the HK yogathon 2012

i come from a province known for people who have themselves crucified on wooden crosses as in what is told to have happened to jesus christ. i went when i was 12 and almost twenty years hence i still remember one man's face as he was hanging up there with his palms pierced and bleeding. he looked up and was uttering something. i saw peace in his eyes. he put himself up there voluntarily. years later i saw the same man in tv being featured for an easter theme episode. he said that his daughter was sick once and he prayed really hard. he made a promise to god that he would do the crucifixion every year if his daughters recovers. lo and behold, his daughter made it and he's been fulfilling his promise every year.

sometimes we find faith in one activity. at least once in our lives we find something that makes us devoted and one way or another we always make room for it despite our busy schedule. that activity for me is YOGA.

i went through the most difficult 2 years of my life and yoga helped me a lot to move on. it didnt come to me as a fad. some people are just enticed by the thought of being able to lose weight in a non intense way that's why they sign up at yoga centers then lose interest one or two months later. i see yoga as a retreat for my hectic life. three to five hours of my week are spent doing meditation, stretching my dull body and somewhat satisfying my competitive nature. there is always a new posture to do and it's always nice to learn and advance to a higher level. the good thing is you only have yourself to make it or break it. there are no outside forces to blame and no luck to depend on. you do it because you can. you dont do it because you cannot yet. after regular practice you get the hang of it and you feel happy about yourself because you could do it afterall.

so i went again to the HK yogathon this year. it's still organized by the HK breast cancer foundation. do you know that there are 8 women diagnosed every day in HK, and that one person die from it everyday? that's one scary statistics!

this time i am determined to finish 8 hours again. i did it last year, there's no reason i cannot do it now. needless to say i made it and im so proud of myself for the achievement. this year there were more people who stayed eight hours and i am very happy that more and more people are appreciating the benefits of yoga. dont think of it as a way to lose weight. you cannot be seriously expecting to lose weight when you do twistings for 10 seconds every time, can you? think of it as a retreat and as an opportunity to meditate. it's different when you just sit and do nothing. i always think of something whenever i do something. i may be crossing the road but i am thinking of what to have for dinner. i may be brushing my teeth but im thinking if i responded to all my work queries for the day. even when i sleep i still dream about my orders at work.

but whenever i go yoga, everything is erased. i feel bitterness when i remember i didnt have a nice pencil case when i was eight. i feel sad that i didnt make it to one field trip when i was in college. there are some shallow bits of sadness that just pop out of nowhere and when i meditate i forget them after the 1 hour session. i always feel refreshed after shavasana even if im sweating all over. i may be exhausted during the 8 hour yogathon, but it's the most peaceful 8 continuous hours that i had had after more than a year. and to top it all off, i did it for breast cancer patients.

i will keep doing yogathon until im here in HK! i will keep doing yoga until my bones are brittle. that's the cross i'd gladly bear!

stole this from the hk yogathon facebook page. find me!

the image of the philippines

we filipino expats are like ambassadors of our country in our little ways. yes we know the problems of our country blah blah but im pretty sure that when we talk about our country to foreigners we always try to say the best things. if youre watching the tv show 'community' you will remember their episode when they had to defend their school. they say it's a trashy school but no one can trash it but them. it's still afterall the same school where they met their close friends and where they learn something. yeah yeah you should get they gyst by now.


personally speaking my de facto sales pitch for PH would be our beaches. i always say that we have the world's most beautiful beaches. i usually ask them if they have been to thailand, i would give them the reassurance that ours are way prettier. that is true, i have been to phuket last march and i would still go for palawan or bohol.

last week was a good and bad week for me on my being a tourist ambassadress:

scenario 1:
i was in china with 2 customers and they were talking about wanting to go to PH. then came my usual spiel about the beauty of our country. we were with a chinese furniture boss and he relayed this story when he used to have a travel agency with some customers in the PH maybe more than 10 years ago.
he was mentioning about being not paid on time, about how he had to fly just to get the money personally, etc. then one time he was bringing a lot of money and he was tapped by customs. he said the folded 2k pesos and slid the bills into the hands of the customs officer and he managed to leave the area unscathed. he stopped his business from then on.

scenario 2:
i participated in a hikeathon and i bumped into an indian teenager (im guessing he's 11-13 years old). usual chitchat, he correctly guessed that i am from PH. he asked if PH is really dangerous for a tourist (every one here still remembers the bus incident), i answered that accidents can happen anywhere you travel. it's just blown out of proportion by the media. he said he feels sorry that it had to happen but i was glad that he's very open minded about the issue. he knows it's a big deal in hk because the victims were hk tourists. and he ended up saying he'll go to PH when he can with his parents.



every one has their good and bad images of different places. so we filipino expats will just continue to spread the good images, then try to warn them on the bad ones with a little tips on how to avoid them.

guess who's reporting for duty?

ahemm ahemm...

yo bitch, im back! xoxo!


glad to be writing silly what have yous, rants and gossips and perhaps some relevant updates again. i've been extremely busy for as long as i could remember and honestly i didnt have the heart to write. i visit the site once in a while during those blue moments and narcissistic as it my sound it always brings smile to my face. i still feel the excitement that i felt when i tell story of a certain trip, or a little happy-embarassed that i got drunk here and there or when i read those crappy lovelife posts. aaaakkkk!!!

so what the heck, let the blogging resume!

i just came from another backpack trip with my sister in the southern part of the phils and i really loved it. i always say im a hardcore traveler but i guess you really cannot claim that phrase until you plan to have no plan and just go with it. yep, we went ahead and went with it.

i've always wanted to go to the south of the philippines. i grew up in the north and spent my uni years in the capital. i only went down to the central part of the country when i started working but the thought of the south always puzzled me. are they all sorta terrorists? will we be kidnapped there? do they really have a mayor that is glorified in cheesy action movies? are the people as passive as they were portrayed in the media?

well let me tell you what i could assess in the four days that we were there:

- they are not 'garapal'. i dont know what's the proper term in english. but it's something like getting something aggressively without really thinking of the person whom youre getting it from. yes most of them are not well off, but they wont say something behind your back if you dont give them tip or if you let them do their sales talk for half hour but you end up not using their service.

- they have cable, electricity, pricey over the hill restos, high end malls and all other luxuries of a middle to middle higher class life. whoever thinks they are still primitive is totally mistaken.

- they are very helpful and well mannered. they will not try to rip you off just because youre a tourist.

- when you tell them you come from another place that is not the capital, they would think that it is so far, even though it's just 50km away from the big city.

- like any other pinoy, they feel proud when they are featured in the media and they will keep talking about it over and over again. every body talked about the tv feature about their city that was shot 2 weeks prior.

- THEY HAVE THE MOST MAJESTIC WATERFALLS. we've only been to tinuy-an falls but it's enough to say that it is the most incredibly awesome waterfalls i've seen in my life.

- they have maniac bus drivers. like the crazy bus drivers in manila. you would be forced to stay awake the whole ride so you can avoid being swayed from one side to another. you'd be forced to pray for your safety too. hehe.

- honesty is their best policy. we usually had to use public toilet and you had to pay different amounts for pee, poo poo and bathing. people pay for the more expensive second even though no one can really prove that they did just that.

- when they say 'enchanting', it takes a while for you to appreciate the enchantment. but when it finally sinks in, you are enchanted forever!!! this is what i felt when i saw the Enchanted River in Surigao.


i will post photos soon. i put them in facebook but i promise i will put them here also!

i will make this site pretty again!