Bangkok

I settled at Bangkok"s Kao San Road, a place famous for low cost guest houses. The trip from Singapore took 2 hours and 10 mins which is good news for my return flight later today. However I learned later that the departure is at 5:50pm (BKK time) then I will have to race again for the 10pm trip to KL since I am expected to reach Changi by 9:10pm.

It has been raining in Singapore, also raining in Bangkok, thus finding myself walking around MBK and trying to secure Narnie"s pasalubong. As expected, I did not get to see other views I would intend to see because of such short time and traveling can be a hassle with Bangkok"s traffic woes.

At least I had a very good sleep last night.

Onin is here to watch Thailand Open and I got a call from him asking if we could meet up. Hopefully we could.

En route to Bangkok

Logging in at Singapore"s Terminal 1 free Internet access port, it is about 20 minutes before boarding Air Asia flight to Bangkok. Lately I have been depressed and feel uneasy of my travel. I have met my college pals last night but was unable to meet Toto and Joel. Also I met Narnie, but not Girlie.

My phone calls never get answered by Elaine, whom I promised to meet here since 2001. Petch who is the one I am meeting in Bangkok does not answer her phone too. Hopefully I will have a great time during my short visit.

I am hoping to meet Johnson, my recently-wed PCCW ex-colleague and Nyoman, my ever friendly Indonesian pal, in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. But first I have to hurdle the gap between Changi Airport and Lavander MRT station where the bus is going to originate; I have an hour or less to do that.

It has been an adventurous trip so far even if I haven"t got halfway through it.

Three cities, five days, twenty friends, a hundred photos (I hope so) is gonna sum up this self-titled adventure called "Amazing Race".

Singapore

It has been my first priority to work here. After attempts to settle in Singapore have failed, I turned elsewhere and found some luck.

Now I am in Singapore to fulfil a promise and quench my thirst for traveling across different places. After a long day in the office today, I had finally settled to a cozy condo around Simei area whose occupant is a good friend back in Hong Kong, Benjie Asidillo.

I would like to meet my college pals Ana May, Toto, Butch, Joel, Joshua and Rendel. Former Hong Kong buddies Benjie, Tintin, Narnie, Girlie, Bong as well as my cousin April who just settled here, long time Singaporean pal Elaine, perhaps Jenny too, and Karen"s best friend Mayi.

I am scheduled to visit Petch in Thailand as well as Nyoman and newly-wed Johnson in Kuala Lumpur. With five days to spare in visiting three major Asian cities, I could well emulate The Amazing Race. I hope eveyrthing goes well.

Wedding, HK Style

I got the chance to attend a wedding ceremony today, after my former PCCW team leader Johnson invited me over to his wedding ceremony. After I got lost around Prince Edward area under the heat of the sun and a parade of humanity across Nathan Road and Prince Edward Road West, I came to the ceremony at a St Theresa Catholic Church, 20 minutes after the scheduled wedding rites. Hopefully I get to meet Johnson and his wife in Kuala Lumpur later this week for a rare reunion with Nyoman, our Indonesian SAS consultant now working in Malaysia. I am flying to Singapore Tuesday night but with lots of work to do at the office, my vacation excitement is hardly ever felt.

Turning Cantonese

I was surprised by Pauline"s comment that I sound like a Chinese talking in English, having lost communication through the phone for a long time, she thought I have a strong Cantonese accent while conversing English with her. I have never had any improvement talking the language and so maybe since I am talking to Chinese people most of the time in the office, except Waseem and Marcus, (throw in Cyrus and Ginny who are also good English speakers). I encountered a new term on the movie Driving Miss Wealthy aboard KA from Beijing. Filipintonese is the accent Filipinos (especially domestic helpers) speak the local language with certain inaccuracy in tone. A combination maybe of Tagalog accent and minced gwong dung wah words.

It is despicable to know that my noontime siesta is a big issue (as big as asking a HK girl of her age) to some of my colleagues. I hate it!

Still Summer to Me

I met Pauline, an ex colleague from PCCW and had dinner with her friends at a newly-wed couple"s house somewhere in Quarry Bay. I met new friends including Filipinos Rey and wife Chat, Jack and Joan (spelled right?). It is amazing that Jason, the husband, loves sinigang so much and the Chinese couple has cravings for Filipino food. With Filipino friends in the Bible talk group and taking dinner together before discussions, it is not surprising to have that desire. I still wonder why there are not so much Filipino restaurants in Hong Kong, where Filipino population must have been a good market for such homegrown delicacies.

It is the middle of September and I heard from two Hong Kong girls, Jacqueline and Pauline that they can feel the weather has calmed down (read: become cooler). I had that thought too, until this week that I still perspire a lot on my way to office from Tin Hau MTR Station.

Good to hear Melissa is alright on her endoscopy and should be able to attend her farewell dinner (along with Shasha) tonight at Po Lam.

Starting the Birthday Season

It is the start of birthday season. Many of my friends in HK celebrate in the boundary of the "ber" months. Dinner is setup later at Sweet Basil Thai Restaurant in Causeway Bay for Karen"s belated celebration, the very same place I had dinner with Jacqueline only last Saturday. The schedule moved my squash session with Karen on Thursday. I attended a Webtrends seminar held at Holiday Inn with Ginny and Jess. I asked one technical and one very broad question to Jonathan Oh, Director of Intercontinental Enterprise Services for NetIQ which may have caught him offguard. Anyway I earned myself a laser pen with that effort. Hey Rosemary Vandenbroucke walked past me yesterday.

Taxing the OFWs

There is a proposal to tax Overseas Filipino Workers, the so called modern day heroes. I am glad I am called a hero in my own right. Well, to be taxed in my host country and in my home country can really be a burden but somehow I would like to help the Philippines in anyway I can (as if dollar remittances are not enough).

The thing that I hate is that money coming from diligent hands end up at unscrupulous, stupid people in the government.

I would not be surprised many people working abroad will get mad at this move. Imagine, here in Hong Kong Filipino domestic helpers started paying levy to the Hong Kong government since last year, which in effect removes a significant amount of salary for the lowest-paid job in the city.

Here comes the ailing economy of the Philippines, at risk of falling into fiscal crisis which calls for us to help. Why not help if we could. As we say, it is better to give than to receive. But since the trust of people towards the government"s handling of public money has been waning, it seems not many Filipinos are willing to sacrifice because public officials still ride luxury cars worth millions going to the office, junkets abroad and all sorts of extravagance.

OK, I change my mind, I am not willing to be taxed by the Philippines, even if I am stripped of my title as modern day hero.

One of the worst movies

Jun came with a VCD at home, asking if I would like to watch a movie similar to American Pie (my favorite) and I said, alright! Eur0trip is about post high school adventure in Europe in search for a gorgeous German pen pal initially mistaken as a guy.

The story is predictable and otherwise unexplainable. Meeting a gay passenger in the train, having a party in Bratislava with few dollars in their pocket, nude beach chase. I said corny many times in the duration, but somehow I endured the poor quality of the movie until its predictable end.

Anyway, it may belong to the same theme as American Pie but I should say that the director/writer need to spend more time researching for stories and not trying to make a movie with no clear goal in mind.

Filipina DH rules!

China athletes who won gold medals in the Olympics are in town to promote patriotism among Hongkies. It is a nice gesture especially that many HK people adore Chinese in Athens, apart from winning its second medal ever.

Hong Kong media though would rather focus on rumors of alleged relationship among two members of China diving team rather than the goodwill visit.

By the way, I forgot to mention last blog session that the trip was from Beijing China. It is rather a whirlwind travel for me and Gino who stayed there only over the weekend, though we were able to visit important places such as Forbidden City, Great Wall and Tiananmen Square.

A recent study released today showed that schoolchildren with Filipina domestic helpers fared better in English reading comprehension than those who had private tutors. Which reminds me of one true Filipino virtue shown in the movie of Gigi Leung and Lau Ching Wan (Driving Miss Wealthy, watched last nite aboard Dragonair en route to Hong Kong) where Lau portrays somebody who tries to emulate a typical Filipino driver here in Hong Kong: ever helpful, compassionate and all around the job.

Beijing Memories

I just came from a weekend trip with Dodo, Melissa, Gino, Mike, Jun, Weng, Orly and Anne. It was fun despite the short stay, language barrier and huge crowds. It was pure adventure, from my Watson water escapade, Beijing immigration fracas and the 200 yuan drive to the hotel from the airport at past midnight. I am planning to create an article with photos to be published at SFC HK web site. Check it out soon.