I used to sit on top of redwoods and have the world at my feet But now I know that the world isn't something to be stepped on or watched afar from tree tops. - Maggie Alvarez (image swiped from here). [img src="http://c4.statcounter.com/counter.php?sc_project=491626&java=0" alt="free website hit counter" border="0"] [a href="http://www.tec [View Full Entry]

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i was exactly on the hundredth page of graham greene’s the quiet american when we left for vietnam. thirty years after the country has known peace, i wondered how much of pyle, thomas and phuong were left. as a tribute of sort to a war-ravaged country, we wanted to keep a somber mood all throughout our journey, a kind of a reflective pilgrim instead of joyous trip, but vietnam was all set on making us have a good time. darwin and i only had a couple of light bags so we opted to take the train to the airport. i was [View Full Entry]

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we checked-out of the wellington hotel at half-past three in the morning and trudged the paved streets of vincent square to london-victoria bus station. it was still dark outside and the inert air was very cold. good thing we layered our coats but our toes froze to popsicles after a few minutes. i wondered on how could i ever want to live in a cold country like this. but still, it would be nice to walk the streets in those knee-length high-heeled boots, multihued scarves and black trench [View Full Entry]

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i was awakened by a call from my sister vanie, who was enthusiastically shouting something to me. it took a while before i realized that TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY! i thanked her for calling and she apologized when it dawned on her that we are already in london time (oohh how great does that sound!) and it was about four in the morning here. darwin greeted me a sleepy happy birthday after the call and was disappointed that vanie beat him to it. this is the first time i'm spending [View Full Entry]

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two days after the wedding, darwin and i boarded the plane to singapore where we'd be staying for a day before high-tailing it off to europe. we have so much things from manila to unpack, mostly wedding stuffs and some provisions we bought from rustan's to use up the gift certificate we got from our ninang. then we have to pack the clothes we need for our honeymoon trip - cold wears for england, germany and france, summer clothes for italy and all the things in between. [img src="http://img [View Full Entry]

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(i will be posting our honeymoon diaries and i think it will be good to start with our itinerary and a few tips and tricks we've learned on budget travelling around europe. this entry is a cross-post from an email i sent to the weddings at work yahoogroups for couples dreaming of a european honeymoon but with limited budget. like us.) disclaimer: we've only covered western europe (plus london) so tips might be limited. both darwin and i agree that the best way to see europe is on foot. if you're planning to v [View Full Entry]

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tuesday i woke up to a really bad dream and snuggled close to darwin for the rest of the night. we woke up to our final balinese morning at 730 am, took a quick shower and sorted out the final bits in our bags. our flight leaves at 2:55 in the afternoon and we still have the whole morning to go to the beach and shop. after our usual american breakfast, we took a cab to kuta beach. the shops along the way were still closed but the beach was already full of eager surfers. we settled on an area between [View Full Entry]

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monday unlike our first morning, the shrill sound of the alarm clock woke us up. we're going beach-hopping today then to Uluwatu, a temple on the south of bali, then proceed to Tanah Lot to catch the sunset. darwin, as usual, showered first then me, then ritchie. we found out that we didn't bring enough clothes since we thought we could shop for all the things we need here in bali. i brought only four pairs of bikinis with me, a pair of sleepwear, one shorts and a couple of shirts. both ritchie and i have nothing suitable to wear for [View Full Entry]

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sunday our bali pictures can be found here. our first balinese morning we woke up an hour early than the proposed time. darwin didn't draw the curtains last night just in case we oversleep so we were up just as early as the sunrise. it was a beautiful morning! the sun was very bright, pampered by the absence of tall buildings and smog. it has been continuously raining in singapore when we left that the yellow beams filtering through the hotel windows were met with silent cheers. darwin showered [View Full Entry]

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saturday we wanted to start our vacation early so we excitedly left the house three hours before our flight. we all crammed our packing (ritchie especially) and we had to go back to our unit twice just to check if we forgot something, which we predictably did but more of that later. for others, the holiday starts at the airport but for us three, the best holiday starts with the best ride to the airport. so we ignored the ordinary cabs passing by and waited for the luxury cab we saw unloading a block away. we felt like little children when [View Full Entry]

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