So, I absolutely think this video is very. very cool. Great, simple tips to taking better pics. Try one today!
A Guide To Taking Better Pictures...
Monday, September 26, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
SEA Odyssey: Hong Han Hotel Review (Vietnam)
This was a great place to stay in Ho Chi Minh! Right off the bat, Anh was quick to reply to all my queries via e-mail, he helped suggest a room for our group of 5. We also requested for an airport pickup since we would be arriving at around 1AM, and the pickup was prompt and Anh was there to greet us with a warm smile, and helped us with our luggage, and into our rooms at the 3rd floor (which was really the 5th floor). There is no elevator and the stairs left us a bit winded, but we eventually got used to it.
We stayed for 3 nights, and booked a triple room and double room. There was ample space, rooms were clean, a/c was cool. Wi-Fi was strong and steady. Water pressure was a bit weak, and the hot water sometimes ran out, but these are minor caveats. Breakfast is also included, baguette, eggs, jam, juice and coffee. Great value for money.
Both receptionists were named Anh, there was the morning Anh (who was a girl), and evening Anh (guy) and they were both very friendly and accommodating to all our questions Great restaurant recommendation from evening Anh (nha hang ngon). The location was great, money changer just around the corner, dining places abound. There was a great 24 hour restaurant just opposite the hotel which provided a vast array of food choices. Area was alive even at night, but our room was quiet.
We also asked them to reserve tickets for the water puppet show, as well as bus tickets going to Phnom Penh, Everything was convenient and hassle free. Anh even sent me an e-mail after we checked out to make sure our trip was still going well, which I really appreciated.
An excellent place to stay at, made even more special with Anh and Anh, will definitely stay again!
We stayed for 3 nights, and booked a triple room and double room. There was ample space, rooms were clean, a/c was cool. Wi-Fi was strong and steady. Water pressure was a bit weak, and the hot water sometimes ran out, but these are minor caveats. Breakfast is also included, baguette, eggs, jam, juice and coffee. Great value for money.
Both receptionists were named Anh, there was the morning Anh (who was a girl), and evening Anh (guy) and they were both very friendly and accommodating to all our questions Great restaurant recommendation from evening Anh (nha hang ngon). The location was great, money changer just around the corner, dining places abound. There was a great 24 hour restaurant just opposite the hotel which provided a vast array of food choices. Area was alive even at night, but our room was quiet.
We also asked them to reserve tickets for the water puppet show, as well as bus tickets going to Phnom Penh, Everything was convenient and hassle free. Anh even sent me an e-mail after we checked out to make sure our trip was still going well, which I really appreciated.
An excellent place to stay at, made even more special with Anh and Anh, will definitely stay again!
Friday, September 09, 2011
Jeepney
I rode a jeepney today.
To be honest, I don't usually take the jeep anymore, when I do, it's normally just because I'm lazy to walk, but to actually ride a jeep to get to a destination, I think it's been years.
But anyway, today I made the conscious choice to ride a jeepney to get to the mall so I could meet my best friend. I could have taken a cab, but for some reason, I decided to take the jeepney instead.
Ahh...the warm wind in your hair, the smell of exhaust in the air, being forced to squish into a confined space like sardines, being jerked around by the constant stops and starts as people get on and off the jeep, the sudden burst of speeds that make you feel like you're in a high speed chase, and finally, finally reaching your destination looking like a frazzled mess (or maybe that's just me).
Takes me back to my good old school days. :)
Honestly, riding the jeepney is not so bad, and even though I haven't really taken the jeep for such a long time, there's a sense of familiarity about it that I miss. It's good to know that there are some things you don't forget, in my caseits how to survive riding a jeep in Manila.
To be honest, I don't usually take the jeep anymore, when I do, it's normally just because I'm lazy to walk, but to actually ride a jeep to get to a destination, I think it's been years.
But anyway, today I made the conscious choice to ride a jeepney to get to the mall so I could meet my best friend. I could have taken a cab, but for some reason, I decided to take the jeepney instead.
Ahh...the warm wind in your hair, the smell of exhaust in the air, being forced to squish into a confined space like sardines, being jerked around by the constant stops and starts as people get on and off the jeep, the sudden burst of speeds that make you feel like you're in a high speed chase, and finally, finally reaching your destination looking like a frazzled mess (or maybe that's just me).
Takes me back to my good old school days. :)
Honestly, riding the jeepney is not so bad, and even though I haven't really taken the jeep for such a long time, there's a sense of familiarity about it that I miss. It's good to know that there are some things you don't forget, in my caseits how to survive riding a jeep in Manila.
Sunday, September 04, 2011
SEA Odyssey : Transportation and Hotel Expenses
To help categorize the next few posts as part of my 10 day, 4 country, 5 city tour, I'm prefixing all posts related to it with SEA (South East Asia) Odyssey. In my last post, I shared the schedule and basic itinerary. In this post, I'm sharing the fixed costs which include the airfare, bus trips and hotel rates. Please take note, we did not incur any hotel costs in Singapore because we stayed with relatives and friends, so that cost is not included in the computation below.
So, basically for P16, 258.38 (approximately 400 USD), we were able to visit 5 cities and have a good place to sleep. Variable costs, like food, shopping, souvenirs, entrance fees, tour fees etc. for me totaled to not more than 500 USD (and I did shop quite a lot), so I'm assuming you can make this cheaper if you're not out to shop.
Hope this post was helpful in planning out your budget! Oh, and another note, if you're from the Philippines, or other SEAsian countries, no visas are required. There might be additional costs involved to process visa requirements, so please check that out as well. :)
So, basically for P16, 258.38 (approximately 400 USD), we were able to visit 5 cities and have a good place to sleep. Variable costs, like food, shopping, souvenirs, entrance fees, tour fees etc. for me totaled to not more than 500 USD (and I did shop quite a lot), so I'm assuming you can make this cheaper if you're not out to shop.
Hope this post was helpful in planning out your budget! Oh, and another note, if you're from the Philippines, or other SEAsian countries, no visas are required. There might be additional costs involved to process visa requirements, so please check that out as well. :)
Saturday, September 03, 2011
Ho Chi Minh -> Phnom Penh -> Siem Reap -> Bangkok -> Singapore
My friends and I just came back from a 10 day, 4 country, 5 city tour of South East Asia (which explains my absence from this blog). In the next few days, I'll be putting up a series of posts, from hotel reviews, to things we saw, expenses, our experiences and of course pictures of this amazing and memorable trip. For now. let me share our schedule and itinerary, which might be helpful to those of you who are planning the same type of trip. :)
Our Itinerary:
Our Itinerary:
Thursday, August 04, 2011
Conquering Caramoan
What if I told you that to get to Caramoan, Camarines Sur, you had to take a plane ride from Manila to Naga (1 hour), travel by land to Sabang Port for an hour and a half, and then take a boat from Sabang to Guijalo for another 2 hours (more if waves are strong)...would you be interested in going?
Personally, I had my reservations.
Of course, if what lay on the other side of that 4 1/2 hour journey are pristine, white-sand beaches, crystal clear ocean waters,unspoiled nature and breathtaking limestone formations, I'm sure you'll reconsider. And that's not all, Caramoan is known for being the venue of the Survivor series for France and Israel.
We got our tickets for P2,860 each from AirPhil Express. Just a tip, if you're booking for a large group (we were 12), it's best to divide them as the fares get
incrementally expensive the more people you're booking for. I'm assuming it's because there's only a limited number of tickets allotted for cheaper rates. Then, just average the cost among everyone and it will result in an overall cheaper rate per person.
Given the fact that Caramoan is a pretty remote place to go to, and we were traveling as a group. We looked for a place to stay that offered tours, transfers, meals - basically we wanted a hassle free vacation. We lucked out with Residencia de Salvacion, it was a cozy B&B that had enough rooms to accommodate all of us plus they provided the services that what we were looking for. The website itself is informative and tells you everything you want to know about Caramoan. If you e-mail them, they respond promptly and are willing to provide all the information you need even if you're not going to book with them, which is really excellent service right off the bat. Edgar, the owner, was very accommodating to all my questions, arrangements and special requests. We availed the 4D/3N package for P4,500/person, which included all transfers, tours, boat rentals, meals, snacks and even a side trip to Naga.
As soon as we arrived in Naga, we were met by Ate Gina and she accompanied us in the long 3 1/2 journey to Caramoan. She even had snacks and water ready for our group to tide our hunger as we would be arriving way past lunchtime in RDS.
As soon as we got to the house, there was a sumptuous lunch waiting for us with crabs, bicol express. tons of rice and laing. Tired, from our journey, we just opted to visit Gota village (where Survivor is filmed) instead of going island hopping and had a good night's rest.
On the second day we went island hopping, the sun was shining brightly and we enjoyed visiting different islands, swimming and just relaxing. Most of the beaches were really just gorgeous islands that had none of the commercial feel that other more popular beaches are known for. If you're looking for any modern, developed beaches, you won't find it here. We had an amazing lunch with huge crabs by the beach and afterwards went on to more islands. If you want to find out how it feels to have an entire island to yourself, this is a good place to go to.
On the third day, it was raining but we still opted to go out. We braved the rains and strong winds and were even able to visit 2 islands and have lunch until we finally decided to call it quits and head home because it was too cold. It was like being caught up in a storm at sea! When we got back, the staff at RDS set up the videoke machine and we just spent the rest of the afternoon belting out tunes. Even though it was raining and we couldn't get out, RDS still made sure we wouldn't waste our time.
On our last day, we set off early so we would have time to go around in Naga. RDS also provided us packed lunches for the trip. When we got to Naga, we stopped for souvenirs and also had a quick visit to the Penafrancia church. If we had a later flight, they would have also taken us to CWC before finally dropping us off at the airport.
[gallery link="file" orderby="ID"]
** Note: This is a delayed post, we went to Caramoan in Feb 2011, but since I was asked to write an article for a newsletter, I decided to post the same article here. Enjoy!
Personally, I had my reservations.
Of course, if what lay on the other side of that 4 1/2 hour journey are pristine, white-sand beaches, crystal clear ocean waters,unspoiled nature and breathtaking limestone formations, I'm sure you'll reconsider. And that's not all, Caramoan is known for being the venue of the Survivor series for France and Israel.
We got our tickets for P2,860 each from AirPhil Express. Just a tip, if you're booking for a large group (we were 12), it's best to divide them as the fares get
incrementally expensive the more people you're booking for. I'm assuming it's because there's only a limited number of tickets allotted for cheaper rates. Then, just average the cost among everyone and it will result in an overall cheaper rate per person.
Given the fact that Caramoan is a pretty remote place to go to, and we were traveling as a group. We looked for a place to stay that offered tours, transfers, meals - basically we wanted a hassle free vacation. We lucked out with Residencia de Salvacion, it was a cozy B&B that had enough rooms to accommodate all of us plus they provided the services that what we were looking for. The website itself is informative and tells you everything you want to know about Caramoan. If you e-mail them, they respond promptly and are willing to provide all the information you need even if you're not going to book with them, which is really excellent service right off the bat. Edgar, the owner, was very accommodating to all my questions, arrangements and special requests. We availed the 4D/3N package for P4,500/person, which included all transfers, tours, boat rentals, meals, snacks and even a side trip to Naga.
As soon as we arrived in Naga, we were met by Ate Gina and she accompanied us in the long 3 1/2 journey to Caramoan. She even had snacks and water ready for our group to tide our hunger as we would be arriving way past lunchtime in RDS.
As soon as we got to the house, there was a sumptuous lunch waiting for us with crabs, bicol express. tons of rice and laing. Tired, from our journey, we just opted to visit Gota village (where Survivor is filmed) instead of going island hopping and had a good night's rest.
On the second day we went island hopping, the sun was shining brightly and we enjoyed visiting different islands, swimming and just relaxing. Most of the beaches were really just gorgeous islands that had none of the commercial feel that other more popular beaches are known for. If you're looking for any modern, developed beaches, you won't find it here. We had an amazing lunch with huge crabs by the beach and afterwards went on to more islands. If you want to find out how it feels to have an entire island to yourself, this is a good place to go to.
On the third day, it was raining but we still opted to go out. We braved the rains and strong winds and were even able to visit 2 islands and have lunch until we finally decided to call it quits and head home because it was too cold. It was like being caught up in a storm at sea! When we got back, the staff at RDS set up the videoke machine and we just spent the rest of the afternoon belting out tunes. Even though it was raining and we couldn't get out, RDS still made sure we wouldn't waste our time.
On our last day, we set off early so we would have time to go around in Naga. RDS also provided us packed lunches for the trip. When we got to Naga, we stopped for souvenirs and also had a quick visit to the Penafrancia church. If we had a later flight, they would have also taken us to CWC before finally dropping us off at the airport.
To sum everything up, Caramoan is not an easy place to get to, and most of the sights are not easily accessible so it could get very tiring. But the beauty of unspoiled beaches and all that nature had to offer is worth the trip. It's also a good thing to return to a place that feels like "home" and where everything is already taken cared of, and this was provided to us by the amazing staff of RDS. So, if you're thinking of heading over to Caramoan, you should really consider staying there. It will make you forget you're in such an isolated place, and you can just focus on relaxing and having fun. Of course, all trips are made even better if you have great people with you, to share all the ups and downs of any vacation. ;)
[gallery link="file" orderby="ID"]
** Note: This is a delayed post, we went to Caramoan in Feb 2011, but since I was asked to write an article for a newsletter, I decided to post the same article here. Enjoy!
Monday, August 01, 2011
Happy Birthday to my mom!!!
Just a quick, birthday greeting to my often criticized but always loved mother who turns 57 today. :)
Mama, I love you! And you definitely don't look your age. ;)
Mama, I love you! And you definitely don't look your age. ;)
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