Christmas Vacation Travel

Christmas season is a time to spend quality time with your love ones. The Christmas break, usually starts on December 23 and will last until December 27 or if you have accumulated enough vacation leaves at work, you can extend your vacation until January 2, 2010. Everyone is busy and excited preparing for Christmas, going to church, buying gifts, attending parties and preparing for the traditional Noche Buena on Christmas eve. After spending Christmas day at home, families have an option to travel and relax to local tourist destinations. Instead of flying to Hong Kong Disneyland or other countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan, why not try nearby tourist destinations to help boost our tourism industry. Here are a few suggestions:
1. Caliraya Lake in Lumban, Laguna - Lake Caliraya is situated approximately 1,200 feet above sea level, and is perched high in the Sierra Madre. Travel from Manila will take you about 3-4 hours. The lake experiences cool climate all year round. (http://en.wikipedia.org). Temperature here is almost as cold as Baguio City and the town is not over populated. If you are looking for first class amenities, you may check in at Caliraya Resort Club. If you are in a budget, there are other resorts around the lake that provides good accommodation and superb food.
2. San Juan, Batangas - It is located 43 kilometers east of Batangas City and 115 kilometers away from Manila. San Juan is famous for its Laiya Beach. Travel from Manila will be around 3-4 hours.

3. Alaminos, Pangasinan - Alaminos is home for the country's Hundred Islands. In fact, there are 123 islands that can be found of the coast Barangay Lucap, Alaminos City. (http://en.wikipedia.org). From Manila, It will take you about 4-5 hours to reach the city.

These are just a few places near Manila where you can enjoy nature and travel with your family and friends. Going outdoors need not be expensive and it is a good stress reliever from the busy life we have in the metropolis. Sometimes, we need to learn to enjoy nature more for us to appreciate the gifts we have around us so we will do our part to conserve nature so our kids and grandchildren will also enjoy nature as much as it was enjoyed by our parents and grandparents.

Leon's First Treeplanting Experience

Our son's first tree planting experience was last January 17, Saturday at Caliraya, Laguna. My wife and I are very proud of this achievement because he has already contributed a lot for the environment at a very young age. He participated last year at Haribon Foundation's Million Hectare Walk to help raise funds for the organization's reforestation projects and this year he also participated in planting more than 100 trees at the project site. He joined my wife's officemates and his two cousins in planting native trees to a site near the Caliraya Lake.

Although he was not able to plant tree seedlings himself, he was there to help dig the soil, remove the seedling bag from the plant, put back the soil and water the plant after. It was quite an experience because their group was assigned to plant more than 100 seedlings that were donated last December 2008.

Haribon Foundation has lined up a lot of activities for this year and I am sure this will not be the last time my son will join. I am eagerly waiting for him to grow up a little more for him to appreciate birdwatching activities starting October to February the following year. Art workshops, exhibits and even kite flying activities are also lined up so I guess it will be a good year for him to be exposed to these experiences.

Leon is just turning 2 this March and he has already contributed to conserve our environment and offset our carbon footprint. He is also a regular Haribon Foundation member since his birthday. Hopefully bloggers will also do their part either in joining the activities or just through donations. Bloggers can also help us spread the information by writing on their sites and asking their friends to support environment conservation efforts.