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Last month, I started off with my green tip of loading your washing machine to its maximum capacity. I hope you did your little part in helping to protect the environment! Mother Earth needs us!

This month and the following others, I’ll be featuring the Top 4 winners of the Miss Earth contest! They’ll share with you their environmental tip; the little things we can do to help save the our planet.

Starting with the 3rd Runner Up, Miss Earth Fire: Miss Spain, Alejandra Echevarria Pedrajas.

Green tip: Use a bike when going on short distances. One less car on the the road means lower carbon emissions and cleaner air.

Increased carbon emissions in the ozone layer trap more heat and increase the greenhouse effect. This causes global temperatures to rise, damaging crops, changing weather patterns and melting icecaps. By reducing carbon emissions, we can slow down the greenhouse effect and prevent global temperatures from rising.

I’m a calendar girl! Hahaha.

Okay. Well, sort of. The recent Miss Earth competition put all the girls competing in a calendar.

A green calendar, of course. We were all given a green tip and had to model the tip. It’s pretty fun to look at the calendar and the tips cause it reminds me of all the amazing girls I met and our strong messages for the environment. But that aside, they are helpful green tips that you can use everyday! It’s the small little things we can do for our environment that will make the bigger change.

Because not everyone can lay their hands on this limited edition calendar, Ima be nice and feature one tip a month with one hot girl of course. Haha. Who doesnt like to look at calendar girls right? I’m obviously starting off with me: Miss Earth Singapore, Valerie Lim. Picture self directed and shot outside my own house. Haha!

Green tip: Save energy by loading your washing machine to its full capacity.

Instead of washing a little laundry each time, load your washing machine to its maximum capacity and cut down the number times you have to do laundry.

The final and last installment of the travel files to Ilocos Norte! Phew. After which there’s Subic, Occidental Mindoro, Bacolod and umm… I think I’ll just skip straight to some of the highlight events like the National Costume competition and Swimsuit competition. Hurhur.

The day after we did our tree-planting activity and was welcomed by the Govenor, we set out early in the morning to Kapurpurawan White Rock Formation for a trek. Kapurpuraoan rock means “white rock” and it clearly demonstrated the power of wind, water and rain on rock and coral. The massive rock juts out into the sea and from afar looks as if someone has wiped off the top frosting and exposed the cake that lies beneath. Up close it was a dazzling white rock that sparkled in the sun. But, dont take my words for it. See for yourself.

We’re almost there. We had to trek for a bit. But finally we see the white rock in the distance.

Can there be a more amazing view?

WE’RE FINALLY THERE!

After trekking through rocky roads, by-passing some ponds or whatchamacallit, we finally make it to the white rock. And it REALLY is white even in the distance.

We climb on top the actual white rock and of course, the trigger-happiness starts all over again.

Close up view of the rock formation.

Moving out closer to the edge, we ran the risk of falling into the ocean if we werent careful! Also, the breeze was so strong, our hats were almost stolen by the wind. Everything was flying! See everyone desperately clinging onto their hats. Lol.

Cam-whoring pictures with the awesome background.

Ok. This obviously isnt me. It’s Miss Switzerland who eventually took the title of Miss Congeniality.

Group picture!
Pose girls pose! Wave! Wave!

By noon, we were on the way to Bangui Wind Farm. Because the Bangui area is so windy, plans to construct various tourist attractions were shelved. But, instead of letting the natural energy go to waste, why not make use to Mother Nature’s gift and build wind mills to harness her energy? This is the FIRST power plant in the Philippines and Southeast Asia. There are 20 units of wind turbines rated at 1.68MW each and they are a magnificent sight to behold.

Each structure is beautiful on its own.

But combined with the rest of the awe-inspiring structures and set against the blue backdrop, it is a picturesque scene.

Again, who would pass up the opportunity to take pictures?

Pardon the mad hair. Mother Nature decided to be my hair stylist for the day.

But that wasnt the last of our stops for the day. We then had to travel to Pagudpud, Blue Lagoon, Maira-ra Beach touted to have white sands and waters so blue. We had lunch at Hannah’s Beach Resort and then did a beach cleaning on the Blue Lagoon Beach.

We had a warm welcome reception when we arrived at Hannah’s. Beautiful bouquets and welcome ribbons for us.

Important message for everyone from Hannah’s.

Lunch was in a function room. They had set out tables for us very much like a press conference and we sat facing the audience. Imagine people watching you as you ate. Haha. Very common regardless of where we went in the Philippines.

Lunch is served.

Lunch was followed by a tour of the premises. Hannah’s overlooks the beautiful Blue Lagoon Beach.

And we got to see their cosy rooms too.

But our crucial mission there was to do beach cleaning. Armed with gloves and trash bags, we made our way down to the Blue Lagoon Beach to pick up whatever rubbish that was there.

And we take some time in between to make our fans happy by taking pictures with them. Haha.

Ilocos Norte was amazing and truly unforgettable. We visited so many astounding and breath-taking places that it makes me sad to read that the Copenhagen Summit was sort of a failure.

According to Newsweek, studies made at the environmental summit show that commitments by the various countries will fall short of of its goal to cut carbon emissions sharply enough to hold off a 2-degree-Celsius rise in global temperatures. The United Nations Environment Program found that the world had locked in less than half of the greenhouse gas reductions needed to provide a 50-50 chance of preventing the temperature increase by 2050.

2050 may seem like a long time away, but it is only 40 years into the future considering we’re already in 2010. 40 years later and many of us will be in our golden years. Years that we might want to enjoy with our families or possibly spend retirement in some exotic country where the beaches are blue and the sky in bluer. But, irresponsibility on our part not only causes the temperature rise in our environment, it in fact, costs us OUR home and OUR future. OUR chance at enjoying what Mother Nature has to offer.

The fact of the matter is this: despite already saying we’re TRYING, we’re barely making enough reductions to reach a 50-50 chance of preventing the temperature rise. Maybe we’re just not trying hard enough, or in Mother Nature’s books, we’re not even trying at all.

But the picture is not bleak. There is still time to stall the global temperature rise and we need to do it NOW. The experts will tell you if the world delays action by even a few years, emission cuts will have to be considerably LARGER so global temperatures stay within the 2-degree range to prevent melting ice. Why make things difficult if you can take small steps now?

Warning: Image heavy post!

OKAY. Finally gonna continue from the first post about Philippines. Mad load of photos I photoshopped today!

So after lunch at Fort Ilocandia Resort, we went to the brand new convention center to do tree-planting!

Armed with our sunhats, we walk to our nearby destination where our trees wait for us. Haha.

Remember, if it’s nearby, dont pollute the environment by travelling in a vehicle, WALK!

Following our guides.

Waiting to go to our trees. We hide under some umbrella shade. It is MAD glaring and hot judging by our shades, umbrella AND hat. Haha.

Miss Northen Ireland goes first.

My turn to plant!

Plant tree until glasses all crooked.

A much better picture.

YAY! We did it! Save the Earth!

Taking a breather after HOT work by the cool and relaxing pool in the new convention center.

It wasnt too long after that, we zipped off in our bus to visit some beautiful sites in Ilocos Norte. Paoay Church was our first destination. The church is built of coral blocks and stucco-plastered bricks. It’s architecture is a unique combination of Gothic, Baroque and Oriental. What’s really fascinating about the church is the bricks of the church were said to have been made by mixing sand and lime with sugarcane juice! These were boiled with mango leaves, leather and rice straw. Talk about being environmentally friendly. Haha.

Interior of the church

The main religion in Philippines is Roman Catholic.

When we came out, guess what greeted us?

A HUGE SWARM OF PEOPLE!

No, more like MASSIVE SWARM. They were already gathering when we were preparing to enter the church.

But when we came out, it was just….. PHWOAR!

We had to fight thru the massive swarm of people screaming, pushing and trying to shake our hands to eventually get to the cafe where we were supposed to have a rest. Of course, in the local province, you could never do without tasting local fare. We thus had a snack at Herenia Cafe and got to sample their famous Pinakbet Pizza and Empanada (like a big curry puff).

Here’s the pizza with your usual pinakbet veggies. It was SOOO GOOOD! Om nom nom.

And we had this fried corn thing that is apparently dried first before it’s fried. Crispy, crunchy and salty, it would make a perfect snack for any time of day.

I stuff myself silly while Kayleigh looks on in disgust. Haha!

Even when we’re eating, THEY NEVER STOP HOUNDING US! Look at the camera pointing inside.

By this time, it was already evening. We had to go back on the bus and return to our hotel to shower, get dressed and go for a welcome dinner hosted by the Govenor. It was a welcome dinner with cultural presentation.

So although we were told the dress code was cocktail dress, everyone really dressed up to the nines.

When the event started, it began with a cultural presentation alongside some yummylicious Chinese cuisine.

The final item was the traditional bamboo dance.

And we got to try our hand at doing it! It may look really simple but it’s actually quite hard. I, however, managed to get the choreographed sets right! Yay!!!

The end of the dinner marked the end of a very busy and packed first day. However, day 2 in Ilocos Norte was even more exciting and we visited even more beautiful places.

Warning: Image heavy post!

Finally the first installment of the many travel posts that will come.

12 girls from Group 3 had to leave one morning bright and early to take a plane to Laoag. I was fortunate enough to be one of those 12.

Checking in. The headache begins. The dude looks appalled at the number of luggages we have. But we only carried 15kg each!

But once all that needs to be done is cleared out of the way, we have time to pose and make our adoring fans happy. Haha.

This is the crowd that has gathered.

In the midst of all that, we take time to cam-whore on our own.

Once we enter the waiting lounge, we still get mobbed by people who want pictures!

So we has to sit and pose nicely.

Sometimes, we turn the tables and ask the photographers to be the photographed. These guys willingly smile and pose. Haha.

After about an hour on the plane, we touch down to blue blue skies!

Welcome reception at the airport. Lovely kiddos present us with sunhats and welcome ribbons.

We were immediately ushered out to jeeps lined up outside the airport. At first we werent sure what they were there for, but we soon found out.

Cruising down the roads along scenic sights.

Check out our entourage.

And little did we expect that the WHOLE town would stop for us. The streets were packed with bystanders. Some just stoof and watch while others were waving, cheering as we zoomed by blowing kisses and doing “queenly” waves.

After meeting our public, we head off to our accomodation for the night – Fort Ilocandia Resort.

Dancing girls welcome us at the entrance.

The interior of Fort Ilocandia.

We can has a welcome drink too!

After checking in to our comfy rooms, we headed off for lunch at the in-house restaurant. We had a HUGE spread prepared for us.

Not only did we get to eat out fill, we got fresh fruit juices too. Elza Miss Kosovo proudly shows off one of the most popular drinks that we girls always order: a mango shake/mango juice! We love it so much because the Philippines mangoes are absolutely the best! They’re sweet, juicy and so very, very fragrant.

After lunch we had a full day of travelling and activities visiting various places, but am gonna save the pictures for a Part 2.

Because I’m lazy still in the midst of writing 2 different posts on two very different things, you will have to be content with this one picture of a handful of us girls on the first day in Manila.

I heart the denim dress from Forever 21.

I promise there’ll be a post with a video. Or several posts with videos. You just need to be patient.

We had a super early shoot on the day after we arrived for the opening video! There was a group dance segment and an individual country segment too. We all had to wear the yellow bikini from ABS-CBN, but makeup and hair was done by us. I quite like the bright yellow bikini although the cut wasnt too flattering for flat-chested people like me. HAHAHA.

Here are some pictures from the shoot day.

Waiting for the cue. We’ve got Pakistan, Isreal, Lebanon, Peru, New Zealand, Guam and Singapore in this group.

While waiting, we preen. Haha. *adjust adjust*

Oh hey! There’s the cue! Party girls, party!

Sorry lads, we gotta run now. Catch you later!

Run as fast as you can, but you cant catch us!

Wheeeeeeeee!

There was also a scene where we had to run with cloth along the waters. It was tough to do so because the winds were so strong and it felt as though we might been blown off the sands with the cloth as a parachute! Lol. The video might be short, but we had to take and retake the same scene several times. If it wasnt us not performing as well as we should, it was because the camera had to take from different angles. Though the sand was rough, we had to smile cheerfully ignoring the pain beneath our feet as we danced. Haha. Bet you cant tell right?

So after all that hardwork and spending the entire morning in the sun getting a tan, this is the final product that was shown on Coronation Night before the actual pageant started.

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGcSaFdVQ88]

Everyone’s gorgeous on Coronation Night. The lights, makeup and hair do well to enhance each girl’s assets.

What, however, makes a lady truly a queen is not how much hair spray she uses or how much makeup she has. Sure they do well to assist the overall presentation of oneself, but it’s really about the charisma, poise and most importantly, attitude of a person that makes her a true beauty queen.

On Coronation Night, we were backstage since the afternoon for lunch. Then came a quick run-through before the REAL preparations started. We didnt get to take many pictures backstage during the preparation. Okay, rather I didnt take many pictures backstage because we were all so bored of waiting. We had so much time to do our makeup that we took our time dolling ourselves up while we drank tea and munched on some energy and chocolate bars Sarah Miss Scotland’s mum brought.

When we first saw the stage Wednesday night, we were underwhelmed. We had kinda expected the stage and venue to be a lot bigger. But with the lights and camera angles, it was amazing how fantastic the stage looked on Coronation day.

Without the lights and sound, here’s what the stage looked like.

We had our very first rehearsal on Wednesday night, the day we landed in Boracay itself. Pictures of rehearsals from Wednesday night.

We learnt the opening dance in one single night and the individual group choreography that very same night. These were to be used for the opening video sequences to be shot the next day. We’d heard beforehand that the lady choreographer was a force not to be reckoned with. And when we first met her lotsa girls were quite intimidated especially when it came to learning the dance. They didnt want to screw up the dance, get told off and make 79 other girls wait for them. Truth be told, Ive met worse choreographers who yell and tell you off till you wanna cry. For instance, I remember hearing one story about how this famed choreographer here in Singapore said to his dancers they look “like vomit” during one of their practices. LOL.

But anyway, you have to give credit to her because she really knows her stuff and we all agree wholeheartedly that the final presentation of the girls during Coronation looked fantastic thanks to her.

During our break on rehearsal day, we had some time to goof off and make silly faces. Haha.

With Sandra Miss Philippines who’s also Miss Earth Air 2009! YAYYYYY! Congrats my babe!

Rujinan Miss Thailand who made Top 8! Asian poweerrrrr!

We only had one more rehearsal Saturday night before actually going on stage on Sunday. That night we learnt the different choreographies for the swimsuit, evening gown and Top 16. Pictures backstage on Coronation.

Minor drama that happened backstage. Haha. Hair getting caught in earrings. Magalie Miss France helps to untangle my hair from Adie’s earrings.

After that episode, I finally get a picture with Adie our chaperon and Miss Philippines 2009 1st Runner up!

Cuba showin’ off her awesome booty. And lucky me gets to spank it. HAHAHAHA.

Pictures from on stage. Credits to G.Aplal for the stunning photos.

This, boys, is what your dreams should truly be made of. 80 girls all in swimsuits. HAHAHA.

India. Martinique. Georgia. Singapore. Just 4 of the Top 16 in swimsuit. Love the green swimsuit specially designed by Ricky Abad.

The other semi-finalists.

Paraguay.

Venezuela.

France.

Philippines.

South Africa.

Baby of the group – Northern Ireland.

Thailand.

Brazil.

Korea.

Poland.

After crowning, with Larissa Miss Brazil.

I really didnt get much time to take pictures in between changing from the yellow bikini to the green one. And then there was the dash to get dressed for the evening gown segment. Phew. In between drinking water and making sure every single strand of hair was in place, it was a crazy rush, but I loved every. single. minute. of. it.

One picture from my parents’ camera.

Wonder if I can get pictures of me in the green bikini. I really like that bikini!

Odd how some things just fall into place.

Today marked the first time in my entire life I ever missed a flight. I’m not about to point fingers and say whose fault it was. Instead, it was a culmination of factors that led to 6 girls being stranded in Terminal 1 of NAIA. Well, at first it was just one girl who missed her flight: me. My flight was at 10.40am but we reached at 10.25am and by then the check-in counter had already closed. Too late for them to even reopen the cargo doors. Bye-bye flight.

It wasnt too much of an issue for me since I could easily get a flight out of Manila whenever I wanted. Jetstar flies daily anyway. Plus I had wanted to extend my stay here in the Philippines, so I guess this was His way of telling me I was supposed to stay longer. But the crap really started to hit the fan when the other girls who were travelling KLM to Amsterdam didnt get to check-in.

Here’s the problem: we reached at 10.25am and long flight check-ins usually close an hour earlier so the girls had barely 5 minutes to check-in for their flight. The thing was the car carrying our luggage only arrived at 11. By then, the check-in counter had already closed. BUT, because one of the girls had asked them for grace and told them to hold the check-in owing to the delayed luggage immediately when we first arrived, tempers rose when staff denied the 5 girls access to the plane they’d been so looking forward to getting on.

We begged, asked, cried and tried all methods to get them to reopen cargo to let the girls check-in but to no available. The most annoying part was how the plane wasnt scheduled to leave till almost half an hour later. Yes, we understand protocol. But human compassion apparently didnt exist in the KLM staff working behind the counters that day. We, a group of girls, who have been far away from home for the past 3 weeks and have worked our behinds off, are dying to go back home on the other side of the world to our families were late due to reasons beyond our control. It’s not like we strolled into the airport like princess demanding to get on board because we have a habit of being late or just felt like being late.

We were late because of traffic and because our luggages had been separated from us. Goodness knows what happened to the van that was carrying it. Although it left the same time as the van we were in, it came a good half an hour later. Perhaps it met with an accident. Perhaps it was held at gunpoint. We’ll never know. So many questions but no answers.

But perhaps the biggest and most disappointing question of all is: why didnt the staff allow the girls on board instead of fighting us a solid half an hour when there was a possibility that the girls could have still made the flight?

The reason they cited was it’s the rules and that the girls had overweight luggage. Dont humans make the rules? And exceptions can always be made. If it were one passenger who was late and wanted to board, perhaps denying access would be logical. But this was a group of girls who have been away from home for so long and desperately needed to go home. Needed, ladies and gentlemen, needed to go home.

To make matters worse, after the girls had been turned away from their flight no one from KLM had tried to offer assistance by searching for alternative flights. No staff offered solace or suggested a course of action that the 5 girls could take. Instead, they were left there tearing streaming their faces, noses as red as Rudolph’s and hearts and spirits broken.

At that juncture, I thanked God I had missed my flight. It was with the serenity that came with knowing I’m only 4 hours away from home and that I could easily get a flight out that helped me work out a course of action to get the girls home. It was either they flew today at extra costs or wait another day. If they were to get a flight tomorrow, they couldnt possibly be left staying in the airport so transport had to be arranged.

After several calls to various people and trawling the various airline offices on the second floor, we finally managed to get Miss Switzerland a flight home the very same day and the rest of the girls back to Carousel. You will never believe the tension, anger and trauma we went that very morning.

I feel, however, that the puzzle pieces somehow fit.
1) Me missing my flight and being the calm one among the distraught girls.
2) Switzy being able to speak both Spanish and French and hence was the translator for the girls present. Martinique, Dominican Republic, Spain and Paraguay all speak little or no English. If I had been stranded alone with them, I honestly wouldn’t have been able to get any messsage across.
3) Us meeting two kind hearted strangers while in Boracay who, that very day, helped us check out flights on their laptops while they were supposed to be holidaying in Palawan.

Sometimes things just fall into place without you even trying. Sometime you get what you want, but not necessarily the way you want it.