The Wheel and Axle

We arrived in Myanmar last Friday evening, and it was disheartening to realize that even Yangon had a better airport than our own back in Manila. This, after experiencing Kuala Lumpur’s amazing airport. Step up, Philippines!

The country formerly known as Burma has apparently undergone significant improvement since my friend Bj was here last 2009. Although perhaps still not as cosmopolitan as Manila, Bangkok, or Kuala Lumpur, the former capital of Yangon (i.e. Rangoon) has had increasing development in the last few years, with more and more infrastructure and such popping up. There were actually a number of buildings being constructed when we were there. Also, you know you’ve “made it” as a metropolitan city when you have a Shangri-la Hotel (and Yangon apparently has three of them, one of which is a service apartment type place). 

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So I finally got to see the famed Petronas Twin Towers. They used to be the world’s tallest buildings (from 1998 to 2004), and they remain to be the tallest twin structures. Well, until Orthanc and Minas Morgul prove otherwise.

From afar, they didn’t seem all that tall, but then you come closer and you realize, damn, those things are freaking massive. I went last night after checking into my hotel. I could only view it from outside from the surrounding KLCC Park, along with possibly hundreds of other tourists, but it was gorgeous against the KL nighttime skyline.

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

As she relinquishes her crown later today, Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach ends her reign as one of the most well-loved winners of this most prestigious beauty pageant. Despite that controversial crowning moment, Pia proved that she is the one true lady who rightfully won the title and deserved her place.

She will go down in history as one of the best winners in any pageant. Ever.

You did a great job, Pia. You’ve made us proud, and you will always be queen.

Mabuhay!

I was ready to watch this year’s Miss Universe with friends while on a mini-staycation in a nice AirBnB unit in BGC. Although we’d long wanted to watch the pageant live should it be staged here once again, circumstances prevented us from proceeding.

However, when our mini-staycay started on Saturday afternoon, my friend Bj (a.k.a. Pinoy Travel Whore, the sixth person to visit all 81 provinces of the Philippines) convinced me to join a Q&A Facebook contest sponsored by TV5 in collaboration with several popular pageant-focused social media sites. The prizes would be tickets to the coronation. On a whim, I thought, Why not? then proceeded to respond to the various questions. There were quite a few, mind you, and I had to fit it in right while I was also writing the article on my personal faves for this year’s pageant. (continue reading…)

That seriously broke and warmed my heart at the same time.

Let’s never take for granted the beauty that we have that others do not. It’s also always wonderful to see someone experience the wonders of nature for the first time.

So many uses for this amazingly versatile word.

P.S. As an avowed #grammarnazi, I need to point out that (1) one of the first examples does not denote transitive/intransitive but rather active/passive, and (2) in “fucking beautiful,” it is an adverb, not an adjective. But let’s ignore me and carry on.

So apparently, January 17th is shared by awesome people as their birthdays.

There’s Muhammad Ali, who would have been 75 today had he not passed away last year. He is the gold standard for boxers, no questions asked. Everybody else can just wish they were Ali or that they could have even 10% of his skill and talent. Moreover, he was an activist who fought for civil rights back in the day.

Then there’s Michelle Obama, who turns 53 just a few days before her husband ends his historic term in the White House. Despite some fringe idiotic racist detractors, she is one hell of a classy First Lady who will go down in history as one of the best women to have been a force for good – not simply because of her husband’s office but simply because of her own contributions to society.

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Although I personally feel that Boracay has become (and continues to further become) over-developed and needs some restraint (hey, government, please do something), it doesn’t mean that I already dislike it. I still love it, and it is definitely still one of the best beaches in the world, bar none.

It remains a top tourist destination not just because of its awesome fine white sand and the crystal blue waters. It’s also because it has become significantly more accessible and (comparatively) more affordable in the last decade or so, where once upon a time it was generally a place that only the upper and upper-middle class could go to.

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Yeah, that’s not creepy at all. Still, hilarious and fun. And he’s cute.

But still creepy AF.