TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE DIARIES

Who likes Mondays? Not me. And because of this I am not in the mood to write another lengthy entry about Negros Oriental right now, so I will leave you with a candid video of myself. The unsuspecting me didn’t know Dutchman was filming from the back (he is filming every/anyone, every/anything, and every/anywhere he fancies!). Moreover, I didn’t know he has a... uh... bum obsession? Er, fetish perhaps? Haha This was taken in Greenbelt, Makati City (Manila, Philippines) the afternoon we arrived Manila after depositing our baggage in the hotel. As you can see on the short video I am in a hurry. It was a sizzling hot day! Sweating. Sticky feeling. I am being baked under the sun. In Visayan lingo: ALIMU-OT KAAYO Next entry will still be and last of Negros Oriental. The unsullied villages, the friendly people, interesting events and just wonderful stuff. Travel Period: July 2007 Destination: Makati City (Manila), The Philippines

The resort we booked at Dauin, which is about 20 minutes to/fro Dumaguete sent a chauffeur to pick us up at the pier. There was a group of French tourists as well (they boarded in Tagbilaran, Bohol) who joined us in the van. They were staying at the same resort and we rarely bumped into them for the whole week we stayed there. Although we didn’t stay in Dumaguete City but having rented a scooter to help us move around easily, we were able to spend a good amount of time in the city. We both loved the boulevard. I wish Cebu had something like this. This is my favourite Dumaguete City foto. The trike truly symbolizes Dumaguete. Me ordering at Jollibee - I simply do not understand the redundancy of taking orders? Twice? Where is the logic? Next foto is the ubiquitous tricycle. Dumaguete Belfry; the Boulevard during a beautiful morning -look at the glorious clouds; and Filipino ingenuity: a street vendor selling burners made from soda cans, lol. OK, moi here with the trusted San Miguel Pale...

From Singapore, we flew to Cebu, Philippines with Cebu Pacific Air, and because this is a budget flight with a budget airline, everything was budget in standards (maybe never next time?), i.e., the terminal is located in Singapore’s very budget terminal, the flying hours truly budgetised – 12:30AM, and as expected, the flight schedule was delayed for 1 hour while the Manila flight was 2 hours delayed. {sigh} We arrived 4:30AM in Mactan Cebu International Airport and my family was already (eagerly) waiting outside for us. Aw, poor them, they had to wake up so early to receive us. So fast forward, after the family stuff, it was finally time for our little 5-day vacation. I picked Negros Oriental to holiday mainly because of its proximity to Cebu, only 3+ hours boat ride to its capital, Dumaguete City. The place also seems nice with many things to see and do, and moreover, we haven’t been to this island yet. So, off we go! Hellish boat ride : Cebu-Tagbilaran-Dumaguete Ocean Jet...

So I am back in the flatlands. And as always, the holiday was too short. It is always too short. *SIGH* I am also jetlagged, and tired. My body clock is still ticking away in the Asian time zone. Furthermore, I have to (unwillingly) pick up the Dutch life routine once again, work, face the dreaded sobbing Dutch weather –truth is, there was never summer in the Netherlands, like today we had torrential rain crashing down that almost blinded me on the steering wheel, and the only nice thing that welcomed me so far was less traffic in the highways. No, this is not fun at all. This is not my post-holiday dream. Nor I am in the mood to talk about my holiday adventures right now. Well, perhaps this weekend when I am fully adjusted back to this very depressing Dutch environment. But, I have something else to tell. Have you been IRON TRAUMATIZED? Well, today I was. Quite silly I guess. And, for the second time! I was driving in A2 towards the direction of Amsterdam for work, when I thought abou...

Mabuhay! We are now in my beloved Pilipinas [Philippines]! We just finished our 2nd leg of our Philippine vacation tour and we are now moving forward to our 3rd and 4th (last) itineraries on the travel agenda (sounds businessy haha) before we fly back to Amsterdam. Well, last night, finally–after putting this off for days, I have managed to upload my Singapore fotos! We have a lovely 24 x 7 wi-fi internet access in the resort we are staying right now, but like anything, blogging got a bit delayed because I am, of course, on holiday. So take a peek at some of my fotos below. Dining along the Singaporean River. The Chili crab wasn’t cheap; I paid €30 for the darn thing! Colourful river side restaurants and where the nightlife of Singapore is. A view of Singapore skycrapers from a moving bus (I was fast enough for this shot!). On top of the bus! And, a sampan boat - we boarded a similar one as well. A fake elephant in Little India and rest & relaxation in Sentosa Island after 2 days o...

Normal women always moan about their weight, their hair, their partners, and just about everything. Just like me. Pretty normal I guess. But last Thursday, I had one of those painful awakening. An awakening that made me so angry I swore I am not giving in. Never ever. I will fight! YES! OK, now I got you interested. The story goes like this. Being in a strenuous quota-measured job, I am always working late until everyone has left and only the cleaning man and I are tinkering around in the pod. So I told myself I need to have a life during work days too. Thursday evening was a good time to go out because the shops are open late. I promised the overworked me to leave a bit early that day and find something really nice to treat myself. When I say leave a bit early, this means leaving at 6PM sharp, unfortunately. In one shop, a dress caught my attention. A white sleeveless frock designed in Marilyn Monroe petit style with printed black flowers. A large wrap around black belt accented the d...