • Rex Education Unveils New Book Titles, Organizes Fun Games and Activities at Philippine Book Festival 2025
  • A Guide To Leveling Up This 2025 By Giving In To Good Temptations
  • The Sweetest Fandom Party Just Unwrapped Itself: Oreo Ice Cream Fans Gather for Iconic Party
  • The Healthy Living Trend: Setting the Record Straight About the Juicing vs. Blending
  • Puerto Princesa: Cruising to be a Top MICE Enclave

Categories

Archives

Copyright © 2026 · Design goodness from Squeesome!