Last Friday Night..

 Last Friday night (November 25, 2011) was one of the best night of my life. Maybe I can say that whenever I spend good times with my closest friends is always the best. I really love hanging out with them. I always look forward on attending class where we're classmates and our "unplanned" strolls in and out of the city. Last Friday night was not an exception. It was a planned trip for us to visit again the nearby municipality of Alabel for the Munato Festival and to watch and support the Pearl of Glan whom Rich had accompanied during the pre-pageant meetings. The trio of us (Mich, Rich and I) had rendezvous at KCC Mall. Ashamedly, I would admit that I was a bit late again (sigh). I was hoping to catch the sunset and took a photo of it in the capitol but during these year-ending months, days are much shorter than nights. It was already dark when we got to Alabel and to start the night, we visited Glan's cottage only to find out that they were serving foods (it's Jollibee) to some people whom I believe are from LGU-Glan. Mich and I were even surprised when they offered us the food even though we're not connected to them, we were just visitors and friends of Rich, who works for Glan Tourism. So as they say, never say no to any blessing (yeah, it's a blessing since we don't have to spend our money for dinner, hehe) that we accepted the foods offered.Our "first" dinner of the night was a burger and "over-flowing" fries with coke softdrinks from Jollibee. We were contented with it since it's free, hehe. 

 After eating our first dinner of the night, we walked to the nearby Main Provincial Building to retrieve some of Rich's belongings that she left the previous night we visited (and to somehow burn what we had just eaten) and we climb the stairs to the third floor.

Going to the main building

Still posing for pictures while climbing the stairs, unbelievable.

Guys, Do you have any idea what floor are we already??

 I was really relieved to find out that the elevator was unavailable that I was very glad to use the stairs (I might throw up what I had just eaten if I we used the elevator!!). When we ascended to the third floor, we quickly looked for Rich's cousin who by the way works on that office. We were surprised when her co-employee offered us dinner since it was his birthday and he treat all his officemates dinner and fortunately for us (and those girls and gays from Kiamba) that there were still food left and rice untouched. Again, we had no other option but to eat. I was already full (mind you, I only eat a small amount of food to be full) and I was exchanging weird glances with Rich and Mich cause they're fully aware that if I eat too much food, chances are I will have a stomachache again and that would be the last thing I want to happen for me that night. So what I did was to eat slowly and eat more the chicken and not the rice since rice will make my stomach more heavier while Rich and Mich were eating heartily (hehe). 

What was left of the fried chicken

The rice wrapped in banana leaves

The three "Asay" (Asay kaon, didto). The SECOND dinner of the night.

The two of you don't usually eat like that huh.. 

It's the Champ's Mineral Water (oh by the way, he's also Sarangani Province Congressman)

Eating in front of this office, hehe

Never mind the background, that's me inside the comfort room

How I wish I could eat all of this..

While eating, the group from Kiamba where so jolly that they even sing a happy birthday for the celebrant and we were also thankful to him for offering us dinner and for the warm welcome to us even though we're virtually strangers to him. As we finished eating, I noticed the view outside the windows and it was majestic (well, for me). They had a beautiful scenery of the night view of the bay and the nearby municipalities across the bay. I believe that place across the bay fronting Alabel was Calumpang or Bula in General Santos. I was simply amazed by the simple beauty of whatever my eyes laid on that night. I can also view from the window the backstage for the Pearl of Sarangani and the unassuming crowd that was already starting to gather. 

Lights beyond the bay

The backstage for the Pearl of Sarangani and the road leading to it..

Hello young boy! 

After finishing our second dinner, we thanked the birthday celebrant and we promised them that we'll be back next year, hehe (we will!!). We went down to the lobby and looked at the photo entries for the Munato Festival and I said to myself, maybe someday, I could display some of my photos in this lobby. Maybe someday, I could join that contest (aja!!). We then started to took some photos of ourselves in the capitol lobby. We want to grab that chance cause it was our first Munato Festival and we rarely set foot in Alabel since we live in Gensan and we don't have any business there except for that festival. Posing here, posing there, in front of the seal, infront of the capitol, we really acted like tourists, hehe.

As we exit the entrance of the capitol, I couldn't help but mesmerize to the beauty of Sarangani. I said to myself that someday, I will visit all the municipalities of Sarangani and appreciate its wonders. After checking if the pageant has started, we walked back to Glan's cottage and on the way, we (again!) stopped and checked out the beautifully lit Christmas lights wrapping the Neem trees and took some photos of us three. Mich is the very least person that ever touch the camera hence took photos herself so we agreed that it's time for her to practice a little bit of photography. We asked her to be the photographer for once and she merrily accepted it. However, since we didn't put a flash on the camera and instead we just used a higher ISO, she must took our photo with steady hands. Unfortunately, she had to work more on it since some of our photos she took were blurred and we didn't want to use flash cause it will ruin the drama (char!). It is much sensitive when using a higher ISO instead of flash. Nevertheless, we just took turns in taking some photos and we were glad most of it came very nicely. Here are some of it:

After taking more photos, we headed back to Glan's cottage. I decided to try the polvoron made from Glan so I bought one. They also displayed some of Glan's products and handicrafts like keychains. 

Glan's Cottage

Handicrafts from Glan

Glan Wafer

Polvoron

Coco Salvaro

Keychains and some handicraft stuffs 

Me, taking out some money to pay for the polvoron

We'll be back next year!

Thanks Ante, for welcoming us..

We'll visit again..

After leaving some of Rich's things in the cottage, we went on to visit the other cottages of the different municipalities. As what Rich had written on her facebook, it was like we did a province-wide tour of Sarangani by visiting their respective cottages which also boast some of their most prized products and the photos (and gear in the case of Maitum's cottage) of the different famous tourists spots in their locality. They also displayed all the things they take pride on.

Maasim's Cottage if I'm not mistaken..

Behind Mich and Rich is a native hand-woven machine..
(Am I right, Rich?)

Nice looking mini-pond at the back of Malungon's cottage

Malungon's..

Visit Malungon pamphlets

Spider-webbed inspired window

The prides of Malungon: Kublai Millan's paintings

The People's champ is Malungon's tourism chair (sort of).

Certified Malungon-made handicrafts..

2nd-placer in the 9th Munato Festival's Cheerdance Competition

How I wish I had this windows at home..

Welcome to Maitum..

Poster Girl for Maitum??

Goofing around while wearing water-tubing gears..

Rich, posing for photos while talking to Dr. Ruiz in her cellphone..tsk3

Rich: "The wave's coming!!"
Me: "Rich, there's no waves in rivers..." -_-

Pacute..

Mich: "HUH??"
Rich: "Hmmm.."

Pose..pose..pose

My pic's blurred.. -_-

Love this PIC!!

Love this PIC Part 2.. =)

Love this PIC Part 3.. =))

So after an exhausting stroll of all the cottages of Sarangani Province and posing for photos and trying all those water-tubing stuffs, we decided to head on watching the beauty pageant of the Pearl of Sarangani (thought it already started). 

Heading towards the pageant..

There was a good crowd watching the pageant and some few supporters of the candidates from there respective towns and municipalities. We heard there will be some celebrities who'll be having a show during the duration of the pageant. Well, for me, I will never be starstruck by these people. I will just watch them performed but I will never shrieked for them. So back to the pageant, we looked for a space where we can visibly see the candidates as they walked around the stage. We were actually in front of a pretty much huge screen but we were annoyed by the way the camera views since we couldn't really see clearly the candidates. The cameras were placed in awkward positions and it really annoyed me since placing a camera in the right position is sooo basic. The guys who installed it should know it. Unfortunately, they didn't. 

This really sucks!

So as the pageant progress, the candidates looked very rehearsed and confident with only very little blunders that they committed (during the q&a, a candidate gave a very long specific answer instead of a brief, concise one.). But, as Mich said (she joined a beauty pageant before), it's very different when you're on stage and the crowd were eagerly watching and listening for your answer. I couldn't blame them either since it's really a nervous moment for them. All they had to do is project confidence and answer the question by heart. Again, it's much easier said than done (okay!). When it was the candidate from Glan's turned, she did it with full confidence as she gave a witty answer. 

Ms. Glan's father as he watches his daughter answers..

Rich with Sharene Joy Chatto during a photo shoot

The Pearl of Glan: Ms. Sharene Joy Chatto

At the left is Ms. Glan

The Pearls of Sarangani.

Unfortunately, Ms. Glan wasn't able to win any awards and she didn't even qualified for the next round so we left after they announced it. We felt we're already exhausted so we find a place where we could sit. When we felt the raindrops, we went back to Glan's cottage and retrieve Rich's stuffs and after it, we already called it a night. It was really a wonderful night worth remembering and worth reminiscing always. I couldn't put into words the happiness, the fun, and the bond we had that night. I hope we could have more fun times again in the future. I love spending my time with you guys, Mich and Rich and you are definitely what a real friend is, though we had so many good memories, we always have each others back. So long and let the good times roll..Love you guys.. 

♥HD