The Maiden Voyager

its been a awhile since the last time i blogged...

there had been a lot interesting things that had happened in the last 14 days but i was just too lazy to hit the keyboard and put my thoughts into writing...

Virgin Atlantic had just celebrated its 25th B-day so you cant expect anything less from the "fiery maiden" who have been gracing the skies for a quarter of a century already.

View the VIRGIN ATLANTIC's latest TV ADS HERE

With it's theme "still red hot at 25th"... VS had prepared a lot of surprises for all its passengers on that day of 22nd June.

I had a passenger whose B-day falls on that same day, and she was upgraded from premium economy to Upper Class .. whooah!

The cabin crew had changed into 80's look as soon as the flight was airborne. Games and fun have been prepared on board and champagne was given to everyone!

VS staff had prepared a lot of surprises for the ground staff too. We had a quiz bee to which i had actively participated. Mr. Arul, the regional manager was so amused that he gave me a chocolate apart from the other gift that we had received. Not even knowing that the next day would be my own "birthday"!

Trust VS to keep the party roaring! Bottom line is.. we had a great fun!

I love GARY G...!!!

One of my favorites! Mabuti pa sila ...

Song of Gary Granada that won the Metro Pop Award..

Looking for an Original Gary G. Video but found none.

Hope this will do:

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Mabuti Pa Sila

Mabuti pa ang mga surot

Laging mayrong masisiksikan

Mabuti pa ang bubble gum

Laging mayrong didikitan

Mabuti pa ang salamin

Laging mayrong tumitingin

Di tulad kong

Laging walang pumapansin

Mabuti pa ang mga lapis

Sinusulatan ang papel

At mas mapalad ang kamatis

Maya't maya napipisil

Napakaswerte ng bayong

Hawak ng aleng maganda

Di tulad kong lagi na lang nag-iisa

Ano ba'ng wala ako na mayron sila

Di man lang makaisa

Habang iba'y dala-dalwa

Pigilan n'yo akong magpatiwakal

Mabuti pa ang galunggong

Nasasabihan ng 'mahal'

Kahit ang suka ay may toyo

At ang asin may paminta

Mabuti pa ang lumang dyaryo

At yakap-yakap ang isda

Mabuti pa sila, mabuti pa sila

Di tulad kong lagi na lang nag-iisa

Mabuti pa ang simpleng tissue

At laging nahahalikan

Mabuti pa ang dating bisyo

Umaasang babalikan

Mabuti pa sila, mabuti pa sila

Di tulad kong umuuwing nag-iisa

Sensya na po .. pagbigyan nyo na me.. Homesick lang kasi.....

Kapag Sinabi ko Sayo...

I was waiting in que to the bathroom today...

My normal "slot" is 5am in the morning so since i reported äbsent"from work due to some things i need to personally attend to, my "turn"had passed and need to wait for all of my housemates to finish their thing with the loo.

I don't know but i just but started to murmur a song that was my personal favorite sometime in my college days.. its a novelty song from Gary Granada,i know it is my "homesickness" working, so i just give in, i took my laptop and hit the music sites.. but this is what i got!

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credit for this widget goes to the original uploder

KAPAG SINABI KO SAYO

Kapag sinabi ko sa iyo na ika'y minamahal

Sana'y maunawaan mo na ako'y isang mortal

At di ko kayang abutin ang mga bituin at buwan

O di kaya ay sisirin perlas ng karagatan

Kapag sinabi ko sa iyo na ika'y iniibig

Sana'y maunawaan mo na ako'y taga-daigdig

Kagaya ng karamihan, karaniwang karanasan

Daladala kahit saan, pang-araw-araw na pasan

Ako'y hindi romantiko, sa iyo'y di ko matitiyak

Na pag ako'y kapiling mo kailanma'y di ka iiyak

Ang magandang hinaharap sikapin nating maabot

Ngunit kung di pa maganap, sana'y huwag mong ikalungkot

Kapag sinabi ko sa iyo na ika'y sinisinta

Sana'y yakapin mo akong bukas ang iyong mga mata

Ang kayamanan kong dala ay pandama't kamalayan

Na natutunan sa iba na nabighani sa bayan

Halina't ating pandayin isang malayang daigdig

Upang doon payabungin isang malayang pag-ibig

Kapag sinabi ko sa iyo na ika'y sinusuyo

Sana'y ibigin mo ako, kasama ang aking mundo

The BUS

I went to the bank in Karama to collect my new ATM card. In line with the merging of Emirates Bank and National Bank of Dubai, they are replacing our old ATM cards with a new one. I took a taxi going there but only because I want to make it on time before the bank close its doors. It’s now or never again!

Since I have embarked on a saving-mode, I have decided to take the bus going back home. I was thinking that given our financial situation nowadays, riding a taxi is almost a sin and a waste of money. Why pay 15dhs (approx.3.20 USD) if you can take a bus for 2dhs only (approx. 80 cents)??

So, I went to the nearest bus station and waited for Bus no.19 to arrive, 10-minutes and I am already on board the bus. Everything could have gone well, except for a fact that it took for about 2 hours for me to reach home, and NO traffic at that! The route that Bus 19 is taking is

seemingly the longest route in the history of RTA!

The journey time was so long that I have begun to think that I took the TOUR DUBAI bus mistakenly. When I get down I felt so tired, thirsty and hungry that I head straight to the nearest grocery store. I bought Tuna, Lettuce and Ice Cream on stick to cool down my boiling temper. As soon as I am out of the store I opened my ice cream box immediately and started to munch on it. Too late! The temperature outside is 46 degrees celcius, I have eaten half of the ice cream half of it have been melted and scattered on the road leaving My trail on the way to the villa! If I am a criminal walking , I could have been caught easily because of my “ice cream traces”…

Haaaaaaayyy (again!)

When I get home, I stared at the groceries I boughtthat cost me 12.45dhs… add 2 dhs bus fair and that would make it almost 15 dhs also! A cost for a 15 minute taxi ride!

Fine! Just to make me feel better I would just think that I took taxi..with FREE tuna salad for me for Jeff and Pepe, a melted ice cream bar plus a tour to BUR DUBAI.

Should I include the severe migraine as well???

Shu hada!

the MiCroWave

I arrived at the villa 1:00pm on the dot today. Took the company bus from the airport and took a 10-minute walk from my drop-off point in Hor Al Anz, braving the 43degree Celsius heat of the sun! Just saw the sandstorm happily spreading itself in to the air officially declaring Summer season. Darn! My brain got nearly baked by the scorching heat hanging in the air and it did nothing to appease my heated mood as well… its almost a year since the last time I got home. I miss my family, I miss my friends, I miss Manila’s unpredictable weather, I miss the province’s summer smell. I miss home.

I know I will be alone at the house today, I was always the last to be out and the first to be in due to my early working schedule. Took few minutes rest, I went down at the kitchen to take my lunch. Alone as usual, the microwave was my constant companion during lunch time. I shove my food I, press the start button.. ding.. ding.. ding…. ding..

Haaaaaay… Home…. I miss home…

When I am taking a vacation to the Philippines, my mother makes sure that the food on the table would be something that I can’t normally find in Dubai. My favorites are “bulanglang” and fried fish, adobong batangas, pinais na dulong, pork paksiw, and humba and pork barbeque served with salted egg with tomatoes. Of course you can eat all of those every where, but “home cooking” is always different no matter what.

In the morning Tatay would go to the market just to buy my breakfast, native delicacies of course, puto, kutsinta, bibingkang kanin, ensaymada and Banana Q and turon.

I remember when I was younger, when we go vacation in Batangas, the famous “pinindot”, buchi-buchi, and tamales will never be missing at the breakfast table, while Kapeng barako is free flowing the whole day in Nanay Peling’s house.

Come 3pm, my cousins and I will go to Thomas’s carinderia, where we will eat Lomi, or Palabok, fish balls, kwek-kwek and all kinds of Inihaw…betamax, isaw, adidas and whatever comes to mind. We will finish it off with Halo-Halo with lots of ube and leche flan on top! As soon as our monstrous intestines managed to digest all of the food we ate (which was very soon, in fact) we will go to the field and aided with our slippers on the right hand and bagoong bottle on he other, we will try to steal green mangoes in Amados’s land. Half of the time we get away with our “mango escapades” the other half we go home running with missing slippers and an angry Ämado in tow! HAHAHAHAHA!

Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiingggg…..

The microwave has beeped already…. Time is up.. food reheated… I stared at the plate with a left over rice from last night, 1 ½ piece of sausage and half fried chicken….left over from last night as well and then I thought….

Haaaaaaaay… welcome back to Dubai.

I got Cairo-d Away!!

September 13, 2008

I was really blessed to be given a chance to visit the country where the one of the oldest civilization in the world history had begun... Cairo, Egypt. To say that we got carried away by the amazing creation of a man, that was the Pyramid, was an understatement! Nothing had prepared us for the breathtaking mystery that surrounds the city. If not for anything, the Pyramid alone is worth the trip to one of the most sought after destination in the planet..

The proud Pyramid stood tall and greatly in the midst of the bustling city of Cairo. Upon looking at this great creation of man, you would think that the ancestors of Alexander the Great have absolutely done a superior architectural skill relying only in physical strength and amazing structural techniques. It is said that the Pyramid was made by blocks of stones and nothing else. (it means no use of cements or anything). How they did that was beyond me!

Though it was generally agreed that the Pyramids were build as a burial monument during ancient time, there are still the endless theories being given as to the real purpose of the construction of these monuments.

As of November 2008, there were 118 Pyramid that have been identified. Egypt's deep history is still very much tangible in its people and cities. There is a nagging mysteriousness in each corner of the place that not even a hundred thousand of years could possibly eradicate.

Friday Madness

It's Friday once again.. in a Muslim country like the UAE, Friday to Muslims is like Sunday to Christians. Friday for them is a church day or Holy Day. So for all of us, residing here in Dubai, and the rest of the U.A.E and all of the Muslim country, Friday is our REST DAY. Supposedly..

Supposedly! But not for people like myself who work in the operations and working in shift! Haaaaay! i was ranting with myself on the way to work this morning, like every Friday morning. I was up by 5.am preparing for work, 5:45 I am already on my way to the airport. So come 6am, Dubai time we are aleady working our butt off while more than half of Dubai's population is still in deep slumber! Haaaaaay... (again!) life is seldom just!

The rest of my 6-hour shift was a blur. Apart from the member of a "Ruling Family" His Highness Sheikh.....(secret!) whom my friend Lyn had checked in in VS flight this morning (down to earth chap, if i may say! goofs around in the counter while pleasantly demanding for a better seat.. hehehehe) nothing interesting happened today.

Accomplishment for the Day: I managed to convince a Business Class passenger in Air France to do a voluntary Down Grade in Economy! (huh! well... try to beat that.. if you think it's nothing you might as well THINK AGAIN..nyehehehehe! coz that was the hardest thing to do if you are sitting in the Business Class counter) We were overbooked!

Looking at the long que in AF flight this morning, i was thinking that, though the AF 447 case may just be fresh from the people's mind, it will never stop passengers especially the Loyal Frequent Flyers to patronize the the service of AF. At the end of the day, with Safety and Security, being at the Top of the List, nothing will beat the good service and warm welcome in the airline industry to keep the customers coming back.

So.. never underestimate the power of a warm SMILE... :-)

hark back to PaRiS

Our trip to Paris gives me nothing but good memories. Though pictures would not give justice to the excitement we have been feeling sometime February 2008, as our wandering feet stepped to the land of, IMO, fashion and passion.

Join me as i reminisce our short, but definitely worthwhile adventure in Paris:

Me: Mama..

san po ba pwde dumaan punta istasyon ng tren??

Remembering Munich

Origin: Dubai

Destination: Munich, Germany

Departure Date: January 30, 2008 Journey Time: Forget ko Na! Tagal na eh.

Aim : Dadaan lang po to make"usi " to the life of approx. 1.34M inhabitants of Germany's most strongest city in terms of economic status.. (that is accdg to the Wikiedia, lol!)

Pax: The TAKAS Gang -Mars Bungangera, Rech Ala-Snooky Serna, Pau Tulugera, Aila Takasera, Lhanz Pindutera (the official photographer of the Takas Gang)

Itinerary: Lipad dito, lakad dun, piktyur dito, kain don.

TRIP na TRIP : 12 -hour Stay lang para maki -UZI sa mga

taken alongside Munich's Avenues....

Streets, streets, streets.......

oh -hah! siga ito ah... ano ha? ...

MÜnich at 4:am! heheheh desperado na po mag take ng pics.. we were running out of time.. (have a plane to catch on that same day..) Grrr... it was a lot colder early morning .. we had our 3 degrees celcius. kilig to the bones moment.. we were numb all over! We chose to stay on a Wombats'Hotel.. a back packer's haven.."cool place to stay"in a cold place like Munich..

the famous Deutsches Theatre in the midst of the city...

12-Hour stay in MÜnich is over.. OFF to the next stop.. PARIS!

SweeT Tooth.. The Revised Edition

I am writing this blog as a re- action to the reactions I had received from some of my “readers” (huh… feeling!) about my recent entry with the same title as the above.

My entry about the “sweet tooth” is not about the chocolate, it’s not about the “sale” (I have always believed that doing advertising nor convincing people about anything is not one of my talents, if there is any!), it’s not about what we had for desert and it’s definitely NOT about Jeff’s TOOTH!

What I have written between and behind the lines in that article (kumusta naman! Article daw oh!) reflect the current situation that the people nowadays are experiencing and I am one of those people. Do we really need to wait for a sale in order to buy the food or the things that we want? Does a commodity need to be near its expiry before it could be affordable to the current buying masses? Whether we admit it or not, the people’s purchasing power nowadays had considerably declined.

Few years ago during my “pre-loan and pre-credit card” days, whenever I buy my groceries, (which was often!), I never looked at the price of anything that I was buying. I put in the cart everything that I need and anything that I “thought” I need regardless of how much it cost. I was never “budget” conscious. If it’s something I like, I buy. It was something about me that I am not really proud of. I was never good in handling my finances. I am generous to my self and to the people around me. I never know a thing about saving and now that the global crisis hit the world, i was caught unprepared.

I was generous.. to a fault.. and now I’m paying for it..ALONE!

Global crisis had made a dramatic impact to people’s lifestyle. It forces us to live within our means and make the best of what was left from the “good ol’days”. While it is true that there is no use crying over a spilt milk, it’s never too late to learn and get up from a certain collapse,sure it may not be the easiest thing to do, but it always pays.

So… how’s your “sweet tooth” ??

The Connection

Have you ever heard of the word “bedlam”?

How about turmoil?

What about commotion?

Disarray?

Disorder..?

Chaos?!

Riot?

Unrest?

Disturbance?

PANDEMONIUM??????

Well if you aren’t familiar with these words yet… try to …..

DISABLE the Internet Connection in your house…

Hell will break loose...

And you will have a better understanding of ALL the words mentioned above…. FIRSTHAND!

Bwahahahahahaha! Peace guys, just some naughty thought before going into bed!


See ya tomorrow!

night night!=p

villa 26

Just this afternoon, while Pepe (this is how I fondly call my brother’s fiancée) is taking a nap (if she wakes up after 2 hours that’s a nap, but if her sleep takes 16 hours then that is her regular sleeping duration.. hehe) I stole her camera and take a quick snap on our “silent” neighborhood.

I am bored… I got no calls (except from banks, take note , that’s in plural form, BANKS!, reminding me of the payment due dates for my credit cards! BLAST them all!). I got no text message, except from the Home in Phils., reminding me of the enrollment, bills to pay and rental dues! What to do?.. I am an OFW and people expect me to have loads of cash ALL THE TIME. They can expect.. go ahead! It’s recession for crying out! Where else can I get the moolah??

When I open my emails the only things I would get are messages from some astrological boo boo saying the stars is saying I would get more money this year if I would just click the link below… blah blah blah. The other message are just links to people selling Viagra or whatever sex thingy they are marketing that if you are stupid enough to open your entire computer system would crash due to virus. Well, first I am not stupid, only sometimes. Secondly, I don’t need Viagra or anything of the sort for sex. (what is SEX by the way?? Pagkain ba yon??) Bwahahahah! Except for an encouraging messages from Ate Jane and Yanie 'bout my writings, everything Im getting were maddening!

What exactly is happening to the world??

So just to clear my mind and de-stress, down I went and I tried to find an inspiration to write something about. Life situation is becoming taxing by the minute. I feel that tension is building up everywhere and I am feeling suffocated. I need a release… I need to write!

The neighborhood is quiet outside. The tranquility of the environment had made wonders in toning down the contrasting emotions that I am feeling inside. We are now residing in a quiet villa somewhere in Deira, it is a kind of place which is a far cry from the busy streets of Al Rigga, where we used to live for almost 3 years. So the sudden change of environment gives a peculiar feeling,but a welcome feeling nevertheless.

The Pinoy here, especially the Yuppies (or the young professionals) always preferred to live in the “center” place like Al Rigga. Karama, etc., where everything is accessible, from salon, malls or shopping center, restos, bar and transpo stations. First is for convenience, second is for the life style, are main

reasons why the young people stays in the central areas. Since recession starts to eat up Dubai, we felt that the FLAT that we have before is no longer practical to keep. So we decided to transfer to a quieter, more economical part of Deira, Hor Al Anz.

The place where we are currently renting a room is a villa-type of house. Our community is composed of mostly executive personnel (and their families) working in different prominent companies in the UAE. Our current house is previously owned by a trading company. Financial downturn had made them decide to have the villa rented by someone else.

That is why we are here now… we are sharing the house with other families and other bachelors like us. We g

ot one of the rooms in very fair rental rate. Let me share with you some pics of our neighborhood and may give you ideas as well on how a typical “Arabic Villa” looks like.

It may look plush and convenient place to stay but it’s a kind of luxury that is sadly not enough to give us the TLC we could only

get from our real “home” back in the Philippines.

SWEET Tooth..

I always joke with my brother about him having "sweet tooth". His fondness for sweets like chocolates and ice cream has always made him the target of jokes and banters amongst us. Look what he got for desserts tonight?

Tadaaaaaa!

It's Cadbury's SNAPS an orange flavored thin milk chocolates with crispies. Guess what ..its on sale! That is why we have it. It doesnt even cost a dollar. Well, given the financial crisis, it would be wiser to settle for something less for as long as we will not compromise our health on buying cheaper commodities. We have to streeeeeeech the budget. Frugality is IN.

Munch, munch, munch....

The Travel

Last night I was wistfully staring at my passport… normally at this time of the month the ball is rolling already for the next escape to Bangkok for my monthly “business” visit to the La la land…

My last travel to Bangkok was my 15^th trip to Thailand from Sept of 2007. That would make it 1 travel every 2 months if I were to compute the average rate of the trips that I do on a yearly basis. I fell in love with Bangkok the moment I landed on September 09, 2007. The love at first sight that I have with THAILAND was mainly because of the following reasons : I felt that I was in a place closer to home, the Thai have great similarities with Filipinos in terms of facial features and body structure, raining at night and sunny by day (just like my home sweet home), hotels are affordable, food is cheap, and they have green mangoes with a dip that resembles bagoong!

But what do I do there? I shop! But before your imaginations runs riot about the “notion” of SHOPPING and associate it with being “Sosyal” or anything of the sort, let me give you a clear picture of what exactly goes on when we do our “business trip”.

Heading to the airport straight from work, we take 6 hours flight to BKK (that is IF I’m lucky enough to be ON-Loaded to the flight as I am always on the waitlist!). On board, airline food had already lost its appeal, you will force your self to sleep despite the snoring or the endless chatting of the people beside you. Staff passengers either get the BEST or the WORST seat depending of the flight book load. If the plane is light, you’ll get the former, if the plane is full you’ll get the latter. But if lady luck is on your side, you’ll get bumped up to business class, (of course, that rarely happens!)

Landing in the destination on an empty stomach and on sleep-deprived state is a normal case for us, except for the few times that we were upgraded to business class, I was so relaxed during the flight that I even forgot that I am traveling and I cant remember where I was when we landed. Blame that to stress and sheer exhaustion.

When we reach the hotel , we barely have time to eat. Changing from our travel clothes to our “palengke- get up” (which is shirt, shorts and slippers) we head straight to our “shopping place” where we will spend the next 7 hours non-stop hopping from one shop to the other, bargaining, sorting, and buying the most affordable quality items that we can buy for our fashion-addict “clients”, we do all these while eating our food in-betweens.

When we are done, (I mean when we spend all the money we have) we will go back to the hotel, pack all our things and purchases and head back to the airport! Yes oh yes! We seldom spend the night in Bangkok… we need to take the flight back to our point of origin that same night as we have to report to work the next day, and this time, snoring or chatting, turbulence or no turbulence, business class or no business class we are already dead tired to care.

The only consolation we get from these sacrifices is the knowledge that no matter how hard and complicated the course that we are taking, it will soon be paid off in Cash and in KIND. The exhaustions are wiped off as soon as we see happy faces of the people we vowed to served, our clients who never get tired of waiting for us to see and buy the things “we have got” from our trip; and our loved ones who benefits from the fruit of our “labor”.

It is so hard to go through the same ordeal over and over again. Just the thought of long flights, sleepless hours, exhaustion (not to mention jet lags that can last for daaayyyys), is enough to make me decide to just sit at home and laze around. But if these hardships could feed our family, if it will help us send our students to school, if this will guarantee a roof on our head and survival to all, who are we to whine? Besides, it’s not at all hard as it seems to be, it could be strenuous but we get the chance to enjoy the ride.

You see, our life is like a travel tour package, we get ticket to live, we board to risk, we fight the turbulence, we endure the inconveniences. Reaching the destination is like achieving success. We are rewarded as we welcome the challenges and we enjoy the fun that it offers, we explore, we bargain, we take and we give. We LEARN. WE LIVE.

When we go back to our Origin, although worn-out and totally exhausted, we are richer in more ways than one.

How about you? Have you ever “TRAVELED” ?