We all know that Ramadan season is the very highlight in Islam tradition. I have not experienced Ramadan in other countries except in Malaysia and this is what I have observed here. During this month-long fasting time, most restaurants and shopping malls are usually quiet or 'dead' at daytime and would only be swarmed before dinnertime for their "buka puasa" or breaking fast.
And one of the places in Malaysia that does it is owned by our family friends in Denai Alam in Shah Alam, called Denai Alam Recreation and Riding Club or DARC. The club is only open in the morning for riding classes then all the staff prepare for their Ramadan Buka Puasa buffet, which is always full every single day.
The booths at DARC's buffet is a mix of local favourites, from dates (which they eat first to offiicially break the fast), starters, hot and cold dishes, lamb steak, rendang, curry, burgers, local desserts and ice cream, and lots of choices for beverages. And the best part is, you can all have this at a very affordable price person for RM 33 (member) and RM 40 (non-member).
They usually do this every year. But their club is open all year round for its members and they also welcome non-members to enjoy their amenities and activities. Check them out on Facebook: DARC Horse Malaysia or DARC Denai Alam.
Anyway, here are the promotional videos that I did for them.
Yesterday was one of those days that started off wrongly but ended up really great. I wasn't feeling so well, but made it a point to go on with the plan because Marl has been very excited about it since last week. We woke up at 7AM and took the breakfast buffet.
The jinx started when I left both of my iPhone and Blackberry in the hotel. We were already in the taxi when I found out about it and it was too late to go back to the hotel. All the information about the Nanshan Ski and the booking number for shuttle bus ride and tickets were all in the SMS on my Blackberry. I felt soooo bad and sick but we had to move on. But seeing the long traffic going to Wudaokou, where we would be meeting up with our friend Valentine and taking the shuttle bus from, we opted to take the subway train. But since I didn't have my iPhone with me (where I have the Beijing subway app), we took the wrong line. I got really confused and my mind just stopped to work and I was already getting frustrated as we transferred to 3 different subway lines just to get to Wudaokou. We were scared to miss the shuttle bus because we'd be left with no choice but to waste all our effort of waking up and going through all the hassles and stress.
But it started to get better when we met up with Valentine, who looked so radiant morning. Her smile and soft-spoken voice that was filled with excitement turned everything around. And I knew then that everything would get better. And yes, we were able to catch the shuttle bus!
The shuttle bus ride was around an hour trip to Nanshan Ski Resort and we had to pay RMB 20 each for a one-way trip. When we reached the ski resort, we got all excited and we even bought gloves to get ready for some action. But we encountered another dilemma: we would need to deposit RMB 400 for each person and we didn't bring enough money for that! Ridiculous! Good thing that Valentine could speak Chinese and was able to call her friend to find out about it. Turns out, we'd only need pay individual deposit of RMB 200 + RMB 120 for a 2-hour skiing and ski equipment rental. Oh, plus RMB 10 for the locker. :)
This was my second time to ski. My first skiing experience last Winter with my friend was so much fun though I did some tumbling stunts most of the time (view the funny video HERE). Well this time wasn't different at all. I struggled with my Lumix camera (attached to a vanity monopod) most of the time because it wouldn't fit perfectly in my jacket's pocket. But I did try the slopes twice - and I fell twice! LOL! My camera ate some snow and I was thinking, "Oh, my camera will hate me today!". After a bad fall on my second try, I felt a cramp on my right thigh and hip so I decided to just give it up. I took off my skis and just walked all the way down the hill. Marl did some tumbling stunts, too, and so did his Sony Alpha camera. LOL! On the brighter side, Valentine certainly enjoyed it and surprisingly, she is a natural skier, although it was just her first time to ski. As for me, it's not a sports for me. Nah-ah. I'd rather go bungee jumping. And hello?!?! I'm not a sports type of a girl. I've always had great compliments that I'm the girl that can do almost everything. But now they can finally rejoice and add, "except skiing". LOLLL!
Anyway, after skiing, we had lunch at the restaurant there. We all looked exhausted and tired. I surely got tired from "Rolling In The Deep" hahaha!!! We took a taxi to the bus station at RMB 30. Another blooper that happened was we hopped in on the Bus 980 which would take us to back to Beijing. We had some moment of confusion as to how much we'd be paying for the ride. We thought it's RMB 40 per person. It took around 2 minutes until we finally understood that it's actually RMB 14 per person... and it was sooooo funny to hear and see how relieved the whole bus was when finally understood. Hahaha! We got off at a subway station and just went back to the hotel at around 4PM. But I couldn't rest because I have lots of inquiries regarding the Wondlan products. Geeezzzz!
I really had soooo much fun spending time with Valentine. She's like a sister to me and we will surely miss her and her radiant energy. Watch out for our cool photos and fun video. I can only edit the video when I'm back in the Philippines. Busy packing now. Three more days left in Beijing. No, three more nights and two more days... Time flies soooooo fast!!!
It's 8:30pm and we've already done two Christmas sets at the Café Chá restaurant of Shangri-La Beijing. We have two more sets at the Cloud Nine Bar, but thankfully, we're gonna be finishing off before midnight. Big cheers and salute to the hardworking musicians and other people who are workig on Christmas, too! Merry Christmas everyone!!!
Left: During Christmas eve at Shangri-La Beijing
Right: At The Place with the giant LCD canopy
Christmas eve at the bar was surprisingly busy than expected. In fact, we got pretty good Christmas tips from the guests, too. Isn't that cool? :) We were supposed to finish at 11:45AM, but since everyone was in a celebratory mood, we just extended a little over after midnight. Then we hurriedly changed into our casual clothes and went to the Westin hotel where our friends, the Soundforge band, has prepared a little Christmas meal for us to share together. And we just had fun eating chicken adobo, sotanghon, and biko for noche buena while talking and just sharing stories. We went back to the hotel at 5AM, which is already considered a bit late since we've started sleeping at 3AM last night.
Christmas Day... and we're off! Yessss! We woke up past noontime and we chatted with our unica hija, who's actually vacationing with my friends Claire and Dior and the latter's kids. Selena is really having a good time there. I'm happy because she has some friends to play with and spend time with during this Christmas vacation. My mom is sad that her granddaughter won't spend this Christmas with her, but I know she understands. :)
Anyway, we went out to go to this mall with a huge LCD canopy - it's actually like the one in Las Vegas, but then again I can't compare because I haven't been to Vegas yet. But we had a great time, I took some videos. I got all emotional when they showed a Christmas presentation for a few minutes. It was beautiful and it felt so magical! I just wished that Selena was with me to see it... she would have loved it. In fact, I sent her an SMS right after that, only to know that she's enjoying herself watching DVD movies with her friends, too.
We then went to Wangfujing and strolled along the famous Wangfujing road which was filled with malls. We went to one of the malls to find a Skechers shop to get Marl's Christmas shoes. Yes, I got him a pair of Skechers Shape-Ups for Christmas! He wanted it after knowing about it from our friend Jonathan, so he's happy about it. He got me a Blackberry anyway and I'm happy about it even though I don't have a local sim with BIS that would go with it. Can't wait to get a Globe simpack for it when I reach Manila. :)
So there we have it... I guess, I had a good and peaceful Christmas this year. Not the best one, but it's good to keep it lie-low sometimes. Maybe I'm growing too old for parties and such. Nahhhh, I'm forever 25! I can't turn old, not a hair! Oh wait, lemme take care of that grey hair for now. LOL! Hope you guys had great Christmas celebrations and parties with your loved ones, families, and friends.
Next celebration in line which I'm very very very excited about is the New Year's Eve!!! I can't wait to spill it out and let you all know about it... but let's keep the excitement hangin' there for a while, okay? :) Five more days left in Beijing... time flies so fast indeed...
Here's the video that I've taken my sweet time in editing of using Final Cut Pro. I've been reading quite a lot on DSLR videography and I know that I still have a loooooot of things to learn about it and the whole Final Cut Studio. And I must say, I'm proud that I was able to come up with this output. Here's a travelogue video of my trip to Summer Palace here in Bejing. Please do watch it in HD (720p) and let me know by your comments and suggestions! :) ENJOY!
I've spent the last 30 minutes trying to upload this photo to be my new 'display picture' or 'profile photo' on Twitter. But it just won't get uploaded! Too scary, maybe? :) Anyway, here's Marl's successful creation to make me ugly and scary. I gave him full right to do that to me... for Halloween's sake! :)
Faye, Ronnie, Mar, Sarita, Elaine, Grace & Sam at Wei Ha Pub
It has been almost two months since we got back in Beijing but we haven't done our Sunday trips yet. Besides, we have loads of stuff to do even during our offdays. Okay, I'm just a bit exaggerrating. :-)
Our friends Sam, Faye, and Ronnie from Tianjin have already visited us in Beijing couple of times during the past few weeks. So I called our other friends Grace & Elaine and we made a plan to visit them in Tianjin instead.
A TOILET HUMOR
They have a new procedure in booking train tickets. They now need our passports so I wasn't able to buy a ticket for my friend Grace. She had to take a 2-hour bus trip to Tianjin while Marl and I took the bullet train to Tanggu, a municipality in TEDA, which is not in the main part of Tianjin City.
We were supposed to meet Elaine in the train upon its stop at Tianjin. She was already in the queue but needed to pee so she went to the toilet. While she was doing her business in the toilet, she didn't know that the train had already arrived for its quick stop. When she got back to the queue, she didn't know she was already queuing for the next train. Needless to say, she was actually left by our train! LOL! So all her effort of waking up early to secure a ticket for the fast train and waiting for 2 hours in the station were all wasted. Well, not really. Because we now have some real 'toilet humor' to remember and laugh about. Thanks, Elaine! Hahahahaha!
RELAXING DAY BY THE BEACH
Faye and Sam picked us up from the station and Elaine just took the hard and more expensive way --- a 100-yuan taxi all the way from Tianjin downtown to where we would be spending a relaxing afternoon... Tianjin's man-made beach! As for us, we had to pay 100 yuan for the taxi from Tanggu train station to the beach. It's THAT far.
We had to pay another 50 yuan each person to get into the man-made beach. The beach was kept clean and the fine golden sand, which was imported all the way from Australia (!) felt great against our bare feet. I find it really ripping expensive but it didn't matter at that time because all we wanted was to spend time with each other - under the sun. I wasn't even expecting to swim, didn't even bring a swimsuit. But what the heck, we already paid entrance fees! So Sam and I just bought cheap swimming shorts so we can take a dip in the water and just had sooooo much fun like kids wading in the beach! LOL! Marl, Elaine, and Faye just chitchatted while sitting in the sand and watching us playing in the water.
RENAISSANCE TIME
We went back to the hotel to rest while Sam, Faye, and Ronnie had to prepare for work since they had to sing on Sunday night. I had a satisfying nap while Marl, Elaine, and Grace went out to look for something to eat. I was just so so so tired.
I got up at 9PM and took a shower and went down to the lobby to meet up with the rest of the pack and to watch my friends perform. I also took some of their performance videos. They finished very early - at 10:45PM!
SHOOT, POOL, PASTA, PIZZA & ICE CREAM
After their show, we went to Wei Ha Pub to grab some dinner. Marl have this photography project that he wanted to do with Sam as the model - or should I say, models? :) Click HERE to see their "Multiplicity" project. After their brief shoot, we all enjoyed talking over dinner of pasta and pizza. Oh, Sam and I played pool. I really miss playing pool!!!
Upon walking back to the hotel, we passed by at a concenience store and bought something to eat and drink - non-alcoholic ones of course. We all bought ice cream and enjoyed it while walking back to the hotel. Really fun bonding time with my friends!
CHUBBY BUNNY, DR. KWAK KWAK, ETC.
First thing we did when we got back in the hotel was make use of the marshmallows Sam bought. We did the very famous game 'Chubby Bunny' - where we would stuff in as much mallows in our mouths while saying "Chubby Bunny" in between. It was so funny and all had a great laugh about it!
We then started talking AGAIN about different stuff like our fear of cockroaches, gecko, rats, snakes, and experiences with those creatures. We also talked about how lucky kids are nowadays. Then we reminisced all our childhood memories in playing different games like piko, patintero, tex, tagu-taguan, Chinese garter, jumping rope, luksong tinik, luksong baka, etc! Then it got really interesting when Lola Ronnie reminisced the different exhibitions in the Jack-Stones game and Chinese Jack-Stones. We were laughing so hard and just had lots of fun sharing stories. Someone mentioned Doctor Kwak Kwak and Grace doesn't have an idea what that game was. So at 4AM, we played Doctor Kwak Kwak to show her how the game is. We really had a great laugh!
THE SECRET
Just before we all went to bed, I suggested all of us to watch The Secret, because couple of our friends haven't watched it. It just feels great spending a day of fun with friends. Just purely bonding and just plainly having fun. I already miss them! :-(
Watch out for our videos and more photos coming out soon! :-)
Photo taken by Badeedadee. Post-processed by Jay Ismail.
It all happened too sudden and too soon. I got an SMS last week from my lady boss, Cherina Chacko, asking me if I can fly in to Kuala Lumpur for their big event on Sunday, June 26, 2011. It will be sponsored by DiGi and the Philippine Embassy. Wow! But I couldn't say 'yes' then as we were still processing our visa and papers for our next booking to China. Friday came and I got another SMS from Ate Cherie that Philippine Embassy has already confirmed and sent us an invitation letter and that they already have bought our tickets... yes, they also bought ticket for Hubby Marl. :-) But eeeeek! Panic attack!!! I was really all excited feeling the adrenalin rush but I was cramming with what to wear and what to sing along. I had nooooo idea what to do as it was all done on a short notice. LOL
Saturday, June 25 - Manila to Kuala Lumpur
Photo by Jay Ismail
In the midst of the typhoon Falcon, I wasn't even sure if it will push through as there were lots of flights delayed and being cancelled. Good thing was they bought us AirAsia tickets so it was easier to fly out from Clark where the weather was better than Manila. Along with DJ Marlon of Wave Radio 89.1, DJ Bien, and sound technician Shak, we left Manila by Friday noontime and reached KL at around 4:30PM. Transportation and accommodations were all arranged by Ate Cherie... we stayed in their posh condo at KL Sentral called The Loft.
Marl and I just dropped our bags and headed out to meet our friend, Malaysian fashion & billboard photographer Jay Ismail. We just hung out in his studio for a couple of hours and made a quick shoot. After that, we met up with our friend Reen who took us to the venue where we'd be rehearsing at 10PM. But when we got there, we were told that our rehearsal was rescheduled. So we just made a short visit to Shangri-La Hotel KL and see the newly renovated pub, now called Arthur's Bar & Grill. Azrul, the assistant manager, was kind enough to have made us stay for a round of food and drinks. We were feeling the exhaustion but we made it a point to cross the street to Concorde Hotel to visit Crossroads. Saw some of our old friends and the bands playing there, Power J and Breakthru. We just said hi and headed back to the condo.
Sunday, June 26 - The BIG Day
Woke up at 9AM, had breakfast, and prepared for the big event of the day. I actually had my stuff packed as I don't have any intentions of going back to the condo after the show. So with my pink trolley bag and my backpack, we went to the venue for soundcheck at around 11AM. Luckily for me, there's a hair salon on the ground floor of the building where the event would be taking place. I had my hair set to curl while I did my own makeup.
Event started at around 2PM. The performers were all from our agency, Seagulls Promotions. As for me, I performed as a solo artist. I didn't have a white top or a groovy blazer for my MJ spot but one of the girls from the Soundstream band had a perfect blazer which completed my outfit (salamat kaayo day!). There was a raffle draw and I did my Michael Jackson medley (Black or White-Beat It-Billie Jean) and Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" for my first set. As for my second set, I changed into a shiny tube dress and sang one of my favorites "Take A Bow" by Rihanna and a danceable tune by Shakira "Loca". Performing for the Filipino crowd has been one of the most fun performance because they can relate very well. They were dancing and singing along. The other bands, Peach Apple Tree, Soundstream, Main Avenue, and Power J., gave their best to wow the crowd, too. The invited DJs from the Philippines also did a tremendous job in providing the music in between performances. The raffle draw by DiGi made everyone excited... I didn't win but it's okay. The whole event was so successful and was well-supported by the Filipino community. I even saw some familiar faces in the crowd. Some of our friend were there including my former co-singer Marthy. It was such an overwhelming expeience and if I'd be asked to do it again, I'd gladly oblige because it's always a great honor and privilege to be invited by the Philippine Embassy to perform. Salamat po! And to Ate Cherie, our lady boss, thanks again for the opportunity!
After the show, Marl and I had a quick mee goreng at a mamak stall in Central Market with our friends Melinda and Reen. Afterwards, we went to Bangsar Village to meet our 'adopted' parents Mama Siah and Papa Jamal. It was great to see them especially Mama Siah who just went for a surgery to remove her cancerous lump. They sent us to LCCT airport at 10PM for our Cebu Pacific midnight flight. =)
Monday, June 27 - Back in Manila
As of this writing, I haven't unpacked from the trip yet. I have managed to uncomfortably sleep on the flight. I will make a quick nap after blogging this before facing a couple of hectic days in Manila before flying out to Beijing on Wednesday.
I'm not a subscriber of their magazine. But I get to read and see their monthly issues whenever we are back here in the Philippines because hubby would always buy Digital Photographers Philippines (DPP) magazines (he also has a collection of Digital Photographers Malaysia mags). And if it wasn't for our mentor Manny Librodo mentioning it to us, we wouldn't have known about it. Apparently, it's Digital Photographers Philippines' 5th anniversary!
Marl was uber excited about it. He's a photographer, it's understood. But what made me feel excited about it was seeing and hearing the top photographers in the country in their lectures/seminars and meeting our friends in the world of photography. I'm all about mingling and socializing as I don't know any technical stuff when it comes to cameras. I leave it to the experts.
How did we get the passes to the event? It was simple. We bought the May issue of the Digital Photographers' magazine where it has a page at the back that we needed to tear and fill up. What's the crazy thing about it was... we bought 2 copies so that I can also tag along. =)
With Kharu, Manny Librodo & Badeedadee Marl
So on the day of the event, which was last Saturday, June 4th 2011, we woke up before 6:00AM, went to Bonifacio High Street at the Fort, and went on queue to get our IDs and stubs for the 3 lectures/talks that we'd be attending. We chose to attend talks of the famous award-winning DSLR videographer Jason Magbanua, travel photographer Per-Andre Hoffman, and one-light fashion photographer Tom Epperson (which we weren't able to attend to, you'll know why). Since we were there to support and listen to our mentor Manny Librodo, we sought his help to get us the passes for his lecture instead. And he gladly obliged. That's why he is so loved by many. And by us, too! =)
We saw photographer friends as early as 8AM. We had breakfast at Krispy Kreme and ate it at the Activity center canopy while waiting for Jason Magbanua's talk. And yes, even though I've gotten rid of caffeine shots, I went to buy a grande coffee just to help me sustain that hectic day.
Jason Magbanua's talk started at 9:30AM. Because Jason is such a great lecturer, his session was such an engaging one and for video buffs like me, I really have learned a lot. My big project this year is to save up for a Nikon D7000 so that I can start making my video projects more interesting. It lasted for an hour sadly. Too bad, my MUA-friend Madge couldn't make it. But I was so happy that Jason still recognized me and we even had a short chat after his talk, even though he was surrounded by fans wanting to get some photo op and signature from him.
We rushed to Fully Booked basement to attend a travel photography session with Per-Andre Hoffman at 11AM. On the way there, we saw more friends and we bumped into the group of power photographers like Lito Sy, Manny and Boboy Librodo, and Jude Tiongco. Anyway, Hoffman's presentation was a bit dragging as he just did a slideshow of his work. But still we learned something from him. Maybe I have raised my expectation too much. But hey, it's for free and I shouldn't be complaining. :-)
Me & Kharu
We grabbed a quick bite at Brothers Burger before heading on to Manny Librodo's talk. Although Manny's presentation was also from the slideshow that he prepared, people find it more interesting. Maybe because I'm biased. Or maybe because his fame world-wide has simply made us Filipinos proud. We're always proud and happy of our kababayan's success. And even more with Manny Librodo... who's our mentor and our good friend. He included 2 of my photos in his presentation and once again, he introduced me to the big crowd. Of course, most of his photos were of Krystal and Kharu - his two muses. Kharu managed to get there and be at the talk, too. It was definitely great to see her again, too! Like us, his other students and organizers were there to support him like Benedict Gacutan, Jude Tiongco, Sally Lee, and Lauren Malcampo, among others.
We would have gone straight to our next lecture which was a one-light photography with Tom Epperson, but Lauren and Sally invited the whole pack to grab an early dinner at Chelsea's in Serendra. There we chatted, laughed, and just simple had a great bonding moment with the Librodo brothers. When we felt our butts burning from sitting too long, we went to the 5th floor of Fully Booked to see who's speaking and to, ahmmmm, get some aircon. LOL. We saw Lito Sy there and so again, we chatted and just had a great time. I also saw Nikon P300 at the Nikon booth there and it was a freaking drooling moment. LOL. Some of us got tired of standing and some wanted to have some Starbucks coffee, so we went to the Starbucks on the 3rd floor of Fully Booked where we stayed for hours just chatting and laughing with the masters of photography. During this time, we have learned a lot from Lito Sy, who willingly answered questions from the photographers who were with us and even shared what he wouldn't share in his classes/workshops. We feel so lucky to be around these people! =)
And the fun part for everyone was the highlight of the day - Live Judging of the photos submitted by the members of DPP. In the panel were Manny Librodo, Pilar Tuason, Raymund Isaac, among other famous photographers. Some comments from the judges were a tad harsh. But that made it more interesting, I guess. But what I didn't like was picking on the model that was on the submitted photo. Instead of just judging the photo itself, some judges tore it all apart and made such foolish remarks on the models in the photos. But oh well, what do I know about photography? To each his own, as the saying goes. And I better shut up. =)
I really did enjoy the DPP day! Big thanks to hubby for being so makulit about it and to Manny Librodo, for inviting us to hear his talk. Here are some photos taken on that day and were tagged to me on Facebook. Thanks guys!!!!
Me & Badeedadee Marl (courtesy of Benedict Gacutan)
Group shot with the star-studded group
(courtesy of Benedict Gacutan)
At Chelsea with the fun group (by Sally Lee)
Me with Sir Raymund Isaac
Famous celebrity photographer Raymund Isaac & Badeedadee Marl
Badeedadee Marl, Pilar Tuason, Boboy Librodo, and I
We got a word from the management of Shangri-La Beijing two weeks ago that we are indeed going back to the Philippines for a very short holiday. Why? Because they weren't able to extend our visa so therefore we must leave China and apply a new visa in Manila. My reaction? I jumped up and down but had to compose myself because we wanted to surprise our daughter Selena, who was then going back to Manila after her vacation in Beijing.
So we flew out to Manila on May 20 and spent a night in our condo while pretending that I was still in Beijing whenever I chatted with Selena. On May 21, we flew out to Cebu to spend the weekend there. We spent our lunch at the beach near our house in Talisay with my siblings-in-law and their family. All I did in Cebu afterwards is to sleep, rest, and nap. =)
We flew back to Manila on May 24 and surprised our daughter Selena (details on the next blog). It's definitely great to be back HOME with my little family in our little condo. It's my first time to actually take care of my daughter's school needs before school opening. And it feels great.
We will surely savor every minute of it. It won't be too long before we fly back again to Beijing to continue our contract.
This was my FIRST time to go to Baguio. Only spent a day to tour around Baguio and half of the day after was my photoshoot with Baguio's Best. :) The trip wouldn't be this crazy and fun if it weren't because of our friends Chona, Claire, and Dior. We really had soooo much fun. Please enjoy this video.
This was our fun adventure at the Great Wall (Badaling). Although we have been to the other sections (see the video responses below) in the past, it was our first time to go to the Badaling section of the wall and most especially, lightly sprinkled with snow from the snowfall the night before. It was indeed a beautiful sight. Enjoy our fun adventure!
Check out these photos taken at the Great Wall during our trip:
Check out our fun video at the Great Wall of China:
Click HERE to view this on Youtube and see/write the comments!
Thought that our Chinese New Year holiday would be just as normal as the past CNY's. But fortunately, Marl and I made some plans. Including this - a trip around the world in a day. Impossible? I thought so. But check this out! :)
PS: Unfortunately, Youtube has blocked my original video in some countries because of copyright issues with EMI. Dammit. No choice but to re-edit and change the audio. Hope YT will be considerate enough to let this through. It's just for plain fun anyway.
A preview of some photos taken during our 4-day adventures:
From top: Marl & me in the train station; with friends at the ski resort;
with friends in Tianjin; and me on my skis! :)
We do work hard. But when we play, we do it hard, too! :) That's what happened with our friends in Tianjin. We even brought them to Beijing so we can continue having fun. Don't worry, I have documented everything on videos and photos which will be out real soon. But for the meantime, lemme blog about it. :)
DAY 1: Beijing - Tianjin - Tanggu
We've planned our Tianjin trip ever since we knew that we'd be having a 7-day holiday during the Chinese New Year. We have musician friends there whom we are really close to. So on Friday, Feb 4, we started our journey to Tianjin by getting on the fast train. Tianjin is only around 30 minutes from Beijing by train. But the problem was, we boarded the wrong train! LOL. It was going to downtown Tianjin, instead of Tanggu where our friends are playing at the Renaissance Hotel. Luckily, there's an MRT going to Tanggu which only costs RMB6/person.
So anyway, we reached the hotel by noontime and we were so eager to see and chit-chat with our friends Ronnie, Faye, and Sam. We had lunch at WeHa - a very long lunch it was. We went back to the hotel to chitchat some more, watched the movie "Fourth Kind" and rested during the early evening. We all woke up at 11PM and had dinner somewhere near their hotel before going to SOHO Bar to see our sister band, The Blocks. They were sooo happy to see us and so did we. As usual, they asked me and Marl to jam with them. But since we were still tired and Sam didn't feel well, we adjourned back to the hotel before 2AM. We just stayed in the room and watched the movie "Mirrors" until we fell asleep.
DAY 2: Tanggu - Tianjin
We all woke up by lunchtime, boarded the MRT, and hit the downtown for a late lunch. We had a very good meal in a mall and before sundown, we rushed to one of the tourist places called Italian Street which is actually a block of German bars, Italian Restaurants, clubs, and definitely felt like it was a European block. We had fun taking photos and videos there - we even danced in the middle of the alley (videos will be out soon)! LOL. Really had so much fun with Ronnie, Faye, and Sam. And even Marl really loosened up and made up the crazy pack! We then decided to do bar hopping and meet our other musician friends.
First, we went to Drir Kronen 1308 Restaurant where our sister band is playing. We surprised Elaine, Mark, and Ailyn before their first set. It was a quiet German bar, but we made the whole place loud and crazy by our crazy and funny antics. We also wore the PMAS (Philippine Musicians Association in Shanghai) T-shirt that our friend Moises gave us (Salamat kuya Moises!). We drank beer (yes, I did!) and had fun. They still had another set but promised that they'd follow us to our next destination.
Next, we went to the Sheraton Hotel Tianjin and met our sister band, a 3-piece band, playing there. It was my first time to meet Ann, Rose, and Mario. They gave us a bottle of tequila and a case of Tsingtao beer - I only drank the latter. We had so much fun laughing and dancing and jamming in their bar with our friends from Drir Kronen 1308, who followed us after their gig. After the band's last song, we decided to go to another place. The band also promised they'd follow us. The "crazy pack" was becoming bigger and bigger! :)
We then crossed the highway and a small bridge and reached one of the most famous joints in Tianjin - Rainbow Club. It was a small pub filled with people and with a small stage where another sister band - a 5-piece band - was performing. It was great to see couple of the band members Kuya Enteng ang Kuya Boy Tiks who we haven't seen for 10 years! They have a gay singer named Mikey, who I have met before, and two beautiful singers named Kat and Jenny, who I haven't met before. We had so much fun dancing to the tunes in the corner, taking photos and videos, drinking beer, and just having a plain good fun with friends. Our crazy pack got bigger when the Sheraton band followed us. We failed to "recruit" the whole band of Rainbow Club to follow us to our next and last destination, but Mikey promised he'd follow us. Weeee!
We hailed 3 taxis and went to the most happening place in Tianjin - Sitong Bar. There was also an entertaining great band performing there, but we only know their band leader Omel, whom we have been close to during our Shanghai time (2000-2002). At this point, we were already tired but of course, we were still really having fun. Sam and I even danced infront of the stage like we were their groupies. LOL. Our crazy pack got officially bigger and it felt like a Filipino Night with all the Filipino musicians around us. And yes, we were still wearing the PMAS T-Shirt. :)
That officially ended our bar hopping but we all ended up going to Sitong Bar's band house where they cooked and we heartily ate. Some drank until the wee hours in the morning and laughed and chitchatted. In fact, when we left at 5AM, there were still lots of them left in the band house. We boarded the MRT back to Tanggu to go back to the hotel at 5:15AM.
While we were on the train, Marl suddenly felt something, like a surge of blood going up to his head and his hands felt cold and almost numb. We realized that he was having an attack unknown to us. We suspected it was hypertension and I just asked him to relax. When we went back to the hotel, we took his blood pressure and it was high. So I just asked him to relax and rest. We also took a rest and prepared for our trip back to Beijing.
DAY 3: Tianjin - Beijing
We all woke up before lunch and the first thing I did was take Marl's blood pressure which was still up. In fact, it's his diastoliclevel that's really high. Sam and Faye decided to come back with us to Beijing so we can go to more places and have more fun. We went to Zhongguancun - the electronic city in Beijing but most of the shops were still closed. Unfortunately, Marl couldn't join us as he needed to take a rest. When we went back to the hotel, we were really tired and took a rest in the early evening. We all woke up at 11PM and had dinner at a nearby restaurant and chitchatted until 3AM.
DAY 4: Beijing Ski Resort
We got up at 9AM and waited for Anita, who'd be coming from the other side of the city, and Elaine, who'd be coming from Tianjin. Again, Marl wasn't feeling too well and needed to rest. Soon enough after past 10AM, they both arrived and we took a cab to the subway station. With a tour leader who's easily lost in directions like me, we had quite an adventure. LOL. We took the subway train and then a bus going to the nearest ski resort from Beijing, Wanlong Bayi Ski Resort. We paid RMB140/each for the ski equipment rental and RMB10 for a locker. A deposit of RMB200 with passport was required, too.
When we wore our ski boots, we started laughing already. Faye said we walked like Robocop! Hahaha! In fact, all I did in the video was laugh in the background. When we finally got on our skis, I swear I could have died from laughing at that time. Because none of us have ever skied in our entire lives before, we had difficulty in moving. It was a really a huge effort to lift the heavy ski boots and skis just to take a small single step. With funny people around me, I really had fun just laughing and standing on my skis! LOL. After around 10 minutes, we learned how to "move" and opted for the small slope to ski downwards. But the funny thing was, going to the small slope was like a 5-minute effort, and skiing down only took around 20-30 seconds! LOL. There was a conveyor taking up to the beginners' slope and I accidentally fell on the conveyor. I couldn't get up so I just laughed and laughed while it was dragging me up. The operator immediately stopped the conveyor and helped me up. I actually realized later that it was a bad thing to fall on a conveyor as my hair might get stuck on it. Whew! Anyway, the fun continued once I was up and we all just laughed about it. In fact, a local Chinese guy took a video of me falling on the conveyor - I hope it won't end up on Youtube or America's funniest videos. LOL. We took photos and videos of each other, mocked around, and just had the best bonding time ever! But we weren't able to finish the 2-hour allotment because we got really tired. Our arms and legs were really sore after that. It's not that easy to actually ski. One really needs to have strong arms and legs to do such sports. But I agree that it was quite a great experience. :)
We went back to the subway station by bus and we decided to have dinner at Anita's place. After 2 hours of long journey by subway, we finally reached her apartment, where Darren - her bandmate and another fun friend to be with - cooked a sumptuous dinner for our hungry tummies. We rested for awhile before going to the Swing Bar in Sanlitun Bar Street. We listened to a Filipino band while having a beer and the best part of the night - hookah shisha in strawberry flavor! I had so much fun and got really excited when the shisha was placed on our table. The first and last time I did it was with Novak Djokovic and his team during the China Open 2009. We tried to enjoy the evening but we were really tired and decided to go back to the hotel and rest.
FUN FUN FUN!
I must say that I've had so much fun during the past four days. It was great to really laugh again and have fun with the people you enjoy being with. To the bands we've seen and been with in Tianjin, a big thank you for all the fun! And to our dear friend Ronnie, Faye, Samanta, Elaine, Anita, and Darren, you know I love you for joining us in our adventures. It was really great to have friends like you around... ALAK PAHHHHH! LOL
Today is the start of our 8-day holiday to celebrate the Chinese New Year. We are planning to explore Beijing tomorrow, make a trip to Tianjin in the weekend to visit our friends there, then come back to Beijing to make a trip to LongQing Gorge and probably, visit the nearby skiing resort.
Since I don't have a recent CNY theme shoot that would fit this week's occasion, I browsed through the photos that I did in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last week. Here are the photos from the masters Manny Librodo, BanHup Teh, and hubby Badeedadee Marl.
Happy Chinese New Year 2011... Year of the Rabbit! :)
Celebrating Christmas in the Philippines is really something that is memorable. In fact, I haven't experienced Christmas as good as how we celebrated it back home. Inexplicably different. Although it doesn't snow in the Philippines, you can feel the spirit of Christmas and you can smell the Christmas air. Really inexplicable. And that's what we missed this year, unfortunately.
However, our Christmas wasn't bad at all. Why? Because Shangri-La Hotel Beijing has a different Christmas theme this year --- BEARY CHRISTMAS! And boy, it really lived up to its theme... white teddy bears all over the hotel, from the lobby to its outlets! And all of those bears have the symbol and name of Shangri-La Hotel Beijing on their left sole. So cute!
From L-R: URB on Christmas Eve; Marthy & me on the giant bear; celebration with friends
And when I say bears of all sizes, I mean from palm-sized to... uhmmmm... HOTEL LOBBY SIZE! Hahaha! Yes, seriously. It was the first cuddly and huggable GIANT white teddy bear that I have ever seen in my entire life! I felt like a kid when we saw it on Christmas eve. My eyes almost popped out of my head and I screamed, "OH MY GAWWWD!", and ran to it to have some photos taken with Marthy.
Me and the giant Shangri-La teddy bear!
Beary Christmas!
On Christmas eve, we started performing at 6PM at the hotel restaurant. We played for 3 sets there and moved back to the bar for another 2 sets. We finished before midnight and the three of us decided to visit our sister band at the Kempinski Hotel's Paulaner Brauhaus. Although their band was already on their last 3 songs when we got there, they still managed to force me to perform a song. Hahaha!
Afterwards, we went to their friend's house, a Filipina married to a Dutch guy, to celebrate the Christmas eve. There were food and booze but we couldn't do much as we needed to go back to the hotel at 4AM because we'd have a lunch performance on Christmas day itself. But at least, we were able to spend it with people who know how to celebrate Christmas right. Thanks, Darren, Anita, Marfy & Toni! :)
NO HOLIDAY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON
OK, back to reality, let's talk about work. I must admit that we haven't really celebrated Christmas the traditional way, the same way as we did in our younger days. Why? Because I've been traveling and performing outside the Philippines for 15 years now. You know how it is when it's Christmas. It's more stressful in our part, as musicians, as we try to make people happy during this season while fighting back the home-sickness that we feel from being away from families. Yes, that's true - put on a good show and time to wear that big happy mask. This year is no different from the past years. In fact, we won't be having an offday for 2 weeks. The only downside of it is we have lunch sets at the hotel restaurant on the weekends. Not that I'm complaining, but we all know very well that a musician's body clock is switched off at this time. You know what I mean? But it's great to actually see the daylight while singing. Hahaha! Well, we just hope two weeks would go by very fast.
PS: THANK YOU SANTA! This is kinda off-topic but I just wanna thank Santa Claus for making my daughter Selena happy this Christmas. She got what she asked for: a pet hamster in a super cute girly cage. She's been asking me to buy her a hamster after her first hamster died earlier this year. I guess, she'll take care of her hamster this time. Of course, it's from Santa! Thank you, Santa!!! :)
