Manila

The flight out of KUL on Tuesday was delayed and it finally took off at 1330 hours (scheduled departure was 12 noon) after an especially long taxiing down the runway. It started off as a bumpy journey but soon improved, thank God. Caught up with reading National Geographic magazine as my copy hadn’t arrived in the mail and other magazines, reasoning I could catch up with the in-flight movies on my way home, especially as the return flight was in the evening. Had venison for lunch, it was quite good and tasted a bit like beef [the accompanying mash potato tasted simply divine, I never knew it could taste sooo good].

We landed at Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 4.44 pm - some may consider this unlucky! - Manila time [Manila is in the same time zone as KL]. I was the second one of the plane and a good thing too as there were already long queues forming at the immigration counters with only four opened for visitors; the dozen or so other counters were for Balikbayan or those Filipinos working abroad returning home for holidays or for good. This was our first taster of a few other queues to come.

After clearing immigration, collecting luggage and clearing custom, we searched for a cab. I’d read that taking a metered cab to the city is better than taking a coupon cab – though of course those we approached said metered cabs are less safe as they are not ‘registered’ and should anything untoward happen to the passenger, the authority cannot trace the cab/cabbie down. We decided to take the risk and take a metered cab anyway.

The infamous Manila jam was already in full swing but I didn’t think it was any worse than KL to be honest. And anyway, we were too busy besieging our cabbie with questions that we hardly noticed the jam. We reached our hotel in Makati about half an hour later. By the way, there are seven cities that make up Metro Manila and Makati is the financial district and where the banks, insurance companies, stock exchange and hotels are. Check-in wasn’t too smooth and we finally set off at 7 pm to explore Glorietta, which is the nearest, err, shopping malls [for they were a few of them malls and all inter-connected] for dinner and possibly some light groceries.

The omnipresent guards were all around at the entrances to public places like hotels and shopping malls and well, in Manila, do as the locals do and just bear with the bag-poking. It only takes a few seconds actually and I didn’t find it annoying. Anyway, do the locals love ‘malling’! I guess it’s because malls are all air-conditioned, covered and connected that everyone just flocks there. And besides, one might as well hang out there after work instead of braving the traffic jam. We managed to find a stall selling sizzling fish at the food court; apart from that, Filipinos evidently and clearly love their pork.

Later that night, I was glued to the news of the floods in England. There was footage of people buying bottled water from supermarkets. Guess the latest Harry Potter novel was the last thing on their minds.

The conference was over a period of two days and the first day finished slightly late, no thanks to the moderator who wasn’t a stickler for time management. It was getting late and we went out again later that evening, yes to Glorietta to find some local souvenirs to bring home and dinner. The second day of the conference ended at 5.15 pm much to our joy as we already had a date... yes, with Glorietta again. More shopping and browsing and dinner was again sizzling fish [albeit a different kind] at the food court. It rained during the day on Wednesday and Thursday but the rain had stopped by the time the conference ended.

I suppose we could have tried venturing out of Makati but it was so safe in Makati and it was already late/getting dark by the time the conference ended and the roads still jammed that we just decided to just stick to Makati and Glorietta. Being in Makati though had the effect of me feeling as if I was anywhere but in Manila with the modern amenities of a modern city and the modern and tall skycrapers - see, Manila was the second most destroyed city during the WW II after Warsaw. Well, apart from the traffic jam, the good-looking Filipinos with their Spanish names (how surreal to have an Asian look with a Spanish name!) and the Jeepneys ploughing the streets of course.

Our flight out on Friday was in the afternoon so we had the morning to ourselves for, yes, more last-minute shopping [and the shopping delights of Makati didn’t fail us!]. The malls were all opened only from 10 am onwards and as we left at 9.30 am, we had to brave the already scorching morning sun and went to Balikbayan Handicrafts at Arnaiz Avenue before returning to the comforts and coolness of Glorietta more than an hour later. Lunch was had at a Vietnamese restaurant serving seafood noodle. We then returned to the hotel to finish up packing, perform prayers and check out.

We managed to get a cab back to the airport – it’s either you wait for a cab to deliver new guests or you have to avail the hotel’s limousine which would set you back by Php1700 (almost USD38!)! We reached the airport at 2, which was actually quite early as our flight was scheduled to depart at 4.50 pm... but of course there was the horrible queue to get your bags weighed the old-fashioned way before you can check in your bags. That itself took a painful half an hour if not more. Then after paying the Php750 departure tax or what they call terminal fee [which consists of Passenger Service Charge of Php550 and Security Development Charge (?!) of Php200], we joined yet more queues to get through immigration. This was easily another painful half an hour and we were just exhausted and knackered after all that queuing.

Then it rained ever so heavily... Manila is currently facing dry weather and drought so much so some dams have reported critical water levels. What little I read from the local dailies was that the authority was trying cloud-seeding over dams to spur some rain falls.

We finally boarded the plane slightly after 5 pm and it took off shortly after. The in-flight movie schedules had been changed to the August schedules despite it still being July so there went my plan of watching Premonition and Disturbia. Finally landed at KUL at 9 pm [and yes, after another long taxiing down the runway].

Mabuhay

Another light breakfast while blogging here, another flight to catch and another sense of déjà vu. Am flying off to an Asian metropolitan which I have yet to set foot in. I have heard mixed stories about this city; let’s hope everything will turn out all right. Having been to Mumbai, I don’t really mind a visit to this city as it’d be difficult for me to go there on my own [from what I heard, it’s not exactly one place anyone can simply fly into and wander off without fear of security like Singapore]. AirAsia does fly into this country - and I could have got some free tickets previously - but from what I googled, the airport is easily three hours away from the city [so there went my plan... until today]. And yes, am keeping a very open mind about this.

Wish me luck.

Bear

I feel like a bear today. Not the cuddly, cute, fluffy teddy bear. More like a Malayan sun bear. No, really I feel like a bear with a sore head today, no thanks to the lack of sleep I had last night - for some reason, I always have problems sleeping on Sunday evenings, maybe this is due to the dread [most definitely not anticipation] of having to work the next day. At the moment, I have a cross to bear and like it or not, grin [sulk is more like it] and bear it. So yes, I feel like a bear with a sore head and I long for a bear hug now. Any offers?

20.07.2007 Ramblings

Of late, I have been inundated by callers trying to sweet talk me either into signing up for some ‘exclusive’ club or enjoying so-called incredible discounts at selected stores, restaurants and hotels. I have this weakness sometimes for giving people the benefit of doubt so I decided, OK, I’ll spare some time listening to them. [I figured if it was me doing the unappreciated marketing job, I’d want people to at least listen to what I have to say/market/promote.] Turned out this is a big mistake as I had to endure listening to them drone on and on about the benefits of being a member, the promised privileges I would enjoy (all oh so very vague), how exclusive the offer was and how special I was to be selected so on and so forth bla bla bla. Mind you, they can be very persistent and insistent.

And finally, after they had warmed up enough, they’d talk about the inevitable cost – yes, for nothing comes free as we all know. There just have to be a catch somewhere because it all sounds too good to be true and costless. To think it all comes without costing a single sen is no doubt being very naïve.

There was one where I was offered a ‘special’ membership in a sister company of a club I’m a member of and once I join this new club, I’m guaranteed VIP service. I pointed out what’s the whole bloody point of joining in the first club if it could not serve me – not in those exact words of course – and how I disagree with the idea of having to join another club just so that I can be assured of service and in the process, having to incur more dosh. I don’t believe in having to pay extra just to enjoy some service which I may hardly utilise anyway. And besides, to me, joining this new club to be assured of prompt service sounds a tad like having to hint who you’re connected to/know or where you work at just so that you get preferential treatment. [On another note, a mate had to mention where he worked to speed up his car loan process and once he did so, his loan approval got approved faster than you could blink. But really, even he wondered why he had to mention that fact – surely that shouldn’t be a necessary prerequisite for service?]

Then there was one where I was promised instant, incredible, too-good-to-be-true discounts at select establishments, including free hotel stays. Sounds too good to be true? It is... because all those discounts don’t come free. I’d have to fork out a few hundred of Ringgit just to enjoy them. I’m sure you agree with me that that doesn’t sound right somehow.

Then there was that pleasant-sounding lady who called and persuaded me to sign up as a privileged member of an international hotel. I’d enjoy discounted stays, discounted meals, a free cake and some other so-called freebies. And yes, it also costs a few hundred Ringgit.

Thanks, but no thanks.

Do they think I am so filthy rich to throw away my money for all these ‘privileged/preferential’ services? Heck, I don’t even own a vehicle (not even a bike - if I can even remember how to cycle one in the first place). And how in the world did they ever manage to get hold of my name and my mobile number?

Stop calling me already. I can save so much money by not taking up all these offers – because taking up their offers would not only entail the cost of membership but I’d also have to spend even more to ensure that my investment outlay is well spent. Besides, I’m a skint, I am. And by that, I don’t mean banks can call me to offer their so-called competitive loans at competitive interest rates. I’m not interested, OK?

Really, sometimes I wonder if I have an invisible tattoo on my forehead telling people that I am rich – I’ve been twice pick-pocketed and also had my bag snatched so maybe I give off this aura that says ‘I’m rich, rob me!’ – so go on, persuade me to part with my money with all these offers! I was once stopped by a young man who told me a sob story of having spent the night before in a lockup and whether I could spare him some cash for him to take the train back home [I gave him the money out of sympathy]. And there was the time when I was stopped by a well-dressed man asking me if I could loan him RM10. To that, I said no but he was persistent and even asked for my mobile number so that he could call and repay me back. Do I look like I was born yesterday? [And no, I didn’t give him the RM10].

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I’ve just finished reading a book on the difference between men and women. Like I told a colleague, I wished I had read this before for now I understand better why the male species behave the way they do (and why men are jerks and jerks are men) and that there’s nothing wrong with my behaving differently and having different interests when I’m just being a girl. Because men and women are different and will always be different despite being raised and educated in identical ways. Guess it’s something we always know on our sub-conscious level but never stopped consciously to understand.

Friday The 13th Posting And Other Trivia

It’s Friday the 13th again today. Not that I’m superstitious or suffer from paraskavedekatriaphobia or friggatriskaidekaphobia. Back in April when the 13th of the month was also a Friday, I told my colleagues that the first 30 days of April repeat again in July [i.e. if 10 April falls on a Tuesday, 10 July will also be a Tuesday]. Everyone immediately reached out for his/her calendars to check [like I was pulling their leg?!] and looked back at me like I just told them when the end of the world would be. Really, there’s nothing weird about that at all and I know this trivial fact because Mummy’s birthday is on 10 April and Akak’s on 10 July and their birthdays always fall on the same day. Just a bit of observation on my part, that’s all.

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Just found out that there are quite a few bloggers who also celebrate their birthdays in July. Cool! For some reason, among my close university friends, my birthday is always the last to be celebrated, despite me being born in July... because the others celebrate theirs in January through to June. And as we normally went back or had other plans for summer hols, by the time July (and my birthday) arrived, we had parted ways temporarily and we only celebrated my birthday when we met again in autumn.

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Also just discovered - I have always suspected it but now it’s confirmed - that my next-door neighbour is a Nosy Parker Peeping Tom. I’m surprised to discover such species still exist in KL and in that neighbourhood too. Before I moved in, I bumped into her and she was practically discouraging me from moving in with her horror stories of how often the water supply got cut and of how bad, irresponsible and noisy the other neighbours were. She made some feeble attempts at communicating since I moved in but generally has gone out of her way to avoid me. Once I saw her crouching so that I wouldn’t see her enter her compound - when I had already seen her. The last time we had a conversation was last August and for a while I thought how great it was to have someone who isn’t a nosy parker as a neighbour. Until I found out she actually is one.

I have a feeling that she is still somehow angry at me for erecting the wall between our porches. Like I asked her to pay for it; in fact she now benefits by not having to build that wall without spending a single cent [heck, when the other neighbour built the wall between our lawns, I was happy, not annoyed]. Besides, it’s not as if the wall is anything like the Berlin Wall! And if she views it as such, well, my side of the wall is most definitely West Germany/Berlin and hers is East Germany/Berlin.

At Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, May Day 2007. The gate belonged to East Germany when the Berlin Wall was built and now symbolises freedom and the unity of Berlin when the Wall fell in 1989.

Anyway, before I built die mauer, she used to hang all sorts of things on the barely standing fence – from car mats to door mats to rags etc. She still does that annoying thing albeit it has lessened a bit. I don’t think it’s proper especially since her house is a corner unit. My intermediate micasa is sandwiched in between houses and yet I don’t hang anything on either side of the porch wall.

And she had the gall to ask my dad to convey to me - when he came earlier in the week – to leave the back lights on. And she complained about her scratched car [like I did that? I have better things to do!] and God knows what else.

I wish sometimes I can just go and shake her by the shoulders. Seriously. There have been times when I imagine her as a witch – but that would mean she has powers to cast evil spell on me and yes, I’m evil too for having this thought – hence it’s kind of fitting to include her under this posting title.

His Story

His parents separated when he was still only a toddler. Thereupon, his mother raised him and his younger sister all by herself. He never met/known his father since.

His mother succumbed to advanced stage leukaemia and passed away in 2001. Since then, the two orphans turned to and depended on their maternal grandmother for love, care and support.

Early June 2007, they lost their grandmother to pneumonia.

An aunt holds access to their late mother’s EPF, a fact I found strange as he is already above 21 years of age. He told me he doesn’t like to ask about access to his late mother’s EPF and would only ask for money from his aunt when he is really desperate.

He now survives on his JPA scholarship for his university tuition fees, books, lodging, transportation, meals and other sundry expenses. He once took up a part-time job to make ends meet but quit when it affected his studies.

As I listened to his story, my throat tightened and my eyes burned as I fought to hold back my tears. I almost choked and it was all I could do to keep myself from crying. But I was already weeping in my heart and my voice shook as we talked.

This young man has faced so much adversity in his young life, more than I could possibly imagine. Oh, I know there are a lot of similar such stories, lest you think me naïve – I cry many a time watching human sufferings in various forms and various countries – so I really can’t explain why his story affected me so.

So the next time I think my life sucks, I will remember his story and I will think of those less fortunate than me and know I have more.

070707

Today is the day. The day we planned to get married. The day we planned to tie our love legally. Ever since we (sort of) agreed on this date, I’d stop at the jewellery section of Isetan every time I/we go there and look at the platinum rings. See, I planned to buy him one as a wedding ring. Nothing but only the best will do.

Alas it is not meant to be... because mine is just another sad love story. I still stop at the Isetan jewellery section though, maybe out of habit.

Today also is my niece’s birthday and Akak’s birthday will be in three days’ time.

And yesterday was my birthday. Yet another year down this journey of life. I still have many on my to-do list: of things to do, see, accomplish, learn and understand, places to visit, experiences to be gained, deeds to be done, of will to be drawn up [though it sucks big time to have this on one’s to-do list]. And just like last year, I had an attack of birthday blues a few days before too.

Thanks to everyone who remembered and took the time to wish me. Thanks all for the birthday wishes, birthday prayers, cards, text messages and presents. I truly do appreciate them. I thank God that I’m still blessed with the love of family and friends.

p/s: I’m still on my self-imposed financial diet. Birthday ang pows to ‘Tide Adek Over Financial Diet’ in the form of major foreign currencies (I’m talking Euro and pound sterling here. OK, greenback will do too) will be greatly appreciated and warmly welcomed. Oh, Isetan vouchers accepted too.

I started the day cleaning micasa – birthday or not, I am a clean freak - and then rewarding myself with retail therapy. And being the Gucci Girl that I am, I spent some time in the store before emerging out (a lot) poorer. Yes, I still remember my financial diet but the store is having a sale and hey, birthday comes only once a year, right. And besides, I didn’t manage to get the Prada bag so yesterday’s purchases should make up for that. Now I just want the Gucci Zodiac pendant to replace the one I lost [and some lingerie would be nice too].

Numb Me, Drill Me, Floss Me, Bill Me

Paid an overdue visit to my dentist shortly after returning back to KL soil. Whenever I lie there in the chair, I try not to think of the pain or the horrible blood-chilling noise of that drilling machine [or whatever it’s called]. To keep my mind off the unpleasantness, sometimes I imagine I’m far away, anywhere but there in that chair and doing something more exciting. Sometimes I pretend that I’m being held captive by aliens who are doing tests on me. Often I’d recite Quranic verses and talk to God. If I run out of things to think or imagine or talk to God, there’s always the background music - the clinic tunes in to some oldie station - to help calm my frayed nerves. By the way, sing this posting title to the tune of U2’s Hold Me, Kiss Me, Thrill Me, Kill Me, so altogether now, numb me, drill me, floss me, bill me...

Actually, my dentist is very gentle - yes, she is so gentle that now I actually look forward to my dental appointments rather than dread them - although I do dislike sitting there with the blinding light in my eyes [despite shutting my eyes tightly], my mouth open wide [‘Come on girl, open wider and bigger!’ my dentist would say and I’d try hard to follow her instruction], my hands clenched tight at my sides and my body tense [can’t help it, I can never relax easily in that chair]. And that is one time when someone can talk to me without me feeling oblige to reply. Like how do you reply anyway when you’re sitting there totally helpless and temporarily mute anyway.

Thankfully this visit lasted less than half an hour (I like to think I have good dental hygiene despite this visit being overdue by more than a month. Heh).

Until the next visit then.

Sand, Sea, Sun

I just returned from a trip to the East Coast with my parents. We had a lovely time. The drive was pleasant most of the way, the view beautiful most of the time, the food yummy, yes, most of the time. I love going to the KT market with its strange mix of smell – dried sea products (dried fish and cuttlefish, fish crackers, fish sausages, just to name a few) – and sights – batik outfit, handicrafts and souvenirs.

We were in KT for two nights. Some complaints though: it was hot, hot, hot - scorching, blinding, merciless sun shining down on us the whole time we were there. It was uncomfortably hot in the market too, but of course, and that made the shopping experience less pleasant. It was also hot where we were staying despite turning the fans and air-conds on. And I was appalled and dismayed to discover that the beach was still littered as it was at my last visit.

Oh and I also met up with my best mate who took me on a spin around KT town [matey also happened to be there during the weekend].

We stopped at Cherating on the way back and spent a night there. Our Cherating room had a fantastic view of the well-maintained, well-manicured lawn of the resort, the endless blue sea and the gorgeous white sand. And it was nowhere as hot as it was in KT.

And now I am back on KL soil. Sun and work-stress... *sigh*.