Probinsiyana goes to....

This blog has been planned out since 2006, when I first went to places in Manila besides UST. I remember asking my friend to take a picture of me in front of the Araneta Coliseum, because one day, I will have a collection of photos for an album that will be called, "Probinsiyana goes to...". Because my happiness is mababaw like that.

I'm a true-blue probinsiyana and I love being one. People usually expect Taracenos to be acquainted with Manila well, but I'm not. I'm from the southern end of Tarlac, and I don't have a lot of relatives in Manila. The only times I was there were when we were applying for passport and visa, and even then, we were always inside the car, and around Makati. I didn't know such places like Quiapo existed, so Manila has always been the place to visit.

My friends, although mocking a lot of times, has been very very nice about my probinsiyana attitude towards Manila and other non-tarlac places. From the start, they promised me that for the next days, I would be able to transform myself into a city girl. Since that sounded so cool. Hahaha.

I don't have that many photos in the moment, and there are places I went to that I wasn't able to document, but hey, 3 years later, and I'm finally making this blog. Life in the city has been very exciting, and I could definitely say that Probinsiyana went to __________ and loved it.



Probinsiyana rides an LRT, or was it an MRT?

This, after going to the Araneta Coliseum for the UAAP Season '69 finals game 1 between UST and Ateneo. I've always wanted to ride the Manila trains just like I see in Star Cinema chic flicks. I even wanted to get down the station where John Lloyd Cruz proposed to Bea Alonzo in one of their movies, whose title I dont remember anymore :))






Probinsiyana goes to Araneta Coliseum

I don't know where the proper photo is now, but all I have in my multiply is this: my picture with John Cena's walk of fame star by the lobby of the dome. I have one with Mark Caguioa's poster, but I looked like one big groupie there, me with my Ginebra Jersey and grinning like some possessed giddy 3rd grade who just had her photo taken with Marvin Agustin.



Probinsiyana goes to Tagaytay

When I was a kid, we would always take a trip to Cavite where my cousins live. And I would always hear my aunts talk about a joyride to Tagaytay, but the trip just wouldn't push through. They said Tagaytay was the Manila version of Baguio, just, more country-ish. Plus, sosyal Manila people roaming around the foggy streets seemed better than the overly crowded Session road. So I was glad even if this trip was delayed by 10 years, at least I got to go there, and I got to go there with people who will later be my best friends.




Probinsiyana goes to Mall of Asia
I was only able to go to Asia's biggest mall evuhhhhhh :p Dude, beat that =)) The only mall I know before was SM North because it was the first mall after NLEX. We would usually just hop to a victory liner, and get off there, just to get on another north bound buses after. So to be able to go to a real mall, not to mention, the biggest mall, with a skating rink on it, was cooooool with a capital C and multiple o's. :S







   Probinsiyana goes to Alabang
   ....and stayed in a freakin' definitely-more-than-one star hotel! The feeling of checking in to a humongous hotel lobby and being ushered to the escalator into a room with complimentary fruits and a window overlooking the city is like whoooaaaaaaaaah, city girl indeed. :)) This is my first time, and at the moment, only time to ever stay in a hotel. And I wasn't able to stay that long, overnight lang :D But thanks ciara super duper much for giving me my hotel moment, it was, ummmmmmmmmmmm, it made me feel sosyal :))





Probinsiyana goes to Enchanted Kingdom

I remember back in 2007, we were in a jeepney ride home from Laguna. I was seating in the driver's seat with AJ, whom I just met the day before. We were passing a road where EK's Ferris Wheel could be seen. I asked him, "saan yan?" and he just cracked out, like I just asked him who the President of the Philippines was. After much deliberation if I was serious or not, he answered "EK". And I had to explain to him after that I've never been to EK, or star city for that matter, in fact I haven't been to any amusement parks. He then delved in to a lot of EK stories and that made me ask my self, "what's with EK?" and I know I had to see for my self. And I got to do that on my 17th birthday! :)



Probinsiyana goes to Trinoma
and my first time to go to Red Box. Now going to Trinoma is like going to the bathroom, but as they say, nothing beats the first! The moment I got home, I was texting someone that I was just at Trinoma, the coolest mall ever! I just liked the whole architecture thingy, the rooftop, the verandas, I thought I've seen all in SM Baguio but Trinoma just beats all mall's socks! Even MoA, MoA is just so exhausting. :)) And RED BOOOOOX! It's heaven, period.



Probinsiyana goes to Mowelfund
and Cubao X. But I don't have a picture of me in Cubao X, but these were all on the same day. So it'll do. Imagine my joy when I was told that it's in the Mowelfund park of stars or park of fame whatever where they shoot the spiels for Wish Ko Lang. I don't know what I get from it, but It makes me strangely happy to see a place some celebrity has shot a program/movie in before. And as for Cubao X, the first time wasn't exactly jaw-dropping, but I think Cubao X is something that takes some getting used to. Or maybe that's just me :D





Probinsiyana goes to King's Cross Station
and I intentionally left the picture a little bigger than the others so that you would see that I was there right in front of PLATFORM 9 3/4! pushing the same baggage cart Harry Potter used for the movies! Is that kick-ass or what? =)) It's like me and Daniel Radcliffe held hands. And the british were so funny when I was taking the picture, apparently, they didn't notice it was there. Because of their daily routine to pass by the King's Cross station, they didn't bother paying attention to this brick (and in their defence, the area is a little too crowded for any rushing Londoner to stop and stare instead of just catch their trains), so when they saw my sister with a camera, they were all astonished to find out that they, too, are also in the famous platform, and they started taking out their cameras too :)


Probinsiyana goes to Notting Hill

again, the I've-been-to-where-celebrities-shot-their-movie moment. Remember in Notting Hill, when William took Anna to a family dinner? This was the house. Ummm okay well not the actual house, but this was the street the house was located. It was night time and I was too tired to actually walk the stretch of this alley to figure out where the house was, and I didn't have a vivid description of the house. So it was either these houses or the ones across. What I wanted to visit was the bench, but we were all too tired to even walk, so I settled for the house, it was the nearest from the station. :)





Probinsiyana goes to Intramuros

and touched the walls Leonard Wood touched! That, my friends, is the biggest moment next to when I can visit the NAPA vineyard in Parent Trap and the welcome sign in A walk to remember's youre-in-two-places-at-once scene. I developed a serious fondness for Leonard Wood during History and visiting Intramuros was made more memorable because of his relation to the place. Leonard Wood is looooooooooovvvvveeeeeeeeeee :x




Probinsiyana goes to Pampanga
okay, so this is not the first time I've been to Pampanga. But it has always been just SM Pampanga and I think that it doesn't actually count as suppose to going to Pampanga proper. And I'm standing at a spot Ed Panlilio once stood in. Great, right? I can post a photo of me in front of the Malacanang Palace, both in Manila and Baguio, but who would I connect the moment to? :))







Probinsiyana goes to GMA!
my dream company. I grew up watching GMA Documentaries and the thought of being in the same team that created the best documentaries ever done in the world (yeah huh, in the world talaga), is just, man, fulfilling. The day that photo was taken, I was on my way to DZMM to interview Susan Enriquez, the first big person I did a story on/with, and hopefully the first of many to come :)






Probinsiyana goes to Eastwood!
Loved it! I didn't know Eastwood looked like that. Hahahaha. I thought it was just some typical Makati street they named Eastwood for some reason. Super intimate nung place, no? And they had all the shops I would ever need, and the restaurants I would eat in everyday for the rest of my life, but it looked too expensive to actually consider living there. Pang Cubao apartments lang ako :)

Pero pang Moncada pa rin ako forever, I'm a true blue Probinsiyana and I love being oneeeeeeeeeeeeeee :) Moncada will always be the place to be, suck on that polluted Manila :D