Rebooking Tip for Promo Airfares

The cost of airline tickets especially for leisure can cause us a considerable amount of money. That is why promo airfares are real value savers.

To save cost, my sister and 3 of her friends decided to go to Hong Kong and availed of the promotion offered by Cebu Pacific. Early this month, they took their time to plan ahead with detailed daily itineraries as well. What they didn't expect was for their trip to be possibly cut short.

My sister left early Friday morning and is scheduled to return later tonight. Last night, I received an SMS from her telling me one of her companion's mom just passed away and they have to go back immediately. I contacted Cebu Pacific and inquired about rebooking my sister's flight. Here is what I learned:

Promo tickets are rebookable but with penalty. This means that change of date or time is allowed but charges will be applied. In this case, my sister was able to purchase her roundtrip ticket for Php5000 more or less. When asked how much it would take to rebook her return flight, the ticket center agent informed me that since the change will be made one day prior her departure from HK, she will have to pay Php5000 for the fee. Including the new ticket that she will be purchasing, she is to pay around Php12,000 overall.

Probably noticing my surprise, the agent offered this advice:

Forget about rebooking. Cancel the return flight and purchase a new return ticket. It was a better option because no rebooking fees will be paid. However, a new one would still cost Php11,000 if rounded up.

Eventually, the concerned party thought that it would be a shame to waste that much money. My sister and her other friends were there to support her no matter what and so they all decided to stick to their schedules.

In closing, I think promo fares are good for travelers, but the downside is that during emergencies, one just might end up spending more. Better be prepared for those kind of scenarios, I say.

Read more...

Creating and Editing Blog Templates

Due to unfinished post-processing that I need to do for the contents on our Singapore Trip, I had to put the posts on hold for now and instead used my time to study some methods on how to edit the blog templates ;). I used this tutorial site and found it easy to understand even for a noob like me.

I'm hoping to transform the layout into something more appealing, still working on the drafts though.

Read more...

Chouyusha Haruhi Figma

My package is finally here from Japan! ^^,
The contents is a combo of the Haruhi game + figure of Haruhi in her chouyusha or "super heroine" costume, which she wore in one of the play modes in the PS2 game.


I got this on eBay for $36.00 with free shipping, not bad at all considering how much this is selling in most places, as you'll find out a bit later why most people charge an arm for this. Now I proceed with unpacking the goodies :D.

Everything was in perfect condition which surprised me a bit because the seller listed it as a "USED" item.

To those who do not understand, I shall explain first what a Figma is. Figma is a toy line under Max Factory and Good Smile company where they boast highly articulated figures with excellent sculpts and accessories to match. It is a growing industry and so far their most known rival is the Revoltech series.

If you will check the pictures you will see the code SP001 on the box, here's what makes THIS figure very significant. Figma currently has 3 categories: SP (special), EX (exclusive) and the normal releases. It means that this is the first of a Special Releases hence the "001" number. But what makes it greater is that this is THE FIRST Figma figure ever released and was made for the accompanying game! This is somewhat bad as I don't think I'd want to take her out of the box after considering all this :p.

The bad part here is the game is in Japanese which means I won't be able to understand it, plus it's impossible to even make it work on my PS2 unit and TV due to the display format (NTSC-J).

To end with, here's Actar's review of this very figure, enjoy!

Read more...

Applying for a PayPal Account

For quite some time I've always bothered a friend to do my eBay transactions, mainly because I can't make the payments by myself due to the lack of my own PayPal Account. Recently I tried applying for my own account and was surprised that their new procedure was much easier than what I had thought... I was able to complete everything while multitasking during work hee-hee.

I also found a site that provides answers to most questions one would have when applying which was really helpful hence I'm posting a link to it ^^.
PayPal Application Instructions

The process can be broken down into a few parts:

• Creating the account - providing personal information and choosing account type.
  
• Verifying your email account - check email and click the link to activate or you can get the code and enter it in the PayPal account. (I used my Nokia N70's GPRS features to get the code for this step since online mails were blocked in the office)
  
• Attach a card to your account - to charge for your expenses.
  
• Confirming your card - You'll need to check the transaction PayPal sent to your account, it will have a sale description containing a code (e.g. PayPalxxxx where x are numbers). The easiest way is to check your account online, if not you have to wait for your statement to arrive. Since my account isn't enrolled and I can't wait for the statement, I called my card issuer instead and had the personnel check it for me instead.
  

With these tips you should be able to setup your PayPal account with minimal effort just like I did :).

Read more...

JLPT 2009 Application Deadline

As a reminder for those who are to take the JLPT here in the Philippines, the application deadline is but less than a week away. September 3, 2009 to be exact (from 10:00am - 12:00noon and 2:00pm - 5:00pm). In addition, make sure you have read the form booklet guidelines before filling up the application form.

Exam fees are to be paid (Php 850.00 for Level 1 and 2 takers, and Php 750.00 for Level 3 and 4 takers) together with the accomplished form and (2) 1x1 photos at these locations:

The Japan Foundation, Manila (JF, Manila)

12/F Pacific Star Bldg.

Sen. Gil Puyat Ave. (Buendia Ext.) cor. Makati Ave.

Tel. # 811-61-55 to 58 Fax # 811-61-53

Mindanao Kokusai Daigaku (MKD)

Angliongto Ave., Lanang, Davao City

Tel. # (082) 233-0013 / 0081

Japanese Association Cebu, Inc.

5/F Clotilde Commercial Center

M. L. Quezon St., Casuntingan, Mandaue City

Tel. # (032) 343-7662 / Fax # (032) 343-7663

For those not in the know, JLPT stands for Japanese Language Proficiency Test (日本語能力試験, nihongo nōryoku shiken) and is used to certify non-native speakers' Japanese proficiency. The exam is held worldwide but conducted only once a year here in the Philippines. It comprises of four levels, (with Level 4 the most basic and Level 1 the most difficult), covering writing-vocabulary (includes Kanji), listening and reading-grammar. Level differences for examinees can be explained as follows:

Level 1 – Mastery of grammar is high, knows about 2,000 Kanji and 10,000 words, and spent about 900 hours of study.

Level 2 – Mastery of grammar is relatively high, knows about 1,000 Kanji and 6,000 words, and spent about 600 hours of study.

Level 3 – Mastery of grammar is at a limited level, knows about 300 Kanji and 1,500 words, and spent about 300 hours of study.

Level 4 – Mastery of grammar is at basic elements, knows about 100 Kanji and 800 words, and spent about 150 hours of study.

The examinee should be cautious in choosing the level which best corresponds to their Japanese-language proficiency or ability and classroom training as advised by The Japan Foundation (Manila) website. That being said, I decided to take Level 4 instead of re-taking Level 3 (since I missed less than a point to pass the exam the last time I took it T_T) based on these reasons: (1)I am self-studying/self-reviewing which means my resources will be minimal (i.e. no listening materials for review), and (2)work is toxic but I have to make sure that I review 1 lesson per day at the least.

More information can be found @ Japan Foundation Manila, Office website.

Read more...

Chinatown Food Trip

A common misconception in our workplace is that I am always on a diet. They see the amount of food I eat during lunch and they are left in disbelief.

I admit that my lunch intake is at a minimum and I rarely eat dinner but truth of the matter is... I love food. I like trying out new places to dine, eventhough adventurous eating comes with a price (i.e. will cost you money and there's that risk of not getting your money's worth). 

Thank goodness I am surrounded by people who share the same interest. :)

On that note, I bring you our own version of food tripping in Chinatown (wherein the places of choice as well as the ordered food were recommended by our Hong Kongese ex-officemate slash friend, Puikay).

First Stop: Ying Ying Restaurant

What we ordered:

Everything dim sum: (1) Ham Sui Kok - deep fried dumplings with chicken, ham and dried shrimp and a personal favorite, (2) Hakao/Hakaw - steamed shrimp dumplings, (3) Radish Cake - a dim sum made of shredded radish and plain rice flour, and (4) Curry Dumplings.

Where to find it:
Ying Ying Tea House
233-235 Dasmarinas St. corner Yuchengco St.
Binondo, Manila
3872797, 710-3856, 243-6823

Second Stop: Quik Snack

What we ordered:

Having tried their house specialty, Misua Guisado (stir-fried egg noodles with strips of scrambled egg, mushrooms, shrimps and peanuts) from before, we opted to get two orders of Fresh Lumpia (for sharing), which is also popular among the frequenters.  The filling of their lumpia consists of diced cabbage, carrots, murshroom, spring onions, tofu, bean sprouts and wansoy (something that most of us didn't actually like).

Where to find it:

637-639 Carvajal St., Binondo Manila

242-9572, 242-9589

*Carvajal St. is a narrow alley that connects Quintin Paredes St. and Nueva St.

Third Stop: Su Zhou

What we ordered:

Only Xiao Long Bao or soup dumplings.  These are dumplings that have soup inside the bun aside from the usual meat filling.  In order to eat a piece, it is not advisable to pop it whole in your mouth as it might burn your mouth.  Instead, bite the top off first to sip the liquid inside.  You can buy frozen xiao long pao from the restaurant as well.

Where to find it:
Su Zhou Dimsum
807 Sabino B. Padilla St.
Sta. Cruz, Manila
309-7302

Last Stop: Xiao Chun Yuan Restaurant

What we ordered:

Oyster Cake, Duck Soup and Kiam Pong or Chinese Flavored Rice. By this time we were already so full that we decided to stop at this restaurant.  We agreed to have a part 2 of this trip, I just don't know when. :)

Where to find it:
Xiao Chun Yuan Restaurant
823 Ongpin St, Binondo
Manila

***All photos courtesy of ken

Read more...

No More Short Skirts for Japanese Schoolgirls?

Sailor collar top, short skirt plus loose socks. Three things that we normally take as the essentials for that Japanese schoolgirl look.

Not being a part of the male population doesn't mean that I do not appreciate these schoolgirls.

I do.

In fact I fancy looking at them because I find their uniforms too cute. Too cute that I wish we had those kind of uniforms here in our country. But then I'm not in high school anymore... and so when we were told of a Costume Christmas Party last 2007, Rai suggested I be one.

[Check out this blog post about how these school uniforms are a big hit.]


On the other hand. Half, if not more, of the male population maybe fascinated with these schoolgirls not because of their fashion statement but because they wear the shortest skirts in the world.

But then, them guys would maybe saddened to know if this thing I read from DannyChoo's tweet is true. Apparently, more schoolgirls prefer donning long skirts now for reasons such as: it saves them the trouble of rolling and unrolling their skirts (truth of the matter is that, their skirt length weren't really made to be that short, they just roll up their skirts to make them shorter) or that they don't want their legs to be sunburned.

Again, if there is any truth to this, I would think that this trend would probably evolve, back to how it was.

That.

Or we will be seeing variations of Japanese school uniforms with long skirts for good.

Read more...

*自動販売機 [jidouhanbaiki]

*what vending machines are called in Japan

So I often get amused by random stuff... including vendo machines.

But if there's one thing that amuses and amazes me at the same time, it's Japan's overwhelming number of vendo machines.

I tell you, there's just this wide variety of stuff that are made available in these machines. You can buy your drinks from these machines - milk, hot or cold coffee, chocolate, tea, and beer. But drinks, as well as cigarettes are considered common items dispensed by vendo machines. However, in Japan, there are machines that make paperbacks, magazines (even porn), food (ramen to rice), newspapers, mangas, videos, CDs, gift items (i.e. flowers), condoms and even used panties (you read that right) available to just about everyone.

You name it, i [guess] they have it. What's good is that these machines are well-maintained. I have yet to see one that is vandalized or malfunctioning.

A used panties vending machine. Refer to this for more 'awesome' vending machines ;)

To think that Japan also has a good number of コンビニ (read as konbini or convenience stores for us) around (Japan has the most number of 7-11, there's Mini-stop too, and Lawson, and Daily Yamazaki... oh there are many others), it makes one wonder, why do they need all these machines for?

It could be a commercial strategy - to attract more customers. It could be as to allow people their privacy (no need to face someone when you buy and pay for a condom or a porn material neh?). Or it could just really be the next best thing when it comes to accessibility (risky for the minors though) and convenience.

Read more...

Singapore Trip Day 2 Part 1 – Daiso (in Vivo City)

Related posts in series:

Singapore Trip Day 1 Part 3 - Clarke Quay to Commonwealth
Singapore Trip Day 1 Part 2 - Huge Huge Sentosa

After a night's rest, the following morning (on July 25, 2009) I took everybody with me to the MRT station in Central. We are on our way to Vivo City which is on the last station of our train line. That trip to Commonwealth last night came quite useful. Daiso is like a wonderland for some people, at S$2 for any item it’s almost impossible not finding and buying anything you like. This is one of the highlights of this trip for my mom ^_^. I browsed through everything inside the store but refrained from taking photos of the products since there are signs of No Pictures Allowed...



Except for this one on the right. I'm afraid of getting into trouble in a foreign country, it might ruin the rest of the vacation.

Growing impatient while waiting for Ji to arrive, I snapped some photos outside the store, but not too many to conserve battery since we have Sentosa up ahead later...



Ji finally arrived after getting lost via bus, and caught by my digicam! We’re still low on cash due to the turn of events on Day 1. Thankfully, Ji borrowed some cash from Che for us. Thanks guys! We can finally pay our bills at Daiso =^_^=.

However, Ji was somewhat embarrassed and was willing to skip Daiso, of course I felt regretful so we split up with the others and met up after half an hour later. Good thing that Ji has always been fast with her shopping unlike most women I know. After that, we took a quick look around the other shops while waiting for the others.


Upon meeting with the others at around 1pm, we went for lunch at Food Republic. We grabbed a few bites and then I made a trip to the Challenger store to get a generic battery for my digicam before we get moving. This puts us a bit behind schedule but at least not by much. Next, we finally see what all the Sentosa hype is about ;).

Related posts in series:

Singapore Trip Day 1 Part 3 - Clarke Quay to Commonwealth
Singapore Trip Day 1 Part 2 - Huge Huge Sentosa

Read more...

Singapore Trip Day 1 Part 3 – Clarke Quay to Commonwealth

Related posts in series:

Singapore Trip Day 1 Part 2 - Singapore Zoo and Night Safari
Singapore Trip Day 2 Part 1 - Daiso (in Vivo City)

My family and I were staying at Novotel in Clarke Quay, but it’s a different story for Ji who was to stay with our close friends, Mon and Che in Commonwealth. It’s about past 10pm of July 24, 2009 when we left for the MRT, our first time trying out the train. To those familiar with Hong Kong’s MTR system they are very similar, they also have the ez-link card which is a prepaid card particularly convenient for commuting as you can use it to “tap” your payment.



The closest MRT station to our hotel is the one in Central Mall. To get there we had to pass through Clarke Quay's nightlife area.

Clarke Quay has a river view... quite elegant and romantic. Shown here are photos from both sides of the river.

Here's what the area looks like during the day...

Going back to the ez-link card, one can get this for S$15, it will have a usable amount of S$10, while the S$5 will act like a deposit. In my understanding, if you return the card to collect the remaining amount, you won't be able to get back the deposit, only the unused debit amount.

Reloading or “tap up” is done via terminals found in every MRT stations.

We had to walk about 15 to 20 minutes from the station to Mon and Che’s apartment. It’s funny how much more tiring it felt because we had no idea how far we’re supposed to be walking :P. After staying to chat for a while, I realized it’s time to go home when my brain was taking longer to process everything people were saying. This time I took a cab because the MRT’s closed by then... that and my legs are about to give up on me.

Day 1 ended with me taking a shower at 2am before going to bed, not much time for sleep (again). Almost forgot to mention, I made sure to charge my IXUS battery. It would be truly regrettable if I can't shoot pictures for the following day. Hopefully Day 2 will be kinder to me and my poor legs. (-_-) zzzZZ

Related posts in series:

Singapore Trip Day 1 Part 2 - Singapore Zoo and Night Safari
Singapore Trip Day 2 Part 1 - Daiso (in Vivo City)

Read more...

Yotsuba - An Introduction

People might be wondering why Rai is suddenly taking pictures of this certain toy... Questions such as: what is this toy? who is this character? why the sudden interest? might have come up. All these I'll try to explain in this post.


During my second to the last visit in Hong Kong last 2008, Rai fortunately had a scheduled trip as well. And whenever he is in HK, he would always drop by the toy stores that he frequents in 188. In one of our rounds, this cute little girl figure caught my eye. It was her facial reaction that I took a liking of. At that time, I didn't know who she was or what anime series she came from (if ever she did come from one). One day, Rai told me her name was Yotsuba after apparently checking out her box and had read her info from wikipedia. That was the end of it... or the beginning of it, I'd say.

Rai had a succeeding trip, without me this time. When he came back, he had with him this. It was a super nice surprise indeed (can't keep myself from smiling whenever I look at Yotsuba's face... really). He knew this one was a second version and so soon after, he again surprised me by giving me the original version which he found in Greenhills. (i currently have 3 Yotsuba figures courtesy of Rai.... why three when it's just supposed to be two? I'll explain next time).

What's so special with this toy? Being a Revoltech figure, it happens to have "revolver" joints that allows one to move his head, arms, legs any way you want it thus causing the figure to be dynamic and posable. This then becomes my first ever action figure, and a cute one at that. Her character on the other hand comes from a self-titled manga. I have yet to read the manga but based from what I know, it's about this 4 year old girl and her everyday discoveries. I like that she has this motto as well: Enjoy Everything!

Since the figure is small and won't take much space, I see to it that I bring her with me most of the time (for possible photo opportunities). What's even better is that Rai always has his trusty IXUS with him, too. So far, aside from the many dinner outs 'she' has attended, 'she' was able to have photoshoots in Hong Kong, and recently, in Singapore (refer to Rai's Singapore trip posts for 'her' pictures). Rai has been fond of 'her' as well and enjoys taking photos by this time now. :)

Sometimes Rai says that Yotsuba is me, saying we have the same facial expression when I'm amazed and happy at the same time :p. He could be right or wrong... one thing is sure, Yotsuba's motto in life is something I would want to use as well :)

Read more...