Quy Nhon is the laidback beach town of your dreams

Immediately after I exited Saigon’s international airport I was barraged by cab drivers. I was supposed to go to Quy Nhon, a city in central Vietnam, by train, but the earliest ticket I could book was in four more days. I have been warned by blogs that trains in Vietnam can be easily fully-booked, but my contact in Quy Nhon told me that I could book a plane ticket on the same day. I wanted to experience what it’s like to travel on a sleeper train and lazily stare by the train window for hours, watching scenes from the countryside.

Fat chance.

[Attempting] Freediving

What most people don't realize is that swimming isn't just a single skill but rather a collection of several different skills. Being able to swim horizontally on the surface of the water (think freestyle, breaststroke, etc) is a different skill from being able to stay afloat in a stationary position (treading). Another skill, one which I am yet to acquire, is diving. So on one weekend I decided to join a group of freedivers called Team Rocket for some freediving tutorials. They arranged pretty much everything for the 2D 1N trip and all we were left to do is to freedive, or at least attempt to.

Movie Review: In This Corner of the World

Wars are a very common theme in anime, but this movie treats this trite subject differently. It focuses on the coming of age of a teenage girl who moves in with her teenage husband after an arranged marriage. Together with her husband's family, they go through and survive the hardships of the war. The cell animation, a rarity in modern anime, is visually stunning, kind of Hayao Miyazaki-esque but still very different. Despite being set during World War II Japan, the movie is still mostly dreamy, warm and funny. It didn’t hurt that the director threw in some abstract painting-ish scenes as icing on an otherwise already perfect cake, reflective of the main character who is a talented artist. After Kimi no Na Wa, I didn't know when I’ll be blown away by an anime next, or by a movie, for that matter. But this one did. Rating: 10/10.

(Image above is a screenshot from the official trailer.)

Movie Review: Kimi No Na Wa

I am huge Makoto Shinkai fan, so this review is bound to become completely unobjective. But consider this – I also run the risk of experiencing disappointment, if the story flops, or boredom, if this movie turns out to be just a derivative of his previous works. So how was the movie? Simply put, there are no words. The animation, the story – both are perfect in every way. Given Shinkai’s immensely popular anime films, I wondered if he still had something else in his sleeve, and he did. This movie, while bearing his signature romantic theme and gorgeous animation – no doubt a Shinkai creation at every frame - is still completely different. Rating: 10/10.

(Image above is a screenshot from the official trailer.)

Butterfly Collection

A trap!

Over the past two years that I've stayed in Ipil Dorm in UP Diliman, I have "saved" a number of birds and insects that have gotten themselves trapped inside. These animals get in through the windows by the staircase and the doors on both ends of the hallway. The glass panels give the illusion of an opening, and the animals will make every attempt to get through. Some birds eventually figure their way out without help. Insects, however, mostly just fly, hover near the glass surface and stay inside until they die. Today, I found yet another casualty, a beautiful butterfly with neon green spots. I looked for several online databases of butterfly species in the Philippines (such as this and this) and found what appeared to be a perfect match - a tailed jay or green spotted triangle with scientific name Graphium agamemnon.

Detail of wing

Underside

While I will continue helping birds and insects find their way out whenever possible, I decided to begin collecting butterflies and insects that have been trapped and died inside the dorm. These creatures are just too beautiful to be swept with a broom and thrown in trash.

Navigating Baguio's Tourist Trail

Going to Baguio for the first time twelve years ago as a high school student felt visiting a foreign country. I have never been abroad, though (even to this day) but I never traveled a lot as a kid and to my limited experience the Philippines is Manila and Manila is about the heat, the jeepneys, air pollution, trash and mayhem at night. Baguio, with its uneven topography, pine trees, houses built on mountain slopes, the cold temperature, less jeepneys, less air pollution, less trash and less crime, was someplace else. When I got into mountaineering as an adult, I would visit Baguio only as en entry point to Benguet. And having seen the Mount Pulag and Kibungan, places which had more than just pine trees, Baguio became boring and pale all of sudden. I never thought that Baguio would one day become my main destination until I agreed to join a group of friends who will be spending the long weekend. I was hoping to rekindle the fascination I had with the city more than a decade ago.

Here's a rundown of my Baguio experience:

Blogs merged

I will be merging two of my blogs - kenjokenjo and kenshin163 - so I can keep as few blogs a possible. The first blog is where I posts things related to travel and sports activities (yep, I'm "sporty" as fuark), while the second blog is for stuff which don't fit the first blog and my other blog, which is a math blog in Wordpress. Hence, expect more random stuff here from now and onwards. To get the randomness started, here's a pic of a colorful broom.

SWIMBIKERUN.ph's Aquaman 2014

I'm the clueless looking guy with blue goggles.
I'm not a fan of my running pic either. I hate it when my hair gets parted in the middle without me knowing. LOL.

Photo from SWIMBIKERUN.ph's fb page

Just a month after my terrible finish at the Ateneo Aquathlon, and here I am again, joining a swim + run event. As in the previous years, SWIMBIKERUN.ph's Aquaman was again conducted at UP Diliman, where the running and swimming splits are held at the CHK's swimming pool and the acad oval, respectively.

Here's how I fared:

Ateneo Aquathlon 2014: Newbie Report

Pic from the Ateneo Aquathlon fb page

I first came across the Ateneo Aquathlon after joining the Pex Swim Club. I was assured that the race is perfect for beginners and completely doable with ample training.  And what can I say. I had a lot of fun and my endorphin surge lasted throughout the day. This being my first ever race, I can't offer an in-depth analysis of how the race went, except that, well, it went smoothly.

Ateneo Grade School Swimming Pool

- Don't forget to bring an ID so you can enter the campus.
- Fee: P40. Open to the public on weekends only, 9-11:30am, 1:30-4pm and 4-6:30pm
- 25m x 15 m, 3.5ft to 5ft. Unshaded. Separate communal showers for boys and girls. Cubicles for changing. Toilets have bidets. No lockers.
- Pull buoys, kick boards, goggles and other equipment are available for rent at P20 each.
- The pool is generally clean, except for fallen leaves from the mango three which stands on one side of the pool.
- Lifeguards on duty also offer swimming lessons.
- [Geez, I hope this doesn't sound racist.] Sometimes you may have to share the pool with Korean kids who would play around the pool. I tried switching lanes and make it appear that they're getting in the way, but they very rarely get the message. I might ask someone how to say "Please stay in one lane" politely in Korean.

Commuting details after the jump.

The Ugly Side of Intramuros

Graffiti and [rabid?] unleashed dogs. This isn't some compound in a Manila suburb. This is Intramuros.

Intramuros is perhaps Manila's only real tourist destination (EDIT: oh wait, there's Luneta, too) and yet the place is surprisingly unkempt. Most of the reviews I've read from Trip Advisor are generally positive, and I feel that I may have ventured off the usual tourist trail.

[Unintentionaly] Gatecrashing on a Carlos Celdran Tour

Standing barely five feet tall, a stout man with receding hair and wearing unassuming clothes was staging what looked like an public repertoire. He would strut around the monument of Rizal with a pipe in hand, speaking in his oratorical voice, even shouting in several occasions. But this wasn't a play or a monologue - it was part of a tour of Intramuros by Carlos Celdran. I have known him as Manila's quintessential tour guide and as an activist for gay rights, the RH Law, among other causes. We were just walking around Fort Santiago, marveling albeit cluelessly at the ruins around us. To see him on one of his tours was an unexpected opportunity I thought we shouldn't miss.

Sony Waterproof Walkman Review

Photo courtesy of the Sony Store website. 

I thought a waterproof mp3 player might make my running and swimming a little less boring, so I bought myself one.

The Anatomy of Poor Swimming Form

I've long wanted to take a video of myself swimming, but never actually did for fear of getting curious stares from people in a public pool. While I was taking formal swimming lessons I have constantly received nothing but encouraging comments from my swim instructor, specifically, that my stroke and kick were okay and that endurance is the only thing I need to work with. When the lessons ended I have relied on Youtube videos to supposedly improve my form and have always thought that I do exactly as the videos say. In short, I've always thought I was a good swimmer. Then during an out-of-town trip with schoolmates at a private resort in Laguna I finally had the opportunity to take a video of myself. The pool wasn't intended for laps, of course, but is was long enough for my purpose.

For the first time, I finally know how I exactly swim - just bad.

Second Semester Challenge

Wisdom from 9gag. How profound.

Just six months ago I wrote down my goals for the first semester on a piece of paper. I intended to post the list in my desktop as a constant reminder but I misplaced it and didn't bother to make another one. The six months passed and I have now come to the bitter realization that I have achieved nothing as far as my goals are concerned.

I want this semester to be different.

Video of Taal Volcano Dayhike

While rummaging through old files I found footage of our hike in Taal Volcano. I pieced the clips together using Youtube's Video Editor which I found to be useful and intuitive. Forgive the background music, Youtube only allows the use of stock audio; you might as well just turn the volume down.

There are 101 reasons why this video is awful and I don't know why I'm even posting it here. EDIT: Because it took me an hour to make the video, haha. There are no labels except the title, and I left all but one of the original clips untrimmed.

How an Aquaphobic* Wimp Learned How to Swim

Marikina Sports Complex - one of my favorite places for training.

I never had the opportunity to learn how to swim as a child. As my trips to mountains (many of which have falls and rivers) and beaches became more frequent, I realized that my inability to swim is preventing me from enjoying my travels to the fullest. I was always that lone guy by the shore, splashing water and playing with the sand, afraid to go farther.

Youtube's Video Stabilization Feature

I just recently discovered a feature on Youtube that stabilizes shaky videos.

Below is the unedited video which was taken while on a bumpy tricycle ride:

Here's the edited video where I also applied the "auto-fix" feature which improves the color.

I didn't expect the outcome to be as crisp as the original one. For most of us who only have ordinary digicams mounted on our shaky hands - this feature should come very handy. Here's an explanation of the technical details behind the stabilization.

A Year into Mountaineering: Hits and Misses, Lessons and Stories - Draft

A beetle struggles on a blade of grass, the same way we struggle on the trail.
A cloud-capped Bulusan Volcano stands on the background.

I wanted to say that there are two kinds of mountaineers - those who blog and tell a story, and those who just climb and make no big deal out of it. It doesn't take long to realize that this sort of classification isn't accurate. The latter species do not exist - it takes ones heart to pursue a hobby that is not only physically taxing but financially as well; mountaineering is a big deal. British explorer Dave Nixon ones said that the whole idea of old-fashioned mountaineering is "to get there and get back in one piece, and tell the great story at the end of it". The story comes in the form of blogs, of facebook albums and attempts to share the story even with friends who probably do not care. Regardless of the form, anyone who climbs has stories to tell. Secretly, even, there's pride from doing something that most people can't or won't.

Kibungan Circuit

The view that greeted us just a few meters from the jump off point.

Benguet is a mountaineer's paradise - there's just mountains in all directions. It is but fitting that that province was chosen for out group's first anniversary climb. The three-day/two-night trek across the rugged landscapes of Kibungan, Benguet took us to three peaks in the circuit, namely Mount Tagpaya with it's knife-edge peak, the curiously-named Mt. Oten and finally Mt. Tagpew. The trail is comparable to that of Akiki in Mount Pulag, but there's so much more than the usual trek across pine trees that is characteristic of hikes in the Cordilleras.