Honey

 I heard from one of the wedding that I attended and the officiating minister asked the bridegroom and the bride, "How do you call each other as your endearment?". They answered both, "honey". So the officiating minister shared insights according to their answer. 

He said this way, "honey" is sweet, it's natural, the sweetness will not fade. It won't change. It won't be spoiled. In the same manner, when you call your husband as "honey" see to it that you will not change, the love and sweetness that you have for each other won't fade, it won't change and or grow cold but it should remain the same just like the honey.

Each must be in union with God through Christ as God is the author of love. Without God in the marriage, it would be impossible to keep the vows of love for each other since the natural tendencies of human being is to shun every indifferences.  Each must learn to fully accept who he is or who she is and embrace the fullness of his/her being. 

The greatest commandment the Lord Jesus taught us is to "Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40

#wedding #vows #loveyouforever 

Crossing Borders - Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia

Malay Mo, Malay Nila, Malaysia!

One of my fears about traveling is hearsay! Ranging from bad to worst and good to bad and the like. Particular information that I read from a traveler is that Singapore is an expensive country to visit with. Reading the enumerated expensive leisure that she encountered in visiting this country was registered into my heart and mind. So it created a sense of fear inside of me on going to this small hot, humid country in the Northern Hemisphere (one and a half degrees north of the equator). So INIT (HOT)!

Nevertheless, I booked from one of the low-cost airlines in the Philippines-Cebu Pacific from their promo fare roundtrip which cost me 6+ thousand.

While the trip is coming so soon, I was so excited on the day of my flight. Here are the details of my Manila-Kuala Lumpur/Singapore/Indonesia Trip:

Take Off: Manila, Philippines (MNL) Ninoy Aquino International Airport

Touch Down: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (KUL) Kuala Lumpur International Airport

Cebu Pacific assigned KLIA2 Terminal at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The downside of taking a promo fare ticket is the time of departure and arrival. In my case, I departed from NAIA3 at 10:00PM and arrived at KLIA2 at 1AM which left me no choice but to take a grabcar going to Holiday Inn Express at KL Centre. Good thing, the Malaysia Grab is so cheap and it has a fixed value of MYR65 even in a great distance, plus the 3 toll plaza that you are going to pass by which will entirely cost you MYR72 for 45-50 minutes travel.

Important NOTE: Do not make arrangements to the taxi drivers outside the KLIA2 (Arrival Hall) they will persuade you of a discounted price for you to take their services. Say NO and tell them that you are waiting for your grabcar! 

If your flight is favorable for you, then it is better for you to take the KLIA Express Train going to KL Sentral which will take you 45minutes going to KL Sentral Terminal.

Places I visited in Malaysia:

Batu Caves

Kuala Lumpur Tower

Panoramic view from the Observation Deck (TH01)

Or if you have some extra go for Sky Deck (TH05)

Petronas Twin Tower

Genting Highlands(was canceled due to rain), "I will come back for this"

Thank you to my friend Marisa who lives in Penang-gave me this information which I enjoyed the rest of my stay in Malaysia.

My flight to Penang Island via Airasia

Take Off: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (KUL) Kuala Lumpur International Airport

Touch Down: Penang, Malaysia (PEN) Penang International Airport

One thing I was amazed at was the car that I booked from the Grab - Volkswagen! Super luxury for the price of MYR21 going to my hostel!

Places I visited at Penang Island:

Little India

I arrived at Penang Island on a rainy morning so some of my list to visit was canceled. Instead, I went to Little India and eat some of the Indian foods there! There's just so much spices in their food!

Important NOTE: If you're not into spicy food when making orders, please tell the waiter "No spicy". You might not eat the food that you ordered. Hahah

Gurney Plaza

I haven't found the store which sells Nougat in Penang - Nougat is not associated when it comes to Penang but they are the best, so I went there to find the store but I couldn't for some reason, it's not there! 

How to Get There: Take the 101 Bus route to Gurney Plaza from Georgetown

Penang Hill or Bukit Bendera

The view of the entire Penang Island. It's a must when visiting the island.

Funicular Train this will bring you up there! 

The view from the Hill 

How to Get There 
Take the 201 Bus route to Penang Hill lower station from Komtar Bus Terminal

Singapura, My Merlie!

Now, the hearsay that I afraid of being about to be revealed!
I arrived in Singapore at 11:25AM from Penang, Malaysia brought by a low-cost airline carrier, AirAsia Berhad. Seeing the airport for the first time, I was amazed at how it was designed, I checked the comfort room and it was so nice, clean, and smell-free from stinky odor. 

Entrance from the air bridge

A lot of trees inside the airport

As I was appreciating the beautiful Terminal 4, I forgot to fill-up the Disembarkation Form needed by the immigration officer! haha, so I presented to her, my passport. So she asked, where is your Disembarkation form? Oh...I see! I replied. She said, "you see, everyone is writing. Go!" Not so embarrassing moment-this the scenario which you will learn. So to the readers, do not forget to fill-up the Disembarkation form and fill them using capital letters. And went back, but not to her anymore (nanananana...)

After which I headed to "Cheers Convenience Store" to claim my SG SIM card which I purchased through Klook. The store has no name if you are from the inside of the arrival hall, you need to go out to see the "Cheers", along with the 2 forex booths.
Speaking of which, I need to exchange my PHP to SGD, so I just exchanged, PHP3000 just to be able to buy an EZ Card for MRT/LRT access. 

Sim card, 100GB of DATA!

So I boarded to the bus shuttle that brought us to Terminal 2 for the proper disembarkation and the commencement of my visit to Singapore! Roy, welcome to Singapore! Oops! I don't have an EZ card yet! Haha


Where to Buy EZ Card
In the Terminal 4 arrival hall, you won't find any store which sells EZ Card, only at the Terminal 2 Changi Airport Station booth. The price is just SGD12 which has SGD7 stored value. You can ask them to add some value to it. 

Cute EZ Card. Hahah

The reason why I did not exchange all my PHP at the terminal forex because there is better value awaits me at Bedok Mall! Just 3 stations from Changi Airport station going to Bedok. Prior to my arrival, I've checked the exchange rate of SGDs, so I found out that there are a lot of forex stores at Bedok, so I went there.

Where to Exchange PHP to SGD

Green Point Money Exchange/Firman $hah International Exchange

How to Get There

East West Line(Airport line) Alight at Bedok MRT 

Take Exit B and walk to 204 Bedok North Street 1 passing the Hawker center.

Comparable Exchange Rate

https://cashchanger.co/singapore/php-to-sgd?val=3000&valtype=have

If you have PHP3000, you will get approximately SGD79.20. This forex will give you, PHP1=SGD 0.0263 =SGD78.90

NOTE: Only be vigilant and be wised enough for the Indian that owns the forex will likely cheat on you for he cheated on me, but I went back and asked the correct value for my money! They gave me SGD360 but when I left just a little farther and checked the amount and 'twas lacking (kulang ng SGD30). So I came back and asked SGD30! 

Where to Stay 

Hotel 81 Princess

I book via "booking.com" for my stay at Hotel 81 Princess. As I was reading the reviews of the hotel, Indeed! It was clean, the comfort room, the floor, and bedroom linens. It was comfortable lying on their one BIG Bed! The bed is just so comforting after exhausting your body from roaming around the city.



How to Get There
By MRT from Changi Airport:
- East-West Line, alight to Aljunied Station Exit B and walk towards Aljunied Road Bus Stop Code: 81089
- Take Bus No 100 or any bus that goes to 80069 Opp Mohd Salleh

Where to Eat
Food prices depend on location. In malls and other establishments, the prices are ranging from SGD8-15. But you can find cheaper food without sacrificing the taste -the sidewalk restaurants or cafeterias with a selling price of SGD5-9. You will go out burping! Promise...

Places I visited in Singapore

Gardens By the Bay (Flower Dome, Cloud Forest, and SuperTree). 
Featured all kinds of flowers in the world, there are trees that can only be found in a certain country, to a specific weather condition and the like. 

Cloud Forest and the SuperTree

Tallest Man-made Water Falls in the Cloud Forest

This flower is particularly found in the Australian Garden in the Flower Dome.

Bellis Perennis or Daisy

Blue Million Bells 

Dendrobium Sonia

Merlion Park
When in Singapore, this trademark should be on your itinerary. Once this is not included, you did not visit Singapore! Its name is a combination of "Mer" meaning sea and "lion". The fish's body represents Singapore's origin as a fishing village when it was called Temasek which means Seatown in Javanese. The lion head represents Singapore's original name-Singapura meaning lion city.

Height: 8.6 meter tall (original)

Merlion's height: 8.6 meter tall, the original Merlion 

Marina Bay Sands (Skydeck Observation)
The only thing that you can find up there is the information on every corner of Singapore, building their story, it is written in Mandarine, Korean and English! Nothing special out there, only viewing of Singapore skyline. 

Marina Bay Sand

Marina Bay Sand between Gardens By the Bay

Sentosa Island (Universal Studio and many more, I went to Palawan Beach!) 

The 37-meter-tall gigantic Merlion replica in Sentosa Island. This will be demolished soon to give way to a new $90M Sentosa Sensoryscape project by the Sentosa-Brani masterplan. 

Singapore Botanic Garden 
(Inaamoy ko lahat ng bulaklak dito at niyakap lahat ng punong-kahoy na nadadaanan ko, well, I did it!) I smelled the flowers and embraced the trees that I passed by here.
Those who are lovers of nature, this is well suited for you. In the Botanic garden, at the Bamboo plants- you can find "foot massage pathways" there. It was absolutely beautiful and was clean and good for your health while just walking around the foot massage pathways while smelling the freshness of Bamboo trees. I love every plant in the Botanic Garden. 

Just a Big Tree! Hahah

Caranium Vulgare - Java Almond Fallen Leaves 

Hymenaea Courbaril-West Indian Locust Tree

Bamboo Tree. So cool to be under this tree.

China Town
Best for tummy and souvenir items as well. I bought Durian here! Stinky!!!


Little India - Mustafa Centre
Souvenir item, it's cheaper here than somewhere else like if you visit Sentosa and buy pasalubong (homecoming gift) there, it will be expensive, but you can buy them at Mustafa in Little India at a cheaper price. Oops! Don't forget to claim your tax refund coz I forgot mine :(! 


Batam, Indonesia
I briefly visited Batam, Indonesia through Batam Fast with the ferry ticket of 1,491.80 back and forth.  I just bought more chocolates since it is cheaper there than in Singapore. The chocolate was made in Malaysia by way. :)


Verdict
Is it really expensive to visit Singapore? The answer is as sweet as honey, "NO".
I am encouraging you to go and experience Singapore and don't let others define your fear just because they said so. That's not true my dear, go see it for yourself. :) Thank you so much.


Truly yours,
Roy
#suroysuroyniroy #royinasia #singapore #malaysia #batamindonesia

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My Winter Trip to the Heart of Asia, Taiwan

I was lucky enough that I found a low fare from one of the budget airlines in the Philippines, Cebu Pacific. My one-way fare cost me PH2,699.00 which was booked as early as February 2018. The time has come for our departure together with my friend kapid-Edna on December 28, 2018, at 10:45PM. The travel has been long prepared all the hotels, sightseeing spot has been booked. But we were not prepared for the adjustment that would happen since this was our first time in Taiwan. The weather is not good and it lasted throughout the week that we were there! At least, we enjoyed and met our sisters who work in Taiwan, and behold, we set our mind to come back during Spring Time.

Here is our itinerary for Taiwan, the capital of Taipei 101- the past home of the tallest building in the world from 2004-2010.

We just stay a bit in the guesthouse and have a good sleep and fetched my sister who is coming from Taichung. Later that day, we went shopping at Ximending at 4PM. If you want to buy branded clothes, shoes and or gadgets and even food, there are a lot of food stalls in the Ximen and a lot of people as well. Hahah. This is the best place to spend a night with your travel buddy! Just take notice of your time since the MRT will be closed at 12 Midnight. 

NOTE: If you're going on abroad just choose the best flight that would not jeopardize your planned itinerary and give allowance to every landmark that you are visiting. :)

Places we visited in Taipie, Taiwan

Ximending Night Market

My Ate Ruby and Kapid-Edna

Kapid and I

A pose of my Ate Ruby and I after buying all we like :)

The Crowed! 

How To Get There

By MRT: 

Taipei Main Station - Take Blue Line (Bannan Line) take the Dingpu Route. This is just one station.

Nangang Exhibition Center: Take Blue Line (Bannan Line) Ximen Station BL11

Sun Yat-Sen, Taipei 101 for New Years Eve

On New Year's Eve, we went to Sun Yat-Sen to have a good view of the fireworks display on New Years Day! It was indeed a nice view, but the weather was bad, but it did not hold us back! Haha. Those who are early, taking a good shed from the roof of Sun Yat-Sen Hall, they just have to bring some picnic covering and ready to wait the January 1.

How To Get There:

By MRT: 

Taipei Main Station - Take Blue Line (Bannan Line) take the Nangang Exhibition Center Route to Sun Yat-Sen and take the Exit 3

[picture]

Taipei101

This was the most awaited part of our vacation since we all hope to see good views from 88-89th Floors- Indoor Observatory Deck. The elevator that will bring to 89th floor is on the 5th floor and it will take you just 37 seconds


[picture]


Zhongli Tourist Night Market

Zhongli is famous for shoe shopping! All brands can be found there! Lo, and it's cheap since it's a shoe factory outlet. 

On our way home, we paid a quick visit to Banqiao famous for many food stalls, Christmas lights, and shopping malls 


How To Get There:
From Taipie Main Station and take the Southbound Train (except the Shulin Train).

[picture]

DAY 4: To Taichung City

Taichung City is different from Taipei City, the building structure is high and modern. However, there are older high rise buildings as well. And the weather is good, not so cold and not raining when Taipei is raining all day long. Every visitor will love Taichung due to its vibrant and green, colorful due to the flowers around the city. There are a lot of flower gardens found in the city and neighboring counties.

So, rushing to the Southbound Train station was so exciting! Our pre-booked THSR tickets for 3 from Taipei to Taichung brought us there! After an hour of waiting, it's finally over! We boarded the high-speed train at 12PM on the first car. At exactly 1 hour, we have reached our destination. One thing that I liked the train is speed! In the Philippines, there is no high-speed train. So I endeavor to ride a high-speed train. Lo and behold, I did it! And thanks to God for this experience, but one thing that I endeavor more is taking a trip from Beijing to Shanghai by a bullet train.

DAY 5: Zhong She Flower Farm at Houli District and Houli

Before this, we lost from the direction which I was not prepared for since I rely on my sister. One thing for sure, do not rely on someone even if he or she lives in that city for quite some time. But we enjoyed along with some not so harsh conversation but at the end of the day-we settled and we enjoyed again after seeing beautiful Zhong She Flower Farm 

This flower farm is a must to visit when in Taichung. You will see and experienced the taste a bit Europe in the image of tulips and the Dutch windmill with an entrance fee of $NTD120.

Me, looking the airplane passing by

My older sister Ruby, whom I visited.

Enjoying the bicycle! Oops! Be careful the nail-head in the seat! Natusok akong lubot! Wahahah

How to Get There:

From Taiching TRA Station, buy a ticket going to Tai'an Station.

Ask the guard at the station to where Zhong She Flower Farm is. 
Thank you to some golden hearts and soul for bringing us to the place for warmly offering us their car.

DAY 6: Sun Moon Lake at Nantou District and ride the Cable car that will bring you the whole view of Sun Moon Lake. At 5:40AM we headed to the Taichung Bus Station particularly at Nantou station where the bus will bring us there. We arrived there at past 7AM and there! Our cable car riding started!

DAY 7: Going  to Taoyuan and Back to Manila 

Verdict
Visit Taiwan and you will be amazed! I will be back someday since we had so many canceled itineraries on our first visit. Oh! Don't forget to bring home, the Pineapple Cake or would I say their delicacies! 



Truly yours,
Roy
#suroysuroyniroy #royinasia #taiwan #taipie101 #taipie #taichung


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Choose Your Atitude

Attitude can be great a barriers in every aspects of life. In the greater portion of your daily conversation, if you are an employee or employer- you are working nine to 12 hours in your life. Half of your 24 hours are spend at work places 5 days a week. Whether you are a leader or a subordinate, your attitude speaks and displayed through your acting, speaking, body languages and many other mode of communication whether you are aware or not. 

Human beings are prone to making mistakes. We are not perfect but we can avoid some of these destructive manners by choosing the right attitudes, right at the beginning of the day. The moment you wake up will determine your day. If you choose to be moody or smiling and welcome all those negativity in your way to the end of the day. It’s your call. It’s your choice whether to be good at strangers or yell at them. It’s your choice to be good and vibe the good side to others or vibe the bad side to others. It will depend wholly on the choices of who you want to be and what attitude will you bring to others. Choosing the right attitude in coming to work is very vital to the success of your endeavor. It will greatly affect as to how you collaborate with your colleagues, team lead or to a complete strangers within your company.  

The bottom line, is make the most of your day by choosing the right attitude, whatever is true, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 

At the end of the day, you contributed a good attitude, feelings or perhaps encourage the weary to vibe good atmosphere in your workplaces, to the strangers, to the team and colleagues and to the company where you are working.

Recommendation to start your day:

1. The moment you wake up, say thank you, Lord for the life He has given you. Say to yourself, I will do good things to my fellow today, on a bus, on a train, on a plane going to your work.

2. Greet everyone or simply just smile. That's making a lot when you do so to someone you do not know.

3. Remind yourself to be patient when queueing for payments, waiting for your turn to be served in the fast-food counter or waiting the bank teller for deposits and bills payment.

In your office desk:
Print a good vibe attitude and stamp it beside your mirror where you can see it all the time.

Let me know in the comments below for your insights.  Thank you for reading. Have a pleasant day!