Indesign Media Australia – Rick aka Juka Ribeiro (indesignmedia.com.au)

Based from one of the comments from my Juka Ribeiro post, it looks like Juka has now changed his name to Rick and is operating under Indesign Media or indesignmedia.com.au. Check the whois of this domain to find out here.

Beware of this person Rick or Juka Ribeiro from Indesign Media Australia previously Smart Local Media. You’re not so smart after all.

 

Melbourne Home Gallery

This is funny. As I was trying to search for other bloggers who blog about Juka Ribeiro. I found its google index of Melbourne Home Gallery website with the words Don’t trust Juka Ribeiro on it. Haha. It was probably done by one of his victims as you can see from the comments on this page.

Melbourne Home Gallery Website Rip-off

Interesting Documentary Film

I just finished watching We Live in Public . It’s a very interesting story about Josh Harris, one of the pioneers in the dotcom industry who became an instant millionaire but is now broke.  You may watch the trailer below:

 

Click here to watch this from Amazon Video on Demand.

Callao Caves (road trip to Tuguegarao City)

I’ve written a Guide to Callao Caves including driving directions from Manila to Tuguegarao and some photos I took there.  Click here to go there.

Ducati Monster for Rent – Manila, Philippines

If you need a nice bike for shooting a commercial, movie or MTV, my silver ducati monster is up for rent. Fee is P5,000 for 12 hours.

For more inquiries, please call (632) 6820173 or text/call (63917)8000171, look for Jade or Wendy. You may also send your inquiries via e-mail at jmaniaul [at] myoptimind [dot] com

If you are interested to rank higher on keywords such as ducati monster for rent philippines, please contact our Philippine SEO Company.

Anti-Juka Ribeiro campaign on Facebook

Since I have received a lot of information about the other victims of Juka Ribeiro.  We have created this anti Juka Ribeiro facebook page so all of his victims can unite over facebook (click here for the link). We will be launching a PPC campaign over the Philippines and Australia to inform people about this guy. Filipinos unite! We should not let this guy get away with what he did.

Please watch the videos below to see how good he is on lying:

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Beware of Juka Ribeiro from Australia

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Saigon and Siem Reap Trip

So I was lucky to get a promo ticket (less than $100 for a round trip ticket) from Cebu Pacific for Manila to Ho Chi Minh City. The problem is it gets you to Vietnam at around 12:30 midnight so you have to carefully plan how you can make the most out of your time in the country. This post aims to provide a guide for other travelers who are planning to go to Ho Chi Minh then travel to Siem Reap from the Philippines.

Day 1 – Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) Tour

There’s nothing much to see in Saigon and you can tour the historical places in 1 day. I would recommend that you take the tour with Vietnam Vespa Adventures so you can ride Saigon in style. In Vietnam, vintage vespas will make you look more fashionable. The vespa tour itinerary can be found here. I paid $65 for the half day tour since I went alone.

For some shopping, you can hire a motorcycle taxi and go to Ben Tanh Market and saigon square (this is like tiangge in greenhills). Remember to bargain about 50% off.

I was lucky enough to be there during their independence day. I had a fantastic view of the fireworks display from my room.

Tips:

• From the  airport, just go to the taxi queue and do not take the private taxis. Maximum that you should pay for the taxi is around 280k VND and do not agree to the driver if he asks you to pay for a parking ticket, gas or whatever. You can also take Tuk Tuk (motorcycle w/ side car) which is cheaper than the taxi.
• Vietnamese cuisine is one of the best, try the food.
• I recommend riding the motorcycle as a passenger to get a feel of how locals move around.
• If you are taking the vietnam vespa adventure tour, I recommend staying at Asian Ruby 3. That hotel is walking distance to the zoom cafe where you will meet with your tour guide and near to a lot of cafes and restaurants. It is also near the Sinh Tourist office where you can book bus to cambodia or other parts of Vietnam. Plus the rooms are very nice and equipped with wifi and LCD tv.

Day 2 – Travel To Siem Reap

From Saigon, you can easily go to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat by 12 hour bus ride. I booked my trip from Sinh Tourist Cafe for $20. The trip includes a 6 hour ride to Phnom Penh, about an hour and a half break at Sinh Cafe in Phnom Penh then another 6 hour ride to Siem Reap. I was quite lucky to be booked at Angkoriana Boutique Hotel since it is just beside the Sinh Hotel in Siem Reap where the bus stops.

Through Sinh, I traveled from 630am to 8pm. The ride from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap can be a bit is really bumpy.  Since its already late, I just went to the very nice restaurant beside the hotel and had dinner buffet for $12. For the foodie in me, I used the time to taste Khmer cuisine. The people in the restaurant are very accommodating and hospitable (and maybe people from Siem reap in general).

the bus will stop at this market where you will see exotic food ewww..

Tips:

• You don’t need to change currency. USD is widely accepted even with street vendors.

Day 3 – Siem Reap Tour

The best time to see Angkor Wat is during sunrise. So I woke up at around 4am to prepare and checked out of my hotel at around 4:30am. I booked a private tour guide from AngkorTourGuides.com. My tour guide, Mara, who happens to be also the owner is very informative and accommodating. His tour includes airconditioned car with a driver. Since you will do a lot of walking, it is best to hire a guide with car so you can leave some of your things inside. You will also need to buy a temple pass for $20 (unlimited for 1 day).

Mara picked me up at around 5am. After buying my ticket, we proceeded to Angkor Wat where you will walk in despite the darkness with a lot of other tourists.  You will wait for the sunrise with many other tourists in front of the pond. This is the best way to see it because of the temple’s reflection on the water (also the best way to shoot the scene).

After the sunrise scene, you will spend about 1-2 hours just walking around and inside the temple. I spent my whole day just visiting different temples, I specifically liked the one where tree roots have overgrown the temples.

My tour finished around 2:30 in the afternoon so I decided to check in to a cheap hotel just to rest and prepare for my flight back to saigon then to manila. Flight back to Saigon via Vietnam Airlines (the only flight there is) is around $170 for a 1 hour one-way trip.

Tip: Bring water and wear sun block. It can be really hot and humid during the tour especially from 9am onwards.

FYI: Some scenes from the movie Lara Croft by Angelina Jolie were shot here.

Travelling alone

I’m looking forward to travel alone to 2 countries that I’ve never set foot on. The last time I did this was when I travelled to Malacca from Singapore. Now, I’m travelling to Vietnam and Cambodia! My itinerary:

• arrive really early in the morning (around 1 am) in HCMC, Vietnam
• Try some viet food while waiting to check in to the hotel
• Day 1 – Do some shopping, walk around, take photos
• Day 2 – half day tour with Vietnam Vespa Adventures then take a bus to Siem Reap (finish one book during the 12 hour trip)
• Day 3 – visit Angkor Wat, take photos, then take a plane back to Vietnam at night

I have to pack light, so I’ll be bringing:

• My DSLR with 1 wide lens and 1 all purpose lens
• manfrotto tripod
• lots of memory card
• small moleskine notebook and pencil
• kindle
• my small samsonite trolley which will include 4 pairs of shirts and shorts and 1 pair of nice shirts and pants for night out, toiletries, small umbrella just in case it rains, and a jacket
• perfume
• some cash

Beware of Juka Ribeiro from Australia

Less than a week after I posted my encounter with scam artist Juka Ribeiro from Australia, I was contacted by 2 more Filipino providers whom he also owed money to. I wonder how many more people he took advantage of.

This is Juka Ribeiro‘s strategy:

• He will contact your company and tell you that he is with this company (he will make this company look big, with directors and all)
• He talks like he is a nice guy so you will feel at ease with him
• He will rush you into providing him your services without any advanced payment. Again, since he seems like a nice guy, you will fall into this trap.
• Once you start billing him, he will tell you all sorts of alibi like Australia is strict with wire transfers because of money laundering issues, something came up with the management, etc. etc. Just today, I got an e-mail from him using another alibi:

Dear Wendy,

Due to a unexpected downsize in business and restructuring we are willing to organise an installment payments plan to cover outstandings.

Please get back to me and let me know if installment arrangement can be discussed.

Regards,

Juka Ribeiro

To Juka: Cheating will never get you anywhere. I will make sure you’ll learn your lesson.

To anyone else whom Juka owed money to, please contact me. We are already talking to the agency that will help us sack him.

NEW UPDATE (8/25/2010)

Last Monday, I found out that Juka created a wordpress site turning everything upside down. In his blog post entitled Beware of Juka Ribeiro or Beware of me, he stated everything falsely. To prove that, we have recorded an unedited video screen cast showing communication history with Juka Ribeiro of Smart Local Media and White Label SEM. This is a two part video which you can view here and here.

Smart Local Media and White Label SEM in Australia

If anyone of you will be contacted by a person named Juka Ribeiro from Australia. Make sure you demand advance payment first. Juka of Smart Local Media and White Label SEM in Australia booked 2 Virtual Staffs in our company – web designer and a web programmer. The contract he signed clearly states that he needs to pay every 2 weeks (or 10 working days). After so much alibis, nothing has been paid in a span of 30 days. This person and company is fraud and should not be trusted.

The websites are White Label SEM and Smart Local Media

The company owes us almost AUD$ 2,000. Have stopped responding to our emails and refused to take down the sites that we did for them.

I’m not sure what happens if you hire companies that cheat. Again, the names you should avoid from Australia:

• White Label SEM
• Smart Local Media
• Juka Ribeiro

UPDATE: 2 People has contacted me already regarding Juka Ribeiro‘s scam. For other people whom he cheated, please post your comments here. That will be very helpful.