Month: February 2013

MACAU MADNESS, DAY 1

/ Inday / Leave a comment

 Madness is right! Because I had to be mad to actually go through with the plan to hop off my flight from Singapore, go home, pack, shower then head back to the airport a scant 4 hours later for the flight to Macau.  But who said Inday was sane?   At this point, I had a total of 7 hours sleep for 3 days.  This was either going to be a testament to my resolve and strength or proof that I was not young and filled with energy anymore and slowly pass out…

But Inday never gives up, so off to Macau we go.

We took Philippine Airlines because they had the best schedule and the airfare wasn’t bad either.  They served us breakfast which just made me sad.  They really do want you to know that you’re on economy.  What do you get? Your main course in a foil pack plus a cinnamon roll.  On this flight, you don’t get a dinner roll.  You just get dessert that also doubles as the dinner roll.  But you do not deserve a salad.  In other words, if you fly for less than 3 hours, PAL decides that you should be on a diet, even if this ticket costs more than the ticket to Singapore.   But I was hungry and tired so I just ate what was there and looked forward to my free sandwiches at the Club Lounge.

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First stop, check in to our hotel, Sheraton Macau.  We excitedly checked in to our Executive Suite.  The perfect room with its separate bedroom and living room set up, since I was with my friends Junjun and ChingChing. Because we were staying in a suite, we also had access to the Club Lounge, so, being hungry from the tiny meal from our flight, we loaded up on egg salad sandwiches and shrimp crackers.  After only a few minutes, Junjun and I had 6 empty plates on our table.  Take that PAL!

And of course when there’s a freebie, I’m there.  So I sauntered off to get a foot massage at the machines in the lounge where I promptly dozed off and was awakened only by my own snoring.  Thank God I woke up because just a few feet away from me were these hotel guests on a conference call.  Apparently, my snoring had become part of their meeting. 

When we were fed and recharged, we walked over to The Venetian.  This would probably have taken other people 10 minutes, but due to many photo opp moments, I think it took us about 30.  But it was worth it.  Some of those were the best Inday photos ever!

 Once at The Venetian, we tried our luck at the slot machines.  We started with HKD30 and walked off with HKD19.70.  Not bad! Hey walking off with something is always better than nothing. 

After a successful shopping trip at the Venetian mall, we were headed to A Lorcha, a Portuguese restaurant in Macau run by Filipinos.   Get it?  Thanks to our waiter Rico, we were made to feel like special guests, with a never-ending supply of freshly baked bread to go with our buttery clams, super tasty peri-peri chicken plus some Portuguese fried rice that even I (who hasn’t eaten rice in 3 years) couldn’t resist.  But the best part was dessert.  Had no idea what that was called, but it was some sort of vanilla pudding topped with graham cracker crumbs.  I was so tempted to lick the spoon. 

 

And as they say, we were fed up.  We headed back to our hotel for some late night partying.  Which in my world means sitting on the couch watching TV shows on my laptop.  That nights viewing, The Face and American Idol. 

And soon, it was time to finally sleep.  Tomorrow is another day….

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INDAY, THE JETSETTER

/ Inday / Leave a comment

this was never part of the plan, nor was it ever my intention.  but i have logged more airline miles in the last 7 months that I did in 2010 and 2011 combined!  I’ve gotten well acquainted with the wonders of online booking, have crossed off AirPhilippines from my list of go-to airlines (more on that in a separate entry later), have almost memorized the lay-out of Changi Airport and today I have just unpacked my bag from my most recent Singapore trip and replaced its contents with stuff for my trip to Macau.  There are just 6 1/2 hours between arrival and departure, and, including travel time to and from the airport, the allotted 2 hours prior to departure check-in, I will have spent less than 4 hours at home.  Just enough time to unpack and repack my bag, take a shower before going to bed, take a shower before leaving for airport, check my email, say hi to mommy, charge the ipad, laptop and phone, and finally write this blog, before taking a power nap.  

I am Inday and I am a jetsetter.  And my back hurts!

Dont get me wrong, I do love to travel, love discovering new cities, getting reacquainted with old ones, taking more pictures (Inday and not-Inday) but my back really does hurt.  So I figured, considering all the flights I’ve taken recently and passengers I’ve encountered recently, I will make a list of my top 5 travel wtf’s:

1.  Why can’t people follow boarding instructions?  WAIT FOR YOUR ROW NUMBERS TO BE CALLED! you have reserved seats people, no one can take your seat from you.  self-explanatory I think.

2.  I hate when the passenger behind me decides to use my seat back for leverage when getting in and out of his seat.  And without apologizing, asking or even showing some semblance of appreciation for my allowing him to wake me up, almost in panic, because I thought there was an earthquake in the sky.  

3. One one flight, the dude behind me actually told me not to recline my seat because it was hitting his legs.  Dude, not my fault your legs are long, but your budget is short! if you wanted more legroom, $20 for a bulkhead seat! that’s all it takes.  

4. AirPhilippines sucks! that’s a teaser for the long story…

5. PAL really makes you feel like you’re in economy.  No wonder some people call Economy or Coach Class the Peasant Class.  They give you bread, but no butter.  and the tray really is getting smaller.  On one flight, the dessert was so small, ID picture size bar cookie that I couldn’t even read the name.  Today our salad was a tuna with something black i just pray those were olives and one slice (NOT PIECE) of a cherry tomato.  

That’s all for now….bow.

 

 

 

PRIME RATE

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The weekend was a whirlwind of errands and activities but all that stopped Saturday night when my friends and I had dinner at 22Prime, the fine dining restaurant of Discovery Suites.  It was a birthday and pre-Valentine’s Day celebration so of course, we wore red!

We arrived at Discovery Suites but was slightly disappointed by the “work in progress” feeling.  Di masyadong sosyal ang scaffolding.  Sayang ang 6-inch platform shoes ko! But sige, deadma na lang.  We headed to the elevator, pressed 22 and made our way to 22 Prime.  Makes sense, 22 Prime is on the 22nd floor.

We were quickly seated at our table, kasi hindi naman sila masyadong busy.  We were given bread and an assortment of spreads-artichoke, tomato something and chicken liver pate.  The breadsticks were a winner and so were the spreads.  So far, so good.

We ordered calamares as a starter,  which came out quickly and was devoured even quicker.  Winner! Soon our main courses and side dishes arrived.  One friend ordered a medium-well steak and grilled asparagus.  She cut into her steak and discovered it was well-done.  Hmmm.  It was tender and juicy so sige, chika na rin.  But when she was working on the second half of the beef, it wasn’t as tender anymore.  She called the waiter to inform him of the mistake.  Not to complain, more of an FYI in a polite tone.  Waiter was deadma and he just smiled. Hmm, parang wrong reaction ata.  The celebrant ordered lamb chops.  There were three pieces of which two were tender the third was slightly not so much.  My chicken was the evening’s winner.  It was juicy, flavorful and cooked perfectly.  So far, so-so.  The truffle mashed potatoes were the definite high point of my meal, though.  It was quite a generous serving and i easily polished off every single bite.

We told them it was our friend’s birthday and they prepared the traditional slice of cake with candle.  The cake was good but, since I prefer warm desserts, could have been better after a few seconds in a microwave.

We again tried to inform the staff of our issues with the steak and finally found someone who was slightly apologetic.  But we’re pretty sure that was the end of that and they didn’t really care, because we weren’t “masungit” about it.  Oh well.

Overall though, dinner was a success and we probably will visit them again.  If only to have another serving of those mashed potatoes.

And of course, Inday couldn’t resist the requisite photo op!

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With my Valentine Goodies!

‘WAG GALITIN ANG PUYAT

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it was another ordinary travel day.  or was it?

my flight to singapore was at 6am.  why 6? because it was $40 cheaper than the 715.  any other flight would make me late for my appointment.  when i booked the flight, it didn’t sink in that a 6am flight meant leaving the house at 4am, which meant waking up at 315 or therabouts to shower, finish packing and getting my act together.  that also meant that in order to be in any presentable (aka polite, friendly, civil) state, i’d have to get my required 5 hours sleep, which would mean sleeping at 1015.  to most people, this wouldn’t have been a problem.  but i am an insomniac.  i usually go to sleep at 315, if i’m lucky.  so what did i decide to do? NOT SLEEP.  bahala na si batman.

when i got to the airport, i realized that i was short on pesos, and i’d still have to pay for travel tax, since i bought my ticket online.  the atm outside the airport for some reason, wouldn’t give me cash (note to self: verify that no withdrawal was made).  ok, i’ll pay in dollars.  when the guard was checking my ticket and passport, another passenger just decided to cut in front of me to announce to the guard, “Singapore!” o ngayon? i counted to 10 and just pushed my passport in front of the guard, who attended to me first.  so far, so-so.

when i get inside, travel tax chicks were nice.  ok i can handle that.  then we get to the check-in counter.  i looked for the singapore flight check-in counters and lined-up.  i was looking for an express counter, but i couldn’t find one.  the guy who was directing “traffic” (meaning he was pointing which counter you should go to) pointed out the express counter to me, but it was in the row of counters for the hongkong flight, but it was servicing all flights.  gulo di ba? if they were grouping counters by destination/flights, shouldnt’ there be an express counter for all groups? if you were going to singapore, why would you go to the hongkong section?

next, the chick at the counter was asking for the credit card i used to pay for the ticket.  i said, can you give me the last 4 digits, I forgot which one i used.  she handed me my e-ticket, but i couldn’t find the number there.  so i said, miss i need the number.  she said, in an annoyed tone, “sandali lang, i’m looking for it.” e bakit mo binigay yung ticket, e yun pala, wala dun ang number?  then i asked her if the seat i pre-booked was still an aisle seat (after all, PAL loves to change planes at the last minute so i’ve been victimized with losing aisle seats that i’ve already reserved weeks in advance).  i had to ask her 3 times before she said yes.  haaay! check-in pa lang yan ha.

when i finally made my way to the last security inspection before the gate, the security dude was staring at me.  my cleavage perhaps? or did i look sleepy? ewan.  but they asked me to open my bag and show them my lighters.  because yes I had more than 1.  as i was trying to look for my cheap disposable ones, they spotted my windproof lighter and confiscated it.  i was arguing with the guy because first of all, i’ve been travelling with that lighter, in and out of the country, for the last 2 months (the last time was just 2 weeks ago) and no one ever stopped me.  second, the guy had a pan de sal in his mouth, as in a huge chunk that he had bitten off in front of me and was chewing while talking to me.  HOW PROFESSIONAL! of course i tried to argue.  if nothing else, i just wanted some consistency.  why now and not 2 weeks ago? kung bawal, dapat bawal lagi.  then the guys said, “baka hindi nila nakita dati.” so now the question is, what else don’t they see all the time? baka may mga guns, knives or other sharp metal objects na nakakalusot.  haaay! i feel so safe.

and just when you think, that you can settle down with a cigarette and a cup of coffee, TINDER BOX is closed! the place opens at 5am.  30 minutes to go.  so i decided that i should vent out my frustrations here and by the time i’m done with this and my egg salad sandwich, Tinder Box should be open na.  As the chick in my favorite Mervyn’s commercial said, “OPEN, OPEN, OPEN.”

siguro dapat next time matulog ako kahit konti, maybe i’ll be more patient? hmmm

and so here i am, throwing out all the negativity online, because from hereon, only good things on this trip.  only good things.

AWITIN MO!

/ Inday / Leave a comment
Di ba minsan gusto mong kumanta ng malakas na malakas?  Yung kahit wala sa tono, kahit di mo abot ang matataas na nota, sige birit lang ng birit.  Bahala na si batman kung mukha kang tanga.  Basta isigaw mo, kesehodang naiirita na ang mga katabi mo tuwing hinahataw mo ang “To Love You More” o kaya isang makabagbag damdaming “Touch Me in the Morning” sige lang.  Kasi ang sarap.  Pag may problema kang hindi mo maintindihan, o kaya, malungkot ka, sige hataw ng kanta.   Kung gusto mong i-iyak ang problema mo, kantahin ang “Kahit Isang Saglit” o kaya “Dadalhin”.  Kung gusto mo namang matuwa, para makalimutan ang problema, pwedeng kumanta ng “Spaghetti” o mag- “Otso-otso” ka kaya?

Kung nasa tamang pag-iisip ka, sige, mag-disco tayo.  “Last Dance” ba? O “Breakout”?  Kung gusto mong matuwa, mag-Apo, “Blue Jeans”, “Ewan” o kaya “Pumapatak ang Ulan.”  Pwede din namang mag-paka jukebox beauty ka.  Merong “Tukso”, “Sang Linggong Pag-ibig” o kaya “Bakit Pa?” para di naman masyadong luma, konti lang. 

Piliin mo kaya yung kanta na may ibig sabihin.  Yung mga theme song ng buhay mo.  Damang-dama mo pa ang mga lyrics di ba?  Minsan, may nalalaman ka pang hikbi.  “Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang?” ba ang kanta niyo?  O “Sana’y Wala nang Wakas”.  Isa ngang madamdaming “Kung Ako na Lang Sana”? O kaya, pwede din, kung talagang malalim ang pinanggagalingan, isang “I Will Survive” diyan.   Para kahit ikaw maniwala, na kahit na anong mangyari, kaya mo. 

Minsan talaga, para maaliw, para matawa, para matuwa, para mapawi ang mga problema, kahit ilang minuto lang, ang sarap ikanta.  Para kahit na sa ilang minuto na yon, ang iniisip mo lang yung lyrics, yung tono, kung abot mo ba o hindi.  Para kahit sa ilang minuto na yon, di mo kailangan gawin ang trabaho o hanapan ng solusyon ang mga problema.  Minsan talaga, ang sarap kumanta. Di ba?