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Baguio City 1990

I find it amusing that two of my foreigner friends (Risto and Hugo) almost posted this link from CNN that reveals that Manila would be unprepared on the event of a devastating earthquake. Manila has a major fault running along the eastern spine of the city and thousands of homes and buildings are currently standing on top or right next to the fault line.

There was a study done by Japanese experts from 2002 to 2004 projects that over 50 000 deaths could result from a 7.2-magnitude earthquake. Aside from this, the experts also predicted that well over 1.3 million buildings could be destroyed and 500 fires could be simultaneously ignited due to the tremors. Given how the Philippine government responded to the Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) aftermath, it’s very likely that the federal response to a disaster of a greater scale and magnitude would be as negligible.  Continue Reading »

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Only a few delicacies in Southeast Asia could rival the balut’s (also called balot) reputation for being a gastronomical rite of passage.   It is very common to see night vendors selling this delicious egg in street corners and there are even some who walk all night to search for potential buyers. A quick internet search would reveal that people in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand also consider balut as a nice treat. The term balut is the one that stuck because it was the one used in popular culture the most. The reality show series Fear Factor has routinely used the mysterious egg as one of the hurdles contestants must face to win the 50 000 USD cash prize.

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Day 3 marked our last morning in Cebu and our first day in Bohol. I went to pier early to buy our tickets, the tickets to the Super Cat ferry to Tagbilaran were already sold out so I had to go to Weesam Express – a company that doesn’t have a website that shows up in the first page of Google search results when you look for pings. Despite this ominous red flag, the trip to Bohol was relatively free of any inconvenience. Aside from the atrocious subtitles on the onboard movie (“Crash”), the ride was mostly tolerable and uneventful.

We reached Tagbilaran City after about two hours at sea. We were fetched at the pier and we quickly made our way to my friend’s beach front rest house. It was a big house with three rooms that easily fit the nine other people who went with me for the trip. The photo above was actually taken on the last day – when all of us were at least heavier – both in terms of shades of tan and actual body weight after all the beach bumming and scarfing. Continue Reading »

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The idea that an entire nation of intelligent and opinionated individuals would stand side by side for common causes is certainly a dream that resides in the minds of the idealistic members of the blogging community. I’m a bit shocked though that is something that is considered by people whom I consider to be pragmatic and fairly reasonable individuals.

This point has been hammered home so many times already – the beauty of the blogging medium lies in how free it is and how personal of an experience it is to the person writing the posts and maintaining the sites. While blogging, a person is free to just express his thoughts and just allow himself to be at the mercy of an audience that is largely anonymous and at times appreciative or judgmental. The blog has become a soapbox that has allowed people of different interests, backgrounds and affiliations to spill their minds on a virtual space and engage the rest of the world in some form of correspondence or communication.  Continue Reading »

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The first day in Cebu was an absolute trip – there was great food all throughout the day and we closed out the night with an awesome set courtesy of Next Stage in VuDu. Day 2 meant that our small group of three was to expand to a merrier band of nine as the other members of Team Manila flew in to the city.

Before meeting up with the rest of the team, we stretched the time we had in Hotel Pier Cuatro and relished every minute of shut eye that we could get. Before making our way to the other hotel that the team would be staying in, we trooped to CnT first to grab our second lechon lunch for the trip. Yup, healthy eating was definitely in the agenda for this trip. Continue Reading »

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We were invited by Cebu Trivia Night for a Manila versus Cebu special last weekend (this will be tackled on a later entry) and for some reason, two of my friends and I decided to fly the day before of the event to give us a chance to see what the city had to offer. It’s been almost four years since my last trip to Cebu so I was pretty sure that there would have been a lot of changes already.

We stayed at Hotel Pier Cuatro – a hotel that’s near, well, Pier Cuatro. The accommodations were quite basic but the price was a good deal – 1380 pesos for three people with free breakfast sure sounds like a steal, yes? The staff was very friendly and helpful and the guard even helped me retrieve a bag that I accidentally left inside the cab that we took from the airport (I know…). This hotel is NOT in a posh area of the city but it is close to Park Mall and SM Cebu. Pier 4 is also the same pier that one would go to to catch the SuperCat ferry to Tagbilaran, Bohol.

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