Save Belo Monte!

I found this over Tumblr. I feel the Chief's heartache because I feel the same way when the government officials of Davao City approved the Aboitiz coal plant here in Davao. It is so sad. :(



The chief Raoni cries when he learns that brazilian president Dilma released the beginning of construction of the hydroelectric plant of Belo Monte, even after tens of thousands of letters and emails addressed to her and which were ignored as the more than 600 000 signatures. That is, the death sentence of the peoples of Great Bend of the Xingu river is enacted. Belo Monte will inundate at least 400,000 hectares of forest, an area bigger than the Panama Canal, thus expelling 40,000 indigenous and local populations and destroying habitat valuable for many species - all to produce electricity at a high social, economic and environmental cost, which could easily be generated with greater investments in energy efficiency.

It was brought to my attention that there is a petition we all can sign to help support these indigenous people and the Amazon. Please take a second to check it out below or comparable petitions that are available. Thank you.

http://amazonwatch.org/take-action/stop-the-belo-monte-monster-dam

Egyptian Museum

This museum is home to the most extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities in the world. Of course, it should have the most extensive collection since it's in Egypt for crying out loud.

Established by the Egyptian government in 1835. They exhibit more than 120,000 collections. This is located at Tahrir square, Cairo, Egypt.

It's also the first big museum, I've ever been too. Photographs are not allowed inside, so I can’t show what’s inside the museum.

It contains a lot of coffins (made out of granite, limestone or covered with gold), statues, tables, jewelries, the treasures found from King Tutankhamen's tomb, weapons, instruments, chariots, and other stuffs .

Of course this is where you will see the mummies - they have a Royal Mummy Room and you have to pay for another extra to go inside. We did not get to go inside because almost everyone’s itching to get out of the place - medyo mainit rin ang museum plus everyone’s tired.

This is also where one of the scenes in the blockbuster hit movie "The Mummy" was shot.

Great Sphinx of Giza

The Great Sphinx of Giza is a half-human, half-lion Sphinx statue found in Egypt. It is also the largest monolith statue in the world and one of the world's oldest statue.

The Great Sphinx was believed to stand as a guardian of the Giza Plateau, where it faces the rising sun. In the Old Kingdom, it was the focus of solar worship. It's LION form, has long been a symbol associated with the sun in ancient civilizations.

With all it's grandeur in history, nowadays it is facing one of the world's famous franchise - Kentucky Fried Chicken. Yikes. Of all the opponents to face... it's facing a chicken for crying out loud.

Ancient Egyptian Pyramids of Giza

A pyramid is any three-dimensional polyhedron where the faces other than the base are triangular and converge on one point, called the apex.

The base of a pyramid can be any polygon but is typically a square, leading to four non-base faces. - from Wikipedia.

The most famous pyramids are the ones found in Egypt.

There are three pyramids in Giza - there is the Khufu's Pyramid, Khafre's Pyramid and Menkaure Pyramid.

Khufu's Pyramid, is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids bordering what is now Cairo, Egypt and is the only remaining member of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It is believed the pyramid was built as a tomb for Egyptian pharaoh Khufu. The Great Pyramid was the tallest man made structure in the world for over 3,800 years. - from Wikipedia

Khafre's Pyramid, is the second largest and the tomb of Pharoah Khafre. The pyramid has a base length of 215.25 m (707 ft) and originally rises to a height of 143.5 m (471 ft) The Pyramid is made of Limestone blocks(weighing more than 2 tons each). - from Wikipedia

Menkaure's Pyramid, is the smallest among the three pyramids and the tomb of Egyptian Pharaoh Menkaure. It was probably completed that time between the 26th century BC.

I wasn't expecting to be THERE - for real - but there I am standing right in front on one of the Ancient Seven Wonders of the World and the only surviving structure in modern times. Woot.

Spock

Looking for someone?

Try Spock.com - the best people search on the Web.

Spock launched their private Beta last April 2007 and now they are ready and confident to show you that Spock is not just another website. Spock is a search application that would help you find friends and colleagues. If you join the said website you can build your own search network to look for anyone you know who is on the internet.

So, whenever you search, Spock.com would personalize whatever your results so that they can include information about your friends and colleagues or whoever you were looking for. You can also enhance your search experience even further by establishing a trust relationship with other people who are on Spock. By connecting with trusted contacts you will be able to search within their network to rediscover people you've lost touch with and make new acquaintances through friends.

So, this is basically a social community site and a people search website rolled into one.

Of course, I needed to try it. I signed up and got to use Spock's search engine. And, it's a wow!

You see, you don't just search using the name of your friend, you can search using whatever it is they are currently doing now. And I tried to type in "fashion designer".

http://www.spock.com/q/fashion-designer

And out comes that result (just click the link above).

You can also type in places like say for example "Philippines": (Below you will see a flash widget for the search result).






I am actually having fun during my stay there. Searching for programmers, Bill Gates came first on the line.

One thing good about searching there is that they help you specify your search. If you type in Philippine a lot of specifications would drop down giving you an idea of how to specify it. On the right side there are also some ideas to narrow your search.

They already received industry acclaim and awards from respected technology luminaries. Spock was also selected as one of PC Magazine's "Top 25 Websites to Watch" in 2007.

http://www.spock.com

Davao's Best Award 2007

I was planning to post this last December 31. Better late than never.

I saw this tag from Ate Gladys. Since, I love Davao sooo much I'll do this tag.

Note: This award is basically from my own viewpoint.

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BEST INTERNET CAFE - uhmm.. Net Express. Good service + Privacy. But, I guess the Amigoas cafe would top the service thing. It's a shame I haven't visited the said cafe but I've heard a lot about it from Kuya Dave.

BEST COFFEE SHOP - uhmm Figaro sa may Chimes.

*( me and my parents often go there hehe.)

BEST FITNESS GYM - Holiday Spa.

*Honestly I haven't been there yet. But, most of my classmates are members there. I've heard good reports about it.

BEST MALL (OVERALL) - SM

*when it comes to accessibility, it's a bit far from downtown. But, it's the best mall even though it's not that big. It's clean. Great service.

BEST DEPARTMENT STORE - SM

*still SM.

MOST CLEANEST COMFORT ROOM - NCCC Mall

*clean. I hope they would maintain it. ;p

BEST CINEMA - NCCC Mall Cinema

*the screen is not that big, but it's the latest cinema we have so far and very comfortable.

BEST BAKESHOP - Bistro Rosario

*love the cakes and pastries there!

BEST BANK - GE Bank *magallanes* Used to be Keppel Monte Bank

*Best bank ever. Great service... and man it's G.E. for crying out loud.

BEST HOSPITAL - Brokenshire Hospital

*they support alternative medicine. It's where my cousin works also. They have friendly nurses.:)

BEST HOTEL - Marco Polo Hotel

*expensive from the rest but great service.

BEST PHOTOSTUDIO - Lito Sy

*posh.

BEST AIRLINE - Philippine Airlines.

*great service. even though it gets delayed most of the time. (i have come to understand why. from my post Disaster. )

BEST BUDGET HOTEL - Hotel Galleria

*i am not so sure... but i guess they go cheap.

BEST PHARMACY - Mercury Drug Store

*i have to agree to Ate Glad with this.

BEST FASTFOOD CHAIN - Mcdonald's

*Haha. Asa pa? :)

BEST CHICKEN INASAL - Mang Inasal

*yummy. we often eat here.

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Another tag from Ate Gladys: Blog Addiction

78%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Have a Great week ahead!!

Roma

As most of you are aware our Mediterranean Cruise was canceled. One thing that thrilled me about the said trip was our supposed to be stop-over in Rome for 5 days after the said cruise. Anyway, they rescheduled the trip early this year, I am not sure when and where but one of the possible places that we would visit would be Rome.

Speaking of Rome and if you have plans visiting Rome I know of a couple name Mauro and Paula in this internet world who can help you with your tour and stay and also your Rome accommodation. You can consult to them about leisure travel in Italy since they live there and even better if it's about Rome since they reside there. So they actually know what they are talking about. You can be assured that those hotels they refer to you are of you quality. They've been to all of them and they know what's best and what would fit the accommodation you envision. The hotels on their list are all set in the very heart of their ancient historical centre. You can search hotels by their rating whether they are a 5 star hotel or lower. If you also want it on a specific location, it's indicated as well. Try them and they will find the perfect hotel that would suit you. Also feel free to browse their website for more info - > Rome Hotels.

They also have a page for car transfers if you want one at your own convenience.

You can refer to them if you want to stay on some of Rome apartments too.

Singapore

After the Malaysia trip we decided to drop by and tour Singapore for two(2) days. If Malaysia has lovely "island bars" imagine my delight when I saw Singapore's "island bars" (refer to the picture at the right).

The bougainvillea flowers they used are just "ordinary" here in the Philippines but they used it to beautify the most part of their city! Wow. Can we not do that in our country as well? Hay. Hay. Lovely lovely. And the trees? Grabe. Salute to the people who landscaped their country. I heard Pinoys did the landscaping? Is it true? Ha? Ha?

We slept right away when we arrived. (Of course we need to recharge after the hectic non-stop travel in Malaysia).


If in Malaysia it's Genting Highlands you must visit, in Singapore it's Sentosa Island. So, by 6pm we decided to visit and watch the highlight show in Sentosa Island which is the "Songs of the Sea". It's an amazing show! They used a musical fountain and interacted it with lasers against the water particles to create 3D images. It was purely MA-GEE-CAL! I wished my sister and brother was with us that time.


We did not get to tour around the Island that much since it's already dark. But they have a nightlife in the island, I guess. Judging from the outfits of the young-uns. Hehe. There's a cable car in the island as well and it's quite different from the one in Malaysia because underneath the cable car would be minus the forest but the sea. But, I will surely try out the cable car when me and my family would visit Singapore for a vacation.

There are different ways to get in and out of the island. Renting a taxi ($35), ride a train, ride the Sentosa Bus, Cable Car, or your own private car.

We spent most of our time in Orchard Road. If you are the type of person who loves to shop, Orchard Road is the place for you. The whole of Orchard Road is filled with shopping malls. I can't name most of them, but all I remember is getting inside. Hehe. There is no trouble if you just use your feet in Singapore since everything is prolly "just-a-walk-away". Unless you are a person who can't stand walking! But, if you are a person who resides in Davao "walk-a-thon" is not a foreign word. In fact everything would be near for you. :) *walang problema pag networker ka!*



I got to visit their National Museum but not the whole of it. The building looks nice noh? :) Very attractive.







If we have the Malacañang Palace and U.S the White House, in Singapore they have the Istana Singapore. If you are on the way to visit the shopping malls in Orchard Road you can pass by the Istana. The home of their Prime Minister.




We took the last flight out of Singapore to Manila so we can fully enjoy our stay at the Singapore Changi Airport. It's like a big shopping mall. They have a wide array of duty free shops and eating outlets. They also have "free internet" which explains my "Greetings from Singapore post". Hehe. They have free massages located everywhere as well.

Changi Airport is the 22nd busiest airport & one of the busiest cargo airports in the world and the 6th busiest in Asia. They have six open air garden areas and during our stay I got to visit the two. I don't know where the other four are located. I only visited their Orchid and Fern garden.

I just have to salute and say thank you to the "smiling customs" in Malaysia and Singapore. They were friendly and not at all imposing compared to the ones in Philippines, sad to say. They would smile and encourage us to come back and even have the decency to ask us if we enjoyed our stay. If we forgot to fill something up in the customs form they would just smile and consult us.

I don't know if you travelers notice this but our customs here in the Philippines always have a serious face. No smiles and everything. Nada. I guess it's different if you are foreign or what? I'll keep this in mind when I go out this November I will look over the customs attending to foreign nationals. They could at least smile a bit and be forgiving to others when they forgot to fill something up. *my mom witnessed a scenario where the custom personnel would scold at a Balikbayan*. Hello! Philippines is our country, we should be welcomed with smiles! They could say "Hi Maam, Sir kumusta ang travel niyo?" or "Hi Sir welcome back to the Philippines!".

There's still a lot to improve in the Philippines. I do hope one day it would improve for the better. Seeing other countries excel inspires me and the desire to see Philippines improving is soooo strong. But, I shan't ask the government to do the improving. It is not a good question to ask because number one I don't think they can answer it and number two the government has matters and "personal agendas" to attend to. The future is not in their hands anyway. The future mga kababayan is WITH US.

So let's stop asking what our country/government can do for us instead let's ask OURSELVES "WHAT WE CAN DO FOR OUR COUNTRY". I think that's better di ba? :)

It doesn't matter if we can't do GREAT THINGS we can do SMALL THINGS in a GREAT WAY! Go go PINOY! Wag antayin ang gobyerno. Hehe. Let's do it ourselves!

Visit Malaysia 2007

Malaysia is actually celebrating their 5oth year of independence. They are having a huge promotion to attract tourists and this year they sure did attract A LOT. Cable T.V. stations have a series of advertisements about "VMY 2007". It is quite fitting to Visit Malaysia this year... and I just love their "One Golden Celebration" song. Super! I wish we could have one as grand in Philippines!

Malaysia

There’s a place not far away
Different faces yet all the same
With a million dreams
In one golden celebration

Malaysia

It’s the place for us to be
It’s the time to feel so free
With a million smiles
In one golden celebration

Malaysia

Come and spread your wings
There’s so much to see
There’s a million colours
Right before your eyes
It’s one golden celebration

*cant find the whole song.. sorry*

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We landed in Penang Island on our first day. It's where the ship "Star Cruise" docks when visiting Malaysia. Very nice place.

Anyway, our main point of visiting Malaysia was because of the farm of a company we are building our future with. We got to visit the DXN farm on our 2nd day(we traveled 2 hours from Penang to Alor Star) .






Right picture: with my parents and the pioneer of Philippines (Tatay Jimmy Quedding) and the pioneer of Mexico.










They say you haven't been to Malaysia if you did not visit "Genting Highlands" and so this was the second highlight of our trip. Fortunately, we got to ride the "world's fastest and Southeast Asia's longest cable car" called the Genting Skyway.




They say it is called the Las Vegas of Malaysia. Their resort features many hotels owned by Genting subsidiaries. We stayed at the Hotel Resort(refer to the picture on the left).

There are also different facilities in the resort like golf courses, shopping malls, concert hall, sky diving simulator and theme parks. Basically, we did not tour the whole place since we were only there for a night from (Sept.19)5pm-8am(Sept. 20). We watched their featured presentation called "FLY". The presentation was not that bad... I enjoyed the introduction where they sang "One Golden Celebration".



On our fourth day we headed to Kuala Lumpur from Genting Highlands. Along the way we visited the batik factory and the place where they sell "genuine leather". Leathers made from cows to stingrays. We also headed to KLCC and visited Aquaria.



We checked in at Berjaya Times Square, a 5 star hotel. It was a good hotel since the shopping mall is just part of the Square. Very convenient and it's one of the things I like. I did not get to tour the mall during our 2-day stay there because there was no time. Only the first 3 floors. Someone told me that there's a big roller coaster in the 5th floor. Too bad, I did not get to visit it.

Of course by this time I also met Dwinny. A good friend of mine. We forgot to take pictures. Tsk. Tsk.

We had our one day seminar in the hotel and also our Gala Night at our last night. Of course, finally I got to meet the "hot shot" / "dragon" of our company of course the one and only owner of our family business, Dr. Lim Siow Jin.


All in all I like their promotion of the "VMY 2007". It's super grand. You see their flag everywhere even on high-rises. I like the lyrics of the song and the tune.

They have big highways and nice "island bars" on highways. Although the weather tends to be a bit more like General Santos City or Cagayan de Oro they have nice paved sidewalks and clean and so that would come as a consolation. Their forests remains untouched and preserved.

Four play on Mother's Day ?

A tag from ARA and Avy.

4 JOBS I’VE HAD

I've never had a real job, I only have a few sidelines with my mom.

• When I was in 5th grade, I manned a "snack section" and a photocopying machine my mom had in her office. All money goes to me!
  
• Encoder *I encode registration forms 5php per form* for my mom
  
• I used to have a successful burning business, but I stopped.
• I was once a speaker when I was 16 at our service center earning 200php per speaking engagement.
  

4 MOVIES I’VE WATCHED OVER & OVER

• Spirit. { Love the songs.... } (3 or 5)
  
• Jungle Book. (countless)
  
• Sassy Girl
• Il Mare
  

4 PLACES I’VE LIVED

• Davao (lifetime... nyahaha)
• Padada (one summer)
• Cebu (one month)
• Manila (two weeks *if you call that living.. staying lang ata*)
  

4 TV SHOW/STATIONS I LIKE TO WATCH

• 24 *love Jack Bauerrr..*
• C.S.I. Las Vegas, sometimes Miami
• Roswell
• Are you afraid of the dark? (Have memories about it when I was a kid)
  

4 PLACES I’VE BEEN ON VACATION

• Camiguin
• Dapitan
• Hong Kong
• China (Shanghai, Beijing)
  

4 OF MY FAVE FOODS

• Cakes
• Spaghetti/Lasagna
• My mom's Spicy Tuna with Coco...
  
• My mom's Beef tapa with Cream.. yum
  

4 PLACES I’D RATHER BE RIGHT NOW

• Somewhere cold.. probably Salumay
• A beach... in a hammock between trees reading...
• mhmm.. stroll the streets of Paris..
• or simply be in bed...with a coffee beside... and reading. Ahihi
  

4 PEOPLE WHO WILL (hopefully) RESPOND TO THIS MEME GAME

• Bea
• Bianca
• Joanna * thanks for the sweet gift.. thanks for the friendship!*
• Mariel
  

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Happy Mother's Day to ALL MOM!!!!

1. and of course to MY MOM! Nyahaha. Hope you love the flowersssss......
2. Happy Mother's Day to my AUNTS.. who acted like Mothers to me...
3. To all Nanay's out there... Be strong always.. and thanks for showing us the way we should live.. thanks for the values.. all the ratatatatat everyday(you are soo good at that mama!).... thanks for all the sweet punishments who serves as a funny reminder of how naughty we were as kids..I treasure and value everything mom's do.
4. To the PBB moms... hehe.. Keep watch of the PBB young adults... they may seem annoying at times.. hey but they are moms.