My Stopover at Orchard Road SM Megamall

Orchard Road is well-known as Singapore's retail and entertainment hub.   But, it is familiar to us here in the Philippines as a Singaporean inspired restaurant located in SM MegaMall. The place might look a little threatening but don't be fooled because the restaurant is actually quite pocket friendly.

Every restaurant has a theme.  What better way to represent Singapore than to let customers experience food street vendor style.   Each street vendor stall displays its own specialty dish.  It is customary for them to prepare the food in front of you.

Ambiance

Stalls showing their specialty on top

Chefs at work

Child eagerly waits for his dessert

Among their food choices, I loved the the Hainanese Chicken and the Satay Chicken the most.  Yes, the Hainanese Chicken does come with rice which is a good thing.

I also ordered the Char Kway Teow which I had to take home since I was already too full.   Stacy said it was rick with ingredients and tastes great as well.

Char Kway Teow

Finally, the end of the meal was signified by a coffee drink.  They added a bonus entertainment by showing us their preparation for their Kopi Tarik.  According to the staff, it needs to be tossed around to make it more bubbly.

Making Kopi Tarik

The Bubbly Kopi Tarik

Orchard Road is definitely a must try, The price is not much different from the fast food stores we usually eat at.  So why not try it for yourself?

Orchard Road
2nd Level, Bridgeway, SM Megamall
EDSA corner Julia Vargas Ave.
Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines

13-year-old boy shoots 17-year-old boyfriend at SM Pampanga

Just after the SM North Edsa shooting incident, there another one in SM Pampanga.  This really shocked me because the victims are so young.  A 13-year-old boy killed his 17-year-old-boyfriend in the chest out of jealousy.  He then shot himself in the head.  He used a .22 Caliber pistol during the shoot out.  According to Colonel Tinio, that palm size pistol is difficult to detect even by metal detectors.  It can be bought cheaply around 5,000 php.  The two boys wee rush to the hospital but to no avail. 

I guess this is a situation where love has gone bad huh?

Philam Life Usap Tayo Session

Two weeks ago, I was invited over at Baron's Bar, Tower Club for an "Usap Tayo" session organized by Philam Life.  Before coming to this event, I was already aware of what Philam Life is.  It is an insurance company.  My parents are both covered with life insurance already so I have a vague idea about it.

Host Litz Ong

Barons  Bar

I arrived at the venue, fashionably late.  Too bad I missed the snacks but luckily, I was just in time for the talks.  The host Litz Ong introduced each speaker and then each would first discuss about the topic and the floor will be open for questions at the end.

Bar

Larry Cleto

Financial Planning 101: How to Save up for your Dreams by Larry Cleto
Although I am still a student and have no means of income, I have already attended financial planning seminars before. Mr. Larry Cleto's talk was similar to all the other basic financial planning seminars.  It teaches you where you can place your money taking into consideration the risks and returns and availability of funds in each type.

What I like about his talk is that he gave an overview of what it is about.  His viewpoints seemed fair and reasonable and not inclined towards the life insurance side only.  I agree with his approach because one of the reasons people are afraid of insurance is because of their pushy marketing technique.

Buti na lang Stories
Miss Isca Abaya showed us some buti na lang stories based on real life stories of:

1. Connie Dizon

• Connie Dizon is a successful entrepreneur owning a photocopy and printing business.  Her life was happy until she discovered she had cancer.  Philam Life took care of all her medical bills so she was able to concentrate on her recovery and became a cancer survivor

2. Eva and Deorie Caraca

• The Caraca sisters were daughters of a seaman who died from lung cancer.  Even without their father, the two are able to study and even achieve honor rolls because of the continues funding from Philam Life.

Open Forum

A lot of bloggers who attended the event were already stable mothers who are concern for their kids.  They had a lot of questions from the speakers and the guests Dizon and Caracas.  Although I was able to learn from the exchange of questions and answers from both sides, I think that insurance planning is better addressed on a one on one talk because each person or family has a different situations from another.   

1k GC winner

1k GC winner

There was a short raffling of 1K worth of Gift Certificate from Philam life.  As a token,  we were given T-shirts and a notebook.  Due to the apparent damage on my last shirt, they even sent me a new shirts.  Wow!  Now, I can have Kurt can also wear it to support their campaign.

Overall, the Usap Tayo event was successful.  I learned that there are now various types of insurance offered.  I'm actually interested to know more about it in the future perhaps three years from now when I already have a stable income.  

Based on my observation, a lot of us think of life insurance as a compensation upon the death of someone is the only kind of insurance.  I came home that night excited to share with Kurt what I leanred but he got annoyed with me for thinking that he is ignorant for not knowing what an insurance is.  What he did is the typical attitude of people with insurance.  I'm not saying that I'm in favor of insurance.  In fact, we are victims of CAP educational plan and other educational plans too.  I just think that it is better to be open minded and evaluate first before we close our minds to something.

Usap Tayo!  Perhaps you could share some insurance experience too so we could have more idea about it too.=)

My Run and Help Experience at Mc Kinley Hill

Last month, I registered for the Run and Help at Chris Sports (see separate entry).  It was my first time to run at Mc Kinley Hill so I got to the venue early so I can be familiar with the place.  

The event was small and simple but it was complete.  There were water stations, baggage stations, portalets, onsite registration, first aid booth and the beneficiary's Cancer Warriors' booth.

    

Before the start of the race, we performed simple stretching.  Soon, the gun shot was fired indicating the start of the race.

Although I only ran for the 5K category, I felt that this run was the most difficult run I've joined because of the mostly uphill terrain.  A part of it is attributable to the excessive bending I did to pick up trashes during the International Coastal Cleanup (see separate entry) the day before.

Uphill running

Here's what I noticed during the run...

PROS:

• Great stretching exercises
• Lots of race marshals
• Adequate way points 
• Adequate water stations
• Very organized
• Great hosting 
• Fast results

CONS:

• Only 1 race photographer who is positioned at the traffic intersection where runners slow down
• Glasses were full of water when only half is enough so many waters were left on the street side or spilled on the floor
• Motor vehicles were allowed to pass along the running track
• No distance markers

WINNERS AND AWARDS

Accenture for biggest congregation

Overall, it was fun and very challenging.  I found the useful running and training tips from the winners very interesting and inspiring.  Everyone was satisfied with the race.

International Coastal Cleanup with Coca-Cola Foundation

Last Saturday, I got invited to go to Samal, Bataan for the International Coastal Cleanup with Coca-Cola Foundation.  Although my schedule was quite hectic, it was difficult to refuse this admirable cause.  The meeting time was 5:30 a.m. at King's Court.  I arrived there exactly on time.  We were then given our official T-shirt and our breakfast Mc Chicken Fillet.  We waited until 6:30 for our other blogger companions to arrive and then headed off to Bataan.

Coca-Cola Group Pic with Mayor of Samal Bataan

At around 9:00 a.m., we arrived the Samal Municipal Hall.  It was raining but we didn't mind.  We were led to walk at their boat yard.  We were to cross the three boats to go to the other side.  Upon reaching the other side, we had to walk for around 30 minutes in the muddy trails until we reached the beach side with tall Mangrove trees. 

Crossing three boats to the other side

short trek

Muddy Trails and my feet

My gloves

Upon reaching the site, everyone started to do their clean up.  I brought out my gloves and shared the other to a fellow blogger who didn't have any.  We were given sacks to be filled up.   There was a lot of trash that picking them up one by one seemed endless.  Its a good thing that it was a concerted effort because it was really tiring to bend and pick up the trashes especially those stuck between the Mangrove tree roots.  I did my best and picked out as much as I could until I could already feel my heart beating.  Soon, the sacks I filled were carried by the guys towards the boat pick up point.  It was carried by the boat to the dump truck parked by the boat yard.

everyone picking up

me picking up

guys dragging the heavy sacks of trash

We were supposed to plant mangrove trees too but the shore was higher because of the rain.  But it's not as high as it is when the tide is high.  Kuya Erson taught us that the highest root of the Mangrove tree is the indication of the highest point of the water.  Based on our observation, the highest root was way taller than us. 

I forgot what this is called but its my first time to see this!

Dead Bangus

Boarding a boat

View from our boat ride

Dump track by the boat yard awaiting our sacks of trash

After the clean up, we walked back to the previous trail.  We noticed that the fish ponds there had dead Bangus fishes, according to Kuya Erson, they were poisoned so that new batch of fishes will soon be replacing the old ones.  We then rode the small boats back to the other side so it would be faster because the water was rising.  

Bataan Local Delicacies

Claiming our Lunch Food Stubs

When we arrived at the Samal Municipal Hall, we all ate our lunch.  We were so tired so it was the best time to eat!  We bought some local delicacies and headed over to our bus.  We filled out the Coca-Cola International Coastal Cleanup Data Sheet and left for Manila.  It was tiring but it was a lot of fun!  Thank you Coca-Cola Foundation for having us.

Blogger group with Kuya Erson of Coca-Cola