After a few months of staying away from blogging, I must say I missed it a lot! Now everything is new to me again. I can’t even believe that I am still using 2.9.2 version of wordpress. It’s a good thing though, because it personally slaps my face on how long I was gone.

A lot of things happened in those days. I was even able to join an IT firm and from there I realized my experience in IT world is nothing compared to the experience I got from there. But, everything has its price. I decided to leave the firm when I started to realize that the working schedule is not worth it. Anyway, after a long pressing decision making I finally decided to take the job my sister helped me to get in.

At least it gives me more time to blog. Now, it’s about time to rediscover blogging once more. LOL

November 17, 2009. That’s few weeks after I arrived here in Dubai, UAE. And for some hundreds of personal reasons, I thought I have lost the passion to write. There were also several problems that took a bit of time to settle. So I apologize for not really attending to my blog these past few months. When you are in some place and you have to re-adjust yourself it’s not too easy to jump back on the old habits not to mention the loss of interest because of the challenges that keeps coming time to time. So much for venting out. Let me tell you about my recent sentiments about Dubai.

Dubai have drastically changed from the last time I was here. A lot of things including unemployment rate, the world crisis that almost buried Dubai to the grounds, the massive downfall of the real estate business which was also one of Dubai’s main source of economy, and the worst part; the constant changing of rules.

Way back around 10 years ago, Dubai would pride itself as hope for those who struggle in life. There were countless of success stories everywhere. Those who can’t find their luck in finding their career back in the Philippines would easily make their happily ever after. People could keep trying their luck even if it takes for them to do the troublesome visa run after 2 months and a month of stay as an extension for the visit visa ; be it in Kish Island, Oman or Queshem.

Those happy days are over. They only allow you to stay for a month and another month for an extension, then you’ll have to leave the country for at least a month before you can actually come back for another visit status. Those who recently arrived in the country found themselves with no choice but to quickly grab any offer to gain their employment/residential statuses.

Another issue I’ve also found out was about the real estate business. I came from a real estate company and worked for 2 wonderful years with them as a web designer and a property consultant as well. The property prices have shockingly dropped to 30%-50% from their original prices. And I’ve heard from one of my previous employers that those people who bought properties from before suffered a massive loss. Imagine my client before who bought a property in the Discovery Gardens near Ibn Batutta Mall for a selling price of around AED 1.2M and just a few months after the property value have dropped down to as much as AED 500,000. Yes, he’s paying a half more from what the price was supposed to be now.

The worst part doesn’t stop there. Before, people who bought properties were entitled to a residential visa making them eligible for sponsoring their families to stay in Dubai. As the real estate law have also changed, effective immediately, those who haven’t gotten their residential visas had lost the priviledge just like that and it majorly affected those who are still paying their plans or waiting for the hand over of the property.

I’m not really trying to discourage anyone from trying their luck. I just want people to think things all over again before ending up with big mistakes and decisions. And I’m also basing my story from the countless of number of Filipinos I encounter with their own sad stories particularly the ones I met in Kish Islan, Iran. To all the Filipinos who struggle real hard to support their families, my big salutes to you and wishing you all the best and good luck as you continue your journey. You’re the real heroes!

All in a sudden, I decided to leave our house as early as 10am in Panabo City after my dad told me it would be a risk and a waste of time waiting for a tricycle to pass by our place because as early as 2am, it would be a rare chance for me to get a ride going to the highway. And even if I am conviced that walking would be the best idea, the problem is buses who takes the route passing by the airport doesn’t pass by that often either. So after an optionless situation, I immediately left. I arrived in the Airport only to find out that they’re closed until 4am. I even insisted the guard to just stay inside the airport premises or even near the guard house but the ever loyal guard would really feel no pity at all. So called a few of my friends hoping that I could at least find some company while I kill time, but there was no one who would answer my call.

One of my best friend, Raissa, suggested that McDonald’s Damosa is the nearest place that I could stay and kill time. (Bes Raissa, thanks for the advice. Sorry for pestering you while you were having fun in never never land.) So, instead of waiting outside the gate of the airport with bunch of taxis, I decided to go to Damosa.

In my previous article A Vampire’s Shakey Tale Before Taking Off I shared my soothing experience with Shakeys Pizza of Domestic Road, Pasay City. This time, I’m going to share my experience with McDonald’s Damosa. I actually arrived at McDonald’s Damosa around 11pm. In the same manner as I did before, I ordered a cup of coffee and shamelessly asked if I could stay until 4am since my flight is at 6:55am and the airport opens at 4am. The bad part was, there was no electricity socket anywhere. So after eating a twister fries and drinking a cup of coffee, I left the restaurant in the hope of finding a place where I can get hooked in the internet and at the same time plug my laptop to charge my battery.

I looked like battered husband sent out by my wife as I sat outside a closed bakeshop and a bar. Man, people rarely pass by and I was so sleepy. I walked a bit in the hope of finding a place where I can crash in for awhile. But I still ended up going back to McDonald’s and ordered my 3rd cup of coffee.  Stubborn by nature, I asked the same question if I could stay in the restaurant til 4am. I sat for awhile in one of the corners while I was talking to my wife through Sun IM in my cellphone. Few moments later, one of the managers named, Mr. John Monton, approached me and told me I could refill my coffee at anytime.

For awhile I thought I was just hearing things due to dizzyness. Even if I was a caffeine lover by heart, I kept my cool and controlled it for awhile. Just a few more moments later, one of the crew was told to tell me that THEY COULD plug my laptop since I am somewhere near the counter. Since my cup was running out of coffee, I decided to approach Mr. John for another dose of coffee. We had a bit of a chitchat regarding their newly established branch and a bit more about success stories with McDonald’s. From there I’ve finally realized what would kill my time, writing a blog about their branch and the friendliness of their crews.

With Mr. John Monton’s impressive attitude towards treating customers, I could really stop wondering why they have regular customers. You could really see that his outmost concern is not just all about sales. He also takes care of his customers and immediately responds to their needs with no questions asked. Along with Dale Odulio of Shakeys Domestic Road Pasay, personally, they should be the best examples of quality customer service and leadership. Being a manager doesn’t only mean control over the store branch or some sort like that. A manager should be the best example among their team. The example of leadership, hardwork and dedication.

To Mr. John Monton of McDonald’s Damosa Branch: Sir, keep up the good work. And thank you for keeping me safe until the time I had to leave for my flight. A salute to you and your friendly crew members. I’m looking forward to see you and your bright future in your career.

Here in Philippines, I’ve already tried all the three popular airlines such as PAL, Cebu Pacific, and Air Philippines. I’ve had bad experiences on all three of the airlines I mentioned. PAL  for their very expensive airfares. Cebu Pacific for their numerous delayed flights and Air Philippines for their very very noisy aircrafts. It was one day when my mom told me about a new airline offering extremely low rates. I first thought it was just a scam or there’s a big catch behind it. But not until I have tried it myself just a few hours ago. Let me share my piece of Pros and Cons about the new airline, ZEST AIR who is also owned by a company who produces the very popular fruit drink, Zest-O.

PROS

• Cheap Airfares
• Less Delays on Flights
• Most of the Planes are Brand New
• Friendly Crews
• Excellent Maintenance on Aircrafts

CONS

• No Free Meal or Snack Onboard
• Only 7 Aircrafts Available
• Flights are usually starting around 4AM

Overall, I am satisfied with their service. Considering their low rates and promos, I could really say it’s all worth it.

If you guys want to know more about the airline, check it out HERE.

In a few hours I’ll be off to my hometown. I was dropped off here in the airport 9 hours before my flight. Excited? No. Not really. Why? First, around 5pm we picked up my sister who just arrived from Dubai and sent her to the domestic airport. My flight is actually on September 22 4:20AM. It would be totally tiring to go back home and travel again to the airport so I decided to stay here at the airport instead rather than missing my flight because of my don’t-wake-me-up habit. For a couple of hours, my eyes was so helpless that it was too lucky to see arriving hotties either from Boracay or Puerto Galera. There were countless of them. Enough with the imagination and let’s get on to what really happened.

After fighting with extreme hot humid outside the airport, I decided to go out and stay somewhere I can at least forget time and hopefully be able to blog about something. While I was walking outside, I saw Shakeys with a big WIFI ZONE poster outside. I didn’t think twice, I immediately rushed in. I ordered a bottomless coke to keep me up all night and shamelessly asked the manager if I could stay only until 2pm. It wasn’t a big deal for them actually but the saddest thing is they’re closing at 12 midnight because they have to repaint the ceiling. Since I don’t have any option, I could at least rest easy and kill time for at least 4 hours.

It was around 11 pm when the manager approached me and said “Sir, since you’re a passenger waiting for your flight, you can stay here even after we are closed. No big deal.” Wow! I was flattered by his generosity. As a shameless human being, I couldn’t say no to it. I was even assisted in moving my things to a more comfortable couch. And right now I’m still here, sitting my ass while the service crew are serving me like a king. OMGWTFBBQ! Must be a very lucky day.

If you guys want to have a very good service, with polite attendants and managers, come to Shakeys Pizza fronting Terminal 1 Domestic Airport. It’s just beside Jollibee. Look for Mr. Dale Odulio. He’s a very nice and polite manager. Probably the best manager I’ve seen. He treats his crews like his own brothers and sisters. To top all of that, he makes sure all the customers are well served and happy. A plain example to all restaurants and other establishments.

To all the crew of Shakeys Pizza in Terminal 1 Domestic Airport, I all salute you for your excellent service. I won’t have a second thought of coming back pretty soon. Kudos to you Mr. Dale!

Anyway I’m about to leave in a few minutes. I’ll see you guys time to time.

After three cups of coffee, I decided to change the theme of my blog. Why? I have no idea either. Maybe it’s because I saw 2-3 blogs having similar premium theme like mine. It’s not that I’m giving way for them, perhaps I only wanted to be different. And last but not the least, I was struggling to fight getting burned out last night. Not to mention the horrible weather and the strong winds that looks like it could blow away our roof.  The heavy rain also left me with no choice but to go out, get soaked and check our roof since it’s horribly dripping. But anyway, I hope you guys like it. Cheers!

Since nobody would really want to start a story about what happened in Angeles City, I guess I’ll have to start it myself. To start with, me and my best buddy, Lorenzo (Zorlone), met at SM North Annex and waited for the bus en route to Dau, Pampanga. The silly poet asked me to go to the end of the map while there’s actually a bus station on MRT Taft Station. As a consolation we were still able to get a bus and got ourselves a seat at the very end of the bus.

The travel didn’t really take that long. The sleepyhead poet asked for his siesta time while on the bus when after around 5 minutes we were already at Dau, Pampanga.  As per Jena’s instructions, we waited on the bus terminal as her students are also about to pick us up. We actually felt like a VIP at that time. After the CC Bloggers picked us up, the poet immediately found his comfort among the students (even at first meeting!) while inside the van and on the way to Metro Gate. I guess it’s not just my nature to really approach strangers at first compared to my poet/politician/doctor best bud.

A few moments after arriving at the Metro Gate Club House, the poet disappeared like a bubble. Only to find out he’s actually showing off his prowess in convincing people like a politician. That first hand SEO at its best and I admired him for it. Jena arrived together with the birthday celebrant, Jan. Roy (Struggling Blogger)was also there with his future bloggers.

At first, I was really hesitant to talk to Jena. After knowing her being a professor, I immediately shut down the idea of making crazy stuffs while on the event as I don’t want to end up looking like a total attention whore. I was totally wrong. Jena was really different from my perspective. She welcomed us warmly and I really admired her for being totally thoughtful and accommodating. Well, she really was. At first she doesn’t  really believe I’m a Muslim and her being insistent on inviting me to eat at 3:00pm made Lorenz and Jan laugh. Even after she believed I was, she still invited me to eat a lot of times but hey, I didn’t fail her after 6:05pm.

Just a few moments later, new set of people arrived. That was when I was finally satisfying my hunger. I thought they were rest of the students who weren’t able to make it on time or maybe they had class until 6:00pm or something. They didn’t look like school staff to me (Or is it because it looks like we belong in the same age bracket around in our 23-27s. And for that I couldn’t recognize students from professors anymore. Hahaha). I met Nikes, Ryan, and Mel. (Sirs! Next time let’s hang out outside if you have the luxury of time)

Bonnie (thirdworldgeek) and Novs (ceblogger) also arrived together with his family around 3pm. After the long conversations with Jena and rest of the Influenza bloggers, I was stunned when she actually planned to take us around disco bars and KTV bars at Angeles City. After my dinner, I kept bugging the poet to take a plunge on the pool but only Roy would make the first response. But thank God, a few minutes later I was able to convince the poet. After 20 minutes of dipping myself into the cold water, the poet sounded like in a hurry. Well…he really wanted to have a drink already. So, it didn’t take too long. We left the club house and headed to Klub Bossa.

Even though we thought it was a bad idea being there because of too much noise, me and my buddy Z couldn’t hold our horses after series of good dance music. We rushed to the dance floor in front of the band and danced like crazy kids. The last time I remember doing it was like 7 years ago. It felt like the good old days. And I will never forget how that lady wanted to dance with Z but unfortunately she had a very conservative companion who doesn’t want her to face Z. After getting tired of dancing and seeing too much huge thighs, we went back to our seats only to find Jena really had fun knowing me and Z had a good time on the dance floor. She couldn’t stop laughing at us. Few moments later, we decided to move to a more private place so Jena decided to bring us to a KTV bar.

When we arrived at the KTV bar, it didn’t really take too long for me to blow my heat off after experiencing slow service and a worst of all, the damaged karaoke machine. So I personally approached the attendants to immediately resolve it. We transferred to the next room and from there we exchanged songs. I don’t know why the machine gives us 100 even if we’re not singing at all. Perhaps it’s how the company is earning money, by encouraging more people to come, sing and make people believe they’re really good at it. LOL.

In all honesty, I think only Jena appreciated the way I sing  Barry Manilow and Bee Gees hits. I was never good at singing. I would only feel confident in singing with the aid of alcohol. She really enjoyed being with us and for that I was so thankful. She didn’t look at us differently. She really fitted in with us.

Around 2:30am, we called it a day. Jena, offered us her hospitality by sending us to a hotel where we can sleep well and have a breakfast in the morning.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH, JENA. We really appreciated your effort in making us feel at home and for your generosity.

CHECK OUT OTHER BLOGS WITH RELATED ARTICLES:

Next Best Thing to Being There by Holly

Jedi Bloggers meet the Clin Chem Student Bloggers by Roy

Memoirs of a Guardian Angel by Zorlone

Raising Hell in the City of Angels by Third World Geek

LyleHam.Com is currently undergoing scheduled maintenance. The site is currently migrating to a new hosting provider and it’s taking awhile for things to fully propagate. Thank you for your patience.

Big thanks to Jehzlau once more for his kind offer of letting me shelter my blog under his hosting provider.

Fasting during the month of Ramadan is fourth of the five pillars of Islam which includes the profession of faith, prayers, distribution of alms and pilgrimage to Makkah, the Haj. Fasting includes abstention from food, drink, smoking, sexual acts as well as any bad habits such as profanity. This is meant to purify the soul of the Muslim.

This would be my second fasting and first time here in the Philippines. The first one I had was in Dubai with my wife. This was supposed to be my third Ramadan actually but it was already late since I converted in the last week of the 2007 Ramadan. At first, it’s very hard to adjust specially if you’re used to regular meals. Not to mention my monstrous diet. There was a time when I skipped a day of fasting due to extreme hunger. Hopefully this year, I’ll be able to complete the whole month.

To all my Muslim brothers out there, HAVE A BLESSED MONTH OF RAMADAN!

- Zayed Lyle

My original plan was to invite elmot to come over to our house since he’s just a few clicks away. The plan turned out to be more fun than I’ve expected it is. Jedi Bloggers thirdworldgeek, bloggista and ceblogger also wanted to come over. It was around 6pm when Bonnie (thirdworldgeek) gave me a phone call asking for a route. I already asked him like 2-3 times if he knows his way here. Funny thing, they reached Sta. Rosa exit which is really far from the fastest route to Dasmariñas. He asked me if he could take Tagaytay road then all the way back to Dasmariñas. LOL. I was just thinking if they took that road rather than Carmona, they would have arrived around 10pm already.

So it actually took them only 20-30mins from Sta Rosa exit to reach our place. I’m glad they enjoyed the Pancit me and my inlaws prepared for them. Then taking dinner, we went out on our garden and from there we started our drinking sessions. (Yihee!) Thanks to Bonnie, he brought a bottle of Carlo Rossi and Johnny Walker, Black Label. We did have a long time of chitchats as if we’ve already known each other for a very long time.

On the picture (sitting: bloggista, standing left to right: thirdworldgeek, lyleham, and ceblogger). Pardon the picture quality, this one is taken from Nokia 5300.

An hour later, elmot arrived. Isn’t it funny when he’s late and he’s just almost your neighbor and he’s the last one to arrive. And last but not the least, Doc Z phoned us and turned the loudspeaker on. We felt like Doc Z was with us since he’s also talking over the phone and at the same time he can hear all of us.

Til next time guys! Thanks for coming over.