Gone for the next few days...

I'm at one of the free Internet access terminals here at Changi Airport Terminal 1.

Waiting for boarding time, which is around 11:20.

It'll be quite a journey. Hehe!

Singapore. Kuala Lumpur. Yangon. Bagan. Heho. Inle. Heho. Yangon. Kuala Lumpur. Singapore.

In a way, it's sort of a semi-solo travel since I'll be on my own in Kuala Lumpur.

Hmm, I dunno yet how I really feel about traveling alone (although I've done it once before but only overnight). Some say it's better to travel with a companion or group of friends. Some say it's also okay to travel alone at times. (Well, at least for me, I'm seeing this is as some kind of training for solo travel in case I do go to Europe on my own some time soon.)

I'm excited about the whole trip, but not that excited yet. Maybe once I board the plane. Then it would really hit me that this is al happening. Haha!

I'm looking foward to Myanmar. What I've spent is way beyond my original budget but never mind lah, I'll earn it again anyway. Hehehe!

PG Boy is also going on a holiday. He's always been wanting to do an inter-state drive in the East coast of the US and he's going to do that. Initially, he said he was going to do it on his own. I wasn't too comfortable with the idea. So I'm sort of glad when he told me his best friend and a housemate would be going. He leaves this Friday and will be back on the 22nd I think.

Anyway, Changi Airport is just awesome. I've been to Incheon Airport a decade ago so I dun remember much of it, but Changi definitely always, always just amazes me. I wonder when all NAIA terminals would be "Changi" levels. Hehe!

Okies, this is it for now. Not sure if I'll have Internet access when I reach Yangon. It is actually goingg to be refreshing I suppose to be disconnected from the online world. Let's see.

Haven't done one of this in awhile...

Because October is my fave month, I'll try to post more. Hehe!

Got this from here.

1. Pick your birth month.
2. Strike out anything that doesn’t apply to you.
3. Bold the ones that best apply to you.
4. Copy to your own blog.

OCTOBER: Loves to chat. Loves those who loves them. Loves to take things at the center. Inner and physical beauty. Lies but doesn’t pretend. Gets angry often. Treats friends importantly. Always making friends. Easily hurt but recovers easily. Daydreamer. Opinionated. Does not care of what others think. Emotional. Decisive. Strong clairvoyance. Loves to travel, the arts and literature. Touchy and easily jealous. Concerned. Loves outdoors. Just and fair. Spendthrift. Easily influenced. Easily loses confidence. Loves children.

Although I have to say a lot of the traits do sound familiar. Hahaha! :P

If you're keen on doing it, you can find the complete birth month list here.

Fave month of the year...

Wake up, wake up. September has ended. :)

It's October - fave month of the year!

Wheeee!

That one line...

I've said it before - one of my personal gauges on how good a movie is is if there are any lines that are worth remembering.

If I have no takeaway from the movie, then it's just a so so movie for me. (Unless it's an ultra-cheesy drama/romcom, I'm okay with it - memorable lines or no memorable lines. Hehe!)

My friend Noreen who writes for one of the biggest TV networks back in Manila wrote that one of her dreams is to be able to write a (film?) script which has that one line - that one line which hundred, thousands of people who watched the film will remember.

Secretly (or not so secretly now), I have the same wanting. Hehe!

I am seriously amazed and impressed by people who have a gift with words. That's why when I really like a certain film, I dun quickly get up and leave after the film ends. I would wait for the name of the writer to appear as the end credits begin to appear. I guess that's my way of telling the writer "You did a great job."

Recently, I stumbled upon the trailer of The Perks of Being A Wallflower - a film based on a novel with the same title that will soon hit the cinemas in Singapore.

After watching the trailer, I already knew that I would have to see the film and get the book. I'm not sure when the movie will be showing, but I did get the book today at Kino.

I would have the time for it this Wednesday since I have a few hours to kill at the Kuala Lumpur airport, while waiting for flight to Yangon.

Above is one of the memorable lines from the film/novel.

Can't wait to start the pages.

See you soon, Myanmar...

I finally got my visa for Burma. (Hmm, for this one sentence, I'm going to use Burma instead of Myanmar. The former sounds more exotic. Hehe!)

There were really no plans to visit the said country this year, but a little prodding from MkSurf8 and Chris was all it needed to get me to say yes. Hehe!

The 2011 trip to Ho Chi Minh with these two guys was definitely one of the most unforgettable ever (lol!), so I'm quite sure that the trip to Myanmar would also be a good one.

Initially, the plan was MkSurf8, RKGreg, Chris, Chase plus me. However, Chase had to back out at the last minute because of a work trip.

Going back to the trip, because I took some time deciding on whether I will go or not, I missed the JetStar seat sale. The good thing was Air Asia had a somewhat similar seat sale. The downside (which later turned out not to be so much of a downside) - it's flying from Kuala Lumpur and I'll be arriving in Yangon early evening while MkSurf8, RKGreg and Chris arrive much earlier.

But I'm glad I was able to get the sale.

Next up was getting the visa. I dun really know why I have to get a visa and why I have to pay for a visa, when Myanmar is an Asean member. Anyway, the visa is SGD35.

Initially, I was thinking of going to the embassy myself to apply for the visa.

In the end, I did what MkSurf8 and Chris did. I went to a travel agent to process the visa for me. The cost was about SGD55. It was good enough considering that I dun have to queue at the embassy, I dun have to take half-day off from work.

The travel agent I went to is at Peninsula Plaza (adjacent to St. Andrew's Cathedral at City Hall MRT). I hardly go there. Apparently, as MkSurf8 said, it's the Burmese version of Lucky Plaza.

I gave my documents to the travel agent, and that was it. I just had to wait for a few days for them to process the visa at the embassy.

The Myanmar embassy says that the passport may be collected after 3 working days. Mine took a little longer than that but it was okay.

Just glad to have gotten the visa. Yey!

Can't wait.

Taw Win Oo (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
111 North Bridge Road,#02-40, Peninsula Plaza
65 976-55184; 65 6338-6273

Souls of Zen screening...

Hiking buddy Melvin invited me to watch one of the films screening at THIS Buddhist Film Festival 2012. (THIS = Thus Have I Seen). I didn't know about the film fest until he told me. Glad he invited me because it was an interesting event.

The theme of the event was "Open Your Mind." Films coming from 11 countries that reflect the cultural, social and religious aspects of Buddhism were shown. It's the first time the films are screened in Singapore.

The film we watched was Souls of Zen.

It was a documentary on the role Buddhism played in the society and the lvies of the victims of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami catastrophe. The documentary shows how Buddhism played a critical role as the society recovered from the disaster.

It was a very educational film. Learned a bit more about the Japanese culture. Definitely was fascinated and was impressed again by the way of life of the Japanese. In my next life, can I please be Japanese? Hehe!

My take away from the film was a phrase as the end credits began... "It all starts with a desire to put a smile to someone's face... despite the odds."

There was another film I wanted to watch - One Mile Above. Unfortunately, tickets sold out quite quickly. :-/

I wasn't able to catch what "it" was really referring to, but I thought it was a very nice line.

Holy mother of backpacks...

I haven't been spending a lot on bags as I used to back in the Philippines.

In fact, when I left for SG, I gave away some of prized bags or they're now being used (I hope) by my bros.

For a couple of times, I've been tempted to buy a bag or two here in SG because it looked more affordable all of a sudden. Haha! But I'm proud to say that I still haven't made any bag purchase since I got here.

Uhm, there's a part of me that's just yearning for three specific bags. Once I've gotten all three, I think I'll be content already for at least a decade. Hehe!

But once in a while, you will encounter a bag which really makes your heart skip a beat. Because it does that, you're willing to give up your eat out funds, your clubbing allowance, your holiday airfare (?!) just to purchase the piece. Haha!

The backpack above is from the Spring Summer 2013 collection of Givenchy.

I'm not a huge fan of backpacks, but there issomething about this bag that really draws me to it. Haha!

As friend I-van said, the bag has the ability to be both "patronizing and irreverent." That's the nice thing about it. To me, I also like it because of image of the Madonna.

Being a devotee of Our Lady, I think this is one of the "cool" ways of showing love for her. Hehehe! I can imagine myself queueing for La Pieta next year with this pack on my bag. Haha!

The piece is not available yet. No price info yet as well. But I'm sure it'll be ultra ex. I would need either a miracle or a lot of second collection. Haha!

Holy mother of backpacks!

Yet another cute Tae Sub and Kyung Soo clip... lol...

So just before going to zzz last night, I decided to watch some more clips of Tae Sub and Kyung soo from the Korea daytime series Life is Beautiful.

I think I have an addiction to the two. At the risk of sounding like a teenage girl, I have to say they're really adorable together. Haha!

Anyway, the clip I watched last night had me laughing again most of the time. But I guess the most amusing was the one in the car just after Tae Sub sent off his girl friend Geum Joo at the airport.

Geum Joo the hots for Kyung Soo (who doesn't?!) but she obviously does not have any idea about Kyung Soo and Tae Sub. Hehe. To finally get Geum Joo off his back, Kyung Soo casually mentioned during the drive to the airport that his partner is in Jeju, that he goes to Seoul because his folks are there, and that he also goes to gay clubs in Seoul.

Geum Joo says nothing further. Tae Sub is just as speechless. Haha.

After seeing off Geum Joo, Tae Sub walks back into the car. Kyung Soo has a proud look on his face for finally "getting rid" of Geum Joo.

The conversation above then follows...

It was really cute. Haha! The two didn't really fight, which was great.

I thought the scene was really amusing because that conversation I think is quite common among couples. LOL. How many times have I seen it?!

Very happy three days...

Last night, I got a message from Tey that her flight to SG for work will push through.

Yeeeey! :D

She arrived early this morning and went straight to work.

In the evening, I headed down to Bugis to meet up with her for dindin. I already knew she will want Chicken Rice so we headed to Chin Chin Eating House at Purvis St. Pg Boy joined us for din. I'm glad he still came even if he wasn't feeling very well. (Crazy Singapore weather lately.)

Afterwards, Pg Boy headed back already.

Meanwhile, Tey and I headed to City Hall to buy some pasalubong and to meet up with Manny (who was also here for the same event as Tey's).

Hopefully, I can take Wednesday off so that I can hang with them!

Happy, happy.

I miss pages like these...

It was in the last quarter of 2004 when I learned about the awesome issue that is the September issue (of US Vogue). Hehe!

I can't remember where I was, but I knew I had to get the issue when I saw it. At that time, I was ultra crazy for Gisele (and her "batchmates" Natalia, Daria, among others)

At that time, people (at least those from that billion-dollar industry) were wondering if there would still be supermodels. Not just any model, but a model who can go by one name.

Uhm, you know who they are - Kate, Linda, Naomi, Christy, Cindy, to name a few.

Then came Gisele. Everything was right again. Hehe!

Pretty soon, the next few covers of US Vogue featured models again. The September 2004 has got to be one of my favorites.

Three things - Gisele. Gatefold cover. September issue.

Personally, I really like gatefold covers and editorials. You want impact. There you go. Hehe! (Of course, It's alread a given lah that you need a fantab photo).

Above are some of the fantab spreads that were published 2004 and so on.

I have yet to see a like photos like this again...