Started the process by logging online (www.passport.com.ph) and filling in the application form at the same time confirming an appointment  that was system generated. I was given 1:30 pm for 9th Aug 2010. A good two and half weeks from the time I went online. No worries, travel wasn't expected till end of Sep or middle of Oct.

So it was, as provided by the guidelines on www.dfa.gov.ph - At exactly 1:00 PM, I was entering the brand new,  Office of Consular Affairs building on Macapagal Avenue. They had strict warnings onsite that DFA would not let anyone in until, 30 mins before their appointed  time. So, it was a big surpirse when I entered the (air-conditioned) area and the huge hall was FULL of people, more suprised that the guy behind me in the musical-chairs line was sked for 3PM! And the guy after him - even later.  One had to sit, stand and move along to the next bank of benches, whenever the guard called more applicants to the window. This was just Step 1:  The verification phase. To ensure that one had all the proper documents and it was the same clerk who cancelled your current passport, after verifying whether you wanted to pay 950 or 1200 pesos. The difference being the 20 or 10 working day wait for your new passport!  Btw, they did return the photo copies of pages 2, 3 and your latest entry/exit pages. No longer needed said the clerk, despite it being clearly indicated as the pages that were needed on the website. (calling DFA web admin - pls. update! ) So just make sure; all you need are copies of the front and last pages of your current passport. You save a few bucks and more important - you save a few trees as well. (Do note:  this is for a renewal of the green passport. There are other documents needed for new applicants and for those that had lost their passports). Thankfully,  there were two TV monitors that was showing some Manny Pacquiao fights and kept us all entertained, until we had to get up and move again to the next bench! 

Then it was off to Step 2 - Payment at the cashier on the 2nd floor. This wasn't too long a wait. Around 20-30 minutes. They also had the representatives of the courier service peddling the home or office delivery of your passport. For an additonal 120 peso fee. Nationwide - ONE day delivery was their committed sales pitch.

It was Step 3 - the "enrollment" process that was the killer. I'm only guessing, that the reason it took me around 2.5 hours to go through this step was the sheer volume of applicants they were processing. Numbers were being issued -  But, I was 2743 and they were just calling 2340!!!  It was taking so long before being called, I actually had time to exit the buidling, have a bite to eat at the nearby  S & R grocery (good pizzas btw) stroll around, (the DFA bldg was getting a bit too cold) return,  and still waited for another 30-45 mins before being called.

Then it was a simple chat with the DFA person for data verification, picture taking and biometrics. Then it was done!

And in 10 working days time, I shall be the proud owner of that new Filipino passport. Will border patrol and immigration officers treat us differently now that this is a world class, (harder to fake) travel document?? I certainly hope so! 

Let's all cooperate and help him achieve this.

Then, as the press started showing the '83 pictures and video streams of those days of protest, EDSA and her subsequent proclamation, as our new president - it suddenly hit me. The person although, not by herself - but she did symbolize the return of democracy to our country, by getting Marcos' allies to convince him to leave. The symbol of courage and moral leadership - Cory Aquino -  was now gone. She who had brought us, not just democracy but more important, dignity - to Filipinos all over the world, had passed away!

I felt deeply saddened. Not just for her family - but for ALL Filipinos. What a time to go. Who would now represent the moral leadership that we all need and hope to vote for next year???  Was she able to tell anyone who she would be voting for president next year? (before she got too sick).  That would have been a resounding endorsement. But I suppose it was enough for her to have given US that opportunity 27 years ago. Now it's up to us.  Let's ensure that all her sacrifices for this country, will not have gone in vain.

Thank you,  President Cory Aquino.  Rest in Peace.  We wont let you down!

Scrounging around the PH blog community earlier this evening, I came upon this great site by Gideon Lasco and Ivan Henares. Both acclaimed  mountaineers and from the pix that they've posted on their site, they seem to have summitted ALL the major peaks here in the Philippines.

Their site provides not only some good looking views of the peaks, but great tips on travelling to & from the jump-off points and other sites.  An example would be an entry for Mt. Batulao:   A store, 30 minutes up in the trail, sells halo-halo and fresh coconut juice. There are no water sources throughout the Batulao trail; 1.5-2 L water is advised. Cellphone signal is present throughout the climb.

If one is into mountain trails and hiking up our still clear and smog-free peaks, you MUST check out their blog.

A definite must browse.   http://pinoymountaineer.blogspot.com/

 This got me day dreaming about my previous hikes. Having trekked up Mt. Pulag 5 times in the past 4 years with JED and his staff on their summer outings to Benguet, I do have a lot of pictures to share. But I will need time to sift & sort out the good photos from the bad. I have generated quite a bunch of stories to share as well.  Hopefully they will do justice to the blog as well. Our last trek up early this year was one of the best. Next one do we bring the bikes?

Received an invite from a friend and decided to go early. I missed last year's show. 

It was good to see that most of the big publishers had joined the annual event.  Rex, Anvil, National AND PowerBooks and even good ol Bookmark was represented. Spent a long time browsing and ended up buying a few cook books for birthday gifts. Book Wagon had some interesting music score sheets that I thought never existed. e.g.  Diana Krall, Sting & The Police, They even had a great  Frank Sinatra anthology! aside from their regular catalogue of children's books. I did buy a few back issues from Summit Media. It was disappointing that Emerald Headway were NOT selling their back issues as they used to in the past.  I was hoping to pick up a few back issues of Cycling or Bike magazine. At the regular price of 485 p, I usually just wait for my LBS to get their copy! :)  What was nice, was that the Coffee Experience booth was right next to the "lounge" so we could relax with our espresso's and browse the latest finds, in real sofa's. Don't bother with their hot chocolate - its not the batirol at all. More like Swissmiss. Definitely, not like the one we had in Baguio... 

Despite the 20% discount, I still found the management and computer titles quite expensive. All in, this year's annual fair was designed for primary and kindergarden schools. Or is it like this every year?  Everywhere I went, the first question the booth vendor's asked of me was; " Hi Sir, what school are you from?"  Not that I looked so scholarly in my "smart missionary" shorts and sandals outfit. I had to say right away that they weren't going to get any multiple orders from moi. Then they left me alone really quick. There were some new outfits too. Like the F & J de Jesus outlet. At least it was the first time I saw them. And they had some interesting books on architecture & home decor that one would only find in Jaime Daez's  Fully Booked store. (Have you visited his latest outlet on Bonifacio High Street? ) Now - THATS a bookstore! Reminds me of the old HMV store in Hong Kong. 

So, if you're looking for some good bargain books, do visit the annual Manila Book Fair. @ the World Trade Center on Roxas Blvd cor. Buendia. They're open only till 8pm and just till this Sunday, Sep. 2nd.  Both  Anvil and BookMark booths had good items in their "Sale" bins. But you have to rummage. Check out the reviews online before you go, so you don't waste too much time browsing. Another good thing this year was that most, if not all the stores, actually accepted credit cards. So no excuse not to get anything,

Now, when will Fully Booked schedule their sale?

What a difference a few days make! From warm sunny weather to wet muggy floods! And I guess like the weather - I feel really rained out! Must have picked up a bug somewhere...Heard though the 24-Hour race in Muntinglupa pushed through, despite typhoon signals and heavy rain.

That must have been a blast. Hope someone posts pictures and the results. Well, also due to the rains and the usual trails being all muddied up, I finally decided to get some slicks for road use too. Not sure how these will hold, but they look really kewl with these swirling thread patterns.  Let me know if anyone else uses these Kenda KwickRollers. They're certainly lighter than the IRC knobbies.  Would love to hear how they fare with others.

 So Guys, when IS our next ride? :)

I can understand and in most cases, agree to certain rules and policies on a forum. Use of profanity, displaying obscene or graphic (inappropriate) images or just plain flaming another member , would be the common indiscretions that "could" have one's message censored. But to have a post completely removed for being "out of topic"  - sounds like pure CENSORSHIP to me.  Or the mod just went on a power trip. Removing it - just because he could.

Boy, talk about our FREEDOM of speech. In a world of unlimited proliferation of tabloids, newspapers, blogs and the internet - a mod simply removes another's message. Whew.... like they say, "only in the Pili-pines."  Wonder what you folks think about this? Are we in Singapore or Russia?

It has been a while since the major and I have had a vacation out of the city.  So when a friend offered a free stay at the mother of all country clubs in the country, the infamous Baguio Country Club - I grabbed the opportunity. Was also able to borrow my dad's Toyota Innova (ostensibly to verify the claimed fuel consumption) to use for the rather long road trip. Armed with a stack of CDs (and backup iPod), golf clubs and a last minute review of blogs from the city of pines, off we went.  Initially due to some schedule problems I was trying to beg off from using the coupons, but on hindsight. glad we decided to push through.

The drive through the NLEX (North Luzon Expressway) was fantastic and disappointingly short-lived. The asphalt was smooth, lanes were lit and despite the light rain I managed to get the sluggish Innova to release some of that turbo-charged horsepower and cruised at almost 180+ kph. Too fast as per my navigator! :) Now, this is how ALL highways in the country should be benchmarked.

We were in SLEX by 3PM and 6 hours later at the top of Kennon Road. (am sure we could have made it faster but the stop at the bank in Manila and a few pee stops, made 6 hours quite reasonable!) I always love taking Kennon whether during the day or otherwise. I find it actually safer to use than Marcos Highway. And certainly much faster. I guess its a matter of preference and what one is used to. In fact that night, we were a convoy of around 7-8 cars, and it was just me that continued on towards Kennon from the Rosario junction. After a few minutes of self-doubt and only when a jeepney came down that I knew it was passable. Somehow, I missed the sign at the Shell gas station that provides the alerts for motorists taking this route. I do find it easier to drive up to Baguio using this route.  Soon I saw the old Jade Garden hotel on my left, (and that monstrosity of progress, they're building in front of the Baguio Gen. Hospital) looking for the turn-off towards Camp John Hay. Which is my landmark to BCC.

Despite the late arrival, check-in at BCC's front desk was smooth and event free. Bumped into a classmate who was also checking in with her husband. I did notice though that the guards were extra judicious in their check at the gate. Being guests, we had to show our letter (from the member) before being allowed through. Since the dinner buffet was to close in a few minutes, we decided to eat out. The regular eating haunts that we use after our Pulag treks were all closing and we ended up at a steak place near Dencio's. Driving back into the city was too much, although perhaps we should have. As Doreen Fernandez used to say when reviewing restos for her column,  " don't say anything, if you have nothing good to say." So that ends my review of THAT steak place. :(

 Aside from the scrumptious breakfast and dinner buffet's at BCC, we ate at two other restos' as recommended by some bloggers. Chocolate de Batirol inside Camp John Hay (near the mini golf) and lunch before we left for Manila at Cafe by the Ruins. Here are some pictures. And No, we did not try the datura on this trip.

The ride down was uneventful. It took us only 5 hours to make Manila. The view of the falls on the way down along Kennon was scenic as usual.

Oh, and the Innova's fuel consumption? One full tank for 625kms! That's pretty cool. between 12 and 14 km/liter!

And we discovered that Tarlac had the cheapest diesel prices from here to Baguio! 31.90 per liter.

Last Saturday was a great cloudless day for a road ride.

Met up with JED around 5:30 am, loaded the van and passed for Isaias who was waiting for us on EDSA,  We got to Forest Hills (passed Cogeo and Masinag market) on Marcos highway around  6:15, setup the bikes, warmed up and hydrated - we were off at a little past 6:30 am. The early morning jeeps and trucks were out in full force but once we were past Cogeo, traffic thinned out quite a bit.  Now it was just you, your lungs and the road.

With the occasional errant pedestrian or dog crossing that stymied your cadence.  I was quite impressed with the maintenance of the roadway. It was nicely asphalted, painted and all the curves were properly marked. Perfect for a road ride!

It was the first time for me to take the old yellow racer for a ride since it was restored 3 weeks ago and almost immediately the 20+ year old bike started complaining. First I had to raise the tire pressure, then the alignment of the rear wheel got a bit skewed hampering the roll (almost felt like the brakes were on) and after the first 30 mins. of hard pedalling, the 20+ yr old leather strip on the left toe-clip finally gave!  But continued pushing till I noticed that my shoe had started to rub on the crank and was starting to peel rubber. So no choice but to remove the whole clip.    

It was a good thing that Jed had instructed his driver to follow at a discreet distance behind the last rider.  (a support vehicle ala Tour de France!) I decided to swap the bike with a spare mtb that he had brought "just in case" something like this would happen. But after an hour and half of almost 100% uphill climbs, my lungs and legs just gave up on me! Despite being hydrated - this ride showed how unprepared I was, physically, for such a climb. This road certainly beats " The wall " at Maarat anytime. The continuous uphill climb with very few recovery slopes was just too demanding. I had to rest. (read: stop) So once again, loaded the bike and now myself, into the van. My body didn't stop perspiring even as I reclined and stretched out. Was surprised that I had actually consumed all the water and gatorade that I had brought, in 2 hours!  Around the 53 km marker, we needed to rest as Jed had a bad case of muscle cramps.   After an hour in the van, I had fully recovered and was able to join the punishing pace set by Isaias. After a 15-20 min respite we continued to the Sierra Madre Hotel. Wow! Glad I decided to finish the ride with them, what a spectacular view this place had!  Both sides had amazing scenery of the Sierra Madre mountain range on the North East and  Laguna de Bay area on the West.  There were a few residential developments and the ones around had spectacular views as well. One sales office even provided a roadside view deck , ala " Banawe rice terraces."

The last 4 to 6 kms from the sign to the hotel site was a gruelling uphill ride. But the fresh air and views were worth the pain. Don't mind the 2 dogs that bark and try to nip your heels. After cresting the ridge, inspite of the noon day sun, the temperature dropped and the ride downhill to the   Pranjetto Hills Resort and Conference Center 

was refreshingly cool and at one point I think I went more than 50 kmph! The thought of my earlier road rash experience kept my fingers long on the brakes. The wind rushing against you and the slight rumble of the knobbies on the cemented road was just a great feeling. Despite the fact that my racer had become a single speed!

We were able to fully recover after a nice swim in the center's pool and a quick lunch prepared by Lily, the center's cook. Here, it would be good to call in advance for meals you would like to have. The center's lack of regular customers prevents them from stocking up on too much food. So call ahead and make reservations. More for their services rather than a table. It seems the place is used for team building seminars and they cook specifically for the number of pax attending.  Jed decided to have desert at " The Coffee Stop" around 30-35 mins.   further down the road. Another scenic drive. Lots of zigzags ala Kennon road, leading to Pililia, Laguna. Again road conditions were perfect and lots of bikers. Both pedalling and scooteristas. They serve sandwiches and ala carte orders. Their  coffee beans are from Gourmet Cafe and cakes from Cake Avenue.  Noticed that some deserts they offered - I have'nt even seen in Manila. Have to call Liza A!  All in all, a nice road ride. Maybe next time we do this, I will be better prepared. I read in the PMTB forum that there were 40+ riders that made it that same day! Congrats to all.

Finally got some pix from Ricky. He took some great pictures from our Sta. Rosa ride last week.

Some of the spectacular views and sceneries were captured. These were taken on the way back to Paseo. First we passed a whole lot (siguro half a hectare) of kamoteng kahoy - cassava. Then a larger plot of corn. The greenery was just stunning. In the background, you can just see Mt. Makiling through the haze of the SLEX.