chiang mai

wow, i just realized that i haven't written anything about my trip to chiang mai last february. this is work-related, same as that of the langkawi trip, but under the same program. anyways, let me tell you something about my trip there.

nothing much happened.

although spending almost a week's time at the city, there was not really any chance to see the place as we were stuck in the hotel (we stayed at the imperial mae ping hotel) doing our workshop. the only time we were able to go out was during the opening dinner which was held atop a mountain with a beautiful night view of the below --

on our other free nights, we walked towards the night market. here, one can see a lot of beautiful items sold for cheap (and not-so-cheap) prices. my best buy would be my messi argentina and david villa spanish football shirts, each both for around 300 baht after haggling hard! the original price was at 600 baht. the next best thing i was able to buy was the spices i gave my mom and best friend. hopefully, they were able to put it to good use.

on food, the best thing i probably tasted at the night market was the strawberry shake. we ordered one cup for 30 baht and chose the glass that contains strawberries for them to make into shake. there were no added sugar in my shake, only crushed ice, and it was oh so delicious! another thing that happened there was that when we ordered our shakes, we had to repeat that mine shall have no sugar, but my companion will have. on the next night, we again visited them (that was how much we liked it) and the lady who takes the order took just one look at us and said: "one without sugar, the other have. strawberry." wow, that lady has one good memory considering that she would probably have more than a hundred costumers per night. how she remembered us boggles the mind!

the other food that was recommended to us was the sticky mango rice. on our last night there, we were able to buy one but wasn't able to eat it right away as we were so tired from all those walking we did for fieldwork earlier that day. when we woke up early to leave for the airport, we decided to eat it before we left. i am not sure if it was just because it was already cold, but i didn't like it very much. it's just tastes like the one that i do back home when there's sticky rice and a ripe mango. nothing special to it -- or maybe just the sentimental value of remembering how it was back at home.

another cool thing i saw at chiang mai was this -- an mobile ATM car -- makes you wonder how honest the driver must be to be not tempted to drive away with the money inside it!

on fieldwork, we visited several sites that show deformation of outcrops which bound the basin of chiang mai. we were able to identify structures that indicate direction of deformation and such (sigmoidal features of plagioclase minerals, C-S structures). we were also able to visit a wonderful faulted outcrop which, as our organizer knut had said, is what we have to look for in petroleum exploration -- those sandstones that thin out towards the fault tips (but these are reservoirs -- make sure the whole petroleum system is present though).

note: going towards the left of the road on the picture above will lead travelers to the mountains, where the people who are familiar to us from pictures of those that have long necks reside.

for recreation after the fieldwork, we headed to an orchid garden restaurant. the food was okay, the orchids beautiful but again, it was nothing new to me. maybe it's because when i was growing up, my mom had an orchid garden which i help tend when i can. what is probably different here is that the flowers are somewhat bigger than what we had back when i was a kid --

some of my companions bought seedlings of these flowers placed in a bottle container. hopefully, they were able to grow them successfully as from previous experience, i can say that it is hard work -- there's the boosters, the fertilizers, the shades, the over-all maintenance is just too time consuming (also expensive!).

our next stop was the hot spring where one can boil an egg in just a few seconds. that is how hot it was! but as the day was so hot, we decided to just sit in the shade and eat ice cream. the last stop was to chiang mai's famous paper umbrella factory. the making of the umbrellas is amazing, much more probably than the finish product - although they are very pretty. but the best thing for me here is having my mobile "pimped!"

isn't she pretty?! :)

there's just one story about my phone.

knut's wife noticed that we didn't buy any umbrellas (what for? it's just an extra baggage) so she said we need to do something for ourselves. i decided to pimp my phone. when it was done under ten minutes, i was so happy because the painting of it was such amazing and it only cost me 50 baht! also, i liked the color the lady gave to my elephant -- pink. so anyway, there i was, happy and proud of my phone's new look that i've been displaying it to everybody who'd wish to look at it. the following day, we were at the airport on our way home, when i realized that i left my phone after passing through the xray machine. it was only 5 o'clock in the morning and we had to wake up our friends who were still at the hotel because their flight's not until the afternoon. when they called housekeeping, true enough, i left my phone at my room.lucky for me, my friends (so kind!) will just have to pick it up at the housekeeping (i'm so glad they're so honest! others would have claimed they didn't see anything). unfortunately, i was phoneless for the whole weekend! well, so much for my bragging when i would have just left it at the hotel anyway! LOL.

visa, so fast!

yehey! finally got my uk visa today! wow, not even a week has passed and i got it.

friday, submission of application form and documents
monday, visa approved
tuesday, passport returned to the visa center; sent through aboitiz2go
wednesday, received my passport and visa

WOW!!! :D

roaming the uk

i was browsing through my multiply when i realized that i had written quite a lot for my album's description. since i have been remiss in writing here lately, i might as well copy my write-up here and let you know how was the experience back then. hopefully, i get to write new things about the place soon :)

******

12 May 2009. Years after posting this album, I finally decided to add a little more to this album's description. I guess I really had to put down in words what happened during this visit so even I will not forget it years later. And it begins...

The second I was told I might be going to the UK in 2005, I was hoping it would all come true. I was in the middle of exams and report writing that I was certain I had to do a lot of late night work at the laboratory. My adviser even told me that I was only allowed to go if I finish all the things I need to do along with preparing my travel documents and visa. I really wanted to go so I guess I did try hard because here I am right now, writing all about it. The schedule was very tight as far as I can remember that I don't even recall now how I got my passport and visa. Yet it was definitely only a day or two before our actual departure.

I remember though that I was able to let a friend in London know that I am coming and could get her stuff she wanted back home. We thought it was a good reason for us to be able to meet in London and have a little weekend look-see with Eden. On the night before my departure, I went to see this friend's brother to get her things. Wow, there were so many that I had to repack my bag (which I have just packed before meeting him). But I didn't mind because this favor was just a little favor for an old friend :P

Upon arriving at Heathrow in the worst time ever, around 4 A.M., Eden and I were already freezing cold. We arrived on Valentine's Day and it was still winter. My friend offered to pick us up at the airport at anytime we wanted but unfortunately, we had to go to Cambridge right away. This time, we didn't arrange for a cab to take us to the university. Instead, we opted to take the three-hour coach ride into town so we can at least see a bit of the countryside and have a little time for sleep. It was good we decided upon this because we have just realized (or did I just realized it now?) that the gatekeeper at the college might not be available yet if we arrived earlier if we took the train, let's say about 530 A.M. When the coach stopped at Cam, we hired a big cab to take us to our place but as you know, we had to pass by to get the keys from the gatekeeper. We almost got lost looking for Assissi House because I wasn't familiar in that part of the town; we even had to do a little bit of a U-turn after deciding that we have gone far enough. At Assissi, we did have trouble opening the door. It seems that I have a problem with doors in the UK because on my first trip out, I stood up for a long time waiting for someone to open the Department's door because I couldn't open it. I was really embarrassed when a girl arrived and opened the door easily. I thought it was locked but it just needed a unique turn to the handle. How the people manning the CTV must have laughed at me back then! Anyways, when someone finally helped us with the door, our landlady arrived and showed us to our room. However, it wasn't to be "our" room because we were assigned separate rooms, the gatekeeper just had given us one key because I was the only one who claimed the keys. He might have assumed that one of us will be coming for her own set of keys. But the landlady was kind enough to open the other room and it was much bigger than the first one, which was already mine. I asked why her room is bigger and was told that it was the only available room (or something like that). Funny, I remember what she said after that, "No squabbling between the two of you!" in a very motherly fashion. So Eden got the bigger room and me the smaller room. However, Eden says that my bathroom is better than hers! :D

Now I'm just wondering we ever did eat breakfast after that, or where did we eat lunch? All I can remember is that after resting for a while, Den and I decided to go to the visitor's center after letting our adviser know that we've arrived safe and well. The house was far away from the university center and I can remember Eden and I walking for almost thirty minutes (I hope I'm not exaggerating) just to get into the university. Luckily, or out of necessity, Eden found out how the city bus works and we bought our own week tickets for about 10 pounds. That ticket entitled us to unlimited rides around the city for one week. Now we didn't have to walk that much and that far in a freezing weather.

snow at our neighbor's backyard

I told you that we arrived during the winter season but on that first day, it was cold but sunny. One morning, I got an sms from my friend, hoping that I am now enjoying the snow. Groggily and still not really comprehending what they were trying to say, I got up and looked out my window and there it was! Snow! All I can do was cry out loud and in my pajama's run out of the room to wake Eden up. Together, we went back to my room (I guess the snow view from her relatively bigger room was not that good) and had fun watching the snow. She even had her camera rolling while we opened my window and held up our hands out for the snow. It was a pretty amazing moment.

After that great moment, reality descended upon us as we had to go to school. Eden decided to come in later so I went out on my own. As I walked out of the door, I gingerly stepped on the snow, relishing the moment when my shoes came in contact with the snow (although it was just a little less than an inch thick - it is still snow anyway) and it made this crushing sound. I relished the moment when little snowflakes fell down my face, my eyelashes. It was perfect! But after a couple of minutes of walking in the snow, I started feeling the cold in my lungs as I breathe the air and there I decided that snow isn't that much fun after all when you're about to die of suffocation from cold. Hahaha!

Anyways, on weekends, Eden and I decided to see some of the places she wanted to go to (since I've done this already the previous year). Fortunately, it was almost just a repeat of what I did before and it was already easy for me to navigate through the transportation system. On our side trips, we were able to get lost at Paddington Station (I didn't realize there was actually two of them), deliver my friend's stuffs, had a sleepover at Eden's friend in Surrey (yes, the same town where Harry Potter lived), master the Tube, visit the London Aquarium, Prince Albert's Memorial Park (or something), the theater where Les Miserables' Anniversary was held, visit Imperial College and the National History Museum, Buckingham Palace; visit Stonehenge and climb the Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh. 

Rhomaleosaurus fossil at the Museum of Natural History, London

 so happy after watching one of the best shows in town!

At another night, Eden and I decided to go back to London to watch the Phantom of the Opera at the Queen's Theater. As I was not familiar with West End and the only map we had was one that was handwritten, we were not entirely sure where to go and ended up walking towards the opposite direction. When we realized this we headed back where we came from but couldn't quite get it right still. We were already getting desperate because the show will be starting in less than an hour and we still haven't got our tickets yet; we decided then that we'd ask the first person, who looks like a local (because there were a lot of Chinese tourists loitering there), that comes our way.

"Excuse me, sir? Can you please tell us which way is to the Queen's Theater?," I asked. "Sorry, I can't help you. Actually, I'm from New York!"

Oh damn! The first person we asked after getting up all the courage just to approach a stranger and ask that question! The next few people weren't of any help either, even the vendors! Finally, being desperate people that we were, we realized that the theater guide given to me by my friend can actually be used for a map. We were thinking that "if this street is showing Mamma Mia, and then this other street, The Lady in the Water, then the opposite street must be where the Phantom is!" Hurriedly we walked and found the theater. We got there in time to buy our tickets, go to our seats, realize it was way up high, upgrade our seats, realize I left my wrap around in our previous seats, go back up to retrieve it, go back down to our final seats, and then the announcement for the show to begin. Whew! What a night! :D

It was a fun month and productive one, too! :D

 we made it -- climbing in the most less traveled way! :)

no trip is complete without a visit to the stonehenge

the land of braveheart, tartans, kilts and clans

this is just a continuation of my previous blog. i wanted to put it up here because scotland is, for me, the best place i've been to when i visited the uk. it's such a pleasant place, where you are just a stone's throw away a mountain where you can be quiet and think, or a castle where you can reflect on history. i also like the people -- it seems they are friendlier way up there than people in the south (they are busier people, i would guess). well, that's just my opinion. don't get me wrong though. all my friends in that country live way down south :)

*****

 

Esplanade, Edinburgh Castle, Scotland

where does the bedrock end and the castle wall begins?

Edinburgh Castle from Princes Street

Holyrood abbey ruins at the Holyrood grounds 

(just at the opposite end of the road leading to Edinburgh Castle)

the best thing i saw in the national museum, aside from the egyptian mummy and casket, was this millennium clock that is turned by wheels from the bottom up

spring 2004. on my own, i made a weekend trip to edinburgh. started out friday afternoon from cambridge, took a bus at victoria coach station in london and an eight hour long trip to edinburgh. made this trip on my second weekend (i think) in the uk. it was scary, yet exciting. around 2 am saturday, our bus had some problems so we were made to wait outside the stop station where it was freezing cold. we could see the very air we breathe out turn to visible air right away. it was like breathing in ice. luckily, after about thirty minutes of waiting in the outside cold (it seemed like forever at that time), the replacement bus arrived and we were made to go inside right away with the bus driver shouting at us: "mind the gap, please." upon arrival at the edinburgh coach station, i had a quick fixing up to do, a little breakfast, then off i was to this solo adventure! i was just glad i could read a map or else i'd be lost for sure! 

1.75

yey! finally saw my grade from my (hopefully last) penalty course - mining geology. as you can see, i got a good grade of 1.75. i was not really quite expecting this as i left some items in the final exams unanswered (better leave them blank than write something that will surely let the teacher know that you don't know anything!) and some exercises incomplete. okay, okay. so it seems that i was not really a model student and i feel guilty that this is what i'm going to leave my teacher as he retires this coming semester. however, i truly can say that i did my best , knowing that my last ore geology class was almost ten years ago and it was not one of my forte. what i also know is that i learned more and appreciated the class more than when i was still an undergrad. the class was exciting and as proof, let me tell you that i have never felt sleepy at any time for that one semester -- 2 night classes/week! if you know me, that's a big accomplishment! since some of my previous classmates call me "headbanger," where i "headbang" when i felt sleepy in class just the way rockstar's bangs their head to the music :)

anyways, i would just like to thank my teacher, dr. austria, for keeping me interested with he has got to teach, for answering my questions, and recognizing my efforts of coming early to class eventhough my office is 1.5 hours away from the school. thank you, sir!

:)

mga panaginip

lately, nahuhuli ako ng dating sa opisina. masarap kasing matulog lalo na't medyo vivid ang mga panaginip mo, di ba? ganun ang nangyayari sa akin. yun nga lamang, kung sobrang gising na ako, madalas nalilimutan ko. pero hindi itong huling dalawa. may kasama kasing mga "cute" na lalake. hahahaha. :P

o sige, yung una, nasa beach daw ako at parang may kasama pang jetski at magagandang long journey trains na akala mo ay magsasalpukan na, pero hindi pala. tapos habang umiikot daw ako sa mga floating cottages, biglang nandun si artistang rafael na ang tatay ay isang geologist. malamang nasama siya sa panaginip ko dahil kakabanggit lang ng kaibigan ko na nakita na niya ang original na rafael sa conference na pinuntahan niya noong nakaraang linggo. yung jetski siguro ay nagpapahiwatig ng pangarap kong makapag-aral mag-sail at ang tren naman ay ang plano kong mag-long journey trains ngayong agosto.

yung panaginip ko na naman kanina, ang bida ay ako (syempre) at ang pinakamatagal kong crush. naku, ang sarap pala ng feeling ng ka-HHWW siya! LOL. siguro, na-feature sya sa panaginip ko kasi kakausap ko lang siya noong nakaraang araw.

sana naman, sa susunod, mapanaginipan ko naman ang aking long-time lab op may layp! :) sabi kasi ng pag-aaral, napapanaginipan mo ang taong iniisip ka. sana, iniisip na niya ako  ngayon...

train ride

today marked another milestone for me in my manila living. i've been here for almost half my life now but have never rode the lrt to its northernmost station. so last saturday, i decided to get off the newest roosevelt station of the lrt after my carriedo shopping. the trip took quite a while with about thirteen stations to go before arriving at roosevelt. it was a cool treat because the train cars were very spacious (although there were too many people when i got in at carriedo station). however, the train i rode on has only a monumento sign on it and it made me wonder if there were other trains that i should get into, since monumento is just the second to the last stop. when we reached monumento, everybody was just alighting the train and for a second there, i started getting up, thinking that it really was the last stop and that i had to get on a train again that has a 'roosevelt' sign on it. lucky for me though, because before i could even alight the train, i saw people (very few of them) had stayed behind. okay, so definitely the last stop would be roosevelt and i was glad for it. i didn't know how to get to my destination from monumento! LOL.

there's only one thing i can say (okay, perhaps two). manila is so big that if i get off the train from the stations i don't know and venture away from the train line, i'd definitely be lost! but truly, i love the roosevelt station because it's big, clean and new :) i wouldn't mind riding the lrt from there :)

PH vs Mongolia. Azkals vs. Blue Wolves