Blogs from Philippines, Asia
Happy Loner Traveller in Subic!!!
<span><span>Subic Zambales is a former military naval base of the Americans during World War II but as time ensues, it has been slowly converted into shipping ports, resorts and various tourist attractions. <span>My Wildlife Encounter started when I stayed at Camayan Beach Resort which is inside Subic and owned by the same company who owns Ocean Adventure Park. It is a Beachfront resort where you can do kayak. And it’s just a 3 minute walk to Ocean Adventure Park where you can witness performing Dolphins, Sea Lions, and False Killer whales. I also visited ZOOBIC SAFARI, which is a mini-zoo and their main attraction here are Tiger encounters, Yes! You’ve read it right! They will place you inside a secure transportation and you will enter into their natural habitat. It’s a different approach and it is ... read more
Boracay Sunset 1
I have spent the last week in a little slice of heaven – Boracay. It’s known as one of the best beaches in the world and has earned that reputation for a reason. Perfect sun, perfect warm breeze, perfect sand and perfect water temperature. Combine that with $1 beers and $3 margaritas, and it’s hard to get much better. Combine that with the friendliest service (although I’m not sure if it is by nature or by the desire for tips, I don’t really care either), and you don’t get better. Needless to say, I’ve had a great week. I’m glad I opted for a relaxed trip for the spring festival break and not an intense trek exploring several different places in a limited amount of time. In 3 weeks’ time, when I’m done in Shanghai, I’m ... read more
Chilli Crab
Filipino food is not so much an adventure as it is yummy goodness. For a pescotarian like me, it was heaven being somewhere with such rich seafood and fish offerings. It was also refreshing after Shanghai, which has been challenging because of the language barrier and the love of pork. While in Boracay, I got to eat some of the freshest seafood I have ever had. On our last night there, I devoured a crab that was so fresh and so well-seasoned I thought I was in heaven (and I’m not kidding about the devouring, I really should have taken an after picture, it was a mess). Another favourite was Sinigang Gambas - probably one of the best sauces I have ever had on shrimp. They served it at our hotel and I started to have ... read more
Donsol (1)
Feb 1st – HCMC – Manila – Legazpi – Donsol It’s a true travel day. Flight from HCMC to Manila at 1am, arriving at Manila at 4:30am. I relaxed there for a couple of hours, managed to find a good cinnamon bun (oh the things you miss) – hard to find a good one. I almost missed my flight because I forgot to change my watch. In my defense I got off the plane at 4:30am having 2 hours sleep. I was looking at the departures board and saw “Boarding” for my flight. Given that it was 1 ½ hours before the scheduled time, I was confused but quickly realized my watch was an hour behind. The hour long flight to Legazpi, a small city on the southern region of the main island of Luzon, was ... read more
Armie Yuson's Happy Loner Traveller T-Shirts!!!
Have you seen the shirts that Armie “Happy Loner Traveller” Yuson is wearing on his Photos & Videos? Do you want to have one too? Well, it’s just plain EASY! Just like my Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/ArmieYusonOfficial) and be an ACTIVE USER to my Page (Likes, Comments & Shares) and randomly I will select one ACTIVE Facebook User EVERY MONTH to have my FREE “HAPPY LONER TRAVELLER” T-Shirt! As simple as that! So, what are you waiting for, LIKE and be ACTIVE on my Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/ArmieYusonOfficial)… Always Visit my sites (http://armieyuson.blogspot.com/ & http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Happy-Loner-Traveller/ & url=http://www.youtube.com/Abomin... read more
Sleeping at Beijing Airport
Packing is one of the tedious things to do when preparing for a trip. And if packing all the clothes, toiletries, gears and whatever else one needs in a trip isn’t stressful enough, parents also have to arrange everything that their children want and need for the same trip. And believe me, children require more stuff to bring than adults would. I’ve been bringing my son to my out-of-town trips as early as 11 months old. These trips, though, were only for a day and usually with relatives who help me out with all the baby stuff I had to bring. So, normally, I bring tons of baby stuff with me, even the ones that we might not need, simply because I know somebody else would be carrying them for me. But, by the time my ... read more
Limestone cliffs in Bacuit Bay
Living on a subtropical island such as Taiwan means that the winter does indeed bring cool weather, with conditions perhaps comparable to a damp autumn day in North America. Nevertheless, traveling south past the tropic of cancer, which passes through Taiwan near the medium sized city of Chiayi, puts you in swimming-year-round territory, and another hour south by plane brings you to the Philippines, which are outright hot any time of the year. The Chinese New Year holiday provides the must needed days off during this chilly season. This year my parents were in town for the holidays. First, we did a hot springs tour of Taipei City and surroundings, shot off some rounds of fireworks, and then hopped on a flight to Palawan, a thin, 650km long island; one of 7000+ that make up the ... read more
Boat to Coron
Happy Monday to you all, hope this finds you all well. Before we left El Nido we decided to hire a Kyack and do some island hoping. It worked out cheaper than the tourist package and meant that we could visit the islands we fancied and stay as long as we wanted. We packed a picnic and plenty of water to last us the day. So we handed over our 1000 Pesos, and was given 2 minutes worth of instruction which included a map of the islands which we could reach by our Kyack and set sail. We had been paddling for only a short while when the reality of it kicked in, it wasn't going to be the romantic day trip we had had in mind. I'd done a tiny bit of Kyacking on lakes/rivers ... read more
Mount Pinatubo Crater 1
For the second week of the Spring Festival break, I've headed to the Philippines with some friends. Before heading to Boracay to laze on a beach and drink too many margaritas, we headed out of Manila to trek Mount Pinatubo and see the crater lake that formed after it's eruption in 1991. It was a long day to get to the crater. We woke at 4:30 a.m. to drive 2.5 hours out of Manila, to then take a 1 hour jeep ride (an extremely bumpy, bruise-inducing, thank-god I took anti-nausea medicine jeep ride), and a 2 hour trek across the mountain. We then arrived at the crater, enjoyed it for a while, and then repeated the trip in reverse (but add in pouring rain for parts of each leg). Was it worth the 10+ hour journey, ... read more
Sunset in Guimaras
Well, I guess I’d better apologise in advance. After the previous few blogs that contained such wonders as snorkelling with whale sharks, swanning through deserted islands and of course the Mother of All Festivals, this edition will likely seem quite tame and relatively uneventful. I hadn’t really stopped much up until now - I had been moving every few days and doing lots of amazing things, but with the impending prospect of teaching eighty kids looming quite large, I relished the chance to just stop, relax and let my salt-encrusted and now quite natty hair down... After the festival and with the cacophony of drums still ringing in my ears, I embarked on a fairly uneventful bus trip south across the island of Panay. I arrived in Iloilo City, took a quick look around at this ... read more
