Something weird's happening down-under!

Who's been watching the Australian Open? 

I was just browsing through the channels when I discovered that it had already started?! Wow... time flies fast! I can barely get over the fact that Nadal or Federer did not win it in 2008, and now here we go again...

I'm not an avid fan, but I do watch the games once in a while, when the mood strikes.

Just watched the Nadal highlights and was shocked! Not because of the game, but because of his outfit! OMG! are those sleeves??? What?! Nadal is wearing a shirt with sleeves?!?! Wow, now that's weird! And to add to the weirdness, he's wearing loose shorts! Normal man-shorts! Not one of those tight-fitting knee-long shorts he usually wears to show-off his bum and thighs. Talk about major wardrobe change. 

Venus Williams  got beaten by probably one of the dorkiest (in a cute and positive way) tennis player I've seen. The Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro beat the other half of the Williams wonder twins with great timing and ball placement. She had quite an "adorkable" interview after her win, with the audience endearingly laughing most of the time because of her answers and her nervous laughs.

She kind of reminds me of an old highschool classmate who was always awkward and clumsy. We all know a girl like that at one point in our lives. (If you don't know one, then you're probably her!) You know, the girl who stands to recite only to end up picking up the contents of her pencil case when it all accidentally drops to the floor as she stands... She was kind of like that, only with a killer backhand! 

What's happening to the world? Hunky beefcakes are now covering themselves up, and dorky, awkward people are now kicking-ass in tennis.

I wonder what's next... Players in koala costumes? (actually, that's not such a bad idea!)

The fat and 'sossy' Thai dogs of the CBD

One thing I've noticed so far about Thailand are the stray dogs. Since last week, I've seen more than 10 stray dogs. Let me remind you that I'm staying in the Central Business District. It's strange to be seeing wandering animals in a place of business. So far, I haven't encountered any stray dogs in Makati. Nor have I encountered any of them in Singapore (even in residential areas)

Another strange thing was that majority of the stray dogs I've seen so far are FAT!

It was only after a one or two days ago that I realized that they weren't stray dogs after all, but are owned by the people selling streetfoods. (imagine all the left-overs, eat-all-you-can-streetfoods?! no wonder they're fat!)

Another thing I've noticed is that they don't bark. I guess they have already gotten so used to many people that they find it somewhat barbaric and unsophisticated to bark.

Funny thing, the other day, while I was walking outside to buy dinner, a dog passed by me. Hanging from it's mouth was a clear platic bag with a piece of fried chicken inside, as if it had just purchased it from one of the roadside stalls.

Even though I was hungry and very much in a hurry to buy food, I had to pause for a moment and looked back at the dog. I thought to myself - "What the hell just happened?!" and then I contemplated whether I can try to snatch the food from the dog... (hey, I was hungry!) I fought the urge to bully the dog, only because I think it can take me down any given day.

Up until now I am still wondering about that day. (I know, way too much time on my hands...) Was it delivering the food to someone else? Did it buy it for itself and decided to eat it at home because it's so "yuck, kadiri naman, eating in the streets. eww..." They are, after all, in the CBD. :)

Yes, it's a slow workday today... waaaaay too much time on hands for posting non-sense... :))

Sawat-dee from Thailand!

(Hello from Thailand!)

I'm in Thailand right now for the support and maintenance(read: babysitting) of one of our platforms on one of the Telcos here.

I've been here since Wednesday, and plan to leave by the 4th of Feb. Since I'll be staying for quite a long time, we got a serviced apartment instead of a hotel room. The unit is nice. It's got a kitchen, a washing machine, a fridge, a dining area, a sofa, 2 TVs - one in the living room, and one in the bedroom. For a homebody, it's a great place to stay, but it's kind of sad to be alone in such a big place. Maybe if I had someone with me, it would be perfect. *ahem* girlfriend *ahem* hehehe...

As for the country itself, so far, so good. The prices of stuff are cheaper than in Singapore, especially the food and clothes. The streets kind of remind me of the Philippines, including the traffic jam! :) The people are polite and friendly. My only problem is the communication. Most of the people I encounter are not very fluent in English, which could be very frustrating. (especially when you're hungry!)

I'll try to post some pictures soon.

Sawat-dee!
(goodbye!)

*yes, "Sawat-dee" both means hello and goodbye! Great, right?! That's one less greeting to memorize! :)

Merriest Christmas part 5 and 6

Day 5

Day 5 also started early since the girlfriend wanted to see the sunrise. We walked along the beach and took some pictures.

Best view I've seen so far :)

Beach shadows...

After taking some pictures and enjoying the view, we decided to have some breakfast.

Buffet (AGAIN?!) breakfast

The food model with matching product advertisement

After breakfast we proceeded to our room to fix our stuff and rest for awhile. We checked-out by 12nn and rode the shuttle bus to the ferry terminal.

Since we arrived early in the terminal, we decided to have some snacks. The girlfriend got some noodles while I got some ice cream and chips (which we bought because snoopy was in the cover) :)



A few minutes later, the ferry arrived and before we knew it, we were already back in Singapore.

We took a cab from Tanah Merah ferry terminal to Crowne Plaza Hotel. We put out stuff down in our room and admired it's contemporary design.

nag-e-emote ang bata...

Then, we proceeded to Orchard Road for some last minute pasalubong shopping.

After shopping for some stuff, we got dinner at California Pizza Kitchen along Orchard. I chose this place because I was craving for their Red Velvet cake... yum yum... :)



After dinner, we rushed back to our flat to get the girlfriend's remaining stuff, and then headed back to the hotel to rest.

So ends Day 5

Day 6

Day 6 was the day I hoped would never come. It was the girlfriend's last day in Singapore. We woke-up early and went straight to the airport. The hotel has direct access to T3, so from T3, we took the skytrain to T2.

We got some coffee and pastries from the Starbucks in T2, and then we rode a bus to the budget terminal. We arrived in the terminal early so we just sat there and ate our breakfast.

Time flew by so fast and it was time to say goodbye. I was standing on the other side of the glass wall, while the girlfriend was waving goodbye on the other side. She was walking away, looking back every once and awhile until I could no longer see her. I still stood there for a few more minutes.

While I was there, I saw another couple saying their goodbyes. The girl was also going back to the Philippines, while the guy stayed standing near me. I was watching them closely as they did the same routine my girlfriend and I did... looking back, waving goodbye, walking away, looking back, waving goodbye, walking away, until the image fades and the other one is left standing.

The guy smiling the whole time, but as soon as his girlfriend was out of sight, the smile immediately turned into a sniff, as he discretely wiped the tears from his eyes. Bumigay din ang loko.

After another few minutes, I decided to get away from the airport.

So ends Day 6.

Merriest Christmas part 4

Day 4

We had to wake-up early for Day 4 since we needed to be on a scheduled ferry ride to Bintan, Indonesia. We took a cab from our flat to Tanah Merah Ferry terminal. Once we arrived at the terminal, we checked-in and got breakfast. We had Singapore's signature dish, Chicken Rice, in the food court of the terminal.

Around 11am, we were already in the ferry.

Ferry ride to Bintan, Indonesia

I look like I snorted something illegal...

After nearly an hour, we're finally in Indonesia!

Welcome to Indonesia!

We rode the hotel shuttle bus to Bintan Lagoon Resort. Once we arrived at the resort, we checked-in, but we had to wait for some time to put our stuff in the room since it wasn't ready yet. So while waiting, we decided to just go around the resort.





Then we decided to have lunch.

Buffet lunch @ Bintan Lagoon Resort and the return of the official food model :)

Another version of my "don't mess with my food" look

After lunch and waiting for some more time, our room was finally ready.





We rested in the room for awhile. It was at around this time that the "great flood" happened. Long story short: our room got flooded because the bathtub has a leak that we didn't notice earlier. Ah! good times! :))

This day was also a very pivotal time in our relationship. Whatever it was, I'm just glad right now that it was over and we're happy.

Anyway, going back, around 6.30pm, the girlfriend decided to go for a swim in the pool. Apparently, the pool was only until 7pm, so after the quick swim, we just went back to our room to have dinner.

Since we had so much food for lunch, we decided to have something light, and just got some sandwiches and fries. We ate them in our room while watching TV. (now that's what I call a vacation! :) )

After cleaning up, we tucked ourselves in bed and watched Saw 1 (hat tip to Reg for my Saw 1-4 copies )

I obviously enjoyed watching the movie (I've seen it several times already), but I doubt the feeling is mutual for the girlfriend. Now each time I ask her to watch a movie she responds with "Kahit ano, wag lang saw" hehehe... :))

So ends Day 4.

Why you should always rush buying food...

After buying lunch and logging-in back to YM:

neni: adik! im back..
neni: :)
tin: tagal mo kumuha ng fud
tin: nambabae ka noh
tin: hahahaha

Nalunok ko ata yung isang buong strand ng mama noodle nung nabasa ko ito... hehehe...

Going back to the start...

The Scientist
by Coldplay

Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are

I had to find you
Tell you I need you
Tell you I've set you apart

Tell me your secrets
And ask me your questions
Oh, let's go back to the start

Running in circles
Coming up tails
Heads on the science apart

Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard

Oh take me back to the start

I was just guessing
At numbers and figures
Pulling the puzzles apart

Questions of science
Science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart

Oh tell me you love me
Come back and haunt me
Oh and I rush to the start

Running in circles
Chasing our tails
Coming back as we are

Nobody said it was easy
Oh, it's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be so hard

I’m going back to the start

Oh ooh ooh ooh ooh
Ah ooh ooh ooh ooh
Oh ooh ooh ooh ooh
Oh ooh ooh ooh ooh

A certain wave of clarity washed over me...

Pathetic as it may sound, I spent the entire night last night until 4am today crying.
Well, atleast not continuously. I did manage to chat with good friends in between my bawling.
Yup, apparently I'm capable of shedding tears. Surprise! Surprise!

The past 90 days of my life came rushing back to me. It was like being caught is a whirlwind... the ups, downs, twists, and turns... now I feel I've been thrown out of it's cycle and all that's left is absolute chaos.

I thought she needed space. I gave it. The same day, she said she doesn't want it afterall.
But what I've realized last night was that I was the one who needed space.

I woke up today thinking there's no point in getting up. But somehow I managed to put myself back together, then a certain wave of clarity washed over me. I'm surprisingly doing well, or perhaps I'm just in denial.

Is this the calm after the storm, or am I just in the eye of it, and sooner or later, I'll be taken on a spin again? (yes, we're back in the whirlwind analogy...)

Today, I feel I'll be fine, But let's just see what tomorrow holds.

Space

I really don't have a word to describe exactly how I feel right now.
It's this excruciating agony with a mix of a certain feeling of emptiness... a sudden urge to just explode and disappear at the same time. My body feels so powerless but my mind is running wild with a thousand broken thoughts. I wonder when it will just stop and let me rest.

----

Space is supposed to be good. It's supposed to help us breathe, but somehow the space we have now makes me feel like I'm fighting for air. 

----

How can I possibly get through this day and the day after that?

:((

You Won't See Me Crying
by Passage

Waited by the phone all day
Thinkin' that you'd call
But you never did, oh no
You are different from before
Now you made me insecure
Like you never did, oh no

Tell me it's not over now, will you?
So I won't be hangin' around
And you won't see me crying

Ooh, ooh

Oh, girl, you've got it wrong
You've been thinking all along
But I've really changed, oh babe
My love's been knockin' at your door
Do you hear it?
Do you really, really care?

Tell me it's not over now, will you?
So I won't be hangin' around
And you won't see me crying

Ooh, ooh

Take me into your sweet loving arms
Let's make love like we've never done before
Like we've never done before

Tell me it's not over now, will you?
So I won't be hangin' around
And you won’t see me crying..

Tell me it's not over now, will you?
Say you love me say it loud
Say you love me say it loud
And you won’t see me crying
You won’t see me crying

Merriest Christmas part 3

Day 3

As mentioned previously in a recent post, some pictures were mistakenly deleted before they were backed-up. Most of those pictures are for Day 3, which explains why this blogpost only has 4 pictures. :(

Day 3, same as the other days, started with FOOD! Yet another PG moment at the buffet breakfast in the hotel.

yea, yea, yea, I know what you're thinking: "WTF! What the hell happened to the gorgeous food model of Day 2???"

After breakfast, we immediately proceeded to Lucky Plaza to buy more souvenir items. Apparently, the girlfriend has an entire baranggay of friends to give stuff to (peace po!):)

After Lucky Plaza, we rode the MRT to Plaza Singapura, the mall near the hotel we're staying in. Being that we were in Plaza Singapura, it was only fitting that I let the girlfriend taste my favorite ice cream located in Plaza SG's basement: Asabu Sabo Hokkaido Ice Cream's "Sea salt and Caramel" yum yum yum...

yup, the gorgeous food model is back! :)

Yes, you read it right... it's caramel ice cream with a touch of salt! I know it sounds strange, but it really tastes good. Unfortunately, the girlfriend was not very enthusiastic about it as I was, so she wasn't able to finish hers.

After ice cream, we walked around the mall, and the girlfriend literally dragged me to one of the stores, where she bought a purple and gray shirt for me. According to her it looks nice on me. (syempre, sya bumili eh?! hehehe...)

We rushed back to the hotel just in time for check-out. After checking-out, we headed straight to our flat where we're supposed to drop off our stuff before we proceed to Sentosa.

Once we reached home, I gave the girlfriend a tour of our flat.

by the window of my room

We also played some Wii games. We had a round of boxing, where my arms started hurting about halfway into the game. We also had a few rounds of tennis. But the game she liked the most was the target shooting one, probably because she was kicking my ass at it, big time! Those damned ducks are fast!

After resting awhile, we proceeded to Harbour front. We had lunch at Marche, in Vivo City. We ate A LOT! I think 4 people could have eaten what we ate for lunch!

After lunch and some picture-taking in Vivo City, we proceeded to ride the Cable Car to Sentosa. It's my first time to ride the Cable car to Sentosa, since I usually take the train. We took the Crystal Car, which is a car whose walls are mostly transparent, so you'll have a better (and scarier) view of the path the cable car is taking.

Since we don't have pictures of the cable car ride, I'm stealing one from the net:

did I mention I have issues with heights?!

After the cable car ride, we went around and took some pictures of the place. After that, we queued-up for the Luge and Skyride combo.



After the combo ride, we took a bus to go to the Underwater World. Due to my amazing navigational skills [insert sarcasm here], it seems we ended up in the wrong place. :)

Upon checking the map, we noticed that it was near the Beach station where they will be showing the Songs of the Sea. We decided we should just walk to get there. Bad decision. It was a pretty long walk! By the time we got there, the show was about to start. What's worse was that the show was already sold-out for the entire night. GREAT!

So tired, we tried to just appreciate the view, we were, afterall, beside the beach. After some time, we decided we should just head back home. Since both of us were just dead-tired, instead of taking the train, we just opted to call a cab.

Before heading home, we asked the driver to drop us off at the Pasar Malam (night market) near our place. This is where we had our dinner, sitting in the sidewalks and eating Singaporean street food... ah, good times... :)

We had cheese tofu(my favorite!), otah, sharksfin soup, roti john, and bird's nest juice.

The girlfriend also bought some stuff from the night market for her god-children back in the Philippines. Wait, scratch that, she bought A LOT of stuff from the night market. In fact, the guy even gave her some freebies, because she bought so many stuff from his stall.

After our night market adventures, we went straight home to rest our throbbing feet.

Thus ends Day 3... with food and foot aches.

Merriest Christmas part 2

Day 2

Day 2 started with buffet breakfast in the hotel. Yup, buffet... which means PG moment for me na naman! :)

you know it's gonna be a good day when it's starts with this sight :) (1 cookie-point!)

After breakfast, we waited for the shuttle bus to arrive in the hotel. The shuttle bus took us to the harbor for the Cheng Ho Cruise.

The Cheng Ho Cruise Ship

The beautiful ceiling art inside the ship...and the even more beautiful girlfriend (2 cookie-points!)

The cruise took about 2.5 hours, which includes a 30-minute stop-over at Kusu Island (Tortoise Island)

Kusu Island

The Kusu Island Pose :))

The boys and girls of Kusu Island

The girlfriend poses with the turtles... lucky 'tards!

Alin, alin, alin ang naiba, isipin kung alin ang naiba...

After the cruise, we went to Suntec City to have lunch at Swensen's





After lunch, we headed to the Build-a-Bear Workshop, also in Suntec City. We made bear-versions of ourselves, complete with 10-second voice messages. (keso alert!!!)

Tin and Tina Bear. Teka, nakakalito... who's who? hihihi...

Dressing-up Andy Bear and Tina Bear

After we got our respective bears, we went to the Esplanade to take some "tourist" shots.

Tin, me, and the Giant Durian (a.k.a the Esplanade)

We walked towards the Merlion but saw that there were too many people, so we opted to just see it from afar... There's always a next time, and I don't think Merlie will be going anywhere some time soon. :)

After that, we went back to the hotel to rest for awhile and drop some of our stuff, including Andy and Tina. After some time, we went ahead and took a bus to the mall capital of Singapore: Orchard Road!

We bought some souvenirs found on the basement level of Lucky Plaza, one of the malls along Orchard Road. Lucky Plaza, or "LP" as some Pinoys call it, which also stands for "Little Philippines", houses a lot of Pinoy stores, restaurants, and remittance centers. So if you want to hear a lot of people talking in Tagalog (or other Philippine dialects), this is the place to go!

Anyway, going back...

Orchard Road, as always, was full of people. Especially this season, since it's fully decorated with big-ass Christmas decors.







While walking along Orchard, we saw several ice cream vendors. Obviously, we had to buy some, for experience's sake. (ok, fine, I admit, I just wanted to eat ice cream!!!)

Singapore's version of "dirty" ice cream and my "don't mess with my food" look.

One thing peculiar about Singapore is that it's supposed to be a "conservative" country, and yet, there are so many sex shops! One of the more popular ones is along Orchard Road. The House of Condom.

Aha! Huli ka! :))

Still walking along Orchard, we found some vendors selling clip-on mini Santa hats. I just couldn't resist not buying, in spite of the fact that the thing costs 5SGD each! huwwwaaaaat?!?! That's one full lunch!?!

I'm obviously not very happy being caught wearing a clip...

After getting some complaints from our feet due to over-walking, we decided to take a cab back to the hotel and grab a late dinner at the 24-hour Kopitiam near the hotel.

The Kopitiam is Singapore's version of the food court. It houses several cuisines from most of Singapore's major races: Chinese, Malay, and Indian. Some have Indonesian, Thai, Japanese and Korean aswell.

For dinner, we opted for some Thai food. (one of my favorites!)

The official (and gorgeous) food model (3 cookie-points!)

Thai dinner: pineapple fried rice, mango salad, seafood tom yum noodles, and some beef dish whose name I've already forgotten (memory gap!)

We walked back to the hotel with full stomachs, ending the day once again with food!

End of Day 2 :)

Merriest Christmas part 1

So here it is folks... the best Christmas vacation I've had so far, courtesy of the girlfriend! :)

Day 1

I was already in the airport 30minutes before her scheduled landing, pacing around in eager anticipation. It took longer than expected but it was well worth the wait.

We grabbed a cab to the hotel. We were earlier than the check-in time, so we just left our stuff in the lobby and proceeded to have our lunch.

We rode the MRT to City Hall and walked to Suntec City via the CitiLink Tunnel Mall. She said she wanted something different and exotic, so I figured I'd let her eat some Indian food since it's not very usual in the Philippines.

We made our way to Muthu's Curry. (a.k.a. the restaurant that made m9dhatter cry because of the spicy food... hihihi...)

We had papadam (similar to crackers), samosas (those little triangles), kashmiri naan and garlic naan (the bread-like thingies), crab meat curry (na parang wala namang ganong crab!), butter chicken, and for drinks, mango lassi.

After lunch, we went around Suntec and bought provisions (a.k.a. junk food :) ) at Carrefour.

We went back to the hotel for check-in and to fix our stuff. After that, we walked around the souvenir shops near the City Hall MRT station and then we went to Funan Digitalife Mall. While in Funan, we decided to have some tea at Ya Kun Kaya Toast.

We had the traditional "teh" (milk tea), softboiled eggs, kaya toast, and cheesy french toast with kaya.

All that walking exhausted us, so we decided to go back to the hotel to recharge and freshen-up before we go for dinner with my brother and his fiance.

At around 7.30pm, we left the hotel and proceeded to Clarke Quay. After walking around, we queued up to ride the G-Max (Reverse bungy) and Extreme Swing.

My brother decided that someone should stay on ground to take pictures, so he didn't join the crazy idea of being thrown in the air. (he's a wuss! hehehe...)

my ate, the girlfriend, and me(praying for dear life)

A few seconds later, the bastards released us unto the air

After the G-Max, we bravely went for the Extreme Swing, which I thought was supposed to be less scary... I was dead-wrong...

This is the highest point... where I nearly soiled myself... IT WAS HIGH!!! and we were facing the ground. The only thing keeping us from death's grip were our seat harness.

Fraction of a second later, we are here... and I'm screaming (more like shrieking) in the most embarassing way possible... note-to-self: do not do activities which could possibly ruin your "tough" image, especially in front of your girlfriend. :)

A few more swings...and the fear subsides, and we're bored... hehehe...

After those gut-wrenching activities, we were famished and thus proceeded for dinner at Bayang Indonesian restaurant.

Food... AGAIN?!?! Grilled Seafood and Chicken platter, Beef Rendang, and Sambal KangKong

After dinner, we walked our full stomachs out around Clarke Quay's night scene.

End of Day 1 :)