Night shoot in Joshua Tree .

February 25, 2018

Finally I reached an epic day on our LA trip :)

Riding a convertible on a sunny day in California sounds like a dream or more like a scene from a movie. Thanks to MLK long weekend car rent agency ran out of 'normal' cars so they offered this mustang for super cheap :) But before we left I played with Boise and Morris.

In past few months I had a chance to meet Youn's friends who own at least two dogs and I never in my life realized how awesome it is! I always had at least one dog while growing up, but two dogs!! They get a long very well and it's so interesting to see how they play together :) Had lots of fun before we left for our trip to a desert.

Have you ever played a playlist on Spotify called - Songs to sing in a car?? YESYESYESSSS!!! We did and sang out loud :) The craziest part being in convertible if you turn around you can see back and you can take lots of pictures with nothing in a frame.

This is how winter looks in a desert. Pretty cool, uh? :) Warm but the moment sun was down you could feel how the cold is taking over and you start to shake. Knowing that you are in a desert doesn't help.

People we met were busy with lots of different activities. Starting just with camping, hiking or rock climbing and later in the night we saw people like us taking night photos :)

I want to finish this post with photos we took together. The night shoot is for people who had lots of patience. To test, to fail and everything is for that one magic shot. Sacrifices made pays you back :)

Salty evenings ☼

February 5, 2018

Uh, ah,mmm~~ Sunsets in a beach are always the best!!

Our second day in L.A. we started by visiting Lituanica shop with Kara and Erin. They were interested to see what they can try out. The funniest thing was when they bought "Vytautas" mineral water and tried it ;D I couldn't stop laughing :) I explained that this is natural water with no added salt and people use it for hangover.

There was an aquarium shop next to this Lithuanian shop. We all went inside to see little fishes :) My favourite so far was Domino fish. It's all black and has white dots. Looks really cool and I don't know why but I didn't even consider to take a photo of it:/

After that our friends left to airport and we took motorcycle and went to Mulholland Hwy, Malibu. Appearently there are couple Mulholland Hwy in L.A. but we took the one close to Malibu Springs. It was a beautiful road, pretty empty, going in between mountains. We took Mulholland Hwy and then went all the way up to Little Sycamore Canyon Rd. Which is full of hiking trails and then ended up at Yerda Buena Rd. This road connects back to Hwy 1 and next to it there is Neptune's Net Food. It's a very popular spot for bikers and it is also famous because 'Fast and Furious' used this spot for their episode :) I have to say that the end of this road was somehow similar to European Alp roads. With very narrow passes and rocks on the road.

Our final destination was Point Dume cliffs next to Zula beach. I had no idea that this spot is pretty popular for film makers. When we arrived there was a whole film crew filming. Luckily they did this further from cliffs so we were able to get close to it. Interesting fact - this cliff was used in 'Planet of the Apes' movie.

People were climbing up and down this cliff and at least 5 drones were flying around!! Including Youn's too;) Another perfect day and a nice ride back home where dogs were waiting for us :)

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 :)