Posts Tagged "Lakwatcha!"
Sunday trip to the Hot Air Balloon Festival and why it’s more fun in the Philippines, really
photo by CJ Brosas
One time, my Singaporean boss asked me if it would be all right if my work takes me to the Philippines couple of times instead of staying all year round in Singapore. That wasn’t the first time he asked me (and I would always answer, I’m fine with it, and I’m not sure if he believes me when I say that because he’d ask again). Actually, the question is understandable because many Filipinos like to leave the Philippines for good (thanks to goddamn traffic, life threatening pollution, and mtherfcking indolence and corruption everywhere), but many of us would love to return and stay here, too. Some friends and relatives in the U.S., for instance, would fly back to Manila every now and then despite expensive airfares. The explanation for this can be found in the Department of Tourism’s latest 6-word slogan.
This Sunday gave me another reason why it’s more fun in the Philippines. My college friends and I went to the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Clark Field, Pampanga (two provinces north of Manila).
All six of us met at Manila’s economic capital, Makati. It was me who arrived first because I thought of seeing a film while waiting for all. Jay had thought of watching The Girl With The Butterfly Tattoo in Glorietta since Oscar season is near. Unfortunately, available seats: zero. Jay arrived and I suggested we go to Powerbooks because I want to scout for biographies of the Beatles. I saw one, Paul McCartney’s, and mentally put it in my To Buy List (I try not to buy another book unless I’m done reading the one I just bought–White Tiger, this time). Why I’m interested in their biography is another story.
Jay and I had our dinner at some place that smells of sizzling plate and barbecued goodness. Four times did their staff approach us for beer, coupons, promos and beer, until we realized, it’s Valentine’s next week, hence, all these Valentine’s promos offered to the most unromantic persons in Makati that very time (but we tenderly loved our tuna sisig and inihaw na tuna belly). We’re just so glad Kate, the girl with a fabulous scarf and knee length cardigan, and Connet, the girl in leggings and boots, came.
Raymond, our official driver, later arrived. We waited for our last travel buddy, CJ, at the coffee shop that serves the best chai tea latte.
Read MoreI was published in Young Blood!
Today’s a lovely day. I’m back at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) headquarters in Los Baños to start another issue of Rice Today. IRRI is just beside the UPLB campus, so walking around the university brings me back to my golden days of 2001 when I was a freshman. I felt like a student again walking with young people most of whom carry nothing but a notebook, and perhaps a ballpen in one pocket. A typical college student. Watching the students walk to their buildings, I was thinking lots of things but I’ll blog about this next time because I need to work now…but this day started lovely as some friends tagged me in an FB post. I was published in Inquirer’s Young Blood! Yehey!
virtual flowers for me 
(photo taken in saigon)
And because of this single story, I received a hundred messages and a million blog hits. Thanks to those 11,000 readers who liked and shared the Inquirer piece!
Read MorePoint. Shoot. Singapore. (Week 1)
Dine in at Suntec City‘s rows of eatery.
Wish at the Fountain of Wealth.
Read Morecracking the little red dot
This blogger is in Singapore. You may also follow her here where she posts her cultural learnings, one photo/blog a day in Southeast Asia’s Little Red Dot, the recently awarded “Greenest City in Asia” – Singapura.
Who, 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.
