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‘Blah-blahs’ Category

  1. No visa required for Filipinos (updated)

    January 2, 2012 by ajay

    Henley Global Restrictions Index

    As chart above shows (via Henley & Partners website), passport holders of Scandinavian countries Denmark, Sweden and Finland have the greatest freedom to travel among citizens of the world. This is according to the Henley Visa Restrictions Index which ranks countries according to the travel freedom their citizens enjoy.”Score” represents the number of countries they can go to without the need of a visa.

    In Asia, getting the highest scores were the Japanese (visa-free travel to 170 countries), Singapore (164 countries), South Korea (163 countries) and Malaysia (158).

    Thailand lags behind with visa free travel to 63 countries. As of my last count, the Philippines had a score of 59 while Vietnam is catching up with a score of 43. Ironically, the citizens of China, the most populous country, only had a Henley ranking of 40.

    Sometime in 2009, I already listed in this blog post the (partial list) of countries Filipinos can go to without applying for a visa. For most of us who’s “been there and done that,” you know how nerve-wracking the process can be. We always have to show the burden of proof that we won’t aspire to be an illegal alien (like some of ‘em) and will actually return to the homeland.

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  2. Hello 2012 & remembering 2011 (part 2)

    January 2, 2012 by ajay

    Some of you might be bored but am writing this to help me remember the highlights of my 2011 ;)

    2011 was definitely the year of the groupons! The Philippines’ dynamic group buying sites like Deal Grocer, awesome.ph, Ensogo and Cashcashpinoy definitely filled up my inbox and I had to restrain myself from clicking on every tempting deal :) This is because some of them expired on me, either because I got very busy or they were too far from where am based. As a groupon user, I aim to give consumers some groupon buying tips in 2012. We really have to be discerning and see if we’re saving in the process. I have to praise the groupons though. Now, it’s NOT so expensive anymore to eat out, take vacations and stay in hotels if you keep your eye out on really good deals!

    Weekend markets flourished one after the other, adding color to the already flourishing food scene in Manila. Old regulars like Salcedo and Legazpi weekend markets are still there but the Mercato group of RJ Ledesma, Anton Diaz and Co. are not far behind with the launch of Distrito in Makati (now closed) and Soderno in Alabang.

    me @ Soderno Weekend Market

    Am a happy camper at the Soderno Sunday market as picture above shows :) After the launch of my blog in 2004, my food project Chicken Delish is now my latest “baby” (albeit on a smaller scale). It thrills me to be getting customers (and not just the friends I force to visit me in the market, LOL). And every time I am able to make a good sale, the husband teases me “wow! am surprised people are buying your chicken!)

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  3. This blog is 7 years old + some giveaways!

    August 14, 2011 by ajay

    What I probably didn’t tell you is that this blog turned 7 years old last July. And of course, maybe you can guess what am thinking: “I feel old!” My baby daughter is way younger than this blog which has been witness to my zany and mundane experiences all these years.

    I remember my first post, the post I made for the sake of being Googled … and yes, I can write stuff like this too…more stuff that makes me say OMG…the runaway groom and what happened to the brokenhearted bride… memorable travels….. ETC!

    Honestly, I have this fear that I might just wake up one day and shut down this down.But as you can glean from my regular posting, Ajay’s Writings on the Wall will always be my pet. Blogging these days is busier than ever, and most of the time now I feel that am doing the work I used to do as a journalist. I do miss those early days when I blogged about the rawness of my thoughts and emotions without the distraction of press releases but I guess it’s inevitable, bloggers like me have to adapt to the changing times.

    To celebrate my lucky 7 milestone, am gonna have a few giveaways before the end of the month. It is also one way of sharing my blessings and I will announce them in my next posts. In the meantime, I’d like to congratulate the winners of the 5 Campus BDJ 2011 planners:

    Campus BDJ winners

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  4. Looking back at 2010, looking forward to 2011…….

    January 3, 2011 by ajay

    In retrospect, 2010 was a good year, don’t you think? The Philippines had orderly elections and a peaceful turn-over of power. We didn’t have weather disturbance in the scale of Ondoy. I can only think of that tragic tourist bus incident in Luneta which made us unworthy of world news headlines. It is an episode that is isolated and doesn’t quite happen everyday.

    On the personal front, there’s also so much to be thankful for.

    On top of this all is the birth of my daughter Lucia and having a wonderful birth experience at the Makati Medical Center. Lucy, now seven months old, continues to delight us everyday with her gaze and her smiles. Each day that she’s growing and changing excites me no end. Having a child at this later stage in a life is both a gift and a blessing. I am scared of the passing time, but more prepared for motherhood:)

    Not leaving any debt for the whole year is quite an achievement, as I paid for everything in cash with some savings in between. It’s nice to have peace of mind and not be bothered by major mortgages and ginormous monthly bills. I have this wish to evolve to a different career in the future, or even be a stay-at-home mom, and I hope that happens soon.

    Travelling by land, sea and air! My wanderlust was constrained for a bit while pregnant but I was lucky to make up for it all in the last quarter with journeys to Taipei, the Ilocos region, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Ha Long Bay in Vietnam

    Technology continues to play an important role in my daily life (even as I’ve been delinquent submitting my weekly column for the newspaper). It has been a rewarding year for me in terms of gadgets, as I won a laptop and an Android phone in those media raffles, plus some more! I end 2010 with an iPad 64gb 3G + wifi gift from hubby and am looking forward to reviewing this amazing toy soon ;)

    This blog continues to be my pet project and am glad my time spent blogging has been rewarded with sponsorships and supplemental income from the ever-reliable AdSense. I am also happy with this blog’s continued growth as shown by a daily average of 13,000 page views and 5,000 unique visitors per day. Out of a million or more websites in the Philippines, I end the year with a ranking of being in the top 1,300 or so for the PH ( via alexa.com). Not so bad eh? I owe it to you dear reader and I thank you for visiting!

    And as I prepare again for a hectic 2011, there’s still so many more to do and some other things to cross off my bucket list.

    Here’s the immediate New Year’s resolutions that come to mind:

    2011 must-do's

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  5. June 30 holiday and special offers from Enchanted Kingdom, Cebu Pacific

    June 29, 2010 by ajay

    Enchanted Kingdom

    Enchanted Kingdom’s yellow treat:

    By simply wearing yellow on Wednesday (any clothing or shoes that constitute 75% yellow), enjoy a one day special rate of P350 each on Enchanted Kingdom’s Regular Day Passes.

    On June 30, 2010 the Park will be opened from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. with Fireworks Display at 8:30PM. EK Biki Waterworld, EK’s water park, on the other hand, will be closed on that day and will resume on July 3 to 4 from 3p.m. to 9 p.m.

    Cebu Pacific’s P15 seat sale!:

    ” Cebu Pacific (CEB) salutes the 15th President of the Republic of the Philippines, Benigno Aquino III, with a system-wide seat sale as low as P15. The Seat Sale starts now until June 30, 2010, for travel from October 1 to November 30, 2010.
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  6. Ortigas skyline at night

    June 23, 2010 by ajay

    Ortigas skyline

    Am not a big fan of flying, or of heights and tall buildings but I just have to say the view from the 42nd floor of this hotel in Ortigas Center is quite breathtaking. This manic Tuesday happened to find me in the middle of Ortigas, first: to visit the 34th floor office of Robinsons Land, and then then the penthouse (42nd floor) of another. I didn’t quite realize the area is full of skyscrapers. I guess riding high-speed elevators would be like routine if you work here. It isn’t really the norm in the heart of Manila (where am based) with buildings there only ten to 20 storeys high at the most.
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  7. DTI business name registration is a failure

    June 17, 2009 by ajay

    Launching our little business last month has been an eye-opening experience. It has broadened my mind about the dynamics of being an entrepreneur in this country. I am bound to agree with the observations of some people (including foreigners) that the environment for doing business in the Philippines is poor and discouraging. But first of all, President Arroyo should crack the whip on agencies who are “good on paper” but are actually NO GOOD in what they do.

    For example, how does DTI Secretary Peter Favila and his staff explain the more than one month wait in the approval of business names? I am asking this because the DTI even goes to the extremes of spending millions for advertising their Business Name Registration Service (DTI BNRS is supposedly a frontline service for the registry of sole proprietorships). The last time, I saw their half-page ads in the Inquirer.

    More than one month of waiting for government approval of a business name is just inexcusable. It certainly doesn’t speak of the prompt delivery of service and efficiency of the DTI. My fellow applicants and I have been in touch through cellphone and they told me that they haven’t received their certificates from DTI as well. We applied on the second week of May. DTI BNRS promised to process our applications in two weeks, and they were supposed to mail our papers to us.

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  8. Katrina Halili did the right thing

    May 21, 2009 by ajay

    This morning, I did something that was out of my routine. Instead of checking my emails first thing, I viewed the town’s most talked about videos featuring a celebrity doctor and his separate trysts with three models slash showbiz personalities, in various states of undress. It is because my web-connected friends have been talking about them that I had to ask for a link, rather belatedly. Of course, the sex tapes are also now available in your friendly bootleg vendor in Quiapo and elsewhere.
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  9. Laptop & camera thefts are on the rise

    March 15, 2009 by ajay

    As a theft victim myself, I couldn’t help but feel the pain of friends and acquaintances who’ve lost their precious gadgets recently.

    One is my Plurk friend Pau who lost his laptop and high-end cameras at the rooftop parking lot of MC Home Depot, The Fort in a span of less than 10 minutes!

    Last night, Plurk was abuzz again with news of another robbery. This time, somebody recounted how some rogue peeps broke into the trunk of a car and stole a MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and a Dell laptop amounting to more than P200,000 at the Podium parking lot in Ortigas.

    Yogini Jane recounts how one lost a laptop through the clever workings of the Salisi Gang.

    Earlier in our photography class, my seatmate also recounted how she lost her camera collection in her parked car inside BF Homes Paranaque.

    Another (and a reporter at that!) was victimized by somebody who engaged him in a conversation in Greenbelt. He lost his MacBook because he put down his bag to talk. His bag was gone in a split second.

    The common thread in all these is that it’s almost suicidal to leave valuable items in any part of the car these days… no matter how inconspicuous they are. It seems that ruthless thieves are now targetting gadgets more expensive than cellphones. And they are doing so upscale places in Makati, Taguig and Ortigas.

    One part of me thinks if this is in any way related to the elections, but laptops will always be in-demand among students and the like. (Yes, even if the advent of cheap netbooks has made owning a laptop easier)

    An even more dangerous trend: unscrupulous persons are cannibalizing stolen items and selling them by parts, where they’re less likely to be traced. Browse the online marketplace and you’ll see some ads being ran about Macbook LCD screens for sale, and being peddled for $200 to $400.

    Here’s my thoughts on the matter:
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  10. My not-so-late Christmas wishlist

    December 25, 2008 by ajay

    My Manila Bulletin column on A Blogger’s Wishlist For Christmas appeared two weeks ago, and am reprinting it here. Our peer, Melo Villareal, has an ongoing blog promotion on Christmas wishlists and am joining coz I want to win the 2009 Starbucks Planner, even though last year’s remain unused :D

    Here it goes:

    It’s the time of the year again! Christmas is synonymous with wishlists and we do this for a couple of reasons: remind ourselves in choosing which stuff to spend our bonus on, guide our loved ones as to our preferences, or serve as a raincheck for future purchases.

    The difficulty with blogging is that it’s a technologically-dependent field. You’d almost always need your own computer, high-speed internet connection, cameras to aid in your photo-documentation, software as needed, and other gadgets you see your blogging contemporaries using. This is what makes blogging pressure-filled. You gotta keep up with the Joneses, so to speak.

    Don’t get me wrong. One can survive in blogging by owning just the basics. There’s even talk of a blogger earning a lot of money from his site, but has to bike his way to the nearest internet cafe. Still, it’s better to be equipped with the best, and that is why I crave for the following things:

    1. A new cellphone, either a Nokia E61 or the new E63. Don’t know why, but I just like the look of this mobile phone, after attending the line’s launching in Singapore this year. The fact that it has wi-fi and a decent camera is an added plus.

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