I know this one came in a bit late, 1 year to be exact. We just found the missing clips somewhere under mounds of rubbish. And as I was watching them one after another (and the fact that I am bored to the bone). I decided to give my new video editor a shot.
Please excuse the voiceover audio as I used the built-in microphone.

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LEG 1 : Testing endurance
LEG 2 : Overcoming the darkness
LEG 3 : Braving the fear of mortality
LEG 4 : Conquering pain
 
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There’s something romantic about places one never set foot before. It’s enigmatic charm and the strangeness of everything about it is so stimulating. Like the local food for example, no matter how simple a nasi goreng was cooked, it is amazingly arousing like an aphrodesiac, titilating and heightening one’s senses.
It was a humid night, when Monette decided to wander on her own, I found a new entertaining hobby of zapping mosquitos using an electronic device that resembles a tennis racket. It was surprisingly cathartic, or, was I just diverting my …

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 …

OK, now that the biggest Philippine soap is over (READ: Elections), We’re back to our regular programming:
… We sat in silence as we drowned ourselves with fresh mountain air. We rested our bodies and stretched our limbs and savored every moment of being on top of Mt. Kinabalu. As much as we wanted to spread our arms and scream on the top of our lungs–“I’m the king of the world!” it’s too cliché, not gonna happen, we were also just too tired and the air is too cold it felt like it …

I said to my soul, be still and wait… So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing… ~T.S. Eliot

I never realized I’d be able to survive the 7-hour climb to Laban Rata. Unlike Ron, I never vowed to quit smoking but decided to swear off mountain climbing for the rest of my life. The agony was unspeakable as I approached Waras Hut, the first sign of a good night sleep. I moved closer to the hotel and went straight to the dining hall to gorge on …

At 5am, We woke up to the smell of challenge. We carefully packed our day packs to bring only the essentials as the hike to Mt. Kinabalu dawned us. After downing our cups of coffee plus two sliced bread smothered with peanut butter and jelly, we headed out the door and walked two blocks to get to the bus station. We made ourselves ready by buying 1 liter of water each and decided to buy energy bars on the way.
Like in the Philippines, the mini bus waited itself to get filled. …

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 …

After two years of traveling, people would think that we have learned to cover our bases. After numerous “planned” spontaneous trips, we are proud of how detailed our researches are from getting to one destination to another, the place we are going to stay in, the food we will try out, and the places we are going to see. So what the hell happened?
We crammed…
We had to take the flight from Clark and the schedule that was supposed to be at 6pm was moved to 4pm. The Philtranco bus going …