Manila again..

Came back from Manila almost a month ago. Just goes to show my laziness in updating my blog.

Actually nothing much to say about it but compared to my last visit there in 2007, more shopping malls are springing up and needless to say, girls will be girls.. what can we do, right? Of course we had to go shopping.. a bit.. :) Unfortunately, my shopping trip was interrupted by my boss (as usual) so it was not a completely successful shopping trip for me. Since it was such a rush, there was no chance to take photos..

The only photo op I had was in the hotel itself during our waiting session.. that is, waiting for everyone to venture out on our lunch/shopping trip. So we decided to take some pics at the pool area.

I almost went into the water getting this shot..

People were staring at me like I've lost my marbles because I was just wandering around the pool area aiming my camera at everything..

But the Gala Dinner entertainment was without a doubt an eye opener. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much.. but the group they hired had the most fantastic voices. Apparently, they compete internationally. And now I'm even in love with The Philippines's national anthem! At least, their version of it. In fact, most of us forgot to eat, we were just staring at the stage with starry eyes the entire time... hehe..

Check out the professionalism.. to be almost undressed on stage... hehehe.. either that or he just doesn't like clothes..

The pink thingie in the photo below is a public male toilet.. and that black spot sticking out of the top.. is a guy occupying it at the time.. in a toilet without a door.. believe it or not..

Reminds me of Ghana, where people team around cars on the streets selling everything imaginable..

This guy looks really unhappy that I sneaked a photo of him.. thank god I was in a car.. oh yeah.. this is actually on Valentine's Day! Imagine that, we spent it first in a car, and then on a plane..

I guess this is universal... but their cabs look more comfy then ours.. after all, they use Vios and Altis..

Oh yeah, I forgot to mentioned being in a long queue at the airport as well... (how we spent our Vday)...

As usual, when the gang is bored, we revert to being kids.. in public..

well.. what can I say.. my colleagues, they are... (hehehe)

and then there are the 'normal' moments..

since they're now adults again... decided to explore elsewhere.. and realised I haven't really seen these for quite some time..

Then, of all luck, the plane we were on were one of those older versions of airbus and had no personal tv screens.. so sneaked another few shots out the window of the skies between Manila and Kuala Lumpur..

And that was my Valentine's Day..

love.. marriage..

I would like to dedicate this post to my best bud and f.u.c.k. who's tying the knot this year. You know who you are :)

Just came across some interesting sayings in a forwarded email with the title "How do you know you married the right person?"


"God determines who walks into your life. It is up to you to decide who you let walk away, who you let stay, and who you refuse to let go."


and i realise that it is very easy to become so absorbed in your everyday life, work, problems, etc and forget that nothing in life comes free and that includes relationships. One has to work at it, and work hard at it in order to succeed and keep your relationship "alive".


"The key to succeeding in marriage is not finding the right person; it's learning to love the person you found"


Falling in love is easy but keeping love alive is not. So in the years to come, my friend, don't forget ok? I'm sure doubts will surface during hard times and there will definitely be hard times in all marriages but I think as long as you keep reminding yourself of what made you fall in love with him in the first place you'll be fine. Keep those good memories alive and make new ones :)

So, I'd just like to wish you the very best and a long happy marriage to you and your hubby. Be happy, my friend! *hugs*

biscuit experiment 3

continue from my previous post..

After another 1 week plus, the biscuits are still in the same condition so now I can conclude that it does put the crisp back but not 100%. It's no longer as soft as bread though and it's edible so who am I to complain? :)

biscuit experiment - result

This is a continuation of my 1st post dated 9 Jan on the biscuit experiment. I'm going on record now to say that it definitely works!!

As I mentioned previously, I was going to experiment on a bigger batch of biscuits. These I put an airtight container 1 week ago and today we tried a few of the originally 'bad' biscuits and it's about 90% back to normal! Amazing!

our l'il cuppy-uppy-up cake

I have to say that having a little munchkin in the family changes everything. Especially a really cute one like my niece. *grin*

We'll start with her *cheese* pose.. everytime we tell her to say cheese, this is what she'll do..

her new best friend, the penguin..

making faces at me.. and being all shy at the same time..

my all time favourite.. is she cute or is she cute?

manja-ing my bro... yup, she definitely has him wrapped around her l'il pudgy finger..

and of course, she loves being behind a camera as well.. i guess an interest of photography runs in the family.. hehe.. at least the later generations.. she had to resort to taking her granpa's photo with her daddy's phone because I banned her from touching my camera with her oily, saliva covered fingers..

All this took place last night when we had an early reunion dinner because everyone is going away for Chinese New Year. As usual I had to photograph everything we eat.. ^^

Just a simple dinner of this thing-a-to-eat.. I dunno the name since it was all written in chinese..

this one i know.. shark's fin!.. not very yummy though.. felt more like eating very thick glue..

I can't believe even a dead fish can give me the evil eyes...

the one dish I really do not look forward to eating during every single CNY.. the dreaded pork knuckle..

this one I don't mind eating.. and quite yummy too

Abalone, mushrooms and vege.. to be honest I don't really remember the taste because I was too busy photographing my niece..

this one i remember.. probably due to my still half empty stomach as I was more focused on my camera and capturing the moment rather than food.. an unusual occurance I have to admit..

One thing I realised after last night, (besides the unbelievable fact that I can actually forgo food to focus on my camera).. is that photographing children is a full time job and the most difficult thanks to their boundless energy. The perfect moment can come and go in the blink of an eye.

But one thing does stand out though, and that is, having the cute little munchkin around brings out the kid that I believe still resides in all of us "adults". Also, it's very heart warming to see the appearance of true smiles that comes from the heart and shines through the eyes.. which we somehow lose through the years as we grow older and the walls we build becomes thicker and taller?

Is it always so important to keep our composure and to show the 'perfect' face everytime a camera is aimed our way? It's almost like an automatic reflects. When one sees a camera aiming one's way, the smile will be automatically toned down, the head will tilt at a certain angle, etc..

I guess viewing the world behind a camera does make everything clearer and I would like to remind myself and all who reads this post that a smile that comes from the heart is a priceless thing.. so smile..with not just your lips but with your heart too.. :)

bonne journée!

biscuit experiment

3 days ago my colleague told us something amazing. Apparently, one can put the crisp back in a soft biscuit just by putting both the soft biscuits and new crispy biscuits together in an air tight container.

All this started when I took out my supply of office biscuits and discovered that they've gone soft like bread because my container is useless. Since none of us have heard of this method, my colleague decided to prove it to us by starting an 'experiment'. We put 3 of my 'bad' biscuits in with 3 of her 'good' biscuits and left it in her air tight container 3 days ago and today we tried the bad biscuits and found that it's really got some of it's crisp back! Not completely yet, so we concluded that more good biscuits might be needed in order to get better results.

Also, we were told that this method works for other stuff as well like chips. But it doesn't work for biscuits/cookies with stuffings.

So we're off to experiment with a bigger batch of biscuits... ^^

New Year with Garfield and Friends

Welcomed the year 2009 at my friends' Yan's and Lisa's places yesterday. Went for what was suppose to be a new-year-celebration-tea that turned into an all night event. We started off our 'celebration' with some pisang goreng and something-else-that's-goreng (sorry I don't know the name).



Then I met a real life 'Garfield'. His name is actually Ryu but he's the biggest cat I've ever seen. According to Yan, his owner, he used to be as fat as garfield. He's lost a lot of weight due to an operation to remove his kidney stones. I for one had no idea that cats can even have kidney stones but apparently they do suffer the same diseases as us.

Check out his size. Yan was saying that he still weighs a ton especially when he's walking on you. Not that he'll 'walk' on anyone else besides his owners. Try it and one will most likely get a taste of his unsheath claws plus sharp teeth. That's one fierce bugger. To think that I was actually scared of a cat! Embarrassing but true..

So there we were waiting for Lisa to arrive and also waiting for dinner. And poor Rosita was so tired but still wanted me to take her photo. *grin*

Had my first taste of homecooked Nyonya Laksa which was really yummy. Thanks aunty!

After dinner, we went on a shopping expedition for supper (actually some considered it dinner still) and snacks to sustain us until the new year. We bought some doughnuts, a pint of baskin robbins ice cream, drinks and snacks. Unfortunately, once again I've forgotten to take photos of our food because I was distracted by other stuff.. :P

Next, we were off to Lisa's condo for some gaming and movie time.
Unfortunately, the dvd player konked and Rosita was giving me the evil-eye because instead of helping I was taking photos. (I do seem to be getting the evil-eye a lot whenever I try to practise my photography skills.. )
Then we played a mean game of Star Wars Monopoly where me and my little R2-D2 kicked their collective asses! *snicker*.. but I'm now banned from playing Monopoly with them ever again. The only way they'll allow me to join in is as the banker.. *hu hu*

Since I can now consider that as my first and last game with them, I should take this opportunity to gloat a bit.. see that (below)? I was the only one with hotels.. hehe... well, in this case, it's called Spaceports (if I'm not mistaken, since this is Star Wars after all)..
A close up of my bootiful spaceports that earned me either 1120 credits or 1200 credits every time they were 'fortunate' enough stopped on my property.. hehehehe.. which I should mention is what bankrupt Rosita.. *smirk again* And everytime they role the dice they would pray to go to jail rather than pay my very nice spaceports a visit.. spoilsports.. *grin*
After I whooped their asses, we watched some t.v and then M Naser came on and was unanimously declared as the last true Malay man in existance by my friends (in fact, some of them would have loved to marry him.. when he was younger).

When the time came for the countdown to 2009, we went to the balcony and cheered to the sounds of fireworks. The operative word here being 'sounds' as we couldn't really see the fireworks since KLCC was at the back of our building. But I do believe we were the noisiest of the lot amongst the condo blocks. *grin*

Of course we couldn't begin the new year without a festive and boisterous caterwauling session in the car on the way back to Yan's place. It was immensely enjoyable despite not knowing half the words to the songs on the radio. :)

And that was my new year eve celebration last night. Although it was only a small condominium living room, it was still great fun because it was spent in the company of fantastic company. So my thanks to all for inviting me for an evening filled with merriment and laughter! Happy 2009!