what's been happening in Manila?
------

i am loving my stay here in manila - its been really wonderful and somewhat productive. i have done all i need to do which are the following:
(1) passport renewal - am getting my new passport on Aug 12 - finally.
(2) checkbook and bank update
(3) drivers license renewal

all i need is to wait for my passport to arrive so i can finally apply for the US visa - i have all the requirements ready with me.


i had an early morning flight - 6am to be exact. so i had starbucks breakfast @ 5.30am inside the terminal.


manang prepares freshly squeezed juice for me everyday - my favorite would be - apple,orange and pineapple. celery and bell pepper tastes weird but bearable.


i attended my uncle's 50th birthday - and i took photo of the kids (L to R) - jugger, ken and chuy. chuy is my godson, and ken is my youngest cousin.


my first ever checkbook, to make transactions more convenient for me. i can just leave a blank signed check with mom, and whatever i need to pay, can be paid without hassling my parents and their bank accounts.


watched a movie with my sister and cousins (L to R) - marj, milli and aggie. we watched my sisters keeper and its so funny how we all were crying. HAHA!


before the movie, we had dinner at conti's in trinoma, and twing had lengua.


marj and aggie had her favorite dish - baked salmon.


i had the american spareribs, and ordered turtle cake and coffee for dessert. don't worry, we shared the dessert.


i bought a few things while in trinoma - my favorite would be this new nike rubber shoes (Php 4,995); new prince badminton racket (Php 2,000); sports shorts and undergarments, new books to read, etc.

yesterday, we also decided to head straight to trinoma and watch the proposal - ryan reynolds and sandra bullock were really funny. went with tita bot, cho, aggie and twing.


aggie and tita bot was so funny, they tried the chair for a good 45 minutes. the massage chair costs Php 93,000. i think tita bot is thinking twice about that. HAHA!


twing ordered the mushroom and spinach pizza.


aggie and cho at sbarro. i was the one who decided to eat there, since i kinda missed it.


chicho had this penne meatball with white sauce, tita bot had hers in red.


i had the chicago white - i did not like the pepperoni though, the ham goes well with the white cheese best.


the favorite thing i saw when i was there - the poster of NEW MOON.

BORNEO, last day
------

we had an early flight, around 12noon, and i was becoming a bit sick. i wasn't able to go out on our last night, since i was sneezing and having colds already. i hit the sack really early hoping that i would feel better the next day. when i woke up, i was so-so, not yet in tip-top shape. i went to have breakfast downstairs and tea.


i love having breakfast during holidays - i had toast with butter and strawberry jam, egg of your choice, turkey ham and chicken sausage - though i hate pork and beans - i didn't eat mine at all for 3 days.

when i woke up, and looked outside my window, i saw that there was a lot of people outside, and there are stalls installed. so i asked the receptionist what it is about - then they said that every sunday along this street they have this market that everyone around town would go. they would sell items such as bags, handicrafts made by the people in the provinces, batiks, cake or kueh, sweets, handyman tools, and souvenirs. i wasn't able to get anything.


sunday market along gaya street.


before we went to the airport, mechie and i had our picture taken with the doorman, cute right?!


their airport is not so bad, i was able to get sabah tea and some local coffee that i was able to give to ako bot and mom. i also got them ref magnets from sabah/borneo. haha!

--

i got my first checkbook, yay! and have settled a lot of things in the bank. now i am off to renew my drivers license, so i can officially drive around manila. yeay!

borneo, second day
------

yesterday was all about the sea and sand, and we dedicated this day for nature - the greener, drier side of nature. everyone who goes to borneo - has to go to Mount Kinabalu - it is really a must, and it is really beautiful too. we took a cab, for the 2 hour ride from the city to Mt. Kinabalu and paid 120RM one way (lower from the 150RM they use to charge).


backdrop is mount kinabalu


love taking photos of flowers


i love how they look on the photo and the composition




looking over the rainforest


i had beef rendang for lunch - and i was just really sleepy, so they all asked me to act like i was real sad.


lovely chair from the clubhouse. i want a chair like this - that i will use as a day bed. i have to get one.


i think this is another chair.


hiking on our way to the top


i had this funny incident - when i told them that we could not enter the walk way, since i thought its one way, since it had this sign "DO NOT ENTER", then they reminded me that the sign was for cars - it was stupid of me to assume that it was for people walking.

we went home around 4pm, and it was unfortunate since we discovered that you can actually stay overnight in the area, they have lodges, hostels around the vicinity - am thinking that it would be really cool and fun - toast marshmallows, hotdogs, have a cup of hot chocolate, maybe next time. so we just had dinner at little italy, which is a recommended place to eat, it was fully packed on a sunday night.


we ordered canivore pizza - all meat.


i ordered this seafood risotto which taste like paella, but thats okay.

--

i need to go to the bank to do some errands, and get my new drivers license. see ya later!

BORNEO ISLAND
------

this was supposed to be my farewell trip with friends - well it is a beautiful place. i would really recommend BORNEO/ SABAH/ KOTA KINABALU to anyone who wants a quick vacation from singapore - you get to have the best of both worlds - not so bad island/ beaches (manukan, mamutik, etc) and still get to see mount kinabalu (2 hours drive away), really good food - from italian, to grilled seafood, wide array of markets and stalls, and shopping. i really did enjoy my trip, and it was a great way to spend my last few days in singapore before heading back home.



this was our room in jesselton hotel along gaya street in the town center. my share was roughly S$178 for 3 nights, which means it was around S$120 per night. of course there are better 5 star hotels - hyatt, etc, but i like this boutique hotel.

on the first day, we decided to head off to jesselton point or their ferry terminal which would take you to the different islands around Borneo - paid around MYR40 for both ways.


nice boat, and the good thing is it takes less than 30 minutes to be there, so i didn't get sea sick.


the water was the saltiest i ever tried, i don't understand why, i get a throat-ache whenever i would taste the water. the beach was okay, the corals are not that great, i have seen better.


the island is beautiful especially the water, i wish we could have stayed longer though.


i am not sure f this is mamutk island - we just went to 2 islands since they are the best ones.


it was also good that the water is calm and the weather was fantastic, we were a bit worries since weather forecast says it there will be thunderstorm and things of that nature. fortunately, there wasn't any on that weekend.


mamutik island is very serene and quiet. a cool place to reflect and do any "sabbatical" sort of things. HAHA!


i ordered fresh watermelon juice and fried rice for lunch. now more than ever, i am really enjoying fruits, not in its whole form, but in liquid. manang made me pear and orange juice yesterday, and today was mix of pineapple and apple. she asked me whether i want to put celery, bellpepper in it, and i said no.


we headed home around 4pm, and slept a bit since we were all tired. we headed to the filipino market to get dinner. we had fresh grilled seafood, yum!

next post will be on our trip to mount kinabalu, and some more interesting stuff.

WIP
------

paulo has been bombarding me with "ahensya" words the other day, this post is inspired from the conversation we had. aside from the fact that the objective of this post is to list down my WIP (work in progress) items or to-do list back in manila.

i have applied for passport renewal online today, they will collect my documents on the 28th (tuesday), personal appearance happens on the 30th (thursday), and i will get my passport on the 12th of august (wednesday) - and i need to pay Php 1,350 for that service. now am thinking i could just pay extra so they can rush my passport, am sure they are able to do that.

so my schedule goes something like this:
july 27 (mon) - prepare all documents needed with photocopy.
july 28 (tue) - pick up of documents, go to the bank - apply for ATM and CHECKBOOK
july 29 (wed) - renew drivers license
july 30 (thurs) - personal appearance in DFA

after i get my new passport, i will need to settle my US visa application. i really do hope that after one month, i can get everything done so i can fly off and visit my friends. LORD, please, i am willing to bear 13 hour flights, and i promise i won't make any reklamo. HAHA!

yesterday was my last day (but i will be back oct 1 - this is just temporary set-up, aka sabbatical leave), and i have to pass by office tomorrow, to get my contract and tax certificate for the visa application. i wonder if they would need my payslip as well?! argh. i have to write down that in my notebook. anyway, last night, sarah and i went for her last dinner in singapore - and she chose the place i introduced her a few months ago - BOON TONG KEE along river valley road.


sarah and i @ boon tong kee.

she flew back to SYD today, and she is starting work in OMD next week. i wish her the best of luck. she read the letter i wrote for her (everyone of us in the office wrote her letters) - and she cried, hugged and kissed me. of course, i can't help but cry as well. sarah is my line of trust, one of my closest friends in the office if i may say so. i dropped her at her place, and she smsed me when i was on the way home "You are my bestest bestest bestest eva eva eva :-) one of those people that come into your life only a few rare times and i am so happy and grateful that we met and are friends. Sorry crying to see you drive away. Speak to you tomorrow. Mwah mwah mwah. x"

also, i was kind of touched, she emailed me last tuesday on a job opening in SYD - and her subject goes -- i am selfish, i want you to find a job in SYD :) -- she is the cutest and i love her. she also bought a house with nate (boyfriend) - they are the cutest couple - and i wish her the best that life has to offer wherever she goes. :)

--

on another note, because of the busy planning for sarah's farewell, i became much closer to the assistants, (we call them media asses - or media assistants) they are the one who helps us run data, etc. i went to watch a movie with them last weekend - harry potter and we had dinner and crystal jade.


esther, me, michelle tan and tony


nisa, me, jazreel and michelle wong

i have to say, i wish i became closer to them since ages ago. we just became kinda close now, when i join them for lunch, etc. i like them, they are a sweet bunch, actually, they are closer to my age - they are around 24-25 years of age, am still 26, yes, it doesn't look like it, but i was born 1983. they were so sweet to message me yesterday, that they are awaiting for my return and that we will reunite once more. i told them that i feel like my all my closest friends in the office have resigned - pat and sarah, and hopefully ryan wont be tendering soon, they replied that they are there anyway, and i am welcome to join them. thats really sweet :)

anyway, am off to go kota kinabalu tomorrow with some friends. i will be back on sunday afternoon, and am flying off to manila monday 6am. wheeeeee...

BOOTS and BANGKOK
------

i will be always fond of bangkok, because, one, i love the food, pad thai is the greatest dish on earth. i mean, i can eat it for days and i will end up with a happy tummy. i love different thai cuisine's but usually pad thai does it for me. (see pictures below). HAHA!

another thing me that kept me so interested in bangkok, is BOOTS - its like watsons but they have their own product range, famous for its brand called No7. so while they were having lunch, i gladly went to the shop at just looked around, and believe me - it was like me being stuck in a bookstore, where you can just leave me for hours. thats how OC i was. i mean, after working in the skincare category for 18mos, i do really look at the products now more than ever.



stuff i got from boots. 1) cucumber whitening moisturizing cream, 2) cucumber moisturizing cream oil control, 3) day moisture lotion and 4) day hand therapy.

okay, i am not using them, some are gifts. honestly, i am using one, which is the cucumber moisturizing cream oil control - i am trying if there would be any effect in my face. well, lets see!

BANGKOK ROCKS! 2009
------

went to bangkok last friday with some colleagues. i went there because i wanted to meet the TH SSM team (they are the nicest people on earth, and i really feel close to P'Yu and the rest of the team); and also to spend time with Sarah as she is going back to SYD next week.

i had fun, we did lots of touristy things, and we also went there to shop. and while the rest of them went to party, i slept, so i really had a good rest. HAHA!


sirocco is located at the 64th floor of empire building in silom, and it has a great view of the city. one of our colleagues actually recommended for us to visit that place, its a must see according to him, and it was actually great. service staff are great as well, they are very attentive. of course, drinks cost a bomb. the mojito i ordered costs me THB 410++.


sarah and i had our picture taken with the great view of the city, although you can barely see it. its really lovely to go there at the evening.


the temples in TH are nothing compared to what i saw in BEIJING, but at least they have temples. we paid 50 THB each to go inside, and we rode the rive cruise reach there. we rented the private boat that costs around 500THB each, and we started in the shagri-la pier, which is of course beside the shangri-la hote.


i saw RED MANGO from antons'(diaz) blog went he went to the states, and i didn't really pay attention cause the yogrut craze has no effect on me at all. the name rang a bell on my small head, so i went in to try..


this yogurt is delicious, and i am not even a fan. i had orange, peach and kiwi as fruit toppings, THB 89.


so i had another one the next day, which is bigger, still with 3 toppings, THB 119. i had kiwi, orange and bluberry.


cabbage and condoms is a place in sukhumvit area, and i have heard from this since back then. they have a very unique concept, they had characters made out of condoms (which i am hoping is not recycled). i had pad thai, and it tasted great, THB 100.


i went to suan lum night bazaar with Satya on sunday evening, and we bought a few things, and this is the facade. its beautiful, next time i will spend more time there and have dinner there as well, they open 6pm till midnight everyday. its located in silom.

on monday, when everyone has left, i had lunch at this restaurant in central world. i remember going there before and had great food, so i went in again. i had 2 dishes all by myself.


pad thai - again. yes, i know i have been stuffing myself with that lately.


spicy beef noodle.