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Sheez… you can see by the title of this post that I’ve been attending way too many meetings. You see, during these meetings, when the direction of the discussions get out of the hand with heated debates and various digressions, someone raises a point of order to get everyone back on track. Perhaps, it’s time I did the same with my blog… notwithstanding my personal blog rule about not explaining myself in this blog - I mean I rarely excuse myself when I don’t blog regularly enough nor say my adieus when I go on a blog break (which has been more frequent lately). When I came back to the Philippines after six years in Cambodia, I never said “I’m back”. I just went on and blogged about the Filipino movie I watched.

But right now, I feel that things are getting a little bit haywire. I’ve been in Manila for more than five months now having arrived at the end of July. If you are new to this blog, or if you haven’t been dropping by in a while, things tend to be confusing: is Toe in Cambodia? What’s with the Kamuning thing? Is she just on vacation? So let’s try to put things in perspective.

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Tags: Blogging, home, meetings, Work

“Our room is so small!” complained my male colleague who was sharing a hotel room with another male colleague so that they could save on their Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) during our meeting in Jakarta this month.

Wishing to empathize with my friend on his complaint, I, too, whined, “My room is sooooo small too.” But I went on to say, “well, at least the second floor of my room is soooo small”.

The view of my picture window from the loft -

Much to the consternation of my friend, the Hotel Gran Mahakam was fully-booked so they upgraded me to a suite which had… tajan…. a second floor!

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Tags: Gran Mahakam Hotel, hotels, Jakarta, plane ride, Travel

Three nights and four days in the beautiful exotic island of Bali in Indonesia ought to bring me to heavenly highs. Unfortunately instead, I was pulled down to earthly lows as I spent most of my time there cooped up in long boring meetings in a conference room. What a waste! Anyway, I did enjoy my beautiful room in our sprawling Javanese style-hotel, the Ayodya Resort Bali. I had a perfect view of this lagoon from my balcony.

My boss though didn’t enjoy his room as much and complained of his small TV and his remote control. So I gaped at him and said, “My TV is a flat-screen”! But seeing his consternated look, I relented immediately and said, “Joke lang sir”. I knew I did the right thing when he heaved a sigh of relief… even if I did have to say a little white lie. Shhhhhh! I did have a flat screen. My work motto: do not aggravate the boss needlessly.

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Tags: Bali, Indonesia

So it’s a market. In the Philippines. Thus, it’s scorching hot, the floors are muddy, the narrow aisles are teeming with a sea of humanity, and there are stalls and stalls of fresh produce, food, dry goods, kitchenware, garments and other little tidbits of things to buy.

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Tags: market

For the first twenty-three years of my life, I had a perennial headache. I thought that I was simply frail or delicate (Frail or delicate? Moi? Hrhrhr). Then suddenly, my headaches stopped? Why? I learned how to drive. I realized that the culprit is the driving of Manoy, our family driver of more than thirty years.

Note: You may be wondering why twenty-three years, when Filipinos could get a driver’s license at eighteen. Well, I’m such a klutz and slow learner that I had to renew my student’s permit for five years.

Don’t get me wrong about Manoy though. I love the old guy. He is fiercely loyal and dedicated to our family. Before I got married, I think I’ve probably spent more hours with him than any other person in the world. He took me everywhere and waited for me for endless hours - school, piano lessons, swimming lessons, piano recitals, swimming competitions, parties, soirees. He made sure that my feet never got wet when it rained and that not-so-acceptable boys kept themselves at bay. He was also my own personal assistant when I took the Philippine bar nine years ago (see this post). So never mind if he’s a clutch driver who is accelerator hungry complimented by his love for sudden brakes and driving too near speeding jeepneys.

So now I am back in this crazy great city of Manila after six years in Cambodia. I can choose to go around this city by a) enduring Manoy’s driving, b) getting myself pushed and kicked around in the MRT, or c) driving myself. I chose c. Unfortunately, my driver’s license has been expired for 5 years. When I was still living in Cambodia, everytime I visited the Philippines, I refused to renew my license because a) I didn’t want to take the disgusting drug test and b) I didn’t want to take the disgusting drug test. But now, unless I either wanted my childhood headaches to return or pack myself like a sardine in an MRT car, I had to take the disgusting drug test.

So one day on my first week in Manila, I just squared my shoulders and braced myself and told myself, “welcome to the Philippines, Toe. Let’s do that disgusting drug test.”

Note: You couldn’t renew your license in the malls where they have cleaner bathrooms (well, half) if your license is expired for more than one year. So I had to go to the main LTO in East Avenue.

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Tags: driver's license, driver's license examination, driving, humor, Land Transportation Office

Honey will not be caught dead watching a Filipino movie. But he is still in Cambodia and I and my three old friends had nothing to do one Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago. Perfect timing. I can be as jologs as I want and I have a jolly-ogs good time. So off the four of us (myself, two manangs and one son of a manang - who tagged along with us under threat of loss of allowance by his mother) went to Gateway to watch A Very Special Love, the romantic comedy movie of John Lloyd Cruz and Sarah Geronimo.

To protect their kasosyalan (or so they think), I am not disclosing the names of my friends (they all have dignified positions with decent employers and the son studies in a posh school). Myself… well, I can’t deny it any longer… I’m simply as jologs as can be (see this post).

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Tags: A Very Special Love, humor, John Lloyd Cruz, jologs, movies, Sarah Geronimo, Tagalog Movie

In my last week in Phnom Penh, Honey and I were driving to work on our usual route. On the way, we passed by the Royal Palace on our right while the great Bassac River (which connects to the Mekong River just a few miles away) was flowing serenely on our left over the beautiful boardwalk. I gave a sigh and said, “I’m going to miss Cambodia. We don’t pass through such postcard-perfect picturesque sites on the way to work in Manila.”

Then almost immediately, a car cut us off and drove in front of us and slowed down to 20 kph. At the same time, a motorcycle was driving headlong in front of us in the wrong direction. “@#$%! Why did that car cut us off and then drive like a turtle in front of us?! And that moto… why doesn’t it look where it’s going?! Oh, I’m so glad I’m going back to Manila next week.” (Not that Manila traffic is heaven of course. For more on Cambodian traffic, see this post).

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Tags: Cambodia

I am not afraid of ghosts. Except when I’m alone. At night. In Cambodia where millions of people died of genocide in the seventies. Last year, when Honey had to go to the Philippines for work for almost two months, he left me in this kingdom far far away where I was alone. At night. In Cambodia where millions of people died of genocide in the seventies.

How did I manage to stop hyperventilating, prevent the hair at the back of my neck from standing up on end, and sleep during all those lonely nights? One, by multiplying my carbon emissions a hundredfold and turning on all the lights in the apartment at night. Two, by turning on the two televisions full-blast. And three, by comforting myself with the fact that my Cambodian landlady keeps a spirit house in an auspicious place right smack in the middle of the entrance of the apartment building.

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Tags: Cambodia, Spirit House

I’ve received letters from a businessman on a business trip, a future teacher, and a future expat in Cambodia. Here’s one from a future tourist:

Dear Toe,

Hi! I found your blog via Kristene’s blog and I think you’re one of the best writers in the blogosphere (hindi kita binobola!).

I live in Dallas, Texas (originally from Bacolod), and was hoping that you could help me with some travel tips for Angkor Wat. My husband and I are going home for a visit to the Philippines in December and we’re hoping that we could make a sidetrip to another country in Asia during this time. I’d really like to see Angkor Wat if we can work it out.

If you have some time to help out, these are the questions I have:

1. What airline would you recommend for the Philippines to Cambodia trip? Any good deals on fares (how much is a round-trip ticket)? Is there a straight flight from Manila (or Clark) to Siem Reap? Also, what ballpark price would you consider a “good deal” on the fares? How many hours of travel time is this?
2. Any hotel recommendations? For hotels, around $100 would be our budget. We’re not picky on hotels as long as they’re clean and safe.
3. Is December a good time to go to Cambodia? Are there any December dates/holidays that we should steer clear of (i.e. too many crowds at Angkor Wat? Or is it closed for the holiday?)
4. Any recommendations on how many days to plan for Angkor Wat? Would three days be enough or would it be bitin (this would include arrival day + touring + departure day). We don’t really want to spend too many days away from the Philippines but would really like to do this sidetrip if time/resources permit.
5. Do we need visas (our citizenship is Filipino so we still travel with our green passports)?

Thanks so much in advance! Hope you and your Honey are doing well!

Johanna

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Tags: airlines, Angkor, Angkor Wat, Cambodia

So six years of married life, all of those spent in Cambodia, and heaps and heaps of stuff, both junk and precious (mostly junk), managed to sprout out like mushrooms. And now that it’s time to go back to the Philippines, like turtles, we have to carry our entire home on our backs. So comes the impossible task of decluttering.

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Tags: having moved there two, moving, packing, We have started our six years of married life in Cambod