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. :/

HK Day 1 - My 4th trip to the World City

Again in Hong Kong, but may just as well pass for a first time since I have never posted any of my pics from the previous visits hahaha.. Sorry na friends, will get around to doing so sometime VERY SOON lol. Unahon sa nako ang CamboThai :P

So this is day 1. To sum it up, I flew to Hong Kong on the same flight with Rash and Joy (na first time ra pud diay meet ni Rash lol), arrived there at around 1AM, stayed at the airport (studied, napped) til 8AM, before parting ways at the Bus Terminal to board our respective buses. Sayop na bus akong nasakyan (BUT THE INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE HOSTEL TOLD ME TO TAKE THAT BUS!!!) so I got off at another Bus Terminal in Hung Hom, which was coincidentally where the venue for my exam the following day was at.

Ran out of cushioned benches to sleep on :/

First trip of 2013!

2013 has just begun, and what better way to start the year than with an out of town trip?

The destination: Matalom, Leyte.

For those of you who haven't even heard of this place, no, I didn't go there on a whim. A friend was celebrating his birthday, and he invited the gang over to his hometown for some food-and-drinkfest.

I could never say no to that! Haha.

I was supposed to go with Xyza and her boyfriend, Dexter, but they bailed on me. Hmph!

Nevertheless, I pushed through. It's not as if I never traveled solo before, and this trip would be relatively easy since I'd gone the same route almost exactly a year before (still for Zarky's birthday).

So I got myself round trip Tourist class tickets on a Roble Shipping boat on Friday, and speedpacked and taxi-ed my way to the pier on Saturday noon for the 1PM trip to Hilongos. I made it just in time for the last shuttle bus from the departure building to the dock! :)

The boat ride took almost 6 hours - though I was told it would just be 5 hours. Meh. No pictures, as the boat kept rocking and I had no Bonamine chewables on me so I was practically strapped to my lower bunk bed. But it was all good as I slept most of the way through, and having come from the night shift, sleep was a welcome relief!

I arrived in Hilongos just as the sun had set, and found my way to the bus headed for Maasin, Southern Leyte. Time check, 6:58 PM. Not bad. It took about 20 minutes before I finally got off at Matalom (the bus stopped once in Bato, and twice after that to let off a couple of passengers). Zarky came to meet me at the bus stop and we made our way to his home where Von was already waiting, having come from Tacloban (where he has recently been transferred to) by car. Surprised to see one other person there, though, who I was not able to identify immediately but later on realized that it was my sister's friend, Jean Lee (full name jud? :P). A surprise, but later proved to be a pleasant one. :)

No Canigao for this trip, as I arrived late in the evening on Saturday, and Sunday was pretty much set for the birthday party/feast. 

Had dinner at the Kiosko. No swimming this time around, the night was pretty damn cold. The food was nothing too memorable, but the scallops were fresh and yummy!

CamboThai Day 1: Fly, fly, tuktuk ride!

Day 1 was technically Day 0, considering that it was mostly spent traveling, and when we finally did arrive at our destination, it was already too late to do anything other than rest.

Day 1 was December 6, 2012. A Thursday. I got off work at 8:30 AM, took my time getting home by riding the wrong jeepney (I know, I should have just taken a taxi) and so decided to stop by the church - Carmellites - to light some candles and pray for a safe trip. It was around 10 AM when I finally arrived home and started speed packing.

Speed packing!

You'd think that with all the trips I'd done just for 2012 alone, I'd be more organized. But nope, I had a panic moment when I realized that I had asked the rest to be early at our meeting place (before 12 noon), and here I was still struggling to put together a backpack that would last me 7 days abroad. As expected, I forgot quite a few important things. Like my old camera. I packed batteries but ironically forgot the gadget that they were to be used for. And my sunglasses. And 2 more shirts. I literally arrived in Cambodia with just 2 shirts, and the one I was wearing. Haha. I'd never pack at the last minute again (maybe :P).

Cambodia and Thailand - a Prelude!

And I am back!

I've just come back from a week-long trip to 2 countries in IndoChina, and boy was it amazing! I have so many pictures to show, soooo many stories to tell, and so little time. But I'll try my very best to get them all up within a week - so wish me tons of luck! :)

As an overview or a sort of prequel, this trip was booked way back in late August  to early September. The flights added up to Php 8,830+ per person. This was for 5 flights (cheap, right? :D):

Cebu to Manila
Manila to Siem Reap
Krabi to Bangkok
Bangkok to Manila
Manila to Cebu

Cebu Pacific now has direct flights from Cebu to Bangkok and Siem Reap, but the direct flights only started about 2 to 3 weeks from when we booked and paid for our flights. It would have been cheaper by at least a thousand pesos, but overall, it would have cost us (additional night for accommodation, etc) more since the direct flights schedules weren't really conducive for the plan that we already laid out.

I had drafted a loose itinerary, as well as places of interest where we could go, which I'm posting here for reference:

Added Asiatique to the list of Bangkok activities a week before we started the trip, but couldn't find the updated version of the file. :P

Now the big question is: Were we able to go do all of the above activities?

Keep posted to find out! ^_^

SURPRISE! ^_^

My mother and sister handed me an LBC package about 30 minutes ago - totally unexpected. For the life of me, I couldn't recall having ordered anything that should arrive by post. Mama was grinning when she told me that it came from Mcbeau, my bestfriend from childhood, who she had met over Facebook chat sometime last week and had asked for our address and my shoe size - AND to keep it all a secret from me.

Was I surprised?

TOTALLY! Waaahhh couldn't stop smiling for a few minutes as I was opening the package. And then I saw this:

Which made me go:

Isn't it puurrrttteeyyy?? I love it! And good timing, too! I'll be packing this in my backpack for my trip this Thursday! :D Anddd! Considering I've never had any birthday surprises that I can recall (thinking again now.. Nope.), this was even more appreciated! Needless to say, I am one happy girl right now, and my birthday isn't even until this Sunday. Hehe. :)

Aren't bestfriends the absolute best? ^_^

Thanks, besty!!! I love you! Mwah! :*

Christening!

Hello, blog!

I've finally created you! I only hope I'll be able to keep this up haha. I'll be back with my stories! ^^,

AH1N1 Awareness Seminar

Whilst spamming with Cleo and John D. at work, the drama queen announced (out of the blue) a seminar to be held a few hours after we get off work at CIT regarding the current pandemic caused by this new type of flu. Of course we had to go -- sayang ang certific, i mean, valuable information na mahatag sa seminar. ;p It really was informative. John isn't in any of the pictures because he failed to make it, saon taman natulog man. We saw a few, ehem, colleagues there as well. ^_^