Bring No Luggage

Just wanted to share a little tip out there, although it's not exactly a tip as everyone is supposed to know about this already. Yes, bring no check-in luggage with you when you can.

When I traveled a few days ago, I didn't want to bring check-in luggage with me, so I brought only carry-on luggage. In the rush for the Christmas holidays, there were long lines at NAIA III and I was quite anxious to get through check-in, specially as I didn't get proper sleep the night before (another side-effect of traveling). Why do I have to fall in line with all the other passengers that have a month's worth of luggage with them, right? Good enough I talked to a friend a few steps behind me on the line, for I suddenly saw the Express Check-in Counter of Cebu Pacific. Whew! There was only one person there, whereas I was in a line with 6 people before me with several carts (yes, carts) of luggage with them. From the time I arrived at the airport, it only took me 20 minutes to get through to the security gates. More time to explore and find a spot in which to park myself. :)

Cebu Pacific Air can be reached through their website at www.cebupacificair.com

Blog Action Day: Look at the Positive

Here's my 2 cents worth to Blog Action Day 2008.

All we see are sugarcane everywhere. We are in Negros, sugarcane country, and we are driving along a two-lane highway, one lane going north, the other going south. I'm hitching a ride with an uncle and his wife and we're heading to my grandmothers' wake. We had a pleasant ride for some twenty minutes or so when my uncle suddenly calls my aunt's attention.

"Look at that, oh."
"Yeah. That's why I want to bring the kids here again."

I squirm in my seat, uncomfortable that I get to be the witness of this conversation. I look ahead and see what they see, "karga-tapas" guys or sugarcane field workers cutting and cleaning the sugarcane and loading them in batches on a waiting truck. This part of harvesting sugarcane is a very labor-intensive process and there could be several people working on a portion of a field at one time. Here, in front of us, are several people on each side of the , highway, working the field and clearing out patches in a (I'm sure) systematic manner here and there.

"You see, Rizza, sometimes we forget." My aunt tells me.

Maybe... Sometimes we forget what other people's lives are like, we forget what we're working for.

At another time, while traveling on the same stretch of highway, this same aunt tells me that she likes Filipino houses. Specifically, the houses and huts of the ordinary people. She says "they're just simple, from simple and native materials, but they have a certain grace to them." I wanted to grin so wide at that point, if I just could.

The story does not always have to be so grim and it doesn't always have to be about blaming someone. There are those who might live in poverty or in the edges of poverty, yet who still have a certain grace in the way they live. In our travels, let's invite everyone to look at the positive side of things.

Cebu Pacific Sale

Just wanted to share something that I came across recently when I had nothing to do but surf the net looking for cheap airfare, hoping to get a good deal on an adventure trip one of these weekends. Cebu Pacific Air just recently released its promo fares which start at Php 1 (plus taxes and surcharges), including Php 288 all-in fares for domestic flights. I have been searching for good deals for the November 29 to December 1 weekend and found a Manila to Iloilo flight for Php 2800 (roundtrip). Good enough, considering how much it used to be and how much the other carriers charge for this. But then, in all my OC-ness and, uhm, frugality, I might end up staying home because I can't decide where to go. Whew.

If you want to go abroad or around Asia, the flight fares are also reasonable. You can go to Hong Kong (roundtrip) for Php8000+. But you need to research carefully and plan the timing so that you get good fares, and sometimes, the earlier you buy, the better. Yes, it's time. It's time to get those hands pitter-pattering on the keyboard and clicking on all kinds of flight combinations to get that deal. After all, a great bargain can make you feel like the queen of the world.

Choosing the Travel Destination

All too often, we choose our travel destinations because it's the most popular travel destination of the month, or it's what everyone's talking about or it will add plus-points to our social status. We do this, in spite of the fact that you want to go somewhere else much more simple, more mundane probably, or less glamorous. I saw a video blog recently which encouraged everyone to “be who you are” as “you are your DNA”. Your likes and dislikes define who you are. Your travel choices makes you who you are, it doesn’t matter what everyone else thinks if you think this place is more romantic or that it offers a more authentic experience of the place and its history. What matters is what you think.

Real travel changes you and keeps you in touch with the real you. This is because the sense of place that you get from a locale and the authentic history and knowledge that you learn forges you into a better you. In the same manner, staying home, or working, or going to the other local attractions keeps you in touch with the real you.

There is a song that says it well, “be true to your heart”.

Alpine Experience in Helen, Georgia

Nestled in the mountains of Georgia, the town of Helen is a must-see for all Georgia visitors and those who head to the Southeast US. Being in Helen is like entering a totally different city, almost like being in Europe, except that you're in Helen, Georgia.

The architecture is European, creating an alpine look and feel that can make Oktoberfest a richer experience. When we went to Helen, it was more of a "tour" of the place so we didn't get to participate in the Oktoberfest festivities. I know what you might be thinking, but yes, we didn't even get to taste the sausages and the pretzels. We did get to go to a Wendy's, which still had the alpine-European architecture.

A few miles outside the town center, we stopped by the Habersham Winery. They hold free wine tastings and they have pretty good wines. My friends thought it was an opportunity, considering that they thought they missed the beer at Oktoberfest, so we all flashed our IDs and went swirling and sloshing and spitting our way through the collection.

Near Helen is also a great place to unwind, the active kind that is. You can hike your way through the really walker-friendly hiking trail to Ruby Falls. It's a great hike after a week of hard work, with all the greens and the little streams every now and then. Our friends from Kansas who were with us thought it was really cool (they thought they didn't have something like that in Kansas).

Below is a picture of a tree I found that I think grew up on rock.


There are many other experiences in store for everyone at Helen and in the surrounding areas. You can do mini-golf, kart racing, river rafting or floating on one of those tubes, hiking, swimming, and a lot of other things to do. Happy travels.

Landscapes: Westwood Village

Westwood Village in Los Angeles, California as seen from the J. Paul Getty Museum. Home to entertainment and technology industry companies, University of California - Los Angeles, budding filmmakers, Fox Theater at Westwood, Diddy Reese (cookies!), Noodle Planet and a lot of other restaurants and shops.

SMX Convention Center Pictures

Pictures at the SMX Convention Center taken recently during the Firm's anniversary dinner.

To Live Inside a Mall

When I found out that I was to stay at a hotel that is connected to a 200-plus-store mall, I was dumb-struck. No way. Er,sure!

Two and a half years ago, I was assigned to work at a client located in Birmingham/Hoover, Alabama. I was kind of excited to find out where I will be staying as I was to be there for several weeks. So when I found out that I was to virtually stay in a mall, the first word that came to mind was "dangerous".

I am actually not that into shopping. I am probably what might be called a "bursty shopper". I shop only when I feel like it and when I absolutely have to. But when I do shop, I really shop. :)

So there we were, we made our reservations to the Wynfrey Hotel at the Riverchase Galleria Mall. It's a 15-story hotel with around 330 rooms. It's literally attached to the Riverchase Galleria Mall and it's also one of the state's most popular tourist destinations.

During that first week in Birmingham, we faced a lot of work so I never really got to do some serious shopping. On the two days that I did go around the mall, I suddenly had this weird feeling that everything was expensive and ended up only buying a couple of DVDs. I got Batteries Not Included, a Syvester Stallone sports movies collection... stuff. My kuripot side prevailed.

Why is there so much hype on shopping malls, I wonder? It has become a park and a tourist attraction. Which is also good, in a way. The urban planners and the marketing people have gotten really good at this. It's not that they're bad, but there could be so much more places and activities to do out there. I guess it is the generation of the shoppaholic and the maller.

One associate went out running in the woods of Birmingham every night. So he discovered all these great running trails in the area. Birmingham is like that, it's urbanized, yet it has these pockets of woods here and there. He liked the urban-nature interplay of the city so much that when a career work-life balance issue came up, he eventually moved there.

The week after we came to Birmingham, we moved to another hotel 19 miles from the Galleria Mall. So after work, I had to do a little bit of driving to get to the hotel. That's when I started discovering places off-the-beaten track. For example, I discovered this park with a garden, a hiking trail and a running path that winds through woods and trees and a few inclines here and there for a little bit of challenge. There was also this scenic drive that I can't remember where anymore because I just happened to pass by there because I got lost.

After wandering around, I finally discovered where the rest of the young and hip crowd of Birmingham hang out - at The Summit, a huge mall complex, strip mall style, and has almost everything that you would ever need or want. Fun. That is where the real shopping began. That though, is another story for another day.

Little Walks

Next week, our bosses will be out traveling in the Hongkong/China area. Well, it's not exactly a case of when the cat is away the mouse can play. No bonita. That is a weird situation for all of us. Of course, in an interconnected world, people are just an email or a text message away.

Anyway, as it's a rainy night in Makati, this actually reminded me of the Promenade at the Tsim Sha Tsui side of Hong Kong. Sometime before in Tsim Sha Tsui, my uncle went to China very early in the morning so he can play golf with his buddies and he left me alone to fend for myself. He must have realized that I can find my way around by following the maps in all those folded papers and travel brochures. My friends call them "papel-papel". With the sole intention of seeing those old folks doing their tai chi early in the morning, I went out 7am -ish for a walk on the Promenade along the harbor. Well, nothing beats a walk along the harbor early in the morning. You have the Promenade all to yourself (well, okay, along with a few other joggers and walkers), see the HK Cultural Center, Clock Tower, the Avenue of the Stars and the HK Space Museum without the usual crowd.

There are actually many other "walks" to do in Tsim Sha Tsui. You can get lost in Kowloon Park and at the Knutsford Terrace/Knutsford Steps, as well as walk the length of Nathan Road and haggle with a vendor for those dried things that hold clams. Haggling is a lot of fun, then see their reaction when you walk away saying, "Ok. Thanks. I'll think about it first."

As in life, the little things count. So pay some attention to those brochures on those little stands in little corners. There are themed walks that can guide you around and they include maps and bits of descriptions about the attractions. I took one of each of the brochures available and those basically became my maps for going around. They are also posted online at the Discover Hong Kong website.

From those little walks, I discovered that walking around and getting lost (a lot) can actually help you know a place better. I hope to discover more interesting places soon. I hope you do too.

Charleston on a Budget

Here's a link to visiting Charleston on a budget (Charleston on the Cheap). Great city that also has "the most beautiful street in America". Enjoy the article.

More on this soon.

Why would anyone do that?

What to write... what to write? I haven't traveled or been somewhere in the past few months so I have no exciting breaking news to write. Then I came across this picture and remembered the afternoon I took this picture. This was taken around three years ago actually. With three other friends, we went around town trying to discover interesting places. Right across the CNN Center, we discovered this park, the Centennial Olympic Park, with this fountain on the ground shaped like the Olympic rings.

When I saw it, I thought it was really just a normal fountain. But these kids made it just a bit more interesting. They were out there in their bathing suits, playing around the fountain. What's weird though was their reactions. They would go to the middle of one of those rings, stand there and wait for the fountain to come blasting out of the ground. Then when all this water will splash around, they will scream at the top of their lungs, while still in the middle of the ring, mind you, then run across the splashing fountain to get out of the ring. Like, duh... I must be getting old.

Have you ever seen a child put a finger on a hot kettle just to know if what everyone is saying (that the kettle is hot) is true? Or the adventurous traveler try white water rafting to know what it would feel like if the raft tossed you high up in the air, or worse, capsized? Well, one of my friends went to Colorado and tried white water rafting. The raft capsized. :D Fortunately, they were all just fine.

Like a Spark

Great travel ideas come to us like a spark. Usually, they're not a result of so much planning and careful thought. They appear out of nowhere, like a bright spark in the middle of a dark sky and suddenly spread out like fireworks - bright, colorful and exciting. They call you to just go, not next month or next year, but tomorrow. It's a call at the back of your head telling you to start packing now.

This reminds me of an English guy who said he doesn't normally think so much about his upcoming trips. He just packs his things and goes to wherever it is he needs, or wants, to go. His favorite website? You guessed it -- Lastminute.com it is. :)

This is not a call to all of you to leave your jobs and pack your bags, like, now na. It's reminder that we don't need to "engineer" our trips so much, and even the way we live our lives. That where to go will come to you when you least expect it. That sometimes, places off the beaten track can actually define a trip.

Colored Jellyfish

Jellyfish inside color lighted tanks in a dark room at Ocean Park Hongkong.

Weekends

Good weekends, good travel experiences make you feel like jelly. They give you this bright, colorful, yet warm feeling inside, like everything's right with the world. Sometimes it's a matter of perspective, or the company you're with, or the place you're in. It could happen in any of the following ways:

• Under the sun, on the beach
• Under the water while snorkeling (off the coast of Batangas possibly)
• Inside a stupa in Bangkok
• Gazing up at the gigantic Wat Po buddha
• At home on a calm and lazy Sunday afternoon
• While feeding bangus in a fish pen on a river
• Having Southern barbeque with live country music
• Walking city streets on weekends
• Driving on a stretch of road to somewhere (no traffic!)
• Walking in Greenbelt in Makati
• Sitting at a table at Seattle's Best while watching "older people" dance the night away at Cafe Havana
• Riding a boat, with really nowhere to go
• Or, having a cheeseburger at a McDonald's with free wifi access :)

Hello

Boo ya. Yep, this site is still up. It's not going anywhere. I've just been too busy living life. Life hasn't been about traveling somewhere lately, but it's been about being present and looking at what's out here. The local attractions, so to speak.

Where are you all headed off to?

Happy travels.

Lightning Storm As Seen From Makati

Who saw this lightning storm in Makati City six days ago?



No wonder the storm was like that. This was taken around 3am of Wednesday morning (or was it Thursday??). Weird, right?

What's Your Driving Music?

What's a great driving song? I was just sitting here and listening to Yahoo Music when it played Pocketful of Sunshine by Natasha Bedingfield.

Take me away: A secret place.
A sweet escape: Take me away.

Then I just thought that this song would be great when driving. It's not too slow to make you feel drowsy and it's upbeat enough to make you feel that yes, you're still alive. That's how I like the songs to go when I'm driving. Rock music makes me hyperactive, and that's not so good for soon I'll be going at it at 80 mph. If the music is too slow, it makes me feel sleepy and drowsy. The best types of driving music for me would probably be jazz, some kinds of R&B, a little alternative rock, erm country music, something in the mid-stream upbeat side.

There's this male friend who likes to listen to The Carpenters while driving. Oh boy, once we were on a ten-hour marathon road trip and when it was his turn to drive, he played the whole 2-disc Greatest Hits: The Carpenters album. Of course, we all fell asleep in no time. I woke up in the middle of the night and found him all-alive, energetic and singing along with Karen Carpenter at the top of his voice!

There are also some who like playing classical music when driving. Imagine that, driving along to the sounds of the Hallelujah Chorus. Or to the thumping sounds of The Great Gate of Kiev. Majestic... and amazing. I wonder where I'll end up if that were me.

We all have different preferences and I'm sure you will have your own driving music preference. What's your style? What's your favorite music for driving?

The sun is on my side. Take me for a ride. I smile up to the sky. I know I'll be all right.

Fernbank Museum on a Weekend Afternoon

Fernbank Museum, originally uploaded by Rizza Po.

Other than New York, where else can you find a museum that offers dinosaur fossils, martinis and movies in IMAX on Friday nights? Answer: the Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta, Georgia. It's a geek paradise - DNA models, dinosaur fossils, life-like replicas of animals in the wild like bears, deer, and other exotic animals. There are also areas for play for kids and the not-so-kids, like a giant bubble-maker, science tricks, and other great stuff. Though we're not exactly kids anymore, I think we kind of enjoyed it.

Two of our friends based in Houston, but working from Kansas City, decided to visit Atlanta that weekend since Hurricane Katrina was hovering near the Mexican Gulf at that time (yes, this photo was taken in 2005). We all decided to go to the Fernbank Museum that weekend since it's just nearby. Besides, I have been passing it everyday for several weeks already yet didn't even get to peek inside. But we were glad, it's a great place for a drowsy weekend. You will get scared, have fun, be awed and amazed, see a film on IMAX, all in one place.

Again: Think Big

A great man just asked a thoughtful question today -- is it worthy? Everything that we see and experience in our travels, is it all worthy of the hard work and sweat that we put in to get there? Seth Godin in his blog proposes that "our birthright is to fail and to fail often..." but all the while doing something great, working for something bigger than ourselves.

Read his stuff. :)

Oklahoma City: Steaks, Bricktown and A Water Taxi

The boat guide slowly steers our boat through the dark waters of the man-made canal. The night sky is clear, the crowd at the nearby stadium is going wild, the younger generation are all at the giant cinema complex a block away, the hip and the fabulous are waving at us from the terrace of the bars and restaurants above us, and we all wave back. When we pass by a foot bridge, the boat guide tells everyone to shout "yee-ha!" Obligingly, we all shout back - men, women, children - "yee-ha!"

Oklahoma in Two Days
That is a scene straight from my trip to Oklahoma City. I was working on an engagement for one of the oldest and largest non-profit organizations in the US and my Manager wanted me to go over to Oklahoma for two days to visit one of the client's facilities. I was shocked at that, for even in the Philippines, I haven't even been assigned in Laguna. Now, he wanted me to go visit a city in another state, for only two days. From where I came from, that just wasn't done!

Arriving in the city on a Thursday, I get lost right away two miles from the airport. Blaming it on the car steering and bad directions, I went around the airport loop several times before finally finding my way out to the main highways. It seems I have a penchant for getting lost at the wrong places at the wrong times.

That afternoon, deciding to do something "local" other than working at the hotel, I went out in search of Lake Hefner. The lake is pretty near the city (according to the guidebooks) and I found it easily. Yes, I didn't get lost this time, thanks to online driving direction. There's a park around the lake and on a work-day afternoon, it's quiet with a few families having a snack here and there, several kids on the playground and rain clouds brewing in the distance. There must have been some kind of wind that day for after taking only a few photographs, it started to rain. Off I went back to the mall.

Obviously, I don't want to elaborate on what happened at work the next day. Suffice it to say that I saw some really cool stuff and had to do a lot of writing and editing afterwards. That night though, I thought that I had to make the effort to get to know the city a little bit. Sometimes, we do business in different cities but we just go to the places that are familiar to us and we do things that were part of our routine back home. At that time though, I was determined to understand local culture, so I madly read the magazine at the hotel, the one with all the city guides and information. Then off I went to find local flavor.

Get Me Some Local Flavor, Er Culture
Oklahoma is famous for its steaks. Please don't ask me about the beef production statistics there but the restaurant seemed to be on all the major recommendations for things to eat. I went out to the city center and settled on one of the best places in town - Mickey Mantle's Steakhouse. An Oklahoma native, Mickey Mantle was a baseball legend. Now, what could be more Americana than a medium well prime rib at Mickey Mantle's in the middle of Oklahoma's Bricktown district? I thought it was one of my luckiest nights.

After all that heavy-hitting dinner, I had to go and pass the time by doing something fun and frivolous. When I saw the yellow water taxi, I knew right away that I had to get on one of those. After all, my drama was supposedly to do what the locals do and experience what the tourists do.
The water taxi is a longer version of a speed boat. It goes along the Bricktown canal which winds its way through several blocks in the city center, affording one with a good glimpse of the bar and restaurant crowd, historical points of interest and several foot bridges. Unlike the Venetian gondolas though, this water taxi is powered by an engine.

So there I was, riding the water taxi with groups of families, a couple of people my age and an older couple. The weird thing is that in this water taxi ride, the guide doesn't just point out things and places of interest, he also makes everyone wave at people in outdoor tables and terraces, as well as cheer on everyone to say "yee-ha!" everytime we pass under a bridge or foot bridge. Until this day, I never understood why it's done. It must be a Southern thing. But I do intend to find out soon.

That was my quick adventure in OKC. I must have been there for only 48 hours but I felt like I had done a lot. I can still remember the sounds of the crowd from the baseball park across the street, Bricktown, downtown, and the drive around the city. What I did there was somehow affirming for me, that I can balance business and having other pursuits outside of work. What happened to that "affirmation" though is another long story. That trip also marked a start to having a new attitude towards business travel - that we can work hard and do business in other places but that it is also equally important to take the time to absorb the local culture, the city's eccentricities and traditions, as well as experience the local attractions. It can make a trip a richer experience.

When We Disappear, We're On Vacation

Lately, I've been hearing a lot of talk on people suddenly disappearing in the office. Most just need a break and go on vacation. No formal notice, no vacation leave forms. It's just a vacation for a few short days.

People notice only this. They go crazy when someone does not come to the office, despite the fact that the person has a high-end laptop, top of the line internal modem, wifi connectivity, remote collaboration software and, sometimes, a remote access connection token for connectivity to the office network. I see this again and again, I have even done this myself - the sudden disappearance act. But there seems to be a good explanation behind this.

We work in an intensive, client-driven industry. The customer is king and the deadline drives our life. Where I work, we have ten, sometimes more than ten, projects going on at the same time. Also, there is an unwritten rule that you cannot roll around for a week with no project going on. You always have to have something going on. Then, while you're doing that project, something's always beeing cooked up and new projects suddenly appear out of nowhere! With this kind of intensity going on, there is no way that a proper vacation can be had even if you plan for it months in advance. Of course, by proper vacation, I mean you blissfully relaxing somewhere and the whole office blissfully humming like the well-oiled machinery that it should be and not blasting at you on where you put that god-forsaken file.

I have a theory that the best time for the employees of a project-based firm to go on vacation is in between projects. That time when a project has just been finished so that you come back ready to take on a new project. I tried this once and it was great. Awesome. I came back to work ready to rock.

The American Institute of Stress estimates that burnout costs the United States $300 billion a year in medical expenses, absenteeism and associated costs. According to the National Geographic Society Traveler magazine, some studies have also shown that an annual vacation can cut the risk of heart attack in men by one-third and in women by one-half.

Whatever the reasons may be for employees suddenly going on vacation, it can be said that we cannot underestimate the importance of a vacation. There are some who say that when you're tired, work. But Richard Seltzer, a writer, also said that, "your vacation is a break with the ordinary work-a-day world, and also an expression of who you are, or at least the self you dream yourself to be." It's about you, and your dreams for yourself. The new generation of workers do not accept second-best anymore. Unless the modern-day workplace helps employees realize their dreams for themselves and see themselves in the workplace, these employees will one by one disappear.

Moments to Just Do It

In our travels, there are times when we are so attracted to a certain scene, a certain view that we get the urge to take a picture. We hold an internal mental debate whether to just grab the moment and take that picture, or risk looking naive, or worse, like someone from the boondocks.

I often have times like these, and often, these happen at weird times like when a camera is not exactly easily reachable or allowed - like in the middle of the road while driving, or inside a plane that is about to take off, or a hundred meters up in the air inside a cage-like thing for humans (they called it a cable car, ha...) suspended in the middle of two hills. Exciting, but insanely distracting.

Often, the answer is to give in. There is a running joke among some of my friends that I am the only person they know who will stop on the shoulder of a highway road to take pictures. It's like that Nike commercial, just do it. How I wish we can also do this more often in life. You know, grab the moment and just do it.

New Metered Taxi Service at NAIA

There's a new metered taxi service at both NAIA I and II. These yellow taxis will take you to any destination in Mega Manila (Metro Manila, Cavite, Rizal, Bulacan and Laguna). Flagdown rate is PHP70 for the first 500 meters and PHP4 for every 300 meters. The taxi meter units are also equipped with a receipt dispensing feature.

These taxis can be found right near the white airport taxi loading area at the airport. When you come out of the Domestic Arrival area, turn right and go straight until you see the line of yellow colored taxis. Get a "receipt" from the counter and give that to the driver.

Last time I was there, I wasn't aware of this service yet, and the airport staff were helpful enough to point me to the metered taxi service. The fleet is new, the drivers are trained and they issue a receipt. I only paid half of what I usually pay for the big white SUV taxis. This is a great development in the travel industry. Next time you travel, just look for the yellow cabs. Happy travels.

Bacolod-Silay International Airport: A Survival Guide

Bacolod City has a new airport. It's in the middle of a sugarcane field and surrounded by majestic-looking mountains in the East. Sitting in the departure area becomes an otherworldly experience as the clear glass window frames mountains, sugarcane fields and coconut trees. But when I arrived there, I had no idea what to expect or what it looked like. As I was feeling a little shy, I told everyone not to bother picking me up. Besides, I wanted to see how the transport system was like. This new airport is a little tricky as it's in Silay City, around 30 minutes from downtown Bacolod City. Fortunately, there are several options available.

So here's a little guide for all of you who have not yet passed through the new Bacolod-Silay International Airport.

How to Get Out of the Airport

• Get someone to pick you up.
• Take a taxi. When you leave the baggage area, there will be guys right before the other door going outside holding placards with "Taxi" written on them. Approach them and tell them you need a taxi. They will give you a sort of receipt which you will give to the driver waiting outside. Standard rate going to Bacolod City is around PHP420.
• Take the Shuttle. Right next to the taxi guys will be little counters marked "Shuttle" and there will be ladies there who will take your payment and give you a receipt. The shuttle is only PHP100 (and don't pay anything more if someone insists otherwise). Shuttles are basically vans and don't be surprised to find 4-6 other passengers there with you. These shuttles have official stops like SM, Robinson's Place, and such, but don't be shy to ask the driver to drop you somewhere specific, like your hotel. It's perfectly okay and they're actually willing to do so. But the farthest that they can go is the downtown area.

Shuttle Me to the Airport

Options for going to the airport are basically the same:

• Get someone to bring you to the airport.
• Taxi.
• Take the Shuttle. There are shuttles/vans parked at SM City Bacolod and Robinsons Cybergate (in front of the old airport). They leave the terminals 2 hours prior to the departure time of flights but some say that there are also vans that leave every hour. Again, don't be shy to tell the driver if you're in a hurry. Fare is also PHP100.
• Colorum SUVs/Vans. There are colorum SUVs parked at the Silay City Plaza. Fare is PHP50, but you can have the van for yourself and not wait for other passengers for PHP200.
• Take the tricycle. Weird, huh. But yes, you can get a tricycle at the Silay City Public Market for PHP10. Another option is a multicab going to Guimbalaon, but it's not a recommended option. Jeepney fare from Bacolod (i.e., Mandalagan) to Silay is PHP10-12.

Additional photos of the new Bacolod-Silay International Airport are posted in Flickr.

Free Wi-Fi Hotspots in Makati

Metro Manila can be one of the most boring places out there. It depends on the day, or my mood, but it's usually kind of boring. To compensate, I play around on the internet, discovering new stories, concepts and applications, reading other travelers' stories. But it's much more enjoyable when I don't have to pay for the internet, that is, when I find a free wi-fi connection.

Here's my list of free wifi connections in Makati City. There are other lists out there as well, much longer and wider in scope and you may want to try those out as well. But I encourage you to go around and discover on your own.

• Bel-Air Village, Baranggay Park [WiGo]
• LKG Food Tower Odyssey [WiGo]
• PBCom Tower, Food Patio [WiGo]
• Power Plant Mall (Block 9, P1, R1, R2, R3 but there's none at Starbucks) [WiGo]
• Shakey's Rada, Jaycem Building [WiGo]
• Enterprise Center, Food Park [WiGo]
• Bo's Coffee, Dela Rosa St [BOs delaRosa]
• Greenbelt 2
• Starbucks Glorietta 4

These I haven't tried yet but I had some leads that they have wifi. Well, most likely they'd have it.

• Hotel Intercontinental, Makati
• Manila Peninsula (lobby area)
• Makati Shangri-la Hotel, Makati

Stone Mountain Park: Sculpture and Laser Show

"Hi, are you guys Filipinos?"

After living in Atlanta, GA for a few weeks, it was the first time that someone asked us that question. We all look at the American woman and her daughter behind us, smiling. We are on the train that goes around the Stone Mountain Scenic Railroad, a 5-mile trip that goes around the base of Stone Mountain. We acknowledge them and she exuberantly invites us to meet her Filipino husband. When we got down the train, we all follow her to the picnic area. A voice inside me is saying that we shouldn't talk to strangers, but I trust my other girlfriends' instincts and follow along.

We meet the husband, a missionary from Samar. We talk a little bit and listen to the wife talk about how she used to go to the post office in Samar to deliver and mail letters to her mother in the US. They then invite us to go and visit Myrtle Beach. Great.

This is Stone Mountain Park, "America's favorite picnic ground" prior to the Civil War. The main attraction here are the activities around the stone mountain, also called "the largest deposit of merchantable granite in the world." In short, it's a mountain that is actually made up of solid stone. On the northern face of the mountain, there is a gigantic carving of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson and Confederate President Jefferson Davis. This is the world's largest piece of sculpture.

After walking around and taking the cable car to the top of the mountain, we get hungry. So we pile up on the car, go out of the park and find a Chinese restaurant that offers a buffet spread. When you have six people who have different tastes, Chinese food is the only food we can all agree on. Chinese food is also generally cheaper in the U.S.

The buffet is good, there is a wide selection and there is a desert bar which includes fresh fruits and ice cream. We all think we are in food heaven. Who knows how many plates of food we have consumed that day. Who was counting anyway? What I don't forget up to now are the mountains of orange wedges piled high on our plates.

After the heavy early dinner, we go back to the park to catch the laser show. Parking space is nowhere to be found and we go around the parking area several times. Two of my friends are already threatening to literally move the motorcycles parked nearby. Then our prayers are answered and we finally find the prized parking space.

There is a big crowd in the picnic area. We find out that guests sit on the grass; others brought a picnic blanket, while others have picnic chairs. The sound-and-light laser show includes lasers beamed on the side of the mountain, fireworks and music. Of course, country music too.

On the way home, we sit in silence and wonder at the day that went by. Why was that Chinese buffet so cheap when we ate so much?

If you want to read more on the park, more info can be found at the Stone Mountain Park website.

Goya Dark Mint as Pasalubong

In the Filipino culture, there is a concept called "pasalubong". It's the traditional practice of giving a gift to your host, friends or family when you arrive at another city or place. Actually, the gift itself is also called the pasalubong. It is a tradition that is so much a part of the Filipino culture.

For so many years, expats and migrant workers bring along an extra bag or balikbayan box just for the gifts. Travelers and vacationers who go to other countries do the same thing. But there's never been a local brand of chocolates yet that can stand head to head with the likes of Hersheys, Ferrero Rocher or Milka, that travelers can bring to other countries.

Flashback fifteen plus years ago. Kids then loved Goya, that local brand that brought us Curly Tops and Flat Tops. There was no need to refrigerate them so even the neighborhood tiangge had it. It was cheap too.

Now back to the present time, where everyone has been blogging and twitting about the new Goya Dark Mint (dark chocolates with mint). Or maybe it's not new, maybe it's been there for some time now and it just slowly entered the conversation. Whatever. People love it, I love it and there's been a mad rush ever since to find them. One Dark Mint-holic from Davao went grocery shopping last week and when she saw no Goya Dark Mints, she panicked and thought they ran out of it. It turns out they just transferred it to another shelf.

The new Goya Dark Mint comes in an export-ready packaging and it's only PHP25.50 (at Landmark). Are we witnessing the rebirth of the Goya brand?

There have been a lot of people who have been saying that they will bring this as a pasalubong when they go to other countries. It doesn't really matter what you bring as a gift. As they say, it's the thought that counts. It's the fact that you thought about giving something to your friends and family. Different cultures may have different ways of showing gratitude but it's still all about sharing.

Goya Dark Mint is only one of the new pasalubong trends coming out. There was a commercial that claimed that it was Goldilocks, ang pasalubong ng bayan (the gift for everyone). What other interesting pasalubong ideas and/or travel gifts do you have? Care to share them? Send me a message. Or drop a note.

Globility

While reading posts on the net, I came across this write-up on a cool family (The Jenss Family Travels) that will go on a year-long trip around the world. They call the idea for the trip as Globility, that is, the "quality of being open to a world of cultures and experiences." Why this caught my attention? It's quite interesting. I look forward to reading their travel stories from different parts of the world.

Read on... As a friend of the father, Rainer Jenss, says, "Set your intention and the universe will conspire to show you the way."

Back Lot Tree

I always feel blessed when I see this picture. We were riding the tram that goes around the Universal Studios lot in L.A., and since we were on a studio tour, we were restless. There were a lot of information that were being given to us, so many facts and so many interesting things to see. I could never remember in which particular part of the lot that tree stood, but I can remember that it was in the middle of a cicular driveway. There was something about the tree’s shape and the way that the light fell on it that I was compelled to just take a picture of it anyway. Everytime I look at it, I feel thankful for the blessings given to me at that particular moment. Who knew that light and shadow could ever work together like that?

On Sunday, there was a fire that destroyed parts of Universal Studios Hollywood back lot. It is said that even the popular King Kong exhibit was burned down. I hope that the tree is still there, standing proud and playing tricks with the light.

If some areas were destroyed, maybe there will be additions to the park soon. Change can be a good thing. What new attractions do you think can we expect to see this year and next year?

Sunset from Midtown Atlanta

I have no idea what to write about that picture. I just wanted to share it… Call it nostalgia if you will. Vacation sunset meets industrial/residential area. Hehe.

That shot was taken facing western Atlanta, and if I moved my camera just a little bit to the right, I would have included Atlantic Station in the shot. Atlantic Station is one of the area’s newest premiere entertainment, residential and business hotspots.

How To Catch Crabs in the South

More river talk... here's my take on crabbing during a visit to Beaufort.



In the early morning darkness, we all file out the door to go crabbing. It's cold outside, and out beyond, dawn is slowly crawling out on the horizon. We walk on the wooden planks to get to the hut nearly floating on the side of the river.

We are in Beaufort, S.C. and we are about to haul out of the water the morning catch. I have never seen yet, nor cared to ask, how crabs are caught. I have always dismissed them as someone else' problem, hence, something that I don't have to think of. I have also noticed these little crab-like folks that run around on the sand when we go to the beach, but I look at them as cute little thingys that you chase around on the sand. So when everyone goes into an amazed state at the mention of catching crabs, I play along.

When we get to the hut, we look for the rope that connects to the basket trap. We haul it out of the water and find crabs... and chicken. It turns out that "in these parts", they attract the crabs with raw chicken quarters. Yes, as we say it in slang, sosyalin! You put the chicken inside the basket trap, put it in the water and leave it either for the day or overnight.

What we get are Blue Crabs, because parts of its claws are blue. Later, these will be cooked, the table will be covered with newspapers, where after an hour or two, a mountain of crab shells will show up.

I don't eat crab anymore due to dietary "rules" I have adopted, and don't ask me why. But it's great to see people eating from the bounties of the rivers and the seas, eating fresh and simple food. A big part of travel is also about tasting the local flavor, both the simple and the more complicated gastronomic delights.

Crabbing was a simple exercise of putting in a basket and hauling out the basket. Well, yes, there was the chicken too. But when done in the fresh morning air, in clean waters, with friends and family, it can be a pretty rewarding experience.

Pyrolympics Awarding Ceremonies Tomorrow (Saturday)

Last week, I turned my back on the World Pyro Olympics and instead went home to watch the Great King Sejong show on TV. Well, another relative is recently in town on vacation and I will actually suggest that they go to the Pyrolympics awarding ceremonies tomorrow. It's the last night and there will be a Fellowship of Fire exhibition display.

What makes it even bigger is that for the past few years, the competition has been held in the classical fireworks exhibition format, or Classical Pyrotechnics. Simply put, that is fireworks with no musical accompaniment. Next year, the organizers are said to be planning to introduce the pyro-musical format, where the fireworks are synchronized to music.

Read more on the Pyrolympics and the participating countries at the clickthecity[dot]com website.

Frank Gehry and MOCA Los Angeles

Earlier today, I discovered this video of Frank Gehry's talk (From 1990, defending a vision for architecture). I never realized that it's kind of long but it's a good introduction to him and his work. I loved his design of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California.


When I was in Los Angeles, I happened to wander into the Museum of Contemporary Arts (L.A.). It's also a great place to discover design. It's just in front of the Walt Disney Concert Hall and it has a great collection of Frank Gehry's designs, including the previous versions of the Concert Hall when it was still being designed. There are also a lot of interesting stuff there like, like a mechanical skirt that "blooms" or sort of moves. There are architectural models of the Bubble Building in Beijing, the Beijing Olympic Stadium, fabric designs by Issey Miyake and other great stuff on fashion. What's more, the entrance fee is only USD$8. That ticket also got me free entrance to their satellite museum at the Pacific Design Center. But I wasn't able to go there anymore as I ran out of time.

Grand Avenue is a good place to wander and explore. What are your favorite architectural highlights in your city?

Visiting Savannah

In my previous post (It Takes Clouds to Make a Glorious Beaufort Sunrise), I wrote about a trip to Beaufort, SC. After Beaufort, our party went on to explore Savannah, Georgia, which is only around 2 hours from there. Savannah is a beautiful city; I have been there twice and every time I always find something new or cool. It's a city rich with tradition and history. There are historic homes all over, historic cemeteries and historic forts. The downtown area is now one of the largest National Historic Landmark Districts in the United States.

I took the picture above at the Colonial Park Cemetery. With Spanish moss hanging from trees, silence, old tombstones for publishers, businessmen, leaders and patriots, the cemetery is calming yet eerie at the same time. That's why I found it interesting to find people reading or walking/exercising there. Usually, cemeteries are only visited on special occasions or on November 1st. But here, people treat the place as a park.

In Savannah, I love walking on River Street and Factors' Walk, visiting the "squares" that are all over the city, having lunch at Paula Deen's The Lady and Sons, walking around to look at the unique architecture and, generally, just soaking up on all that Southern charm. An author, Nick Cohn, talked to someone in Savannah once and that person told him that the secret to living there is to live slow, to learn to drip like honey.

Remember that movie called Forrest Gump? "Life is like a box of chocolates" and all that? The scenes where he was sitting on a bench waiting for the bus were shot at Chippewa Square. Unfortunately, the bench is not there anymore. There's a replica of the bench at the museum at the Savannah Visitors' Center.

I think I actually wrote something about Savannah before, which I will look for after writing this. Some of my suggested things to see and do when in the city are below. Savannah is a city great for walking, so I suggest you stroll around, take out the camera and explore.

Must see:

• Factors' Walk
• River Street
• City Market
• Colonial Park Cemetery
• Bonaventure Park (where the statue commonly associated with Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil used to be; it's now in a museum)
• Cathedral of St. John the Baptist
• Telfair Museum of Art
• Chippewa Square
• Forsythe Park
• Historic Homes (great also if you can schedule during the Savannah Tour of Homes)
• Tybee Island (for the Tybee Island Light Station, the first lighthouse on the southern Atlantic coast)
• Mercer-Williams House

Must dos:

• Eat. There is Paula Deen's The Lady and Sons (the Sunday buffet has a good Southern spread) and other nice restaurants at the City Market.
• Visit the "squares".
• Join a ghost tour.
• Walk along River Street.
• Watch how a taffy is made. There are stores selling water taffy along River Street.
• Take pictures of the unique architectural highlights.
• Find unique water spouts. There are uniquely designed water spouts all over; I saw one shaped like a fish' head.
• See all the must-see's.

It Takes Clouds to Make a Glorious Beaufort Sunrise

Around two and a half years ago, I got invited by a friend to go to Beaufort, South Carolina. I have been looking for the pictures from that trip for years now. While poking through my email accounts (yes, I maintain several email accounts), I found pictures from that trip that I emailed to myself years ago. Past disaster recovery plan trainings are working, I guess.

We arrived in Beaufort at night, just long enough to meet our host, my friend's family friend who were gracious enough to let us stay at their lake cabin. The next day, we woke up very early in the morning to go crabbing. Going around in the dark, the morning light slowly crept on the horizon. Everything was still and quiet. The picture above is a testament to that beautiful moment when you get afraid to even whisper.

Then the clouds came. Big, glorious clouds that we all went scrambling to get our cameras to get pictures. It was still silent, the water was calm, but the clouds made our day. As they say, it takes clouds to make a glorious sunrise.

When I Got Lost in a Temple

Here is one of my posts in Friendster Blogs, where I write about a visit to a temple in Bangkok, Thailand:

It was nearly dusk and I thought our friends have left me in a corner of Bangkok. We were inside the complex of the 16th century old Wat Pho (sometimes also called Wat Po), Bangkok’s oldest and largest Buddhist temple complex. An oriental circus is practicing their routine in the middle of the complex and schoolchildren from the temple’s elementary school are playing ping-pong. Earlier, against all pre-departure advise, we took a ten-minute ride in a tuk-tuk to peek at the temple’s 151-foot-long, gold-plated Reclining Buddha. Well, with a temple name like that, for obvious reasons, I wasn’t about to leave the city without setting foot on the place.

The group I was looking for didn’t bring their cellphones, or one of them did, but I didn’t have the number. Fortunately, I saw one of them a few minutes later. It turns out she was also lost. We walked around to look for the others, and when we got tired, we walked some more, hoping that that extra few steps will mean finding our other friends.

After almost memorizing the layout of the temple complex, after minutes and minutes of looking for the other group, we found them sitting under a tree in the middle of the compound, relaxing and chatting the minutes away. Chura neto! It turns out that while we were frantically looking for them, they were up there in one of the stupas, or whatever you call that, and someone suggested that they all go inside one of the chambers. They all felt adventurous and explored the chamber.

I’m torn on how to conclude this. Sometimes, we need to walk a little bit farther, look a little bit harder. There are also times when we need to just sit down, relax and not worry so much. You never know, they may be just up there in one of the stupas feeling like a modern-day Indiana Jones.

Pasadena Museums

Around five hours ago, the Mars Phoenix Lander landed on Mars. In mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California everyone was celebrating in the middle of the chaos. This reminded me of my little adventure about a year ago, when I went to the Huntington, maybe took a wrong turn and got lost along the way, then ended up at the gate of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. That was exciting... but it also scared me in a way, so I quickly made a U-turn and looked for the highway.

Why was I in the area again? I was looking the Huntington Library, Art Collection and Botanical Gardens, which is only one of the most beautiful gardens in the East coast and has one of the most extensive and impressive art collections. The Huntington is free every first Thursday of the month. When I was there, I didn't have to get a ticket, but it seems they now require everyone to get advanced tickets on Free Day.

Another great museum to visit is the Norton Simon Museum, also in Pasadena. It's free every first Friday of the month, from 6pm to 9pm.

More great links and info to free museum days in Los Angeles here: Free Museum Days.

Turning My Back on Pyrolympics 2008

Early yesterday, things were calm, peaceful and great. But when my sister wanted me to go the Mall of Asia to meet with them, that was when the pandemonium started. It seemed like all of Manila was there. It turns out, it was the fourth night of the 2008 World Pyro Olympics, or Pyrolympics for short. It's a fireworks competition that goes from supposedly 6pm to 8pm but an insider told me when I was there that it's from 7pm to 9pm. Probably because summer is already here and we have longer days.

The best ways to watch it is by either watching from a skyscraper in Makati or Manila, a hotel near Manila Bay, or going to the SM Mall of Asia. When at the mall, you can pay PHP150 to watch from the ground floor, but there are no seats and there can be quite a throng there. Another way is to "reserve" tables at the veranda restaurants that face the bay; but the restaurants mostly offer "set menus" that can from PHP700-1,000. It's a good deal in a way, but a little expensive for me. Kind of. You can reserve by going to the tables near the areas marked "Reservation Desks" near the seaside area at the Entertainment Center.

I didn't watch it last night. It was too chaotic for me, a little too disorganized and expensive. Besides, I had to rush home to catch the Great King Sejong on KBS World. But if you're into this, do plan for it and go. The fireworks can be quite nice, I saw it once while traveling to the airport.

The last night of the Pyrolympics will be on May 31, 2008 (Saturday) and I believe it will be France vs. Philippines. Happy gazing.

Sunday Mass at the Mariner's Club Hong Kong

We've been walking for several blocks and my uncle just kept on walking without saying a word on where we were headed. It was a Sunday, and I knew that we were going somewhere to attend mass. But I couldn't see a church anywhere! In the busiest commercial section of Tsim Sha Tsui in Hong Kong, church steeples are rare.

When we arrived at a building somewhere, I thought we were stopping for an errand first. Imagine my surprise when I saw that inside, there were smaller rooms, including a small chapel filled with Filipinos, and a few Chinese and British nationals, preparing for Sunday mass. I was totally blown away to find these devout and prayerful lot in the middle of Hong Kong. It was also weird in a way because the mass was so like the way mass is done in the Philippines.

After the mass, I went outside to peek at the other rooms. There was a British family outside, in a circle, talking. The men were wearing Sunday suits, the women in dresses and the little baby dressed in white with frills and ruffles. It looked like the baby was about to be baptized.

Later, I found out that this was the Mariner's Club, a hub for devout Filipino Roman Catholics on Sunday mornings, and a hub for seafarers at other times. When you're in the area when you travel to Hong Kong, be sure to drop by and observe the mass on Sunday morning. It's just different.

The Mariner's Club is located at 11 Middle Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, HK.

Dreamy Morning Drives

There's a road in the Druid Hills neighborhood of Atlanta, GA that winds through dreamy homes, where people regularly do their morning jogs and a canopy of trees shade you from the hot Southern sun. For several weeks, I had to pass by this neighborhood where some of Atlanta's wealthiest citizens live. My morning drive consisted of going through Peachtree Street, then Ponce de Leon Avenue, a left on Clifton Road at the corner of the Druid Hills Golf and Country Club, and winding my way up to North Decatur Road. At first, I dreaded the drive, where the roads are crooked and the maximum speed is only 25 mph. But after a while, I began to enjoy it, I began to appreciate the landscape designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, the place and "ambience" of the neighborhood.

Coming from the Philippines, where the drivers are kind of suicidal, I found it funny to have to stop everywhere there's a stop sign printed on the road and on intersections, when I was running at a top speed of 23 mph. I noticed too, that everyone was very courteous, so when at an intersection, I stop, and when there's another car coming from the other side, I wave and yield to the other driver. It wasn't a place run by stoplights, it was the South after all, where grace and good manners were de rigeur.

Sometimes we face uncertainty, find ourselves at a new place or are forced to be where we don't want to be. But sometimes, with a little bit of luck and effort, we can find ourself enjoying the place and the whole experience.

Taal Blessings

The Volcano This Time
Blessed by a clear day, our aimless joyride to Tagaytay went quite well. The picture of Taal Volcano above was taken around three weeks ago. My cousin and a family friend wanted to go around, so off we went to Tagaytay with no particular destination in mind. We stopped at the Taal Vista Lodge to take pictures of the lake, but everyone just wanted to take pictures of themselves. They wanted to take their picture with the volcano behind them, with the hotel behind them, them on the garden chairs, them on the lawn... I kept telling them to take a picture of the volcano, because at any other time, the whole area could have been covered by fog. We finally took the picture above.

I Like Mine Just Slightly Sweet

When on a trip to Tagaytay, I like buying the buko pies from Collette's. They're a classic Tagaytay/Laguna experience. They are creamy, filled with coconut and just slightly sweet. Also try going to Palace in the Sky, which was built for the official state visit of former US President Ronald Reagan, although their trip was eventually cancelled. Go there not so much for the "palace" but for the view, the scenery and the cool, fresh air.

I don't really like paying for so much at the chi-chi places, though there are a lot of country clubs, golf courses, a yacht club and gourmet restaurants in Tagaytay if you're into that. Instead, go to the City Market, where you'll find loads and loads of fruits and other local produce. You will find watermelons, sweet pineapples, coconuts, avocadoes, sweet potatoes, and other local goodies.

The city is also a foodie's haven, where beef bulalo, a local specialty, is found everywhere. Bulalo is boiled bone-in beef shank in beef stock with varous vegetables. It's really yummy and great in the cool mountain climate. Another must-try is Breakfast at Antonio's, which has come to be quite popular that you must be prepared to wait a little (or try calling for reservation) to be seated.

Links:

Tagaytay City

Breakfast at Antonio's