Tragedy in a Bus

It was indeed a tragic event last month the hostage taking in Manila. Tragic to the families of those who were killed, tragic to those whose asses are in the hot seat now and tragic to the Philippines as a whole.

I could not agree more if people say that the situation was poorly handled because the end result shows that it was add to it the rather ridiculous photo session by a group of  less-than-smart policemen - action should be taken against them if you ask me. Then again, if I was one of the policemen in the scene I believe I could not have done better either. It is not easy to make a decision when both your hands and feet are tied. You see, the media had a strong presence in the scene so you can be sure that whatever you do successful or not will be given a different meaning. Shoot the hostage taker before he kills anyone and the Commission on Human Rights will be on your ass like a prowling rottweiler. Not shooting him resulting to the death of some hostages on the otherhand had the international community branding incompetent the Philippine Police force and the Philippine leadership as a whole. There is even one guy in the net quoting SWAT as Squad Without Any Training. Could it get any worse than that or is the comment true?

Whatever it is, I just hope that something good would turn out at least to give sense to those lives lost. A better trained Philippine Police force with extremely competent leaders who can make impossible decisions in the field (I suggest they watch 24 more and learn from Agent Jack Bauer! hehe...), A more responsible media which will consider our country's well-being on top of their news scooping agenda, and a President who will watch his words when doing a public speech (silence could have earned him more respect than careless words).

May this tragedy be an eye-opener and not just one event the media took frenzy of.

Movies of a different kind...

Last IT show I signed up for internet subscription with one of the Telecom giants here in Singapore (Singtel Company). Along with it, they  gave a cable TV service (MIO TV) for free! As if that matters much to me...I am not a TV lover but my wife was certainly pleased!

The Cable TV service offers 15 free movies every month...movies from different countries. From time to time I took the liberty to dig into the English movies but one month is long enough to finish them all and get bored. In my boredom last week, I finally got the courage to watch a Hindi film. It was a big surprise that the movie was good! Had it been a Hollywood-Star-Studded-film, it could have been  a blockbuster.

Try to understand, I come from a country where the people do not have a high regard for the people from India. Before I had the chance to work with them, I was part of the stereotyping public as well. But this movie (setting "Slum Dog Millionaire" aside) like slammed my attitude right into my face. By the way, the movie is "Karthik Calling Karthik" just in case you get curious enough to look it up. Not a catchy title but it is a good film nonetheless - worth the time spent watching. Not to mention a very nice movie soundtrack.

Anyway, I thought they just got lucky with that movie so I picked up the remote control this morning saying a 2nd round won't hurt. I came across this movie entitled "Unns" whatever that means. It had a boring start and the acting was less than convincing unless that is how people conduct themselves where they come from. Add to it the usual Singing and Dancing stints in between which I personally am not an avid fan of. Well, it is integral to their movie making culture so there's nothing I could do about it but to press the fast forward button from time to time. Near the end though, I found myself shedding reluctant tears over the touchy scenes and infuriated by the character of the infidel wife. Haaah! Surprisingly...or maybe not... I enjoyed the movie again except that it is tiring to keep up reading the subtitle while trying to take in the scenes at the same time.

What do you know, while writing this post I have a search engine in the other window looking up a movie my Indian friend is forcing me to watch - "3 idiots". I will write about it next time. Meanwhile, my perception of Indian movies or "foreign" movies for that matter- non Filipino and non-English that is, has changed drastically.

Chinese custom

Chinese literary master Ba Jin (Courtesy of google :D)

My boss's father died recently (my condolences to him and the photo is not his) and I went to the wake. It was my first time to go to a Chinese wake so I did not know what to do. What was the custom? What color of clothing should I wear? I was like a student cramming the day before the exams : P.
I called my Chinese friends while on the way to find out what was the right thing to do. Out of the 3 Chinese guys I was able to contact they told me the same 3 things:

1. Do not wear clothes of striking color especially red.
2. Be careful with what you say. Avoid words like "till next time", "see you again"...(I never really gave a thought about this.)
3. Bring cash with you as it is customary to give a donation (I guess that is a common thing to Chinese events...hehe...I intend this to be funny not a criticism)

Upon arriving at the wake my boss ushered us to the front where a framed photo of the deceased is displayed with lighted white candle, gave us a burning joss stick (incense) and we were made to bow 3 times. That was to show the last respect to the dead. The custom just struck me right there and I could say this is better than the Filipino way!

Ahhh...what a world we live in. So much differences yet we find a way to co-exist. It is fun to be with people of different cultures... I mean Really FUN!

If you are to attend a Chinese funeral, make sure you do your homework! Try the links below to learn more about their funeral customs.

http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=248559 

http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_chinaway/2004-03/03/content_46092.htm

Bad day at work

August 9 a day of festivities in Singapore where I work as a maintenance staff in a semiconductor firm. It started as a normal day except that we are short of manpower as people took leave from work to celebrate the National Holiday.

                There are too many machines to attend to so I had to run here and there to sustain the production line. Some things turned up which I am not familiar with and I had to call the machine specialists for advice but nobody picked up. Maybe they are too busy carrying out their Holiday plans.

…frustrating! Really frustrating!...

I had to carry on none-the-less. I keep glancing at the wall clock hoping that the end of my shift would come fast. Still five hours to go….seemed like forever.

                My dect phone rings, operator calls describing the difficulty she encounters with her machine in a Chinese-English way. Ring again, supervisor wanting to know when the machine will be up and running.

                Issue with the machines, process issues, automation issues…my brain started to boil fuming out personal issues and self pity.

…Why did they not turn up for overtime?  

…Why is my shift having the least manpower?

…Why do I have to settle the issues that the specialists did not finish before the weekend?

My mind is just boiling and boiling and boiling. My legs started to protest silently signalling pain, aggravating my frustrations. I kept sighing…God help me!

                Everything in me wanted to explode (I might devour the next operator who makes a mistake and cause a breakdown) except a soft voice from inside urging me to…calm down…one machine at a time…clock is ticking it will be over soon. Six o’clock, just a few minutes more...

                Ahhh…bad day at work…an acid test of character…patience…dedication…Lord I do not know how long I can hold on. But I know I had to…6:45 finally! I can get out of the clean room, get a cold drink and pass down all issues to the next shift!

                I made it through one tough day without any operator’s blood in my hand!  :D

  

Road Trip: Ilocos Norte (The tour guide needed a lot of guidance :D)

My sister and her friends started a travel and tours business a few months back, unfortunately they abandoned the project due to lack of customers...hmmm...or  maybe lack of resources. It was a very good business idea as there is no business of this sort in our place except those offered by hotels but as we know they are quite expensive. The business idea was to cater for the small time tourists who have a meager sum to exploit. Anyway business is not what I plan to write about but the road trip experience my "tour guide" sister gave me.
I have always known for a fact that there are good places to visit further north of our province but I haven't been to much of those places. So one time when I went back homeI took the pleasure of going for a ride and have a look at the places the defunct business used to have in their itinerary.
The road trip started from my mother's rented house inside the compound of the university where she works. We took my mom's black mitsubishi delica van and moved over to grandma's house to fetch the rest of the gang (my sisters, nieces and a nephew and grandma included!!) . Of course there was the usual complaint on the way I drive as I am not a steady driver - whew! Why don't they take the wheel themselves?
As usual I took the longer way  going through the road at the coasts of Currimao, Ilocos Norte.  Man! Do I love the  smell of the ocean!!! We passed by the infamous Paoay church, one of the places worth visiting.  I have been in this church alot and up and down the bell tower  during my highschool days  (Thanks to my friend Dhanie Tolentino - Remember how we tried to calculate the trajectory of our spit? Gross really!). Further down is my hometown (by choice), Batac, Ilocos Norte which is famous for the Marcoses, Impanada (a type of puff with munggo and egg as the basic fillings) and Miki (a noodle soup - Yummy!). If you are going for a tour in Batac, drop by the Marcos Mausoleum then go to riverside food plaza (just 3 minutes away)  to have a taste of the food. If your budget allows, have a good meal at  Herencia's Cafe. Don't forget to try the "Pinakbet Pizza"!
We headed straight North and since our destination is a bit  far, we did not stop by several towns though they have some tourist spots to take pride of  (maybe I will post something about them next time). Along the way, the call for food coming from the small people at the backseat started and reached its peak as the smell of grilled food sipped through the windows of the van coming from the street vendors. We decided to stop and get somethine to munch - grilled squid and pork barbeque, my saliva is gushing out right now... I looked at the time in my handphone (I hate wearing watch) and it occurred to me that we have been travelling for quite some time but the destination isn't clear yet so I asked my tour-guide-sister  if the 1st destination is still far...To my surprise she asked one of the vendors how to go to the place (by the way the place is called "Kapurpurawan" - it has something to do with the color white in english). Our tour guide does not know where to go!!!! To think that she was operating a travel and tours business which offers site-seeing in this very same place. You can just imagine how much mocking my sister got even 2 days after the trip!!! Since we bought quite much of what the vendor was selling she was more than willing to give us the details on how to reach the place and told us we could just pack the food and have our lunch there as there are cottages where we could sit comfortably. 
Following the good Auntie's instruction, we came through a rough path going deep into a dense forest and we all started to get uncomfortable. The road is rough, narrow and muddy and it seems to lead us nowhere so we pestered my sister with the "are you sure you know this place?" question. After a 15-minute drive, we finally saw the cottages and further down was the beach and the kapurpurawan rock formation! We took our lunch comfortably in one of those cottages then climbed up those white rocks! Whoooo....it was just amazing up there! The panoramic view, the splash of the waves and the relaxing ocean breeze. Of course the little ones had to be satisfied catching hermit crabs and picking up seashells down the rocky beach. After this experience I felt bad having ridiculed my sister. Good one sis!
 After having enough dose of the "kapurpurawan"  experience we cleaned up our lunch mess and started to move (I hope the rest who visit the place will be responsible enough to clean up their mess as  well.). We went back to the highway and proceeded to our next destination - The windmills!!!! 
The windmills are located along the shore of Bangui Ilocos norte. We took a left turn from the highway into another rough road down hill. The view is just amazing as well. As amazing as the view is the uncertainty of our tour guide. After 10 minutes of driving down the rough road downhill and into a sandy road along the beach, we still cannot reach the windmills. So my sister was bombarded with questions again...then finally we found a narrow pathway that leads to the ocean where we can get under those 15 enormous windmills! It was awesome! While enjoying the view and taking photos it trickled suddenly and I thought that was the end of my windmill experience. However, the experience became even more awesome! The blades of the wind mills cut through the rain drops and created powerful whooshing sound I just love! Then the lightnings started to flash and I must say the combination of the enormous windmill, powerful whoosh  of the blades, and the lightnings in the background was really breath taking!!!!!! I enjoyed it there!
After a rainy while, we started to move again further north to the white beach in Pagudpud. I must say the beach did not meet my expectations. White sand was there but the beach was too narrow.Not much place to run around and have fun but we made the most out of it. My nieces burried me in the sand and there was this little creature pinching my backside. I jerked my body here and there and sadly for that little crab it got smashed. The beach was not the best the province has to offer but in this place you could get a very good view of the Bangui windmills just in the adjacent town under the setting sun. Equally entertaining as well were the kids who are with us playing roughly in the shore. 
There were several places we were not able to visit during this trip because it was already turning dark and my mom was already calling us to buy dinner for her. We packed up and made our way back ditching the angry protests of the little ones whose beach enjoyment was cut short.  Along the way we could see the nighttime view of the windmills while trecking through the pitch black road - scary when there are no other cars around! This was an enjoyable road trip though it was too brief. Anyway, next time I will go on a well planned one with the best Tour guide available!!!! Huh!!!
A tip to those who plan to go for a tour in Ilocos Norte, start early, choose your route well and bring a Tour Guide who knows the place well - this is very important! Most importantly, bring a reliable vehicle with enough gas with you...you wouldn't want your ride to bog down in the middle of a dark road and please be reminded no 24-hr towing service here! Happy touring!!!