Some pretty echinoderms at Siquijor

A short brief

Just back and a short summary of my trip before i forget the bits

didn't get to eat Halo Halo, and only got to drink green mango shake once.

Best kinilaw was at the seafood restuarant in Ilo Ilo. Worst was the one in Dapitan, Mindanao. 2nd and 3rd were the ones eaten at the BBQ place in Cebu and Hotel Del Rio respectively

White people turn orange when they over tan. bright orange leathery skin.

Too many old white european men buaya-ing the local lasses, and they have bad taste to boot.

Garlic rice has become all the rage in the Philippines. i've never encountered it on my previous trips before.

The sound of the sea is a powerful rouser of memeories buried in the depths of one's mind, and even the ferry service has gotten into gloating over my misfortunes

The fire as Boracay on Friday, 21st Jan has absolutely nothing to do with me!!

It is not only possible for me to sleep talk, i realised that I sleep text as well.

Mindanao is really safe, despite what the media says. I never felt like there were MILF militants hiding in the dark alleyways, waiting to pounce on unsuspecting tourists.

I missed the beached whale shark at Dumaguete by just a little. probably wrong beach.

But I was close enough to the pod of dolphins on the way back from Aliguay to jump in and swim on their backs.

Corned beef with rice can be tasty, but only when its the Jollybee version. As for the rest, its against my religion to consume those.

you can find decent korean food at half the price of Singapore's.

Riding on a motorcab with legs sticking out and getting grime on the face can be fun

On the 2 hour boat ride from Dipolog to Aliguay, one starts to wonder how the sounds made by the boat engine can be spelt.
PBRRRMMM PBRRMMMM at full speed.. puttt puttt puttt when its slowing down for a refill of diesel.

My first encounter with a beach full of M. brevidactylus. They really slow moving, marching to some kind of internal rythm. and it makes a funny sound. like crumpled glass (!?!).

Ilo Ilo, Philippines

Well.. its day 3 and i've finally gotten hold of a PC. Just a quick rundown of what's been happening the last couple of days cos like i told myself to blog right? something mundane better than nuthin!

Arrived at the airport at 7.45am. I had only woken up at 7am, having only slept an hour. I had reached home at 3am while sorting out loose ends at the lab and spend 3 hours packing, deciding what to wear blah blah.. boring stuff. Anyway.. i was in such a comatose state that the moment i had stepped on the plane and plonked down on my seat, i was fast asleep. and remained so throughout the 3+ hour flight save for a 20 minute breakfast of chicken rice. my friend J met me at the airport, with my transfer tickets to Ilo Ilo. In return, i passed him some dodgy bargain bin VCDs bought from HMV.

The flight to Ilo Ilo was uneventful.. after all, it was a mere 35minutes in the air....and after that a short taxi ride and we've arrived! safe! i think this has got to be the most uneventful journey i've had so far with nnk. could it be that we're finally breaking the jinx!?!

The conference was a blur. mostly presentations on aquaculture and breeding crabs... which is interesting.. but there's only so much "Effects of temperature and salinity on Scylla" and "Results of various nutritional feeds on the growth of Scylla spp." one can listen to without zoning out.. and i've sat through a tonne of it.

My own presentation ended a few hours ago... but strangely, instead of feeling relaxed. i still feel agitated. I almost want to go back to Singapore immediately to finish up the paper because of this fear of being scooped. I feel like my secret's out now and i gotta publish before some nasty bastard sitting with a camcorder at the meeting decides to do a dirty one on me. It doesn't help that one of the Profs told me just now that she has sent some specimens to Imai, my arch nemesis. damn.. i hope this feeling goes away, at least for the time being. i still have 10 days here and i'm gonna make use of it checking out the fish ports, and collecting. that and i bought a whole bunch of VCDs from the mall last night. the whole season 1 of Curb your enthusiam! for only 850 pesos! its less than SGD30. original too! think i got a good deal. Other finds included Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for less than ten bucks. Movie marathon every night man.

Ok.. times up. gotta go. cheerio.

Leavin on a jet plane

Finally done... my presentation for the workshop. I leave in 7 hours which is normally plenty of time, but wait a minute.. i have not packed! But its just field trip my style... it doesn't feel like a FT if I don't cut it too close. Maybe the adrenaline rush makes me feel like an Amazing Race participant. haha

Anyway to the (2) people who read this blog (ha!), I'll be away in the Visayas from the 19th-30th, first couple of days at a fisheries workshop, and then island hopping for collection. note to self: Blog about it when you come back!!!

I'll be with NNK, my long suffering FT kaki.. the lab is already taking bets on what natural calamity will befall the visayas this time round.

tata!

Conference Ilo Ilo

This time next week, I'll be wrapping up a conference in the Philippines. But in the meantime, paper not finished! Much less said about the presentation the better. Die liao

Owl sighting on Lower Kent Ridge

My first owl sighting in Singapore!!! no pictures i'm afraid. cos it was too dark and all i had was my pathetic phone cam.

So there i was, walking along Lower Kent Ridge on Monday in the dead of the night (2.30am) towards NUH to grab a cab home when somewhere along near the junction of Science Dr. 2, I heard a crow squawking loudly. Odd isn't it? if it were a Chinese movie, it would mean that somewhere, someone's dead or something equally bad. I walked further up to the source of the commotion and high up on the branches saw 2 figures, a crow and something else i couldn't quite make out. Crow looked agitated enough and it was making louds screeches and flapping its wings. the intruder turned and then i saw it. the face of an owl. heart skipped a beat and all i could do was to run to the middle of the empty road, with head up all the time trying to get a better view. 2 cabs passed me by then, but were ignored. the taxi uncles must think i've gone mad.

white face with a dark brown back. i'm not much of a birder, so couldn't identify it. in anycase, i rang Z but she like any other sane person had probably gone to bed. R was up though, still in lab, so i rang him to share my joy. he's not much of a birder either, but managed to sound interested, bless him. stood at the same spot looking at this magnificent bird for a few minutes before it decided to up and glide away in the silence of the night, but not without some brave heckling by the lone crow whose's night's sleep is probably ruined.

thought it was a barn owl, but thinking back now, with the dark back, it could well have been the grass owl. will double check with the neighbours tomorrow.

not a bad start to 2005, i reckon...an owl!!!!! :D