Saturday, January 10, 2009 10:15:08 AM
fun, The Forbidden City, Z-train, travel
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December 20, 2008
I shall skip one day and continue to the third day when we were leaving for Beijing by train, at around 7:30pm. Actually, the day before this one was basically just a nothing-day...except maybe the fact that Lala went to get a new haircut by the hair salon just across the street where Jane and I spent 2-3 hours just sitting there, taking some random pictures and pretty much just looking out for Lala's hair 
Okay, so why was it a nothing-day? Well, Joyce, Niki, and Alddon went to attend their economic workshop, only three of us left in the apartment and cant go anywhere new since Joyce, Niki, Alddon did not want to miss out on anything. Anyway, after Lala had her haircut + rebond, we went back to the apartment then got on the subway and headed to the Shanghai Railway Station to get train tickets then to East Nanjing Pedestrian Shopping Street again and spent the rest of the day there By the time we got home, it was almost 11:00pm, due to some transportation difficulties, that the MTR line 4 was closed and we had to take line 8 and back to line 2 to get to Nanpu Station (our stop) -_-
Okay, so back to the third day It was a normal day, sunny and a bit cold. We didn't do much in the morning, just packed up our stuff to get ready to leave for Beijing that night. So the plan was that Joyce, Niki, and Alddon were supposed to come back to the apartment by 5pm or so, but when I called them and asked were they were, they told me they're still in the conference room xD Then I panicked, I was like "What? Are you serious? the train leaves 7:30pm and it takes some time to get to the train station with our amount of luggage, and then we have to hover around the big station to find the right platform. Please come home as soon as possible." and they were whispering "We cant, it would be very disrespectful to the speaker if we leave in the middle of his lecture, but we'll get out as soon as possible." In the end, I told them to just get a cab and go to the train station directly, while Jane, Lala, and I take care of all the luggages and meet up at the train station. Lucky we got a van taxi to take us there, or we'd not have fit in one taxi haha The funny thing about this whole "event" was that we actually had 4 groups of people meeting up at the station at the same time, not to mention that we're almost late for the train (there was like 30 mins left for us to get to the platform). First group, its Valle and Eric, they got to the train station the earliest and waited at the entrance, so no problem finding them. Second group, Rain and his friend who helped him get to the right place; he saw me as soon as we arrived at the entrance, so no problem as well. Third and fourth group was my group, and Joyce's group, we also saw each other at the carpark area, where we hired porters to help with the luggage and help us find the platform. WHEW! That was close! hahaha (but the porter fee was damn expensive -_- we had no choice, or the train's gonna leave us lol) and I forgot to mention that all this time, my phone never stopped ringing, I was on the phone almost all of the time, talking with 3 groups of people waiting to meet up...xD It was chaos that turned out well in the end
After much running and hovering, we finally got to the train with 15 mins left to spare before it departs for Shanghai. Hmmm the train looks really nice It was actually the first time that I took a long haul train ride. Our trip to Beijing took around 11 hours. We had to sleep in the train overnight at the small cabins (but still clean and comfy). So we had our dinner also at the train, there was a small "cafeteria" that serves meals. The food was oily and tastes weird...but oh well, we'll wait till we get to Beijing to get some more decent food hehe That night in the cabin, we played a few rounds of card games, called the Heartattack It was so much fun! So Valle, having only played it for the first time, always lost, and Rain, who sat farthest to the table, also lost several rounds (imagine 8 of us squeezed in a small 4-person cabin while Eric stayed in his cabin comfortably and peacefully reading his book, as the rest of us almost wrestled ourselves to death) During this "violent" card game, some hands were brutally slapped, like that of Joyce's (thanks to Rain), and two of my precious cards was damaged (folded at the corner) I don't remember what time it was that we went to sleep...I think it was around 12:00 or so...after everyone got tired and the excitement gone down a bit
By 5:30am, my phone alarm rang, and I woke up to start preparing for the arrival of the train, that is an hour after. Yes, it took some time to get everyone in the cabin (4 per cabin) to wake up, especially Joyce and Lala...and well, my boots too, always hard to maneuver and get them on We woke up the others after we're done and then just sat there and waited for the train to arrive. Actually before that, we walked around a lot, and on our way, I saw some snow by the train cart connection area, informed Niki and he got really really excited haha he was like "SNOW! SNOW!!!!" and started scooping them up Despite the dirty snow, no words can describe his excitement xD We looked out the window and there was also snow, apparently there had been snowfall the night before we arrived in Beijing. So the train arrived promptly at around 6:40am, and we all felt the piercing cold, even while we're still inside the train. Uh oh....I wonder how cold it's gonna be outside? The moment I stepped out the train, the wind was so strong I couldn't even stand straight! It's not just the wind, the COLD, the real COLD was terrible....I was like "Oh man, I dont know how I can stand 3 days of this cold in Beijing." Oh well, we followed the crowd and got out the station (after some luggage delays, once again) and the weather was even worse! It was still dark outside, and the train station looked deserted...and I can't see where the cabs are lined up O_o Joyce and I walked around to look for the taxi stand, while the others huddled close and waited...we couldnt find any! Gladly, a guy approached us and asked if we wanted to rent a van, since there are 9 of us with so many suitcases...so Joyce and I went to check out his van and asked the others to follow. We got in the van after a while and it felt like heaven inside Not that it looks like a limousine or something, but its a lot less cold inside haha Then everyone was amazed when they saw that the driver is a woman She told me that it wasnt that cold the day before, like maybe around 5C...so we're just really unfortunate xD After 10-15 mins ride, we finally got to the hotel - Beijing Taiwan Hotel (I translated it myself ). It was the first time I'd been to this hotel, my dad booked the rooms for us. For the price it offered, the place was actually nice The rooms were clean and okay, with the exception of Valle's and Eric's room. Their's was a lot bigger than ours haha The location was good, it only takes us about 5 mins of walk to get to the WangFuJing pedestrian shopping street and commercial district, its also not very far from The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.
We moved in our warm and cozy rooms and some of us just fell asleep... We were all very tired, I suppose..hehe We havent made plans for the day, but we knew we had to start touring, so we dont waste the day. The bellboy told us that it would be nice to go to the Great Wall, before the snow melts away. I inquired at the reservation desk and the lady told me that we might have to rent a van since there are 9 of us, it would be a lot more convenient. The van however was expensive, costs 1000RMB per day. We had a voting whether to go that day, or the next day, and majority decided that we go the next day, so we opted to The Forbidden City instead The fun has just yet to begin hahaha Stay tuned for my next post
Thursday, October 9, 2008 6:13:51 PM
team building, island hopping, fun, Nanjing
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Okay, so I should have written about this a month ago I was just too lazy to put up those photos and talk about it But now, the photos are up, you can see them in my Opera albums (Cebu Trip ) Don't forget to comment if you see something really funny or weird or whatever
Anyway, last September 19-22 2008, my friends together with some committee members went to Cebu City, a beautiful city in central Philippines, to attend an economic convention hosted by the our organization (Young Economists' Convention). Well at first, it does seem that we're gonna be on a "business" trip but quickly, priorities shifted and touring and having fun became the core of the trip Of course, knowing us, we would never waste such an opportunity to make the most fun out of the very short period of time. Really, it was the first time my friends and I were on such a trip outside Manila for almost 4 days It was so much fun! Being with my friends on this trip, not my high school friends, but those from the university, was a whole new experience. They were truly a crazy bunch of people The good kind of crazy, of course My only regret was that I didn't bring along extra clothes on the third day when we went island hopping. I really didn't expect that my friends would go snorkeling in such a windy day, and I missed so much more fun, instead of just standing on the boat watching them have fun. Yes, the waves were high and while we stopped in a certain place to snorkel and swim, the boat (although big) was rocking nonstop...and the news had it that a typhoon was near I freaked out because I couldn't swim, if something happens, I'm doomed I'm glad that we were finally on our way back when the rain hit. I went downstairs and sat on the bench and was fast asleep, until we arrived back to the small port
With this trip, I believe that our friendship has further strengthened. I'd like to think of it as sort of a kind of team building, except that its for academic and not for corporate purposes Had I been in the water with them, this trip would have been even more memorable, although it is already unforgettable My next trip with my friends would be on this December and this time we're going international We're headed to Shanghai, perhaps Suzhou, Nanjing, Hangzhou, and then Beijing First, why the sudden urge to go on trips like this? Well, this one in December was supposed to be another economic conference, but since it is only offered in the curriculum for a certain economic elective course which I had not yet enrolled myself in, I can't join the conference. However, for the sake of my thirst to travel, and to help my friends (since I can speak Mandarin fluently), I decided to join them on this trip and be responsible for all documents, hotel reservations, ticket bookings, etc.
I'll probably put up another post about that trip when things are finalized I'm so excited! hahaha well, now I'm gonna go back to playing Travian a really nice online browser-based strategy game where you build your own village and by all means, keep it alive, which means to protect it from enemies' attacks and expand it Perhaps you all can try it out too www.travian.com (it has servers for different countries, if you do no like being in the international server) I play in the 3rd(Northwestern area) and 5th(Northeastern area) international servers see you there! If you need help, I can give you some very helpful sources,just send me a message
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 11:41:18 AM
Karlstad, Stockholm, Oslo, travel
Finally, we’ve arrived in Stockholm. We checked in the hotel at around 17:00 on the afternoon of May 22nd, 2008, after a very long journey from Oslo (Norway) to Karlstad (Sweden) then finally to Stockholm, the capital of Scandinavia! Well it sure is true, Stockholm is enormous, compared to Oslo and Copenhagen Not exactly THAT big, but its built up on 14 islands through bridges and tunnels and I must say it’s a really beautiful and busy city. I haven’t expected Stockholm to be quite so populated, as can be explained to where we came from before coming to Sweden – Denmark and Norway, both with populations under six million. The Danish cities, Copenhagen, Odense, and Aalborg were almost deserted. Could be partly due to the holiday that we happened to bump into when we got there, but still it’s a very quiet place, with little population and nice environment. Coming from a big busy city like Manila, I can’t help but feel at least a bit overwhelmed with the sheer amount of people here out on the streets, not to mention how early the stores close…most of them usually by around 17:00-18:00, when the sun isn’t even down yet. Then again, Denmark’s sunset doesn’t come until about 21:00 or later depending on the city
Anyway, continuing to Norway, when I was expecting at least a bit more people than Denmark, considering its huge span of land, but nope, I was totally wrong haha Our local guide told us that Norway only had about four million or so people, with its land at least several times greater than that of Denmark’s. She told us that the service sector in Denmark and Norway is very much in need of more workers. Yes, I think that was one of the more peculiar things I’d noticed about these countries. To most of the restaurants or stores and shops we’d been to since our first day of arrival, a common pattern is to have only about one to maximum of two employees in each store. It is rather funny you see, especially since I’m coming from a hugely populated area, Manila, where a little restaurant could have five or so waiters/waitresses standing by; some even assign one waiter for each table lol Oh and what was I talking about? Ah yes, Stockholm! Quoting our tour director, she said “Uh well, so I have to think how I’d be able to make you guys fall in love with Stockholm, as it would not be as easy as Norway. You see, Norway is like a hot sexy girl, its like you see it and bang you fall in love with it, but with Stockholm/ Sweden, its more like that of a girl next door, it does not create an immediate impact on you, and it will take some time for you to get to know more about it and then maybe fall in love with it.” I think what she said is indeed true. Norway, once you get into the place, you’ll see right away the beautiful fjords, high mountains, and extraordinary terrains that no other place in this world could provide you. With Sweden, its both a mix of low lying plains and small mountains, creating much more of a diversity. Then as you continue into Stockholm, it would be fine just to take it slow, get to know more about it, and then absorb all this exquisite city has to offer. I wasn’t disappointed with Stockholm. It’s a city bustling with life and so much diversity. The streets were crowded today when our bus had dropped us by the Stockholm Tourist Center in Hamngatan. It is right in the middle of the city and you can see groups of people everywhere, walking ever so fast going to wherever their final destination is. It is very much like Hong Kong, except that Stockholm is larger and has less population.
Now for some exciting “incidents” My parents and I decided that we have to go to the Central Station and scout out where exactly Årlanda Express is and where the tickets are sold. We thought it was going to be easy, but “Nej, nej!” as a Swede would say, meaning “No, no!” It was an exhausting one, we went under into the subway station, cued in the SL center (bus tickets office) and asked where Årlanda Express tickets are sold. The lady behind the counter was helpful enough and told me to go up the station and walk straight for about 400 meters. Hmm now that’s very definite, you know, we don’t usually get such exact directions when we were to ask someone from the Philippines. The most you can get is probably a “Walk straight, turn left, then turn right.” sort of directions It doesn’t help, I know hehe but that’s the way it is, people in the Philippines are as vague as the way they give out directions So, we followed what the lady told us and once we’d got up the station and back to the main street, we’re lost again haha We did walk about 400 meters then saw nothing and walked back to ask another lady, a subway ticket seller this time, and that’s when we finally got to the Årlanda Express office and station. Wow! It took us more than an hour to get there, considering that it wasn’t a very complicated route once we’d got there, but Stockholm is really big and sometimes the signs aren’t so clear.
Ah yes, we had lunch in this Japanese restaurant called Sushi & Wok. It was by far the best meal we’d had in these 14 days we’d been here in Scandinavia. Nothing feels better than food we are familiar with. We ordered three sets of Yakiniku and wow the serving was really huge haha Once thing I’d noticed different from the Philippines. Yum it was so delicious! For days, we’d been having half-cooked rice (not sure if it is half-cooked or intentionally done that way) and finally, we get to have something so nice, I’m sure you could imagine how that would have felt Then we got to chat a little with two waitresses working there, one of whom is a Chinese student and another, an immigrant Vietnamese-Chinese We asked them about the life and climate here, and you know the usual stuffs, it was good. It was after the lunch that we’d set out in search for the Årlanda Express station. Well you’d probably be wondering what Årlanda Express is, it’s an airport express train that of course takes you directly to the airport in just 20-mins travel time, which is half the travel time with a taxi or a bus. On our way, we passed Stockholm’s largest department store Åhlens, hurrying through the stalls as we scurry to get back to the hotel Two most exciting things happened in Åhlens and after we got back to the hotel. This post is way too long for that, so I’ll put on the continuation with another one coming up soon hehe The fun has yet to come, I guarantee But as this post would appear on my page after the continuation, make sure to read this first before moving on to the latest one or you wouldn’t have the slightest idea as to what I’m talking about so, I’ll call this a post and stop here hehe bye!
Monday, April 28, 2008 11:23:00 AM
Boracay Regency, Boracay, travel
Well, I'm going to be posting two posts simutaneously today, for both yesterday and today's events
Yesterday, after so much anticipation,we were finally able to board the aircraft. What can I say? It was the liveliest,best flight I'd ever had on my entire flying "career" Although for some reason, the plane was fully-booked,just to add the our late check-in due to waiting for another of my friend's arrival, only the last two rows of the plane are vacant, we took the liberty to make ourselves feel at home I have noticed that no one else in the plane talked and laughed as loud as we had (glad we're not sitting on the first row)
The flight lasted only for an hour, then we'd landed on the Kalibo airport, where we switched to a two-hour bus ride along the scenic, rocky roads of the city to Caticlan, where we waited for the boat to come and take us to Boracay. By 18:00 that day, it started raining so hard. We were all soaked as only I brought an umbrella , no one had expected a rainy day on mid summer. The boat ride took about ten minutes to reach the Boracay boat station, then we were quickly transfered into a mini van(provided by the hotel we were staying in)
and after another fifteen minutes, finally arrived at the hotel!
It was a long journey. By the time we had checked-in our rooms and taken care of the luggage, we were all tired and sleepy. Well, the hotel room is nice and cozy. The only prolem was that we were not provided with free internet service. We had to buy internet cards from the front desk in order to access the internet. Anyway, we had a nice dinner at around 20:00 by the hotel's restaurant. Water was dripping everywhere, and the sand was wet then,the air was moist, not much wind. The place is also crowded, as is very much expected on a hot summer day
When we had finished our dinner and was sitting by the restaurant bar just relaxing and talking a bit, two American guys came in.This was their dialogue: The guy in black said to the waiters: "Hey! do you have..." (some drinks) waiter: "yes, sir.we have it." guy:"ok, we'll have two, how much is it?" waiter: "that's 150 pesos each, sir" guy:"ok...hey are there any places here where we can find some fine ladies?" waiter: "yes, sir, there are a lot of bars here just around the corner." guy: "oh! we'd drank in all the bars here." guy(black) to guy(other): "hey wanna go somewhere else? all you gotta do is bring home a lady each night from each bar..." and so on so forth My friends were all staring at me in awe, they were like " did you just hear what they said? yuck! perverts!" Yes, most westerners who came here are after for nothing else but girls and moreover, sex...haha
We went to walk by the beach afterwards, since we're so full. We got back to our rooms, watched tv, talked and laughed around. Then since I'm such an internet addict, I can't be without it for even a day So my friend and I went to a nearby internet cafe and stayed there for a while then got back Then it's sleeping time! (it was already 1:00 when I went to sleep)
Wednesday, December 27, 2006 2:02:33 PM
culture, photography, friends, abroad
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Like my daily routine, I woke up early in the morning and start out planning what I want to do for the day. I could still hear the booms and bangs of firecrackers outside the window. Seems to me that the people still cant get enough with Christmas and that they wanted it to last longer. I myself wished Christmas to stay longer and to enjoy this once-a-year opportunity to completely loosen myself up.
Today, I spent a few hours again reviewing and practicing the song River Flows in You by Yiruma, which I had started learning just a week ago. I like the song so much that I still realize myself caught in the middle of the beautiful melody no matter how many times I play it. This song could very clearly express my feelings and emotions. I just like it so much.
Just a while ago, I managed to finish reading a book titled "Pardon My French" by Cathy Hapka. This book is one of the many books in the SASS (Students Across The Seven Seas) Series. This series of books is all about high school students, American girls particularly, who were forced by their parents to study abroad, somewhere in Europe. Most of which had no interest in starting a new challenging 3-month life abroad, but just stick to their current stable and boring life. They arrived at their destinations whining and complaining, with stereotypical ideas planted to them by their friends about their destinations. To much of their surprise, all of them ended up loving the place and changing into a totally new person. They learned a lot through the course of 3 months stay abroad and returned to America with a new way of looking at things and new plans for their future.
When I read through the book, I was thinking, "Lucky you! I'd have rejoiced and become too excited to sleep if I were you, instead of complaining and trying to think of some lame excuses to spare me from being sent abroad." I was wondering if I would feel the same when I get the chance to study abroad, in a place where the people and culture is completely different from mine. Surely, I'd be able to blend in fast and find myself some new friends and make the most out of my stay there. I thought going abroad is such a fascinating idea coz I'm sick of being stuck in this boring place. I'm sick of the life I have now, even it's a life that many people would kill for. I guess destiny always plays a joke on me. I always get the things I don't want. I know that I'm being too picky with life, but sometimes I just can't help but to want to aim for something higher. I think that's what makes my life challenging. Hopefully, by next year, my parents would agree with me on letting me study abroad for a year. After all, that's all what I've ever hoped for and that is also what I've been preparing for myself back when I was still in high school. Why did I have to study so hard now and barely having been able to spend some quality time with my family and friends? It's all because of this dream I have in mind.
I guess I'm the adventurous kind of person,who cannot settle in a place for long, but will have to eventually go somewhere else to satisfy my curiosity. I'm thrilled at the idea of going travelling around the world, studying, exploring, and meeting new people. I would love to see myself in photographs posing beside famous architectures, sculptures, and historical spots. That way, I would always have something nice to reminisce when I grow old and get bored of life. That is one reason why I so love photography. It's because I could capture stolen moments in everything happening around me, whether they are coincidental or not. Every picture is different in its own way, even if it involves the same subject and composition.
*SIGH* Get back to reality...haha Sometimes I spend a bit of my time thinking and dreaming of what my future would be, about what I wanted to happen, which of course, I will make happen. I will end this post here. Sorry if it had to be so long and wordy...I just can't help it
My Opera
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