Looking for a New Buddy

Since our Indochina trip is finally on the move, I think it is necessary for me to check out the things that I will need for the travel. I was thinking that a luggage will do for me, but since the girls I am with are taking their own, I think I'll be the guy again so I need something that is convenient and comfortable for me. Thus, a travel backpack.

Now, I am the search for the backpack that I will be using for the Indochina trip, and hopefully for future backpacking trips. While online, I stumbled upon a site which gives great tips on how to choose your travel backpack. That's when I learned about a daypack and a travelpack.

Basically, a daypack is the smaller version of a backpack, which is on my perception, my hand

y dandy backpack (for school or for weekend travels). Think about multi-purpose for my backpack. Moving on, a travel backpack is somewhat similar to the backpacks mountaineers use, that elongated pack with spaces for tent and water bottle. On the site, it discussed what packs are suitable for women and men and what brands are the best for it.

Travel packs comes in various sizes, not by inches, but by volume. According to the site, a 30-45 pack is suitable for a 5'3'' frame like mine.

Deuter and North Face, both international brands, manufactures these packs. With that in mind and thinking of at least 30L of these backpacks, I came across these bags:

Deuter Futura Vario and Deuter Futura 32

Deuter Fox 40 and Deuter ACT Zero 45

Deuter ACT Trail 20 SL and Deuter Spectro AC 28 SL

North Face Women's Terra 55, North Face Women's Terra 45 and North Face Women's Terra 40

So now, all I have to do is scout for these bags, choose what is more suitable for me and pay it with my hard earned money. :)

I will update which bag I have bought. :)

Happy White Day!

March 14:

So today is White Day for the rest of the Asian countries, except for the Philippines. :( Sadly, we don't celebrate it, so I think, nobody is expected to be surprised today. EXCEPT ME!

White day is basically the "gender equality" day for the Asian countries. A bit of a background, Valentines day, which is February 14 is the time for the girls to give something sweet to their boyfriends or boy friends. Its the less obvious way of admitting that you are crushing on this guy. Hahaha! A month after, its White Day, March 14 which is the day that the guys give back the favor. Girls will have this cheat day, they can eat chocolates and sweets for valid reasons.

My boyfriend, a Pinoy, based in Japan celebrates these kinds of stuff. Us being in the separate worlds, he makes sure that I am greeted on White Day. Simple greetings will do, but this year, he felt that something should be done extraordinarily. Only a couple of close friends know that I really hate surprises, hindi naman kasi bagay na nagbu-blush ako, bilang morena ako. A joke on the morenas in the office, "uy, mamaroon-maroon siya!". Maroon = pink + dark skin. And that surprise thingy was a thing between me and Louie. He all knew about this.

Anyways, going back to the story, kinuntsaba niya ang boss ko sa office, an officemate and my college girlfriends to basically spend this day on the next level. With the dramatic kuntsabahan within these four local people and the "coffee date" with a boss, turned the unsuspecting me into a trap. So earlier today, he had my college girlfriends come over to my office (I'm a morning person, so I am usually in the office before 8am, office hours at 9am) with a cake. I really wanted to see these girls because I feel that they are the ones that I can really talk to, in the matters of personal and professional life - but I'm busy writing my reports and pagod na kapag dumating ng bahay. :( In all fairness, si Louie lang ang nakapagpa-gising ng 4am sa kaibigan ko. And she's living all the way from Bulacan.

My morning surprise!

So there, they surprised me with an Oreo Cheesecake from Banapple (one that I love) and we had breakfast together. I really need those hugs, those simple conversations right now. :D

Oreo Cheesecake from Banapple

Chocolates from Tito Mark

To my bestest friends, Amae and Coeli, salamat sa pagsakay sa trip ng boyfriend ko. Closet romantic kayo, kaya alam ko, deep inside kaya kayo pumayag dahil kinikilig kayo sa idea na yun. To Louie-san, Japanese boy, you know how I hate surprises but still, tinuloy mo. To Tito Mark, for greeting me a Happy White Day, thank you for remembering and for taking care of my Dadi Bi there. To Boss Ara and Camille, ginising nyo ako ng maaga at pina-excite nyo ako sa coffee date, dapat magagalit ako, but its all worth it.

We're on it!

As I have written in the past entries, me and my friends are planning to take an Indochina trip this August. Well now, its not just a plan but a true blue, 100% sure trip! (I'm really so happy.)

Thanks to Facebook and my subscription to CebuPacific page, I came across an update on the flight sale of one and only Cebu Pacific Air. :) All their domestic and international flights are in 95% off, so I grab the chance, texted my college buddies, retrieved their information and we're good to go. :) (Just to make the long story short).

Since it was a sale, my heart was pounding when they are not replying on my messages (duh, its 8:00 in the morning when I communicated with them) and checking my credit card, I'm just 3000 bucks away from credit limit, so its a no-no. :( Good thing, Coeli got one and she rarely use it, so we used hers.

Finally, we got our confirmed bookings on Manila- Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) on a late night flight in August 18. We were able to get it for Php 4,800 (all-in for the three of us). Sadly, with that flight, we have to limit the time for each spot for that country.

So, there, we have flights out of Manila, but coming back is also a struggle. I tried Tigerairways, despite it based in Clark, Pampanga and managed to find a flight from Bangkok to Clark, all inclusive (baggage, taxes and airport fees) at Php 10,400 for the three of us.

Dividing all our gastos for the airline tickets, we'll be paying about 5,300 on MNL- SGN and BKK-CRK trip. That is really not bad. :D

For this, we give our outmost thank you for Coeli's card, to her brother who she called up for her passport details, to my mom who responded easily (though with "bakit" at the end of her text) on my passport inquiry and for Amae who became our middleman on the conversations.

This is it girls! :D

Doing what I am supposed to be doing: New Ice Cream Treat

For the past 2 weeks or so, I am managing two product tests regarding ice cream. And being a good market researcher (sort of), I am constantly looking for new products in the category I am working on.

This is not a food entry, I just want to share what I recently tasted. (Sabi nga ni Camille, somebody will take a picture of food, e hindi naman sila food blogger.)

So, yesterday, while I am doing my secondary research for the project I am handling, Camille and I came across a new ice cream product in the convenience store we frequent. Introducing: Selecta Magnum Ice cream!

It has 3 variants/ flavors: Chocolate Truffle, Classic and Almonds. As indicated in its package, it is made of Belgian chocolate (which I absolutely love) so we decided to try it out. I got the Chocolate Truffle and Camille got the Classic.

Chocolate Truffle is basically a Belgian chocolate coated-chocolate ice cream. Full of chocolates. :) While Classic is Belgian chocolate coated vanilla ice cream.

The coating compliments what was the ice cream base flavor, however, after several scoops (yes, we "scooped" it since tunaw na siya), we passed on finishing the product. I liked how the Chocolate Truffle tasted - with a kick of strong chocolate flavor, while Classic was more like of the same vanilla ice cream base, made better with the flavorful coating.

Well, that's basically it. I ran across a post from Rappler.com (Maria Ressa's online new agency) on the product. Here's the full story:

http://www.rappler.com/business/1938-sexed-up-ice-cream-comes-to-filipino-lips#.T04JeALLYNw.twitter

Magnum Ice cream Bars on a Stick retails for Php 50.00 (in the convenience stores where we bought it) and may be around Php 45.00-50.00 in leading supermarkets and groceries. Quite pricey for an ice cream bar but it is definitely a must try. By the way, one bar is enough for sharing/ for two (if your friend is lucky that you'll share it with them). We might try Almonds in the next few days.

Goal 2: Plan my life this 2012

Since last year, I was trying to get out on my current job and sending applications everywhere. But still, here I am, I think I will be stuck on this job for the rest of the year. This image would definitely describe what I do:

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy job and the company of SOME of my officemates. But doing this, and you think that you are not going anywhere, that's when you start thinking about leaving. Everyone on my high school batch was able to transfer to new jobs (an average of 2 jobs in a span of 5 years), and most of them are on the top 1000 corporations in the country. I know, I've been thinking much of how I look when I am compared to them, with me, being voted as one of probable successful in the batch.

The pressure is still there. And it would always be there within me.

So I decided on taking my chances on MBA this year. Hopefully, this is God's plan for me. I know I can make it, since my very best friends and boyfriend are very supportive of this plan.

Aside from preparing exams for my MBA application, I am updating this blog, as I think, this is the life outside of my daily dose of numbers and correlations. (I have something else, but I think I'll be blogging about this once I get the new one.)

I'm praying for part time jobs, so I can earn money for my applications. Well, that's the best I can do now. Fingers crossed.

Goal 1A: Try out new things (Hairstyles)

Sabi nila, your hair is your crowning glory. I kept this in mind whenever I want to try new hairstyles or cut my hair really short.

Those who have been with me in past 25 years of my existence, many of them were shocked when I cut my hair short after 20 years. My mom loves styling my hair, and she was my hairdresser since I was a child. She would give me the natural hot oil (from the fresh kakang gata) and we would bond during weekends for that. I only tried out a true blue salon when I was in 3rd year highschool when I decided to cut my hair short.

My hair is maarte. Just like what most of the girls say, depende yan sa parlorista (hairdresser) mo. My mom is not fond of short hair, so when I cut my hair, she said, "magtatampo yan. Papangit ang tubo". And as the saying goes, moms always know best. My first attempt of short hair was a failure, as it grows longer, it was not as good as before. So, I ditched my hairdresser, found a new one and cut it again. This time, gusto nya ang hairdresser ko!

Sadly, my hair and its hairdresser parted ways, so I decided to grow it long. That was 2009, and in time for the graduation pictorial. Several months after, I met my hairdresser again and cut it very short. I have Louie then, and he was my mom's kakampi on "no to short hair". But I know, I had to do it and it was a sweet reunion for my hair and its hairdresser.

For the second time around, my hairdresser left and I grew out my hair again. I never had major changes on my hair, I just need to cut it. I have virgin hair until now, no curls, no perms, no chemicals whatsoever. I had a boo-boo once, I tried curling my short hair on curling irons, and after 2 hours of curling it, I went outside for 5 minutes and after one big blow of wind, it went back on being straight. (My officemates love my hair because it was so "tamed", but I hate it sometimes because I can't curl it.)

This year, I asked Louie if I could cut my hair short (again) and to torture him more, I asked him to accompany me when I got my haircut earlier this year. I have been struggling to find a good salon and good thing I found Studio Fix by Alex Carbonell. This is where celebrities like Bianca Gonzalez have their mane done.

Hermes, one of their stylists, was the one who cut my hair and he noticed that I have true black hair, its so dark (maybe due to mom sessions I had way back), he recommend coloring my hair. I haven't done anything to my hair, just have it cut and so I passed having my hair colored. I do liked how he cut my hair and now, after a month, it had grown longer. In short, love nya si Hermes! Hiyang siya! :)

Now, as part of one of my goals, to try out new things, I will have my hair colored by next month! :) I don't want to do drastic changes on it, so I'm having dark brown color with blue highlights underneath. I just hope Hermes will be able to deliver this. My inspiration for the look are Jessica Alba and Vanessa Hudgens, since we nearly have the same hair styles now.

Logos Hope: Floating with Missions

As I have mentioned, I had the last of my love week date yesterday, with my best college buddies. I have written about them on my Project C entry, Amae and Coeli were my thesis-mates, blockmates and girlfriends rolled into one.

We have our occasional dates throughout the year, and it is usually after office when we're not toxic enough. Amae'is working for a media agency, while Coeli and I are from the research side. Anyways, it was time for us to sit down on our Indochina trip so we decided to meet us for a Sundate.

Sadly, we were not able to discuss the agenda, because Amae was locked from inside her dormitory (biometrics) and it was lunch already when we left our favorite coffee shop. For those who knew us, we are the people who stick to our schedules and make the most out of it. But yesterday was different. It was the first time that we decided on a restaurant that fast. We had our lunch at John and Yoko, a Japanese restaurant in Greenbelt 5 (I'll have a separate entry for this), watched "Unofficially Yours", one hell of a laughtrip and the main trip of the day is to visit the floating book fair in Pier 15 (and that's what this entry is all about).

So after we had the movie, we decided to push through our main plan to visit Logos Hope, a floating book fair which was stationed in Manila Bay. Since I was the one who knows and informed them about the said book fair, so I was "assigned" to direct the driver to the place.

It was Logos Hope's first time to dock in the Philippines. Its predecessor, MV Duolos, made it to the Philippines seven times since 1988. Logos Hope's first stop was in Cebu and it came to Manila last February 17. It will stay in Manila until March 13, and will sail to Subic Bay and stay there for until mid-April.

Logos Hope is full of 4,000 books coming from the different parts of the world and is composed of international cabin crews. It has four main stations - the book fair and sale section, "the Journey of Life", theatre and International cafe.

Upon entering the venue, a lifeboat theatre will be greeting you and present you a video about Logos Hope. A cabin crew will be explaining to you more about the Logos Hope, a one-way route observed inside the ship and the units/ prices for the books. Units are used by the ship in order to price the books. Various unit-currency conversions are observed for the different parts of the world. This time, as they docked in the Philippines, they observed 100 units = Php 100 conversion (or 1 unit = Php 1) (as our cabin crew host pronounces, "pey-sos"). Books prices ranged from 25 units to 3,000 units, depending on how big, interactive and illustrated one is.

Aside from the variety of books in the fair - from Sudoku, crossword puzzles, fictions, maps, cookbooks, general information/ knowledge books to children's books, Logos Hope also carries bibles, Christian CDs, religion and journals/ notebooks. Cashier was located towards the exit of the book fair where you can also buy souvenirs items (glasses, keychains, ballpens and bags).

The next part was the "The Journey of Life" which is an illustrated story of "The Prodigal Son". It was a walking pathway, from being a nice guy to casino royalty to being poor and admitting wrong decisions made.

We didn't experience the theatre, it was closed when we passed by, so I really don't have any idea what they offer for this part.

Last station was the International Cafe, which offers variety of food choices - from international cola brands (Coke was bigger in size) to cupcakes, breads and ice cream (we got the ice cream). Just be prepared to spend higher since it was on a ship (there will also be an "extra" from the stores outside our neighborhood groceries and supermarkets). We had our ice cream for Php 50.00. Popcorns are sold at Php 30.00, cakes at Php 80.00 and softdrinks from Php 60-80/ can.

Before you exit the ship, there is a main lobby for cafe customers who can't find a vacant seat near the cafe. You can stay there and check on the world map with locations where Logos Hope has been, and their International Cabin Crew.

By the end of the day, though the book selection is very limiting, the experience of stepping in a ship, moving from one end to another and interacting with various nationalities, is all worth it.

Logos Hope is open from Tuesdays to Sundays. Weekdays (including Saturdays) are from 10am to 8pm, while Sundays are from 1pm to 9pm. Logos Hope also offer unique dining experience for couples inside the ship. Tickets are at Php 20.00 for those who are above 12 years old. Kids before 12 are free.

Love Week Cap off: My Love Story

If you are a fan of the romantic, fairy tale love story, better hint that X button on the top of your tab or screen. This is not a mushy (I would wish) story about my lovelife, since I think, I do not include myself as the typical lover and a girlfriend.

Since its Love Week (for me), please bear with me as I reminisce on the love life that I had and the present one (you can hit the X mark anytime). I have written an entry about me and Louie, "The Lou's" but I think that was incomplete. So let's start right from the very start.

"Oo. Malandi ako". That's what I would say to friends that first hear my love story. My first boyfriend was in 5th grade and a year ahead of me (see? Malandi nga ako. hahaha!) Though its not the typical bf-gf love story, I was never courted, we just see each other in practices and during Saturday classes. I barely remember how we became a loveteam, but I still remember snippets of what we had during that time. We never dated or spent days together. I see him around school, say hi and move away. I was young then, and I didn't have any idea how to act on being a girlfriend. The closest thing to being a girlfriend that I have done is to be "mommy" to my guy barkada.

He would visit me at our neighborhood. He can't barely step in front of our gate. My good friend was the bridge between us, she would ask my parents if I could go out so I can see him outside. He gave me white long stemmed roses during my graduation in front of my dad, and a teddy bear (I don't know where it is now) in one of the special days. The so-called relationship lasted for almost 2 years. I didn't know what our status is, or if he had dated somebody else during "our" time. We rarely see each other in high school and that was it. I think it was time to move on, since its high school already and he should do the same. We didn't have that dramatic break up - or in a more sensible approach - we don't had that official break up. A major reason for this is that we are never officially a couple. We just felt that there's a connection - and that's it. He was so called as my first love.

I have my share of singlehood and that was in for the past 2 years of highschool. Boyfriend 2 was a classmate of mine during junior high and was one of the barkada, too. This time, it was the typical bf-gf relationship, you go out on group dates, hang out at a friend's place and watch movies, watch him play online games while I have my share of girlfriend bonding. My family welcomed him with open arms, and my little brother (he 3 or 4 then) liked him so much. We had our ups and downs, occasional cool-offs (uso pa ang ganitong status noon) and my very own 'sawa effect'. I have this rare disease that I get so irritated with the prolonged presence of one person that I fall out of love because of it.

Our relationship lasted for 10 months and by then, I realized I will never be good at breaking up. I wrote him a letter and we broke up. We ended up as being friends again, not the close ones, but e still belong in the same barkada. I was happy that he found love within our barkada too, and I know they are turning 5 this year.

And before our senior year, I was single again. And by the time I realized I'll be going to UP for college, I didn't have the chance to entertain guys, aside from my barkada. One major reason is guys find me intimidating. I was not one of the honor students during high school, but I was seen as the street-smart, book-smart person by the barkada and aside from Ms.Know-It-All, I am elected as the school president. I was also this loud girl in highschool when I am around my closest friends.

So, after several crushes in college and my personal up and downs on my academic status and for the last 5 years after my last relationship, Louie and I became a couple. We started out as simply orgmates and he was our band head. We became text mates during one semestral break while I was trying to get in on a new college (Mass Comm). We bet on my exams, that if I pass, we will become a couple and if not, then, things should be the same between us. With the luck on his side and with God's plans for us, I managed to get in and then, here we are - a couple in the last five years. I will be having an entry on what we have become during our relationship in time for our 2000th daysary.

I was never a fan of courting. I firmly believe that it is a guy's time to show off his best attitude so he could get you. If he gets you, then he'll show his meanest being, a small demon inside. My past relationships never started out with courting, I began to know them by simply being with them - the same with my present one. I have accepted Louie as he is, as long as most of the times, we make the best out of each other.

Long distance relationship really works for me. I know, its weird, but I am able to spend time for myself more and make "bawi" when Louie comes home. As I have shared, madali akong magsawa - and jokingly, my prolonged exposure to Louie's kakornihan is dangerous for everybody's health.

I am around single girls most of the times, with Amae and Coeli and Lissa. That's what I liked about my relationship with Louie, I can manage time between my boyfriend and my girlfriends. I simply hope that my friends will find a Louie in their lovelife soon. Not the korni type, but the sweet and loving boyfriend and bestfriend rolled into one.

Spicy Hot Valentines Night 2

As promised, I will be blogging about the dates I had this Valentines week and yesternight was night 2. It was my annual date with a great friend of mine way back during my elementary days - Charlie.

Pangs - our endearment term to one other- is Charlie, Mark or Mac. He was this silent, loner type of guy when we first met, and he would jokingly remember that he was really shy when I'm around him. (I think, I have that effect to some guys.) I am this maingay, magulo and friendly person - and because of that, I think guys do have hard time to get to know me, because "soplak" silang lahat. But those who made it through that first impression, well, they eventually became my barkada. And since I am around this group of guys, then, newcomers would really find me annoying (dahil I become more maingay, magulo and what my mom calls me: "Haras-haras". :)

Anyway, Pangs was one of the few persons I am comfortable with despite our "past", way back in highschool. No, we never became an item, but there is something daw about me for him - making me more uncomfortable when I see him around (I bet, he feels the same way.).

He would always give these small gifts in highschool (which became an issue between him and a girl crushing on him/ bestfriend). I love his thoughtfulness, and maybe, if I haven't found Louie during college, we might be together now (uy, if he reads this, patay ako!). I even received a self made bouquet of Chuppa Chups last night.

He would always remember small details about me and I appreciate that. Last night, he commented on my shoes ("You have pink shoes!") and asked me how long Louie and I have been together. Before I answer, he counted the years, 6 to be precised, counting back that it was during our fourth year in college (see, he pays attention to my life!).

I love that despite that he is genuinely shy around me (he never talks, he just smiles. And I remember, he loves Goldilocks Cookies and Cream Pulvoron that I always bring to school and would laugh hard when I gave jokes. He would call me his clown.), we managed to stay the same and bring this friendship to the next level - platonic love. He would call Louie as his "my-luvs" and I really appreciate that.

Now, he confessed that he has a girlfriend, but I have to dig in for more information. I'm genuinely happy for him and I am looking forward meeting this girl that makes my friend happy. :)

A Mad Valentine's Night: Kapitolyo food strip

Its Valentines Week for me. :)

Since Louie will not be able to spend Valentine's with me (its been that for the last 5 years of Valentine's day), I make it a point that this is the week where I spend nightly dates with the closest friends I have.

After a very stressful day with a project (and everything in between), I managed to sneak in a date night with my office girlfriends yesterday. Camille was attached (Jovert, a quiet advertising executive) and Lissa was not, Lissa was my partner and so are Cams and Jovert.

We tried out Mad Mark's, a new quaint resto in Kapitolyo (walking distance from our office). Mad Mark's reminds me of Charlie's Diner, a famous burger joint at the same place. Actually, its feet away from Mad Mark's.

Anyway, since its typically a new joint, they have limited offering in terms of burgers, compared to Charlie's. But quite similarly, they serve huge servings of sandwiches, burgers and fries at almost the same price points.

We tried two of the meat based sandwiches, "The Man" sandwich and the Lumberjack. I secretly thought that "The Man" was meant for me. :) The couple ordered a basket of Cajun fries for us to share.

Both sandwiches are made of Angus Beef, caramelized onions, bell peppers, mushrooms and mozarella cheese. The Man, however, has grilled chicken on it aside from one hefty bunch of these items. I found The Man's grilled chicken a bit salty, though.

Good thing we asked the servers to cut the sandwiches into four, so we can actually taste all of them. However, being quite full from what we ate from the office, we were not able to finish our servings. I dropped the bread down and ate the fillings instead. Lissa managed to take her left over home.

We initially plan to taste Mad Mark's homemade ice cream, but since we had Ice Cream in cones before we left the office, we dropped the idea and settled down for milk teas to conclude the night.

I was with the same group when we tasted out Happy Lemon Megamall's milk teas during its soft opening earlier this year. Moonleaf has a branch in Kapitolyo food strip so we tried it out.

Lissa, who I thought has the ability to foresee the taste of the milk tea based from the menu (she ordered Matcha at Happy Lemon and we all liked it) asked for Wintermelon Milk Tea (she asked for "watermelon" initially). I ordered Caramel Milk Tea, Cams had Fruity Milk Tea with Nata bits and Jovert had Pearl Milk Tea with red pearls.

And for the second time around, Lissa's drink was the best of the bunch, and based on the facial expression Jovert has, I bet he didn't like his.

Moonleaf Teas for me are for those who are really milk tea drinkers, as you can taste the Teas on their drinks, in comparison to Happy Lemon which I think caters to the younger segment of the tea drinkers or those who only want to try the milk tea craze. (I sounded like a true blue market researcher here). Happy Lemon's are a bit sweeter and the tea taste was covered with more flavors.

At least I have tried new things this year and was able to spend Valentines with somebody else.

Tonight is the second night of the Valentine's weeknights date. I'm looking forward spending it with one of the best guys I have met. :)

Its February already?!

I have Chemical Engineering background and this post may be one of the nightmares being inside the laboratory. If you have late reaction, you'll find that you're alone in the lab, while the rest of your classmates scamper to get out for their next class, or check whether their elements are present in their solutions.

Sadly, I have been experiencing this state of mind for the last week.

Its February already (and I just snapped out of it when I looked into my blog roll and checked that I have only 1 entry for this month, and its second week already!). Its definitely Love Month - the happiest month for attached person like me and a more personal month for those who has yet to find love.

I have been celebrating Valentines day alone for the past 5 years, as Louie is in Japan during this month. We also have different kinds of celebration. Japanese girls celebrate V-day by giving their or the guys chocolates. In the Philippines, guys are expected to spend money and hours of thinking of gifts to give for their women.

No worries for Japanese girls, there is that White Day where they are given chocolates and flowers, and is celebrated in March 14.

Anyways, I have been thinking of what to do for a single yet attached day on Tuesday, and since I have friends who are single (by choice and/or by fate), we are going to a group date. A day after, I'm going to date (again) with a good friend of mine (never mind the history) cause its our annual date day! :)

Anyways, I have load to do this coming week, so I guess, I have to sneak in time to update my blog.

Troubled mind

I said last week that I have finalized our itinerary for our Indochina trip. However, since I am checking the flights that we will be having for this trip, I'm having second thoughts on the itinerary I listed. (I shouldn't have written "FINAL" on the title.)

I have been very busy this week, because I have several projects on hand, with different clients. The first one was given to me since the project head resigned, and the second one was requested by the client herself, so I didn't have much to do with that personal requests. (This post will be rants, so you have the choice not continue reading.)

The third one will be coming this week, and I am expecting a very busy February. Good thing, I am able to squeeze in several dates (one on 15th, and one on 17th), but I might prioritize the first date since it's been a year since I dated this friend. :(

I might be able to go back in planning by March, juggling it with the upcoming projects and earning for my MBA requirements. I have to prepare for the exams if I'm taking MBA this 2013. I don't have time to reschedule, so I need to do extra jobs.

A friend suddenly opened the idea of pirating me to join her in their company, and asked me to submit my resume to her. I would love to say yes to her, but changing jobs this year have been towing on me, as I would have roughly a year to stay on the new job, if I pass the MBA ( I WOULD PASS MY MBA. Positive dapat!). That would be a no-no on my resume.

I need to stay busy, by having a part time job and earning for the exam fees for my MBA intake. As everyone would say, "haaayyyy, buhay!"

STEP 1: Very Rough Itinerary

Step 1: Finalizing the Itinerary (sort of)

Finally, after contemplating on where to start in our Indochina trip, I have our (not-so) final itinerary. Good thing, I have found a blog which had an itinerary for the same trip, so I basically copied it. Though we will be having a different tour from the author, I thought that duplicating her itinerary will make a better choice since I do not have proper knowledge in travelling to these foreign lands. We are looking at August 20 - 28 trip (9 days/ 8 nights) since there will be 2 holidays on this week (Ninoy Aquino day and Araw ng Kagitingan), and so we can only have 5 day-leave from our respective work.

Anyway, we will be having the said trip as:

Green: MNL- BKK; Yellow: BKK - SR; Pink: SR - PP; Blue: PP - HCMC; Red: HCMC - MNL

So, here is the draft itinerary for the trip:

Day 1: Flight to Bangkok, Thailand (afternoon fight will do). Night 1 at Bangkok.

Day 2: Bangkok tour. Night 2 at Bangkok.

Day 3: Morning train to Siam Reap (6 hour-ride to Aranyaphathet, crossing the border to Cambodia through Poipet and taking a bus ride for 3 hours to arrive in Siam Reap). Night 1 at Siam Reap.

Day 4: Angkor Wat tour. Night 2 at Siam Reap.

Day 5: Morning bus to Phnom Penh (6 hour ride to Phnom Penh). Night 1 at Phnom Penh.

Day 6: Phnom Penh tour

Day 7: Morning bus to Ho Chi Minh City/ Saigon (7 hour bus ride to HCMC)

Day 8: HCMC tour

Day 9: Flight back to Manila.

So this is the itinerary we will be following during the 3-country travel. We have yet to discuss the specific areas we will be visiting from each of the country. :)

Step 2: Look for a cheap flight from Manila - Bangkok, HCMC (Saigon) - Manila. :)

And yes, step 1 and step 2 are interchanged. We made this so we can properly allot the times we will be spending from each of the country, so we know when we will be leaving Manila and coming back. Its hard to miss these small details.

Its time to color the skies!

While I am looking for tickets for the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Clarkfield, Pampanga, I stumbled upon TicketNet's announcement on tickets for the 3rd Philippine International Pyromusical Competition.

I barely make it in the first two, because it overlapped with the fieldworks for the several projects I managed. So this time, I promised to myself that I won't miss it.

The 3rd Pyromusical will be on all Saturdays of February and March, from February 11 to March 17. Show starts at 7pm and two competing countries will bring color to the sky for the next 6 Saturday nights. :)

Here is the schedule of the shows:

February 11: South Korea (7pm) and Malta (8pm)

February 18: United Kingdom (7pm) and Spain (8pm)

February 25: Finland (7pm) and Portugal (8pm)

March 3: China (7pm) and The Netherlands (8pm)

March 10: Australia (7pm) and Canada (8pm)

March 17: Italy (7pm) and Philippines (8pm)

Ticket prices are as follows:

Patron (sitting with dinner buffet) : Php 1500

VIP: Php 500

Gold: Php 300

Silver: Php 100

Here are sample pics from the contestants:

(credits to the owner of the images. from pyrophilippines website)

I will be coming with my family in this event and we have yet to discuss what show we would be watching. But for sure, I will be seeing the Philippine show. :)

For more information, you can visit Philippine International Pyromusical Competition's website at www.pyrophilippines.com.

Trip of the Year: Project C

While everybody in the office is cramming for their projects in hand, I am, on the other hand, is busy reading blogs about Southeast Asian travel. Amae, Coeli and I initially planned to see the Sinulog festival in Cebu earlier this month, however, due to time constraints and lack of preparation (I am proud to say I'm a street-smart travel planner, as repeatedly showcased in my trips with Louie), we weren't able to see Sinulog.

This SEA trip (or what Amae calls Project C) was brought up when we were talking about foreign trips so we can get our passports stamped (for the first time). Initially, we thought of HongKong-Macau trip, however, we find that it would only give us one immigration stamp and not so much of a trip. Macau seems to be more for the lovers and not for college buddies. :)

So we opt to research about Indo-china trip and one of our university acquaintances mentioned about a Vietnam-Cambodia-Thailand travel. We are particularly interested with the said trip as it would cost us 3 immigration stamps in one travel. (wee!)

Manila-Bangkok/ HCMC- Cambodia- HCMC/Bangkok - Manila

(if we could squeeze in a day trip in Laos, that would be so great!)

I have been reading blogs about Indo-China trips, and it would cost us a little above Php 10k for the logistics for the three countries (cost of living in these three countries are definitely quite less than of the Philippines, and if we have the right time to purchase the airline tickets, hopefully, we can get them in Php5k for a round trip one. The three country trip will more likely be a seven-day trip, so we are planning them in a month where the three of us are less busy.

We initially plan them in August, I have to check if flights are available and if not, I have to move them in early September. In between reading blogs and work, I have to find time (and effort) to save for the trip and its other costs (luggage and other personal items), my MBA application and other necessary bills.

I guess I have to write another entry if ever I have a rough itinerary for the trip.