One Big Juan!

And it's finally here!… Er well, in Manila! ;) 

Cebu Pacific has received its first Airbus A330 and boy it's looking good! The delivery of this first huge aircraft marks a milestone for Cebu Pacific, which is launching its first long haul flight to Dubai on October. 

The A330 is a wide-body twin-engine jet airliner made by Airbus, a popular aircraft manufacturer based in Toulouse, France that produces approximately half of the world's jet airliners. The A330 is one of the most widely-used aircraft in the airline industry today showing just how efficient and safe it is. For Cebu Pacific, this new addition to their fleet is their biggest plane yet earning it the nickname, The Big Juan. 

Here are fun facts from Cebu Pacific's Twitter account about their new baby… 

Take a journey with the Big Juan right now! Yes, right now with this video showing The Big Juan's shipping and assembly in Toulouse, France to its maiden flight to the Philippines! 

Wooow! It truly is a feat of design and engineering and if it is up to us, The Pink Tarha will be excited to go on a journey with The Big Juan! 

Good thing for our readers in the United Arab Emirates because you have a chance to be the lucky Juans inside The Big Juan on its first flight from Dubai to Manila. Get a chance to fly in the A330 for free by joining Cebu Pacific's 100 Lucky Juans contest. Just share with us how you will make your homecoming fun in the 100 Lucky Juans Facebook app. Join now!

Riyadh's Dessert Buffet Queen

You've probably met Cielo Algaeed, one of the homemakers in Riyadh who whip up delicious desserts and pastries. We've featured her Cielo's Sweet Treats before here in the blog when she was still starting. Now, she has expanded her home baking business! She's now offering dessert packages for your parties and events!

Hey, this sweets table is familiar! Done during the 2nd Pink Tarha Mornings. ;)

You know how we love desserts right? A meal is never complete without that something sweet and tasty to cap it off. With Cielo's dessert buffet, the dessert will eventually become the appetizer or starter as well. It might even become the highlight of your event especially with the themed styling the buffet comes with. 

Lovely spread for a girl and a boy

Hindi masyadong mahilig sa Hello Kitty, hindi! Haha! Niiice!

No matter how big or small that event is, Cielo has a party package whipped up for you:

PACKAGE A

- 9" round fondant cake

- 30 pieces cupcakes with non-edible toppers

- assorted sweets (candies, lolls, mallows, wafer sticks, chocolates, and cookies)

- 12 pieces personalized water bottles

- 12 pieces popcorn (in personalized treat bags)

PACKAGE B

- 9" round fondant cake

- 30 pieces cupcakes with non-edible toppers

- 24 pieces cake pops

- 12 pieces personalized water bottles

- 12 pieces popcorn (in personalized treat bags)

- 30 pieces coconut macaroons

- assorted sweets (candies, lolls, mallows, wafer sticks, chocolates, and cookies)

PACKAGE C

- 9" round fondant cake

- 30 pieces cupcakes with non-edible toppers

- 24 pieces cake pops

- 24 pieces decorated/themed/personalized cookies

- 12 pieces personalized water bottles

- 2 pieces popcorn (in personalized treat bags)

- 30 pieces coconut macaroons

- assorted sweets (candies, lolls, mallows, wafer sticks, chocolates, and cookies)

For those who are in a budget or are throwing a small, intimate party/event, affordable party packages are available in the following Sweet Treats offerings:

1. Sweet Treats A

- 10" Kitkat Cake with personalized/themed non-edible topper

- 12 pieces cupcakes with non-edible toppers

- 12 pieces personalized water bottles

- assorted sweets (choose 3 among mallows, candies, lolls, wafer sticks, coconut macaroons)

2. Sweet Treats B

- 9" round photo cake

- 12 pieces cupcakes with non-edible toppers

- 12 pieces personalized water bottles

- assorted sweets (choose 3 among mallows, candies, lolls, wafer sticks, coconut macaroons)

Included in all the packages are the following:

1. Elegant dessert/candy buffet table styling based on theme

2. Table hire

3. Table cloth

4. Apothecary jars

5. Serving platters and cake stands

6. Cake pop stands (if applicable)

7. Tags and labels (if applicable)

Several add-ons and upgrades are also available:

- Add SR 250 to upgrade to 2-layer fondant cake (4" top layer)

- Fondant cupcake toppers (starts at SR 5 each)

- Individual cupcake boxes with ribbon (add SR 6 each)

You can also add personalized bucket/tin pails filled with candies and chocolates and personalized to-go cotton candies.

For prices and quotes, contact Cielo Algaeed at +966-55-5491229 or message her in her Facebook page. Book at least 2 weeks in advance. 50% deposit or down payment is required upon confirmation and the remaining 50% has to be paid three days before the event. 

A simple but colorful spread

Cielo's Sweet Treats is still offering its solo baked treats orders such as push pops, brownies, mini cheesecakes, and shooters. Personally, I'm a fan of her cheesecake, coconut macaroons, cream puffs, and brazo de mercedes cupcakes.

A bugged life. A sweeeet bugged life.

Make your event extra sweet with Cielo's Sweet Treats! With her party packages, you don't have to worry about much of the event anymore. Oh, and please invite us in your next event. Haha! Dessert hoarder much! ~ Sundrenched

A City in Gridlock

We were stuck in a gridlock on the streets of Jeddah that day. Our meeting time in the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah was 6:00 pm and we were already half an hour late. Our friend made a wrong turn and we helplessly looked at the traffic all around us. It was moving at a rate of... zero per second. On those moments I start to wonder what's with Jeddah...

Shoegarfreeruby and I visited Jeddah exactly a year ago and I liked it in an instant; the roads are wide and smooth, the people are friendly and caring, the old seamlessly melding with the new, the city thrums with a steady, comfy pace that the go-getter city of Riyadh didn't have. Riyadh is a modern city that vibrates in a fast-paced stride, always running for progress when it comes to infrastructure and roads. Today, Jeddah is seemingly in the race too with tall towers built here and there (the layout of the city almost an afterthought) and most of its roads being re-constructed, fixed, and made. Thus the gridlock. I look at my watch and sigh.

We reached the consulate in Um Al-Qurra street after an hour on the road and parked in front the beige building just behind a police car. We see the Tent City beside the consulate. There is a vacant lot beside the consulate building. Was vacant... because it no longer is. This was the tent city months before. Now, the lot is filled with camping tents of all sizes, people milling about like they're in a place in Manila. It was hard to believe that the tent city is literally a tent city. After all, aren't tents made for summer picnics, treks and hiking in the mountains, or camping on a shore?

Outside the consulate, a line of Filipinos snakes its way in all directions. There were many people waiting for their turn at this hour. The temperature, the last time, we checked was around 40 degrees. We were marveling at the patience of these people when we heard a loud rap in one of our rented vehicle's windows. A man asked us what we want. We told him we're waiting for someone. I choked back my thought... "We want to help." But that didn't seem right. Seeing this first-hand; the number of people inside the tent city, the number of people in line to legalize their status, the number of people coming and going... I came to realize, we cannot help... enough.

Our contact, Mr. Kenji Solis of PEBA Inc. ushered us inside. The girls and I carried whatever we could from the groceries we bought at a hypermarket. Some men from the tent city and volunteers of PEBA came to help us. The energetic Jasmin, PEBA's volunteer and herself seeking to legalize her papers, directed where each box goes. A system where there was none materialized out of need. The packs of loaves, bottles of mineral water, and trays of eggs go to the Tent City. The huge packs of diapers, boxes of pastries, and sachets of coffee go to the shelter inside the consulate where a number of women and their children were housed.

We passed through the gates of the consulate and we feel the eyes of those in line on our backs. Uneasiness crept while we bypassed the long lines to enter. We climbed to the topmost floor and saw for ourselves what kind of life our distressed kabayans are currently leading. The top floor of the consulate is filled with women and children who Jasmin had lined up to receive the meager stuff we brought for them. Almost everyone lined up carrying their babies with them asking for a specific size of diaper, a piece of bread, and a sachet of coffee that can only serve one.

What are we doing here? That's one of the first things that entered my mind when the giving began. It didn't seem right to be here, to invade these people's privacy, to act like we know what they're going through, to pretend we understand how they arrived in these circumstances, and to radiate a positive energy assuring them that every thing will be all right. Being in the shelter, and also later on in the tent city, was a harsh snap into a reality that we didn't know.

Our kabayans sleep on thin mattresses lying beside each other. Some of them live outside the building into the terrace that has only sheets of canvas to protect them from the heat. When a sandstorm strikes, they go inside and huddle like sardines into the rooms already filled with people. Fans battle the heat of day but they can only produce relief in brief intervals, blowing air that is as hot as the wind outside. There are rooms allocated for the pregnant and the babies; the air-conditioning going on-off, on-off on certain hours. (And we, the privileged ones, already complain of the hot weather after a minute or two of walking under the sun.)

We had to duck low in entering the inner sanctum of the tent city. At the back is a kitchen where all donations are gathered and a group of kabayans lead and cook for the others. They're huddled in makeshift mats in the floor while a few chop and boil the day's supper. A table serve as a mini pharmacy where all donated medicines are stored. A man talks to us about the conditions of living in the tent city and what is the status of the illegal workers. The gist of it is... there are things being done, papers are being processed, but all eventually gets clogged in the agencies in-charge. There are so many of them but so little time.

I feel so present in the midst of this chaos but I also felt detached. I felt the suffering, saw it for myself, but a disconnection gnaws my inside. Yes, The Pink Tarha ladies are not in the shoes of our kababayans in the tent city. We do not know suffering in the kind they are experiencing right now. After this visit, we will all go back to Riyadh feeling far away, not only in distance, but also in mind. The faces and names of everyone we met creates a mishmash of hastily put directories in our brains, blurring as days go by. This is not our struggle, not our fight, but then again, we want to help in ways that we can. Remember what we most Filipinos are known for? Bayanihan.

Eyecandy remembers the time when we were lined up at the grocery. A fellow kababayan wondered and asked what all our trolleys of groceries were for? She answered, it's for the people of the Tent City. He replied, "Ano yung Tent City?" (What is the tent city?) It caught her off guard considering that this man obviously lived and worked in Jeddah and yet he was not aware that such a thing was going on within his community. But for whatever reason that this person was caught unaware, Eyecandy believes (and we share her belief) that this is what we should work towards to: awareness. Let us not let our fellow kababayans suffer under the heat of the sun and the mercy of a faulty bureaucratic process without at least making it known. Because it is only through our awareness of the issue that our humanity can be triggered. 

The Pink Tarha ladies may as well be just bloggers. Just fellow OFWs. But we are all first and foremost, people. Our humanity lies in our compassion for others and for those in need. While we acknowledge that we don't have any legal authority or influence to empirically change and alleviate the situation in the Tent City, we must more importantly recognize that it should not be a hindrance for us to help, in any way that we can. Be it in terms of donations of daily goods, medicines (which they badly need) and most importantly, our time. Yes, we may appear to be powerless in a problem such as this. And yes, we know that the best solution for them is to get these displaced OFWs back home. But if we believe that there is no power in the human connection, in having a heart that gives and shares, and in a prayer so deep and sincere, then what does that say about our humanity? What does that say about the Filipino spirit?

Hope and love.

If there's anything that was etched in my memory, it would have to be the children; their faces smiling and full of hope and dreams, their innocence being eaten slowly by their dire circumstances, by their parents' sacrifices and mistakes (whichever apply), by the action of the governments of two countries, and by the days swallowed whole by the unforgiving weather. If there's any thing more we pray for other than the resolution of each case and status, it would have to see these children in an environment where they are free to grow as healthy and happy as they can be.

We continuously pray not only for our kababayans, but also for everyone -- from Jeddah to Riyadh to other various cities and provinces -- affected in these new labor laws in various ways than one. May these cities of gridlock be alleviated soon. 

~ A Sundrenched + Eyecandy collaboration entry

* Donations can be given through Mr. Kenji Solis of PEBA Inc. You can contact him at kenjebz@gmail.com or via the PEBA Inc. Facebook page.

** We would like to thank Jollibee KSA, Mr. Julius Alfonso, and Ms. Jou Pabalate for their sponsorship and donations making this gift-giving possible.

*** Photos will be added soon.

Home Sweet Home

Isn’t Home Sweet Home all we long for? 

The first week’s winners of Cebu Pacific’s 100 Lucky Juans Contest has just been proclaimed and I noticed that all of five of them focused on talking about going home to their provinces and families. Indeed, home is where our heart is!

Read on to see who won and what their entries encapsulated: 

Jive Gonzales, who is a native of Aklan talked about the different places that she misses back home like Tanay, Antipolo and of course, Aklan. One of the highlights of her photo was the famous Ati-Atihan Festival of her hometown. 

John-John Cabrillos had this vision of his homecoming in mind and particularly mentioned his fond memories of Cebu, where he is from. His photo really expressed his longing to be back home. 

Ernesto Payumo was unique in his submission by writing a Tagalog poem in honor of his hometown, San Miguel, Bulacan and how this photo shows a view that he would always want to come home to. 

In Jheddalyn Aquino’s winning entry, she talks about how coming home to the Philippines brings everyone together, including her soon-to-be husband’s family. 

Lastly, Joan Ramos plans to surprise her family by coming home should she win this contest. And yay for her because she can definitely do that now! 

Congratulations to all the winners and may you all have a sweet homecoming ahead of you courtesy of Cebu Pacific! 

There are still a lot of chances to win a seat in Cebu Pacific's first Dubai-Manila flight in October! Submit your entries to the 100 Lucky Juans contest now! ;)

*This is a sponsored post. However, all opinions in this entry are The Pink Tarha's.

How To Keep Your Cool When Your Flight Gets Cancelled

You've probably read it in our Facebook page that NAS Air canceled our flight from Jeddah to Riyadh, and we were mighty pissed about it. You have no idea how much we disliked NAS that night they called about the cancellation. Yes, we've probably cursed them a few times before remembering we were still about to fly them for the Riyadh to Jeddah flight. Whoops! So we held our tongues and thought it over. Others might have just shrugged off the cancellation but for us, it left us in quite an unusual predicament. 

You know that the three Pink Tarha ladies are officemates right? So all of us must be in Jeddah before  Thursday, make/attend the event on Friday, and get back to Riyadh in time for our work at 7:00 am on Saturday. Eyecandy and I (with our friend Jou of Destination Riyadh) flew on Wednesday morning to meet the Piatto team in the afternoon. Shoegarfreeruby stayed in the office and finished the work on Wednesday and flew around 10pm with our friend Jamila. So by Thursday, we were all in Jeddah. 

RUH-JED flight via Nas Air; the city of Jeddah below

Our supposed return flight was 10:00 pm on Friday night and we'll be arriving Riyadh around midnight. Sounds like a good plan eh? Yep, until Nas cancelled our return flight. The entire flight was cancelled on Tuesday evening. Yes, we know that they gave us a few days notice but here are the reasons why that cancellation didn't really sit well with us despite the heads up a few days earlier:

• There are no longer available flights on Friday night. Being the end of the weekend, visitors to Jeddah, of course, wanted to go back to Riyadh before the start of another workweek so Saudia, the major airline that handles domestic flights, is fully booked. We were ready to pay for another return airfare but there was no available seat left. Air Arabia doesn't have a scheduled flight on Friday. How convenient, right?! Of all the days and of all the flights they could've cancelled, it's ours. 
• There is an available flight via Nas Air at 9:30 on Friday morning. If we take that, or one of us takes it, then it wouldn't make any sense right? We/she would have missed the entire Pink Tarha Mornings, the reason why we're in Jeddah in the first place. If worst comes to worst, it became an option that one of us would have to go at that flight but well, it's just heartbreaking, really. We worked hard for this event and we wouldn't want to miss it. 
• The next available Nas flight is 12 noon of Saturday, which is also not an option since all or one of us must be in the office for Saturday. Unless we want to lose our jobs in the process of deflecting a scheduled editorial meeting on Saturday. We have to be in the office by 7:30 am and it's not like it's a Deal or No Deal scenario. It's just the only deal, the only right choice. 
• There's no way we're traveling 12 hours by bus or by taxi back to Riyadh. It's too long of a road trip. (The last time I did this lengthy travel was when I went to Bicol when I was in grade 2. Not sure if I'm fit for it anymore.) Add that to the fact that we’ve probably unlearned the art of commuting in our years living in Riyadh. (Arte much?! Haha!) 

So... yes, we were quite caught in a dilemma. Should one of us go back early and miss the event? Should one of us not come just in case there would be further delays and we all miss the meeting on Saturday? Should we re-schedule the event and blame Nas for it? Should we go on that friggin' 12-hour bus trip and ride with the wind SAPTCO? Should we just think it through and look at it the way we have always looked at things in Saudi Arabia? Silver linings and good vibes. 

The Nas Air plane from the KKIA boarding area; and E's coffee while waiting

This is how we kept our cool, and how you should keep yours when caught in the same predicament: 

1. Think of other alternatives. When the airline customer service called me regarding the cancellation, I was packing my clothes and getting ready for a beauty sleep (chos) before the flight on Wednesday morning. I sat dumbfounded for a minute after the customer rep nonchalantly said “hello, your flight from Jeddah to Riyadh was canceled… you have 3 options, 1. Rebook your flight (ME thinking: "The available flights are useless with the schedule that we have!"), 2. Put your fare in our system as credit for future flights with NAS (Me shouting on my head: "Naaah, I don’t think so!") 3. Refund! (ME fuming inside: "And wait for 21 days?!?")” but I recovered enough of my senses to do the logical thing to do: go online and search for alternative flights in other airlines. Unfortunately for us, there were none. 

2. Tell your friends. I would have liked to have more options to suggest to my friends when I tell them about the cancellation but it's getting late and I have to tell them already. It proved to be a good thing because more minds working for a solution is better than having my mind burst with worry, doubt, and anxiety. Considering them made decisions easier and faster. Albeit, they didn’t know what to do at first too. Haha! 

3. Breathe for a moment when you get stumped. There's no easy answer to every thing. It doesn't come fast enough so when we couldn't come to a conclusion, we decided to let the matter rest for a minute again and worry about it in a few hours or so. I actually slept through it. A surprising move from the OC me who doesn't let go until I get enough answers. But for this one, I just let it go. We weren't the cause of this problem and I know that an answer will come, if not immediately, then in the morning. 

4. Pray. You know the saying that God doesn't give you anything you can't handle? Well, believe it. We believed it. 

5. Mind your attitude. Don't let tempers flare. So okay, we all thought of things to complain about Nas but well, after a few hours of landing in Jeddah, we thought it's useless to feel ill will towards them. Of course, we would pitch in "kasalanan kasi ng Nas 'to eh," whenever we encounter tight spots (like rushing to the bus station like there's no tomorrow) but it became an inside joke already which leads to... 

6. Laugh. Because really, laughter is the best medicine. And Eyecandy is considered our nurse when it comes to laughing our asses off. Our problems seem to vanish when we laugh together. Or okay, when we eat too. Haha. 

Counting hours inside the SAPTCO bus. It's 4:00am and we were nearing Riyadh.

7. For goodness' sake, go on the 12-hour bus trip with your friends! Because it proved to be a fun trip. Tiring, yes, but as Eyecandy said, it's one test of friendship and I think we survived with flying colors (because we slept most of the time… no time to bicker and complain, hehe, kidding!). The bus trip was better than we expected. Don't tell Nas but we think the Saptco bus has even bigger and wider interiors than theirs. Hehe. (hashtag bitter hahaha) 

The Pink Tarha ladies are not the reklamador (whiny complainants) types. We're patient and understanding, more than the average Jane (honest!). I mean, The Pink Tarha, a blog of positive vibes, wouldn't exist if we don't have enough patience and understanding but sometimes, our emotions get the better of us. Whatever the reason Nas canceled our flight that night, we don't care anymore (as long as we get our refund back! Please?!). Every thing that happened has a reason. Maybe the plane has a defect and riding it would have been disastrous or maybe someone rented it and well poor us, we couldn't do just that. :P

You might be thinking why we even flew Nas in the first place... well, it's not really just the airfare (they're almost the same as Saudia's) but the time schedule and the experience. We want to write about our experience with them... and well, we got our article right here. This is our experience with Nas. It might not be your experience but it is ours. You are free to share your experience with Nas in the comment section below. 

The sky above the deserts of Arabia

We still wish Nas Air the best and we bear no ill feelings toward them. We are too blessed to be stressed. Besides, the flight to Jeddah was uneventful and the crew was all right. We hope they wouldn't, or any airline for that matter, cancel any other flight to avoid giving their customers undue stress and problems. We are thankful that we arrived in Riyadh safe and sound. 

Also a quick tip for this summer: carry a bottle of water with you. The temperature is rising in the desert and you need something to cool you off? Water it is! (Keep it chilled if possible.) We met a lot of hotheaded people so they definitely need some cold water to pour on their heads to drink. :P

Breathe, people, breathe! Keep calm and carry lang! ;) ~ Sundrenched