For us who travel, the word scam has a very special place in our hearts. For me they mostly appear in the form of taxi drivers...them who asked for ‘fixed prices’, those who post additional charges because they went through a bad traffic, them who wouldn’t use the taxi meter and end up with a $urpri$e €harge in the end, et al. I feel like a trouble magnet when it comes to them. Well...the good news is, our Indochina Trip last year offered a bit of variety ;) Vietnam ...we really didn’t had much problem here, just the usual taxi drivers and buses trying to rip us off every opportunity given. To avoid this kind of incidents, we’d usually ask hotel receptionist how much it should cost us to buy things or to commute to certain ... read more

First Part : Second Part : The Sunday Catholic mass was yet another challenge. The service was spoken in Ivatan, a totally different language from the other three Filipino languages I know. But upon recognizing the presence of the ‘tourists’, the priest then carried on with the homily in Tagalog (Philippine National Language) and welcomed us in Basco. Although I did not understand most of what was said during the liturgy, it was one of the most solemn services I’ve attended, clearly not done in haste. It rained the whole morning until it hushed into subtle drizzles later in the afternoon; we were finally able to go biking! I was very much on a biking mode excitedly pedalling on my old Dutch-Style bicycle on our way to the Dipnaysupuan Japanese Tunnel three kilometres away from the ... read more

The windswept city located at the northern most part of the Philippines hence the sturdy stone houses. The mountainous region of Batanes is the country’s smallest province isolated from the rest of the Philippine islands, home to the laid back Ivatans. Only three of the ten islands in the province are inhabited, Itbayat, Sabtang, and the capital Basco; with majority of its population being fishermen or farmers. It's surrounded by vast waters as far as the eye can see and is the only province of the country that experiences four seasons. And with or without a Pacquiao fight, the province is relatively crime-free. I waited for a year for this trip and then there it went…my first ever cancelled flight! I felt totally disappointed, gutted was an understatement. I was totally hyped and excited the previous ... read more

It was a special bonding trip with my little cousins and little brother (who are not so little anymore), we initially wanted to go to El Nido in Palawan, then changed the plan to Coco Beach Resort in Puerto Galera, until we finally settled with Food Trip in Baguio - Surfing in La Union - and the 100 islands in Pangasinan. For our first stop, we managed to get on a non-stop Deluxe Bus bound to Baguio - we had our own 'special' lounge while waiting for departure, a bus hostess, snacks, toilet, comfy reclining seats and free Wi-Fi; oh, Hollywood! We left at midnight and arrived just before 5:00 in the morning. The taxi driver we hired helped us find an affordable hotel since we didn't had prior reservations. And as affordable as it was, ... read more

It took the bus four hours to get to San Antonio where we met our guide/boatman Kuya Mike. The last time we went to Pundaquit for camping, it only took us three hours by bus leaving at midnight – this time we missed the 04:00AM bus and had to wait until 05:00AM for the next one. Coming straight from work, I was groggy from having not slept and with the bus doing long stops, it wasn’t a very pleasant ride. It was a busy season seven months ago when we went camping at Anawangin so this time we were hoping that we’d have our ‘peace and quiet’ in another remote cove, Nagsasa. Unlike Anawangin which is just about 30 minutes boat ride from the Pundaquit beach, Nagsasa Cove is one and a half hours away. Though ... read more