Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park's (PPSRNP)

We got to visit the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park's (PPSRNP) in Sabang last February 21.

Our very own PPSRNP or known simply as Underground River made it as one of the finalists to the New 7 Wonders of Nature. Please place your vote for PPSRNP at http://www.new7wonders.com/ so that our very own entry will make it as one of the new 7 wonders of nature

Iwahig Mangrove at Night

Went to Puerto Princesa, Palawan last February 20 and on our first night, we went firefly watching at Iwahig River.

Here are some of the photos i took using my canon G11

my PlayAsia Fedex shipment got Taxed!

my last order from PlayAsia, which i usually shipped via Fedex got taxed! and that aint the worst of it - not only did i got hit by a higher tax bracket (by classifying my figma toys as mechanical/electrical thus earning a 10% bracket instead of the 7% that is used for toys) - i got effing hit by a storage fee (for a day's storage mind you, and a relatively small box to boot), tax computation invariably effing included a brokers fee to compute for the VAT!

anyways...here are the charges i had to pay for my 2 Figma Shamal, which costs US$ 76.70 (including shipping cost of fedex):


a. Storage fee = P825.60
- regardless of how long your package stayed with customs before being cleared, you'll still get charged for a storage fee. Mine is only .9kg and contains 2 figmas..so you can imagine how small it is
- my package arrived Oct 3 Saturday and was cleared out by customs the next day (Sunday) and was delivered Oct 4 (at least attempted to deliver - as i havent paid for it yet).
- breakdown of charges:
GCR storage fee: 101.27
Service charge: 0.62
Deconsolidation fee: 283.50
documentation fee: 15.00
special release fee: 336.75
Plus vat of 12% 88.45

b. Custom form and stamps = P315.00 (no receipt)
- Customs doc stamps and bir P265
- forms P35
- notarial fee P15

c. Taxes and duties = P1,314.00

i had 2 figmas shipped. classified tariff heading 9503.08 (meant toy with electrical motor) - dapat 7% lang kasi ala naman electrical motor ang figma ...waahhh

Dutiable value: P3,956
Customs duty tax: 396 (Dutiable value x 10%)
Brokers fee: 700 (minimum brokers fee - included in Vat computation, but not billed as consideration na daw ng fedex)
Import Processing Fee (IPF) 250
Customs doc stamps (CDS) 250 (paid in item b )
BIR stamps: 15 (paid in item b )
Subtotal : P5,567.00
VAT of 12% 568.00

Summary of taxes to be paid:
Customs Duty tax: 396.00
VAT/Compensating tax: 668.00
Import Processing fee: 250.00
TOTAL to be paid: P 1,314.00

TOTAL A, B and C: Php 2,454.60

so in short, for 2 figmas i bought for P3,680.00 i had to pay an additional tax and others of P2,454.60

waahhhh

and according to the Ariel Castaneda of import section of fedex, they were advised that all shipments will now have to pass thru customs so automatic...or at least pag minalas ka...may storage fee charges ka na, may taxes and duties ka pa.

i dont mind so much the taxes...but the additional storage fee for having stored my little box for a day is too much!

Figma Gizmo (bundled with DVD Winter Fireball)

Figma Gizmo will be released by December 22, 2009 and will be bundled together with the DVD Fireball. This is an exclusive version of Figma Drossel (figma no: 38) which was released last June 2009.

In the meantime, the DVD Fireball regular release date will be on August 19, 2009 priced at Yen 5,600 (tax not included). You can order it from the Disney site

The same dvd content will be released again by December 22, 2009, this time, bundled with the Figma Gizmo (as shown on photo above), as manufactured by Max Factory. Pre orders are now open, also at the Disney site, from July 2 to August 31, 2009. The package is called DVD Winter Package Fireball, and is currenly priced at Yen 5,600 (tax not included) - same price as the dvd only release.

Photo review of articulated figures

mini photo comparison between Revoltech 2G Yotsuba vs. Revoltech Fraulein Rei & Rin vs Figma Yuki

Basically having them do same poses.

Standing: - no problems having them just stand around


Standing with their arms pulled back:hmm... fruelein rin has a problem with her shoulder. it kinda pops out when you do pose her arms at the back. Figma yuki cant pull her arms back at all, so its just at the side


action pose (kinda): Yuki and Yotsuba have no problems with this pose. Fraulein, have a bit of difficulty as you can see, i had to bend their feet waay too much to hold them in place


kneeling: no problems doing them


leaning back: jaz taking it easy. Figma Yuki couldnt hold the pose with her arms pulled back, but she can still lean back without falling


sitting down: Yuki sits kinda lady like. Yotsuba is a kid after all so indian sit, fraulein couldnt sit at all, so they are kinda leaning back.


overall, i'm partial to figma as they are doing the whole cast of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu and their facial scupts are great. Thing is, Yuki's head cant be posed looking up as her hair gets in the way.

Royal Rumble. Fighting it out. Who will come out on top?