2008 August | Ajay's Writings on the Wall

August, 2008

Cirque du Soleil is the reason why I wanna go back to Macau

August 31, 2008 by ajay

The world-famous Cirque du Soleil is now in nearby Macau! Their show at the luxurious Venetian Macao, billed ZAIA, formally launched to the public last August 28 after a soft opening on July 26. This should be a must-see! This means that we don’t have to go as far as New York or Las Vegas to see the troupe’s elaborate costumes, awesome dances or amazing acrobatics. It can be viewed right there at the Venetian’s 3D Theater (seating capacity: 1800) that has been built for the purpose.

ZAIA (Greek for “life”) is a 90-minute spectacle of “dance, movement and aerial acrobatics.” According to the official brochure, ZAIA “presents a young girl’s perception of the stars and planets, space and infinity, all populated by a panoply of fantastic, literally out-of-this-world creatures.” Ticket prices are MOP 388 to a high of MOP 1288 for VIP seats. MOP or Macau pataca is almost the same in value as the Hong Kong dollar.

I am inspired to watch Cirque du Soleil after watching the world-class performance of the Wanders performers at the PAGCOR Grand Theater in Paranaque City. The whole family enjoyed Wanders and was proud that something of that magnitude is right here in the Philippines. Now I figure that Cirque du Soleil is something that will bring out the ooh’s and ahh’s of my kids as well.

Just a thought: Cirque du Soleil was conceived by Europeans. Don’t know how they will impress Asians who are accustomed to the feats of those nimble Chinese acrobats. A glimpse of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics showed us that

Category Happenings & Events | Tags: | 3 Comments
Free seats at Air Asia & other budget airline tales

August 27, 2008 by ajay

Cheap air travel is one of the blessings of this generation. Am not talking of tens of thousands of miles earned after riding the Boeing A380 to London. Am talking of the modern-day phenomenon called the budget airline. It’s best described as no-frills – you’d be lucky to arrive at the “low cost carrier terminal” with your sanity intact, after eating a hot bowl o’ noodles which you had to buy yourself.

When talking of budget airlines, am quite partial to Air Asia since it’s the first ever LCC I tried. Second, because they really give away FREE international seats and it doesn’t take an eternity to book one. Truth to tell, my son and I are slated to travel to KL (Kuala Lumpur) early next year, using the free seats promo Air Asia had a couple of months ago. Only paid something like six thousand pesos (roughly $130 or so) for the TWO of us, and the amount is just equivalent to taxes and other surcharges.

Now, Air Asia is giving away again one million seats until August 31 and you – as an avid traveller – would be crazy to miss it. Too bad, AA at present only flies to two destinations from Clark – KL ( hands down, a food paradise!) and Kota Kinabalu (pretty and serene!) You can go to other Asian destinations once you arrive at these places.

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Category Road Adventures | Tags: | 3 Comments
Countries which don’t need a US visa (the Visa Waiver Program)

August 25, 2008 by ajay

I’ve received some interesting comments to my US Embassy post(s) and as a result, I’ve wondered which countries are spared the ignominy of applying for the “overrated” US visa. My Google quest of course led me to the US Department of State website which has a portion dedicated to the US government’s Visa Waiver Program (VWP). The VWP is the program where nationals of certain countries can travel to the United States without a visa provided they plan to only stay “for 90 days or less for tourism or business.”

Only three countries in Asia are in the list: Japan, Singapore, and Brunei. Most are in Europe, the Pacific (Australia, New Zealand) and I still have to consult Wikipedia to know exactly where Andorra is Of course, if it makes you feel better, there are 174 other countries in the world which are not in the list and have to get their b*tt to the US Embassy each time.

The full rundown of VWP participating-countries:

Andorra, Iceland , Norway, Australia, Ireland, Portugal, Austria, Italy, San Marino, Belgium, Japan Singapore, Brunei , Liechtenstein, Slovenia, Denmark , Luxembourg, Spain, Finland, Monaco, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, New Zealand, United Kingdom.

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Category Life & Living | Tags: | 16 Comments
Red @ Makati Shangri-La Hotel

August 13, 2008 by ajay

First of all, have you noticed how hotel rates have gone up these days – not only in terms of the room but also F & B? Makes me feel that I can never book again in a hotel unless am a balikbayan or Keanu Reeves living his life out of suitcases. The last time I inquired about this five-star hotel’s dinner buffet, it was a whoppin’ $50. Wow! All I can say is: “I gotta win them Christmas raffles!”

Because it’s not everyday that I get to indulge in fancy dining (My Knight in Shining Armor is not around), you can just imagine how I ended up at Red, the Continental restaurant and wine bar of Makati Shangri-La. It was for some presscon. Red is so named because of the red upholstery of the furniture in the resto. How simple can it get? You can sit in a red chair by the window that overlooks a man-made garden with little waterfalls. The view is still better in Manila with the sunset and the bay, but this will do.

First to be served was the Lemon Olive Oil Poached Tasmanian Salmon with green and white asparagus, plus some egg-based sauce. This salmon was immaculate in its freshness, my first time to try it raw without Kikkoman and wasabi. Yeah, i imagined it was my favorite shake sashimi except that this one had the skin on. The sight of raw fish with raw skin looked unnerving, but yes, I was able to finish this one. Especially as I love salmon and asparagus!

No soup! After the fish appetizer came the main course. Between the Fillet of Grouper and the Grilled Prime US Rib Eye, I chose the latter. Sidings included creamy potatoes and rosemary jus. Sadly, this one was a disappointment. My rib eye cut was a thick one and far from being tender or juicy. The steak lay unfinished on my plate. I was ready to proclaim that “hey, if you’re looking for the best rib-eye in Manila, it’s not Red….” Enough said.

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Category Munchin', Places Etc. | Tags: Lavazza coffee,Red Makati Shangri-la,Red Makati Shangri-La review,Red restaurant,Red Shangri-La menu | 6 Comments
If we have double-digit inflation, why do they keep on building condos?

August 8, 2008 by ajay

Two launch events I attended recently has made me do a double take on the state of our economy. If real estate companies are building more condos and houses, is there hope for better times ahead? Probably. If there’s one belief that has been inculcated on me by other people, it is that you invest in land today with the hope that prices will appreciate in the future. Still have to test if the hypothesis is true, since I haven’t disposed of any piece of real estate to see if substantial gains can be had…or not.

Another real estate assumption is that it is always good to buy at “preselling” rates. This means plunking down your money on a piece of structure that hasn’t been built yet. The good thing is that you get it at the lowest possible price per square meter. The bad thing is that it will remain a “risk” until the structure or unit is finished and is formally turned over to you. The safest way is always to invest in reputable companies, with a portfolio of fully-completed projects. Another advice is to review the contract so that you can actually recover your downpayment when either the project or the company itself goes down the drain due to bankruptcy or some other reason.

One Pacific Place is one such condominium project that is being sold at preselling rates. The property proponents, ACI Group & Cactus Realty, enjoins its target market to invest in a unit today and occupy it by 2011. Two things it boasts about – a good location in Makati’s Salcedo Village and excellent track record of being the company behind Pan Pacific Hotel Manila. Investors can grab studio units now at P1.9 million or so which is not bad for prevailing prices in the prime business area.

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Category Blah-blahs, Places Etc. | Tags: | 6 Comments
Plurk, Twitter & the rest of the microblogs

August 5, 2008 by ajay

My Manila Bulletin Blog-O-Rama column this week talks about the unstoppable rise of the so-called microblogs. If you ever wonder where your favorite bloggers are, most likely you can find them in sites like Plurk & Twitter.

What you can find here? Mundane details such as what we ate for lunch, gossip in cyberspace and all sorts of chatter that would otherwise be worthless in a blog. Ask me to write a movie review worth writing about and I am likely to squirm. It’s quite hard choosing my words and forming them into coherent paragraphs. But somehow it all seems so easy announcing “It sucked! ” on Plurk or Twitter. Both of these sites show that more facets of our life can now be made public (or less private) if we choose it to be. And if they gain visibility, the microblogs can be great influencers of public opinion. What they lack though is the substance that both new and traditional media brag about.

Just a few of my thoughts on the rise of microblogging:

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Category Technews | Tags: | 3 Comments