Big Changes

Hello There!

I'm making some big changes on my blog. Although I'm still very new to blogging, 1.5 months, I've decided to buy postcardsfromstella.com. It's in the process of being updated and transferred to Wordpress. There are many reasons for this change; it's more professional to use your own domain than a sub-domain, Wordpress is considered more professional than Blogger, are a few.

I really enjoy writing about my travel and cultural experiences and I have tons more to write about so please bear with me for making this change. Also, any suggestions on what you'd like to read more about whether here in the Philippines or in any of the other places I've been to are more than welcome.

Ciao!

Stella

What Is Tawas Powder?

Tawas powder is a popular deodorant used in the Philippines. I've always been curious about it but I just didn't understand the differences between that and regular antiperspirant deodorant. 

From what I've learned;

• alum is another name for tawas
• it has cosmetic, medicinal, and industrial uses
• it is natural
• it has antibacterial and whitening properties
• tawas also comes in solid crystal form

If you're looking for an alternative and trying to steer away from antiperspirants, tawas powder (or crystal) is right for you. It's easy to apply; pinch a small amount and rub it into your armpits. So many people swear by it so I've decided to give it a try. It is a hot day; 31 degrees Celcius in my room and I've applied some about an hour ago. So far so good, my kili kili (Tagalog word for armpits) are odourless and feel dry. We'll see how I do for the rest of the day.

This 50 gram container only cost 6.50 PHP (0.15 CAD). 

But I was just wondering; which one is most effective? Tawas powder? Or tawas crystal? Let me know what you think!

Wish you were here!

The Last Paper Postage Stamps?

Naga City has one post office which is located near City Hall. Is it like that all over the Philippines? Is there only one post office in each city.

A few weeks ago I went to the post office to mail some postcards and I was disappointed to discover that they don't use postage stamps! They just use an ink stamp to mark it as paid. In my opinion, the stamp you send your postcard with is just as visually important as the postcard itself. I guess this has become the standard because the ink is cheaper than the paper. When I asked about buying postage stamps they only had one design so I bought a sheet of those. It costs 13 PHP (0.30 CAD) to send one postcard internationally but these ones are worth 7 PHP each. I was hoping that they would have stamps worth 1 or 2 PHP each. It makes mail so much more colourful. The one on the right is dated from 2009! I wonder if these are the last paper stamps in circulation. Hey stamp collectors out there, do you think this is worth saving or should I use them?

Wish you were here!

UPDATE: 20 April 2011


I went to the post office yesterday to mail a letter and I asked again about stamps. They had more! My bad, they didn't stop making them after all! They must just be scarce sometimes.

My 31st Country - Thailand!

Yesterday, I booked my and my cousin's flight to Thailand! I'm so excited! This will be my 31st country.

Since I'm in the Philippines and it's so close to numerous exotic and interesting countries, I knew that I wanted to visit one of them. Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and China were the top contenders but in the end, Thailand came out on top.

Yesterday, Cebu Pacific was having a sale on flights to Bangkok (BKK). How could I pass up a discount of over 50% off? I bought two tickets departing Clark (CRK) to Bangkok. I chose to depart from Clark, two hours north of Manila, instead of Manila because the price difference was really significant. The roundtrip flight with all taxes included cost 7675 PHP (181 CAD) per person. Not bad, eh? (That's right, I said "eh"!)

The next plan of action will be to figure out how to get to Clark Airport from Manila and deciding what we want to do once we get to Bangkok. We'll be there for one week in early June.

Cebu Pacific has a newsletter that everyone in the Philippines should subscribe to. Often times, their sales last for just the day and then it's over! So if you're interested in travel within the Philippines and/or Asia, subscribe to their Seat Sale Alert!

Bangkok has a lot to offer so I think we should stay in the area for the full week to experience as much of it as possible. But if you think there's somewhere else I need to check out, then let me know!  Tell me all about your favourite places and activities. Tell me about your least favourites too!

Wish you were here!

Lola's Words #1: In life, you must be a winner!

My dear grandmother is 76 years old but acts and moves like she's a lot younger. My cousins and I would describe her as a "party girl" for her numerous nights out ballroom dancing. We would also describe her as maingay, which means noisy, because her presence is always known when she's at home with her constant chatter.

At the dining table, she's always dishing out advice on health, finance, relationships, and life in general. She has a way of speaking that is as if she is addressing the country.

A little while back, Lola, Tita Dayday, Tito Rey, and I were in the car just leaving after hearing mass on Sunday when Lola randomly declared that "in life, you must be a winner". Now I must admit, I am occasionally guilty of poking fun at some of the things that my dear Lola says. But it's all said in jest; not to hurt anyone's feelings. This was one of those times. I really couldn't help it but my mouth began speaking before I could stop myself and I said, "Yeah! Because God hates losers."

The way I interpreted it was that second best is never okay. But the way I see it, sometimes second best is the best you can do and you have to accept it rather than tear yourself up over it. But Lola explained what she meant:

In life, you must be a winner considering that you were created from the best egg and the fastest sperm. You've been a winner since birth! So congratulations to all you winners for making it this far!

High five!

Wish you were here!

Sunrise in CamSur!

When I was in the Philippines last year (2010), we took a family trip to Caramoan for the weekend. Caramoan is an hour drive and a two hour boat ride away from Naga City. We woke up very early and made the trip to the port in Sagñay. The sun began to rise as we were embarking and that's when I took this picture.

It was a beautiful morning and a great start to our trip. 

Wish you were here!

Attention Canadians!

Monday 2 May 2011 is Voting Day!

If you are eligible to vote in Canada then please do so! It is your civic duty to cast an educated vote. Take the time to familiarize yourself with each party and their platform. The Globe and Mail has made this easy by organizing the key issues (ex. health, the economy, education, etc..) and each party's stance. Compare The Party Platforms

If you don't receive your Voter Information Card by Friday 15 April 2011, then you should contact your local returning officer or Elections Canada at 1-800-INFO-VOTE (1-800-463-6868).

For more information, visit Elections Canada.

Even if you disagree with every single candidate running, there is still something you can do about it. It's called spoiling your vote/ballot. You can do this a number of ways.

1. Choosing all candidates.
2. Choosing none of the candidates.
3. Signing your name on it.
4. Writing "this ballot is spoiled" across it. (My dad's favourite.)
5. Or all of the above. 

Since I'm here in the Philippines I'm going to have to vote by special ballot. I myself am still undecided on who deserves my vote but I'm weighing my options. 

Every vote counts so make sure to register and mark it in your calendar! 

2 May 2011

Wish you were here!

Cutting Keys

I needed to have some keys cut today so my aunt, Tita Dayday, took me to centro to have it done. We parked around the block and walked the remaining distance. It had never occurred to me that keys could be copied by hand. I'm so used to going over to Canadian Tire and handing them over to an attendant who will insert the original and a blank key into the machine and press a button. A few minutes later, I've got a duplicate!

This time was different. When we got there, the entire sidewalk on one side of the street was set up with numerous locksmiths stations. Each station was brightly painted yellow and displayed a multitude of either keys, door knobs or padlocks. We took a moment to appraise our choices and decided to go with number 15, Willy Boy. His station had about a hundred keys all threaded on to a bent piece of wire.

We presented him with three keys for which we needed copies and he selected matching blanks keys. He worked with a file and a calliper, while we left to run another errand. He was all done by the time we returned less than 10 minutes later. He averaged just over 3 minutes per key, that's comparable to his machine-like competitor! He charged 40 PHP (a little less than 1 CAD) per key which is a much better rate than at the mall where it can cost approximately 80 PHP per key.

Although he seemed to know what he was doing, I had my reservations about whether or not the keys would work. He assured us that if they didn't work, we could always bring them back and he would copy them again. When we got home, we tried all three and every attempt was a successful one! So I certainly recommend giving this a go next time you're in need of duplicates. It was accurate, quick, and affordable.

Wish you were here!

Review: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

The other day I finished Brave New World. It had been waiting on my bookshelf for at least a year when I finally got around to it. I get so excited by shiny new books that I buy them a lot faster than I can read them. I estimate that I've read just over 50% of the books I own. As difficult as it has been, I have decided to abstain from buying any more books until I increase that number to at least 75%.

Considered Huxley's greatest work, Brave New World has been ranked fifth on Modern Library's list of 100 Best Novels. This dystopian novel is set in London, England in the year "632 A.F." which is more like AD2540 in the Gregorian calendar. This is a place where people are hatched from bottles on a conveyor belt, promiscuity is encouraged and being called a "mother" is outrageous and insulting.

I had high hopes for this novel because of it's ranking and because of it's genre. Dystopian novels are my thing; 1984 by George Orwell and The Giver by Lois Lowry are my two absolute favourite books. So I'm at a loss for words to say that this book let me down a little.

It started well with a tour of the Central London Hatching and Conditioning Centre where the Director of the Hatchery explains to a group of boys how humans are created. Bottles containing embryos travel along on a conveyor belt through the factory-like building. Then there is the Bokanovsky Process where eggs can be manipulated to produce identical multiples of up 96 humans. Embryos are grouped into castes, Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma, or Epsilon. The Alphas are allowed a natural gestation while every succeeding caste is treated to become less mentally and physically capable than the preceding caste. Later, we meet Lenina Crowe who is being criticised by her friend, Fanny, for not having more lovers. What would everyone think if they knew she had been seeing Henry Foster exclusively for several months? The horror! Bernard Marx feels as if he does not fit in with his fellow Alphas due to inferior stature. His views on sexual relationships differ from what they've been conditioned to believe their whole lives. They live in a loveless society. "Everyone belongs to everyone else."

The opening chapters of the book definitely pulled me in and I was interested in seeing where this would lead to. Bernard and Lenina meet John the Savage on a trip to a savage reservation in New Mexico called Malpais. Malpais is translated to "bad country" in Spanish which is rather ironic considering John's final views on Bernard and Lenina's "mother"land.

Without giving too much away, the ending is what disappointed me. It's not that I didn't understand it, I just felt as if there could've been more. Once John is introduced, Bernard and Lenina fall into the shadows of the story line. I would've wanted to see more of them since they were the first two characters I met. The world is seen through John's eyes now. 

Considering that this book was written in 1932 as a projection of society in 2540, Huxley is definitely ahead of his time. He has predicted a lot of the problems that western societies face today; uncontrolled consumerism, drug and substance abuse, and deteriorating interpersonal relationships. 

I really want to love this book so I may give it another chance some day. But don't take my word for it. If you have read the book, let me know what you think. If you haven't, then take the time to check it out and see for yourself. 

Wish you were here!

Naga City's Wet Market

Today, I accompanied my grandmother, Lola Nen, to the wet market in centro. I had never been there before but I had heard about it's smells and sounds so I was curious to see what it was like.

When I came downstairs all ready to go, Lola Nen took one look at me and told me that what I was wearing was inappropriate for the market. My tank top was fine, but my knee length shorts and flip flops just wouldn't do. I was instructed to put on pants and to wear closed-toe shoes. I didn't understand the reason for this but it became evident once I arrived.

We took the tricycle to centro and climbed the stairs of the market building. The first thing I noticed were all the bright lights hung by every stall and the floor was soaked in fish juices and water! There was fish everywhere! Lola wasted no time. If she saw something she was interested in, she would personally inspect the freshness of the item by poking it and by checking under the gills. It had to be pink to red in colour; if it was darkened, it was no good. Lola taught me to make sure that the scale was set to zero before having items weighed. This was to ensure that we would be getting everything we paid for. We bought maya-maya, bangus, tilapia, and squid.

Moving forward, we stopped for some vegetables and then on to the red meat! We bought a large piece of pork tenderloin which was then finely sliced. It will be later marinated and tenderized to make tapa. We were also sold two pork legs. Those will be prepared to make crispy pata. After they cut the toenails off and wrapped them up, we were on our way home!

If it wasn't for those shoes, I definitely would've been marinated in some kind of wet market soup. It was an insightful look into daily life in Naga City and I would definitely go back.

Wish you were here!

Hello World!

My name is Stella and I love to travel. And whenever I do, I always send postcards.

I live to travel. I am in the ceaseless pursuit of international citizenship. My definition of international citizenship is the ability to find a home and a sense of belonging wherever you go. I have been to thirty (if you count the Vatican) countries in Asia, North America, South America, and Europe.

My dream is to spend at least one month in India. I want to go and eat the food and see the sights, but more than anything, I want to experience it the way the natives do. Well, that's really the way I want all of my experiences to be like.

I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Languages & Literatures. I studied Spanish, French, and Chinese. Studying languages has only intensified my love of travel. I will forever consider myself a language student no matter how fluent I become. I love linguistics! It's the scientific study of languages. I'm constantly analysing language and the variations in dialect and accent in the same language amaze me.

I was born in Naga City, Camarines Sur, Philippines and I've moved around since then. My permanent home is in Canada although I also consider Trindad & Tobago and The Philippines my home too.

This blog is to share information on my number one interest, travel, as well as the others that I have; food photography, books, water related activities (ex/ swimming and scuba diving) etc...

Enjoy!

Wish you were here!