This past April, I embarked on another journey. Given the circumstances at office (which I’ll explain later), I decided to go somewhere ‘interesting’. This time, a country which upon researching last year, I realized offered so much more than I thought. I’ll go into the details as to why I took the plunge to go as far as Philippines when I begin this series 2 months from now, but until then, here a few of the 5000-plus photos I took from this 2 & 1/2 week long trip.
Flew over the South China sea for the first time -- very pretty (Taken on my cellphone)
First day of sight-seeing: The Manila American Cemetery and MemorialWhere 17,202 soldiers, Filipino and American, are buriedA rainbow caused by the sprinkler and sunlightMet my reader (& now friend) Aimee who helped me a LOT in ManilaArrive in Banaue the next dayGo on a tour by trike through a region quite prone to landslidesEmbark on what became the toughest trek I ever didSeeing these villagers carry livestock and kilos of grain for nearly a 1km through terrain that I found *incredibly* tiring even with hiking boots on, made me want to never complain about corporate life ever again. Listening to pigs squeal (& the resulting echo in the valley) for more than half-an-hour also made me not want to have pork... (that day)After nearly 1 1/2 of trekking, the view I get in Batad. A village with no access via road and one that only got electricity recently.And since these children don't see new faces often (least of all an Indian), played with them for a bit as wellAfter a break, trek all the way back through tracks destroyed by landslides... but this time, with a local I hired to carry my bags. My body just couldn't take the load a second time.End the day with a view of the grand daddy of them all, the Banaue Rice TerracesThe sheer size of the Banaue rice terraces are a bit hard to capture on photographThe next day, take two jeepneys to get to the small town of SagadaA small, but beautiful town!Sagada is also famed for its limestone cavesWhich was an amazing 'first' experience for meSagada is also famous for this, Echo Valley. People laid to rest for years on the side of a cliff.Leave the next day and drive through beautiful terrains to get to BaguioThen, on Good Friday, arrive in the town of San Fernando in Pampanga district for the main reason I chose to fly to Philippines at this time of the year.Warning: The next few photos are going to be graphic in nature.I don't have to time explain what the rituals are about and why they celebrate it this way, but you can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Pedro_Cutud_Lenten_RitesMind you, it was scorching hot that day"You want photo? One bottle!"The famed annual re-enactment ceremony of the crucifixion of Jesus ChristPeople volunteer to be actually nailed to the crossAnd in case you don't believe me...Taken on my cellphone because of number of people jostling to get a close up view(Also taken on my cellphone)Street child: "Hey! One photo mister!" (grabs baby sister) (I start to click) Street child: (Oh, he's *actually* taking my photo?) ~shy~The night mass with beautiful floats of... erm, Christian characters from the bible(?)Arrive back in Manila for a guided tour by Aimee. The Manila Chinatown was nothing special, but their fire engines were!Manila Cathedral in IntramurosI get everything... except the 'chicken' part. As seen in Robinson's mall in Manila.Arrived in Cebu to kick off the second leg of my journey. This was the ceiling at the oldest church in Cebu.Take a ferry to Bohol, hire a trike and drive one hour to see this: the Chocolate Hills1,776 hills that make for a phenomenal geographical formationSee Bohol's Tarsiers. An animal I think, became the inspiration for Dobby's appearance (from the Harry Potter films)Arrive in Sambang in Palawan island to visit the Puerto-Princesa Subterranean River National ParkThe underground river is a 8.2 kilometers long but tourists are only allowed 1.6kms in. The place is in contention for the 'New 7 Wonders of the World' contest.Another interesting and never-done-before experience for me! Also, quite a challenge holding the light *AND* clicking photosTrust me, there's a LOT more photos from inside the cave but no time for me to work on all of them now.Once out, had lunch on Sambang beach.Wake up early the next day, take the local bus to the Northern most town of El NidoHave sandwich bun ice cream for breakfast (Rs. 15)Arrive at my guesthouse in El Nido beach. Sit out, stare into what's right in front of me...and do little else. (Taken on my cellphone)Go on an island-hopping tour the next day. Snorkel in a lagoon wearing a life jacket.....and attempt kayaking for the first time. It was a lot easier than I thought! (Unfortunately no photos of me doing all this because I was afraid to get my valuable camera equipment wet. I've had previous bad experiences with salt water screwing up my equipment)Stop on an island for lunchWhich was barbecued fish and porkKids on this island must be sick of drinking coconut waterWatch the sunset on Las Cabanas beachHave a 'home-cooked' dinner of lobster soup, grilled lobsters, fried tuna and rice, all for Rs.250Leave El Nido the next morning... and leave the island of Palawan at sunset, thereby concluding my sightseeing around Philippines.
Needless to say, I have many more photos to share and plenty of experiences. This was without a doubt, the best trip I ever made in my life (so far)!
It’s finally here! Jay Park finally makes his solo debut!
2011 may only be into its fourth month, but with the deluge of idol groups hitting the Korean pop scene, the music has gotten pretty stale to me. Every time I heard the line “Check it out…” “…Brand new sound!” as the intro to some song from new idol groups, all I kept thinking was: “Nope, it’s the saaaame sound I heard yesterday from that other girl group who debuted!”.
I’ve been anticipating Jay Park’s solo debut for a while now. Ever since I heard “Demon” last year, I knew this dude was destined to be the next big star. Not a star like how Rain is popular as an ‘Asian star,’ but a star of Asian descent who will become a worldwide superstar!
For one, he has the advantage of being American (of Korean descent). Born in Seattle, Jay Park grew up dancing and performing, and his influences are deep in R&B and hip-hop — not cutesy idol pop. Not to mention his love for b-boying.
Since leaving getting kicked out of 2PM, Jay Park has been slowly whetting the appetite of his fans, a.k.a Jaywalkerz. A few YouTube covers later, he’s now out with his first album ‘Take a Deeper Look‘. He’s on his own now, so he has the freedom (I guess) to do the kind of music that he wants, not what JYP any labels wants him to do.
Which brings us to his first single “Abandoned”.
My review: “Abandoned,” if sung in English, would sound like a lot of the modern day R&B one would hear on radio. I love the chorus, the overall look of the sets, and the choreography by Andrew Baterina is slick! It’s not a ‘fresh new sound’ but a good track in the same vibe of many other good pop R&B tracks from artists such as Ne-Yo & Chris Brown. For a self-penned track, it’s a great effort — given how rare it is that K-pop stars make their own music. If I were to nit pick, it would be Jay looks so awkward from 0:05 to 0:07. Yeah he’s short, and quite shy in real life so I can imagine how awkward it may have been to do some of the scenes in this MV :). I hope he recorded an English version of the same. Or at least has a dance only version of the music video!
My rating – 4/5
As for the other tracks:
“Touch The Sky (Feat. The Quiett)” – Kicking the album off with a smooth hip-hop track, Jay Park straight away reminds listeners he can rap too. Love the beat and the retro loop music. (This track also reminded me of the late Nujabes) – (4/5)
“Tonight” – I’m guessing this was supposed to be the first single, but after BIG BANG released their hit “Tonight” a few weeks back, Jay Park and SidusHQ may have had second thoughts on pushing back this track for a second single release. It’s more fast-paced and only the pop-sounding track on the album. Not bad, but I’ll probably like it better with the video.
Update (11/05/2011): The MV is out!
Here’s my review:
I’m kinda disappointed :-/ When I watched the behind-the-scenes from a news interview a few months back, the concept seemed cool: dance all the way to a party. But seeing the final result, to me it comes off as a half-assed effort. Stepping out of the house, I would have thought Jay and the ‘public’ would be pulling off slick dance moves continuously and pulled along more people on the way to ‘the club’. At least that is what I thought the concept was. But instead, the dancers seem restricted by the set. Maybe, they should have stepped out and filmed this in the real world and on the streets. Another thing, it’s as though the camera cuts away every time the director felt Jay’s facial expressions (or acting) wasn’t good enough. (Jay’s really got to improve on his facial expressions!) Also, did Andrew Baterina work on the choreography for “Tonight” as well? Because some of the moves look recycled from “Abandoned“. Overall, it’s a cute video which his younger female fans will appreciate, but it really doesn’t improve the song much for me.
My rating – 3/5
“I Can’t Be Without You” (너 없이 안돼) – A slow-tempo R&B ballad. I don’t know, Jay’s vocals sound a bit off to me on this track. (2/5)
“Don’t Let Go” – Keeping the tempo, another smooth R&B ballad. Listening to the track, it makes you wonder if Jay writes a song in English and then translates it into Korean. (3/5)
“Level 1000” (Feat. Dok2) – Essentially a rap track with a gangsta vibe. Jay Park raps pretty well and is joined by his buddy Dok2, who also appeared on “Abandoned”. (3/5)
Update (14/05/2011): Even this track got a music video! (Although on a much, much lower budget)
“Bestie” – Essentially the Korean version of “Bestie,” an English track Jay Park released last year and performed at his fan meets. The chorus is concert-friendly and a fun track Jay performs with his AOM posse.
Listening to the album, you know Jay Park is striving to be a R&B star, and not a pop star per se. All the tracks, with the exception of “Tonight,” have a strong R&B/hip-hop vibe and I wonder if they would have sounded better had they been sung in English.
Overall, for a first mini-album, ‘Take a Deeper Look‘ is a solid effort from Jay Park. It’s not a ‘classic’ by any means. The production could use some improvement but regardless, you have to give credit where its due. Jay Park worked on this album by himself and his friends, mostly Cha Cha. Not with any industry big shots — and for that, ‘Take a Deeper Look‘ gets an overall rating of 4 out of 5 from me.
(By the way Jay, when is “Demon” getting an official release?!) Edit (05/09/2011): Well that just came out of nowhere! The “Demon” MV is released!
Hmmm, doesn’t look…erm, very good. Very poorly produced in my opinion. I know it has 3D sequences but anyway, even Jay himself tweeted about the MV:
Even he didn't know the MV was going to be released!
I agree with him. The sound in the MV doesn’t do the song justice. They should have just released the single.
(/end Edit)
Last November, I delayed my return journey from Bangkok just so I could see Jay Park live (you can read about my fan meet experience here). It was money well spent to see Jay’s talents at that stage in his career. He’s only going to get bigger now.
There’s still some awkwardness in his appearance, but I guess its got to do with his shyness and humble nature. He’ll probably grow more comfortable in front of the camera in due time. (Actually, act all hip & cool in music videos, I really get annoyed when people act like that in real life… so I hope he stays the same in real life). ‘Take a Deeper Look‘ is Jay Park’s first solo Korean album, but with his recent meetings with Will.I.Am and getting to perform as Ne-Yo’s concert opener, Jay’s slowly gearing up for his US debut.
I can only wonder how good his first English album will be!
We woke up at a reasonable time and since I was done with all my packing yesterday itself, after breakfast I headed to Times Square just to roam about and see if there was anything I could pick up for the last time.
Unfortunately most shops were still yet to openMost shops only post 11amThere’s a fairly big exclusive Nikon store on the ground floor
I did go around looking for camera tripods but as mentioned earlier, most shops were closed.
Once all three of us were packed and ready, we checked out of Irsia and hailed a taxi. We initially asked him to take us to KL Sentral, from where we thought of taking the monorail to the airport. Then the taxi driver offered to drive us to the airport for RM60 (Rs. 875/$20/€14). The three of us looked at each other and wondered about all the luggage we had, sighed… and then said “fine” to the taxi driver.
The journey was nice — and longSepang Circuit, home to the Malaysian F1 and MotoGP events, is close to the airport
We arrived at the LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal) an hour later, and were among the first to check-in for our 3:30pm flight.
First, we had to shrink wrap our IKEA boxes; cost RM30
We had pre-booked for 20kg luggage (per person) and fortunately all our luggage came just under 60kgs!
Relieved everything worked out alright, we went through customs and made our way towards the departures lounge. There is a Duty Free at the LCCT but liquor prices weren’t that great (read: cost more than Bangalore Duty Free) but you get good enough selection of international brands and chocolates. I instead went to a store selling traditional Malay sweets and snacks, and picked up tea biscuits, chips, etc. Something different for a change I thought.
We had to sit a bit longer in the boring departures lounge because our Air Asia flight was delayed by 45minutes. By the way, there is a new LCCT set to open by the end of the year.
Once it was time, we made our way in. We pre-selected our seats as myself and Ramesh were keen on window seats.
Even laptop makers want to cut costs on flyingKuala Lumpur International Airport is all the way thereIn case you wanted to fill up before taking off, there’s a Petronas station here 🙂We took off…… and flew over lot of palm treesMalaysia is the world’s largest producer of palm oil, and you can see whyGuess that’s the site of the new LCCT
Port Klang
Selat Kering island
Container ships making their way to Malaysia
I took a break from taking photographs to reminisce about the last few days. I guess its always sad when a holiday comes to an end, especially when you think how fast time flies by.
We began planning for this trip as early as March. Booked our flight tickets in April. Made arrangements for stay in Singapore first, since we were going during F1 weekend. We made most of our booking via Hostels.com and Hostelworld.com, with only our Langkawi booking done via Agoda.com.
We flew Tiger Airways (one way) to Singapore (which cost Rs. 4500 per person) and our Air Asia one way journey from KL to Bangalore (with 20kgs luggage and pre-booked meals) cost us Rs. 3600 per person. All in all, this 9 day trip (10, if you include today) cost us around Rs. 36,000 ($810/€560) — that’s flight, stay, food, commuting fares, and sightseeing expenses! 🙂
I didn’t do a whole lot of shopping, so I spent the least among the three of us.
If we had gone via a packaged tour, it would have easily cost us more than Rs. 50,000 per person and I doubt we would seen all that we saw the past 9 days. Sure, we didn’t check out Sentosa Island (and Universal Studios) but that’s due to lack of time in Singapore. It was either Sentosa or the Zoo — we chose the Zoo. In Malaysia, we skipped Genting Highlands as well because it was another theme park and casino — places subsidized package tours include so that they bring in droves of tourists in hopes the tourists will spend some money.
Looking at the world map, I believe this was Indonesia we were flying over
The long wait at the airport made me quite hungry and I was looking forward to the meal I had pre-booked. Not that I had high expectations, I was just hungry.
Microwaved Nasi Lemak for lunch. It was a bit dry, but alright.
So would I go back?
To Singapore, that’s a definite ‘yes‘! Mostly because the experience of being in Singapore during F1 weekend is just too good. The whole city really comes alive during the Grand Prix. The main lesson learnt from this Singapore visit is that 3 days isn’t enough, even for such a small city state. You can spend an entire day at the Zoo itself — go see the animals in the morning and then the Night Safari once it gets dark. You can spend an entire day at Sentosa, for which they have activities from daylight to sunset. Next time, I’m definitely going to Universal Studios Singapore.
Also, next time, I’m going to carry a lot more money. SGD$250 is enough to get by for 3 whole days in Singapore (which is what we spent on getting around, eating, some shopping, and the attractions we visited). But next time, I’ll probably triple my budget and stay for minimum 5 days. I want to have fun in Singapore!
By now, we were flying over Mother India
Would I go back to Malaysia? Well, depends really. I felt I saw all that I needed to see and do in Langkawi. I also saw quite a bit of what I sought in Kuala Lumpur. The one place I do feel ‘incomplete’ about is Penang. Just one day in Penang was a bit of a stretch, plus I didn’t get to see what was on the other side of the bridge, which apparently has its fair share of attractions.
Funny thing though, until last year, I didn’t even know there are two ‘sides’ that make the nation of Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Langkawi are all on one ‘side’ — but there is more to Malaysia, on the Borneo side.
(Map image taken from Wikipedia)
Sabah and Sarawak are famous for its wildlife, lush forests and serene coast line — offering an experience quite different from that of the ‘main land,’ so to speak.
But because they are far apart, and not as developed, most tourists to Malaysia are often oblivious to Sabah and Sarawak’s existence.
Air Asia has flights to Sabah and Sarawak, so if I do go back to Malaysia, I would probably hop over to ‘the other side’.
Not sure if these are Nandi HillsThe outskirts of Bangalore, from up above
As we descended, the nice and sunny outside suddenly turned dark and rainy.
Rain
Landed at 5:30pm
After picking up some stuff at the BIAL Duty Free, we were out in half-an-hours time. We hired a cab who agreed to take us to Srajapur Road (near Total Mall) for Rs. 650. We opted not to take the airport bus due to the luggage we had.
If felt nice to return to the post-rain, fresh air and experience Bangalore’s greatest asset — its weather. But 30 minutes into our journey, and into peak hour traffic, it didn’t take long for all three of us to get frustrated and say the same thing:
“Man, I wanna go back!”
P.S: I also didn’t get to have bread ice cream in Singapore!
