Writing... at 35,000 feet in the air

How’s everything? 

That is the first question I would ask to my girlfriend if we have issues and things didn’t go well. It is like an ice-breaking session to start fresh, calm and being rationalise. I probably assume too much that I know how a relationship works but little did I know each relationship is different and unique. Our character defined our individuality. 

It has been a great journey so far since December 2015. This is the real relationship where emotions, efforts, and etc are put into a test. I haven’t been in a relationship for many years since middle school. She was too. I couldn’t agree if we both assume a lot of things about each other. As if we already know the person after 5 years. The truth is... People are evolving and so we are. For example, I know she likes coffee but who knows she dislike today and forever. Things could have changed, right? 

I’m grateful that we stand strong together through ups and downs. There are time when we were so high loving each other and hates each other so much. People says Love is crazy. Indeed. Time, effort and feelings are all work together but.. we learn to compromise. Compromise on many things to make sure we are working towards common goals. 

I know myself is not a romantic type of boyfriend. Probably hopeless but not clueless. She knows I’m that hopeless but I know we are progressing very well. 

Let’s hope for a better day :)

Sibale Island... a paradise I called home!

There are several posts about Philippines that I wrote but this entry is one of the best since I will talk about my mother’s birthplace… Sibale Island.

It was in 2010 that the whole family last visited the Philippines and most of us to see the grandparents. I visit manila like every year now for shopping than in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Nevertheless, this trip was dedicated to my mother who has been more than 25 years not seeing her beloved birthplace, Sibale Island.

We were supposed to fly there in April but due to some inevitable events we had to reschedule it. My mom was worried too much if we were going in May, the tide and the weather is not favourable as it coincides with the rainy month “Habagat” in the Philippines. I try to be positive all the time and keep checking the weather forecast every day. There is no weather forecast for Sibale Island but I can get the nearest weather information from Pinamalayan station. Most of the time it shows sunny and clear weather for the whole week. Bless!

We were very busy packing stuff and foods before going there. A member of the family is a Muslim and very particular with the food. I don’t eat pig too. Phew! You have to believe it. My cousin, Jamie, did give some insight about the island and after looking at her pictures, I told my family they should be mentally and physically prepare. LOL.

14/05/2014

Before departure

We arrived at the airport 2 hours before our departure time at 12pm. My mother felt a bit dizzy, as she didn’t take any food that morning. We are very worry about her health especially after the incident in April when she was treated in hospital for an irregular heartbeat. We departed from the Brunei International airport 10 minutes before 12pm and the whole journey was smooth. We landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 2:10pm.

Aunty Remy and RB welcomed us at the arrival gate. She introduced the driver, Onad, who we already booked in advance for transport from airport to Pinamalayan, which cost PHP9000 one-way.

We went from the airport at 3:30pm to Batangas Pier and had a short quick break at Jollibee. I don’t know the name of the place but it is in the middle of the highway to Batangas Pier. My brother and I ordered 10 set meals that come with burger, fries and coke. The situation inside the restaurant was busy at that time and we had to wait for 12 minutes for our burger to be ready. When the lady handed us our food I didn’t check it thoroughly as we were racing against time. Half way when we were already on the road and they eat fries, I realized I made a mistake…. ALL THE 10 BURGERS NOT THERE! Pff! Keep calm and just eat.

Awesome sunset at Batangas Pier

We reached Batangas Pier at 6:30pm. We were the last car accepted to go inside the Roll-on/Roll-off (RORO) ship. How lucky! We went up to the upper deck and wandering the place. There were a lot of people and I didn’t manage to find a place to sit. I went to the top most area and the view is pleasant to see at night. Full moon and lots of stars in the sky! The sea amazingly very calm and I enjoyed myself listening to my Sony Walkman.

RORO boat

Night view from the top deck

It took us 2 hours to reach Calapan port. I could see our driver looked very tired and he stopped for a while to take coffee. It usually takes 1.5 hours by car to reach Pinamalayan but our driver took a few stops. We had our late dinner by the roadside and ate the traditional food. I really like the ginger tea.

I didn’t book any place to stay at Pinamalayan and the driver offered his house for us to stay overnight. Everyone was physically exhausted and some of them sleep soon after landing on the couch.

15/05/2014

Pinamalayan Town

The family already woke up early at 6am and I didn’t have a good sleep. My father and the brother went to the town to buy things to bring to Sibale. I followed them soon afterward because I don’t like to miss to explore the place. The town is small but you can find most of things like clothes, jeans, groceries, electronics and etc.

We went to Pinamalayan port at 9:30am and apparently there is only ONE boat going back and forth to Sibale. It costs PHP150 per person for one-way. The boat only goes at 11am and I’m not sure if that is fixed or what. I was waiting outside and I could see all the seats have been taken and they still keep accepting people and goods.

It was almost 11am when I went inside and there was no seat for me. Yikes! Then, one of the boatmen gave a small piece of wood for us to sit. Wohoo! In my mind… okay this will be an interesting journey! The boat was fully loaded. I can tell safety is the least they look into. There is no life jacket. There is no maximum number of people. I buried all those negativities and enjoy the boat ride. Fortunately that day it was sunny, clear sky and calm sea for the whole journey.

Calm sea and nice weather

One of the best things I saw was flying fish. At first I thought it was a bird but then I imagined it was far from any nearest land, so I waited for another magical flying fish. I was lucky to see another one and it flew very far this time. AMAZING!

We reached Port of Concepcion at 1:30pm. My uncles and relatives were there and helping with our stuffs, they tied it on the motorcycles. Yes. The only mode of transportation on the whole island. The road is small and narrow especially at every corner around the hills. No two motorcycles can pass at any one time, so one has to take turns.

Safely arrived at Port of Concepcion

My brother and I were the first one to reach the grandparent house. My grandmother was crying upon seeing us. I cried inside but still maintain to look cool. Haha! Then one by one our family members came. Each time my grandmother sees us, she cried. It has been 4 years since the last time we see each other. I don’t have any grandparents here in Brunei and to see them both healthy put smile on my face. Glad to see them again.

My mom, uncle and awesome grandparents

They already prepared lunch for us and we had it on together at 3pm. I like the avocados and mangoes. Freshly hand picked. After lunch, we went to one of the top hills in Sibale. It is one of the must-see when you are here. There are a lot of coconut trees. It’s like everywhere.

This is the ROAD! wow!

The small hut (shop)

From there, we visited Lola Saling, we stayed there for a while and see the surrounding. The place is quiet and peaceful. Most of the houses made of bamboo and leaves. The shop is small and they sell limited items.

They told us that the electricity only available at limited time like 4-5 hours only and only available at night. When there’s electricity, we quickly charge our power banks and mobile phones. Luckily for us that night, the electricity was available until 12am since there was a festival at other area around the island.

Our bedroom! <3

My eldest uncle brought his karaoke box outside and everyone start dancing. Happy hour for everyone! My grandmother was very energetic that night and dancing all night long. My grandfather gave a speech and touched everyone’s heart. My brother, Dicky, was drunk and we forced him to sleep early because he started to pick a fight with anyone. LOL. At one point, I want to punch him in the face so that he could shut up but it didn’t happen. He slept soon after that.

16/05/2014

The sun rises very early there. I looked at my time and it was 5:30am but the dark sky slowly turned to bright. Great. I hadn’t slept very well but I’m grateful I’m still healthy and energetic.

We had a quick breakfast and today is the only full day we have to explore the place. I wanted to explore as much as I can especially see the beautiful beach that this island has to offer. Uncle Winhart brought us around the island by foot. We reached a place that is awesome cool to look at. You can see the view of the bay and boats coming in/out. The sea is very calm and when the sky is clear, you can see the sky reflection on the surface of the sea, just like a mirror. Magnificent!

View of the bay

We went home for lunch and got to see how they prepared it. They don’t use gas or stove. The preparation is very basic… using rocks and woods. They don’t use many spices in food. Everything is basic. It really opened my eyes to see how people living their life here. Even they don’t have Internet, limited electricity/water supply, cars, decent jobs and etc, they still smile and happy. I feel really blessed to see them and at the same time to tell myself not to take things for granted.

At 2pm, we went out to the beach. There were 5 of us and it took a while to look for available boat that can bring us to “One Dive”. This is a place where they usually do diving and snorkelling. It took approximately 15minutes to reach the beach. When we arrived, there was literally no one at the beach. I was smiling and took some pictures. The sand is white, lots of corals and clear blue water. This is a paradise beach! my siblings and cousins went swimming and stroll along the beach.

I went to the other side of the beach and told myself… this is better than Boracay! Boracay is heavily populated with tourists but I will still go there since it is well maintained and many water activities. My heart melts every time I see the pictures I took with my phone. Awesomely beautiful.

At 3:40pm, we moved to another beach. The small boat sailed steadily on the open water and there were few times that we got hit by the waves. I was putting their life in danger as we didn’t have life jackets and it was my idea to explore beaches but I know they know how to swim. We didn’t manage to go to the other beach as there are too many corals and the boatman didn’t want to go either. The water is very shallow. Low tide. So we went back to home.

It was still early when we reached home. I said to them let’s go to the beach near to our place. My little cousin, Raisa, leads the way. She said it would take 30 minutes to reach the place. I don’t mind how far the beach is because I really like to walk. The journey is all going downhill. That is not a problem….  The problem is when going uphill. Crazy. The path is rocky and uneven.

We reach the place just after 5pm. The first thing I realize about the place is the beach is full of dead corals. It reminds me of Puka Beach in Boracay. Many boats are out and go for fishing and even several kids playing in a small boat and happily singing “Let it go” song. Hahahaha! Priceless!

At 5:30pm we went home and this is the challenging part. Hiking all the way to the top! Raysa said it will only take us 2 minutes to reach our home…. She lieddddddddd! It took us a good 20 minutes! HAHAHAHAHA! My sister and brother already mad at me for this. HAHAHAHAHAHA

That night we had a big celebration. Many people came especially families and friends from around the island. I saw 2 securities guys with their M16 on their side and I thought we did something wrong but before I jump into conclusion, they said they came with the mayor. I met him and talked with his assistant for a while. Glad to know them.

Mayor sitting on the left and his assistants

My mom and her siblings

We sleep early that night; we need to catch the boat early in the morning.

17/05/2014

woke up very early and time to say goodbye to my lovely family there. We reached to the port before 6am and my grandmother was there too. She wanted to see us one last time before we are boarding the boat. We love you all. The boat departed at 6:15am. Nice weather and calm sea. To cut the story short, we reached Manila at 4:30pm.

Awesome sunrise! bless!

Till we meet again!

Enjoy the boat ride! =)

It was one of the best trip I had with the family and surely this will not be last time. See y'all again in Sibale! :)


Credits: Dk Diana

Hello september!

I’m almost there… almost free and away from my study. I can’t wait to end it, waiting to submit our final report. I can’t imagine I have endured these 2 years of madness to juggling between work and study. It’s not easy but I’m lucky to have family and friends that understand my situation. I’m grateful for that. Thank you God.

I’m looking forward for my holiday. Next week! ;) was planning to go to Melbourne and NZ early this year but I have to change it since most of my awesome friends want me to only go somewhere near… so I said….. BALI!

Click the video below to see the waterbom in Bali. AWESOME!

Waterbom-bali new video from Waterbom Bali on Vimeo.

December!

Hello December!

I can't wait for my awesome 25th B'day! :)

Kuala Lumpur (12th-17th September)

Travelling is a new hobby for me. Every time I want to take leaves, I’ll make sure that I spend the time to the highest level of enjoyment. By that… I choose travelling!

As I said not so long ago… the remaining half of this year is the most awesome for me. I had a chance to visit my relatives in Philippines during July vacation, spent our last ‘bogus’ vacation in Kota Kinabalu last month and recently, travelled to Kuala Lumpur. Never did I expect that I travelled to these countries with short gap in between. Awesome!

It was at the end of July, that we booked our tickets during Consumer Fair at Bridex. Initially, our plan was to go to Bangkok but few days before that, there was chaos in Bangkok City due to politically instability. Bangkok is no longer in the list (maybe next year, yes?). We were standing at the RBA counters for more than 5 minutes and thinking where is the next best country in Asian to visit. Think. Think. Think. KL! That’s it.

I never go to KL before… my friend, Sherman, also hasn’t visited there quite a long time. I forgot when the last time he visited… was it in 93 or 94? He said to me earlier ‘the blind leading the blind’. Hahaha. I beg to differ. I did some research and digest all information about KL and interesting places to visit. The WEB is really helpful! Genting Highlands is on top of our list. Shopping too (really? hahaha).

Our trip to KL was from 12th to 17th September. Our flight departed from BIA at 12:30pm using Boeing 777. Awesome flight I must say! Imagine… only 70+ people on board and many empty seats. I sat next to the window. It took almost 2 hours to reach KLIA. I am truly amazed with the airport. They are the best. The arrival and departure terminals are way separated. Monorails are the only transportation connecting both building (err… correct me if I’m wrong).

We took a bus to go to our hotel. Thanks to Sherman for hotels booking and transportation fees. Hahaha. At 3:30pm, our bus departed from the airport. We were sitting at the last row at the back and only can accommodate 4 people. I changed my seat and choose to sit next to the left window. Sherman sat at the right window. Before the bus about to move, then came in 2 Indian guys. They sat in between of me and Sherman. Geez… they really talkative and I got annoyed all the way (-_-“). Then, the Indian guy next to me said “how long will it take to reach KL?”. I said “I don’t know. This is also my first time”. Hello~~

We reached KL Sentral almost 5pm. A van was waiting for us to send to our hotel, Coronade Hotel. Our driver is a Malay guy and very kind. Traffic was not so bad at that time coz it was still within first week of raya and I think people go out of the city. Balik kampong. The driver sent us to a wrong hotel. When I stepped out from the van and see the hotel. I was like… errr? Is this our hotel? Why is it looks so lame (-_-“). I asked Sherman if the address is correct. We checked with the driver. It was his mistake. Got confuse with our hotel, Coronade Hotel and Corona Inn Hotel. Sigh.

I met my cousin there, Alai. She is currently pursuing her degree in IT security. We’ve been replying each other messages in FB to exchange info like where we staying, shopping, best place to eat and etc. Her parent met me to send some cakes and a netball ball for her. Sweet. Haha. She is our tour guide. We went to the nearest mall around Bukit Bintang area until night time.

I also met my friend, liley, there. She was with the family on vacation for more than a week there. It was her last day spending with me at Starbucks that night. We really had some fun and serious conversations. We reached our hotel exactly midnight and I slept shortly afterward. Too tired and we need to take rest coz the following day we went to Genting Highlands.

I woke up early that morning. I set my alarm at 8:00am. For those people who had travelled with me, as of now… they already know I’m a morning person. If somebody ever cut into my line, I will scream on his/her face. Haha. Joking. We had a quick breakfast at Indian’s restaurant. I don’t remember the restaurant’s name but the front view is awesome. You can’t miss the view of a jeep coming out from the wall.

I ordered 1 chicken burger from Mc’D that morning. The queue was so long. Okay… what do you expect? It’s Mc’D! Everyone loves it. Hahahaha. The cashiers were all busy. When I got my food, we went straight to the hotel for final checked. I packed important stuffs into a small bag for our Genting trip. I checked my food… I thought I only ordered 1 burger but they mistakenly gave two! AWESOME!

Going to Genting Highlands is the trickiest part (not!). There are many ways you can go and reach there but I only know two options. The first one is from KL Sentral. You can go to one of the booth showing Genting Highlands either by bus or taxi. The cheapest ride is always by bus. Second option is.. You can go from Titiwangsa. Bus is the only transport. More cheaper! Take the bus. Feel the thrill.

While waiting for the bus to go at 3pm, we spent our time at Hard Rock Café, Bukit Nenas. The place, the food, music played is nice. The interior looked like a modern classic restaurant. My food alone cost RM30. Whew! Did I mention about the toilet too? Also nice! Lol.

Exactly at 3pm, our bus departed from the terminal. We had the best seats in the bus. NOT! HAHA. Normally, seats are positioned to see the front view same as the driver’s view. Ours are the only one positioned to see at the back view, which means we only starred at everyone face and vice versa. Sigh. The bus was speeding like crazily on highway. I don’t know if I’m the only person feels it but it was really fast. Until at some point, I imagined if the bus skid and we all throw out from it. Okay.. not funny!

The bus safely arrived at Genting Highlands resort after 1.5hours. The first thing that I realized after coming out from the bus was the surrounding air is cool. I forgot to bring my sweater. Hmph! We took a quick look around the area before proceed to our hotel, First World Hotel. Once inside the hotel, I was amazed of its size and every space filled with people. Sherman went to one of the counter to ask about our booking. Thanks to him that we didn’t have to wait for a long time for our room to be ready (I think he used agoda.com to book for our hotels).

Our room is at Tower 1, level 24. I didn’t know where our room is until we reached there. It’s the most AWESOME VIEW that you can imagine of. But still… Tagaytay still the best! Our room is located at the top level of Tower 1. You can see the highlands and clouds passing through the window. Seriously.. CLOUD! Our room is called world club room. Two single beds, sofa, a nice toilet, TV and etc. BUT NO AIR-COND!!! Okay.. They don’t even need one. The surrounding air is already cool and you can see a big digital sign showing the temperature at the lobby area. I remembered it was 19 degrees Celsius that time. Cool!

We went down to see what Genting has to offer to its visitors. They have indoor games inside the building such as sky diving, ghost house, roller-coaster, Believe it or not gallery, and much much more. They also have many fast food franchises. It’s all in one place for fun and dining. Outside the hotel, you can take outdoor rides such as our JP famous ‘Giant Drop’, slow caterpillar train that take you to see the surrounding area, and so on. I didn’t have a chance to explore more because of time constraint. We only had one night to spend there. If you are thinking to go to Genting, spend at least 2 nights there. You will never regret it. Believe me.

Our aim to go there was gambling. Yes, GAMBLING. They have 2-3 casinos. I don’t know which one is the best but we only tried at our hotel casino. We had read in the internet that you need to be appropriately dressed. F*ck it. They don’t even care what you ware. Even they bring handphone inside the casino despite of having posters on the wall not to bring electronic media. Sigh (-_-“). I think we were the only people who dressed smart that night.

I spent 4 hours and RM90 on that slot machine. Geez! WTH. I was addicted to it. There were many people sitting side by side and they won at least few hundreds. Me? I only managed to recover RM50. Fuhh.. I spent it on KFC after that. Hahahaha.

The next morning, I woke up at 8:30am. I walked to the window and saw nothing! NOTHING! As in.. WHERE IS THIS PLACE? WHY IS IT ALL WHITE? YOU ONLY SEE CLOUDS! Oh man… It feels really good as if you are close to heaven. You can even feel the cloud on your hand. Just wave outside the window. Awesome!

We had another half day to spend there and I took this chance to tour the place by myself. I didn’t know where the hell I was going; I let my foot do the walking. I entered to visitor’s gallery where you can see/read history of Genting. There were a lot of pictures too. I am amaze how Genting is transformed into a world class resort. If you want to know about the history click this link http://www.genting.com/history/index.htm or if you want to see how Genting looks like, click this link http://www.rwgenting.com/

We left Genting at 3:40pm to Titiwangsa. We reached our hotel at Bukit Bintang almost 6pm and fainted. Hahaha. We still stayed at our previous hotel, Coronade Hotel. I think it is best to stay in Bukit Bintang coz most of big malls are there. Pavilion, Berjaya Times Square, Lot10, Sungei Wang and etc. The famous nasi ayam is there too! VERY DELICIOUS! It is near to oldchangkee area. Forgot the name of the restaurant. All I know… I spent most of my money on food! Haha.

We met acai and sitah on our fifth day at Pavilion. Really glad to see some friends also on vacation there but they had other things to do. You know… women! THEY ONLY GO FOR SHOPPING!! HAHAHA. We didn’t have so much time to enjoy together. The only thing that I remember about Acai is…. She got lost finding her way to Hard Rock Café. HAHAHAHA. That woman is not just an ordinary type of woman. SHE CAN GO ALONE IN KL WITHOUT WORRYING WHATEVER HAPPENS IN HER WAY. YOU ARE AWESOME. Eseh! We ended our journey that night with FISH SPA! DO YOU KNOW HOW GREAT IT IS? THE FEELING IS SO UNREAL! I want to try it again! Oh oh.. Massage centre is everywhere at bukit bintang. Lol.

Most of our time spent around Bukit Bintang area. They have all kind of shops. Amazingly, I didn’t buy many things. I only changed BND250 cash. That was it. Enough to survive for eating/shopping for all 6 days. All in all, I only spent more or less than BND900 (return ticket, 2hotels, shopping, eating, transport and entertainment). I believe you can spend less than 500/600 if you are going in group.

It was an awesome trip! I enjoyed using monorail to go from one place to another. It’s a whole new experience again and again.

KL, YOU ROCK!!