Something

In the movie Finding Forrester, one of the characters says that the key to writing is to not think and just start writing. So tonight, I write, even though I don’t know what it is I really want to write about. While writing, I’m also watching American Idol. It’s always a riot watching that show. It’s also nice to be able to follow some of the contestants, see their potential and see them go on to the AI finals. I once worked with a team doing Sarbanes-Oxley work for an out-of-town client and we all stayed together in one hotel. Every Wednesday and Thursday, we would all be excited to go home and buy or make our dinner. By 8 pm, you will find us either in our own rooms watching AI, or together in one of the rooms also watching AI and having a coffee party or chocolate party or whatever party we all happen to think of. It didn’t really matter then, but one of us will just call someone and pretty soon we would all be together somewhere.

I guess that how things start to happen, someone starts calling, or someone stands or asks for something. During the Christmas break, our family went to an uncle’s place somewhere in southern Negros. It’s this place that’s located up in the hills, where it’s quiet and all you see are green hills, trees, sugarcane fields and the clouds in a blue sky. No noisy cars, tall buildings, or traffic. We weren’t the only ones who finally got somewhat tired of sitting around there, for pretty soon our other uncle stood up and asked if we can organize a trip to the town center. You know… civilization. :) Of course, all the kids stood up and started getting ready to go!

We had a good time with that little road trip to town. We went to the city plaza with the really old trees, to the busy market in all its chaos, to a mini-mall, and then had halo-halo at a small restaurant near the stalls selling firecrackers and fireworks. We were glad our uncle got to go around.

We all don’t know what will happen. But there sure are some things we want to do and places we want to go to. But in a lot of ways, the key is to start something and take the first step. Or it could be something much simpler such as to start writing, or start watching, or start a party… something.

Google Earth Underwater and Mag-aso Falls

As of this writing, Google just launched "Ocean Google Earth", or Google Earth underwater. Amazing, isn't it? At first, one might think that it would only be useful for those in the scientific and research community. But on second thought, the applications are only limited by our imaginations. In fact, it can be a sort of travel experience from home, straight from your desktop or laptop, specially with the sometimes high cost of travel, specially in this economy and, in some places, in these kinds of weather.

I've been waiting to post my pics of Mag-aso Falls for sometime now and I've finally done it. Mas-aso Falls has only been recently developed by Kabankalan City in Negros Occidental. The main falls is that pic on the left, and to get there, you have to go down some 100 steps or so (I stopped counting). The water is clear and there are not that many people, except when we went there, which was on January 1. I didn't know that it is a tradition to go to the beach or somewhere with water on New Year's Day. The people of Central and Southern Negros, though, take it up a notch. You see them all in fully loaded tricycles, pick-up trucks and hauler trucks.

So anyway, when you go back up the steps to the main falls, they have a swimming pool back at the top, and just a few steps near that are the small "falls" up the river. My cousin said that is one of the best places to bathe in because you're the first one to bathe in the water. :)


If you click on the picture, it will take you to my Flickr page where you'll find a few more pictures of Mag-aso Falls.

Food - Just Like Travel

Whenever I can’t find the time, or the opportunity, to travel I take comfort in food, which can transport us to other places just as well. One of my best memories from being in other places is from having all that wonderful food. Food is such a basic necessity that sometimes we tend to overlook it, settling on the first fast food joint that we find. Not that they’re all bad, we had fun savoring all the dips at an El Pollo Loco in L.A.

Remember “laswa”? It always reminds me of Negros and home. Green Indian mangoes take me back to trips to Lian, Batangas and the eat-all-you-can Indian mangoes near the beach. After snorkeling, it’s the desert after all that grilled fish. Or how about those seaweeds that sort of look like little beads, which are a good reminder for Cagayan de Oro. Sometimes, something very simple can also take you home. For me, that would be grilled cheese sandwiches made on the stove. It’s a bit of a weird method, but it works for me.

Sometimes, food also takes you international. Take grilled chicken, which reminds me of nights grilling fresh chicken breasts and beef steaks in my hotel room a couple of years ago (crazy I know, but we figured out a way to manage the smoke detector!). I associate Mexican food not only to Mexico but to Los Angeles as well – tacos and nachos at Tito’s Tacos near Sepulveda Boulevard, etc. etc. Burritos transport me to Baja Fresh in Nashville, TN with the cool lunch crowd that always fills up the place. Some of the best steaks I’ve had were from team dinners in the American South, so when having steak (or even just a bit of beef that kind of tastes like such) I always think of Birmingham, Alabama and the Capitol Grill in Atlanta. Churros and the matching chocolate can take you to Spain. Mozart chocolates and “kanabanosi” (those European beef jerky sticks) takes me to Austria. Or chicken adobo, which reminds me of Atlanta and the endless experiments I made trying to make adobo in my little kitchen there, or at least something that resembles adobo.

This is making me hungry again so I need to think of something else now. Well, we will always find something to enjoy about food, and besides the delectable tastes, we will always find a place to associate it with. Bon appétit!

A Great Year to All

First post for 2009... and although it's already February, belated happy Chinese new year to all! Haven't been able to write in here for some time now, you know how it is during busy season. It's, well, beeezy.

Let's start with great good news:

• Cebu Pac continues to wow us all with low-fare promos, including free tax and insurance fares. The site's advise is to book flights on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for the best low-fare flights. Just keep searching and you'll eventually find a long weekend and promo fare match that will fit your schedule.
• PAL is offering the half-miles promo for Mabuhay Miles members, where you can book flights (including international ones) using your miles but at half the miles. You can reserve up to February 5, 2009.

While surfing the net recently, I also came upon this picture taken at Quezon City, Philippines that was featured in National Geographic's Intelligent Travel Blog. It's beautiful and colorful and brings back great memories of markets and Wednesday market days. It's time we appreciate local color. Wish you all a great year ahead!

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I am always on the lookout for great travel pictures that convey a sense of local life and color. What other sites do you know that feature similar styles as the IT blog referred to above? Or is the site that you're running has features like these? Please ping me if you do.

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.