A Long and Winding Road... To Madrid

It would be my first time in Spain. My flight to Madrid took a grueling 13 hours. 13 hours. In coach. For a bit of solace, my mom paid an extra 90 euros (for each of us) for what KLM calls a "comfort zone". It did have significantly more legroom than regular coach, and did give us more room to move around.

During the flight, we were fed continuously by the towering Scandinavian cabin crew, making sure we were properly nourished throughout the trip. The food was better than I expected. My first meal, the Chicken with Noodles, was quite good.


Chicken with Noodles


White Cake with Jelly (dunno what it's exactly called) - delicious!


In between meals and naps, I kept myself busy watching episodes of Chuck and uhmm.. well.. Pretty Little Liars.



Sarah and Chuck


grawrrrr

The hours passed by virtually unnoticed. We had a quick stopover in Amsterdam before hopping on another plane to Madrid. My cousin Tinky, who works for the Philippine embassy there, picked us up in a rented van. The van's driver and owner, Abner, is also Filipino. You'll get to know more about him in my future posts.


Tired in Amsterdam


My aunt Ivy and Mom said they saw a rat in the airport lol



Being in Spain brought back memories of my previous trip to Europe two years ago. Although Spain wasn't in our itinerary, being in Europe gave me a surreal feeling that I was in another planet -- a beautiful one rife with sceneries that could not be seen anywhere else, even in the United States. The Eiffel tower, the Vatican, Venice, nothing else matters! I was looking forward to exploring Spain and its gems. Tinky said she'll make sure that we see all that.

More on Madrid in my next post. :)

Europe Trip Checklist

One week to go till my trip to Europe! It will be my second time. My first was in July 2009 with three of my cousins. This time I'll be with my mom, aunt, uncle and other "seasoned" travelers :)

I created a list of important stuff to bring with me, most of which are for the purpose of fighting the extreme cold weather and its hazardous effects on my skin.

1. Thermals - I already have three gray ones. My cousin in Madrid warned me that it's VERY cold and dry in Spain. She put it this way: "Kuya, my skin on my entire body has dandruff". Oh shi--

2. North Face Summit Series Jacket - This freakin' jacket set me back more than P10,000. It's light as a feather and tucks neatly into a small pouch and is supposed to be the warmest amongst North Face's offerings. I was told that it's made for people who are climbing Mt. Everest. Well, I'm have no plans on following the footsteps of Sir Edmund Hillary any time soon, but that was the selling point for me.

3. North Face Bonnet - Purchased with the jacket. I like this one coz I look good wearing it -- which is rare.

4. Lotion - I'm at the crossroads on this one. Do I buy a large tub of lotion here in Davao and make my luggage heavier than necessary or do I hold it off and buy it in Europe? I get seriously nasty allergies in cold weather plus the lotions I've tried offered little to no help. I figured though that I might find a better brand in Madrid as opposed to buying a useless bottle from Watsons.

5. "Porma" Jacket - I might do away with this. My porma jacket might just end up covered up by my North Face jacket. Unless, I want to look ridiculous wearing it over the puffy North Face jacket.

6. Comfy Shoes - I checked my 20+ pairs of shoes and none of them fit the description. Well, except one -- a pair of Lacoste sneakers -- thing is its soles have fallen off. I'll head to the mall tomorrow and buy super glue.. and possibly new shoes too.

7. Toiletries - Facial wash, sunscreen, toner, cotton balls, small bottles of shampoo and conditioner, toothbrush, small toothpaste, aqua gel, comb.

8. Stuff to Watch - Episodes of Chuck I haven't seen yet, might look into other shows too. These will keep me busy during the long 15 hour flights.

9. Samsung Galaxy Tab - Where "Stuff to Watch" will be watched.

10. Ipod - Could not live without this!

11. Laptop - Again, could not live without this! I'll be semi-working while I'm away.

12. Panasonic Lumix Camera - Any traveler should bring his camera. I've had this gadget for years now and it never fails to give me fabulous pictures!

13. Clothes - Of course! But I have to picky on what to bring. Luggage is tiny.

14. Sunglasses - I dunno why.

15. 1 or 2 bracelets - It's a habit of mine to wear one on my left wrist whenever I go out.

What do you think? Did I miss something?

To Do List: Alhambra

Located in Granada, Spain, the Alhambra is a palace and fortress constructed by the last Muslim rulers of Andalusia.

Pining for Penang Part Deux

Batu Ferringhi

These events occurred on the same day as my earlier post, Pining for Penang. Just written on a different one (or year for that matter) :)

After parasailing, we jumped into the lagoon pools to do a little swimming. We had learned earlier that the night market starts at 6:30 in evening, giving us ample time to lounge around the pool. I forgot to mention that in one of the pools, two teams of Brits and Aussies were playing pool volleyball. It was fun to watch. If only we were tall enough to compete -_- .


Swimming Pool


Golden Sands Lobby


...

The night market vendors trickled in right on time. The first few stalls sold souvenirs and pens adorned with stuffed toy animals. I got some as pasalubong for my friends. There's something about the chaos in night markets that I find appealing. Even if I end up buying only a few things (sometimes nothing), I have a ball. Barely 15 minutes into our shopping, a strong rain began to pour. We scurried into a jewelry and antiques shop across the street. The owners, two 50-ish old guys, welcomed us like long lost relatives. We were their first customers of the day. I got my mom a bracelet and my cousin Ria a set of earrings both made of Amethyst, and earrings made of Cat's Eye for my doctor / cousin Joanna. It cost me an arm and a leg and I have the rain to blame! The store also carried old currency notes from the 1800's, an interesting wooden lime squeezer (or "limey") that helped British sailors get through scurvy and carved masks we wore to amuse ourselves amidst the boredom.


Masks!


Sad... Happy

With shopping bags on our heads, we traversed the rain to get to a nearby food court. Business was slow that night, but the whiff of curry and spices was intoxicating. I ordered a dish similar to Pad Thai, the Mee Siam. My friends, already sick of Malay food, ordered the most American-sounding dishes on the menu. I was happy enough with my Mee Siam and ice-cold lime juice.


Mee Siam


Chicken Skewers


Lime Juice

Sizzling Chicken Steak



We ate, rewound our funny travel stories and smoked cigarettes for a good one hour. The rain did not let up. Desperate for entertainment, we eyed a spa that offered fish massages. Yes, FISH. Supposedly, we dip our feet into a pond of fish and let the little fellas "massage" them. Think benign piranhas hungry for dead skin. I'm a very ticklish guy and this was pure torture! I couldn't leave my feet in there for more than 5 seconds! But as time went by I got used to it. After the fish massage, it was time for a real massage -- by people!


Athlete's Feet for Dinner


Dozing off...zzzz

The rain had reduced to a slight shower, and it was time for us to continue our bargain hunting. Only two of us had working phones, making it difficult for our group (of six) to disperse. But we did anyway, and went our own separate ways. I tried to stick to one or two companions as much as I could, checking out merchandise while making sure that I wasn't alone. I chanced upon a store that sold these really beautiful lamps neatly lined up on shelves. I wanted to buy all of them!



I got one for 60 ringgit, which I now use as a night light. It took me a few minutes to assemble when I got home, though the bulb that came with it didn't last long. A quick visit to the hardware store solved that.

At 11 PM we went back to Traders Hotel. Our stay in Penang was sadly coming to an end. We're flying to Kuala Lumpur on the next day. The next morning, a friendly taxi driver toured us around Georgetown.



The Chocolate Boutique


Blue Mansion - Tours are set at certain times. We missed the last one, argh!!


Praying to Buddha




We're off to KL!

To Do List: Guggenheim Bilbao

Somewhere in our itinerary in March is a place called Bilbao, a city in Spain. Is this where all those delicious chorizos come from? Well, with any luck, I'm making it my goal to go see the Guggenheim museum, pictured above.

Pining for Penang

At the last minute, Tiger Airways had bungled up our flights hence we were forced to spend an extra day in Singapore. That also meant one day minus our stay in Penang, which is a shame because we realized there was so much to see with only little time in our hands.


Lobby of Trader's Hotel

Our hotel, the Shangri-la Trader's Hotel, is in beautiful George Town, a city teeming with historical sights and curious tourists like us. We had heard about its fabulous food and that the Hainanese Chicken was not to be missed. Immediately after checking in, we hailed a taxi and asked to be taken to Chulia Street to eat lunch. My friend Jeff, who did all the pre-trip legwork, somehow forgot which restaurant served the best version of the dish. The cab driver dropped us off in a corner of a sidewalk that had about a half dozen open-air eateries. Each eatery had one common trait -- a steel cart out front with one man frantically chopping chicken and duck. Luckily, Jeff looked at the right direction and saw the sign of Sky Hotel, the place he had read about on the Internet. The lady manager was a little hard to talk to, but after a bit of discussion she fixed us a table in the most inconvenient section of the restaurant -- right next to our seats was the lady assigned to wash the dishes and utensils. And get this, she was doing all of it with a pail and a faucet! Mind you, she was quite the furious human dishwasher. Every now and then a sizable splash of water landed on my left leg. Certainly not the best distraction while eating chicken.




Sky Restaurant's signage was inside the restaurant. Kind of hard to see from outside!


En-en, Chicklet and Me


Please do not spit!


The manager went ahead and ordered what the typical tourist would -- a variety of fresh fruit drinks, a combo plate of roast chicken, duck, beef and pork with rice, and a soup with what I'm guessing were innards of a certain animal. I'm not a fan of animal organs, though my friends seemed to enjoy the soup. I was happy enough with myself just feeding on the normal food. The chicken was tasty, and the pork, which resembled our local tocino, was nice too. Our drinks were, well, 'interesting'. Mine tasted like cinnamon, almost similar to chai tea, but in juice form. I hated it. But I loved the star fruit juice and lime juice that two of my friends got. Lime juice seems to be a big thing in Malaysia and Singapore lately, I noticed.




Soup with intestines :|


Now we're talkin!


Sweet Roast Pork


Starfruit Juice


The juice from cinnamon hell


Lemon Juice

Our hunger satiated, we headed back to our hotel to meet two of our other friends who flew on a later flight from Singapore. We got dressed in our beach wear and rushed to get taxis, this time going to the Golden Sands Hotel along Batu Feringgi Beach. It's about an hour's drive, about enough for us to take a quick nap inside the cab. We were dead tired. Shuttling between different cities is fun but physically draining!




The Golden Sands' elegant, bleached facade hovered over its vast estate sprawling with four large lagoon pools and lush gardens, all of which we were able to enjoy for free because Trader's Hotel was a sister hotel. Outside was a beach strip where we were approached by peddlers advertising their aqua sports portfolios. We were keen on the parasailing and it took a while before all of us mustered enough courage to do it. I, for one, was a bit nervous because of my vertigo. But I thought, hey, this happens only once... might as well suck it up and give it a shot. Each one of us paid 250 ringgit for a short trip. It was enough for a first timer, but afterwards I wished I paid more for the longer trip. The people handling the parachutes and equipment gave us guys a quick run through on what to do before and after taking flight. If I remember correctly, I only had to pull two ropes while taking off to keep our balance, and pull hard on another rope on my left to help us land when it's over. Parasailing isn't as frightening as it looks. My partner, Pinky, literally had to be coerced to join us. Once we were up there, all her doubts were instantly erased. The thrilling view of the mountains, the sea, the sky and the cool wind billowing on our cheeks were something to behold. It's moments like these that you don't forget for the rest of your life.



Andrew, Pinky, Paolo, Chicklet, Jeff, En-en


Me and Pinky before we flew off to the skies


Here's a 9-second video of us taking off.



I wish it were longer but my friend didn't know how to operate my camera. :|

Stay tuned for part 2 of my Penang adventure!

My Fifteen Minutes of Fame

I'm famous!!

This blog was featured recently in a local lifestyle magazine, M Life and Living in Mindanao.

Here's what it had to say about my blog:

"A fun and funny blog created by Dabawenyo Andrew dela Serna about his travels across the globe, the celebrities he's seen in person, his nauseating Sea Dragon (mis)adventure, and so much more."

My cousin was kind enough to take a picture of the clipping above. I don't have a copy of the magazine yet, so I dunno who wrote the article. But whoever you are, thanks a million!

Tabbing

Me with new gadget in tow.

Day Two in Singapore: Universal Studios

Universal Studios is the newest addition to the many must-see places in Singapore. It opened March of this year but has garnered more than a million visitors in a short span of time. The more well-known park in Singapore, Sentosa, actually houses Universal Studios. I have been to HongKong Disneyland and found it too bland and childish for my taste. There wasn't much stuff for adults. The one and only ride I got on involved a fat orange bear who wears no underwear. ;) Kinda boring but hey, I couldn't resist my niece :) Universal Studios, on the other hand, was the bomb! It had enough nerve-wracking roller coasters to scare the shit out of me. The mascots were cuter, too. I had a blast taking pictures with Fiona, Shrek, Woody Wood Pecker, the wacky crew from Madagascar, even characters from the box office flop Waterworld.

Funny story. I was staying in a different hotel from 4 of my friends. The night before, we agreed to meet in Universal Studios at 9 in the morning. Their hotel was kind of, well, situated in a galaxy far, far away. I was staying in Orchard Road, so it was easy for me to take the MRT to Vivocity, where tourists can take a monorail or bus to and from Sentosa. Despite that, I was a bit late getting to the park (to this day they're giving me flak for it). My friend Jeff picked me up at the entrance as he was the one holding our tickets. We paced onwards to Shrek's castle where they were already busy posing for pics. There was another group of Filipinos nearby. Let's call them "The Others". Since I was the designated photographer (as always), I made it a point to have myself in at least one picture per scenery. My friend Christine prodded me to hand my camera to one girl from The Others to take a pic of our group. And I was like, what? We don't even know these people and the girl looked burdened enough by a gigantic DSLR of her own. She said it's ok just give it to her! I'm like nah, I'd rather not. The girl suddenly spoke to me and said it's ok, let me have it. So I did. As I posed with my friends Christine was like, hey come join us! Now things were getting strange. Five of The Others rushed and posed with us for a group picture. Ok, I thought, looks like Filipinos, albeit strangers, do unite in photo ops and unfamiliar places. So I just went with it. Next, the girl who had my camera said let's go for a photo op with the Madagascar mascots. I'm like ok that's not a bad idea! She led us to the secret exit where the mascots come out before walking into the park and greet guests. The girl with the gigantic camera had a backstage pass! Whaaat? After a few pics my friends began talking casually to The Others. I was totally Lost (get the pun? :P). They knew each others' names! I pulled my friend to a corner and asked her how do you know all of them? She's like they're Jeff's friends! WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME BEFOREHAND?! Sort of embarrassed, I was introduced to Desay, Paul, Cookie, May, Joshua and Ivy .... I'm so bad with names. They're from Davao City like me, which is cool. Really awesome people to hang out with.


Backstage Pass FTW

Later on, I learned that the girl with the gigantic camera, better known as Ivy, works for Universal Studios. Hence the backstage pass! She was kind enough to take the day off to tour our group. Sweet!


Pinoys Rule!!


Shrek's Castle


Fiona was totally into me :P


...


Seated in the viewing deck of the Waterworld Stunt Show. The pre-show was more exciting than the actual one LOL


Arrr, posin' for the camera Gar, Where can I find a bottle o'rum? Oops wrong movie LOL


Christine and Me. Behind us is the Batman roller coaster which hasn't opened yet due to "operational glitches".


Posing with a Pharaoh on stilts. Check out the abs on that guy. I have to work more on mine so I can work in Universal Studios! :)


The day's climax was when we rode The Revenge of the Mummy roller coaster. WOW. It's like Disney's Magic Mountain on acid. Too bad I couldn't get hold of our official snapshot. Hmm who took it? I guess it's better left hidden for most of us. :)



Posing with Cleopatra (?), the Pharaoh and Scorpion King.


Impromptu photo with Woody Woodpecker


If you're planning a trip abroad, definitely don't leave Singapore out. Universal Studios alone is worth it if you crave for adventure! Check out their official website. One ticket costs about SG$66.

More on my Singapore journey in my next blog post!