Boracay’s Secrets
Boracay is world-famous for its White Beach. In 1997 though, it became infamous for severe pollution in its waters, mainly because of resorts dumping its sewage waste into the sea (according to a Discovery Channel publication).
Ten years after that, Boracay gradually treated its waters, and bacterial content hasn’t been as grave as before
(although plastic litters are still a perennial problem in the beaches).Today, the Department of TOurism is aggressive in its campaign to advertise Boracay as a premiere beach getaway that could equal Phuket, Thailand whose beaches are flocked mostly by Americans and Europeans at any given time.
Like many other tourist paradise, Boracay was unknown for the longest time until it was “discovered” in the 60s by puka shell collectors (there’s a Puka Beach on the northern side of the island, where shells cover the sand).
3-Day Preparation for a 4-day Boracay Stay
It was flattering to be told that I must’ve photoshopped my picture of me in bikini, or, I must’ve undergone some “preparations” to achieve this so-called Boracay-worthy body.
For the record, it was my first time wearing bikinis on the beach, and
Read MoreHow To Get To Boracay (with 150pesos)
The Laws Of The Universe
decided
that I be in Boracay
this month.
Thanks to my Law student friend Giselle H. who sold me UP College of Law raffle tickets, I won two round trip tix to any domestic destination the week I arrived in the Philippines.
Then by some strike of luck, my uncle, a graduate of Law, invited me to join them in their 4-day Boracay vacation in celebration of his birthday.
- broke in boracay? no problem.
I declined at first because staying there is just way above my budget. Her wife, a prosecutor at the Manila City Hall, insisted that I come even if I’m broke because they’ll shoulder food and accommodations, she texted.
Read MoreFlight Stories and Some Coming Home Frustrations
Weeks ago saw my patience tested in the streets of Manila whipped by typhoons. One after another, surprises met me along the way, way before I set foot home.
1
I kept on putting off the printing of my plane ticket to the Philippines, then to my absolute shock, I found out that the date of my flight was earlier than I thought. I learned about this hours before my flight.
Consequence: I never had the time to print the ticket.
Read MoreFresh Look and Some Nostalgia to Taste
new look
AS a personal rule and respect to good writing, I don’t like starting my sentences, especially my posts or articles with “I”, nor do I use all caps in stating something in intense emotion, nor do I use exclamation marks more than one because one is enough, two is too much, three is highschool-ish, but all I ever wanted to say in my first sentence is I LOVE MY NEW BLOG THEME!!!
Like what friend Jay said, it’s more Web 2.0 looking maybe because of the sliding panels and neatness. Fantastic, I say, when I first saw it after waiting for three days of the major appearance renovation.
There couldn’t be a more personal theme than this because the drawings look like my sketches and doodles.
friendster to multiply to facebook (I is dizzy)
Browsing the pages and categories, I found out a new button in the WordPress dashboard, the “Add feature photo,” that is, I need to choose the photo thumbnail that will go with the featured article on the homepage and in the Travel Gallery page, else I get a black square. This gives me quite a work to do because I have to go over a hundred photos in the archives. But since I don’t have all the time in the world to scan them all, I uploaded some pix.
In search of photos that fit, I visited my Multiply account which, to my surprise, is still there. Oh wait, it was Friendster that re-launched lately (and I never bothered to collect the pictures stored there because I feel they belong to a different person of a different time). Looking at my Multiply photos, I sure had gawdy photos I wouldn’t ever post in today’s hottest social network. Google +? Uh, not yet. Let’s give it some time and everyone’s migrating again, transferring photos, re-creating the Self.
a self retrieved and a self to become
There’s one lovely Me photo I retrieved, though. It’s inevitable that in having a new blog look, I revisit some things of the past.
This one was taken in Mt Tapyas when friends and I stayed in Coron, Palawan for two long weeks (the happiest days of our lives, yes) to do something with a lifetime effect: facilitate a youth program that will empower them, while touring every corner of Coron, with the locals themselves.
Just a few years ago, I was doing community work in remote areas of the Philippines. Forward to today, I’m here in Singapore, exploring streets and strange places. (Yesterday was Sentosa day with my 2-year old nephew, but that’s another post).
It will take long for me to change the appearance of this blog, but soon, I might just wander off again to something new in this short life.
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singapore, second time around
One’s first time in Singapore could be an amazing sensory overload treat, and really, if a tourist stays for sixty days, that’s enough time to conquer the island state.
Coming back to Singapore for another sixty days, one can still enjoy the glamour of the city, but with more feeling of being “at home” than a tourist’s mad desire to take a picture of every inch of the country.
This is the quiet familiarity when I took my tiny nephew to
Read Moresurfing (not the net, the real thing)
Maybe kids should go out more often, like, stay away from Facebook and the Internet in general, and do some real surfing, riding the waves, trying to stand on a surf board, experience getting stoked amidst the breaking of waves and the looming storm.
Well, if only Baler is at your backyard.
Read MoreTravel guide to Baler here.
ilocos, surreal
Ilocos Sur, last holy week, was sure surreal.
The old house stood somewhere between antique and Yet To Be Finished. Grandmother’s presence is still there, but she’s gone together with the other elders of Angkileng. Gone are the solemn days of
Read MoreCurious Things One Finds Here When Lost
All started when I planned to see
1. an office
2. a museum
3. some people
Getting lost, like I said, is not a bad thing, at least to me, who has an uncanny record of running away from home (since 3 years old) and going to places I’ve never heard of. In the presence of strangers, I am most comfortable, but I have to admit, fear would always creep in, touching me with its cold hands, emptying my chest as if I’m on a rollercoaster dive.
The last time I got lost here in Singapore, I discovered some things for myself. First is the narrow alley of corporate offices housed in rundown, wood-framed two/three-storey apartment jammed side by side, set against the urban jungle in Tanjong Pagar, one of the business districts (like Makati) in SG.
One of these offices I found in the Internet and planned to see was Ink, an international media company that publishes in-flight magazines for several airlines in Australia, Singapore, Thailand and so much more, including the Philippines’s Cebu Pacific. The door of their office stands inconspicuously on the wall of 89 Neil Road on Outram Park, and nobody would notice it unless they look at it very well, because the building itself looks abandoned: it’s quiet and deserted, save for a few passers-by. I pried open the door after buzzing in and found myself on a tiny vacant room with an elevator on the other side. There was a magazine stand, and nothing else that I remember. No sofa, no receptionist, no security personnel. It was quieter inside. It reminded me of that scene in MIB (Men In Black) when J entered a weird building with a weird lobby, and true enough when I went up to the third floor, just like in MIB, the elevator door at my back opened to Ink’s office. When I went out of the office, I immediately gulped in fresh air.
lakwatcha mode
Yesterday was probably the worst day for my beautiful feet. Three times I got lost. For hours, I was around trying to find the right way, the right building, the right bus stops, the right person, the right framework of mind to keep on going.
I reached our flat right after midnight, and hit the sack as soon as I set the bed. I had the longest bus ride and “walk trip” yesterday that my legs screamed “leg rights abuse!” Now that I think about it, I want to do it again because in getting lost, new things surprise me along the way.
(more pictures later)
Read MoreWho, Me?
Hello there! My name is Ai, Japanese for "love." I couldn't stay in one place for too long, so I'm always walking, traveling or changing address. I write for Australia's Campus Review, Education Review, Insite health care, and other magazines under APN. Before this, I was an editor of a quarterly rice science magazine and a weekly publication on international commodity trade in Singapore. But before everything else, I was an educator for five years.
