In Kathmandu, thanks to Anna, I got to use some features of my camera I never really noticed before. I decided to do the same when I went with my ninong‘s family for a daytrip to Samal last week-end.

Yay colors

PG 13

This is all about the contrast of the big boat and the small boat.

Same boat, but this time with a fisherman and his boat.

I really quite like this “aged” photo. The boat looks so grand. I’m scared of big boats like this at night.

Our first stop. Michael and I were saying that from this angle, you would think you’re in Palawan. But Samal was pretty gorgeous underwater, too. This was my favorite snorkeling spot.

Second stop

Our boat. It’s called Wave Dancer. Amppp.

And this used to be what?

I kinda like this, too. It was so pretty in that island. And hot.

One of the guys we were with, Sam, caught this sea urchin. Near where I was having the time of my life swimming. I stepped on some coral/rock around the same time and my foot bled like a mofo at night. I am such a moron in water.

This boat’s name is “Maawa Ka” (Have Mercy).

I had the time of my life snorkeling, so I didn’t even bother to touch the kayak. Last year I kayak-ed for an entire freaking day in El Nido.

We passed by this island. It felt more like a town than a resort. What for us was a special day with the seas was just an ordinary day in that beach town.

This dude was with our boatman. He had the most chillax post.

There was this house on top of a freaking hill, showing everyone who’s boss.

I saw lots of boats of this kind, they were pretty fierce! They look like spider boats, as if they’re some HBIC.

Of course: Pearl Farm. I’ve never actually stayed in this place, but I heard from a number of friends that for the amount you pay, you’d expect better service. I get very anal and easily cranky with bad service.

This looks like SO MUCH FUN, but it’s abandoned now.

So that’s it. For someone who does not use Photoshop, I was pleased with my camera. More importantly, though, I was really pleased with my region and my country. It’s beautiful.

And oh, if you share the same love for the seas, don’t forget to vote for Anna’s Save Philippine Seas at the Globe Tatt Awards under The Advocate and #Thought-Mover. Click HERE to vote and here to find out more.

Once in a while, I like to keep this blog alive by posting stand-alone videos that often tell more stories than my occasionally narcissistic photos and captions.

For this one, João, my Portuguese friend and resident B-boy of Global Changemakers, teaches us the “right” or Portuguese way of saying the name of his famous compatriot explorer who got killed in the Philippines:

Here in the Philippines, one of the first things we’re taught in school is that Ferdinand Magellan was killed in the Philippines by Lapu-Lapu. Of course, as a former American colony, we’re taught to read it as /ˈfɜr dnˌænd məˈdʒɛl ən/ (Yes, I can read IPA and yes, his Wikipedia entry is under “Ferdinand Magellan”). When I told João about MAGELLAN [muh-jel-uh n], he was like– WHO??!!! I had to explain, you know, the Portuguese explorer? who got killed in the Philippines?!

Enjoy his tutorial video above or you can just look at his eyes, if you’re not interested in phonology. You’re welcome.

Like most of my travels, the latest one in Bangkok was for “work.” No, really. I especially felt that in this trip as all of our days were spent in a session room and in the evenings I was too tired and lazy to go out. While Bangkok is the foreign city I have visited the most (counting airport arrivals and departures), I can legitimately say that it is among the places I have seen the least of. That was the case until last Saturday afternoon when I finally managed to get my lazy ass out of the hotel with my French friend Patrice.

The plan was just to get a haircut + massage, but on the way to the barber we stopped by the Frenchman’s favorite streetfood place as he was starving.

Om nomm

We had the same camera.

While on the cab, Patrice asked me whether I was sure I wanted to go to the same barber who cut his hair. I said, why yes, I like your hair. He said, “But that’s because I knew what I wanted and I told him what to do with my hair, but you don’t know what you want with yours. This guy is just a simple barber, he charges only 70 baht, I can take you instead to a more expensive place, it’s called DIVA.” Hahahahaha! I couldn’t stop laughing. I said I really don’t care, I don’t mind paying more, I just want a decent haircut. “Ok I’ll take you to the barber.”

It was one of the best decisions ever.

Patrice “directing” the barber. He used to work in fashion in Paris so the barber and I were under expert eyes. Ha!

I demanded he stay with me the whole time as I dread getting my hair cut more than going to the dentist (and I think the last time I had my hair cut in a foreign place was back in Virginia in 2007). Meanwhile, he took over the other seat and shaved some of his beard. He did a pretty bad job, I hope he’s managed to remedy it.

We walked through the nearby labyrinthine market after to get to this hole-in-the-wall massage place just somewhere within the market:

The place was PACKED; we had to wait 45 minutes, which must mean it’s as good as Patrice says it is, I thought. And it didn’t disappoint. It felt like the massage guy wanted to relocate all the bones in my body, and I was completely okay with it. The best part was it was dirt cheap: only 100 baht for one hour, compared to the 250/hour places my friends from the workshop went to. Yeah, we gave 100 baht for tip, too, but still.

As we were leaving, we saw these plastic bags of soymilk for 5 baht:

It was PERFECT as I love milk but I avoid it now because I recently developed some lousy kind of lactose intolerance (really shitty, pun may or may not be intended).

We had no idea how, when, and where we were gonna drink it but as we walked further down the market we saw these:

Parfait. I was just telling Patrice that I’ve never had mango sticky rice before and I thought it was a shame and this marvelous opportunity to have authentic mango sticky rice just presented itself.

We got paper cups from the same store and paired this perfection with the soymilk, which was still warm. For a moment, everything in the world was well and good.

We walked around for a bit, and not knowing exactly what to do (but knowing what we did NOT want to do), we took the train to Sukhumvit.

There were these cute little stalls outside the station so we just took a seat in one of the smaller ones and grabbed bottles of beer.

This Frenchman has the smoothest hair ever. While I have to throw away two minutes of my life every day to apply hair conditioner, he only uses regular bath soap to wash his hair. I fucking quit.

This lady comes up and Patrice buys a silly dancing robot cat for his girl friend.

Then I hopped on a cab as I had “work” the next day.

Thank you, cheri, for that fantastic evening.

We arrived in Delhi Saturday, but it was only by Wednesday that we first got to really experience the city (which was nearly 2 hours away from our venue) through our community visit. I was in Olga’s group, which was assigned to Adharshila, an NGO working towards self-reliance training for vulnerable members of society. Pretty much everything is captured in this video:

(In the first part I freaking introduced Aman as Omar, I am terribly sorry! So dreadful!!)

For some reason the audio decided to go bonkers halfway, so let me complement it with pictures:

A poster I saw while walking to Adharshila

Watching a documentary of their projects. Adharshila’s slogan is “Building foundations at the grassroot level with dedication and sincerity”

When we visited their computer room, the students were busy creating their CVs. I wish I could have offered help if we had time.

One of their biggest programs is teaching English.

And British Council is one of their supporters.

Ms. Geeta Arora, one of the two founders of Adharshila, said that it is harder to bring the students from the slums than it is to teach them. They have to send people out to convince parents, etc.

The second floor of their humble building is divided into three classrooms. We interrupted their sessions so we could introduce ourselves and talk to them.

Around 20 minutes drive from their main office is their entrepreneurship center.

There was also a computer room, and the rest of their little space was divided into two classrooms:

On the way out we saw this lady with the most intriguing print on her hands. We were quickly told that they were also made by Adharshila ladies in a different classroom, so off we went to them (although they were not part of the plan).

Olga being pretty in any angle or situation

My hand. Apparently this thing is only for women. But I used my tourist/foreigner card. The print on my palm was gone after two weeks, but even today there’s still a very visible mark on my left pinky.

Of course: an obligatory group pic.

Not related: They have pretty chairs.

Thank you, Adharshila and British Council for the wonderful experience. Keep being awesome.

Check out Adharshila’s website here.

CheckMySchool runs for fun and social accountability on August 20! COME ONE, COME ALL!

CheckMySchool is a social accountability initiative that empowers and mobilizes citizens to map information on public education services in the Philippines. It is a project by the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and the Pacific (ANSA-EAP), Ateneo School of Government, and the Department of Education. The synchronized data validation launch, aptly called Check N Run, is made possible by the World Bank Institute, British Council Global Changemakers, and Open Society Institute.

My involvement with CheckMySchool started in GYAC Nairobi when I joined Gaddi (CheckMyPeace), Gibby (CheckMyUniversity), and Jecel (CheckMySchool) in the Philippines group presentation:

In Delhi, I was CheckMySchool ambassador:

The synchronized launch is a week-long event that will happen in 11 sites in the Philippines. Contact the numbers below (or comment on this post) to find out how you can be part of this event and promote transparency and social accountability in the country!

While you’re at it, turn your volumes up and watch our promotional video to get you going:

I apologize in advance as the song will probably get stuck and keep playing in your head. You’ve been warned.

I’m in Bangkok for the third time. That’s counting our overnight stay last week as Anna and I came from Kathmandu and Thai Airways got each of us a room at Novotel the night before our flight to Manila:

This will have an entry of its own.

For this trip, I’m here to train on the Citizen Report Card and Community Scorecard.

I was sent to represent CheckMyPeace, our project that will be using those tools.

I will talk nonstop about CheckMyPeace at one point as we start oiling the wheels for that exciting project, but for this post allow me to be all sappy and nostalgic.

I’m staying in Holiday Inn Silom, the same hotel where we stayed on my first trip to Bangkok last November for the 14th International Anti-Corruption Conference, the biggest conference I’ve ever been in my life. I wrote about it here.

First thing I noticed during breakfast yesterday was the guava juice:

The same guava juice I loved nine months ago:

Breakfast yesterday, today, and forever:

French toast, ham&cheese omelet, and ham, because I’m redundant like that. My tummy is still suffering from all that cheese though.

Really yummy beef for lunch

I always take the same seat in the dining area for the view. Bangkok’s colors is making it hard for me to miss India.

First thing I see every morning

While walking around last night: Dillii Haat was where we shopped in Delhi and I got my Aladdin pants.

And this is Bing, my groupmate. Her full name is Ma. Elena van Tooren.

Me: Why do you have a Dutch sounding last name?
Bing: My husband was Dutch.
Me: Was?
Bing: He passed away.
Me: Oh.. (awkward silence) So your children are half-Dutch. (duh)
Bing: We have one child. Or should I say, we had one child.
Me: He’s also… ?
Bing: No. He’s in college, taking up Biology.
Me: Then I think you should say, “We have one child.”
Bing: But my husband already passed away. We had one child.
Me: “We have one child.” Your son is alive. You are alive.
Bing: But my husband is not. “We had one child.”
Me: If you say, “We made a child,” you can use the past tense, but to have is a tricky verb. I go with “We have one child” because love is alive and constant.

PAK!

It was a lovely argument and I was tempted to pull the English Major card but I really was not sure what I was talking about.

And to end, a gratuitous elevator pic:

Before Kenya, India, and Nepal, my year was off to a great start because of my trip to Japan last January 23 to February 9 for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Training Program for Young Leaders (TPYL). I was under the inaugural Postwar Reconstruction and Peacebuilding course (which, sadly, is not yet being offered again), and I could say in all honesty that it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. The people I met, the experiences we shared, the country itself– everything was wonderful (You can read my stories from this blog’s Hiroshima and Japan tags). We were crushed when Japan was hit with the tragedy a few weeks after our program, but we all know how gracefully they are recovering.

Later this year, JICA will be sending again 71 Filipinos to Japan under four courses:

• Local Governance
• Economic Administration (Industrial Development Institution)
• Community Small and Medium Enterprises Development and Promotion
• Rural Development

From JICA’s website:

The “Training Programme for Young Leaders” [is] a technical cooperation program aimed at promoting human resources development and nation-building in developing countries.

Under the program, groups of young leaders, who will eventually become nation-builders in the future, are invited to enhance their specialties by experiencing and learning technologies and skills in Japan for a period of 18 days.

JICA is implementing the program with the view of contributing to more sustainable capacity development for young leaders through greater emphasis on specialized technical training in various fields.

The deadline for applications for the first two courses is close: August 26. The deadline for the other two is September 30. Based on my experience, it’s best to start working on the requirements as early as possible. Click HERE to know more about the requirements and other details.

I strongly recommend this program to all my friends and blog readers who pass the qualifications. Let me know if you decide to submit an application, and if I can help you with anything.

I hope these pictures will help seal the deal:

Japan is awesome! I have no doubt the experiences and skills you will gain will help you work towards helping our country. So again, click HERE to find out more about the program!

Exactly two weeks ago, I turned 23 in India. Specifically, in this paradise:

Check out Heritage Village Manesar’s website here.

In my application video for the Asia Youth Summit, I specifically pointed out that my birthday fell within the dates of the summit, and I thought it would be awesome to celebrate it in India with other Changemakers. I forgot to ask Matt whether that was a factor for why I was selected, but I guess it really pays to be honest sometimes.

On July 17 was the welcome dinner. Between me and the other Filipinos and the honorary Filipinos (Sam from NZ and Adam from Australia), it was my birthday eve dinner.

As we were a very cliquish bunch, we congregated after dinner to wait for the clock to hit 12. We played silly singing games while flies feasted on us. I was very touched, needless to say.

When it was officially my birthday, João (Portugal) and Leo (Brazil) sang me Happy Birthday in Portuguese:

Adorable. I felt so loved. (Notice the lightning (?) at 0:11)

I woke up at 6AM to swim but the pool wasn’t open til 7.

So I just hung around for a bit to take all that beauty in– Beauty is truth, truth beauty kind of thing. (If you don’t know yet, I’m a Keats disciple.)

I went to the gym instead, where I met Eggy (Mongolia), Sunny (Nepal), Anna, and Sam.

Shortly after, during breakfast, the kiwi /kehywehy/ gave me this:

The inside of the card was pure hardwork, so I still don’t know how you found the time to do this, Sam, but I’m beyond grateful :P love ya!

That day was officially the start of the summit, and again, between me and my friends, I owned everything.

Birthday cocktails

Birthday petals

Birthday walk

Birthday cake

And oh yes, the big surprise. During the morning sessions, Rebecca of British Council India (one of my favorite people at the summit) was talking about getting me a cake but I honestly thought she was joking. I did think of buying a cake at some point in the evening but Rebecca beat me to it at lunch. And clearly, her cake was infinitely more special.

Thank you Rebecca. ♥

Thank you everyone.

Happy happy joy joy

I managed to take a photo before everyone finished it off.

In the afternoon, our first speaker, Shashi Tharoor, offered some gems of wisdom.

He talked of how development is plagued with our “narcissism of minor differences” and “comforting assumptions of daily life.” He said that the opposite of changemaking is not cynicism, but complacency. And he gave advice to those who want to follow his footsteps: In the UN, you have to be idealistic; otherwise, you might as well work in a bank. But you also have to be realistic to pursue your ideals within the framework of what’s politically possible.

After that, we divided into our theme groups (I was in Social Entrepreneurship) and mentor groups. My mentor group was assigned to do a sketch on homophobia. We ended up with an original composition and a music video entitled Unsex Me Here. I’m still debating whether I should publish it here.

At night was debauchery fiesta.

Anna found out that this rule was implemented only last month, in response to the dance/bar/club scene in India being rowdier than ever. During dinner, though, I asked the manager if I could buy drinks by virtue of my birthday. He said yes. But all week long we were allowed to get drinks, because it seemed the rule was only applied to locals.

Many other embarrassing photos were taken that night, but this one I’m posting with permission from Anna.

Before we were inebriated enough to do really silly things, Adam read me the poem he wrote for my birthday:

HAHAHAHA! Love you man.

And that was how I celebrated my birthday in India. A big HUG and thank you to everyone who greeted me. ;)