A glacial stream taken in Schladming, Upper Austria

A glacial stream, originally uploaded by Indigo Windi.

Right after white water rafting, I got inspired and chased Fritz all the way to the Wilde Wasser theme path. We didn't have time to actually go the 12 km, but what we did see was pretty impressive: crystal clear glacier water running through forest scenery. It was very impressive and looked like something straight out of a storybook.

Spider Pig Lyrics

Spider Pig

Spider pig
Spider pig
Does whatever a spider pig does
Can he swing
From a web
No he can’t
He’s a pig
Look Out
He is a spider pig

This is SOOOOOOOOOOOO hilarious!!!

Lichtenstein

Today, I've learned that if you're bald, sport an earring and are from Lichtenstein, you can get away with saying "titties" in public and everyone will think you're charming and hilarious...

Bagan, Land of Pagodas

When they said there were almost 3,000 pagodas in Bagan, I couldn't really picture it. But here it is... Pretty astounding sight.


The sunset was nothing short of indescribable. So I took a picture instead. It felt almost like we were in another world altogether.

If you look closely, you can see the hot air balloon that you can ride on for USD 250 per person. Uh, maybe when I'm too old to climb the pagodas...

Shwedagon Pagoda Myanmar

This is it. The mother of all pagodas. Right in the heart of Yangon. The Shwedagon Pagoda.


"While much of the pagoda's beauty derives from the complex geometry of its shape and surrounding structures, equally mesmerizing is its golden glow. The lower stupa is plated with 8,688 solid gold bars, an upper part with another 13,153. The tip of the stupa, far too high for the human eye to discern in any detail, is set with 5448 diamonds, 2317 rubies, sapphires, and other gems, 1065 golden bells and, at the very top, a single 76-carat diamond. Surrounding the pagoda are a plentitude of smaller shrines housing pre-Buddhist spirits called Nats, miracle working images, and even a wish granting stone. The entire temple complex radiates a palpable sense of beauty and serenity."

Exploring Burma

If Angkor Wat captivated me because of its grandeur and size, the simplicity and sense of timelessness of Bagan enchanted me...

The SIMS

Remember that game called The SIMS, where you start with a character and build her up, choose a career, have relationships, maintain a home, etc?
Well recently I've been feeling like that. I think I have past due notices on my phone bill and electric bill and probably the only reason why I still have both is because the people who cut them off can't get past security at my condo.
Hehehe.

Vito on CNN!

This is the picture that made it to CNN Sports Fan Zone! Woooohoooo! My doggy is famous :D

World Cup Fever

The 2006 World Cup is just around the corner, and Vito is obviously more than prepared for it. Italia! Italia!

Old Friends, New Friends

The best part about meeting up with friends you have lost touch with is rediscovering them and realizing that the connection between you is still there. It's almost magical the ease with which you fall back into comfortable conversation with them about all the things that have changed in your respective lives. The realization that instead of growing apart, your bond has grown stronger because it has withstood the test of time, distance, boyfriends, girlfriends, children, pets, careers, and whatever else there is.

Proud Momma

Yesterday, as Fritz and I were walking with Vito in Urdaneta village, a car screeched to a halt and a woman opened the car door calling out to us. In that split moment as I took in her colorful outfit and equally colorful hair, I imagined a million scenarios ranging from "Fritz's ex?" to "It wasn't me!!!"

When the woman called out, "Is that your dog?" I was thinking, "Oh no, don't tell me dogs aren't allowed here or something."

"Yes he is!" Fritz and I yelled back.

"What kind of dog?"

"A Jack Russel"

"He's very active isn't he? A friend of mine has one and when she throws the ball up in the air he catches it even before it bounces on the ground..."

As the woman rattled on and talked about her friend's Jack Russel, I couldn't help but think: "Wow, my dog stops traffic!"

I am soooooooooo proud of this uber cute canine who has come into our lives and taken over, much as we try not to let him!

My new love

Meet Don Vito Coltrane, Birthdate January 19, 2006. Exactly 3 months from my birthday. He is the cutest thing on four paws and I love him to bits!!!

Actually, I am in grave danger of becoming one of those parents who can't stop talking about their kids and every single thing that their kid did no matter how boring it may seem to the listener. I'll take it as a warning sign when my friends and co-workers start avoiding me...

Exploring Indochina

Like any event that is so overwhelming and so grand in scale, our journey through Vietnam and Cambodia was filled with a virtual flood of new experiences that it has taken me more than a week to completely absorb it all. Now that sufficient time has passed, I feel I am up to the task of relating the entire experience in its entirety without dwelling too much on the little details that were significant for me, but would probably bore the hell out of anyone else ;-)

We took the Philippine Airlines flight from Manila to Ho Chi Minh and arrived in Vietnam on December 25, 2005. We had no reservations at any hotel (which made the anal obsessive-compulsive nerd in me go bananas), having decided to just play it by ear and hopefully find a nice hotel to spend Christmas night in. I was, however, already having nightmares about knocking at each hotel and being turned away at every place we tried and having to spend the night in some manger or in our case, some drafty old parking lot.

The first hotel we checked was The Grand hotel, which was already fully booked except for the really expensive suites that we weren't quite willing to splurge on. So Fritz went hunting around some more and we ended up in a spacious, old-fashioned suite at the Riverside Hotel with a gorgeous view of the Saigon River.

After unpacking a bit, we immediately started off exploring the city, and it was certainly a beautiful city to explore. We had already been warned about the thousandsof motos that we would encounter, but nothing anyone could have told us could have prepared us for the actual sight of a moto-to-moto traffic jam.

We made our way to the city center and checked out the Continental where we asked if they still had available rooms. Turns out they did, so we made reservations there for the next night.

We spent the rest of the evening walking around the city and sampling the cuisine (including the bia, of course).

Funky noodle house. I can't get over the fact that the neon sign is as big as the front of the shop! I thought it made for a great photo-op.

Sonya's Garden

Finally! After three months and seven thousand pesos, I have my battered, 3.2 MP casio exilim back. Just in time for our Angkor Wat trip :)

Before I delete all the pictures from my mem card in anticipation of the numerous photos I will be taking to document our trip, I decided to post a few memorable ones.


Our salad/pasta buffet at Sonya's Garden which we thoroughly enjoyed, although a nice juicy steak afterwards would have been highly appreciated.

Me and fritz at the Taal Yacht Club before we sent sailing on a hobie cat.

My experimentation with digital photography and cellphone lighting. Models are Amanda Virrey and Gabby Gaskell

Christmas 2005

Since we invited my mom, my sister and my grandmother over for Christmas Eve, Fritz and I have been trying to decide what to serve for dinner. We finally settled on the following menu:

Starters: Bouillabaise with fresh seafood and crusty french bread
Salad: Fritz's favorite garden salad with vinaigrette dressing
Entree: What else but authentic austrian schnitzel with thai rice as a side dish
Dessert: Ice cream sundaes

I think that should be enough. The bouillabaise alone would probably be very filling :)

Then the next day, we leave at 11am for Ho Chi Minh City to begin our Indochina adventure....

I can NOT wait!

My Very First Christmas Tree

Of course it isn't my first ever Christmas tree. It's just the first one that I ever actually purchased. The funny thing is, I already had a particular one in mind. I hadn't seen it yet, but I could imagine what it would look like already, down to it's height, the exact shade of green it would be, the material of its leaves and the thickness of the branches.

Fritz and I decided to go Christmas decor and general Christmas gift hunting yesterday (three cheers for Monday holidays!) at Bangkal in Makati. We absolutely love bargain hunting in this not so well known part of Makati because you never really know what you're going to end up finding. One time, Fritz was able to purchase this antique musical mini-bar there one time for like, Php800. On another occasion, I found a San Miguel Pale Pilsen bottle that looked like it had been stepped on and turned into an ashtray. I thought that was hilarious and was planning to give it to Fritz last year for Christmas, but I just couldn't keep it to myself for that long...

Bangkal is a bit like Portobello Street in London, in the sense that there are so many knick knacks and odds and ends lying about (yesterday there was this old jukebox player complete with old records and all, right beside a cage with two pit bull puppies). As we were going about, I suddenly saw, sitting nonchalantly on a side table, the Christmas tree of my dreams. It was absolutely perfect, just how I had imagined it. I did the usual bargain-hunter tactic and pretended to be only mildly interested when I asked how much it was. The shopkeeper did the usual seller tactic and quoted a price higher than what she would be actually willing to let it go for. After some good-natured haggling, we finally settled on the price of Php400.

Php 400 for my first Christmas tree!!! Well, I guess it's actually officially OUR Christmas tree. Whatever. It's beautiful and it's perfect :)

Angkor Wat, Here We Come!

Here's the travel itinerary for the Indochina trip that we will be making in December for anyone interested in joining us :)

Transportation set expenses:
Roundtrip ticket to Saigon = USD300
3-day pass for Angkor Wat temples = USD40
2-day tour of Mekong Delta = USD21
boat from Phnom Penh back to Saigon = USD6
bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap (roundtrip) = USD12

Total set cost so far (for TRANSPORTATION) = USD379

I'm assuming a cost of USD30-40 per day for food, drinks and accommodation, so that's around USD400. So all in all, the trip would cost about USD779.

Dec 25 - arrive Saigon
Dec 26 - spend day in Saigon
Dec 27 - go on Mekkong Delta tour
Dec 28 - arrive Phnom Penh
Dec 29 - spend day in Phnom Penh
Dec 30 - travel to Siem Reap
Dec 31 - spend day in Siem Reap
Jan 1 - spend day in Siem Reap
Jan 2 - travel to Phnom Penh
Jan 3 - travel to Saigon
Jan 4 - fly back to Manila

This will be my first time to go to another Asian county besides the Philippines. Plus, it will also be the first time that I will be traveling internationally with someone other than a relative or co-worker. I cannot even begin to describe how excited I am!

Diving with the sharks

Right now, 2 things keep recurring in my mind: bamboo's new song "hallelujah" (i was able to download the mp3 in a matter of minutes thanks to BEARSHARE!) and the image of a thresher shark appearing 23m below sea level swimming towards me out of the blue. Not that the two have anything to do with each other except maybe the kind of effect that they have on the senses.

Anong balita, sa radyo at tv?
Ganun pa rin kumakapa sa dilim
Minsa'y naisip ko ng umalis na lang dito
Limutan ang lahat, lumipad, lumayo

The dive with the sharks was at 530 am and I was quite apprehensive before the dive. I was worried that I would panic once I saw a shark up close and personal and do something stupid like maybe bolt for the surface or thrash about trying to swim away. (Images of Jaws scenes flashing before me). I was worried about my BCD being too big for me and bobbing up and down behind me and knocking me out with the oxygen tank. (Hey, it could happen!) I was worried about not waking up in time for the dive and the weather being lousy and spending all that time and money and anxiety for nothing. (Dumb sharks don't have enough sense to come out at a decent hour like noon or something when it's bright and sunny and I've fully recovered from my hangover)

In effect, my entire evening before the dive was ruined because I was worried about everything and anything I could think of to be worried about. The rationale behind which was to exhaust myself with worrying about it now, rather than during the dive. I was finally exhausted enough by 11pm to fall asleep.

Bato bato sa langit,
tamaan wag magalit
alam naman natin sino ang tuso
sa bawa't sumpang umiiyak singil ko ay piso
sa bawa't lumuluhang dukha, alay ko'y dugo

Apparently not exhausted enough since I woke up at 2:45 am panicking that I hadn't set my alarm. I forced myself to go back to sleep and reserve my energy for the dive ahead. Two more precious hours of shut eye... Thankfully I was able to go back to sleep almost immediately.

Promptly at 5:01, my alarm sounded off and I gave myself a minute to wake up and then I promptly rolled out of bed and donned my pink brazilian bikini. (Courtesy of Eileen Sison of Guarana) I made my bleary-eyed way towards the end of the beach to ty and find the dive shop that my divemaster friend recommended. I had no idea who my dive buddy would be, all I knew was that he had done this dive before already and it would be just the two of us on the dive. Thank god. Last thing I wanted was to be paired off with an equally anxious newbie.

Turns out my dive buddy was an old pro who had been diving for 46 years already. He was a Swiss-German who learned to dive in Switzerland when he was only 16 years old. I was like, "where on earth do you dive in Switzerland?" and he said that they would dive beneath the ice during New Year's with a bottle of red wine. (more confused thoughts in my mind: how do you drink red wine under the ice??) Apparently what they would do was sneak up on the fish that were hibernating and pour the wine into the mouths of the fish and watch it come out of the gills. I was cracking up laughing and thanking the stars that I was born in a beautiful tropical country abundant with colorful tropical fish.

We had a lot of time to exchange stories and get to know each other better becuase we started the dive later than expected because the boat we were supposed to use was beached due to the low dive. Apparently the captain had too much fun the previous night and was not able to wake up early enough to move the boat. By the time we were ready to ship off at 8AM, I was more confident with the dive. I was assigned to a divemaster who works for the Search and Rescue division of the Philippine airforce, and then the two others on the dive was Guido, the Swiss-German and Danny, the resident divemaster of Divelink. I figured if worse came to worst, they could just knock me out and drag me to the surface!

May pag-asa ka kapatid! Kaibigan!
Hangga't ako'y humihinga, may pag-asa pa!
Hallelujah!
Sinong sawa, sinong galit?
Sumigaw ngayong gabi
Hallelujah!


After 30 minutes of tanning myself on the prow of the boat, watching the flying fish jump out of our way and admiring the amazingly clear sparkling emerald water below me (2 worries out of the way: it was a BEAUTIFUL sunny day and I woke up on time), it was time to gear up for the dive.

The only reason why I have enough patience to deal with all the tugging and pulling required to don a 3cm full length body suit is because I know that it's better than shivering throughout the dive at 25m below. All in all it took me another 10 minutes. (1 more worry out of the way: the BCD was a snug comfy fit)

Edison, my Search and Rescue dive buddy, gave me a few more pointers (to inflate you bcd, press here, to deflate press here) and then we were off. I was the last one in the water and for a minute or so I was panicking about not being able to descend. Finally, a strong arm reached out and hauled me towards the line. (good old Edison!) I couldn't see anything below me at all except for Edison's shadwy form, so I just concentrated on following him trying my best to block out the theme song from "Jaws" from playing in my head.

After what seemed like an eternity, we had finally reached the bottom. No walls here, thankfully. Edison signalled for me to follow the rest of the group who were already in place, crouching as low as possible to the surface, making as little movement as possible. I tried to follow suit but I was having trouble controlling my buoyancy. I must have looked like an idiot bobbing up and down there. I was beginning to have the sinking feeling that if we didn't get to see any sharks on this dive, my dive buddies would all blame the greenhorn diver who couldn't even manage to do the simplest task: float.

My worst fears were confirmed when Danny signalled after minutes of staring at nothing to move to the next shark watching spot. Once again, I tried looking at least half as professional as the group I was with, to no avail. Good old Edison had to once again reach out and haul me along like a sick puppy. At this point, all my worries about seeing a shark and panicking were thrown out the window. I was more worried about NOT seeing a shark and having to sit in a boatful of frustrated divers who were all bound to blame me for the 30 minute ride back home.

I dredged up all the tips and strategies that Ralph, my Dive Master taught me during my certification and concentrated on controlling my breathing and my buoyancy until I was finally able to maintain a fairly stable floating position hovering near the bottom of the underwater coral bed. Now I could focus on keeping a lookout for those sharks. Or pretend to at least. I was still concentrating on maintaining my buoyancy level.

The suspense was starting to kill me when Guido finally turned towards me and made the "shark" motion with his hand. I scanned the area he was pointing at, but couldn't see anything for a while, and then suddenly, just like in a movie, there it was, appearing out of the blue as it's silhouette gained definition the closer it came to us. And it was coming straight towards us too. But I forgot all about being afraid, as I was just caught in awestruck wonder watching it swim towards me. Around 10 meters away from me, it turned and circled back to wherever it came from. I will never forget that moment when the shark fist appeared and it was facing me directly! Spellbound was a word invented for moments like those...



Blinded by the light
I could barely see the faces in front of me
Asking me where do we begin
Well for starters from within
I'm ashamed of what I've become in the mirror
The face of my one true enemy
Hallelujah it's a new day


Everything was pretty much anticlimactic after that. After the dive, Guido showed me the pictures he had taken and I made him all but sign a written oath that he would email me the pictures. He promised that he would but that it might take a couple of weeks. Hell, I don't care, better late than never!

The best thing about traveling, aside from having new experiences is meeting new people!

Cheers to that :)

(Photos above courtesy of Guido Brander, my Swiss-German dive buddy, who remembered to email me the photos! Danke schon!)

Sleeping like a king

The best thing about having a king-sized bed all to yourself is the fact that you can S P R A W L! you can stretch and stretch and stretch and toss around all you want and never hit the edge of the bed. of course, it helps if you're only 5 feet two inches tall. just the sheer amount of space you have to sleep in makes you feel as if you slept longer than you actually did.

it's funny, i lived in a hotel room with a king-sized bed for a month and hated it because all that space just made me feel even lonelier. now that i'm used to sharing a bed with someone, any chance i have of having the bed all to myself is suddenly such a luxury. i think it helps a lot that i know fritz will only be gone for a week and that he's with his dad and that he's having fun in dubai, as opposed to him being miserable in austria for 3 weeks. maybe it's the fact that since we share the bed, fritz and i have some sort of connection already. something like: if he's sleeping well, then i'm also sleeping well because when he's in austria, i feel he's absence beside me so strongly that i wake up after a couple of hours sleep and get disoriented when i don't see him sleeping beside me. maybe that's because i know that he is missing me halfway around the world too...

Epiphany #2

One of these days I will end up writing that book on how to deal with men. It isn't that easy to make the transition from a fun-loving, sassy, tongue-in-cheek chick to a mature, cosmopolitan, diplomatic woman.

The first thing I had to learn was to pick my battles. Let's face it, the reason why we love men is because they're like puppies: dumb and adorable. If they didn't go gaga over women, they wouldn't be half as adorable. The problem starts when you try to teach them to become adult human beings. Sometimes, it doesn't work out and they just turn into dogs. Like puppies, they tend to start fights over the stupidest things: taking a bath for example. Or peeing in the right spot. Or hanging out with the other puppies and chasing cats. Or any number of ridiculous things that only puppies and men can come up with. The trick is to give in to all the small things so that it seems like you're the nicest person on earth. It really doesn't take much to make them happy anyways. When the time comes that you are really fighting over something serious, then don't back down. By this time, he will be so used to you giving in that he will pay attention, realize that this is serious, and give in to you. At the end of the day, he's happy because he got all the small unimportant stuff and you end up getting the important ones.