CRISTY IN THE CITY

Friday, January 8, 2021

Where to catch Iloilo Dinagyang Digital 2021 events and activities

The street parties and revelries will surely be missed this year! However, the famous Dinagyang festival will find a broader, more global audience with the Dinagyang Digital 2021 online platform. Visit the Iloilo Festivals webpage to watch the virtual opening salvo as well as various events and activities. Viva Senor Santo Nino!

Score amazing lifestyle finds at these Dinagyang fairs and bazaars

The Dinagyang festival in this city which happens every 4th Sunday of January is going digital this year. With the coronavirus pandemic still hovering around, Dinagyang Digital 2021 will be celebrated in a more restrained style with events and festivities limited to virtual performance and cultural showcases, art events, photo contests as well as bazaars and lifestyle/food fairs.

In compliance with COVID-19 health and safety protocols, these events will showcase the best of what Iloilo City has to offer. Rolling kiosks and pop-up shops teeming with assorted kitsch and souvenir merchandise were a normal spectacle in the downtown area during the pre-COVID days. This year, merry makers can still have their fill of festival-inspired retail therapy with this line-up of weekend markets and week-long bazaars hosted by popular hotels and malls in the city. If you happen to swing by the Megaworld area, you can do a bit of bazaar hopping. Look out for Ilonggo designed fashion and accessories, gourmet treats, unique home decor and even trend potted plants to spruce up your home. I will certainly be looking out for hand painted pots and baskets to showcase my small collection of indoor plants.

Visit the social pages of these events for details and schedule confirmation.

Bakal-Lokal FB page

Courtyard by Marriott FB page

Richmonde Hotel Iloilo

Megaworld Festive Walk Iloilo FB Page

Sunday, April 19, 2020

Travel Book: Tea in Taipei

When will we travel again?

I think it would be a long, long time before I can see myself exploring new places again for fun and leisure. As of the moment, I see no light yet at the end of the tunnel as far as how and when will this COVID-19 pandemic end. I have to admit I miss exploring the great outdoors and soaking in the sights of a new city or region. I suppose in the New Normal travel would drastically change but then that would be another story altogether. With the quarantine still in effect in many parts of the world, travel for now would just be a daydream. Right now, let's just be armchair travelers!

In one of my past blog posts, I wrote an article on how you can make a travel book and relive your journeys over and over again! I visited Taipei a couple of years ago but never had the time to sit down and create a photobook. Only when the photobook voucher was about to expire that I crammed one weekend to make one.

I enjoyed making this travel book! I used a simple layout with lots of full page photographs to highlight Taipei's stunning architecture. I'm also overwhelmingly impressed with Photobook's photo printing and paper quality that keeps on getting better and better. Through the pages of this photobook I am catapulted once again to one of my favorite cities.

Thanks for the memories, Taiwan! Hope to see you again when this pandemic is all over.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Boracay Island in Monsoon Season

Located two kilometers off the tip of Panay Island in the Philippines, Boracay Island is famous for its emerald waters, powder fine sand and gorgeous stretches of sparkly white shores. It is a tropical destination during the summer time. However, in monsoon season from June to early September, the resorts are shuttered down by windbreakers due to gusty winds and unpredictable rainfall. From being a party epicenter, the island shifts to a laidback island mode reminiscent of Haiwaiian beaches.

Coco mango ice cream bowl with shredded coconut from Coco Mama, a popular dessert shop

Hawaiian vibes

Boracay's silver hour

Kite surfing and Paraw sailing are popular afternoon beach activities at Stationery 1, Boracay Island

Sand so powdery fine

Four cheese pizza by the beach.Yum!

Pastel hued monsoon sunsets

The wild side of Boracay's tropical calm shores

Soft crashing waves at 7 A.M.

A beach for all seasons

Saturday, June 1, 2019

Sunkissed in Maldives

When I was barely a teen, I fell in love with Maldives the moment I saw a "Sunny Side of Life" print ad in one of the pages of Time Magazine. I told myself that one day when I'm older I'm going to visit the South atolls. Three decades later, I finally visited the postcard perfect island nation in the Indian Ocean for a few days of summer fun. Dreams do come true eventually.

Maldives is indeed a dream. The water is out of this world beautiful. The Maldivian people are very friendly, there's great food everywhere you go and the islands have the best tropical vibe.