If you haven't yet heard, the Pasig River ferry system resumed operation during the last week of April 2014. On its first week back, I wanted to try it before going to the office since they were offering free breakfast and coffee, on top of the free ferry ride for one week. The best things in life are free, right?! But eventually, I decided sleeping in was more important.
Then, June came-- a time when my weekends are far more accommodating than the whirlwind that was April and May. Initially, the plan was to take a ferry ride going to Escolta and walk around the area that used to be where the cool kids went. But since a lot of attractions in Manila are just within reach and/or one jeepney ride away, the Pasig Ferry-Escolta trip became a cultural immersion in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines.
Here's the rundown on the Pasig River ferry ride in case you also want to try it.
Here's the rundown on the Pasig River ferry ride in case you also want to try it.
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| Left: Dirty clothes; Right: Clean, unused clothes. Excluding the undergarments and bikinis, here's how I divided my clean vs dirty clothes as I was packing up during my last day in Boracay. |
I'm the worst packer I know.
Back in college, whenever I was going home to Palawan, I'd take two suitcases with me for a two-week trip. Who does that. In addition to that, for the past few years I've been packing at the last minute.
I packed for the Cebu getaway an hour before I went to the airport. Two weeks after, I spontaneously decided to go with my teammates to Zambales. Having only decided hours before the meetup time, I went home and like a "normal" person, I slept for an hour before haphazardly putting together my overnight bag in less than 30 minutes. Then, I told myself never again would I put myself in that kind of stressful situation. Come Boracay departure date, I had to go to Market! Market! to buy some last minute stuff (read: this is code for 'get waxed' AND buy some last minute stuff) and pack my weeklong-luggage in 20 minutes. (Yes, I timed it. Also, I was told of the heavy traffic going to NAIA Terminal 4 so I only gave myself that small amount of time.)
I got to the airport on time, and it turned out to be way too early due to the chain of delayed flights. (Thanks Obama!) My luggage weighed at 6.5kg to my relief because my friend and I were sharing a 15kg checkin baggage allowance.
Here's a rundown of what I brought inside my travel bag.
- *8 pairs of bikini
- a number of undies less than the pairs of bikinis
- 2 pairs of "pambahay"
- 2 dresses
- 3 coverups
- 6 cropped tops/tank tops
- 4 shorts
- 1 flat shoes
- 1 pair of slippers
- 1 makeup bag
- 1 paperback book
I also brought my laptop and camera but I hand-carried them.
Here are some of the packing mistakes I made on this trip:
- First is the obvious, I should've packed the night before, at the latest. Last minute packing didn't do me any good. I even left a bikini top that I was gonna mix and match with a pink bikini bottom I bought in Boracay.
- I bought a bikini bottom in Boracay. As if the 8 pairs I brought along weren't enough.
- As seen from the photo above, the amount of unused clothing I had is significantly higher than the used pile. During my thoughtless packing, I have forgotten that I was going to a week-long beach party. I didn't take into account that I would be partying for 13 straight hours, let alone have extra strength to bring a soaked coverup the whole night. (Coverups go off after the first 30 minutes of stepping into White House or any party there really. Why? Because there's champagne, beer, water being showered to everyone.)
- I barely used my laptop during the entire trip. I shouldn't have brought it with me. It made my already heavy bag a lot heavier when fatigue and tiredness are factored in. I told myself this after our Singapore vacation but did I listen to myself?
- I didn't bother simplifying my makeup bag. I didn't really use my mascara, liquid foundation, eyelash curler and translucent powder jar during the entire trip. I don't use them in my everyday makeup too. Why the hell did I not just leave them at home.
- Did I really think I could have my quiet time and be able to read a book? Who was I kidding, really?
- I only got to wear my flats at the NAIA Terminal 4. Apart from that, it was slippers until the 7th day. What was I thinking?
Other than the obvious reasons that both are directly related to traveling, I love airports and airplanes because they are two of the most romantic and sentimental places in the world. Medyo OA, I know! All the more because in the next few seconds you'll eventually see where this is leading.
If you know me, you'd know that I love watching TV shows. I don't have a television at my place but watching
Top 3 - TV Series Moments
1. The Office - Pam saying goodbye to Michael Scott
I couldn't find a clip that's embed-able so here's one with Spanish subtitles. Here's a link to a better quality.
2. The Mindy Project - Danny and Mindy's mid-finale KISS
Caps for emphasis because it beat out every other finales at that time.
3. The Mentalist - Patrick Jane finally confesses his love to Lisbon
Finally, Jane. Finally.
I shed a lot of tears for all three scenes as I was watching them the first time to the nth time. I know, these are all fictional characters but like what I said, it's a place for sentiment and romance, and sentiment and romance I did truly feel.
For a scene that's closer to home and reality, here's the JC Intal proposal done in NAIA.
As for my own experiences with the airport and airplanes, here's my list in no particular ranking.
1. NAIA Terminal 3 - Ran around three levels of the airport trying to plead for my friends to be checked in because of a blunder they made. (They arrived more than 2 hours early but no one checked in!) Then ran around some more because it was way past my boarding time.
2. Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) - My mother and I were running towards the boarding gate because the boarding time got pushed up and we weren't paying attention to the public announcement. When we saw our flight on the LCD screen, the gate was already closing. Our mother-daughter bonding always involves beating the clock. Sali kaya kami sa The Amazing Race? #char
3. Mactan-Cebu International Airport - This one's pretty recent. I made the mistake of booking a return flight that's one week from that date. I won't even bother explaining this one because, ugh, stupid. I ended up booking another flight that flies out at a later time and I got to tour Mactan some more.
4. Puerto Princesa City Airport - My last conversation with my parents when they were sending me off to Manila for college.
5. Waking up to turbulent plane rides and then having the relief of having another person to hold.
6. Two guys have cried at the airport because I was leaving. It was pretty sweet.
This year would be the year where I'd get to set foot in the most number of airports in my lifetime, yet. Here's to hoping that I could make new experiences I could add to this list.
I already set up potential travel plans for this year and some months are still open/negotiable for two trips at most. Seeing my Lakbayan map, I haven't even set foot in any part of Mindanao. (Yes, Palawan is still not a part of Mindanao nor Visayas.) And it's a shame because my mother was born and raised in Davao.
My Lakbayan grade is C+!
How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!
Created by Eugene Villar.
Ideally because of work, these trips should only last 3D2N or 4D3N at the latest. So, if anyone has travel plans within the year to Davao, General Santos, Surigao or any other Mindanao province, do let me know of your schedules.
My Lakbayan grade is C+!
How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!
Created by Eugene Villar.
Ideally because of work, these trips should only last 3D2N or 4D3N at the latest. So, if anyone has travel plans within the year to Davao, General Santos, Surigao or any other Mindanao province, do let me know of your schedules.
I got out of bed at 6PM, bought fruits and water beside the nearby Petron station. Before that, I have just been trying not to starve since I woke up at 2PM. It was still hot outside at that time. Thus, finishing this blog post will be the first thing I would have done today that's outside a person's basic needs. Well, this and the rice I cooked as I'm typing this. It's your classic unproductive Jenn day.
Although actually, the main purpose of this post is to rant about how I got stuck in the elevator for three round trips on the way back to our unit. Somehow, our elevator's floor queuing system is fucked up, and I just finally got a grasp of how stupid it is now.
How did I end up going on three round trips, you ask? So I rode the elevator on the ground floor, pressed our floor button and was delighted to see that everyone in the elevator was only going in two different floors: half of them on the 9th floor and the other half on the 19th floor. I live on a floor higher than both.
It stopped on the 9th floor, and on the 14th floor. Then all of a sudden, the arrow went down. It started going down to 12th floor. Three people supposedly going to the 9th floor alighted. I should have just done the same thing because the elevator got back on the ground floor. Long story short, it went on and on again until three round trips, with the farthest I've gotten was the 14th floor, still. Basically, the elevator queues every elevator press made outside and no matter how "on the way" your floor is, as long as the button outside was pressed first, it will bypass you and the current direction.
On the flip side, I made a lot of friends in our building. I was openly talking to everyone getting inside the elevator about my situation and they were all surprisingly nice.
"Have a nice trip!", said the cute guy before finally going out into his floor.
It made my trip a lot easier.
BORACAY 2014 from Jennever Pelaez on Vimeo.
First, I want to say this is neither a "Laboracay" hate nor a fanatic post. It's merely an attempt to recount how I spent one full week of my vacation days in Boracay during "Labor Day" Week.
The Good
"Hey, did you join a convent or something?", asked by a regular clubgoer that I've become friends with.
My answer to that question was that I needed a break from partying because the Labor Day Week in Boracay was coming up. I didn't want to abuse my liver and I wanted to lessen the alcohol belly I've grown before going into a beach party island.
Forgive me for using the term Laboracay, but Laboracay was a regular partygoer's dream! It was fun seeing and recognizing "The Fort Strip" party crowd in their swimwear, partying like it's the end of the world. I have decided to stop regularly partying on Fridays, but special events like this remind me that I go to parties to be with friends and to dance like there's no tomorrow. Never mind the hot bodies, I came there to dance and shout all my cares away!
Imagine running to the ocean to take a dip at 5AM to cap the partying that started at 5PM the day before. What better place to do it than in one of the most beautiful places in the world, at least for me. Every night was a new experience. There was something special about every party we went to: getting hosed with water, trying to walk on foamed sand, getting free passes for me and my friends to Club Epic (because heeey skimpy bikinis sometimes do the trick), VIP passes to one event, sneaking to another hotel's pool (because ours was too far), hyping a dead party crowd until everyone's dancing too. There were so much more!
This trip also paved way for my wanderlust-raver friends to become closer to each other. You learn a lot about someone when you see them in times when they're off-guarded. It was an effort to find other friends that were there too, but when we did, even with our dugyot appearance, we still hugged it out like it was nothing.
Then there's the Steve Aoki set. The experience was amazing. It's definitely a year where local DJs playing famous DJs' songs aren't enough.
And on a more physical side of things, I lost some waist fat! I could definitely say I'm more fit now because of the cardio exercise brought by a whole week of dancing. Wearing my first dress to the office actually made me say "wow, this fit me really well now!" This sounds hashtag-humblebrag-y, I know, but I want to stay this fit, and maybe even more.
This trip also paved way for my wanderlust-raver friends to become closer to each other. You learn a lot about someone when you see them in times when they're off-guarded. It was an effort to find other friends that were there too, but when we did, even with our dugyot appearance, we still hugged it out like it was nothing.
Then there's the Steve Aoki set. The experience was amazing. It's definitely a year where local DJs playing famous DJs' songs aren't enough.
And on a more physical side of things, I lost some waist fat! I could definitely say I'm more fit now because of the cardio exercise brought by a whole week of dancing. Wearing my first dress to the office actually made me say "wow, this fit me really well now!" This sounds hashtag-humblebrag-y, I know, but I want to stay this fit, and maybe even more.
The Bad
"I saw in the photos that Boracay is now trashed/destroyed/runied. Is that true?"
This is one common question I get from friends who didn't go to Boracay last week. By this time, you probably have seen the circulating Facebook post (not the photo above) about how partygoers have trashed the island. I wouldn't even say that those photos did not happen nor whitewash it because the reality is, those photos were real. The parties were so chaotic and cramped that it was literally sweat to sweat contact with everyone. Move a little, and those who are still sober would complain about not getting enough space. While those who are inebriated wouldn't, it doesn't change the fact that once you're in that mosh, all the trash gets thrown anywhere but the trash can, not that I actually saw one.
BUT (notice the caps and bold font style) as early as 3AM, there will be groups of locals who gather the trash into sacks/garbage bags. And as the crowd thins out, you'll see more and more people getting things in order. This is why my first comment during our first party night was "May prize ba yung maraming maiipong basura?" And come next day when we are to eat lunch (because that's when we normally wake up), the beach will be as pristine as it was before the parties started.
It was like that for the five straight days that there were events. The beach was reset every morning like no trashing ever happened. And as I've recently learned, Mayor Yap would not approve the party permit of the resorts if they don't clean up their beachfront. It was only fair, don't you think?
Being the Palaweña that I am, where we'd rather keep our trash in our bags than throw them anywhere (because of the strict littering ordinance imposed by former Mayor Hagedorn since I could remember), I'm all up for responsible partying. Aside from the overhype that said Facebook post created, one good thing that came out of it was that it sure became an eyeopener. Those who were in the island who witnessed the whole thing now have this innate feeling not to be tagged as someone who would willingly destroy a beautiful island they so loved.
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| To prove a point (and to show this trip's official jump shot heh), here's the beachfront in the Epic area in Station 2, where the parties last until sunrise, around lunch time. Aside from the algae and some rocks, there's no trash on the beach. This was shot in May 2, after the fourth party night of the Labor Day week. |
Idea: The process they have is okay now but aside from locals, can everyone also contribute in their own ways to make sure we can still call Boracay a paradise? An early morning cleanup should be a thing since everyone is still awake by sunrise anyway.
Okay, I may have leaned a little on the fanatic side while writing this. In my defense, this was the separation anxiety talking. It was a fun escape while it lasted and I cannot wait for next year. Thoughts?
