batam on half a day

indonesia is a large archipelago that some of its islands extend just below singapore and interestingly, on its eastern side, it shares a big chunk of land with papua new guinea. bet you don't know that! but no worries, we're in the same boat! i also didn't know until i keyed in "indonesia" in google map. if you already knew it, good for you. really. there's no hint of bitterness in between these words. haha

well, batam is a tiny island in comparison to indonesia's other big islands and this minuscule island is just one of indonesia's 17,508 islands! yes, seventeen thousand! wow! it is merely a ferry ride away from singapore but quite strange indeed that i was only able to cross the border for indonesia just recently. a very contrasting point blurted out by my indonesian colleague. she said that i chose to fly to a more distant place than to get on a ferry to her country.

Harbour Bay Port, Batam, Indonesia

hand in hand for metro manila

i have only been to the capital for a very scarce number of 4 times. each of which was very short that spanned for only a few days. nonetheless, its current situation as of this writing does not require someone with a closer relationship, in order to feel its immediate need for relief and like me who's only been there for brief periods, would want to pitch in the best way that i can even if i'm miles away. i hope you do too.

Aerial View of Metro Manila

if only cebu could share its sunshine to the northern part of the country...

aside from this futile imagination, i had done a minute share through red cross philippines' website and it was such a breeze given there are various options to suit your preference and convenience.

http://www.redcross.org.ph/donate

we filipinos, certainly can withstand this adversity once again. if you're of different nationality, rest assured there won't be such thing as small help from you. :)

o-O

the angkor temples in photos part I

i don't have the nicest quality in my photos and i could even have the poorest there is since the angkor temples became known to the rest of the world. but then again, these were the very photos where my actual experience that day would forever be stuck in time - not even the professional photos can replace.

it has been my mantra that it would be a different experience if i got to visit a place again. there would be those subtle differences that would make my experience a bit or even entirely distinct from the previous one. plain obvious in my banner. yes, there could already be millions who had done the angkor tour but i'd like to think that my experience was different, since in the first place it's the actual me who was there.

all set and ready for an exciting day ahead with an overused angkor guide booklet in my hand, eva and i started our angkor tour at angkor thom, the last capital city of the khmer empire.

Bayon Temple