am flying away..... again....

well, here at the airport now... flying off to Manila for the Holidays..... this time around, am actually excited about getting to Manila - even with all the dramas and personal matters I need to deal with, each and every trip.... i did not even mind the long process and travel to get to the airport, the long wait which just got longer as my flight is half an hour delayed... Nope, none of those matters now... it can only be because it is the Holidays... My favorite time of the year....Don't know why, i never get tired of this time of the year.... year after year, sorrows and happiness passes.... getting older... heartaches & frustrations.... but my feelings when XMas time comes remains the same... all the things I remember about XMas - growing up, friends and family, love ones - they all come coming back and once again, am like a little boy in a Toy Shop!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS ALL!!!

Evian X Designers

Each and every time I pass through Taiwan's CKS Airport's arrival area - i pass by this little coffee place that has a GREAT display of Christian La Croix Evian bottles... really pretty but of course, i need to start another collection like I need another hole in my head... and if I have a hole for every collections I have - my head would pretty much be a big BLACK HOLE - lols....

Anyway, soon after I saw a Jean Paul Gaultier version as well... simple, understated but none-the-less captures the designer's feel.... still, No Sale... I did not give in....

That is until I came across the Paul Smith designed one while hanging out at the Shangrila Mall, Edsa (Manila, Philippines) - how could I resist them... with Paul Smith's signature colorful stripes on the bottles - they beckon to me like a moth to a flame.... I SUCCUMBED and not only got one, but I got 5 - as the bottle caps came in 5 different color variations... LOLs!

So another hole in the head, indeed!!! Hahahahahahahaha

surviving friday the 13th....

..so I spent a good half of yesterday traveling in the rain.... had to catch a flight to Manila, an early one - so I was up by 5:30AM.... and out of the house by 7:30AM... it did not help that I kept waking up all nite long every hour... must be the anxieties that comes from having to wake up early (always scared I'd miss the alarm - so I end up waking up before it even rings!); or the sound of the heavy rain on the windows; or most likely, the thought of flying on Friday the 13th....

First up was the bus ride to CKS Airport... normally takes me a about 40/45 minutes but actually took so much longer - because of the traffic in the rain.... good thing I left the house with much more allotted time.... then it was just a bit of time till I have to face the HORRORS of it all: Philippine Airlines Flight. Yes, you read that right, i flew PAL again, not by choice but because we are in the Holiday season once more so I have to be wise in finding the cheapers airfares... and they had it for this month...

since i already knew what to expect from my previous flight, i was all set... and I only had the turbulence to be scared of... and it surely was a bit topsy turvy flying in the rain almost throughout the entire close to 2 hr flight... But I survived, and got to Ninoy Aquino Airport in Manila at the expected arrival time... then it was the HORRORS of BAGGAGE CLAIMS.... I could not believe I actually waited for almost an hour to get my one single suitcase.... how could this be for a modern airport terminal... well, it did not help that on one conveyor, three flights' luggage's were all being dispersed...LOLs!!!

Anyway, all I kept saying to myself - just deal - and once out of the terminal you will be fine... sunny skies ahead - as it was only about a little after 2PM.... WRONG!!!! as i must have brought the rain from Taipei with me.... waaaaah!!!!

So maybe Friday the 13th was BAD LUCK after all.... still, am happy to have SURVIVED it once more!!!

Oh Horrors!!!

So, am back in Taiwan... but not without a whole lot of nervousness on my part... scared of being flagged down and being quarantined -- the same worries plaguing most, if not all the travelers of late...

The SUMMER WEATHER in Manila took its toll on me - finally and I actually got sick... so much so that I was practically bedridden the last couple of nites... Thank God it was not the dreaded H1N1 Virus -- and with proper medication my fever came down and was controlled.... still I could not help but worry going to the airport this morning, an early one at that, to catch my flight... then it was fretting over crossing CKS Airport's Health Customs at the airport... Glad that in the end, I was cleared and all is fine....

well, fine except for all the work (and everything else) waiting for me.... but that's another matter....

Kawaii Ne!!!

Window XMas Shopping (am stressing WINDOW SHOPPING ONLY HERE!)the last few days during what little free time I have, I came across these really cool looking My Melody Vinyl Figures... Cute and Functional as they double as little mirrors, too! They are offered by HANG TEN, for the Holidays, along with a couple of Hello Kitty Coin Banks (in red or gold)... Of course,m I had to break down and get them...

Though I have liked the SANRIO stuff for many years now, I have always opted for the "not so pink" stuff... so these Goth Look works for me.... alas, the 3rd one in Pink is part of the set and one can only buy them as sets....

Anyway, all these Sanrio cuteness reminded me of the photos we took of the "oh-so'cute" Hello Kitty Waiting Lounge at CKS Airports' Terminal 2 - Taoyuan, Taiwan. I have never seen soooo much Hello Kittyness in one place... even more overwhelming than the SANRIO Shop I used to go to on Stockton St, in downtown San Francisco.

So I dug up the photos right away and UPLOADED them on Flickr - Hello Kitty Lounge, CKS.Below: The Actual Waiting Lounge