Tuesday, May 28, 2013

EDSA Peace Mural

I was invited by Chabs to volunteer for the
Project EDSA: Journey of Peace in EDSA

It's supposed to bid for the longest peace mural Guinness Record.
As what happens most of the time, I said yes. And invited Jenny along, my architect best friend, to the event. She was called several days after, and was asked to be the team leader. Which, much to her chagrin, was quite a tall order. She googled, "How to choose the best color for a mural" and "Peace mural" prior to the event. And I found that amusing I had to tease her. Haha!

So there we were, at 6AM on May 26, a Sunday. Still stifling some snores, we trudged on to Camp Aguinaldo. It was a bit disappointing that we had to wait for around 3 hours (they have a program which we cannot see from our side) before we could get to our walls.

And finally, we marched on to un-stenciled walls. They said they did not finish sketching because it rained the previous day. They then gave a go-ahead for us to transfer to another wall. Yay.

Even if it was scorching hot, we had a grand time painting, or at the very least, doing damage control. A person who had a white paint had so much time on his hand, he was painting white all over! I think he was trying to make some shading, which was but a futile effort considering he does not have other colors on his hand.



Friday, April 26, 2013

I can't help but think my life sometimes is somehow like Case 1. :(
Measly peon.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh

Four full days in Vietnam. Flying in to Ho Chi Minh, and a special request to visit Mui Ne. Now, that was a tall order; especially for me who is a novice at organizing stuff. I was always reprimanded due to errors I do here and there - wrong flight booked, lost tickets, etc. So, I was half expecting this trip won't go off without a hitch. Thankfully, even if I felt I was horribly unprepared, it was an awfully awesome, spectacular, fantabulous vacation! Haha! Sorry for gushing. :">

I will write more when I get the time. As it is, I have pending tasks piled up post-holiday.

Day 1. We checked in at Backpacker's Club Hostel in HCM. Dorm rates at 6 USD/head/night. Was supposed to go to Mui Ne at 8AM, but the buses have departed. No thanks to my awesome scheduling skills. Looking again at my schedule, buses depart from HCM to Mui Ne at 7AM. Haha! So, a little tweaking, and we took the 5PM trip to Mui Ne. We used Futa Travel, Phong Trang buses since it's the cheapest we could scout in the area. It's also just a minute walk from our accommodation! We also decided to book our bus trip back. So, instead of the planned return, we got seats for trips the day after.

Accommodation in HCM: Backpacking Club Hostel
269/19 De Tham St, Pham Ngu Lao Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, 848, Vietnam

Bus to Mui Ne: Phong Trang (Futa Travel): 274-276 De Tham Street, District 1, HCMC. (135,000 VND one way)

A trip to Apo Reef

Itinerary (as arranged by Chabs Bautista)


Day 0: 
1900H – 2000H: Assembly in Shaw/Dinner

Friday, April 12, 2013

La Union

I love the thrill of "walking" on water. Surfing, therefore, is one of the greatest physical euphoria.

March 29- April 1, 2013

The Philippines have been blessed with quite a number of surfing spots, mainly due to the fact that we are an archipelago. No gigantic swells though, just enough to enjoy the sports without being extreme. (But maybe I need to research more on this one)
 No matter where in the country, a body of water is always nearby.

 La Union is pretty much accessible for me. Being in Manila for a good six years now, it was pretty neat that we are midway Bicol (south of Luzon) and Ilocos (northern part). La Union is north of Manila, around six to seven hours drive away. It's fast becoming, if not already, a surfing hub for Filipinos and foreigners alike. I like the fine sand and the salty waters which were not too murky.
I have been to other surfing sites in Luzon: Bagasbas, Baler, and Zambales. Albeit Zambales is nearest to Manila (around 3-4 hours drive) I sometimes find the swells too few and far in between. The sand is  quite coarse too. Baler was fun, but we went there during monsoon, and a typhoon just left PAR, ergo the water was a bit murky. And Bagasbas, my favorite, is just too far; it will take half a day's drive to get there.