Palo Mini-Museum

Educating a 5 year old about arts, culture and history in Tacloban City or Leyte in general is a challenge. 

We do not have museums nor do we have art galleries. 

I always take advantage of mini-shows such as the one staged by the municipality of Palo. The "Enchanting Palo Art Exhibit and Mini Museum" is open up until tomorrow, the 20th. This date also happens to be the Leyte Gulf Landing celebration.

Bohol Aftershock

My friend Jica went to Bohol in a haste hours after the 7.2 earthquake rocked the Visayas. 

Her father was missing and their house was badly damaged.

Later on, we found out that a group of loggers carried her ailing father to their upland farm where the family is camping out right now. There is no electricity or water there. They are not yet confident to go back to their house in Maribojoc because it looks like a ghost town. Stores are closed and the neighbors are all gone. What is left is mostly ruble.

I asked her to send me photos and her cousin, Ivie Jenn Orano gladly obliged. These photos are taken by Kankan Ornito.

Buy Proactiv and Get a Chance to Win Tickets to Alicia Keys Concert”

Wanna see Alicia Keys live and belting out your favorite songs?

Have you purchased your Proactiv kit already? Now is the best time to take advantage of their ongoing promo!

If you purchase a 30 or 60 day Proactiv kit from Sept 16 – Nov 14, 2013  at any participating outlets like http://my.proactiv.com.ph, Proactiv Door-to-Door Delivery Phone Hotlines: (729-2222, 1-800-8-729-8888, 1- 800-10-889-4444, 0917-801-8888) or their Mall Kiosks at Trinoma, 2nd Floor (Telephone: 380-3801), Glorietta, Ground Floor (Telephone 388-2848)  and Marquee Mall, Ground Floor (Telephone: 0935-8341523), you will get the chance to win 2 VIP tickets worth Php 10,560 each to Alicia Keys Concert “Set the World on Fire” Tour at Mall of Asia Arena on November 25, 2013.   The second prize will have the chance to win 2 Lower Box B Tickets worth Php4,760 each and there will be 3 lucky ones who might win 2 General Admission Tickets worth Php1,060 each!

LATAGAW SERIES: Welcome to Malaysia 2

We arrived at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal or LCCT in Kuala Lumpur at around 6:30 pm. Surprisingly, despite that there is no time difference between the Philippines and Malaysia, the sky is still bright at this time. Here's a pic taken from the plane.

Malaysia is also known as the Garden City.  Look at that greenery! Their trees are well lined. And from up above you will notice that their soil has a reddish tint. Later on, after talking to Rowel Naanep, a fellow artist who has been living for more than a decade in Malaysia as an architect and lots of slash, the soil is actually clay.

Latagaw Series: Getting to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 1

Although I have always dreamed of visiting Thailand first, traveling to Kuala Lumpur was a welcome surprise. It was my first trip outside the country. My first big art exhibit. 

Now who could stop me from something when I am really driven? I spent hours scouring the internet for places to visit, maps, how to get there, routes, the rates and even plotted self-guided tours of Merdeka Square, Chinatown or Jalan Petaling, Brickfields or Little India and the Central Market complete with blow by blow instructions in case we get lost.

Here I am in my 5'3, 105 pounds myopic glory. We had 16  paintings with us which I cleverly designed to fit into each other.


We got our tickets at a discount. I carefully planned it so we do not have to get out of NAIA 3 at all! The long wait may be boring but that saved us a couple of bucks.

We flied with Cebu Pacific. Here is our itinerary:

ROUTE	DEPARTURE	ARRIVAL
Tacloban to Manila	Tuesday 17 September 2013 6:05 am, DZRA	Tuesday 17 September 2013 7:15 am, NAIA 3
Manila to Kuala Lumpur	Tuesday 17 September 2013 2:10 pm, NAIA 3	Tuesday 17 September 2013 5:50 pm, LCCT
Kuala Lumpur to Manila	Tuesday 24 September 2013 1:20 am, LCCT	Tuesday 24 September 2013 4:55 am, NAIA 3
Manila to Tacloban	Tuesday 24 September 2013 2:15 pm, NAIA 3	Tuesday 24 September 2013 3:35 pm, DZRA

Our Tacloban to Manila round trip ticket for two with 15 kilos baggage was P 4,905.52.
The Kuala Lumpur to Manila round trip ticket for two with 15 kilos baggage was P 10,901. 34.

Be sure to do a web check in. It just makes things easier.

Domestic Passenger Terminal Fee at the Daniel Z. Romualdez or Tacloban Airport has skyrocketed from P 30 to P 75 already.

Hanged out at the holding area for almost 7 hours while waiting for our flight.

 NAIA 3 was once dubbed as the world's worst airport. If these cardboard boxes used as mats to sleep on that littered the holding area is a testament then I rest my case. There are also people who are so selfish about sharing those electricity sockets that they camp out next to it for hours!

 Before we checked in, we paid our travel tax first. It is P 1620 per head. Good thing this is just a one time fee. I heard that this is an "only in the Philippines" thing. We sure were glad they didn't charge us a travel tax in Malaysia.

Here are some tips when checking in your baggage:

• Weight them first at home. It should have at least 2 kilos allowance because the weighing scale at the airport are not accurate. Before I weighed my baggage, the empty scale was already at .5 kilos.
• Bring an extra bag. If your check-in baggage are in excess, you can transfer some stuff to your extra bag and have them hand carried rather than paying the excess baggage fee.
• Allowed water is just 100 ml. My drinking water escaped from the scrutiny but my facial toner did not.
• No sharps on hand carried baggage. My cutie patootsie scissors with a blunt end got left behind. No lighters are allowed also.

 Have a pen ready at your side. You will need to fill out this Embarkation Card before you pass through the immigration. Know the address where you are staying at the country you are visiting. You would need to put in this info on the Embarkation Card.

For tourists coming from ASEAN countries like the Philippines, you do not need a visa to get into Malaysia. Since we were exhibiting, we needed to get a Professional Visitor's Pass (PVP). It is a single entry visa to Malaysia and is worth P 550. It is Issued to a foreigner who hold acceptable professional qualifications or specialist skills and enter Malaysia to take up professional work for short term period not exceeding twelve (12) month. 

However, when you have a be ready to show some documents to support your claim and more questions.

This one does not bear my real name and trust me, because of this I got palpitations while being interviewed by the immigration officer.

Thankfully, here's the seal that says I can fly away from home!

Truly Asia Art Pieces

These are the pieces that I was "supposed" to bring to the Art Expo Malaysia 2013 and the exhibit at the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. However, my "Surrender" which you see below was bought when we had an exhibit at Cafe Lucia. There was no haggling for this piece. I like it that way. I do not like prostituting my pieces even if I am just a newbie in the art scene.

"Surrender"
Acrylic on Canvas
24" x 18"
2013

I am now missing this piece.