Nap Time Rocks!

Sale! [lp]

The Great Singapore Sale 2009, dito lang yan sa Singapore (san pa nga ba?)

lahat halos ng mga establishments na pinuntahan ko sa Sg ay may placard ng sale. kasi panahon ng GSS, hanggang July yata.

excited ako nung una pero nung nanghinayang nakong bilin yung isang pakay ko sa Sg, wala na. hehe. pagod lang kakalakad. pero ilang tips sa mga may balak pumunta anytime soon:

• must try ang cereal shrimps and pepper crab. sa No Signboard Seafood ko lang nakain yan, pero malamang sa ibang restaurants meron din. yaan lang orderin mo at rice, pwede na
• kailangan mo din kumain sa Makansutra or Gluttons Bay sa tabi ng Esplanade Mall. nandun lahat ng streetfood na masarap. must try and carrot cake at chicken wings
• mukhang favorite nila talaga ang chicken wings kasi lahat ng food establishments meron nun sa menu. masarap naman talaga
• IKEA! kailangan mo puntahan yun (bus 33, 64, o 195 depende kung san ka galing)
• bumili ng metro card kung walang tour guide at balak mo mag-ikot. 1 card lang for both train and bus rides. mas madali pagsakay-sakay
• at kailangan mo sakyan yung attraction rides sa Clark Quay

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EOS 400D, cross-process. Sg, Jun2009.

Sg Part 2: all things aquatic

hay P, if you were there, you’d love these too.

an all-Australian exhibit was setup at the Marina Square right beside our hotel, and one of them was Splatter’s. i couldn’t help but smile everytime i passed by their booth because the walls were filled with nice square paintings of comic artwork by Christopher Martin (like the one on the left).

the pop artwork were all so cute, selling for about S$40 - S$100+ per piece (which are also available to order online). if it weren’t so hard to pack them and bring them with me home (had a really small luggage), i’d have bought at least one.

but since i couldn’t, i brought Buster home instead.

(click the photo to find out what’s scaring Buster)

it’s an added bedtime reading for me and Mia. it doesn’t have anything to do with water i know, but it’s still one of those things i love.

the second day was as tiring as the first. went shopping at Vivo City at the bay area, which turns out not to be such a good idea if you’re going to Sentosa afterward. you end up riding the Luge with bags in between your legs and that’s not comfortable.

one thing i realized (no, make that several) going around Sentosa’s Underwater World are:

1. not all animals appreciate being pet. take the sting rays for example. there’s a pool area where you can touch the starfishes and the sting rays, and unlike the starfishes who are good at hiding their disapproval, some fish can actually jump out of the aquarium to tell people how irritating it is to be patted and grabbed and startled all day.
2. some people are just hardheaded as much as they are probably deaf (or blind, whichever applies). i don’t want to be racist but i just cannot for the life of me appreciate how cultural differences are nice when you’re in a looong queue, it’s scorching hot, and someone really smelly pushes their way ahead of you when there’s clearly a line to be followed. darn it. it seems to be not an isolated case since it happened to us twice in separate locations. what happened to the universal rule of order?
3. and then some people have no appreciation of other living things. they go to these attractions to satiate their curiosity and to get bragging rights that they were there. it’s sad how, within a few years, the Night Safari had become a circus and it’s so hard to keep tourists at bay. it’s obviously prohibited to use flash photography in several areas where there are animals, but like i said, there were still people who couldn’t understand.
4. sometimes attractions like the Ocean Park, the Underwater World, the Night Safari, etc. are better off unknown and unpopular. i get that they have to make money, but when it gets trampled on by many people like those described above, it feels like it’s not even worth it. the cages of the animals stink, otherwise carefree species are forced to remain in 4×5ft cells, it’s really just unfair to be prodded at and be made spectacles of sorts. it’s not really in their nature to be made captive.

about 7 years ago, i saw how nice and quiet Sentosa Island was. now, i’m not so sure i’d be saying the same thing. it’s so commercialized, they’re even building resorts and a Universal Studios park there. nothing against development but for a place so small and with such booming tourism… i just don’t know…

speaking of changes, the light and water musical show has really improved a lot. it’s still amazing, but with a lot more effects.

the fireworks are great, and i bet they really spend so much on this considering they show it about twice or thrice at night everyday. anyways, need to get to postprocessing photos now..

Sg Part 1: death defying acts

i thought i wouldn’t live to tell the story.

it was a smorgasboard of seafoods and fried rice, enough to feed a whole army. and it was a bit expensive (’a bit’ is the understatement of the century). it was our first meal in Sg, and i thought it was going to be  my last.

we were served 6 courses that we had to finish off because yeah, it was that expensive. sayang naman.

but in all fairness to the No Signboard Seafood restaurant, i had a taste of the best cereal shrimp and pepper crab i’ve ever had (like i’ve ever had them before). a must try when in Sg.

and then we went to the IT Show at Suntec, right across our hotel the Marina Mandarin along Raffles Quay (or Boulevard). it was crowded. ‘crowded’ is the second understatement of the century. if i come down with flu anytime within the next 10 days, it’ll be mainly because of that.

it was a logistical nightmare, but who cares, it was the best place for all good IT deals. a section on the 3rd floor was dedicated to all Mac products and accessories. the whole 4th, 5th, and 6th floors were all for brands like Samsung, Canon, Olympus, HP, Nikon, etc. there were also booths selling generic brands and items/accessories.

i survived the shrimps, crabs, flying viruses and the catastrophic sneezing of unmindful people. maybe, maybe not. we’ll know 10 days from now.

high

the following chronicles my recent brush with death. haha, or maybe not.

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the ground rushed out from beneath my feet, falling about 37 stories downward. the only thing suspending me in the air was a 4 foot wide steel walk that would have been the same as wire mesh.

the ropes above securing me gave no assurance whatsoever at that dizzying height atop the country’s tallest hotel building, the Crown Regency Hotel in Cebu. i was horrified from the moment i stepped out onto the ledge and was still terrified as i stepped back into safety.

of course the safety lines, the “heights people” (as i would like to call them), and the entire facility were safe and tested, but for acrophobic people like me, that does not mean anything. well maybe it does, but it does little to calm the nerves.

i could not, for the life of me, let go of the safety ropes even for a second, thinking that if i did, i would begin the plunge to my imagined death. it was funny that compared to some of my companions then who were self-professed acrophobics i, the one who refrained from declaring my profound fear of heights, freaked out the most in the whole of 20 minutes.

but the sunset at that height was magnificent, the view breathtaking. that was such an unforgettable experience.

and as if i didn’t get enough,

i rode this baby.

yeah, yeah. acrophobic, shmophobic. but this was DIFFERENT. nothing like being strapped on to a metal platform with nothing between you and the ground, tilted at 50 degrees downward. this, the Philippines’ first Edge Coaster, was crazier than the Sky Walk. if you have super zoom, you’d see my knuckles and nails are deathly white gripping the railing.

jump to today, sunday. i’m still alive. the Sky Walk is great done in groups and is a good team building activity. the Edge Coaster if you’re acrophobic and you really just have a death wish. haha. the heights didn’t kill me, so i guess if that did anything it was to prove to myself that fears can be conquered.

i also have slight thalassophobia, the fear of large bodies of water like the sea. but that can wait. one at a time.

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our photos of getting 100% naturally high in Cebu

Everything Everywhere

I envy this guy. I think bestfriend P will too.

Everything Everywhere: Around the World Travel Blog

Sold his house, put his possessions in a storage place, and booked a flight to see the rest of the world.

Envy, envy.

Travel (wish) List

I’d like to see the world, one place at a time. You can consider this my travel bucket list, in no particular order.

• Camiguin (”Island Born of Fire”) and its sunken graves, falls, hot and cold springs, white beaches (of course!), and Mantigue Island
• Palawan and its underground rivers (the last time I was there I was ’stranded’ in an island… a very beautiful one)
• Pagudpud
• Batanes
• Bohol and its beaches
• Kota Kinabalu, Borneo and its beaches
• Bangkok, Thailand
• Paris, France
• Italy
• Greece
• Singapore
• Hong Kong and Disneyland!
• Caramoan, Camarines Sur
• Cairo, Egypt
• Sydney, Australia
• Tywyn and Wales
• Anchorage, Alaska
• Spain
• Nassau, Bahamas
• Cayman Islands
• Georgia, the country
• Edinburgh, Scotland

I guess I’m really just a free spirit. Will update this from time to time.

Mia’s First

First Baguio trip and first strawberry taho, that is. We went to Baguio about 3 weeks too early for the Panagbenga Festival last February, but so what. Mia still got to enjoy the strawberry flavored taho (only in Baguio) and horseback riding (well you can’t say you went to Baguio without at least riding a horse once in your life). She was so happy to ride the pony at Camp John Hay that she kept pointing at every horse she saw and shouting “horse!”

I, on the other hand, loved the bonding time. Buti nalang it’s one whole week that I’m not going to work. I hope we get to spend it on the beach!

Ikaw san lakad mo?

Life’s a beach

This is as of now, my favorite photo. Not because of the beer, but because of its picture-post-card-perfect framing. Love the colors too. Hay, I really miss the beach already.

Canon EOS 400D. Club Paradise, PWN. March 2009.

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Ilang beses ko na rin ginawang subject si Mia para sa LP entries ko. Kasi naman, mga natural models ang mga bata. Ang sarap nilang kuhanan ng litrato dahil sa mga candid moments.

I always love to take photos of Mia’s smile.  She’s just such a happy little person!

And by the way, happy 1st anniversary sa lahat ng ka-LP!

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This week’s theme: Paboritong Litrato

Tags: beach, Litratong Pinoy

I miss you already…

When will I see you again? When we were together my mind was free, my lungs breathed fresh, I knew no tiredness.

Hay, Palawan.

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Club Paradise beach front, the moment we arrived. Canon EOS 400D, 2009.

On the flipside [lp]

Kakaibang sapatos. Sapatos na pandagat o panlangoy.

Hindi talaga ako komportable gumamit niyan kasi parang ang bigat. Ok lang naman, enjoy pa rin mag snorkeling kahit naka-paa lang. Ikaw marunong ka gumamit niyan?

Kuha yan sa Club Paradise. Mukhang puro CP na mga litrato ang makikita niyo dito for quite some time. At medyo maaga ang aking pag-post dahil ngayon lang talaga ako nagka-oras. Buti pang maaga, kesa wala.

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Canon EOS 400D. PWN. March 2009

If the shoe fits. Iba’t-ibang larawan ng mga sapatos dito!

Paradise [lp]

Gusto kong sinusuot ang damit na ito pag pumupunta ng beach dahil presko at summer na summer ang kulay.

Actually, ang entry ko ngayon ay pinilit lang Kasi gusto ko lang ishare ang napakagandang beach ng Club Paradise sa Dimakya Island sa Palawan! Nagpunta kasi kami doon nung weekend, all expense paid. Sales incentive naman kasi. At sobrang bitin ang 3 days!

Ikaw saan sa Palawan ka na nakapunta?

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Blouse o Polo? Ikaw mamili.

Canon EOS 400D. Palawan. 2009.

If I could have it my way

I’d go to New York. Or Paris. Or Italy. Seriously, getting denied by the Japanese embassy for a visa is so frustrating! Oh yes, what I was raving about a few weeks ago suddenly disappeared in a cloud of dust. Kapoot. Gone. The Japanese embassy had the heart to deny half of our company’s visa applications, and all of those were us females.

That afternoon a few weeks ago when our HR Manager announced there’s some “very bad news”, I knew my Mt. Fuji exploits (all of them about photography, don’t worry) would never materialize. I silently cursed the powers that be that probably thought these single ladies would only be looking for husbands to milk there. (Do I hear Beyonce in the background?)

More »

Punta de Uian…

… (pronounced ‘yu-yan’) is a nice 4-star beach resort in Pundaquit, Zambales. It’s a bit of a drive from Subic, after exiting the new SCTEX highway. (Which, by the way, could also be dangerous when you’re driving at night since there are stretches on the highway that don’t actually have lamp posts. But even then, on broad daylight accidents can happen. We passed by a 5-car-and-a-bus pile up along SCTEX last January 2 on the way home, and boy was it horrible).

Anyway, this is by far the best beach resort our Jan 1family outings have brought us to since I can remember. The waves were a bit rough (and awesome, mind you) because of a nearby Low Pressure Area when we were there, but very ideal for surfing. I’m not one to try my luck on the board since I’m every bit afraid of the waves that might swallow me whole. What’s that phobia called again?

Punta de Uian has a lot to offer too. There’s a large pool just in case you’re a chicken like me, a kiddie sized one, a restaurant, a beach volleyball court (or a net is more like it), scuba diving, island hopping, jetskiing, banana boat rides, ATV rides, kayaking, speed boat rides, and snorkeling. More »

Ginto [lp]

Matagal man akong walang blog post, may entry pa rin ako ngayong linggo! Hehe. Isa sa mga bagay na napuna ko sa Thailand ay ang kanilang ‘eye for detail’. Ang galing ng mga temples at figures nila, sobrang ditalyado, nakakamangha talaga.

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I may have not posted any blog post for a long time, but I still have an entry this week! One of the things I noticed about the Thai people is their eye for detail. The temples and figures are so detailed, it’s really amazing.

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Picture taken in one of the temples in Bangkok, Thailand. September 2008. Canon EOS 400D.

I’m baaaack!

I’m back from Thailand! Had a blast sightseeing, soaking in the culture (kuno), and photo whoring

More pictures to come! Super bagal lang ng internet ngayon.