Sykes Grand Year End Party

My sister works for Sykes and I don't, let's get that out there. I don't know much about the company but I've heard good things about them. Especially the guys from my old company who transferred there for greener pasture and professional growth. They've been working hard, and every year Sykes makes it a point that Sykesers (as they call em) get a little bit of reward. A little in the tune of Php 2 Million worth of prizes.

This happened last December and they dubbed it “SYKES FUTURE FORWARD: The SYKES 2015 Year-End Celebration”. Since they were on the futuristic side of things, they got all 5,000 Manila based employees to play dress up at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. They also raffled off prizes like a 32 inch Samsung LED TV, Ipad Mini 3, Mac Book Air, FujiFilm Instax Mini 8, an iPhone 6, Go Pro, and the latest Samsung smartphones. Since that is small (oh yes I kid), they took the liberty of having their main man VP and Country Manager Dean Van Ormer to give away the grand prize of Php 150,000 plus 2 more Php100,000 winners just because they liked it. That's one of the things they did to make them happy since they've worked so hard this 2015.

They also had fun with employees strutting out their stuff, holding a competition to see who the best company based dance group is. The winner declared was "True Sight of the Kaleidoscope". They also didn't forget to award Rich Dingding (Male Category) and Gemma de Lima (Female Category) for the garb they wore as they declared the most "Fashion Forward".

The work life balance they want each Sykes employee to have looks but a reality. They also rewarded “SYKESClista”, an employee based organization as “SYKES Choices Club” awardee for 2015. They have a lot and not many BPO offices have that. I'm sure some of you can tell, and it is essential to make the employees happy. If that ain't enough, they threw in Parokya Ni Edgar and had the greatest concert of their lives in the venue. That's just fun! Now I want to be with Sykes. Can they take me in? LOL!

Congratulations Sykes and your 13,000 employees, you did good!

For more information about their company:

Sykes

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Visit their official website

https://careersph.sykes.com/

Tasty Dumpling in Binondo

We braved the streets of Manila again to get to Binondo, one of the city's great food destinations. I rode the MRT2 which is bigger and wider compared to the sardine can like MRT3 in Edsa. It's pretty convenient, but like any public transportation you must be reminded to take care of your belongings since there are a lot of crooks when traveling here.

It's nice and roomy, and the coaches look good too as they've got advertisers covering them up as moving billboards. Like this one with AlDub on them!

Which I know you'll find cute too. After going down on the Recto station, I rode a jeep to Divisoria. I never bought anything the first time I shopped there and unfortunately, I didn't find anything interesting again so I went right across the street and walked a bit further to the Binondo district where most restaurants were still open even on holidays.

I saw a small bridge in the middle (I forgot the name) but it made me cross the street easier and didn't have to go around the area. There was also a small dumpling seller on the street right after this which I'm going back to soon. It's cheaper I think and most of the Chinese people in the area bought their dumplings there too. I will go back definitely.

I was gearing towards having dinner in Eng Bee Tin the famous hopia shop which consequently also had their own Chinese restaurant too right beside it. I bought hopia, peanut ampao, white tikoy and corn tikoy for take out then walked a little more towards the Binondo Church.

It was a little funky there because they had horses manure and piss on the road which I think should be something the local government should probably do something about. This is the San Lorenzo Ruiz Minor Basilica. Then there's a nice spot across the street.

The Plaza San Lorenzo Ruiz is nice but there were tons of street kids that would spoil the view, they'll keep asking you for change so don't do that as they'll get used to it. I saw some of them using rugby, not a good thing..

Anyway, I walked on the left side of the church and saw Tasty Dumpling. It's not my first time because I've been to their Banawe branch, but first time here in Binondo. It's a bit small, can fit around 20-30 people and most locals have dinner or lunch here I think. They have a huge sign not to bring BAON because students probably do that on regular days LOL!

I ordered two drinks. One is the Wintermelon Juice (that tastes like sago without the actual sago part) and the best seller Dalandan Juice (which tastes like the fruit, a little tangy but sweet).

I also got two types of dumplings. The original one is just pork, the other is called Kuchai which means it's pork and spring onions on it. They have light soy and vinegar plus home made chili which you can dip the dumplings into. Make sure you eat it while it's hot because it's just gonna be better.

For those looking for something filling, Tasty Dumpling has the BEST Pork Chop. It's served as Pork Chop Rice with  some really good sweet and savory sauce over it. It's like the Taiwanese pork chop but I guess it's their version. It's huge too and probably good to share. If you're a bit hungry, I suggest you order more rice from their menu as they've got that too. Service was also fast, they got my order fixed in as short as 5 minutes I think. How's that for fastfood no?! They are located at 960 Ongpin Street right beside Binondo Church so you wouldn't really miss it.

I want to see more hole in the wall restaurants in my next posts. Stay tuned for that. As for now, I'd like to wish you guys a very happy new year! Thank you for reading this and thank you also for making my 2015 a good one. Let's make 2016 even better!

Ciao!

KUMAGCOW

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For more information about their restaurant:

Tasty Dumplings

Like them on Facebook


Visit their official website

http://tastydumplings.com

A Happy Happy Kidsmas with TV5

Had so much fun during the media Christmas party of TV5. They dubbed it as Happy Happy Kidsmas to bring back the kid in us. Of course there are TV5 home grown stars here and I can't wait to see who's performing! 

We were greeted first by buddy Bret Jackson. I was just talking to him last night about his type of music, I think he was singing haha.. But he was sure to say he sounded better last night as it was better after midnight. I hope he gets to write music and perhaps have his own album too. He's still making Wattpad episodes and I like him being paired with Ella Cruz. Doesn't #UmBrElla sound fancy?

Also in the event (who personally also handshaked us) was TV5's CEO Noel Lorenzana.

I love Mark Neumann and Shaira Mae and I've been religiously following their career and shows on the channel. Aside from the numerous Wattpad episodes they've been in this year, the two are also included in an ensemble cast in the afternoon show Happy Truck Ng Bayan. It's got tons of dance portions, games and surprises prepared by TV5's greatest artists and guests that the channel has to offer. I also saw the lovely and beautiful Malak So (in her stunning outfit and heels!), the equally gorgeous Chanel Morales (who danced so happily with the other artists), Alberto Bruno and super handsome Akihiro Blanco too. 

They also introduced the great programs this 2016 and called it a new campaign called FOLLOW ME TV5. Bebong Muñoz and Boss Vic Del Rosario also divulged 8-10 shows in the first part of 2016, and while having fun they believe this will be good. Top female stars are also gonna be there, a mestiza, a morena, Richard Gutierrez, Alonzo Mulach, Claudine Barretto, a BIG series with BIG scenes with TV5's artists and Viva artists too. They'll also be doing a few movies very soon. Isn't that good news?

To continue to get us to feel like kids again, Hi5 Philippines performed!

They were a nice bunch of guys and gals who teach kids a lot of things through entertainment. A good thing to have on TV today. Their show is on at 8:30AM everyday and 9:30AM on weekends.

Child star Alonzo Mulach also said hi before they ended the event. Thanks TV5!

Ciao!

KUMAGCOW

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Divisoria and Binondo After Christmas

Today was great! I had time to spare so I went to Divisoria and Binondo today and see if I could actually do a short photowalk in Manila's streets after Christmas. The last time I did this was during my D60Krew days back when we had time to do photowalks and didn't have jobs to bother. Anyway, I've been very discreet and careful about doing this because I don't know the place that much and it's been notorious for crimes (as seen on TV) so instead of lugging around my huge DSLR I just used my phone. It's been here since the dark ages, a part of Philippine history, where commerce brewed between the Tagalogs, the provinces and the Chinese. It's also the oldest Chinatown in the world and I couldn't have gone in an opportune time since the crowd has thinned out a bit. Let's start shall we?!

Betty Go - Belmonte Station

Recto Terminal Station

Recto Terminal Station stairway to exit

The short trek required me to take the MRT2 and go to the Recto station. Even if you're fresh, perfumed and all, you're going to smell like shawarma after passing this joint LOL. I took a jeep to Divisoria after that.

You won't really need to be dressed and all, so it'll be better if you're in rags so you kinda blend in and be incognito. I went to different malls like 999, 168 and a couple more just outside the buildings. It's like a complex, some are airconditioned and some are just out in the sun. I've seen a couple of foreigners carrying bags for their Filipina wives, and they looked like they were having fun. I was trying to look for a couple of things to shop for and ended up just people watching. I tried to shop but some of the things just looked cheap. I lowered my expectations of course, but if you think about it I'm the one who's going to wear the clothes and giving the gifts, the wrong grammar on the mugs and prints on the shirt were just too obvious and I might have to go there some other day and do the buying again if I find something good. I mean, I like the stuff in Greenhills and most of them come from Divisoria right? I might probably am looking at the wrong place, so that needs another visit.

I also got lost and ended up walking back from the wet market of Divisoria. I didn't know that was actually Recto too that the vendors are on. I looked at google maps and they were actual roads there. On the ground it was like Balintawak Market but only bigger, most were outside too.

So when I didn't get to buy anything, I got hungry. I went to Wai Ying, a hole in the wall Chinese fastfood restaurant in the district of Binondo. I didn't hold back ordering, as it was cheap and very good. I think it's my third time here.

This is their kitchen, there's a fryer back there and a huge steamer on the front counter. Most of their customers are Filipino Chinese which would probably vouch for their authenticity. 

Like in Hong Kong, they serve you hot tea for free before a meal. I wanted a glass of ice cold water but this will do lol.

I ordered the Hong Kong Iced Milk Tea. They have this in hot versions but I was already hot BOOM and it wouldn't make sense LOL.

I ordered these Beef Balls and should have ordered more. This was so good rather than just having Siu Mai no?

They had chili and soy sauce so ordering sharks fin (without sharks harmed on this meal) was but a good idea. It's pork and a few veggies, it was hot and amazing to have before having my main course.

There's like a 15 minute wait time for this and the shrimp dumpling, but it was so worth it. This is the Kuchai Dumpling (pork and spring onions I think?) and it was probably because of the glass like skin on them that actually deteriorates if steamed too much. Hence the wait time.

I was craving for Siopao since Christmas eve and since I was already here I said "what the heck!" so I ordered Bola Bola and Asado Siopao (2 pcs.) too. It was barbecuey, sweet and savory so I was already full even before my Mami came out of the kitchen.

For my main course (fine dining? Lol) I ordered Dumpling Mami. I know, I've been ordering too much of it but hey I like it. I don't like the gamey smell of carabeef  so I opted for the lighter more neutral Mami instead. I ate it all, yes! It's not impossible, you just have to put your mind into it. I'll be going back to Divisoria very soon and I'll be eating at some more Binondo restaurants, I'll post more as Kumagcow eats more of the streets next year. This was just fun not to repeat!

Merry Christmas by the way and ciao! Thanks to Smart's 3G and LTE connection I was posting non stop from there today!

KUMAGCOW

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