Bicycle Tour: Challenging the Streets of Manila One Pedal at a Time

Wazzup Pilipinas!

There is truth in the old cliche that once you've learned how to ride a bicycle, you'll never forget.

The last time I rode a bicycle was way back 2008. I had to stop riding a bicycle when my family and I had to move to a rent-to-own apartment for more convenience to our daily commuting to our workplace. Commuting a long distance from home to work adds a great amount of stress to the daily challenges we usually get, and traveling using our own private vehicles will only leave us spending more from our meager take-home pays. The public trains (MRT/LRT) somehow help lessen the hours but we usually end up all feeling squished like a lemon but smelling awful and sweaty like we just came from a workout.

Going through the huge crowd enduring the traffic or the over-congested trains are just some of the struggles in the Metro. Most of us are all similarly rushing to our respective work places and need to make do of what's available to the ordinary Pinoys. Only a few of us were luckily blessed with an affluent family while many of us can't afford to be too choosy because we were not born with rich parents.  Thus we are often called a resilient race because we learn how to make ends meet with very little resources and don't complain much.

My mountain bike was used for traveling to nearby areas for  sudden urges to buy snacks at the nearest neighborhood groceries, or whatever other errands I needed to do. It was better to sweat it out a little than wasting a few bucks on "special" tricycle fares. It was also ideal as an early morning exercise especially when I needed to escape our neighborhood and just freely ride away into anywhere. Sadly, it just ended up in storage, gathering dust and almost forgotten at one of our houses because it will be difficult to bring along with me through 9 floors of our building apartment. If it was not for the Bicycle Tour offered by Smokey Tours, I wouldn't have remembered my previously well-cherished possession.

Fiftea: Taiwan’s Finest Milk Tea Has Arrived

Wazzup Pilipinas!

We've been fooled long enough! I thought I've been drinking quality milk tea only to find out there's a big significant difference after tasting a new brand at a media launch held last May 14, 2014 at the basement level of Alphaland at Makati Place Rustan's Supermarket located at Ayala Avenue corner Malugay Street in Makati.

Those milk tea imposters and wannabees should step aside for they have fooled us long enough. They've taken advantage of the popularity of milk tea shops that proliferated the country for a long time already. Filipinos were just less discriminatory of milk tea since we easily get fooled by sweetness added to the tea that we couldn't even distinguish if its brewed or from a powdered source, and fail to realize we are being shortchanged of quality and health benefits.

It's time for the expert to take over.  Fiftea, Taiwan's finest milk tea brand, is in town to serve what real milk tea is all about.

After tasting Fiftea’s creamy, fresh version, you won’t get confused anymore. Fiftea’s milk tea flavor is quite distinctive, that’s because the leaves are all imported and the trained baristas prepare them the right way. If you don’t believe it, ask your Taiwanese friends if they heard of Fiftea and what they think of it. Fiftea is one of the first brands of milk tea in Taiwan and is already established as a brand of high quality.

Wen Cleansing Conditioner: The Multitasking Hair Cleanser

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Is it really possible to just use one product for our daily hair cleansing needs? Is there really a product that can act as both shampoo and conditioner? If ever there is one, will it be better than the normal shampoo then conditioner routine?

Well, I got to try out a new product that promises to be comparable, if not better, than the usual cleansing ways we normally do during shower time. The product is now available for you to try as well but its relatively new in the Philippines since it was just introduced in the country this month of May.

Wen Cleansing Conditioner is a five-in-one conditioning cleanser designed to improve hair health, reduce frizz, moisturize, add shine, and retain color. The product is a luxurious, multitasking cleanser and conditioner designed to impart shine, luster, and softness. It has two variants available - the Sweet Almond Mint and the Pomegranate. I got to try the Sweet Almond Mint which was really had a relaxing feel on my scalp.

The lightweight, low-lather formula is a universal product that caters to all our haircare needs, regardless of hair type. Herbal extracts like aloe vera and sweet almond oil help our locks retain moisture, while protecting them from daily and future damage. The Cherry bark brings out the color, shine and softness in all shades of natural and color-treated hair. Since I grew up with white hair as it runs in the family, my hair coloring treatment needs that feature to keep it looking good longer. The Rosemary extract content promises to help against premature baldness, stimulates hair growth and fights scalp problems. The product has a lot  more ingredients with their specific properties beneficial to our hair but it will be too long to enumerate all of them.

ADDLIB ”The LAB” rocks Skydome, celebrates Mother’s Day

Wazzup Pilipinas!

In celebration of the their recently concluded summer dance workshop, ADDLIB Dance Crew, one of the premier dance groups in the country held the ADDLIB Summer “THE LAB” Dance Concert  held at SM North EDSA Skydome on May 11, 2014.

The dance concert featured recitals among participants from different dancing genres including hip-hop, jazzfunk, dancehall among others.

The crowd is composed of friends and families, all gathered to support their kids, a perfect time to celebrate Mother’s day.

Investing is worth it?

Wazzup Pilipinas!

As you might have noticed from reading the news, the Philippine economy is on a roll these days. There are more investors, more potential jobs, and of course, more money going around. Today’s young professional crowd has more money to spend, and more things to spend it on.

What are the things we usually spend it on? Of course, we have the essentials for daily living, or what Maslow calls physiological needs. We also have our utilities, what allows us to have a comfortable lifestyle. Then we have our wants- luxuries like the latest gadget or trips to Boracay. What do we do with the money left over? Place it a bank? Hide it in the sock drawer?

Here’s a better idea: make it work for you.

Filipinos usually view the word “investment” as a scary word that involves a lot of money. Investments are something that entrepreneurs or those who already have high paying jobs do to make even more money. And while that’s true in a sense, that shouldn’t preclude you from investing even at a younger age.

DOTC Bares Rules Versus Drunk And Drugged Driving

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Coinciding with the Road Safety Month of May as designated in Presidential Proclamation 115-A, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) today published the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) No. 10586, otherwise known as the Anti-Drunk and Drugged Driving Act, which penalizes drivers who are caught driving under the influence of alcohol or illegal substances.

“This will permit law enforcers to begin implementing the safety measures imposed by RA 10586. Among other things, it limits the allowable blood alcohol level to below 0.05% for most drivers. In the case of drivers of buses and other public utility vehicles, however, they cannot have any amount of alcohol in their blood at all, since people’s lives are in their hands” said DOTC Secretary Jun Abaya.

The IRR was drafted jointly by the DOTC, the National Police Commission through its Chairman, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas, and Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Enrique Ona

UNWTO to Lead in Bohol Tourism Recovery Roadmap Turnover

Wazzup Pilipinas!

United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Secretary General Dr. Taleb Rifai arrives here in the country to lead the turnover rites of the tourism recovery roadmap for the province, an output of a multi-sectoral collaboration to help the province recover from the effects of last year's earthquake.

The Bohol Tourism Recovery Plan (BTRP) is a collaborative project of the Department of Tourism (DOT), the United States Agency for International Development under its Advancing Philippine Competitiveness Project (USAID-COMPETE), UNWTO and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). It was developed following a series of fact-finding missions and extensive research over a five-month period.

The document, touted as Bohol's tourism recovery “bible,” contains strategies for marketing the province to the global community, as well as the development of new tourism products that will strengthen Bohol's position as an eco-cultural destination.

The strategies will be a guide book for Bohol not only in bringing back local and international tourists, but also in further expanding its tourism base.

“Driven to Abstraction” by Cid Reyes

Wazzup Pilipinas!

In this writer's early interview, the late National Artist Jose Joya reminded the reader of the universality of abstraction: "It was only during the late '50s or early '60s that I started doing these Abstract Expressionist paintings, and I use that label as mere convenience, a label attached to the New York School of Painting.... Abstraction is an international trend; it isn't a contemporary development as most people would think. Even in ancient times, the Orientals were already doing calligraphy and Persian geometric designs; it isn't at all a recent phenomenon.... No, abstraction is not a time-honored convention in the Western world as it is in the Eastern world."

Credited with having created the first abstract work in the West is the Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky. In 1906, he did a watercolor consisting of squiggly lines and blots of colors commingling, suggesting no reference to the visible world, yet seemingly engaged with the spirit, akin to the mysterious power of music to touch the soul. The works of the American abstractionist Mark Rothko were said to move the audience into tears.

Thus, through over a century, abstraction has evolved its many variants, from gestural to geometric to minimalist. In his last public lectures, Kirk Varnedoe, director of the Museum of Modern Art, then in the grip of a terminal illness, kept the faith and trained one final light on abstraction: "It is the production of forms of order that are not recognizable as order, but vehicles of feeling that seem impersonal, vessels of intelligence that appear utterly dumb. Abstract art is a symbolic game, and it is akin to all human games: you have to get into it, risk and all, and this takes a certain act of faith. But what kind of faith? Not faith in absolutes, not a religious kind of faith. A faith in possibility, a faith not that we will know finally, but faith in not knowing, a faith in our ignorance, a faith in our being confounded and dumbfounded, a faith fertile with possible meaning and growth."

UNWTO Chief in PH for International Meets and Recovery Initiatives

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Department of Tourism (DOT) is pleased to welcome back Dr. Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), who arrives in the country today (15 May 2014) for a five-day visit.

Secretary General Rifai’s visit starts off with a dinner meeting in Manila with select cabinet secretaries, businessmen, and officials of the Tourism Congress of the Philippines where he will share the importance of tourism in economic recovery and the vital roles that government, businesses, and civil society play in tourism development.

Dr. Rifai will then proceed to Bohol for the presentation and turnover of the Bohol Tourism Recovery Plan, which was jointly prepared by the DOT, UNWTO, Pacific Area Travel Association (PATA), and United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The recovery plan was developed following a series of fact-finding missions and extensive research over a five-month period to help the province recover from the effects of last year's earthquake. It includes a communication strategy to bring back the confidence of domestic and international travellers and of the communities, as well as an assessment of tourism infrastructure and assets that need to be prioritized for rehabilitation by the agencies concerned, international donors, development partners, national and local government agencies, and private sector.

BPI Express Credit Ties Up with Air Asia BIG

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Last May 13, 2014 was the launching of the two big innovators in its own industries that leads businesses to move in the same direction and gives way to make services more efficient and reliable for its clients and depositors as well.

Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), the country’s first bank and innovation leader in the banking industry, has launched yet another first . BPI Express Credit is now the exclusive partner of Air Asia BIG in the Philippines.

Air Asia BIG Loyalty Programme is the first and only loyalty Programme of Air Asia , the leading and the largest low-cost carrier in Asia.

With BPI as the exclusive bank partner of Air Asia Big in the Philippines, BPI cardholders can now convert their Real Thrills Rewards points to Air Asia Big Point. They can use the big point . Every  three (3)  RTR point is equivalent to  one (1) Air Asia Big Point. They can use the BIG POINT to redeem Air Asia flights and services, among others. Plus BPI Express Cash Cardholders will be the first to know of Air Asia’s low BIG points redemptions.

To avail of this unique and thrilling treat from BPI Express Credit, simply sign up as an AirAsia BIG Loyalty Programme member via www.airasiabig.com and call BPI at 89100 or email expressonline@bpi.com.ph to convert RTR points  to BIG Points. A Big shot member enjoys preferential access to Air Asia’s biggest sales and promos.