north america → united mexican states → mexico city, distrito federal
hola señora y señor! i’m here already in the land of telenovelas, burritos, and tacos!! the flight was uneventful and everything went fine except for the taxi that attempted to rip me off!! he asked for more than 3 times the usual fare!! i’ll go in detail soon as i’m dead starving already. it’s 3 in the afternoon, and the only food i had is a kiddy cereal bowl breakfast courtesy of northwest…and a banana..
so, adios for now! hasta la vista!!
north america → united states of america → minnesota → st. paul
i always find myself in this situation. just finished packing my backpack for tomorrow’s, later’s flight to mexico. one time, i was sleeping peacefully before the plane even left manila, and when i woke up, it’s ‘hello hong kong’ already! unknowingly missing the tuna croissant from cathay.. i know i know i lack preparation and planning, but things just turn busy this past few days. mylene (HS mate and my sister’s friend) and her friend, cherry from down texas, are in town at the moment..and been with them friday night and the whole day today…although we got back to the apartment around 7ish earlier.. i just got back from the ultimum temptation of all time, a DOTA tourney, from the other room. it was a colleague’s birthday pool party today, shame that i even missed the pool part so catch up on the tourney. we won!! wuhoo..by a boastful score of 2-0. warlock rules!!
anywho, i better quit now so could still catch an hour or 2 rest. ciao!
‘been doing last shopping for pasalubongs to bring back home. the ever present pasalubong of all time, chocolates, plus some spam, soaps, etc… why do filipinos always ask for chocolates as pasalubong. taking note the fact that cacao, a main constituent of the brown confectionary, is being cultivated in the philippines widely. the country even ranks in the top 20 producers of cacao worldwide! apparently, the ample quantity of goya, chocnut, curly tops, and flat tops in the grocery is being ignored. we filipino should support our own products! show patriotism and be nationalistic even in that tiny sense! so, stop asking for imported chocolates from homecomers, oke?
the box is almost full, and it’s damn heavy. i’m not sure if it could hold on that much weight so will have to tape it all around for extra strength. northwest changed their luggage allowance rule recently, and because of that, i have to divide weight proportionally in my 2 check-ins. one is a luggage, and the other being the carton box.
however, this move is incomparable to my last year’s move from hong kong to manila where i brought home some ~140 kilos garbage all alone on my slender frame.
i forgot to mention that this weekend will be a break for me. september 1st is a holiday (labor day), and republican congress will be held here so most people will be either working from home or taking leaves. of course, i opt for the latter! since i’m already this far from home and chances are i may not go back here in the near future or at all, i decided to make a short trip below to the land of telenovelas, burritos, and tacos! i’m leaving by the weekend, so i might be gone for a few days ’cause i’m not bringing this laptop. hola!!
one of the biggest fair in the united states, the minnesota state fair. we originally plan to see the first day, with 3 doors down+hinder+staind concert, but we missed seats!! i’ve missed a lot of music shows that i’ve wanted to see here. first is gavin de graw in minneapolis last july. also sick puppies live free concert last independence day celebration in harriet, and now the state fair concert! not to mention coldplay concert this coming november, which by then, i will already be home half across the globe…so we just went last saturday for some strolling, food tasting, carnival games and rides. we took the bus 10ish in the morning from downtown saint paul going to como area (the same area as the como lake and the como zoo i’ve biked a couple of times). entrance fee to the fair is not a cheap $11. well, if you keep on converting (at the moment, 1 USD = 45 pesos) everything will seem to be expensive. for food, tried sirloin burger, a tall classic rootbeer, a bucket of fries, pronto pup (which is similar to corndog, a-must according to a colleague), and all-you-can-drink white milk or chocolate for $1! (that’s the only cheap thing in the fair, you’ll want to know later why..)
the state fair area is huge, and the event will continue until the labor day (first of september). concerts are held in some nights, and last saturday’s was backstreet boys (of course, i did not watch)
they also have rides, some classic carnival rides like ferris wheel, roller coaster, and swings. i tried 3 rides, and all were good!! they’re not the typical rides you can see from most amusement park. one ride, called techno power, has this loud hippy music and lightings, goes round and round, seats slightly tilt, and moving very fast in tune with the music! yes, i know i described it bad. so here’s a youtube link…-> here another is this one , which is really random once you’re up there, you can’t feel whether you’re swinging left of right as it’s fast..they also have slingshot, a human slingshot where you sit an a ball-like metal frame (duo) and up it goes in the air, well, like a slingshot, hence the name dumb…but it’s crazy expensive!! $25 for a single ride! so i passed on that one…
there are animal exhibits, barns, and a cow show giving birth live. they sat the bovine in the center of an enclosed arena and people watch, patiently waiting for the very moment, which to my opinion, is very unpragmatic. perhaps, still engrossed by animalistic affairs as recently been to minnesota zoo and como zoo, i did not see all the other barns and horses.
with all our coupon gone (coupons are used for rides, and carnival games), we headed to the milk station where i devour 3 full paper cups of dairy products (2 chocolate and 1 milk). then on our way back home. it was just early evening, and still full from milk, i had a nap and in the whole course of my dreamless doze are abundance of tiny farts. man, my room stinks when i woke up!! that’s why the milk is very cheap!! hahaha
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my time is running so fast. last weekend was my last full weekend here. i got a carton box in the pantry this lunch, and will start packing my things. the biggest burden in my carriage is a16-set of victoria’s secret bottles for my sister. i’m not sure how strict the airport check-in here, i hope i don’t get excess baggage because if i do, sure that would be expensive as it’s trans-pacific!
because i noticed the word “minne” is so ubiquitous in names of places here, i was intrigued by its meaning. the state of minnesota, having abundance of fresh water from lakes and river, coined the word minne in several of its proper nouns. minnesota, minnetonka, minnehaha, minneapolis, etc.. Minne is actually an indian word for water. enough said.
about the latest…i left the office early yesterday, a little past 3pm, and went out cycling to como zoo. it’s a free park and zoo some 7 kms away from the apartment. although i’ve been to como lake and surrounding park before, i didn’t notice the zoo and conservatory section. they close at 6pm, so the trip gives me only a short circle around. but still, i saw some animals here that i’ve never seen before, specially in the primate section. Large gorillas, lemur, sloth, spider monkey, and tamarin (indeed, a close relative of ewok and yoda). lots of exotic animals, there are tall and smelly giraffes, lions, zebras, cougar, flamingoes, crane, and storks…nearby is the marjorie mcneely conservatory, a big greenhouse garden that first opened in 1915. shame there’s no enough time for me to check it out apart from taking photos of its large full glass frame exterior. so, i might come back.
i believe that the tamarin is a small obsessive compulsive primate superb at grooming…
i’ve never gone back by bike to minneapolis or did any long ride after the minnehaha falls, and this is because of loaded group activities during the weekends and my bike is constantly refusing to work on lower gears. as i’ve mentioned before, the twin cities are hilly, and during my last short rides, i’m insanely biking uphill on highest gear!! or just walking along with my bike…
so last sunday, i had a short trip (all in high gear, tiring) to have my bike checked. sibley bike depot is along university avenue, just next to shuang hur, an asian grocery store. this place is an intricate bike mechanic’s haven, bike shop’s rules posted on a wall, a note “ideals are possibilities” chalked on a board, gears scattered around efficiently, and a yellow-bike hanging on a wall (for yellow bike project). i spotted john, the kind guy who assisted me last month when i bought this, and after waiting for a while, we started figuring out what’s wrong. this is a full-volunteer, non-profit shop full of busy people customizing and fixing bikes, so i wanted at least to help in fixing my own bike. he figured out that the crank is a little bend so the chain keeps on getting off. after fixing the dent manually, still uncontended, he eventually decided to change the entire crank with a brand new, higher quality, thicker steel crank with side guides to prevent the chain from getting off. i did helped with scrubbing the rust, unscrewing bolts, greasing up the screws and chains, and after cleaning my dirty hands, did a test ride outside. with all gears now working flawlessly, i went back inside assuming i have to pay…but john told me it’s free..that’s nice!!
dropped by shuang hur to get a 25-lbs rice into my back pack, and pedalled all the way downtown saint paul back to the apartment…
north america → united states of america → minnesota → apple valley
exactly 26 nights still before my flight to back manila, i find my forthcoming weekends so busy! there’s nothing bad about planning, but sometimes planning takes the fun out of it..fortuitous events, etc.. anywho, last saturday was minnesota zoo day. even though it’s just in apple valley, more or less 20 miles from saint paul, it took us close to 2 hours getting there. we don’t have private transport here (save for my bike if that counts), and mostly we rely on public bus going around. having mentioned buses, they are extremely punctual here! there’s a timetable in bus stops showing the bus #, frequency, and schedule for the day. actually, the same system works in hong kong, however, a lot of occasion they don’t follow the time schedule. here, not once has a bus arrived late during my errands, but, let me mention some downsides…well, not really downsides but rather my observations. first thing, hop inside a bus and you can spot the most destitute of american culture. i hate to bring this up but majority of bus passengers are the most rejects of the american society. inside one, great are your chances to have a drunk seatmate, or smelly dude, or someone who talks to himself. i hope you don’t sense this as a discriminative remark, but it has just come to my attention that people of the working class has either their own cars, or rent a car. blacks comprise a big part of the public commuters (not that there’s something wrong with that) that there are even bus stops that are becoming their place of loiter. second thing, the smell. the philippines, in the tropics and being extremely humid, demands it citizens to take a bath at least once a day. being in the north of america, people here don’t exercise the same right. the right to smell good despite the abundance of hot water in the shower. you might have got me wrong by now, but i don’t demean people taking buses, i would still ride buses any time as it’s completely safe, there’s no ploy or risk involved.
going back to the zoo topic (apparently i got carried away with the buses), we arrived around noon. we have $2 discount coupon, so tickets is just for $12 each. the first thing in our list is shark feeding (seems they eat only three times a week?), so we headed to an enclosed facility with big aquarium tanks and watched sharks having meals. they grasp really fast! in the next tank is a bottlenose dolphin, shame that dolphin shows are postponed until further notice so we only get to see it swimming freely. their fish showcase is vestigial compared to hong kong ocean park, or even manila ocean park. lunch afterwards, russian sausage with an extremely sour relish, where again (really stupid)…i almost lost my wired retainer! i know i have it in my pocket, but when i looked for it after walking away, it’s not there! i went back, and hate to imagine i have to scavenge the trash again (which i did once in manila). good thing i found it wrapped in a tissue near the condiments section, ‘must have dropped it. wow! i don’t know how much should i say to myself to be extremely wary next time!!!!
the collection of animals they have is something noah would consider trivial. it’s far from multitude. however, one thing i like is that they are placed in specially designed environment in the likeness of their natural habitats. lions in their dens, moose, caribou, and antelopes in wild lush green fields, camels in arid dessert even with an artificial oasis!, rodents in their burrows, and their main attraction, grizzly russian bear in their coastal russia. one of the most bizarre animal i saw is the takin. an endemic threatened animal from the eastern himalayas, their physical appearance is like a combination of sheep, ox, moose, and bull!
breasts are soft and warm. a section of the park is farmland, where you could see of course, farm animals. chicken, roosters, pigs, cows, goats, and sheeps! i even got a chance to milk a goat! haha..cows, despite the odor, are nice to touch and look at because of their various colors and distinct patch patterns. i also found out that a single pregnant cow produces a lot of milk each day! 24 gallons in less than 5 minutes! (that’s 90 liters) they have rooster (native from southeast asia), and it would have been nice if they have the tarsier too! (i haven’t seen one)
the last thing we did before going home is riding the monorail. this is a 4-dollar slow ride on a monorail giving a bird’s eye view (albeit that of a low bird, hehe) of the whole park, and since we’ve been around earlier, there’s nothing much new that we saw. this is a nice option for elderly to see the whole zoo minus the walking.
i forgot to mention that i saw a japanese macaque! these monkeys, aka snow monkeys, are famously pictured swimming and relaxing idly in hot spring with snowy terrain background…however, there’s no snow, and they were just on trees.
more pics
people usually escape from their troubles into the future; they draw an imaginary line across the path of time, a line beyond which their current troubles will cease to exist.
reread kundera’s unbearable lightness of being…excellent read. i brought with me 6 books from home. half of which i’ve read before and just thinking of reading them again. now, my mini library consists of 9 books. thanks to amazon for additional supplies. even though i’m not at home, my credit card e-mail bill never missed a monthly visit in my inbox. the greatest invention of the century (along with hongkies octopus card), shopping online. yes, i’m from the IT, and i’ve done purchases using my credit card online before but these are restricted to solely flight tickets. upon landing in the US of A, shopping online (as for myself) has take on a new stimulating level! using amazon, i’ve bought a wireless router, a logitech mouse, a digital camera, an XD card, a pair of earphones and 3 books (2 are used books)! purchased all of these without any hassle, products all in excellent condition, and most importantly, no significant time wasted (i’ve been buying them in between office breaks) and they were delivered right inside our apartment!
ai ya! how could i save money?! this is when technology is not so good…
north america → united states of america → minnesota → shakopee
one major event last weekend is having been to valleyfair theme park in shakopee, a suburb of 20,000+ population (they list the town’s population from the road signs in the highway, just so you know) 26 km southwest from the twin city. the gang is 8 individuals so we rented 2 cars, four pax each. we rented from budget rentals just across the apartment and i was excited to spot a mitsu eclipse in red! however, it’s $6 dollars more than ordinary cheapest compact, and my concurrent sparing use of resources outweighs the meager fervor i have in driving this mitsu. therefore, i drove a chevy cobalt, automatic, in silver, not bad except that remote key is empty battery.
we did not get it with GPS, and i was even seriously pondering if we could skip on the insurance as well. i drove to albertville a 15-seater monster van without a handbreak before with absolutely zero casualties, so i think it would be fairly simple this time being a shorter trip, and me more familiar with driving a car. but, just in case bad luck happens (which will happen later on, continure reading mi amigo) it’s better to be safe than sorry, so we still opted the insurance. as for the directions, it’s a no-brainer if you just list the route from maps.google or mapquest.com. often, they would yield the same directions. on the road for about half an hour, we reached the venue, and i can see the rides from the parking lot, which (i don’t mean to be arrogant) doesn’t seem to be that scary.
nevertheless, as excited as a kid, we made our way to buy tickets. regular entry is $37.99, but we have a coupon allowing us to buy at $29 each, BUT a man approached us and asked if we have tickets already, he has some spare which he would sell for only $20 each! so, i got one from him! instant savings! we were there early, and there’s a crowd already. last saturday was their last day of the season to have operations until midnight, so i guess everyone knows about that. summer season is beginning to wither, the air is becoming cooler and cooler each day, and daylight is being shorter. i am lucky to be here during the happy season. although it’s still my desire to feel and experience snow and try winter activities like skating on frozen lake, or even walking on for that matter!, it’s obvious that there’s much more i can do here during the summer as most parks, swimming pool are only open during the summer. plus, minnesota winter is harsh. going back to the park, we were starving as i only had oreos for breakfast (this is my official early dosage)…but keen on taking our first ride first before putting anything in our stomach that we could possibly throw out anyway. so, first ride is corkscrew. a level-5 intensity ride (they level rides here as 1-5, 5 being the thrillest). it’s a roller coaster ride with 3 loops. not a bad ride, but the thing with roller coasters, especially at high speed, is that my shoulders and neck keep on banging the hard sides of the seat, sometimes it’s straining. rice lunch afterwards at an expensive rate of $10 without a drink. good thing i brought a bottle of water with me (just enough to save one epoch of thirstiness)…and then walked for a while, and after making sure that every bit of rice is properly digested at least to the point that they won’t be going back to the earth, we continued with the rides!
i have to say that i was surprised when i saw their version of anchors away. unlike in enchanted kingdom, or similar boat-type-swinging ride, their anchors away goes 360 degrees! with a slight stop of 3 or 4 seconds upside down in the midair! cool!!! then, hop onto another roller coaster ride, excalibur, this is a wooden roller coaster, but despite its archaic built, this one goes really fast, and has a high drop! there’s lot of other amazing rides, a water theme park inside the park with several rides (entrance at no additional cost), free shows (comedy/magic), an IMAX video (which we failed to see 
), jazz music on stage, and a lot of carnival-type games (shooting, ball games) where wilson won the grand prize! a gigantic stuffed toy dog more than half my height! which would be a very ideal plane handcarry! yikes!! hahaha.
some unique rides includes a long closed tunnel, totally dark inside, and you just sit in an inflated rubber seat propelled by water. another ride is a short single-drop to the water, and you can see the water formation caving in! really a slight! you’ll get wet completely.
now you might be getting bored, and can’t sense where i lose my camera as the entry’s title suggest. i forgot to mention that i just got a point and shoot camera from olympus. it’s 770 SW, and the only reason why i bought this is it’s durability. waterproof down up to 33 feet, shockproof to 5 ft, freezeproof up to -14C, and crushproof up to 200lbs. if this machine holds true what the specs says, this is one hell of a gadget! at 7.1 MP with 3x optical zoom, this seems not to be the latest technology, optics is definitely not comparable to better point and shoot cameras from canon or panasonic, so certainly this is not an SLR replacement. the biggest attraction that this camera has is that it could go and take pictures to places your dSLR or ordinary point and shoot would chicken out. for that reason, i brought it with me when i tried ranging rapid rides, which is a ride on an inflated rubber going along strong current and powerful waves. this ride is individual, so i placed my camera in my short left pocket. just as i was getting off the rubber floating device (salbabida, how to you say this in english? hehe) i searched my pocket to find out it’s gone!!! gone with the wind! este, with the waves!!! oh my gulay!!!! my new camera is gone. i immediately asked the crew about it and they told me that they could search for it after the attraction close which is by half past 8PM. that was around 5 PM then. the camera can stay only for an hour under the water. if still found, it might be dead. and so the agony of waiting for 3 hours. the thought of going for the rapid ride one more time and try to scan for it came into my mind, but it would be an impossible task of grabbing it quick enough before the wave brought me to a far distance…and so no choice but to wait…
there’s nothing i can do, it has happened. accidents happen, so i just grabbed a burger and onion rings, watched magic show, and continue with the rides. next ride is a green roller coaster monster, wild thing, a long ride with drop at an incredible high point of 196 feet! really nice that i tried this 3 times! being the only ride that i’ve ridden more than once. one of the highlight rides is power tower. it’s a tower that takes you up at 275 feet, and plummet at a furious speed. another version of the tower is space shot, which will bring you up at the same height (instead of drop) at a speedy 80 km/h.
now, going back to the water park and try to recover my lost camera. at the distance, i saw the rapid ride still going on, i anticipated that i have to wait until its over and search the entire length of the artificial river (without the rapids of course), but i went straight to the lost and found first and asked about my camera…and they have it! it’s found! checked immediately if it’ll power on, and it’s working perfectly! obviously under the water for more than an hour, this is camera is beyond tested!! amazing piece. the strap has worn out already (apparently due to prolonged water gush), but the machine incredibly kicking. asked them how it got there, they don’t have a slight idea. perhaps, somebody returned it. kindness befall!
again happy, we finished the day with more rides, and carnival games. one weird game i saw there is a guessing game. they will guess your age (within 2 years plus or minus ), birthday (within 2 months), or weight (within 3 lbs) and if they do guessed it within scale, you lose. if they fail to guess it, you win. easy enough?! but really odd.
more -> pics!
at least this train has been..and i’m not sure if it will go all the way down to mexico, to east coast or west…
more pics from biking last weekend
EP2 - nice! Congrats! 
Pst, email mo ako - i would like to know when I can get the 20/1.7. Thx
Hallo ´ti! Wie geht es Dir?! Mukhang laking project nyan ha? means laki kita! Goodluck! I am proud of you… keep it up!
goodluck jeremy!
saludo ako sa yo master
Jeremy and his last 2 days at the casino.
hi shiela! salamat sa pag-bisita! maybe life on a backpack, backpack gamit ko eh, hehe.
hello, je! musta na? just hang in there.. you can write a book abt the life on a suitcase..
thanks for dropping by!
Hey! Jere don’t give up…
hi ramil, i know it’s really sad, but each of us is different..just hang in there! you’ll know when to give up. haha “)
thanks carmi, will see you soon i guess!!
Jere!! I like that “Im not frightened because whats ahead of us will be better!! AJA!!!! AJA!!!
I feel for you bro… i am in the same predicament… hope we can have a cup of coffee before you leave…
Jeremy is workaholic = needs money.
Jeremy believes it’s going to be easier.
thanks!
belated happy birthday je~! ^___^
Haberday Je!!! Wala na ako kasabay mag bday
haberday!
mabuhay ka master!!!
