How to survive Hong Kong (or any place, really) while traveling with 12 people

You’re reading my blog, so I assume you have a difficult time with people as well. I mean, only my friends read this so if you are my friend, one of the reasons is that people piss us off.

I went to HK a few weeks ago with 12 people. They’re all family. Yeah, you can cringe. I mean, I have no problem traveling with my parents and my sisters, because they actually listen to me and are very easy to travel with. It’s the added bonus of 2 elderly people with a bunch of kids and 3 other cousins. I have no problem with my cousins since they are old enough to do what they want, and they just ask me for directions most of the time. It’s the fact they’re all together really. We’re the token family traveling together that everyone wants to get away from. Even I wanted to get away. Here are some tips that you need to survive, like I barely did.

• For  the love of God, acquire immigration cards beforehand. Fill them up at home. This is before leaving the country, because the other ones you have the comfort of doing inside the plane, but the first one is always the worst. Traveling alone doesn’t make this a hard thing, but with 12 people? HAH. Hell. 4 kids, a cousin who acts like he is illiterate, parents who have enough to do and 2 elderly people? YES. Welcome to my life.
• Plan every step of the way. If you have plans of being alone, you have to have plans of getting to that point. You have to ask them what they want to do (we’re not part of any travel tour so yeah) so you can accommodate them and help them around. On the day we arrived, they wanted to go to the Peak, and we were staying in Kowloon. I made them take the train going there, and even though I advised them to take the train going back (bc taxis don’t really like going to the different islands, tolls and shit) they still took a cab. It took them forever to get one that agreed to take them to Tsim Sha Tsui and they paid a hefty price. I accompanied them to Central, but only up to there. I’ve been to the Peak many times, so I planned a night at Lan Kwai Fong and Soho. See? Accommodate.
• Patience. That’s all I can tell you. I’m not alone in this, maybe my 2 other cousins were being patient like crazy too. It’s really hard to travel with so many people. Commuting via trains is not an option for them. Walking a lot is not an option too. Buses? Forget it. Family trips are already expensive to begin with, but the going around is the one that puts the huge dent on everyone’s pockets. That’s why you, being a smart adult, should find a way to help your parents save money.

I’m very lucky because I’ve been to Hong Kong many times (not bragging here, it did help) so I didn’t have to go with them to token places like Ocean Park. They spent a day there, so that means I had a day all to myself. We only went to HK this year because my mom wanted to stay at Disneyland hotel for a day so my sisters (who are very young) could experience it. My niece and my other cousins have never been to Hong Kong too, that’s why they had to go through all the token places again. I felt bad for my mom and dad, no doubt they wanted to do different things and they had some stuff that needed attending, but they had to let it go for the benefit of everyone else. I, on the other hand, am not an amazing human being like they are (on the contrary I am the worst) so I couldn’t sacrifice like they did.

I will post a separate “what I did in HK on my own” in a while. Sorry this took so long, I have so many things to do now that I am a graduate (di pa nga ako nagmamartsa ampota) and one of them is finding a job. I can’t stand having to live off my family anymore.

 

Back from the dead (AKA thesis)

I know, I know. I haven’t updated in a month and a half. I’m sorry, but I made a promise that I wouldn’t blog until my last term in college is done, and that I’m sure I’m going to graduate this June.

WELL HAH I AM! I AM DONE WITH COLLEGE, FINALLY! I PASSED STATISTICS, YOU GUYS. I ALSO PASSED COLLEGE ALGEBRA, WHICH WE ALL KNOW IS THE WORST!

Okay I’m calm again. I won’t be traveling as much this year because I’m putting my money somewhere else and I don’t want my parents or my aunts to pay for any trips that I want to do on my own. My remaining trips for this year are:

• Hong Kong – April 22-25. I’ll be with the whole family, because the gosh darn Disneyland opened up a new “land” so my sisters just have to see it. Brats.
• Singapore – Aug 1-4. I’ll be celebrating my birthday there! I can already here your “omg SG again this bitch!!” but SHUT UP, because the Harry Potter exhibition will be there and yeah, now you want to come with me.
• Siem Reap – Nov 6-11. I’m paying for all of this (HK’s free, SG’s half-half) because I’ll be going with Laurene! FINALLY! We were supposed to go to Australia together but due to time stuff, I couldn’t. Also money.

I also forgot to blog about my SG shenanigans with Chui, Shinji and the rest of the gang. I’ve been so busy because I took 5 floating subjects, plus my practicum and my thesis. That was very dumb of me, I know but I really want to finish school already. I’m so tired, and it’s so different for us. We don’t get special treatment just because we’re graduating students so we’re not even sure if we would make it. We don’t have early finals, we don’t have programs, we don’t have anything.

Even though all I do is complain constantly about DLSU, I sure am going to miss it. All the sleepless nights, ugly crying, going to school without showering, plotting the death of freeloaders, etc. I had a lot of options after high school, but DLSU pulled me in easily.

If I have to relive college again, I wouldn’t change a thing. I stand by the Green and White.

P.S. I have a ton of time on my hands now, so you know, back to regular programming.

 

Most Valuable Person

I’ve been wanting to write this post since Feb 12, but I couldn’t because the UAAP Women’s Volleyball season was not over yet, and I had to be very careful about the things I say.

Last Feb 12 was the last day of eliminations, and the last game was my school (DLSU) against Ateneo. I wasn’t able to watch because I was in Singapore attending Laneway, so I had to catch up using Twitter and BBM. When I found out we won, I went to check the scores by searching DLSU-ADMU on Twitter.

The things I saw were brutal. No one wanted us to win. I couldn’t care less about that (it’s part of the game, man) but what I saw written about my friend really got my blood boiling.

Here are some of what I remember:

Tignan mo to si Marano, pagkatapos magtrash talk, magkukrus. Ano yun, bumabawi?

Ang yabang na ni Marano at Gumabao, punong-puno ng basura ang bibig

Buti pa to si Gumabao, kahit masama ugali maganda. Eh ito si Marano, pangit na nga ugali pangit pa mukha

Oh really now? How did you know she was trash talking? You couldn’t even hear what they were saying! They couldn’t even hear themselves during games, that’s why they have to shout, making it seem like they’re saying something bad.

You want to know what Aby screams in front of the other teams? She screams their plays, telling her teammates who to watch out for. That’s her version of trash talking.

Look, I don’t really care if you say bad things about their game (how they played, if they screwed up, etc) but if you start talking about my friends on a PERSONAL level like you know them, well, I get catty. This one person even tweeted Aby and said she was a former fan, but because of what she and Michele did to Valdez, she doesn’t like them anymore. That’s cool, whatever. But then she follows it up by talking about Aby’s personal life (Her relationship with Jikko) and saying that she’s been running after Jikko all this time.

First of all, how dare you. How dare you go there, when it’s not even part of the game anymore. That is a topic millions of miles away from the volleyball court. If you want to hate, hate on the game. Second, how does that even connect to her and Michele blocking Valdez?? PLEASE EXPLAIN THANKS.

I’ve known Aby for a really long time, and we’re like sisters. I know who she is as a person, not even knowing that she’s a big shot volleyball player (I just found out this one time when she came to class wearing a volleyball jersey, oops).

I have nothing against Ateneo, let me assure you. I know for a fact that these two teams are actually close friends. They’ve known each other way back, before they even entered UAAP. If these players, who dish out high flying spikes against each other, can forget and laugh about what happened inside the court at the end of the day, why can’t you?

Don’t forget that what you see inside the court is not exactly how it actually is outside. Kaya nga sila nagmimind set before the game di ba? Iba kase sa loob, at mas lalong iba sa labas. Kaya kung anong nakikita mo dun sa court, hanggang dun lang yun. Wag kang mag assume na kilala mo na sila, pwede.

Kay gagandang dilag! May angking ganda talaga!

Also, for those saying that she doesn’t deserve to be the MVP: Cool! We have our own favorites.

Pero sa dulo ng lahat, Most Valuable Person si Aby Marano para sa akin. Most Valuable Prend, pwede na rin. May angal pa ba?

Kung wala, good. Shut up ka na lang.

Obligatory Laneway post

What can I say that has not been said by the others? Nothing, really.

Laneway was the actualization of my dream to bring my friends to Singapore. Since I met them tumblr folks, I realized that hey, they would totally love SG. Whenever I’m there I keep on thinking “Hey, Chui would enjoy this” or “Shinji would flip if he saw that”. One time, Penny and I were walking along Clarke Quay and we saw a group of people drinking along the bridge. We both exclaimed ” When will the hipsters of Cubao X invade SG”?

That day, of course, was February 12, 2012. Laneway Festival, thank heavens, decided to drop by Singapore again, this time bringing 14 acts.

The road to Laneway was a bumpy one, since it took us a long time to decide if we’re going. We wanted to, of course, but what kept us from booking was the announcement of the line-up. The Australian line-up came out on time, and the Singapore one was suppose to come out at the same time, but they set the date back for unknown reasons. We had to wait again, and it was good timing too since Cebu Pacific had a seat sale a few days after. When we saw the line-up, everyone went crazy: everyone we wanted was there. Unfortunately tho, a few months later, Wu Lyf was dropped and replaced by Chairlift. It was alright tho, since Chairlift had an amazing set.

Another setback we thought would ruin us for sure: the tickets. Sistic had an early bird special for Visa card holders, so I was ecstatic. Then, a day before I was set to buy, I checked out the fine print and the promo had a glitch: you have to buy four tickets or more. You can’t buy individual tickets (or so I thought, bc Helga was able to buy one, but I couldn’t???). So, again, I had to wait. On the day public sales open, I was in class, but that didn’t stop me. I was purchasing my ticket while listening to our Cebuano lecture. *watch out we got a badass over here*

When everything was settled (everyone knew where to stay, everyone had plane tickets, laneway tickets) we were just counting the days. Some of us even set an alarm on our phones (excited ang mga ateh). It was funny because most of my friends have the same flight, then when it was time for me to fly out, there was NO ONE in my flight that I knew. I was totally alone. Thank heavens I’m used to being alone.

Almost all the pictures I will post here are not taken by me (because I am a lazy bitch) but by my friends’  Zean, Helga, and Penny.

~excited~

Being very lazy people, we met up at City Hall at 11 (nope not really) but we became complete at around 1 pm. We lounged around some more because again, we are lazy so we got to Coleman st (where the Dr. Martens free shuttle to Laneway picks people up) at around quarter to 2.

DID WE REALLY GO THERE FACE (Thanks Z!)

We got free pictures from Dr. Martens, btw. Just had to put that out there.

We missed the Cults because the line to get inside was fucking long. Like, fucking long man. LONG. I cannot even, fuck. It moved fast tho so okay.

We didn’t care that we missed them, because we don’t care for them as much as the next act:

BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE (LOL WE WERE NOT SITTING!!!)

Seeing Yuck perform live was one of the best moments of my life, my goodness graciousness. You had to be there, man. You know what, scratch that. Being in Laneway was one of the best days of my life. If not the best. I mean, I’m going to graduate soon but I can tell you that I would probably hate that day because that is the day I sign a deal with the devil and start living a life full of disappointments (READ: Trying to find a job while my love life ceases to exist).

After Yuck, we realized we were very thirsty so we lined up for some drink stubs which cost a lot ( $4 for a bottle of water??? $8 for a cup of beer????? FUCK). Chairlift was playing, and they were amazing as well. My gahd ah.

Tanginang pila yan (Thanks Helga!)

I think Austra played next, which at we first we gave no fuck about, but then we paid them a bit of attention and now we are big fans. They are amazing, my goodness. Their set was kind of an experience, which made us emulate them the whole time.

Girls played next (not even going to say how emotional that set was, I cannot). I’m just going to say sup, Christopher Owens. I hate flowers but I wanted the ones they were giving away. After them, the Drums! Omg, I cannot. We were dancing like no ones watching and loved every minute of it. We even got interviewed by MTV SG because Shinji danced his usual Cubao X hipster dance.

Since it was Anna Calvi and Twin Shadow next, we decided to have dinner bc fuck Anna Calvi, who the hell invited her anyway. We went to Plaza Singapura and had KFC (cheese fries fuck your face) and got back in time to hear Laura Marling perform Ghosts!!

Pains of Being Pure at Heart started out with a few technical difficulties but it didn’t matter in the end because the rest of their set was amazing. Peggy Wang, how you livin gurl???

Up next was Toro Y Moi, and oh my lawdy lawd, I wanted to take my clothes off and present myself to Chaz. I don’t even care, man. That good!!! I regret the fact that I wasn’t able to catch him here in Manila bc seriously, hello. Epal lang bc Feist’s people were doing sound check LOUDLY while Chaz was still playing. Come on, the other bands were able to do it without causing a scene and interrupting the band that’s playing, why couldn’t you?

I left after Toro Y Moi because I am a sad old lady who couldn’t stay up late anymore (so true, you guys) and I didn’t want to take a cab because you know what, I actually have no idea how to get to my kuya’s place by cab (I FOUND OUT HOW THE VERY NEXT DAY, GOD MY LIFE) and the entrance to the condo is only open till 1 so I was fucked bc M83′s set ends at 1.

I don’t think I would have enjoyed the festival as much if I was alone, because even though I like and actually love being alone, Laneway is something you share with people who love the music as much as you do. I am very lucky to have found friends who like the same artists as I do and that they were willing to drop everything they were doing to be there.

Free tan courtesy of Laneway (thanks Helga~)

I remember the MTV VJ asking what we were doing there, and Shinji screamed “Friendship!” and it wasn’t for irony at all, because we were really there for that, more than the music itself. Shinji kept repeating as well before we entered “Wala na akong pake kung malayo tayo sa stage, basta magkakasama tayo okay na”. Kind of the whole point of going there, really.

PAYATAS SCREAMO SOCIETY

Laneway 2013, we are so ready.

(Also there will be a different post for our shenanigans bc Laneway deserves its own)

Singapore with a crazy person

Last January 13-15, I accompanied my cousin Trisha to Singapore because she was watching Foster the People live at Fort Canning park. Needless to say, it was all kinds of crazy. I kept saying it’s like Bangkok, but in Singapore! (We went to Bangkok 2 years ago and we kind of tore shit up)

This was Trisha’s first time in Singapore, and to be honest I kind of felt bad that it was only going to last for 3 days. Knowing her, she wouldn’t be able to handle saying goodbye.

First of all, don’t be fooled by having an early flight out in NAIA 1. Dude, I hate our airport. I just, JESUS!!!!

4 am, really? REALLY?????

That space you see there is the only space in the airport. If you look everywhere else, you can only see people’s heads. The lines were unbelievable. Immigration was hellish as always. Our flight was at 6:30, we got inside the waiting area at around quarter to 6.  We barely had time to grab a few bites or smoke. We had to be at the boarding gate at 6, but when I looked up the flight schedule at around 6, Jetstar was doing their last call already. I was so annoyed because you do last call 5 minutes before you close the gates. I don’t understand you, Jetstar. I do not.

We arrived in Singapore at around 10 am, then we headed straight to our hostel. We stayed at Beary Good (where Lau and I stayed. Can’t you tell how much I love it there?). We had lunch at Mcdonalds where I had my favorite drink, Milo! After that we headed straight to Plaza Singapura to claim our tickets for Foster and Laneway. When we got there, bitchy mcbitchington (aka lady from Sistic) said their printer’s down so maybe we could just come back never(she said in a few hours but I could tell she never wanted us to come back). I asked Trish if she wanted to check out the Musee d’Orsay exhibit at the National museum, and then we walked.

Watch out we got a badass over here

We basically spent almost an hour contemplating our choices in life and that we will never amount to anything, we will become poor, we are talentless, etc. I also spent that amount of time freaking out because hello, I was in a room filled with masterpieces I never knew I would see in person. I guess I was just plain grateful.

DEGAS??????????? IS THAT U???

You have to know this: The whole time we were there we looked for the Doctor and Amy.. Okay!!! We looked for Vincent too.

YOUNG MONET!!!!!!!!

After that embarrassing feat, we took a bus to 313@Somerset because I know for a fact that the Sistic lady there will not turn us away.  What do you know, I was right (always am LOL). We had a few problems because some of the tickets were bought under different credit cards so we had to wait for the management’s go signal to let us have the tickets even tho we are not the credit card owners. The Sistic lady was very nice and asked for my number, said she would call immediately when she gets the signal. We weren’t even gone for 10 minutes and the pretty lady called and said we could claim the tickets. I wanted to go over the counter and hug her, tbh.

Coolie McCool

We went around Orchard for a few minutes and then decided that hey, ice cream. After being fat, we decided to go back to the hostel and arrange our stuff, rest and then go to dinner.

Of course we were very lazy, what do you expect. It took us 2 hours to move our asses. We left the hotel at around 6 (we were supposed to watch a movie but heh, no) and walked our way to Duxton Hill. Yes, we walked from Chinatown to D.Hill. It took us only around 10 minutes (thanks, google maps!) and found one of my go-to places in my food trip post, Group Therapy.

YAMMEEHHHH (also look at my fancy eyebrows)

The waitress lady was very pretty and she had cool tattoos! The food was amazing, Trisha ate a lot because she’s a Reyes and we had an amazing time there because the place was really homey and they serve brunch the whole day.

What you did there: We saw it.

We then went to Raffles to buy adapters for our chargers. We ended our day at 9 pm because we are old ladies. This was also the night wherein I said the word nigger in the presence of a black guy. I thought he was mad, so I apologized profusely. I thought my life as a black woman was done, but then he called me sistah so I guess I am now officially indited to the black community. HEYYYY!

We started our 2nd day early because I wanted to cross off another place on my Food Trip list, Dempsey Hill. We got lost on the way because we took the bus and I failed to notice that we had to get off at another stop to get on another bus. My fault, oops. We got there though, and the whole ordeal was worth it.

GOOD MORNING SIR

We spent 40 SGD on brunch at Jones the Grocer (20 each) but we know it’s because we ordered a ton of side dishes so it’s all good. After that, we went to Orchard and shopped for our friends and family (actually mga utos lang mostly).

DO YOU SEE THAT HUGE ASS MILO?? Oh yeah those cheese fries too

After Orchard, we went back to Chinatown to rest then headed straight to Sentosa so Trish could try the Luge. It was awesome as always. We took the dragon trail and then at one point there was a huge ass lizard in the middle of the trail. We actually thought it was a komodo dragon because hello, we were in the dragon trail and this is Asia, motherfucker.

We had dinner at KFC then headed straight to Fort Canning. When I saw the stairs leading up to the park, I kissed Trisha good bye because hell to the fucking no. Thank heavens Dr. Martens sponsored a shuttle for Laneway because 7 steep flights of stairs going up is not the best thing for a fatty like me.

I headed straight to Makansutra Gluttons bay to see my little cousin Gabby and his mom, Ate Julie. They treated me to dinner and we walked around Esplanade and Fullerton afterwards.

Look at what we saw over the Fullerton! So sweet lah!

I was sitting near the Merlion, directly in front of Marina Bay Sands when a light show suddenly started. I had no idea they do that every night at 9 pm so I was pleasantly surprised.

I got back to our hostel at 10, Trisha came around at 11. She was as wet as a seal, I swear. It was nice to see that she enjoyed it though, because we went through a lot for her to be there.

On our last day, we went to the Mint toy museum. Trisha went crazy. We didn’t take pictures much, but she went gaga over there.

Oh god, the jokes are a-comin

Whorin with Tintin and Snowy

We spent a long time there, geeking out. I’ve been to this museum around 3 times now but it just never gets old.

Someone's depressed

Our flight’s at 4:20, so we had to be at the airport at around 2:30. We had lunch at my favorite restaurant in Chinatown before packing up.

Look at her face

I have so much love for this place. The fried rice alone makes me want to hug everyone in the world. You all know I hate people.

Before leaving tho, we had to go to the Tintin shop.

How's your thirst for adventure?

I had to drag Trisha out of the hostel. She literally sat away from me when I was getting our luggage. She really didn’t want to go home, but what were we supposed to do? We barely had any money left to extend our stay, and I had school. I also miss my friends and family already (clingyyyyyyyy) because they’ve been communicating with me constantly throughout the entire trip.

I think I would have been devastated to leave that fast as well if I wasn’t going back for Laneway (which is in a week now!! omg!!).

Speaking of Laneway, I’ll be back in Singapore in a week’s time! I’m staying at Kuya’s place, and the best thing is almost everyone’s coming! I can’t wait to invade Singapore with my friends (which has been long overdue, by the way).

See you in a week, lah.

2011: The year I traveled like a crazy person

My decision making skills were thrown aside last year because I wanted to get away. I had no idea how I was going to afford any of it, but I had to. There were things in my life that I didn’t want to face, so I had to leave. I told myself I can afford maybe 2 trips, and the first one was already planned in September 2010 when Lau and I decided to terrorize Singapore and Malaysia. Early January, my aunt told me I had to go to London with my grandma for something. I took it as a free pass, and told myself not to spend a lot so I can squeeze in another trip. As you all know, that didn’t go through and I’ll tell you why later.

Trip 1:Singapore and Malaysia (for 3 hours, btw) with Laurene. (End of March-Early April)

I miss you

It was a trip where we planned everything while waiting to board the plane. We just blurted out places we want to see and stuff we want to do. Most of them were experiences and out of the way museums (try out Siloso beach, Red dot museum). We ate like every hour (and gained a profound appreciation for the toaster), we stayed at a hostel, made friends with a lot of people (WE HAVE A ROMANIAN FRIEND U GAIS) and got lost once (Singaporean buses, stop it). We looked like two girls who needed guidance.

A few months before the trip, I was browsing Jetstar’s website and I saw cheap tickets to KL. I called Lau, asked if she was game to spend  a day there and then we agreed. Booked it 5 minutes later. It was crazy.

Lau so cute!! (somewhere in Bukit Bintang)

I have never had a flight get cancelled before. This was the thing I feared the most (don’t all travelers? Especially if you’re going to be stuck in Charles De Gaul in Paris, ugh) because hello, we were only supposed to be in KL for 9 hours. If that gets cancelled then our plans on having a crazy adventure goes kaboom. Well, as I said before, it did get cancelled. We got moved to a later flight though, which gave us approximately 3 hours to roam KL. As much as we hated it (and  gave us paranoia every time we think about booking a flight on Jetstar), we had more fun that we ever imagined. Sure, I can insert a lot of Amazing Race jokes here, but that’s kind of how it turned out. Everything we thought we knew about traveling, we had to throw out the window because how do you get the best out of any city in 3 hours? We just did the best we could, and I have no regrets.

I know a lot of people think there’s nothing new for me to see in SG, but every time I go there with a different person, I get to see the city-state in their perspective. Thing is, Lau and I kind of think the same way, and that made it all the more better. I can’t wait to get lost somewhere with her again.

Trip 2(also known as the first trip from my intense month of travel): India with my grandmother (1st week of May)

Chuserang bakla, India edition (outside Amber Fort)

During this time, I was supposed to be in London. A lot of things happened, and we decided to call it off. We were so close to leaving, and I didn’t want to waste my time so I asked if I could go to India instead. It was the best decision I ever made. Even though we planned the trip like 2 weeks before the actual departure (that impulsive), it all worked out in the end.

We went from Delhi to Jaipur to Agra and then back to Delhi again. It was crazy. I regret the fact that I only stayed for a week, because India is the kind of place where you need to scour every inch until you’ve had your fill. You can’t measure the time, because you can’t really tell when you’ve had enough. There are places wherein you will never get enough, and you always have to go back. I don’t know exactly if India is that for me, but I want to go back and see. I want to see if it would pain me to have to leave again.

I am crying

I have been to a lot of places and I have seen some of the most incredible wonders this world has to offer, but nothing, NOTHING, compares to seeing the Taj Mahal. I don’t think there’s even a word to describe the feeling you get when you can see it peeking through the archway, and your heart does this amazing quickstep because you know, you actually know, that you’re about to be in its presence. You keep asking yourself if you’re really there, if that’s the Taj Mahal right in front of you. You just doubt everything because you yourself cannot believe that you were lucky enough to travel all the distance and see it with your own eyes.

It was the most heartbreaking thing, to know that you will never get to feel that way again.

Trip 3: Singapore with my family ( 2nd week of May)

Feel na feel ni madam ang pose

I never talked about this trip, because I found it very difficult to travel with my family in Singapore. I was used to riding the trains and buses (cabs are fucking expensive lah), but since there was a lot of us and my mom has no patience, we had to be touristy and hire vans. I couldn’t deal, because it was so expensive and I didn’t want my mom to pay a ton of money. They didn’t need a tour guide even because I was there (ANG KAPAL, pero in fairness naman kase kaya ko) but my mom opted to do things the easy way.

I wasn’t very pleasant at all, and my mom became very upset with me. I told her I was sorry because I’m just not used to traveling with a lot of people (especially kids!!!) and my mom apologized as well, because she knows how I do things and this trip kind of got me out of my comfort zone. In the end, we made a compromise: we take cabs but we go to places that I know. Towards the end, everything became easier for me and even my little  sisters cooperated with me.

Also: I was supposed to be in Australia this time (I even got a visa and all) but my mom begged me to postpone it so we could travel together. I guess that added to my already boiling temper then.

Trip 4: Hong Kong with my grandma (3rd week of May)

If you noticed, trips 2-4 were done in a month. I intended that. I didn’t want to be here at all during May. I have no idea why, I just wanted to be away. I didn’t want to be near Manila at all. There was something wrong, and I guess it’s because home didn’t feel like it should anymore. I wanted to wander, to get lost, because I knew that all I needed to do to find my way back is to leave.

Dyan na nga lang nababangga na ako paano pa kaya sa kotse talaga

This was a trip that I wanted to do by myself, but if I bring my grandma along I would only pay half the price so I did. Good thing about my grandma is that you give her food and directions to the nearest park and she’ll leave you alone. She only asked that I bring her to Disneyland, and that’s it. We got it over with and for the rest of the week, I was practically alone. I lived a life, traveled to distant places and got lost quite a few times (but I did find a lot of amazing neighborhoods that I see myself in).

I was looking for a place to replace Manila, but I knew from the beginning that I would fail because let’s be honest, not even New York can hold a candle to MY Manila.

I left Hong Kong feeling better about what I wanted to do. It was an important trip (all of them are, but HK was crucial) and it made me realize that alone is something I like to be.

Trip 5: Saigon with my grandma (1st week of September)

~fidofilia~

I wanted to go to Vietnam because why the hell not. I had no reasons, to be honest. I just got up one morning and said “I am going to Vietnam this September, I don’t care how!! I just have to!!!”. I scrimped my allowance so I could afford the trip, then lo and behold, cheap tickets and accommodations!

I loved it. I just, I loved it. It was so laid back. I have Tony Bourdain to thank for this, because god damn Asian Food Channel kept replaying his trip to Saigon (I think it was the only episode of A Cook’s Tour they had). As you all know, I am obsessed with him, and would do anything to be near him. He loved Saigon and the Mekong very much, so I thought “hey why not up the creepy level and go there so we can be one”.

Tony and I became one, and I fell in love with Vietnam (planning to visit Hanoi soon). That’s a lot for one trip, ah.

 

So, 2012 just began and I just came back from Singapore 2 days ago. I’ll be back next month for Laneway. If that’s not starting the year right, then I don’t know what is.

Gurl u crazy

GURL HOLD MY WEAVE THIS BITCH IS GOING TO GET IT!!

Bitch be trippin like crazy.

Okay, here’s the thing: Girls who think like this are fucked up. I mean, WHY CAN’T A GIRL JUST SAY THOSE THINGS INSTEAD OF SAYING THE OPPOSITE? STOP WASTING THE TIME OF YOUR BOYFRIENDS!!! I MEAN SERIOUSLY?? SERIOUSLY???????????????????

Let me break it down for you why this angers me like you won’t believe: Almost every guy I dated thought there was something wrong with me because they couldn’t understand what I’m saying. Thing is, they over analyze the things I say thinking that I mean the opposite or I was trying to say something else. They kept expecting me to act like every girl out there and I’m just like “dude am I not allowed to be different? is every girl out there like that??”. They then say it’s very hard to get used to and I’m just here like “what is so hard to understand, I’m fucking straightforward!!!!”.

I don’t understand why it’s so hard to just say how you really feel. When were we taught to complicate things? Sorry hah, baka absent kase ako nun.

People like her make it hard for people like me to find a decent guy, because they all think that this is how we’re going to act. Gaga, eh i-broadcast ba naman sa Facebook! At may mga tanga pang pa like-like at nagsasabi ng “so true”.

Wala tayong mararating nito eh. Wala talaga.