Trip to Manila

I was in Manila for 5 days in October last year. Yeah I know, this post came almost 1 year too late. Well, I have not got the time to update my blog for the longest time! Since for now, I am basically a bit free from my research paper so I plan to update you guys with all the travelling I made from last year up to today.:)


Anyway, I was in Manila for a Bioethics conference. Yup, I went there all by myself. Good for me, I was sponsored by UNESCO for this conference. I was so excited when I received the email from the conference committee. But the down side, I need to present my research at the conference. I was a bit nervous but I am ready to do it. This is my second international conference where I need to present my research in front of God's knows how many people. But for the sake of gaining experience, why not.


I stayed at ...err..I forgot the name of the hotel.Hahaha...I was greeted by the committee at the airport together with few participants who are also sponsored by UNESCO. There are four of us from Malaysia and I am the only girl! That is cool and I am so proud of myself. We were part of the ASEAN participants.

 Arrived at my room at 4pm. It was quite a ride from the airport to downtown Makati town. The hotel was at a very good location because there is a huge mall just across the street and there are lots of eating places just around the area. Since I am alone, having a mall nearby help and you can basically get everything there including some familiar shops.

Can view the mall from my room. I have to admit, the hotel has it downside, it's can be very loud because you can hear the busy street down below & it does not help that the night I arrived, there are a bunch of teenager staying there. I basically can't sleep the whole night. Not forgetting to mention that the air conditioning is from the stone age era so it was very loud. But I tried to get some sleep because I know tomorrow will be a very long day.

The next morning, we were picked up my the committee organiser who are consisting of the university post-graduate students. The conference was held at the University of Santo Tomas, Philippines oldest university or probably one of the oldest in the world. The guy in black is the representative of the university patron from the Vatican City itself. This is a fully Catholic university where all the deans from each faculty are a priest themselves. It is not something so new in a country where almost 90% of the population are Catholic.

 Before the launching of the conference, these choir groups presented us with a lovely song and an amazing voices! It gave me goose bump. Man..their voice is really damn good! All of them are student from the university conservatory.

 The conference was launch officially!

 I am in awe looking at the building in this place. It is well preserved and well kept. All these building are mostly, how they look like when they were first build. The university also has it own high school within the university compound.

All the participants taking group photo in front of the university main building.

 And I busied myself taking picture of me elsewhere. Hahahha...I am wearing the traditional Cheongsam because all ASEAN delegates were instructed to use our country traditional cloths for the first day of the conference. I choose cheongsam because it is easy to move around wearing it since I have to use it the whole day!

 I love the university ambiance because it is so relaxing. Look at this foundation..

 There is an outdoor cafe with some band playing some music to entertain you. Lovely atmosphere. Even the other M'sian delegates admit that.

 The conference is a part of the university 400th anniversary's celebration. Yes..you read that right, It is their 400th birthday!!

Look at this ceiling! Me & some participants were lost on our way to find the function room for our dinner that night.

 And we finally find it!

 I am seating with participants from the Land of Smile..Thailand.

 She really sang superbly.

And so is he. Both are students from the university's conservatory.

 The student entertain us with some folk song which is very common among the Filipino.

 Some of the dancers are lecturer at the university.

 We were asked whether we want to do any presentation on Malaysia but we all declined because we can't basically create a presentation within such a very short notice. Actually none of the ASEAN teams present anything except for this guy. He is one of the participant from Indonesia.

 A group picture with all ASEAN delegates and the speakers.

The Malaysia's delegate except for the guy in blue outfit. He is from Vietnam. The guy in Malays costume is from Unisel, the Indian guy is from UPM and the baju batik Chinese guy is from MMU. All of them are lecturers so that make me the only student among them.Hehhehe...

 Second day of the conference is my presentation day. Getting myself ready that morning with my new black dress. Armed with my USB, I am off to tell the crowd about my research. I was not expecting such a huge crowd and man am I nervous when I stood in front of the class and saw the whole room was packed with people. I was so nervous but I remain calm & do my thing. After 20min everything is over & I can feel that my palm are sweating.Hahhaha...

 On the last day of the conference we had a round table discussion regarding Bioethics among the ASEAN delegate and the discussion was lead by Dr. Macer from UNESCO in Bangkok.

 The Dean of the post-graduate unit of university of Santo Tomas giving the closing speech and prayer for the three day conference.

My last lunch with the participants. I was seating with some delegates from the Philippines, Singapore & Thailand. After the conference was over, we were given a tour of the city arranged by the committee, which was good because we were so busy during the whole conference. I am literally at the university hall from early morning to late in the evening. When we reach the hotel, it was already 6pm. I only manage to get some dinner & go back to my hotel room & getting for the next day. So, I am grateful that the organising committee did arrange for the city tour.


But that I will continue in the part 2 of my trip to Manila because now I need to get my beauty sleep. Nite..

Family vacation

Every twice or three times a year I will invite my parents to come and stay with me in KL. I live alone in our home in KL since my hubby have to be based elsewhere for his job so once in a while it will be nice to have some company. Normally I will invite my parents when it is school holiday so that they also get to spend time with their grandchildren. My nephew do love to spend the night at my place when my parents are there. I guess they love the quietness and serenity of my place because you hardly hear noises either during day time or night time. This is certified by all of my friends who have been to my place. It is just very quiet.


So, this time when my parents are in KL, I decided that we pay a visit to Pangkor Island, which is situated at the state of Perak. Since Pangkor Island is just 3-4 hours drive from KL, we decided to drive there and take the ferry from the Lumut jetty. My backpack is ready & off we go!

We started our journey just before 10am. It was raining cats and dogs when we reach the state of Perak. We were a bit worry because heavy rain means, the sea might be rough, and I in particular do not like rough sea because I have very bad sea sickness and rough sea will not do me any good. But thank goodness that when we reach Lumut town & the jetty, the rain has slow down. We manage to find a parking spot and off to the jetty.

But the black cloud still lingered around waiting for the moment to pouring down all the water from the sky.

Our ferry is waiting to received us and You know what, when we were waiting for our ride, the rain come again with a vengeance! Man..I am so worry that I will throw out in the ferry. To avoid that from happening, as soon as I get a seat insides, I cover my head with a scarf and put a dap of 'minyak kapak' on my nose & head temple & off to quick sleep. The 30min ride feel like FOREVER for me!

Despite the rain, there are a lot of people going to Pangkor Island. We are one of those crowd. 

It is for this face that I found joy each time we go for family vacation although she and her brothers can be a handful sometimes. Nevertheless, when we reach Pangkor Island, we get ourselves a taxi & off we go to the guesthouse where we will stay for the next 3 days.

We stayed at a guesthouse called Nipah Bay Villa at Nipah Bay area. It is a cosy yet simple guesthouse with a restaurant that serve foods and drinks anytime of the day. Lots of the street stall and shop in the area were closed because it is the end of Ramadhan. I guess most people already taking their Raya holiday. It was still drizzling when we arrived at the guesthouse so we just relax in our room & only manage to come out when the rain has stop in the evening.

There is a huge outdoor table just in front of our room. 

 Took a stroll in the evening along the beach. The sea and wave was very rough and strong. Don't even dare to go near the sea for now. My sister also gave a stern warning to the kids not to play at the beach. But the breeze was cold so it was very nice.

Fishing boat coming back from the sea.

 The next morning we decided to take a ride around the island. The kids are excited of course. I had a minor accident that day and hurt my knee. It was damn painful but yet I still want to play at the beach. It hurt like hell each time my knee contacted with the sea water because of the salt but life goes on.Hehhehe....

 To be honest, the boat ride was crappy. My parents , sis and the kids also said the same. They preferred the island hopping in Langkawi. I do believe it is a waste of money. I won't recommend it for anyone. We didn't even when snorkeling.

 We passed few small island around Pangkor.

Therefore, we decided to forget about the bad island ride and head downtown. We hired a taxi to bring us around the island & stop us at few historical places before we did all our shopping & eating at the town centre.

 Pangkor Island main income is fishery. When fishing is the main industry, you will see a lot of boat making as well because you can fish in the sea without a boat can't you.

Our first stop is at a shop selling all kind of dried seafoods...my favorite! We bought a lot of dried seafood because it is expensive once you get to the mainland. 

 You get to see lots of such scenery around Pangkor. I have to admit, I do find the island is a bit unorganized, crowded & dirty.

Some boat are small compare to others.

 Out next stop is at this temple called Fu Lin Gong Temple & Mini Greatwall. Nothing so fascinating about the place. For me, it look just like the other temple that I been to in Malaysia.

 Mom posing for the camera. She decided to stay down instead of going all the way up.

 You can see the whole of Pangkor town if you go all the way to the top. Well, not really the whole town but almost.

 Dad and my nephew at the top of the temple.

Then we make a quick stop at the Dutch Ford. Nothing much you can see here because the remaining fort is so little. Plus the kids are already hungry and we all wanted something to eat. Hahhaha...

 When we get back at the guesthouse, we decided to go to the beach & hangout!

 Playing with water do make you hungry! We went for a seafood dinner at our last day in Pangkor. I found it is weird that seafoods are expensive here. It's an island, isn't it suppose to be cheap?

After dinner, we took a stroll along the beach front. It is nice to hear the wave hitting the shore and feel the cool breeze of wind from the sea on your face. It has been drizzling again that evening so the air is extra cold. The sea was rather rough that evening but there are still some people braving the wave and have some swim. I know I won't be one of them!

 Of course, yours truly need to take a picture of herself.:)

 My nephews and niece were looking at the people down at the shore with envy. Their mom forbid them to join the crowd because she know none of them can swim and she know they won't listen to her scream once they are down at the shore. So, with sad face they all look down.Hahahha...

WE witnessed a bunch of fishing boats 'parking' their vehicles near the shore. I guess they are taking a rest while waiting to go to 'work' at the weed hour of the day later on.

 At last, the wave is calm. It was very scary in the beginning and the sound of it smashing against the wall of the waterfront where we stand, really give me the creep. I was imagining that if I fall down...that will be the end of me.

 The street new to where we stayed also has quiet down. Unlike Langkawi where people still hanging around until midnight, here in Pangkor, things quiet down at 10pm.

My mom must be thinking deep of something. Hehhe..probably she was thinking about the long journey back to KL the next day. Anyway, we left early in the morning to catch the first ferry leaving the island because we want to reach KL before evening. One thing I must say, I will never come back here unless I stay in Pangkor Laut Resort. :) But nevertheless, for the best part of the trip, I get to spend time with my parents, my sister and my nephews and niece.