On the morning of September 1, 2016, I and my family woke up to a tragic news: one of my uncles from Pampanga passed away due to multiple organ failure from end-stage renal disease. With this tiny tidbit, we were also informed that his interment will be on the 6th.

September 6th was the day I was born.

The third post in the Tribute to Summer series details the trip I took with my family to Baguio City on a warm, sunny day after a meet-up with my endocrinologist.

(Related: The first post from the Tribute to Summer series can be found here.) 

The Philippines, being a Southeast Asian country, only has two seasons: Dry and Rainy; there is no in-between-- just these two extremes of temperature. Filipinos try to escape from the unrelenting heat of the sun by going to the pool/beach, staying cool indoors, or climbing to places in high altitude-- and Baguio City is one such place. Dubbed the "Summer Capital of the Philippines", Baguio City in the Cordillera Administrative Region of the Philippines is about 1,500 meters from sea level. It is close to the sun, but it's cool and crisp most of the year. From my experience living in Baguio for almost two years, temperatures can go up to 33° Celsius during dry season to as low as 9° Celsius during the rainy season. February and December, in my opinion, are the coolest months.

The Cotai strip in Macau, all lit up at night.

When people hear the word "Macau", they take it as one of China's special administrative regions (SAR) and just a popular side trip from its sister SAR, Hong Kong. Macau is relatively small, about 29.5 square kilometers in area size, so it comes as no surprise that potential travelers just assume that activities and attractions there will be little to none. This entails the possibility that even when they do decide to visit, they just allocate a few hours or days.

This will prove to be a travel faux pas, as any non-Tripadvisor subscribing traveler would later find out.

It looks like a quaint little bahay kubo from the outside-- with the bamboo works and stained glass and all!

I've been curiously driving through this establishment for a few months already, but I only stepped into it for the first time today for some late lunch with the family. KamBak Kambing at Baka (a play between the two Filipino words that literally meant "goat and cow") Grill and Resto is a small restaurant by the highway that held my fascination because it looked like a little but quaint Filipiniana-style native restaurant on the outside with majestic green mountains and rice paddies as its backdrop.

In short, it looked cute.

NOTE: This post has not in any way been influenced by the coming and passing of Hearts' Day about two days ago. (Just kidding!)

Everyday, when I open my Facebook, about two-thirds of the news in my feed are about lovey-dovey couples going out together, getting engaged, or already enjoying the bliss of being hitched. Don't get me wrong, though. I'm absolutely happy for all of them and I would wish them all the luck in the world if I were given any opportunity to personally talk to them. Still, being single for some time already doesn't stop me from dreaming that one day I'd find Prince Charming again, fall in love again, and finally have that epic fairytale garden wedding and honeymoon that I've been dreaming of since I was fourteen.

And speaking of honeymoons-- here are ten places from around the world where I dreamed I would spend my honeymoon (if I ever get married). This list is based solely on my opinion, by the way.