Malaysia: More adventure activities in Kota Kinabalu and Sabah

I flew back to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia a few days ago. After doing the leisurely activities around Kota Kinabalu and Sabah last month, I decided to do the adventure stuff for my return trip. I visited Kinabalu Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and trekked up 3554 meters of Mount Kinabalu. The day after my descent, I tried out whitewater rafting on the Kiulu River. Watch out for the continuation of my Kota Kinabalu and Sabah series.

Pampanga: Outlet shopping at Robinsons Starmills Pampanga

Those who've been to the U.S. should be familiar with outlet shopping. Outlet malls are usually out-of-town and people drive there to shop at these outlet malls. They usually sell clothes and other items from the last season at really attractive prices. If you still don't know, there's an outlet mall here in the Philippines in San Fernando, Pampanga. I'm sure we pass by Robinsons Starmills Pampanga all the time we use the NLEX not realizing it's actually an outlet mall.



Well-known brands like Mango, Guess, All Flip Flops, American Rag, Adidas, Nike, Space, Plains and Prints, Mogao and Collezione are just some of the notable brands which have outlet stores there that give really hefty discounts. For the ladies, dresses at Mango could go as low as Php350!


And while at Robinsons Starmills, don't forget to visit Fiesta Kapampangan. Unlike the usual mall food court, Fiesta Kapampangan offers mainly Kapampangan cusine which I'm sure you'll all enjoy. I'll talk about this in another entry.

How to get to Robinsons Starmills
Robinsons Starmills Pampanga is located at the San Fernando Exit of the NLEX. If taking public transportation, Victory Liner has a terminal at the mall itself. Buses will drop you off at the rear entrance. For other bus companies, most buses that go to Olongapo pass by San Fernando. You can ask the driver to drop you off at the San Fernando Exit.

Malacañang cancels August 23, 2010 non-working holiday

While I agree that keeping the holiday on the day of the actual holiday preserves the solemnity of the observance, I believe Malacañang was very inconsiderate in issuing Proclamation No. 13 stating that "Ninoy Aquino Day shall be observed this year as a nationwide special (non-working) holiday on 21 August 2010 (Saturday) instead of August 23."

Holiday economics has induced people to plan their travel early. I personally have booked tickets on the previously scheduled long-weekends this month. It's totally naive of Malacañang to think that most people plan their travel back home to the provinces or for recreation just a few days before a holiday. What do they want our countrymen to do, forfeit their plane, ferry or bus tickets? Cancel paid hotel bookings? Take leaves from work or absent kids from school because of long-scheduled family vacations? Could this be a result of the executive disorder the Philippine Daily Inquirer was talking about?

Any changes to holiday economics should be done next year. And policy has to be made clear so people would not anticipate any more long-weekends. Unless the president wants to be accused of siding with business interests again, I do hope he reconsiders this decision because many of our countrymen are looking forward to these long-weekends later this month.

Update (08/13/10): According to Malacañang, August 30 will remain a non-working holiday in observance of National Heroes Day.