Two Concerts: Maroon5 & Incubus

MAROON 5, March 5, Araneta Coliseum

I really liked Maroon 5 when Songs About Jane first came out. They sounded fresh and new to my ears unlike most bands that came out. I was eager to hear the new album Won't Be Soon Before Long but I didn't feel it to be as good as the first album. So I wasn't too eager to watch the album tour that was passing thru Manila but I decided to go anyway since it won't be often for a band like them to come over. It's been said that most foreign artists come to Manila kung kelan palaos na sila. Although this can't be said of late as we've had visitors like Black Eyed Peas, Beyonce, Akon, Ne-yo of recent.

The concert: It was expensive but a good one nonetheless. (How expensive? the patron seats in Manila cost P10,000 while the most expensive tickets in the HK leg only cost HK$690 or P4,140.00 plus taxes.) Maroon 5 didn't have a front act! You get them right off the bat. They played songs from both albums and it was a great set list. What I loved most about the concert is how much the band enjoyed performing for the Manila crowd. My favorite part was when vocalist, Adam Levine , in the middle of "She Will Be Loved", stopped singing and just closed his eyes, drinking in the moment where the fans just kept screaming their adoration and he can't help but break into a smile. Also the performer that he was, Adam Levine, engaged the audience by counting off in tagalog (american accent: isa, dalawa, tatlo, apat), saying Mahal ko kayo. During the song "Won't Go Home Without You" there was a portion where they just played back the chorus several times and let the audience sing along. It reminded me of the Lotus Eaters concert a few years back where the audience kept humming the intro to German Girl until they came back out for a 3rd encoure. What I really appreciated the most was how I felt his sincerity when he said something like "We’ve been on the road for so long that it’s so nice to come to a place and feel so loved. This has got to be one of the best concerts we’ve ever done."

INCUBUS March 9, Araneta Coliseum
First thing I noticed was the Incubus Concert had a younger crowd. It may be attributed to the "noisier" music or the ticket prices costed half of what Maroon 5 organizers charged. I'm not really an Incubus fan. I'm familiar with their more popular songs like Megalomaniac just because it gets a lot of radio air time. So why did I go? Mike wanted to go.
Up Dharma Down served as front act. I never liked their music. I was never sure what to make of it. It generally sounded ethereal but fused with rock to me. It just didn't make sense to my ears. So when they were playing, Mike and I decided to step out and get some hot tea and coffee. (I love it that Mike and I don't love the same music all the time, but we both dislike the same bands/types of music most of the time.) Later as we were going back to our seats, I saw a really excited male fan jumping up and down (really giddy), shouting thru the ladies room door what sound like: Be, bilisan mo, mag-uumpisa na! I was amused.
The concert: It was rock and roll mayhem. Pretty much everyone was jumping up and down. I felt the vibration on the floor and was afraid of the thought that the 20-something year old structure would come crashing down as if struck by an earthquake. The audience was singing along to pretty much every song and sounded louder than the band at times! Incubus vocalist Brandon Boyd was really energetic and tickled the female population in the audience as he slowly stripped during the concert: first he took off his long sleeved shirt after a few songs leaving his sleeveless undershirt and a few more songs later he was just down to his pants. Oh yes the female fans shouted their approval as he did all these.
One thing I didn't know was the band had a dj as part of the group. It was quite interesting as it worked quite well for their music. Most interesting for me was when the band played Aqueous Transmission and guitarist Mike Einziger pulled out a Japanese Koto for this song. I thought it was the perfect instrument for this song as the instrument produced a unique sound that just made one think of flowing water. Just goes to show, these rock bands are really music geeks deep down inside. Overall, it was fun for a non-fan.

At dahil hindi ko naman mapapalitan ang mukha ko...

...I've been quite experimental when it came to my hair.

I've always sported short hair in high school. Back in those days, I'd fix my hair into mohawks whenever I could (it required a lot of time! and the nuns in our school just won't allow it). So, I generally styled with spiked bangs every morning as I'd gel and blowdry and kill the ozone layer with tons of hair spray (or more commonly known as Spray Net, the popular brand in the 80s!)

 

In college, I had an asymetrical hairstyle. How will I describe it? Just above the hairline of my nape, I had sort of layered hair but the layers were literally like a reversed staircase. From the nape, I had a thin layer of hair, sort of wisps that just about coverend my neck . I didn't really have bangs but the hair, that was supposed to be the bangs, was longer than the rest of my hair even when it was swept all the way back. Sounds crazy huh? But people thought I was cool enough to wear such a wild 'do!

In 2003, I started growing my hair long like those girls in the shampoo ads. I also had my hair relaxed straight in 2004. I kept my hair like that til late 2006 when I finally mustered enough courage to get a perm. It was a refreshing change to my look. I received a lot of compliment then. And I kept it that way for over a year as I didn't know exactly what to do next.

My hair has grown past midway down my back. It had been feeling heavy for quite sometime (count months!). Plus nagmumukha na akong buhok na tinubuan ng mukha! This was the sign that said I had to get a hair cut. So last Jan 28, I went to the salon near our house. I just told the hairstylist that I wanted a trim and cut my hair shorter by at least 4 inches. That she did. She also layered my hair a bit more. She also told me to change the parting from the middle to the side. And what a difference it made!

How do you like my "new" locks?
Note: As I post this, it's been 2 months since this haircut. I'm starting to think I'm due back at the salon. :-)

The Golden Ticket

These days, applying for a US Visa in the Philippines is pretty much like auditioning for American Idol (AI):

1. Most people go to achieve their American Dream. (I went coz my sister's getting married in the US.)

2. The embassy schedules your interview just like AI announces its auditions in a particular city or state.

3. You may need to travel a distance. In the Philippines, you can only apply for the visa at the embassy in Manila. In AI, some contestants come from nearby cities or states in order to audition.

4. You have to come in early and like AI, long lines are involved.

5. You will also be given a number to know it's your turn.

6. Similar to AI, there is a pre-screening but for the embassy, it's more accurate to say finger scanning before the consul (judges) actually sees you.

7. You may think you have the qualifications but you never know what the consul would think of you (are you high-risk or not?).

8. You also get a golden (actually it's yellow) ticket that tells you, "you're going to Hollywood, baby!"

Kagay-an Adventures (Day 2 & 5 of CDO Trip)

Kathleen and I have gone white water rafting during our trip to the Canadian Rockies in June 2006. It was on the Kicking Horse River in British Columbia with Wild Water Adventures. We went thru the Classic Day trip from class one to four. We had very good briefing as to what to expect, what to do when someone falls into the water, how to pull someone out of the water, etc. Needless to say we felt really secure. Despite the icy water coming from the glacier that showered us whenever we went thru numerous rapids (and at one point we had a rafter fall off from another boat whom the guides quickly rescued), the experience was just so much fun and so worth it. Afterwards, we had excellent barbeque with chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate to close the trip. It was one of the best adventures ever!
With that, we were raring to go white water rafting again.

So Day 2 was set for Kagay-an Adventures which also included the canopy walk and ziplining.

Since there were only 3 of us, Kagay (the local white water rafting outfitter) arranged for us to join a group to make the minimum 5 requirement. There were a total of 2 rafts. The group we joined only went for the basic course for first time rafters which ran thru 12.34 km with 14 major rapids ranging from class 2 to 3 with a total run of 3 hours. (Seriously, it felt more like class 2 most of the time.)

The basic course would be relatively fun for first timers. There were a few rapids that would get you wet if you were seated up front. There were also stretches of calm water where you can jump off and swim along side the raft. It was unfortunate that we ended up with a un-official river guide who wasn't well trained in people skills. He was a good rafter and read the river well but otherwise he was a bit irritating with his corny and pointless remarks during the trip. I was later informed that they only had one official guide available hence they just had to get someone who knew the river well to push thru with the trip. That info kinda turned me off.

Anyhow, the highlight for me would have to be the small water fall section where we let the water fall onto our helmets and back. It was quite refreshing as the day was really hot. I stuck out my tongue to catch the water fall just to make an interesting photo as I knew the guide was taking our photos. At one point, it was also really amazing to see a sea hawk flying overhead and molted snake skins hanging over vines alongside the river walls. We were really amidst mother nature! (During the rafting trip in Canada, we were excited to see wild mountain goats traversing the steep mountainside.)

The trip ended at a restaurant where we were able to shower and change into dry clothes for P20 per head. The place also offered pretty good lunch: liempo, shrimp and chicken bbq which was already part of the package we paid. YUM.


We were then later brought to Macahambus Adventure Park for the canopy walk and ziplining part of our adventure. We wore a harness that hooked us on a line as we walked a suspended bridge over 170ft ravine. I was not one bit nervous but I did feel whoozy as the ladies ahead of me took so much time crossing the bridge that the bridge shook and I got a bit dizzy. So after that, we just let them finish the bridge before we followed.

Ziplining always looked interesting and exciting as I first saw it in Amazing Race. To be honest, I felt a bit nervous before taking the plunge. I say, it's because the others ahead of me were all whining in fear. Heck, I've been sky diving, ziplining should be a piece of cake. And well it was. Overall, it actually felt very abrupt for me. It was literally over in something like 10 seconds.

Day 5 - Advance White Water Rafting

I mentioned in my Camiguin blog entry that we found out we over paid Kagay. Here's the back story there. Our package was P950.00 which we intially thought covered only the white water rafting and the lunch. Later on, we found out that our package consisted of P500.00 for white water rafting, P300.00 for canopy walk/ziplining and P150.00 for lunch. But when we did the Macahambus canopy walk and ziplining, we paid another P300.00 each. So either we get a refund of P900.00 or we go for Advance White Water Rafting on Day 5 of our trip. Of course we decided to do the latter. But this time only Kathleen and I went rafting. Myra met up with her friend who toured her around different churches in CDO.

The Advance course ran 16.54 km of the river with 24 major rapids ranging from class 3 to 4, with a total run of 5 hours. In reality, it started 4km upstream of the basic course. So rapids actually ranged between class 1 to 4.

Initially we didn't want to do the basic leg of the course but since we didn't have anything to do til 5pm, we just decided to go ahead with it. And what a different experience it was this time. Primarily it was due to the fact that the group was also more adventurous and daring, willing to do more stunts than the previous group we joined. Not to mention we had a proper guide this time in the person of Clint.

And the adventure escalated early on: immediately after the first rapid, somebody fell off from our boat but good thing he was able to hold on to the raft line. You should have seen how wide-eyed he was holding on to the raft for dear life. No worries though as we immediately pulled him back in. After the second set of rapids, the last raft flipped and turned over and in a split second, everyone was in the water. We actually saw them as they flipped and it was at this point that I got quite impressed by the river guides particularly Clint. His presence of mind was amazing. He immediately called out to the other guides that there were swimmers. Afterwhich he shouted instructions to the "swimmers" to stay calm and just lie on their back to avoid hitting the rocks underneath. Then he immediately threw them the throwline so that they don't get further downriver. Meanwhile the other guides were already swimming towards the rafters. The rescue was so organized and so fast, I can't help but be impressed with the Kagay team.

From here on, it was all just fun and adventure. There was a part where we rowed upstream to meet the rapids and as we did this, the waters spun us once or twice like a washing machine. Come the basic leg of the course, we would be more daring and deliberately flip the raft and throw everyone into the water. One thing I realized is that even if we anticipated the flip, you're never ready to get thrown into the water. There's just no time to take that big gulp of air before you get submerged. Yes we drank a lot of the river water! But I'm ok, no amoebiasis for me. :P

There was a time when we're allowed to float and meet a shallow rapid that would swing us towards the river wall. I guess I was so tiny that the rapid swund me around faster than I should. I had my back turned to the wall instead of my feet ready to kick. I had to turn myself around and just as I tried to avoid the wall, the raft was coming towards me threatening to smash me between the raft and the wall. I guess being a diver helped as I was able to keep my presence of mind: I simply went under water beneath the raft and came out the other side. Others became quite concerned but immediately saw I was alright. Everything was just a blast!!! I really had a great time.

One funny thing that happened: the entire advance course cost P700. Since we previously overpaid P900.00, this meant Kath & I owed Clint P500 plus P300 for meals. The thing is we only had P500 plus some change. It was our last day and this was all the cash we had on hand. We chummied up with Clint as we asked for a discount building a case that we were returning clients so chika na yung P200. After some consultation with the other guides, they only charged us P600 for the entire rafting course each. This meant that we only owed him P600 for everything (food and rafting balance) but again we only had P500.00 cash. We actually had P60 extra which we were alloting for airport terminal fee. We couldn't really push our luck for more discount so I had to hunt thru my bag for all the loose change I had. Voila! I was able to come up with another P40 which included all the last 25 centavo coins in my person. *Whew* We'd just ask Myra for the airport terminal fee later. But what we forgot was the P20 shower charge at the restaurant/shower place!!! Bless Clint for helping us out and negotiating with the owners to allow us to shower lest we go to the airport with river water on our skin.

One more thing about Clint, he's got such a lean strong body that he looked like he was just pulling out a little kid from the water whenever he effortlessly helped us get back on the raft. If you go to CDO, try to get him as a guide. He's really nice and funny too. And as one of the girls in our first rafting trip says "Love ko na yung accent nya!"



Tip: it's ideal for one to wear long sleeved rashguard and long shorts to protect you from the sun. Otherwise use sport sunblock that's waterproof and re-apply often. I didn't think I'd get burned on the legs but my thighs got soooo burned they turned purple. I looked literally like a cooked lobster at the end of the ride. During the 2nd rafting trip, I wore long sarong-like pants to protect my legs from the sun.

Internet Truths and Myths

I'm pretty sure everyone has come across interesting bits of information from truths (the sun isn't really yellow; the color is only an interpretation of the retinae of our eyes) to myths (Coca-Cola was originally green in color).... and then you come across this.
I understand that above link has been edited. Click on the website snapshot below to see the original article.

Camiguin (Day 3-4 of CDO Trip)

I've always wanted to go to Camiguin since I saw pictures of officemates on White Island from URC. For those who don't know, I left URC in 1999 so you can just imagine how much time has passed. Finally, I got to go as part of the Cagayan de Oro trip.

I didn't really know what to expect. From Myra's internet research, one can expect a lot: Hot and Cold springs, the Sunken Cemetery, Mt. Hibok-Hibok (an active volcano) etc. Asking around from people who've been there, we were told that we can simply rent a multicab when we get there for the island tour. So the only plans we made was to make resort reservations to be sure we had a place to stay.

Getting to Balingoan meant a 1.5hr road trip from Cagayan de Oro. Most people I know rented a jeep or van to take them to the port. So it was a blessing that we met these two girls during our 1st white water rafting who said that we can easily take a bus. They also told us that the island tour wasn't really that special but Katibawasan Falls was a must for them. We thought, we might as well do the island tour just coz we're there anyway.

So from our hotel, we took a 10minute cab ride to Agora which housed the bus stops. We took an aircon bus (P110 per head) to Balingoan. We simply slept during the road trip and missed the changing landscape.

Alighting at the Balingoan stop, we didn't know how to get to the port so we took a tricycle (P5 per person). It turns out it took something which felt like less than 1 minute ride as the port was so near. After buying our tickets (P107 per pax plus P2.30 terminal fee), we waited about 1.5hrs for the next RORO to Benoni port, Camiguin. With the cool breeze, it was a sweet one hour boat trip to the island.

Upon reaching the port, we were approached by several multicab drivers asking if we wanted to rent. That's the thing about travelling in the Philippines, so many people will approach you offering everything you can imagine: from carrying your bags, pearls and accessories, snacks, local delicacies to rides. While I understand their persistence and entreprenuerial spirit, it sometimes borders on harrassment.


We decided to take a multicab to J&A's Fishpen (P10 per pax for 5 min ride from the port). Upon riding the multicab, it was a bit scary just because 2 big men rode the front (driver and companion) aside from the guy who negotiated the transaction with me who rode at the back with us. We were only 3 girls travelling so the situation was slightly uncomfortable but despite that, our fears were unfounded.

While J&A's a nice and peaceful place, the food is just way too expensive given the serving size and the merely acceptable taste. We paid P920 for 1 pc of crab (regular size), 1 order of kilawin (raw fish meat cooked in vinegar-onion-garlic dressing), 1 grilled squid plus rice and softdrinks!

Since it was just more convenient, we agreed to take the same cab to Paras Beach Resort (P350 from the port one way. Apparently it's P600 for round trip transfers.) It took a little over 30 minutes to get the port. The guy who negotiated with me told me that the pool in Paras was under repair due to damages from a recent storm. I wondered why it was relevant. It turns out that Camiguin didn't really have beaches. The island is pretty much surrounded by rocks and the rough waters didn't allow swimming. And with no pool, there was really nothing left to do. It was too late for us to go to White Island (P400 per round trip boat ride) since they operated boats to the island between 6am til about 5pm. We got to the hotel around3pm. So we just stayed there and took naps before dinnertime.


That night we simply decided on dinner at the resort. We met some officemates of mine who were also there on vacation. From these officemates, we found out that we overpaid our Whitewater rafting package which led us to the decision to just stay one night in Camiguin (aside from the fact that there was not much to do in the island anyway) and go back to CDO Friday afternoon so we can go for advance white water rafting on Day 5 just before we fly back to Manila (but that's another blog). With that, here's how we spent the next day in Camiguin:


6am - we took a 5 min boat ride to White Island which is literally a strip of white sand island. No plants can be seen on the island. There were a few stalls built by the locals to serve grilled food. We had yummy fresh grilled fish, liempo and rice for breakfast with 1.5L Coke (seemed like a lunch meal really for only P345); We were glad to see my officemates on the island as they were fun company. Later Myra and I held a fresh fish and took pictures pretending we caught it. Myra looked like she was a beauty queen holding a scepter. Won't be sharing pictures here as she might kill me. :P The water was nice and warm though the sun was in hiding that day. I was so burned from the white water rafting 2 days before that I was just glad I didn't get that much sun exposure that morning.


9.30am - we went back to Resort to bathe and check out of hotel. We later found out that though they prepared our breakfast so we decided to take it out instead and eat it for lunch. We rented a multicab c/o of the resort for about P1000 for half day which included bringing us to the port area. A whole day trip will cost P1500.00 (I initially thought we got a bargain since the he was originally charging us P1200. On hindsight I should have bargained lower since we only planned to go to 2-3 places of interest. Lesson learned.)

10.30am - Given the earlier advise that the island tour wasn't spectacular, we just did a partial tour of Camiguin:


Ardent Hot Springs - there were 3 pools which generally had luke warm waters except for the 3rd pool that had a temperature of about 40 degree Celcius; Kath simply dipped her legs in the 40 degree pool while Myra and I took turns taking each other's picture.

People can actually go swimming here. There were even picnic tables around the area. Unfortunately it's not very well kept and a bit discouraging to take a dip in the pool. We found a couple of locals and a foreigner submerged in the 40 degree pool. Entrance cost only P25.


Vjandep Bakery - The driver brought us to the bakery where they sold the famous Pastel de Camiguin. Pastel is a soft bread which contained a sweet-custard like filling. I don't remember trying it coz I'm not really a bread/pastry person. But this is what most people asked for as pasalubong so I bought 5 small boxes (P62 for 6pcs) and 5 large boxes (P107 for a dozen). Kath and I also passed by the local market where Kath bought several kilograms of ripe mangoes for only P40/kilo. Now you can imagine the load we had to carry back to CDO. hehe.

Katibawasan Falls - 250ft high, the falls is modest in size One can also go swimming here but we just decided on a peaceful lunch as we had the place all to ourselves. The breakfast that we brought from the resort became our lunch: daing with fried rice and fried egg for Kath; Tocino with fried rice and fried egg for Myra; buttered toast with fried egg for me. Oh I didn't get to mention that this cost more than our meal on White Island. Hotel rates!

Like Ardent, there are picnic tables and there are no proper changing areas too. I guess this really meant going back to the hotel to take a bath and change for most people. The entrance fee was a modest P15.

At the entrance to the falls, we saw a monkey with chain on his leg. Like most people, we were amused by the monkey and tried to toss a piece of mango seed on his sitting ledge coz we were afraid he'd jump at us. We missed. Later we realize he might be clever enough to catch it, and indeed he was. We underestimated our primate brother. hehe.

After lunch we tried to catch the 1pm RORO back to Balingoan but saw the ferry leaving just as we got to the port. We had to wait another hour for the next trip. Fare was the same (P107/pax) but no terminal fee this time.

Kagay-an de Oro: Day 1

We booked the Cagayan de Oro trip during the Piso Fare Promos of Cebu Pacific last March. I don't remember why we booked it for Dec 11-15 when the flight period could be anywhere between June 1 - December 15.

One thing I learned, it can be quite stressful since you don't know what happens in 8-9 months time. As it was nearing the end of the year, there were still a lot of work at the office. Not to mention, I was getting a new BM the week before the trip. Mental note: Never plan too far ahead.

We had five days to spend and didn't really know how to spend it. Good thing Myra was so gung-ho she did a lot of research so here's how our trip went:

Day 1 - Flight was 4.45am. I picked up Kath and went to the airport together. We both didn't have printed copies of our e-ticket! Good thing Myra was a girl scout and was at the airport ahead of us. We checked in just as they were to close the counter. Whew!

Arrive in CDO 6.30am. Check in at Mallberry Suites. I took a quick nap. Meanwhile, Kath and Myra had breakfast.

We loved staying here. Thanks to Kath's supplier for recommending this hotel. It felt like a 4 star hotel. It was conveniently located behind Robinson's Mall and Lim Ket Kai Center which also had a row of restaurants around it. Mike asked me isn't it Mulberry? I answered back, No it's Mallberry, probly coz it's berry near the Mall. hwe.hwe.hwe.

At 9am, the cab that Myra's friend rented for us arrived to take us to Bukidnon. (There are buses to Bukidnon but going into Del Monte Clubhouse will require a private vehicle as no public transport would go in that far. Cab rental cost us P3K which I thought was expensive since to get rent-a-car with driver costs as much.)

The 40 minute drive to Del Monte allowed us to see the beautiful countryside of the area. The mountains and fields were flourishing in its greenery. We went around Camp Phillips the community built by Del Monte for its employees. American-style houses decked the road side which led to a playing field. It reminded me of Camp John Hay. Going thru the pineapple plantation was quite a site with pineapple plants as far as the eyes can see. The Del Monte Clubhouse was set against the greens of the golf course with pine trees all over the place. It smelled really nice out there. Very peaceful. It reminded Kath of Canada.

Del Monte Clubhouse is known for its luscious steaks. We tried a large porterhouse and roastbeef to share. Of course we drank Del Monte Pineapple Juice with it. Unfortunately, the porterhouse was a bit overseasoned though still good to eat. We finished it. The roastbeef however was too dry. Oh note worthy, it was my first time to eat sald with ketchup as dressing. Needless to say, it was weird. We spent around P1700.
After lunch, we headed towards Benadictine Monastery which was 1.5 hrs away. Full to our tummies and with the rain cooling our car, we fell asleep during the drive. At the Benedictine Monastery, we found out that there were old and new monasteries. We visited the old first which was a chapel situated on a hill. It was quite and peaceful. Disruption only came from the splattering of rain outside. Myra and I said a short prayer. Kath stayed in the car as she didn't have protection from the rain. Afterwhich we wanted to try the infamous coffee and bread of made at the Monastery. It turned out they've closed the shop quite some time ago as they didn't have enough visitors to sustain it. They now just sold Monk's Premium Coffeebeans or Ground Coffee for brewing. A small back of the ground coffee cost only P72 while the bigger bag cost P114.

The new Monastery was bigger. It had a beautiful view of the surrounding place. It would have been a good place to have a retreat. We met an old man cleaning the place. He was sooo sweet and accommodating. He told us that we could go up behind the altar and see the wooden sculpture of the Madonna & Child up close. He also told us that we can visit the chapel behind the main monastery as well. All these he instructed in Bisaya. Somehow we managed to pick up some words to understand him. Later he was telling me, people who visit their province should learn to speak the dialect and if he ever visited Manila then he should learn to speak Tagalog. Made sense to a certain extent.

After this we decided to head back to CDO. It felt like gruelling 3hr trip back though it was just for 2 hours.

Back at the hotel, we took some nap and decided to go to dinner. We wanted to try a local restaurant. Going thru the mall, we asked the customer service any good local restaurants and the guard pointed us to Kagay-anon Restaurant.
My 2000 edition Lonely Planet described it to be popular among locals though a bit expensive. Overall we enjoyed the food: Ostrich salpicao which tasted like beef, Adobong Kangkong (which arrived too late, we were almost done eating), baked Tahong, Sinigang na Hipon and Buko Juice for me and Myra, Kalamansi Juice for Kathleen. We spent P988.00 here.

And that concludes day 1.