Bicol Pride

I grew up in a small town of Donsol in Sorsogon. It is located in the South of Luzon where you can find one of the best kept secrets in the Philippines, the gentle giants called BUTANDING or whale shark. It is one of the big five marine animals that everyone wants to see. They usually starts to show up from November to June.

We have to ride a boat from the town in order to reach our place so when my husband visited my family for the first time, he was very fortunate to saw one of them. He was so amazed how big and beautiful they are. I can still remember when local people used to catch them. But now they are being regulated by the local government for eco-tourism. Lots of tourist go there during summer just to see the eye catching creature.

This is the view where i lived..

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Another pride of Bicol is the Mayon Volcano which is known as the perfect cone volcano. It is located in the Province of Albay. Although it is dangerous when it's erupting, it is very beautiful! It look like this when she's mad! Half atop of this Mayon volcano is a tourist destination called Mayon Resthouse where you can see the pathways of the lava and magma.

source: http://www.frontierscuba.com/cf/c-whalesharks2.html

Believe IT or Not

Do you believe in the saying, "Dogs are man's best friend"? I do believe so! Back in the Philippines, we have a dog named BUDIK, he is 35 years old now (in dog's age equivalent). He was only a puppy when my father passed away. It's weird, but true, on my father's wake, Budik wasn't feeling very good, he looked so ill. He did not want to eat, no matter what we gave him, he did not even want to move. We thought for sure that he was going to die. A friend of the family told us that he is grieving too with our loss. She said for us to tie a piece of black cloth around his neck . We love Budik so dearly and we didn't want to lose him so we took her advice. To our amazement, it really did work. As soon as we did it, he slowly got up and went to his bowl with food and started eating. Isn't it weird that a dog can feel the pain of losing someone? I think he really did grieve for my father. He and my father we're so close before. They used to play and swim in the ocean.

Budik is very sweet ( as you can see in the picture). He always wants to sit in the middle of everybody especially when we are taking pictures. What I missed about him the most is his sweetness and playfulness. And when he sleeps, his four legs are all up in the air. I find it very funny and adorable. Have you seen any dog who sleep like him? Every time I see a dog, Budik always come to my mind and I miss him a lot. Whenever I talk to my mother on the phone, I always ask about him.

The picture below shows how he sleep. I find it very funny!

When John and I left my Mother's place, Budik swam and followed our boat as far as he could. It was as if he knew we were leaving for a very long time. It made me very sad. Do you have a special pet too? Can you share a story with us?