Tripped On A Rock

Singapore: Chinese Garden & Discovery Centre

2008-06-04T20:41:00.004+08:00

Plans for Friday were to go to Chinese Garden and Discovery Centre. Again I left the house later than planned but it wasn’t because I woke up late. It was coz the bathroom was in use and I did not calculate the time I needed for breakfast. Stupid huh? I was supposed to reach Chinese Garden at 9.45AM but at that time I was only leaving the house.

Because I was late the Chinese Garden visit had to be cut short. The Chinese part of the garden was nice but the Japanese part was, well, a little boring. Maybe that’s why many places only referred to it as Chinese Garden although it is supposed to be Chinese and Japanese Garden.

Cheng Ho

Climbing up the pagoda.

It felt like I was climbing Rapunzel’s tower and I lost count of how many levels I’ve climbed. When I reached the top I did find Singapore’s own Rapunzel and her prince sitting there blocking part of the path, flirting like it’s nobody’s business. Ok so maybe it’s not our business.

View from the top:

Bonsai Garden
The website said you have to pay for it but when I went there nobody was there to collect money. I didn't see any counters there too.

I missed the twin pagoda but I hope I’ll be going back there again.

By the time I was walking around the Japanese part of the garden, it was almost noon, freaking hot, and I would be late for Discovery Centre if I don’t move soon. Unfortunately for me, the path in Japanese Garden was long, winding, boring, and “shadeless”. So maybe the fact that it’s noon is why I can’t find shade. It was a torturous walk back to the entrance. I’m pretty sure I’m one shade darker now.

Luckily I was able to reach Discovery Centre in time for the SAFTI Bus tour which takes you around well, the SAFTI Military Institute. After the 20 minute ride I was back in Discovery centre to catch 2 shows, one 3D Sharks and one 2D Everest at the iWERKS theatre. You’ll have to plan your trip so that you have enough time for the movies, bus tour and the Discovery Centre. However, if you can do the Night Safari (which I will talk about in the next post), you can easily do this.

Robot that sings Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

After that I walked across to the Army Museum, still in the same grounds but on another side of the lake. The Army Museum is free and they have 2 short shows inside which is about 7-8 minutes each. One of the show is really cool. I’m not gonna spoil it for those who are planning to go there but if you really wanna know, you can

(click to show/hide)

I went into the show feeling like I was entering a haunted house because I earlier eavesdropped on another visitor who had seen the show before, saying it’s pretty scary. The girl at the reception asked if I was brave enough to watch the show as well. Psychology in effect!

How the cadet does his uniform. Almost like cooking.

It was not a bad visit. If you are planning on going you better go before lunch coz the shows take time and the place closes at 6PM.

Singapore: Chinatown "revisited"

2008-05-29T23:12:00.005+08:00

It rained again yesterday and for fear of having to stay in the house again, I decided to start my journey earlier. At 8.30AM the alarm clock rang and I without a care in the world, turned it off. I woke up late but it was still earlier than the other days. Before my suspected curse of waking up at 11 and having the sky turn grey by 12 becomes confirmed, I hurriedly left the house just a little after 11.

By 12, I was in Chinatown and the sky is anything but grey. Actually it was burning hot. After walking through Pagoda St. and Terengganu St., I reached the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum.

I sought refuge from the menacing sun in the 6-level temple (basement and rooftop included). It was the first temple equipped with air-con and lifts that I’ve ever visited.

Lanterns are hung around the temple in celebration of Wesak Day.

More lanterns! Wesak Day will be celebrated here until 1st June.

100 Dragons Hall. A hundred Buddhas are enshrined on both sides of the hall wall.

More pictures of the temple at the bottom.

After a walk around thePagoda-Terengganu-Sago St. market, I proceeded to Chinatown’s Oasis of Cool. I’ve been wanting to walk up Ann Siang Hill Park and I tell you, what a great disappointment it was.

Basically, this “hill park” is nothing but a short 3-minute path. Oh well, I’ll treat that as a cool path to go to other streets it connects.

Walking down the park, I turned into Telok Ayer St. and visited another temple, the Thian Hock Keng temple.
There’s a mosque on that road too, but you can forget about it coz it looks like nothing but a shophouse. Just like the mosque and Hindu temple on South Bridge Road, it’s not worth a visit. There’s nothing! Ok fine, I admit I didn’t go into Masjid Jamae on South Bridge Road coz it looks uninviting. Don’t shoot me if I’m wrong about it being boring. I did go in the Hindu temple and you need to pay for your camera though I don’t see why you even need to take pictures. ‘Nuff said.

I had soft bun on Boon Tat St. (it’s supposed to be famous for satay but I don’t see any. Maybe just at night?). It’s a bun with kaya and butter in it (and I think that’s all). After that my friend came to meet me. Well, actually, he came and I had to go to the MRT station to pick him up. Not long after that it started to rain. Hmm…who brought the rain?

Because it started to rain I thought it’d be good to seek refuge in the Tooth Relic Temple again…and got my friend to take pictures for me hehe.

The Ten Thousand Buddhas Pavilion on the roof. In the pavillion is a gigantic cloisonne Vairocana Buddha Prayer Wheel (fui~that was long. Got it from the brochure :P)

Every turn of the cylindrical wheel represents a single recital of the scripture and mantra of the Dharma sutras that are placed inside the wheel.

Wheel of sutras! Oh my big face.

Singapore: Chinatown escapade (right...)

2008-05-28T00:56:00.004+08:00

Today’s my first time traveling as a tourist alone. I’ve always wondered how those lone backpackers feel when they walk in a foreign land. And…unfortunately, I still don’t quite know. That’s coz it was raining the whole day! I took a bus to the nearest shopping mall (for some reason my cousin kept telling me to go there, so I went) and after getting a sim card I immediately went to the bus stop. And I thought the buses are systematic. There’s a board that shows you the time the next bus will arrive but surprisingly the time can change. Sometimes it’s just stuck there. Oh well. At least you know it’s coming soon and not hours away.

While waiting, the rain started to pour. It started with a drizzle but soon, water was flowing in onto the bus stop grounds. I took the bus to Chinatown and when I got there something like an hour later, it was still drizzling. Great. There goes my afternoon walk around Chinatown and up Ann Siang Hill Park. For the rest of my 2 hours as a lone tourist, I was in McD eating its expensive fries (S$ 2.15 for a medium fries) and making plans for the rest of my days here. I now have tour packages set out haha. So much for my trip.

My cousin came to find me after that and we went for dinner at Central and took a walk along Clarke Quay.

I like the creativeness of that place. Oh I like it. I simply love the creativity of the restaurants and bars there. That’s like what I wanna do if I own a shop. I love it.

Check this one out. It’s called Clinic and the settings are made to look like a hospital. How cool is that?

The pictures are incredibly blurred. I refused to use flash because the picture would lose its night feel but a blur image doesn’t give much feel either huh? I’m itching to go back there. Maybe I’ll go during the day and get a better picture. I didn’t check the menu but if it’s not too expensive, I’m definitely gonna register there as a patient :)

This is one cool store selling puppets (If I’m not wrong)

Later we walked to Boat Quay and at its end we reached the business district (well, which part of Singapore isn’t? Ok, ok, I’m just exaggerating) I saw this statue.

My cousin told me to be careful coz it will pee on you if you get too close and I totally believed her. I even considered walking closer. Then she said, “Go over there to take the picture of the bird. But be careful not to go too near. It will poop.”

That’s when I realized she was pulling my leg. Damn. She even asked if it pooped. But hey, the peeing statue, it’d be cool right?

Constipated bird.

Finally, a little treat. My cousin let me try this little cookie in what looks like a pantyliner pack :P

It sure doesn’t taste like a pantyliner (god knows how a pantyliner tastes like, I don’t even wanna know), instead it tasted like heaven (Ok fine, so I like to exaggerate. Sue me). I think she bought it in Japan and one box containing only 12 pieces costs S$10. Swallow that.

P.S.: I didn't even finish the Vietnam post yet and here I am talking about Singapore. The Vietnam photos are in my laptop; when I can go online with it, I'll blog. Too lazy to ask for my cuz's password. And maybe I need to install things too. Nevermind. In the meantime I'm using my cuz's com. Her com is in the room I'm sleeping in. Thank god!!!

Day 3-4 Sapa Part 2

2008-05-20T13:24:00.008+08:00

We met up with our tour guide Mu at the hotel and began our trek to Lao Chai village. Just as our journey started, someone grabbed my hand. It was a black hmong woman we met earlier. She seemed to have misunderstood that I promised to go to her village (wherever that is) and was pulling me away from our group. God that was freaky. Luckily I managed to escape.

In no time more and more black hmongs started to follow us. Many of them are from Lao Chai village including Mu.

What they really do is they would ‘mark’ (as my friend puts it) each of you and when you reach Lao Chai for lunch they would start asking you to buy their overpriced products. I was the last to enter the hut for lunch and that made me their first ‘victim’. I bought a small pencil case-like bag for 20000VD (~RM 4) after cutting it down from 50000VD.

Some posing before we cross the bridge to the hut.

And that’s Liu and Lang, the 2 tiny girls that followed us. They’re all tiny for their ages if you noticed (like Mai and Xu).

At the stop along the trek, these helpless foreigners were surrounded by more salesgirls :P

After lunch we continued our journey to Ta Van village.

Finally after a total of about 11km trek we reached Ta Van village where we would stay the night.

This is our homestay.

All our meals were taken under the night sky. Mu is a great cook. I dare say we had ‘nem’ or springroll everyday since we reached Vietnam and hers was the best. In fact the whole meal was the best. What have we been paying in other places?!

Oh and did I say they love to serve fries? Fries are like the second food we had he most to nem. Mu’s fries were different. She fried them with garlic. I don't think I've had fries this way before.

The next morning we continued our trek to Giang Ta Chai or the Red Zao village.

This trek was the worst, sometimes having to go down slippery steeps, sometimes having to walk on an edge where we had to balance ourselves against the strong wind, and sometimes endless climbs. Regardless we arrived in one piece and relaxed at the waterfall while Mu went to prepare our lunch.

Strange thing is we saw no Red Zao around. Maybe their houses are scattered far away from the hut where we had lunch or all of them have went to Sapa.

After lunch we trekked what seemed like an endless journey, probably because we were tired from all that climbing already, to the road where a van picked us up. The van took us back to the hotel in Sapa. After a couple of hours of shopping around and later dinner, a bus took us back to Lao Cai train station.

A couple sat in front of my seat and from the moment I entered the bus, they have been kissing and hugging non stop. My eyes! My eyes! The sky soon turned dark – you know those evening skies, hate them, they make you strain your eyes yet you see nothing – and I felt like vomiting. The couple wasn’t making things any better. After trying to ignore them for like an hour I accidentally saw that they have switched places! Do you call that skill, or what!?

Take a look at the train station toilet. Maybe this is why they say Vietnam is the next China :P

We stayed another night on train and the next morning, it’s Halong Bay for us!

This is our tour guide Mu (holding the umbrella). If you intend on making a trip to Sapa you can directly contact her and not go through a tour agency because that would make it cheaper. You can send her an email (lythimu_laochai@yahoo.com) for further arrangements. Oh and keep in mind that M.U. is not Manchester United it Vietnam. It means “honey”.

If she insists on knowing how you got her contact you could casually mention me…that might probably earn me some discount points the next time I go there…

…I’m joking.

Day 3: Sapa Part 1

2008-05-13T21:19:00.007+08:00

Sapa was an experience like no other so I’m gonna be talking quite a bit about it.

In the wee hours of day 3 our train reached Lao Cai but we had to wait for a couple of hours before our van which would drive us to Sapa arrived. I was pretty sure it was our hotel’s fault for the confusion.

Upon reaching Sapa, the first thing I did was to take a bath (I didn’t take one for more than a sweaty day) and ‘Miss Malaysia no. 2’ subsequently followed. The itinerary was rather confusing and the two Switzerland girls we met while waiting for our van agreed. So for those of you who might be taking the Sapa tour, let me clarify it for you.

If you see your itinerary saying that you check into the hotel on the 1^st day and sleep in the homestay on the 2^nd night then check out of the hotel on the 3^rd day, don’t get confused. This is really what you do. You check into the hotel only to leave your luggage there. Soon after, you’ll be trekking to another village where you will spend the night.

After taking the breakfast provided by the hotel, we went for a walk with Mai and Xu as our guides. Mai is a 14 while Xu is a 16 ethnic girls and they both can speak English like they were from England.

Mai and myself.

It was really a different experience for me; with them ethnic black hmong girls bringing us around. People there are really friendly; they’d just walk up to you and start a conversation. Of course we soon realized that most of them follow you around with the hope that you would buy something from them.

A Red Zao woman selling handicrafts.

The Red Zao-s shave their eyebrows and the front half of their heads bald and wear a red headdress as you can see on the picture. Our tour guide explained why they shave their heads but I guess I wasn’t storing it in my long term memory so…I don’t know why!

Mai and Xu took us by the lake where they made flower crowns/bands/whatever-you-call-it for us.

I’ve never picked public flowers, especially not by the lake, especially not with so many friends, and especially not with ethnic people. See why I say this was an experience like no other?

Xu devotedly ‘weaving’ the flowers. I asked her to teach me how to make one myself because just two pair of hands (hers and Mai) can’t make so many flowerbands for all of us.

Everyone’s almost done!

We attracted a lot of attention while we were by the lake; Vietnamese tourists, foreigners, and even the black hmongs themselves!

She did not pose this way intentionally. We swear! Maybe that’s how she sits all the time. Maybe she’s contemplating marriage, or the problems of the world, I don’t know.

Who’s cuter?

The answer’s pretty obvious right? Someone might kill me if he sees this.

After we took more group pictures with our flowerbands over our heads, we rushed back to the hotel to meet our tour guide Mu. On the way, Xu say a love song which I must say, I fell in love with. I asked her what the title was and she said ‘Tiger’. I hope she knew what I meant by ‘title’. According to her, a Tiger sang this song to his lover.

And thus, at 10 AM, we leave Mai and Xu in Sapa and began our trek to Lao Chai village. Note: Lao Chai is a village whereas Lao Cai, the place our train arrived at, is a province.

Day 2: More of Hanoi

2008-05-13T00:04:00.008+08:00

Before we take our night train to Lao Cai, we walked around in Hanoi again. Sounds like a lot of exploring in the Old Quarter but somehow there’s never enough time. Hmm..is the Old Quarter that big? Nah…

Almost every roadside or old eatery you see, the tables and chairs are reduced twice or thrice in size. In other words, they use what my 5 year old niece uses to do homework. Wait, do I have a 5 year old niece? Hmm…okaaayyy that’s not really important, is it?

A guy smoking pipe. Luckily he didn’t give me a piece of his mind when I took his picture. Over the next few days we realized that not everyone likes their picture being taken.

Woman pushing a cart selling shoes.

On the way to the Temple of Literature (Van Mieu). Finally some ordered traffic! The reason for it would probably be because the government buildings, embassies, etc are close by.

People selling things in front of Van Mieu. The old man at the rightmost end of the picture was really shy. Since I can’t see old man who has to work earnestly, I bought a chicken figurine from him for VD 10000.

That’s my chicken.

The doctors stelae in Van Mieu. Students can be seen touching the heads of the tortoises and then subsequently touching their own heads so they can do well in exams. I was trying to take a candid picture of this girl but she got suspicious so my friend pretended to pose for me. So fake hehe~ :P

The Van Mieu is very big so if you’re wondering where the entrance is, it’s on the Quoc Tu Giam street. Don’t be like us, circling the place before finally reaching the entrance.

View from the Flag Tower. We weren’t allowed to take pictures from above; a grumpy woman guards the tower making sure nobody snaps any pictures but my friend managed to steal one. I'm not going to get sued for this am I?

Many tourist attractions close from 11 AM to 2 PM and on Mondays and Fridays, so it’s advisable that you check the operation hours first before you make your plans.

There was some confusion on the time we depart to the train station so I ended up not having the time to bathe, while the 3 guys (Miss Malaysia 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd) rushed to bathe with whatever little time we have. Princesses.

We got a 6 berth cabin despite paying $90 for the tour. However, we got a 4 berth cabin on the way back but the interior of that train was much older.

Great place to flaunt your yoga skills. Can’t imagine how the tall Caucasians would manage the what little space they get.

To end this entry, let's look at one 'lapchai' we came across.

'Lapchai' means handsome. There were many lapchai-s, most of them are in uniforms, but we only managed to take his picture. What a waste of the rest!

Day 0

2008-05-11T01:41:00.003+08:00

I totally forgot about our dramatic journey to the airport! This is supposed to be in Day 1 but now I guess it’ll have to be Day 0 or Night 0, for that matter.

As usual, we had to take a late night bus from Penang to KL from where we would then proceed to the LCC Terminal. We took the 10.30 PM Gunung Raya bus and at about 2 AM my friend and I were both awakened by a frightening sound. The first thing that crossed my mind was that we were plunging down some slope. Mom has been constantly planting thoughts of the bus crashing and stuff like that into my head due to the recent accidents involving the Konsortium busses.

The bus stopped by the road side and a few people went down to examine the tyres. It so happened that the sound came from the tyre exactly below where we were sitting. We saw them taking out a scissors and trying to cut loose something. Immediately, creepy thoughts like a head being caught in the tyres jumped into my mind. The bus continued the journey making a couple more stops from time to time.

When it struck me that I should record it down, the sound wasn’t as loud anymore. This is what it sounds like after some 30 minutes.

Sounded like a lion dance performance doesn’t it? It first started with the sound of an ancient choo-choo train (I had to do that :P) later progressing to a lion dance and later what sounded like an old sewing machine!

Well, almost.

This one sounds like a slightly modern train.

Imagine our fear as we had to be at the airport by 5.40 AM the latest. For something like 2 hours the bus crawled along the highway. Before we knew it, it had already passed Pudu Raya where it was destined to, and was at Shah Alam, stopping at a place to get its tyres fixed. Apparently the inner tyre burst and somehow it was making the sounds.

The driver blamed us for not letting him know we had a flight to catch. One lady on the same bus also had a flight to catch though hers was 30 minutes later than ours. Finally the bus dropped us at a taxi station and there the taxi drivers tried to slit our throat with exceptionally high rates of RM 100 per taxi.

That lady who was already in her middle ages surprised me with her incredible denseness by saying, “We’re already late. Just give us a considerable price okay?”

We’re already late?! That’s what you say after they agree on a price you biatch. You don’t show your desperation! What are you dumb?

In the end we paid RM 80 per taxi and got to the airport just right on the dot. That was one hell of an experience. After being terrified about visa requirements (that’s thanks to Chee Chong who said we needed visas just the night before our trip), I had to go through the experience of almost missing a flight. And you know what? Even Chee Chong himself confessed that the bus incident must be him and his bad luck. Oh well. It’s an incident no money can buy.

Day 1: Old Quarter, Hanoi

2008-05-09T23:56:00.009+08:00

We reached the Noi Bai airport close to 9 am in the morning and from there shared a big taxi (which is a van, but they call it a bus. Of course they have real busses too) with a few more strangers to the guesthouses/hotels we had in mind. However, as expected, after the driver dropped everyone off, he picked up a man who then ‘briefed’ us about a better hotel. I did not like the idea because I had already read about taxis insisting that you go to their recommended hotel so they could get commission. My friend’s friend (now my friend as well :P) who was with us agreed. No!!! Wrong decision! Oh well. What can I say to a person who gives me an impression of a big boss?

The driver took us to Fortuan Hotel where we were greeted by a man named David who was already waiting at the entrance. How surprising.

“Welcome to my hotel!” he said. Up till today I still don’t know if he’s the owner or just a worker. He showed us the rooms and we thought we might as well take it for the night before we search for other lodgings. After bargaining he gave us a 3 person room for USD 18/room. I don’t remember the price for a double bed room.

Before he briefed us about the available tours, he asked about the languages in Malaysia.

“What languages do you speak in Malaysia?”

“Depends,” I said.

“Japan? You can’t cheat me. I have Malaysian guests. I’m in the tour business, you know.”

-_-“ I said depends. Not Japan!

He told us he could speak Mandarin and I asked if he could speak Malay (Boring? Believe me, I’m not randomly blogging. This has a purpose). He said no and subsequently asked how we say “you’re very beautiful” in Malay.

“Kamu sangat cantik,” I said.

“Kamu cantip?” (or something like that)

“No, cantik,” I corrected him.

“Oh. Kamu cantik,” he said to me.

Wth, did he just hit on me?!

He was very friendly and smiling all the way but we later realized, after we come back from all the tours, that he wasn’t the same anymore. He was only being friendly to get us buy his tours.

We had our lunch at a place David recommended (which is expensive!) and walked around town for the rest of the afternoon. I bought a map for USD1 (about RM 3.20) which was incredibly cheap. A map would cost about RM 25 in Malaysia. Here are some photos of Hanoi.

View of Hoan Kiem lake from where we had our lunch.

The restaurant where we had our lunch (ground floor).

A woman selling 'pho', a Vietnamese noodle, by the road side.

Hang Hanh street. I like this street. It's cool and relaxing.

Looks peaceful? Wait till you see the traffic.

There are better videos in YouTube of Hanoi traffic. Mine doesn't show much. I wanted to take better ones but I ran out of space and the computer in the hotel doesn't even have a USB port.

Honking is like their national language and many of the traffic lights serve no purpose; even when they do, they last for a very short time, you have to run for your lives before it turns green again. Many small roads don’t have traffic lights anyway. The same goes for the road dividing lines. They drive on the right side of the road, but unlike the time when I was in Philippines, I couldn’t get that in my head because practically, they neither drive on the right nor on the left side. If they wanna make a turn, they just make a turn. Same thing goes for pedestrians. If you wanna cross the road, just cross. They’ll dodge you somehow. That’s how highly skilled they are.

We had our dinner at Hang Hanh street (I’ve practically memorized all the road names) where we had this cute (literally) waiter serving us.

This is him figuring out which drink is which one by one with his cuteness :P

And this is him again.

He stepped on my left toe, by the way. Thanks to him and my carelessness, kicking against concrete, my left toe was swollen for 4 days and I now have a new clot. Yay.

We later went to watch the water puppets.

Here’s where I satisfy everyone’s curiosity. What are the water puppets?? Joyfulchicken randomly said they were puppets made of water, which was not logical, but would most definitely make him a millionaire if he could come out with one (then again, a puppet made of ice, which is also water, would not, imho). Water puppets are just puppets on water. A stage is prepared where the puppets are being handled from behind the stage on water. How do I say this? Just look at the photos.

This is the stage. Bet you didn't think this is how we sit. I was surprised when I went in and saw seats like in the cinema.

Sorry for the blur picture. Will try to get better ones from friends if there's any.

And here you have the people behind the scenes.

Different stories are told throughout the show which was…how long? 30-60 minutes? Can’t quite recall. I’m not going to spoil it for those intending to see it in the future, but just a little tip, go for the cheaper ticket. It doesn’t make much difference unless you get the seats on the first row. So I say, go for the 20000 VD tickets. You have to pay an extra 5000 VD if you wanna take pictures and 10000 VD (if I’m not mistaken) if you wanna take a video but it’s really up to you coz they don’t check.

Just to end day 1, I’m showing you what some Malaysians would cringe at.

Seriously, it’s in the internet, if you can read Vietnamese. Perhaps custom made condoms, anyone?

CNY 2008 ('08 is supposed to be a good year! I'm positive! So why is this?)

2008-02-10T02:06:00.000+08:00

Chinese New Year is a big deal among the Chinese community, at least that’s what I can see in Penang. I had the intentions of writing about it, tripled with pictures and videos but unfortunately this year’s celebration ain’t so merry at all. For me, that is.

Let’s start with my car breaking down. Now, as some of you might already know, CNY is the time when most businesses shut its doors, especially if it’s a Chinese-run business (again, this refers to Penang). Until now, it has never occurred to me that almost all the mechanics that operate in this little island are Chinese. So do you get what I’m trying to say? Yes, I’m practically stuck in my house until someone can fix the car.

Now, had I been staying in my old place, there wouldn’t be a need to worry about not having transport. Everything used to be 5 minutes walk away; the coffee shop, the market, the convenience store, the abundant mamaks, the police station (!), the mall (if you walk fast enough), even the bus stop itself. You name it, she’s got it; my old place, of course.

But where I’m staying now is a 10 minute run downhill to the nearest coffee shop (and then you’d have to consider the 30 minute climb uphill back home), a 10 minute walk to the what I would call “abandoned” new plaza the community knows little of, and everything else is just in a range of an eternity of walk away. Just.

I think I’ve complained one too many times about my new place to those close to me; their ears are probably bleeding already, but at least now they don’t need to listen. They just need to read. Right? Ok, fine, I’ll shut up already.

Although the car broke down, I was able to visit my aunt’s house, where the family always gathers on the first day of CNY (you see, problems with the car only started after we got there). However, however, there’s always a however, not all the relatives showed up. Stupid cousins who think they can go off elsewhere after getting married. God, CNY is so different this year. Of course with fewer relatives mean fewer ang pau, but things didn’t have to be so quiet! Everyone was like quietly watching TV. Yo, what’s wrong with the noisy people?

And we didn’t even get a single call from my dad’s fussy sister. No call at all! Every year, without fail, she would call my dad on the first day of CNY, reminding him to visit her. But she didn’t call this year! This is like…I don’t know…impossible! It’s like winning a lottery; you know it’ll never happen to you. Maybe she stumbled into my blog about her. Eeek! Think of beautiful thoughts, think of beautiful thoughts…

So this is me, after days of rotting at home and heaps of procrastination, finally putting some efforts into this blog. Even though I’m not able to share the celebration here, not like there’s much in my four-walled room anyway (if it’s five, then something must be wrong with my head), at least there’s still something to talk about. Right?

So let’s hope Chinese New Year 2009 won’t be this bad but instead filled with joy and many words, pictures, and videos. (I was pretty sure there was a couple more things I planned to talk about but I just can’t freaking get it out of my head now. Sheesh!)

Eureka! - Furoshiki and Origami

2008-01-14T19:49:00.000+08:00

I'm mad mad in love with Japan. I should be falling mad mad in love with school but this is what I'm doing; making cloth book covers and bags for it, going to make furoshiki, and now i've just discovered a brilliant way to fold T-shirt. Perfect for a lazy ass like me. Let's go through my eureka one by one. Forget the bag I made yesterday, I'm too lazy to take a photo of it right now. Let's just go with whatever that I can grab online.

First the furoshiki:

You can visit the website for a larger view.

And now for the wonderment I discovered a minute ago: How to fold your T-shirt the easy way. I was so excited I showed it to my mom but she said she already knew. She already knew but she didn't brag it to me!

Is that amazing or what? Try it and tell me if you choked on your own saliva being amazed about the marvel you can do. I'm so elated!

If you still can't catch it, watch an English version. This boy even shows you another method to fold T-shirt the lazyman's way. Suits me. Try searching in YouTube and you'll be amazed at how many guys are actually folding their T-shirts.

Damn there's even an upgraded version!

You know what? Here's the bag I made yesterday:

It holds my planner cover so it doesn't get dirty and I don't have to wash it.

And here's more origami:

How to fold socks:

A bit of a redundancy I know. Just remember, 1/3, 1/3.

How to fold socks like you didn't fold it (the magician's way):

And your unfashionable underwear:

Looks like a lot of work. My underwear drawer looks more like the second sock drawer of the 1st socks origami video.

And now your trousers:

Super lame, I know. Moving on!

Here's the way to do it. This guy has Method 1...

and Method 2...

and a sense of humour too. Hmm. You know what? There is no special way of folding trousers. Give up.

Here's a Sesame Street version on how to fold your bra while wearing only a bra -_-". Guys, you may not need to fold one but I can bet my money you still want to watch it.

My god, everyone is obsessed with folding! I better stop before I turn into a YouTube ambassador.

P.S. Posting all these videos sorta sobered me down. The elation is gone now. Damn. Ecstasy pills! Or maybe I should go take my dinner before I need to fold my stomach.

My pride and joy

2008-01-06T23:35:00.000+08:00

I spent almost the whole day (5 hours to be more accurate) making a book cover for my planner. I love it! It’s my best work so far. My favourite-st!

The front.

The inside. It’s got a pocket made of lace on the left and a sim card pocket on the right. The purple lace is a book mark.

The back. It’s got a pocket too.

With the planner in it which was also made by yours truly.

And guess what? Long ago I made a bag with the same materials.

And also long, long ago, mom made a blouse and skirt for me using the same cloth. Hmm…perhaps I should go out one day with all that. I’ll be Ms. Blue. Oh no, is brown getting jealous?

I love bragging about myself.

What a fantastic end to 2007

2008-01-06T23:12:00.000+08:00

On New Year’s Eve, instead of wasting myself with my friends or hibernating at home, I went to a family dinner, alone. It was organized by my dad’s side; I’m never really close to them, I can never be no matter what. It’s not like I never ever mixed with them or played with my cousins. I just can’t remember much about my childhood with them as compared to the times when I was with those from my mom’s side. How should I put this? In short, people from mom’s side are more relaxed whereas those from dad’s are like tensed. At least that’s the feeling they give me.

“How many As did you get? Which course did you get in the university? I’m sure university is an easy cruise for you. (to my dad)How much is your salary? How long have you been driving that car? My son bought a brand new one last month.”

I think you got the idea. Snore.

I thought I was late but it turns out I was one of the first few to reach there. Great. All the more awkward time to pass. Soon more and more people came, half of them which either I have never spoken to before or had already forgotten. Awesome. I sat around while they stood at the lobby chatting away. Why won’t they just go in and eat already? Or they could at least chat inside! One boy about my age, I presume he’s my cousin, was stealing 40 winks on the couch. Hmm. He hates this too. And he was outright showing it by sleeping. And nobody cared. And I can’t possibly do that.

Time passed by slowwwwly and I was turning into the next scariest serial murderer trying to kill off that time. Inside I was cursing. I waited for those that I’m more familiar with, i.e someone who probably shares the same idea about the family to go in. If I go in at the same time as them, I can probably sit with them. I got in behind them and success! I got to sit where I wanted to.

The person next to me was my cousin’s husband and they both are doctors. I took this chance to ask about my blue black nails. He told me that if the bruise covers the white part at the root of my nails, it can never grow back. That was the scenario on my left toe, at least a quarter of it.

“What?! It can never grow back, ever?!”

“Yup.”

And then he was distracted by his daughter and I was left to panic. Just like a Mr. Bean moment where he panics and does something stupid when there really wasn’t anything to panic about at all. I hope there isn’t any in my case. Imagine, no toe nail!

One big difference between mom’s side and dad’s side on the dining table is that, nothing is left behind with my mom’s side. They’re hungry monsters. Whereas dad’s side…they kept telling me that I should eat because I’m skinny. I am NOT skinny. With every dish they kept telling me to eat. I’m eating okay!

Other than meeting a couple of cousins which I had not seen since I was 5, nothing bout the dinner is new. Oh yea, a few people are expecting. Like I care, I hate kids.

Here’s the video.

See, I was eating and the rest on the table was not! I was the only one eating! And they say I don’t eat. Sheesh.

Last day: All in all

2008-01-06T22:39:00.000+08:00

Last look at the apartelle before leaving. 12 hours of traveling ahead which I also experienced my first double decked bus back to Penang. It makes other buses look short. Haha.

I’ll have to say, I’ve never had so much pork in one meal. We had pork practically everyday. Pork burger, sisig, tosilog, and many more which I have forgotten the names. It’s probably coz we don’t take beef.

The sun sets really early there. The sky would start to turn dark at 5pm and by 6pm it already feels like 8. Even though it’s the end of the year, it still doesn’t set so early here. But then, our time has been moved forward by an hour so it would have set that early if not for the shift.

One fun thing is that food is cheap, and fast food is really cheap. And to think that everything already had taxes included in the price only makes it more of a bliss. What I hate here is that when you get your bill it’s always more than what you expect. Sheesh.

Another thing I learned is that they don’t have identity cards. What?! When the guard asked for Arthur’s identity card, he gave the guard his working ID. I wondered why then. Soon I learned that there is no identity card. What they use to identify themselves is their working ID. So whoever that doesn’t have a job, doesn’t have an identity :P

This entry is crap.

Anyway, here are some of my favourite photos.

Day 5: Strings of malls

2007-12-26T23:54:00.000+08:00

Today’s plan is to go to as many malls as possible. My heart was itching to go back to MOA but there’s the time factor. And thinking about the LRT station<->MOA jeepney ride isn’t all that pleasant. The last night when we took the ride, the driver tried to squeeze as many people as possible into the jeepney before he would start the journey. It’s something like the Penang mini bus waiting around the Komtar terminal only that this is worse.

I was pretty angry when I took the ride because not only were we packed like sardines, when people got off and there was actually some breathing space, one inconsiderate guy decided to keep all the space for himself by inflating his fat ass. How convenient. And then there were these two lovebirds sitting opposite me which was a pain to look at. Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t care but when I’m in a sardine can, it matters. I don’t remember what they did but I can tell you, lovers suck!

This is turning into an angry post. Rest assured I’m not angry anymore. I’m just trying to picture to you how it’s like being a sardine.

On the way back we were again amazingly squeezed into the jeepney by the driver. It’s unimaginable! It was already so crammed yet he kept on calling more people in. Jesus H. Christ! At that moment I wished I had really bad B.O. so everyone would stay far away from me. That was also the fastest, craziest jeepney ride ever. That guy thinks he’s Michael Schumacher! You know how you’re face feels like it’s all pins and needles after a fast windows down-bus ride? And you kinda lose balance when you get down? That’s how it was.

Anyway, I’m not complaining. It was a crazy jeepney experience! :P

Day 5: First stop: Cubao

2007-12-26T23:40:00.000+08:00

The last day was dedicated to shopping malls alone. Arthur’s sister, Ann, showed us to Gateway and Farmer’s Plaza before she left for work. There were a lot of stalls selling bags and shoes in Farmer’s. I even saw shoes I liked but you know, girls, they have to look around some more, and end up regretting not buying it, which I did.

Over at the bags’ stalls, my friend pointed at a particular bag with prints which said ‘I'm not a plastic bag’. She was saying that it’s a hit in Hong Kong or something.

[pic source]

Of course we were conversing in our Penang hokkien and that must have given an impression that we were not locals.

“How much?” we asked the girl.

“Er…er…uh…P350,” she said after hesitating for a while.

Overpriced? Definitely. A while later when we crossed the street to Isetann – which I first thought was the Japanese Isetan – we saw the same bag for only a little over P200. Blood sucking mosquito!! After that we decided not to talk anymore if a sales girl is present.

The place mistaken for Isetan. Pretty obvious because the logo is different, but it was able to dupe my slow unsuspecting mind.

The real Isetan logo

Anyway, if you go to Isetann and you see the cheap wallets displayed just in front of the escalator, don’t buy them. Your cards will not be able to fit in the compartments because they’re way too small.

Farmer’s was a lot more fun compared to Gateway because there really isn’t anything in Gateway. What’s in Gateway is a P10 per entry washroom. (Oh you know, people call it comfort room over there. Or maybe it’s just Arthur) My friend wanted to go to the WC and I was just tagging along when a girl standing at the entrance stopped us and asked us to pay at the ‘pay station’.

“P10,” the girl at the pay station said.

Again, my slow mind happily obliged and I was given a ticket which was quickly snatched away by the first girl.

Right about then, I came to my consciousness and realized how stupid I was. I was just tagging along! It’s not like I need to pee. And I didn’t even get to keep the stupid ticket.

Since we’re already in there I thought I might as well do the big business. But you know, when you want it to come, it just won’t. Oh well. P10 just to wash my hands.

After that we went back to Farmer’s where we ate the Jollibee chicken burger. They’re really nice! So far the best fast food chicken burger I’ve had. I really should sell those chicken burgers here. McD will be begging me to stop. Haha!

Day 5: Second stop: Ayala

2007-12-26T23:37:00.000+08:00

After that we took the MRT to Ayala where we went to Glorietta and SM something :P If I were to compare, Glorietta would be a better place to shop. The SM there is just like a huge department store, with few shops around it.

I was running low on cash but there was only one money changer in Glorietta and the queue was freaking long. Funny thing is everyone queuing up is Filipino. Uh…why are they flocking there to change money?

The next plan was to proceed to Greenbelt but we somehow managed to get lost. That’s when the much hated security guards came into use.

“Do you know how I can get to Greenbelt?” I asked a dreamy guard, probably snaking at his job.

“Turn left and just follow The Landmark.”

Follow the landmark…rightttt…the landmark is what got us to you in the first place. I walked left anyways, and not long after that I did see ‘the landmark’. It’s actually another mall. Sweat. It was filled with all sorts of stuff and I would definitely spend more time there if we didn’t have to catch the train before 5pm.

We walked across to Greenbelt anyway although I’d much rather walk around The Landmark. Greenbelt turned out to be nothing but that was probably because we went into the wrong wing. The garden was nice though.

The garden on the way to Greenbelt.

Now to catch the train we would have to go back to Glorietta and out to the streets (I’m sure there’s an easier route but as if we know). The security checks proved to be a real pain then because everyone else was also taking the same route and the lines in front of the security check was awfully long.

Day 5: Third stop: Ortigas

2007-12-26T23:27:00.001+08:00

We managed to catch the MRT before 5 pm but it was already jam packed. It’s always packed. And to make it worse, the air-cond wasn’t working. Yay. We headed to Ortigas where we took a grumpy driver’s cab to Greenhills where I wished I had gone earlier! It’s a nice place with night market-like stalls on one side, and a high end mall on another side. Too bad they close as early as 9. Why!?!?

I don't know what you call this, but it's like those cuckoo clocks where the objects err...glide out...err something like that. (someone help?) They have this every year for the Christmas celebration. There will be a voice telling the story and sound effects too.

I saw another shoe which I really liked but that mean girl won’t give me discounts and I was in a dilemma. Polvorons for everyone or shoe for myself? (I had already exchanged another USD20 but, yes, I was AGAIN short of cash) Finally I decided to keep the money for polvorons, but listen to my story, there were no more polvorons. Yippie yay. What’s worse, the airport has none too. Doubly yay. Next time, shop for yourself first.

They even have Malaysian food in Greenhills and the restaurant is called Penang Hill.

In Kuala Lumpur, people like to display the name ‘Penang’ on their stalls e.g: Penang Laksa, Penang Char Koay Teow, etc. But don’t be fooled. If they’re using the name, it’s usually nothing like Penang food.

We had Yellow cab pizza for dinner. Check out the hands free washing. You need to use your knee though.

Later that night we met with Tiffy and her thick Physics book.

Fourth Day: Sunday morning, up with the lark, Hey, hey, hey, it's a beautiful day

2007-12-24T19:37:00.000+08:00

That morning I woke up at 6 after falling asleep while counting money (Haha! Good chance for you to steal them!) and went to the bathroom only to see a soggy mass of disgusting wet toilet paper by the sink. The people who had checked into our unit the night before must have left it there before leaving to catch a flight or something.

They were locals. I don’t understand why a local would want to rent a place for the night. I was expecting foreigners or something. Anyway, whatever. Point is they don’t clean up after themselves.

Just the night before one of them did not turn off the shower heater. Thanks for burning my feet. Don’t get what I mean? Take a look at the shower unit.

Take a closer look at the instructions.

I didn’t even know the instructions were there if not for his/her stupidity. Come on, you turn off whatever you turn on right? Except maybe your wife. Ok whatever, not funny. You don’t need instructions to tell you that.

So when I got back late that night and decided to take a shower, I saw the lights on the heater unit on. I turned the tap a little and I could see steam coming out of the heater head! It was that hot! But at that moment I thought it were my eyes deceiving me so I turned the tap all the way and stuck my foot in the water. Hot boiling water. Hurray. #!#@$!

Luckily after I went back to sleep at 6 the housekeepers came to clean the mess away.

Fourth Day: We made Arthur wait

2007-12-24T19:33:00.001+08:00

Oh you know, touch here touch there and oops we’re late.

Took this on the way to our first LRT ride in Philippines.

We took a very short ride, getting off the next stop because Arthur only wanted to show us how to get around the station.

The San Sebastian church.

Ok I did some research. This church is the only steel church in Asia built in the late 19^th century and designed by Alexander Gustave Eiffel himself. Or at least it has been confirmed that he designed the metal structure. Yea, the Eiffel tower guy. What’s the Eiffel tower? Seriously, are you kidding?

I hope I got that right or Arthur might throw cold water on me :P

Fourth Day: Fort Santiago

2007-12-24T19:18:00.001+08:00

Remember the second day when we couldn’t visit the fort? We saved it for this day.

Before that we had our very first Jollibee meal in Intramuros.

Here we are! The fort! It looks really nice with the garden and the wind was cool and strong.

This is what makes it such a nice place.

Two metal figures doing uh…uh…I don’t know. In the background are the faces of the presidents of Philippines. Gloria doesn’t look like Gloria.

Walking the footsteps of Jose Rizal. Lee Phei was going the wrong way :P

They made footprints of Jose Rizal’s final steps walking from his dungeon to the place where he would be executed in Rizal Park in Bagumbayan. The footprints ended at the exit gate of Fort Santiago where Arthur said, “Then he magically teleported himself to Bagumbayan.” That’s not a quote. I don’t remember your words exactly :P

The moat outside the fort. I wonder if it goes around.

The entrance of the fort.

Going in…

All the statues have the same pose. Except this one which decided to lean forward.

Falling wall???

From the inside looking out.

We managed to catch the sunset this time but unfortunately it was too cloudy. I was told that this is where you can find one of the world’s most beautiful sunsets. Although I didn’t get to see it I guess it’s true since there were many people with their professional cameras trying to catch the sunset. Soon the cloudy sky turned dark, the wind grew stronger, and the waves were threatening to swallow you. Just to show you how strong the waves were, it splashed onto us who were sitting like 10 feet away. Then it began to drizzle. Perhaps the anticipated storm was about to come? We were greeted by the news that a storm was on its way the first day we got here. Luckily it didn’t.

We crossed the road from Manila Bay where we saw the sunset to Rizal Park.

Before that we took a picture of the Kilometer Zero which serves as a point of origin to all other cities in Philippines.

Fourth Day: Mall of Asia

2007-12-24T19:13:00.001+08:00

On the way to MOA we saw this cool looking petrol pump.

I’ve never seen anything like this before. Oh, and different stations sell fuel for different prices unlike here where the price is controlled.

Apparently MOA is the largest mall in Asia but I’m not sure why. Doesn’t feel that big to me. In fact, the mall we were going to go to the next day felt bigger. Maybe it’s because we never had the chance to explore the whole place. Anyway I like the place because one section of it is open air and you get the strong sea breeze blowing in while shopping in the air conditioned mall. Kinda confuses your brain. Am I in a mall??

Three person meal with a cheap price tag. Was it P70 per person? But that’s excluding my drink (the pink one on the right). Freaking expensive drink. Wait, I don’t even know if it’s qualified to be called a drink. Only makes you more thirsty.

I like this walk outside MOA.

We'll be off to more malls tomorrow!

Subic Day: Zoobic Safari

2007-12-18T23:09:00.000+08:00

Everyone gathered in Arthur’s grandpa’s place in the morning for breakfast before leaving for Subic. It was an approximately 2 hour’s drive from Chinatown. We were entertained by Arthur’s singing all the way. We got to listen to different genres from oldies to kindy songs and ABCs to scouting songs. He does it like it’s nobody’s business, and nobody cares as well. I guess we’re all familiar with each other haha.

Along the way you could see a lot of SMART banners. It was practically everywhere. Everyone was their supporters. The banner was used as a shield, a curtain, a drape to cover stalls, gates; it was practically used everywhere for everything.

Our first stop was Zoobic. I don’t know what was wrong with me but I couldn’t figure out why they called the safari Zoobic and not Soobic until I got there. Stupid right? It’s a zoo hence ‘zoobic’ DUH.

He looks cool doesn’t he? Try walking nearer and he’ll give you a good snarl.

This one gave me a loud snarl too before ignoring me. Yea, yea, whatever.

Unfriendly tigers!

Lazy pigs.

But when the handler came with food all three of them instantly woke up, wagged their tails, and the fat one behind carried up his bowl with his mouth.

Piggy soccer.

Our guide Apple (it’s a must that we remember her name. Apple, I still remember your name!) took us around the petting zoo where many of the animals are free to roam around and mingle with us. I just realized I went to a petting zoo. So that’s a petting zoo huh?

Hungry camels which resorted to eating the tree.

Peeing bear.

After the petting zoo we took a…uh…truck-like caged vehicle and went to where the tigers roam freely! Oh! Excitement! From what I read, the person is going to throw the chicken meat over the truck and the tiger will jump over to catch it. I took the seat I thought was the best – next to the driver, by the window. But guess what?

You guys again. Yawn. How come you can never have enough of me!?

The tigers have probably been fed so many times they couldn’t care much anymore. Look at him. He doesn’t care whether you let him have the chicken or not. Lazy bum!

Excuse me, but this chicken is not fresh. What do you think I am? Second class?

After the disappointing tiger encounter everyone got into their own vehicles and went to other parts of the safari where we saw:

The Aetas doing their dances.

I call this the standing push ups. There’s Apple on the right and

Philippines

’ Next Top Aetas leaning on the tree.

Then the second dance is one where he tries to scare you and then he runs up a tree.

In the last one, they fight each other.

From left: Josh, Lester, Arthur, me, Lee Phei, Steven, Mr. Treeman, Mr. Next Top Aetas, and Mr. Push ups

I bought a whistle that was supposed to give out sounds of chirping birds when blown but when I tried it at home, it just gave a single tone. Cheated!

Our journey continued with the Hip Hop Bay Walk.

And I thought it was a performers dancing to hip hop songs thing :/ Looks easy but it’s not so.

After that we went to Croco Loco where you get to feed the crocodiles with chickens hanging from a stick, of course, with a fee.

If you can find the chicken meat, I’ll give you a chicken :P Hint: You can never find it.

You want a piece of me?

We also went to the Serpentarium, the Bone Museum, and had another encounter with tigers. After everything, we settled at its Buho restaurant for lunch. I had my first sisig dish there. It was really nice! Of course, when I knew it was pig’s ear it was already too late. But what the hell, it was good.

Entrance fee: P395 inclusive of everything I mentioned except the lunch, of course.

Subic Day: Killing time

2007-12-18T23:08:00.000+08:00

After that we had some time to kill before the dolphin show in Ocean Adventure starts. Steven drove around with Lester giving directions and Arthur was still singing while the rest of us slept.

I found that all the beaches there are private beaches and you have to pay to go in! What!? Pay to use the beach?! Unacceptable. All we did was loitering around the entrance before moving on to the next destination.

Then we reached the place Arthur was talking about; the canopy slide. We didn’t do that because it would take too much time and we wouldn’t want to miss the dolphin show. Too bad.

Subic Day: Ocean Adventure

2007-12-18T23:04:00.001+08:00

Our last stop was Ocean Adventure. We saw the dolphin show and

This part where the man is thrown out of the water into the air by the dolphin is really cool

the sea lion show

Adorable, no?

After the shows we visited the souvenir shop and the African look-a-like guard asked if we were Koreans. Hah. Do we look like Koreans? Lee Phei said she has already been mistaken for a local in Cambodia and an Indonesian in Singapore. Now she’s a Korean. What next? I do notice something in the airport. Whatever notices that are put up will be in 3 languages; one in Tagalog, one in English, and another in Korean. Perhaps many Koreans visit Philippines?

We kinda browsed the shop excessively long before we realized everyone disappeared except Lester who was still with us. They were in the car. It was like a ‘me waiting for you - you waiting for me situation’ and finally everyone slowly left and we were the last. Sorry!! If it were my guy friends back home they would have made noise already. I’d love to complain about how much of a ‘gentlemen’ my friends from Penang are, but I’ll leave that for another day.

I was pretty ‘blur’ because everyone was using Tagalog when they were making plans to go somewhere! I didn’t know where we were heading most of the time and I didn’t know someone felt like puking in the car either! But at the end of the day, although we didn’t get to have Jollibee for dinner as planned, it led us to Soup no. 5 instead. What’s that? What’s that? That’s for you to guess :)

Second Day: Morning!

2007-12-12T17:49:00.003+08:00

We toured the city on the second day and our first stop is of course to…fill up our stomach! We had a typical Filipino breakfast which is ~~tapsilog~~ (ok it's tosilog, refer Arthur's comment), only thing is that we had the one with pork because we don’t take beef. Hmm…crunchy barbequed pork…dang writing this makes me hungry.

Place we had our breakfast. Oh look! The girl is too shy, she’s hiding behind the pots!

And here’s the first meal of the day!

Sorry, I was too hungry to think of taking a photo of it before digging in. And you didn’t see the rice on the table. Nope.

After the hearty meal, we walked over to our first destination. Arthur’s school, the University of Santo Tomas (UST).

Over there of course, we were stopped by guards, again.

Guard: “Where are you going?”
Me: *points at Arthur*

Arthur came and spoke to the guard in Tagalog and he let us through. I think he said we were heading to the church or hospital in the uni. Guards! Sheesh! And I thought universities are open to pedestrians, since they’ve got hospitals and all.

Me: Why did he stop us and not you?
Arthur: Coz you’re not a student.
Me: But you’re not a student too.
Arthur: I just walked straight in.
Me: How did he know I’m not a student?
Arthur: Coz you’re not wearing a uniform!

Wait…uni students…uniforms…? Let’s have a look at their uniforms.

The girls look like nurses and the guys look like…well, guys. C’mon I can get the guys’ uniforms anywhere! They’re just a white shirt and black pants. Then I can walk straight in without the guard interfering. But of course I’ll have to be a dyke to do that.

It’s got the uni feel doesn’t it?

If you look carefully, that statue in the center is pointing to the direction of another university. I don’t remember who the guy is but they say that he’s asking you to go there if you fail here. For more info, Arthur will enlighten you :P

While in there, we had ice cream :)

Sorry guys for my late entry on the second day. I said I'd update this place everyday right. So I lied. :P This one's very long. Just spent the whole afternoon doing this and now I have a headache. I really do.

Second Day: It's Valentines!

2007-12-12T17:46:00.000+08:00

After the UST tour, we went to a street which specifically sold flowers.

Oh look, is that man selling ice cream too?

I love this one.

This is the Mickey Mouse fruit.

Second Day: My first jeepney ride

2007-12-12T17:31:00.000+08:00

If you go to the Philippines, obviously you’ll have to ride in the jeepney. Otherwise it’s not like you've been there. I played the mad girl snapping pictures of every corner of the jeepney.

We got down at a busy place ‘somewhere’ and walked around for a little. To tell you the truth, I was ‘blur’ most of the time. I don’t know where we were going and just followed Arthur. That’s the thing, when you have a tour guide, your bearings slack off :P

I like this one too. Look at the power lines.

Kinda reminds me of Penang.

Left: Awhhh Right: Eikk! Topless man! Right…like I care…

We went into the building on the left. It was the home of some Spanish guy centuries ago? Ok, I wasn’t listening to Arthur talk. Slacking…:P (You can also refer to Arthur's comment to clarify my uncertainties on this matter. Like he said, I really am screwing the history up)

This never fails to freak people out at first glance.

The upstairs. Damn cool! And I mean that literary as well. I love the house. And the window. They slide :)

Yes? What are you doing in my house?

Teatime break, anyone?

Afternoon nap?

Second Day: Are we still in Chinatown?

2007-12-12T17:20:00.001+08:00

Hmm…I’m not sure. But somewhere along the journey, we saw this weird lady in a robe.

Superwoman? Oh wait, it would have to be a cape if she’s one.

We walked through the market. In Penang when we had our townwalks, people were asking us to take pictures of them. But it only happened once here though, if at all (that’s also if I remember correctly)

Markets are so colourful.

Pretty women, walking down the street. Sexy women, sitting by the street.

We’re no longer in the market, if you wanna know.

I wonder if this is nice.

We took the horse carriage after that to Arthur’s mom’s place. My feet were starting to hurt already because of the stupid shoe. They gave me blue black toes. Cursed shoes. Sheesh.

Notice the shop with the name Mercury Drug in the background? You can find it in every corner.

They’re like mushrooms growing after a rain. Philippines’ main pharmacy. Can I say they monopolize the pharmaceutical industry like how SM monopolize the shopping malls? I think they even beat SM to that. They’re practically everywhere!

Then we went to a place where we got Hopia (the popular one is Ube flavour, or yam. The boss has a yam farm or something?). <- Ok, again, please refer to Arthur's comment :P

If you look at the picture, on the right is a purple fire engine, purple because yam is purple and yam because the Hopia boss sponsored it? Something like that :P

Looks like something you’d only see in cartoons, eh?

Oh nowww we’re in Chinatown.

In Chinatown, they try to make everything Chinese. Jollibee became ‘kuai le pang’. Funny isn’t it?

I regret not being able to go see the statue of Mary where people pray to ala Chinese style with joss sticks and all. How can I forget!!?

Second Day: Tsinoy museum

2007-12-12T17:06:00.001+08:00

Tsinoy means Filipino Chinese. They got the name by combining Chinese and Pinoy. Lee Phei’s camera batteries were a little more generous, while mine was almost dying, so she got to take pictures in the museum, though you’re not allowed to. Who follows rules right? Everyone was snapping away.
Wanna buy some sweets? How bout some fruits instead?

Give me all you’ve got on you!
Have pity on me! I’m just a ‘pao’ seller.

Alright, alright, I’ll stop annoying you with silly talks.

Second Day: No wedding blues?

2007-12-12T16:56:00.000+08:00

Over the day, we visited many churches, even the one with the dressing code. I hate dressing codes by the way. Whoever came up with them sure pisses me off.

But the one with the dress code had really nice uh…what do you call this?
Whoa is that the Emmy Awards? Photo by Lee Phei.

It’d be nice if they lit up the chandeliers.

Of all the churches, I like this one in Intramuros the best.

One strong church.

Coincidentally, there was a wedding. Ok maybe it looked the best because there was a wedding. You can’t have the bride walk into a dark, dull church right?
Look at the intricacies of the ceiling.

But why no wedding blues?! I want drama :P You know, something like Julia Roberts’ My Best Friend’s Wedding.

Second Day: Intramuros

2007-12-12T16:46:00.000+08:00

Earlier, Arthur took us to his granpa’s place – free lunch :P thanks! – and he also gave us each this packet of fried seaweed. I tried it a few days ago and it tastes great! I went looking for it in the supermarket and I found ones from Japan and they’re expensive :( MYR 5.90

When we were walking in Intramuros, a kid saw me carrying this and started following me asking me to give him some of the seaweed. It’s my first time being asked and followed around for food. I didn’t give him any haha!

Intramuros is a nice place, especially within the walls. But my camera batteries decided to call it a day after I took a video of the bride’s slow walk up the aisle. No more pictures, unfortunately.

After that we took another ride on the carriage with the driver as the tour guide. I love these rides. It’s not really fast but you get a nice cool breeze coupled with the ‘tok tok tok’ of the horse’s hoof against the ground. I didn’t understand the driver’s English and I didn’t care. The breeze was nice and I got to rest my toes. It was not my feet. It was my toes.

He stopped us at a place which I had forgotten the name (help?) and Lee Phei got to take more pictures but not me. Poor me.

Our final stop was in front of Fort Santiago but we didn’t get to go in coz otherwise we’d be late for go-karting.

Second Day: Go-Karts and seafood

2007-12-12T16:33:00.000+08:00

We weren’t late but guess who’s late again? Josh. Heh. I should give him a break :P I remember being asked a couple of times about a camera and I said the batteries died. Lee Phei’s too :( Somehow I can only remember it was Jeff. Now why did he ask twice? He didn’t get what I meant by ‘died’? Is that Manglish?

Anyhow, after go-karting we went to Dampa for seafood. Over here, you buy the seafood outside, bring it to the restaurant, and have them cook it for you.

I had my first sip of Mountain Dew after so many years there. It’s my favourite but they don’t sell it here anymore. It tasted funny. I remember I used to like it more than Kickapoo but when I think now I like Kickapoo better. However, I saved the bottle Arthur bought for me home and that tasted good. Maybe I needed time to adjust haha :P Of course I had to share it with my mom :( like how I had to share the super nice seaweed. I don’t like sharing! Hmph.

The crazy and the serious. Just like reading a book from left: Arthur, Jeff, Arbet, Christian, Josh, Lee Phei, myself, Julius(did I spell it right?), Joey. Photo by Arbet.

Arthur finished everything. Photo by Arbet.

During the meal, Jeff took out his phone? PDA? many times but nobody knew he was taking down notes. Later when everyone was going back he showed us the list of things he took down which he will be blogging about. We were all like “Wahhh!” but ahem, where’s your Dampa entry?

First Day: The midnight road trip

2007-12-09T20:24:00.000+08:00

The day finally came. But I wasn’t feeling excited or anything which is really surprising. Maybe it’s because I had to wait 5 months for the trip and the excitement died? Haha.

On the night before the flight we took a bus to Puduraya, KL. Once we alighted from the bus people were surrounding us, mostly taxi drivers and those who want to earn some side income as a driver. One balding Chinese man took us to KL Sentral where we then took the Air Asia bus to LCCT. Again when we were in Sentral people were approaching us with the promise that they offer a better bus. Seeing this makes me think of the lengths people would go to make a living, staying up till the wee hours just to earn some cash. Sigh. I don’t think I’d ever do that. Procrastinators don’t do that.

We boarded the plane at 7:20 AM without the rojak paste I was supposed to bring to Philippines for my friends (Arthur and Josh). Stupid of me not to check it in. Sheesh.

We tried to catch some sleep in the plane but it was impossible with those cramped leg space and all. Though, one guy sitting behind us was able to go into dreamland with his mouth wide opened.

First Day: We're there!

2007-12-09T20:21:00.000+08:00

Once we reached Clark we got ourselves bus tickets to SM Megamall where we would meet Josh. We passed by Balintawak where I saw people sitting on cardboards by the street. Some of them are even neatly dressed. Picnicking?

We reached Megamall 30 minutes earlier than expected and of course Josh overslept as expected. Nah, I didn’t expect that but it’s not surprising, right? :P

This was my first encounter with the much beloved guards. I love guards. In a twisted way. A very twisted way. We carried our luggage and walked straight into Megamall and that’s when we got stopped by them guards. Over here, you’re supposed to have your bags and sometimes your body, checked before you enter a mall. I was too surprised to hate them yet.

Even in the mall, guards were everywhere. Back home, you don’t even see a guard in most of the malls. Not even one.

We had our lunch and Josh came and after staring at the maps for a long time we decided to go to the Botanical Gardens.

The place is pretty much abandoned but we all agreed that Arthur would still like it. There we saw a lone tortoise and Josh said he’s staring at the wall which made me crack into a laughter.

Tortoise staring at the wall.

Come on, it’s funny! Why isn’t anyone laughing!? Imagine a person who got so bored, he turned psycho and stared at the wall whole day. Not funny?

Josh took some pictures of signboards which I thought he would be blogging about but till now, it doesn’t seem like he’s going to. Well, I procrastinated on this blog myself so it’s understandable :P

First Day: At the hospital

2007-12-09T20:17:00.000+08:00

Now you might be wondering, who goes to the hospital for their holidays? We do. No, no, nobody was injured or had his leg bitten off by the tortoise. It's because Arthur works in one. Over there, we were met by guards. Again.

“What’s this? Camera?” the guard asked poking his stupid stick in my bag.

“Yes.”

“Why? And why are you here?”

“To visit my friend.” And do you seriously expect to see tourists without cameras? Sheesh.

What’s cool about that hospital is that it’s got its little ‘market’ selling food and souvenirs in the lobby. Sorry, no pictures to show you. I don’t want to be thrown out by the guard.

We toured around Arthur’s office and even went up to the rooftop.

View from the balcony of his office.

After that we had free mushroom burgers for dinner. Thanks for the free food and many other free foods we had after that! :P

First Day: Checking in the apartelle

2007-12-09T20:12:00.000+08:00

“Where did you stay?” people would ask. “In an apartelle,” I’d say to blank, confused faces. Come on, is it that hard to comprehend? Apartment + motel/hotel = Apartelle.

Our room. Sorry, it looks as if I am taking the walls and windows only, but there’s a reason. The other half of the room is eyesore-ly full of my junk.
View outside the balcony. The LRT track is just outside our window.

One reason most people won’t want to travel with me is because they cannot stand staying in a place without the word ‘hotel’ in it. On the other hand, I don’t care where it is as long as it’s clean and cheap. And this place is clean in my opinion.