Tungod sa Goldilocks

It was Sunday, January 1st, 2012. I was at Ninoy International Airport in Manila, waiting for my connecting flight to Beijing. I went to a local fast food restaurant, Jollibee, somewhere on the third floor of NAIA to grab a  bite. It was past 12 and I was a bit starving. With my luggage piled under the tall table, I devoured the cheese burger I had ordered. A young man, clutching a bag of polvoron and other Goldilocks goodies, came and shared the high table with me. We were standing face to face, well, not really, he was taller so I was like looking up. While I was munching my cheeseburger I couldn't take my eyes off his Goldilocks goodies. The day before my flight, I was frantically looking for a Goldilocks shop but all of the stores I knew were closed. So there I was, wondering how he was able to get those goodies. Without taking my eyes off from his bag, I confidently asked, "Asa ka nakapalit ana?(Where did you buy them?) gahapon paman silang close diba? (They were closed yesterday, weren't they?) Open na diay cla karon?" (Are they open today?), and then as if I was brought back from unconscious state, I stopped. I looked at him, he stopped eating but was expresssionless, motionless and was staring at me like I was some sort of tiny specimen under a microscope. I was sure I turned red and then purple so before I turned completely grayish, I laughed. "Oh my... sorry", I said. " I thought I was still in Cebu". To redeem myself from the embarrassment, I confidently pulled out "My strangely accented- Tagalog, " and started doing the translation. "Kahapon ko pa kasi gusto bumili ng polvoron kaso lang "close" sila kahapon, akala ko meron dito sa airport." I smiled sweetly. He finally tore his eyes off me and said, "Dili mani nako dri gipalit.Wla ko kita Goldilocks dri. Mga last week pa ni nako napalit" (I didn't buy these here. I haven't seen any Goldilocks store around here. I bought this last week).
Dyosss ko bisaya diay pud. Gilisod lisod pajud ko.
(OMG, he understood Visayan dialect. He just watched me choked from one dialect to the other)

So Alone but Never Lost-- HongKong

Towering apartments and business establishments
were the scenes that greeted me when the bus I took
from Shenzhen airport was on the bridge leading to
the shopping capital of the World- Hongkong.
The bridge was in the middle of high rise apartments and
business offices that seemed to devour the limited
space given to each of them."Too many to build but too
little space available" I realized.
I arrived in Mongkok where my hostel was. Mongkok is
packed with shopping malls, fastfood chains and restaurant
both local and international.
It took me some time to find my hostel because I relied on
the address and not the detailed map that they left on the
website. It was already 2 pm when I found my hostel.
I fell asleep after settling down.

The hostel was located in a building shared with several
other hostels. The single room I booked was so tiny but
has television set, airconditioner, heater and a small
closet. Well, good enough for tired muscles to recover
before taking another adventure.At night I walked around
Mongkok and stumbled into a long line of night market.
I was like,"OMG"-An hour won't be enough even if you
don't plan to buy any. Anyone who loves shopping would
drawl for the bags, shoes, souvenir items and anything
under heaven.
Mongkok

Mongkok

On the next day, I took a map and headed out. I started
hiking around Mongkok. I came across a temple and got in.
It somewhat looked similar to some temples I've visited
in China. I went to the park and took a taxi to a church
somewhere in nathen road. I then went to the Peak
to view HK on the top. It was a breathtaking experience
looking at the spectacular view of the city, victoria
harbour and the sky rocketing buildings.The peak tram was
also an amazing experience. I took it
when I got down from the peak. It was the the perfect way to
experience HK's natural wonders with the spectacular
perspective and illusion the tram creates when it
is moving down.
Temple in Mongkok

at the park!

Hiking in HK

Christian Church

Mosque

The Peak

View from the Top

Botanical Garden

This one below was at the Peak, people wrote messages to their
loved ones and then posted it there.

Then I went to Victoria Harbour to see the symphony of lights.
Going to this harbour was really my major reason for visiting
hongkong and I made sure not to miss the show even if I knew
that I didn't have enough time left before my flight. It
started at 8:00 and lasted for 20 minutes. At that time the
sponsor of the show was Shanghai. When the clock struck 8
44 buildings on both sides of the harbour burst in multi-colored
lights and music. The tourists and locals became quiet for
awhile and just mersmerized the playful lights dancing to the
beat of the music.
Victoria Harbour and The Symphony of Lights

Then after the show I rushed home at night to catch my flight
back to Cebu. This time I took the subway and successfully
got out of the correct station. Unlike the days that I came
out in the wrong station and ended up walking to my
place. Taking the subway in Hongkong isn't complicated. It
was just me who made it complicated.Hongkong isn't a very huge
place so you can go around by subway. I took a taxi when I
couldn't find my way anymore.

My two days were not enough to see everything in Hongkong. There
were still many places that I didn't go to. I even missed
Disneyland. So hopefully I get to see Hongkong next time
and hopefully by that time I wont be
SO ALONE EVEN IF I WON'T GET LOST!

Coincidence or Fate?

I once had two memorable days that I was caught staring at my messenger and
smiling and giggling "just like crazy", my roommate commented.
But the two days of happy coincidence ended too soon and
I've decided to leave it  behind and moved on to the next page
but the thing was, my heart got so used to it, looked for the thrill it brought....
To bring myself to conciousness, I wrote in my shout out saying
 "Nerissa needs to forget you". I expected friends on the list
to make all kinds of reactions but what I didn't expect
was to get  the first reaction right after I clicked enter and what was more
surprising for me was to get it from the one I INTENDED it to saying
"Don't forget me". I felt like I was caught doing a crime and I scrambled
for some reasons of my post. "hmmm, because of the holiday...because of
 my colleagues and because of my new responsibilities. All those were so
 irrelevant and illogical. I was not good at inventing stories but
 there was no way to clear things out because I couldn't say that it was
because of the two days of nonsense chat with him....

--------JUST THINKING AND FEELING OUT LOUD!

Lantern Festival in Tieling City China

Every year the locals and Wàiguó rén (foreigner) like me are looking forward to this time of the year where the streets become colorful, bright and festive.  Part of the celebration of the Chinese New Year is the putting up of these gigantic lanterns on the street. Each of these lanterns represent a business group, public and private institution.

Amidst the chilling temperature, people come out of their houses to join the rest of the population picking up their favorite display.

Here are some of the lanterns in 2010 Lantern Festival (The Tiger Year)

and this Year's Lantern Display (The Rabbit Year)

                      
The Tiger Year 2010

Lantern Festival 2011

The Rabbit Year

 Which one is your favorite?

To Eat or Not To Eat (Some Exotic Foods in Beijing)

They said, in China, they eat everything that flies except airplanes and anything except chairs and tables. Two years in here, I think people were just exaggerating the idea. Not all people eat dog meat or grilled scorpions. Not every day that they have snake for dinner or lunch. Rarely you can find fried insects sold in a restaurant. So I have been wanting to see a place that I heard from my friends so when I went to Beijing, I had a chance to see myself these truly Chinese street food!...



                        Will you try to eat for the sake of "Once In A Lifetime Adventure?"

     

silkworms

snake

scorpions

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scorpions

grasshoppers

starfish

                 Will you try to eat for the sake of "Once In A Lifetime Adventure?"