I am Back. part 4 (Final)

a/n: Hello. another long post. I am sorry for this unpleasant rant reading.
 (￣。￣)～ｚｚｚ

. . .

I bought myself a pop vinyl; Harry Potter, the night before at the Century City Mall. I wanted to buy all the golden trio (Harry, Ron and Hermione) but my Pesos could only buy me two at that time. I really don't one to miss out one of them. So in the end, I decided to just buy Harry's for now.

I shall complete my collection the next time I go Singapore xD

the next day Sunday, 16th..we woke up early as per norm during that Getaway, had breakfast and watched TV. there was a loud explosion (we were actually surrounded by construction areas) and the power was down. that was when we finally decided to just finish packing and go down to the lobby and wait the others there.
people were already waiting by the time we got there. some left their luggage and went out for some last minute shopping so we follow suits.

we lepak at Coffee Bean and after that round again the small shopping mall until we met our colleagues and they told us there are some more shopping place at other part of the nearby area. like, whaaaaa.. it was our first time and we didn't really know the way. So, we went to this other area but not much kadai open because it was only 10am. lucky the gift shop opened early and i spent some of my money there.

we went back to the apartment lobby and waited. we were supposed to leave at 12 coz our flight was at 3pm. but like the rest of their 'organizing' unit, we waited until 12:30pm and had to rush to the airport. we literally ran out of the van, (of course we properly thank our awesome driver who'd been driving us around) thru the custom and when we checked in our luggage, baru tah kami relax. we were down to our last pesos and i spent them on last minute dried fruits and keychains. LOL that finish-your-foreign-money moment.

the airport was small, like how our BIA used to be. not that our BIA now is any bigger. but i feel kind nostalgic and sad. was that how foreigner used to think of our airport? T.T

our flight was half an hour delayed. we boarded the plane at around 2:30pm and I got nauseated right away and slept until around 3:30pm and still we were not in the air. this was when i got sick real fast and had a hard time finishing my food. even drinking sour apple juice didn't help my nausea. One of the steward asked me "inda biasa (flying) kah?" and I said, "inda jua. baru2 tah ni" and he smiled. He must've thought that I was pregnant. ☉▵☉凸
By the time we landed, it was official; I was sick. again. probably resuming itself after been put on hold for the vacation. (〃^∇^)ﾉ

I should've seen it coming plang coz during that trip, I was nauseated everytime I was in a moving vehicles. Like, if I didn't close my eyes, I would have vomited. hahaha Yeah, I guess that nausea thingy did make it sound like I was having a morning sickness or something. hahaha ↁ_ↁ

In conclusion, minus the annoying organizational skill, the trip was ok.  Me and Super were having our own fun despite all our annoyance. I'm sure you all can tell from our pictures. 

what was that saying? When life give you lemon, make lemonade? 
No, that doesn't sound right with what we've been thru. 
it was more like making the most of the things you are given.

*nod* 

. . .

That is the last of my Manila Trip posts. 
Once again, I apologize for making you go thru this heartache of a trip with me.
hahaha 
I mean, I am sorry. I just wanted the virtual people to know that I was really annoyed by it.

maybe I shouldn't go travelling with large group of people ~(⊕⌢⊕)~





. . .

I am Back. Part 3

a/n: I promised that this post is not as long as the previous one. xD but it is still considered long so brace yourself! (again)

. . .

So, our apartment.

I don't know how much it cost the committee but it was a good place to stay.

I was very please with the utilities provided inside the room. we were worried not being able to cook our instant noodles properly but as we when inside, we really worry for nothing.

We didn't get to use the cooking utensils, coz we scared they had been used with pork (as you know, muslim can't eat pork thus cn't use the same utensil that had been used with pork either).

Lucky we brought our own spoon/fork/bowl. xD

We only fully utilized the microwave and the water boiler. even the fridge kami inda on. coz we were not sure what to put inside it.

we didn't get to work the TV/Cable on our first night. but after much try from our sucky Tagaytay trip, we finally made a break through. LOL and watched the Last Samurai (or the Last Samurai watched us sleep hahaha).

my supervisor is ever so cheeky. Lucky my face is covered! She took this On Friday. this was posted in our Unit Whatapps chat at 5:54am. you see how the light outside so bright?

I only found out that in the Philippines, the sun is up so early. like at 5:30am, it was like 6:30am-7am in Brunei. On Friday, 14th, my super woke up around 5:30 and couldn't go back to sleep.
On Saturday, 15th, we both woke up at 6:30am and was bored. LOL

I was never an early raiser during vacation but i think the fact that the curtains weren't the 'block out the light' kinda curtain made us woke up early.

Saturday, 15th of the 'Getaway', we were given a breakfast, 7am-11am. me and super went up to 64th floor at around 8am and was greeted by the sight of the 'touring agent' preparing slides, projector, and speaker with some Azure banner standing on the sides. I voiced out my thought to my super "don't tell me durang kan bagi briefing untuk jual durang punya property" to which my super said, "eh inda kan" and we both decided to quickly finished the breakfast and left. which we did. this is what we called 'ada udang disebalik batu'; bagi kami breakfast free but we had to listen to them trying to 'sell' their property.
once again, ani vacation kh, business kh?
When we got back from the trip, I found out people got stuck and had to listened to the briefing for half an hour.
tsk.

So, by 9am we prepared in our room for our shopping trip; SM Megamall and Greenhills Shopping Centre.

SM Megamall is the typical shopping mall with lots of branded brand. I was mostly excited when I see a bookstore (or two) hahaha.

I only shopped at SM Store for bags. coz I was saving my money to shop at the supposedly cheap bargain at Greenhills. hehe
and Shopped I did. but again, not as extravagant as my super. LOL

this place had two tingkats, the ground floor was mostly baju, bags, and some dried fruit stall while the second floor was all phone cases and other gadgets.

Jewelries Stall (Not mine)

Bags Stall (Not mine)

Clothing Stalls (Not mine)

the second floor full of Phone Casing Stalls and other gadgets like phone, power banks etc (Not mine)

Of course, my only regret was not finishing all my Pesos at Greenhills; I should have bought at least 5 more phone cases, 10 more baju, and at least a Bag. hahaha
I only bought 1 phone case, 7 baju and no bags.

Oh I found the EOS lipbalm I've been wanting to buy on ebay. this one is mint flavor.

but when I open it in Brunei, it smells funny and I don't dare putting them on my lips. :S and it expires next year in September. 0_o ciplak tah jua banar.
I guess, now i had to buy the original from ebay. probably safer.


We got back to the apartment at around 8pm. we did go jalan for awhile to Century City Mall which is the smallest of Mall i've ever been into and it's the nearest mall to our apartment. After that we went back to the apartment and explore the 4th floor.

there's a video game room, snooker room, (where I took picture with the famous phonebooth) Movie room and a library.

We were told when we arrived on the night of 13th Aug that we were allowed to use the 4th floor amenities. Like, when did you ever spend all your time in the hotel amenities during a 3 days vacation? for me, NEVER. but it was cute of them to think that Bruneians actually will spend their time in those amenities room. Most Bruneians ideas of a vacation is shopping! and there are also some like me who preferred spending all day in a theme park. hahah never had I actually stayed in a hotel other than during night time to sleep. hahaha


. . .

with posts this long, I don't think it'd be wise to continue to post with the August Challenges.

(▰˘◡˘▰)

maybe after lah ah..

. . .

I am Back. part 2

CAUTION: this post contain some swearing towards the end. It wasn't supposed to but as I was composing, I got heated up again over some *tut* and..yeah.. CAUTION ALERT!

second CAUTION ALERT: it's a very lengthy post. brace yourselves. 

. . .

you wana know what so delusional about me during the trip?

I thought that I have recovered from my fever.

LOL

I noticed I had fever as I lay on my pillow during the trip but it was gone when I woke up the next morning. I guess, I just didn't want to be sick during the trip.

Not that the trip was any good.
I'm not saying the place that I went to isn't good.
I'm saying the people who supposed to be the organizer or the supposed 'tour guide' made it such a horrible experience for me.

As the hours unfold, we found out or figured out that the organizer (in the Philippines. nominated by our BBRC committee) was actually a Real Estate Agent with no tourism in mind. thus, everything that they did to/for us was 'ada udang disebalik batu' or in a simpler English terms, 'got hidden agenda'. For example, on Friday, 14th Aug, they were supposed to bring us to this tourist attraction, Tagaytay Highland. but on our way there, we stopped at this Azure Urban Resort whose recreational attraction was design by the famous Paris Hilton.

At first, I didn't get it. I only thought we were there to see the beach-like pool. 

i was even being super smug and said, "errr..macam Empire pun" (Empire is the most hotel in Brunei xD) with real-ocean-wave wave.

(No, di Empire nada yg cemani :p)

it was not until they told us there was a 'showroom' for us to see that we all realized what it was all about; they were trying to sale that tiny unit (they called an apartment) to us. 

Like, ani vacation kh? business trip kh?

Someone even said out loud, "ani sambil menyelam minum air ni" whose English version was 'Killing two birds with one Stone'

Besides, that I guess I would call a studio room unit, cost BND200k. macam, do you know I could buy a two storey house complete with a garage here in Brunei?

I might as well invest that same amount buying a studio room in the UK. 

like, the fuck?!

I know I am not the only one yg pissed over that stop.

Yes, it was a nice place to take picture of 

but the intention was wrong, wayyyyyyy wrongggggg.

i think the reason why most people got pissed was, even from the beginning, when we were supposed to leave at 9am, some fucktards decided to wake up late and we waited for them like almost an hour and when they finally got into the van, had the nerve to ketawa2 lagi tu. like, where are your manners you pieace of shit?! sorry pun nada. and the worst of all, one of them is the BBRC committee member. Just. First, org lain lambat. Second, macam kana tipu ada jua kami atu.

When we finally made our way (for real this time) to Tagaytay, the journey was knowledgeable for me. The road we had to use was mostly rural areas it was very humbling.

(we couldn't really take proper picture from inside the van coz the window was tainted and pictures came out bad. So, I'm only going to share a couple proper ones I managed to capture before I gave up. LOL)

One part that tug at my heart string was when I say this very petite little girl, running across the road after her brothers or friends and went inside a box like place. At first I didn't realized what it was until my supervisor asked "rumahnya kah tu?" and we both kinda had our hands at our hearts. The house was very small and lowered ceiling, literally sat on the pavement beside the road. I remember thinking, "you should be grateful" to myself. 

there were a lot more like that one as we go up the slope (Tagaytay Highlands, go figures. and it was said to be cold like the one in Genting Highland, Malaysia).

there were also a lot of craftsmanship factory-like shop, beautiful vases shop, and random kedai runcit along the road. I wish I could draw all this places since I didn't manage to get picture. BUT lets google them and share here some of the things I encounter along the journey. hehe (i will notify which one is not mine)

Fruit Stall (not mine) 

One of the Vase shopt (not mine) 

Pretty wind breaker thingy (not mine)

What so disappointing was that, because we already taken so much time waiting and stopping by shopping for property, by the time we got there, around 1pm  i think and had lunch, it started raining. we saw the Tagaytay volcanic island from the road on the way to our lunch spot but because of the rain, we didn't get to go nearer or sight seeing the whole place near the island. once again, I didn't realized that until we left SkyRanch. SkyRanch was a theme park which we didn't get to go in coz people were already itchy to go shopping at our final stop, Paseo De Santa Rosa Factory Outlet Store Mall. 

Me and super was disappointed coz we really wana go and play at the theme park.

 Our lunch spot, Pamana.

 The food we ordered. the Keep Calm book was actually the bill book. Nice!

From outside of the theme park.

We did shop at Factory Outlet Stores; me shopped at Mark & Spencer. and the happiest moment there was when I saw the National Book Store.

Because I saw on FB (a FB friend from the Philippines) shared a post about National Book Store having a major sales. But too bad there was no sale at the Paseo branch. :( 

We found the famous Goldilocks store outside the mall perimeters and super bought tons.

I beli also but not like her. LOL

after that, around 6pm, we finally called it a day and went back to our apartment. 

I think, if it wasn't for the Paseo shopping stop, I'd be very devastated for the wasted day.

. . .

I will be back with part 3 tomorrow. stay tune.