My Jogja, Indonesia vacation

Yes guys, I have been gone for so long because I had a vacation;)

The last entry was like I am a bit suffering of fever and flu like stuff but then that has not stopped me from going to this planned vacation.

I went there together with some of my officemates. I was still feverish actually and having this headache. I just took my medication before going to the airport.

I took the MRT and was sending some SMS to Kay and Bud if where are they. We actually met at Tanah Merah as the train going to Changi would be there after 6 minutes. I brought my jacket with me so it was not that cold. Together, we arrived at the airport on time and we waited for some of our officemates. We were not late though but boarding proved brutal LOLS. We were running as the gate for boarding was way too far and the queue was long and really went crowded, so we needed to run :)) We arrived just in the nick of time at the boarding gate and the trip jump-started.


What's up for us in Jogja is the very famous Borobudur and it's really beautiful. Go notice the pictures :)

There were Indonesian officemates and they were the ones who organized the trip. Goodness thanks to them for everything went smoothly as things were planned.

For some bit of history, Jogja was an old capital and it has a rich history as well. The Dutch actually colonized Indonesia and in world war 2, the place was in chaos.

Anyway, the people there were friendly and the buys are so cheap. Again, to be with people who speaks Bahasa Indonesia which is the national language, is a great advantage.

I was also super amazed as Indonesians looked so like Malaysians, as well as Thai and so as like Filipinos.

Their counting is similar to that of the Cebuano counting. When I went to Malaysia, their counting is similar to ours as well. Some words are the same in meaning and in context. I was so amused that I learned some of their words like cumi-cumi (read c as ch) or squid, udang or shrimp, babi as pork (babi is the same in southern philippines), ikan as fish etc.

The nice thing about this trip as posted, was we stepped on this world heritage historical site, the Borobudur. I wish I get to see Angkor Wat sometime :)

Have a nice day. Ciao!

I am not feeling well.

When I woke up early morning today, I still am not feeling so well. Actually, last Sunday, I had fever and I asked my housemate if he has paracetamol. So I got well after taking paracetamol but then I still felt tired and weak. And today, it's the same thing except which I don't have fever anymore. I still have runny nose though.

I decided to take a warm shower. Things were manageable I supposed so I did not bother much how things are. I went to the office a bit early like it was 9:30AM, but then I felt tired. Kay, an officemate, noticed that I looked sick, so she advised me to go see a doctor at Dover Medical Clinic. Since Gemalto had an HMO for it's employees, I need not to worry about the expenses. I asked my project lead for permission to go out and see the doctor. The clinic was just a few walking distance from Gemalto. I got inside the clinic and signed things. The attendant was looking for my E-Pass but I was not able to bring it with me. Good thing I have my Aviva health insurance card. I called Kay to ask for a favor and bring my E-Pass, I thanked her of that kind effort. Kay arrived at the clinic, and I was already inside with the doctor asking me questions. He asked me if I have cough and told him that not really a cough but more of a dry throat. I told him that I had fever yesterday but I took a paracetamol. I told him that I have runny nose. He then checked my temperature and then using his stethoscope, checked if I had some infection. He also touched my neck of some nodes. He then gave me medicine and he asked if I needed some medical certification, and I agreed. The doctor gave me one day leave of office. I waited at the lounge for my medication and Kay was also there for a check-up of her allergy. After that, we went back to the office.

I told my project lead that I have a medical certificate from the doctor and I will be absent. He then asked me to submit the project DLL (dynamic link library) to one of my officemate for her to re-validate if it will work. I have shut down my pc already prior to informing him that I will be on leave so, I turned my PC again. After that, I have composed the email, I shutdown my PC then inform my officemate that I'll be going to have an MC.

I waited for the bus 91 to arrive in the waiting shed and good thing it arrived earlier than expected. I honestly don't like to take medications for some runny nose and cough. The doctor actually gave me antibiotics which personally I don't like. I decided to have a fresh fruit diet today and so went to the supermarket. I bought lean pork meat, a liter of carrot juice, two fuji apples, three oranges, two tomatoes and light soy sauce. I want to cook food for my self instead of buying one at hawkers.

When I arrived at our flat, I changed clothes and after that prepare things for the food which I will be cooking. I first washed the pork and then sliced it into cubes. I then the cubed pork into a bowl and put some vinegar, soy sauce, minced garlic, pepper and a bit of salt. I left the pork for about 30 minutes soaked in that particular mixture to marinate it. I did the same for carrots and the potatoes, washed them and sliced into cubes. I also want to add some fresh tomatoes so I washed and sliced them too. I opened the television and while preparing things, I was watching this episode in Discovery about alien or extra-terrestial life. It was interesting and fun to watch. After I finished the slicing, cutting and stuff, I heat up the pan in our gas range. I put some oil on it and once it warmed up, I put some minced garlic and onions. I waited for few seconds then placed the pork one by one on the pan. I covered the pan and left it for a minute or two. Then checked for the pork to be a bit brownish. Then I placed the carrots and mixed it then leave it for 3 minutes. Then got back again and mixed it with potatoes with the stocked water and left it for 5 minutes. I checked the viand and it was smelling good. I added some black pepper and one sliced sword red pepper. I put some dried basil leaf cut into small squares. I left it again for 3-5 minutes I think. I checked the meat using a fork and it was a bit tender already so I just needed a few minutes for it to be fully cooked. After some few minutes, I could smell how good the food was, I checked the taste and it lacked some salt so I just put it two pinches of salt and mixed it a bit with the little soup and viola it's ready to be served, ready to be served for myself=)) I have actually cooked rice as well so things were ready for lunch. I prepared a bowl for the viand and a plate of rice. I washed then sliced two oranges and one kiwi fruit. I then ate for lunch and enjoyed it much.

I kind of start to like preparing food. I wish I can enroll in a cooking class someday. Also, I wish I'd be okay for I must :)

Good day to you all and ciao!

Weekend activities

There's not much to do today. I think I need to control my shopping urges. Singapore is a place where people's past time would be shopping, simply because, there's a lot of sales in all its malls. Right now, I decided to stay at home.

Things I usually do when at home is have some movie series marathon. Last Saturday, I just finished season 1 of Merlin. Then I watched the third season of Avatar. I also read the Naruto Manga online. And right now, I'm viewing House MD season two. I have watched the first season when I was in the Philippines so I just am continuing right now where I left off of this great series.

I think the availability of good movie series, thanks to sponsors, helped me not to go out and shop. I need to save since I am planning to have a vacation in Cebu in the near future. And we all know that vacations would mean that I have to have extra money for all the purchases and services I want to avail. I have actually bought my round trip air tickets with SilkAir online and I am just waiting for my project lead to approve my vacation leave application.

Anyway, I was also watching some of Leona Lewis video and really loved her Summertime rendition. Go see:


Got to continue my House MD marathon. Ciao!

What happened on Sunday?

Olga had to go earlier to catch good stuff at West Coast and I was there in my room, enjoying "Legened of the Seeker" series or LOTS. My housemates went to church and I was still on my room with eyes glued on my laptop monitor and ears plugged with my two neon green ear phones. After some few minutes my phone rang which was actually connected to my laptop via USB to be power-charged. I answered the call immediately as it was from Olga's. She told me that the Nike Store in West Coast is really having a good mark down on their merchandise. I did not have to second guess as I myself would want to buy a new Nike shoes. I did not know how to get there so I asked Olga what bus should I take. Well it was kind of simple because I just needed to take the MRT and then stop at Clementi station then go to the bus station at the right when facing forward to Jurong East. I had to take bus 189 and it was two stops away from that station. That was it! I turned my laptop off after finishing LOTS episode 9 and hurriedly went to the shower. After the shower I blasted off my way to West Coast Plaza.

There was a lost moment like I crossed the other side of the road and was walking my way to West Coast market. I sensed that I was walking the wrong direction so I called up Olga and she told me not to cross, instead, go straight and I should see the sign. I cross back and then walked straight ahead and there you go, I found myself at West Coast Plaza.

I searched for the Nike Factory Store and saw Olga at the entrance. We went in and checkout their displays. I checked the racks of shoes towering almost to the ceiling, and there were five of them. I was having difficulty of choosing which one to buy because most of them looked cool to me. I said to myself if I have the luxury then I will have to buy most of those pairs but I have to just pick a pair for a tight budget like mine. I found this high cut top sider I think and was choosing which color. I tried both of them and both looked good. So I was thinking really which one to buy and asked Olga a lot of times which one should I pick.... It boiled down to buying the first pick priced at 79 SGD. After deciding what shoes, Olga and I checked some shirts and I bought one priced at 20 SGD. Olga bought the waffles limited edition of Nike at 18SGD for a price of two. I just thought that if I buy something from Nike, I should go check that store and see if they have what I like.

After that mini shopping, we went to this bookstore nearby where Olga bought two books. I needed a bookstand so I went around looking for it. But, prior to that, I checked some books of Paulo Coehlo and found two new issues which I don't have yet in my collection and also found a new cover of Dan Brown's. Well I still have like 15 books to read so opted not to buy and went on looking for that book stand. I found one located at the far east of the store and it was at the lowest rack so it proved really a bit hard looking for that. I thank God that I had more patience now to go on and search for that. You see, my books were in dump on top of my cabinet drawer and really in a bit of chaos. Olga wanted to have one so we bought two. Then we saw this store with bags and check it out but did not buy. I mean that was it for the day. I have like many bags with their corresponding functions and I needed not one anymore.

We went down of the mall from the second level and then tried looking around something. I went to the Guardian pharmacy and the nearby competitor to look for a facial wash and some shampoos. After that, I saw Subway and realized I was hungry. I only took lunch as I woke up really late. Olga and I got a good seat we thought as the table was wobbly and we had to transfer, and once settled with our orders, we ate and talk a lot. We were not noisy though.

After that dinner so called dinner? Hehehehe. We went home. I tell you the walk was long it's as if I was doing a tread mill. It was good by the way as I was not able to visit the gym last Saturday as we went to Johor Bahru Malaysia.

That's for now, good day!

Johor Bahru, Malaysia with Friends

I was so flat when I arrived home. I did not even notice that I have slept thus, leaving my laptop on in my bed. Good thing I did not damage it. You see my bed is of a single size that truly fits just a person (obviously in my case).

Anyway, at around 9AM yesterday, I woke up and went to the shower room immediately. My friends had to wake up sooner so I began to make some bit of noise. Actually, I was singing different songs while having my bath. After I finished the shower, my housemates woke up. Good thing they did because the time that we have to meet at Woodlands was 11 AM. Well people were in queue so it was a bit slow in progress and we a had to rush. At around 10AM, I sent a message to Kay and Olga asked me if I sent a message to her and told her nope. She clarified if the message to Kay was a broadcast and told her otherwise, so I checked my phone and there you go I sent it to Olga and not to Kay. My housemates were in hurry already as we have to meet Kay at Woodlands. It did not help much as the rain came pouring hard. When we got out of the flat, we decided to take a cab going to Buona Vista MRT station. The ride took us around 45 minutes and Kay while waiting for us at Woodlands decided to have a coffee break. When we arrived at Woodlands, I sent an mms to Kay and we met at the exit area. There was this Lutheran guy asking for donation and asked him if any amount will do, so I gave him 5 SGD. He then rounded up my friends. Anyway, some of them just pretended to be doing something else, as the guy was a bit persistent.

The five of us went to the bus terminal for Johor Bahru and we got lost a bit. This was my third time and we still got lost. Anyway we found it and then took the short trip to the end of the Singapore border. The process was just fine when entering Singapore. Since we were citizens of the ASEAN member countries, we need not have any visa at all. After the filing of immigration documents, and checking with the officer, we were in. We need to hurry to get to the bus again. After a short ride, we arrived at the Malaysian terminal and it was another round of immigration check. Everything went smoothly.

Since it was lunch time, the first order of the day was to check for Stone Grill restaurant after we had our money changed to the local currency. We looked for the restaurant in their food court and found it. Kay and I tried the New Zealand steak. Olga and Yayen had the grilled chicked while Jason had the spicy spaghetti with tuna and a vegetable salad. He's on a diet I guess. Well light flashes before we started to eat (cam whoring).... The food was fun to eat and do as we were actually grilling it in our table with this super hot stone grill. After that lunch, we decided to look around and agreed to meet at Starbucks coffee after two hours and so we set our alarms at 4PM.

I went around and found this factory outlet store and bought like 4 shirts after choosing and fitting one by one of which one was nice. I was thinking of buying another one but I had to stop myself. I walked around and found this underwear shop. I bought two renoma trunks. I walked around again and saw Olga at the bossini boutique so I called her and told her of the factory outlet store to check it for themselves as it was selling nice stuff at super low prices. Well Olga and Kay together with me went to this FOS. They had purchases and lots of them specially Olga. Actually, those buys were expensive if bought in Singapore. When we checked it was past four and we thought of meeting Jason and Yayen at Starbucks as agreed and so we hurried ourselves to get there. There was no Jason or Yayen. I don't know if we were late or they were late. The three Gemaltians decided to take a coffee break of some sort and while checking on what to order, Jason and Yayen came out. They were later than us. Hehehehe.... Since we got tired of all the roaming around the mall, we had to sit down and ordered stuff. We had an hour or chit-chat. It was fun talking about office bloopers.... When the break was over, we agreed to meet at around 7PM in that same place and off we fled and started roaming again.

Kay had wanted to buy a bag and so we went to Padini. I like their displays there but I need to control myself not to burn my cash. Somehow I did not give in to the whole lot of temptation and Kay, was able to get that nice bag for a good price. I would have wanted to buy the Lee Cooper shoes but it turned out that I was not convinced with it. So we went round and about at inner city for the Converse shop. We were a bit lost actually of where the Converse shop was. I knew it was there but I couldn't recall where exactly the store was located. After some minutes of looking, we found it. Olga had to choose with utmost scrutiny of the shoes she wanted to buy so Kay and I went out of Converse and check out the nearby shops. Olga did not have to buy any as nothing had a good fit to her liking. The three of us went around and Kay bought a dress. Olga bough also some stuff. Since it was around 7PM we need to go back to our rendezvous. We arrived there and after a few minutes Jason and Yayen were there too. We decided for dinner at this Japanese restaurant at Innercity.

We found ourselves at Nippon. I ordered Ramen with Kimchi plus Gyouza, Kay had Ramen with Kimchi, Olga had the udon, I think Yayen had an udon too but of a different type and Jason had the udon set. I'm not just sure hundred percet about the orders if I got them right. We were having some photo ops, and when our orders came, another set of cam whoring. The food was good, and I found myself really full. I think my friends had a great dinner too. We were kind of laughing as our cash ran out and we need to keep track of the prices of the ordered meals. After some fun dinner and fun talk, we decided to go back to Singapore. But since people wanted to check the Karaoke, we got up of the mall where the cinema was and checkout the Karaoke schedule and price. After that, we decided to call it a day.

It was really tiring but had a great fun with our Johor Bahru adventure. Hope to doing it anytime soon. I think I'm going to shop to Malaysia and not in Singapore.

P.S. Pictures to follow.