Filled with loathsome La Paz Batchoy soup, we decided to move along to get to our next destination, the Beach. Finally…
We hopped on a cab to take us to the bus terminal in Jaro and labored about 2 and a half hours of sweltering bus ride to the isolated town of Concepcion. We unfortunately planted ourselves beside the window so that when we went down the bus, the skin color of our left arms are nowhere near our right’s. We were dropped off at the wet market where our contact …

After the Pinatubo hike, that’s when we realized that it would really be the busiest month of 2010. After booking some more flights we ran around Manila like foreign tourists, minus the public transportation piece of it. We gave our guest from Vancouver an ultimate Manila experience–from the down and dirty foodie heaven of Estero to the glitz and glams of the Philippine fashion week.
After the fabulous holiday runway show of our friend Santi Obcena, I went straight to work, while Monette went home to prep-up for her 5 AM …

After the energy draining, butt bruising, slip-disk inducing train ride, I roamed around the divisoria-ish crowded Beijing Train station to look for a tourist booking counter to try my luck in upgrading my ticket back to Shanghai. Well I guess my lucky star just exploded to a Justin Bieber (???)–I re-booked, only to find out I got a train ride to Inner Mongolian border to Siberia. Pfrt!
I got too exhausted looking for a map to take me to the subway to my Hostel, so I flagged a cab and got ripped off, …

Arguably the most popular place to stay within the backpacking community–Borneo Backpacker is strategically situated right smack in the middle of the city, everything is almost just a kembot away (oh well, Kota Kinabalu is just the size of Makati, so everything is really a cigarette butt flick from where you’re standing).  I love everything about the hostel, the common room, the free internet, free quick breakfast and the staff who helped us all the way.
We booked a dorm room with 10 beds and as always, Monette is the only …

Ah the single life! I leave whenever I want, go home anytime I want and most importantly, travel anywhere I want. I value my alone time so much that when Ron and I and some friends from the office went to Ilocos, I stayed one more day while everybody went home. As was expected, I had a blast.
The morning of my alone day was spent in coffee and cigarettes while playing with our dog Coco in our house in Vintar. It was a was a Sunday and the flee market …

Aaahhh Cambodia… We watch it in travel documentaries, we read it in history books, we saw it in Tomb Raider, we talk about it and dream about it. Who would’ve thought we’d see it this lifetime? It was almost surreal arriving at the Siem Reap Airport. And when we were greeted by our host Meang together with the tuk-tuk driver Piron, we felt like we were in a dream… Mainly because he said “kamusta?” which is “how are you?” in Tagalog, Ron and I instantly reacted in unison–”Pilipino ka?”. Meang …

When we arrived teleported from Singapore to KL. We were several hours ahead of schedule. I mean waaaaaay ahead of schedule. We were welcomed with a silent treatment, because it was like 3:30 in the morning. We booked a room at the Equator hostel a week before the trip. It’s the same hostel where we stayed exactly 2 years ago. I like its homey ambiance, unassuming aura, clean facilities and friendly hosts. However, when we arrived, it seemed like everyone’s in deep slumber, we waited outside the gate for an …

The backpacking culture is peculiar to a small global community of people with common understanding and perception of traveling. I experienced the true blue backpacking niche first hand when Monette and I flew to Singapore. We booked a separate flight so she arrived 18 hours earlier. She got to explore the city more than I did but it’s alright since it wasn’t my first time to be there.
It was a bit difficult that time since Monette doesn’t have any mode of communication that will connect her to me. Her mobile …