The Philippines

Manila, The Philippines

Famous for the most beautiful beaches on earth, Philippines was always on top of my places to visit. I had no idea that I would be getting this opportunity so soon. The island of Philippines (Filipino: Pilipinas) is an archipelago in Southeast Asia with more than 7000 islands located between Philippine sea and South China Sea. My flight was in bright day time and I was curiously staring out of window when I heard announcement that flight will be landing soon. Plane crossed sea and I got first glimpse of Philippines with greeneries all around on wavy land, hills and mountains assured me that I am really landing in a natural wonder.

It was a little troublesome at airport collecting luggage, standing in long immigration queue shifting my wait from one leg to another and later a taxi to hotel where taxi driver gave a bitter first experience in Manila. Got few dollars exchanged to Peso at airport (43 peso/1USD Aug2014). Taxi moved through big and small congested streets and skyways. We reached Makati, my destination, sooner which moreover looked like a concrete jungle and rising towers all around.

Taxi stopped in front of a high tower and we got room on 24th floor. The gazed out of glass wall toward the glittering lights of towers standing parallel to us. Slow moving traffic with vehicles twinkling lights was also clear.

Our hunger to know the place and try new cuisines sooner forced us to start exploring the city.

Locals are in general sweet and soft spoken. Tagalog is the local language here but English is also widely spoken and understood. Showing respect in polite words addressing sir/ Mam is quite common here. Public transport(Metro) is generally crowded and bone crushing during peak office hours. We still found people offering their seats to girls and older people. Jeepneys are another local public transport with low height and windows with no glass. Around 20-30 people can sit inside depending upon size of Jeepneys. Taxi is also easily available at reasonable rate.

Jeepneys, pulbic transport in Philippines

It was tough for us to find local food shops here. City is full of international food chain brands like KFC, McD and few local brands like Jollibee & Inasal giving a tough competition to them. We tried some local street BBQ and had an opportunity to enjoy local delicacy in some restaurants. Halo Halo (dessert) in Inasal tingled my taste buds along with its main course.

Halo Halo Dessert

Philippines is endowed with awesome natural beauty black lined with sudden weather change and natural disasters like typhoons quite often. We already experienced 3 typhoons within 1 months of our stay.

It is rare to see people following their traditional dress although men can be seen in silk shirts which is not tugged in pant. These shirts are status symbol here and hence mostly wore by rich people.

Shopping in Manila:

There are some local market areas. Weekend morning market also held in Legaspi Park(Sunday) near to greenbelt 1 and Salcedo Park(Saturday). You can get local and fresh items here for your full week. Mostly sellers here are from near by villages.

Morning Market, Legaspi Village

There are few wet markets here called Dampa. Dampa at Macapagal open all days and rich of fruits vegetables and seafoods. You may need to bargain as prices may be high for foreigners.

Farmer's Market: is very nice traditional market located near Cubao MRT. Fresh vegetables, meat and seafoods are available at cheaper rate with lot of local shops available for household items as well.

Farmer's Market

Greenhills : This market is a big stretch of cloths, bags, mobiles and souvenirs shops at affordable price. You can bargain at your best here. This is located near Annapolis MRT. Although I didn't experience anything as such, as per local people input, pickpocketing is common in this market so you should be careful with your belongings . In general, it is a safe place for shopping.

Other than these markets, Greenbelt, Gloreitta(nearest MRT Ayala) and "Mall of Asia"(Nearest LRT EDSA) are the malls to satisfy your shopping greed. 

Chinatown: 168 Mall and lucky Chinatown one of many shopping heavens in Chinatown. Prices are cheap still you can bargain further. you can find almost everything there, from jwelleries, cloths, household and kitchen items, electronic goods, furniture etc..

Places to Visit:

There are many churches across Manila while few are quite old and spectacular.

You can visit few of the listed places here.

Intramurous Church

Intramuros: Old Spanish City, still alive located at the sea belt gives you historical idea of Spanish influence on Philippines. The city is surrounded with high walls equipped with Canons.

Nearest LRT united Nations.Take Jeepney to Intramuros

American Cemetery: The place I liked most few Kms from Makati is a nice place to visit. A big stretch of American soldiers tomb here. A total of 17,206 tombs are here.

China Town: Oldest Chinatown of world lies here. With a smell of chinese culture and tradition with cuisine, this place is also a haven for shopping lovers. Although, for shopping you need to go a little ahead of Chinatown known as Binondo or Diversoria. 

Manila Bay: You can spend your evening here with lot of eateries around. Just sit at the bank of river and spend your evening with nature.

Star City: Located close to Manila bay, Star City is amusement park which can keep you busy for a day. Starting time is 4 PM on weekdays and 2 PM on weekends.

Ocean Park, children's museum can be also considered in your visiting list.

Visit Tagaytay

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Malaysia, terima kasih

Malaysia

Malaysia was not very far now. Since I landed in Singapore I was planning to visit Kualalumpur, capital of Malaysia.Finally I booked tickets to KL using www.easibook.com. The bus service "Transnasional" is basically Malay company which was not advised by few of my friends.
Although my convenient time was matching with this bus service, I booked both way in this. Luckily everything went smooth for me with this bus.

towards KL 

I reached around 3AM in morning. My friend was waiting in car to pick me up. We stayed awake chatting and refreshing some old memories and discussing on many dynamic topics.

2 more friend were supposed to join later in afternoon. After staying in Singapore for almost 2 months, Malaysia seemed to be a cheap place for me. We converted few Sing dollars. Money exchange counters are easily available in malls and shopping centers. Once converted and received our friends at bus terminal, we four headed to have a very nice fulfilling lunch. After lunch we straight headed to Petronas twin tower, the symbol of strength for Malaysia. 

We tried to have a look from all angles and also took some nice pics. We realized that life is still more relaxed then Singapore, although heard that this is not a very safe place. We did not see much of local buses there. Metro train are although making the trip convenient inside city. Taxis are also available at nominal rate. We also visited couple of famous malls and shopping centers. After getting dead tired we had a lazy dinner and then we headed to our flat.

We took the couch and again gone in flashback. We all four were telling our flow of life and the ups and down. Time flew and we realised that we should take a nap when darkness started losing its beauty. We started for Genting highland at 11 in morning. We took a small break on way to get some quick bite. Genting is kind of hillstation for KL. Our cable car was going up through clouds blinding our visibility. It was a pleasant cold there. we roamed around on hilltop. Genting is a combination of hill station and amusement park. It also have one Casino. None of us was interested in any joy ride so we just roamed around relax and headed toward KL again.

The trip was about to end. We stopped at KFC to get dinner and then took our bus, back to Singapore. 

Later I managed to visit Johar Bahru as well. It is nice place, sharing its border with Singapore. Little India is very near to immigration. we went inside a temple and spend some good time there. We also did some shopping there, had some nice food and then we returned.

It is easy to go to JB. you can go Jurong east in singapore and should catch SMRT bus to border. After immigration check you will land in Malysia and city name is Johar Bahru. 

    

Singapore, a fine city

A view at Marina bay

A complete month passed to get in the feeling of Singapore. Straight faces and straight talk is something we can define as the culture of Singapore. The complete race it seems is developed to be workaholic. Foreigners from different country with different mindset arrive in Singapore and get colored with Singapore.

It is rare to see independent houses. Government has build apartments called as HDB(housing Development). There are private apartments as well called as Condomium.
Initial days it was tough to digest that Rent for these apartments are as high as 3k SGD. You can easily find 2-3 families staying in same apartment in different rooms sharing same kitchen and toilet.

People moreover looked like programmed. No nonsense country I guess is the slogan of Singapore. You break rules and you will be fined heavily. I changed almost 4 houses or better to say 4 rooms to find a comparatively cheaper and better place. Broker generally charge half month rent for 1 year contract and full month length for 2 year contract. You can bypass broker by looking into some site. Most effective site I found was http://singapore.gumtree.sg

Something I really appreciate about this country is inspite of getting people from different countries they successfully put the same color. You can find people from different race working together without commenting on dress, accent culture or anything as such. At my first glance of my office in Singapore I felt like I just landed on an airport.

Coming back to acco again. Condomium generally have amenities like swimming pool and other play areas but HDB doesn't have. Although government has provided common swimming pool, library, play area at one common location. Anyone can walk into library and spend time without membership. HDB has rules which need to be followed strictly although condo can be ussed moreover like hotel.

Shopping: Mustafa(Farrer Park MRT) stands tall in Singapore when shopping word appears. Spread in a wide area, it have almost all the household things available which is required in day to day use. along with that dress material and electronics goods are also available at competitive price.
Mustafa also arranges foreign package trip and Visa for nearby countries.
Other then Mustafa there are many malls and 24*7 shops. You can also find some shops in your locality who sells second hand goods at quite cheap rate. For electronics goods you can go to Simlim (Bugis MRT). YOu need to have a clear idea of what you are panning to buy and its rate. Bargaining can be done at this place.
                    Cash Converter: This information may be more useful for new comers. If your stay duration is not confirmed, this may be ideal place to buy goods. They sell second hand goods at almost 1/5th of the price ranging from household goods, electronics items, sports item and gift items.  Even while leaving you can sell out the goods back to them. You can find more information at this link.

EZlink Card: This card found a paragraph in my blog because of the innovative idea behind this card. You can get this card at any MRT station. The card can be used to do payment for all MRT and Bus services. Just tap and go concept. This is valid also in all govt provided facilities like sports complex, library, govt food court etc..

Food: You may feel good in Singapore if you are a foodie kind of person. It is easy to find food courts nearby your place selling Chinese, Thai, western and Indian food. Food courts are available inside HDB and Condo which is generally open till 10 PM or sometimes full night. People do less cooking at home and moreover eat outside.

Chinese and Malaysians account a big part of the population of Singapore followed by Indians. Chinese and Tamil is one of the nationalized language.

Festivals: People from different countries kept their culture and festivals alive till some extent. Government declared holiday for each community. You can get holiday for Id, Diwali, Christmas and Chinese new year.

Places to see: You can spend your day at Marina bay and go on amphibian duck trip around the city. Sentosa island is also one of the attraction here.
A nice laser show presentation is done at Marina bay in open. Evening can be spend there with food and drinks watching the music and show.

Thailand, an introduction

Thailand, an introduction

Thailand, located in the heart of Southeast Asia, is one of the prime places for tourists. The country shares its border with Cambodia, Laos, Burma, and Malaysia. Headed by the king, the country is the kingdom of King Bhumibol Adulyadej the ninth king. King is considered to be the head of the kingdom enjoying the maximum power, an upholder of Buddhist religion and defendant of all faiths. You can observe a good impact of Chinese culture on Thailand. Although Buddhism got an image in Thailand from India you cannot deny the sweet essence of Indian culture here. There are many words and many names which is taken from Hindi language. Need not to be surprised when u wonder to see the king name Bhumibol, the Bangkok airport name as Suvarnabhumi Airport, the old capital name Ayuthaya (sounds at Ayodhaya) and story of Ram and Ravan hovering in the air in temples. You can easily find the painting and carving on wall with the Ram story.

The country total area is approximately 518000Sq Kms. Bangkok the official capital, is considered as the City of angels, in thai called Krung Thep. Previously Bangkok was just a small port for trade, lying on the Chao Phraya river. In 1768 Ayutthaya, the old capital, was burnt out, Bangkok was given the status of capital of Thailand. Buddhism is observed by 94.7% of Thai’s while 4.6% is Muslim population coming from China and Malaysia. Thai’s are believed to be originated form vast land of Southeast China. Although Theravada Buddhism is the State religion, other religions are never been a restriction for freedom. Thai Buddhism is ranked highest in the world.

Thailand is only country in Southeast Asia that has never been a western colony. You will love the artistic temperament of Thai. Right from music folk dance art on wall, the traditional dress and well decorated temples all will leave your mouth wide open. If sometime you happen to attend some thai festival you will get a close look on their art and culture. Along with solemnity the celebration is a time of great merriment.

Thailand currency is known as Baht. The biggest denomination is 1000Baht comes on orange and grey paper. Other denomination in descending order is 500, 100,50, 20 baht. This comes on paper. Coins include 10baht with bronze embedded in middle with white metal in border along with 5 ,2,1,50 stang and 25 stang comes in coins. There will be many counters around the city on all tourist places for money exchange run by the bank in Thailand. You can also find the counters which are private and not run by any bank. Don’t hurry to exchange your money at airport. Also check the exchange rate at some counters before exchanging your dollars. There may be remarkable difference in rate at different counter. 1 dollar in general is 33 baht.

Culture and language: Sawasdee is how you will be greeted once you land in Thailand. Sawasdee literal meaning is “may you prosper” but in general hello. Politeness and respect is extremely important in Thailand. Sawasdee should be followed by the words which represent gender of the speaker. Sawasdee khrap for male and sawasdee kha for female. It don’t hold any meaning but very important to use with sawasdee to show your politeness.

Sawasdee is done with raising your both hand pal joined together till chest or head and bowing down. The raise hand is always given by junior person first. The head of the junior should always be lower than the head of any senior person. You can see easily in hotels if you are sitting down on a chair the hotel employees will bow their head in front of you while in motion showing the respect and representing that their head is below yours. Thanks is said as khob-kun-Ka, If you are a woman. And khob-kun-Krub, If you are a man. Negative or disrespectful remarks about king or monarchy are considered offensive and sometimes punishable. Also make sure about your attire while going inside religious places. The shorts and sleeveless both for girls and boys are not allowed.

Traditional dress is decorated with lot of jewelries. Dress will be remarkably long and with tube like skirt. Traditional dress varies from religion to religion and also the location. Some dress resembles the Saree in India. In general Thai people follow the western style dress like jeans and tee-shirt. Traditional dress can be seen in special occasion.

It is easy to get Visa for some listed countries. Visa on Arrival VOA is granted at nominal rate.

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