How I survived OCTOBER (2012)

October, 10th month of the year, my favorite month being my birth-month.

But this year was different. I was worried about October's coming. I was so worried i wouldn't be able to survive this month financially. I was practically broke.

I just came from my annual leave in Philippines and as is normal for OFWs like me, we tend to spend all our hard-earned money, savings and all, on our family and friends. But I'm not regretting having done it so. I saw and felt how my family enjoyed our out-of-town excursions and adventures.

I went back to Saudi Arabia with only a few hundred riyals in my shallow pocket to last me a week.

But God must have heard my plea and he used my work and my friends to gracefully get through this month.

First week of October came and I was aboard a plane to Dubai for a 2-day training. That means free travel, accomodation, and food. And who said one needs to have personal money to enjoy the perks of a 5-star hotel in Dubai? You just need to be capable and trustworthy at work and add several dashes of good luck of course. Deligence and hardwork pays off.

And while i was in Dubai, my good friends and cousin took good care of me. They treated me to a Dhow cruise and gave me a taste of one of Dubai's best bars, Barasti where we had fun at an Oktoberfest party. I never spent a dime.

I went back to Jeddah with a couple of hundreds of riyals left in my pocket, I reckoned I gotta do something or starve my self to death.

When second week of October came, days away from my birthday, I received a call from a client requesting for my photography service. I earned enough to last me two months, Haha! God is great! But it wasnt until the end of the month that i was able to collect my paychecks. 6-month house rental paid in full ;)

At the onset of October's 3rd week, my company sent me out to Riyadh and Khobar to train our sales teams for 4 days. Again, this business travel saved me from spending my own personal money. A stay at 5-star hotels, needless to mention free breakfasts, is just way too much a treat for a broke guy like me.

Just five days before October bade goodbye, I found myself aboard a Cathay Pacific flight to a holiday destination in my own native land, courtesy of a generous and satisfied client, for a week-long all expense paid leisure trip. Our 9-day Hajj break came in perfect timing.

 

 

Looking back, October appeared like a bad nightmare looming in my horizon but it eventually turned into an almost unbelievably fantastic sweet dream.

I hope every month that follows will be just like this October.

So November, what do you have in store for me?

TUNA FESTIVAL - Vacation in Philippines 2012 Part1

Family, Friends, Festivals, Food, and Flowers - these are the five Fs that summarize my most recent vacation to my homeland - the Beautiful South, the Fruit Basket of the Southern Philippines - my beloved South Cotabato province.

Family bonding in SM City GenSan

I arrived at the booming port city  of General City just in time for the celebration of the Tuna Festival which is celebrated each year every 5th of September commemorating the city's charterhood. 

(TRIVIA - GenSan, as Dadiangas is now popularly known, is considered as the Tuna capital of the Philippines. It has over 85 tuna value-added processors, 7 of the country’s 10 tuna canneries and hundreds of allied services all contributing 61,000 jobs for the city.)

My family met me at the newly-opened SM City Gensan. The kids, my son and nieces,  were jubilant when we brought them to shop at the Toy Kingdom. Afterwards, we had a hearty lunch at Maxx's, a popular food chain in Philippines that serves fried chicken as their best seller. We left for Koronadal City, some 35 miles north of Gensan, before sundown where the much-awaited distribution of pasalubong followed.

Tuna Festival streetdancing and float parade

Aboard an impressively new and modern Yellow Bus, I returned to GenSan that Sunday, 9th of September, to witness the street dancing competition and float parade. I arrived around noon and had lunch at Casa Ilongga but was a bit disappointed that my favorite Kadyos is not well-cooked. But since I was rushing, I didn't have the time to complain. After filling my stomach with enough food to last until dinner, I went straight to the Capitol ground before 1pm. I was informed that the parade will start at 1pm but it didnt until after 2:30pm (Filipino Time? Or should i better say Indian Time?)

The strong beating of the drums can be heard from a distance, that signifies the start of the parade. I was told the starting point was at the SM City where I had lunch, I should have just waited there, I reckoned. But my slight disappointment faded when the motorcade finally came into my full view. So I quickly pulled my camera out of my bag and fired hundreds of shots. When I saw the last group of participants at the end of the parade, I rushed to the Oval, ahead of the paraders to do my second round of shots, close-ups and some actions shots.  It's to my delight that the entry to the Oval was slow, that gave me enough time to ask some of the picture-worthy kids to pose for some snapshots.

Before the day ended, my Nikon D90's 4GB memory card finally indicated "FULL". 

My friend Anne and her daughter picked me up at the Oval. We head to their home at Camella, the city's newest exclusive subdivision, after eating some Halo-Halo at Chowking.

Childhood Friends

We rested for an hour or two before we picked up Edgar and Donna for our much awaited reunion dinner, Edgar and I haven't seen each other after graduating from High school which is like 18 years already! Thanks to Facebook, reconnecting with long-lost friends had never been easier.

We had our dinner at a fine dining resto near KCC Gensan. The meals were superb and cheap (compared to their counterpart's prices in KSA). Then we proceeded to Pahayahay (a Visayan slang which translates as "To chill out" or "To relax") to basically chill out and do a lot of catching up while having some ice cold beer. The band playing on-stage is so good we couldn't help but sing along or stomp our feet to the rhythm. I'm so glad that despite the many years and miles that separated us, almost nothing changed. It's as if we were in high school again, only 18 years older. It was hard to depart from each other that night because we were having a blast reminiscing high school adventures, crushes, lovelives and all. We called it a night at 1am. 

(To be continued...)

ABHA - the marvelous, colorful and magical

It was in November of 2011, during our week-long Hajj break, that I decided to visit Abha. Situated 2,200 meters above sea level, Abha is the capital of Asir province in KSA. Compared to Taif, Abha has a much cooler and milder climate that makes it a popular tourist destination for Saudis and expatriates alike during summer (March - October).  It was 18 degrees Celsius during the day and dropped to less than 10 degrees Celsius that night. (For detailed info about Abha - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abha)

I arrived from Jeddah shortly before noontime but the cool breeze embraced me as soon as I got down the plane. The smell of freshly-cut grass wafting in the air reminds me of home. 

As we drove from the airport to the hotel, I was impressed at how green the surroundings are. Patches of colorful flowers and evergreen hedges decorate both sides of the highway. After half an hour of driving on a curvy and lofty roads we reached the hotel.

I stayed in the Abha Palace (http://www.abhapalace.com.sa/)- one of the few 5-star hotels in the area. The hotel is situated at the top of the hill giving one the best vantage point of the whole city.

As is normal for any photographer, after eating lunch I quickly went to the rooftop of the hotel to see what Abha has in store for me.

And these are the marvelous things that I saw:

The view of the lake from my hotel room 

Technical School for Men just behind Abha Palace

A hill dotted with villas, mansions, and other residential and commercial buildings

I wasn't expecting to see these magnificent views in Abha. The scene is so serene, gentle breeze blowing and little birds momentarily singing while perched on the tall grasses that grow on the banks of the lake. Yes, there is a lake in Abha, right infront of the Abha Palace Hotel.

But I was not prepared for what darkness brought that night. I just woke up from a 3-hour afternoon nap, I opened my window and saw that the sun is about to set. With my camera at hand, I rushed to the rooftop but was only disappointed when I saw the sun quickly disappearing into the horizon. I almost forgot that during winter season, sunsets happen early.

I decided to stay and wait for the "blue hour" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_hour). Suddenly, I noticed that a part of the mountain was slowly illuminated with green lights. At first, one would recon - "a UFO just landed!" But I was told by a gentleman that this hill is called "Green Mountain". What a spectacular sight to behold! I also learned from the gentleman that Green Mountain serves as a launching pad of the cable cars that traverses from it to another hill and another segment goes all the way to the public park just in front of my hotel. But this segment, he said, is only operational during the Summer Festival (sometime around July and August).

Abha at night

The GREEN Mountain

Beautiful view at the back of the hotel

After taking some "blue" photos, and running from one side to the other, I noticed the lake went glowing. It seemed like an apparition of something alien again. I was waiting for the mysterious Loch Ness-like creature to appear from beneath the surface. But nothing like that happened, the lake stayed very calm.

So, I went to the eastern side of the rooftop to take a closer look. Alas! the lake is lit with blue neon lights installed on the rim of the dam. Glorious! 

The whole scene was transformed from being serene and relaxing into something FANTASTIC and MAGICAL!

Enjoy the photos! ;)

I nicknamed this - BLUE lake 

Panoramic view of Abha at night

Abha Palace

P. O. Box No. 1100 
Abha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Tel: 00966 7 229 4444
Reservations: ext. 646/645/627/660
Fax: 00966 7 229 5555 
email: sales@abhapalace.com.sa
or reservation@abhapalace.com.sa

FarmBoy's Dream Car - a Porsche Classic

Jay&Kae - The photographers' prenup

Cleanliness & Peace - a beach cleanup drive by Spectrum & FilJed Divers

Bottles, plastic cups, cigar butts, just to name a few

Garbage scattered along the beach

Spectrum Photographers & FilJed Divers

Spectrum and FilJed in action

Mr. Jimmy Ulanday of FilJed Divers

Involving kids in this worthwhile activity will make them responsible adults when they grown up. We should teach our children to take care of the environment at their young age

Spectrum and their "captures" of the day

Spectrum and the event's special guest - Professor Nur Misuari

Event organizers (left to right: The Author as the Project Manager; Mr. Jimmy Ulanday; Mr. Romy Israel; and Mr. Chris Herrera) with Prof. Nur Misuari and his wife

A Yemeni friend who appreciated our efforts for cleaning the beach