Oro, plata, mata!

Mabuhay! (although it really means 'welcome/bye' in the Philippines...I used it as I liked)



So there you go again! Mabuhay! and hope you have a Mabuhay time reading this post!

"Make sure your passport is with you all the time. Dont drink water off taps! Dont talk to strangers....."

I listened to my Mum's never-ending advice, as always (and in literal sense), as they never tend to change one bit. After assuring that I would be extra cautious, I boarded this flight to Cebu - The Queen of South! An island filled with beaches!! Well, thats all about I knew of this place .....honestly, work had taken its toll and I had no time to do my research.

In the aircraft, I was suitably seated by a window. Behind me, a German couple, and this I gathered since they were speaking German and had mistaken the passengers to be an audience to their domestic squabbles. Next to me, an American family of 3, father, daughter and son. All of them with their laptops switched on with stereo headsets plugged in. Now, who said the world wasnt ready for wearble computing and electronics?!?

In front of me a Korean family whose kid had already began to ask her mum."Are we there yet?" just after 2 min after taking off. The parents, equipped with pencil and eraser, were in their own world with their advanced Sudoku puzzles book. My flight, rest assured was going to be a peaceful one.

This was followed by the aircraft pilot introducing himself and informing us when we would reach the destination. I heard the watched click behind me and yet another loud chatter. Given all this, I could hardly hear the pilot's name. Such dominating conversationalists really - no, not the German couple behind me but the pilots, in general. There was no way for him to hear me when I said," I beg your pardon, whats your name again, can you please give me that redundant piece of information again?"

Anyways, with no homework done (as you already know which wasn't my fault), I was scramming through the brochures in the flight when I first discovered I was actually going to an island which has historical events dating back to 16th century! Not wanting to be further discouraged, I abandoned the brochure immediately and tried to get a little snooze. The rude pilot however, felt the need to announce that were 36000 feet above the ground and were travelling at a lightening speed. Sure, now move on!

The flight was otherwise uneventful - had a few laughs and pretended to read this book by Kazuo Ishiguro.
Number of pages covered on flight - 8.
Number of glasses of orange juice - 3
Number of visit to the loo - 1
Number of times to be reminded to wear the seat beats - 4 (there is annoying thing about the flight stewaredesses (gee that was something typing on my left hand alone for a bit!) that
I would love to mention. They can get ....)

We landed at the Mactan International airport which I quickly assessed not to be bigger than a cricket pitch. Well obviously not! On my way to the hotel, I couldnt spot a single multistoried building. Coming to terms with the fact that I was almost in a village (with an airport, somehow) I felt something is not right here. It just took a brief 10 mins for me to realise that people drive here on the wrong side of the road. Must be the American/Spanish influence! I mean who drives on the right hand side of the road?! I was very much worried by as this meant additional caution required while crossing the roads! Then ofcourse, there werent any traffic lights in vicinity! Why should there be any?

I was welcome warmly at the hotel. My friend and I quickly planned our tour for the next 2 days and spent the rest of the evening at the beach. The sight was awesome. The water was cool and the weather was just warm and nice.

The locals seem to be very genuine and friendly. The next day we went on a tour around the City and were introduced to Magellan (the first spanish sailor to chance upon the island) and the local hero who fought him. This dated back to 16th century as I had figured previously. Following that there were some museums and churches that we visited, which dated back to about the same era. The place as such has so much Spanish influence that Rico, Pedro and Antonino could jolly well be the local equivalent of Tom, Dick and Harry. Yes, each person I met had a full blown complicated Espanol names. (I have delibrately left the accent there since such is the case here in Philippines - no Spanish accent in the names/words)

With Roman Catholic Churches in each town, it was more than clear that locals here were mostly Christians. The local dance, music, language and so much more - everything seemed to have been infuenced by Spaniards. People seem to embrace the fact that the Spaniards ruled them for about 300 years and were happy to have the foreign culture integrated to such a large extent.

Throughout the trip I often felt why are these people were still hanging on to something as old as 16th century? Until I found this near one of the Church that claims to have Santo Nino.

So anyways, the historical day trip was ended with us visiting a Taoist temple at 'Beverly Hills'. By then, thanks to the scorching heat we were drained of energy. The guide seeing our enthusiasm took upon himself in driving us up the hill instead of asking us to climb the 81 steps.(referring to 81 chapters of Taoist scriptures) Some of the richest locals live there - well obviously! The temple has this note at the entrance," Keep Clean. Immoral acts are prohibited in this temple.'

This caused my friend to immediately hide his cigeratte pack and me to wonder in which temples are such acts actually allowed?

Finding the day in general a bit of a drag, considering how sporty and adventure-driven we are, my friend and I decided to muster ourselves to water skiing which was just one of the several sports made available at the numerous beaches that Philippines boasts. It was great! As always, I felt like THE king! Although, most of the times, I could have been easily passed off to be a clown to a passerby - with me landing on the water surface on my face each time. My friend was better than me but injured his knee which required him to hobble around for the rest of the trip.

The next day we set off to the island of Bohol (yes, the words are used in that order - Filipino style? Spanish style?), where we saw these unique hills (Chocolate hills - only names so since an American tourist in the past was reminded of Herseys chocolate upon seeing those hillocks and it seems the locals just felt it was most appropriate to name these natural wonders after such a whim) made of limestone (then, under sea). I instantly ranked them amongst the most marvelous natural wonders I have ever witness.


We then met the tarsiers, and most visited creatures here one could ever imagine. Very cute but scary nonetheless. Reminded me of Dobby from the from H.Potter series. Large owl-eyed, long monkey-fingers, long rat-tailed, with bat ears these handful sized primates are one of the 4 species of their kind found in this world. They are off the endangered species list but I guess can be added to the most-annoyed-by-the-human-fancy list.

The rest of the day-trip isnt worth any mention although we met some amazing locals. Very very kind people and so content. It was a bliss to spend time with them and just to chat to them. They are very proud of their country. Did I mention the food was fabulous! The local fiestas which take place rather regularly are grand; this, coupled with the dance and music (which by the way was delightful) seemed to me, to be the nation's soul.

We came across several instances where we felt that this country was doing so much more for the environment. It has several local small scake-industries - cottage-weaving, tyre recycling, forestation etc.

Often on my own or with my friends I have never really had a chance to interact with tour guides on my trips. This time however, we hired a local tour guide on day 2 to show us some of the local industries. They seem to have this resorvior of information and just seem to have the perfect answers for everything. Our guide, Gwen was a very cheerful person and very committed to getting all the information across. This seemed fine till the point I felt the need to ask her to customise her scripts in the future. (No, I wasnt as rude and didnt mention it). But the reason why this came upon was only since she wouldnt listen to me. Inspite of me telling her that I am from India she went on to explain how buffaloes are farmers best friends and how they help the farmers.

Anyhow, we returned quite content back to Mactan island.

The rest of the time was spent by the beach with my book. The Booker Prize winner's content matched my expectations of it and I felt the author ably demonstrated his literary skills having kept me company for the rest of my stay in Cebu.


Random anecdotes -
No. of Spaniards I bumped into = 0
No. of korean/Japanese tourists = some 10,000
Number of books read - 1
Number of flags seen owing to the ASEAN smmit = 17
My fav dance: Tinikling
My fav spot: Bohol's Chocolate hills
My friend's fav ship: Oceanjet (and only since it stated he was 21 years old)
Most commonly available beer: San Miguel
Popular sport - Basketball (Local boys sporting the game below)

And if you have read so far and have wondered what relation does any of this have to the title of the post, the answer is none.

It seems while contructing a house, it is essential to count the number of steps such that the final rung falls on either “oro” or “plata,” for the well being of the inhabitants. Gold, silver, death or some equivalent like that.

Overwhelmingly surprised!

I call Naidu at 5AM.

"Have you checked if the flights are on time?"
"No but my phone's battery is low, you would better wake up."

I hang up and call the airport.

Much to my delight, I was greeted by a recorded voice which instructed me to dial '2' for flight schedule. After some 20 keypresses and several nail-biting decisions, I managed to find out that the flight we expected our friends to arrive in is actually on time!

Darn! Which really meant we had to move our butts and get to the airport quickly.

Earlier that week, Naidu and I had this grand plan to be executed to surprise our friends who after being declared husband and wife (not that they needed any such declaration!) were returning back to Sg.

Our plan was to get their new apartment cleaned and all their furniture and bags moved to their new place! The execution, led by me, needless to say, was flawless. Except for this one time when the cab driver took me to 'Tanglin Road' when I specifically told him to take me to Bow Wing Rd. And this other time, when we were driven out of a florist's. (Naidu managed to pluck some flowers.....well, he claimed that he just touched it and blamed his muscle power). And this other time....

So after several such minor, unnoticible glitches we decided to receive Suchi and Ravi at the airport which would be their first surprise! I was staying over at a friend's and was
assigned to wake up Naidu on the D-day. He had prepared a schedule for me. I was to call him at 5AM, 5:15AM and then 5:30AM such that he actually wakes up. I am often mis-understood....but this was my first to be assumed to be an alarm clock.

Miraculously, we managed to get to Terminal 1 ahead of time. Not knowing how to kill time....

"'Desi bandis' look awful in the mornings...you know? Immediately after waking up with no make-up and all."

This was after the drooled over 'bandi' had walked past Naidu without even a glance at him.

Minutes passed.

Suchi and Ravi arrived. They were, as thought, overwhelmed by our presence. We in-turn are over-whelmed by their luggage! The first cabbie refused us which made us lug it to the 2nd who drove us to their new apartment. Mind you, at that hour, we werent thrilled to re-discover that their new flat had no lift!

However, the new arrivals were yet again thrilled to find Nimms and her beloved waiting for them at theirs! Nimms had woken up earlier that morning without any 'snooze-calls' from me, prepared b'fast and decorated the new flat's living room! How sweet.

Lunch was at ours, and thats when we gave Suchi and Ravi whatever we managed to get from the florist's who had chased us away.

Happy ending really! Very content we all returned back to our normal routines of life.

Chinese New Year around the corner, we are all flying to various destinations. Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Cebu, Phuket here we come!!!!!!!!

I can't wait for the surprises when we all return back.......

Sunflower seeds for the fairest...

I spent exactly 2 hours in a bus after work, stuck in the CTE. Crawl..? shamble? dwadle? To be honest I can't think of a word to describe the seemingly interminable ride. As the bus inched, I imagine how the same traffic in Bangalore must have had everyone honk, somehow with a conviction that, louder the wail, faster the traffic in front evaporates. This, I mention to Chandni, who is also with me in the bus. She is on her way to catch the last day of the show - My Fair Lady at the local cultural center. She had booked ticket earlier this afternoon after hours of both mental and vocal delibration on the choices. The choices being MFL, El Divo and Hoobastank. She sort my advice ofcourse but regretted it. I adviced her against such frivolous spendings.

"If you sort true entertainment then you should spend it on true stars! Like me.", I explained.

The bus drove us crazy. It is 18:40 hours and the show begins at 20:00 hours. It has been over 30 mins since we boarded it - on a normal day by this time we should have reached the cultural center. Chandni is sceptical that she would make it on time. I am baffled at her concern and ask her to be more optimistic. I try and distract her but she's busy making calls to find out if she can cancel her reservations. The lady on the other end sounds cheerful.

"Yes, how can I be of help, Madam?" she chrips.

"I have been stuck in traffic for the past hour or so. Can I have my reservation cancelled please?" Chandni explains.

"No, sorry. It is against our policy. We never cancel reservations once the are made"The lady retorts.

"But that's ridiculous! I will not be able to attend the show. Why would I want to pay for the show when I am unable to attend it?

"You can attend the second half of the show if you are late"

"Will I then need to pay just half the price?"

"No, you will still need to pay the full price."

"Can you please cancel it? I don't think I can make it on time. It is awful as it is that I am going to have to miss it"

"You could get off the bus and take a cab"

"I am on the highway!"

"Then wait for the next busstop"

"I am in BUS that hasnt moved in 20 minutes!. Can you please cancel my reservation?

"No I can't."

"Then can I speak to someone else who can?"

"Please hold."

and with some audacity she hangs up! A infuriated Chandni calls back again. No response.

I explain to her that she is panicing for no reason. She reminds me to check my watch. I do. It is 19:10 hours and we must have moved some 20 metres. I am still optimistic. A new lady on the other side of the line this time, out of huge consideration, plays Beethoven for Chandni instead of hanging up on her. The clock for no reason reads 19:40 hours and we seem to have passed another street light. It dawns on me that she won't be there on time. After several controversies, sweet-talk, mockery and cajoling Chandni manages to get her 160 dollar ticket cancelled.

She is still upset. I bid her goodbye and get off the bus at my stop partially guilty for having kept her waiting for me unnecessarily at work before we had left. I was meeting Gun and Naidu for gift shopping for our friends' wedding. Gun has several other purchases to make. Somehow, confusing me to notepad he rattles out the things he needs to buy. Shoe laces, souvenirs, battery for his watch, shaving cream,....

"I need sunflower seeds" interrupts Naidu. Apparently, his trainer has adviced him so. I remind them that they were here to shop for their friends. With my amazing time management skills and some curses from the other shoppers (whose directions we solely depended on in that huge mall), we manage a gold coin, sunflower seeds, cheese, shoe lace and souvenirs. We also, in the process, somehow manage to loose Gun. With a compulsion in our minds that we could not possibly miss such a huge mass of body, we dont use our handphones to call him to find out where he was. I even say this aloud, only to
walk right into him. He makes a face and ignores my lewd remark.

The lace he was looking for were out of stock. Gun decides to check some shoes instead. Naidu thinks its' time to leave and says "Lets hussle"

Gun says,"Why?"

Loud music in the background of some 70s Hindi songs.

I say,"Since its late"

Gun says,"So why whistle?"

I say,"Hussle! Not whistle!"

Naidu says, "That is what I said!"

I say, "Thats enough! Yes, now lets go!"

There is this lady with her mate behind us in the crowd trying to move out as well. Naidu thinks she is the prettiest he has seen in the mall.

We overhear her say to her friend,"My aunt was here na? She doesn't know English. So..."

I whisper to Naidu,"I think shes mistaken 'English' to be a person.....I tell you shes pretty but is super dudds"

Naidu, obviously smitten must have surely heard, "Sunflower seeds"

Sunday's surprise turns sour

Jan14th, my dear friend's birthday!

We hadnt any plan to meet or sort and I wanted to surprise him by showing up at his with cake and all, early in the morning. So, following my little plan, I take an hour's ride to his, blow a balloon, light a candle and knock on his door and am all ready to sing.,...

No response. Try again...nothing. The bell doesnt seem to work either. So I try calling him. I cant hear his phone ring!! Grrrrrr! Several knocks....in vain.

So I leave the gift and the lone balloon by his door and return. On returning home I get a call from him. Apparently he felt the need to put his phone on silent mode such that he wouldnt disturbed by his mates in Oz who owing to the time difference might have called him too early. Evidently, my dear friend wanted his beauty sleep the day he turned 30.

I promised to catch up with him over the week. Sleep deprived, owing to early rise for the flop show - I snuggle up under my sheets. Strangely, the time got fast-forwarded to noon and my flatmates wanted to cook lunch.

Gunn suggests that Naidu and I do the dishes and start cutting vegetables. I am still half-asleep and do the dishes. Naidu attempts to organise and gets on with the cutting. After 2 hours of serious cutting, mixing, washing and tossing we managed a daal, pulao, raita and kats' special (which really didnt have a name as it had all the left over cut vegetables put together, mixed and fried with goat cheese, prego and milk). No, dont cringe, it actually got a 7 out of 10. (Rating done by our guest, Golds) whilst the other prepared dishes (scripted and repeated several times) got a max of just 5!

Had a short nap and watched a movie - 'Another country', which made me feel sorry. Then dinner at Pizza Hut with Jez, for which he was late. The cabbie, it seems wouldnt listen to him. I announce to him how I have given up alchol and how he has lost a drink buddy this year. He adviced that if my aim was indeed to give up alcohol this year then why not I push it to the end of this year instead of giving up now it self. He did have a point there..

Anyhow, apart from several other world-saving subjects we argued on how the pizaa that was served wasnt actually a 6 incher, why Rupert Everert is only cast for ga y roles, how cricket represents colonism in several ways, why the French are hated so much by the English and how Englsih language doesn't belong to the English anymore.

The rest of my evening was spent watching the BBC - 'Have your say'. The debate being, if Bush was right sending 20K more troops to Iraq. Right! As if Bush is all up waiting to hear me have my say and swirl to it!

This followed by 'The Apprentice'. I am beginning to question my telly watching habits.

Steve's sojourn

"Just arrived and am at e airport", the SMS came while I was trying to wrap up and have an early evening at work. I quickly texted Steve back asking him to take a train to Bugis where I would meet him.

All excited, and half hoping that Steve's arrival would somehow miraculously end the mad avalanche of cloudburst which has hyjacked Singapore for the past month or so, I bravely step out of office with equipped umbrella, to catch the train.

I am almost at Bugis when Steve texts enquiring if he is in the right direction after having passed Expo station twice! Half-annoyed that I couldnt pick him up from the airport myself - I ask him to get out of the train and text me which station he is on for me to come and pick him up.

No response from him....After 5 mins, abandoning Bugis, I am on my way to the airport. Still no message frm Steve. Finally, I managed to get his text which read, "Sorry was on my iPOD so missed your message." Show off!

I am reminded of how I had wanted to get one for myself but kept waiting for a much more respectable version of gizmo defining the current generation. Earlier this year, I had made up my mind to quit the wait and get one for myself by the first quarter. I even set aside a budget for it ......when Jobs decides to screw my plans again! Why should be come up with an iPhone now?! Now I am torn between getting an iPOD and the latest fashion accessory - an iPhone which probably has everything that one needs, but, I think I will wait for a better version of it that spits out as money as it costs.

With a mere 10 or so, more text messages exchanged between us, Steve and I manage to overcome the minor miscommunication and finally meet. The confusion didnt end there though...once I saw Steve waiting for me on the other side of the platform we had decided on meeting ..I waved and waved and waved and with all the excitement mimed that I would meet him at his platform. I got there only to find him on mine!

Phew!

Anyhow, it was such a delight to meet him after almost 4 years! We were esctatic to find out from each other how much more younger we looked after all these years! Mind you, Steve is soon turning 50 again and didnt appreciate being called a baby-boomer.

The modest hotel I had recommeneded had this lady at the reception whose first question was, "So whats your budget like?" She was probably new. Her kind and generous gesture couldnt be missed.

The room was cosy and surprisingly had most appliances in working condition. We had a quick dinner and visited a local bar where Steve found everybody anorexic. I left him to that.

We decide to meet again the next morning. It dawns at 11:30 for us. Steve announces his new dietary regime of skipping lunch and his craving for freshly brewed coffee.

I take him to an Indian restaurant where the coffee was ridiculed and Steve claimed it to be a 'Nescafe'.I shamelessly hog whilst he watches me sipping on his accused hot-coffee-water. Later we get in and out of several shops to get his 4 item-long shopping list covered. After a solid 4 hours we managed to get our hands loaded with bags. Unsatisfied and the 4 items still left unpurchased, I begin to worry since Steve's flight back is early next day.

Steve still needs that coffee.

With only a few hours left, lady drizzle's grace, some arguments over how there were so many Matthew-look-alikes (Matthew is one of our friends) in the mall, a few phone calls made to confirm that Matthew is not indeed in Singapore and some confusion over credit cards, we equip ourselves and manage to find all the items in the list.

Content, Steve suggests we have that coffee. I am not surprised. I suggest pasta. With a freshly brewed coffee (much to Steve's contention, and mine - to have found the Coffebean that he has been looking for) and a couple of books that we picked at a store we get to the pasta place only to find it closed!

We get back to the cafe we were at first and enjoy the rest of the evening. Having chatted for a long time, sharing our memories of good old days over a few glasses of wine, somehow, the Queen become the subject of our conversation. She was quickly repalced by Hugo Chavez, followed by Gordon Brown...then Cherie Blair.

We questioned our sobriety and thought it was in our best interest to get some sleep before Steve catches his flight back. I promised Steve to be at the airport 5 in the morning. I get a call in the middle of the night. It was Steve calling from the airport just before boarding to say goodbye.