DIY Puerto Princesa City Tour by Motorcycle

Puerto Princesa is a gateway to some really great areas in Palawan that require longer land travel. We planned to spend some time in El Nido and allotted most of our travel money for this. But since the city itself is a great destination, we decided to spend a couple of days there before and after El Nido with a more modest budget.

On our first full day there, we decided to rent a motorcycle to explore the city’s most popular tourist spots. If you can drive a bicycle or motorcycle, you can save costs on the standard city tour and spend more time exploring the places you want without being tied to a tour group. During our visit, motorcycle rentals cost PHP500/for 24 hours use from Alex Motorcycle Rental(Rizal Ave.) We drove around the main city, weaving through the busy side streets and alleys, passing by the port, Baywalk and at Kamarikutan Café for a quick look around. Continue reading “DIY Puerto Princesa City Tour by Motorcycle”

Shooting Range in Isabela

In the event a zombie outbreak happens (and it will), one of the most useful survival skills you will probably need to know aside from running for your life is how to shoot a real gun. Though I play the occasional first-person shooters like Left4Dead and have tried shooting games like lazer tag, paintball, and airsoft, nothing beats target practice at a shooting range.

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Corregidor on Foot

Old Manila Walks recently launched The Corregidor Walking Tour, dubbed “Of Bombs, Big Guns & Lost Gold.” The walking tour, which is concentrated on the “historic core” if the island, provides a broader, more contextual, insightful and critical understanding of World War II in the country. Throughout the tour, Ivan Man Dy, the founder and lead guide of Old Manila Walks, shared interesting stories of military strategies, enemy invasion, lost treasures and conspiracy theories on WWII. This was actually my third time on the historic island, after taking the traditional bus tour and the Adventure Challenge and overall, I found the whole experience to be a great workout for both body and mind! Below are a few photo highlights & some useful info for those who want to try it out themselves.

For more walking tours, check out my article “History on Foot: Old Manila Walks” in Zest Inflight Magazine, March 2013 issue. Continue reading “Corregidor on Foot”

Food Trip: Sagada

In recent years, Sagada has gotten a reputation for having lots of great eating places. If you’ve been there, you can probably agree that the cool crisp mountain air and all that walking around surely works up an appetite. Thankfully, there are lots of great restaurants to try out. For those who like to plan where to eat in advance, here’s a list of some of the restaurants we sampled during our five-day trip there, with accessibility ratings and distance on foot from the town center (with the hospital as the starting point).

food trip sagada Continue reading “Food Trip: Sagada”

Baybay Beach & Grand Gazebo in Capiz

Baybay Beach in Roxas City, Capiz is popular weekend spot for locals and visitors from nearby towns and provinces. With its seven-kilometer long stretch of sugar-fine glittery black sand and relatively calm waters, the beach is ideal for swimming, snorkeling, kayaking and skimboarding.

During a trip to Capiz last December, we had a jam-packed schedule, covering the Sinadya sa Halaran Festival, visiting waterfalls, caves and various pilgrimage sites. It was nice to take a breather and just enjoy the refreshing see breeze at the beach. Continue reading “Baybay Beach & Grand Gazebo in Capiz”

Mt. Pulag: Expectations vs. Reality

The first rays of the sun break on the horizon and warm orange light slowly seeps through the cold cover of clouds. As the veil of the night sky lifts, a sea of ghostly mist drifts by on the grassy rolling hills of Luzon’s highest peak.

This was how I envisioned my trip to Mt. Pulag, my first trip of the year and first ever ascent up a mountain (the second highest in the country). But that didn’t go exactly as planned.

What I got was bitter cold, rain, fog and mud so thick that it blackened my feet through my shoes and two layers of thick socks. There were times while hiking that I felt like one of zombies in “The Walking Dead,” just mindlessly shambling on, putting one foot in front of the other, wondering when the misery would ever end. Continue reading “Mt. Pulag: Expectations vs. Reality”

Achievements Unlocked in 2012

Ah, yes the year-ender post. Where do I begin, when I haven’t written about half of the trips I took this year? Let’s see, bullet points would be the easiest way. The year 2012 has been pretty good in terms of travel. I wasn’t able to go on some of the international trips I had planned this year, but in return I got a lot of local trips, some of which were totally unexpected. Here are the major blog/trip highlights and “achievements unlocked” this year:

  • Domain Upgrade: Upgraded WordPress blog to a self-hosted dot.com
  • Blog facelift: Got an awesome new blog banner designed by the pure genius known as The Creative Dork/The Travelling Dork aka Robx Bautista
  • Fan Likes: Gained more than 900 followers on Facebook (up from 300 the first year)
  • Page views: Exceeded 200,000 page views
  • Page Rank upgrade: Achieved a Google Page Rank of 3 since switching to a dot.com domain

Christmas Party Theme Ideas

My family is a real sucker for themed parties, especially during Christmas. For the past nine years, my sister, cousins and I unleash our creativity by converting what we already have into DIY costumes, making our own props and brainstorming on games that will fit the theme. My grandmother and aunt also tend to go overboard with the food preparation and the decor, making sure every little detail will go with the theme. If you’re looking for themed party ideas for your next bash, here are some party peg suggestions based on what we’ve already tried.

BLACK & WHITE

A Black & White Affair is a classy theme that’s easy enough to pull-off since everyone has something black and white in their closet. For our 2004 Christmas party, we went for a vintage feel with classics as our background music and a mafia touch to the games, program and food. We came up with a customized murder mystery game based on Cluedo and had a Christmas Exchange Gift (anything vintage).

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Colors of Capiz

Our trip to Capiz coincided with the the Sinadya sa Halaran 2012 festival, which literally means “Joy in Sharing and Thanksgiving.” Held every December, this festival is a merging of the Roxas City Fiesta “Sinadya” and the Provincial celebration of “Halaran.” It is a commemoration of the feast of the patroness of Roxas City (the Immaculate Concepcion).

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A Motorcycle Tour Bucket List

Last year, during a trip to Vietnam, I got to explore Saigon by scooter, the most popular mode of transport. In my opinion, it’s the best way to experience the culture of the bustling city.

This made me think about other countries that would be great for motorcycle tours. Here’s a short bucket list of places I’d love to go to mostly inspired by memorable motorcycle scenes in films and TV shows. Continue reading “A Motorcycle Tour Bucket List”