My blog just turned five months old today! To celebrate, I’ve compiled a few travel tips I’ve learned from years of playing video games, which apply to real-life travel.
Continue reading “10 Travel Lessons I’ve learned from Video Games”
7 Budget Travel Tips & Tricks
Check out today’s issue of Sunday Inquirer Magazine for the full article on budget travel tips. Some of the tips are a bit extreme for first-time travelers (ex. hitchhike on a truck full of goats), but am sure a lot of people will find the tips useful.
Here’s a shout out to all the cool backpackers and budget travelers of the Pinoy Travel Bloggers (PTB) who shared their tips. Check out their individual blogs below (in alphabetical order):
Backpack Traveler / RV Escatron
Budget Travel Tip: TRAVEL BY BIKE OR MOTORCYCLE
“There are some hostels in Cambodia which offer complimentary use of bicycle. At the very least, a minimal rental fee. I grabbed this chance. Whenever I can, I rent a motorcycle wherever I go. I tried this in Chiang Mai and in Siquijor. For an average of P500/day, that excludes fuel, I can explore places at my own pace.” Continue reading “7 Budget Travel Tips & Tricks”
Kapurpurawan Landscapes
Surreal. Otherwordly. Almost alien.
These are just a few words that come to mind when seeing Kapurpurawan, a natural white sandstone formation carved by sea and wind, in the town of Burgos, Ilocos Norte. Words can’t fully describe how I was amazed by the place and how it felt like I had just set foot on another world. Here instead are a few images of the masterpiece of Mother Nature in our midst.
Bread, Salt and a Business Hotel
It’s said that bread and salt are ancient symbols of hospitality. For some countries, greeting one’s guests with these two basic food items is a sign of trust and friendship. It’s only fitting that we got to experience how both are produced the same morning during our trip to Ilocos Norte where we were warmly welcomed as guests of the Lakbay Norte media tour earlier this year.
Our pit stop after the rough adventure at Adams Village was the elegant Ilocos Norte Convention Center (INCC) in Laoag City. The hotel is quite large and ideal for gatherings and business functions. Continue reading “Bread, Salt and a Business Hotel”
5 Philippine Landscapes as Magic Cards
One of the most meaningful gifts I got during graduation was a set of five basic land cards laminated and turned into bookmarks from a friend who introduced me to the game Magic: The Gathering. An attached note said: “I want to show you the world, but I have no money. Hope these inspire you to explore the world on your own.” Well, they have.
Here’s my version of the five basic lands – plains, island, swamp, mountain and forest – representing five places in the Philippines I’ve been to since then. 🙂
Plains: La Paz Sand Dunes, Ilocos Norte
The La Paz Sand Dunes is a protected sandy coastal desert and beach close to Laoag City, the capital of the province of Ilocos Norte. The sand dunes of Ilocos were said to be created by the interaction of the wind, sea, and river that together cause erosion and deposition. Everyone had a blast trying out the sand boarding and riding 4×4 vehicles around the dunes earlier this year during the Lakbay Norte Media tour. Continue reading “5 Philippine Landscapes as Magic Cards”
A Swarm of Scooters in Saigon
The buzz of motorcycles on the city streets is one of the first things you notice about Saigon. Here, the nimble motorcycles expertly weave their way between hulking buses and hapless cars stuck in traffic.
From retro vespas in candy shades to rusty skeletons strapped down with market goods, you could say that the motorcycle cuts across all social classes in the country.
First Aeta Forest Food Festival
“1st Aeta Forest Food Festival. Capas Tarlac near Mt. Pinatubo. Aetas will show how to hunt bayawak, snakes, wild boar & cook food using traditional methods of the forest through customs, dances & rituals. Will also share traditional food customs with Agta, Dumagat tribes from Zambales, Quezon, Rizal.”
The text message invitation forwarded by Dondi Tawatao, a photojournalist friend who shoots for Getty Images, had me interested at once. Early the next morning we were headed to Capas, roughly 3 hours away from Manila, via a Victory Liner bus and then on a tricycle bound for Barangay Sta. Juliana. Though we initially planned to return to Manila the same day, the long tricycle ride through a winding mountain road where houses were few and far between, gave us a clue that we were probably going to be spending the night there. Continue reading “First Aeta Forest Food Festival”
The Beer is on in Saigon
Though Vietnam is not really known for having the best beer in Asia, for some people, a vacation would not be a vacation without sampling the local brew. Think of it as part of enjoying the local culture.
Here’s a rough guide to some Vietnamese beers we tried, with ratings provided by Travel Up’s resident beer connoisseur Art Fuentes (who happens to be my husband and the reason our travel fund has to have an allocated “beer budget”). Continue reading “The Beer is on in Saigon”
Discovering Bontoc in Batangas
After covering a biodiversity expedition in the Verde Island for a news story, I got to visit this really cool diving resort called Bontoc in Batangas Bed and Breakfast (BBBB) to interview Romeo Trono of Conservation International. The cozy resort definitely warranted a feature of its own. For more information on the place itself, please read the feature published in Sunday Inquirer Magazine, Bontoc or Batangas? Both! Below are a few more photos of the place.
View of Mt. Gulugod-Baboy from the BBBB’s balcony Continue reading “Discovering Bontoc in Batangas”
Adventure in Adams, Ilocos Norte
Nestled deep in the mountains, surrounded by forests, streams and rice fields, Adams Village in Ilocos Norte is just one of those places that remind you of the rural town that most RPG heroes start their adventure from.
The community hidden from the world has all the elements of your basic mountain town – rolling hills, narrow dirt trails you can only navigate on foot, rickety bridges hanging over rivers, as well as the occasional wild beast blocking the path. Continue reading “Adventure in Adams, Ilocos Norte”
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