Oh Cambodia Faithful and Vietnam Moreno Tour by the Walang Tulugan Gang

I just came back from our Annual Perksquad Trip..and this time around, we decided to conquer the land of Lara Croft and Pho-- Cambodia and Vietnam.

As expected, the trip was AWESOME. No, it was even beyond awesome. Its totally something else. It was spectacular, magnificent, fabulous, fantastic and all adjectives to that effect. I could not have asked for a better vacation.

Why? Okay, let me try to write the reasons down:

1. Vietnamese Coffee- the hype is worth it.  This is just the best tasting coffee  I ever had. And the greatest thing is that it is ubiquitous in every street corner of Saigon. For coffee addict like me, Vietnam is paradise.

2. Cute Tourists- everywhere. Guys from all over the world in their sandos and board shorts and flip flops. You can just sit in a cafe and watch cute people pass you by, all while drinking the best tasting coffee (see above).

3. Angkor Wat- Angelina Jolie and National Heritage site. Need I say more? 

4. Shopping- although i dont consider myself a shopaholic, I totally understand why people go ga-ga over Vietnam and Cambodia. Night Market and their version of tiangge offer dirt cheap items. Total bang for your bucks. 

5. Warm,Friendly People- being total magnets of misfortune, we dont know how we would have survived without the help of the locals. We have Kelvin, the tour coordinator who got us tickets to Siem Reap when no other bus companies would take us in, and apparently, he exchanges currencies too. Just a blessing especially on our last day when we were becoming poor from too much shopping (see #4). Vannak, our Ankor Wat tour guide who was just amazing. His knowledge of Siem Reap and his patience and enthusiasm to take our pictures are just commendable. Certainly the best tour guide I met (and I had a lot of tour guide from previous travels, i.e. Paris, Japan, Thailand etc). There was also Mark, the front desk guy from our Saigon hotel who was just too willing to do things for us. Of course, we also met other back packers who made our trip more memorable like the British couple named Nick and Nikki, the Russian couple who spoke little English but smiled and conveyed messages through hand gestures, Simon, the Singaporean photojournalist, The two Canadian bus mates whom we call Prince William (PW) and Prince William's Friend (PWF) and Guy with Great Hair (GWGH)/ Ken who was an inspiration during the long, bumpy ride to SR. 

I could go on and on and on but really, the reason why this trip is spectacular is because

6.  I am in the company of my bestest best friends 

...and that made everything perfect. 

I cant wait to discover where our feet and lust for traveling will take us next year. 

Don't Complicate my 28!

Last week marked my entry into the category of the late 20s. Eww. Time does fly when you're having fun. I cant believe its been that long. Same time  last year, I came undone and  I never thought I could bounce back from the heartache. And now i just feel, Bleh. I couldnt even produce a good cry even if I force myself to. Nothing can heal heart aches than prayers and faith. And oh, the company of great family and friends. I can attest to that. I have never been more at peace with myself so thank you LORD!

Anyhoo, I wasn't planning on celebrating my birthday by getting cross-eyed drunk because 

1. I'm broke (well, not exactly but I've got so many expenses)

2. I was cramming my assignment for school that night

Since my birthday was a Saturday, i was just expecting that my birthday would slip from people's minds. But how could that be when a big surprise arrived when i got back from lunch.

Ta-daaaa! birthday cake, balloons, chocolates and a huuuuuuuuuuuge teddy bear. Just AMAZING. Thank you, my angel and my babies too!  Great things come when you least expect them.*sigh* 

I just feel so blessed. :-) 

Just Because I Can..

Thank you, JF, for indulging me in my Piolo fan girl behavior. I know how embarrassed you are that I'm taking pictures of Piolo from a magazine, but still, you didn't transfer to another table. Haha.

(Finally, I don't have to worry that someone will get jealous of Papa P.)

Because It's Heart Day

You do know how to surprise me. For someone emotionally inept as I am, you made me blush to my core. Balloons, Flowers and a teddy bear, all delivered to my office. The Ultimate Paduda move :-)

Thank you for just being there for me. It was a kind gesture to make me 'un-hate' VDay. If your intention is to turn my world upside down, baby, you did just that.

But now, let's try to build some normalcy, shall we?

My Girls from NB

My Curvy Kermit

I just love it when they botch his name. :-)

BFF(F) Time..

Is the best of times! I missed my girls so much, especially my good friend, LOlo, a certified Dubaiyuki. Great that she made time to see us even on her last night here in Manila. I will never forget our epic encounter with Stuart Little-- the sosy, Ayala hopping rat. Laurice literally laughed nonstop for the entire three blocks. Not just a normal laugh, but an uncontrollable, hysterical laugh while my knees turned to jelly. My phobia/ misery is the best comedic act for her. Such a good friend.

See you girls in Singapore in a year?

Dahil Burday ni Baby Boy

Para sayo tong post na to! Happy birthday JF! Iloveyoudoobidoobidoo! :-)Of all the shitty, depressing things that happened to me this year, your friendship is one of the best things I got as a trade off.

You Know This is For You

I told you you would look so much prettier with your hair color in a more natural hue. And your teeth baring smile made you ten times more likable. To be honest, I like you already. Merry Christmas and a great new year to both of you. May this 2012 be the best for all of us.

You Don't Need To Say Anything

By: Chelsea Fagan
(www.thoughtcatalog.com)

There was a time when receiving even the most insignificant message from you would have been simply incredible-- when it would have told me that, no matter what was happening, I still crossed your mind. Because as we all know, silence is the most brutal statement one can make. Screaming about how much you hated me or telling me I was ugly, well, it would have been tolerable. Hate and love are two sides of the same coin; the true opposite of love is apathy. And if you had screamed, I would have known that regardless of how hard you tried to convey your disdain for me, I still meant enough to you to write a few words, to make your sentiments known. But you remained silent, and so I shut up as well.

I have lost people in my life before; I have a choice soul or two with whom I can no longer speak. Even acknowledging their existence, or confronting them with mine, would be just too ugly and pour salt into too many wounds. There are bridges I have burned out of necessity. Yours was simply abandoned, left untended for years until weeds grew through it and the railing fell apart and it became something you might take a black-and-white picture of, but you could never cross again. It was unsafe, destroyed by neglect. And that hurt more; to see something just erode into oblivion is so much more brutal than to cover it with gasoline and to toss a match on it. I wanted fireworks, to go out with a bang. I guess that's human nature.

And the time that we didn't speak went from a simple act of convenience into a border which could no longer be crossed. There is an invisible moment in time, a line of sorts, that you traverse at a certain point in a mutual silence. It is the time when, from then on, starting a conversation would be awkward and jagged and require an embarrassed explanation of why you haven't spoken in so long. We crossed that point a long time ago, whether I wanted to or not, and I knew that going back would be fruitless. Acknowledging each other was over, and it was time to accept the quiet death of a friendship that had taken place.

Of course, I still hoped that you would reach out. One day you would extend your hand and say that you were sorry, that things were okay, that we don't need to keep this uncomfortable distance. You would tell me that we were being immature, that life is too short, and many other clichés that we could nod in agreement on. I waited for it consciously, then without thinking of it, and eventually I wasn't waiting at all. My life began to continue, and your peripheral existence didn't factor in. I was happy without it, and the fact that you weren't a part of everything was no longer a tangible hole needing to be filled.

Every day became more and more about what was good, enjoyed fully without a nagging sense of "if only I could share it with this person." I made new friends, and strengthened ties with old ones. I no longer thought about our silence, about our depressing ending, about the fact that we'd never again stay up all night watching internet videos and drinking beer. It was simply a chapter in my life that had closed, and the ending seemed appropriate. We can't appreciate or understand the endings of things when they're happening, of course, but with a little distance they usually parse themselves out. We were right to go our separate ways, and I know we're both the better for it-- even if we can't pinpoint exactly why.

So there's no need to apologize, to come and say something, to awkwardly jump-start a conversation that goes nowhere in a matter of minutes. There's no need to acknowledge what happened, or talk about the things we would have done differently. Our lives are filled with things we could have done better, but I know you well enough to know that just because things end on a bad note doesn't mean all the wonderful music before was worthless. I won't let the ugly end color my memories of you. But we are no longer the same people, and there's no reason to force a false friendship because of some misplaced sense of nostalgia.

It's the holidays, and we are remembering the people we left behind. But sometimes remembering is enough. You're surrounded by your loved ones, and I with mine, and there's no need to toast because the season tells us we should. We're all okay, and there are so many exciting things in front of us--let's let that be enough.

Happy Merry Christmas Party

Work and Play

Camwhoring with office friends. Pics taken at the office, Republiq and my friend's wedding at Intramuros.

Party Like Its (Almost) 2012

I don't know the Indian Guy but he said our party rocks!


Burning down the house.



The ultimate party stance: The Up In The Air Hand Movement (and I dont know the other Indian guy, as well)


Me and G*, with her "Ikaw na ang naka Venus Cut" top



Me and my two hot friends of friends (who became my good friends under the Group Hab circle)... and yes, Paris* got his cut while dancing with abandon


The original is always the best. Ang promotor ng lahat ng kawasakang ito, ang Perksquad (minus Queer*, who came late)


Mga pekeng Party Girls (who are undercover geeks in real life)


Makaposing lang.


Perks with Flamethrower (or is it Mamba's) friend.








The girls of Perksquad are on fire!


I love these guys!


We're complete!


Mamba and TR friends.


Prom dates lang?



The most awesome set of friends EVER.


Perksquad and Group Hab