Bora Bonanza in November

Para-sailing, Helmet Diving and Island Hopping.

Got tanned in one the the most beautiful beaches in the world... Oo... the world! Hahahaha!

Babalik ako dito definitely! Gotta hit the gym before then.

Pics here.

Wassup

1. I'm 24. I didn't have a birthday post.
I consider the acceptance of my resignation letter as the best birthday present. Although it wasn't intended as a birthday present.

2. I have a new job. Thank you Lord!
Walk-ins do work. I passed my resume to company 1 early May. Got the call for an exam when we got back from our HK-Macau trip (first week of June). Got scheduled for a final interview the day before promotion. I got the job offer after the promotion. I got another call from company 2 for another JO (crappy crappy offer). Accepted the JO of Company 1. Went through the medical exams. Tendered my resignation letter. Had my birthday. Passed the med exam. My RL was finally signed.

3. Went to Baguio during one of the 3-day-weekends. Had a blast at the shooting range. Quite disappointed coz it was not sunflower season.

4. I need new clothes. Since business-casual is our standard attire.... no more blazers. Yipeeeee!

5. With great gross pay, comes great taxes. Now I'm waiting my last pay from SGV for a happy happy Christmas.

6. After 3 years, my ever beloved Ultraelectromagnetic laptop failed me. I think its registry went rogue. Gaaaaaaahhhh... still fixin the problem.

Till the next time I feel the urge to update!

2008 Outing: Day 5 (Back to Reality)

The final chapter.

Lessons/ Tips/ Realizations:
1. Set a time for searching the money changer offering the best forex rate... especially if you're traveling with accountants.
2. Bring a pocket calculator. Uber-convenience strategy.
3. Utilize the group-check-in. Make sure there are guys in the group. Their baggage is less less less heavy.
4. Buy a luggage bag. With wheels. Wheels are the ultimate anti-shoulder pain support.
5. Bring water... especially in countries where water is like gold... like HK.

Whew! It was a really tiring trip (and a really tiring post). I declared a self-declared holiday the next day (hahahahaha). And I got the call that presented an opportunity.

I'm cutting this post short. Neway, expired na yung event. Nyahahaha.

2008 Outing: Day 4

Day 4 outing started with pain in my legs and feet, followed by a painkiller, followed by a shower.No time to feel sick.

The excitement gradually blocked my leg pain. Our agenda/itinerary that day includes Ocean Park and Victoria's Peak with Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. Well, Victoria's Peak is now called simply The Peak.

Group picture entrance














The rides consists of relatively ancient versions of the EK rides: smaller versions of Flying Fiesta, Space Shuttle, Log Jam. It's fairly excusable since EK is a younger theme park. So, nangyopya sila malamang sa Ocean Park.

Nevertheless, Ocean park had lovable creatures:

Since this is a super-delayed entry na, tinatamad na ako maglagay ng mga pics (So hard to format the layout in blogger) Just check out the Day 4 pics at my Multiply account.

Due to time constraint, we did not ride all the rides. Around 4pm, we then proceeded to Victoria's Peak - The Peak na lang sya ngayon. I've been there when I was a kid, and, Whoa, did things change.

1) A tram is now in place. The train ride takes only a few minutes of inclined position adventure to reach your destination. We took a bus way back then.
2) There's a mall up there. As in a mall with Starbucks. We cannot hinder civilization, I guess.
3) Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum! Camwhore all you want! Pose a creative pose! Too bad my cambatt was low. Kelangan maki-picture sa iba. Honestly, this was the peak of my day. Ang saya pag-tripan ng mga wax statues. If we had more time and if my cam's batt did not fail me, we would've stayed longer.

Since it was the last night of our stay, we HAD to shop. We were too busy busy with touring the places that we had no time to simply shop. We raced back to our hotel, ate cup noodles, and proceeded to conquer the streets of HK. It was past 8pm then, and shops were only up to 10 or 11pm so we had to move really fast. I ended up buying Elizabeth Arden's green tea stuff: bath gel, lotion, body cream and perfume. I wanted to buy an mp3 player (I've been wanting to buy one for three years now), but...no player was asking me to buy it. So... I just bought those yummy Milo Energy Bars (hindi tulad nung andito, mas masarap). And being the accountants that we are, we toured the place to search for the store offering the cheapest price for this. Actually, we searched the place for an open store that time. Period.

After being slightly lost, we dragged ourselves back to the hotel. Though I wanted to collapse in the sofabed, I had to pack. Now my beloved luggage was really bulging with all the pasalubongs and souvenirs.

Collapsed to sleep around 3am.

2008 Outing: Day 3

It's like the busy season. You have a lot to do. You have little time to sleep. And you have limited funds.
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And the day began with another earlier-than-work shower, and a no-rice buffet breakfast. Squeezed some time to change currencies (where the CPA in me is already tired of computing forex gains/losses effects). We, Skywalkers, quickly made our way to Macau tower. The weather was cooperating so far.

The Skywalkers (see Day 2 entry) spent the morning Skywalking while the rest toured the rest of Macau. We were scheduled to ride the ferry crossing to HongKong at 1:15pm. We arrived in HK around 3pm, I think. Slept on the ferry to recharge my already tired body.

We kids proceeded to Disneyland while our seniors were very nice that they took our luggage to the hotel. Since Disneyland closes at 8pm, we had to Amazing-Race-run in HK's MTR (Mass transit Railway, a.k.a. HK's super more high-tech version of MRT)to get to Disneyland. Observation: The structures in Macau were more cool and sophisticated compared to HK. And Macau is also cleaner.

Despite getting slightly lost, still found time to take pics:
Observation: HK people are not that friendly. Or just not that friendly to tourists. They seem to be always in a hurry, it's hard to ask for directions. And their English is not that good too.















Found the Disneyland Line! The Disney line had its own Disney train with the Mickey Window. Kawaii!










Disneyland was really really MAGICAL. Growing up with Disney cartoons and singing Disney songs all my childhood, this is really the most magical/amazing/fantastic/spectacular part of our outing. They were playing Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid which was nakakatindig-balahibo-sa-kilabot. I became a kid again.












We made the most of what we time we had left. Surprisingly, Disneyland was quite small (but still magical) , we were able to tour it that time. We opted not to ride some rides because of them are actually kiddie rides. There was a Mickey Mouse (and Minnie Mouse I think) mascots available for picture-taking purposes. But the line was quite long, and given the limited time, we opted not to queue. I'll do that next time. hehehehehe. =)

With 3D Glasses:
Be sure to watch the 3D when you go to Disneyland. Walang sinabi Rialto ng EK. Not really comparable pala.















Narnia pic. BTW, Narnia - Prince Caspian - was great! Watch it!




















Sleeping Beauty Castle: Day and Night version. There's always a fireworks show at 8pm. Amazing amazing fireworks!
Castle + Fireworks + Disney Songs = Disney Magic












Shopping at Disneyland. Though I think I should've bought more and more. Party as a kid. Pay as an adult. Some of the items were quite pricey. Really pricey. Lesson: Budget a lot for Disney shopping. Their mickey mouse cookies look cute, but they do not taste the way they are priced.

I WILL DEFINITELY GO BACK TO DISNEYLAND! More pictures in my Multiply account.

2008 Outing: Day 2

After 4 hours of sleep, my second day begins with an early-early-early-earlier than-an-officeday shower. Followed by a no-rice breakfast buffet. Lots of fruit, bread, cereal, potato and bacon, but no rice available.

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We began our tour by walking walking walking to Senado Square. Here, we found the Macau branches of Starbucks and Mcdo... where prices are a bit pricey.

Senado Square boasts plenty of shops to shop. The shop-owners have limited English vocabulary so it is quite hard to ask for more information about their products. E.g.Question: "Do you have any other colors of this product?", Answer:"--blank stare--, thenthy pahtahcas" - that's twenty patacas. And I remember our somewhat-deteriorating English-speaking country. Even though the Philippine's English is deteriorating , we can understand the question. We just provide a barok answer.

After touring the place, we made tambay at the fountain... and eventually found... a flag...THE FLAG

And we saw a team... And although this is the peak, the height and the moment of all moments in Macau, I couldn't put into words what we witnessed. I might accidentally spill spoilers of the future Amazing Race Season. Hahahaha.

After Senado Square, we Amazing-Race-quickly ran to the bus stop. Our next stop: Macau Tower. And guess what we found:

No close up shots allowed. Pinagbawalan kami. Too bad. =(

The majestic Macau Tower. We climbed up the 61 floors or 338 m/ 1109 ft (passing a yellow and red flag along the way) of the Macau Tower. This is the highest building height I've climbed to date.

Viewing Deck shots:

The scene was breathtaking. It was quite cloudy that day so some of the view was quite...blurry. It must be quite amazing when its a sunny day, or at night.

What to do in Macau Tower:

A. Bungy Jump - jump freely with a harness - expensive and scary

B. Mast Climb - climb the tower - tiring and expensive

C. SkyJump - jump not-so-freely with a harness - relatvely inexpensive but still expensive
D. SkyWalk - walk around the top of the tower - for me

We opted to do for the Skywalk! These pictures were actually taken in Day 3 since our walk was postponed due to the uncooperative weather.

Our next stop was Fisherman's Wharf.

It was raining when we walked/dragged our feet to the place. Our partner treated us at a restaurant there. Yay! Ambait! Swerte namin!=) The restaurant was actually staffed by Filipinos: chef, waiters, and the manager. Then to burn of the calories of the meal, we walked, walked and walked around:

Before going back to the hotel, we watched and watched the Wynn fountain shows again. Then I collapsed in my bed with uber-sore feet.

2008 Outing: Day 1

After the journey of passport processing, places to visit research, rechecking of things to bring and saving like crazy... Here we come Macau and Hongkong!

What is so special with this outing?

First, the international outing planred pushed through. We travelled two Asian countries: Macau and Hongkong.

Second, this is a vacation... WITH ACCOUNTANTS. Since this is a overseas outing, this entails changing of currencies used. Which means there are four currencies involved in this outing: the Philippine Peso (PHP), US Dollar (USD), Macau Pataca (MOP) and HongKong Dollar (HKD). Although the HKD is accepted in Macau, it will save you more since the equivalent of 1 USD is greated when converted to MOP than HKD. So why did we convert our PHP to USD in the first place? Waaaaah. Pagod na ako. Ayoko na ikwento. My point is, considering that this outing involves all these currencies, the accountants in us yields us to compute, convert and hedge. It's not just our work anymore, it has become a part of out life.

Third, I really bonded with my batchmates. From the CR-scheduling to the Amazing-Race-line itinerary, we really got to know each other more. Wheeee!
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Our flight was 12:30 pm. THe recommended boarding time is 3.5 hours before the flight, which means 9:00am. I got there 10:00am. Hehehehe. Good thing my lovable officemates did not check in yet - as I wanted a group check-in to dissipate the weight of my i-think-was-overweight-according-to-our-weighing-scale luggage.
Airport pa lang, picture taking na!

It was a 1hour and 45 min flight. Picture-taking pa rin upon arrival! In the right picture, the one not smiling was not my officemate.

After about an hour of resting in the hotel (where we didn't really rest because we were under schedule), we proceeded to the Venetian... by walking and taking the free shuttle...Hehehehe.

The Venetian is where the "West meets the East"... or something to that effect.














I dunno if this is an imitation of The Thinker . But this is not a statue, it is really a person, which moves and moves when go give money. hahaha!

Nice ceilings of art.













No picture taking in the casinos though. The casino is currently the largest in the world at 500,000 sq ft (46,000 m²). Madaming pinoy ang nagtatrabaho dun. We even got to chat with one, and asked for free drinks... coke, orange juice, coffee and milk tea. Hahahahaha. I played the slot machine. Minimum bet was MOP 20. Won MOP 4, but I did not cash it. Played again. And lost. There goes my MOP 20 X 6 = Php 120.

After the Venetian, we then proceeded to the Wynn Hotel. (There's also a Wynn Hotel in Vegas. Watch the movie 21.)
Picture taking at a fountain on the way there.













We arrived just in time for the fountain show.The most amazing and coolest fountain show ever!





More pictures in my Multiply .

One Dreamplace Down...

I voted for an international outing (Macau). But it was too expensive for a 3D2N summer outing. So the cluster opted for a 3D2N local outing. It was relatively less expensive... And to my greatest joy, the local outing was in Palawan! Yay!

My first airplane ride was 15 years ago. And I didn't remember how it actually felt back then. Sosyal, naka-plane pa kami. =)

With the OC2 cluster new staff... the babies. The young, fresh and vibrant.

Boat ride to Pandan Island. May epal na boatman (naka-shades).

Tambay sa beach at kalimutan ang trabaho.

Sabang beach for Underground River.

Oooohhh... clear blue waters.....

Palabas ng cave...este... Underground River nga pala

The young, fresh and vibrant new staff... looking towards beyond and after....blah blah

Had a blast in Palawan! I hope I can go to Coron and El Nido too. Someday... *sighs* *daydreams*

San kaya outing next year?

San na kaya ako next year?

Maybe here. Maybe there. Maybe nowhere.

Galera Adventure

A toast...

Para sa "Pano po pumunta sa Pier?"
Para sa couple of the decade
Para sa foreigner na phedophile
Para sa lesbian lovers
Para sa Starbucks, Mini-Stop, 7-11 at freshwater area
Para sa EK sa Bayan
Para sa utopia ng Bayan
Para kay Ate Vanessa na sumira sa utopia ng Bayan
Para sa paghihintay ng isang oras sa pagkain
Para sa Php60 na 1.5L ng softdrinks
Para sa tumatawad na lang ng P120 from P125
Para sa mga nawalan ng tsinelas
Para sa concept ng "ilabas ang timba" para magbanlaw ng paa
Para kina Manang na masahista na may cel# na 0920blablah
Para sa "Shet! Sobrang Inet!"
Para sa banana boat na mukhang pencil boat naman
Para sa pag-swimming ng 12nn
Para sa life vest na gumagana kahit hindi ka mag-kick
Para dun sa flavor ng pizza
Para sa paglalagay ng Sunblock
Para sa Puerto Galera Scandal
Para dun kay Manong na pumayag na tawaran ng mababa yung bracelet
Para sa sunset na pinagtaguan ako
Para sa toilet na ayaw na mag-flush
Para sa natutunan kong concept ng flipping stones
Para sa Chowking Halo-Halo na P55
Para sa anim na pitchers ng drinks
Para sa tinake-home na tira ng Mindoro's Sling
Para sa mga nagsabing maaalala nila ang mga sinabi nila kinabukasan
Para sa mga bagay na pinag-usapan pero hindi na maalala
At para sa namuo na rin na samahan

Mabuhay... Puerto Galera! Babalik ako!
At buti na lang at hindi na kami inabutan ni Caloy.





The beautiful beach. Clean. Clear. Deep.







The fearless banana boaters... yung iba. Hulaan nyo kung sino hindi nag-bananaboat...




The colors of sunset. The sunset bago dumating si Caloy.







One of the few shots na kumpleto kami. Yung isa laging kumukuha ng pics. Hehehe.