Renalin

Eating a lot of salty foods such as potato chips, shrimp paste and instant ramen noodles might give you kidney problems, such as kidney stones. You can tell especially if you have pain at the waist area near the small of your back, as well as passing less urine than you normally do.

One time my lower back pain was so bad that I couldn’t sit still for 10 minutes. The doctor only gave me pain relievers that didn’t make the problem go away once the medication wore off. Then I remembered having eaten lots of junk foods for about 4 nights in a row, and I also held off on passing my urine more than a couple of times because I was talking with someone on the phone.

It’s not good to self-medicate, I know, but since Renalin is technically a “food supplement” I decided to give it a try. I took 1 capsule 3 times a day as recommended on the insert, and after ONLY 2 DAYS my lower back pain was gone!

If you love eating salty foods like me, I highly recommend taking Renalin because not only is it cheaper than any other brand that promotes kidney wellness, it’s also very effective and safe. I’ve taken up to 4 capsules a day without any adverse side effects.

Renalin contains the following herbal ingredients:

• Orthosiphon aristatus
• Lagerstroemia speciosa
• Blumea balsamifera
• Curcuma longa

These are traditional medicinal plants in the Philippines, 2 of which are listed in the Philippine pharmacopeia 1 and 2 are listed in the German Commission E. monograph. It’s priced at P10 per capsule as of 2011 and is available at the local Generics Pharmacy.

Malagos Garden Park and Watershed

The Malagos Garden Park and Watershed is the place you have to go through to get to the Philippine Eagle Center. It's maintained by the Davao City Water District in the Philippines.

An array of souvenir stores lines the entrance of the Malagos Garden Park, but these stores are relatively few. Many of the items they sell I think are made in Thailand and just slapped on with "Davao City" leather stamps.

But the local fruit produce are really cheap and tasty and I would recommend to any tourist to buy these. There are mangosteen, suha, durian, and coconuts. A couple of tribal natives go around selling some of their handmade bracelets made of natural materials.

The main attraction at the stores is this huge python that’s been domesticated and you can take pictures with it over your shoulders.

The Malagos Garden Park has a small area where they keep some animals like crocodiles and a few birds. There's a small playground for kids. It's cool and quiet and for five pesos you could have a nice picnic before going to the Philippine Eagle Center.

One thing I noticed is that although it's a sort of picnic area, there are no trash bins and yet the place is quite clean. I suppose this is because many of the tourists prefer to linger at the PEC.

Enjoying the cool, crisp forest for only five pesos is an excellent deal, but it’s really a very long drive from the city just to visit the Malagos Garden Park by itself. Prepare an extra 50 pesos and head on straight to the Philippine Eagle Center.

MoskiShield Mosquito Repellent Patch

If you are looking for a “safe and effective” mosquito repellent patch, don’t bother with MoskiShield. It didn’t work for me.

The first time I tried this was in my room. The label said “each patch protects you from mosquito bites for up to 24 hours. So I put two patches on the bedposts near my feet. The scent wafted from the patches and I slept securely, not worrying about mosquitoes. Next day, I still had mosquito bites around my ankles.

I had a lot of patches left, so the next day I attached another one at the bottom hem of my shorts before I went out to feed my dogs. I was expecting to get mosquito bites on my upper arms or even around my face and neck because I didn’t put a patch on my shirt. Guess what? I had mosquito bites on my legs.

I put more patches on the legs of my study table so that I could work comfortably. Nope, still didn’t work. Inside my closet they went: three patches on the sleeves of my shirts that were still on their hangers. I saw a couple of mosquitoes just dancing around, not bothering to avoid them.

Worse, after 5 days I was starting to develop asthma from the highly concentrated essential oils saturating the air in my room. There were two patches on my bedpost, two under my working table, and three inside my closet. Even after several days, the scent was not completely gone from the first couple of patches that I slapped on my bedposts.

Enough was enough. I stripped my room of all of them, bought a plug-in mosquito repellent that I left on during the day to drive the mosquitoes away without me having to inhale it. My mom bought a can of insect spray and sprayed the entire house. That night, I comfortably slept. The mosquitoes were gone.

Joy vs Surf lemon scent dishwashing liquid

Joy is a popular brand of dishwashing liquid while the Surf brand is more popular as a laundry detergent. They both have lemon scented versions of the dishwashing liquid. For both of them, I usually buy just the sachet versions to keep from accidentally overpouring a huge bottle and wasting it.

What I do is I pour one sachet on a 1 liter bottle. I also pour water inside the sachet and scrape the bottom to get all the concentrated dishwashing liquid out, and then I pour it again in the 1 liter bottle. Then I add water until the bottle is full.

So how do they compare? Here is the rundown.

Price:
Surf dishwashing liquid is a little bit cheaper than Joy, but not by much. Unless you’re buying in bulk you won’t feel any huge savings from buying either one or the other.

Scent:
Surf dishwashing liquid wins. Its lemon scent really lasts even when diluted, I love it. It’s very refreshing especially when you’re faced with a lot of dirty pans and dishes. The lemon scent from the sponge you’re holding is kind of invigorating. It blocks the smell of the other dishes that are still dirty.

Also, the scent doesn’t stay on the dishes and glasses, which is good. I wouldn’t want to drink on a glass that smells of dishwashing soap, because it would mean that it didn’t rinse completely. Joy on the other hand, loses its scent when diluted. You have to hold it near your nose to recognize the scent.

Suds:
Joy dishwashing liquid wins. Surf feels a lot thinner when diluted and you have to put more dishwashing liquid onto your sponge to clean the greasier kitchenware. But you can wash more greasy items with Joy than Surf.

Safety:
I always use gloves if I have to wash a lot of dishes. But for the short periods of time that I've had to use both products with my bare hands, I've had no adverse side effects.

Verdict:
I believe Joy has more value for money if you’re thinking of the number of dishes you can clean with the same amount of dishwashing liquid. While Surf has a more pleasing aroma that lasts, it’s only really good if you don’t cook a lot of greasy foods.