Weekend...

Sunday visit in Seoul 20090201

2009-02-02T16:51:00.000-08:00

Seoul, Korea. I have 10 hours in-transit before flying back to Singapore. So, I went out to see the city. When I went out of the airport to get a bus to the city, I met one traveller who is also a first timer in Seoul and also in-transit and we decided to go to city together and get a half day tour package.

We went to Lotte Hotel and ask for a tour package. Luckily they had a slot for us... the places where we went are all in the pictures. :)

More pix: http://www.travbuddy.com/travel-blogs/48780

London : Revisited

2008-10-05T16:56:00.000-07:00

I stayed in Slough, Berskshire in England for more than a week in my cousin's family pad. My cousin drove around London and visited some museums and landmarks. Apart from the city we also visited some borough like Reading and Chessington where we had some rides in the theme park.

Foods are okay, western food and a lot of middle-eastern food like shawarma and kebab. They also have japanese restaurants like Itzu and Wasabi.

The pictures sum it all.

[More pictures link]

Thanks again to my cousin and family. :)

Challenging weekend! whew...

2008-09-14T09:47:00.000-07:00

Good thing I always get a copy of Catalog magazine in the gym... It is where I read about SAFRA fever event that was conducted last Saturday, September 13, 2008 at SAFRA Mt. Faber. Though I sent notice to some of my friends too, good thing Nathan went with me who pushed me to join the beer drinking contest! LOL. I did not realize it will gonna be like what happened... sit in a bathtub of ice and water. It was absolutely sub-zero! for a sub-zero beer! Luckily I got 5th place out of the 15 SAFRA members, where I am not. We went home around 1:30am early this morning to rest for the KPE marathon.

I used my new polar watch and timed myself during the marathon. For the record: 30 minutes and 14 seconds for 5km run with an average of 148 heart beat per second. After the run we had lunch at Tampines mall (my first time there) and head straight to Fusionopolis (first time) and sleep at the pool area.... so relaxing... ill come back to fusionopolis prolly after 2 weeks

time for it is still undergoing construction.

Into the Blue (Dive:Open Water)

2008-09-04T18:16:00.000-07:00

Aug 29 - Aug 31. Right after office hours last Friday, I went to see my dive group going to Malaysia in Lavander MRT. Our instructor rented a van that send us off to Mersing port. We left the port around 1am and we all slept and reached the destination, Pulau Dayang Island at 6am.
The island was great! great shore with crystal clear water, good cottages, nice crowd (all divers), and buffet served 3x a day!
Dive Details:
1st Dive : Sarawan
Time in: 10:48am
Time out: 11:27am
Bottom time: 39mins
Max depth: 15.3m (50.2 feet)Water temp: 28.3c

2nd Dive : Lang
Time in: 2:12pm
Time out: 2:39pm
Bottom time: 27mins
Max depth: 15m (49.2 feet)
Water temp: 28.6c

3rd Dive :
Time in: 5:05pm
Time out: 5:50pm
Bottom time: 45mins
Max depth: 9.7m (31.8 feet)
Water temp: 29.1c

8/31/08

4th Dive: Captain Point
Time in: 7:59am
Time out: 8:31am
Bottom time: 32mins
Max depth: 25m (82 feet)
Water temp: 28.6c

5th dive : Crocodile Rock
Time in: 10:35am
Time out: 11:14am
Bottom time: 39mins
Max depth: 23.7m (77.8 feet)
Water temp: 29c

Though some of dives are more than 18meters, my instructor still insisted to put 18m in my log book so that he will sign.... sigh.... Anyways I had a great time to experience deep dive and drift dive while certifying me for PADI: Open Water.

More pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/omar.m.montero/IntoTheBlueOpenWater

Scuba Training (PADI)

2008-08-19T15:27:00.000-07:00

Date: August 16, 2008
Location: SAFRA (Mt. Faber)
Exercises:
preparing tank and BCD
200-meter swimming (chicken!)
10-minute floating (oh was so hard)
wearing the gears
descending (5point descent)
using alternate air source
CESA
and more....

Fit weekend...

2008-07-20T14:59:00.000-07:00

I was invited by California Fitness (orchard) yesterday for a 2 weeks complimentary pass. I don't mind, so I can also try and see what is the difference against Fitness First. It is a good gym, lots of equipment, big and spacious workout area. Huge dressing room but I don't want to bring my own padlock. Towel service is next to the dressing room I think limited to 2 big towels, unlike fitness first which is located at the reception area and I can get as many towels as I like and as many tops to sweat (lol).

They tried to offer me too join... but did not succeed. Still they gave me a 2 weeks complimentary pass. I also had a Body Composition Analysis in their machine. Moment of truth, I had 85/100 fitness score; balanced legs and arms; developed arms and normal legs; normal protein, fat and mineral; and a muscular normal weight. My total percent body fat yesterday was 12.7 (that is with breakfast). So far so good. I need to burn that 2.7% of percent body fat.

This morning I went to Fitness First at One George Street Building to have my back get some heat and light. Every weekend One George is packed with people who wants to have sunbathe and be tanned. I went around 10 in the morning and thank God there were 3 more vacant pool bench, otherwise I have to lay down on the floor with on my towel. I stayed under the sun for about 1.5hour. Afterwich, I swam and do my regular chest exercise. I went off the gym 3pm. Nice!

Mind Test in Fitness First

2008-06-29T14:30:00.001-07:00

After a year of joining a duathlon in the gym (link), what they offer now are mind tests like "spot the difference contest". Today, I workout at Fitness First Paragon branch.... It was like an hour of doing cardio and some resistance weights, when I was about to piss, and pass-by a bulletin board with my name included in one laminated printouts.

I was so eager to read what it was all about.... and to find out I was one of the lucky guy who joined the contest a month ago. Now... I wonder what is in the Fitness First premiums.... and I hope the person I last referred will be valid.

Great mind starts with a healthy body!"

Saturday swimming... with Pinoy gang in Calyon SG

2008-06-29T14:25:00.000-07:00

June 28, Saturday. It was a good morning last Saturday... fair weather and good sun! Around 10 my flat-mate Nathan and I immediately went to the gym at One George street to get the sun on my back. When we arrived one of my French friend, Christophe was already having sun bath. We applied oil... undress with only trunks on and lie next on the pool area of the gym.... nice... It was great morning! The sun was great as well!

Since both of my buddies have appointment one is 1pm and Nathan was 2pm. I was left in the gym for until 3pm. After some free weights and cardio. I went to Orchardy visit Zara for the sale; and then after... on the way to Toa Pa Yo I met 2 of my colleagues in MRT going to the same place for late afternoon swimming party of Calyon Pinoys.

We stayed at Marlon's flat (one of my teammate in the office). From the picture below are (left to right): Ricky, Omar, Leslee, Arnold, Rio, Gizelle, Marlon, and Gelo. Not included in the picture who also joined are: Erick, who brought us Tequilla (Thanks!); and Anette, who is not with the company anymore. It was a nice tipsy night. I was the bottler again, for this gathering! :)

Weekend sale...

2008-06-16T08:08:00.001-07:00

I went to the watch sale by Guess, D&G, DKNY, Fossil and Emporio Armani at Suntec Convention Centre. What to expect but the long queue.... I was lucky enough to get a good one for 120 bucks after 50% discount..... good for my swimming with 100meters water resistant which I now use. Its fossil blue chronograph. After the purchase.... I tried it at One George Street FF Platinum pool... so far so good. :D

Grooming weekend

2008-06-02T02:26:00.000-07:00

Friday hangouts (May 30)....... at Bungy Bar again.... where else!?? Near the reverse bungy jump at Clarke Quay. With my girl friends and couples fresh in SGP, Kat and Ricky. The couples were my former colleague way back in PHL when my client was Accenture.

We hangout for a while in Bungy bar for like 3hours. Had beers, cigarette and a bit of chit chat, watching AFL and of course listening to the live acoustics of the Bar. After we sent off the couples pass midnight, Ays came to see us. We went to TCC to continue whatever we have started. But I just had green tea frappe (lol) my favorite drink!.

The next day when I woke up I was too lazy to stand up right away. Since I knew that my appointment at True Spa was at 5.30 in the afternoon. So I went to go out of my place around 2pm, to workout a bit before I had my full body massage. It was so relaxing! Nice ambiance... I don't remember what kind of massage I had but what I do remember was that I requested for sporty massage, with med to high pressure. It took an hour for the whole session.

The following day, Sunday. I was one of the first Filipino here in SGP to apply for the first time, machine readable passport (MRP) launch in SGP. Thanks God! They finally realize to have this kind of service in the embassy rather than in PHL only. I also work a bit via VPN for the month-end processing for May.....

After all the activities in the morning... I rushed to the spa again, this time for my facial appointment. I was not expecting much at start..... but it turn out to be good like a real doctor attending. The session also took more or less an hour. The weird thing which I normally don't do in the past was to remove my tops for facial.... lol. There was also shoulder and head massage in the facial... what an add-on! The good thing in the spa was that after each session I will enjoy a set of fruits and tea.

What a relaxing weekend it was....

Vesak Day in PHL

2008-05-23T22:12:00.001-07:00

I flew back to Philippines, basically to attend mass at Antipolo for annual May visit. I took Tiger airways as it was the cheapest flight going to Philippines that time. My folks picked my up in the airport.

Nothing much change.... upon arrival I heard form the news, crimes happening in some provinces. I arrived Saturday (May 17) and just took a rest after the flight because it was raining hard due to typhoon. Sunday came and weather was much better... Headed early morning to Antipolo church to hear mass with folks and my sis. After hearing mass we went to Trinoma mall for lunch and they left me alone after, for I will see my friends. While waiting for my friends Herbert, I went David's to get my hair trimmed. Also, of course workout at Fitness First (hahaha).
My friend came around 6pm and he treated mt for dinner and starbucks! Thanks mate! And congrats for the wedding next year! I do hope I can attend will let you know. After that we went to see more of our friends in Meycauayan where we had Cashaka (Brazilian vodka). Thanks for dropping me by my place and
thanks Herbert and Cheese for the wine (in picture)
Monday is the Vesak Day a public holiday in SGP and my rest day, and I just waited for my flight back to SGP by Tiger airways.

Break in the land Down Under!

2008-04-16T16:20:00.000-07:00

April 11, 2008 was may last day in SunGard System Access and I was off to the land down under at that night. Nothing to say much... Enjoy the comic strips.

My initial destination for the trip was Brisbane, then off to Sydney where I spent most of the time, and finally Melbourne.

People are friendly. The immigration was superb in assisting me, and in giving directions how to hop on to the domestic airport going to Sydney. They just ask if I have reservation in Sydney since I landed first in Brisbane, after showing them the reservation I was on my own. They did not even stamp on my empty passport pages. Thanks! that saves me getting new passport hee hee.

With my stay in Sydney I catch-up with my college classmate Ledz and Ed. Thanks for the warm welcome and for touring me around the city, the beach (Bondi), Olympic Park, Opera House, Harbor bridge and all. I had a great time with you guys!

Also to my German (enjoy your driving to Gold Coast), French (remember me when you write an article of a French magazine), and the Thais that was there to the Blue Mountains. See you next time in Paris and Munich.

Sydney. The most beautiful harbor in the world and one of the oldest in the world. For a little history, the initial settlers of Sydney was the convicts in U.K. They develop it until what Sydney has now.

Sydney has a lot of Victorian style building and even has a Queen Victoria Building (QVB) on top of Town Hall subway station. Ledz also sent me to Star city to have a dinner buffet and check the casino. The place is also a nice night view overlooking the CBD.

Places a tourist should not miss are the beaches in Sydney. They have the world's famous Bondi beach. People here can go topless regardless of gender. But beware of sharks hee hee.

If you want something quiet, then Manly beach is the place. Ferries are available in the Circular Quay. Nice beach and more surfer for a nice wave under a great sunny weather.

More of Sydney...
They have double-decker trains. I stayed in a back packer place at Kings Cross. Most traveler avoid Kings Cross at night. But its only at night Kings Cross gets lively and more interesting. Lots of strippers, adult sex shops, people drinking and police patrolling.

Fitness First in Sydney sells out tanning lotion and towels are for rent.

Filipinos in Sydney are warm and very happy to chat with another Filipino and even offer their place the next time I will travel to Sydney. Wow so great!

Here are some animals that are OZ natural. I visited them in the Wildlife Park and Sydney aquarium. Tamed kangaroos, koalas, Fire ants, Leather back turtle, Sharks and more.

They also have a miniature of the great barrier reef of Gold Coast.

How can anyone miss the Blue Mountain!? Why blue? Okay let me answer. According to our guide. Its blue because the mist of eucalyptus makes it blue. There are a lot of eucalyptus species in blue mountain and that is why.

For the trip. We went see wild kangaroos, check the cliffs, went to scenic world and rode the cable car and train. I like the train a lot its very steep... its like 75-80 degrees angle.

Part 2. Still blue Mountain.

We went to the 3 Sisters mountain. Had some time with the Thais traveling with us in the van.

For the walk to the stair to see the falls, some of the oldies just stayed in the van as they are tired.

Blue Mountain is also accessible by train. Alight at Katoomba and a lot of explorer bus awaits there to drop you on many places.

There are a lot of Italian food chains in Sydney as well for Thais and Muslim Kebab to choose from. Steaks are also almost everywhere starting from A$5 (but I don't know if the meat will be good). There are a lot of restaurants along Darling Harbor and for drinks, The Rocks. If one seek fun and other happenings there is Kings Cross and Oxford street for gay and lesbian.

I really enjoyed my vacation holiday in Sydney hope to come back again soon.

Other info I observed/learned:
-Hungry Jack's is Burger King
-Sky dive is cheaper than harbor bridge climb
-Kings Cross is not that bad as most think of, its alive!
-'A' is pronounced as 'I'
-Bondi is one of the world's famous beach

More picture:
Picasa Picture
Wallpapers

We Will Rock You With Spirits

2008-03-30T08:54:00.000-07:00

Weekend starts Friday! TGIF and I am on-leave consuming my off-in-lieu for the Saturdays work I have done last year.

Friday. At night after I have done my things. I met with my Filipino friends for the We Will Rock You concert in Esplanade, a treat from Ays, who is working with Credit Suisse (Thanks much!). Five of us watched the concert: Ays, Foyan, Ana, Dioves, and myself. The concert has its own play leaded by Migs Ayesa, an artist born in the Philippines, raised in Australia, He lived in London for 3 years where he played the lead in Queen's WE WILL ROCK YOU, and starred in RENT. They played all the greatest hits of QUEEN. Damn I really like Bohemian Rhapsody and I really like how they did it.... The intro and everything. Anyhow I captured a 30-second video clip. Check this out: YOUTUBE Video Clip

After the concert we went to Makansutra for Ana's dinner and to meet with two more friends: JD and Mike. We all went to Robertson Quay for spirits! White wine and Corona with lime, so good. We stayed there until 2am.

Saturday. It's SLR time... a lot of my friends have SLR and they love photo shooting. I went with them to Labrador Park, near HarborFront. I also brought my digicam and also captured still shots of the nature in the park and the output looks like I have a SLR as well (hahaha). After which we went to JD's place for dinner... He treated us for his birthday! (Thanks). And spend the night till twilight with the spirit of JD (Jack Daniel's) mixed with Coke. When everybody was drunk Q&A portion started. We all left JD's place around 5ish in the morning of Sunday.

Sunday. Sleep zzzZZZZzzzzz. Rest.

Farewell Party at Bedok for APO

2008-02-16T22:25:00.000-08:00

Knock at Apo's farewell party down by?

It ain't Martini.....
It ain't Red Wine.....
It ain't Vodka....
It ain't Cuervo....
It ain't Tiger Beer....

What could it be? It was the mixture of beer and cuervo (huhuhu) thanks to Zelda (hahaha) you got me there.

Apo is a friend of mine, I knew from Foyan. He was working with Citigroup when he decided to go back to Philippines (must have a good deal). Anyway, so much for that.... I was the "tanggero" kinda like a bartender without a bar?, lol do let me know the correct term. I chased everyone and make sure they drink their shot! We had consumed 5 kinds of spirit as stated above :D

CNY in Pinas

2008-02-10T18:49:00.000-08:00

I spent my Chinese Ney Year (CNY) in Philippines. Most of the time in Triangel North of Manila (Trinoma) mall, where I meet my high school friends and gym buddies.

This was also my first time to fly with Philippine Airlines (PAL). Quite good but its bloody hell queuing in Centennial Airport though its more presentable than NAIA. I'll see next time if there will be improvement... I hope so.

Moving Again...

2008-01-20T17:39:00.000-08:00

Finally I got a better place to live in Singpore, which i found in easyroommate.com.sg (captured clip from the add itself). This time around ill be dealing with Filipinos. Nice HDB, good location that is very near the city area (CBD), and a good room for myself. Though I will only start using the room by the 31st of January.

Yesterday, Jan 20, 2008 I started moving some of my stuff and some kitchenwares to my new place soon, and kept it safe in one of the tenant whom I contacted for my room. My new place is located at Telok Blangah near Vivo City. So I am looking forward and hope everything will go well with my future housemates. Map from streetdirectory.

Moving on...

2008-01-06T02:55:00.001-08:00

Right after my Osaka trip, I have to look for my new place. I searched at sites like: easyroommate, flatsdb.com, sg-house.com and mostly are managed by agents. But before that I had reviewed myself and examined what my future will be... questions like: will I still be in Singapore in the next six months? As from my earlier blog entitled "Depressed Weekend" its really getting boring and lonely here in Singapore.

There was one time when I was about to view a room in Tiong Bahru, when I called the agent and told him that I am in the lobby, he replied "sorry the room is taken this morning already....". Such agents are bullshit, did not even informed me beforehand. So I called some of my friends and colleagues too to reserve a room if ever they will have one. Browse... browse... browse... and I registered in easyroommate to view the contacts and email of the tenants. Luckily I got a good reply this is in Oxley Rise: a 5-minute walk to Plaza Singapura. Quite convenient. I have my private door, own toilet, washer, free secured wi-fi and A/C. What I will be missing is cooking 'coz I dont have kitchen. Still I will scout for better one.

2007 Christmas & New Year at Osaka

2008-01-06T02:53:00.000-08:00

Dec. 22, 2007 - Jan. 2, 2008 in Japan (Osaka, Himeji, Nara, Kyoto)

I am lazy to write... so just look at the pictures on the link below:

Click http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/omar.m.montero/2007HolidaysInJapan

The eve of new beginning?

2007-12-01T01:28:00.000-08:00

Dec 2, 2007. Wow! NAIA has free wifi (would you believe on that!? Yes!). I am now in NAIA writing this blog while waiting for my flight. Now let me do a flashback.

My weekend started Friday night, our Company's Dinner and Dance (DnD) at Mandarin Meritus Hotel at Orchard road. I was expecting to get the jackpot price, but, I only have the chance to win a $50 voucher (ahuhuhu). Aside from that, I performed on the stage! Aloha Mamba Dance! and was rewarded with a solar calculator (haha). Compare to the previous years' DnD, this one is better than before. Although the giveaways was a mat (hello, don't we have a bed? or we don't usually have a chance to go to Sentosa for sun bathing), the food served was really good as compared to the last years' DnD. I love the dory fish fillet. I left the event early, around 11pm 'coz I still need to pack for my flight the next day.

The next morning, I left Singapore to Manila, basically to have the final Interview that was conducted this morning at Shangrila Hotel. My folks fetched me at Naia around noon time and we had our lunch at Jollibee at Ortigas-Roosevelt. After that we went to buy groceries and went home, for me to rest and refresh my mind in preparation for the interview. I did not bring a lot of stuff, but I have prepared ang pao (A Red envelope or Red packet is a monetary gift which is given in Chinese society during holiday or special occasions) for the people at home at least as my Christmas gift since I will not be here for Christmas and New Year.

I arrived in Makati around 10am this morning. I was so glad my head hunter was so helpful and prepared in the event, always kept me in touch. I was scheduled for interview 11-12am and thanks God it went well. Good company because they gonna cover my travel expenses and aside from that, they gave me another bag with mug, pen and umbrella in it (Cool). I just hope tomorrow will be a good news for me that I pass the final round of interview. Looking forward... battery is running out....

Update (18-Dec-2007): Unfortunately, I was voted out (its not a new beginning for me... lolz) but they will cover the airfare, I better try again another time....

Happy Birthday: Foyan

2007-11-18T05:39:00.000-08:00

Nov 17 is the birthday of my friend, Foyan. She invited me and our Thai friend for a dinner with her other set of filipino friends based here in Singapore. She treated us at Fish and Co. at Glass House beside Park Mall and we had four (4) sets of seafood platter for two... (wow I was so full after eating) with total headcount of 10.

After dinner we headed to MOS, we hurried so we can catch up the HSBC promotion, that is bring a friend for a VIP pass. Not all of us went to MOS 3 left already after the dinner and since 4 of us in the group has HSBC cards, then all of us went in for free in a VIP lane (cool). The only catch was, we have to be there before 11pm. when people are just preparing to come to bars/clubs. So we found it a little boring at first, of course ambiance is dead, no people dancing yet, and some rooms/halls were still closed until 11pm. But yes, we did enjoy and celebrate to the max at the 2nd floor (sound of the 80's and that does not mean anything... lol). That even Heineken crew took as photo as caught celebrating! awesome! I left them still celebrating at 2am.

So to my friend Foy... many many many more birthdays to come.

Nov 18. Nothing much just slept until the afternoon and then prepare documents for Japan visa application.

Deepavali at Bintan

2007-11-11T16:24:00.000-08:00

Nov 10-11, 2007. I spent my weekend at Bintan, Indonesia; the same place I have been before (link). I could have stayed there since Friday because I thought my friend Nathan from Philippines will be coming over but was postponed.

Well, nothing much was changed since my last visit there. I went there with my friend Wit to surf but the weather was bad, cloudy... and the waves are not even good for surfing. So what we did is just to swim... in pool and on the beach, play Nintendo DS, eat and had a good spa massage.

Since it was holiday when we went there, the ferry was packed as well as the hotel. Lots of white people this time around as compared to the last time I went there. This was a good holiday break for a very busy last quarter in the office. Next vacation will be on December..... I can't wait!

Our CEO's wedding reception

2007-11-03T20:27:00.000-07:00

Nov 2, 2007. My weekend starts after 6.15pm when everybody are busy in the toilet changing their clothes for our CEO's wedding reception. Our CEO, Leslie, the groom and the bride Wendy is a former model (as what my colleague told me).

Reception was held at Fullerton basement ballroom. A pair of bear dolls was given to us in the registration section. We also became a little bit tipsy after a glass or two of wines while waiting for the ballroom to open.

When we are all in the room and waiting for the newly wed to come in. They showed us in wide screen projectors all the places the couple have been traveled, its like around the world! (wow!). After that a few welcome speech from the groom and dinner of 8 course meal started to be served. In our table most of us are Filipino except for one Indonesian who had different menu. During the dinner time in between some shows on stage was performed. One performed playing with sax, some stand-up comedy featuring Kumar, a drag show performer in Singapore. Also from the picture a changing mask performer from China.

I was so full from the food, good quality food. When the last to set of meal were to be served, the couple started to hop per table for group picture taking. This was a nice event to start the weekend.

Depressed weekend

2007-10-28T18:40:00.000-07:00

Depressed
-low in spirits;
-lonely and blue in a strange city;
-depressed by the loss of his job;
-a dispirited and resigned expression on her face;
-downcast after his defeat;
-feeling discouraged and downhearted

Yes! I never been depressed in my stay here in Singapore. Maybe its time to think about life. Specially when friends and love ones are leaving the country for new opportunities in other places like AU, US and their own country like PH and TH. Journey of life continues...

Possible Plans
1. Resign and have a month vacation in home country and return back after a month to look for another job here in SG.
2. Apply to AU as immigrant. According to my friends this could take a year of processing.
3. Look for work in the US probably in east coast so I can live with my relatives there.
4. Back to Philippines to work.
5. Look for other IT work in other countries not stated in #1-4
6. Well.... be strong and stay in SG

Other reason of being depressed
1. Work. For the past year that I have been working in my company, 50% of it, I work 10-12 hours and I feel bad for myself specially for my body and mind. Hope when I get old my body will not charge me all the overtime work.

Its a really tough decision to make. May the light be with me.

I am a SPR

2007-09-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (22-Sept-2007), I got my letter of Singapore Permanent Resident (SPR) approval. What I need to do now is to fill-in the forms attached in the mail and submit myself in their office on weekdays. Yey! I will have to take a half or whole day off. I still need to provide 4 passport photo Id though.... (haiz).

The con is that my salary will be subjected to their social security: Central Provident Fund (CPF). Which means that, I will get deduction every payday (haiz again). The pros are that, it's all my savings plus the contribution of employer, plus the bank interest. In a way I have gains. Another is that, it will be easier for me to get visa to travel to another country (am not sure bout this, but this is what PR holder says).

HK - Macau - HK

2007-08-13T01:23:00.001-07:00

Aug 09. Welcome to HK. Flight with Jetstar was around 6.40am SGT. My friend Wit and I went early to Changi to buy digicam before flying. Unluckily we had a back seat so we cannot recline our chair =(. In addition, flying with a lot of mainland Chinese people is horrible, thats all I can say, that the crew member sometimes have to shout at people standing when they are supposed to be seated.

We arrived in HK Int'l Airport pass 10am and was showering. We took the airport express train and alighted at Kowloon station, and took a cab to Royal Pacific Hotel where we stayed. We were so lucky that all non-executive rooms were full, hence, we were given an executive twin room. Good service. Good room. Great stay.

The Peak. As part of the itinerary which I planned, this day is Peak day. Ride the Peak Tram and explore the Peak. Literally, the Peak is located at the Peak of the mountain with T-shaped shopping centre. And that one way of going there which is famous is by riding the tram. It was cloudy and foggy that time, that we have to wait for a clear view of the city (HK island) to satisfy our sight.

Aug 10. Disneyland Typhoon. Scattered rain hit HK and eminent typhoon was looming. Second day of the itinerary is Disneyland day for ourselves who are young at heart (haha).

Disneyland. We arrived the park before at noon, and from there we waited for other friends to join. One day pass ticket costs HKD 350, and we availed of the fast pass ticket to avoid long queue. We watched the Lion King show (musical) and rode Space Mountain (i like! cool!) in Tomorrowland, also played with a gun to shoot the Zs (hehehe forgot the name). Unluckily between 2-3 there was an announcement that the park will close due to incoming typhoon with signal #8 (waaaah). There was nowhere to go, malls were closing..., office workers were advice to go home... only the MTR was busy that time. We tried our luck to go to the Buddha but was also closed due to typhoon. So we just went to the city and the MTR stations was like a sardine in a can (see picture, like before and after), if you know what I mean. So we just separated and my roommate and I just went back to hotel and rest and call it a day. At night, my friend and I went our for a dinner around temple street and ate long bean and pork. After we took our own photos of the skyline of HK at night (of course it is far better than the skyline of SG or any other city in SEA I guess.

For dinner we went to times square in the city and ate at the food forum in one of the Chinese restaurants around Causeway Bay.

Aug 11. Adventure in Ocean Park and Gamble in Macau. Ocean Park is located in the south of HK island and is bigger than Disneyland. Its like 2 parks connected by cable car. Only two of us went to Ocean Park because the others who are based in HK need to go to work. We had our lunch first arriving at the vicinity.

Our first ride was the Raging River. Fortunate enough we did not get that wet as compared to others =). Then next in line was the Dead Mines... roller coaster! but without a 360 loop, but was good enough, I like the sudden drop. Then we went to watch dolphins and sea lion show at the Ocean Park theater. Gee, dolphins jump 2x my height. The theater was full of audience too, I think its one of the major attraction in the park. We also went to the other area of the park by riding the cable car. I was so mad from the people from mainland china for the reasons: cutting line, insensitive and does not take good care of their kids; it was so annoying.

At the other area of the park we just watched the 3 pandas! So cute, that I wanna have one panda as pet (hehehe). Then we went back to the first area and rode another roller coaster, this time around it has 3 360 loops, and I kept on laughing while it loops (ticklish inside my body). Then the last ride for the day was the Abyss, which moves vertically on a 185 foot tower then it will do a turbo drop (i like this!).

After a day of adventure and thrill at Ocean Park. We went back to hotel to rest for a bit. Around 8pm we departed from HK to go to Macau for Casino!. We sailed with a speed boat and since it was raining, our ship sways with the waves making some passengers get dizzy and puke (ewwww, gross!!!!).

Different shuttle buses of different casino awaits customers at the port of Macau. Casinos are everywhere in Macau and is well lighted because of it. Some of the Casinos are Wynn, Sands, Babylon, Galazy and Lisboa Casino. We went to visit first Wynn Casino. They have fountain show too. We had our dinner in Wynn Casino and I played the slot machine there too. 0.20HKD per game and guess how much I lose? S$4 only. One player lost 40K HKD thats around S$7.8K in Black Jack. We also wend to Galaxy (cool they have sexy dancers on stage lolz), and other casinos... We went back to Hong Kong around 2am.

Aug 12. Shopping... We hop on different shops like CK, Diesel, Boss, Nautica, AX, DKNY and a lot more. Glad that I have found a good shirt that fits me at FCUK and was 30% off. Still thinking of the silver diesel pair of shoes with 50% off, I should have brought. Maybe next time.

More pictures: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/omar.m.montero/HKMacau

Lazy Weekend

2007-07-15T16:09:00.000-07:00

Boo! on working on Saturday. It really makes me sick working on Saturday! Just imagine coming back to office, Saturday for 8hours of work... whew. This make me think of moving to another company.

Good thing I have donuts to release stress. Krispy Kreme and Donut Factory hahaha; US brand donuts and Asian brand (of course Krispy Kreme is far better than Donut Factory). From Saturday night to Sunday night all I did is to sleep, eat, play WoW and watch movie. After office last Satruday my friend and I watched Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix at Tiong Bahru Mall around 10pm. I like the Harry Potter movie this time 'coz its not that childish compared to the earlier movie series.

Then on Sunday, I met my friends for lunch at CPK along Orchard road and watched Live Free or Die Hard 4.0 at GV Grand around 10pm as well. This weekend work really made me sick! Good thing the movies also help me release the stress.

Dinner Dinner Dinner + Tourist Trap

2007-07-08T17:48:00.001-07:00

July 6 (Friday). My best friend Herbert and his girlfriend Chisse went here for tourist vacation. I invited them for a dinner at Clark Quay, I booked a dinner at Jumbo around 9.40pm. After office I went to Clarke Quay to wait for them. They arrived in the area on time and we ordered: chilli crab, black pepper crab, jelly fish, mee goreng, fried prawn with cereals, rice and steamed buns to dip in chilli crab. We finished eating around 11.20pm (gees that was long). Then we walked towards the Central Mall and even told them that the trees with lights there were copied form Shinjuku street in Japan. Then we had green tea (macha) ice cream at Hokkaido ice cream store while watching people doing reverse bungee jump on the other side of the river. Moving along and since they have still around 20mins before MRT closes I tour them inside Clarke Quay bars and shops where I usually hangout: The Clinic, MOS, Moroccan lounge, Hooters, etc... Then I send them off to MRT. After I arrive home of course I check first auction house of WOW before I slept.

Saturday. I have to come to the office (fuck!). I was disappointed on how my boss manage resources. I don't have anything to do much not until 4pm in the afternoon. The task was initially assigned to other person who took leave and was transferred to my other colleague. Around 4pm he cannot resolve the issue on his IDE and my boss assigned the task to me. But prior to that I already told my boss at the beginning of the week that I have an appointment on Saturday and that I will leave office around 3-3.30 initially and was moved to 5pm because of the task. But wait.... he haggle if I can go by 5.30. I was totally disappointed on how he manages resources.

Anyhow I went to see my friends (Singaporean group with French, US and Brazilian) at Harbor Front on time for our Cheng-Ho Singapore Harbor Cruise. We had dinner 'international buffet' in the cruise. I call this 'TOURIST TRAP'. Why? because they serve not good food at all, and the waitress are so dumb! Imagine my one of my friend ordered vodka cranberry and the waitress gave him vodka can berry (the waitress could have given him a gasoline rather... lolz :P. Totally not good at all for S$55 what do we get in the end? A post card not even postage free. Anyway... after the dinner we went to Vivo Mall to grab some beers and had chit chat. We finished around 11pm.

Sunday. Since I left the office early yesterday, I have to come drop by in the office for the critical issue. But I did not stay long just fixed the XSL file and left the office. I workout at paragon and meet Filipino colleagues before at CrimsonLogic who I invited to play WOW too. We ate at Jologs food outlet in Lucky Plaza (hehehe). At night we just played WOW.

[waiting for other pix: Desmond send me the pix]

Where is Orchard Road???

2007-07-01T09:54:00.001-07:00

June 30, 2007. Its been two days that I am having sorethroat. I said to myself that, this time around I will not let the day passed without consulting a doctor. After 9am in the morning, I head out of the road to flag a cab. I told driver to drop me off at Paragon shopping centre along Orchard road (for my check-up). The driver nodded and that if I can direct him how to go there. I was so surprised that I asked him... "What? you don't know where Orchard is?", and he replied "just tell me where to go lah!, I don't go to the place often". I said okay... (noob cabbie). I was also surprised when my bill was only S$2.60. He might forgotten to start the metre when I hopped in.

It was around 9.30 am when I arrived at the Medical Associates Centre at 6/F Paragon. Only to find out that they open 9am but doctors comes at 10.45am. So instead of wasting time waiting I just went to Din Tau Fong for breakfast.

Burning Weekend

2007-06-10T16:16:00.001-07:00

Why burning weekend? Its not that hot.... the thing is, I have my burning crusade expansion set for world of warcraft.

Imagine in just 8 weeks of playing wow, my toon, pally is ready to go to outlands. Got the expansion set at Mac store at Wheelock at S$75. It has 4Cd's to install and a patch to download. Featuring 2 new races one for alliance, Drainei and the horde Blood Elf. I created a new toon for the horde and I selected blood elf warlock, named Badtukumu (hehehe). So far so good.

This weekend is my first time to remit a huge amount of money, amounting to S$700 to my folks (how can I eat now? sigh). Of course, I did not forget about visiting the gym to burn fats that accumulate so fast, after I remitted money at iRemit.

Sunday came and I had my favorite chicken for dinner which I bought from Crystal Jade Express and served with rice, cooked in bibimbap sauce from Muji at Paragon. Unfortunately they run out of soy chicken, so I have to try the roasted chicken. So far its not that bad but I still like soy chicken a lot.

2001 WEEK 20: Mass at Antipolo

2007-05-27T18:08:00.000-07:00

May 26-27, 2007. I went hope to Philippines just over the weekend to hear mass at Antipolo church, for my yearly May vow. Flying with Tiger Airways I arrived at Clark around 12.30pm and my folks together with my auntie, picked me up in the airport. In the car, I handed over what my cousin Katrina gave me in London for he mom. I even gave my bag 'coz I have no use of it. For my mom I gave her new Sony Ericsson handphone. I also bought shirt for my dad, elder bro and nephew, bag for my sister and chocolates for everybody else in the house (now I am broke).

Nothing much to do in Philippines, I don't have time to meet with friends, since I only have one night. I just slept all night. The next day Sunday, we went to hear mass (7-8am). After the mass we went to nearby restaurant to eat (I ate 'lechon', roasted port), I also bought rosted cashew nut, which is my favorite in Antipolo. After eating we went hope to rest a bit before my folks send me off to the airport.

Around 1pm, my folks drove me to the airport, since I still have a lot of time for my 5.30pm flight, we went first to a nearby SM mall at Clark. I bought a merrell running shoes, for my workout and for some marathon contests. I also bought a dozen of dunkin donuts for my housemate in Singapore. My folks dropped me in the airport around 4pm. Then I started to queue in the airport, until I flew to Singapore.

*Baby Kurt is my nephew

2007 WEEK 19: Portugal and short trip to London

2007-05-20T23:52:00.000-07:00

At first I thought I couldn’t finish the task assigned to me before my vacation. Fortunately, around 4pm on Friday (May 11, 2007) I had solved all issues passed on to me. It gave me a sense of completion and great feeling that I will have a good and peaceful one-week vacation in Portugal. At Changi, I converted some SGD to 500EUR as pocket money.

My flight itinerary (May 11-20) was:
To Portugal: SG – London (Heathrow) – Portugal (Lisbon): Qantas, British Airways
To SG: Same route as above but with British Airways

During the flight from SG to London on Qantas I watched 3 movies in the plane: Letters from Iwo Jima, Night at the Museum, and The Queen (now that’s a movie marathon hehehe)

May 12, Day 1: Lost & Found. This was the first time it happened to me… you know what?? Our luggage was not with us on the way to Portugal! The bags were supposed to be checked in all the way through from Singapore to Lisbon. So it may make sense to blame Heathrow for mishandling our luggage. However, our flight was delayed in Singapore so there was little time to transfer our belongings in London (dang!). So who’s to blame? We went to speak to a lost and found officer and reported the incident. It took us almost 2 hours in the queue for only one personnel is attending to the customers. We had a small chitchat with the staff, like where we are from etc. We told the attendant that we were from Singapore (working in Singapore), and she said she was surprised to find out so. We asked her why. She said that we were “too kind to be Singaporeans” from the way we talked. Hehehe, I guess she had a bad impression on the Tiny Red Dot. The attendant asked us to come back around 6pm as our luggage will arrive in Lisbon with a 5pm flight. Also, they cannot deliver our bags to our hotel since the customs will need to inspect our luggage (which is locked and the key was with me).

We head to our hotel at Holiday Inn Continental riding a public bus. All buses in Lisbon have flat rate of 1.3EUR for a single ride or 3EUR for a day pass (for your reference, 1EUR is approximately equivalent to 2SGD at this time of posting). Their MRT also has a flat rate also of 0.75EUR for the metropolis subway. Weather was good, around 12oC. Architectures did not surprise me much ‘coz I have seen some in Philippines that were built by the Spaniards. I like the color of the houses and buildings in Portugal: beige, orange and white so neat to see, on the other hand there were a lot of vandalism in the walls of the street ‘prolly by some gangsters or whatever. We explored some churches, and even tried their tram going to the castle. We tried some street food like merengge and egg tart. I also like the side streets of Lisbon, which are made from chunks of marble stone.

We head back to the airport to get our luggage past 6pm and head back to the hotel, and grabbed food O Funil restaurant around 9pm, since it starts to get dark in Portugal around this time during May, and I tried Filetes Pescada, food was good… I love fish fillets!

Day 2: Discovering Lisbon. We left the hotel past 10am and headed to Belem thru MRT; we didn’t know that, some train doors in Europe does not open automatically that we have to press the open button once the train stop. That’s why we missed our station at first, and have to transfer train to go back to our destination.

In Belem there is a Monument of Discoveries, we all knew that Portugal had discovered a lot of countries and even set a colony during the age of discoveries. We also went to the Tower of Belem on the seashore, a walking distance from the Monument of Discoveries. Then we walked to the Jeronimo’s Monastery in which I was so amazed by the architecture , it is too detailed and I remember World of Warcrafts’ Scarlet Monastery (hehehe) it looks similar that’s why. There was a mass ongoing at the right wing of the monastery. In the chapel where the mass was ongoing, the pillars of the chapel amazed me; it was too detailed with stone carving and even the ceiling itself (cool).

Then we can’t think of where to eat so we tried Mc Donalds (hehehe) and had egg tart dessert at a century old pastry shop, Pasteis de Belem. After filling in ourselves, we rode a tram to the National Park. From the old century views in the city, here comes modern look, Lisbon’s national park. Cool building designs, nice walkway with fountains, I see Philippine flag also along with the other countries, nice trams and lots of tourists. We walked all the way to the start of the cable car, ‘coz we need to go to the other end for the Oceanarium and according to articles Lisbon’s Oceanarium is the biggest in Europe, though it smells so fishy to me. They have a big tank in the middle of the building housing hundreds of species, one of the tourist’s favorite here is the sunfish, its huge! After this we burned time inside the mall, Vasco Da Gama ‘coz of the rain, and had our dinner inside the mall too.

Day 3: Hiking. We went to Sintra, a place outside Lisbon that have a world heritage century old castles and palaces. The travel from Lisbon to Sintra is more or less 20mins via train. The last terminal is Sintra itself. From Sintra’s station we walked all the way up to the Sintra National Palace and explored the place, from here the Moorish Castle can be seen which is on top of the mountain. After that we had our lunch at the Center Hotel near the palace, I just had linguine. After eating and a short rest, we climbed the mountain, it took us more or less and hour and a half to climb to the castle, the breeze was too cold. Finally after an hour and a half we reached the ticketing office and had a snack break. First we went to the Moorish Castle, the walls are like the Great Wall of China (hehehe), wind was so strong and cold and a lot of tourists are exploring the castle too. The castle is overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Basically we went to explore all the corners of the castle.

After Moorish Castle we went to the Palacio National da Pena, which can be seen from the castle. It is a huge palace. Though sad to say it is closed on Mondays, so we just took some picture at the garden of this palace called Parque da Pena. After taking pictures we decided to take bus all the way down the mountain (wow the bus costs 4EUR expensive! For just less than 10mins ride).

Day 4. Western Europe. We went to Cascais, western part of Europe, which can be seen also from the Moorish Castle. We alighted at Estoril and walked the coastline to Cascais. Though there were not so much people swimming in the beach, but a lot are sun bathing that time, trying to get rid of their pale color. I also visited some shops for souvenirs but had no luck for a good one. We went back to the hotel early to rest and went out at night to the city for dinner, which I had grilled chicken at Don Giovanni restaurant. These pretty much are all the things to be done in Lisbon and its neighboring town.

Day 5. Sun Burn. We checked-out at the hotel and went to the bus station. It took us 4-hour travel to Lagos, which is in Algarve, south of Portugal. Temperature here is quite warmer, 26-27C as compared to Lisbon with 12-19C and in Lagos it can be as high as 45C during summer. After arriving at the area, we look for the inn and check-in, had lunch in the nearby restaurant, and went for a stroll all the way to the west of until we reached the lighthouse. I forgot to apply sun block lotion, my arms and face was sunburned. During the trail we went down the shore, posed and took some pictures and even had a drink of juice and soda in a close restaurant because it was very tiring… imagine walking 2km under the sun with less trees on the road and cliffs. Some women are topless too; to bad the nude beach is on the other side far from our place. Going back, we took tram back to town, rested a bit, played a bit of Warcraft and had dinner next to the inn. My face became shinier because of the sunburn.

Day 6. Southwestern Europe. We went to Cape St. Vincent, the last town of Portugal in southwest and the southwestern part of Europe as well. A lot of tourists were also taking pictures and watching the stunning view of the cliffs, while the waves of Atlantic Ocean splashes thru. I then realized that the calendars I use to see when I was little kid was not computer edited ‘coz I’ve seen the cliffs myself. So peaceful and forgetting work and just be with nature... it was so good and was so relaxing. Apart from that, we also visited Sagres, next town to the east. There was nothing much there, only a fortress wherein it features cliffs as well.

Day 7. Bye Bye Lagos. We left Lagos, town in Algarve, at noontime for 4-hour in-land travel back to Lisbon. We arrived in Lisbon past 4pm (London time). We went to Restoradores to check-in and to spend the night. We also went to hop malls to buy some souvenirs to my colleagues, friends and family in Philippines. If the first place was on top end (Holiday Inn), the second was mid range (Mar Azul), this time its low range no AC but only electric fan. Still I was able to sleep well.

Day 8. Bye Bye Lisbon. We left Lisbon around 9am and flew to Heathrow. In Heathrow we asked the immigration officer if they could issue In-Transit visa since we have more than 8hours of waiting time for the connecting flight back to Singapore. It is a good time also to see London with my cousin Katrina who is based in London. Unfortunately, they can’t issue an In-transit visa and that there is no such thing. So, I sms my cousin about it, then she gave her father-in-law’s number who works in the airport, that he, Neri, might give us assistance. So I did call her father-in-law to guide us thru. He escorted us in the executive lounge of the airport for where he is working. He told us that it has been 3 days of strict security in Heathrow airport, that even their cell phones are being check. That explains why In-Transit visa is so hard to issue, he added.

So what else to do in executive lounge? Eat, eat ,eat… he served us with pasta, and some bread aside from the food served in the lounge. I also played world of warcraft (hahaha! Yeah its true, I am so addicted). Around 8.45pm (London) I thanked, Neri and went out of the lounge to board.

Day 9. Back to London. There was a problem in the plane going to Singapore. At first, the AC didn’t seem to work. After fixing the problem, which took the crewmembers around 2hours, I noticed from the front seat screen that our flight path seems to reverse back. So I began to worry that there might be a problem. Few more minutes… the captain announced that we have to go back to Heathrow because after fixing the AC problem it caused two systems of the plane to malfunction. I was not scared but was worried about work at that time. Based on the rescheduled departure, departure will be Sunday at around 4pm (London time) and will be in Singapore at Monday, 10am (Singapore time).

So we did go back to Heathrow. The immigration issued 24-hour In-Transit visa for all passengers requiring but without UK visa. The airlines sent us off to Park Inn Hotel near the airport to rest with free breakfast. Then in the morning I met my cousin Katrina to get the stuff for her mom. She gave me 20 pounds to buy chocolates for her mom too. During departure, delays were still encountered…… BA is truly BAD AIRLINES. But during the flight they tried to serve the passengers with excellent service.

Traveling tips to Portugal:
1. Do not eat, and tell the waiter you do not want the bread couvert being served while waiting for your main order, or else it will add up to your bill, unless you wanted the it.
2. It is customary that customers give tip to waiters
3. From Asia avoid traveling to Europe with Bad Airways ooops… British Airways
4. Meals costs around 7-20EUR
5. Portugal is a member of Schengen

Thanks to my cousin Katrina for spending a little time with me in London, and also to her father-in-law, Neri, who gave us the privilege to stay in an executive lounge while waiting for connecting flight.

Hope next time I visit London Katrina will be able to drive me around London.

More pictures at this link

Early Weekend marks at JPMCC; Recognition

2007-05-03T16:40:00.001-07:00

Thursday, May 3, 2007 marks the start of my weekend. Why? because it seems that we are not tied-up in work because most of us in the office including most of the team leads and managers (total of 32) joined the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge (JPMCC). Its a 5.6km marathon of more or less 10,000 corporate personnel (gee good thing nobody was injured with stomp). The starting line starts at the bridge next to Esplanade and was divided with a string for runners and walkers. Of course runners are in front but still divided by time range one can achieve like: less than 20mins, less 30mins less 40mins. Though I was not sure where I fall 'coz I really cant see the divider nor it is crowded and that I cannot move in front further.

It took me 38mins to finish the course, in which i combine sprint, jog and walk. There were water stops along the course which I grabbed some and water my sweaty face (yeah I like the feeling). Everybody who finished the course got a bag (not that good though) with T-shirt, 4 anlene yougart drink and some paper ads.

Friday came... and look like everybody was resting from the marathon. Not so much work to do for we have farewell for our Filipino colleague whose moving out to Canada for good. A long lunch around 2 hours at Tuk Tuk Thai and a farewell message meeting at end of day.

Saturday... I workout at Paragon Fitness First and gee, I was not that surprised that my photo in winning Fitness First's Motorola Duathlon Challenge is in the gym's monthly newsletter (bottom right of the picture above), this is aside from some poster posted in clubs bulletin board itself. So I grabbed some and scan and sent it to my gym buddies in Philippines (hehehe). Then after workout I meet my Thai friends and a Filipina in Valley Park for dinner. They prepared and cooked Thai food... the tuna salad was good!.

Fish Reflexology on Black Saturday

2007-04-08T18:13:00.000-07:00

After a long time of running 3-4 times a wee and some callus were formed, its time to reward my feet a little comfort with a reflexology, now fish reflexology!

This is in Sentosa next to underwater world, the shop is Fish Reflexology, Underwater World. It was quite fun and tickling (at first 2-5 mins) which keeps me laugh and some people would look at me (hehehe... not my fault... Fish fault!). I soaked my feet in the water for 20 minutes, and let the fish do their thing. The shop has too pool of fish, one has large fishes and the other one small ones. The large fishes are tickling while the small ones makes me feel something like grounded (electrocuted).

After the fish reflexoloy, the staff called to wash my feet (and so i did) and seat in the couch and the therapist will to his thing on my feet. It was so relaxing and I fall asleep (zzzzzZZZZ). After 20 minutes of reflexology again, they woke me up to have the next massage, this time back and head massage. I have to seat in the back massage chair and bend my head in. The therapist started to massage my nape and it was so good... I fall asleep again for 10 minutes, and I think as far as I remember the therapist try to woke me up 3x (hehehe).

How I wish it could be longer, feels good to have massage then fall asleep. I remember my cousin Katrina who lives in UK now, who used to do massage on me every Friday night after doing her laundry. Hope you massage me again when I am on vacation there =P.

2007 WEEK 14: New addiction... WOW

2007-04-01T15:58:00.000-07:00

After purchasing my World of Warcraft (WOW) standard edition at Marina Square and installing Thursday (March 29, 2007) S$39.90 and a game card 2 moths validity 24hrs a day around S$49.90, it became my newest addiction aside from working out during weekends.

I came home late last Friday and I have to rest a bit because I had a headache, then I woke up past midnight (Saturday), guess what... I switched on my mac and... run WOW hehehe. Well... I was invited to play before by Chiwai from my previous work to play but was too lazy to install, instead I played Defence Of The Ancients (DOTA) with my colleagues in the office at CrimsonLogic during free time (need to practice ALT-TAB... you know what i mean), and with friends, relatives and other players too. Also Albert Egana, my classmate in college who lives now in US invited me too and even insisted that DOTA are for poor who cannot afford WOW (hahaha... he convinced me too). I was about to choose Alberts realm Llane but was already full, so I decided to join in the Lightbringer room with my former colleagues Chiwai and Candice who gave me 20 gold in the game too (thanks with this I can buy armor, weapons and travel with griffin a lot hehehe). Continuing the story... I also invited one of my friend to join so I can have a group to start a party to kill monsters. From picture above you can see my character and more detailed in this link (WOW: ID=tukumu; Realm=Lightbringer). I slept around 3am.

Then... I woke up around 8am and started playing again until 1pm. Then a little nap 'til 3pm, went out to workout until 6pm; and went out to Night Safari with friends. We need to tour one of our good friend whose an English teacher in Japan, Rod. Nothing much new in Night Safari since my last visit there... I hope my friend enjoyed it. Rod also noticed that the dancers were doing tinikling (a former national Philippine dance), dancing with four bamboos, and maybe the dancers are Filipinos? Since lots of entertainers here in Singapore are Filipinos.

Continuing... We went off the safari 30 minutes before midnight, and after arriving home I rushed to my mac and play WOW this time until 4am (Sunday). Woke up around 9am and continue the addiction hehehe. Played until 1pm, grabbed lunch at crystal jade, played again... run for 10 minutes then jacuzzi, ate tomato pesto pasta at home which I cooked... and played again... waaaa I am so addicted!

2007 WEEK 10: MOS, KRABI, RAILAY, TRANG

2007-03-11T15:59:00.000-07:00

This week, weekend for me started as early as Thursday night, since I am also on leave the whole Friday for Krabi, Thailand. Thanks to Foyan for inviting me and my former colleague Arnaldo to Jack Daniel's Party at Ministry of Sound (MOS, Singapore), Friday night.

Last Thursday (March 8, 2007), right after office hours I rushed down to meet Apo, who works at Citibank (since he forgot his hand phone), and went to Liang Court where he had his dinner at Mc Donalds. A few minutes later, Arnaldo came and we all waited for Foyan's sms. Foyan told us that we would see each other at TCC at Clarke Quay. At this time, I was urging two of my colleagues to join us, but they passed after a long discussion thru sms. We stayed at TCC while we wait for others.... Bee Came, Maia and her friends I really cannot remember all the names (to many to remember for just a night). Only Maia and Foyan have VIP passes and Foyan is brining only 3, which includes me, the rest 10, are Maia's.

Inside MOS damn we shouldn't have had our dinner, since inside MOS they are serving buffet for Jack Daniels friends, us. They had pasta, chips, mashed potato, chicken wings and a free flow of JD Coke (Wow!!!), but the queue was too long... I only got a change to drink 2 glasses of JD Coke. They have band too, who plays alternative songs.

We did not stay long at MOS; we left the club around 10.45pm, since all of them still have to work the next day. In addition, the ambiance was not that encouraging for us to dance =P.

Friday. March 9, 2007. I woke up early for my 7 flight to Krabi. I together with my Thai friends see each other in Changi airport (Pongpan Pienputtarapong [Oil], Sirikanya Narongtanupon [Ning], Taweekiat Charoenkhunanon [P'Kong] and Wit) where they had light breakfast (I took mine in the plane). The flight was 1hr and 40minutes. We have to wait for Kae to arrive from Bangkok, but since we don't want to waste time, we went to a small town riding on a jeepney (two rows as what they call it there), and had a light lunch of local foods (people here are healthy for they eat whatever leaves they can pick in their yard). Then we went back to airport to see Kae and to wait for Ning's uncle who drove/leaded us to Railay where we gonna stay for the first night. I was amazed by the limestone formation in Krabi, it is so nice and calming... We stop at Krabi; the girls bought flip-flops, while Wit and I bought our sunglasses since we forgot ours in Singapore. Then finally we went to our last land trip, for we have to take a tail boat to Railay peninsula. I love the views all around... Limestone island... Clear sea...

In less than an hour we arrived at Railay peninsula where we have to stay until the next day. We stayed at Railay Princess Resort and SPA where we had free accommodation care of Ning's relative. After unpacking our things in the hotel and rest a bit, we prepared for our trekking and rock climbing. We went to one of a shop there and get equip properly. After all of us were equipped, we went walking along the shore to get in to the west side of the peninsula where people swim and sunbathe. Almost 95% of people in the beach are whites (Caucasians); lots of girls are top less under the sun. We walked further towards a cave. We climbed the limestone and get inside the cave (it was not that hard for me, thanks to my everyday gym). We went into the caves using flashlight, ropes, bamboo ladders, each other's hand and trust. Upon reaching an opening (wow the view!! its paradise), the view was very calming and peaceful. Out rock climber instructor lay down the ropes for our free fall. There were two ropes to choose from, one is hard and 1 easy, of course I chose the hard one =P. Lucky me I did not have any wound or bruises, because others had it. It was nice experience and adventurous going down the rock, for my life is entrusted in my hands, and I was careful enough not to loose my grip on the rope. After hours of trekking we went down the cliff to have a light snack on the beach on the west side of the peninsula. We had crepes and drinks and waited for the sun to set (they say... 'you cannot say that one has been in Railay, without seeing the sun set'). I took a nap on along the shore while waiting for the sun to set. And it was definitely a nice view, all of us observing it with all the other people around. After this we went back and to shower and rest a bit and prepare for a heavy dinner and go dancing in a bar. We had barracuda, fried rice for dinner and some Thai dishes that I really don't know the name. Then after the dinner we went to a bar close to the restaurant.... I ordered mai thai while I watched the fire show. Some of us went back to our room around 11pm to rest and get energized for the next day.

The next day... I woke up around 9am and I wonder where are some of my friends... Then the phone rang... They are waiting for me at the hotel bar for buffet breakfast; they served omelet, pancakes, chicken dog and nuggets, fried phad thai noodles and veggies. Right after breakfast we walked around the shore and decided to swim too after we checked out from the hotel. Some of us sun bathe, I also lay down to burn my back under the sun to make the color even. After the swim since we already checked out, we rinsed ourselves in the shower in the pool area of the hotel and get dressed for we are going to Ning's auntie's pad at Trang. It took us more or less 3 hours to get there located inside a village that is owned too by Ning's uncle. They were so nice to us and accommodating, and the house is an English style: big hall, big couch, and nice view by the riverside. Ning's auntie prepared the dinner for us, man that was a lot: kebab (beef/pork/chicken), prawn, crabs, fish, mushrooms, tom yam and rice; and we ate with the whole family. A long dinner that lasted for less than 3 hours, and after 2 hours more I went up and took shower before I slept.

On our last day... We all woke up around 6-7am and had coffee by the riverside of the house, took pictures and had a short chitchat. Then we pack our thing and placed at the cars compartment for our snorkeling at one of Ning's auntie's resort. Along the way we stopped at a restaurant to eat Kaw Yam, a local organic food. After eating we continue with our travel but this time we used the red car and Ning was our driver that time. Arriving at the resort we unpacked our things while Ning went to see her auntie and prepare for the snorkeling, they have their own speedboat and driver/guide that leaded us thru our entire journey that day. At the port I was asked not to speak because they charge foreigners differently, so I kept my mouth shut first. We have to cross the public transport ship and another smaller one just to get to the speedboat, and right after we got in the captain send us off to our snorkeling area near an island. We snorkeled 3 times; the second one was after we went to the emerald cave and the last one was after our lunch. So many fish though I don't know the name but what I remembered were the tiger fish and lobsters. We also went to emerald cave; they call it emerald cave because the water when struck by light rays the color is like emerald. We went deep in the cave until darkness falls down and after few seconds we saw a light leading to an open area, and I remember my friend told me that there were only two of a kind in this world. Tourist has to wear life jackets and swim slowly through small cavity to the cave about 80 meters. However this cave is available to visit only at low tide. Inside the Emerald Cave is beautiful as its name by the emerald water and white sand beach, surrounded by high cliff and covered by the blue sky. This is one of the wonderful natures, which cannot find anywhere in Thailand.

After the long trip we went back to the shore around 2pm and took shower. We left the resort around 3pm with a commuter van to Krabi airport. The trip in general was excellent in a short time though, I tell you 3 days is not enough to discover south of Thailand. It was a good experience for me to see that they preserve nature here. Our flight was around 6pm to Singapore, while Kae need to stay for another hour for her flight was around 7pm to BKK.

Kurp koon krub (Thank you) especially to the accommodation and all of my friends and Ning's relatives even though I am the only one not Thai, we share common laughter.

more pix: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/omar.m.montero/KrabiRailayTrang

*most of the pictures posted were taken thru my hand phone.

Sungard Bowling and Farewell to Kae

2007-03-04T17:11:00.001-08:00

TGIF (March 2, 2007) we had our company Bowling at Marina Bowling Center at Marina Square. Our team "Heroes" is composed of 3 Filipinos and an Indian (Me, Geranne, Theo, and Rajesh). Although we were eliminated during the 1st 2 games at least I had 2 strikes (hehehehe) and a bunch of spares. My colleague Geranne although his first time still scores well (see you can do it). After bowling 3 of us Filipinos decided to have dinner at Lau Pa Sat as the same time meet Theo's colleagues and friends way back in Philippines. I was not so surprised when Teo's friends asked if I am a local, but Theo told them im Japanese.... (awww then we have to converse in English just to pretend that I am not a Filipino); and until we depart they did not know (they gonna kill you Theo tsk tsk).

The next day, Saturday, we had a farewell party for Kae, whose going back to Thailand this coming Tuesday, after 6 months or more of assignment here in Singapore. We had dinner at Holland Village at Fosters Restaurant (Me, Oil, Ning, Wit, Pom, Kae and her friend). The restaurant serves good pasta and the ambiance is nice with live acoustic type singer (I think the singer is a Filipino, I can say from the accent). Hope to see you Kae at Trang this coming Weekend. We ate there for about two hours we had: calamari, Caesar salad, Mediterranean pasta, chicken, mushroom and red wine. After dinner we decided to have shisha/hooka at Arab street. We stayed at Samar again but since we came in too early and people around are still having their dinner, we have to stay at the ground floor first until 10.30pm. Since im craving for cakes, I ordered blue berry cheesecake and a milk tea Laufah. At 10.30pm we went up, barefoot because no shoes, flips allowed upstairs. We sat at the middle of the hall facing the live band which of course we don't understand the song because it is in Arabic. One singer rhythm is so good he is like rapping and doing hip hop. We stayed there until Kong and friends arrived, we left the place around midnight and get a cab to drive us home.

CNY post celeb with Thai Friends

2007-02-24T21:34:00.000-08:00

Upon arriving at SG, Feb 23, 2007. I sms my friends as to what time we gonna meet up. Good thing I still have 2 hours to go. I arrived SG around 4.30pm. And we all gonna meet at Clarke Quay for reverse Bungee and dinner at Jumbo and anything goes.

First commers, Me and Wit, followed by Oil, Ning, Kae + friend, Kong + 2 friends. A long discussion on who will do bungee.... darn it ends up to only two of us will do it, Wit and I myself. The course was not that bad, and i like it more we are falling down facing the ground hehehehe. For S$40 and a 3-5 minutes ride.... hmmm its ok for first timers like me.

Then we had dinner at Jumbo at boat quay, we ordered: Chilli crab, Cereal Prawn, Scallops with taro, Brocolli with scallops and dessert. Kae was so funny telling her school life that she had a model friend and an actress fro highschool and college which makes her invisible to guy's eyes whenever she is with her model/actress friend (hehehe). Food again! damn making me fat hehehe all of us 9 people shared S$45 for the food. Then ice cream at Hokkaido, I passed this time around for I was so full.

Then we stayed till late night at Moroccan Lounge Bar at Clarke Quay, close to MOS. We had two Shisha and I just ordered San Pellegrino for drinks. Puff, puff puff till we get dizzy hehehe. Well the place has good ambiance and good crown. Though all of my friends are Thai its not a problem is they talk in thai most of the times for 1 will translate it to me in English heheheh. Talk talk talk, laugh laugh laugh, puff puff puff and drink! After we run out of the second shisha we tried to order cigarette, but since its a bit pricy there, so one of us have to go out and buy it at 7-Eleven hehehe good thing was they did not charged us for items bouht outside. We stayed there for 4 hours till 1am.

CNY break

2007-02-24T17:43:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the Saturday OTs and thanks to the company's management decision to add leaves to those who went to work in the office during Saturdays from Nov. to Dec. I got 3.5 additional leaves (Oooops make it 4.5 as what my manager emailed hehehe). These leaves I used Friday afternoon last Feb 16, Feb 21-23, Feb 26.

From Feb 17-23 I was on vacation back to my hometown Valenzuela. Mom, Dad ad my Auntie (mom of my cousin Katrina) picked me up in the airport at NAIA, then we went to Cavite where we had lunch at the same time, farewell of my cousin Katrina who flew for London with her husband. They prepared my favorite foods: crabs and prawn. Aside from eating lunch we had a chit-chat for a while and watched their wedding ceremony. After that, dad drop us at Makati where we had snacks at Venetto and watched Ghost Rider at GB1, while my friend and I wait for my friend Nathan who will pick us up at GB3. Picture above was taken outside of Venetto (John my cousin's husband, Katrina my cousin, me, and my big bro Osmond).

Upon meeting up with Nathan and other gym buddies, we ate at Chimara, one of my favorite organic fast food before (Before... because their mixture now is different) and I had pesto pasta =). After eating we headed to the Fort for dessert at Krispy Kreme hehehe. And Nathan.... does your company knew that you used the company's Nissan patrol for our Tagaytay huh??? hehehe. After the dessert we went to Embassy at the Fort nice ambiance, though most of the people are high school juniors and seniors who had their prom somewhere and headed there too. We stayed at Embassy till 1am then headed straight to Nathan's pad (thanks for the hospitality by letting me sleep in your own room while u slept at your own guest room tsk tsk).

The next day, Sunday, we woke up around 10am to prepare and meet others at Alabang town center for lunch at Tagaytay at Sonya's Garden. Thanks again for the free organic lunch buffet ill try to bring my folks there too next time =). After the lunch in which I was so full, we went to starbucks overlooking Taal, then to the badly managed Palace in the Sky, then had halo halo at a restaurant overlooking Taal again. Food, Food, Food, waaaaaaaaa!!!! summer is close I need to trim down hehehe. Going back to the metropolis we stop again to Alabang town center where we had dinner at Jollibee in which I had palabok. Then thanks to Alvin for dropping us at North Edsa where my friend and I took shuttle to my place. The next day Monday, I toured my friend around my university, UST, and around Intramuros, Mall of Asia and GB3 where we had lunch with Nathan at Masas (Filipino Cuisine, wow my friend did like sisig) and dinner with my best friend Herbert at Red Crab, and 3 of us went home together. Early morning Tuesday my dad sent off my friend at NAIA, then we ate at McDonald's at Greenhills where I workout as well after our light breakfast. All though out my activity was gym, mall, go to moms office and meet friends, high school friends (barkada).

We had a small party for my dads birthday lat Feb 22, as a gift I gave my zune to my dad, and thanks for joining: Sergio, Herbert and Doc. Theresa =) also to Ramon who joined us at starbucks (tell your boss that theres life after work hehehe).

I went back to SG Feb 23, 2007 having Php20 only in my wallet huhuhuhu. And bringing stuff to the son of my moms friend, like a messenger.... grrrrr.

Normal Weekend Addiction

2007-02-11T17:52:00.000-08:00

Feb 9-11, 2007 Activities.
Hangout with Friends/Clubbing. Well it always start on Friday night. TGIF! Thanks God Its Friday, but no thanks if there is overtime on the Saturdays (hehehe). After office I went to gym to take a quick shower and headed to Vivo City Mall at Harbor Front to meet my Thai friends: Wit, Ning, Kong and Kae and more of Kae 3 Singaporean friends. Kae is so active, and a lot of stories to share and also making fun of Singaporean accent, but she herself has it too =D. We stayed in one restaurant facing Sentosa in Vivo City. We ordered a beer each before going to St. James Power Plant Station next to Vivo. We want to be a big group so I tried calling Foyan if she can join, unluckly she was on board flying to Manila; some more Filipino friends but they are visiting a sick colleague in the hospital and others already at home.

Wow prices differ... males pay S$5 higher (hehehe). St. James Power Plant is kinda like MOS. The Latin performers were awesome, good music. And there was also a 'shooting' of a beautiful Thai MTV Vj Sonya Cooling, but I wonder why they shoot there? or its just a public display? Anyway shes gorgeous hehehe she has some angles of similarity with the former Filipino MTV Vj Donita Rose. We stayed long in the hip hop room.

Workingout in the Gym FF/FF+. Workout in the morning or in the afternoon at Paragon, Orchard. This I do on weekly basis. Sometimes I seem y gym buddies in the gym: Foyan, Wit, Naph and Jayson. Lets pump those muscle out!

DOTA. Defense Of The Ancients (DOTA). This is only a map on top of Warcraft III Frozen Throne expansion. To play like LAN over the internet, I use GG-Game Client, there I join in ASEAN rooms preferably PH room. No thanks to the earthquake that shook Taiwan making my connection with the EU run slow. Most of the time I play with other people in the room, sometime with my lil bro in US and some friends and relatives in PH and in SG as well. My ID is 'tukumu'. I can do random selection of heroes.

I play this game after I woke-up in the weekends, at night and sometimes when at home.

Sounds Tripping. Another activity during weekends I like is listening to my music in full volume: Alternative, RNB, Rock, Hip-Hop, Rap, Jazz, Head Kandi, Metal and others, wow almost all genre (tsk tsk). Hope my neighbors are still okay.

Eating. Check this link --> My favorite foods

Gym Addiction FF Motorola Duathlon

2007-01-21T06:52:00.000-08:00

Finally, I joined the contest at the gym (Motorola Duathlon Gym Challenge) at Millenia Walk branch of Fitness First Plus, here in Singapore. For total of 12 phones to be given out for all Fitness First members in Singapore, who will be able to make it. I have been using the bike, cross-trainer and treadmill for a week. Nothing to do on weekends, but to try and finish as early as possible to win the handphone. This weekend of 21 January 2007 was tough, I run as much as I can, bike for two hours, run for two hours, nothing to lose. Well in fact, Its not just the prize but this can help me in-shape.

The good news is, I'm done with the bike for a total more than the required 160km. By the way, the mechanics are shown in the 1st picture (160km bike or cross-trainer and 240km on treadmill). And guess what.... I finished the bike last Thursday (hehehe) I come in the gym 3x a day as much as possible, in the morning before office hours, during lunch time and after office hours; crazy as you may think. And for the time being, only two of us in the branch finished the bike, Me and a girl named Michelle Parry. I hope to meet her soon. According to the consultant there, we are the only one competing. Luckily, both of us must have the phone (hehehe). Anyhow I'm leading in the Men's Open.

The first tally in the picture is the bike, as shown I had: 4, 45, 30, 30, and 55 for total of 164km (I rounded-off to nearest floor value), not to mention I also have 3km in cross-trainer making it a total of 167km. Below is the tally for treadmill. I admit I have a hard time on this, and for the record as of Sunday Jan. 22, 2007: 5.6, 3.02, 6.26, 5.08, 5.03, 10.92, 10.15, and 14 for total of 60.06km still need of 179.94km. For the next week I'm planning to do a 20km a day or more.

All went okay except that last Friday, I don't know who among the instructors erased my record for a reason I am not aware of. When I talked to the manager, he told me that I only come lunch time and I cannot achieve 55km during lunch time. I said, that is correct, but I did not complete the 55km bike during lunch time, instead it was done Thursday evening, 30 in the morning and 55 in the evening. I even told him that he should have checked with the receptionist's record first. Imagine from 55km they placed 11km! Where the hell did they arrived at this assumption! I was so pissed off. Anyway he was sorry for what happen and he ask the staff to erase and put my record back in the tally, thats why in the 1st picture tally, there are some erasures.

I just hope no more overtime in the office as the management promised. GO GO GO!

Update for treadmill (morning; lunchtime; evening = subtotal) in km:

22 Jan 2007: 5.12; 5.00; 10.01 = 80.19
23 Jan 2007: 5.09; 5.02; rest = 90.30
24 Jan 2007: 5.01; 5.25; 10.11 = 110.67
25 Jan 2007: rest; 4.05; 10.74 = 125.46
26 Jan 2007: 5.40; 6.34; 6.20 = 143.40
27 Jan 2007: rest; 10.38; 6.7 = 160.48 (Michelle Parry finished the women open today)
28 Jan 2007: rest; 13.36; rest = 173.84 (w/o breakfast and lunch, I started at 2pm)
29 Jan 2007: rest; 5.66; 11.82 = 191.32
30 Jan 2007: 4.02; work; work = 195.34
31 Jan 2007: 6.18; work; 10.18 = 211.64
01 Feb 2007: 6.06; 6.38; 16 = 240.08 (WINNER!!!)

21 Mar 2007: Motorola Phone was officially handed to me. :)

My winning treadmill tally. At last i can workout in other clubs again hehehe.

New Year at Tokyo 2007

2007-01-03T16:18:00.000-08:00

Dec 29, 2006 (Friday in SG). I tried to finish all my work in the office for my flight at 11.50pm to Japan, and riding Japan Airlines (JAL), my friend and I reached Tokyo, Japan pass 6am in the morning with temperature of 3°C as announced in the plane.

After arrival and all the immigration stuff we rode the local train to Asakusa and drop-off the luggage in Asakusa Hostel. We left our luggage in the basement since check-in time is at 1pm, and just carry our valuables. First, we went to New Otani Hotel to have brunch and eat with other friends in Japan. I ate tonkatsu bread, salad, maki, sushi, burger, rice and a lot more.... cakes and ice cream for dessert. I really love Japanese food (yum yum). The buffet cost 3,000 Yen per head.

Japanese really likes gardens as you can see, the garden in the picture, excellent landscapes, clean waters and clean fish ponds. It was very cold and I saw some ice formation in some areas.

After brunch we walked to the Parliament, and unluckily it was closed, so we headed back to the hostel to take shower and fix our stuff, so that after we come home we'll just lie down and rest immediately.

We did not waste time. We went to Hie Jinja Shrine to visit and took some pictures. And... wow time was so fast, at 4pm it looks like its already 6pm. Singapore time, daylight is really short during winter. Then we went to Government building but were closed too; after consulting with Lonely Planet (a book guide for tourist in Tokyo) we headed to Sumitomo tower instead, to check out how Tokyo looks from above (52F).

The following day the agenda was to go to Harajuku park to check the temples and shrines, and also to Disneyland. We also had out brunch in Harajuru, and we all had ramen. What I like in Harajuku park was the display of Sake, and I like the sweet Sake very much (hehehe).

After Harajuku, we went to Disneyland hoping that we can spend countdown there, but we were unlucky when we knew that it will be closed at 6pm, and that the countdown party are those for people who reserved, and bought limited tickets from the internet, which we are not aware of; and we only have 3 hours to explore the area. So we tried to ride all the best rides as much as possible and watch the Parade of Disney characters.

We sought help from Lonely Planet where else to go for countdown, and the answer was in Zozoji Temple. So... after Disneyland, we headed to Zozoji temple. Many people gathered in the temple holding balloons, to be released at exactly 0:00am 2007 of January 1. At first, an hour before new year there was a ceremony of the Monks. Some played something like flute and others with some wood percussion, while their leader chanted prayers which I had no idea what he was saying. It was a good experience, and this is my 1st new year without fireworks. All the people, expectators, released their balloons at exactly new year, and the view was awesome. I felt mixed emotion, in celebrating new year with other nationality: Japanese.

On the next day, January 1, the plan was to explore Nikko, which is on top of Tokyo (around 125km north of Tokyo, and 2-hour ride with Ltd Express). We took limited express to reach Nikko. Upon reaching Nikko the mountain alps can be seen from the train, and was very relaxing; the weather was very cold, the station is more or less 500m above sea level and Nikko is much higher since we climbed the Hill to reach it from the station. There were also snow still in the corner of the streets, roofs, and in the ground. So cold, that we all had hot sweet sake that can be purchased along the way for 100 Yen to keep us warm. In Nikko we visited: Shinkyo Bridge, Rhinnoji Temple, Taiyuinbyo, Futarasan Main Shrine, and Toshogu Shrine. After Nikko we had our dinner along the area and I had chicken curry (one of my fav too), then we went to Shibuya for a walk, then rest.

On the next day, we woke up at 9am and headed to the Imperial Palace at Marunouchi Chiyoda, since the inner palace is open to public on only two days each year, the Emperor's birthday and at the New Year (January 2); we don't want to lose the chance of seeing the Imperial Palace. "Banzai! Banzai!", Japanese people shouted during the 5-minute speech of the Emperor, and fade away from the crowd. (Whaaattt it took me 30 minutes to get in, just to see the Emperor for 5 minutes.... what da!).

After the Imperial Palace, we went to Hakone, located south-west of Tokyo. We took Shinkansen (Bullet Train) since we will have not enough time if we use other means of transportation; with Shinkansen we spent more or less 40 minutes in the train to reach our destination. Then change to a local train till the base of the mountain, and change to another train, this time it's like diagonal train which goes up with the slope of the mountain. On top we have to change again with cable car to reach the top; and the top I can see Mt. Fuji straight ahead, and sulfur pit from below. To take the lake cruise we have to take bus to reach it,... and so we did. From there, we took the cruise to cross the lake and reach the other side, and visit Hakone shrine, I like the view of the shrine at night as you can see in the lower left picture.

After Hakone we went back to Tokyo around 9ish, had dinner in Lion at Ginza, and ate oysters and steak. After resting from eating we decided to take hot bath in Odaiba which closes at 9am. Wow! Japanese really like hot bath... on the way there we walked together with families, lovers, and singles to the same destination: hot bath. Everybody was required to wear kimono inside the area. (see my pictures in the hyperlink below). It's like one community inside the big house. I cleaned myself in the public hot bath, and the bath, pools was around 40°C.

The last day was just a trip to Odaiba. We took the Tokyo river cruise to Odaiba (Hi-tech looking ship), and I had my calpis too (like this yogart drink very much). It was ridiculous: Statue of Liberty in Odaiba?, Golden Gate too? which was named Tokyo rainbow bridge =P. The architecture of Fuji Bldg is really modern. We saw the Tokyo teleport too, like the Eye of London. Crazy.... who's the copycat?

After the walk around Odaiba. We had lunch at Chibo, having okonomiyaki. Then back to hostel, and head to Narita to complete my 5-day visit to Tokyo. Now i miss Tokyo, hope i can find a work there, but I must learn Nihongo first.

Pointers when flying to Tokyo:
1. Make sure you know somebody who knows how to speak Japanese or understand Kanji
2. GSM mobile phones are unlikely to work in Japan. Use their own product!
3. Avoid taxi, unless you want to burn your dough in it. =P
4. Prepare yourself in the metro train during peak hours.

Some more pix: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/omar.m.montero/NewYear2007JAPAN

*Thanks to my Uncle Rene in NJ for the winter clothing and the luggage bag =)

Christmas at Bangkok

2006-12-25T17:20:00.001-08:00

Dec 22, 2006 (Friday SG). I went out of office around 3pm for flight to Bangkok Thailand (BKK) around 6pm. Unluckily, my friend and I missed the flight for some reason. So we tried to check if there are other flights going to BKK, luckily we had reserved an 8.40pm flight but was delayed of some problem with the reservation. The flight took more or less 2 hours from SG to BKK.

Wow the airport in Thailand is huge. The weather was great, cool breeze around 22 ºC. The place of my friend is around 45-minute drive from the airport. I stayed at my friend's penthouse at Tai Ping tower, great place and location overlooking BKK.

My 3-day activities were as follows:

Day 1

1. Breakfast (Chubby Chef atTai Ping Towers)

2. Visit Royal Temple

3. Visit Reclining Buddha (20 acres large)

4. Lunch at Oriental Hotel

5. Siam Ocean World (Siam Paragon Mall)

6. Watch Eragon (Siam Paragon Mall)

7. Dinner at Ootaya (Siam Paragon Mall)

Well traffic in BKK has no difference in Manila. Tricycle is also means of transportation in the metropolis, only different in style because passengers seat at the back car of the motor. Buses pick up passenger along the way and there are street vendors too unlike Singapore, which is very rare.

Day 2

1. Get up at 6am and head to floating market

2. Lunch with Thai friends at Pan Pacific Hotel

3. Jim Thompson House Museum

4. SPA - Thai massage

5. Dinner with other friends

6. Bar at Dome, State Tower

7. Pat Pong! (wow amazing exhibition of ??????)

My second day was the best. My friend's folks

joined us in the floating market (thanks for driving us, more than two hour (back and forth) drive towards the floating market at Dumnuensaduak), it was really a great experience in; imagine people buying food, souvenir and other stuff using a boat, sailing in a canal. My friend's mom is like a tourist too;

she enjoyed the pastille making (candy from coconut).

After arriving home and unloading all things, we went to see his friends and had lunch at Pan Pacific hotel; food was so good the dumplings and the duck (eww i ate the duck skin). I think our lunch last for more or less 2 hours. And after the long lunch they send us off to Jim Thompson House Museum where you can see the traditional thai houses..... all the details of architecture... the roof... etc..

Since we wave a lot of time left, we went to some malls and look for pirated stuff for my mac, unluckily the store, which sells stuff for mac was closed that time. No choice to do so we went window-shopping to other malls, sleeps at starbucks and had thai massage while we wait for other friends for dinner. Finally they came in before the spa finished, Rod, Brandon and Dave (the 1st two are English teacher in Japan and Dave is a stud at NZ). We ate at a riverside restaurant overlooking the suspended bridge. After the not so spicy dinner because Dave is not used to spicy stuff, my friend and I send them off to a cab to a bar, the Dome at State Tower, while we pick up Erika to join in the bar (an English teacher too in Beijing). At the bar..... drink.... chitchat... and plan for next activity. Since we all guys plan to see the pingpong show at Pat Pong then we have to send off Erika to her hotel, yes.. We invited her but she decided not to go =).

Well the show was really awesome hehehe although the performers are quite old (sad to say, that's the only way they can make a living, but maybe a famous prostitute during their 20s) using their genital they did the following:

1. Whistle

2. Insert 3 ping pong balls and shoot in a glass

3. Dart

4. Pull 3-meter cloth with flower

5. Pull 3-meter string with blades

6. Puffing cigarette

7. the best... opening a bottle cap (grosss!!!!)

So dont you have fun with them guys... or else who know what will happen to your toooot... (hahaha)

Day3

1. Lunch with friend's folks

2. Haircut

3. Pack stuff

4. Bye bye BKK

I woke up quite late and was almost lunchtime. My friend's mom prepared lunch for us... she prepared a set of spinach lasagna, corn and onion soup and I was so full huhuhu. After that we went to a salon for haircut and look how my hair looks now hahaha, like an army student. After the haircut we went home immediately to pack our things and leave home early for airport because we cannot tell how the traffic will be. We arrived at the airport 2 hours before the flight back to SG so we spent some time window-shopping, and had dinner there too.

Other pictures: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/omar.m.montero/Christmas2006

*Images edited using Mac iComics, also thanks for the Xmas gift from my uncle Rene, the Zune and travelling bag :)

BBQ night with THAIs

2006-12-10T06:30:00.000-08:00

December 9, 2006. My thai friends here in Singapore, invited me and my friend Foyan for a BBQ at Valley Park condo along river valley road. Before going to the place Foyan and I workout first at One George Street Bldg Fitness First (yes I need to workout first before eating a lot of food hehehe).

Foyan and I arrived around 7pm at the place, bringing along nothing but our hungry stomach =). While others are still doing bbq we grab some chips to fill in first and with carrot thai salad (spicy, oops Foyan almost cry of spiciness).

Eat, eat, eat as if there is no tomorrow.... we had satay, chicken sausage, squid, fishballs, fish and chicken wings for bbq, on top of that we had carrot salad, cucumber with onions and some chips, and red wine for drinks.

I call it BBQ night with Thais because only two of us are filipinos there: me and Foy, and the rest are thai nationals. Most of the time they speak thai, but it does not matter because we have the same language which is laughter =), better than english i suppose.

After bbq we had tiramisu cake to share with the birthday month (+january): Oil, Ning and Kong (in order in picture with cake). Hope to see them this Chritmas in Bangkok.

Bintan - Lagoon Resort

2006-12-04T06:56:00.000-08:00

December 3, 2006 Sunday. Time for Bintan Island, Lagoon Resort in Indonesia (website: http://web.bintanlagoon.com/) to relase the stress out from work. This is a 55 minute travel by speed boat from Singapore to Bintan. I Woke up around 6.30am to prepare for departure at Tanah Merah ferry terminal. Time difference of -1 hour from Singapore. (1st pix: eating light breakfast in the ferry)

The following were the schedule:

1. Swim with dolphins (quota not met)

2. Snorkeling (cancelled due to monsoon)

3. Surfing

4. Swim

5. Eat

6. Shop (2nd pix: At the hotel lounge overlooking the pool and beach)

Upon arrival at the hotel (Bintan Lagoon Resort), they welcome us with a beat of a tribal drum and a glass of lemon grass iced tea. The hotel lodge is overviewing its pool and the beach resort itself. I asked the guest activities receptionist about the current trip, only to find out that we cannot do snorkeling due to monsoon, also swimming with dolphins was postponed due to lack of people going for the trip, they need at least 8 and we lack 2. After this, we went to the spa attendant to confirm our booking in the afternoon, for full body massage. Since theres nothing else to do so we grab heavy breakfast in the hotel buffet area serving pastries, salad, pancakes, omelet, etc. After eating we went out of the hotel and walk towards the shore, took some pictures at the back of the hotel, pictures with the rocks in the shore, with the waves, and look for good spot to lay down and take a rest. Thinking of what to do, we join the crowd in the beach even though almost everybody are surfing. After few hours we went to the hotel pool and swim for awhile, dress-up and tour around the vicinity of the hotel, and went back to the activities receptionist to check if some trip will push though, and there was no luck.

We went back to the beach, grab some drinks and nap. After an hour or less I and one of my closest friend decided to do surfing. We hired instructors (from top picture, in between my friend and I, is my instructor, Ewan), my instructor was 'Ewan' and my friend's was 'Bimo'. Yes, it was fun to do surfing (tsk tsk) and I only had a chance to stand on the board, 3x and all last only in less than a second (hahaha).

But that was really fun, but due to bad weather, red flag was raised, and since it was more than an hour of surfing, we decided to rest besides we cannot surf anymore because of big the waves.

After rinsing we grab a light lunch at the bar on the shore and ordered chicken wings (eat again...), and prepare for next activity.

The next activity was the relaxation part: SPA, we had a full body massage and i preferred lemon grass oil, hmmm I can say that the massage was good enough because I had a good sleep during the course, the massage took an hour (which started around 4pm GMT+7 - Bintan time). Since we only have 2 hours more before the bus transfer us to the port: we maximixe the time by sepending an 1 hour for shopping and an hour for dinner. I did not shop a lot... still saving... I only got 1 working shirt from POLO (30% off). After that, we ate dinner at a japanese restaurant "MIYAKO" inside the hotel. After eating we rested on the lounge while waiting for the bus to come. We went back to Singapore (around 10pm SGT). Next time I wana try Bali, whew to good to be on vacation not thinking of work.

SG City at night from above

2006-09-10T08:24:00.000-07:00

September 09, 2006. Bar time. I went to equinox at SwissHotel at Raffles with some friends (refer to the map at the left). We went there around 9.30pm, get in the building, pay at the entrance and the security stamp a mark in our right wrist. Arriving at 70th floor, where Asia Bar is, there were a lots of foreigners, mostly caucasian, taking pictures at Singapore city.

We had fine dinning at Equinox (picture in right). I ordered chicken and was so surprised the girl next to our table is a Filipina. Hehehe (with caucasian). Tsk tsk. Serving takes time so we decided to take some pictures first of Singapore at night from top view (see pictures below). First is a picture of me overlooking Clarke Quay, Second is wihout me hahahaah. Third is a picture of Boat Quay. Amazing view from above.

After dinner I went to the washroom, and was surprised, its bigger than my bedroom. waaaaa. And along the way is a glass with alcohols, vodka, rhum, brandy etc. hehehe.

Then we went to ASIA BAR nice crowds, 2 of use had tobacco tsk tsk and i was so dizzy that time with a glass of vodka. Dance ... Dance ... till 1am then head back home. :P

SG Night Safari

2006-09-02T16:17:00.000-07:00

September 2, 2006. My friend and I went to COMEX (IT Sale) at Expo to check what are the new gadgets in town. There was nothing much coz im pretty updated. San through the prices of thumbdrives, digital cameras, softwares for my mac etc. The event was so crowded still i managed to buy my bluetooth dongle to syc my calendar and contacts in the office desktop PC. Then we decided to have dinner at Singapore Night Safari. We get cab from expo to drop us at Night Safari.

After arriving at Night Safari we took some pictures and took a glipse of the gate. Then we decided to attend the first show of night creatures. Its quite boring for me I hate the indian show host hehehe dunno why.... What I hated in the Night Safari was people are not allowed to take pictures with flash! (so boring so check the picture can you see the cayote?).

After the show we had dinner at bongo borgers. I ordered chicken nuggets and lemon lime and enjoy the tirbal dance on stage as you can see in the pictures. They are like dhalsim from street fighters blowing fire on air. Then after we rode though the Tram to tour us to the Night Safari. Basically im not impressed but i think its good for children.

But what i like most is the bats in the cage as you can see in the last picture, not so clear because flash are not allowed, but you can see the hand of the bat from the picture. Guest shouting when the bats fly heheheh i like it! After that cab then home.

Singapore Forest

2006-08-20T15:29:00.000-07:00

Aug 20, 2006 (Saturday). I with my friends decided to go to MacRitchie Reservoir Part and go to HSBC TreeTop But we spent 2 hours of hiking to reached the other end and still have 1Km left, we have no choice but to return ack tomorrow for we need to go to Tampines for badminton play with other friends. We waited for taxi at Singapore Island Golf Club in which one of my friend is a member.

Aug 21, 2006 (Sunday). Around 12nn we rode taxi to get back to where we finished yesterday to continue the trail. Upon reaching the trail which we left yesterday, again we hike; monkeys all over the place walking and seems to be tamed.

We continue to hike deep into the forest with only the trail as guide to the tree top hanging bridge, i remember when i was little kid when i went to forest in PH the sounds of crickets and other insects, the sound of breeze and the smell of the forest.... NATURE!

Finally we are at the entrace to the treetop bridge. After long hiking hours here we are treetop bridge hehehe. Nice view from above to see the forest underneath. Fresh air, nice scenery.... so peaceful. The birdge is one way only so no turning back!

Too sad the bridge is i think less than 1km. For all the walk hike i have done i will only experience walking to the bridge in minutes hehehehe but its okay i have workout a lot. Burn fats burn!!!!

After a short enjoyment we went back to the trail again and reward ourselves with food at cafe cartel at plaza singapura.

Weekend in PH 12-14052006

2006-05-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

12052006. I arrived at clark airport around 3.30pm, with my colleague living in Pampanga. Only my Mom and Dad picked me up at the airport, then along the way home we stoped at KFC to buy 1 bucket of fried chicken. At home i cooked my folks japanese curry to top on KFC fried chicken. (yum yum). Had a vodka then sleep.

13052006. The next day i went to the gym at RCBC for about two hours workout chest, abs, and swim, jacuzzi, steam and dry sauna. Then picked up the stuff my colleagues and friends wanted me to bring back to SG. Then waited for Nathan for he referred me to his doctor to check my fungal infection at my back hahahaah gross.....

Then had our lunch at Aveneto at glorietta with my friends: Erika, Sheryll with her bf, hubert, nathan and jarel and also my cousin Kring2x heheheh. After eating, nathan and hubert dropped me and my cousin at the hospital where my grandma was confined and where my folks were waiting for me as well, for we are going to antipolo. After paying visit to my grandma we went to visit antipolo :). And the van was full: me, Kring2x, mom and dad, dory (housemaid), kim(wife of my younger bro) and her baby, MM (mah sis). We went to mass last saturday to avoid too much crowd on sunday mass (mothers day).
After the mass i treated them a dinner at Tempura along TIMOG area at QC. We had 3 sets of 8 pcs tempura and i ordered for myself asparagus wrapped in beef, adegashi tofu and marugo and green tea for my drink. (yum yum)

14052006. My last day again. Here is a picture of my bro's son Kurt heheeh. I arrived at singapore round pass 8pm.

adventure

2006-04-30T17:35:00.000-07:00

April 29, 2006. Saturday. After eating Indian food for dinner its time for arabian taste along ARAB, and BAGHDAD streets. Along with my friends we shared shisha or hookah, actually just one of many names for the hookah itself. Other names include the hubble-bubble, waterpipe, or narghile. In the West, it is thought that the use of the name shisha in place of the tobacco originated simply from the shortening of the term "shisha tobacco" to shisha. The correct, most commonly used names of the hookah tobacco are maassel or tobamel.

We stayed at SAMAR 1 local SG, 1 noypi (thats me) and others Thai.

All working in SG except for the guy in red, just having vacation here @ SG. 2 of us are in IT and the rest are in banking industry. If in smoking ordinary cigar you have to puff fine smoke here in shisha it should be thick. The waiter is the one in front of a woman's portrait. The smoke that comes out is not that irritating, and its addictive heheheeh. In here families gather and let their children smoke as well.

To make it really authentic arabian bar there were a group of people playing instrument ... the instruments sounds good... the vocalist i dont know hahaahah.
We left the bar around midnight and hired taxi and went home.

April 30, 2006. Sunday. Cha, my former colleague at RCGIT and I decided to go to Batam and check the area, whats in there initially we dont know (hehehe). I waited for her until 8.30am at harbourfront and bought 2 return tickets (day tour) - S$30 SG - Batam Center. And had our money converted to Rupiah from SGD. After immigration at Batam we hired taxi for 3 hours cost round 200,000 Rupiah. First stop over was a buddhist temple. Like am i doing it right?? Then we went for lunch i forgot the area but all seafoods there were fresh and you have to pinpoint what you want, what type of cook you want, seat and wait to be served; we had shrimps with oatmeal, sweet&sour grouper and kangkong plus fresh buko juice; hmmm how relaxing (right cha?).

After eating we went to waterfornt city to reschedule our departure.... then stayed at Harris hotel just see the pictures...

Jetski

Parasail

And since spa were fully booked.... what else to do after an adventurous sporty afternoon but to eat eat eat!!!! grrr am getting fat. It was so hot that afternoon grrrr.

Weekend...

2006-04-09T16:01:00.000-07:00

April 10, 2006. Jogging along chinese and japanese gardens

I was jogging along the lake side, suddenly i saw twin pagodas. Hmm let me check it out.

... and took some pictures along the bridge overlooking the twin pagodas

Jog... jog... jog... oops i am on the gate now.
Another shot. (hehehe). While walking i saw a storey pagoda,

I jogged through the stair case all the way to the top, and whoa nice views....
I can see the whole garden from above.

Solo pix. hehehe looks exhausted

This time with Confusius Statue (haiya!). Oops it kinda late, need to go back to home. I jogged again. Total of more or less 5km of jogging. Nice!