Filipino made headline because of A H1N1

What a day! A Filipino made headline on the local broadsheet here today because of the A H1N1. One of the footballers from Team Philippines who are in the country for the inaugural Asian Youth Games has been confirmed with the virus after he developed symptoms a day after they arrived. As a result he was admitted to the Communicable Disease Center and in stable condition. Because of this the whole team including the coaches has been quarantined at a local resort and will stay there for 6 days.

It is really depressing to end this way for the whole team. After all those hard training and looking forward for a good fight will end up not playing. In the meantime all the scheduled games for the team has been postponed. What will happen by the time the quarantine period ended, are they still allowed to compete? It is mentioned in the news that the team has been vaccinated against seasonal flu two weeks ahead of their arrival but still the boy has been contracted by the virus.

There are total of 126 confirmed cases of A H1N1 victims here in Singapore. Most of these came from overseas, but there are cases were the victims have no travel history or known contact with the confirmed cases. Will this mean there will be community spread and will result to increase at a fast pace? I hope it will not, but nevertheless I believe the government is ready. All I can do now is to observe proper hygiene and might as will limit my movement to work and home routine. No malling for me for now and will try to avoid taking the mrt.

I just hope that the boy footballer is an isolated case and the Team Philippines will be able to compete and hopefully win.

Turning into Minima

Reading other blogs writing about their observations, often summarizing and categorizing it, of the blogs they read is quite intimidating for me learning they are my readers too. In their write up they will tell his readers unwittingly how he find bloggers writings not to far to their likings, the motives of having blogs, and so on. Knowing that they regularly read my blog too and consciously aware that my blog is one being pointed to not in a good way, I suddenly develop paranoia and unconsciously losing interest updating my blog. So you see, I don’t have degree to boost to be a good writer, Back in college if you are in engineering department, the arts and sciences department will often dismiss you as English morons. Our Arts and Sciences instructors treat us engineering students lightly and oftentimes will not test our limits capability on the subject; and yes we are trained to be technical writers. But that was during my time, I don’t know if it is still the same today.

No I am not making excuse here why I have few entries these past few weeks. But I can’t deny this observation I have stated has got to do with it. So, either I have to stop reading friends blogs so I can regularly update my own without hesitation, or keep reading them and eventually immunes myself of what they’re saying, then I can write whatever pleases me my own way.

Or maybe not. I am experiencing a mental block syndrome once again. No matter how anxious I am to write something, nothing comes up. Too bad that because of this I am slowly losing interest to blog. I was tempted to discontinue blogging for awhile and gone hiatus. Then suddenly it hit me. I am only bored. And when I am bored change is inevitable.

Have you seen my tumblr blog? And yes I have a new one in wordpress. Please visit them too.

The Beach experience

After spending 4 hours in Tanjung Pinang, I compelled not to stay overnight as there is not much to explore. I have noticed that there is no indication that there will be life comes night time. When I asked around how much will be the transportation cost going to Trikora beach I was surprised what I gathered, the fare's expensive considering the distance is just 40 kilometers from the town proper. So I proceeded to the tourist information center to confirm what I have learned. The local guy manning the center informed me that it is not advisable to just go there by taking the transportation on my own but instead contact a resort where I am going to stay and have the hotel pick me up from the center. I was hesitant at first since my plan was to explore the whole stretch of the beach and from there will I then decide where to stay, but he advised otherwise as according to him though there are few cheap resorts but in the end I still have to pay more for the transportation. I succumbed, so he recommended Bintan Agro Beach Resort and true enough in ten minutes time I was on the road to Trikora.

The highway that will lead us to Trikora. Still within the Tanjung Pinang area, this will lead to an old and narrower road soon as you leave Tanjung Pinang.

Outside the reception area.

Here's my room. It's clean, bed is comfy, the comfort room has complete toiletries and clean!

At the reception I was told my room has I breathtaking view of the sea, this is what I got. Does he know what breathtaking means?

Ahh I have to go out of my room, and stand on my door to experience it.

After I settled in, I ordered merienda. The fishball soup was okay, but the mee goreng was tasteless and greasy!

Then I went out to check the vicinity and gone swimming.

The beach looks dirty up close and too narrow from here, so I move towards the end part of the beach area. Its too shallow! I keep going further until I was 50 meters or so, still the water was knee high.

After an hour of just lying in the beach I decided to transfer to the pool. The moment I stepped on the steps I almost slipped as it was slimy. It seems that it was never cleaned in ages, but the water was clean.

Dinner at the seafood resto I end up ordering grilled chicken :) Gonggong was good with the peanut sauce.

I slept early that night and woke up just before the sun rises.

Breakfast here was breathtaking as the sun rises.

I planned to go snorkeling, but was told would not be possible because of this, and have to wait until 3pm for the water to rise.

Practically I slept the rest of the day as I have nothing to do, I intended not to extend my stay so at 12noon I woke up by a call informing me that my time was up and have to leave the room immediately.

In the end, its still awesome trip.

Destination: Tanjung Pinang, Bintan

Last weekend, I decided to spend my long weekend out of Singapore - in nearby island of Bintan in Indonesia. I applied friday as offset for the vesak day holiday weeks ago.

I woke up early last friday and managed to leave home before 6 in the morning but arrived at the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal at 9:00! The reason was that I dropped at a wrong bus stop. The lady I inquired on misunderstood my query, so I have to wait for the next bus which arrived 30 minutes later.

I took the ferry that will first to depart that day. The terminal is spankingly clean and yes there is a duty free shop too. It is the opposite of the terminal in Bintan and once you go out of the terminal it was chaotic more as there were plenty of touts from drivers to hotel personnel who will follow you around non-stop!

This is the ferry that will bring us to Bintan.

A view from afar of the Sri Bintan Pura ferry terminal at Tanjung Pinang. As Asean citizen, I don't need to secure visit visa, but the port is a visa-on-arrival port, so you any foreign visitor can still have one for a fee upon arrival.

Just outside the Port, noticed the motorcycle bikes? Called Ojek, it is the mode of transportation here aside from the white mini vans.

I did not make prior reservation for the trip as I planned it to be a free and easy tour. My plan was to explore the whole town first and proceed the next day to the beach which is around 40 kilometers from the town center.

After I arrived I immediately explore the town, and I was quite surprised to find out that is quite a progressive town. This one is their own version of the Baywalk and becomes busy from late afternoon until late in the evening as mobile food stalls were set up and become a huge hawkers center. I am not sure if this happening everyday or only on weekends.

On a typical day.

On late afternoon.

A typical street alley.

A government house I supposed.

The Raja Haji Fisabillah monument, named after a national hero.

I took my lunch in a local restaurant. The food display is arranged on top of each other forming a pyramid, a unique to the island

The food preparation is pretty much the same to any asian country yet has a very distinctive taste though a bit similar to malay food. The food cost me 31,000 rupiah! Around 4 singdollar or 135 pesos :). Take note it came with the local softdrink and a bottled water. I want to live in this island!

The malls. There are three of them, aside from the ones populated at main streets in the old commercial district. A store names are quite interesting. Armani Exchange, D & G, Fendi, you can find them there!

The one and the only one western fastfood you can find in the island, lol!

Next stop, the Trikora beach!