smokin'!!!

i've given up smoking years ago. but recently i had an affair with this candy-flavored, clove-scented slims from indonesia -- Sampoerna A Mild.

my encounter with sampoerna happened last july during my visit to jakarta. my friend took me out for some sight-seeing around the city. somehow, everytime i'm in a new place, it has always been my tendency to be curious with sidewalk sceneries -- where are the traffic and law enforcers, how they look like, what's their version of "bangketa", street vendors, what are the wares being sold (dibidi, bisidi... yup they have that too) etc etc.

my friend, who is a smoker, showed me the more popular local cigarette brands, gudang garam and sampoerna -- which i ended up buying as pasalubongs for my smoker officemates -- and he specifically recommended that i try the latter.

i did, and that's how it started -- i went home with two packs (note: dalawang kaha) of sampoerna for myself. "sampoerna", by the way, means perfection in indonesia.

i smoked the last stick yesterday. with one long drag and puff, i ended my affair with smoke, and will not get into any more smoking activity unless it's a chance to puff a rare cuban cigar, or if my friends treat me again to a hookah bar. ^_^'

speaking of hookah, i got another look at this memorable smoking pipe last weekend when my girlfriend and i watched "La Bayadere" by Ballet Manila. "La Bayadere" is:

A three-act Petipa/Chabukiani/Minkus ballet masterpiece set in India, which tells the story of Nikiya, a bayadere or temple dancers who is caught in the middle of a forbidden love for the warrior Solor and the unrequited love of the High Brahmin. Forced to wed Gamzatti, the Rajah's daughter, Solor watches helplessly as Nikiya is murdered during the celebration. An opium-manifested dream reunites the two lovers in one of the most demanding acts in Russian Ballet - the evening's finale set in the Kingdom of Shades. -- Malaya Online

it's all about forbidden love and opium-induced dreams, thus the hookah stood symbolically on the stage at the end of the last act.

The ticket was sold at Php125, and later can be exchanged at star city for a ride-all-you-can ticket. not a bad deal at all. nothing like a good bumper car ride to get the blood flowing after the two-hour show.