A continent is basically one of seven major landmasses on Earth, ideally separated by expanses of water. However, continents are made distinct based on convention rather than criterion; some continents are separated by land boundaries than expanses of water.

The distinction between continents was started out by Greek mariners, who were the first to name Europe and Asia to connote the landmasses on either side of the waterways of the Aegean Sea, the Dardanelles strait, the Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus strait and the Black Sea. Ancient Greek thinkers had debated then whether Africa was part of Asia or a different land mass altogether. Africa was decided to be distinct. The Americas meanwhile were discovered by Europeans; specifically Christopher Columbus who sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to the West Indies in 1492. Today, there are seven official continents. Below is a list of the seven continents with links to high resolution maps, which you can then print out.

Printable Map of the 7 Continents:

Africa
Europe
Antarctica
North America
Asia
South America
Australia (also known as Oceania)

The United States of America has 50 states and 15 additional unincorporated territories, either organized or unorganized. Unincorporated territories are basically areas under the United States jurisdiction, but to which Congress has determined that only specific parts of the Constitution may apply. Incorporated territories meanwhile are areas in which the Congress has determined that the United States Constitution be applied in its totality; these territories correspondingly form each of the states.

Organized territories are territories in which the provisions of an Organic Act – or any Act of Congress that establishes a territory to handle federal lands – such as the establishment of a Bill of Rights have been implemented.

The list of the 52 states of the United States of America and the 12 territories is listed below. I have also added a link for a map of each state for reference, just in case you’re planning to travel to one of them soon. The links even provide Physical, Elevation, River and Lake and County Maps for each of the state. You can also purchase high resolution maps here.

Maps of the 52 states (click on the state names):

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

Additional U.S. Territories

Organized
Guam
Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
United States Virgin Islands

Unorganized
American Samoa
Midway Islands
Wake Island
Navassa Island
Baker, Howland, and Jarvis Islands
Johnston and Palmyra Atolls
Kingman Reef
Bajo Nuevo Bank

Gambar Pemerkosaan is a sneaky mystery floating over the Interwebs.

Gambar Pemerkosaan lurks over the minds of men who, all day long, scour the intangible lands for his existence.

These men, they sit, hunchbacked, because of Gambar Pemerkosaan. These men, their eyes are dark and hollow, and whispered words pass vaguely from their lips: Gambar Pemerkosaan.

These men, they are the Seekers of Gambar Pemerkosaan.

I know who Gambar Pemerkosaan is. I know where Gambar Pemerkosaan is.

But I cannot tell you.

Found this outside our cottage in Dakak Resort. This is what is said on the front:

…and then on the back:

Gim and I dissolved into laughter after reading it. Hahaha. (Nice way to rephrase “sleeping”… or did they mean something else???)

Phone Instructions:

To call cluster A, B, C, Beachfront, Presidential Suite, and other outlets, please press [key] or [key] then dial the corresponding phone number of the room.

To call cluster D from cluster A, B, C, please press line 2 or 3 above, then you hear TOT… TOT… TOT…

When in Dapitan, you will not fail to visit Gloria de Dapitan, the tiny city’s prime spot for leisure-seeking travellers. You often find me here, as there isn’t really any other place to hang out in Dapitan when you’re not looking to sun or swim.

Gloria de Dapitan (named for the country’s current president, which is a shame) includes several restaurants, a few boutique shops, an Internet shop, some bauble-selling stalls, a snack stall (french fries and ice cream), a bowling place, an impressive fountain (for a provincial town) and in the center of it all, a cock-fighting gymnasium (apparently the Congressman, who owns the entire Gloria and most of Dapitan, is a big fan).

Gim and I go to Gloria everyday to access the Internet. The whole place is a wifi zone, and anybody can access the wifi for free. The girl at the airconditioned Internet shop lets me sit inside while doing my Internet rounds. I try to make her charge me the regular Internet rate but she flatly refuses (she lets me surf and charge my laptop for free) so I sometimes bring her some sweets in exchange for her generosity hehehe. Sometimes she won’t receive those too.

The food in Dapitan is superbly inexpensive, so Gim and I often visit Gloria to get dinner. (Most shops don’t open before 2pm so it’s hard to find lunch there.) Our favorite restaurants are Tapas & Beer and a pizza place (gosh I forgot the name).

At Tapas & Beer, better get an order of tapa (dried beef, fried in soy sauce). It’s very tasty, and the onions are very crisp. Also try their calamares, or fried squid rings. They’re one of the best I’ve ever tasted, because the squid rings are very thick and tender at the same time. Gim loves crispy pata (a leg of pork salted and boiled then left in the air to dry for an entire day, then deep fried) and we found it in the menu so we ordered that one time, and Gim loved it so much he left nothing but bone (the ones he couldn’t chew enough to swallow hahaha).

The pizza shop in Gloria is not to be missed. The shop owners come from Switzerland and the ingredients in their pizza definitely prove it. Regular servings (good for three or four but Gim and I can finish one in 30 minutes) cost only P200 ($4) while family servings cost P300 ($6). Extra toppings cost P30 (less than $1) and a request for thick crust costs P30 as well (you will want the thick crust for sure!). Trust me when I say they are VERY VERY good.

Most of the pizzas are mozarella-and-meat-heavy, just the way Gim and I like it. We love sausage and often ask for extra toppings of it. The pizza is cooked right in front of you if you want to watch. The contraption where the pizza is cooked is bizarrely small, but the server says it cost almost a hundred thousand pesos (roughly $2000). Whoa, but if that’s their secret I want one too hehe!

Have a look at the menu, I took a shot hehehe.

And here is Gim patiently waiting for our pizza on the counter. :-) It takes about 15-30 minutes for the pizza to cook (it’s not a fast-food place) so when the pizza gets served you’re sure to be starving heheheh.

It’s a great eat. :-)

Gloria is a cheap place to eat for city people, but there are many more spots in Dapitan where you can get cheaper and tastier food, especially when it comes to seafood.

But that’s for another post. :-)

Gim and I spent my birthday (August 15) in Dakak Resort, Dapitan. It was a beautifully cloudy day. (A sunny day on a Philippine beach equals a really, really bad sunburn.) We took a dip in the water first thing when we got there. Ate a hearty lunch after hours of playing in the waves. Went back the water. And then enjoyed swinging in the hammock in between.

I love the hammocks in Dapitan. Very comfy and they offer a great, uninterrupted view of the horizon.

They hang from the branches of the trees that ply the shoreline, and they’re the perfect place to rest and sleep or just enjoy the view.

See how much fun I’m having up there??? Hehehe.

Here is Gim resting underneath a tree. And there are his new slippers that I gave that he lost in a Dumaguete beach. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Hehehehehe. At least he has a photo.

Here is me not wanting to leave Dakak yet. The Dakak management is calling us to the van that will take us back home, but I’m too comfortable to get up! I don’t want to go!!!!

And here’s the breathtaking view from our hammocks.

See? No wonder it is sooo hard to leave Dakak. :-) And of course, here is the venerated hammock. :-)

Hehehehe. I want to go back!

I love it when it rains on the beach. You get to see how wonderfully majestic the sky is, the way it changes so dramatically in so little time.

Here the clouds look heavy, ready to rain upon us. The ocean is turning greener by the second.

 

Now the sky above us is totally overcast. Beyond us, the sky is returning to a lighter blue. But the sea has turned a dark emerald green. In a few seconds, drops of rain fall. (Of course we run for shelter, hahaha. Can’t risk my camera getting soaked.)

  

A close up of the mountains beyond shows the rain has passed. But the waters are greener than ever because the sun is hidden behind the dark, pouring clouds.

  

Afterwards,the sky clears. No more clouds in sight, except for a thin wisp. And the water returns to a clear blue.

 

Have I mentioned how much I love rain on the beach? :-)

In the Philippines, developed coastal roads are often called “boulevards” like the Cawa-Cawa Boulevard of Zamboanga City, the Roxas Boulevard of Manila, the “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” of Dipolog (okay, Gim and I named that a few years ago when we sat there after a quarrel on the last day of our vacation hahaha).

In the Dapitan, they have the “Sunset Boulevard” because this piece of shore does really deliver those romantic sunsets. I haven’t got a sunset image this year yet (it’s the rainy season) but hopefully I will get one on a rare cloudless afternoon.

Still, here’s a shot of the shore from a dilapidated cottage where Gim and I ate a tub of store-bought ice cream on a cold, cloudy day. Hehehe, that’s one of our favorite pastimes.

And a few shots of me… hahaha.

This is back when I had long hair… Oh I am starting to miss it. (Right now I have short hair, and dark red, splotchy, peeling skin. Waaahhhh.)

It’s terribly hot here in Dapitan, even though it’s the rainy season. So I decided to cut my hair short. Reeeeaaal short.

See? Hehehehe! What do you think?