Next Stop: Phuket

Today’s Thought: “Destiny is not a matter of chance; but a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for. It is a thing to be achieved.” - William Jennings Bryant

I am so looking forward to my next trip! My friend Shawie recently asked me if I wanted to join her for a vacation in Phuket. I have been dying to go there since I was staying in Malaysia (zeon years ago, ganun na katagal). My friends back there chickened out for whatever reason and back in PH, I was just happy to go out of town with friends. So when Shawie asked me, I said yes immediately. I checked the website for direct flights to Phuket where we could just meet but also checked flights going to SG. Thought it’s a good idea if we go to Phuket together. It’s almost the same price so I opted for choice #2. Next is to finalize the date when were going there. It’s off peak season till month of October but my concern is my impending work meetings here. Thankfully, I was able to iron out my schedule with our client but the September flights have doubled its price. So we agreed to have our Phuket tour early October instead. Now, where to stay? So many choices!

This one looks promising ^_^ and within budget. What’s more, it’s fronting the Patong beach, the biggest and most popular beach in Phuket (according to website research). I hope it looks exactly the same when we get there.

Last night before going to bed, I checked my self in the mirror (oh, for the love of vanity!) and contemplate if I should start a diet for the beach trip. But I remember my cake, my sweets and my jasmine rice…. Don’t bother, I got my gym membership anyway, hehe.

Somewhere in Between

Today’s Thought: “Everyone has some adversity. Everybody has a battle in their lives, and some are more traumatic or obvious than others. You don't necessarily have to win. You have to endure.”- Nancy Grace

No, I’m not outing myself. It was the result of the exam I recently took – EITLS, that is. Why in heaven’s sake did I take the exam? Wala lang, bakit ba? Hahahaha.

It was just a general English exam but it took half a day plus 20 minutes for the interview. Yup, may ganun pa talaga! The most difficult part was writing simply because I have not been writing through pen for a long time (thank goodness for computers and the spell checker, hehe). I felt my left arm and all my 5fingers there go numb halfway in the exam. After a week, the result (drumrolls here): 7.5. 7 is Good User and 8 is Very Good User while 9 is the highest or Excellent User. So I’m somewhere between a good a very good user. I was actually hoping for an 8 and above average but not bad I guess.

Before this, I was dead serious reviewing for another exam. I honestly felt that I damaged my eyesight with my 50 pages per day quota that I sought an eye doctor. They had this machine which will diagnose the eyes and print the result (who can contest the outcome with that?). It said my eyesight is perfect and my eyes were just way too tired. But sadly, that exam was postponed and was rescheduled 2 months before the original exam date. Maybe it wasn’t meant for me. Or maybe I’m being tested. Or maybe life sucks sometimes and my exam took a big hit. I could accept the change in schedule but what broke my heart was the fact that I only knew about the cancellation 3 days before the exam date. And I would not have known it had I not called the test center here to verify the exam location. For an international certification organization that puts focus on CIA and has a lot of integrity, this just sucks. And I didn’t receive any apologies or clarification why it was cancelled. I’ve written emails day after day to no avail. So I decided after 2 weeks to just reimburse. And of course, it took 2 months to get my money back. My friends were already teasing me that it might be a hoax site because I paid online (and it wasn’t cheap). What a big disappointment it was. It’ll definitely take a while before I’ll consider taking cissp again. Where did I put that money on instead? My PH vacation, hehe.

Ay Caramba!

All for nothing?

The Manila Standard rejected Malu Fernandez' resignation and Malu called the bloggers who hurled back at her a "lynch mob". I thought this only happens in Philippine politics. Reading PDI on a daily basis made me thought most local newspapers carry the same integrity and intelligence as this newspaper has. Nevermind the tabloids, but Manila Standard? All respect crumbles.

I support the call to boycott Manila Standard newspaper and web link. I've said my opinion about her, I won't waste another space. Just trying to reach out to friends and inform them not to support this newspaper.

Transformers Pinoy Style

Today's Thought: "One shall stand, one shall fall" - Optimus Prime

Thanks to my friend Pam for forwarding these pics - trully Pinoy style. I love to share with you all.

The buses can be a menace in EDSA but they sure saved me a lot of times whenever they fly their way off to coastal road, the Mother of all traffic. I learned how to sleep standing up, how to sqeeze in, hold on to a steel bar for balance, pay the conductor and try to review for the exams - all at the same time, while the bus jerks off the highway.


Tatak Pinoy. Miniature copies of these are popular souveneir gifts to friends living abroad and foreigners who are fascinated by this means of transportation. Back in my town, hometown of Sarao jeep, no undecorated jeepney can be seen. You cannot have passengers if yours is not as colorful and well adorned as the rest are. The students simply won't bother. The turn off though is the load music. I swear I thought I lost my sense of hearing more than twice. And for the upgraded version, check out the aircon jeeps in Makati. Not as festive but definitely convenient.

A better alternative to buses and are most common for short distance travel. Just pray that the fx actually has a working ac and I'd rather not take the middle seat for the horror of being squeezed with 3 other passengers. It is really most uncomfortable pero kelangan kumita ni manong...



Our baranggay never had this transpo. But watching the police news on tv, you see these Brgy. Patrol cars typically loaded with illegal stuffs the Barangay Tanods seized from poor vendors or with robbers, snatchers, rugby boys or men and women with ashen faces (the latter usually caught skulking the dark corners of red districts).



This must be God's answers to every working parents' wish to make sure someone drives their kids to and from school. It'll be just a waste of fuel and an addition to the monster traffic that requires a lot of effort to do this job on your own. Unless of course, you are the bus driver. But here, parents are so lucky to excuse themselves earlier than the usual lunch break to fetch their kids and return a bit late coz they drove their kids back to school and get away with it.

Oh my gosh. This gives the same level of challenge and difficulty as the bus. It also tests your endurance to a variety of nauseating stench from Pasay to Monumento and back. Good thing the MRT is way better than LRT. I love the convenience of MRT and the thought that I can just go to Shangri-la and Ayala all in 20minutes. MRT2 is not that bad either although I took it just once. But my heart goes to the people who have to take the old train (the one that passes through Manila - Buendia, I forgot the name). Really a pity.



I have tons of cab stories. I have a love and hate relationship with them. I hate them mostly during rush hour when they choose their passengers, ask for extra payment because the gasoline is expensive, or because the area where I'm going to is traffic. Hell, I too am affected with the price hikes you know. And where in Manila can you find a place that is not congested with traffic? come on man! But I have one experience that I will never forget. I left my laptop inside the taxi and he, with his friend driver, returned it back to me! See, I took the cab with my friend and I was the 1st one to get off. After the driver dropped my friend, he went to the gas station and saw a thin black folder. He realized that it was a laptop and decided to call his friend for help. It was already pass 3am. They went back to my friend's house, waited until it was past 5am so as not to wake him up so early and asked him to tell them where my address was again. Di daw matutumbasan ng pera ang kunsensya. Never asked for anything in return and would not even accept the gas money I assumed he used driving back and forth to my and my friends' place. His friend driver, he proudly tells me, returned a huge amount of dollars from a balikbayan they picked up at the airport. Went all the way back to Bulacan to return it. There are still good manong drivers out there.



Only in the Philippines. They come in different shapes, some are bigger and carry up to 5 passengers comfortably while the regular ones can have 4 passengers at one go. I grew up with these tricyles. The colors represent their organization and the scope of their route. Pretty clever. Their toughest competitor are the pedicabs - nature friendly, cheaper for the driver since no gas is needed but requires all the driver's musles to move through the streets (hence its more expensive than tric) and a most favorable ride if your area is flooded.