My my, time really does fly fast. I can’t believe it has been 2 years already since I last flew out for the blog awards and yet here I am typing in the Malaysia office for the 2nd Nuffnang Blog awards! A lot of both good and bad memories that come with the blog awards. The blog awards itself was great. It’s something I am very privileged to experience and I do treasure and put great importance on my role and tasks as the Philippines’ Country Manager. But along with it comes the jolting memories of 2 years ago when I left all excited only to come home and be completely devastated. I somehow am reserving and holding back my excitement this year for fear of falling flat on my face when I come back.

But anyhow, the trip so far was pretty awesome. Loved the reception I always get from the Malaysian Nuffies!

Funny / Interesting story, when my plane started to taxi down the runway, I quickly dozed off so that at should at least cut 1 hour and a half of waiting time, but sadly after an hour’s nap, I woke up to us still being on the tarmac. Flight was delayed apparently.

I love flying in huge planes. The reason being is that we can fly so high and avoid air turbulence thus the flight was relatively smooth and had this amazing view at some point.

They served some food on the plane which rather meh. I wonder if its cheaper to just get some fastfood or some catering service to do it for them? Or at least have the passenger have the option to pick what is served? I wouldn’t mind McDonalds or KFC on my flight or maybe even Jollibee! But hey that’s what we get!

But at least the Lemon Square Pandan Cake and Kitkat (not seen in the photo) were pretty good!

Landed at KLIA this time and was amazed at how huge the airport was. Was hoping I won’t get lost in it!

I finally found my way to the baggage carousel and waited patiently for my bags. Luckily my bag was one of the first one’s out. Yey!

I found my way to the train and bought a one way ticket to KL Sentral where Sekar, Tim’s driver was picking me up. I just followed the purple signs and found KL Sentral Ekspress. It costs RM35 for one person and it took 28 mins only! Usually if by car it takes 1 hour and 30 mins and if you leave and there’s a jam, 2 hours!

The train was clean and quiet. I wanted to take a nap but the riding the train fascinated me.

I couldn’t help but tweet the entire train ride how much we needed this shit in Manila to help in the decongestion. After exactly 28 mins, I found myself at KL Sentral and this was an amazing place. Such a great transport depot.

It was a tiring day and I was glad to finally get to Tim’s place and get some rest!

I’ll be getting ready to see the stick man trophies soon!

I’ve also wanted to dabble a bit into nightscape photography.

Ok so Olympus EP-1 is indeed quite a nice camera to have. Compact and versatile in capable hands. (not saying mine were! I think I just got lucky) I need to travel more to take better and more photos! (Oh what an excuse!)

I also played around with some of its settings and came up with some really awesome unreal photos.

Ok so now I might really invest in a Chasing Light photography seminar.

A few days left…. I can feel it on my hands.

Did you know that:

• The Tagalog originally came from the delta formed by the Pasig river. Tagalog originally meant Taga-Ilog or river people
• San Agustin Church is one of the oldest Churches in Manila and is example of Baroque Architecture (if you’re into that kind of stuff)
• The walls protected us from initial invades like the Dutch and British
• Intramuros literally means Inside Walls in Latin

There are a few more facts but let me share some of the photos I took during the walk.

Confessional

I love taking in monotone. The simplicity and classic look is just awesome. I can’t wait to shoot my lubitel around for real photos. This is a combination of an LX3 and my DSLR.

I love photowalking. I will definitely be back. Carrying with me my film cameras.

I loved having Elise over. *come back again soon!* I took her to have a little bit of everything. History, Food, Culture, Alcohol, and definitely FUN. I’ll be blogging more definitely now.

Oktoberfest

Another stroke of luck was booking my trip during October! You know what that means? Oktoberfest!!!! I got to hang out with some of Malaysia’s most popular and influential bloggers!

Sixthseal.com and me!

I got to hang out with one of the coolest bloggers in Malaysia, sixthseal.com. Ever since the blog awards last year, Sixthseal has been someone I really wanted to meet. Not only for the rumored infamous feat but also because I’ve used his videos and  blog during presentations and he is indeed quite an interesting dude.

Me, Ringo, and Sixthseal

I also saw Cheeserland.com and since I am twitter friends with her, I did not pass up the chance to get a photo taken with her! Sixthseal was in the picture too!

Me and Joyce of Kinkybluefairy.com

I also got a photo with Joyce from Kinkybluefairy.com She was quite stylish and I felt awkward and weird posing beside her since I know I am not yet so stylish! Maybe I can get some tips!

Nick Cheong, Ringo, and Joyce

Joyce was promoting something called Malaysian Drinkers Rights. Its a movement to lower taxes on beer in Malaysia. I quite admire this movement actually since I realized that beer in malaysia IS quite expensive!

teycindy and me

I also saw one of those bloggers I’ve been checking out from Malaysia. Teycindy was there! It was so funny though how Jackie intro me to her, she goes: “hey cindy, meet Carlos, he is the Nicholas Chay of the Philippines!” I felt quite shy to be introduced as such. I would have turned red had I not been already red. But wouldn’t you know it, she wanted a picture with me! She even goes, “can I hold your mug?” That is quite a huge mug I must admit!

Tziaaa and her friends with me

I also met Tziaaa and her friends. They were actually quite cool and played some drinking games with us! I can’t believe 2-3 liters of beer were finished by me during that night!

Jane and I

I was actually looking around to see more pretty girls, when I saw this lovely girl. Took me quite some beers to finally approach her and learned that she was indeed one of our bloggers as well! Nuffnang rocks I tell you. Even more cooler? I got introduced again as the Nicholas Chay of the Philippines. Nicholas Chay is Nuffnang Malaysia’s most awesome country manager. And again she also asked for a picture! She was quite pretty!

Check out her blog at http://www.chuckei.com/

As you can see,I throughly enjoyed my trip to KL. The malayisan bloggers and blogosphere seemed really cool. It was nice meeting you guys! Till next time KL! I shall be back reaallllll soon.

Twin Towers

Some pictures courtest of Patty and Timothytiah.com

Ok one check down.

The Monorail was on time, clean and orderly. Despite the tiny cars, it was never so full like the ones we have back in Manila. I liked how it would bank around the corners and run smoothly.

I wish we had something like this around the city in Manila. Oh well… here’s to hoping!

This really huge fountain greeted me. It was an interesting place to me because of the architecture of the whole place. It was so huge and so round, and yet I didn’t feel like I could get lost. I felt very at home at the place because something about me reminded me being in Manila.

The main plaza of the mall was huge and the skylight made everything really nice and bright.

Of course I saw one of my favorite shops and decided to check it out! They wouldn’t allow me to take pictures inside, so sad because I wanted to share with all of you the pseudo-trenchcoat I wanted to get. I thought it would cost around 142RM or around 2000 pesos. But when I checked the price tag, are you ready? 60RM or 800 pesos only! Now that’s damn cheap for a jacket! I checked all the prices and they were all cheap!

I also saw a Philosophy store which I saw a REALLY nice hat from. Again 60RM for felt hat is awesome. I will definitely get it today.

Well that’s it for now.

Time check:

8:21 AM October 8,2010

Tim’s House.

Gotta get ready since I think we’re leaving at 9!

Location: LCCT, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

What am I doing? Waiting.

I took the red eye in. And because I wanted to save on cost, I decided to camp out here till our office opened.

Flight was early. FML

Landed 30mins earlier and now its almost 2am and 5 more hours to go before I leave for the office.

“I wanted this…” I find myself repeating this over and over again. I mean if those dudes from Amazing Race could do it, I could to right? But alas my backpacking plan was foiled because I am lugging around 1 out of the 300 Manny Pacquiao vs. Mickey Mouse Vinyl toys. Yes the ones that cost 25,000 PHP per pair.

Its even bigger than my luggage! When finally and eventually a power plug opened up, I find out it doesn’t work. Or rather my mac won’t charge on it. I don’t know why! Oh well! C’est la vie! I’ll be conserving my battery for now! Till my next entry!

The airport is still the same, although the foot traffic is visibly lower. I hear a christmas song playing off some radio in the distant background, and I guess this is the first time I’m travelling almost purely for pleasure. I’m anxious, excited, and nervous all at the same time and I feel alive.

In Philosophy,  husserl’s method of epoche or bracketing teaches me to approach things in the very purest form. Suspending all biases, and trying to look at things unbiased, but I think its impossible really. We are always coming from a certain perspective and suspending it is quite unnatural. But I’m keeping an open mind. Come what may is my motto for this trip.

So Malaysia, I’ll be arriving in a few hours. Show me what you got.

First thing first, this tat was LEGENDARY. Shameless self promotion taken to a whole ‘nother.level.

www.foodiemanila.com henna tat!

The trip started out well enough with everyone arriving on time and prepared. I like hassle-free trips. They reduce the amount of stress significantly which lets you enjoy the vacay soooo much more.

Our Plane Prior to Departure

Our plane after arrival at Caticlan airport

We arrived at Caticlan Airport a little past 4pm and since we flew SEAir there was a free transfer from Caticlan towards Boracay Island. We took a coaster van c/o SEAir as well, towards the Jetty where we embarked a large bangka towards Boracay.

On the way to Boracay from Caticlan

On the boat, there was a caucasian couple beside me. During the trip, my friend Luigi and I were constantly talking about our plans for the weekend. Until finally, the lady asked me where I was from. I told her Manila. She meant, where I was originally from. I was confused. Apparently she thought I was a Fil-Canadian. She even said are you from Vancouver? I responded accordingly and cleared up the mess. I am not. She said I had the twang and really thought I was a balikbayan. (do I really?) But this was a trend for the weekend. Trust me.

We hit Boracay Island and immediately Luigi and I head for the beach. It was awesome.

Beautiful Boracay

Ok I know this wasn't taken on the day I arrived but this is such an awesome beach shot I just had to use it!

The night was epic and so was the rest of the weekend. Between the guys alone, we had so much fun, add some girls and we went crazy. We met the owner of Mint bar Brady and he was one the coolest cats I’ve met so far. At 23, he was quite something well travelled and excellent taste in music. He’s a Kiwi and New Zealand stories are freaking awesome. He also thought I was from Canada btw.

Brady's Bunch

Thanks Brady for all the shots and awesome company man! Seriously will be back and will head straight for Mint Bar.

A fight broke out next door though and it was pretty bad with bottles and shit flying and people jumping out of the 2nd floor. But the police came and took care of those hooligans.

Wait for part two of this post!!!