Googly Travels: La Union & Malaysia

Recently, people have been asking, “Do you guys travel a lot?” I usually reply with “No, not really.” I think we just got lucky with the Big Blog X and the Globe x NBA Trip to New York.

Then, I just realized the week before Holy Week, we had to tour some relatives in Baguio and then approaching the holiday, we were back in Baguio for another round. Yesterday, I was in La Union (more photos in a bit) and this weekend, I’ll be in Malaysiaaaa! I mean, this is a far cry from the girl three years ago whose longest “journey” was from the sofa to the bathroom–just a few meters away–thanks to an injury.

So, this weekend, I’ll be representing the local group of children’s book Illustrators, Ilustrador ng Kabataan (INK) and will be traveling with our National Book Development Board (NBDB) representatives at the Malaysian book fair Kuala Lumpur Trade and Copyright Centre 2015 (KLTCC).

This will be a three-day event from April 19-22 and it will be held at the Seri Pacific Hotel, PWTC Kuala Lumpur. Participants will be publishers, authors, licensors, investors and illustrators / content creators from ASEAN countries as well as China, India, Korea and Japan.

You will find me at the National Book Development Board (NDBB) / Ilustrador ng Kabataan Booth (INK). Because I’m guilty of buying children’s books for its illustrations, I’m really excited! Also, I would love love love to meet some Malaysian Googly readers especially those who have been with us since our Tumblr days!

I really hope you could drop by and say hi. If you can’t find me just comment on my Instagram, Tweet me or e-mail me via (ponggo[at]googlygooeys[dot]com). And yes, since you’re not used to seeing mahhh face here on the blog, this is how I look like just in case. Hahaha.

And oh, suggestions on where to eat, what to eat, where I can buy art supplies, nearby bookstores and cafe’s will be highly appreciated. ❤ The first time I was in KL, it was for blogging and the second time, it’s for illustration.  How exciting!  For more info about the event, visit KLTCC.com.

I must confess I don’t usually drive during roadtrips. Ponggo won’t let me even if I use the highway almost every single day. He comes up with excuses such as fuel economy and how dizzy he gets when I drive. Hehehe. The last time I did this, Mansy & I drove to Casa San Miguel & Pinto Museum.

For the last couple of days though, Mansy of Hey Kessy, Abbey and I finally went to La Union. We were planning to go a month earlier but our schedules just didn’t match. The eve before the roadrip, I was chatting with Abbey & we found out that we were still up because we were both finishing some work. We agreed not to work while we were in La Union. *Yeah right!*

So, we arrived at the Flotsam & Jetsam Artist Beach Hostel. It was all our second time but during our first respective trips, we were with a different group of people.

Big waves in 5…4…3…2…1…1/2! That girl in white is so oblivious about the things coming her way, no?

It’s just funny that during our first day, after a quick nap and some work, we spent the afternoon taking photos of each other by the beach. We didn’t really realize how dangerous the waves were except that we knew it wasn’t suited for swimming. *Woops!*

I wore this dress during our second day in honor of Mansy’s Papercut works. Lol.

Here’s Flotjet’s reception area which will definitely make you love everything about the Philippines: the sun, the sand, the wind & the laid-back vibe. Well, we’re self-confessed non-fans of swimming but we all love being away from the city where it’s quiet and where your soundtrack and backdrop are pretty much the crashing waves against the shore.

Morning Light: Our bodies woke us up early the next day and we spent the morning waiting for Abbey to recover from jetlag. Mansy would always be found reading & sharing wisdom from her Steve Jobs book while I had a date with my laptop over breakfast & lunch…and the dinner before that. *Forgive me.* I think I need to learn the art of living just like Mansy. I think I have this existential disease where I always need to fill my schedule–I complain when I have too much on my plate. Then, I get uneasy when there’s too little. *Yikes!*

Here’s proof of how windy it was! We didn’t mind though–it balanced out the summer heat!

So this little boy was playing in this wooden tub. That night, his family decided to sleep at a tent in Flotsam just because the weather was really nice. We were all talking about how awesome his childhood actually is–getting to spend it very near the beach and all. Someday, he should be able to realize how cool his parents are! Now, it really tempts me to uproot myself from Metro Manila or spend the time alternately in the city and in a calmer area.

Yup, that’s Mansy & this pretty much reflects the general mood of our conversations.  It was shifting from pensive: sharing of innermost thoughts, dreams, long-term plans, realizations about life to just plain silly and funny with endless laughs and selfies!!

I must confess I’m always stuck with my DSLR and I didn’t know how much fun it is to just be carefree and with the iPhone!  *I know, the last sentence sounds so odd.*

So, Abbey was doing her lettering thing shortly before we all decided to hit the beach again (i.e. beach photo op).  This generation is crazy obsessed with top views and flat lay-outs, daylight & weathered wood (myself included). Hence, I’m sharing with you some behind-the-scenes photos:

This is everyone’s photos from iPhone and it makes me laugh as to how candid everything is. It would be funnier if you would check out Abbey’s & Mansy’s Instagram & blogs for the final results. Haha.

From the Top Left: with Mansy’s tiny mountains, first lay-out attempt for a top view photo of Abbey’s workspace, teasing Abbey with her selfie / Snapchat sessions, standing on a stump just because it looks like a good wooden surface, aligning with Mansy as to how much of my skirt should be seen (LOL) and taking a photo of our coffee below:

I like this photo because we all didn’t know that everyone had little samples of our artworks in our bags & pockets: lettering for Abbey, anything colorful for me and papercut for Mansy. Our jobs are quite similar but our crafts are still somewhat different. I think it’s good that we compliment each other that way–we agreed that it was like some Venn Diagram. Haha.  I also think this pretty much represents our palette: Mansy’s photos are always white, Abbey’s are desaturated and mine’s just has some color abuse going on. 🙂

Lol at my mega-generic pose! *Spot the stiff neck & shoulders.* While this is how Mansy does it: *Awwyeah!*

I will easily miss our cute double deck beds which easily reminds me sleepovers with my cousins. This is the door leading to our room and I just had a moment with it admiring its texture while everyone was asleep.  I swear, I could have gone texture hunting and I would now have a huge database of legit weathered wood. Shucks, I should do that next time!

So we finally went home and stopped at El Union to grabe some coffee before we tackle the hundreds of kilometers ahead of us (and oh, bug murder / bug splatter on the windshield too)!

You know how I love posting photos of scenes instead of people but I don’t think I will be able to capture the spirit of this trip without posting a sneak peek at all our phone photos: from battling the crazy wind by the beach to poised ones. This was taken with Mansy’s phone. Yup, we were having a bubble bath alright? Nahhh…. :) This was before our awesome dinner of Barlic Pizza & cranberry juice! *Yeah!* We pretty much stayed up all night talking and threshing out things.

And oh, on the way home, we also stopped for this huge row of bougainvillea. As in, I had to make a U-turn because we all went, “Oh my gosh!?!?! Did you see that?!?!” We all swooned!

Thank you Abbey for the art direction.  Hahahaha. May I hire you in my future personal shoots? Lol.

We all headed home feeling like we should have stayed in La Union for a week instead of 2 days!  Well, ’til the next roadtrip girls!

XOXO,

Tipsy ❤

P.S. The next workshop will be on May 9! 🙂 So sorry about the typo but it has already been corrected.  You may sign up for the workshop at the end of this post.

Related Travel Posts:
Philippines
Casa San Miguel
Pinto Museum
Baguio Weekend
Ilocos Roadtrip

Italy
Colorful Houses in Burano
Clumsy Girl in Venice
Postcards from the Tuscan Region
10 Things to Do in Florence
Our Lucky Day in Rome

Iceland
Blue Lagoon & Glacier Walk
10 Reasons to Visit Iceland

New York
New York Days 1 & 2
NBA All-start Weekend

Other Related Posts:
Make Things Happen
Studio Tour: Abbey Sy
Katipunan Art Festival in Photos