Closet Conundrums

Never Thought I'd Say This...

But I want to go to Singapore. No offense to all Singaporean readers not that I don't like Singapore but having been there every 3-4 months it's starts to get boring. I never go to bars so after my meetings, I would usually find myself in a mall shopping then back to the hotel.

Like I was saying I really want to go to Singapore. Anyway I'm due for something there soon so I guess I'm gonna get what I want soon. It used to be the reasons why I want to go to Singapore is to get my stock of Royce Nama Chocolate, but now that they have it here I don't think I'd want to hand carry boxes (yes and I mean boxes) of chocolate home even if it costs double here. I heard they are selling a box for 620 pesos, while I remember a box in Singapore was about 12 dollars or about 360 pesos. Another reason why I need to go to Singapore is to get my supply of Aesop. I spent a small fortune buying my supplies last February when I gave up my Kiehl's products. And since I don't think they will be opening a shop here anytime soon, I really need to go and pick up my supplies. Other than Aesop there is on great reason for me to go to Singapore soon...and that is cookies. You heard me right...cookies. They tend to be round and sweet??? Cookies?!?

My bother's friend who came from Singapore gave my brother two tins from The Cookie Museum and I must say they are the most delicious cookies I've ever had...and I mean it. I haven't had anything this good...it's way better than sex...hmmm okay I'm exaggerating a bit. But at 30 dollars a tin, it's supposed to be good...hahahaha.

Those are the only ones left...they really feel lonely...I really should go to Singapore to pick up more of their friends. Here's some photos of The Cookie Museum in Singapore...looks soo nice.

Anyway it's getting late...I really want to go to bed. By the way I haven't heard anything about yesterday's post...

Feeling bad...

I really feel bad that I'm neglecting the blog and all the guys coming here. I know I have been very busy and uninspired of late, and with all honesty I don't know how to snap out of it. Things are stressful at home and at work, things that I expect to be the same for the next couple of months so all I could do is hang in tight and enjoy the ride.

Well on a nicer thought, things are getting a bit clearer about my trip to Europe. Change of plans, thinking of giving up my plans on taking Singapore Airlines and just take Etihad instead. At $4,000 for one business class ticket on SQ, I could get two business class tickets on Etihad so I can take my mom with me. Problem is, I don't think I could still go to Barcelona or Paris, because my mom wants to visit other places in Italy and I have to take her around.

I still feel bad about my email which got sent to my blog. I really didn't intend for it to get posted but I think its for the best. I wouldn't have otherwise had the guts to tell J directly. For what it's worth I appreciate him trying to reach out, but one I really have a hard time being friends with exes and two I asked for time and space before we could see each other again I guess it's my mistake that I didn't specify how much time I needed.

Why am I not excited?

While working on the trip last night I was surprised I was not totally excited about it...I guess I was not excited of the money I'd be spending for it. I finally went online this morning and checked the price for Singapore Airlines and I was pleasantly surprised to find that its going to be about $3,900 to fly into Rome and fly out from Barcelona...whohoo!! But that is still $1,000 more than other carriers, that's about extra 3-4 nights at a nice hotel...any maybe even week for other hotels. So I'm still not sure, considering that I need to set aside money for food and other stuff, the trip might cost me about $10,000 at the very least.

Anyway, I'm also thinking of visiting Prague, but I honestly think that I could only do 2 countries at most, so if ever I go to Prague, I'd have to give up Barcelona. Then of course I wanna se Paris too, never been there...so I could ditch Milan and instead just go to Paris, in fact if I wasn't on a budget I'd fly from Barcelona to Paris then back home.

Well I really have to fix my ticket first because I think it would determine where I would go...oh well..

OH by the way this is not something I took out from an airline magazine, I kinda made it myself, to see how far each city is from another and plot out a course for my trip...its really messy...hahahah

Bye Bye Tokyo...Hello Florence!

Okay, I'm shelving my plans for Tokyo for my birthday and instead saving the money for my trip to Florence later this year. Actually my brother and his partner are flying to Hamburg towards the latter part of November and they will make a quick trip to Florence and Siena before flying back home. Initially I planned on going with them to Hamburg, but when I was checking the flights, I found out that the only way to get to Hamburg is either flying on KLM through Schiphol in Amsterdam or flying Emirates through Dubai. For the sake of practicality, I should just fly KLM because it flies out of Manila, the only European carrier to do so. But the problem is you fly in the afternoon and arrive in Schiphol around 8pm then you have a connecting flight to Hamburg or Italy that night, and get to your final destination around close to midnight. Plus their seats don't look very welcoming...and the last time I flew on a European carrier I had a 5 hour lay over in Rome, 16 hour lay over in Germany and another 12 in Bangkok and had the un-friendliest crew and ground staff ever. So I have no other choice but to fly on Emirates. I really don't have any problems about flying Emirates, but since I have to fly into Dubai first, I have to cut what is supposed to be a very long flight into two long flights. It's about 8-9 hours between Manila and Dubai, then another 7 to Hamburg would you imagine what would happen to me when I fly coach? Well KLM and Emirates would cost the same on Business Class somewhere around $2500-3000 round trip.

So why am I flying to Florence instead of Hamburg? Well I'm really not that much interested in visiting Hamburg, although if some hottie here invites me I wouldn't mind changing my plans again. Anyway back to my plans since I don't plan on visiting Hamburg anymore, I could now take other carriers. Etihad looks nice, although you have to fly through Abu Dhabi so again you would have two long flights instead of 1 very long flight. The tickets are a bit cheaper than Emirates and KLM, so that's something good but they only fly to Milan in Italy and I have to say their Business Class looks very nice and comfortable.

Well I can also Cathay Pacific, at least I can fly to Hong Kong then take a night flight to Europe, sleep on board and wake up in Rome the next morning. With direct flights from Hong Kong to a lot of cities in Europe, I could even choose to fly out of Paris on the way home and don't you think their business class look impressive?

But I'd be stupid not to consider Singapore Airlines, I think the only thing that is stopping me from actually calling my travel agent and check the fairs is because I'm afraid she will tell me its over $5,000! But with Business Class seats like this, I'm sure it's worth every cent, but my only concern is it's going to eat a chunk out of my budget.

Anyway enough of airline talk, and off to Florence, in Florence my brother and I are still trying to decided bewteen JK Place Hotel and the Continentale. Both are small 4/5 star boutique hotels in the heart of Florence.

JK Place has only 20 rooms and was once a real house done in "meaningful contemporary flavours."

While Continentale is one of the 3 Ferragamo Hotels in Florance is is just simply fabulous. Check out the photos below.

So there, if ever I fly to Italy directly I might as well just visit Rome again and perhaps Paris too. But everything is still on the planning stage as it is still a few months away and I also promised my mom to go with her to China on October to go do her Buddhist pilgrimage to Putoushan. Plus we get to go through Shanghai and I can have a new wardrobe made for my trip to Europe.

Now I'm afraid of taking out my calculator and computer how much I need to spend for my trips...yikes. Oh by the way I also want a Pocket Beagle! hahahaha

2-day work week, 3-day weekend

Well the week went bye quote fast having only been to the office twice this week. Anyway today's Friday and Monday has been declared a holiday for Independence day on the 12th so I hope I could get some rest by then.

Anyway I'm quite frustrated with my Japan plans, because I forgot to consider one single most important thing. My Entry Visa, for those who are lucky enough to get a lot of visa waiver programs you have to understand the pains people have to go through to get their visa. Well thankfully I still have a US visa but I heard that getting one for Japan is just as worst. Personal appearance and a truck loads of documents still won't guarantee entry. Plus I have to submit invitations and all that's stuff because I'm not traveling on a tour package. Why on earth would I want to do that? I've only been on a tour group once and I promised never to do it again, not unless its a private group.

So there, I still don't know if I want to do it. Hong Kong just doesn't work for me as much so I really don't know if I should really go there. And as much as I have lots of friends from Singapore I still don't wanna go there if its not for work, for one its bloody expensive and two I really don't know what else to do after I'm done shopping. Hahahaha...

Craving For Sushi

Although I'm still not feeling that good, I was finally able to drag myself to work this morning and although I managed to be at work by 9:30am, its as if my body still refuses to work.

Anyway I chatted with some readers this morning. Well both of theme never cease to amaze me, on is the straight guy who insists on being straight, but sends me photos of hot guys and even admitted to jacking-off to them...so how can you be straight? He said he might be a bit bi-curious. Well to each his own I always say. The other is a nice chap, we talked about a lot of stuff and he gave me an idea where to go for my birthday.

So now I'm seriously considering going to Tokyo this coming august. And although Weather.com says that the weather would be hot and humid , at about 31-24 degrees C during August (just like Manila, but one of the reasons why I want to travel is to get a away from this heat), I am still seriously considering it.

Well I checked out some hotels and I saw some are actually cheap (always thought Japan would be expensive). Anyway as I've said my brother invited me to go to Hong Kong with him, so I'm prepared to pay between 400-600 a might considering that the Landmark in Hong Kong is around HKD4,200++ so I was a bit happy to find out that the rates for Tokyo Peninsula and The Park Hyatt in Tokyo are about the same. Plus with Hyatt, I get two free nights, so if I plan on leaving on a Thursday and come home on Monday which is my birthday, I would end up paying only 2 more nights which would make things more manageable.

Now my only problem is getting around...anybody here who's been to Tokyo? I don't know how to speak Nihongo...would I get lost? I never liked taking tours, especially in groups, I just want to do the exploring by myself so I need to know if I'll have a tough time going around Tokyo.

Oh and I wanted to make today an all Japanese guy post...but I might be wrong with some of them, sometimes it's just really hard to tell..

By the way the banner is almost done, so I might banner designs soon...here's a blurry preview.

Birthday 2008

Okay, this is the reason why I never liked getting bored because I start thinking about things...one of them is my upcoming birthday this August (4). I'm turning 29 this year...Last year I had dinner with my friends at Lili of The Hyatt here in Manila and spent the night with J before heading home the following morning. This year I don't know what to do, of course a dinner with friends would be necessary but I think I want to make a birthday getaway for me around the weekend before my birthday.

Originally I planned on something local, like a weekend at the beach so I was trying to figure out if I should go back to Shangri-la Mactan, but my last trip there was not really that memorable and exciting...plus was very disappointed with the food too so I'm not sure if I want to go back again.

I was also thinking of going to Bohol, a place I haven't been to and I wanted to actually try Eskaya, but for the price ($500++/night), I might be better of going some place else considering that other more exclusive resorts in the country would cost about the same.

Speaking of more exclusive resorts, I've been meaning to go to Amanpulo as well, from what my brother told me it's about 22,000 a night or about $500 for locals, so it's not really that bad. Plus it's Aman, and plus the resort has its own private island unlike Eskaya where you share with a dozen or so resorts.

Then there's El Nido also in Palawan...the price is more reasonable than Eskaya and like Amanpulo, more exclusive as well.

And of course you can't plan on going to the beach here in the Philippines without thinking of Boracay. Plus around August, my travel agent told me that it's about 280-300 a night for the Discovery Shores and with Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, and Air Philippines flying to Caticlan, you get more choices as to when to fly and leave the island.

The only problem about going to the beach is you tend to get lonely easily...besides August is right smack on monsoon season, so I'm not even sure if there would be any sun during those days, and honestly I don't think I'd last that long alone on some deserted island for that long. I was bored out of my wits when I went to the Spa a few weeks ago and I'm not sure if I could do the same again.

Then there's an option to go overseas...

I'm thinking of going back to Bangkok, I know I've just been there last April, but to be very honest, between last April's trip and last year's Songkran visit, I haven't really gone around Bangkok.

I can always stay at the Grand Hyatt, since I have a promotional free night, I could claim 2 more free nights from my points and end up not spending anything for my accommodation.

But I could also stay at the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit where my brother likes to stay when in Bangkok...can't say much about the hotel but from what my brother has told me before it's a good hotel to stay in.

Or I could try Dream Hotel been wanting to try it, although I'm not sure where it is really and how far it is from everything else.

I can also go back to Siri Sathorn, where my brother and I stayed last year during Songkran. Nice affordable hotel plus very near to Silom.

I've also been meaning to try to go to Vietnam. I haven't actually been there so it's worth exploring.

And I can always stay at the Park Hyatt in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) and claim on my free night and not pay for my stay also...Don't you guys just think that the hotel looks lovely?

I also haven't been to Shanghai this year and I surely want to go back. I know it's the week before the Olympics (that's why I'm avoiding Beijing altogether) but the hotels in Shanghai are still on the low. ($300++/night)

And I have 3 Hyatts to choose from I can use my free nights to cut down on costs. I can always go back to the Hyatt at the Bund, where the whole room view fiasco happened last year. They have already invited me back, so I can email the manager there and check on the rates.

Then there is the Grand Hyatt, I'm not totally sure about this because it's over at Pudong, so I'm not really sure about it.

The 3rd Hyatt in Shanghai would be a nice choice, opening in July this year the Park Hyatt would be on the 79th to the 93rd floors of the Shanghai World Financial Center...So it might be a nice experience too.

Plus if I don't like any of the 3 Hyatt hotels I can also go back to the Le Royal Meridien where I stayed during my first solo trip to Shanghai in December 2006.

But something tells me I'd be totally alone in Bangkok and Vietnam and although my brother has friends in Shanghai and I have made some myself, I'm totally unsure as how Shanghai would turn out when I go there.

If I want friends to hang out with and have fun I think I can go to Singapore also. The Grand Hyatt is also there, so I can get my free nights too (with Singapore being an expensive city to stay in). Besides I could always go shopping and hang out with friends. And althought it's not a very exciting place to be in, I think I have enough friends to keep me company. Besides I could also check with our Singapore counterparts and work on some new stuff while I'm there.

I can also stay at Fullerton but I'm still not sure since when I was there last year it was far from everything (except the Merlion of course) but when I'm in Singapore I'm more interested in Shopping and Fullerton is just way far.

I've also meaning to try Naumi Hotel in Singapore and some other small boutique hotels in Singapore...I think it's worth a try...so I just might.

Then of course I can always go to Hong Kong...with dimsum, roast duck and shopping, who could resist Hong Kong? Plus my brother might be there during that week, so it might be cool too.

I can always stay (again) at the Hyatt but I might only be able to claim my free promotional night and a free night from my points. Then maybe pay for 1 night...and although I thought it's gonna be expensive, I was surprised to find them quite affordable at about $400.

Then I can always go with my brother's choice, The Landmark Mandarin Oriental, at about $500 a night I think it's still affordable plus you are right in the middle of it all.

And of course I can also try the Four Season...never stayed there before but the photo sure did make me reconsider. Plus at the same rate as The Landmark Mandarin Oriental...it's still within budget.

Anyway this has taken longer than expected...so thanks for reading...if you have any suggestions feel free to drop me a note :-)

Isn't He Adorable

Okay this is sooooo frustrating, I tried emailing this post 3 times and 3 times I got an error message. I hate it when Typepad decides to f*ck things up when I'm in no mood to upload things manually.

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I mean the guy...not the cat, well the cat is cute too, but I guess I'm more of a dog person.

Well this guy is Wu Zun, he is part of a Taiwan boyband called Fahrenheit and I'm crushing on him now...Of course nobody beats Lee Hom, but he is cute too.

Anyway had a long day, back at the hotel now, the wedding reception ended at about 7pm so I'm finally back to the hotel, thankfully we have wifi too.

Same Old Same Old

I guess you can say I placed a lot of expectations to last weekend's Spa getway. I thought Monday would be something new. I thought I'd have a different outlook and perspective in life. Well nothing changed in the weekend. And to be honest I think it's also because I'm already happy with who I am and I don't need some sort of epiphany to get a change of views or something.

Anyway I want to first share with you some photos of the Farm at San Benito. It's great, the whole Spa is nice, manicured lawns, everything is nice and pristine. They have two nice pools, this one is in their Spa, where treatments are being done. Nice treatment rooms too. Although the massage itself is nothing spectacular.

This one is the Waterfalls pool, nice and private, and very hidden (redundant?). Well the only problem is since its out in the middle of trees, you have leaves and insects swimming with you...not a nice feeling, I would have cleaned it up, but I couldn't find a net to clean the pool with.

The room was fantastic, I got a Palmera Suite, its a "villa" cut in half and so it becomes two suites. Anyway its smaller than any suite, because there's no living room or anything but it has a huge lanai and veranda where you can sunbath in private. But don't expect pina coladas or anything :-)

The food...hmmmm I don't know where to start, well certainly it's nothing to write home about. I guess I was expecting "clean" flavors. Something fresh and simple. Well they are indeed fresh, but the problem is its inundated with all these spices that leaves a bad after taste in your mouth...and I have to wash it down with coconut juice or water with lemons. I don't think I'm very particular with food, but I get quite sensitive about flavors, I don't like anything overpowering, perhaps that's why I don't like Indian food that much, no offense.

Oh by the way it's Dan Hoang's birthday last saturday, I don't know if you guys like him, but I've posted some of his photos on the blog from time to time and although I've gotten some rude comments about it, I don't know if it speaks for everybody who comes here. Anyway he emailed me before, and seems to be a genuinely nice guy. So the first photo is for our birthday boy. Sorry it's a bit late.

Where's Everyone?!?

Where's everybody?!? Okay I'm starting to miss the attention all that breakup gave me...so now where is everybody? Hahahaha.

Anyway I'm a bit psyched for tomorrow. I plan to get everything done before lunch tomorrow so I could leave by noon and hopefully get to the Farm by 2 or 3 and still catch some sun. According to the Spa confirmation, my first relaxation massage is at 8pm and the next is at 5pm the following day. According to their office here, they are running a bit full so I am not sure if I could get another treatment while I'm there.

Now with only two hours of massage there, I really have to set myself for about 48 hours of boredom...so I have to get some books and some movies to save myself from killing myself. LOL

Anyway I was surprised to pick up a book by the same author as the blog, The Great Cock Hunt. I'm so excited to read it, so I'm taking it with me, but by the looks of it I have to take another book with me because I think I'll finish reading it by the first night.

So I have two books with me and some movies (downloaded and dvds) too and I'm praying that would keep me alive. Bringing my portable speakers for my iPod too so I could get some music to kill my boredom. Oh I almost forgot, I just downloaded a movie entitled Shelter. I'm attaching the trailer too so you guys can check it out. It looks like a hot movie and the boys are quite hot.

Well here at today's photos...have fun!