Top Ten Things I Learned In Saudi Arabia

I've learned a lot of things in three years of living in Saudi Arabia, but here are my top ten.

1. Inshallah is such a magical word.
    This has to be my favorite Arabic word. It can mean so many things, and you can use it in a variety of situations.

Are you going to the meeting? Inshallah. Is my mother OK? Inshallah. Will my mother be OK? Inshallah. Please get me a copy of the medical report. Inshallah. TRANSFER THE PATIENT NOW! Inshallah. 

"Inshallah" actually means "God willing". But it can also mean "yes", "no" or "maybe". It all depends on the situation. So, how can you be sure what the person actually means? You can never.

The Geek of Anything [sticky post]

Hey there! This is Mariel, and some people know me as the random "mayey" of Multiply and the crazy, always flailing, perverted Arashi fangirl "mayey87" of Livejournal. I used to keep a food blog more than a year ago, too, but I abandoned it.

So what's with the new blog? Aside from being a nurse one month into unemployment, and being bored to hell, I just miss blogging so much. Much has also been happening in my life lately, that I just have to write (or rant or brag) about the experiences. Besides, I miss that girl mayey from Multiply who used to talk about a lot of things from the most trivial to the most far out. I remember her talking about her charger being eaten by a rat. LOL. She used to be really bitchy and funny and totally random at best, and I want her be sort of resurrected from the dead. She kept a blog about absolutely the most random things in her personal life for years, until Multiply turned into an online shopping site. She got sick of it, and died. That girl was me. And still is, only with a new screen name, and a new home. So, get ready for a few more years of randomosity!

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The Geek Territory. Sounds cool (at least for me) and, well, geeky! The alternate username was GeekOfAnything. But why? I consider myself a geek in some levels. Like I can be too interested in technology (and can roll like the FBI in social sites), read and write CSS, type 45 words per minute, or that my favorite TV show is The Big Bang Theory. I laugh at smart jokes, and read a lot of books, including sci-fi. I squeal at the thought of another Johnny Depp-Tim Burton tandem, and find Helena Bonham Carter hella hot. I google my own name, and see the first few pages with links to my other online accounts. Try it for yourself. Type "Mariel Antonette Juarez", and you'll see. Haha. The reasons why I'm a geek goes on.

Some people find the word "geek" derogatory, but I don't. I find it cool. Geeks know a lot of things "normal" people don't. Like, how many people type HTML codes when writing a blog, instead of clicking buttons like normal people do? And yeah, geeks have a life, too. I AM GEEK AND PROUD. LOL

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I will update this blog as much as I can, and mostly I'll talk about travel, food, movies and books. I'll keep you posted! :D

Hong Kong - Macau Rough Guide

I recently went to Macau and Hong Kong with my family, and a lot of my friends have been asking me about it. How much was my ticket, where we stayed, what was the itinerary, did we have a guide, among so many others. To answer those questions, I decided to revisit my old blog, and get to writing again, even though my writing is pretty rusty; I can't seem to get my ideas together like I used to. Anyway, through this, I don't have to answer the same questions again and again, and help other people plan for that dream vacation, as well.

I am an obsessive planner when it comes to trips. I watch promo fares like a hawk, do more research about a certain destination more than I would do for a homework in school, read a lot of travel blogs, and make plenty of lists. I am also a fan of DIY travel, meaning I don't really prefer tour guides, and package tours. Most people who do not know me usually get surprised when I tell them that my friends and I just make our own itineraries for our trips abroad. Anyway, for our recent trip to Macau and Hong Kong in September 2015, I did my planning a year in advance. Yes, that's right. I booked my ticket in October of last year. 

So here, my friends, is a rough guide to Macau and Hong Kong.

Airfare

I got three roundtrip tickets to Macau from Manila for only P13,427.25 from Cebu Pacific. That's only roughly P4,475.75 per person. Notice that the base fare is only P6.00. That's just P1 per way per person!

Cebu Pacific has promos every week, and if there's any holiday or long weekend coming up. The catch is the travel periods may take a few months or up to a year from the date of purchase. If you're like me who gets to have scheduled vacations, this is the best way to save on your airline tickets if you're planning to go somewhere on your vacation. If I'm planning to go on a trip, I check Cebu Pacific's website every day for any promo fares for my preferred date. Just remember that promo fares are often, if not always, non-reroutable, non-rebookable, non-refundable. So you should either be very sure of your travel dates, or you should be willing to risk losing a few thousands. The Poor Traveler has great tips on how to grab that promo ticket that you should check out.

Accommodation

Another common question that my friends ask me is where to stay, and how to book a hotel. I have mentioned before, that one thing traveling has taught me is that you don't have to spend a lot to enjoy, and that includes having great accommodation. I have stayed in hostels, budget hotels, pension houses, and rooms/condo unit rented out through Airbnb. My friends and I have used websites like agoda.com, booking.com, airbnb.com, and hostelworld.com.

For Macau and Hong Kong I used booking.com. They also an app that you can download for your iPhone or Android phone, that's very convenient to use.

We stayed in Best Western Hotel Sun Sun at Praca Ponte E Horta Macau for HKD1010.98 or around P5054.9. It was the cheapest I could find for 3 people for 1 night. I didn't realize I had booked an executive suite which was regularly priced at HKD3078/night, so it was already a good deal. One good thing about booking online is that you get great deals like this. It's just a matter of finding the right one.

In Hong Kong, we stayed in two hotels. For the first 4 nights in Hong Kong we chose to stay in Las Vegas Guest House at Chungking Mansion, in Tsim Sha Tsui. I booked the room for a total of only HKD1,836 or around P9180 for 4 nights. The room was only about 12 sqm., and was a bit cramped, but it had all the essentials: one double bed, one single bed, a bathroom, fresh towels everyday, aircon, mini refrigerator, free wifi, hair dryer, and unlimited supply of drinking water. The guest house is secured with a keycard, so you don't have to worry about security. The reception is at the 9th floor of Chungking Mansion, and our booking says we're supposed to be at the 15th floor, but turned out our room is on the 13th floor. Confusing? I know.

One thing you need to know about Chungking Mansion, though, is that it is situated in the backpacker's area of Hong Kong, so it is a bit chaotic, and intimidating for the first time traveler to Hong Kong. The ground floor is filled with money changers, and stalls selling all sorts of stuff, from Indian delicacies, to cellphone accessories, to luggages. It is similar to a condominium divided into Blocks A, B and C. Each block consists of 15 floors with the flats converted into guest houses. It is not your typical hotel. You could be checked in at Las Vegas Guest House in Flat C4, and flat C5 is Osaka Guest House, while another flat several floors below also belongs to Las Vegas Guest House. It's a bit confusing, but you'll kind of get the hang of it. 

For our last day in Hong Kong, we decided to have a 5-star hotel experience, so I booked a Grand Plus double room at Royal Plaza Hotel in Mong Kok. One night cost HKD2450 or around P12,250, and it was the cheapest five star hotel I could find that was not very far away from the sights and attractions. We got a free upgrade to a suite room, because the room I had booked was not yet available when we checked in. It had a mini bar, a large receiving area, two queen sized beds, a bathroom with bath tub, complete toiletries, and TV, two LED TVs, and an iPod dock. It was only walking distance from the Ladies' Market, and is connected to Moko Mall, and the Mong Kok East Station. It's also two stations away from Tsim Sha Tsui Station, and it's also fairly easy to go to and from Central station. 

Our room at Royal Plaza Hotel

Transportation

A lot of people wonder how I manage not to get lost in a new, unfamiliar country. The answer is I do a lot of research, download maps, download train apps, and when all else fails, ask the locals. I have the Hong Kong MTR system app on my phone, and all I have to do is click my origin station, and end point. The app will tell me how many stops, how much time, and where to change stations to get to my destination. Hong Kong's public transportation is also very efficient, and tourist friendly. Each exit in every station is marked with the attractions that are within that specific area, so you will not get lost. 

Another wise thing to do while in Hong Kong is to purchase an Octopus card, similar to the EZ Link card in Singapore, or the new Beep card in Manila, which you can use on most public transports. You can also use it to pay for your purchases at 7-Eleven. Octopus cards can be bought in all MTR stations, at the airport, light rail stations, etc. for HKD150, which comes with an initial value of HKD100, and a deposit of HKD50 refundable when you return your card within 90 days. It is very convenient to use, and very easy to top up once your card value is not enough. You can also keep the card as a souvenir, or you can keep it for your next trip to Hong Kong. As I have learned, it is valid for 3 years from the date of purchase. We all chose to keep our Octopus cards as souvenirs. 

The MTR System Map app for iPhone

Getting around Macau, on the other hand, is fairly easy too, and you don't have to spend a lot. You can just walk around the city center to get to the famous Senado Square, and Ruins of St. Paul. There are free shuttles that will bring you from the city center to the casinos in Taipa, as well. 

From Macau to Hong Kong, you can take the ferry from Macau Ferry Terminal, which I believe is nearer to the city center or the Taipa Ferry Terminal which is nearer to the casinos. We purchased our roundtrip tickets from a travel agency outside our hotel in Macau, and got them for HKD300 each. You must remember that there are two kinds of tickets. One that has a fixed date and time, and another that you can use any time, and date up to the expiration date. We chose the latter, and according to the Filipina in the travel agency, it is only valid for travel from Taipa Ferry Terminal, which was an advantage for us, because our last stop was the Venetian Hotel Macau. There are free shuttle buses from Venetian Macau to Taipa Ferry Terminal as well. 

It takes 45 minutes from Macau to Hong Kong. There are different ferry terminals in Hong Kong, but we chose the Sheung Wan terminal. Even though it would have been nearer to our hotel if we chose the Tsim Sha Tsui one, the trip was more than an hour later. 

Itinerary

Now here's what more people are interested in. I was with my mom on the trip, and she couldn't really stand long walks, and a hectic itinerary, so I tried to make the itinerary as easy as I could. Here goes our rough itinerary.

Day 0: 

Travel from Manila to Macau (delayed flight; was supposed to be 7:30PM)

Check in at hotel

Day 1: Macau Day Tour (Senado Square, Ruins of St. Paul, Venetian Hotel); Travel to Hong Kong

Family picture at the Ruins of St. Paul

Day 2: Breakfast at Tim Ho Wan; IFC Mall, Victoria Peak, Madam Tussauds, Avenue of the Stars, Symphony of Lights, Dinner at Temple Street

Day 3: Ocean Park; Soho

Day 4: Disneyland

Day 5: Check in at Royal Plaza Hotel; Ladies Market; Harbour City

Day 6: Travel back to Macau for the late night flight back to Manila

Day 7: Arrival in Manila

Budget

Here's a rough breakdown of our major expenses for the 6-day trip, which included me, my mom, and my brother. I will use an exchange rate of P5=1HKD for simplicity. This does not include food expenses, shopping, and other miscellaneous expenses.* This is also not a budget travel guide. 

Travel Tax (1,650 each)                                                        Php   4,950.00
Terminal Fee** (550 each)                                                             1,650.00
Airline tickets (Mla-Macau-Mla)                                                 13,427.25

Accommodation                                                                                               

       Macau:                                                                                     5,054.90

       Hong Kong:                                                                             9,180.00

                                                                                                       12,250.00

Transportation

      Ferry tickets                                                                               4,500.00

      Octopus Card (initial purchase)                                                 2,250.00

      Octopus Card top up (estimate)                                                 1,000.00

      Taxi fare (estimate)                                                                    2,000.00

Attractions

      Peak Tram + Madam Tussauds + Sky Terrace                          3,900.00       

      Ocean Park                                                                                 5,175.00

      Disneyland                                                                                 7,485.00

TOTAL:                                                                                       P 72,822.15 or 

                                                                                                     P 24,274.05/person

*Food and water are a little expensive in Hong Kong, much more if you buy inside theme parks. I think most of our money were spent on food, and shopping.                                               

**All tickets purchased starting February 2015 will already include the terminal fee of P550.

So there you have it. A rough guide to Hong Kong and Macau. Feel free to ask me questions. I just might know the answer. 

Safe travels!

21 Things That Prove You Went to the IS

21 Things That Prove You Went to the IS
By Mariel Juarez

1. You know where "The Devil's Island" is.
2. You make the "peace" gesture when you want to go to the comfort room.
3. You know that "scarred people are beautiful".
4. You've taken IQ tests every year.
5. You know who Ms. Polly is.
6. You write in "Palmer's Script".
7. You used to look forward to "free design days" and "free days".
8. Blood, sweat and tears are shed when cheering season comes.
9. You remember that Wednesday was Barney day, Puzzle Place Day or The Magic School Bus day, depends what grade level you're in.
10. You know what "A", "SL" and "GL" means.
11. If you're running for GL, it's better to be absent than be late for the third time this quarter.
12. You've let a classmate forge your parent's signature at least once because you forgot to have your parent's approval form signed.
13. If you're an IS student from the 90's you know how important the YELLOW CRAYON is.
14. You've got the life of St. John Baptist de La Salle memorized (he received his tonsure at age 11).
15. You know what a paddle is and why we're all scared of it.
16. You hate to admit but you've used the Senior's Retreat as an excuse to tell someone what you really feel.
17. There's no such thing as a "JS Prom".
18. At the end of every year, whether you liked it or not, you had to dance in the coliseum with the whole school watching.
19. You spent 11 years in grade school and high school instead of the usual 10 years, then you've had to explain to your first year college classmates why you're a year older than most of them.
20. Everytime the name of St. John Baptist de La Salle comes up in a speech or a lecture, you have the tendency to say "pray for us".
21. You've spent a few minutes in detention for not speaking in English.

Anything else you want to add to the list? Feel free to write in the comments! :)

Kuala Lumpur in One Day

My friends and I had a dream back when we were younger that we would reach a certain point in our lives that we could just go on a trip abroad anytime we want simply to have coffee. I guess we made it come true. Well, sort of. 

It was my first out of the country trip, and I couldn't be more excited. It was a kind of spur of the moment thing when we booked our tickets to Kuala Lumpur. Thanks to Cebu Pacific's promo fares. Our roundtrip tickets only cost a little more than Php 4000. 

A little too excited 

We arrived in Malaysia at around past midnight of September 17, 2013. We landed in their Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT), and it cost us around 30 minutes more to get through immigration, and wait for Michael's luggage. We did not have any baggage allowance, but because there was a problem with the tube at NAIA when we left, they offered to check in his luggage for free. 

We exchanged a few Pesos to Ringgits in the airport, despite the low exchange rate, for obvious reasons, then we headed straight to the exit. Towards the exit doors, there are counters from where you can get bus tickets from LCCT to Kuala Lumpur Sentral. There were only two counters open at the time. The lady in the counter of Aerobus was shouting in a panicky voice for us to get the tickets because the last bus was leaving. Without second thoughts, we bought two roundtrip tickets for MYR 14 each, and ran outside to look for the bus. True enough, it was the last one, and we were only seated a few minutes when the bus started to leave. 

The bus was comfortable, with wide leg room. The air conditioning was also very cold, but I'm not complaining. I wanted to sleep during the journey, but I wanted to savor the first time I laid eyes on a new country. And also the morbid thought that we could be driven to our deaths in a death camp for all we knew. It took around an hour or more from LCCT to KL Sentral. Based on what I've read before, we were supposed to be dropped off at KL Sentral station, and from there we can take the train to Medan Tuanku where our hotel was. For some reason, the bus stopped somewhere I didn't exactly know, but all the passengers alighted. We did too. From there, I was about to insist to Mykel that we find the train station, but seeing that it was almost 3 in the morning, we agreed to take a cab. The driver asked for MYR 30 to drive us to Prescott Hotel, where our friend Jude, who had flown in from Singapore the day before, was waiting for us. Michael haggled, and they agreed to MYR25. I don't know if that was reasonable or not, but we couldn't care less, because we were exhausted, and there were not enough choices anyway.  While in the cab, the driver asked us where we were from, how many days we were staying in KL, and he also offered to be our private tour guide while in KL. We politely declined.

After 15 minutes, we arrived at the hotel, and asked the receptionist for our room. We told him our friend had already checked in, and was waiting for us. He said he had the instruction to let us in when we arrived, and gave us the room number. The thing that bothered me was, he didn't even ask for our ID's. What if we were serial killers pretending to know that person who was checked in at that hotel? Then again, I was too exhausted to overthink.

Our room had two queen beds, a cable TV, a bathroom, a table and chair, and most importantly a hair dryer. It had a huge window with the view of the KL Tower. We had a few minutes of catching up with Jude, before dozing off to prepare for the long day ahead. 

Day 1: Batu Caves, Little India, Central Market, Chinatown/Petaling St., Suria Mall, KLCC, Petronas Towers

The plan was to leave the hotel at 8 AM to go to Batu Caves, but we succumb to the exhaustion from the night before, that at around 8 in the morning, we were still having free breakfast at the restaurant downstairs. Breakfast was bread with choices of kaya jam, butter, cheese, and sausages to go along with coffee, tea or juice. We also had the option to have two eggs each cooked to our liking. It wasn't much, but it was enough to give us our fill before heading our way.

After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel, and left our big bags for safekeeping at the reception. Free of charge. We walked a few meters towards Medan Tuanku station. We caught the KL monorail to Titiwangsa interchange, and then walked some more to Putra station where we will take the KTM Komuter. The last stop of the KTM Komuter was Batu Caves station. 

We almost got lost having boarded the wrong train, thanks to the person we asked at the station. But all was well, as a helpful Filipino on the train gave us the correct instruction. Turned out, we were just weren't paying attention to the signs when we boarded the first train. 

Me with the majestic Golden statue guarding the Batu Caves

It was an awesome sight at Batu Caves. Giant Hindu deities will greet you as you enter the gates. There was also a Hindu temple where you have to remove your slippers as you climb its steps. But the main attraction was the cave on top of a hill, accessible by climbing the 270 or so steps guarded by the golden Hindu god. Be careful with the monkeys on the steps who will try to steal your food! To be honest, the monkeys kinda freaked me out.

Inside the Batu Caves

Enjoying with the doves 

After Batu Caves, we took the same train to KL Sentral (not to be mistaken with Kuala Lumpur Station), the main transportation hub of Kuala Lumpur. All the trains interchange at KL Sentral, and all major buses, including those plying the Thailand-Malaysia or Malaysia-Singapore route, leave from KL Sentral. 

A few minutes walk from KL Sentral are Little India, China Town/Petaling Street, and the Central Market. Had we not been lost, we could have done a walking tour from Central Market to Little India, but we walked this way, instead of that, and that way instead of this. You get the picture. 

But you can actually start a walking tour from Central Market, where you can find all sorts of souvenirs from keychains, to scarves, to shirts, and accessories. Then walk towards Chinatown, and buy some more souvenirs. You can get pashmina scarves for MYR 15, and you can even haggle some more if you will buy a lot. You can also find fake luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, etc. Souvenir shirts range MYR10 to MYR20 depending on the quality and the quantity you will buy. Not far from China Town are two beautiful temples (that we only realized was there on our last day at KL when we decided to do a bit of last minute souvenir shopping). One was the Guan Di Temple, one of the oldest temples completed in 1888, and dedicated to the God of literature and war of the Taoists. The other was Sri Mahamariamman Temple for the Hindus. A little farther down, you will find Little India. I wanted to try authentic Indian food, but my fellow travelers were not in the mood to try something adventurous, we opted to have lunch at the first familiar fastfood we could find--KFC. But they served the chicken meal with coleslaw that had lots of chopped onions for some reason, and mashed potato. So much for adventurous.

I actually forgot which route we took to go to KLCC or Kuala Lumpur City Center, but I am sure you can take the Kelana Jaya Line from KL Sentral and alight at KLCC Station. There are two exits at KLCC. One will bring you directly to Suria Mall, while the other one will bring you to the other side of the road from Suria Mall, the fancy shopping mall near the Petronas Towers. Alas! Following the herd of people from the train, and our guts, we took the wrong exit, and had to cross the road to get to the mall. 

We went around the mall, without buying anything, because we were saving all our money for Singapore. I couldn't resist going inside Kinokuniya, though, one of the biggest bookstores in KL. The assortment of books was amazing! At around 5PM, we went outside for a photo op with the  Petronas Towers as the background. One simply can't go to Malaysia, and not have a photo with the famous twin towers. We had initially planned to go up the bridge connecting the two towers, but for MYR80 we decided it wasn't worth it. Instead, we enjoyed the view outside, which in my opinion was how you should enjoy the Petronas Towers. 

Michael and me pretending to be Bea and John Lloyd (LOL)

At around 6PM, we went back to Prescott Hotel to get our bags, because we would be heading for Singapore at 11PM. We took the KL Monorail from Bukit Nanas Station to Medan Tuanku station. After taking a short rest, and light snacks, we left Prescott Hotel. The weird thing about the Medan Tuanku Station was that there was no foot bridge to cross to the other side if you want to take the train back to KL Sentral. So with our luggage in hand, we literally ran across the 8-lane highway, with approaching cars, to get to the other side of the road. I'm happy to still be alive at this point. 

We bought our dinner at (wait for it!) Mcdonalds, and waited for our train to Singapore. We were taking the KTM Intercity Train, and had booked our tickets in advance via www.ktmb.com.my. A one-way 2nd class sleeper ticket cost MYR40 for the upper berth, and MYR46 for the lower berth. It was a fairly comfortable 7-hour journey albeit a very cold one. We slept through the entire journey, and woke up at the other side of the border, content and happy, because we had saved one night on accommodation.

In the next blog: Welcome to Singapore!