Holy cow, Macau

Macau for a $1? Holy cow, Macau! 

When I travel I don't just go to a place just to visit the tourist spots or just to capture everything that caught my eye on camera (although it's one of my agenda). It isn't just to admire the place or to collect foreign coins or ref magnets. It's experiencing the culture, rubbing elbows with the locals, getting lost and finding your way AND! most importantly, tasting the food! 

macau tower at night

Macanese food is characterized by the spiciness of Portuguese cuisine, the dominant use of paprika, curry powder and the like. Quite an interesting combination. A combination of Chinese and Portuguese cuisine. Uh-huh, East meets West. Here were some of the food I tried while in Macau.

 


Oh, did you know that I got my round trip airfare to Macau for $1? Yep, you read it right and no, i'm not pulling your leg. It's $.50 one way via Tiger Airways. Although after tax and hidden fees it actually cost me $54. That doesn't include the Philippine travel tax and terminal fee and my bus fare to Clark airport, but still, not bad, heh? I spent more than that the last time I went to Cebu. Then I spent 80hkd/night for a

St. Paul Ruins

mix dorm-type room. Food is from 20-30hkd, bus fare is from 2.50mop to 5mop, depending on the distance. For more tips visit my travel website at www.ayeenonline.com/travel (shameless plug ). Or go to virtualtourist.com and look for member: sweet_sentiments.

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original post from: https://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/sweet_sentiments/

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My Pandan Island and Apo Reef Trip

I was at Pandan Island and Apo Reef last May 27 until 29, (eherm, officemates, if you're reading this i was sick last friday ok? :P). We left Pandan Island on Sunday at 10am and got back in Manila at 9pm.

apo reef

The meeting place was at Wendy's buendia at 1:45am, friday. We were the last one to arrive at the meeting place (it was american idol's fault :P). By 2am we were already inside the bus to take us to Batangas Pier. We reached Batangas Pier at 4:30am, then we boarded the ferry to Abra de Ilog at 5am. We reached Abra de Ilog at 7am, ate breakfast while we we waited for the bus that would take us to Sablayan. Abra de ilog to Sablayan is a 3-hour bus ride on rough roads and we got there at 11:45am. Upon arrival at Sablayan, we had lunch while we waited for the water taxi that would take us to Pandan Island. Sablayan to Pandan island is just a 15-minute boat ride.We just bummed around the Pandan Island on our first day. By the way, there was an old French guy there (he owns the Pandan Island Resort, where we're staying) who speaks tagalog fluently, 

apo reef

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cast away? :p

i like him already! :P. Anyway, we snorkelled in Pandan island and ofcourse I took lots of photos. In the evening, after our mandatory buffet dinner, we had our socials at the organizer's cottage (it rained that night). Too bad I can't drink so i just helped them eat their pulutan :P


The next day I woke up at 5am to catch Pandan Island's sunrise and at 8am we hopped on a trigger boat that would take us to Apo Reef. It was a 3-hour boat ride from Pandan Island to Apo Reef but very much worth the trip. Two of my companions went diving while the rest of us went snorkelling. I had a great time snorkelling at Apo Reef. It's like swimming inside a very very big salt water aquarium. It was a good thing i bought a disposable underwater camera (i was having second thoughts before the trip whether i'll buy it or not kasi).
The most exciting part (for me, atleast) was when the boat needs to move near the shore. The boat men asked those of us who were near the boat to just hang on to the rope while the boat moves. It was sooo much fun! It was a welcome break from fighting away the current. Plus, with that boat pulling us I got to cover more coral area and got to see more stuff. Apo Reef's marine life is just spectacular! I envy my companion who went diving. I'm sure they saw more interesting stuff. We also went up the lighthouse where you could see corals dotting the waters.  Then it's time to leave. We left Apo Reef at 330pm.

view of the corals from the lighthouse

Come night time, and after yet another mandatory buffet dinner (but i won't complain because the food are all so good! sira ang diet :P), we had another socials but this time the venue was under the stars. Ahh, that is life. While we chatted away, some of my companions went for a night snorkelling. They said the fishes at night are more colorful. Note to self: buy an underwater flashlight.


What made the trip more interesting and more fun were the people i was with. There was never a dull moment and I was laughing the whole time. I'll rate that trip 8 stars (10 being the highest). I'll rate it a 9 if it wasn't for the rough roads and free face powder, aka, the dirt from the road.

For travel tips go to: http://www.ayeenonline.com/travel/. Or go to virtualtourist.com and look for member: sweet_sentiments.


:: original post can be found at: https://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/sweet_sentiments/ ::

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Mt. Pinatubo = Lahar? hell no!

Look at that picture.
New zealand? 
no. 
Batanes? 
no. (but that's in my wishlist) 

Ofcourse you know this already. You saw my title :P. Yep, that's the crater of Mt. Pinatubo.

pinatubo

Feb 18, 2005. It was a long weekend and so my photography club mates and I decided to see Mt. Pinatubo last friday until Saturday for another photoshoot. So equipped with our camera gears, tent and some food, off we went for our long weekend lakwatsa con photoshoot.

It's a 3-hour trek but if you want a shorter one you need to hire a 4x4 to take you to the shorter route. This will cut your trek from 3 hours to an hour. It was very tiring.We had to cross a river, balance on some rocks, walk on dirt. I'm not into mountain climbing really, but someone told me that the trek is not so difficult compared to Sagada and that the trail is not steep that's why I joined. Little did I know that i would have my lungs working extra because i was huffing and puffing the whole time.


The rewards are great though. The view of the crater is amazing. My mouth literally fell open because of the beauty of the lahar formation. It looks like the alps of Switzerland from afar. The very wide river that is now lahar-filled 

sunnier mordor

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you'll see a lot of these lahar-capped mountains on your way to the crater....

is overwhelming.

The Mt. Pinatubo eruption was really devastating but when you look into the remains of what happened, the lahar cutting thru mountains, the river turned solid because of the lahar, the alps-like mountains because of the lahar, you can't help but think that somehow that catastrophe turned my country even more beautiful.

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original post from: https://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/sweet_sentiments/

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Sagada Adventures

are we there yet? 

myself at Sumaguing Cave

We left on a Friday night to catch the Manila-Banaue autobus (+63 2 736-2831, 735-8096, fare at that time is 342.00). The travel time to Banaue took longer than we expected because the bus we were in suffered from overheat condition. We arrived in Banaue in the late morning of Saturday. There were no more jeepneys that would take us to Bontoc when we got to Banaue  (those jeepneys are only available at specific times and our bus arrived way too late *sigh*). So we just rented a van that would take us to Bontoc (2 1/2 hours).

Before we headed to Bontoc, our driver took us to some view sites for the rice terraces in Banaue and he also dropped us off to a restaurant in Banaue so we could have our lunch. Once again we encountered some problems because we had a flat tire (how lucky can we get? :p). The driver is supposed to take us until Sagada but because we had a flat tire he doesn't want to risk going to Sagada because he no longer have a spare tire in case we had another flat tire. What we did was, when we arrived at Bontoc, we took a

st. mary's church

jeepney that would take us to Sagada (45 min.-1hr, fare at that time is 30.00).


Sagada atlast! 
The first thing we did when we arrived at Sagada was to check-in at St.Joseph's Inn. We just rested for a little bit and then we went to the municipal hall to register. We also bought some maps. Then we proceeded with our tour. These are: St. Mary's, Hanging Coffin, Echo valley (yes, we shouted to test the echo, lol).


The next day we hired a guide for our caving tour (guides for caving is a must). We went to Sumaguing cave first then at Lumiang cave. After caving we had our lunch at Yoghurt house (i like their yoghurt, it's different from what i'm used to). We went to some other sights after lunch (Sagada weaver, Bokong falls, Masferre, Cross of Calvary). We also went back to the hanging coffins and then I went back to St. Mary's to take more photos. It was a very tiring day.


Bye sagada 
we had to catch the 5am Lizardo bus (fare at that time is 180.00) to Baguio, so we woke up very early. I have never been so afraid of the 

bokong falls or small falls

"bangin" (cliffs) in my whole life. Try riding a Lizardo bus - Sagada-Baguio route, and you'll know what i mean. I thought I am going to meet my creator that day. When we reached Baguio we just ate our lunch and off we went to take the Victory Liner station (+63 2 833-0219 to 20) for our trip back to Manila.

Sagada, is one experience i would never forget.




For travel tips go to: http://www.ayeenonline.com/travel/ or go to virtualtourist.com and look for member: sweet_sentiments

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:: original post can be found at: https://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/sweet_sentiments/ ::

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