Balut!

Was going over my photos today and couldn't help but smile at the photos of me with guys I met during an international forestry conference I attended in Leyte, Philippines in June 2007.

I thought I'd post it here as a reminder of that fun night when I challenged guys from Germany, Ireland and a fellow Filipino to eat the famous Fear Factor favourite - balut!

On this interesting balut encounter, where I was enjoying (hihi sorry guys) watching the facial expressions of my male contenders decipher the strange egg in front of them, and which I won't go into details here as it will spoil the fun for those who haven't tried balut yet, my fascination switched to the balut vendors who handed to me what I thought was the greatest balut accessory innovation of all time! I just finished gobbling up my balut and was fumbling for something to wipe my hands with when our balut vendor readily offered a bottle of water to sanitise my hands! And it was not just an ordinary water, it was scented water! (how clever is that? never seen that in other parts of the country before!). The water - mixed with fragrant fabric softener, effectively leaves your hands free from the foul smell of the balut!

While it was indeed fun watching some of the guys brave their first encounter with a balut, I'm not sure if my new friends found it as interesting as I did... err I am not even sure if I earned new friends after that challenge... hehe

Budget Traveler in Singapore

January 2007

While Singapore is not known to be a backpacker's place, these days, it can be reasonable and a budget traveler like me can enjoy the scenes and stay in Singapore without worrying if I have to borrow my mum's credit card for my next meal! This is the 5th time I traveled to Singapore and compared to my first trip which was experienced in a fancy way (having stayed in a hotel at Orchard Road, ate at fine-dining restos, used taxis as means of transport, etc. etc.), I tried this time to look at the cheapest alternatives, so, with more time to spare, I rode the MRT, ate at 24-hour eating places, walked a lot, and saw that Singapore can be affordable for the budget traveler!

Booking your flight to Singapore

Some of you may have heard about the budget airlines flying from Clark to various points of South East Asia. And yes friends, you'd be delighted to know that you can now travel to Singapore (from Clark, Philippines) for at least 100$ depending on their promo and depending on the date you purchase your ticket! Just log on to tigerairways (TG should pay me for advertising them!) regularly for their ridiculously cheap airfares and you'll see what I mean. Note: TG flies from Clark. Another budget airlines is JetStar which flies from NAIA (I haven't tried this airline yet but I met a pinoy in Singapore and told me the airline is fine!).

Book your Lodging in Advance
In Singapore, budget accommodations are cheaper when booked on-line than when it's paid on a walk-in basis. Actually, this is the case to almost all bookings made on-line. And if you're thinking that the places may end up dodgy, well, it may be worth noting that my experience in two different backpacker places in Singapore and the description in the website is what you get when you walk in to your guesthouse.

Where to Stay: Budget Travelers
Bugis Backpacker's. This one is a clean, no-frills guesthouse located in the famous shopping district of Bugis. The moment you check in, the guy at the reception gives you your towel and sheet and will show you to your room. You will be told to remember your code, etc. otherwise no one will rescue you when you're locked out especially that they do not offer 24 hour reception service. This backpacker place is a bit stiff compared to the other backpacker places I've been to, but since I was only there for a night, keber ko! Rooms are airconditioned.

Good thing about this backpacker place is it gave me the space I wanted! Well, let me just say that I ended up the only person in the 6-bed female dorm! It is also near the airport so peak-hour taxi rate should only be around 12SGD. Getting there by train should only cost you 2.50 with 1 SGD refundable at the ticket machines!

Farrer Backpacker's Guesthouse. Farrer Park Station. This is a new building located near the Mustafa Center and is one-stop-train-ride away from Little India. The place is definitely great, with its clean rooms, free internet service, free coffee and tea! Other amenites include lift, aircon rooms, BUT it can get very noisy with guests who do not seem to know that you should tone down your voice when in any of the common areas. I also realized that I got exhausted with the train ride going there (from the airport) compared to staying at Bugis.

But the place has very friendly and very accommodating receptionists like David and Fani. They offer free storage. I left a bag with actually some valuable items inside and when we got back in Singapore, my bag was still intact.

Must Sees
Night time: Orchard Road (for electronic items, most of the good shops open late in the day, so best time to go is at night); Bugis (for the night market and they sell everything there! it's like a high-class Divisoria. However I warned my mum not to buy anything from there because I told her that everything will be a lot cheaper when we get to Chiang Mai!); Clark Quay/Riverside (for the lovely experience of eating by the river at any of the wide range of riverside restaurants and a stroll along side the river. Actually it felt like being in London, because Clark Quay is a small version of the River Thames in London with all the famous buildings on either side of the river. And the lights are gorgeous!) You also get to see a lot of attractions, so don't miss this experience!

Day time: Little India, China Town, Sentosa, City Tour and the Historical Route Tour!
I bought our tour ticket from the Hippo Bus Tours that has an office along Orchard Road (near the information center). This tour was a 4-in-one package that included the following: city tour, historical route tour, Sentosa (but you have to pay the entrance fee at Sentosa = 2SGD) and a night tour with a trip to Sentosa to watch the Musical Fountain Show - the highlight of the tour, which my mum and I were very happy about!

Tipid Tips for Budget Travelers

Singapore has a very user-friendly MRT, so it is really advisable to travel by MRT when coming from the airport (and when going around Singapore!) From the budget terminal, take the free shuttle bus to Terminal 2 of Changi airport and follow directions leading to the train station. Be ready with notes of 5SGD or less in purchasing your train ticket (usually between 2.50SGD up) because the ticket machines don't accept 10SGD notes. Taxi rate is at 30SGD, the shared taxi is I think at 10SGD per person.

In Sentosa, because there are loads of places to see but most of the best ones have entrance fees (that are rather expensive for peso earners like me), just pick up which you like the best and spend the time there. My mum chose the Underwater World and I thought that it was better than the one I saw in Sydney.

What Else...

Singapore is famous for their satays. For great food (and cheap too), go to their 24 hour restaurants (we call it karinderia in the Philippines) but their karinderia version in Singapore is clean and has a wide selection of food!

Traveling with Mum

January 2007

I thought I'd digress a little on my travel tips and write a little about the interesting experience of traveling with mum. My mum and I traveled to Singapore and Thailand together recently and it was such great fun because aside from the bonding and experience of traveling together, I got to see other sides of her which I never thought existed. So I thought I should list some of them down to remind me how fun it is to travel with my mother!

I know that mum is such a friendly person but I never thought she can stay up all night talking to a stranger!

Our adventure started in Singapore where we stayed at a backpacker's place. A new experience for mum which I thought she wouldn't like (you know staying in a room with other people, etc.) but to my surprise, she enjoyed the place so much that she asked for me to book the same accommodation (on our return from Chiang Mai). Mum even made more friends than I did! In fact, she was the one introducing me to the people who were staying at the guesthouse. There was one night when I had to hush her because she was talking endlessly with this sweet Chinese lady whom we were sharing the room with. She and the Chinese lady were giggling like little girls when I hushed them to sleep!

She's game in anything!

Since this was mum's first trip abroad, I prepared it for her in such a way that she can see as many places as possible. In other words this trip entailed a lot of walking. And I was very happy to see that my mum could never get tired of walking! For one full day in Singapore, we managed to see most of the must-sees and even managed to relax in between. Little India, China Town, Orchard Road, Bugis, Suntec City, Sentosa, Musical fountain show, you name it, we conquered it! And the walking didn't end there because when we got to Chiang Mai, she was always looking forward to her day trips and was touring like a mad woman!

Mum is a big fan of spicy food.

I treated mum to an Indian restaurant when we arrived in Singapore. I love Indian food, it's in my top three favourite international dishes and I was so delighted to see mum liking the food I love! Ahh and then in Thailand (i'm such a big fan of Thai food! also happens to be in my top 3 fave foods) mum really enjoyed Thai food and would order without asking the waiter "not too spicy please" (of course this is embarassing for me after my declaration of loving Thai food, because i would always ask the waiter to go slow on the spice!) Ah but the mother could eat spicy food! And being the cool mum that she is, it was so funny seeing her gulping down a bottle of Singha beer one night after one of our meals.

Shopping Queen.

When we were in Chiang Mai (goodness, the night bazaars are so overwhelming! you would hate that you only have so much money with you and that you have only so much for your check-in baggage), anyways, I had to discipline my mum because she seemed like she wouldn't like to stop! We started shopping at 4 in the afternoon and we ended by 9pm, only because I had to remind her that I was really hungry and too tired to move another muscle. After our meal, we went for a very relaxing foot massage. When we finished, I started walking back to our hotel when mum told me she was still up for shopping! That was already 11 pm! In short, I left her in the night bazaar so that she could carry on shopping while I went back to the hotel to get my rest. Mind you folks, my mum has a pacemaker but she has an energy of a fit teenager!

Bloopers!

This trip was also full of bloopers. One time, I was woken up in the middle of the night because I heard someone moving around the room, I got up to discover my mum pacing back and forth, only to find out later that she was doing her morning exercises! ARRGGGGHHHH!!!
Then one night, she said she couldn;t sleep, and because I was dead tired from the first day of my management course and didn't have the energy to talk to her anymore, I asked her to just lay in bed and count sheeps. Then when I was beginning to doze off, my mum who-was-a-minute-ago-a-restless-girl-who- couldn't-sleep started to snore! Ay naku po! So the next night I told her to wait for me to sleep before she can sleep so that I can also find some rest. =(
In Sentosa in Singapore, when we were at the Underwater World, my mum behaved like a cheeky little girl and picked up this poor fish that was in a tank (uhmn, yeah, the sign read, "you may touch the animals") so I snapped at her and she put the fish back with a guilty "oops" expression on her face. The man behind her laughed at the scene in front of him of a daughter telling off her mother. hehe

My mum and I had a good laugh one night when we realized that in this trip, we had our roles reversed - she became the child and I became the mother. Man! I was doing most of the telling off and she was this girl enjoying the life!

She also had to remind herself (again!) that I am no longer her little girl, that my life has changed, and for that matter she learned that I am a light sleeper, and couldn't sleep when someone snores, or that she has to keep still in bed when she wakes up at 5 am otherwise she'll wake me up, and she learned that I hate being woken up in the middle of the night because it can be difficult for me to go back to sleep and that I need at least 7 hours of sleep! Etc. etc.
To sum it all and despite the bloopers, I truly had a great time with ma, and I was again reminded that life is short and very precious, and it is lovely indeed to see your loved ones enjoy life's simple pleasures. And most of all, I learned how fun it is to travel with my mother.

Surfing in L.U.!

November 2006

I have learned a new sport... surfing! Thanks to my sis Dada who invited me to have my first surfing lessons in San Juan, La Union, Philippines!

Why surfing? Why not!

It was the first weekend after I arrived from Sri Lanka and as if my holiday wasn't enough, I went back on a holiday mode after a week-long work mode, and packed my beach garb (har har which proved useless to surfing and I will tell you later why), hitched a ride to Dagupan with our dear friend Bulgee and whisked off to San Juan!

Of course, this story won't go straight to surfing but will tell you that I got a gorgeous hunk for a surfing instructor. Ah well, I guess the motivation to learn surfing got more exciting at that point! My instructor Anthony (yes gals, you can find him at the______, I'm not telling! hehe) proved his worth when I realized he was as good as an instructor as his looks! During my first lesson, he taught me how to stand up on my board, paddle with my board, and finally ride my first wave! The moment I got on my first wave, I never really wanted to stop! So on a pleasant afternoon with the sun setting and red and orange skies were bursting on the background, my friends and I were enjoying lapping with the waves, getting turned over by waves and riding the waves - more appropriately called as SURFING!

The following day, my surfing instructor taught me a new skill, and that is, how to catch my own wave! Wow, I'm getting there! After my first weekend of surfing lessons, Dada and I were already planning to go back the following weekend. Yes, surfing is cool and here are some things you may want to know before heading off to San Juan:

1. Basic requirement. You should at least be confident in the water, i.e. that you should know how to swim or that when you fall in the water, don't go on a panic!

2. Wear tight-fitting tops otherwise subject yourself to become a flasher when you get rolled over by waves! I don't have my own rash guard, but thanks to Dada who lends me her rash guard everytime we go surfing. Rash guards are expensive (Php1,800++), so if you don't have one, wear something on top of your bikini top that is really tight enough to lock your top! I got another tip from a dorm-mate wayback in college and she said she wears knitted tops coz they hung tight to your body.

3. Choose an instructor who knows how to communicate. During my second weekend of lessons, my surfing instructor wasn't there, so I got a new one (who unfortunately was just pushing me towards the waves and didn't seem to teach me anything at all).

4. Meet and hang out with the local surfers. Yes dude, so that you get more tips even after you're out of the water!

5. Budget: 1 hour of surfing lesson (with surf board rental) is Php350. Accommodations range between Php150 (dorm) to Php800 (fan room) to Php1000++ (aircon room). Decent meals cost at least Php50.00. Drinks around Php 20.00. Beer Php25.00 up.

6. Where to stay. I've been to San Juan twice and stayed in both occasion at Mona Liza Resort (Php500 up depending on the number of occupants per room). Choose a beach-front room and you wake up to a view of pro-surfers riding the waves at the POINT!

7. Where to hang out. Surfers' Retreat. A bar on the highway fronting SeBay where you find all the surfing instructors mingling with old and new surfers as they burn their hard-earned cash over bottles of beer. Cool dude!

The Lovely Sri Lanka

November 2006

it never occured to me that my 2-week holiday in sri lanka will make me fall in love with the place many times over. this was far from what i felt 5 months ago when this holiday was being planned and the height of the Tamil conflict was reverberating in news headlines. as always, when political conflicts are reported in a country, this usually put visitors off and i wasn't spared from that initial reaction because i immediately thought of the risks involved in traveling to sri lanka. moreover, it did not help that my impressions of sri lanka are still the depressing pictures of the tragedies caused by the 2005 tsunami.

but i looked on the brighter side and thought that this will be my first south asian country to visit! aha! another country in my list! this should be something new. suddenly i became excited!

i arrived in sri lanka around 10:30 am on nov 5 and managed to get a cab easily (oh yeah i was in luck, the mob of taxi drivers waiting in the que was a challenge!) from one of the stalls that lined the exit path of the airport. i instructed the cab driver to take me to Golden Star beach resort in Negombo. as we got nearer to our destination, the laidback atmosphere gave me a reassuring feeling of the adventure ahead of me.

the following day, we set off for Colombo and stayed at Globar Towers where we got a room with a fantastic view of the sea!

i spent my first day in colombo shopping for batiks. while other tourists would flock to go to Bare Foot (a popular touristy store selling sri lankan batiks and other novelty items), i opted (of course after getting the advice from our sri lankan friend Ruvanthi) to go shopping at the street markets of Pettah.

by this time, while my eyes were busy observing my surroundings, it struck me how sri lanka is indeed (very) patriarchal. well, the attendants at the hotel were all men, the crew at restaurants were all men, and the street shops were all run by males!

but despite the male dominance, i didn't feel intimidated at all because the people were just friendly. i didn't even get hassled by the shopkeepers (something unusual in developing countries' street markets). my tuktok driver was even kind enough to grant my request of stopping at a temple that we passed by on our way back to the hotel. how can i not fall in love with such a place whose people are nice and friendly?

next stop was in Kandy. Kandy is an upcountry found in the central part of Sri Lanka. we stayed at Randy's Place, whose owner we met at the train station and promised to give us a room with a view. when i woke up the following morning, i got what we were promised and saw an exhilirating view of the mountains and the nearby lake from our room terrace. we spent the rest of our day walking inside the compounds of the Temple of Tooth (where the ancient tooth relic believed to be of the Buddha's is housed.)

we traveled further north and reached Dambulla. this was where we went to see ancient paintings on the walls of 5 caves situated on top of a hill. at the foot of the hill was a gigantic golden Buddha that welcomes every visitor on the hike up. up in the caves, i found it overwhelming to see different types and ages of Buddha painted on the walls. no space was left on the walls!

before going to our next stop, decided to become posh for a day and stayed in the famous Kandalama Hotel. this green globe awardee hotel is set in the midst of a forest overlooking Kandalama Lake. the hotel was designed by the famous Geoffrey Bawa who is known for his exemplary architectural designs of various structures all over Sri Lanka. the best bit in this hotel is its infinity pool (that from one's vantage point, gives one the illusion that the pool extends all the way to the lake! amazing!) and so for more than a day, we were sampling a luxurious holiday at Kandalama that started from our room being upgraded from de luxe to a suite (complete with a jacuzzi, the feeling of showering with the nature because you walk into a shower with a glass wall so you can see the wonderful nature outside), a buffet dinner that served Italian and Mongolian barbeque, use of all facilities and a free bird watching trip (which we missed because we were too lazy to wake up early!)

we traveled to our next destination and set off for Sigiriya. the highlight of which was our climb to the fortress of the Sigiriya rock mountain. the hike up to the summit shows you the one-of-a-kind-water gardens that adorn either sides of the mountain. as you reach the top, you will see a pair of a giant lion's paws that serve as the entrance before the final ascent to the fortress.

The last week of the holiday was spent lounging in the beautiful and idyllic beach of Mirissa where our mornings start with yoga at the beach followed by eating Sri Lankan breakfast composed of hoppers and curry. then we would just nestle in the hammocks set under palm trees and would while away the time reading our books. afternoons were spent swimming and body surfing and more walking on the beach.
yes, Sri Lanka was such great fun! lovely people, great food, the touristy places are remarkable, plus going around is relatively cheap!

Reaching Mt. Kinabalu's Summit

i continue to get inquiries from friends who are interested to climb Kota Kinabalu... so i'm posting this stuff for them... i guess some of you received this email from me before, uhmn, here it is again...

July 20, 2006: some of you may already know that i've been preparing to climb the highest peak of Southeast Asia - Mt. Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia. and yes i did it! i conquered the summit of Mt. Kinabalu, all that 4,094m!
the climb was amazing!

climbed with a group of 15 composed of officemates (at TK) and friends of TK people. nature was favourable to us on July 14, 2006. we had the perfect weather - clear skies, no fog, no rain! we were among the lucky summiteers to have experienced a climb without getting wet on a rainy month in Kota Kinabalu! the climb was tough for my short legs (mind you, it's the 4th day after my climb, and i am still limping). the first part of the climb was a gruelling 7.5 hours (seasoned climbers would do it for 5 hours) of steep climbing from Timpohon Gate to Laban Rata. Laban Rata is 6 kilometers from Timpohon Gate and is one of the accommodations up in the mountain and the stopover before reaching the summit. i reached Laban Rata at 7:00 pm, woke up at 2am the next day to continue the climb to the summit in time for the sunrise. the final assault was another 2.75 kilometers of rock climbing, rappelling, dealing with the cold, etc. in the end, yes i made it! breath taking view. the mountains below looked so low from where i was standing. while i was sitting on the 1m x 1m concrete slab up in the summit, i began thinking, hmmmn... Himalayas should be next, Mt. Everest? hehe

here are a few tips:

pre - climb: you definitely have to do at least a month of serious running or any physical activity that will develop your endurance and stamina. my routine included a daily trip to hundred islands where i went up and down Governor's summit for 1 straight week (i know this sounds funny, but it did help me a lot!). while the island's summit is nothing compared to Kota Kinabalu, the exercise of going up and down a mountain was a good preparation.

acclimatize yourself. the weekend before i went to Kinabalu, i went home to Baguio and did a few walks up and down SM City (again, another funny pre-climb strategy no?!). the weather up in Baguio was a good way to prepare you for the cold weather at Kinabalu. well this was the cheapest acclimatization i could think of. alangan namang mag-UK pa ako di ba?

the climb:

wear shoes (i was wearing my running shoes/trainers) that are comfortable (duh! as if you need me to tell you this!)

travel light! you don't need to bring clothes for changing since you won't even bother thinking of getting a shower because it's freezing up there! if you're budget is ok, the lodging places at Laban Rata offer affordable and hot food! so no need to pack food except for energy bars. when i was up there, i just felt that i needed to treat myself and didn't bother paying extra ringgits for hot and good food! drinking water springs are also provided in all the stops on the hike up so don't bring a gallon of water, just fetch from the stops! it's less weight.

bring a raincoat. buy those cheap raincoats (about Php40.00 at Ace Hardware) to avoid those extra weight. a raincoat is a must!

post climb: here's what i did after my climb, went with some of my fellow climbers to the Poring Hot Springs where we soaked our tired bodies in the hot tubs. man, that was great! it soothed a lot of aching joints and muscles.

anyway, goodluck to ya climbers!!!