TOURISTA

[tourista-blog]

FOR THE FILIPINO TRAVELER: 

Here's a list of countries that don't require a visa! :)

Armenia

Azerbaijan

Bolivia

Brazil

Brunei

Burundi

Cambodia

Colombia

Costa Rica

Dominica

Ecuador

Georgia

Haiti

Hong Kong

Indonesia

Iran

Israel

Kenya

Laos

Macau

Madagascar

Malaysia

Maldives

Mongolia

Morocco

Mozambique

Nepal

Peri

Seychelles

Singapore

Sri Lanka

Tanzania

Thailand

Turks and Caicos

Uganda

Vietnam

Zambia

My TOP 5 Picks: Brazil, Costa Rica, Kenya, Maldives, and Israel! SOMEDAY, MAYBE :)

[tourista-blog]

First Impressions: Beijing Day 1

The moment we arrived at the hostel at around 2 in the morning, we decided to immediately check out the neighborhood. Since our place was directly across the Beijing Railway station, several people were already hanging out at the local fast food and convenience stores, waiting for the train station to open. We decided to get a cup of hot chocolate at McDonalds then cross the foot bridge leading to the station.

  The Beijing Railway Station

What we instantly liked: The cold morning weather (which was around -2 degrees), and how the subway station was literally a stone throw away from our hostel! Since it was so early, there was no point roaming around further since nothing was open anyways. We made a quick mental note on what to do the next morning:

Have our money exchanged to Yuan

Secure Beijing to Xian roundtrip ticket

Book a Great Wall Tour

Out of the 3 items in our To-do list, getting the Xian tickets was the most difficult to accomplish! We actually had the chance to book Beijing- Xian tickets, but there was no assurance that we can get return tickets back to Beijing on the day that we want to. It was a risk I was not willing to take. :(

On the plus side, we managed to save a lot. A  roundtrip hard-sleeper train to Xian and back to Beijing costs 620 RMB  (roughly P4,300 pesos).

The next morning, we grabbed a quick brunch then headed off to our first 2 destinations:

Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City!

Directions: Get off Tian’an men East station, Subway line 1

Cost: Free to walk around the square, 60RMB for the entrance at the Forbidden City. Tour guide/Audio guide (separate cost)

    What we liked: You can go ANYWHERE, any stop, for as many transfers as you need for only 2RMB! (around 14 pesos) Here’s a map of the Beijing subway station: 

  Photos at the Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City:

  What we liked: Week old snow! Yes, it was our first time to actually see snow so we had a lot of ‘snow’ shots. Hahaha! Coming from a tropical country, we were acting like little kids seeing snow for the first time!

  Tip: After touring the Forbidden City sans tour guide, we crossed the street & went to JingShaling Park park. Entrance Fee is only 2RMB. Climb the highest point so that you can see a bird’s eye view of the Forbidden City. Nice place to take some photos :)

  After leaving JinShaling Park, we got LOST for almost two hours since there was no subway station nearby! Hahaha. Yep, Lost on our first night in Beijing! Good thing Maje and I are not the panicky type of travelers. We asked for directions here & there, only to get confused with every answer. Plus, the language barrier didn’t help. The locals didn’t speak English that well compared to other Asian countries.  The funny thing is, despite being lost, we even had the time to check out a few shops that were selling boots! Hahaha! Good thing we found a ‘Beijing tourism’ outpost that had English speaking guides to point us to the right direction! We hopped on to Bus 111, which brought us to the nearest subway station- which was 30 minutes away! Once we were back at the subway, we were confident that we can get back to the hostel.Problem solved!

Some tips when getting lost:

Keep a cool head, don’t panic

Don’t be hesitant to ask for directions

If there’s a language barrier, don’t be shy to use sign language. The more outrageous your gestures, the more they would understand.

Take the cab! Get the hotel’s business card/brochure and show it to your taxi (we tried this, but just like in Manila, namimili mga taxi drivers ng sakay!)

Head to the nearest authority-figure-ish establishment like the police station or tourist center

[tourista-blog]

A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving. ~Lao Tzu

[tourista-blog]

Planning Beijing

I’ve always been a planner. This Beijing trip was different though. The things I initially planned didn’t happen, and the things I wasn’t expecting to happen, happened. Still, I wouldn’t change it for the world.

  Unplanned thing #1: I was supposed to go to Beijing with 3 other friends. However, two didn’t make it because of work related matters. In the end, it was me & my college friend maje who ended up going to Beijing. Like me, Maje is a planner, even more organized than me actually. But since both of us were very busy leading to the date of our departure, we didn’t get much time to craft our Beijing itinerary.

  Around 2AM in the morning, at our hostel. Day 00 in Beijing- arrived in style with my Emerald Green World Traveler bag!

On Jam & Maje: Thermal jackets from Kira Plastinina, shoes from Converse

*ooops, d pala ito Fashion blog :) Oh well. It was sooo cold right after we landed, we initially described it as 'kinikilig sa lamig!' Even before reaching the immigration counter, we decided to wear our thermal jackets right away! Pag madaling araw kase nag ne-negative degrees ang temperature :)

Going back to the 'planned' itinerary, here is what we had in mind:

Day00: Arrive in Beijing, sleep at the hostel, wake up early to start the tour.

Day 1: Shop for winter boots (seriously, first thing on the list), Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City Unplanned thing #2 : Waking up early? That never happened! Unless you count the day when we didn’t sleep after a night of clubbing! But that's another story.

Our Beijing Gear-  1 winter coat & 1 thermal jacket each + chucks. Believe it or not, we bought our jackets in MANILA. Sinuyod namin talaga ang mga malls just to look for winter jackets in February! Seriously, it's a miracle that we even found one! The good thing is, since summer was fast approaching, the 'winter' clothes were on the sale rack already. Confession: I didn't find winter clothes in my size (xs or small) so I looked into the KIDS section! hahaha! And guess what? I got the black winter coat at the kids- BOYS section! :) As for the boots, we decided to just buy that in Beiing since we can't find one in Manila. Boooo.

Day 2: Great Wall Tour- Mutianyu, Catch a train to Xian for Terracotta Warriors (12 hr trip) Unplanned thing # 3: We never got train tickets to Xian and back. We never got to see the Terracotta warriors :(

SOMEDAY, MAYBE: Train tickets are just so hard to get! We found Beijing-Xian tickets, but there was no assurance that we'll get the return trip back to base. So we decided not to risk it nalang :( Xian, we will be back in China & visit you!

Day 3: Arrive at Xian, Day trip to see the Terracotta warriors, leave Xian at Night & go back to Beijing (another 12 hours of our life)- obviously didn't happen

Day 4: Olympic Sites, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace (never happened in this order)

Day 5: Free day for Pasalubong shopping & other tourist spots nearby Unplanned thing #4: We never had a ‘free’ day of doing nothing. In fact, we didn’t enjoy pasalubong shopping. We just want to get it over with.

Unplanned thing #5: Loving Beijing as much as we did. From Start to Finish, it was amazing! We were almost in tears when we were in the cab going to the airport. Loved the cultural sights, food, people, & the Beijing encounters! Will blog about the details in future posts! :D

One of the few rare shots we have together. When traveling alone or in twos, don't forget to bring your tripod. (unless you have the guts to ask people around to take your photos.) In our case, tinatamad kami to bring the tripod all the time, so we just asked random strangers to take our pictures. Mostly other tourists. In return, we offered to take their pictures too. Nice way to meet people din & make new friends :)

[tourista-blog]

Instead of putting half of your travel budget in a $1000 a night hotel, check out some clean hostel recommendations at www.hostelbookers.com 

I'm not really picky when it comes to accommodations on my trip abroad. Why? I'll basically just stay there to sleep, change, and shower. So what's the point of spending so much money in it? Here are a few things I look for in a hotel:

1. MUST be near the train station or bus station, preferably walking distance (this makes it easier for you to go to the major tourist spots)

2. MUST have clean toilets. I learned from a recent trip that I didn't mind staying in a dorm-type hostel as long as it's clean. We stayed in a twin sharing room with no bathroom, we had to walk to the communal shower room/toilet everyday

3. At least ONE hotel admin should learn how to speak in English

4. Does not have a curfew (haha, as if)

5. Generally a safe area (if you have the address of a potential hostel, do a bit of background research about it)

*BONUS POINTS if they have a traveler's lounge/bar where people can hangout after a long day of touring :) You can sit down, get a few drinks, consult a map and plan your itinerary for the next day.

[tourista-blog]

Pretty much anyone who plan to go to China would need to secure a visa before going to the country. Honestly, compiling visa requirements is such as hassle for me, considering that I have a full time job.  So I really took it one day at a time until I finished all the requirements.  There was even a point na I was telling myself, 'This better be worth it, hmmmph' But true enough, the Beijing trip is one of the happiest trips of my life :)

For those attempting to apply for a Chinese visa, here's the list:

REQUIREMENTS FOR CHINESE VISA:

1.) Valid passport for at least 6mos. prior to departure

2.) One(1) of passport size picture in white plain background

3.) Employment Certificate (If Employed)

4.) Original Bank Certificate of not less Php 50,000.00 deposit with receipt or debit memo

5.) Copy of Tin ID or 2316 BIR form AND ITR (I learned about this the hard way, i already passed the initial docs when they informed me that the ITR is a must nowadays)

6.) Copy SSS ID or SSS E1 Form (the pink slip)

7.) Copy of Company ID

8.) Original NBI Clearance (must be valid for travel, not the one you got for work purposes)

9.) Confirmed Travel Itinerary

10.) Confirmed Hotel Booking with Hotel Voucher

After compiling all the documents, I submitted it to a travel agency in Makati (The Flight Shop) since I had no time to go the Chinese embassy for a personal appearance. After 4 working days, I already got my passport back :)

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I have this long-term plan of backpacking when I'm in my 30s & 40s- One in China, and one in Europe.  The girl that I am, one of the things I'm starting to research on is the right BAG to use. Found this very nice Northface bag with pink accents. Fell in love with it instantly! Retails for $309 dollars, or roughly 13k pesos. Oh well, someday, maybe.

[tourista-blog]

SOMEDAY, MAYBE: Doing some wishful thinking today. They said that thoughts become things right? So here's my Europe wish-tinerary: Greece- Italy- Austria- Prague- Germany- Denmark- Amsterdam- Switzerland- France- Spain  

[tourista-blog]

I had THE TIME OF MY LIFE in Beijing and I hope that I'll find the time to blog about it! haha! Super, super, super love the weather, the people, the food, the drinks, the culture, and EVERYTHING about my trip! Would blog about the essentials: Visa application hassles, transpo, tourist spots, & my own tips soon :) Still haven't blogged about my other Asian trips, but Beijing is really special, so it inspired me to blog again! Yey! (Photo taken outside the Forbidden City) 

[tourista-blog]

Low on funds? Check out Cebu Pacific website. I've booked several times with this airline. During promo fares, prices range from $100-$200, roundtrip in their international flights. Not bad right? :)

[tourista-blog]

Fabio wins Survivor!

Aaaaaaand Fabio won Survivor! After being almost picked out by the remaining seemingly solid alliance between Holly, Chase, & Sash, Fabio proved himself to be the Ultimate Sole Survivor by pulling off a back to back to back Immunity at the challenges. Yey Fabio! 

Aside from dominating the last three physical & mental challenges, Fabio also won the hearts of the Jury when Naonka asked him about his mom during deliberation. Earlier, Funny fabio made a goofy remark about how he 'also wants to take care of his mom' when Jane was asking Chase about what he would do with a million dollar. Of course, chase gave a very serious speech on giving 10% to charity, blah blah blah... but honestly, as nice as his intentions are, I'm sure he already thought about how he'll answer the $1M question, so it came off as a bit 'rehearsed.'

Fabio on the other hand was caught off guard, when Naonka asked him if seeing his mom was the 'gasoline that boosted him' to fight to the end. And poor Fabio (perhaps remembering the jealousy when he didn't get to go to the love ones reward), broke his composure, became teary-eyed, and talked about how he loved his mom/family :) Poor guy had to fight his way through an alliance that mocked him in the face everyday that if he didn't get immunity, he'll have to go home.

Benry & Brenda crying :( Awwww. I guess if you really can make the Jury cry, that's a good sign that you'll win Survivor. But then again, Brenda voted for Chase, her 'snuggle buddy' errrrr... One thing's for sure, Sash was profusely apologizing to almost everyone that night, and look how that turned out.

So in the end, the guy originally christened Jud, but is now affectionately called Fabio, became the youngest ever to win Survivor (accdg to Jeff probst) And what does he want to do with all that money? He just wants to have FUN. clap, clap, clap! Seriously, that's got to be the most HONEST answer ever. 

[tourista-blog]

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

[tourista-blog]

Something on my bucket list: Volcano Surfing!

The first time that I've heard of Volcano surfing was in last week's episode Nicaragua, and much like my favorite Survivor contender Fabio, I've never heard of that activity prior to watching the show. 

I'm a huge, huge fan or survivor and this season has been one of the most adventurous so far. Normally, award challenges would just involve a LOT of food, comforts from home, letters from loved ones, etc but Nicaragua had been spoiling me so much with adventure, like the zipline experience 2 weeks ago, then now Volcano Surfing.

Here's what Volcano Surfing looks like:

Obviously, the photos are not mine, and I credit it all to the all mighty Google, who has been helping me get these fab photos. Haha. But seriously, this is a personal blog, so can I just make a disclaimer that this blog isn't for any commercial purposes, blah, blah, blah, and that the photos are really cool so using it can actually boost the tourism in their country? oh well.

Going back, I really, really want to try volcano surfing because it looks like snowboarding but you do it on a hot volcano instead. Obviously, it's more dangerous considering that you're in an active volcano. But I honestly believe that if you do something crazy like this in your life, might as well go all out and choose the highest/most dangerous volcano right?

Supposedly the Taal Volcano

The only time that I've been on an actual volcano was about 4 years ago, on my senior year in college. We were tasked to do a video documentary for our Broadcast Journalism class and were given 100% freedom on topic to feature.

Best documentary group ever! 

So I teamed up with my friends from the school paper (Varsitarian) and school TV station (TOMCAT) to produce the documentary. Before finally deciding on what topic to feature, we asked ourselves first, what are we most passionate about? Well, at that time, we just wanted a break from all the paperwork, thesis, projects, etc so we decided that 'we want to travel' and 'we want to have a lot of fun.' The Taal Volcano trip pretty much covered our requirements, so we decided on making a documentary about people who live in the actual volcano Island and the threat in their lives by staying there. 

One valuable piece of information: See the 'volcano' in the background, the one we usually see in postcards? Well, that's not it. We're actually stepping on the actual volcano! And we can feel it! it's hot and red near the peak.

Finally, after an hour and a half trekking up the peak, we reached our destination! Super nice photo-opportunity!  There's an option to go down the actual lake behind us, but that would cost us more, and time was also running out. 

On the way back, my friend snapped a picture of my silhouette, which by far is my favorite 'emote' profile pic :)

Future volcano-related plans? Trekking at Mt. PInatubo!  Hope the weather & money Gods can help us out in financing the trip.

[tourista-blog]

Revolving Restaurant at Macau Tower

If you get to be at the highest bungee jump in the world, would you go for it?

Macau tower, at 223 meters from the observation deck is said to be the highest in world. Guess what? Did I do it? errr, sadly NO :( But eating at the revolving restau is a nice experience too! haha! 

View from the Tower. 

Why didn't I jump? I'm usually up for something like this, given that it's a once in a lifetime opportunity, and bungee jumping is something I'd want to cross off my bucket list. Sadly, it costs $1888, something that I cannot afford :( But if it was for free, I'd jump in a heartbeat!  Any sponsors?

The Diners.

Since the restaurant revolves around, you might feel disoriented after going for your 3rd and 4th servings. One minute you're near the dessert buffet, then next thing you know, the seafood buffet shows up. End result? Just when you tell yourself that you're done with dinner, you find yourself getting your 'last' plateful of viand. 

Food, Food, and more Food! 

The best buffet ever! :)

We were almost panic-eating when our tour guide told us that we had to leave soon so that we can see more casinos! errrr, yeah right.  So all in all, we had a very hearty dinner, 2 rounds of dessert, and eating Macau Egg tarts like peanuts... :) *sigh*

Would I go back there to eat? Of course! But hopefully someday I get to jump too!:)

[tourista-blog]

Traveling for Free- THE VENETIAN

I'm a sucker for travel contests. It all started out when my good friend Maje won this free trip courtesy of Gimik Spot Studio 23.  We have been eyeing to win the Korea trip

 (and God know how obsessed we are about going to Korea),but as luck would have it, she won the HK & Macau leg! Not bad considering 2 free countries in one trip.

The upside about it is that we got to stay at THE VENETIAN and have 'eat all you can' buffet in literally EVERY MEAL. We were the spoiled travelers complete with a tour guide, itinerary, and yes, even a video cam documenting our free trip.

Some photos of our uber luxurious room:

Our Bed at the Venetian Hotel

Losers much, we had to have a photo with the entertainment set in our room. Haha.

Full length mirrors, dressers, weighing scales, bath tub + shower! :) The toilet room (not in photo) can comfortably fit 3 people. 

Chill Spot near the window

The shower

And now, cam-whores that we are, we also had to take Bathroom shots. And yes, the Venetian's bathroom is bigger than the usual backpacker's inns/hotels that I usually stay in. The last picture? That's just the sink. Errrr. 

The upside in staying at the Venetian is that we can stroll around late a night, when most of the tourists are gone and all that's left are the serious gamblers, hookers, and the rich & famous people staying at the hotel. So what's left to do for 3 lucky bastards like us? Roam around the hotel in search of bumping into 'Gu-JunPyo' while pretending to re-enact a scene from Boys over Flowers! (Told you we were obsessed about the Korea trip.) Some images from the Venetian:

Waiting for Jun-pyo!

Happy Much

Couple pic? :)

Re-enacting when Jang-geum and Junpyo broke up at the Bridge :) haha!

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Too lazy to blog

As expected, I'm too LAZY to blog. The last time I had a blog was when I was in sophomore college, which was easier then because I had tons of extra curricular activities to blog about. I co-produced TV shows, went to hiking for the mountaineering club, and gone out for food trips for my journ class. And now? It's all work-home-work-home and did I mention work-home routine? Gawwwd, my life is so boring right now. Hoping that i can save up for another trip. I have BEIJING in mind :) Right now, The only reason  I feel alive is when I travel. (cue in sad music underscore) I blame this to QUARTER LIFE CRISIS! hmmmph.

[tourista-blog]

I LOVE Survivor. I'm a huge, huge FAN! A big factor is their LOCATION. Each season is very different and I love the way they incorporate the culture of every country that they are visiting in the tribe names, games, and even reward challenges. My fave season? Definitely AFRICA & AMAZON. But Nicaragua's looking cool too. Hmmmm. Can't wait to see how it goes. I do hope that they use the Philippines for their next location. It would be a MAJOR boost to our tourism.