ON THE WAGON IN JAKARTA

In the Tsukemen style, chilled ramen noodles are supposed to be dipped in a hot soup, like pushing back Melbourne before conceding to submit a revised annual development plan, one dish but served separately, like a stack of plates in a Nasi Padang dinner at Garuda and Sederhana Satrio, separate plates for an ayam pop (lightly fried chicken), beef rendang, gulai kepala ikan (fish head curry), gulai kikil (beef tendon curry), gulai ayam (chicken curry), and sambal cabe ijo (green chilli sambal) for one big meal.    

These festive hidang meals are like an express laundry service procured with borrowed Transjakarta service cards that somewhat moderated the enthusiasm of last week's bender as transcribed in a communique by a quintet of feather pens from the 19th floor of Jalan Marga Satwa Raya where a lame lunch of mie goreng ayam (stir-fried noodles with chicken) was cursed. 

Then it rained with acronyms --- a sober ANCP, abstinent MEAL, teetotaling PRISMA --- to catalyze two days of induction into a knowlege hub after two dry days of riding a thinking tank that got stop by the green light for Option 2 --  freshly cooked and mildly spicy mie Aceh (Aceh noodles) that was tempered with a heated afternoon meeting and 10 skewers of sate kambing --- as printed in a boarding pass at the check-in counter of PR 536.

Temperance held for 4 days before succumbing with the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon to Friday the 13th's temptous pritong tilapia at bangus in Bakal 2 where an angelic cashier worked out in Nueva Vista warehouse gym during the mass for a Sunday of the Forefathers...

THE CONVENINGS (From Kuala Lumpur to Bakal 2 to Rizal)

There was a 2-hour sleep on PR 530 and another 2 hours on the bus to Cabanatuan.

Several drams of blended whiskey from the Lodge in Baloc induced another 2-3 hours of slumber before the blood of Christ was poured from bottled malbec into canned brytos to celebrate the convening of Almaguer in Bakal 2.  

Five days earlier, the first convening finally arrived in Kuala Lumpur to chase emails at the lobby of the Berjaya Times Square where Ah Hei concocted its Michellin Bib Gourmand-listed meat bone tea (bak kut teh) from 16 Chinese herbs to lead an ingress to an egress.

That was enough to salvage Session 1 and fuel the briefings of Session 2 despite the distracting perfume of what is said to be the best grilled chicken wings in all of Kuala Lumpur but definitely not the case for a spur-of-the-moment nasi lemak at Jalan Alor.

Indeed, the sight, sound, and smell of Jalan Alor is a proper sequel for The Clash of the Titans who hijacked the wifi signal of Manhattan V to enable the notetakers until they were smitten by a podcast and have to be revived with grilled lamb chops and the Malaysian version of Oysters Rockefeller.

That is probably why The Facilitator took control of D-Day to ensure that the ensuing work plan will publish a communique that will nudge the Lao Initiative into concluding the first convening as listed in the agenda of a PMU meeting on [1] how to properly queue for a crispy beef roti, [2] explain the dried prawns in a sauteed pork intestines, and [3] understand why Chinese fried pork ribs have a pink hue.

There were tall beeers too --- Danish Carlsberg, Singaporean Tiger, Dutch Heineken, Irish Guinness --- and high buildings --- the Petronas Twin Towers and Merdeka 118 --- to celebrate Sek Yuen's Bib Gourmand-listed roasted pipa duck and coming to terms with a golden pulp of Musang King Durian as a result of exceeding expectations and confirming three goals for FY 2025-26.

And so it was that grilled SNR steak was offered at the second convening in Bakal 2 and left-over Bicol Express for the third convening in Rizal where two $50 bills were lost, found, and married...

GREEN IN TARLAC

It was like the last 5 kilometers of a Giro d'Italia mountain stage.

Two teams from Phnom Penh were bunched together in the peloton while the the team from Manila was hampered by a puncture from the 4th credit card to be shredded and was behind.  

They caught up eventually by drafting behind the lead-out of a support vehicle from Singapore that just delivered a consolidated annual development plan to Melbbourne who can't get over a midterm assessment report and has not responded to a request for reallocation.

Into the flamme rouge, the chatter from a weekly meeting clustered around an agenda and its list of partcipants that were being flashed in digital signages as a risk register and a logistics note. 

PLDT was unBoxed and NEECO 2 got unplugged in the last 500 meters as bills got paid and things were procured. 

The Jakarta induction was almost outsprinted by a research project on financing coal phase-out but came back strong on Sunday morning. 

Thus was how Kuala Lumpur got dressed in a green jersey, a homage to emails chased and inboxes exorcised of draft recommendations on social protection and 5-month old timesheets from a wedding cocktail in Tarlac that also held review classes for a sales representative and a student driver.

The goals for 2025-26 were set in a private resort where it was announced that the Phantom Biker is also Boy Ramen, the vagabond of MOA, connoiseur of sinampalukang ulo ng kambing, and a sucker for makunat na salami and maalat na pistachio nuts...