Staycation in Little Italy .

September 29, 2021

Little Italy sounds lovely, right? :) I’ve passed this neighbourhood so many times, but never had a chance to stop and explore what’s around. Yesterday was the day we did it :) My expectations? Good coffee, delicious pastry and an oven pizza. We’ve found it all ;) Even some old corner restaurant with local Italians sitting by the wall and all facing tv. Looked like a stage scene for a movie!

Eight blocks full of discoveries. Lots of thrift stores to go into, some were a bit too tiny to walk in with a stroller so we kept on moving. Pastry by the windows looking so good! Mm~~

Few Japanese restaurants and in one of them you could leave your own chopsticks for next time you will be visiting ;) Pretty neat! I would come back for sure, plus I love the idea of minimizing a waste. Re-use re-use!!

Wind was lifting yellow leaves up to the sky and dancing.

Clouds were jealous and turned dark grey.

Meanwhile Mykolas found his first pizza! Best thin crust pizza!!!!

Finally - last stop to summarize a visit to Little Italy. A drink at the bar with daddy :)

Malibu Pier and dogs .

April 28, 2019

After our WPPI conference we end up in California dog sitting again :) You’ve seen these dogs before and I absolutely love them. I guess a huge part of me is happy to see their different characters and how well they get along!

Our traditional stop in Korea town for some soup ;}

Ahh, motorcycles in California is a must! It is so much more enjoyable (and faster to commute) to ride around. We rented one and end up going to Malibu Pier and Mulholland Hwy. I honestly was shocked to see how green California is! I am not sure if these mountains stays green during summer but it felt like we are somewhere in South America. I wish we could have had more time to stop and explore trails. We passed this beautiful Malibu Hindu Temple and Mulholland Hwy is absolutely beautiful to ride! I kept asking Youn to stop so I could take some photos :)

When you live or vacation in such spot everything seems so easy and beautiful in life :)

I wanted to finish with this photo, not only because I love these dogs, but because we need to stop and enjoy our life. It’s easier when it’s sunny but little quiet moments while observing environment around me works the best for me :)

The most iconic Duli beach .

January 7, 2018

Before leaving to Philippines we had dreams about secluded beach, riding a bike on a beach, mangos for breakfast/lunch/dinner, surfing, massage during sunset. Believe it or not we found everything possible in Duli Beach Resort. We had the most magic time there. No lies! Where time stoped and seemed that we are there for forever. 2minutes felt like ten and one hour felt like it's been 5hours. Time lost it's regular fast life frame. We would have Wifi only in the morning and a reception was pretty weak so I stopped using it. We would have breakfast on a beach and I would watch local workers building a new bungalow or just waves going back and forth.

I will tell you what happens next -> you start talking with your neighbours. Ask about their trip, what they tried before, what are their plans later and you actually have a conversation without phone. You agree to meet after dinner to play card games. Everyone knows dinner is served after 7 pm and you just wait for your new friends to come. No rush, no text message.

I found it very funny because while being there I took so little photos I can't believe. It's raining like crazy now in Vancouver so it's really nice to remember these warm November days in Philippines :) Enjoy!

We took surfing lesson and I did so much better then in Tofino.

Isn't this amazing?? Guess who took a photo? ;}

Just a simple net to protect you from all the insects. We also had at least one geko in our bungalow who kept eating all bugs who made into our room by accident.

P.S. resort is owned by a couple from Netherlands and you can book your own bungalow via airBnB.

Bike ride to TAYTAY .

January 1, 2018

Find your own road and follow it. After spending two days and doing traditional touristic stuff we got tired and rented a dirt bike to travel around El Nido and to have our own unique experience. First day we rented a little bit too late and got to enjoy it only for couple hours and a very short sunset time. Next day was way much more fun!! A full day trip to Taytay :)

So here we are on a bike heading towards a small town in Palawan. The only thing I knew about it that there is an old Spanish fort and for a small fee you can visit it. We were lucky because it was a cloudy day so we didn't get sunburn. The road was going up and down, left and right, getting closer to the water or away into the forest. We got to enjoy every little bit of it. Passing little villages next to the road, seeing kids going back from school and waving to us with the biggest smiles ever!! No smartphones in their hands just silly talks while going down the road.

One turn and it changed our ride. I think it happened in the middle of our trip when we saw an accident. The car hit a girl. She was laying down on the road and I saw a blood around her head. We stopped and some other cars stopped. I think at that moment we both realized how useless we are, we don't know any emergency phones nothing. Local people started to come around and they call ambulance. I think we watched everything for about 10min and decided to leave. I still remember how shocked I was. There was no reception for our cell phone and hospital might be 50km away... who knows... That's where I felt a huge difference between Philippines and Canada or any other poor country. People are dying because they don't get help right away.

We continued our trip in silence for a while.

The fort itself is pretty small, but if you go up it's a very nice green garden with a secret abandoned chapel. There is also a very small museum room with some exhibition. Nice little stop overall :)

That kid was there when we got on the top of the fort, stayed there for the whole time looking down and even when we were walking back he was still there.

We stopped to eat lunch at a very small place next to a bus station. Drivers already were eating there and couldn't believe that two tourists stoped at the same place to eat the SAME food as they!! They kept turning around to see if we like it or not. It was really funny;D

Our goal after trip to Taytay was to stop at Las Cabanas beach and just enjoy sunset at this nice beach. It's pretty crowded with tourists and I personally liked Nacpan beach more but we had a really nice sunset that evening :)

My dinner and delicious drink after all day was a perfect combo to finish a day :)