What I captured on my phone from last week's unexpected travel - going to Nueva Ecija.

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Few vehicles at the NLEX
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Cars lines up to pay for the toll fee.
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I to my officemate: Feels like my legs were numb already Hehe
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I wonder if this was allowed, I mean this burning the grasses.
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This was only in between of roads, maybe grasses needs to be eliminated. Easy way was thru burning.
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Green Rice fields
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Have you seen the birds?
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I, trying to get some rest but officemates were so noisy and kept on nagging me.

Last week, I heard the sad news that the father of our officemate died. Though he got sick a year ago, he was p fine, so the death was unexpected. My officemate even thought he was drunk, which is why he was still sleeping! Yet, he never wakes up, even though he was brought to the hospital.
HR arranges a car service for those willing to visit the wake to show our sympathy. At first, I don't plan to go for two reasons. One, the travel time was a minimum of three hours one way. Second, those who were going were all department heads and me. Lol, just a normal employee. Yet, our department and HR head urged me to go with them as not all could. (Sort of replacement?) Maybe yes, but considering the officemate and I were former in the same group, Finance, yes, I tagged along.

The company vehicle provided was a Grandia, so I chose to sit in the last row at the back—window seat in order not to get bored.
Thankful we left before rush hour, so the road still needs to be congested. I thought seating at the back was a good choice, but I realized it could be better. It was so bumpy that I couldn't sleep; feels like bouncing. Good thing a gay officemate sat beside me; I had someone to leg on.

As we reached the NLEX -North Luzon Expressway, only a few cars lined up for the toll gate. Based on my estimated computation, we paid more than $18. Quite expensive for the commuters! Yet, everyone has a choice: to pass by NLEX or the service road. No toll fee; the only problem is traffic during rush hours.

Few minutes of driving after paying the toll, the scenery changes from building to something green. Yes, nature! A lot of trees, corn, and rice fields.
Wait, I see smoke like there was a fire! Wild fire? I don't think so; maybe the grass was intentionally burned. It was between the road, so it might be something to do with DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) projects.

After a few more minutes, all we could see was the beauty of nature in colors white, blue, and green. White clouds in the clear blue sky, green rice fields with some birds wandering! Such a breath of fresh air. We all can't help but wish we own a farm too! It would be nice to wake up early, feeling the vitamins directly from the sun's rays! I grew up in the countryside, but we don't have this! I was in a mountainous area.

Finally, after hours of traveling, we arrived at our destination! We only stay there for an hour as we must travel back.

We Filipinos had that superstition not to go home straight to our houses from the wake. Pagpag is strongley advice.

What does it mean?

Stopping by for a while somewhere else before heading home. In our case, we eat to ensure we won't be starving during the travel. We dropped by a small Samgyeopsal in town.

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For the best experience view this post on Liketu



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19 comments
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Nice views there sis! You look mighty comfy there 😁💙

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Haha comfortable legging on to an officemate!
!PIZZA

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I am sure you are very tired due to long hours of traveling from Manila to Nueva Ecija. I can imagine sitting on the car for several hours. Gosh!

I don't believe in Pagpag, but there's nothing wrong if we follow it from the time to time. Thus, Nueva Ecija is home of some of our blogging friends like Caris.
!PIZZA

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It was tiring and the same time I was sleepy as, still had a work next day.

Same, I don't believe in pagpag too but yeah , nothing wrong if we follow rather than have doubts if something bad will happened.

Oh, yeah, remembered that and it was such a wonderful place.

!PIZZA

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Aww, condolence.

We always use NLEX since we are from the north hehe. When I see the toll gates, that's when I know that we're near the metro. 😊

!PIZZA

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Ilang toll gates din dinaanan Namin!

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I'm sorry your co-worker's father died.

I like how the sky looks in your photos.
Happy Sunday to you :)

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Thanks! Yeah it was really hard to lose a loved ones

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You captured beautiful views with clear blue sky ❤️I liked most.

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Thank you for appreciating!

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These are great captures sis! And it's great that you were able to join your colleagues to the wake. The travel might be tiresome but seeing different sights can be fun :)

!LUV

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Oo and earlier another workmate lost her love one. Her husband actually 🥹

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Oh my... that's sad. My condolences to her... that's one of the hardest things to experience...

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I'm sorry to hear about your office mate's dad.

Yeah pagpag is definitely such a Filipino thing. There is this comic series in social media sskiat that has this running series of a 7/11 employee named Evelyn who is able to see ghosts as 7/11 is a favorite place to do pagpag because its open 24/7, It's pretty random as my brain is always random lol

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Really ? 7/12 well Yan din actually sa isip Namin dapat, kaso ayon..bigla nag sangyup

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