photo of the day: 30

today is my parents' 29th wedding anniversary. some people really get it lucky! and I'm glad it's my mom! i mean, i wouldn't be here today if they hadn't gotten married, right?

you have to give it to my mom. she got her first boyfriend, got married, got two perfect kids (that's obviously biased) and 29 years later, she's still happy with the same perfect man! sometimes some women really get all the luck! i haven't been that lucky on the first boyfriend part but I'm sure i will get my perfect man also!

photo of the day: 21 - 29

i just came back from my longest solo trip. two words: LIFE CHANGING

my goodness, Siem Reap is B E A U T I F U L ! ! !

my friends have been saying the same thing but you have to feel (not just see, you have to feel it with your heart!) to prove them right.

i was a bit discouraged by the poipet, the border city (i went inland and did a full day travel from bangkok to siem reap) but when you see siem reap, it's definitely worth all the fatigue!

the orange brownish soil, the humble people, the incredible temple ruins... it's like taking you back in time and you say to yourself, what the heck, asia has gotten much more civilized than the western world. we should be the superpower!! what the hell happened?!?

oh the people. they are the nicest people on earth and even though they're the poorest people on earth they seem to be living an honest and dignified life. im taken back to my childhood days with all the farmlands and no gigantic billboards.



ill show you the photos of mundane life first, ok? the temples ill post in my next entries.

when i get my heart broken...

I travel solo.

I'm now boarding for my Bangkok and Siem Reap.

Aaah, dream destinations!

I'll catch up on my photos of the day when I get back.

Xoxo,
Blsm

photo of the day: 18 - 20

on our europe trip i really fought for cordoba to be one of our destinations. it's a little out of the way but i won and we finally got to see the cathedral. it's a fight worth fighting for. just first step on the cathedral lets you know on the luxury that it could offer. i swear i almost cried. i couldn't get over the red striped arched columns even after we went to our next destination. we were only there for 24 hrs but i have to say (although my travel mates wouldn't agree) it's one of the best stops we did.

photo of the day: 17

my first Apple purchase. I know I've said it before that I dont get why some people venerate their products. this is not veneration, ok? hehe.

i just bought one because i really wanted a good computer that i can use for my photos. and my netbook is really slow most of the time. im planning on 2012 to be the year to get back to photography. i havent opened it yet! im too busy today. i guess im the first person to not open her macbook pro. so not veneration, ok? although a new ipod wouldnt hurt. hahahaha

photo of the day: 16

part of our palawan underground package is a visit to the ugong rock. it's called 'ugong' because of the hollow stalactites and they produce a sound when tapped. it' s a little challenge to go through the whole cave but i really liked it. then to cap the experience we went on a zip line, it's about 21 second ride and you go through a normal rice farm. i grew up in this type of landscape in our province. i've ridden buffalos, i've gone hide and seek with my playmates, we've stolen some corn and sugar cane harvest and teased the owner's dogs so they could chase us. aaahhh, those were the days. such normal (and fun) childhood. :)

a door closes, a window opens

i have always been an optimistic person. you know why? because when things get really shitty and i hit rock bottom, a very good thing happens and all the misfortunes just seem like heavy rain and at the end of it you see a magical rainbow.

just this morning i was just writing how i've been in a few relationships and after a decade i still end up alone. but let me change that: i've been in a few relationships and after a decade i still end up alone... and rich! today i learned that i got a really big bonus! really big, as in 1.5 times of the savings that i had for the last 5.5 years i've been in hk. woaaaahhhh! and im getting a salary increase! my boss is happy with my work, and he got good things to say about me. all those hard work in 2011 has finally paid off.

thank you universe! thank you!

a decade of love

Today marks the decade of I being in a relationship. That’s bloody ten years of flirting, caring, sweetnothings, dressing up’s, fights and make up’s and eventually parting ways.

Oh love, you come and go, leaving me more damaged than ever. But hey, if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t be what I am today. Ten years… and I haven’t hit jackpot yet. Well I have always been a determined and optimistic girl and I know my ‘one’ is just around the corner waiting for me and my damaged yet healed self to come out and love as if I haven’t been hurt before.

photo of the day: 13 - 15

yes i had a quite a busy weekend.

friday i went dinner with S, my former sheung wan housemate. we had a semi buffet vegetarian supper and it's really good. then saturday i went biking with friends. V was the organizer, and there were four of us girls who went with him. just imagine 4 heartbroken single girls, each one of us having our own recent break up stories. ayayay! i didnt like one of the girls but somehow after that bike trip she was ok with me. maybe we just got on the wrong foot (and the fact that i was still with the ex-bf who somehow hated her didnt help) but there's nothing like badmouthing about all assholes that can be a good icebreaker for girls. so there, we had a good time. i had to rush out because i had a send-off party to go to. one of my good kuya's in the photo club is being relocated to manila.

before going to the bar i rewarded myself with a sole vietnamese dinner. there's nothing that vietnamese spring roll and cold noodles cannot heal. trying to be emo? spring rolls! being reminded of the past? spring rolls! feeling lonely? spring rolls!

then off i went to the party, and being the only girl in a group with 8 men, you cannot really help being the center of their attention... in a 'bad' way! well they're still gentlemen and all, but they really see me as one of them and that i will ride on to the jokes of the night. they were teasing me to this guy and they were really full on! there were super cheesy punch lines, suggestive pics and leaving us so we could have a private talk. and i have to emphasize that i was drunk as hell!!! the shooters just didnt stop and i had three full glasses of cocktails! the last time i was drunk was when a and i officially announced to our close friends that we're together. and that's like 6 months ago! last night was really crazy shit. i had to go to a fastfood restaurant only to vomit a bagful of shit. that guy that they're teasing me with offered to take me home, but i politely declined. he seems a very good and kind guy (he was trying to be interesting and appearing to take care of me during my last hour in the bar when i was just drunk as fuck) but he wasnt my type. i think i've gone through so many shitty relationships, and just going home with a guy i just met but not attracted to is just not the way to go. i still learn from my lessons, you know?! i went home so dizzy and vomited a lot more on my sink. i woke up on a sink full of vermicelli and pizza bits. eewwww!!!

so there goes my weekend. next weekend im going to drink silly with N... in bangkok!!!

just when i was about to feel emo...

you know my moving on from break up with A was quite too rushed. we ended just when my sister visited me. then i got busy with the christmas party, then i went to palawan with my family. it's actually just now that im feeling the loneliness. you know, these cold winter nights without cuddling anyone, and the fact that it's new year and i got no one to look forward with the whole year. im too mushy and i was hoping to do something super romantic on 12-12-12.

but then again... my boss just notified me that i have to go to spain... so who's f*ckin' sad now?! just when i was about to feel like the world is forgetting me, good things happen. and now im happy again. :)

photo of the day: 12

last night i met up with my girls M and H. they're the two women who have been with me when i was trying to get over the two ex bf's. they're the ones whom i get to do shopping, get really really drunk, and share much of myself in the girl friend kinda way. we smoke, dine, flirt, drink, and talk about things that we normally do not talk about with other people. and H is having her third baby! so now we're trading our cocktails for hot chocolate. it's one of those nights when you're just happy you're with your close girl friends and it does not have to be in a rowdy bar like you did a couple of years back.

on love and loss

J - taught me how to love
R - I became the craziest version of myself when it comes to loving someone
B - the longest, the one i shared most of myself
A - the one I thought, hoped and fervently wished was the One.

I hope the next one is the last.

photo of the day: 11

the sevilla bull ring.

it's my first time to see a real bull ring. i didnt expect it to be this decent. i thought bull rings are dingy places with worn down facilities. let's just say the spanish people take their bullfights seriously...in style. such nice contrast! after this we went inside the museum and we learned a lot about the history and the whole bullfighting she-bang. watching a bull being slayed within an hour is beyond me, but oh well, to each culture its own, right?

if there is a couple of things that i learned from the recent past about relationships

do not go to bed angry

i swear if your partner sleeps on a fight, it's a big sign that he/she is not really in-love with you. sleep is to conclude that you are leaving the awake world for a few hours in a peaceful state. how can you close your eyes when you know there are unresolved issues with the only person you care about the most? it's just beyond logic that you just leave it like that and sleep peacefully. yes, granted that you're tired. but im sure 10 minutes of your time is nothing compared to the emotional pain that you're causing your partner. just be considerate and talk over it. then after 10 minutes it will be a whole evening of cuddling and tight hugs. a big reward, eh?



give your partner a right to be wrongfully condescending on something

so i had this ex-bf who made a big deal when i said "yaiks, point and shoot" when we were talking about cameras. he owns a point and shoot camera. yes, i know that's insensitive and uncalled for but before i could take it back, he blurted out: "you are such a bitch, as if you dslr owners are the only children of god.". i let it go on the first time and apologized, but he kept repeating the same line whenever he would see me holding my camera. which annoyed me to pieces.
come on, there's this one thing that we know we are very good in doing. some paint, some dance, some sing, some eat fire and glass crystals. and i, for one, know that i have quite a good eye in photography. it's not professional level, but if you were to ask me now on my 'talent' i would say it is photography. but this ex-bf is such a loser that he could not let it go. it undermines the fact that it's so important to me and he could not even support me just because of a short bruising of his ego. so puh-lease, give your partner a pass on something to be arrogant and just full of him/herself. for everything else you can remind him/her to keep grounded. just dont touch that one thing that they think defines them as an individual. doing so destroys them to pieces, i swear. it's a double slap: non-supporting partner, and stepping on his/her dream. that's just not love.

photo of the day: 10

shanghai skyline. we had a stopover here before going back to HK after our EU trip. in fairness, these rows of buildings make quite a marvelous view. i like them better than HK's . at least shanghai's are more nicely located. HK buildings are too close to each other.

photo of the day: 9

ladies and gentlemen... pls bow your heads to the best noodle soup base in the world. tantananan (cheap ng sound production ko. hahaha)... CHAO LONG! it's a beefstock soup with rice noodles, and they give you togue, kalamansi and mint leaves so you control the taste. i swear the mixture of calamansi and mint, and that insanely rich beef soup is a concoction only thought by the gods. they also come in pork flavor. and as extra you can order medium size french bread with garlic spread (and this french bread is also very good, it's not too hard, but hard enough for you to feel its toastiness (yes, i just invented that word). chao long and french bread --- what a match made in heaven!

have i said i love vietnamese food? im sorry i may be patriotic and all, but pinoy food has never been my top choice if i were to be stranded in one country and im cursed to eat their food for the rest of my life. i would choose vietnamese without a single blink. it's their pho's, spring rolls, fried rice, vegetables, beef cubes, prawn chips, crabs, etc... that make me treat myself to a vietnamese restaurant quite often with or without company.

before going to puerto prinsesa i have visited some blogs and i stumbled into a blog of a backpacker and he highly recommended chao long. i told the tryke driver to take me to the best chao long place in town, and just as it may, he brought us to bona's chao long. he said the reverred mayor of PP is seen eating there. and true enough, there were so many people eating when we got there, and that's like 5pm! you know, it's that hour when servers are supposed to rest. it's after merienda, but too early for dinner. but behold, we were like the 10th person in line, and it took us half hour to wait for them to serve our food. and yes, the worth was definitely worth it. i think i've already established that on my first sentence. hahahaha!

photo of the day: 7 - 8

there's this dish in puerto prinsesa that you just have to eat. your trip will not be certified with a touch of palawan if you hadn't eaten it. it's the TAMILOK or woodworm.

it's not terrible even though it's perceived to be exotic. it's just like eating oyster, only longer. i swear it's not even bad tasting. i had a few bites or so. it's about 150/dish and could be shared with beer. perfect with vinegar and perhaps a bit of alcohol. they can also deep fry it. we ordered the 'classic' which seemed to be boiled lightly with a little dash of vinegar.

photo of the day: 5 - 6

sorry i missed last night! anyway today is my dad's bday, and since he's the only man i love all through my life who never failed to care and love me back ever so endlessly, he deserves two pictures... with me! hahaha.. i've said it here many times, im a papa's girl! happy birthday papa!

photo of the day: 4

so i dove! you know the picture does not justify the height between the platform and the sea. i swear it was friggin high! only 3 people from our group had the nerve to jump (we were with 3 cute greek guys). though i was the only one with life vest, so it's not really THAT brave! hahaha! i was bloody struggling. for a moment i thought my lifevest would fail me because i was dipped underwater for a few seconds before i was naturally pulled up. but still... good times!

i'll give you the photo since this is photo of the day afterall... of my father jumping. hahaha!

photo of the day: 1-3

here we go again...

let's see how long i can keep this. hahaha! but seriously i think i need this to practice writing again.

well i need to start with three photos. i believe i have chosen the most appropriate photos. fireworks! i took this while at the rooftop of my sister's workplace, next to gigantic satellite receivers and signal towers. how cool is that? i got flu next day though. :(

this would be the first time since my beijing trip almost 5 years ago that i see fireworks on residents' backyards. you see im a visual person, so i like rainbows, colorful stuff, fireworks. i think they're works of magic to amaze us all. it's a bit too late, but i wish you a happy new year! cheers to the blessings of 2011, and more cheers to more blessings of 2012!