Decisions…

Ive been trying to think of what I want to do long term with my previous ‘employment’ now not happening. Obviously I have the option of either staying here and working or returning back to the UK and working there. What I have decided to try is coming back sometime next year and finding a job for 6 months or so and then returning here to start a small business which will continue to run even when Im not here. Its a lot easier and cheaper to start a business here in Philly rather than in the UK but I will be looking into that option as well. I might arrange for some things to be shipped to the UK before I return which I will then try to sell there and depending on the success of that I will get some more sent over. It will mainly be T-shirts and if I can afford it some furniture cause I have been told that they would be quite popular over there. What I am thinking of starting here is phones. Phones are so popular here but most people here have very old phones cause they are so expensive here. I think that phones will get more popular here and the new generation will start to want the newer phones especially if I can provide them for cheaper. We shall see… If anyone can give me some info or help with any of the ideas I have then please email me or reply to this post. Thanks for reading the ramble :)

Heads or Tails?

I finally saw the other side of the Filipino coin today with the weather. There was a warning yesterday about an imminent typhoon that was going to hit our area. Its not as bad as I seem to remember but we lost power for about 8 hours today and when we checked the news when it came back on we saw that Manila and QC in particular have been hit pretty hard with wide spread flooding in certain areas. We checked that our family there was ok but they have had to rescue a lot of poor souls who got caught in the floods. I hope that they are alright and this makes me even more grateful to be here in San Isidro, which as far as I know never floods.

Only real problem I had today, apart from the lack of electricity(which is needed to run things like PCs apparently) was that there were no shops open at all due to the bad weather so I couldnt get any cigs and had to resort to Hope menthols(which if youve ever had you will feel my pain) Ok thats all for me for now, hoping the weather will improve so I can go to my late cousin Kuya Joels 1st Anniversary of his death… Kuya, RIP :’(

Puerto Galera (& return to San Isidro)

Travelled on Sunday afternoon to Puerto Galera by road and ferry. The place is lovely but getting there was adventure without a doubt. There were some of the worst roads that my behind has ever had the misfortune of riding on. Im assuming that because it’s not peak season they are doing a lot of renovation but there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme nor reason about the placement of the road works, they just seem to be scattered everywhere. The beach was nice and we also went picking some nice Dalandan(local orange) which was another experience haha.

Im currently staying back in San Isidro while I reassess my options. I have to say that it feels great here and its always nice to feel wanted and appreciated…

 

Took some pics especially when we stopped at Tamaraw falls which was nice. Will upload when I get to a better Internet connection.

P.

Hmm….

Now I’m not quite sure what is happening but I’m feeling kind of strange at the moment. Everything seems to be getting to me and I/m not enjoying things like I know I should be. I know that work is supposed to be hard but mentally I seem to be struggling. The way things are done here is just so different from what I am used to and I have tried to change the way I think but it doesn’t seem to be enough. I have to stress that I am so grateful for the hospitality and kindness shown by everyone since I arrived here but I think I may have got my priorities mixed up and taken a few things for granted. Now I’m not so sure where I stand and am looking to turn to someone who understands but there doesn’t seem to be anyone… Its weird to think that when I first arrived I thought I had returned home and surrounded by family and friends but in the last few weeks I have never felt more alone.. Sounds dark I know hehe but Im hoping that by using this blog to channel some of my thoughts I will be able to get over this and get back to enjoying life here again :)

The scariest thing of all is that I have actually contemplated going back just to get my head sorted out and get back on track, the exact reason why I came over here to Philly in the first place!!

 

We shall see what the next few days will bring – a lot of talking is gonna happen I think and things need to be said, not just myself but a few others too… Wish me luck, I’m gonna need it

Ninang!

I can’t believe I’ve been here over 4 months already and I’m ashamed to say that I still haven't met my Ninang (Godmother) since I came back.. But thats all due to change cause I should be meeting her tonight :) Im sooo excited to see her again and have a wonderful dinner and catch up with everything.

 

Also I only found out in the last couple of days that the World Cup of Pool 2009 is gonna be held in Manila! Its very late notice so Im not sure if Im gonna be able to get any tickets for it but its high up on my wish list… 2 Pinoy teams as well as the best of the rest? Doesn't get much better than that.. :)

The definition of Irony

Now as most of you know I am currently helping set up a hand painting business here in Philly. Now before I came here I had heard that you could get cheap clothes and knock off labels at very good prices. For the past few weeks we have been testing and are testing the quality of some shirts that we have o make sure they are up to standard for international sale, Pinoys just don't seem overly concerned about quality, thats all, more about the price :)

After testing 3 different suppliers and having them all fail on quality control, I decided to use my trusty old friend the t’internet and have a look for some other suppliers. A lot of people here say that China is the place to go now for all things textile but I couldn't really find any within our price range or they were just asking for a ridiculous minimum order(1 quoted 10000 pcs minimum per colour, per size!!) So after blowing out with China I just googled plain shirts and came across a site which had a very good price for bulk orders and the minimum order was just 1!! Here's the irony; This company has the best price and what looks like the best quality shirts cause they are actually branded, but unfortunately they are based in the UK! Hahaha, I had to laugh when I found out cause I came all the way over here and relied on the reputation of the clothing here and the best price is coming from England. And thats with the £ getting stronger against the Peso, if it was a couple of months ago it would be even cheaper… Now I'm in a bit of a catch 22 cause hey have the quality I want at the price I want but can I afford to wait the month or so it will take to manufacture the Tees and ship them here? Or do I just settle for paying more here for the same quality and getting the items sooner? Fun choice…

 

On a lighter note, a belated Happy Birthday to my Bro, who is now a year closer to 30 :) Take care and all the best, love to the family x

A couple more canvas

Here are a couple more designs our artists have been working on.
Pretty damn good it I may say so myself, email me for a quote if u are
interested :)

HK Pics

Just a few pics for now but will upload the whole set soon and post the link here, enjoy!

View Full Album

View Full Album

HK Baby!!!

W00t!!! I was told a couple of days ago that we were doing something
this weekend but I only found out last night that I am being taken to
Hong Kong!! I actually have no idea why we are going but I don't care
cause HK is on my list of top 5 destinations to visit properly in my
lifetime. I will be taking some pics while I am there cause I wanna
test the camera on this phone so I will upload when I get back. I will
try to do an update while I am there if I find a wifi spot.. :D

Sent from my iPhone

Something different - 2 canvas

Thought I would share something different created by our artists, some
still life canvas to show a different side to their talents. Let me
know what you think and I will try to put some adds when they are
finished.

Back to Insanity

Hahaha! We haven't even got out of Batangas yet and already the stress
is back. Bumper to bumper traffic which hasn't moved in 30 mins.. Oh
well can't complain had a great day in Lipa and enjoyed the reunion
but unfortunately some key members were missin. Get well soon Tita
Chie :) hopefully I'll get back to Makati b4 midnight... :s

Sent from my iPhone

Tita Ems 70th - El Grande Resort Lipa

Spending the day here in Lipa for Tita Ems bday and also to celebrate
everyones bday in August, kind of like an all in one package. It's
just another excuse for a reunion but I'm not complaining it's great
to see family again and have a couple of days off at the same time
away from work :)

Hard @ work

Here are the artists hard @ work creating more masterpieces. MJ is
still proving to be a popular choice with customers, we've had 6
different orders this week alone! Also just had a meeting with DHL
about possibly shipping exclusively through them so waiting to hear
back with their proposal. Hopefully that means cheaper shipping and
more orders from you lot! ;)

View from the office

This is what I look out 2 everyday, jeepneys, tricycles, taxis and
more non stop. Loud but entertaining hehe

New designs!

I thought I would share some designs with you that are so new I
haven't had a chance to put them up on the Bossjack site yet :) let me
know what you think and if there are other designs you would like to
see at p.johnson@bossjackunltd.com

I'm on Twitter!

I can't believe I'm saying this but I've just joined Twitter! I'm
still not 100% sure why but I did hear that it could be a good
advertising outlet for the business so I thought I would try it out
personally first. The bad thing about starting any social networking
online is that everyone starts off the same way: with 0 friends/
followers or whatever u want to call it so I need ur help, help find
me some followers! My username is pjdetorres or u can find me on www.Twitter.com/pjdetorres

Sent from my iPhone

Masakit ako!(Im hurting!)

Not a great picture I know but I had to go to hospital yesterday with
some flu like symptoms so better safe than sorry. The doctors poked
and prodded me before injecting me with god knows what and told me to
return in 3 days if I had not recovered cause it might be more
serious. I'm actually sending this from my phone so this is kind of
like a test, we shall see how it goes..

Masakit ako! (I'm hurting!)

New site is live!(but not quite finished hehe)

www.bossjackunltd.com

Hey everyone,

For the past few weeks I’ve been missing on here but there has been a good reason. Its not cause I just got bored of talking about myself(that will never happen) ;) its actually its because after a lot of thinking and asking for quotes from designers I decided to learn how to create my own website! Now I know for some of you this will probably be like 2nd nature but for me I decided to use Dreamweaver and with no previous experience it was like going into a fistfight blindfolded. You are a bit afraid to start with but then you just think what the hell and wade in with arms swinging :D I can honestly say that the 1st week was one of the hardest and most frustrating that I have experienced in a long time but looking back at it now all those mistakes are what taught me how to do the basics. There are still many dark corners of Dreamweaver that I have not explored( and probably never will) but I am glad that I can now say that I can build a half decent looking website from scratch. Also bear in mind that the site is not actually completed yet and there are still a few pages to finish up but aesthetically I am pleased with the result. Also to be noted that for some reason the spry menu bar at the top doesn’t seem to be compatible with Internet Explorer, I tried V5, 6 and 7 with the same result for all. I would suggest using Google Chrome(which is what I use), Mozilla Firefox or Safari which I tested and all work fine. Any comments regarding the website would also be great, either post them here or email me at pjdetorres@gmail.com or p.johnson@bossjackunltd.com

Right, before I forget the website is called www.bossjackunltd.com and to start with I will be focusing on selling hand painted T-shirts and clothing. I am still researching how to ship the items globally but once I do the site will be live 100% The site will also have information on the CAD design, supply and construction side of the business and also the hand crafted Madre Cacao furniture that we are selling here in Philly. Make sure to check the site out often as I will be updating it regularly with new items and small changes as I go along. Also please tell as many people as you can as I think that the best way to attract potential customers is through word of mouth so please be kind :D

Finally just another reminder for some feedback on the new site and if anyone has any suggestions on how to get this site noticed then please let me know as this is all still new to me. Take care till next time :D

Ate’s Birthday

It was Ate Precys birthday on Wednesday so just want to wish her a belated happy birthday on here :D We went to a place called 19 East in Sucat just outside Makati to watch a popular group here in Philly called Freestyle. Now I had watched them on a DVD before and to be honest I wasnt completely impressed. Dont get me wrong, they were good but I just didnt think they were worth all the hype that everyone was saying. There are 2 male singers and 1 female and they play a mixture of old love song covers with some twists on modern songs as well as originals of their own.

They started out with a cover of Lionel’s Easy. Not bad, I was pretty happy. Then the MJ songs came started. Now I should have mentioned before that 1 of the male singers has a voice very similar to MJ’s. By the end of the 1st MJ song I was speechless and as the night wore on he did medleys of the Kings greatest hits and at one point I just sat there with my eyes closed and to me it was as if MJ was on stage again.. Thats how good this guy was. I dont just mean vocally, Im talking every little sound that MJ used to make, he copied perfectly. I never had the pleasure of seeing MJ live but I am going to go out of my way to see this group again because they are easily the best I have seen live, ever. I also have to mention the female singer, who blew everyone away with her medley of Alicia Keys songs. It really was a great treat to hear these guys perform and I cant wait to see them again. The set didnt finish until 2AM so we didnt get home till 30 mins later but I didnt care. In my mind I had got to hear my idol, even if it was through someone else.. Thats how good they were.. RIP MJ :’(

aaarrrrggghh!!

Typical of a big business to ruin our plans. We were scheduled for our opening today of the Internet shop as well as the T-shirts and the office for the furniture but because PLDT, which is the equivalent of BT in the UK or AT&T in the US, left us high and dry even though they promised that the business DSL lines would be installed by the 29th June. They are now saying it should be done by this coming Friday(we’ll see though) so we have had to postpone the opening until next Monday. Its not really good business for an internet shop to open without access to the internet, it kind of defeats the purpose hehe.

On a plus note though the office is starting to really take shape and is basically finished except for some finishing touches. We have transformed one of the empty stalls into a mini showroom to showcase the furniture that we will be selling and hopefully it will prove to be a good talking point for any customer that comes in.

There is a franchise expo this weekend at the Mall of Asia and I will be trying to attend cause it gives me a good idea of what kind of businesses we can have for the remaining stalls. It should be fun to have a look around anyway but im still trying to find someone to go with..

Im still trying to wrap my head around the whole website design malarkey so if anyone can help you would receive a thousand thanks from me and maybe a small gift :) I got so angry with Dreamweaver that I had to walk away from my laptop for fear of causing it some damage.. Im now in search of a dreamweaver for dummies PDF or website building for dummies PDF also.. Till next time, ingat :D

Getting close..

Phew!! Its been 1 of those weeks so far! There has just been problem after problem with the setup of the Internet shop, I have to admit that I will be glad once its open cause I didn’t realise just how much work goes into all the setup. d rather sweat and toil now though and have everything running (relatively) smoothly once we are open. Obviously there will be some minor kinks to iron out but Im hoping that all the prep will shine through. We’re using a program called Handycafe which looks very good indeed, especially as its totally free :) which is always a good thing. Were just waiting for the most important part of the shop now which is the upgrade to a business line for the DSL. This being the Philippines you can never rush these things and Ive been stomping around like a spoilt brat moaning about how slow everything is here but thats the way of life here and its something that I just have to get used to hehe.

This weekend will just be spent testing all the PC’s and installing various IM’s and AV’s. If there is anything else I’ve not mentioned that you know I need to do please email me cause Im still pretty new to all this. We will also be starting a banned website list but I have a feeling that will grow to be quite large ;)

I promise before and after shots of the shop and of the other stalls and the location where it is. I have to say that it looks fantastic especially the front entrance where we used Madre Cacao wood and looks excellent in the evening. Man I’m getting goose bumps just thinking about the next few months and how exciting its going to be…  Till next time :D

1st July Soft Opening

We’ve finally confirmed a soft opening date of 1st July 2009 for the Internet shop and T-shirt stall. We will have 11 PC’s up and running and will also offer typing services and B/W printing when we open. If demand is high enough then we will buy a colour printer and offer colour printing as well. The T-shirt business is what is really exciting me though cause we will be offering hand painted T-shirts with any design that you want. You can just show a picture to the artist and he will be able to recreate the image in just a few hours. I will be looking for resellers in the UK and the US so if anyone is interested then email me and I will give you the details. Once I have some pictures from the artists then I will post some on here. 1 of them actually specialises in graffiti so I have also asked him to make me some designs cause I think they will sell well abroad. Im still struggling to create a decent website but think that I may have found someone who can help after the last person let me down.

 

Wish us luck!! :D

Countdown

Hi all, apologies for the scarcity of my posts recently. Its been pretty hectic with trying to organise everything for the Internet shop as well as the T-shirt stall and also the furniture business. Gotta go search for a top spec PC today that can be used as a design PC for the furniture business. Also been organising the layout of the internet shop, its gonna be quite a small affair with only 11 PC’s to start with but if it gets busy we have the option to add a couple more. I promise to have some before and after pics up soon. The original opening date was beginning of June which was then put back to June 15 and now June 22. Im not convinced though and we have reset the date for a soft opening launch for June 29. I’ll try to get on here again before the weekend but until then ingat..  :)

Happy Birthday!!!

Apologies for the lack of posting but its been a hectic week so far. Things are starting to take shape in the shop and we should be installing the computers for the internet shop tomorrow. I just wanted to quickly come on and wish Nina a very happy birthday and hope that she enjoys her (2nd) party this weekend. :D

PS: There is a present on the way so be patient!! LOL

 

Now back to business, if anyone knows where I can buy 12 copies of Windows XP Pro SP2 without it costing an arm and a leg then please email me or post a comment on here cause even software is so overpriced here in Philly. My email for anyone that doesn't know it is pjdetorres@gmail.com . I will take some before and after pics so please comment on how you think it looks, any constructive criticism is always welcomed.. hehe. Till next time, ingat(take care)

PJ

1 down, 2 to go! :D

Now that the San Isidro fiesta is officially over, my focus has been shifted towards Magape, which will be celebrating their fiesta on June 6/7. This means that I have a few days downtime and was toying with the thought of returning to Makati but decided to stay at the resort to give Ate Precy and Kuya a break away from me lol. It also gives me a chance to see a lot of people that I haven’t had the chance to see properly in a long time. I will also be trying to do some work but we shall see :P.

The weather today has been a pretty common reoccurrence over the last couple of weeks, sobrang init(very hot) in the morning and in the afternoon the rain and wind muscles its way in and takes over for the remainder of the day. I don't really mind too much but today's rain seems to be a bit harder that usual so I think that the rainy season is very close if not here already.

I have been told that there has been some gossip about myself being in the procession for the Bilucao fiesta this year. Let me just say that I have no idea about this and will admit to being a bit nervous about what is going to happen over the next few days, something tells me that there has been some planning from others and other hands are in charge of my destiny lol. For those of you that don’t know about the procession, it is considered a huge honour to be asked to participate and you are normally paired up with a member of the opposite sex and it is a big deal over here. It is normally reserved for children but I have seen some teenagers and adults there too. With this rumour going around I am also going to assume that there has been a girl chosen to be my partner, I have a rough idea who it could be and I have my fingers crossed that she is the one, so to speak :P

Now I have to entertain the soon to be crowned champions of volleyball, Bossjack Unltd. so I have to leave you… Anyone wanna join me? :P

San Isidro Fiesta – 2nd June 2009

This was my 1st fiesta back in Batangas since I moved to England and I loved it. As well as the usual suspects there was a guest appearance from Ate Jeck(great to see her and she looks great too :)) as well as her 2 daughters, Amanda and Alex, Tita Nepo, Tita Chie, Tita Ems and for only the 2nd time since I can remember Tita Bebe. Great to see so many Aunties again and having family around you, I knew I missed it but never realised how much. There is such comfort to be found in just sitting there while everyone is talking all at once. Don't ever take that for granted and now that Im back here Im refusing to let that go. Its a shame that the the Kuyas could not make it but we have made plans to meet up again and have some fun in Manila :D. 

It was actually a pretty quiet fiesta with regards to events but there was the usual mass in the morning, in what felt like a sauna converted into a church :) , then there were 2 bands, I missed the procession unfortunately but managed to catch some very nice dancers at the variety show that was put on at the local gym that night. Then there was the same drumming band with the scary fire breathing bakla dancers that were there for the Tejeros Fiesta,  and I hid like a kid who had done something bad and knew that a slipper was destined for his backside…

Finally and most importantly there was the food. What can I say about the food? I feel that I have worked very hard while I have been in Makati to try to lose some of the ‘holiday’ weight that I have been carrying for about 10 years lol and that was all undone in the space of about 6 hours… Thanks has to go to Tita Edith , Ate Remy and everyone else who slaved for so long to put on a wonderful feast that has played havoc on my weight loss regime  haha.

Back to Batangas

Going back to Batangas tomorrow for a few days tomorrow, 1st to watch the finals of the Volleyball tournament which is being represented by the Bossjack team. Good luck to them(although they are on a promise that if they win they each get a brand new pair of trainers so Im thinking that they wont be needing much luck). After that I will be staying on until the 3rd June cause its Fiesta time in San Isidro! :D Woo Hoo another fiesta, lets see how this one goes..

After that its back to Makati for a couple of days then back to Batangas again for the fiesta in Bilucao on 7th and 8th June, man I never tire of these!! Hehe. As usual there is no internet in Batangas where I stay so will have to update when I get back, take care all, till next time :)

Boracay :D

I didn't get a chance to do any write ups while I was away so I decided to just do a review of the whole trip. We left on Tuesday afternoon from NAIA(Manila) and boarded a small plane to Caticlan. That is the nearest airport and you then have to travel by boat to reach Boracay. Boracay Island itself is only 7Km by 1Km but is surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen as well as breathtaking clarity in the sea. You can actually see right to the bottom and the colour ranges from a bright turquoise to a radiant emerald green. Then there is the beach… white and fine and when the sun is shining it feels like you are walking on a cloud.

Now unfortunately for me I woke up on Tuesday feeling a little under the weather, no matter cause there was no way I was going to let that dampen my spirits. We eventually arrived at the resort around 6ish after our guide gave us a tour of one side of the island. She seemed to forget though that we were all still carrying our luggage and 40 mins walking in the heat didn't really help my condition. I was taking a turn for the worse but we went for dinner and tried to relax. Just after 8 PM I went for a walk to try to find a shop to but some water and I actually cant remember the rest of the evening. I woke up the next morning and saw that I had visited the shop but I had passed out fully clothed with the fan and the air con off and wrapped up in a sheet. To say I was sweating would be an understatement. I think that is was the best thing I could do though cause the last thing I remember from the night before is being in a cold sweat even though it was nearly 30 C outside. I was also starting to shiver and feel faint so thats probably why I locked myself in my room to try to sweat the illness out. There was some genuine concern for a while that I could have contracted a serious illness but I seem to be recovering now.

Even though I was ill for the trip we still had a lot of fun, we went on an island hopping trip on Thursday and got to see some wonderful sights. I took plenty of pics but cant upload them till I can get somewhere with a faster internet connection cause there's nearly 300 of them lol.

Apologies again for the delay with this post cause I haven't been that well and have been ordered bed rest for the last 2 days..

On the Thursday we went on an island hopping trip in which we visited 3 different islands. Crystal Cove island in particular was spectacular with a cave that goes out into the sea. It was while we were here that we experienced the brightest sunshine of the whole trip. On the way back it started to rain and it stayed that way for the next few hours.

The remainder of the trip was a mixture of laughter, coughing, heat, sweat, massages, more laughter, fresh fruit juices, bad Italian food, disappointment, a great Filipino band, very bad karaoke, rain, sand, foot rubs, tears from laughter, sand castles, and some of the best freehand artists Ive had the pleasure of watching.. All in all great place, the people I met were awesome but I wish I was 100% and that we had come during Holy Week ;P

 

 

PICS: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/pjdetorres/BoracayMay200902#

Boracay tomorrow!

W00t! Off to Boracay tomorrow with Kuya Gil and Doc. The flight is at 3:30 PM so should be there by 6. Ive heard so many good things about this place and will be sure to take loads of pics. Ive been exercising like crazy the last 2 weeks to try to get into some sort of shape but there is just too much fat on my body for it to make any real difference. My arms seem to be a bit more defined but not much else.

I also visited the dentist this morning to get that annoying stain from my front tooth removed and Im very happy with the result :)

Well, I better get some sleep cause big day tomorrow. I will try to find somewhere with Wifi so that I can update and try to upload some pics and let you all know what Ive been up to. Boracay: prepare yourself for hurricane PJ!!! \o/

 

PS: Just had a blackout here while I was writing this( they call it brownout though). My 1st one since I got here and most people actually met in the street and had a good old gossip. This is how I remember Philly as a child :D

Bang Bang!

Now this is a real first for me. This was something that I've always wanted to do, and not in a spree killer type of way, but in a I want to know what all the fuss is about kind of way. I can say now that shooting at a firing range is a lot like getting a tattoo, its something naughty that your parents would be annoyed to find out that you wanted to do it but because of that you really want to do it. Once I had finished my first clip it was a weird sensation of power, stress relief and also a crazy amount of adrenalin coursing through me veins.

I have included a couple of pics and can say that I loved it so much. I also got to keep the targets that I used and will try to take pics of them later so you can see how I did. I was very pleased with my first time and I was told that I was actually better firing one handed rather than 2 handed which the instructor said was very unusual. I fired 3 full clips of 13 bullets using Kuya’s Glock 40 calibre pistol. Its a really beautiful gun and a lot smoother than I expected it to be. I assumed that there would be a big kick but I hardly felt it at all and the biggest problem I had was with my adrenalin causing my firing arm to shake slightly. I still hit the target with all my bullets and managed to get a couple of bulls eyes  which I was very proud of considering its my first time. There is also the option to hire a gun to use so I might have a look at what options they have… Im thinking Armalite or M16 ;D

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Ate is back!

Went to pick up Ate Precy From NAIA (Ninoy Aquino Int’l Airport) this afternoon and we we’re expecting her to have about 5 trolleys of shopping after visiting Singapore and Malaysia for a shopping and relaxation trip with some of her staff from Fontana. When she arrived though she had only bought a few items and we were very shocked and surprised lol.

Afterwards we went to the seafront next to the Mall of Asia to have dinner at one of the special seafood restaurants there. With my aversion to all things seafood related my options were pretty limited. I was used to this though because I don't think most Filipino restaurants have even heard of the term Vegetarian because most of the time there isn't a single vegetarian option available on the menu. Even the vegetable side dishes are normally served with bagoong(small fry shrimp) or some type of seafood. I settled for some garlic rice and a special order of Gulay(vegetables) with no hidden extras. There were 8 other people in our party and the way to order here is by the kilo so I think that they had about 7 kilos of various seafood all freshly caught that morning.

Afterwards we decided to go straight to Fontana because Ate Precy had work the following day. We didn't arrive until 1:30 AM and stayed up talking until 3:30 AM. My muscles are now paying me back for forcing them to do so much exercise and but I have to keep telling myself that its a good pain and that I have an important objective to reach.

Custom made cue – finally!

Went to meet a friend of a friend in Muntinlupa today who has the reputation of being the best cue maker in the Philippines. He as assembled a team like no other and the cues he showed me only had me in total amazement at the quality. A huge thanks has to go to Sammy for the hook up, Maraming salamat po pare :)

Ricky was very welcoming and invited me into his home to show me the cues he is currently working on. He doesn’t have a shop per se but he has a huge catalogue which he lent me to get some ideas for my custom cue. HE also offered me a very nice discount for being a friend of Sammy :D

Im feeling like a kid thats been locked in his favourite toy shop and left to play with all his favourite toys. My plan was to just get 1 cue custom made and maybe a break cue too but with Ricky can probably get 2 or 3 playing cues, a break/jump cue and a case too and for a very good price too! All custom and hand made by some of the best cue makers in the country. Ricky even invited me to stay once I had ordered my cue so I could watch my cue being made. I might have to take that offer up cause I think that its to good to pass up. Once the cue is made I have been invited to play with Ricky and his friends in a weekly tournament so that should be interesting he he. I’ve also been invited to play with some Philly pros which is another offer I just have to accept. Rack em up!!

1st day at the office

Not sure if it classifies as a day when its 3 hours and the office is still being renovated and is therefore a pretty big mess. It was mostly brainstorming with the 2 designers that were there about any ideas that they had for the business. I think that a lot of progress was made especially because I hadn’t really spoken to them before but by the time I left they seemed to be more comfortable around me which was a big plus.

Also got quotes on Web hosting packages as well as trying to buy a domain name. Finally went to a shop to ask about branded promotional merchandise to give away on opening day and also for any customers and for friends and family. Cant beat good old fashioned advertising like that!

Aray!

Picked up my first injuries yesterday since I arrived and they both happened within hours of each other. First I was getting a foot scrub because after wearing flip flops around Makati for 2 weeks your heels are very cracked and painful. I didnt realise that this also involved a foot massage so didnt think to warn the babae that both my ankles were pretty weak but then again I didnt really expect her to suddenly twist my left ankle through over 100 degrees! This is getting to be a serious problem for me because whenever I get a massage I think the babae looks at me and thinks because of my size that she has to really work harder and it always seems to end up with me being worse off afterwards…

The neck injury that has flared up again is just from too much training on the punch bag. It feels just like a small strain so hopefully it will clear up in a couple of days.

 

Also I visited Mall of Asia in the early evening to finally see what all the fuss was about. WOW! I think I only covered about 10% of the mall and we had been there over 2 hours! Its like its own city. Its very nice though and I plan to go back there one morning and just spend the whole day there trying to cover everywhere.

Aftermath

Just been trying to relax today after an emotional weekend but got off to a bad start when I told myself that because I didn’t train over the weekend I should start off the week with a good hard session. Within 30 mins I was lying on my bed in agony after going a bit over the top with the punch bag. Thats what happens when you forget to stretch enough because you still think that you are 21 lol. Its taken me pretty much all day to get the muscle into a manageable state but its still pretty painful so will be looking for another massage in the near future ;) We bought some target pads and some boxing gloves as well so we will be able to start sparing as well which should help a lot. My main problem is stamina though, so conditioning is going to be key for me in the next couple of months. Ate is leaving for Malaysia tomorrow for a few days so I am trying to think of what to do with myself in the meantime. Im sure that with my imagination I will find something to keep me occupied :D

My 4th 25th Birthday(with pics)

I sat here for about 10 minutes thinking of how to describe this weekend and I decided to just write whatever came to mind. I could have written a nice long intricate tale of the weekend but I thought I would just keep with the theme of the weekend, family. I know that doesn’t make much sense but I had forgotten just how important family life is here in Philly. I know that some of you will say that family is important everywhere but the whole lifestyle here revolves around the family. Im finding it very difficult to explain but lets just say that Im starting to remember that fact and its a very good feeling. The only real downer for me last night was that my immediate family(Mum, Nina, and Rujay) were not here for the party because it ended up being a pretty big Torres reunion. Most of my Mums Brothers and Sisters came and at such short notice too for which I am very grateful. I suspect it had as much to do with having an excuse to see each other again after so long rather than for my birthday lol. Also present were 2 of the cousins that I was closest to when I was growing up here, Kuya Ninoy and Kuya Jimmy. Both have obviously changed after so many years but within 5 minutes we were back to laughing and joking like kids again. It was so very good seeing all of the old(sorry, older ;P) faces again and a few new ones too and even though it rained for most of the evening nothing could have stopped the laughter, gossip and general merriment that happened last night. At one point I felt like a celeb cause I actually had to do a round of photos with various members of the family with their respective families and that took about half an hour after saying hello and all the hugging and kissing and the ‘you’ve got so big!’ I was more than happy to pose and talk though cause I had missed them as much as they missed me. There was also a videoke machine there which I can assure you was used non-stop from 10 AM till the whenever the party finished. All sorts of songs were sung from old love songs to Filipino classics and after a while it just became part of the background noise. I resisted the urge to perform though for fear of everyone leaving :)

A big thank you has to go out to Ate Precy and Kuya Guilbert for hosting the party for me and also special thanks to Tita Edith, Tito Tony and all the others who prepared all the food and made the night possible. Because of last night. I have also asked everyone else who had a camera to email them to me so if and when I get more pics I will add them. The food last night was amazing, I was more than happy with my specially made veggie spaghetti but there was also freshly caught grilled Tilapia, fresh lumpia, chop suey, and various other Filipino dishes which was more for my carnivorous relatives than for me :D All in all a great time seemed to be had by all so there was nothing more that I could have asked for. At the time of writing I have been invited to 3 more fiestas in the next month as well as having orders to visit everyones homes around the Philippines. So at least I cant say that I will just be sitting here bored with a busy social calendar like that!

PS Thanks for all the messages and the kind words that you have all sent me today, its much appreciated :D

 

I tried uploading the pics the normal way but no joy so I have uploaded them to my picasa account and you should just be able to view them by clicking the link, enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/pjdetorres/SonyCyberShotDSCW130?authkey=Gv1sRgCLTHnp6cncDIkAE#

Bday Party FTW!! Nokia N95 Camera FTL!!!

I've just been to see the opening day of the new Volleyball season and Bossjack has sponsored a team so when we turned up they all started chanting ‘BossJack! BossJack!’ So much for a quiet entrance lol. I also think that a few of the locals might have recognised me from when I grew up here because you could see the gossip spreading. I tried to look cool but I’m pretty sure that I failed :)  The preparations for my party are also in full swing and by the look of things pretty much the whole village has been invited. Should be fun though, I cant wait. The one real downer for me is that my beloved N95 camera which I have been using to take all of the pictures that are on the blog has stopped working :(  I don't think that I will have time to get it fixed before the party tonight but Ate Precy has a camera on another phone so I will try to use that and hopefully the pictures will still be ok. IF anyone wants to donate a nice DSLR camera for me then I would accept it gratefully :D This is my first Birthday here since 1992 so I would like to have some good memories for the future.

A lot of relatives have confirmed that they are coming so it will also be a reunion of sorts because it has been too many years since I saw them last. There is already a Videoke machine set up and is being rigorously tested as we speak :)  There will be no lechon due to the Swine flu scare but there will still be plenty of food to go around, of that I am sure.

Right, hopefully the next time I post  I will have some good pics and memories to talk about. Have a good weekend everyone!

Batangas for my Bday! :)

Nearly time to go now so thought I would post a quick message because I dont think that there is internet where I will be staying. I will be taking loads of pics though so dont worry. It was raining really heavily here in Makati last night and my biggest fear is that there is torrential rain on Saturday night. Im hoping that the weather will be ok but even if it is raining then I dont think anyone will care! There should be some good food there and my Tita asked me if I wanted a pig, Im not sure though…

Right, the next time that I update I will be 25 for the 4th year! Have a good weekend all and be sure to come check the pics out on Monday :D

 

 

(Right, now where do I find a T-shirt that says ‘Fat, Single & Ready to Mingle?)

Can I oil you sir?

Now thats an offer that I don't get every day. maybe a couple of times a week but not every day. Now let me explain.. We finally went for a massage for my broken body and we all decided to have the combination treatment which consisted of a mixture of Shiatsu and Swedish massages and lasted for an hour. After changing into the pyjama style outfits that you have to wear(btw, I think that they only come in Filipino sizes so I looked like a gay white Incredible hulk) the lady came in to start my session. I opted for the oil and lay back and thought of anything but England ;P  After about 7 minutes I realised my mistake because it was then I remembered what a shiatsu massage was but it was too late. Knuckles were being driven in with the force of a nail gun in muscles I didn't even know existed and by the end of the session I felt like I had lost a UFC match. To be fair I moan about it now but come morning I will feel a lot better and it was something that my body needed even if its hating me at the moment. The next time I think I am getting the full body reflexology or maybe the Thai massage so I can compare. The Swedish part of the session was very nice and I was twisted back into some normality. I will definitely be going back there because I am training a lot more and my body is still in a bit of shock about having to do so much work so it deserves some pampering. Next up is Muay Thai :D

R & R..

Today has been all about R & R. Recovery and Research. Ive been recovering from the Manny celebrations as well as the Fiesta that was being celebrated here in Makati yesterday. The research is for the new business that Im involved in which is Hand crafted Filipino Furniture. Its a very exciting concept and one in which Ive thrown myself in at the deep end mainly because I know nothing about furniture ;P  I am helping in other ways at the moment though, mainly some ideas about the online side of the business and also advertising and marketing, bet you didnt think I could do that eh?

Ive managed to come up with a couple of ideas that have gone down very well so hopefully this rich vein of creative genius can snowball into a lot more productivity. Im off now to get a massage because I went a bit OTT on the excercising trying to make up for eating so much at the fiesta yesterday. I just hope she understands when I say “ no happy ending!” ;D

Fiesta (Part 1) & Pacquiao FTW!!!!

Here in the Philippines the fiesta is broken into 3 days and today is the final day of the fiesta in the barangay(area) of Tejeros in Makati City where I am staying. Last night there was a talent show and from what I saw there was a lot of local talent on show. I missed the singing but caught a bit of the dancing and it was hard to tell that they were just amateurs, thats how good the quality was. Today started pretty early at just before 6 AM to prepare for the Manny Pacquiao fight against Ricky Hatton. We had seats to watch the fight at the local mall in one of the cinema screens and by 10 AM the place was packed. It was only after the fight that I discovered that every cinema screen in the city was fully booked as well as every place which had a big screen TV. They are fanatical here about Manny and the whole country was at a standstill during the fight. No traffic, nobody on the streets and no crime. I had never heard cheering like I had when Hatton got knocked down the first time in the 1st round. After that the cheering just intensified and after Hatton got knocked down the cheering was just non-stop. It was an awesome experience and I cant wait for his next fight now.

After the fight we went back to the house and just relaxed and watched all the action going on outside. Its over 30 C today and the humidity is off the charts so I wasn't about to go venturing outside anytime soon. There is way too much food here and too few people to eat it but I guess thats the fiesta way. Its getting close to duck now and the humidity seems to be getting to a bearable state so I might have a look around later but there is an ever growing contingent of happy, drunken Pinoys celebrating both Manny's destruction of the “Hitman” and also their Fiesta so something tells me that its gonna be a messy night. Wish me luck….

 

PS: a couple of pics of the band that was performing in the street here today.

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Anyone Interested? ;P

I've just spent the morning discussing some possible business opportunities for me here and Im looking into the T-shirt business. The cost of good quality T-shirts are reasonable here and I want to create an  exclusive brand to market in the UK and possibly over in the US if I could find somebody who shares the same view as myself. The T-shirts will have special designs made by local artists to begin with and will have a graffiti and urban vibe to them but I am open to ideas as well so if any of my colonial cousins are reading and think that you have something to offer then email me :)  I will be looking to start the business in an online capacity to begin with while I figure out the best way to advertise and market the brand and will only be making a handful of each design which will be numbered as well so they can be classed as a collectible. I am of course looking for ideas and designs so anyone creative out there can also send me samples of their designs too and maybe see someone wearing our creation in the future! This is an exciting opportunity to get involved in a niche business from the ground floor so anyone with a serious interest then please contact me and we can talk. Advert over :D

San Isidro…

Finally met up with Tito Tony and Tita Edith this morning, as well as Ate Remy and Carlo. There were also a few others to say hello to and it felt so good to just wander around the house again. So many memories came flooding back and I just stood there for around 30 mins just reminiscing about the last time I stayed there in 2000. As soon as I arrived Tita Edith was making me breakfast which I had missed so much its hard to actually put in words. They now have a small store and a room full of PC’s attached where you can play PC games over a local network which seems to be quite popular with teenagers in the barangay. I had to resist the temptation of the offer to play some Counter Strike Source…

In the afternoon we headed towards Lipa to have a look at a furniture maker whom we will be working with in the future so a lot of pictures were taken. These pieces were truly beautiful and captured the spirit and essence of the Philippines in my opinion. They are made from very solid Madre Cacao wood which is indiginous to the area and is very solid, reliable and has a beautiful shade to it.

Once I got back to Bilucao I spotted a hammock and immediately made it my own and read a book and forgot about the rest of the world, having only the sounds of the forest to remind me where I was. I think that the plan for tonight is more Tongit, some San Miguel and a lot of talking and laughing… Wish you were here? ;D

The Prodigal Son Returns

I finally arrived back in Batangas last night. We decided that it was a bit late to visit the family over in San Isidro so we stayed at the BossJack Resort which is still currently under development. I was greeted there by Tito Simeon, Ate Precy’s Father, who used to take me to school when I lived here as a child. It was very good to see him and as he knew I was coming he had freshly roasted and brewed some of the local coffee, which is up there in my top 3 favourite coffees ever. We had some food and I was then taught how to play Tongit, a very popular Filipino card game. For some reason there was also red and white wine instead of San Miguel but that didn't seem to matter, I had forgotten that Bilucao, which is where I stayed last night, is where time stands still. Or at least thats how it felt. After 3 bottles between 4 of us we looked at the watch for the first time since we got there and saw that it was 11 PM. 1 dropped out which left 3 of us to talk about my plans here and what I should do over the next couple of months. We looked down at the watch again and it had gone 1 AM so we decided to call it a night only to find out that there were no sheets around so we had to drive up to another house in the middle of the night where the door was unlocked and did well only managing to wake up 3 people :)  We finally went to bed around 2 AM but to me it still felt like 10 PM. Thats the magic of this place though, you may think that the night sounds will keep you awake at night but I guarantee you that once your head hits that pillow it will be like the trees are singing you a lullaby and the next thing you know its morning and there's some fresh coffee waiting for you… Heaven :D

Batangas here I come

Right, just about to leave for Batangas and I have to admit I’m getting pretty nervous. Its been a very long time since I have seen a lot of my family and I’m not sure who is going to be there. Its a good kind of excited nervousness though and I think that as soon as I see them everything will be ok. I have also been txting a couple of my cousins over here and we are currently trying to lay some plans for an old reunion all of us that used to hang around together as kids. In my opinion that ranks very highly indeed on the list of things that I want to do while I am over here. Till next time :D

Jarhead!

Finally got my haircut!! Will try to take a pic later on after I’ve washed Makati off me. I’ve gone for the classic jarhead look but Ate Precy doesn’t seem overly impressed about it so I said to her that she can choose my next hairstyle(Im hoping that’s a good thing ;). Had another look at the shop thats being renovated as well and it seems to be coming along nicely. I took some before pictures to show what it looks like now and will take some more pics next week as well.

The preparations for the Fiesta here in Tejeros have moved up a gear. It seems half the neighbourhood is on the street and is helping tidy up or put up decorations and bunting.  Its nice to see the spirit and togetherness that runs through this community and through many like it up and down the Philippines. Judging by the effort being put in by everyone it is shaping up to be one hell of a party! :D

Basketball?? What’s that?

Just another day not doing much just trying to adjust to the weather. The time difference issue seems to be ok now and am getting up at around 7 AM. Some basketball has been arranged for tonight so I am currently trying to stretch out 3 years of laziness from my muscles and I can tell you they are resisting with every fibre. I've been stretching for the last 3 hours and been doing some light weights in the hope that will sort me out.  Its been a very long time though since I’ve played any basketball whatsoever let alone a game and it doesn't help that I had a reputation when I lived here as a child of being a very promising player. With my height(6’3”) it seems to be expected that I’m gonna be the Pinoy Lebron or Kobe so I'm trying to let them down gently which is not gonna be easy. Have you ever tried letting down a Filipino? They just don’t understand the word no!!!

I also cooked for everybody today, just some spaghetti but I actually started preparing the sauce at around 9 AM. It seemed to go down pretty well so I am very happy with that.

I’ve been struggling to get an internet signal today so I’m not sure when this will be posted but I will carry on writing anyway and just do a bulk upload once I get online again.

Damn you treadmill!

Had my first real day off today if you could call it that. Its the first day that there has been no plan to do anything so just stayed in and decided to give the home gym setup a try. Not the best idea . I started off with some push ups and sit ups which were ok. Emboldened, I then decided to progress onto the weights and within 10 minutes I was grunting like a pig rolling in the brown stuff. Last but not least I thought I would try the treadmill(Im still trying to figure out what possessed me to do that exactly) but after 15 minutes of light running I decided that enough was enough. I had cleverly decided to run without any shoes and now I am paying for that with blisters the size of my fist on both soles of my feet.

Had a nice relaxing dinner though, the first real one I've spent downstairs with everybody coming and going and the conversation loud just how I remember it. Im going to be cooking tomorrow for the first time since I got here and I cant wait. Its only spaghetti but with my twist and with some nice fresh local veg straight from the market so hopefully it will go down well.

The fiesta is only 6 days away now, the same day as the Paquiao Hatton fight which is airing at 10 AM here I think. Apparently the streets are going to be deserted here during the fight, that is how popular Manny is here. The fiesta should be fun though straight after, my first real one in years. I cant wait :D

Pampanga – Fontana & Clark City

Been a couple of days since an update but have been staying at the Fontana Leisure Park & Casino which is where Ate Precy works. If I were to describe it I would say it is an American Butlins but with a casino, top end Spa and restaurants, and water park thrown in. The resort itself is built on an old US air base so all the villas used to be living quarters for the American servicemen who were stationed here.

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As you can see later on in the photos it started to rain but overall the weather was pretty good. It was very busy there because it is the school holidays over here at the moment.

In the evening I was taken to Clark City, Angeles to be more precise by my brother in law and his cousin, which is widely known as the ‘entertainment’ capital of the area. I use entertainment in the broadest possible sense because from what I saw, this is not somewhere I would bring your family. Lets just say that the lights were brightly burning red ;P  We did visit a ‘club’ called Atlantis and I can say this is the first time ever that I've been to a ‘club’ where the men are outnumbered by ‘women’. I did take a couple of photos from inside the club but have decided not to add them here but if you wish to see them then just leave a comment or email me and I will share them with you.

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Im hopefully going back to my hometown in Batangas on Thursday to see all my other family there so cant wait! Im sure I will be taking some extra pics as well. Gotta try to find a good pic so I can show it to the barber so there is no ‘lost in translation’ nightmare scenario when it comes to my haircut. I also managed to catch a little bit of sun over the weekend so my colour is now an off-white. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would put myself at 1.2 now :D

Hello sunshine :)

Still waking up at a ridiculously early time, 0500 local time today. Luckily the breakfast bar opened at 0530 so I was able to just sit there and relax and read the papers with a coffee till about 0800 when Kuya Guilbert and Doc woke up and we all had breakfast together. A lovely breakfast it was too, buffet style(my favourite) with a good selection of food and fruit as well.

After breakfast we needed to find some sun block for my white skin so we went to the local shops only to discover that there are not 1 but 2 USS navy ships docked here in Subic. It took us over 1 hour and 6 different shops before we found a store that wasn’t sold out of sun block. We should be going to the beach later so hopefully I wont be white for too much longer :D  My plan for today is to find myself some Buko(coconut juice straight from the coconut) and maybe some Filipino Ice cream as well. I saw the beach earlier and it looks too inviting to pas up. If you get reports of a rare white beached whale being spotted off the coast of the Philippines then you will know that I was swimming lol.

1st trip…

Still struggling with jetlag, was up at 0400 local time today abd just sat on the balcony just watching the hustle and bustle of Makati till about 1100then managed to get some sleep again till about 1430. Woke up realising I was supposed to be staying away for the next couple of nights so had to rush a bit to get ready.

Arrived in Subic Bay which is just past Clark and it looks to be a pretty nice place. Very touristy and I think there is a USS naval ship docked nearby at the moment cause the bars were swarming with Navy boys. Had a surprisingly good Indian meal then took in some music(and 1 beer) at the local bar which had a fantastic Filipino cover band. The lead singer in particular rattled off 4 or 5 perfect renditions of modern and classic rock songs managing to copy the voice perfectly.

Im pretty sure that the plan for tomorrow is to have some fun on the beach so will try to take some pics then.

1st day proper in Philly

Well, I'm sitting downstairs at Ate Precy’s house in Makati and its just gone 6 AM local time. Im still struggling with the time difference I think and will do so for the next few days. The general hustle and bustle is gonna take some getting used to. I’m currently staying on the 3rd floor and my room has a balcony so when I woke up around 4 AM I thought I would see what the city was like when it was sleeping. How wrong I was, when I looked down at the street I saw 4 men sitting at a big wooden table chopping up what looked like meat, don't really wanna know what type of meat, and it was then I realised that there will always be something happening in these streets.

I spent most of yesterday afternoon just relaxing and trying to get used to the change in temperature. The heat itself has never really bothered me(it was 30 C btw), what actually hit me harder was the humidity which clocked in at an impressive 95%. Early afternoon came and the Filipino weather decided to roll out the welcome mat in it’s own unique way, sending rain down by the bucketload. I took a few pics to show you and also to test my N95’s camera to see if it could take photos like that with any quality. Let me know if the N95 is up to the task as I’m still in two minds about whether to buy a DSLR or not(I really want to but I think that's the tech geek in me trying to be heard ;P)

Im not too sure what the plan is for today but I think we may be heading over to Fontana in Clark and I’m quite excited about that. I’ve heard some great things about it so I should be taking more pics.

 

EDIT: Sorry about the pics being like this, the photo album was playing up. Once its fixed I’ll try to change it.

PS: not sure if this is even interesting in the slightest to anyone but I thought I would add it cause its quite a big thing for me:

I was only given the light version to help me ease back into being a Filipino. Please note that the lite version is still 5% lol.

Pics of HK Airport

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Random assortment I know and not too many but thought I might as well share them. If you think I’m weird then you are in the huge majority ;)

Im Home Baby!

WooHoo!! Finally landed in Manila at 0145 local time and was duly met by my wonderful sister Ate Precy. She then insisted that we go for something to eat and we found a nice wagamama-style restaurant open. Got to bed around 0300 and woke up at 0745 to the sounds of cocks crowing, tricycles beeping and the general mayhem that comes as part of the Filipino package, man its great to be home!!

HK BABY!

Landed in HK about a couple of hours ago and was talked into meeting someone @ a place called The Travellers Lounge I know, I know, it sounds like something you would find in a caravan in the middle of a field with only guys names mickey and patrick to keep you company. In actual fact it is the direct opposite of that. For an undisclosed sum you get to spend a couple of hours in a private lounge area feeling like a celeb, with free self service food, drinks, HDTV(6 of them!!) about a dozen PC’s with nice big screens and of course free WiFi access. The real clincher for me though was the fact that you could have a shower and a complimentary 15 minute massage thrown in for the price! Forget about the overpriced Duty Free and food courts, I think I’ve just found my little piece of heaven in HK airport.  Gotta go, my massage is about to start….. ;D

Oh what a flight!

I was jokingly saying before I left that when I got on the plane I would be sat next to the worst people possible and lo and behold, when I boarded and found my seat I was greeted by an apologetic Chinese lady and extremely grumpy old Chinese man. The man who was sitting in my seat turns out to be the lady’s father and I had supposedly ‘stolen’ their seat booking. I held my ground as the old man actually had the seat behind me and all was good with the world until take off. Every time I looked over I would get a puppy dog eyed look from the lady and her husband, who wanted to look after her father. I eventually relinquished the seat to huge thanks from the family and a few flight attendants. At least I knew that I would be looked after for the remainder of the trip being such a kind soul ;P

Im gonna leave the rest of this as a to be continued only because I feel that there is such a gem of a story that folows… Watch out for part 2… Till next time :) 

Heathrow Airport

Been here for a couple of hours now and just waiting for my flight to be called. Only place that I found which did any sort of half decent food for under a tenner was an O’Neils funnily enough. Duty free was a joke. I honestly thought that the guy was kidding when I asked him what the maximum amount of cigs that I could take to HK. Guess what his answer was?  60!!! 60 cigarettes!! 3 packets! I was standing there with 800 in my hand and he said 60 lmao! After a laugh about that he told me that I could buy as many as I wanted but its up to me whether to risk trying to bring them through customs at HK. So I just stuck with 400 ;)

Final Preparations

OMG! The day has finally arrived! My flight is at 22:35 from Heathrow and Im leaving St. Albans at around 5 PM to give myself enough time to wander around the airport for a while before boarding. Its still not really sunk yet that Im gonna be away from the UK for up to a whole year and I dont think it will fully hit me till im actually on the plane.

Anyway, here are a couple of pics of my attempt at some BBQ ribs from yesterday. This is also a bit of a practise at uploading pics :)

 

They dont look too bad if I may say so myself :D

 

Anyway this will be my last entry before jetting off but I will try to write something up while im in HK if I have the time. Take care everyone and wish me luck!

Last weekend in UK for a while

Just chilling out at home this weekend for the last time before the trip. Got a BBQ planned tomorrow hopefully depending on the weather. I'm starting to get that butterflies in the stomach feeling that I used to get before I played an important footy match or a pool tournament. Its a good feeling though and cant wait to be on the plane. Its been far too long since I’ve seen the rest of my family and now that wait will be over next week. I am gonna miss the UK mainly cause of the family I am leaving behind and the friends too( the important ones know I'm leaving) but apart from that I couldn’t honestly see any other reason for me to stay so it made sense to move back for a while to see what I could achieve over in Philly. Anyway I ramble again but will try to check in either at Heathrow if they have free Wi-Fi(I aint payin!!) or at Hong Kong when I land. I hope to have a couple of pics by then and will upload them too given the chance.

1st Post: Preparation

4 days till I leave now. Just trying to get organised with everything from luggage to travel documents to exactly how much shower gel I can take with me(100ml maximum by the way). Going to the Philippine Embassy tomorrow to sort out my Dual-Citizenship so I wont have to worry about any visa issues. I’ve just worked out how to use the webcam so hopefully I’ll be able to do some vids while I’m away. Also trying to sort out a flight from HK to Manila while giving myself enough time to do a spot of window shopping while I’m there. Anyway I’ll be playing about with posts over the next few days so expect to see a few pics, links and maybe the odd vid if you are unlucky ;)

PJ