Travelling in a Wi-Fi Bus

Travelling by bus for 10 to 12 hours going to our hometown of Polangui some 500 kilometers south of Manila used to be so boring. But now after some years of not being home, I finally found something interesting in the buses that ply the Bicol-Manila and vice versa route. You know what it is? Wi-Fi. The buses that carried me to Bicol and back to Manila are both equipped with free Wifi on board. So from Cubao, Quezon City to the land of the Mayon Volcano in Albay, I browsed the Internet, sent some emails and endlessly chatted on Facebook till I felt dizzy of looking down into my laptop while the bus negotiated the bumps, twists and turns of the highway to Bicolandia.

The Wi-Fi service is a very welcome addition to the usual Video on Board amenity which used to be the primary source of entertainment while in transit from the big city to the province. It's nice to note also the improvement in the audio and video equipment of the buses having been transformed from the humongous CRT television sets to the modern LCD ones. That alone however cannot sway most people to ride a particular bus because to some, the choice of movie by the conductor and the driver becomes an annoyance to other people, and most of all, the passengers have no control over the type of movie to be played.

With Wi-Fi, the passengers with laptops and Wi-Fi enabled gadgets have endless possibilities for entertaining themselves and keeping them busy while traveling 500 kilometers and more. The Wi-Fi in the bus does not come without some hiccups though. As the source of the Internet access is via 3G cellular connection, we  have had some, in fact lots of disconnections due to the lack of cellular signal in some points along the way. I just hope that the Philippines' telcos will increase their signal coverage in the vast stretch of the Maharlika highway linking the various provinces of the country.

There is a very small number of buses that have Wi-Fi at the moment and the one the I rode on in transit to Bicol is the Antonina line. At six hundred fifty pesos fare from Cubao to Polangui with a latest model bus and very cold aircon system, surely it's a steal for me, with the more prominent buses charging up to almost a thousand pesos without Wi-Fi. On the way back to Manila it is the DLTB line. Though it is a hundred pesos cheaper than Antonina, i wouldn't recommend this one for you because their Wi-Fi sucks. It's so hard to connect and at one point some angry passengers suggested to the conductor to remove the Wi-Fi sticker displayed at the door of the bus because it is props only. For the 10 hour trip we never made any stable connection all the way. And by the way, their seats are also too darn straight verticaly so if you want to take some sleep instead because you cannot update and chat at Facebook, forget it because there is no way you can tilt your seat for even a little bit

My Little Architect and Graphic Artist

My little son Justin's artistic and creative ability is fast becoming evident and pronounced as he keeps growing up. Just a while ago, he called my attention and he showed me something he did on the computer. To my amazement, he drew doodles of the angry birds in full color using windows' built-in application Paint. I never taught him how to use or manipulate Paint but for some reasons he was able to do it impressively by himself. I'm so sure that even in school, where he is grade one, they do not have any computer subject yet.

His long time exposure with computers at home since he was a toddler might be one of the reasons why he finds it very easy to learn computer programs just by tinkering and curiously exploring everything he sees on the monitor. Even at this stage, he is already very proficient in using Google and Youtube for anything that catches his attention. As soon as he encounter a particular subject in everything he sees at home at school or in the neighborhood, he immediately googles it or search related shows in Youtube. Of course we let him do those things within our watch as he might stumble upon things that are not suitable for his age.

At this stage when we ask him what he wants when he grows up, he replies that he wants to be an Architect, like his proud daddy. There's some opposition from the mommy by the way, because me, the proud father never succeeded in earning the very elusive Architect's license for so may tries already. And since I am not a successful Architect, the wife looks at my career as something not worthy to be aspired for. I just keep on explaining that some things are not really meant to be but just maybe, our son will be the one who will fulfill that elusive Professional Architects' title and the money and prestige that comes with it.

Polangui Parish Church Visited

This is my second week on my old little home town  of Polangui and the places I visit always brings back memories of the olden days. The featured picture in this post is our old Sts. Peter and Paul parish church, built by the Spanish during their 300 year occupation of the Philippines.

Much of the old stone finishes of the church is now gone and it is replaced by concrete and paint. I wonder if it must have been very difficult to replicate the finish of the old stone walls because whoever decided the renovation of the church’s façade let it finished with cement plaster and paint.

I can still remember the moss laden stone walls of the church’s bell tower but I am sad to see it replaced with concrete and painted grey. They should have at the very least tried to retain the original material and fill up the gaps or whatever but having it painted tends to lessen its historical value and aesthetic quality.

In fairness to the Parish Pastoral Council and the people who helped restore the place, they have done a very good job in beautifying the patio and the “Cristorey”. The patio’s new look is a complete reversal from its sad state the last that I saw it more than 10 years ago.

As I walk the place, I recall my childhood, the first communion, the annual fiesta, Sundays and the holy week and it feels good to be back.

The bridge of our Childhood

After so many years of being away from home, I finally had the time to go home in our hometown in bicol south of the Philippine archipelago. The changes and signs of progress were very evident, from the new structures to faces of people that I never knew and people that never knew me as someone who used to live and spent wonderful childhood days in a little house by the side of the river.

The neighborhood in the vicinity of our old house hasn't changed except for a house in our back which were turned into a rented home and occupied by a family from some faraway place. Except for a very few of our childhood friends who chose to not leave the place and spent the last 40 years in the neighborhood, everyone else were either in Manila and scattered across the Globe as OFW's (Overseas Foreign Workers). I surely missed the gang and I was imagining that they were also here having some drinks and spending late nights chatting at the railings of the bridge.

That bridge was a silent witness to our growing up and if it can only speak, it can tell every detail of our childhood and secrets that we friends shared during those years. The bridge was the first thing that  I have noticed upon arrival and I took no time to stand right there and be transported in a flurry of memories. How time flies. I wish someday everyone will be home and together reminisce the laughter and yes, some tears for those growing up stuff like being scolded by parents, dumped by a girl and school problems.

 In the river below the bridge, we use to share the once pristine waters with the carabaos. While they huddle and keep cool at the shallow waters at the side, we little boys and girls are having a blast trying to swim. We learned swimming at the river all on our own without the aid of instructors and we also had our own shares of some life threatening situations by trying to swim without supervision. Those situations though very dangerous have made us strong and we learned to value life at a very early age.

It is my dream that someday, we childhood buddies will group together at the bridge and do a reminiscing of the wonderful past and on a broader context give our share in restoring the river to its glory days and to have a name for the bridge which until now is unknown to us.

My Little Equestrian

This is the second time that my son Justin is visiting Camp John Hay in Baguio City, the coolest place north of Manila and summer capital of the Philippines. He was afraid of riding a horse on his first visit but this time, he was not afraid anymore and he wouldn't leave the camp without riding a horse. He was very persistent on his request so we let him do it with the condition that his mom will join the ride. To our disappointment, the guides told us that they do not allow two people ride a horse at the same time. we also thought that the horse ride trek would be on a very short distance only. But alas, the guides told us that the half hour horse back ride will go quite some distance inside the forested area of the camp. As we were  adamant by the conditions, we told Justin that he would ride solo by himself and that they will go far into the forest but he would not budge. He is determined to do his first ever horse back ride. We  finally gave in and entrusted him to the Igorot guide who assured us that everything will be alright. Justin also told us that he's alright and he can do it excitedly.

A few meters going inside the wooded area, we were still very worried, so we sent his "big sister", Michelle to ride another horse and follow Justin. And off they went towards the woods. It looked like a very very long thirty minutes because we were anxiously waiting for them to come back. Every time a horse gets in sight, we were hoping that it was already Justin. We almost counted all the horses that emerged from the woods and several horses later, they finally emerged. Upon seeing them, it was the only time that we have relaxed and thanked God for the nice adventure for Justin who is very very happy that he was successfull in riding his first ever horse and became an Equestrian for thirty minutes.

Mighty Beanz Reviewed

My son Justin has been recently collecting Mighty Beanz toys ever since he stumbled videos of it on Youtube. What is a Mighty Bean and why does kids like it so much? Basically, a Mighty Bean is a toy shaped like a bullet with various characters ranging from obscure ones original from the toy maker and some taken from famous movies like Star Wars and Disney's Cars. Though the beanz appear to be of same shape, they are in fact of different sizes and matches the character that each portrays. Each has its own unique shape, size, weight,  name and number making it a collectible item. It's basically made of plastic and can stand on its own because of the metal bearing of various weights stuffed inside it. The toy seems to have a life of its own because they move like a small short worm tumbling downwards when set in sloping race tracks also made by the manufacturer. Kids can be creative and can make their own tracks. The kids race their beanz in the race tracks and each bean seems to have a unique racing ability giving character to their identity. Some are very fast and some are quite slow but depending on the configuration of the particular race track, slower ones on some tracks could be fast on some.

The beanz are designed to be collectibles because some are rare and limited editions wherein you can only have those rare ones by chance and luck. The beanz are packaged in such a way that you cannot choose what bean you will get. You also do not have the opportunity to determine what shape or size your bean will be despite lots of groping the package to see if it is a fat bean, a stout bean or a rare bean that is of unlikely shape like square or triangle.

Every buy is a surprise so the kids are very attracted to it. If they happen ot get something that they already have, they can trade it with their friends or use it as a bet in a racing game so when they lose they don't have much to regret but when they win their friend's bean which they don't have yet, it seems like a trophy.

Even adults like me is attracted to the Mighty Beanz so I support my son in his collecting efforts despite the wife's nagging about how the said toy cost which could have been spent in some other worthwhile items. I have a feeling that those toys especially the rare ones could be of some value in the future so whatever the heck, I'm joining my son in his Mighty Beanz collection quest.

Burnham Park is still cool

Our second day in Baguio City proved to be worth the travel because we were blessed with a cool weather and a lovely sunshine. The first day was not so lucky for us because of heavy rains which confined us to the mall and then later on our hotel the rest of the day after a futile attempt attempt to explore and visit the Mine's View Park despite the rain.

Our son had a blast riding a bike and really enjoyed the park. We have been to Baguio just last month but we didn't have the opportunity to visit Burnham Park, also due to the persistent rain. The last time that I have been to this place was during the 1990's when I was still single. The place is still good contrary to what other people say that it is already passe and not maintained properly. In fact, I found it more improved and cleaner than when I last visited it years ago.

The place is teeming with tourists both locals and foreigners alike. everybody is enjoying the place with the cool weather and bright sunshine. After our son got tired of biking, we proceed to the man-made lake and enjoyed rowing the animal-shaped boats. The lake is large enough to go boating around and we really had fun exploring the place from end to end.

We had a friend with us who is a member of the Philippine Dragon Boat team and we had a blast taking impromptu tutorials on competitive rowing. The children on board were so delighted with the rowing chants like "oars up" and "row".  Our friend-paddler remarked that the kids can be taught easily on competitive rowing and that they can be future members of the Philippine Dragon Boat team.

After the enjoyable boating, we explored the park further, ate some fruits and bought a native-made bird like toy which flies like a real bird. Such toy can only be found in Baguio, especially in Burnham Park. Amenities of the park includes huge playground for kids and an amusement park with various rides. If you have the time to visit Baguio, don't miss to visit Burnham Park. It's still there and still hasn't lost most of its charms.