Rope Course at Mountain View = Paying for Torture!

We always tend to do a lot of strenuous activities under the team management of one TM Kulas.

That 3-hour walk all over Malapascua Island that ended in disappointment because the wonderful beach that was promised wasn't there because of the low tide. The 30-minute walk turned 2-hour death march to Dao Falls in Samboan. Even that tiring hike to SM with Louie that I was hassled into undertaking instead of comfortably riding a jeepney.

The latest physical challenge happened last Saturday, February 23, 2013. This was planned 2 weeks before, and was described as an obstacle course at the Mountain View Nature's Park in Busay.

Bored waiting for Brenda (over an hour!!!)

Mountain View, here we come!

YesInn Hostel - A solo traveler's haven

As of January 2013, I have been to Hong Kong four times. The first trip was a touristy tour with my best friends, while the last three were for different segments of an exam. I had no problems with accommodations on the first trip since I was with friends, nor did I have any difficulties on the second trip as a family friend had got me a bed at a flat that served as a sort of transient home or meeting spot for overseas Filipino workers on their days off (the cheapest stay I had so far at HKD 50 per night). It was more like a boarding house with no permanent boarders.

The problem with the boarding house was that it was soooo far from everything, being in Tai Po in the New Territories. Cheap, yes, but too out of the way.

So I figured I'd find something closer to the center of everything on my third trip there last June of 2012. I had a checklist of things to consider before settling on accommodations:

1. SAFETY. I was traveling alone yet again, and to a foreign country at that. Granted I had been there twice before, but this time, I was well and truly by myself. It had to be in a safe location, with good staff and security.
2. PROXIMITY. Considering that it took about an hour by bus from Tai Po to Kowloon on my last trip for the written part of the exam, I wanted to be nearer to the city this time around. It also had to be near an MTR for ease of access.
3. PRICE. Ah, yes. I've never really splurged on any trip, especially on accommodations. I didn't want to be too cheap and compromise comfort, but it had to be worth the price I would be paying for it. As a rule, I didn't want to go over HKD 200 per night (decided on upon comparing different guesthouses' prices for single bed rooms).
4. FACILITIES. It would be a miracle indeed if you managed to score a guesthouse in Hong Kong that offered free breakfast. I was fine with free water. There also had to be WiFi since I needed to go online for some YouTube videos for review, and to be in touch with family, as well as with an old elementary classmate who had moved to Hong Kong with her family after our second year in high school who I was planning to meet up with after the exam. It had to have clean bathrooms as well.
5. ACTIVITIES. No, I wasn't planning on attending any soirees or whatnot, but there had to have been something near the accommodations for me to look into or visit after the exams were over and before flying back home. Since I was already there, why not visit some other places of interest that I had not covered on the previous trips?

With all those to consider, it was pretty hard looking for a guesthouse for myself. They were all either too pricey, too sketchy, or had way too many bad reviews on TripAdvisor.

Siquijor Day 1: Getting to the Mystical Island

Good things to come!

Our long-awaited Siquijor trip started at 4AM at the South Bus Terminal on February 9, 2013.

Well, that was the plan, anyway!

I did get to the bus terminal before the agreed-upon time. The rest, however, had to make a mad dash to get there fast so we don't miss the bus that was scheduled to leave by 4 in the morning, or once full. By the time I got there, more than half the seats were already occupied. Caj had just picked Ariel up and they were already on the highway, but Fred was still about 15 minutes away.

The first disappointing STK Ta Bai experience

Exactly 7 days ago, I was at STK Ta Bai! for dinner with some friends from college (not counting Lala, who didn't go to CNU). It was another one of Caj's scheduled meet-ups with friends, and Ariel and I were once again included in this party.

This was my 3rd free meal from Caj hahaha! :))

We arranged to meet at 7PM, but I started out slow and got into a taxi with a driver who was, apparently, deaf since he didn't hear me say STK Ta Bai! and only registered Capitol. Needless to say, I was pissed off to find myself in front of the Capitol building. I didn't want to give him a peso more, so I got off the cab in a huff and just walked the rest of the way to STK.

I arrived late, obviously.


Too candid that I can't remember what they were talking about here :P

We meet again! Haha!

Fat to thin -- fro Left to Right :P

Chocolate Overload!

Caj had scheduled a snack date with our NSC (the CNU College of Nursing's student council which we were both a part of on our last 2 years at university) group of friends last Sunday, February 3, 2012 - the same day I went on the whale shark excursion. Good thing she had asked to meet between 3PM to 6PM, so I still had ample time to travel back to the city from Oslob.

Caj's chocolate from NZ - a prelude to the choco overload ahead!

I had warned her that I may be late, but it turned out I was way early. I headed straight to Ayala from the bus terminal and arrived at around 2:30PM. Having time to spare, I bought a shawarma for a late lunch (didn't get to eat before boarding the bus back to the city) and walked around some until I decided to head home to drop of my backpack (I was starting to look like I was lost at the mall or something). Our house is quite near Ayala, and I would go so far as to say that it's within walking distance, but of course, I took public transport to get home and back to Ayala again after haha. :P

Swimming with the Gentle Giants

I've always wanted to do the butanding experience ever since reading about it back in 2010 when I had a planned trip to Bicol. Unfortunately, neither that trip nor the butanding watching pushed through.

So it was a good thing that these whale sharks could now be seen just a few hours down south, in the town of Oslob.

I admit that I was skeptical at first if these butandings were the real thing (ahaha), like how could they find their way to these shores? So when news broke out about how they were "domesticated", and how the locals weren't treating them right and making money out of the visitors who flocked to the town to see them, I was all about boycotting this tourist trap.

Through time, though, it seemed that not only were the environmentalists taking notice, the government was joining in on the cause to protect these gentle giants as well. Finally, when Yza (one of my best friends) went there with her family a few months back, she reported that it wasn't as bad as how it was made out to be, and that there was indeed a briefing process before you were allowed to swim with them. I figured I could give it a try.

Thus, when our team decided to head to Oslob for our first ever team outing, it was a great opportunity to take a side trip to watch these whale sharks at sea. That was how I found myself in a rented multicab along with some other team mates heading to the whale watching area.

It's more fun in Oslob!

Oslob Day 2 - Of early mornings, dirty faces, and sunrise :)

Day 2  (February 3) started pretty early - for some of us, at least. Those who had retired to bed right after the night swim a few hours back (joining those who did not join in on the fun) woke up in turns in the wee hours of the morning, while those who stayed up to drink and play some more finally went to sleep.

Now for this trip, there were 24 of us, plus one baby (Lyle's). Though Marseh did go home by 6:30PM so she didn't spend the night there, you might be wondering how we managed to fit in the bedrooms.

We didn't. Those who couldn't find any place on the beds slept wherever they could, making use of whatever cushions they could put their hands on. More on that later.

I wasn't really aware of how everyone managed to find a place to sleep since I was dozing away, but after having woken up at half past 2 AM by a loud (therefore drunk) Richie diving on the bed between me and Airene, I couldn't really go back to sleep. Richie did get up barely a minute later (after Aris asked him where he was going to sleep if Richie took the space on the bed), saw Ken all alone on the top bunk, and promptly declared it as an "Oi! ASG STATION!" (Ken is the ASG for our team) before climbing up - still noisily - to join Ken on the top bunk. A few minutes later, Ken's phone went tumbling down to the floor, which finally did it for me and had me getting up to find out how the others were doing outside.

What greeted me was an almost non-recognizable living room/kitchen area!


Topsy turvy!

Oslob Day 1 - Of long journeys, booze, music, and a whole lot of FUN!

Last Saturday, my team and I headed for the Southern Cebu town of Oslob for our first ever team outing. 

FINALLY. This has been talked about since last year. We only just got around to finally planning and pushing through with it this time after the recent schedule bid which gave us all weekend rest days. Also, our team had been awarded Php10,000-worth of Sodexho gift certificates (from the account) plus Php 2,000 in cash (from the Chat Support line of business) for having the lowest number of lates and absences for the month of December. All in all, we had Php 12,000 to spend and we were so ready to head out of town to do so!

Lyle found this rest house by the beach that we could rent out for Php 3,500 per night. This information was from a local forum from a thread back in 2010, so the price wasn't really updated. When we contacted them for inquiries, we were quoted a price of Php 4,000 per night, which was good for 10 people. The number of heads in excess would be charged Php 100 per person.

It was a pretty good deal.

Aris, Lyle, Ron, and I went on undertime to buy food and supplies at the Save More supermarket at the E-Mall. Then, it was a short walk to the South Bus Terminal to meet the rest of the team (and ex-team mates and guests) who would be taking the bus to the Oslob. Others were going by car and motorcycle, while others were coming by bus at a later time.

Ready, set, GO! :D

HK Day 3 - An afternoon in rural Hong Kong, and the long way home :)

Day 3 (January 22, 2013)

Good Morning, Hong Kong!

My last day in Hong Kong started by me rising at around 6:30AM, and going out (in my jammies and slippers - yes, on that HK winter morning) to buy a microwaveable rice meal from 7-11. Really a lifesaver! Then, I went back to the hostel with my purchases, and prepared my breakfast. The hostel offered free coffee, chocolate, and tea, so I poured myself some of the coffee that was brewing on the coffee maker while the rice meal was being cooked.

HK Day 2 - THE Exam, and an evening of semi-directionless wandering :)

This day was the reason I was in Hong Kong to begin with.

My exam was scheduled for 11:20 AM, which meant I had to be at the venue by 10:40 AM, or 40 minutes before the time specified.

Because I was fortunately unfortunate enough the previous day to have boarded a bus that stopped in Hung Hom, I already knew where the Polytechnic University of Hong Kong was and how to get there. Thus, I could afford a bit of idling while I finished going over the assessment videos before heading out.

Breakfast was at Yoshinoya's - the breakfast set with either tea or coffee cost 20.40 HKD, but I added rice (my day would not be complete without it!) so the bill added up to 23.40 HKD. Went back to the hostel to get my stuff, then took the train to Hung Hom.

I was a bit surprised at how just anyone can go in and out of the university. The guard was very helpful in that even though he couldn't really speak English, he tried his best to point me to the right direction.

I arrived at the test venue at around 10:30AM. With 10 minutes to spare, I got to talk to fellow Filipinos. 2 were examinees (one was taking the exam with me at 11:20AM, and the other was there way early for her afternoon schedule). There was also a mom who was waiting for her daughter to finish her exam. They were all from Manila, so my Tagalog got challenged haha.

The exam went ok, better than the last time. Except I totally blanked out on Assessment. And to think I had been confident about Respiratory just right before the exam started! Bummer. Still, crossing my fingers for good results!!

There were 3 of us for the 11:20 schedule. The 3rd was, if I remember correctly, an Australian who was already living in Hong Kong. We headed down the building together, and talked about the scenarios we were given earlier before we parted ways at the MTR entrance (connected to the university). She gave me her email for correspondence.

I went back to the exam venue to see if Lois, the Filipino nurse I met earlier who took the exam with me, was still there but I didn't see here. :/