The Grand Waldo Hotel in Macau

The Grand Waldo Hotel offers 342 luxurios five star guest rooms equipped with LCD TVs, mini bars and electronic safes to ensure maximum comfort for their guests. I must admit staying in this hotel gave me the comfort I needed in a five star hotel.

The ambience is quite enticing which makes one enjoy the comfort of the beds that someone my size would have a hard time in other hotel beds. I love it when you put the airconditioner on high cool and settle for the warmth inside your blanket. You dont have to call the front desk anymore for additional pillows for you are provided with three pillows right away.

All rooms are equipped with plasma wall televisions which is quite a luxury while watching your favorite television show. For business people on the go, they hotel has provided a cable for free internet surfing which helped me a lot in sending information to my Manila officemates who were to join me in two days.


Call me corny but I have never been to a hotel that gives out free apples at the frontdesk. An apple lover myself I immediately summoned the Filipino in me and got two apples right away.
Well as they say, "An apple a day is seven apples a week!"

What really made it easier for our group was the great help of the two Filipino receptionists Jeanna (the above left) and Monique plus the hotel phone operator Denlee. There were times that the language barrier was becoming a problem with the people in the hotel and they definitely made it a lot easier for us to communicate with the others. No offense but It was really hard talking to the other Chinese receptionists. On the other hand two other Chinese receptionists were also as nice and handled every concern of us with a smile - Amanda Lao (with the peace sign above) and Bobo Shao (picture below). I believe that their natural charisma as front desk officers really made our stay a lot easier since they answered every concern of ours with a smile.


The STI Education Services Group got 61 rooms in this hotel and all were more than satisfied with the presentation of the rooms, the food in the Restaurant, the entertainment at the Monkey Bar and the games in the casino.

The Grand Waldo Hotel is just a 10 minute taxi ride from the Macau International Airport which will cost you just 30 to 50 Hong Kong dollars depending on the tip that the taxi drivers will ask for. Our group totalled 117 pax via Philippine Airlines which just opened its first direct flight to Macau last May 1, 2008. Hotel address is Avenida, Marginal Flor de Lotus, Taipa, Macau with telephone numbers (853) 2888-6888 fax (853) 2888-6889.

If I will have a chance to go back to Macau I will definitely choose to stay at the Grand Waldo once again.

Macau - Asia's new Las Vegas

I would consider myself quite lucky for all the free trips I went to. This year is another Asian country that is on the rise and known as the new Las Vegas. It is known as one of the two administrative regions of China (HK being the other one) -Macau. Almost the same as the Philippines, Macau was colonized by its early settlers - the Portugese conquistadors in the year fifteen fifty seven!

After occupying it for 442 years the Portugese govenrment returned Macau to the Chinese government in 1999. Macau history says that gambling was legalized here in 1847 and by the year 1962 the Portugese government granted Hongkong native Stanley Ho the gaming monopoly in Macau which lasted for 39 years.

In the year 2002, three years after China got back Macau from Portugal, their Chinese government allowed ended Stanley Ho's monopoly by allowing other casino licenses to other casino operators. Because of that Las Vegas casino magnates started to build Macau counterparts of hotels and casinos. As of 2007, The total number of hotel rooms available in Macau exceeded 16,000 rooms, 12,000 slot machines, 4000 gaming tables, around 22 Million annual visitors and almost 7 billion in gambling revenues which exceeds the almost 6 Billion gambling revenues of Las Vegas.

I am just lucky to be here and explore this wonderful place. More to comet about Macau.

IRON MAN THE MOVIE

IRON MAN fanatics will truly Marvel at this movie. I myself know of the character but was never really a follower. I am the typical Justice League follower that has Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Having IRON MAN in a movie is a great idea since i heard of the movie two years ago and when I watched this evening at Glorietta 1 I believe the long wait is worth it.

Throw away the fact that the movie is kinda fictional and close to fantasy. Imagine creating a suit that must've weighed tons and still look kinda agile? The effects made in this movie is a thing of beauty. What really caught my eye are the "high tech " gadgets, one of a kind software applications and unique super computers with artificial intelligence that was shown in the movie. It got me to think that how many years are we away from this technology. Unfortunately it made me say - not in a hundred years! But that's just me. Honestly it got me excited that in the future these computers will be available in the country.

As I mentioned I am not really a follower of Iron Man and was a bit unhappy with Robert Downey as the lead actor. But then again, if Tony Sparks is the billionaire asshole that he wants to be known for then i guess he was tailor fitted for the movie. In a scene that involved sincerity in his words I was kinda left dumbfounded for he didn't even look half as close as convincing.



To make a long story short, I will still recommend the movie to a lot of people since a lot my friends really enjoy action, nice humor and advanced technology in movies. Gwyneth Paltrow is still Gwyneth, still beautiful and I still fall for her charms in the movie. Jeff Bridges shows his versatility as he eventually comes out as the villain. At first I thought he looked familiar, then after a while I realized It was him and was amazed by this new look. Terence Howard also gave a good account of himself as came out as Mr Irony man. He always came out with Ironic statements to save the day for the US Military weapons division.

The only advice I can give is that "Don't do this at home!"
Also, did you know that Samuel L. Jackson is also in this movie? A must see.

For more about the movie just log on to: http://ironmanmovie.marvel.com

Bukidnon: Home of the Del Monte Farm

Have you ever imagined how big one hectare is? Well I never really did care how big that was until I was told about Del Monte's farm in Bukidnon. The province of Bukidnon is home to Del Monte Philippines' 20,000 Hectare farm! What??? 20,000 hectares??? Now how big is that? I heard it span more than 5 municipalities and a lot more barangays. As I looked at the farm, all that my eyes could see were pineapples and mountains and like a famous line in a movie "abot ng nakikita.ng iyong mga mata...ay lupain ko!'

The farm is a P 40 jeepney ride from Cagayan de Oro City or a P 800 taxi ride from the CDO Airport. At the heart of the farm are camps that house most of their employees. Camp Philipps, Camp Crawford and Camp Fortich. I was told that a the full cycle of a pineapple is 18 months for it to become fully ripe. What??18 months - Now that's a long time. So I asked when do farmers harvest these pineapples? EVERYDAY!!! What??? I've run out of whats and was truly amazed that a world class farm exists in our country. They harvest 2000 Tons everyday and plant pineapples everyday. The climate is quite perfect as my new friend Belle said, since most of the time it rains there which gives del monte the needed savings by not watering the pineapples anymore. One thing that I failed to visit was the farm in which they kept their cows that ate pineapples. Now that's something worth eating I said.

I was really happy my friend Jerome Buhay invited me to join his group LEAD which facilitated the team building activities of the Del Monte group. I told myself, next time I am in Cagayan, I will definitely pass by again to taste their steaks. For now, seeing the farm was enough to keep me in high spirits. Just wait for the return of the comeback of Mhel G. to del Monte land.

STI Pre-School Students

The STI Sta. Mesa Pre-School Students withe their rendition of "One More Gift" which served as the Invocation Hymn of the STI Network Graduation last April 25, 2008 at the Convenarium of Crossroads 77.

Starting them young

Kids are always fun to watch. Last February I experimented by inviting STI Pre-school students to do an interpretative interpretation of our invocation hymn. Lo and behold it was a huge hit. Imagine the sight of 12 kids aged 4 and 5 singing the Lord's prayer. Tomorrow they will be performing the song "One More Gift" at the STI Graduation Ceremonies. It is quite a sight to see these kids who are pre schoolers from the STI Prep School in Sta. Mesa. Yes, STI has a Pre school and it is in already 10 branches nationwide. These studes are called to duty even during their summer break just for the sake of STI. Well just wait for the video when i have a copy i will post it.

The Forbidden Kingdom:

Ever since the first time I laid eyes on Jacky Chan (now spelled Jackie) in the movie "Snake in the Eagle's shadow" I made it a point to have time to watch his movies. I have lost count on how many movies he made and how many I watched also. The Forbidden Kingdom has the same plot that most Chinese martial arts movies have - Master teaches student and student defeats the evil enemy. A classic case of good triumphs over evil.

To give a certain twist to that plot, a Chinese fantasy movie is somehow quite different. The two masters, Lu Yan (JC) the drunken master and the Silent Monk (JL), together with "vengeance is mine" Golden Sparrow (Liu Yifei) teach Jason (Michael Angarano) who plays "the chosen one." Jason's mission is to return a magical fighting stick to the Monkey King (also portrayed by Jet Li) who is encapsulated into stone by the evil Jade warlord. (Collin Chou)

I know that there is a big following of both Jackie and Jet here in the country. Both martial arts artists revolutionalized the Martial Arts scene and every movie they make climaxes with one of a kind fight scenes. Quite impressive was the "mano a mano" confrontation of the two stars and their fight scene is a thing of beauty.

My question is why only now? After seeing this movie I made a conclusion that the future of basketball in China will be promising if Jet Li trains these athletes to fly. Imagine a 7-6 Yao Ming flying to the basket for a dunk! Well, that is what Chinese Folklore is all about - fantastic fantasy!

Visit their website: http://forbiddenkingdommovie.com/main.html

JARDINEROS

Whenever I go up to Tagaytay i see to it that I pass by one of my few discoveries - JARDINEROS FOOD STATION. Located on the way to Tagaytay if you took the Sta. Rosa exit, Jardineros is the home of Mesclun. Mesclun is a salad mix of assorted small, young salad leaves. The mix varies depending on the source but it includes my favorite - the lettuce! Besides leaf lettuces it is also a mix of herbs and tender greens. The name comes from Provencal (Southern France) - mescla, "to mix" - and literally means mixture.

Bottomline, every once in a while its so nice to go green since the lettuce comes with yummy dressings that can rival the best of hotel salad dressings. I myself bought one kilo of lettuce and two salad dressings so that I can satisfy my urge to eat freshly picked soiled up organic salad. Oops, I got to wash it first and dip it with my favorite dressing - Papaya. Go satisfy your urge at Jardineros I am sure that it will make you wannabe a vegetarian!

THE WEDDING EMCEE

The town of Agoncillo in Batangas is a long 120 km ride south of Manila, a two hour drive via the scenic route of Tagaytay Ridge and R. Diokno Highway It is 32 km away from Batangas City, the provincial capital. Bounded in the east by approximately 10 km lakeshore of Taal Lake, in the south by the municipality of San Nicolas, separated by Pansipit on the west by the municipality of Lemery and on the north by the municipality of Laurel. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 26,584 people in 5,029 households. That was the route I took to host a wedding reception. Come to think of it, i've turned down numerous emceeings the past four months and I myself am wondering why i said yes. The only logical reason is I missed emceeing weddings and I loved driving alone coz it helps me reconnect to myself. Like what i told my friend, once i commit i'll be there. The only thing that will prevent me from doing so is a drastic change of sked because of my day job. This was the first time I hosted a wedding that I never really did meet the wedding coordinator nor the bride and groom. I was just sent a program and a map then a short explanation of the program when I arrived. I was told that I came highly recommended and i was quite happy everything turned out okay. The newlyweds were happy to have me. While chatting with the other suppliers who were there, Red Santos who was the official photographer asked me, "how long have you been doing this?" Then I suddenly realized, OMG its been 15 years since the first Wedding I emceed! I never really realized that I have mastered a craft that some people are hesitant to do. The best part is that at the end of the job you get paid for doing something you enjoy doing. That's why going back to manila I took several side trips to enjoy Tagaytay and also take my sweet time going home. The past 15 years i have been emceeing weddings while the past 18 had me play music to friends who got married. Next Stop, the wedding photographer!

THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL

Starring: Eric Bana, Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johanson

For those who love to follow the history of England then this is a movie worth watching. The story evolved around King Henry VIII and his involvement with Anne and Sarah Boleyn. Back then a male heir to the throne was very important and Queen Catherine was not able to bear the king a male heir. This was the opportunity that the family of Sir Thomas Boleyn was looking for.Sir Thomas sacrificed the members of his family to win favour from King Henry VIII, He garnered honours by letting the King dally with his elder daughter Mary, then marry his younger daughter Anne. Natalie Portman showed another facet of her acting from sweet lady to a seducer and into a woman who is out of control. Scarlett Johanson's acting was adequate while Eric Bana is just the same as his previous movies. I almost thought he would turn green when he got mad! Since its English history and a true story then its something worth watching. Unfortunately some scenes seem to be boring. The problem with movies that date to the middle ages is that its mostly shot in the dark. That usually translates to boring parts of the movie. But then again if knowing full well what happened in that era is your concern then for sure its okay. Sometimes its so hard to watch movies in that era that has no war component in it.

For more of the movie: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/theotherboleyngirl/

For more of the era: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Boleyn

Ateneo vs. La Salle in the PBA

The Ateneo-La Salle exhibition game that involved PBA cagers from both schools was a total washout. After watching the game you will definitely love Collegiate Basketball. Watching them play six to seven years ago was a thing of beauty but seeing them play a while ago was a big letdown. It was just seeing them have fun and it seemed like there was no fire in their eyes. Well since most of them became friends in the PBA then most of them were just chiding at each other and laughing at every play as if it were just a normal PBA game. Gone was the drama that involved Rico Villanueva and Carlo Sharma, plus Sharma's punching Rich Alvarez became a thing of the past. Remember the constant trash talking of Wesley Gonzalez and Mac Cardona which resulted in Larry blocking Mac's two hook shots.

The game ended in a tie, well that's better than losing. For me the sparkplug ot the Blue Eagles was Olsen Racela and Rico Villanueva. Olsen's head's up play and defense brought back the Eagles while the offense of Rico kept them at bay. On the other hand it was the surprising game of Carlo Sharma and the defense of Mark Telan that carried the fight for the Green Archers.

I just hope that next time around the Blue Babble will be at hand to lend a shout.

It seems like 1000 BC to me

This is another love story that happened 10000 years before Christ much more like the Titanics and Pearl Harbor love stories that was set in a tragedy or war for that matter. I've always loved movies with a cast of thousands but this one had its ups and downs. Bottomline, I liked it but I had some questions that were left unawnswered.
First, was it really easy to recruit bandits then from different tribes? Well it seems like word travels fast during those days considering the next tribe is located a 100 kilometers from where the original gossip came to be? Second, since sex wasn't much of a morality issue then, don't you think the bad guys then would immediately rape a beautiful slave girl on the first opportunity that he gets? Why wait for others to have an opportunity to snatch her from you.
Third, I have never seen people so fluent in speaking english those days. As a matter of fact translation wasn't much part of a problem to them then. Last, I never thought there was colgate in those days coz the primitive guys had great set of teeth? I just want to know who their dentist was. They had great sense of confidence.

What I liked:

• The rampage of the mammoths
• Camille Belle
• The Fight scenes
• The lead character's character

What I did not like:

• The boring first part
• I liked Camille Belle but I would have liked her to have more speaking lines
• I think the film did not really capture the 10000 BC era, much more like 1000 BC

But then again, I am not a full time film critic - that's just me.

Food for thought

March 11, 2008 is a day of triumph because I lost one pound! Consider the fact that I gained 20 pounds the last five months losing one is something to be positive about. I believe the basketball games these past three months helped me sweat a lot to jumpstart my long road out of obesity. How can I resist food since I have been into different places in the country working and the only way for me to think straight is to eat first!

Hehe. Who can resist the spicy Thai squid plus Sashimi and Kinilaw na tuna from the Orange Grill in Gen Santos City, the sumptuous seafoods at Aboy's and Imay's in Bacolod, the best baby back ribs in Cebu at Casa Verde restaurant and an array of other dishes at the Panagatan in Cagayan de Oro. I believe that passing up all that food would be a sin - well we are going to die anyway so why not indulge and give in to your temptation.

I believe that it is now time to diet so that by next year when I go around the country again I can go on an eating splurge. That is my food for thought..diet now eat later.