Indonesia, so far

Apa kabar, bitches!

I'm nearing my fourth month here in Jakarta, and what a ride it has been. I'm primarily talking about my work, perhaps the most intense job I've ever held. But that's as far as I can tell you about work-related stuff. This blog and work just don't mix.

So let's talk about the glitter I've been spreading in this side of the world, shall we? Which is not saying much actually given how terribly hectic work has been.

I've managed to squeeze in a couple of short holidays though. Once in Gili Trawangan (an island off Lombok) last May, and then recently I visited Yogyakarta and Borobudur in Central Java.

In a country of over seventeen thousand islands, one never runs out of places to visit... so I'm taking it one island at at a time (if I have the bloody time!).

Anyway, here are the two obligatory post-holiday videos of my holidays.

Video Queen

Oh well, I'm now back in Bangkok after a long holiday in Las Islas Filipinas.

I should really make my next visit shorter. I love visiting my family and friends, but not having my own space and getting out of my routine (whatever that is) is a bit exhausting.

For instance, cos I spent two or three nights in Manila and Cebu I was moving around a lot (my gratitude to my kind and welcoming hosts!). And then when I reached Surigao my clothes were just piled in my suitcase. I also missed eating my share of fruits daily, which Surigao sorely lacks (or maybe I just didn't bother searching for them).

This is so typical of me after I go home. I whine and whine like it's nobody's business.

Maybe I should shut up already. LOL.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my visit very much. I was particularly happy to have met my family after seeing them last in 2011. And then I also spent a lot of time with my cousins and the few friends who have stayed in Surigao.

To prove that I had a good time at home, I compiled some video clips of my trip. I was inspired by my cousin's video of her summer holiday in the Philippines. So right from the onset of my trip I was already taking five-second clips of my journey.

I was daunted by the editing because it was my first time to do so. Thank god for iMovie I managed to pull it off through a slow trial-and-error process.

So, amigas, here is the final product.

Phnom Penh Visit

I've just came back to yet another trip to Cambodia. I recently started working again in my old office, so I had to process my work visa in Phnom Penh (I still don't understand why it has to be done abroad).

So on short notice, Fuchsiaboy kindly hosted me for a week in Phnom Penh.

I never actually explored the city as much as I wanted to when I visited PP last March. This time I attempted to discover the city a bit more.

I joined a guided tour of 1960's modern architecture in PP, which included stops at the Institute of Foreign Languages and the Olympic Stadium. Lately I've been interested in tropical architecture and the tour offered me a glimpse of how architects - or Vann Molyvann in the case of the buildings we visited - incorporate cooling systems in buildings.

 I would've wanted to see colonial architecture in PP as well; unfortunately, there were no such tours during my visit. I did a bit of exploration around the Royal Palace instead. I saw the UNESCO Building and the Mansion, the latter having been brought by the Foreign Correspondents' Club of PP.

The rest of the time I was mostly hanging out with Fuchsiaboy and his fierce gang. We went to the pool one time and then we had several dinners hosted by various Pinoys in PP.

Kembot in Cambodia

I recently came back from a ten-day holiday in Cambodia with some very dear friends. God knows I need a brief break from being unemployed, no? Really, I'm tired of being so utterly useless, so it's nice to take my mind off the mounting sense of helplessness I have been feeling the past few months.

The first stop was Siem Reap, my third time in the popular tourist destination. There I met L, G, and J, who flew in from Ilo-ilo. It was G and J's first time to visit Siem Reap, therefore, a temple run was in order. The thrill of seeing the Angkor Wat complex never ceases despite repeated viewings.

We then traveled to Phnom Penh where we met FuchsiaBoy and R. The Ilonggo mafia only got bigger, di bala? (Fortunately, I understand Ilonggo!)

It's always exciting for me to visit a city for the first time. I didn't read beforehand on its must-sees, confident that FuchsiaBoy would show us around. Indeed, he brought us to some great restaurants in the city.

As for sight-seeing, I was gobsmacked by the scale of the Central Market. I especially love its grand curves and sharp angles.

For a bit of history, we paid a visit to the Choeung Ek Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Prison. Both places left lasting traumas to Khmer society no thanks to the horrific rule of the Khmer Rouge. There was a heavy energy in these sites, of course; but still they are worth a visit.

The pack then went to Koh Rong, an island off the coast of Sihanoukville.

I've seen quite a few beaches in my life but nothing is as stunning as Koh Rong. From our guest house, we had to trek through a hill (or what felt like a mountain to me) for an hour. All my exhaustion went away when I first laid eyes on the clear blue water of Long Beach. Its sand was perfectly powdery white, almost blinding in the midday sun.

Long Beach has yet to see its share of infrastructure for tourists, and I hope it stays that way. It was simply kilometers of empty beach. Perfection, isn't it?

We lay on the grass, under the shade of a pine tree and did nothing but soak in the serenity of the beach. We also swam in the warm water, blissfully rocked by the gentle waves. Watching the sun set was the perfect ending to our day.

The following day we hired a boat to take us snorkelling and fishing, both of which did not go very well. I mean, fishing for bayots? I don't think so.

We ended up going back Long Beach to do more lounging on the beach and swimming. We simply couldn't get enough of the place.

On the side of the island where the accommodations are located, we stayed in huts just a few steps from the beach. Electricity was cut off at midnight. We were lulled by the sound of the waves lapping on the shore. And then we woke up to the cool sea breeze.

Here's hoping that Koh Rong is left undisturbed for years to come.

Guysh, guysh, thanks for the lovely time in Cambodia. Special thanks to L and R for making the trip possible. I had a blast and will treasure the memories from that trip. Until the next reunion...

Heidiland

So the Christmas break is almost over. We will go back to school on Monday and I'm still going crazy over trying to finish a couple of papers due next week. Well, obviously someone has not been putting his break to good use, instead it was mostly spent on hedonistic pursuits.

The biggest thing I did over the break was visit Heidiland... and I don't know how to start writing about it because it was such a massive trip for me. First, I should thank Heidi la Seoul for making the trip possible. He was already talking about inviting me to Heidiland when we last saw each other in BKK last year but I was not even sure if I would be granted a visa or if I could afford the trip. So it was surreal when in mid-December I stepped off the airport in Basel and the gorgeous Hye Kim Park in his 22-inch waistline was there to meet me.

Oh, let me get this out of the way before I proceed. I finally saw... SNOW, bitches. Yes, the thing that drives us people from the tropics wild. Did I go wild? I sure did. It was snow all over the place. Everything was just blanketed in white, cold, crisp snow; I wonder how many cups of halo-halo and mais con hielo we could make out of them, no?

Hye Kim Park then showed me around Basel and climbed to the top the spire of one cathedral. Oh stunning views! It was certainly the fastest way to see Basel because we had such limited time. And then we took the train to Bern, the capital. Every building was green there. Color-coordination, a dream place for anyone with OCD. We finally met Heidi la Seoul and we greeted each other with the loudest kathoey shriek we could muster.

In the next few days we drove a bit around Heidiland. I don't how to give justice to the scenery, especially the towering mountains that kept on taking my breath away. They all looked so postcard perfect, I could stare at them for hours. We also visited the lakeside cities of Neuchatel and Lucerne, and then Zurich. It was a pleasure walking down the narrow alleys of these cities that often lead to a square, always with a fountain as its centerpiece.  I'm just also completely amazed by how each city always has the most awe-inspiring views, mainly consisting of grand, old buildings facing a river or a lake and with the mountains in the backdrop. Divine, divine, divine!!! I just don't have the words to describe them.

Letting Go

In preparation for my next big leap into the unknown, I've been slowly getting rid of the stuff I've accumulated during my stay here in Bangkok. I'm far from being a hoarder, but clearly my stuff just keeps on piling up nonetheless.

I still can't believe I've amassed so much shit over those years, considering I regularly threw away clothes, bags, and shoes I hardly used. I also gave some of my books away whenever I went home to Las Islas Filipinas.

Out of necessity this time, I had to be more thorough in paring everything down to the most necessary things. Or to be more precise, making sure all my possessions would fit in just one large suitcase.

Surprisingly, it's not hard to let go of my clothes and shoes. I just couldn't be bothered losing some of them. I realized I hardly wear sixty percent of my clothes anyway. Either they're way too small, too big, or have bad quality (which was mostly the case). I'm just happy to get rid of them.

There are pants for instance I haven't worn for years. I just hung them inside the closet hoping that (1) I'd wear them someday or (2) I'd lose weight. Both never happened, especially number 2, but that's another blog post.

I gave perhaps fifty percent of my unwanted clothes to some friends and colleagues, while the rest of the clothes had to be thrown away because they're not meant to be worn anyway, say, a polyester shirt (why did I buy that in the first place?).

The hardest to give away are my books. Obviously, they are of no practical use after I read them, but I collect them anyway. I like how they look. I take pride in my carefully arranged book shelf. And whenever I see one book for instance it stirs up thoughts about its contents and memories of where and when I read them.

Every time I give away a book I feel like I'm saying good bye to one of my babies (not that I actually know how it's like to be a mother, but who cares; I'm a drama queen after all). I try to match the person's interest with the book I give them so that they can be good "foster parents".

The things I'm not letting go are my travel mementos. They are by no means expensive keepsakes. Most of them are cheap cliches bought at the airport souvenir shop or some tourist market. But most likely I'd never go back to the places where I bought them, so they are irreplaceable. And of course it's the memories that count.

I have a clique of dolls from Yunnan, Hanoi, Yangon, and Seoul... they're snooty little bitches in ornate costumes and heavy make up. I have masks from Singapore and Sri Lanka watching over me while I sleep. I have cheap paintings from Kolkata, Chiang Mai, and Yangon huddled together above my bed. A quilt from Jakarta, scarves from Laos and Siem Reap, pottery from Ban Chiang, an umbrella from Yangon, etc. Gosh, there are just lots of them lying around my bedroom.

The challenge is to fit them in one suitcase, which I will banish into the darkness of the office's storeroom for the time being. I hope by the time I come back to pick them up they haven't turned to dust yet.

There's something cathartic about throwing some of my stuff away. It's a way to release things that I shouldn't own anyway. The questions I keep on asking my self are: do I really NEED any of them? do they have any practical use? can they be replaced? It turns out, I can get rid of probably eighty percent of what little possessions I have.

A Trip to Lampang

I just came back from a ten-day official trip to Lampang Province in Northern Thailand. Our office brought a team of archaeologists, historians, and the like there to an excavation in a rock art site, and basically I just hung around.

Not exactly a pleasant experience being in the mountains as I'm not an outdoor person. Ugh, the mosquitoes feasted on me, I probably need a blood transfusion now.

Anyway, aside from complaining incessantly (which must've driven my colleagues nuts), I also had the chance to visit a village, talk to a few people there, and checked out Lampang's old houses and temples.

Here are some photos... I experimented with black and white in this trip.

The Waves of Hikkaduwa

We arrived in Hikkaduwa, on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, at nearly midnight after a 16-hour drive. We were quite pleased with our hotel because it was right on the beach, the sound of the waves practically lulling us to sleep.

The next day we of course put on our swimming shorts, lathered a thick layer of sunblock on our faces, and headed to the beach. Gosh, the golden sand is immaculate! The beach front is quite wide and long... it is just endless sand, sand, sand. Hikkaduwa is a famous surfing beach, so it was waves galore too.

We played in the waves, which were strong, along with the current. I can swim quite well but I was still not comfortable in the waves. If you don't watch out they can in fact send you screaming for your life like you're inside the washing machine, which happened to Ms C and me several times. It was fun but exhausting (and dangerous).

So we lounged on the beach, under the shade, and drank beer. We watched several surfers riding on the waves. No, we were not brave enough to get a surfing lesson.

As it is a surfer's destination, I expected Hikkaduwa to be filled with surfers who go on endless drinking binges and parties. But it was pretty quiet there, and far from being overwhelmingly crowded. The atmosphere was just right for relaxation, in fact.

In the afternoon, while in an internet cafe, the manager of the place told us there had been a tsunami warning after a strong quake hit Sumatra. In two minutes the cafe was emptied of its patrons, who were all tourists.

Ms C and I waited another ten minutes because we had still to update our Facebook profiles and tweet about our wonderful vacation. What can be more important, aber? Tsunami what?

The manager had to shoo us away from the cafe, urging us to go back to the hotel and wait for evacuation instructions from the hotel staff.

On our way to our room the other hotel guests were rushing out, lugging heavy backpacks, and hailing tuk-tuks left and right. We were still undecided on what to do. We felt it was too soon to evacuate (we were told we would have two hours to flee once a tsunami has been confirmed).

We took precautions eventually when we realized everyone had left!

We quickly packed our bags and hopped on a tuk-tuk. The driver took us to a hilltop Buddhist temple, about two kilometers inland. Surprisingly, the temple grounds were practically empty. I don't know where the other tourists went...

We tried to get in contact with the travel guide (who was already back in Colombo) but the SIM card we bought did not work. A Sri Lankan family that was also taking refuge in the temple helped us call our travel guide, who then kept us abreast of the tsunami warming.

About four hours of waiting on the temple grounds, our kind travel guide told us that it was safe to go back to the hotel.

The next day, we went to the fort of Galle, half an hour by bus from Hikkaduwa. The old town of Galle (pronounced like gall in gall bladder) was put on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1988.

The Portuguese founded it in the 16th century, and then in 1640 it fell into the hands of the Dutch, who eventually handed it over to the British in 1729.

We walked on the fort walls, enjoying the sea views together with joggers and other tourists. There was a lighthouse and a tall clock tower, and several bastions. Venturing into the streets, we stumbled into a couple of Christian churches, a mosque, government buildings, and some old mansions and museums.

It's easy to get lost in its streets and gawk at the old houses. There are lots of hotels and jewelry shops within the town walls, but the overall feel of the place is just old-world charm (as opposed to blatant commercialization).

We had to drive four hours the next day to reach Negombo. As our flights were in the morning, we needed some place near the airport, so to Negombo we went. We had a few hours on Negombo's beach, enjoying our last Sri Lankan curry and rice, and watching the sunset. We bought some souvenirs in the evening.

Seven days in Sri Lanka is very short to see the amazing country. Nonetheless, we experienced its heritage sites, old towns, tea plantations, and beaches in such a short time.

There's really more reasons for me to go back there, particularly visit more of their old capitals and kingdoms as well as enjoy the beaches in the east, which I heard are much better than the ones in the south.

Oh, if there's one reason to go back to Sri Lanka, it's really to experience again the people's hospitality and warmth.

It's funny that several times Ms C and I were mistaken for a Japanese couple. When they learned we are Filipinos, some of them would say "kumusta?" or "salamat" or "pare". These are the guys who have worked with Filipinos in the Middle East, who have somehow picked up a Tagalog word here and there.

In a lot of ways, Sri Lankans are like Filipinos. Like us they are generous with their smiles, they are curious and they like to talk, and they have a good sense of humor. Maybe that's why it was easy to feel at home there.