Let me count the ways.Love me the way you chose meWith your warms wide openEmbrace all once broken Love me without apologiesNo hesitations, no regretPainfully forgetting as I forgetLove me in ways you cannot imagineIn hundred lifetimes, in hundred worldsIn any version of reality untoldLove me in all depths and formsAs your north becomes my southMy cold becomes your warmthAnd lastly, love me with a love so deepWithout pause, without a doubtAlways in a heartbeat
(And everything you need to know about applying for one.)
Gone were the days when we only think of countries other than Southeast Asia as dream destinations. Cheap airfares are now within online bookable reach — with Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan amongst the nearby Asian countries we can visit freely. Before booking flights, you might take into consideration that such countries still require us to obtain a valid visa prior to visiting. If you're a frequent traveler and has a good financial standing, securing one would be very easy.
Some would probably ask why I am making this a big deal, but I swear I've been through so much just to get that stamp! After all the hurdle of completing the documents for my visa application, I was able to grace the first quarter of my 2017 with a trip to South Korea! More so, I was able to get a 3-Year Multiple-Entry South Korean Tourist Visa on my first application!
I'll make this blog post as detailed as possible to help my fellow travelers attain that dream South Korean vacation. But before anything else, let me share a bit of my back story.
One of the main reasons why I was holding back my decision to let go of my second job was because of this South Korea trip. Petty, I know! Actually, this became one of my major problems because as per South Korean Embassy: NO WORK, NO VISA! When my friends and I decided to book our flight last June 2016, I had no solid plans yet on leaving my employer. But by the time I was due to apply for a visa, I was no longer an employee!
I've listed below my concerns and how I was able to address them one by one:
I am unemployed. From reading blogs I learned that you won't even be given a chance to submit your requirements because they're very strict about the No Work, No Visa policy. BUT, this varies according to what category you're applying for. This was when I decided to apply as Self-Employed. Unbeknownst to most, Ek and I just started a trading business late last year. Timely it was when we decided to apply for the necessary business permits this January. We've also decided to register the business under my name. It took us two months of tediously going in and out of government offices to be passed on from one district office to another because of erroneous paperwork, incomplete government forms, etc. Boy, was it very exhausting! So when we were able to complete all the requirements for our little business, we both felt so relieved! Aside from the fact that I was able to secure my licenses as a law-abiding Filipino taxpayer, I was also able to apply on time for my visa application. :)
My passport recently expired. You need to have a valid passport that won't expire in 6 months before you apply for a visa; this is also true when traveling to other countries. To make it worse, when I scheduled my online appointment for passport renewal with DFA, I found out I was not able to confirm my schedule via e-mail!!! Agh, so I waited another month and a half for a new schedule. Thankfully, I was able to renew my passport on time!
I wasn't really sure if I wanted to go to Korea. My finances were tight. I was unemployed. My business is new and there were no steady streams of income coming in. Everything changed when I started watching this Korean drama Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo! The "I was secretly hoping I get denied to spare myself from financial trouble" turned into "Damnit, I must get that visa, go to South Korea and visit Bok's Chicken" real quick! No regrets!
Visa Requirements
Please visit the Embassy's website for the complete set of requirements for each category. I will list the most common ones below:
If you’re an employee
If you’re a business owner/self-employed
If you’re a student/still studying
If you’re a housewife/househusband
If you’re a retired senior citizen
If you’re married to a Korean
Please check the embassy’s website if you can’t classify yourself as one of the above.
Since I am a business owner, I fall under** SELF-EMPLOYED** category. Here are the ones I submitted:
Application form
Passport picture
My recently renewed Philippine e-Passport
Photocopy of my NEW passport's second page
Photocopy of my OLD passport's second page and the previous stamps on it (These aren't exactly a requirement, but there is a section in the application form asking about travels during the last 5 years so I attached these as supporting documents.)
DTI Business Registration (photocopy)
Mayor's Permit (photocopy)
This is where the fun part begins. I learned from my friend that South Korea is holding a promo for BPI and BDO credit card holders! Luckily, I've had my BPI Gold credit card for more than a year now. Not only did I get exempted from submitting ITR and Financial Statements, I was also qualified to be granted a 3-year multiple entry visa! (And I was! Hay, thank you universe!) So in addition to the requirements above, here are the additional ones I've submitted:
BPI Credit Card (photocopy of front only, NO NEED to photocopy the back of your card for your own security purposes)
My last credit card statements for 3 months (You can submit only your most recent statement, but I submitted the last 3 to be sure.)
BPI Original Bank Certificate (As per the promo, the financial docs were already unnecessary, but since I have it, I might as well submit it.)
Visa Application Process
Once you've completed your requirements, you can now proceed to the embassy. The address is at the bottom of this post. There's no need for an appointment.
After they’ve called your number and reviewed your documents, they’ll give you a claim slip with a tentative release date for your passport (hopefully with visa).
It took no more than an hour for me to submit my application in the embassy.
Before you claim your passport, write your name and contact number at the back of your claim slip. You may be asked to provide additional documents and/or be subjected to an interview depending on your submitted requirements.
Lastly, pray that your visa gets approved!
Visa Processing Time
8:30 am to 11:00 am (Weekdays) – Visa Application
1:30 pm to 4:00 pm – Releasing of Passports
General reminders and some tips:
You may print out an Application Form (downloadable from the Embassy's website) and have it typewritten like what others did to make it look neat. However, I manually answered mine using black ink, in bold capital letters for a personal touch.
Important: Make sure to NOT have erasures on your form!
You do not need to staple your application form beforehand. They will staple all your documents together after checking.
I used a typical passport photo, the one I wasn't wearing earrings, in white background. My friend submitted hers with a name under her smiling photo, the consul accepted it, too.
Remember to PASTE not staple your passport photo on your application form. I had to buy a glue in 7/11 to find out there are glues available inside the embassy you can use for free!
I put N/A on all blanks items EXCEPT on section "For Official Use Only".
Same with, 1.7. National Identity no. – please put N/A.
For Travel Purpose section, I ticked two boxes: Tourism and Others. I wrote "Vacation with friends" on the blank space provided.
After I got my BIR status updated from 'local employee' to 'self-employed' (the very last step in registering your business in the Philippines), I applied for a visa as early as THE NEXT DAY. This entailed the business permits I submitted were just a month old. This could probably equate to being just a month into your new job for employed individuals.
While there is a common notion that there is a "show money" required when applying for visa, I totally disregarded this one. When I requested for my Original Bank Certificate from BPI, I even had to reduce the amount of money in my savings account to reflect just Php40,000. I've read from other blogs that the money in your bank account must conform to what you've written on your application form (Under section Estimated Amount of Travel Expenses in USD: I put 550-600USD which is equivalent to around Php30,000. I added a margin of Php10,000 as emergency fund.) Please note that THIS IS NOT ALWAYS THE CASE, BUT IT WORKED FOR ME.
I have immigration stamps from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, Hong Kong, China and Macau. My friend I traveled with DID NOT HAVE ANY stamp on her passport; it was her FIRST international travel, and she got approved!
You can check the status of your application on their online visa portal the day before. I was scheduled to get my visa on February 21. By the afternoon of February 20, the website already indicated my status was approved!
I failed to get my passport on the scheduled date (February 21, 2017) indicated on the paper the consul gave me. Instead of Tuesday, I went there on Friday (February 24, 2017), but I was still able to get my visa.
Korea Visa Portal
Lastly, my visa is FREE even if I got a 3-Year Multiple-Entry one. I did not pay for anything.
So there you have it! That's how I got my visa and traveled to South Korea! If you have other questions, feel free to drop a comment below and I'll help shed light as much as I can. :)
Republic of Korea Embassy in the Philippines
122 Upper McKinley Road, McKinley Town Center, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City 1634
Disclaimer: I am in no way connected with South Korean Embassy. What I have written here are personal experiences which I intended to blog to help those applying for their own visa. Information and facts regarding the application process are as of this writing and may be outdated.
It's lovely to be running across museum halls with you instead of running for any other errand. I was impressed when you showed me this one Fernando Amorsolo painting and tried to appraise it like a major art enthusiast. I snickered and tried to sneer at you but realized you were serious! And when I was about to be convinced that you have the love for arts, you lured me into taking your photo with a sensual painting by Juvenal Sansó (1950). I'm in luck, I guess, that I have a little bit of everything all rolled into one.
Whenever the year comes to close and Chinese New Year comes around the corner, I make a habit of reading my horoscope for the coming year. Not that I intend to live my life according to whatever the stars predicted, it’s just that every year I noticed to nod at horoscopes I got the year prior. Were they mere coincidences? Hope so… because this year brings me no luck — as told by the universe — again. The fallacy I usually draw out whenever I wanted to object the “(un)lucky stars” would be: All the sheep people my age will have the exact same fate? Because that would be weird and highly unlikely.
Somehow, I always pull through. 2016 was quite a year but look at me now, rockin’ 2017 with high hopes and dreams! Main highlight of 2016 would be letting go of my first and second jobs. I’ve always talked about this here as well as on my Twitter and Instagram so I guess it must be annoying by now! But I’m still filled with questions! Was it the best thing to do? Probably. Did it make me happy? Definitely. Will I regret it? Hopefully not. I’m too old to be riding with everyone else’s life choices. My life, my choice. I chase bliss; I choose happiness. I listened to where my heart leads me, because.. need I say more?
Moving on, I have trips coming up this 2017 that I’m ecstatic to blog about even if it mostly takes me months behind to do so! I’ve mentioned previously that I won’t be transferring to another blogging site. However, Tumblr is really giving me a hard time, and as much as I love blogging here, I’m now exploring other options. I have no concrete plans yet on migrating to other platform, at least not anytime soon. (Hey, if you’re reading this and managed to go out and about changing blog spaces, I’m more than grateful if you drop me a message as I have a lot of questions! Will be very thankful for your help ❤️)
If you’ve followed this blog for so long, you would know how I like to keep my posts tidy by making bullet lists. It’s as if every paragraph can be summed up in bullets, and I am not having second thoughts to keep it that way.
The thing is, I usually get most of my numbered lessons from, say, thoughtcatalog.com or eliteldaily.com or lifehacks.org for inspiration. I can’t recall the last time I wrote one myself because I have a peeve of not writing about something until I have actually experienced it. Thus, I didn’t want to preach people about relationships until I’ve lived with someone happily ever after. I didn’t want to preach people about employment until I’ve found the right job for me.
Don’t get me wrong— I applaud people for coming up with great advice because that just goes to show how vocally aware and probably how experienced they are in life. For me though, I wanted to put up something that I can totally tag as mine, all of which I have experienced first-hand.
So for my 25th birthday, I am listing down some empirical instances that made me say, “Aaaah, this is it, I am experiencing life!”
{ Part Deux }
This is the sequel of my quarter life birthday write-up. I compiled few things I’ve personally picked up about life in general:
The life lessons from elitedaily, lifehack, and thoughtcatalog are utterly vague most of the time. It’s about time you create your own bullets. ;-)
You don’t have to ride with everyone else’s life choices. Most Tumblr bloggers I know have changed blogging platforms, and it is not for me to contest their decision if it’s easier for them to blog from there. I like Tumblr as it is and I don’t have to switch just because everyone else did.
Be careful of who you talk about in public transportation. You will never know the chances of realizing their mother is in front of you.
Life is full of surprises. Someone may knock at your front door to bring you breakfast at 6 in the morning. Or a canned juice drink might be waiting for you in your workstation when you come to work after being sick.
You were selfless for years, be selfish this time, just this time. You have to put your own gas mask on before you attend to children on a plane, right? Yes, well the airlines have a point.
Cheap thrills are everything. Taho in the morning, balut late at night.
Learn how to cook at least one dish, and perfect it. There will be days you will be home alone and delivery is not an option.
Tequila is satan in liquid form. Te-kill-ya. Enough said.
It’s okay to have a secret crush on a local celebrity. Hello. Because Alden Richards. And also, people don’t even care and won’t admit their own secret crushes, lol.
Expensive doesn’t always equate value for money. The most expensive pair of black shoes I bought for school gave me painful blisters. The first car I bought was a Honda which I sold a year after because of a faulty engine.
Find something you are truly passionate about. For example, I have been blogging since I was twelve and I find great personal fulfillment from it.
Take a risk and go down a completely different road from everyone else. A friend who graduated Business Administration Major in Financial Management degree with me is now happily cooking delectable food and baking the sumptuous desserts in the United States.
Being original is not always the case. Some of the thoughts we have right now are influences from something/someone else, one way or another.
Conversely, stay unique. We all have remarkable characteristics that make us differ from anyone after all. Your thumbprint alone is testament, lol.
The more you need closure, the more likely it is you’ll never get it from the other party. The only person who can really put yourself back together is you.
Cutting your hair short makes your head lighter. Like literally lighter. It may also psychologically make you feel fresh and ready for a new life.
Your partner doesn’t have to pay the bill all the time. Similarly, the amount of money he spends on you doesn’t tell how much he loves you.
Whoever said a lady should never have to buy herself jewelry or flowers or chocolate was probably wrong about everything else, too.
Most of my favorite memories were made while traveling— bad or good. Be it worst shower ever in Campuestuhan Highland Resort in Negros Occidental bad, or wondrous sea of clouds in Sagada Mt. Province good.
Nobody has it all. What somebody lacks, another person will have, vice versa.
Never underestimate a good cry. Also, it’s okay to cry in the bathroom at work when everyone and everything is frustrating you.
Going places alone is perfectly fine. The most absurd but effective ideas I have come up with were from the times I was wandering alone along the streets of Makati and Taguig.
Negativity (and positivity) is contagious. As much as possible, stay away from negative people. Even better, be your own kind of positive and influence them.
You will get through whatever it is you are going through. Everything is temporary. The problem you are obsessing with right now will not even matter 5, 10, 15 years from now.
Listen to where your heart wants to lead you. Because.. need I say more?
How is it that my birthday has come and go just like that for twenty-five years? Time has snuck up on me way too quickly and this quarter life crisis has gone pretty interesting that I decided to do a birthday write-up in two parts. Because, well, part deux? …ummm, haha. I will be publishing the second part on a separate post. Hence, this coming-of-age birthday post is extra special because it reeks nostalgia by two-fold.
{ Part Un }
Damn, I just turned 25. To make that sink in even more, I’m a quarter of a century old, and it’s making me reminisce all of the years that have flown by. As if everything just happened, I recall twenty-five moments that made me who and where am I today:
My first ever recognition from school was Best in Arts. I was in Nursery and I was only four.
There was a reward/recognition system at home where my grandfather hands out fresh twenty-peso bills to whoever shows a perfect exam paper. Mischievously naive that I was, I faked my score but wrote 02/02 instead of 20/20. I remember my family bursting into tears laughing and my lolo telling me, “Next time, tell your teacher to mark your papers right!” In case you’re asking, yes, I got the reward money.
I was in grade one and my then little sister from kinder used to come to my class sobbing, refusing to go home because she says she wants to stay with me. What a cutie pie, Pamee!
I overheard my parents talking about how we’re short on budget for the month sometime in 1996. So I wrote them a letter and put my hundred peso in it explaining I did not really need the money and that they can use it on my behalf.
On third grade I tried to impress my crush by cutting out foils that we would be using to decorate the classroom for Nutrition Month. I ended up not having the foils properly cut up to his expectations.
A big chunk of my childhood includes eating in my favorite chicken joint located in SM Southmall’s Foodcourt— Kipp’s. I’m glad to see they are standing strong throughout the years.
I cried when my dad left to work abroad. We were eating dinner at that time and my lolo asked me why my eyes were red. I was 9 that time and told him something kinda stuck and irritated my eye.
The most fun, memorable school trip I had was in Corregidor back in 2007. Like ghost trip fun.
I kept a daily journal for two straight years from 2006-2007. I never missed an entry. I stopped when our househelp came up to me frustrated after she had read my diary— specifically the pages when I ranted about her.
A lot has been asking where I developed my disgust on ginger— it happened during my first international travel in 2010. My family was visiting my dad where he worked in Singapore/Malaysia. Every meal we ate was ginger-based.
During college, I survived a rinding-in-tandem who played tug-of-war with me in PNoval. I literally got dragged along the street as they tried to leave the scene with my bag still hurled up on my wrist.
I peed my pants right before watching UAAP Basketball in Araneta. I peed my pants during a fieldtrip in Enchanted Kingdom.
Unashamed, I never had my first beer until I stepped out of high school. I graduated college with latin honors. I successfully maintained two scholarship stint for eight straight years.
I used to have a shih tzu named Amber. She was dognapped a week before we got robbed at home. Few years and tears later, we decided it’s time we get a new one— Momo— who died of heatstroke when we left him in the vet. :-( No more furballs in the house since then.
My family had gone through the darkest times. We were in the news! I think about it today and I merely see it as a fragment of the past that we needed to move on from.
In a certain twist of fate, ishelpartdeux was born in 2011 as I remind myself that I’m living a second life. Life is good.
2012 was a time of my life. New job. Old friends. Good and bad habits.
I used to have really bad acne when I was in high school. The scars are still visible below my cheekbones.
It was year 2013 when I started getting obsessed with scarves. I remember wearing different one every day regardless of what I wore. Dress? Scarf. Polo shirt? Scarf. Jacket? Still scarf. To date, I probably had accumulated 20 various scarves…and counting.
It was also year 2013 and it was a year to rebel. I dyed my hair full red.
I was consistently underweight that every throwback photo made me think why I was even let out of the house! It was just last 2014 when my doctor told me I finally have a normal BMI. Best sense of fulfillment ever! I’m still steadily gaining more weight every year till now.
There was a whole week sometime in October 2014 when I cried in the pews at the back of Church everyday. To date, I still go back to Sacred Heart in Makati when I get knocked down one step. I also go back when I get one or two more blessings.
July 2016, I remember casually drinking and insisting to people that I’m an introvert. Until I sang two songs in front of a drunk crowd and jammed with the live band.
I have been blessed with so many travel opportunities. :-)
Last March 2016, I let go of my first job for four years. Shortly after working in my second job for three months— I decided to let go of it as well. I’ve never been so relieved my life. I’m still unsure which track I should pursue now but there’s a tiny bit of an idea in my head to wait it out and let the universe do its thing.
What a wonderful thought it is that some of the best days of my life are still yet to happen… But you know what’s best thing about being twenty-five? I’m still learning and experiencing. Each day, I have the opportunity to discover something new about myself and the world around me. And that is when I remind myself on things which I will in my next post.
Thank you for the warm greetings! I’m truly grateful that as I tick another year off, I’m blessed with friends and family who remembered.
Bisan malayo ang biyahe,
Bisan adlaw-adlaw kinahanglan mabugtaw nang maaga,
Bisan nakakapoy ang malalayong kadto-an,
Bisan masakit na ang lawas...
Okay lang.
Sulit naman ang tanan,
Mas lalo lang naging mapag-on ang pag amigahay.
Oh kay sadya makita tanan kami may kadlaw kag sadya sa itsura.
Salamat gid! Asta sa huli nating pagkililita!
Bacolod-Silay Airport • Royal Am Rei • Lacson St. • City Tour • San Sebastian Cathedral • Manokan • Pecho • Alden Richards • Art District • Night out • Long trip • Attitude • Sipalay, Negros Occidental • Island hopping • Photoshoot • Tinagong Dagat Island Resort • Hanging Bridge • Manokan • Paa • 4am Hanging Bridge • Mambukal Mountain Resort • Habal-habal • Trekking • 7 falls • 7 wishes • First of 7 • "Dito kayo nag give-up" • Jollibee take-out • Campuestohan • Group picture • Life guard • Jacuzzi • Swimming pool • Infinity Shower • Ankle deep • The Ruins • Flute • Mango Shake • History • Royal Am Rei • Nena's Rose Chicken Inasal • Pechopak • 7/11 Ice cream • Walang Tubig • Merzci • BongBong's • Calea • Victor Fernandez Gaston Ancestral House • Balay Negrense Museum • Bacolod-Silay Airport • 155 meal • Delayed Flight • NAIA 3
Patar White Beach, Bolinao + The Hundred Islands, Alaminos (March 2016)
What a good weekend to be alive! I have been meaning to travel up north this year and my friends decided to give it a shot. 250km and 8 hours later, we arrived in Bolinao – exhausted from EDSA traffic jam, decelerated by construction interferences and tackled by the sleepless traverse. We were even teasing each other we would have arrived in Baguio and traveled back by that course we took. But we’re here, and it’s time to be alive.
Still dreamy I laid eyes on this wonder that I’ve only read in books when I was young.
I don’t want to skim the surface, but I never wanted to become a skin-deep corporate slave. I wanted to live and breathe the places I go. Yet, I also wanted to respond to the questions I receive in a somewhat snarky repetitious tone: You travel, you rave, you seem to be enjoying this time of your life, so what do you do for a living?
For the most part, I can’t continue to challenge myself to do just the first two things in the future. People have seen me as a happy-go-lucky lass – the beach is home, the international soil is heaven. Like everyone else, I’m striving to become a better traveler, a better blogger, and what else – a better employee.
I’ve been working for the past four years as a Financial Market Research Analyst in a multinational media and research firm. Recently, I was lain down a new challenging opportunity to become a Banker. This has been one of the hardest decisions I’ve made in my life. It wasn’t entirely a switch because it’s the same financial setting. I’m just overwhelmed when I finally got in this multinational bank; I remember sending out e-mails four years ago and getting a silent rejection.. and look where I am now!
People would ask how I balance working and traveling (and raving, and chilling, and having long offs, et al) and I would always be proud to say I have worked for Thomson Reuters for the longest time. It was a unique learning process and I’m grateful to be part of it – as well as forming part of all my colleagues’ life who share the exact fulfillment. I let go of the first life-changing world where I lived in for four years; I looked for another job in the hopes of getting out of the comfort zone from my previous job. I know opportunities don’t come swiftly in second chances, and perhaps it’s about time to step up my game. I’m praying everyday that I’ve made the right decision.. or if not, can I get a sign?
Because honestly, I am still skeptic if this is where I truly belong – in the corporate setting surrounded by people in blazers, exchange tickers, noisy keyboards, calculators and macro-filled excel spreadsheets. I’ve spoken previously on my blog and I remember saying something like: I have doubts but I will never be afraid again. In the perfect world, sure. In reality, I still had doubts, I was still afraid. The interviews sent shiver down my spine as I dangled on a little piece of hope. And what used to be a frightening part of my life was just a memory. I have survived it all amidst the fear, the doubt. I am delighted to have passed that hurdle. Thought I might have found “finance” a sweet spot in my heart.
It used to be a dream – to be a banker! I can’t thank Him enough for this opportunity and I’m trying to return the favor everyday. Until it dawned on me the same feeling I felt weeks before I let go of my first job. I’m quite unsure if I’m on the right track, and once again I’m stuck in between crossroads of self-fulfillment.
“Is this what I really want?”
I can hear the question in my head all over again. My Life Lately is unfolding in slowly yet in great detail and I’m watching right in front of it.
“I must not just watch, I must do something about it,” I hear myself.
These are really long overdue Tumblr Asks. Finally had the time to answer each one. :)
themeltingspot asked: Hi, Ishel! Thanks for the the follow. <3 I wonder how'd you find my blog? I love your entry about your visit to Sagada. :) I wish I can go back. Have a wonderful Saturday!
Hello, Geneive! Thank you! I must have stumbled upon one of your lovely posts on my dashboard. <3
Anonymous asked: Hi Ishel! Wondering what camera do you use in all your pics? They all look good!Can’t wait to see all your travels!
Hello! Thank you so much! I get this question a lot. I usually bring my Canon EOS 600D 50mm f/1.8 II during my international travels, but mainly use my iPhone 5s for local trips. Also, I recently bought an action camera, Supremo 1, so all underwater shots were taken using this.
tinyrurouni asked: Meow! I hope you're having a great summer. Cheers!
I am, I am! Very sunkissed. Hope you are, too! <3
Anonymous asked: Who was/is your greatest love?
If by reading this you had even the slightest glint in your heart that you think you are, then maybe you are right. :)
My family had a short trip to Batangas (well, again) last Holy Week. I figured this was what I really needed and been wanting to do for the longest time. I don’t mind the long drive, the last minute packing, and finding the right tranquil places – if I get to lax for a while. Yes, I was unemployed! But only this weekend, all of which made the stint of a vacation memorable. I’m so excited to talk about this on my blog, and going through my photos where I looked very calm added relief to everything that hit the right places. More on this on my next posts. :)
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