stories from the middle earth press room

let's just say i'm a stubborn mule...or let's say i'm just practical. mas maganda pang ilagay nila ako sa lifestyle -- wag lang dun.

everybody i know whom i talked with in the industry said i'm heading for the worst place i could ever be in this business. some have empathized with me since some of them had been put in that hole. some could only sympathize. they said i should say NO.

masisira lang buhay ko. kaya nga wala daw gustong mapunta sa amin dun eh, nahaharass lang daw.

nagulo mundo ko when someone from our desk told me that my immediate boss said "yes" to the higher ups last sunday. i told him last year i don't want to move and gave him so many reasons. after i arrived from the airport last week, i called him up and reiterated my position. he told me to hold on for as long as i could.

maybe he got in a bind. or maybe he's simply letting me go.

I DON'T WANT TO BE THERE! i don't want to be a mouthpiece. i want my weekends. i want my sleep...i want a higher pay, which they won't be able to give me but they're gonna dump a lot of work on me plus i would work 6 days a week!

seems like nalalabi na ang mga araw ko.

time to update my resume.

i'm submitting my applications tomorrow and on thursday. keep your fingers crossed for me. please.

i'm turning off my cellphone from now on if that's the only way i can evade the higher ups. i'm that desperate.

i really don't get it. taipei 101 sticks out like a sore thumb in the middle of the city that looks like it has been stuck in the era of aquanet (remember that?). yun lang ang bukod tanging building dun na makakapag-sabi sa yo na this is the land that gave you transcend, kingston and acer. i mean, the rest of the capital's surroundings parang napag-iwanan ng panahon. para bang the building is an anomaly sa paligid nya...basta you'll understand me when you get to see it for yourself.

taipei 101 viewed from the china airlines HQ.

getting closer...

up close and personal...

was too eager to get inside because of the heat outside and the very very niiiiiiiice airconditioning inside. normally kaaway ko aircon pero sa pagkakataong yun friend ko sya at sa buong stay ko sa taiwan, hinahanap-hanap ko ang aircon.

inside is a high-end mall that houses brands such as versace. just look at that...the mall is nearly empty. sa atin kaya, anong mall ang ganyan? sus ang pinoy, mahilig sa malls kaya parang laging pyesta sa loob. in contrast, malls in beijing and the rest of mainland china are almost always empty, accdg. to an article by Time magazine.

anyway, we (or rather our sponsors) paid for our ticket to reach the viewing deck at the 89th floor of the building. if i'm not mistaken parang mga P700+ ata per head.

that's the screen inside the elevator which tells you how fast and how high the car is going. it takes about 37 secs for you to reach 89 from the 5th floor.

i don't which part of taipei is this. i was just clicking and clicking away.

and this is the greener part of taipei where there are newer housing developments being built, if i am not mistaken....could not be so sure. i have a terrible sense of direction.

the top 4 tallest buildings in the world. as of july 19, 2007. sa pagkakaalam ko nakatayo na yung burj dubai but i don't know if the tip has been built/put yet. among the top 10 tallest, ang napuntahan ko pa lang ang jin mao tower in shanghai, the international fianance center in hong kong and taipei 101.

and i went to the highest restroom in the world (i think). hahaha. at least malayo bababaan ng wiwi ko.

and this ball balances the building so the it can sway with the wind without toppling over. no kidding, just watch megastructures in discovery channel.

and this ball is held by these ropes.

ayos bah? so far wala pang nangyayaring masama.

...than Taipei. at least in my opinion. i'm still figuring out a way how to write this thing...lost the flair for lifestyle-esque writing ever since i got kicked out of 2bU 6 years ago. i eliminated flowery words in my system ever since i started tackling science and technology stories a few years back.

anyway, for me the most interesting parts about my trip to Taiwan were the visits to the countryside.

we spent the night in Yang Ming Shan Tien Lai Spring Resort in the vicinity of Yangmingshan National Park. it was a big error on my part that i did not bother to try any of the dipping pools there since -- hey! grew up in the land of hotsprings and i only had to turn on the shower to have my hotspring bath.

anyway, back to the fact that i was stupid not to try the hotspring...it turned out that the pools looked very inviting.

this one has charcoal at the bottom or infused with charcoal (as the sign vaguely suggested)

and this one (there are three of them) is for couples. ewan ko lang kung kayang magmilagro dito kasi mejo masikip. i don't know if that's the idea...hehehe.

we only discovered the beauty of the place kung kelan paalis na kami. sayang. well, on second thought di rin magandang mag-hotspring dip ka kasi saksakan ng init. by the way, my sister-in-law who's here for a couple of weeks (from shanghai) said it's 39 degrees C in shanghai today. gawd.

after a quick tour of the premises, we went to the Northern Coast to see some weird, out-of-this-world rock formations weathered by the sea and time.

i love the sea. i love traveling along the sea coast. this reminds me of a spot somewhere in La Union and Bohol.

and that, my friends, are what they call the mushroom rocks along the Northern Coast. actually they're big.

that's sassy lawyer, looking for a good spot to shoot pictures. and dying of the heat at the same time. hahaha. imagine, we were under the scorching sun for over an hour -- katanghaliang tapat yan ha!

once upon a time, the coast is just composed of slabs of rocks and according to the video presentation we viewed prior to frying under the sun, these rocks are made of calcium carbonate. and if i remember my chem 15 right, this is the same thing that makes up limestones and marble.

then the wind and sea water battered these rocks to look like this:

these are what they call the "candle rocks". it would have been more dramatic if we went there at high tide and see the waves rolling, falling and smashing against these rocks. atsaka we would not have run the risk of having heat stroke.

and one of the rocks have turned into something akin to a queen's head, hence the name.

the photo is a bit blurred because i was jostling my way to the best spot where i could take the photo without any schmuck posing for a picture. madaming tao dun.

ngali-ngali na ako tumalon sa tubig because it was so hot and the sea looked soooo inviting.

and this photo reminds me of a scene in one of the numerous animes i've watched. can't remember which. was it rurouni kenshin?

we stopped at a coffee shop along the way back to taipei called young doors. our guide said it's popular with couples who would like to have their pre-wedding photos taken with the sea as their backdrop.

true enough, we encountered a pictorial session with a teenage model trying to look coy for the cameras.

and one of our male companions couldn't resist posing with her. ang ebidensya na kay sassy lawyer kasi camera nya ang ginamit. hehehe.

o sya mahaba na 'to.

our trip to china airlines museum for me was -- should i sugarcoat it? itagalog ko na lang para di ako i-ban ng taiwan government (hehehe)...walang kwenta. ang tanging slightly interesting lang ay ito:

ang eating utensils in business and first class flights (kasi cute, wala ang PAL nito)...

at ito:

ang "beauty school" ng mga flight attendants nila. take note, mac cosmetics sila ha.

pero sa totoo lang, sayang lang oras dun. kaso syempre major sponsor yun kaya sige lang. mas gusto ko pa talaga magbrowse ng electronics kesa...oh well. ganyan talaga pag libre, me kapalit din pala. hahaha.

nga pala. i haven't told you guys that taipei -- or rather the whole country -- is a land of scooters. they're everywhere! ang kagandahan lang dito eh walang nakawan ng mga motor. unlike some country i know *ubo ubo*. malingat ka lang ng kaunti, wala na ang motor mo.

at wala masyadong arte mga motor nila. utilitarian talaga. and sabi nga ang population daw ng taiwan ay 23 million, ang scooters ay 12 million...if i got it right.

first day sa taiwan, kawawa ako wala akong makain kasi bawal sa akin ang karamihan ng naiseserve sa amin ni sassy lawyer. oo, pareho kaming allergic sa crustaceans. andami nun dun!

but dito pwede ako...

ang taiwanese, hindi kasing maalalahanin ng pinoy pagdating sa pagkain. yung tipo bang ang unang bati sa yo eh "kumain ka na?" at para bang mortal sin sa pinoy pag pinabayaan niya ang bisita nya na gutom.

kaya nung hapon na -- after a terrible lunch sa eroplano at tour ng kung anong museum -- kumakalam na mga tyan namin. nagpaparinig na nga mga kasama ko na uhaw at gutom na kami na kung pwede bili kami ng pagkain kungdi mamatay na kami sa init, gutom at uhaw. it took our host(s) a few hours bago maisip na, "uy, bili tayo ng makakain at maiinom sa 7-11."

sa gutom ko, ang kinuha ko agad sa chiller shelf ay eto:

cold noodles yan na may sauce na ewan. parang yan ang pinakamasarap na pagkain na natikman ko nung araw na yun dahil sa gutom. NT$35 sya. on hindsight, di ko alam kung talagang masarap siya o baka nadaan lang ako sa gutom.

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nga pala, may utang pa akong article about this trip sa dyaryo namin. still figuring out a way how to write a glowing article about my trip -- pang-lifestyle type ba.

kaso i have better things to do muna, like dodging the powers-that-may-be in our office. apparently, while i was away, they were brewing some nasty effing thing -- like transfering me to another beat which i don't like.

that was an understatement.

let me restate that: while they buttered me up with this junket trip, the management declared to the world that i would be transferred to the beat i abhor so much that last year i threatened to resign if i they would dump me there.

as of now, i'm still in the dodging phase. i would evade them for as long as i can until i figure out how to get out of that predicament.

just came from the airport. waiting for the water to drip...drip... can't sleep because i need to take a bath and this damn subdivision is as dry as gobi right now...

just as i was looking forward to a nice long cool bath after the 38.6-degree (C) heat of taipei.

this is how i best remember taiwan, aside from the heat and the food. according to the news, yesterday was the hottest day in taipei recorded in 21 years. so now you understand why i have to have my cool bath water right now.

was in taiwan for 5 days (just left it this morning) and went traipsing around the island-country north of batanes under the 38.6-degree heat.

and who would have thought that sassy lawyer and i would be roomies for 4 nights and would be traipsing around taiwan under the freaking 38-degree heat together?

met some interesting people during the trip. hehe.

and who would have thought that my sparse knowledge of mandarin would be enough for me to get by and allow me to haggle with merchants -- pati buddhist monks di ko pinalampas -- without being duped?

have a lot of stories to tell, especially about the hilarious bathroom in grand victoria hotel in taipei.

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we flew to taipei via china airlines last wednesday morning. was my first time to be in business class so thankfully i was able snatch a few winks kasi masarap upo ko. but the food was terrible...as most airline foods are.

VIP daw kami (i wonder why) so may sarili kaming coaster and guide (a very hardworking one) who went with us all the way up to the immigration counter hanggang kaninang umaga. hehe. baka mag-TNT daw kami. *guffaw*

outside my window, from the airport to somewhere...it's a whirlwind trip so many details are so sketchy or i have forgetten them completely na. pagod na, saturated pa utak.

it's green noh? ah, now i remember, we landed on taoyuan, which is outside taipei and we had to travel for about an hour to reach the city and do a round of courtesy calls...gaaah. part of the job.

the infrastructure is better than what we have here but in terms of vibe, taipei is more like cebu or makati in the 1980s, save for taipei 101. not like shanghai na parang nasa ibang planeta ka kasi parang mga spaceship yung mga buildings dun.

photos above were taken somewhere in downtown taipei.

except for the relative cleanliness (relative to manila, that is), there is really no point of interest here...

whoa, gotta sleep. my head is beginning to get whoozy.

...to Taiwan in a few days for a coverage.

then right after i arrive i'll be all over metro manila again. tanong nga ng kapatid ko bat nangitim ako, parang nagpa-tan ako sa beach. wish ko lang pero sa totoo naluluto ako sa araw kaiikot gawa ng mga coverage. kahit umuulan, tinatablan pa rin ako ng UV rays. hehe.

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STOP EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS!

They are human beings—not mere items on a hit list

"Karapatan has a list of 863 victims. Their friends and families suspect the military and the police and their special agents and auxiliaries of having killed them. The Armed Forces of the Philippines also has a list of 1,335 victims of CPP-NPA liquidation teams. The Manila Times publishes this special report as its contribution to the Supreme Court-sponsored National Consultative Summit on Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearancaes—Searching for Solutions tomorrow and Tuesday, July 16 and 17, at the Manila Hotel..."

"...Karapatan says in that period 8 businessmen, 22 church workers, 418 farmers, 4 fisherfolk, 9 government employees, 26 human-rights workers, 74 indigenous peoples, 9 local government officials, 65 Moros, 41 professionals, 10 unborn persons, 4 of unknown designations, 32 urban poor, 65 workers, and 120 youth and students. All in all 863..."

lifted from The Manila Times Sunday Edition. read more here and the Profile of an EJK victim and his family.

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iba daw ang relihiyon ko.

probably. but would it make me less of a person if i practice a different religion? maybe... siguro nga sa paningin ng ibang tao.

but the main reason why i am staying catholic is because of my husband. but if i'm categorized as something else because i don't venerate the santos and kiss their cold stone rebultos (because idolatry in any form is a sin, said the bible and besides it's silly) and because i don't believe that mary magdalene is really a prostitute then fine! maybe i am practicing a different religion nga.

can't people understand the concept of freedom of choice?

but as my mother wisely said "just shut up when you have been cornered. filter whatever you're gonna say and you know when to do that, you're an intelligent girl. some people are just too close-mided to understand our liberal ideas."

ah...the curse of being liberal in a close-minded country.

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komunista daw ako.

excuse me, to be called a communist, you must embrace the essence of communism wholeheartedly and i'm too selfish for that. i am not enamoured of joma, mao, lenin, or any other communist you can think of. i understand the thesis of marxism but that's it.

just because i try to understand the plight of the proletariat does not make me one, does it? just because my family is left of center i am already branded as such. and just because i question everything that comes my way, especially the ones that offend my sensibilities, i am already an enemy of the state.

aaaaaggggh. to be in the company of narrow-mided idiots.

i was doing library work on a saturday morning!!!

saturday mornings are sacred for me. SACRED. i don't have to tell you why. but i forced my ass to get out of bed and battled my way from pasig-cainta to UP diliman. i've been putting off my thesis for two semesters now and i have to FORCE (equivalent to 8Gs, mind you) myself to do something this sem before i get pregnant next year.

yes, i'm that serious, about scheduling my pregnancy.

being a beat reporter, a wife, a daughter, a daughter-in-law and a student is not easy. gaaaaaaaah.

lalo na at sinabayan ng special report na utos ng boss.

anyway, para ma-feel ko na balik UP diliman uli ako, kumain ako nito:

kakamiss din pala rodics.

minsan, bibisita naman ako sa thai canteen. kahit na tulo na pawis ko sa init ng canteen, masarap pa rin. hehe.
sumasakit puso ko sa mang jimmy's kasi puro cholesterol ang kinakain ko dun. sa chocolate kiss naman dinadayo ko ang arroz caldo nila. ewan ko ba kung bakit.

speaking of school, i received this text message from a colleague last week:

U.P. made you in such a way that when the world is sitting, you would be standing.

And when the world is standing, you would stand out.

And when the world stands out, you would be outstanding.

And when the world tries to be outstanding, you would be the standard.

(IN SHORT, naging pasaway ka…)

Isang masaya at may yabang na sentenaryo sa iyo, taga UP!

and i got it again from my sister this week. and paikot-ikot na siya, kung kani-kanino ko na siya natatanggap. i don't know if it's bad or what...UP is the only school i've known since -- forever. i attended a grade school that is in the heart of UP campus and run by a board composed of UP personalities. then highschool UP highschool. college syempre UP. grad school, UP. wala tuloy ako basis of comparison.

buong buhay ko naka-anchor sa UP kasi dito nag-aral magulang ko hanggang PhD nila at UP ang bumuhay sa aming pamilya namin kasi dyan sila nagtatrabaho.

UP is not merely my alma mater. it has been a way of life. our life, so to speak. it doesn't matter if i came from another campus...the fact remains that i'm still within the same system i've known all my life.

RANT

next year is UP's centennial. for the ignoramuses out there, it's not UP diliman's centennial. UP diliman is NOT the only UP, ok? it just so happened that the system was transferred to diliman after WWII. and i will tear anyone to shreds who says that other campuses are not UP and are "not the same" or "inferior".

believe me, my friends and i have suffered from discrimination committed by our professors in diliman, the narrow-minded assholes. i proved the assholes wrong -- they even gave me a certificate of f*cking merit because of my f*cking grades (i didn't know they still give that to grad students) in my last semester as a regular student. so i am not "inferior", even if i came from "another campus".

sorry for ranting. it just pisses me off so much. i really hated this teacher for having this "diliman" attitude.

sensya na. hehe.

sa mga kapwa isko't iska, isang mayabang na ika-100 daang taon next year!

Other Half and I just happened to be in Serendra to check out (and eat na rin) at Mary Grace when i first laid eyes on this huge bookstore at the corner of bonifacio highstreet across serendra.

it's the newest fullybooked branch.

i went straight to the third floor to check out the business books (really, business books) when i chanced upon a wider than usual selection of sci-fi/adventure books. i checked out the titles then...

yup, it's diana wynn jones! the author that i've been searching for a long time. i only found her books on amazon for $3 minus the shipping. yes, go on and laugh at my choice of reading materials these days but i'm really a kid at heart. to keep my brain from melting after submitting four stories everyday, my book titles have regressed to something highschool-ish.

but i don't care. i haven't been this happy purchasing a book in a long time.

to make my my wallet a lot lighter tonight, i also saw ursula le guin. bwahaha. two books. tsk, tsk, tsk. i texted rayts as soon as i was able to get my hands on these books, thinking that she may be on the lookout for hard-to-find (in the philippines at least) titles.

the newest fullybooked branch is bigger than their greenhills branch and it's more open i.e. glass walls so you can see from outside. when we were there they were just holding their soft launch, their DVD/CDs floor and starbucks have not opened yet.

it would have been nicer if i could spend a few hours reading on their couches with coffee...tambay lang. hmm...me tatambayan na ako pag me presscon ako aattendan dito sa fort boni. hehehe.

i can't get more decent photos of the view outside since i always leave my digicam at home and my nokia 6151 only has a 1.3-megapixel camera.

speaking of...my new cellphone is the best buy i had in a very long time. it's the cheapest 3G phone around (well, before the launch of the new cheaper LG phone anyway) with bluetooth and infrared as well. i bought mine for P7,800 somewhere in greenhills -- not in the area where tyangge-type stalls abound. beware of them.

full specs:

• 1.3 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom and full screen landscape mode
• Improved audio quality for calls
• Large, dial-friendly keypad with dedicated keys
• Clear and easy-to-read 262,144 color display
• 3G broadband network coverage
• Expandable microSD with hot swap
• Music player and FM radio
• Push to talk

Operating Frequency

• Dual-mode WCDMA 2100/tri-band GSM/EDGE 900/1800/1900 MHz
• Automatic switching between bands for seamless coverage

• Volume: 88 cc
• Weight: 98 g
• Length: 108 mm
• Width: 47 mm
• Thickness (max): 19 mm

• 262,144 colors, 128 x 160 pixels display
  

what i love about this phone is that i can have internet access wherever i go as long as there is a faint 3G signal. i don't have to go around and 'round looking for a wifi signal to send my stories in a heartbeat. so helpful, this phone, especially when it's crunch time and when my boss is already texting me, asking for my stories. i just plug the phone to my laptop and voila! i have a modem at broadband speeds.

i have to stress that it's cheap. *balky dance of joy* i don't need the extra camera for the video calling nonsense. who does video calling anyway in this country? my network is Smart so for 30 mins i'm only charged P10. it's like going to an internet cafe and usually they're not inside the areas where i usually cover events.

and no more savings for me.