My New And Improved JUNE Roster! =)

My Original Roster was: Colombo, Frankfurt, BOMBAY, and then COlombo again, back to back with COLOMBO again, and then Brisbane - Auckland, which is a 6 day flight, and then KARACHI and lastly, BOMBAY as the grand finale. It was horrendous! BUT I managed to swap to make my roster a little more fly-able... and worthy of my fatigue... haha.

So, I had three Comlombos, right? I managed to swap one of it for a Hyderabad, thanks to Angila Espiritu, who was a star :) I swapped it so I get to do another driving class on the day I arrive.

And then was very lucky to swap my Frankfurt flight for a MILAN flight! I'm happy because I have never been to Milan, and it's going to be my first time =) I'm excited, I really am! :)

Just now, when I arrived from my driving class, I checked my roster because I got a good feeling a swap went through! And it did!!!! The flight I am dreading, my Brisbane - Auckland is now a Kuala Lumpur and Johannesburg flight!!!! Yeyyy!!! I don't mind Kuala Lumpur, I love the food and of course the shoe- shopping. I also don't mind Johannesburg, so I can buy some wines, and steak, and I will finally get to buy my own Bio oil. hahaha. Simple pleasures of going from one place to another! =)

nevermind my 2 Colombos which are left with me, I'll just have rest and some traditional Sri Lankan fish curry there and maybe buy some clay pots in Paradise Road :)

So, Ive gotta feeling I won't be calling sick next month! Yaaaayyy!

I'm Not Yet Full of CraB! =)

My Singapore flight was soo much fun, the crew I flew with are amazing especially this girl from Singapore. Her name is Regina.I told her I am reminded of my sister because of her name. =)There was a n Asian Mafia in Business class, Filipina, that would be me, Thai, Korean and Sigaporean.

When we arrived in Singapore, we were all starved as there was nothing to eat onboard. Catering from COlombo wasn't good except for the papayas. As soon as we arrived at the hotel, we all agreed to meet up after 15 minutes, just quickly change and head to Newton Hawker Center.

It wasn't very far from the hotel in Clark Quay, it took barely 10 minutes, and the taxi fare was just S$ 7.50.

This is probably one of the bigger hawker centers that I've been to. And the variety of what you can eat is maddening! I saw seafood everywhere. It was a god thing taht we already decided what we wanted to eat and drink at the aircraft before we landed to save time from thinking and thinking twice on what to order.

We had a feast!


WHite Carrot Cake
While eating, I kept on asking Regina where the carrot was, she just ignored me and kept on eating. So, I ask again! Where is the carrot and it definitely does not taste like cake to me! haha. I googled carrot cake singapore and here's what I found:

Fried Carrot Cake or "Chai Tow Kway" (菜頭粿; pinyin: càitóuguǒ) is a common dish in Singapore which Singaporeans eat throughout the day whether at breakfast, lunch, dinner or even supper. Main ingredient is the white radish (more commonly known as white carrot in Singapore). The white radish is grated and then mixed with rice flour. Together with water, the mixture is stirred while cooking. Then the thick mixture is poured in a round pan and steamed to form the carrot cake.



Black Carrot Cake tastes almost the same, this one is just black and a little bit saltier and spicier! =)


Crispy Baby Squid sooo crunchy and sweet and crunchy and spicy! :)



BBQ Stingray!!! Would you believe I ate a stingray? One of the girls asked, what's a stingray and the other one answered, oh, you don't know? It's the fish that looks like a kite, and it's the fish that killed Steve Irwin. awwwwwww, I miss Steve and his wild stunts with animals! I didn't like this dish. It tastes weird and I don't like the idea of myself eating a stingray. There were so many fishbones, and apparently you can also eat them, eeuw.


Lala In Philippines, Lala is a fish cracker. In Singapore, they are shellfish sauteed in garlic and some other sauce. There wasn't much meat in it, It was ok. I had one and that was it.


Oyster Omelette This one was sooo yummy. I liked that it was fried and a little crunchy but not dry. I still had the full taste of the oyster and I loved it. I miss oysters! In Dubai, it's expensive to have oysters in restaurants.


Chilli CRAB We ordered one order of chilli crab and it was a mistake! Just BECAUSE! I WANTED MORE MORE MORE! I WANT TO BE FULL OF CRAB!


Deep Fried Buns It was my first time to try these buns, and man, they were awesome! Regina taught us how to eat it with the left over chilli crab sauce, and it was soooo yum! I also imagined having these buns with condensed milk, oh I miss Milkmaid from Manila :)

I really thought I would've exploded after eating so much in Newton! Surprisingly, I still had space for a Tiger Beer! :)

Till my next feast, my tummy will miss you Singapore!

June Roster

Arrrrgh, I've been trying really hard to be good, no sick days no lates, but it makes it impossible this June to be even OK. I got all the flights I don't like to fly. Sigh. I bid for MNL and I get CMB? three of them. :( Nothing against the place, it really is an easy flight and the layover hotel is not bad, but, who would be motivated to keep on flying to the same destination thrice in a row. It's like a freaking dejavu, flight after another. Oh well.

I also have Brisbane- Auckland. It's 6 days away from Dubai. :( I don't like being away that long. It makes me sad. I have been trying to swap it for 3 days now, nobody seeme interested. Sigh again. So I guess I might have to do this flight.

I have 5 turnarounds which I don't mind. But my body does. I guess all crew are fatigued at this point where we get only legal days off and fly minimum 90 hours every month. Back is sore, feet tired :(

Just whining, but still thankful, and hopeful that next month I get a flight back home to see my fam, I miss them so much.

Next Stop: Singapore lahhh!

27 Hours in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

We arrive at the hotel at around 11 in the evening after almost an hour's drive form the airport. I was in deep sleep in the bus and I swear I must've drooled and rolled over in my sleep. We were all dead tired. But the view of the Petronas, woke most of the crew's blood up. How can they manage to party after such a long and tiring flight? They all want to drink beer. Come on, you drink in Dubai, you drink out of Dubai... how the eff can you do that? Anyway, me, I was dead. Knocked out. So, i'm a goner. they called me party pooper, whatever. i'm a sleep sleep sleep. never mind my grumbling stomach!

I was surprised that we stayed at the west wing, but it's good coz it's cleaner :) I was at the 18th floor and my view was awesome! :)



I woke up the next day and it was freaking 3 in the afternoon, I was starving! Was really lazy to get up, wanted to stay in bed. BUT MUST EAT OR DIE. and so I did, took the metro and went to Bukit Bintang.



Check out the view from the Metro :) the twin towers. I miss you like crazy John Lloyd Cruz! :)



Anyway, I manage to get to Pavilion Mall. But was cross eyed of hunger.



I know I said I was gonna eat at Madam Kwan's but when I got my allowance, I realized I was poor in KL. I only had a meager 209 ringgit or whatever they call it. By the look of Madam Kwan's resto, I just know!!! I couldn't afford it... :( too bad.. I really wanted to try. But then anyway, my hunger was getting into my brain so I look at the the next available option and I saw HONGKONG KAI-LAN in the menu and ordered it from Little wok. Bad choice!





THIS IS WHAT I ATE! it's BORRRRING!!! stir-fried kai-lan in garlic and oyster sauce, rice with a sad looking egg. :( and the soup which turned out to be the best part of this boring meal... anyway, this was enough to fuel me energy for my much budgeted shopping... which I thought would be impossible in Pavilion mall.



But it wasn't in SUNGEI WANG hahahaha :) I was able to buy a new cover for my i phone, and a new matte scratch plastic proof protection --i dont know what it's called, i'm sorry. I also bought some hair accessories and was able to eat at "MY NOODLE PLACE" on the way back to the hotel. slept for 3 hours and before I knew it, I was going back to Dubai :)

I Bid Petronas Towers goodbye :)

One Afternoon @ Dubai Garden Center

One fine afternoon, I was able to miraculously make my hubby drive me to Dubai Garden Center :) I was so happy. I got to buy some plants for my balcony garden... :)

I like Dubai Garden Center, plants are so much cheaper than the ones in ikea. But there are very little choices for outdoor plants though. I wish they had more variety.

Next Stop: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia :)

Tomorrow, I will be travelling to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I'm excited because I haven't been there in a while. There was a time when I would get it every month...

Malaysia's National Dish include - nasi lemak, roti canai, char kway teow and satay. I've had char kway teow in the hotel where we stay at and I didn't like it. But my friend Racine, who travels very frequently to KL said that I should try it at Madam Kwan's in KLCC... :)

So that's what I'm gonna do. :)

Not One, Not Two, But THREE! Three WEEKS profit share. Crew are reacting differently, others disappointed, others feel they deserve more. Others feel revengeful? But what for? I don't feel very happy with 3 weeks, but I feel thankful :), because last year was waaay worse when instead of getting anything, we were obliged to attend a "talk" where they said that our jobs were our bonus... I would rather get the 3 weeks now, than get the same speeech last year! haha :)

I am still praying we get an increment this year, they will announce it come July. We will keep our fingers crossed.

So, what am I gonna do with my newly acquired wealth bwahhahaha?

I asked 5 crew so far, curious at what they are gonna do with their 3 weeks bonus... 5 out of 5 answered they were gonna pay their credit cards and that it wasn't even enough. hahaha :) i totally agree !

I Wish I Was in Manila Today

Cause it's my nephew's 3rd Birthday! :)

Happy birthday Vaughn! it seemed just yesterday when he was a little baby, now he's a little big boy... I missed home today, I called Vaughn up but he was such in a hurry, was soo excited for his party.

Here's a photo of Vaughn with his playmates Ashley and Jedi.



Proud Grandparents!

Here's my mom and dad with their favorite and only grandson Vaughn. They were in Butuan a day before and I was surprised when I called and mom was back in Manila just in time for Vaughn's birthday :)

Good Food in Shanghai :)

This was my view from the hotel where we stay in Shanghai. I was in the 22nd floor :) I like the location of the hotelbecause evrything that I need is just a few minutes walk away. There are massage parlors right in front of the hotel, dvd stores, bakeries, fruit stands, convenient store, juast about evrything!






Breaded Pork CHop on Fried Rice with Egg and Onions From Ajisen Ramen. It was just as good as I remember it, but all of a sudden it was too big, I couldn't finish it all up. So I had to pack it for take away and I ate it again when I got hungry after watching Cnn and following the elections in my home country.:)





Check out the noodles that was hand made in front of us! It was so cool. His hand were so fast, stretching and pressing, and I don't know what, after just a few minutes, probably, just two, we had noodles!!!



For dinner, me and the crew went out and we ordered lamb with bell peppers and garlic stems and chinese omelette which were all so good.

I also went veggie shopping and it was so much fun... I did not have an idea where the market was, but I just kept on walking and walking until I saw some people with bags full of veggie and so I just followed their trace . haha. Evrything was fresh and alive, unlike the veggies in Dubai where they are all dying if not sleeping...The challenge, however, was bargaining, NO CHINESE for me and NO ENGLISH for them, so you can just imagine our frustration! :)



The staple diets in Northern China are: mantou, bing (Chinese flatbread) and wheat noodles; as for the South: rice, rice noodles and rice congee. Next time, I'll find something more traditional in China...

Happy Mommy's Day!

Thinking Out Loud.

So today, my day off was spent thinking , thinking and thinking. Yesterday, the carpenter was here to do some stuff. And I'm happy. =) I got the wood panels for my laundry area, and I got myself the stuff I wanted for my balcony garden. Lately, I couldn't stop myself from fantasizing on balcony gardens. I wish We had a bigger balcony and I wish it wasn't too hot in Dubai. But I could not of course change the weather but I can make myself a small garden if I was desperate really. And I really was. I really really wanted it. To grow some plants and some herbs. My Hubby bet on me not being able to take care of it, but what the heck I really want to try.

What I've been thinking to grow. I really find sili leaves very expensive in Dubai. So I hot this wishful thinking that I might be able to grow a chilli plant! Hahaha. Seems crazy, but I swear, I will really really try for my tinola! :) I also want to grow malunggay. THAT is impossible! I think it's not a plant I can grow in the balcony, I think, it's really a tree. So okay scrap that. I saw some mint leaves in carrefour the other day, so that would give me a kick start. I also want to have some other herbs. Sonnie promised to drive me to the Garden Center today so we'll see. I'm really excited :)

Today I was checking the web about stuff on balcony gardening and I was soo happy to find out that I was not the only crazy person who wanted to have a balcony garden in Dubai. Oh, but I envy all those who lived in places with friendly weather. And again, I wish I had a bigger balcony. Because now my balcony has to be clothes drying area cum garden =( Not much I can do with the small space that we have but still, I'm happy =)

May Roster

For the month of May, I have Muscat, Munich, Germany, Shanghai, Hyderabad,Kuala Lumpur, Tehran,Singapore, and Hyderabad... :)

Not so bad as I look forward to all the Asian destinations for this month :)