For my first trip to Laos, I decided to join a group tour. While I always prefer traveling alone, as I want to explore a new place at my own pace (plus I need a lot of “quiet time” meditating, thinking and writing and just sitting still), this one time that I know that I need to be with a group as I know I can’t deal with Laos on my own. My biggest problem is the language barrier. English isn’t widely-spoken in Laos and it will thus be difficult for me go around this country given such handicap. I [View Full Entry]

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I'm leaving for Chiang Mai on Tuesday to join a backpackers group for a three week sojourn in Laos. To my friends and colleagues who are reading this blog: I may not be able to update this blog in the next few weeks. But I'll sure post new stories and pics once I'm in Bangkok (late-Aug). [View Full Entry]

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Life's a cycle. One thing must end in order to begin something new and hopefully, better. I know that and I think most people do. The thing is, sometimes, I forget that this is how life works, which is why sometimes I tend to hold on and resist change. Farewells, to me, are always sad affairs. It was always difficult for me to say goodbye to anyone I love. But I had to tell myself, time and again, that this is a cycle. Someone will have to leave in order for a new person to come into my life. Or [View Full Entry]

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I love parties! I love it that I can use it as one of my many justifications to break my diet, binging on wine, vodka, cheese, greasy onion rings and sugar-loaded pastries, without ever thinking about calories. (Because I tend to put weight easily) I also love hosting parties - organizing it, putting out invites, cooking and just chatting with guests. This may be because I grew up in a family who are sooooo into parties. In Tondo, Manila during the fiesta in honor of the Santo Nino (the Infant Jesus) - which is held mid-January, my parents, my aunts [View Full Entry]

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So what and where’s Mustafa’s? For those who haven’t been in Singapore, Mustafa’s sort of a landmark in a country where shopping is sort of a national sport (next to eating, I think). Located in Little India (one of my favorite places in Singapore), Mustafa’s is a 24-hour shopping center, where you can just buy about anything (from digicams to underwear to canned garbanzos to jewelry) for reasonable prices. Perfect for those who are in retail therapy but don't have enough moolah to support their, uhm, "habit" . The downside is, Mu [View Full Entry]

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It took me some time before I finally decided to buy digicam. I’ve been a photo hobbyist since 2002, not to mention that I always believed that my photography isn’t just a means of self expression, but also a tool which I can use in my profession as a journalist. My personal mantra: the words are there to explain, the images are there to illustrate. Both should tell a story and tell it well. But I always preferred film, believing that any serious photographer should learn how to operate a manual SLR first. I have two second hand Nikon manual [View Full Entry]

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My friend Persis, a Malaysian filmmaker, asked me if I would miss my apartment in Singapore. It’s a fair question considering that I’m a homebody and I lived in this walk-up apartment for 3 ½ years (out of my 4 ½ years in Singapore). I’m house proud - I loved inviting friends to my flat because I was (still am) very fond of this apartment which I’ll be leaving soon. It’s an old apartment (about 50 years old). And as such it doesn’t have the amenities that once can usually find in the spanking new high-rise condominiums dotting the island [View Full Entry]

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If ever I win a Noble Prize for pre-travel preparations, my thank you speech has to include an acknowledgement to two important things that allowed me to organize my travel itinerary even if I’m still tied to my workstation in Singapore, writing news stories that will be published by my soon-to-be-ex-media company. I would like to thank the guidebooks (Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, Frommer’s), some of which I bought, others were borrowed from my friends for giving me phone numbers, websites and addresses of hostels, hospitals, travel agencies, book shops and vegetarian restaur [View Full Entry]

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