Saturday, April 25, 2009

the best of : biyaheng pinoy (2006-2009)

three years had passed since I started running biyaheng pinoy, and still running. i am quite surprised to myself that i have lasted this long. after all these years, i've realized that it is very easy to create a blog. it is the maintaining part that is the hard part.  i've been to so many places in the philippines since I was a kid, but never have I thought of documenting them. biyaheng pinoy started in 2006, as a personal blog, an online journal of my travels in the philippines. making sure that all of my trips were never forgotten and never missed. i also wanted this to be my way of sharing them to my friends and family living far from us.

sometimes, i would receive comments from people that I did not know, which i thought was really odd at that time. they would say really nice things about the photos that i took and the videos that i made, making it sound like compliments coming from my friends. it took time for me to get used to receiving compliments from strangers.

"it's not about the hits," i would say and would always have (talking about my videos in youtube). it is about the number of people reacting positively to your videos. some people think that the more hits your videos get, the more famous you become.  personally, i do not think it is true.

here are my most favorite biyaheng pinoy posts, in random order:

surviving sagada. this video has the biggest place in my heart. it shows that i was overwhelmed with sagada's majestic beauty, the freshness of the waters, the blueness of its skies, and the warmth of the people. it was a great challenge to me to show all these in a video. having no formal training in video making, i found it so hard to do it.  it opens with a small girl's sweet distinct singing voice with no other musical instrument. she's singing about the beauty of her town and also about the anniversary of the anglican church in sagada. showing sagada in daybreak, with the crowing of a rooster, and the chirping of the small birds in the background, it shows the beautiful mountains surrounding the old demang village.

daisylyn bayang sang this beautiful song so perfectly, it sounded like a chanting song from heaven. so many people liked this video, particularly because of the music, so i should give conyap (her igorot name) much credit for this. the video showcases the stunning waterfalls, the green rice terraces, landscapes with nice formations, the happy children, and the peaceful town of sagada, mountain province.

rehiyon rehiyon festival. this festival really caught me by surprise. i knew we had this festival in marikina city, but i didn't know that it was such a big event. i realized that i didn't have to come far, just to see a great spectacle.  event was held right on my birthday, every 8th of december. the parade started from riverbanks mall at 7 in the morning. people started to crowd the streets while waiting for the parade to come. it took about 30 minutes before the parade reached baranggay sto. nino. it was lead by our city mayor, hon. maria lourdes carlos fernando and her loving husband, mmda chairman, engr. bayani fernando.

the street parade lasted for two hours, and they headed to the marikina sports complex. it's where they held the main dance competition. the spectators were scorched by the sun, but it didn't stop them from watching the show. besides, who would want to miss this grand show?

masskara festival 2007. i remember vividly, going to this festival was only a dream that i would dream for the rest of my life. well, not anymore. because i finally came to bacolod, the city of smiles.

it was my biggest wish to be part of the masskara festival in bacolod city, negros occidental. i was so excited to get there so i made sure that i get a plane ticket to negros, three months before the event. if that wouldn't guarantee my trip, then i don't know what i was going to do. i took a lot of photos, shot videos, wrote a very long narrative about my trip and made lots and lots of friends. it was the most colorful day of my life and i will remember this as long as i live.

12 comments:

Ishie De Vera said...

Tunay na kahangahanga!

Ang pinakanagustuhan ko sa iyong mga gawa ay ang ‘Surviving Sagada’, ‘Revisiting Sagada Version 1’ at ‘Maskara Festival’. Ipinapakita rito ang natural na ganda ng mga Pilipino, ang yaman na makikita sa buong bayan.

Ipagpatuloy ang magagandang gawain. Ikaw ay tunay na maipagmamalaki at magsisilbing huwaran para sa mga batang Pinoy!

Mabuhay ang Biyaheng Pnoy! Mabuhay ang lahing kayumanggi! Mabuhay ang lahing Pilipino!

biyahengpinoy said...

ishie, di ko kinaya ang comment mo. after kong basahin, para gusto kong sumanib sa makabayang himagsikan. parang gusto kong mamundok at makipaglaban para sa ating kalayaan. at parang gusto kong gumala uli. :) thank you ishie for the visit.

Sexy Nomad said...

Hi biyahengpinoy! It was a pleasure meeting you too! Kita-kits in future events & travels! :-)

P.S. Uber awesome video! Kudos to you!

Anonymous said...

Nice, 3 years! I agree that consistency is the hardest part in blogging. I've been blogging for 7 years now but nothing really lasted. Now I started a new one and I hope I can keep it updated for as long as I can.

It's a travel blog as well, like yours. That's why I got here; I was researching for Pinoy travel bloggers.

I enjoyed watching the Sagada vid. I was there a few years ago and oh how your video brought me back! The song you used, what was the dialect?

The Nomadic Pinoy said...

What a work, impressive video there. It's always a joy to visit the Philippines - so many Western backpackers out there don't know what they're missing!

nina said...

Halos mag-kasing age pala travel blogs natin! :D Actually, I wouldn't remember my blog's birthday if I haven't opened your blog XD

Congrats on your 3rd anniversary! Here's to more travels :D

biyahengpinoy said...

sexy nomad, uber sexy photos naman ang sa iyo. :)

sublunari, the song i've used in my sagada video were in kankana-ey dialect, native igorot dialect.

nomadic pinoy, thanks for the compliment. balik ka uli sa pinas.

nina, happy 3rd anniversary din sa blog mo. :)

Jesa Christ said...

Always a pleasure:) I wish I could visit today!

Jasper said...

grabe 3 years is long. you are really passionate about this!

escape said...

congratulations wence! more years to biyaheng pinoy and to the man behind this.

biyahengpinoy said...

jasper, oo mahaba ang 3 years, pero didn't even notice it. i must be really enjoying this. :)

dong, thanks.

Depya (a.k.a Ishie) said...

Grabe Ency Wency, ngayon ko lang nabasa ang reaksyon mo sa aking komentaryo. Halos gumulong gulong ako sa kakatawa!

Kung nais mong sumanib sa himagsikang makabayan, magkita nalang tayo sa mga bulubundukin ng Cordillera. AKO MISMO ang sasalubong sa iyo.

Sa susunod na taon Abril 25 ipagdiriwang ko na rin ang unang anibersaryo ng aking pagiging komentarista sa iyong mga gawa.