but i knew i loved you even before i met you

.o0 ('i knew i loved you before i met you.'
i ♥ batanes! if batanes were a person -- male --
papakasalan ko na s'ya, walang arte-arte. Ü )
-- my tweet for the 23rd of february 2010, a week and a day after i got back from batanes

♥ the oh-so-splendid view from vayang rolling hills ♥

finally, i can say that i have been to my ultimate dream destination in the philippines. after just merely thinking of reaching it for so long and keeping myself satisfied with the photos and features that i got to see and read about it and the ivatans since i was, maybe, 12 years old, i was finally able to see, touch, smell, feel, and experience batanes. wow! it feels great that i finally made it MY batanes.

it used to be just a 'forever distant dream'. however, i learned from my recent batanes trip that even being there also feels like a dream. you'll be tempted to pinch yourself, close your eyes, shake your head... just to make sure that everything you're seeing and feeling is really, really real -- the place is unbelievably beautiful, too beautiful. all the other beautiful places i've been to fade -- not only pale but fade -- in comparison.

the views are undeniably awesome -- the seas are as blue as awesome blue can be, the hills are as green as delightful green can be, and, even in some areas where there are patches of gold and brown, everything just seems to fit perfectly -- even the winds in batanes can sing!

this dream come true overwhelmingly exceeded my expectations. see, before i reached batanes, i already had high expectations about the place, the people, and the experience of seeing it with my own eyes. when i went to batanes, i was rewarded with favor overflow because the experience that i had was wonderfully far more than what i imagined or ever dreamed. it was, to say the least, totally mind-blowing!!!

batanes is more than the place, more than the people, more than the language, more than the underrated hype, more than all of them combined. it is not in any picture or magazine article -- the real batanes is an experience. i can only try but i cannot really describe it for you, you have to experience it for yourselves.

having accomplished that goal of reaching my local dream destination, i am now ready to start saving for switzerland (with france for a side-trip) and israel (with, maybe, egypt for a side-trip).

---
p.s. i sort of thought that maybe i'll write about the trip when i'm finally done uploading to multiply the photos i took. however, i took so many and it'll take long before i finish sharing them 1000+ pics so let me just post this one ahead. i'll improve this when i... wait, did i already say i love, love, love, love batanes? ;-D this goes with saying that batanes won't be out of my future travel list. we're definitely going back there next year!

p.p.s "we're definitely going back there next year!" we, who? kaming mga never na magtatanong ng mga PTL questions gaya ng (1) batanes?! saan yun? (2) batanes?! anong meron dun? (3) batanes?! may dagat ba doon? (4) batanes?! may daan ba papunta doon? ;-D