Travelers Journal :: ßry™

I spent my last weekend in Manila and I had the chance to stroll at the SM Mall of Asia (MoA). Thanks to my best friends Tyrone and Grace (they are my friends since Kinder, since 1987 to be exact) for agreeing to meet with me at MoA. I had a truly wonderful Sunday at MoA.

The SM Mall of Asia is the Philippine's largest shopping complex. According to Forbes Magazine, it is the 3rd largest shopping mall in the world in terms of Gross Leasable Area, after the South Dongguan Mall (China) and Golden Resources Mall (China). It has been operating for two years now after its official opening on May 21, 2006. Mall of Asia will never fail a visiting tourist as it offers a unique shopping mall ambiance. It cannot be gainsaid that one of its best attractions is the Esplanade, where you can have a relaxing view of the Manila Bay and a nostalgic feel of the romantic sunset by the bay. Unlike any other malls in the world, MoA is situated by the bay and is separated from the usual busy city district. It is located at the famous Roxas Boulevard in Manila, Philippines and is built on 19.5 hectares of reclaimed land area. MoA's architecture is equally interesting as it drifted away from the traditional box-type designed shopping malls. There are portions of MoA where you can feel the natural lighting and air specifically at the restaurant strips, IT centre, and the Esplanade. It may not be easy for slow walkers to roam around as it houses over 600 shops and 150 restaurants. Talk about shopping, you can find both local and international items here. If you like high-end and/or branded goods, you can also find them here. Now if you find yourself hungry after more than an hour of strolling, pick a restaurant of your choice offering Filipino dishes and fusion cuisines. Parking is never an issue at MoA, over 5,000 parking slots are situated outside and inside the shopping complex. Public taxis, jeepneys and vans are also readily available. Thus, transportation is not a big problem for commuters.

1. Virtual Reef - a digital oceanarium. Its main attraction is Mr. T, a talking cartoon titan fish. I'm sure the voice over talent could see the visitors via camera as Mr. T can naturally talk to each visitor and respond to every question they might like to ask. You bet, I had fun with this fish as my friend cracked a series of jokes with Mr T.

2. City Science - it provides an audio-visual learning of various skyscrapers all over the world and the whereabouts in major cities such as New York, Paris, London, and more.

If you happened to be a nature lover and would rather take advantage of the Manila Bay and the Sunset, the Ferry Service will be a nice treat for you! The cost per ride per person is approximately $2-3 only. During the Christmas Season, fireworks displays are also showcased by the bay. In fact, MoA has been chosen several times as the venue for World Pyro Olympics.

And if you are movie fan, there are several Digital movie houses at MoA one of which is the IMAX Theater which is the first of its kind in the Philippines and is one of the world's biggest IMAX screens in 3D.

The SM history reveals a very rich legacy and a triumphant venture since the first SM branch. Whatever information is documented and made available to the public will never match the real-life experience and memories that only Mr Henry Sy himself can share.

Eversince I started blogging, I decided that the concept for this blog would be a compilation of my past and recent actual travel experiences. Thrilled I was for the recent increase in traffic for my blog, I decided to also feature someone else's travel experiences which I will be doing soon after collecting pictures and information from my friends and fellow bloggers.

Last weekend, I got a mail from a fellow blogger (an inspirational blogger to be precise) from the U.S. asking me "what's in a life of travel writer?". I never thought that I projected myself in this blog as a travel writer. For the benefit of those who are interested to know (if there are many), this blog is my latest prized hobby. I may have travelled a lot but I am not a travel writer. But if given the chance, why not?! I think it's a good and fun profession. Right now, I'm happy with my job and on top of blogging and working hard, I still go to school through distance education. Even my former boss thought that I doubled as a travel writer! hahahaha! But thanks though, it's a compliment I guess. Atleast my posts impress a bit on my readers.

Just so to keep this post as relevant to travelling as possible. I thought of seriously answering the question "what's in a life of a travel writer?" And based on my own situation at the moment, I thought of using the concept of distance education in a life of a travel writer. The main idea is that IF I were a real travel writer by profession, I would choose to subscribe to distance education at the same time. After all it pays a lot to earn another degree, Masters or a diploma while travelling and writing - a highly dignified traveller I will be. hahaha. Now what's the relationship between distance education and the life of a travel writer? It's the portability and flexibility of learning. Let me share with you my reply to the discussion forum for my Master's elective course on Foundations of Distance Education. WARNING: It's a bit long but I hope you'll find it useful and informative.

MY ANSWER:

Prior to my enrollment to this course, I have been made aware of the concept of distance education (DE) – what is it about and how is it carried out. Thanks to my work places at [....] which has the Distance Learning Centre and the [....] which emphasizes strongly on staff development and learning. In addition, the [....] has projects both completed and in-progress focusing on the importance of education and learning that includes the concept of distance education.


One of the positive impacts of rapid technology development in the society is the emergence of a “space” not just to share information but also to achieve fundamental results like what a traditional classroom-based learning environment could offer. Distance education is an opportunity to balance the needs of people in their quest for continuous learning while maintaining their personal and professional commitments. It is a concept where learning does not need to take place inside a classroom but through the use of various multimedia technologies.

My above definition of DE is fortunately supported by definitions given by various resources as follows:

• Wikipedia defines distance education as “ a field of education that focuses on the pedagogy and andragogy , technology, and instructional systems design that aim to deliver education to students who are not physically "on site". Rather than attending courses in person, teachers and students may communicate at times of their own choosing by exchanging printed or electronic media, or through technology that allows them to communicate in real time. Distance education courses that require a physical on-site presence for any reason including the taking of examinations is considered to be a hybrid or blended course or program”;
  


• The Philippine Daily Inquirer in its news article dated November 11, 2007, reports distance education as “ Distance education is unlike the usual classroom setup where students and teachers are supposed to be present regularly for education to take place. Distance education still follows a certain curriculum. While students are usually left to study at their own pace, learning materials have deadlines.”;
  


• The Sustainable Development Department of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) summarizes the concept of distance education as “intentional processes of teaching and learning in which physical space separates instructors and learners. Learners and instructors communicate through various media, and an educational organisation exists to design, facilitate and evaluate the educational process.”

• The formal process of distance learning. This term has traditionally implied the higher education level. www.directdegree.com/s/DistanceEducationGlossary.shtml
  
  
• means an educational process in which persons removed in space or time from the learners conduct a significant proportion of the teaching through one medium or a combination of media. www.thepubliclibrary.edu.ag/pubEduGlossary.htm
  


• a form of learning in which the instructor and student are in different locations and communicate through traditional and non-traditional means. www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/admin/1994/glossary.html
  


• A planned teaching/learning experience that uses a wide spectrum of technologies to reach learners at a distance and is designed to encourage learner interaction and certification of learning. www.uwex.edu/ics/design/glossary.htm
  
  
• Education program whereby students may complete all or part of an educational program in a geographical location apart from the institution hosting the program; the final award given is equivalent in standard and content to an award program completed on campus. www.newsweekshowcase.com/distance-learning/glossary.php
  
  
• The process by which students and teachers can communicate through information technology. It allows courses to take place without the necessity for the students and teachers to be physically in same location. alt.uno.edu/glossary.html
  
  

The major difference of distance education from conventional classroom-based instruction is the fact that learning does not have to take place inside a classroom. Geographically speaking, the learner and the instructor communicate from two distant points taking away the concept of a daily/regular face-to-face interaction. While distance education uses a self-paced approach, like conventional classroom-based instruction, distance education uses an established curriculum which will be carried out during the entire course.

Finally, in distance education, an instructor or facilitator portrays a key role in ensuring that the established curriculum and set of modules are utilized effectively and in a timely fashion. The instructor uses a defined institutional standard in evaluating the participation of a DE student all throughout the course through web discussions, examinations and special projects. Unlike in special study which is mainly carried out by fulfilling the requirements as set out in a study guide, the instructor and evaluation elements of distance education are not present.

Thanks to all who visited my blog particularly those who sent me messages. Thanks also to those who subscribed! I will definitely try to write more articles particularly those places you have suggested me to visit. To those in the UK (I think I got 3 of them who sent me a message) -- Yes, I will try to write a suggested itinerary which will serve as your guide in your planned visit to Bangkok and to Manila. I'd be more grateful to do that.

With these two visitor maps, it feels like I've been to all the cities where my blog visitors came from. (lolz!) 'Til my next post. Ciao!

I spent my last weekend in Manila to meet some old good friends during my high school years and to attend my nephew's first birthday. For the first time, I availed of the evening flights recently offered by Philippine Airlines (PAL) from Bangkok to Manila and vice versa. It really pays to be part of PAL's frequent flyer program. I get good service which includes priority booking, priority check-in and luggage handling and best of all I get upgrades and free tickets quite often which I experienced for the nth time during my flight last Friday night. And for this reason, I thought to write a few words about PAL which is my way of saying "thank you". (Photo shows a PAL A330-300 aircraft at Suvanaburmi Airport, Bangkok)

The following video is a 30-sec TV commercial of Philippine Airlines during 1980's. I was thrilled to have seen it again after almost 20 years. Thanks to YouTube!

The beauty of the Philippines is shining through....
Philippine Airlines

Talk about beaches and other exotic tourist destinations, the Philippines gives you more than 7,000 options to choose from. Topping the list is the breath-taking four kilometer natural exquisiteness of Boracay.

Known as one of the Philippines premiere tourist attractions, Boracay (or Bora for young Filipinos) has been chosen several times as the world’s best tropical beach by The British TV Quick, the Australian newspaper the Sun Herald, the BMW Tropical Beach Handbook, and Harper's. In 2007, Yahoo travel selected Boracay as the best beach in the world, taking the first spot of the chosen 10 most popular beaches.


Boracay is famous for its white talcum powder-like beach front which oddly never gets too hot even if the sun blazingly envelopes the entire island paradise. (I personally had fun playing with the sand!) From the palm fringed shoreline, any visitor would surely be astonished by a relaxing view of its crystal clear blue- to turquoise-colored water. It is truly a startling experience to see how the monochromatic waters of Boracay fade from deep blue to clear white as you approach the beach front from an island hopping adventure.

Just before the sunset, you will enjoy the view of vinta and sail of different colors. These boats may be rented for a quick sunset island hopping or take photos of them at no charge. Banana boat riding is also available for an unforgettable group fun. If you want a fast paced adventure, perhaps jet skiing on Boracay waters would invigorate your sensations!


Boracay white beach is divided into three boat stations of which stations 2 and 3 are the most popular for backpackers and youngsters. In the evening, boat station 2 is filled with music and endless group chats. It is the most tourist friendly station as it houses a strip of not-so-expensive restaurants and mini supermarkets. Boat station 1 is where most of the high-end hotels are located at. It is the most tranquil boat station in Boracay.



Boracay gateways

All year round, the Philippine Airlines (PAL) offers tour packages from Manila to Boracay with flight and hotel accommodation included for as low as US$190. If you fly PAL, you will have to take a two-hour land travel from Kalibo Airport to the ports of Caticlan either by jeepney or bus. A ferry service is available which will bring you to Boracay Islands in 15 minutes. Expect Boracay waters to welcome you with a splash during the ferry ride so be prepared to get wet!

Other local airlines such as Air Philippines, Cebu Pacific and Asian Spirit fly directly from Manila to Caticlan Airport which saves you from the two-hour land travel from Kalibo. As of writing, Philippine Airlines has recently launched their jet flights straight to Caticlan which are less expensive than their flights to Kalibo.

Island activities

Boracay souvenirs ranging from native hats, hand-painted t-shirts, hand-woven neclaces and bracelets are just a few of the many items you could easily buy from any parts of the Island. The “IN” thing among young tourists is the henna and permanent tattooing. It is most advisable to take a half-day island hopping which will bring you to the Crocodile Island, Puka Beach (the white sand here is absolutely astounding!), crystal cave, and snorkeling areas among others. Each boat for an island hopping may be rented for as low as US$35.00. Don’t worry about buying dollars or Philippine peso, ATM machines are available in station 2.

VIDEO CREDITS (from YouTube):
Video 1: Islands - Produced by the Department of Tourism Philippines
Video 2: One Team One Summer, ABS-CBN Summer Station ID Boracay Special - Directed by Tots Sanchez-Mariscal