With the RMB coins from heaven, I immediately dialed the Philippine Consulate Office. That’s when I realized that it was a Saturday and there was no office. I called a hostel instead and finally got someone who can speak English. What a relief! But her guess was as good as mine, that a tourist information center here is like most elected local government politicians: USELESS.
So I sat, lit a stick and tried drawing resolution from the nicotine rushing through my brain. Until I spotted a group of young policemen a …

I will be dedicating all my posts about my trip to China to the people I met on the road, people who helped me along the way, strangers who transformed my lonesome trip to a very meaningful journey.
I never tried doing lone backpacking before. It was three days before our flight to Shanghai when I found out that Monette ran short of time for her visa and I will definitely be flying out alone, I thought of canceling the trip.
Few hours before my scheduled flight, I was still contemplating of scrapping …

We booked a flight to China early this year, and I could have started applying for the Chinese visa long ago, but I guess I’m too busy procrastinating in the last two months that’s why I end up (you guessed it) cramming.
Here are my struggles in getting the much coveted L Type (Tourist) Visa:
There are different types of Chinese visas. But for a first timer Filipino passport holders, the L visa is what we need. Since I only have less than 2 weeks to burn before hitting the airport to …

After our Kota Kinabalu stint last April, we were asked the question “How much was the damage?” for God knows how many times. So we stole this idea of post trip accounting from Nina Fuentes of justwandering.org
So here you go, once and for all

PART 1: MANILA TO CLARK
The only Airline that flies from Philippines to Kota Kinabalu is Air Asia, which embarks at Clark International Airport in Pampanga.

Bus from Quezon City to Dau – PhP 130
Tricycle to Clark gate – PhP 70
Private jeep to Clak Airport – …

Back to Kota Kinabalu from our gargantuan climb, we head off straight to the hostel to freshen-up, feast on a hearty dinner then went straight to a spa for a well deserved full body massage.
Upon lying down the massage table, we instantaneously went in to trans, and up to this point we can hardly remember a thing. The next event we can recall is the painful ordeal of getting out of bed the next morning. Our legs were aching like B****

We still have a full day to go around the …

Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place.  ~Lance Armstrong
 As I approached Panar Laban, my feet gave in and I fell a few steps before I reached the door.I did not resist the fall. I sat down for minutes thinking it was a well deserved rest. Finally, I picked myself up and dragged my painful body inside the hut to sleep. 45 minutes later, Ron arrived and we started to …