Too cute???

 

Got this pic from perez hilton's celebrity blog.  Pictures of kids playing in the park are really cute to start off but these two just happen to be the spawns of Spider Man (Tobey Macguire)  and Bush front man (Gavin Rossdale)!  Yep, introducing Kingston and Ruby.

The kind of person I want to be

I went back to the "Strong in the Wind" poem that i posted before I went on a trip.  It's been more than a month since and I've been back three weeks.  Still, aside from the photos I uploaded, I can not write anything about the trip.  I promised to write about travel tips on back packing through the three countries but felt overwhelmed with information that I want to share.  Besides, the fact that Lea and I did not include Laos in the trip kinda makes me feel a little uneasy, not sure why though.  Then got so busy at work - pretending that nothing happened since the trip was all hush-hush from my co-workers.  Until everybody was commenting on how dark my complexion has become after a supposedly "spiritual retreat in Davao" - wink, wink,  Been busy going through the FB entries of high school friends.  Suddenly got to reactivate my account and started checking my gmail account. 

I'll still try to write the travel tales in this site as I promised Lea.  More than the travel tips, I'd like to write about the characters we met, country impressions - those sort of stuff.  I'd like to write a blog entry that hopefully as Gem said in her FB message to me this morning - she'd instantly realized as written by "Martina."  

Come to think of it - I've been Monet too long.  All the while I even thought that the one maintaining this site is "Monet."  Then, I got Gem's message and she told me - it's still me - the Martina that she knew since first year high school.  

I went on a trip with Lea thinking that I'll discover the "kind of person that I want to be."  After leaving everything behind and coming back - I think I'm not even close to discovering.  But hey, I discovered that being friends with Lea for 23 years - there is more that I don't know about her - like she harbored secrets from me since high school and just shared them to me while we were having Highland Coffee in Ho Ci Minh.  That she's not really patient but very giving and considerate.  She looks very fit but has overly sensitive stomach and suffers from gastritis.  After, thinking that we're both perfect as friends and individuals - I learned that we can still  pretty much end up on a fist fight over a bus schedule and trip itinerary, like we almost did - she wants to go on a Mekong River Cruise while I want to just tour the city.  The best discovery is that this trip is not really about me - it is about my friendship with Lea.  

Angkor Temples, Cambodia 2008

After years and years of wanting, planning and dreaming of going to see the angkor temples - finally got to be there with Lea. We both dreamed of seeing the temples after graduating from college, ;).

Can't think much of how to describe this album but the feeling is akin to the runner finishing a race, the student publishing a thesis and the actor seeing the curtains down.

Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, 2008

Spent almost 4 days of our 10-day vacation in Cambodia. Looking back, the pictures turned out really nice. It's a country that makes you feel privileged that you live in Manila. At the same time, one can't helped but be amazed that despite the appalling road conditions and signs of poverty everywhere - the country has the angkor wat complex.

Tourism being one of the sources of economic wealth - one gets to really interact with the locals. I think more than the sites - I remember the grouchy guest house owner, the tuk-tuk driver and the taxi mafia touts at the poi pet border. Everywhere you go, you just feel privileged that more than the sights, you get to see the dichotomy of things and these make you appreciate the people living there more.

Ho Chi Minh, 2008

Last country in our 10-day trip. The bus ride from Siem Reap to this city lasted 12 hours (via Mekong Bus Company). Had a guide that gives us historical facts and points to interesting places along the 12-hour trip - barely can remember the facts - I was so tired from the Siem Reap-Angkor complex sight seeing that I chose to sleep the whole time.

Loved the city - Lea and I enjoyed their coffee! I kept on remembering Tranh Ha-san, Vietnamese batch mate from Kobe University, and how she thought me how to prepare an iced coffee or iced tea with milk and syrup. Even took some coasters from the Highlands Coffee shop and sampled the iced coffee sold on the side streets.

Aside from the food - pho, coffee, duck eggs and baguettes - Lea and I went around the city for a day and discovered their urban architecture - post office, notre dame cathedral, the opera, water puppets theatre, markets and their city parks.

Bangkok, 2008

Lea presented her paper on ground water vulnerability in the Philippines. It's a study of how ground water usage near an industrializing zone (Sta. Rosa, Laguna) is impacting on the lives of people in a local community - Pulong Sta. Cruz. I got to sit though the two-day conference with the hydro-geologists, geo-engineers and scientists from Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Philippines, Indonesia and Japan. Even joined the group in their cement-factory tour in Thailand and wine tasting in a vineyard.

After the conference - Lea and I are off to Cambodia and Vietnam for our backpacking adventures then back to Khaosan Road for our taste of the Bangkok nightlife.

HR Forum 2008

Forgot the official title of this live-in seminar at Antipolo, sponsored by USAID and PAGC but this really served as the HR Forum for the year. All HR officials from the national office and the regional offices of the bureau got to exchanged ideas and present their programs.