Together Again

While my husband was away for two months, I acted as Daniel’s mom and dad. The absence of my husband made me realize how wonderful it is to work closely and share my thoughts with him. Although Skype easily cushions my longing to be with him, nothing beats seeing and touching him in person.

I’m glad he’s back.

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Immortalized

Whenever I walk past our gate, I couldn’t help but notice the screaming colors of fire tree flowers — as I am used to call them — stuck to the ground, unwanted, and destined to become limp through heat and rain. Perhaps if these languishing flowers could talk, they are likely to say a lot of things: their suppressed anger to the gods of nature for their unfortunate natural demise, their silent wishes to extend their short-lived beauty; their qualms for a better, livelier backyard (not the dry, vacant lot where the tree stands now).

There’s no autumn in the Philippines but at this time of the year, flowers helplessly fall to the ground like gossamer wings from lifeless butterflies.

As if I heard their silenced voices one day, I took a quick snapshot that will immortalize their beauty before heavy rain comes and sweep them away.

Location: Molo, Iloilo City, Philippines

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Things to Do in Singapore: Visiting the Historical Lau Pa Sat

There are a lot of things going on in Singapore than meets the eye. This dazzling country can easily please vagabonding practitioners whose sheer joy stems out of new places to discover, foodies and food critics whose palates dream of a fusion of flavors, dreamers and transients who are looking for a range of things — a kaleidoscope of wonderful things — to explore: the great outdoors, rich culture, delightful cuisines, and scenic highlights. That’s why we decided to visit this great city-state twice in one month’s time: first with my in-laws, the second one après-wedding (No, it wasn’t our honeymoon trip).

To walk or not to walk

We spent our first day in Singapore meandering around by foot, uncertain of where to go but had so much faith in the bilingual tourist map that I snatched away from our hotel’s peeling trestle. After walking for miles and a train ride later, we decided to jump into a gaudy hop-on hop-off bus, which was the best decision that we made that day (shortly after that, rain poured without even the slightest hint). It was also the best way to have our own synopsis of the city’s point of interests and what awaited us for the rest of our 14-day stay.

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Pinoy Signs of Wit

By Nuri Vittachi

This week, we shall take a “reading tour” of one of the most spirited communities in Asia . The Philippines is full of word play. The local accent among many Filipinos, in which English words with “F” are spelled and pronounced with the sound of “P” and V is pronounced as “B” (because the Philippine alphabet has no letters F or V), is often used very cleverly, such as, the sign in a flower shop in Diliman called Petal Attraction.

Much of the word play in the Philippines is deliberate with retailers and various businesses favouring a play on names of Western establishments and celebrities (Americans, in particular—movie stars and entertainment personalities, especially). For example, there is a bread shop in Manila called Anita Bakery, a 24-hour restaurant called Doris Day and Night, a garment shop called Elizabeth Tailoring, and a barber shop called Felix The Cut.

Reader Robert Harland also spotted a bakery named Bread Pitt, and a Makati fast-food place selling “maruya” (banana fritters) called Maruya Carey. Then, there are Christopher Plumbing, and a boutique called The Way We Wear ; a video rental shop called Leon King Video Rental; a restaurant in the Cainta district of Rizal called Caintacky Fried Chicken, a local burger restaurant called Mang Donald’s, a doughnut shop called MacDonuts , a shop selling “lumpia” (egg roll) in Makati called Wrap and Roll, and two butcher shops called Meating Place and Meatropolis.

Smart travellers can decipher what may look like baffling signs to unaccustomed foreigners by simply sounding out the “Taglish” (the Philippine version of English words spelled and pronounced with a heavy Filipino accent), such as, at a restaurant menu in Cebu : “We hab sopdrink in can an in batol” [translation: We have soft drinks in can and in bottle]. Then, there is a sewing accessories shop called Bids And Pises [translation: Beads and Pieces --or-- Bits and Pieces].

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Susan Boyle: Memory from Cats | Britain’s Got Talent Semi-Finals

Susan Boyle’s most awaited performance during Britain’s Got Talent is now out and her YouTube videos garnered more than 3 million hits after one day.

Is Susan Boyle more popular than American Idol?

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Hayden Kho, Quo Vadis? | The Hayden Kho - Katrina Halili Video Scandal

Hayden Kho and Katrina Halili

If the infamous Hayden Kho sex videos with sexy star Katrina Halili and model Maricar Reyes were over-the-counter drugs (*coughs*), they would’ve been sold out by now—and a lot would’ve been overdosed by then. The scandal is so popular that anyone who is very entrepreneurial can make loads of money off these most-searched videos on the Internet, either as pay per download files or as pirated copies in Quiapo. But then, people would rather use torrent sites for free viewing.

This is the biggest thing that hit Las Islas in 2009—even bigger than Manny Pacquiao’s victory over Hatton—and it wouldn’t seem to die down, like a stubborn cockroach. Even Richard Guttierez’ near-death experience didn’t veer people away from it.

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