In other words...

... a blog about our experiences as engineers, as husband and wife as well as our adventures into unfamiliar places and situations. We write this as a recollection and as much as we want to become informative for others who would like to learn from these experiences, we cannot guarantee that all the information or data we provide are accurate or updated. They are accurate at the time of occurrence.

Thank you for visiting.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Travelling fast with Fermina's Express Bus (FermEx)

We recently went to Rene's hometown in San Carlos City, Pangasinan and based from past commute experiences, we noticed that the Fermina's Express bus lines are consistently fast.

Now I actually had concluded this a long time ago when I was still studying in UP. I had chanced by one of their buses heading to Fairview from Ortigas, and I got to Philcoa in around 15 mins!

What I noticed is that they consistently do the ff things:
1. They only stop when a passenger is either going off or about to ride the bus.
2. They drive fast to the point of swerving most of time (not good for the faint of heart).
3. The conductor asks in advance if someone is going off at a certain stop. And if none, they either use the flyover/underpass or pass by the service road without stopping unless a commuter will ride.
4. For provincial trips, their stopover is usually shorter than other bus lines.

So whenever I am about to go off at Ortigas from the jeep I was riding, I would usually already look ahead if a FermEx bus is approaching or has already stopped by. Because by then I can try to catch the eye of the conductor who usually glances at the back in case someone is still trying to get a ride. It's funny how I really wanted to catch this bus every morning because I was always running late. There was even a point I literally ran after it. And almost always when I do catch this bus, I end up arriving way ahead of time.

Another nice thing about their service is that the seats are sized just right. What I mean is the 3-seater can actually seat 3 people and not 2 or 2 and a half of an ass. Plus their buses look well-maintained, without much graffiti on the seats and the aircon is cool. It's the same for the ordinary buses (except there's no aircon of course).

I guess the only downside is the arm rest is not available on all seats. If you are sitting by the aisle, there's a huge chance that you will slip because of the swerving. Not good if you're the sleepy type.

Well, why did I even bother to write a whole entry on this bus? Wala lang. =) I guess I just wanted to give a tip for people who are in a hurry or would like to get to either Fairview or Pangasinan in the fastest possible time on a bus. Btw, I am not in anyway connected with them. I am just a regular commuter/traveller who took notice of a bus line that stood out for me.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Puzzling Village Sim (beware of some clues and spoilers)

I recently revived my interest in this addictive game which I started to play several years ago when my palm was still relatively new. I have stopped playing mainly because my palm has been defective for 2 years now particularly the touch screen which at times does not respond (especially at cold temp).

Ever since I allowed my niece-in-law to play games in my palm (because I wasn't so concerned she will break it as it is already defective) and she tried playing all the games in it, I have become interested on how the village is doing. I then started a new game of my own because from the last time I played it I was able to solve only up to the unblocking of the boulder. I had no idea what the last puzzle was. Just playing the game will give you no clue, unless you move a specifically skilled villager to a particular location. That is what I found out when I searched for clues in the LDW (Last Day of Work) forums.

Now I know what skill to prepare for my villagers and the location in order to solve the last puzzle. Finally I uncovered the last puzzle and the golden child was already born. I was now waiting for the miracle to happen. After several hours of checking whether the boulder has been moved, I started looking for the golden child and what he has been up to. But due to unknown reasons he became missing! I tried searching the net if this actually happens. But I cannot find any instances in forums mentioning about this. My guess is since the golden child is the 50th person in the tribe and the population has been reduced to 47, it might have something to do with maintaining the 50 or more population.

I tried breeding more so that I could reach the 50 population milestone but the golden child is still nowhere to be found. Now I'm thinking maybe my palm has had another bug. During the course of my game I have had some hard and soft resets which made me go back to where I last paused the game (which is rare).

I have been telling Rene about the progress of my village and my frustration and he suggested maybe there is a way to backup your game to a certain level. Then I just remembered I had a tool for that! I knew I had installed some add-ons for Village Sim a long time ago and remembered being able to save 5 games at a time. In addition I also had installed a tool wherein you could edit the current game. You can change the level of skills you are in, the skill / status / age / gender / health of each villager, the puzzles you solved, etc. Now I know how I can bring back the golden child to the tribe. I just selected the 50th person and converted him to a golden child. It's not really cheating, di ba?

Now I'll just have to wait till the cave is opened. I'm not sure what will happen next after you complete the puzzle. Is there something more to expect? I somehow feel bad it's going to end. I read though that there is a PC version with more puzzles. So maybe I will later try that.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Day 8 in Thailand: University Life (7/22/2008)


Today is Rene's last day of training. I have already partially packed our things. We did not have anything planned for today so I just called Orfa to ask if we can join them for dinner for our last night. She suggested we go to the nearby Thammasat University with them and just have photo ops around the campus. That was a great idea.

After their office work and meeting with Loren Legarda who visited AIT that afternoon, we all got together at our room where they lent us one of Orfa's bike and we proceeded to bike to Thammasat University.


The bikers


Thammasat stadium and the poles used for the different flags of competing nations


Another side of the stadium and fooling around more poles


Not sure what this is for but it makes me think of Rapunzel's tower =)


The BKK grill (if i'm not mistaken) where we had our affordable steak dinner


The models in flesh and shadow... me kasama pang aso?! =)


More fooling around at the university... mastering the spirit ball shot

The university is huge, which reminds me of my college days at UP. We noticed that buildings were marked as say, Faculty of Engineering instead of College as in the Philippines. Most of the students here also use the bike as their means of transportation (as well as in AIT). That's good for nature and for the health.

We ended the night with an ice cream break by the 108 store in AIT, courtesy of Anne. It feels good to meet fellow Filipinos abroad. Getting to know them in a few days already feels as if you've known each other for a long time. We're very grateful for all the help and companionship that our AIT friends have extended to us during our stay.



Related Entries:

Welcome to Bangkok! (7/15/2008)

Day 2 in Thailand (7/16/2008)
Day 3 in Thailand: Shopping galore! (7/17/2008)
Day 4 in Thailand: Grand Palace (7/18/2008, part 1 of 2)
Day 4 in Thailand: Dinner River Cruise (7/18/2008, part 2 of 2)
Day 5 Ayutthaya Day Tour: Bang Pa-In Palace (7/19/2008, part 1 of 2)
Day 5 Ayutthaya Day Tour: Wat Mahathat (7/19/2008, part 2 of 2)
Day 6 in Thailand: Inside the Grand Palace (7/20/2008)
Day 7 in Thailand: Future park, Patpong and Suan Lum in one night (7/21/2008)
Day 8 in Thailand: University Life (7/22/2008)

Day 7 in Thailand: Future park, Patpong and Suan Lum in one night (7/21/2008)


It's another weekday and another training day for Rene so we only had time to go out at night. For tonight our plan was to just hang out at the mall and maybe watch a movie.


I read from the net that Future park is one of the largest malls in Asia. But I guess that is because it refers to the network of malls / store within the area. It is not actually just one building like what we have in the Philippines such as the Mall of Asia. So in effect it does not seem to be as big as I expected.

We mostly just had window shopping and did not buy anything as there were not much bargains or sale. We did take some pictures.


Entrance by the fountain... the ball reminds me of the MMDA cement balls on the street


Hanging out inside the mall by the mini-fountains

We chanced by an exit fronting the fountain and found that it has a sort of lights and sound show where the water from the fountain moves with the music (somewhat like the Suntec fountain in Singapore).


Fountain show by the entrance

Since the mall was already about to close (around 9pm), we decided not to watch a movie anymore and just proceed to downtown Bangkok to do our last-minute shopping. We might not go out anymore tomorrow as we will be flying back on Wed morning. We took a taxi and asked to go to the Patpong night market.

As soon as we arrived here, a guy already approached us if we wanted to watch a show. He even had a cardboard list of shows available. I would not mention anymore what kind of show it is. Just google Patpong and you'll get the idea. I am not offended though just quite amused how very open their business is done here. In fact, that is the main reason we went here in the 1st place. I wanted to see what has been talked about here. Although we did not go in anymore as we might get ripped off. You'll already see what's going on inside the bars just walking by the bazaar. We did get to buy some items, mostly shirts and a bag made of silk.

We only spent about an hour in Patpong after which we wanted to go back to Suan Lum Night Bazaar where there are more choices of goods. Here we looked at the other side that we have not been to. We were able to buy a wrap-around skirt for about THB250 (I already bargained this but somehow I feel this is still expensive as I read somewhere that you can buy a wrap-around skirt for around THB100), and a sandal for Rene. I was eyeing also a native sandal for me that would look good with the skirt. But the price was still high and I was already tired and I felt we did not have enough money to spare so I did not buy anymore.

We found that there was also a sort of outdoor bar and live band show here. It would have been nice for hanging out and drinking beer. But of course I am not the type of person who drinks a lot so Rene and I did not stay long. We got home around 1am already.




Related Entries:

Welcome to Bangkok! (7/15/2008)

Day 2 in Thailand (7/16/2008)
Day 3 in Thailand: Shopping galore! (7/17/2008)
Day 4 in Thailand: Grand Palace (7/18/2008, part 1 of 2)
Day 4 in Thailand: Dinner River Cruise (7/18/2008, part 2 of 2)
Day 5 Ayutthaya Day Tour: Bang Pa-In Palace (7/19/2008, part 1 of 2)
Day 5 Ayutthaya Day Tour: Wat Mahathat (7/19/2008, part 2 of 2)
Day 6 in Thailand: Inside the Grand Palace (7/20/2008)
Day 7 in Thailand: Future park, Patpong and Suan Lum in one night (7/21/2008)
Day 8 in Thailand: University Life (7/22/2008)