We arrived in the town of Sta. Ana in Cagayan Valley, the northernmost tip town in the Philippines at 3 a. m. in the morning. The first thing we noticed was the eerie sound of the place, or better yet, the lack of any sound of life. There were no lamp post and all we saw was darkness. The only light available was emanating from the vehicle we were using. We drove for another half an hour and still all we saw was darkness, we didn't see any houses or any other living soul. For someone who has lived in the city all his life, the environment in Sta. Ana was a strange one to me. I came from the capital where the city never sleeps and that has been the case even in some provinces I have visited, this is the only town I have been to where all I heard was the sound of silence even at that hour of the morning.

Steve Hatch and his uncle Robert Green decided to spare the rare lobster caught by them from being cooked because of its color. The 1 1/2 -pound bright blue-colored lobster caught last weekend was spared from being cooked and eaten as a meal because of its rare occurrence. The blue color of this lobster, caught Sunday morning in one of Hatch and Green's lobster traps at the mouth of the Thames River, is said to be as a result of an extremely rare genetic mutation.

A car once used to chauffeur Britain's Princess Diana around raised just a little more than $12,000 at an auction on Thursday. The Jaguar Sovereign, a 1992 model in Westminster blue, went under the hammer along with 30 other vintage cars in the sale at Manchester's Simon Charles Auctioneers. The vehicle - made to order for Buckingham Palace - sold for a modest $12,065, well under the price expected by the auctioneers.

Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla paid a surprise visit to a sweetshop to stock up on jelly babies during their tour of Northern Ireland on Wednesday. The prince and the Duchess of Cornwall - who are enjoying a two-day tour of the region - picked up a bag of the sugary delights and a packet of throat lozenges, much to the surprise of Ulster shopkeeper Gerald Monaghan. Gerald told the Belfast Telegraph: "I asked which sweet was his favorite and he picked 'Throat and Chest' because he said he had a sore throat.

The Chelsea Flower Show played host to several members of the British Royal Family Monday. Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, and Prince Edward all took a stroll around impressive floral exhibits. One garden designer, Isabelle van Groeningen, said Charles was "particularly interested in the grasses. " While Camilla - wearing a patterned shawl over a two-piece lilac jacket and skirt - was taken with sculptures of flowering grass.