Philippines Trip - Day 5

28^th November 2007 (Wednesday)

Although the activities started yesterday, but the opening ceremony was held today. At first it was expected that the president of Philippines, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would attend this opening ceremony, but at the end she sent her representative to represent her. The opening ceremony was filled of country report by each ASEAN country and a conference with a theme of “Engineering, Energy and the Environment: Ensuring Survival For Future Generations.” The objective of the theme is to urge all engineers to use its engineering skills to tackle the burgeoning issues of the environment in ASEAN region or even in the world. From the conference, I learnt different perspective from different country to address this arising issue in their country.

At night Philippines Young Engineers (YEP) organized a fellowship for all the young delegates at a restaurant. All the young delegates attended this event until we needed to combine all the tables together to form one long table. Frankly, that was the longest ever table I had ever seen in my life. It looked like a global village there where everybody shared their views from different point of view from their country. I even knew two engineering students, one from Philippines and one from Cambodia. The fun part of it was every country needed to sing a song after our dinner. What was truly unforgettable was the song we sang together during the dinner. I think that was the most memorable moment of my trip in Cebu. This was how our friendship was fostered through these activities and relationship between us was getting better and better.

A Malaysian-turn-Singapore MP, Er. Lee Bee Wah

Prof. Chuah was there...

Head of delegation from each country

The result after the shopping time

Fellowship at Night

Clubbing Session at Night

Philippines Trip - Day 4

27^th November 2007 (Tuesday)

Today marked the beginning of the conference which all kind of serious engineering issues would be discussed deeply in our meeting later. That would be the main purpose why I came all the way from Malaysia – to lead the formation of Engineering Students of ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organizations (ESAFEO). When Malaysia first proposed it to the ASEAN countries, it had mixed reactions from the ASEAN countries; some back it up and some disagrees. At first to vote whether to form the ESAFEO, it was a tie. After a series of argument and discussion, we got supports from Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia, Brunei and Thailand. Therefore, from next year onwards, all countries will bring their student leader to attend YEAFEO in respective countries.

In the afternoon session, all countries including non-ASEAN countries were giving a country presentation. From these presentations, we learnt from each country and knew what are the activities or program running in their countries like courses, technical visit to other countries, specific program for student members and etc. I could feel the great vision of each country to bring their engineering institution to higher level. After the presentations, it was the time for souvenirs exchange. Every country brought their country unique souvenirs to exchange with all other countries. Friendship was building up gradually since we first arrived here.

At night, I felt the privilege being invited by the Cebu governor to dinner at the governor’s office. It was a very grand dinner where everyone was treated like a special guest. We even had police to escort to the dinner venue! What was even more interesting was the present of former president of Philippines, Fidel V. Ramos at the dinner. The speech given by him was full of laughter and insightful, of which he analyzed the engineering problems and solution during his day as the president.

YEAFEO Family

Dancers for the dinner

Nice dining hall

fantastic performance

Philippines Trip - Day 3

26^th November 2007 (Monday)

Morning was busy packing up our things and checked out as the flight to Cebu is at 1pm. We couldn’t visit anywhere with this little of time. So right after our breakfast we already headed to domestic airport to wait our flight and settled our lunch at the airport itself. As usual for a budget airline, the flight was delayed one hour. The flight time from Manila to Cebu is only one hour. At around 3pm in the afternoon, we finally arrived our desired destination – Mactan-Cebu International Airport. As soon as we stepped out from the immigration checkpoint, we were surprised by warmth and hospitality shown by a team a people who welcomed us even we yet stepped out of the airport. Then they guided us our hotel in Cebu by taxi.

In the heart of the Philippine archipelago lies Cebu, a prosperous island endowed with natural beauty and rich heritage. Known as the “Queen City of the South”, although it has no bustling city like it is in Manila, its tranquil and peaceful atmosphere makes it a great holiday destination. While on the way to our hotel, we saw a village style living standard of people here, very slow pace and laid back. In addition to its historical prominence where it was the first arrival point of Ferdinand Magellan in Philippines, Cebu also offers stretches of white sand beaches and pristine waters, but too bad we didn’t have a chance to visit any beaches in Cebu due to the heavy conference schedule.

At night, we had our dinner at a local Filipino restaurant to taste their local food. Young engineers from Japan, Indonesia and Myanmar were invited to join us as well. Through a series of conversations, we got the delegates from different country better and built and strong sense of friendship.

with Thailand Delegates

Eva, my Philippines buddy

Masato-san and Ken-san

Philippines Trip - Day 1&2

24^th November 2007 (Saturday)

Excitement was filled with everyone of us who are going to Philippines at 1am flight by Cebu Pacific Airline. Led by our head of delegation, Mr. Yau Chau Fong, who is also the chairman of Young Engineers Session of Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM), the Malaysia’s delegation consisted of 15 young engineers and students embarked on a one week trip to attend Young Engineers of ASEAN Federation of Engineering (YEAFEO) in Cebu, Philippines.

At LCCTHappy pose at check in counter

25^th November 2007 (Sunday)

After nearly 4 hours of flight, our plane finally touched down at Ninoy Aquino International Airport at around 5am in the morning. Although it was still early in the morning, we could already feel the hospitality of our Filipinos counterpart as Robin, Rina, Nori and JP from Young Engineers Philippines (YEP) waited us at the airport to welcome us!! It’s so nice of them! The first impression of them had already shown that this trip would be a friendly one.

After putting our luggage and having our breakfast in one of a local restaurant, we started our exploration tour in Makati City, the most modern city in Metro Manila. Unlike the old city of Manila, the Makati city is really a well planned city where many reputable offices and hotels set their base here. Besides, Makati city is also a very secured city. Maybe because of the bombing incident happened in the last few years, the high security level is implemented everywhere. Even at outside of a hotel, you can see many security armed with M-16 guarding the building.

Staying in Manila you can see one similar situation with Malaysia is the traffic here. I think the traffic jam there is even worse than in Malaysia. What even surprised me was that their traffic jam there even could allow sale persons to sell their products like newspapers, peanuts, drinks and etc. in the middle of the highway! Thinking of the similar situation in Malaysia, I think Malaysian can tap on this unexplored business opportunities in Malaysia.

Dinner treated by our Filipino friends

One day stopover in Manila was really not enough for us to fully experience the culture of this capital city of Philippines, but we had satisfied for what we had seen and experienced here.