My first attempt abroad (hello Jakarta)

I never thought that the first country that I could visit abroad would be in Jakarta, Indonesia. It's not quite usual for tourists to go there. But since my sister was working there, she invited me to visit her and that, she would pay for my expenses. So, why not for a libre, dba?

It happened last September 2009. Truly, my first time to fly away from home- alone! Seriously, I got so nervous I was really scared and different thoughts came into my mind. What if I'll get lost? What if I could not see my sister at the airport? And so on and so fort.

But never did come into my mind that my dilemma would be something different.  It was actually about the people (indonesians-who-does-not-speak-english) made my travel hard, more than I could imagine. When I reached the airport, I looked around. (so this is it? this is all about abroad?) I was disappointed. first, the airport is not so good. (not as good as ours). It was very vintage and when I asked the people where's the arrival area, they just nodded and shrugged like they did not understand me at all. I began to panic. What the??!!! How???! I was trying to read the signs but there was no english translation also, and so I just followed the passengers. Finally, i saw my sister. (whew, Im safe)

First day: We went to Safari Zoo!

On our way palang, there were a lot of zoo animals roaming around to welcome us. I was shocked. They were gigantic. I wanted to hold them though, but we were not allowed, but it's ok to feed the with carrots.

These were the Camels we fed. I actually bought a plastic bag full of carrots because I wanted to feed them all. I was like a kid so amazed with all the animals. haha

There, I dropped off from my seat because i was terrified when the giraffe almost bit my fingers. He thought it was a carrot still. haha.. It was then I stopped feeding them. Especially at the part when lions and elephants were roaming around. we were prohibited to feed them.

Inside, we met different animals. Huge ones! syempre, ako na nmn ang excited humawak.

I was really scared of the white tiger but I did took a picture with him still. Ako pa? kaya ko yan. Well, the elephant was gentle. However, it was just so disgusting that he kept on licking people's faces, my legs and hands. it's so ewww! So that explains my facial reaction. I was not overjoyed, I was actually disgusted. yikes!

On our second day, my sister told me that we would go to the malls to shop and buy something at the grocery.
She gave me 100, 000 rupiah. I was really so happy. i thought it was something really big already. Only to find out that it was only worth 500pesos. (damn!)

We toured around and I just kept on taking pictures all over.

Even the peppers were captured. Parang walang ganyan sa Pinas. Well, I was just got attracted with the colors.

That was me, enjoying the mall tours. The swirling thing that's behind me is the big slide inside the FX mall. My sister said that, for one to be able to ride that slide, he/she must purchase worth of 1 million rupiah in that mall. In peso conversion, that's around 5 thousand pesos.

So instead of dreaming to experience that, I just took a picture. Anyway, there's not much good stuff in there.

We tried to look for a filipino restaurant since I could really not take the taste of their food. And we found one.

That's "Satey" or simply barbecue or steak for us. It's yummy! And the yummiest was the dessert!

Itsura palang, dba? winner na winner....

I spent 13 days in Jakarta. I experienced their amusement Park, (Dufan), the europian style mall, in Grand Indonesia, and many others. But most of the time, I just stayed at my sister's pad with my friend, Janet. pag wala na kaming pera panggala, sa bahay nalang kami. We try to entertain ourselves with different silly things.

Oh well, we did face painting....

 And swimming in the pool...(with sauna after)

And working out! (as if may fats)

And the most exciting part was when I was able to ride the scariest ride in Dufan, The Tornado. Akala ko d nako mabubuhay. lol

that was me at the right side, covering my face. waahhhh...Fulfilling indeed!

Well, in fairness, I had fun on my 13-day vacation.

Though I had some troubles with the dialect problem, plus the yuckie smell of the people, it was still something worth remembering journey. It was then I started to get addicted to traveling. And now I am happy  
to see my passport as it get messy with inks from different places. 4 countries at present. And hopefully, more soon.

Courage from deep within..

I only once dream to go to different places. I always wonder how it feels like to indulge with different cultures around the world. And maybe that was one of the reasons why I always wanted to be rich on my own.  I never did think that this day would come that I would one by one reach to the point of making them come true.

True, I am not yet rich. But mind you, my wealth of beautiful memories as I had been to places is much more than I could imagine at the age of 26. I could not even think of how did I do that, with a not-so-well-compensated-nurse like me.

When I was a kid, I used to hang out at my grandfather's beach resort and look at the straight horizon at the sea. I used to wonder, "what's beyond that horizon?" or "how far could I be when I grow up?"

Well, The moment I graduated high school and started to grab that opportunity to be independent and spread my wings, I began to explore the world and learned a lot of things on my own.

I just believe that every person could conquer even the scariest thing in this world. A long time ago, I used to be so nauseous during bus, ship or plane rides. I always have to vomit in the midst of the travel that I always wanted to sleep the whole time. But my mom told me that the only thing to conquer that feeling is to get used to it. So yes, I traveled and traveled, until the feeling became physiologic.

Ironic it may seem, but I used to be the most shy girl in school. I never dance (well, I'm not good at it too), I don't get myself to extra curricular, except that on "writings", and I never wanted to be talking on crowd. Well, I believed I have conquered that fear when i became the speaker/commentator on my best friend's wedding. I had no idea how I sounded that time because I was damn nervous. It was one of a kind feeling. But with glory, I did it anyway. For friendship's sake.

Another brave thing I have done in my life were the gigantic roller coasters I have conquered all over. I just kept on telling myself though, "Im not gonna die, Im not gonna die! (while crossing my fingers and holding my breath). Later on, I just thought that it's indeed so much fulfilling to be able to conquer your fear of fast and furious things. It's relieving and indeed an achievement! Well for now, I do it most often than not.

I gained my greatest confidence when I first had my photoshoot. Wow, I remember that time again. And at this moment, I could feel how my stomach churned like crazy while the photographers were taking some pictures. I was about to run and hide. It was so embarrassing. But my friend kept on telling me to go on and face my fears. After all, it's all about expressing myself and afterwards, the people around you, would forget about it anyway. True enough, I felt like I have won a lottery of confidence after the shoot. It was not about pleasing anybody for the outcome, but overcoming the fears of showing up like I used to do that I have gained.

There's indeed no cure to cowardliness but to face them and beat them.

Now lastly, I have been scared of falling in love and getting hurt. nah.... I don't wanna be talking about it this time. Not this, not this. But.... if only there's one wish for bravery that I would want, it would be for someone to be brave enough to tell me that he's not scared to fall in love with me coz I am just so scared. And if that someone would do, then maybe I will be the bravest person in the world.

The Baking Day

I don't know how we came up with the idea of "baking" during a one stormy day. I was off from work yesterday and so does my friend, Janet, and so we decided to go to their house and bake. Okay, maybe it was "boredome".

So the baking happened.

First, we just made the available ingredients she had. Actually, the flour was'nt used because it would only take time to do so. So instead, we made the ready made mixtures. We mixed it with egg, water and some sugar.

Thoroughly!!!

Afterwards, we distributed it in cupcake papers.

Then the baking started.

It took few minutes for it to be baked so we chitchat for a while and waited.

Then came my favorite part. DECORATING with icing!!!

We used chocolate and lemon whipped to cover up the cakes. Also, we made a very sweet glucose-based icing to decor and to add some colors.

And these are the cute decors we spread around.

My first idea is to make a heart cupcake. Okay it was FAIL! it didn't look like a heart. It looked messy.

Now, see that blue one with a pink heart? It did not look like a heart, right? That was actually my second attempt already. (wala na, bigo tlga ako gumawa ng puso. hehe)

After a while, we finally finished with the cupcakes. Ta da!

And closer!

Whew, in fairness, masarap. Kaya lang super duper mega over sa tamis. We could hardly finish one cupcake at a time. Actually, after the baking, we did not eat yet. Instead, we cooked pasta and ate that instead. We took home half of these cupcakes. Well, meron pa ding natira until now. And, it was my breakfast. Hello tonsillitis! haha

NBI 101

So this is the continuation of the previous blog that I have just written this morning. So let me have a short recap.
I met this scary stranger all by myself, I have risked myself and struggled in the heavy rain alone, just to get my renewed NBI clearance in a-not-so-decent-manner-because-I-was-dealing-with-a-stranger-who-transported-my-clearance-which-was-beyond-his-job. Well, I did that because I had no choice and probably because there was no one to do that for myself but me, anyway. Okay too much about my rants, but I guess my mom and dad would actually freak out once they hear this story.

I honestly don't know why t had happened. Out of the blue, someone (a government employee) offered to deliver my NBI clearance personally and met up with me to hand it over. And me, a paranoid freak (who wouldn't?) agreed anyway. I repeat, I had no choice.

So what happened??? Okay, I am still alive, obviously, still terrified, but thankful I was not harmed. I arrived home safe and sound, but still in a traumatic way.

Early morning, I was really hesitant to go there and meet that stranger. Maybe I was just that brave? or maybe so trusting? I don't know how you call me, but I did it. As I was saying, I was scared. I was just kinda disappointed that a friend of mine did not came up for me. (well, at least I was expecting even for a text message that he can't, but I received none and in disappointment, i did it alone).

Fastforward to what happened. Nothing much... Good thing we met in a public place, he handed over the paper and I thanked him. He walked away while I was waiting for the rain to stop. I looked back and I saw him still, watching over me. I rushed across the street coz I was scared he would follow me. he didn't, because I was rushing. My heartbeat was so fast, I seriously thought Im gonna die. (exage)

I did not go home yet because I was scared he might follow me. Instead, I waited for my friend. Finally, (Hazel) came. I was relieved. We ate breakfast and went to the mall. waaaahhhhhhhhhhh..... I got really so relieved. Afterwards, I received a text message from that stranger, it said, "bago ka umalis, magkita tayo ha, iblow out kita, ingat!"...Wow, so that made it more strange. If he was really not into monkey business, then why would he say that. besides, it was beyond his job already right? Actually, even that thing when he brought my clearance and handed it to me personally is actually beyond his duty already. I was thinking, was he just a good samaritan? Or is he really doing that to all people? Why was he doing that to me? And to ask me for another meet up??? arghhhh...that's too much already. Sigh, buti nlng tapos na. I am now thinking of changing my celphone number for safety and security purposes.

Okay, so what brightened my day was the cutee stuff I bought from the mall. I bought a passport and cards organizer plus a sticker to toodle up my organizer. For once, I wanna be organized with my documents. And pampalubag na din ng loob.

 This is my lovely doodle passport holder. It made me feel better.

Well, there's just few things i realized today.

Only few people really cares for you. Some just want to listen to your story just because they are curious, but then they don't care at all.

Another thing is that, don't expect too much from others. It would hurt...

Be brave! Just pray and believe in yourself and nothing will happen (just be cautious)

Lastly, I realized that maybe that THAT person was just simply astonished with my charm that nagmagandang loob syang ihatid yun sakin amidst his 1 hour drive and the super duper heavy rain.

On the positive side of it, I'm alive! And I got my renewed NBI with me =)

Macau Trip

Sometimes, things happen when we least expect it. Or more often, things that are not planned are that things that really do happen. Just like when I had an on the spot vacation in Macau! Whoah, I never thought I could go there when I didn't even had money at all. (well, thanks to my sponsors! lol)

So, here I am, travelling again. Well, it's one of the most favorite thing that I wanna do, next to falling in love. (hehe)....

So I went to China with my siblings and my close friend, Janet. It was actually my first time to go abroad with my siblings. So, it was quite exciting! My brother had been there last year, so at least we had a tour guide.

So fastforward to the trip. When we reached the Macau International airport, I was expecting that we would have a dilemma on how we would be understood by the people (chinese) again. And true enough, they hardly could not speak english. So here's some encounters we had:

At the bus:
We had no idea how to get to the hotel so we were waiting for a taxi. After few minutes, a Filipino approached us and said, "sumakay na lang kayo ng bus na may sign na A1." So we followed his instruction. When we reached the bus, I was figuring out how are we going to pay. Then I saw a small can with a sign in chinese and spanish. The only thing that I could understand was "exacto". I pressumed, it meant exact fare. Oh no, our currencies were all in bills. I was talking to the driver, "do you have a change for 20 pattaca?/macau dollar?" He was shouting... I thought it was just his nature of talking. Later, a chinese woman said, "here, I will pay for you." I was so grateful. But the problem is, we need to pay for  4 persons. nakakhiya nmn masyado kung lahat un ipapalibre ko sa babae. So I said, "how????" The driver continued to shout!!!! I was so scared. I handed over my bills to the woman. I could not understand what they were talking about but all I knew was he was mad. Finally, the woman paid for us and I gave her my bill... Whoah! we were shocked.... as in culture shocked! I never knew that they could be so RUDE!

At the Hotel Reception:
I said, "Miss, we have reserved 2 rooms in this hotel already. What time are we suppose to check in?" She was staring at me blankly. I don't think she understood, basta nag sign language nlng sya...(wtf?! I just thought, hotel crews should know how to speak in english for the fact that they are dealing mostly with tourists and foreigners right? tsk tsk)

At the Taxi:
So this was the most crucial. All taxi drivers were just mute. Some of them could not even understand the place that we were talking about. Good thing we always had a guide book with us and show them the pictures of the place. wahhh, nakakaloka!

At the Market:
My sister was trying to change her money to macau dollar. Then suddenly, the counter girl shouted at her, "1 DOLLAR!!!!!"""" so kelangan manigaw?

Wala lang, I admit the place was super nice. But then, I just believe that there's still no better people than Filipinos when it comes to respect and vallues. I don't know why these people are so ill-mannered..

Too much about the bad vibes. Let's fast forward to the goodies that we had. First destination was the VENETIAN.

It was a.... WHOAH!!! Amazingly, beautiful! I was so eager to ride the Gondola, the boat that was immitated in Venice. However, I just thought that it would be more romantic if I would be with someone special and it would be in the real Gondola, VENICE! So for the meantime, I just indulged with the beautiful attractions all over. Afterwards, we went to the "City of Dreams" just beside the venetian.

We watched an awesome show. 'The Dragons"

On our second day, we went to their market. And I bought stuffs, and pasalubong. We also had witnessed some pictorials for the weddings. And it was so beautiful. We as much as possible, tried their Chines cuisines. However, we always end up in Mcdonald's instead. un lang nakakabusog eh. hehe

So that's 711 at my back, the only store that sells familiar things (at least for us)

We then went to the museums...

And then we took pictures. The good thing was, the Gurads were Filipinos and they were very accommodating. Now finally, we encountered REAL people. hehe

After the museum, we went back to the hotel and freshened up. We want to see Macau at night so we need to recharge for the night.

At 5pm, we then went to Wynn Hotel. We walked and walked and took pictures. We then decided not to eat at Mcdonalds anymore and buy anything with rice. We found Circle K. There we bought our food. We were wondrin where to eat our food so we decided to eat at the park, while waiting for the night and the lights.

And this was a 7-pm view from the park (with my friend, Janet). We were so impatient coz 7pm na eh maliwanag pa din. Well, the view was wonderful, anyway.

So finally, the dim light!!! We were so excited to witness the Asian's Las Vegas!!! It's in the Grand Lisboa, the largest Casino in Macau.

yeah, yeah...It was worth the wait! Beautiful indeed....However, we were already tired so after we took picyures and got amazed with the view, we went back to the hotel....

I know it was not a long stay. However, I guess a 3 day stay at Macau was just enough for their tourist spots.  There were other spots we went though like The Grand prix, Wine Museum, The Ruins, and lastly, the Fisherman's Wharf.

This was the last but the last spot we went. And we were glad to see the replica of Coliseum in Rome.

Over all, it was a wonderful vacation. My stress and worries flew away for a while. And then again, I got inspired to travel more. See u on my next trip!

The Human Exhibit

It was quite unusual for us (I mean me) to go to museums. My friend has been inviting me to go there, yet I have been refusing coz in the first place, I have never been attentive to educational tours ever since. Better yet, our summer outing has been cancelled and so we pursued to this most talked-about exhibit. "The Human exhibit".

I was at first clueless what this exhibit was all about. Okay, we were prohibited to take pictures inside and so the only memorabilias I had was the posters and pictures outside.

We were a group of 9 and well, it was far from my expectation. When I reached inside and saw the cadavers, at first, well most likely the whole time I was inside, I was inside, I was amazed. I never thought people could do extraordinary ways to preserve human bodies and exhibit them for public viewing.

If only I could describe all the gross things inside, then, you would feel what I actually felt inside. As the things get even worse, like when I saw the internal organs, the child structures, the brain and most especially the unborn fetus, I just felt uneasy. I was walking like my heart was so heavy in dismay. I learned that these dead bodies were from China and most probably they were paid much for their bodies to be displayed.

I don't know why, but I felt pity to the poor souls, especially the unborn ones. I felt like, they were not only deprived to live, but they were indeed deprived for the dignity and privacy helplessly. At first, I was attentively looking and listening to the tour guide. But as I was walking on, I just felt so sad. Then I began to palpitate. I thought, maybe it was the formalin or the preservatives all over the place, or maybe I was already hungry that I felt busy and most probably because of the uneasiness I felt inside.

Honestly speaking, I was SAD. yes, I was amazed of the technology, but still, I just don't think it's right. Okay, call me "kill joy" but that's how I felt.

The least thing we could do is to somehow take pictures on places where it isn't prohibited.
So we did!