I miss the Philippines already! Seriously though. Where else can I get a bottle of Coke for 8 pesos (keep in mind: $1 equals 43/42 pesos) oh and the best part is all I had to do was cross the street and get it from a neighbor’s sari-sari store. Not to mention, all the fresh mango shakes that were a common sight on most menus I saw in the country.

I actually really enjoyed Makati— I wish I spent more time there. I love cities and for some reason I related to that place the most. We stayed in a hotel right infront of Greenbelt (aka Topshop and other stores). It was nice! Also a nice change because I’ve been staying at my grandma’s in the middle of nowhere (really interesting though, your neighbors are this close — sometimes you can hear their conversations, haha).

I visited Tagaytay and I thought it was beautiful. It is beautiful. My photos won’t show how lovely it is there… you just have to go. We went to this creepy abandoned mansion on the highest point of the city (I guess, it was super foggy there that I couldn’t see anything). We ate bulalo and deep fried spinach. Oh so good.

I’m in love with mais con hielo (filipino traditional drink of shaved iced with sweet corn), Marks & Spencer’s Teacakes (which I discovered on my trip to England— we don’t have M&S in America), and my grandfather’s camera. I never got the chance to meet him so I like to hear as much as I can about him (finding his camera was awesome, taking photos seem to be a thing we had in common).

Besides the camera, I found family treasures like my grandma’s dress that I wanted to alter for myself (but I left it there and didn’t want to take it), a vintage Dior clutch from my mother, and this red dress I wore for my 1st birthday (in perfect condition.. meaning my child will one day wear it).

During the trip I had the best New Years Eve I’ve had in 13 years. It’s because I spent it with my family.

A quiet life in the country. That’s how I would describe my trip this December while I caught up with relatives I hadn’t seen in a decade. I stayed at my grandmother’s house in the country… it was a lifestyle totally different from what I am used to here in California. My days sort of went like this: woke up really early (around 6-7ish), ate breakfast (fresh pandesal with spread from the corner store), read a few pages of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, took a shower, and went to the city (to go shopping, visit other relatives, or run errands). There were some days I didn’t go anywhere too far, I just stayed at my grandma’s or a few streets down at another relative’s house. Sometimes I would go cross the street and get Coca-Cola (they give it to you in either a bottle that you can return or a plastic bag specifically for this purpose with a straw). I tagged along with my mom to go to the bayan (basically the town’s marketplace/center) and we would get there by tricycle (25 pesos per ride, I think that’s about 50 cents in America). People could get anything there… my family went there everyday to get fresh produce from the vendors, basically ingredients for that day’s lunch, merienda, and dinner. That town had basically just one road. Go straight and it will lead you to another town.. and so on.

Here are photos of the little things about my trip: first, flying over the beautiful Magadan, Russia, the marketplace, random parts of my grandmother’s house, stray cats, and religious figures I saw around one of my relatives 100+ year old home. I’m sharing photos of my family preparing food for Christmas, chatting, reminiscing, and looking at old photo albums…

ang saya talaga mag pasko at bagong taon doon sa Pinas kasi nandoon ang pamilya ko. yung isang umaga, pinicturan ko yung kapatid nang lola ko… gumagawa siya nang suman para sa pasko. hindi ako masyado nag tatype nang tagalog so kung hindi tama.. pacienca na.

Lola making suman for Christmas Day. I’m back home from the Philippines after a lovely 3 week vacation to see my family. I had an amazing time catching up with cousins and getting to know new, younger cousins. Let’s just say I miss them already. It was fantastic getting to spend Christmas and New Years with them again. I photographed my Lola Ita (my grandmother’s sister) making suman, a Filipino rice cake wrapped in banana leaves for Christmas day. She lives right next door to my grandmother (like, two steps away literally) and they go to each other’s houses randomly to chat. It’s very sweet. 

harrods tea&sweets, the tube, brighton pier, to-die-for marks&spencer tea cakes, olympic 2012 stadium, victoria&albert museum, delicious cassis&hibiscus from marks+spencer, green park

English breakfast tastes like darjeeling… I found more England photos I forgot I had! So here they are, last ones I promise. I miss Marks + Spencer terribly and I think Brighton is so pretty. I still have to buy that TeenVogue copy with Alexa Chung the day we spotted her at the pier doing the photoshoot. My one regret: not buying enough mango black tea from Harrods because it is delicious and extremely fragrant. 

I have finals week coming up next week and if I survive, I will be taking my camera for an adventure this December. That means a brand new photodiary series for all of you and it will have nothing to do with Paris, Scotland, or London. I’m excited, this time of my life will be extremely special to me.

À bientôt. Finally posting the last of my photos from my European adventure, but I’ll be back. I miss my time here every day. On to new adventures!

champs de mars, rue montorgueil, les puces treasures, crêpes, a bazaar, framboise eau de vie

One day, we’re gonna live in Paris, I’m promise. I’m on it. A few photos from Paris (I just realized I’m going a bit out of order here and I haven’t posted the rest of London, but I’m quite excited for these ones). My whole trip there felt like a total dream— way too much fun. I stayed in this cute little area on the 2e arr… So lively and lovely. I also checked out Les Puces (de Saint Ouen— supposedly the biggest flea market of the world). I really wanted to buy plenty of things from there to take home with me, but I obviously wasn’t able to. Lots of cool looking furniture and beautiful prints. Hmmm.. what else.. oh yes, I definitely snacked on a lot of Nutella crêpes. Cheap and delicious = total win.

central saint martin’s college of art + design, my friend getting a haircut on the side of the road, pina coladas, delicious chinese food, vintage shoes that will never fit me, a guy in Brick Lane selling feathers, London Evening Standard

Brick Lane, baby. Part one of photos from London… I definitely enjoyed some Indian food over at Brick Lane. De-li-cious. I really like that area. Like usual, I needed more time to explore. We stumbled upon some cool vintage markets and tried on some hats. Random, but now I wish I had gotten it. One thing I hate about London though: the gloomy weather. How can Londoners do it? I needed some Cali sunshine.

elephant house, afternoon tea at Willow Tea Rooms, fake windows, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, more more more coffee, Dynamic Earth, a friend’s cracked iPhone, L.S. Lowry, chicken burger at Holyrood 9a, a taste of Haggis, a tour of the Glasgow School of Art, more of Edinburgh + Glasgow, and lastly postcard writing while taking the rail to London

My Scotland Adventures. I have a list of countries I want to go to and I honestly didn’t expect myself to end up here… GLAD I DID THOUGH. For the most part, I don’t care where I go. It’s a pretty good feeling to adventure it up and experience other people’s cultures, you know what I mean?

ENGLAND PHOTODIARY. Honestly, where do I even begin?

I took a summer abroad program through my university to study design (mainly exhibition + a bit of graphics). We stayed in York but traveled to different parts of England for the first two weeks. The last two weeks were spent in Scotland and London, then I spent my 5th week in Paris for fun (but I’ll post photos of that later!). During our two week stay in Yorkshire, we went to Liverpool, Manchester, Whitby, Bradford, and Wakefield. We spent a majority of our class time in different types museums and narrative environments, so I definitely got to see a lot of art & design.

I love the fact that you can just take the rail through out England and end up in a different city (or country). Some people & I went to Manchester to celebrate a birthday and then went to Liverpool the next day. I actually liked Liverpool and had delicious fish + chips at the Pump House by the water. I enjoyed the little coastal town of Whitby as well— it was very cute. Besides consuming fish & chips, we had loads of sandwiches and coffee because we were always on the go. I definitely enjoyed our sit down meals and afternoon tea as well. Writing about this makes me hungry. I already miss M+S tea cakes and elderflower presse… Why don’t they have these things in America? I’m going to check out World Market to see if they have the presse, but I’m probably out of luck.

Paris, France. It’s only been a day since I left and I already miss this place. This summer has been so memorable. Studying abroad and visiting Paris was definitely a life changing experience.

Edinburgh, Scotland. So let me take a break from posting about England… It’s beautiful here! I can’t wait to do mass photo posts of my trip, but that won’t be happening until I go back home in August. Today we went to the National Museum of Scotland where a curator and someone from a design firm talked to us. I’m soooo tired, but tomorrow we’re going to Glasgow!

York, England. One of the owls outside Topshop & Marks and Spencer.