Blogging Miles Around the Metro

…Most especially in this side of the world. Though the young social entrepreneurs featured in the e-card below are not from Southeast Asia, a good number from countries like the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand to name a few, were present at the Young Social Entrepeneurs’ Forum at GK3 recently held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

This E-Card’s aim is to let the world know about the work of these young people all across the globe who put together business, innovation, and heart.

Concept by Gabriele Siegenthaler Muinde and Anthony David, put together by Idea!s and Tom Estrera. Help us spread the love, copy and paste to your blogs!

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I was recently shown a photo by a friend that I found quite interesting. She’s living in an apartment in Bangkok and found her security guard asleep when she was walking in. She decided to take a picture of him (hoping of course he wouldn’t wake up and catch her. Fortunately she did manage to capture it.

She’s been complaining about living in the place for quite some time. The problems range from poor management not responding to fixing the problems in the apartments to guards who are either asleep or away from their duty stations. I can understand what she’s going through as she lives all alone and security would be something the apartment should address.

As a blogger, I feel it is my duty to expose bad business so that they do not become too complacent and start treating their customers properly and with due respect. So if you’re ever in Bangkok looking to stay in an apartment, I would advise that you avoid The River Mansion, 23 Phra Atit Road, 10200 Bangkok.

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It’s not Turkey or Brazil this time, Youtube has been blocked in Thailand. The site has not been accessible since yesterday. Instead it has been redirected to Ministry of ICTs. No reason has been given for the sudden restriction, although there’s speculation that it could be politically linked. Some users are gaining access by using proxy websites. Many Thai bloggers are now on a campaign to get Youtube reinstated.

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He claims to be free. Or at least they claim he is.

There’s a difference between being wanted and being missed.

These images were stenciled with spray paint on different locations in the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City. Whether or not the artist meant it, given the situation of the media and of self-expression here in the country, the first image couldn’t help but evoke a rather grim impression.

Photos by Marielle Nadal.

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After seeing Dev’s post on Bangkok’s yellow Mondays, I laughed out loud when I realized that I myself was wearing the yellow shirt with the Thai King’s symbol (without meaning to jive with Dev’s post—talk about solidarity, har). Being suckers for color coordination, my friends immediately gathered everything yellow within arm’s reach and took this photo (don’t I have lovely lips).

The shirt was given to me by my Thai friend Sue when I was in Bangkok last year. It’s a yellow Monday in Manila too. Don’t we all just love the King.

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I used to kid myself that I ought to earn mileage points for all the legwork I used to subject myself to. Traversing Metro Manila (from Muntinlupa to Quezon City) by public transportation is certainly no joke. But as one sits and stares out the bus window, out into the gritty sidewalk scenes that you speed past, the familiar faces that adorn the countless billboards that illegally grace our national highways, as you race from point A to point B while sidestepping the mineral-water-candies-peanuts-chicharon-macapuno-cigarette vendors and the occasional bus preacher, and deciphering scribbled celphone numbers and declarations of love penned on the seatcover in front of you, you begin to see a whole lot of things that take shape from the blur of the world rushing past.The bus seat has been witness to the birthing of poems, peek-a-boo games with children, dodging preachers’ sermons, countless songs played, schedules planned, friendships rekindled, and the wild imaginings about the lives of my fellow passengers. On some days, its witnessed some quietly profound realizations that only make sense to high-strung twentysomethings who think of highways and skyways as not just a means of getting from here to there, but as a network of passageways through which the lifeblood of the metropolis ebbs and flows.

The hypnotic lights and the chorus of street sounds, sights and smells beckon.

Photo credit: Bernice de Leon, Photo Illustration: Marielle Nadal

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Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

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