Pay it forward

It appeared as if there was no stopping; it rained continuously the whole night.

My sister entered my room at five am, waking me up and telling me that she'd borrow my umbrella. Not wanting my sleep to be interrupted, I immediately told her, "Ok" and went back to sleep. The sound of the rain pelting on concrete and the cool weather lulled me to a longer sleep. Thus, I woke later than my usual time.

I couldn't be late and absent. I would sense that someone or a few might have called in sick in light of the endless pouring of rain. I should go to work.

Surprisingly I did not have to wait for a long time to get a ride on rainy Friday. I was already contemplating the thought of taking a cab to work.

Halfway to his destination, a man gives a five-hundred-peso bill to the driver. "Walang panukli dito," said the driver. 

"Puedeng mag-gasolina," said the passenger.

"Puno ang gas ko. Pag-umaga barya dapat," was the driver's lecture.

I heard coins being searched."Ito, ma, trenta, sa Baclaran na lang po ako baba," said the passenger whose destination was Pedro Gil, around 10-15 kilometers from Baclaran. I quickly imagined a man drenched in rain as he wait for another vehicle to take him to Pedro Gil.

I felt I had to do something, but I did not. Just before reaching Baclaran, a woman beside me took out some coin from her purse and gave the driver the remaining fare the Pedro Gil passenger lacked to get him to his destination.

The Pedro Gil passenger was not aware of what was taking place, so the other passengers informed him of his luck. I did not hear a 'thank you,' however.

No one got off at Baclaran, but the kind lady got off with me in front of  my building. I had to say to the stranger, "it was nice of you what you did."

"Someone did the same to me, " and we entered the building to together.

Well CAM-bodia! A non-valentine's day post on Valentine's Day

I thought of a fancy introduction for this post, but, no, I shall go straight to the point.

Recently, I took a trip to Cambodia with friends.

It was months in the making, thanks to my friends who made a conscious effort of thinking of me whenever Cebu Pacific announces a sale.

So, Siem Reap, Cambodia it was.

Thanks to my blogger-volunteer-friend who made all the planning.

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

Inside a dome or pyramid in one of Siem Reap's many temples

Simply beautiful

Majestic hallways

Imposing structures

Sunset

 I have to say something about the picture above and the two succeeding pictures below. The Tourism Officials of Cambodia seem to have perfected the idea of selling sunset viewing as a touristic activity. There is this temple atop a hill or a mountain where the sunset view is to die for, they say. Before thirty past five in the afternoon, tourists make their way up to get a good view of the sunset. I never thought that tourists would be very interested in sunsets. My group went early, hoping for a good view, and a good spot we had.

After taking the almost sunset picture above, I went down because I don't want to join the hundreds of people heading their way down back to the lowlands! On my way down, I took the picture below of people waiting atop the temple for that perfect sunset photo. My friends are there in front somewhere.

 On my way down, there were smaller stations where smaller groups of people convened to take their own snaps of sunset. Perhaps I wasn't the sunset-kind-of-person. I got interested however in what was in the tourists' minds that made them go all the way up to the temple on a hill for a brief moment with the day's departure.

Interestingly, our group woke up very early the next day to catch the sunrise in Angkor Wat. Hehe. The sunrise crowd drew the same amount of tourists as the sunset tour.

Wedding pose

Shopping at the Art Centre which opens only at night

Strings of hotels in Siem Reap

Shopping bags on board a Tuk-tuk

The National Museum

Airport at Siem Reap whose architecture is reflective of its culture