the baroks travelled...

everytime a friend asks how was our trip to singapore, my ready answer would be bitin! it was, really. although sg is such a small place [you can conveniently go from end to end by mrt in a halfday], bin and i failed to fit everything there is to see, visit or taste into 4 whole days. had there been a couple of days more, we could have spent it for more shopping [definitely!], more food tasting [although this could mean more kgs tipping the scale hehe] or more pudpod to my very reliable tsinelas [which i don't really mind hehehe]. but don't get me wrong peeps, as bitin as it turned out, it was just simply our best vacation to date [di ba bin???]:D something i could not resist to blog hehehe...

this plan of visiting the land of endangered animals in zoos started early part of this year. although moolah will always be the problem [at least to us huhuhu], ryoko trips from japan are made way feasible than from pinas because of nihonjins' love for travelling/spending is so great thus, airfares to different places are much cheaper [read: tourism always means business... ex. rountrip-airfare to hawaii could go as low as 4man-en!! di ba??]. this sg plan started so long-ago that i can't even remember if it was mami bhing who invited us first or was it me who started to give hints to them about this sg escapade :) whatever's the case, everything just took off from there.

we chose a september date because aside from a two-day japanese holiday in a week, we figured the tickets are cheaper. [yes, it can also be astronomically high]although there were major changes, from joinees [wink wink! there's always next time naman dibs? :D ] to itineraries, bin and i were really bent on pushing through with this plan. we know, opportunities for travel come rare, so might as well go when we still can. [or so, i told bin] :)

the timing turned to be great. it was the week right after one of my i-feel-like-dying days and a week before bin says goodbye to yokohama and hello to gifu. and the PLUS that didn't cross our minds until we got there... was that we could have the chance to watch the final episode of Amazing Race 5! yey!! I really made sure then to include this in our sched hehehe[ambabaw no! but hey! to AR-deprived fanatic like moi it was euphoria! :P ] the timing couldn't be any better. :P

this trip was the first, for the longest time, we really felt we're just tourists . it didn't matter if we only have so little money in our pockets, armed with map borrowed from mami bhing and our experience in surviving in a foreign land [read: kung sa nihon nga walang nag-iingles! ]we explored sg by mrt, bus and minimized taxi rides as much as we can. we travelled in-style, er at least the only way we know how, that's with video cam and digicam strapped to our bodies [good thing bin forgot the tripod... kundi we'd be like paparazzis at large hehe]. bin had been trigger-happy in taking videos of almost anything we saw. ask jo, who already watched it, she felt like she was with us the whole time, di ba tsong? :P

some days were spent touching base with species from kingdom animalia. you'll wonder how much the country actually spent for this. you see, they have sg open zoo [which we decided to forego due to lack of time], night safari [think jurassic! my favorite of all, though i'm still not friends with the monkeys and the bats hehe], jurong bird park [they have this big dome, with hanging bridges, where you can freely commune with birds of different kinds], the sentosa underwater world, dolphin lagoon, a butterfly and insect kingdom [which we happily skipped :D ]. i could not help but to admire of how big the singaporean people made out of how little they got.

my favorite place in sg probably is the island called sentosa. for 3SGD [that's 99 pesos of entrance fee and bus fare] you can take nature walks by the beach, unlimited monorail and bus rides within the island and access to so many free shows [the magical fountain's got to be the best]. :D if i get to live in sg, i can imagine myself visiting the place every weekend, renting a tent, basking under the sun :) however, that time we decided to indulge ourselves a little more and spent the night in sentosa resort and spa. really relaxing place... but prices for everything in this resort are quite steep... the spa, the meals... good thing there's burger king! [umiral ang pagka-pinoy hehe] anyway, they have very nice pool which we got to try the morning of day two. so masaya na si bin dun :D

we also got to experience the downtown sg by visiting simlim center-i guess this is the akihabs of singapore, lucky plaza - i've seen most of the filipinos i got to see on our whole stay in sg in this mall! no wonder this is turning out to be an extension of our very own tutuban mall :D, the suntec city - where mami and i took to heart the singaporean tradition of going round the fountain and wishing! ;) and the science center- that bin and i really got to enjoy! imagine us two in throngs of kids from grade school competing for every good seats they have for different experiments, trivias, video games and internet... :D we were even the last person to leave the museum! i could just imagine what were the guards thinking then hehehe something like... "san kayang bundok galing tong mga barok na to?? " hehehe

we also did not pass the chance to taste their authentic cuisine [si bin pa! basta sa food... hehehe ipinasa...], this includes chicken rice and the famous chili crab [my first crab in more than a year!! ] it was mean chili i tell you, left my tongue with second degree burns hehehe but still yummy!!

there... just about everything I can tell of our sg escapade. i know as always, i failed miserably in story-telling. so to make it easier for yourself to imagine, just think of fun, fun, fun! because that's what it was to us :D

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muchas gracias to dadi dennis and mami bhing for being the warmest hosts to us! thank you for taking us in, for showing us around, for always making sure we are comfortable and for sharing us your adorable kids :D we owe you big time! see you naman dito :D

and from my end, thanks to bin for being such a wonderful travelmate :) i figured we could win the amazing race for you're such a zak to a flo like me. :D

me and my ox...

you've probably heard of the amazing race season 5 leg in the philippines and maybe you've actually watched some episodes. just some minutes ago, we were watching some video clips, well, that's all we could get because they don't televise it here. rish is actually planning to buy a dvd copy. well, she needs to pass around a form to collect signatures then submit to CBS or to whom it may concern convincing them that millions of people out there are dying for a dvd copy. then after a month, i'll just go to virra mall and get a copy :-).

anyway, what caught my attention in one of the video clips is the ox, or so they call it but to us Filipinos is a carabao, and the plowing in the field. that scene reminds me of my farming days. still vivid in my mind the times i wrestle with the plow while maneuvering and forcely catching steps to keep up with the ox's pace. i also did experience plowing with a hand tractor, that is a lot easier to handle but shakes your entire body that after the work you feel like you've been electrocuted.

i have had so many experiences with plowing, fields and carabaos, it actually feels just like yesterday, but this is all i want to share for the meantime :-).

sablay na naman...

shot down by the archers, clawed by the eagles, beaten by the warriors, and that's it, the falcons have fallen.

their hope to be in the final four is now gone, their aim for the title has totally vanished, and my prediction, again, is a mistake. i did believe that their early surge in the first round was no fluke, that a new revitalized team is yet to be witnessed in the second round. but my expectations were all wrong.

the maroons on the other hand have awaken and still vying a seat in the magic four.

i predicted roddick to win over federer in the wimbledon, but federer won. in the world pool championship, i penciled "bata" in my champion's box, but pagulayan took the crown. oh well, that's prediction, even weather forecasters with their gadgets and instruments sometimes mislead people with their sunny-day-turned-stormy-and-floody-day forecast.