Here’s our itinerary for our Vietnam and Cambodia trip. The highlight of our trip was of course the Angkor Wat.

Places we visited:

• Siem Reap, Cambodia: Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm and Bayon Temples
• Phnom Penh, Cambodia: Killing Fields, Night Market, City Tour
• Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam: City Tour, Shopping at Saigon Square, Bentham Market

The Road Trip:

We flew to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam via Cebu Pacific Air then took a bus trip to Siem Reap which took us almost 15hours including stop overs. It is recommended to leave Ho Chi Minh early in the morning, buses usually leave at 7:00am.

Photo Album:

For my photos you can view them here: Cambodia, Wats, and Whatnot.

Before the trip we planned our activities to be: shopping, massages, spend a night out in Banyan Tree’s Vertigo Grill and Moon bar, watch a muay thai match, river cruise, elephant encounter at Ayutthaya and visit lots of temples!

We only had 4 days so when our PAL flight got delayed for hours, we missed the muay thai event and the river cruise. We got to Bangkok really late, so we decided to have dinner somewhere near Khaosan Rd., walked along the memorial bridge then headed to Chatuchak night market.

Shopping.

Night markets in Bangkok are really huge and offer cheap prices. I had to buy a new luggage for the clothes, shoes, bags, etc. I bought from the different Shopping malls and night markets we explored. Chatuchak night market was really huge, we weren’t able to explore the whole market place in one night.  We’ve been to malls like Siam Paragon, MBK, Platinum and Pratunam, which I think was where I shopped most. Clothes are really cheap there, and you can always bargain for lower prices especially if you buy in bulk.

Temples.

In our next day, we spent the whole day visiting temples (1) Wat Indrawiharn, where the 100-ft Buddha stands tall (2) Wat Saket (The Temple of the Golden Mount), a temple on top of man-made hill  (3)  Wat Benchamabopitr, where we witnessed a monk’s marriage ceremony and (4) of course all the temples in the Grand Palace.

I find the Grand Place very dazzling, the architecture of the temples are spectacular, the intricacy of the designs are very impressive. It is a must-visit for tourists, first timers shouldn’t skip it. It also houses the most sacred site in Thailand, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It also has a replica of Angkor Wat, which amazed me that I dreamed of going there too (see my future entry for my Cambodia trip). This is when my fascination with Buddhist temples started.

Ayutthaya Ruins and Elephant Encounter.

We took the train in Hualamphong Train Station to Ayutthaya, but we got so impatient and concerned about missing the Elephant show that we got off in one of the stops and took a taxi instead. The taxi was quite expensive but we really didn’t want to miss the show, fortunately we got there just in time.

We watched the show first and was really impressed by the elephants, I almost cried realizing how smart, friendly and gentle these elephants are.  We toured the ancient ruins on an elephant ride. The temples are very well preserved and the scenery are just as great.

Nightout.

We could have gone bar hopping or watch some lady boy shows, but we chose to hangout at the Vertigo and Moon Bar. It is located at the roof top of the Banyan Tree Hotel and it has a stunning view of all of Bangkok. Premium cocktails are served the food is great and the ambiance is very romantic. Unfortunately I didn’t bring my DSLR with me so I wasn’t able to take better photos.

Food, Massages and Kindness.

I love Thai food, and love the street food more. Wasn’t really able to eat a lot, but a least I was able to taste the real Tom Yum, Phad Thai, spicy shrimp curry and oh I the friend noodles and fruit juices in Khaosan. The food are generally cheap. And yes the massages too. Thai’s are gentle people, hospitable and warm as their massages. I actually left a Nikon camera in a massage center, realized it after 4 hours, went back and it was still there.

I’ll definitely be going back to Thailand. I always see to it that I watch movies that are shot there. I’d love to go to Ko Phi Phi and Chiang Mai some day.

For more of my photos: visit my Picasa album.

It was my birthday in 2009 when I did this. I left work a bit early to take the 8pm flight to Singapore. I arrived in Singapore around midnight, I had to SMS a friend to ask where he stayed before when he went there so I’d have an address to write on the immigration form. I wasn’t really planning to stay there, my plan was to just ask the taxi driver to take me to a budget hotel. Unfortunately when I told the driver to take me to a nice $100 (sgd) hotel, he said there’s no hotel that cheap. It was already past midnight and I was very tired so I decided to just go to that hostel where my friend stayed. The driver didn’t know it so I had to google it on my mobile phone to get the hostel’s number and had him talk to the reception officer.

I stayed at Tresor Tavern and fortunately I was received by a Filipino, it lessened my anxiety a lot. I was assigned to a 12-bed mixed room, the hostel was almost full so I really had no choice. It was cheap, had free WIFI and offered coffee and toast for breakfast. The bathrooms were common, they provided a bath towel, and a keycard for the room and your locker. My roommates were all asleep, so I slipped into my bunk bed and dozed off.

When I woke up, some of my roommates were still there, they were also solo backpackers (Koreans, British, etc.) and were trying to engage into conversations, so I joined them and right then I realized the fun of being in a backpackers hostel, you get to meet people from other countries with different culture and mindset! They were there longer and had toured the city already, so I just decided  to explore the city on my own. The guy at the reception gave me a map, which was very helpful (yeah, I’ve used the same map when I went back there twice).

I learned the basics of the MRT system, I was fortunate enough that Tresor is like 5mins walk from Ferrer MRT station. I didn’t buy an ez-link card but when I met with a friend in my second day she gave me hers . My first destination was Sentosa. I didn’t really have a plan, I didn’t even read anything about Singapore before my trip, so everything was spontaneous. I just checked the map and followed the instructions.

I didn’t enjoy Sentosa that much that time, maybe because I was alone. But my second visit in Sentosa the following year was a blast (will tell about it in a separate entry). I went home early and I SMS’d my friend who’s working there, then went out to meet 2 common friends and spent the night at  Esplanade, Clark Quay and SunTec.

The next day I decided to go to Singapore Zoo and to the Night Safari. The zoo was huge and fun, the best zoo I’ve ever been to, though I’m not really a fan of zoos, I did still enjoy it.

I was updating my Facebook about my trip and 2 of my friends SMS’d me that they were also in Singapore for a vacation. So we decided to meet and went to a common friend in Lucky Plaza, he treated us to chicken rice then we ate the popular $1 street ice cream sandwich. I didn’t have plans that day, I was hesitant to go to Jurong Bird Park since it’s quite far, though I already had a ticket (I bought the Park Hopper ticket – with access to the Zoo, Night Safari and the Bird Park), I ended up  joining them for a visit to the Singapore Botanical Gardens.

After exploring the gardens we went to Sungei Buloh Wetlands, a nature reserve and home to thousands of mangoves and wildlife – different birds, otters, etc. It was far off  the city, and  around 2 hours bus ride. We were given a map with different tracks, we chose the shortest route since it was already late in the afternoon when we got there and the park’s closing at 7:30pm. We were half-way our route when it rained so hard and we got stuck to a shelter for almost an hour. Good thing the shelter had an emergency number posted so I was able to make a call and inform them that we were stuck. We waited for the rain to stop but when we got out of the park, we weren’t sure if we missed the bus going back to the city. Fortunately, there was one guy who was also headed back to the city and he had serviced a taxi, he offered to share it with us.

That long walk in Botanical Gardens and Sungei Buloh was so tiring I had to go back to the hostel early that night. The hostels lounge is cozy, I stayed there and watched TV and had conversations with the other backpackers.

During my last day, I didn’t know what to do, I was thinking of going to the bird park but my concern was I might get stuck and miss my flight. I just slept longer and got out of bed just in time for me to prepare and check out from the hostel. I had a lot of spare time since my flight was at 5:30pm, good thing another guest wanted to kill time also so we walked to explore Little India.

All in all, I had a great time. This trip was one of the best things that happened to me. I didn’t stay at Mariott, I didn’t have a corporate card and was travelling in a very limited budget, but the joy of spontaneous travel was life-changing. I actually did quit my job before my trip. I absolutely did take the time off.

As said by  one commenter to Steven DeMaios’ blog:

“If life is one of those snow globes, wouldn’t it be a crying shame never to have picked it up and shaken it?”

This I why I couldn’t wait for 2012. I still have planned trips this year, but I’m more excited for this one!

I love Cebu and have been there several times already. Was there on 5 days vacation, sometimes 3 and even 2. If you’ve have job that can’t easily give you a vacation leave and can settle on a weekend get-away, then Cebu is just perfect for you. Cebu flights are available as early as 4am and as late as 8pm. You can either leave Manila Friday night or early Saturday morning and be back Sunday evening or Monday early morning just before work.

I’ve prepared several itineraries for weekend Cebu getaway, I usually prepare more than 1 so my travel buddies can choose depending on their budget and their preferred activities. Here’s one of them:

Assumptions:
1. 4 people traveling
2. will stay at Island Stay Hotels (P2150) http://www.islandsstay.com/
3. Banca Cruise package (P6000) http://www.islandsbanca.com/

Time      Activity                  Expenses        Php

Saturday
5 - 6am   Manila Airport            Terminal Fee    200
6 - 7am   Flight to Cebu
7 - 8am   Banca Cruise Pickup
8 - 9am   Breakfast                                 100
9 - 4pm   Banca Cruise                             1500
4 - 5pm   Banca Cruise Hotel Drop
7 - 10pm  Skywalk w/ buffet dinner                  600

Sunday
8 - 9am   Breakfast                                 100
9 - 11am  Sto. Niño Church          Taxi             20
11 - 12n  Lunch at CNT Lechon       Lunch           100
1 - 4pm   Go to Taoist Temple       Taxi             40
4 - 5pm   Go to Lahug IT Park                        40
5 - 7pm   Early Dinner              Casa Verde      200
7 - 8pm   Head to Airport                            50
9 - 10pm  Flight to Manila 

Total Expenses: P 2950

Tips:
1. You can skip skywalk and just have dinner at Larsian Grill(P100)
2. For Pasalubong, Zubochon frozen lechon sisig (P350)
3. Casaverde's baby backribs is highly recommended

For a detailed blog on Banca Cruising, you can read this entry:
http://www.sandripples.com/2009/06/banca-cruisin-cebu/

Check this teaser video!

For more details, visit http://pelicola.tv/AliveOutThere and http://rockersworld.com/urbandub-online-concert-free-tickets

See  ya there!

So I emptied a bag of piatos and look at the sun through it and oh my, a part of the moon is covering the sun. I got excited and really wanted to take a picture, but the piatos bag wouldn’t just work as a filter. Adrian used a film he pulled out from a 3.5 floppy disk. Lucky me, I still got a 5.25 floppy disk, hehe. I used it as a filter for my Nikon D70s, with Sigma 18-125 mm lens mounted.

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For more of my partial eclipse photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22571631@N08/

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