If These Walls Could Talk (a walking tour of Intramuros led by Carlos Celdran)

Highly Recommended!

I've been hearing and reading raves about Carlos Celdran's tours since last year. Finally, I was able to go on one of them. I am so happy I brainwashed Carlo (and wife Ry) to join me (and treat me hehe) for this tour! It's a great way of rediscovering our beloved Manila. I can't wait to join the other tours (the Imeldific tour, the Escolta/Quiapo tours etc) when I come home again in December (and/or August).

So whether you are a foreigner, a Manileño, a balikbayan or a bum/tambay, go for this tour. This is a theatrical tour, mind you (Carlos Celdran is, apart from being one of the best guides in the Philippines, a performing artist as well). Even if you are not a history enthusiast, you will still find this tour interesting--just keep an open mind and don't leave your brains at home. The tour is fast paced and you need to keep your ears tuned to the many facts and stories you will hear from Carlos.

Don't expect any typical "on your right, you will see bla bla bla" stuff. It's more like going through your history class but in a more colorful, humorous and dramatic way. I promise, there are some controversial stuff in store for you.The things you will learn are things that were mostly left out of our history books. Carlos is one passionate lad who will make this tour fun and informative--he'll make you love and appreciate Manila for all its glory and gory :)

Carlo was the one who booked us for the tour. He just texted the contact number in the site and got a confirmation message that we are booked for the 4 Jan tour session. Celdran tours didn't even ask for a payment. As Carlos said when he started the tour: "Payment will be made after the tour. If you did not like the tour, then don't pay." Everyone paid, everyone finished the tour. No one left at all.

The original site of Ateneo de Manila. T'was mentioned that there are restoration plans going on.

Meeting place for the tour group was in front of Manila Cathedral at 3pm. There were a lot of people in the area, especially since there was a wedding (as usual) that Sunday afternoon. I kept telling Ca that we might miss Carlos. But who would miss a man who is in full costume: he wore a top hat, loose black pants, leather sandals, and an 1800s-inspired white shirt – with an intricate gold tambourine necklace around his neck. He looked like he stepped out of a history book! (I heard that Carlos is always in costume during his tours like he'd wear bell bottoms for his Imeldific tour since it's about Manila in the 70s).

I was spellbounded by his story telling that I wasn't able to shoot many photos. A visit to the crypt gave me the chills. The way Carlos retold the story of how the glory of Manila was destroyed by World War II gave me the goosebumps! But Carlos promised after his spiel: "The tour will be fun again, don't worry."

Carlos had this black folder that contains many intriguing and unique illustrations and photos. All his props are inside that messenger bag. Aliw!



I was planning to write a full account of the tour but I don't want to spoil the fun for you. You must experience it!!! The drama, the intrigues, the darkness, the humour! Please, go and sign up for his tour. I assure you that it's so worth it! Imagine, ME, a person who hates walking, actually loved this WALKING tour and I actually didn't mind it AT ALL!!! I didn't even notice that we walked from Manila Cathedral to Intramuros Walls, to the old Ateneo de Manila Campus to San Agustin to Plaza San Luis.

To know more about Carlos and his tours, visit his blog or click here for the tour descriptions.

Carlos famous line: "I can’t change the way Manila looks, but I can change the way you look at Manila".


He has indeed changed the way I looked at Manila. He will change yours too.

For the nth time, let me just say: Can't wait to go back and go for his other tours.

Pink Ribbon

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

A few days ago, I attended a symposium on breast cancer awareness organised by the Breast Cancer Foundation of Singapore. The symposium aims to empower women to do regular breast self-examination (BSE) and to be aware of breast cancer symptoms. Click here to know more about BSE.

I've always known the steps on how to do BSE but I don't really know what to look for. In the symposium, they had this "dummy breast" with lumps inside and they made us touch it so we know what the lumps feel like when we do our own BSEs.

In the early stages of breast cancer, there is usually no pain and there may be no symptoms at all. As the cancer grows, the following symptoms could appear:






Breast cancer has overtaken lung and colorectal cancers as the top cancer-killer in Singapore. But the earlier you detect it, the higher chance you have of surviving it.

Although a healthy lifestyle helps prevent any kind of disease, we all know that cancer--more so, breast cancer--is like a traitor who can hit anyone.

Let's help spread the message, support and understand those who are fighting breast cancer, and help in our own little way in breast cancer research. One such way is by getting your Pink Ribbon--proceeds will go to the Breast Cancer Foundation of Singapore. Here's mine:

And by the way, Nana had her last chemo session today. Thank you to those who prayed and encouraged us during this difficult time. Please help me continue to pray for her as she goes on her road to recovery.

Still about the F1 Night Race

When you first saw the trophy for Singapore's F1 Night Race, what did you think about it? Honestly, at first glance, I couldn't appreciate it. Maybe I got so used to the traditional trophies. Someone even commented that it looked like a broom upside down.



photo: Singtel


The FIA requires Grand Prix promoters to present trophies "in the form of traditional cups." And award-winning Singaporean artist Zulkifle Mahmod followed the strict guidelines and designed the trophies in line with the tagline by the title sponsor Singtel: "Come Shape the Future of Racing".

It really looked weird at first glance, but when I read what James wrote, I started to appreciate it too. On closer inspection, James said, we could see the steering wheel at the base of the trophy and the individual stylised petals in black and red looks like a chequered flag. It looks good, in an unconventional sort of way.

PS. Have you seen this video about the first ever F1 race? Nice!

spur(s) of the moment

I am officially suffering from plantar fasciitis.

...For the past months, my heels are so painful that it makes me just want to sh*t in my pants! And the worst thing is, it's getting in the way of my pagiging lakwatchera. All day long, from the moment I wake up, there is a constant pain in my every step that I just don't feel like going out anymore.

...In the past, I would look forward and actually enjoy a day of going to different places, jalan-jalan as they say here. But now, I just want to curl up on my favorite chair and spend the whole day being a couch potatie. And if ever I do make gala with friends, in less than one hour, I would be SIMANG the rest of the day because of the pain in my heel.

...I have free access to the gym in our office building but I don't want to go there because just thinking about the pain I will feel after going on the treadmill gives me migraines... On really bad days, I have to ask Tutuy to "get this, get that, do this, do that" because it's so painful for me to go around the house to do the chores (buti na lang superman tong si Tutuy! I just LOVE LOVE LOVE him!).

Oh the tragedies of My Constipated Life (shameless pluggin hehe).

I want to share this with you because heel spurs, although not life threatening, is quite common. So if you have the symptoms, or the causes match your lifestyle, then better do something to prevent it.

Plantar fasciitis, or heel spurs as some call it, cause the heel to hurt, feel hot or swell, is inflammation of the plantar fascia, a thin layer of tough tissue supporting the arch of the foot.

The plantar fascia is the ligament located at the bottom of our feet. It is attached to the heal and extends to the ball of the foot. When this ligament stretches irregularly, it tears bit by bit until it becomes inflamed.

And since I love visual aids *wink*, here's how it looks like: (thanks to Doc Noy Marasigan for sharing the medical sites with me)

It's quite common, actually. Maybe you have it too. Here are some of the symptoms:

• You feel a sharp pain in the inside part of the bottom of your heel, which may feel like a knife sticking in the bottom of your foot MOST ESPECIALLY when you take your first few steps after waking up
  
• This heel pain tends to be worse when climbing stairs or when standing on tiptoe
  
• Heel pain after long periods of standing or after getting up from a seated position
  
• Heel pain after, but not usually during, exercise

PF gradually develops so if you develop the symptoms, better take extra care and see what you can do about it...I knew I had it coming. After all, I almost have all it's causes:

• Walk or stand for long periods of time (Check!-Singapore: the walking capital of the world!)
  
• Overweight (Check!-leche)
  
• Common in people whose jobs require a lot of standing and walkin (Check!-from One Roxas Triangle to Globe to teaching grabeh!)
  
• Wear shoes that don't fit well (Check!-porma first before comfort! Since 4th year high school, my minimum heel requirement is 1.5 inches. It was only last year that I started buying flats.)
  
• An athlete, especially runners (eehhh uncheck!)
  
• Walk with an inward twist or roll of the foot or what they call pronation (Check!)

What's pronation? Eto yun:

So mine looks something like this right foot:

So when I had my foot scanned, it looked something like this:

As you can see, the pressure is mostly on the heel and balls of the foot.

The doctor said it can be treated. However, since mine is a bit bad na, it will take awhile for the pain to go away (awhile as in one to two years)!

I do have pain relievers and anti-inflammatory druggies but it all just brings temporary relief.

The best remedy for now is for me to wear a heel and foot support (which I haven't bought yet kasi ang mahal pala if they customise it for your feet and pang-orthotics pala talaga sha. wild!). It looks something like this:

Pde rin daw "foot taping" pero duh parang ang OA hehe

And also to apply ice packs every night (which I can't do recently cuz it's kinda cold in our place nowadays) and do certain stretching exercises like:

According to the doctor and based from the research (Ms Wikipedia etech) I've done, there are a lot of things I can do to help speed up the healing process, like

Always resting my feet, avoiding a lot of walking/running activities

Do the calf and towel stretches to help the ligament be more flexible and make the muscle that supports my arch stronger.

Wear well-cushioned shoes with good shock absorption (can my ballet flats and high-heeled pumps absorb shock?!?)..for example, athletic shoes (hay, i have only one pair of sports shoe and I use it 4 times a year only--the same number of times I go to the gym in a year haha)

Putting on shoes as soon as I get out of bed because going barefoot or wearing slippers may make the pain worse.

I should also get more rest (my favorite!)

When I consulted my doctor, he mentioned about giving a certain type of steroid shot but he said it's not recommendable cuz it can make the bone brittle or weaker in the long run.

Oh and another thing, the doctor mentioned that it's best that I lose weight to make it heal faster.

Lose weight? Bummer!!!

PH

Singapore probably has one of the fewest public holidays in the world:

New Year's Day
Chinese New Year (2 or 3 days)
Good Friday
Labour Day
Vesak Day
National Day
Hari Raya Puasa
Deepavali
Hari Raya Raji
Christmas Day.

That's just 12 days in a year, assuming that Chinese New Year consists of 3 days.

So just imagine my disappointment when I started working here. I am used to having at least 15 public holidays back in Manila:
New Year's Day
People Power/Edsa Revolution
Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, (Black Saturday), Easter Sunday
Araw ng Kagitingan
Labor Day
Independence Day
Ninoy Aquino Day
National Heroes' Day
All Saint's Day
Bonifacio Day
Christmas Day
Rizal Day
New Year's Eve

...and this doesn't include "Regional Public Holidays" (for example, Manila Day, Pasay Day, Sinulog Festival, etc) wherein the respective local governments declare a Special Non-working Holiday in their respective cities or provinces)

...plus, our beloved chick president has also declared some religious holidays like Chinese New Year and Ramadan to this growing list...

AND let's not forget that our beloved chick president loves to move public holidays on different days so that we can have longer weekends...

AND classes are suspended on certain days because of the rainy season (and in recent times, due to strike/mutiny/coup, celebrity weddings--nye!). And this moving of public and national holidays is actually a government policy already, read RA 9492.

Making this comparison makes me miss home.

I am reminded of something that the Philippine Comedian wrote on his blog:

Malacanang Moves Christmas to November 1
Malacañang, Sep 1, 2007. Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has signed an executive order officially moving the date of Christmas to November 1. Sources say the new order takes effect this year.

The official press statement explained the reasoning behind the shift in schedule. "December 25 is too matagal nwoh. Plus, tutal, we Filipinos can't wait naman for Paskwoh, so why not just move it na mas maaga di bwah?" the press statement said.
When asked why the President chose November 1 for the new date, the press statement failed to reply. So instead, we interviewed a Malacañang insider.

"Well, like thuh -- the President assigned four committees to study the feasibility of moving Christmas to four months, no? -- August, September, October, and November, you know?" confided Procopio Mengkekekwek (not real name). "Eh bomalabs yung iba during their final presentation. So like, y'know, the November committee got the most votes because they were soooo kaka! And they even brought Willie Revillame to do the presentation, like y'know? And he brought pa his Wowowee girls to dance," added Mengkekekwek excitedly.
Opposition Senator Chiz Escudero immediately hit the latest move by Malacañang. "Naghihirap na nga ang mga tao, aagahan niyo pa ang Pasko," said the visibly irked (but handsome) senator. "Ako ang boses ng kabataan sa Senado," he also said.

The handsome Escudero, who was wearing a barong tagalog designed by Ino Sotto, pointed out major problems that the schedule shift will cause. "For example, what will happen to All Soul's Day? And will we now move New Year's day to December 1."

The president is currently doing Pilates and unavailable for any comment.

So does this mean we are not hardworking people? No lah! Having more holidays , for me, means that we are such fun-loving people who, even during our life's darkest and lowest moments, still know how to stop and smell the roses.
For the official list of holidays in the Philippines, click here. For the official list of holidays in Singapore, don't even bother--it's still the same list.