familiar sights

the rain miraculously stopped when we stepped out of the airport so we stuck w/ our itinerary. mom simply had to follow my plans. i was her official tour guide to practically everything even though landing in HK's my first as well.

we reached our hotel at lunch time. we went out immediately & looked for a nearby mcdonalds restaurant to make use of the HKD10 mcdo coupons the travel agency gave for free. surprisingly, mcdo meals in HK costs more or less HKD20 so it sure wasn't enough. excitement exceeded our hunger so we just shared a burger meal and sped off.

the spicy grilled chicken burger only in HK mcdo combo'd with an american sized large fries

there's a watsons store just around the corner (practically found everywhere in the city)

next agenda was to get a few more american dollars exchanged. we rode the subway, called MTR in HK, just across watsons to tsim tsam tsui (TST for short). jealous that their subway's way too neat & safe! too safe that no single urban police is around & no guards to check on your bags. there are stores strewn side by side w/c one will pass by as soon as alighting the train. all stations have 7-11 & varied bakeshops which one of 'em is mrs. fields, okashi land & more. the train's 3x faster than our MRT. the doors have this route map which signals to everyone the train's destinations & stops. subway tickets are bought electronically (if you're not an octopus card holder). for octopus card holders, the card just needs to be waived at the terminals' card reader prior to descending to the train. we reloaded our cards once only, HKD50 minimum reload amount.

next stop, disneyland. we already have the HK money to pay at the entrance. HKD285 per person on weekdays, HKD350 on weekends. going to disneyland was actually routing back to where we'd been, at the airport. both are located at the lantau island, islands apart from the city. it took us 3 MTR transfers to get to the disney train from the sunny bay MTR station. ride was 1 1/2 hrs approx.

here we are waiting for the train to disney; did a close up afterwards curious 'bout those students seated next to mom

funny pic of mom inside the train; me at the sunny bay station waiting for the disney train

inside the disney train

next post, disneyland!

on our way to hong kong!

2 weeks before our flight to HK, i purchased from cebu pacific a trip package composed of hotel accommodation, free daily breakfast & transfers to & from the airport. it took me awhile to decide whether to travel HK "DIY" style (do-it-yourself) or via a tour guide. well, i didn't really need anyone to tour us. after several readings in local forums, best experiences come along when you are discovering HK alone. i just thought that the bus transfers was essential considering the heavy baggages we brought along.

anyway, 2 days before our flight, we shopped for groceries. i read in one forum that mineral water in HK was expensive so i bought 2 liters which i eventually left at home fearing it would burst inside my luggage & drench everything inside. by the end of the day, i finalized our itinerary in HK & activated roaming in our cellphones.

on sunday night, myself & rye brought our daughter to their house in retiro so she'll be in good hands while myself & my mom were away. i gave her yaya an extended day off, in other words, i didn't trust her alone w/ my only daughter. back home, we continued packing & slept after midnight. having had only 2 hours sleep, we woke up at 4am & bid our farewells at 5am. the family driver brought us to the airport & right on time. inside the airport, we paid for the taxes & fees, lined up for baggage & immigration checks. at past 6am, we had breakfast & coffee inside the airport.

coffee inside NAIA

we started to wait with the rest of the cebu pacific passengers at the terminal past 7am. we boarded the plane 30 mins after. it was mom's first time & she was jittery but yet gave the brightest smile for the photo below.

aboard cebu pacific

we landed in the HKIA after 2 hours. rain was pouring at the island where the airport of HK is & unfortunately where disneyland is also located. disneyland was at the top of our itinerary. we might've had to change our plans.

back to the HK airport, we had a few USD exchanged to HKD, took our luggage, then to immigration. i bought ourselves an 'octopus card' for all the road travelling we'll need. the octopus card is very flexible. it can be used on buses, trains, trams, 7-11 & several other restaurants. cool ha! it's reloadable as well & expires in 3 years.

here's where we got our octopus card

here's a picture of mom waiting for the travel agency to fetch us from the airport

during our bus ride from the aiport to the hotel

travel from airport to our hotel in kowloon took us for about an hour of sight seeing through the huge window frames of the bus windows.

i booked for the mayfair garden hotel at jordan. i wouldn't recommend this hotel if it weren't for the very close proximity to the subway from there. to enumerate, i had a hard time conversing with the front desk officers in english; i had to pay HKD300 as a 'secured payment' just in case we turn on the TV, or use the phone for local or international outgoing calls or get any item from their mini-fridge; internet at the lobby charges per minute; they charge a minimum of HKD50 for breakfast per guest (almost P300); the concierge could only offer assistance by opening the doors!; no one helped guests in bringing luggage to their rooms; no one checked us during our entire stay; the janitors do not understand a single english word; the room & bathroom is small; the aircon temperature is so cold we always had to turn it off; we booked for a smoking room but there wasn't a single exhaust inside the room nor in the bathroom to extinguish the smoke so the room would still smell overnight from 1 lit cigarette.

we had our room by the window though so that was something and the hotel is only 2 mins away from the subway! that was the coolest part.

our room

it wasn't important anyway...to have reserved a better hotel. we only used to the room to sleep, shower & stow our things. and to say it again, 2 mins away from the subway! what else could a tourist ask for! there are 2 7-11 stores in the vicinity, bakeshops & noodle houses so it was awesome nevertheless.

surviving it all

nicole

on her 3rd year she developed muscle cancer at her right thigh. her hospital at PCMC almost became her home. she had to undergo chemotherapy, hence, all her hair fell off, stamina lost. on & off her treatment, the whole family brings her to tagaytay. there's a small monastery there, often visited by those families who bring a sick relative for prayer & healing. we brought nicole there hundreds of time, praying for a miracle to happen.

a miracle did happen. nicole got healed. that took her a year to recover, to grow all her hair back, to return to good health.

on the night of nicole's 6th birthday, her father benjo went to the 'select' store which was just a few minute walk from their home. in a few hours, a rumble came about involving my 'bayaw', 2 of his other friends & some bystanders. i was just departing a fraternity anniversary that night when i received a text message from my sister anna. she informed me that kuya benjo got stabbed & that we got to hurry & check on the kids so she can go to him at the hospital. that was around 3 to 4am in the morning past nick's birthday last january 21st. we came to their house at don antonio, w/o a smell of panic, anna took some clothes & sheets for kuya benjo then left. ryan drove her to the hospital & myself & a sorority sister were left to make sure their 2 kids were safe sleeping alone in their home. after an hour, i got a call from ryan & said, w/c i distinctly remembered him saying, 'genna, wag kang mabibigla, patay na si benjo' - "genna, don't get shocked, benjo just died". i couldn't say anything to him so i just dropped the phone, looked at my sleeping nieces & cried. that was already almost 6am in the morning of january 22nd. i went out, kids still asleep, looked for his relatives (they live in a compound). i couldn't find anyone for awhile until his grandfather walked out to the garage so i told him immediately what happened. he was shocked as well. kuya's parents were already at the hospital so he got no one else to send the news to but simply sat & moaned. i went inside again & called my parents. a few hours later when the sun rose, my parents picked us up & we all went to the hospital. cause of death, kuya benjo got stabbed in the abdomen causing pints & pints of blood to ooze out of his body & particularly due to the resident doctors' neglicence. no one, for hours, could attend to him. when we came, his body was already covered in white sheet from head to toe. my sister anna & kuya benjo's mom couldn't contain their sorrow. everybody was mourning.

nicole has been fatherless since.

a year ago, nicole suffered a stroke. numbed her right body for a while & recovered in weeks. her heart was detected to be enlarged so she was prescribed medicines to sustain the abnormality, & of what that can do to her fragile little body. months passed, meds still in place, she suffered another stroke. this happend this year, a few days after her birthday, yet again. at first there was no panic since she recovered quick & checked out the hospital after just a few days. on her first day home, she lied down her bed & slept. after awhile we heard her loud cry for help. she wet the bed, couldn't move & open her eyes. it was her 3rd major stroke. she couldn't move the full left side of her body including her eyelid & limbs. we rushed her to the hospital while everybody including her were painfully crying. her veins developed several blood clots cutting off the oxygen supply from travelling normally in cycles to her brain & heart. she was confined for several weeks at the intensive care unit.

more than a month later, she went home healed in a wheelchair w/ therapies scheduled every other day of the week. she started to walk months earlier but we still had to bring the wheelchair every time we go out on anticipated long walks at the mall. it's crucial that her body's always well-rested. ate anna even enrolled her at a school nearby where our cousin studies. she looked so excited on her first day! after a few weeks she got exhausted she had to stop schooling again.

she recently checked out the hospital. not due to her disability but due to a minor accident they, with her mom, a friend and trish, encountered just a few blocks away from home. they were avoiding a cab as they entered our subdivision & one wheel plunged in a very huge hole in the cemented street powerfully jolting everyone inside the SUV. nicole's right face hit the back of the front passenger seat. she cried instantly. my sister & the rest had minor concussions. ate anna & trish walked the few blocks to get home & left nick & her friend at the car to get some help. i drove our SUV & took nicole to the hospital. by the time we got there, the surroundings of her right eye started to blacken & swell. the doctor, by phone, advised confinement due to the complications the bruise my cause w/ the medicines she's taking to clot/unclot the blood in her body. she checked out after 4 days, gladly recovered for the nth time. the inside of her right eye still displaying a huge smear of blood clot but the swelling & darkened skin are gone.

how much more can this fragile little girl endure in her life? how many more pain staking, life threatening events does she have to recover from?

prayers...just a lot of prayers for our baby nick. whatever bad's still ahead, lemme catch 'em. i will willfully take 'em.

ending july

continuation...

july 22

day out w/ dada & rayne. we went to sm fairview, ate at the conggo grill at the 2nd floor & ordered steak & baked mussels. our daughter, as usual, couldn't sit straight for half an hour so we had to take turns looking after her. at her age, she can eat anything we eat so choosing a restaurant or food chain has been easy unlike before when we always had to choose ones who has mashed potatoes, fries or noodles in their menu. i took some photos while we wait for our orders.

complete fam'ly picture

after lunch we headed to the ace hardware to get rayne's bathroom rubber mats. she slipped in that bathroom floor before while i was bathing her. she suddenly disliked taking a bath in her inflatable 'duck' bath tub. she wouldn't sit & if forced, will make her cry non-stop. anyhow, after we got the mats, we strolled a bit in the mall, got starbucks & donuts from go-nuts then drove home. back home, we had a dvd marathon. ryan bought several movies which we watched together that day. we watched 'three', 'vacancy' & 'the prestige' 'til the wee hours of the morning.

july 28

brought my nieces to the trinoma mall for early dinner & shopping! i brought along my darling daughter ofcourse plus mom & sister. we ate at chef de angelo at the small food court located inside the mall. i was craving for their tuna pesto but unfortunately they don't have it on their menu at that branch. after meals i brought my daughter to the play library at the 3rd floor. mom looked after her while my sister & niece nicole shopped at the toys 'r us. myself & trish went to another store to shop for her toy gadget & ended up buying an electronic scheduler/calendar w/ phone set. we went back to rayne after an hour. nicole wanted to play as well so we stayed & strolled the mall for another hour.

rayne's kakulitan shots:

july 31

i felt extreme body pain during the night i didn't go to work this day. i had mild fever & could barely get out of bet so i filed a sick leave. ryan brought me 2 slices of different cakes from mocha blends after work. we watched an anime/manga series which he discovered from a workmate. titled 'death note', apparently popular, so out of curiosity, i watched it with him as well. it's a story of a 'shinagami', japanese for 'death god', who accidentally dropped his notebook, called a 'death note', on earth. it's ownership landed in the hands of a student who eventually used its powers to 'kill' all criminals by writing their names in the notebook, to make the world a 'better place' to live in. creppy huh?

ryan mentioned there was a film about it which we are yet to know where to find. i browsed the internet & apparently there's already a part 2!

harry potter & the perfect lunch

just to catch up on my whereabouts last month:

july 14

finally, ryan took me to the mall of asia. my first moa experience was when the office had a team building. we went ice skating & watched a cartoon at IMAX. this is actually ryan's first. our plan was to have late lunch & watch harry potter's order of the phoenix. the IMAX theater seats were sold-out so we settled with normal seats. we ate at the fish & co. which was superb by the way! i'd recommend it to everyone. it's at the outside corner of one one the buildings near the theater mall. here are some pics while we relished on our 'so-gooooood' meals.

it's a little expensive though, P500+ per plate/order, but i assure no regrets!

then ofcourse the movie...w/c was not exactly as good as everybody expected. the theater seats we got was terrible we had to actually sit at the first row to get a perfect view of the movie!

july 19

rayne's new yaya from the agency wanted to leave so i reserved for another. they gave me an older yaya. she has been staying for almost a month now. filed a half-day at work to meet ryan at eastwood for dinner.

HK panic

mom's hounding me for the hongkong trip treat i promised her since last year. she failed the canada visa interview this year so to help alleviate her frustration, i made a promise to treat her abroad since she has never left the country, ever. she's studying again for a second interview w/c the canadian embassy has yet to schedule.

anyway, cebu pacific dropped prices on airfare so i reserved the lowest fare for september (august was sold-out). i paid via credit card via phone 2nd week of july. by end of july, i got so freakin' mad & felt so badly cheated by the airline. they dropped the airfare prices by 50% as an impromptu marketing strategy. i vented my frustration & anger to the agent i spoke to & eventually asked for a supervisor. it was so unfair for my part coz not only was it 50%, i paid for seats scheduled on very late flights just to get their 'supposed' lowest airfare rate! also, they were advertising in their website & their hotline IVR that customers book their flights early to avail of the lowest rates! eventually, through several debates & disputes & points given w/ the callcenter's team leader, i was suggested to what she said was her 'best' advise, to refund my previous payment, refund fee waived, then book again. downside is, credit card refunds take about 2 months or more so i have to wait til then.

anyhow, i have been browsing the net daily for any travel & shopping tips i can find. been looking for the best but cheapest hotel nearest the shopping districts in HK. i have yet to book for one, deciding whether i'll book through a travel agency who has a disneyland trip on the side. so wish me luck!

reserving was easy, despite my very busy schedule at work. i was still in deep waters with my project last month, expected to please the users so i had to not only expedite but modify alot of the items i've already finished. inbetween, i had to train our techs from the UK on how to use the application, work w/ the application's vendor whose techs are from india, to troubleshoot some of the issues i was running into during the development.

i just went back to the supervisor chair last monday & all's been running smoothly still. gladly enough, i received compliments from my manager on my first day on how i handled, w/ my team ofcourse, a critical outage.

tylord's 3rd birthday bash

another month as a developer. i still had a few items left in my project timeline which i had to finish & polish. i was so proud of myself i exceeded my own expectations in this project that i have done stuff w/c initially appeared technically impossible! anyhow, the 'magic' application w/ all its new features was introduced to the users in the US & UK. gladly enough, almost 90% of the users accepted the new system. the rest were just jabbering about not being able to access it via their firefox or mac browsers. geesh. IE only folks!

july 4

independence day in the US. my manager told me i didn't have to go to work. teehee!!!

july 7

tylord's 3rd birthday celebration.

the celebration was in advance. tylord's birthday was on the next, the 8th. the venue was at the don antonio royale's clubhouse. the presentation was way too neat it appeared like a debutant's birthday bash or a wedding perhaps. the center of the room was where the cake, gifts, give aways were displayed. a huge tarpaulin hang at the north wall w/ tylord's graphically-enhanced picture sitting at the hood of a red ferrari. it was a ferrari birthday themed party. the rest of the walls were embellished with racing flags of varied colors & ofcourse balloons. the host was wearing a red ferrari jacket by which ofcourse the handsome birthday celebrant's attire was as well.

family picture

the event kicked off w/ a crayola coloring contest while the host waited for all the guests to arrive. the line for the face painting was piling up as well. my daughter was so frightened at her turn. she thought she was about to get the needle, probably thinking it was one of her vaccination appointments w/ her pedia haha!

my sis alex came along. my best friend che & her 2 kids arrived an hour later. the room filled up entirely during the reception.

a magic show started after meals. i paid the clowns at my daughter's 1st birthday party to do magic tricks as well w/c when i saw this one at tylord's, proved only to charm babies (who don't even have a grasp of what they are doing). this magic show at tylor'd party deserved claps, 'ahhhhs' and 'wows' from its audience.

anyhow, after tylord blew his cake, sam announced as well that they were celebrating my brother's birthday. his birthday was on the 10th. we packed before 6pm. the party went on for the 'young' adults at the gilligan's bar inside the trinoma mall. alex & myself, followed hours later buying my kid first her new pair of purple crocs. my sister, her bf, my nieces & mom followed before 10pm. we stayed for an hour only coz my brother's & sam's friends had started piling up & we could no longer fit the very long table.

july 8

the prince's actual birth date. sam brought tylord to our house that sunday. ian invited everyone out for dinner & malling at the trinoma. dad asked to be left home to guard the house, as usual. ate anna, aj & my nieces were already at trinoma shopping so we all met inside the mall. we had dinner at the 'chicken inasal' restaurant.

a few shots of bonding moments of my daughter & her cousing tylord. the last 2 pictures where shot when tylord was imitating rayne's blissful & playful shouts *:)

what? where was i last june?

i've been totally busy. workload came like pressure coz i was given, oh wait, i gave myself a timeline to accomplish my project.

project? u may ask. i thought i was a supervisor. yes i still am actually. for a month i did 'supervise', then i was assigned back to develop 'magic'. i was asked to integrate another ticketing system to our 'magic' so we didn't have to use both. simply put but terrifyingly complex & difficult. i had no help, i did the planning, the testing, the programming, developing, & implementation myself!!! that went on for 2 months! and it's finally over! i finished it, efficiently on time, and anyone who should grade me should give me 101%! anyway, lemme enumerate the inbetweens of my 'so-few' happenings this month.

june 8
my sister anna's bday. she turned 33 my gosh! and for those who doesn't know, we were born 3 years apart so that means i'm turning?? stop guessing.

i gave her a gift, for her diet, which seemed so expensive now, so i wasn't able to give her follow ups so she's still fat as a cow. haha! peace sis! love u!

june 9
rayne's flu shot schedule. expensive again. had lunch at the pancake house w/ rye & rayne then to her lola's for a visit.

june 10

was havin' problems w/ rayne's yaya so i had her replaced. i hired a neighbor who applied for the position. that didn't work out. rayne was afraid of her, cried everytime she gets anywhere near her. she was not capable of handling my fragile little baby for a few more days that i've observed her so i fired her eventually.

sorority sisters alex and preggy salie visited. i lent salie my electronic womb song and a few clothes to fit her bulging belly. my best friend sheila's pregnant as well! they are both expecting to give birth on the same dates! and these are 2 of my best friends! wow!

june 12

mom's bday! we didn't celebrate at home. she went to our grandma's to celebrate. there was school and office anyway.

months ago, the hospital where i gave birth to rayne called & advised me that i was expecting a few thousand pesos as refund from philhealth. i went to capitol this day and claimed the check. ryan fetched me from the hospital & we ran into a minor car accident as we were about to leave the vicinity. the car behind us hit us thrice. the driver was apologetic explaining that her car was having engine problems & was just about to send it for repair after she dropped her kid to school behind the hospital. our car didn't have any scratches anyway. the back bumper had an indentation from the main car's body which can be ignored. ryan settled for P500 & let it pass. i sent ryan home & brought the car to work.

june 15

night out with workmates. we went to the makati replublic after we clocked out at midnight, drank a few beers & cocktail then went home.

june 17

father's day! i bought dad cake from red ribbon and shopped at the grocery w/ mom & rayne.

june 27

i took a leave coz my baby was sick.

june 28

rayne was still havin' a flu so we decided to bring her to the doctor. she was just prescribed with the usual meds for her condition. we took her afterwards to her lola's since ryan was on a day off & i had to go to work.

june 29

night out with workmates. the original plan was to bring them to saguijo but the place was jump packed when we got there (we clock out at past midnight), everyone was outside. looked like an mtv event was held inside. so we checked jupiter st. instead, thought of settling for videoke but there were no rooms available. we drove a few blocks later and eventually landed at the strumms bar. good thing we came late, we were no longer charged with the entrance fee of P300.

june 30

rayne's still at her lola's so ryan took me out for a date at the eastwood mall. we watched transformers the movie which was superb by the way. we went to trinoma first hoping to experience the theaters there but the ticket lines for transformers were the longest we have ever seen so we transferred to eastwood hoping to get good seats after we had lunch at heaven & eggs. at the eastwood theaters, we did get reserved seats but we got the ones nearest to the screen. shocks! we enjoyed the movie anyway, then suffered stiff necks after hehehe.

i managed to hire a yaya from an agency this day as well. worth it? let's see.

an ayala mall in the heart of qc

june 3

i had work in the morning & clocked out by 7pm. mom, my daughter & the rest of my relatives invaded the new mall across sm west, trinoma. they messaged me non-stop since the afternoon to fetch them at the mall after work. it is surprisingly huge, in fact, i got lost driving within the area looking for the 2nd floor parking lot.

the facade of trinoma

the play area. an exact replica of glorietta mall's

one of the many parking lots

the core

i was already dead tired when i got there. my friend alex came along as well & met us there. i went looking for them at the top most floor where the arcades are & finally found my daughter strolling along the hallways passing through people, fortunately not getting hurt, like she doesn't give a care in the world. she didn't see me at first but ofcourse when she almost got near where i was standing, i immediately took her or else she'd get lost amongst the crowd at the arcade floor. shortly, we went downstairs to the playground where my daughter was so eager to entertain herself in. there were stuffed animal rides at the middle which was perfect fun for my child. my mom rode w/ her while my friend & myself caught up. we ate at the tokyo tokyo, my treat, for dinner & went home past 9pm.

june 5

due to being dead tired last saturday at my first trip to trinoma, i never really was able to get to anywhere except to where i met my folks & my kid, to the central playground, tokyo tokyo for dinner & to the parking lot. so i asked ryan to bring us there again last tuesday which was both our day off.

it was a whole lot different of a malling experience. i couldn't even compare the mall of asia to trionoma which is equally huge & most of the food chains & restaurants are outside as well, except ofcourse the lack of IMAX in the latter. you'd never find most of the stores in trinoma anywhere else. i honestly felt like i was strolling in an american-built mall (flashbacks when i was in dallas, texas).

we ate at the la maisa for beef/fish & pork steaks paired with a wonderful lemon cake. afterwards we had cold coffee frappes from the coffee bean & tea leaf.

oh, there's a toys r us in trinoma which i thought was amazing, however, most of what they sell are what you'll be able to find in the toy kingdom of sm w/ a few little things you can't...like the umbrella stroller which i was looking for in ages (in exaggeration eheh). ryan bought rayne her pink drumset while i got her the umbrella stroller.

baby was getting a little tired so we went home before nightfall.

rayne's riding a stuffed horse at the toys r us