Next Stop: Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

In lieu of my travel posts and my plan to conquer the world (well fine, at least Asia), this is an obligatory post for the blog for my Kota Kinabalu trip with Ian. It was a post birthday celebration, so yeah, I'm 5 months late for posting :p

First thing on my list, VNC shoes! If you've been to Malaysia (like KL), you'll know that VNC or Vincci shoes are made in Malaysia. As I've mentioned in my old blog post, Manila price is x2 or x3 the Malaysia price. Of course, we had to make a pitstop at Vincci.

The next one, the food! I love roti, curry and I love Nasi Lemak (not so much love on Beef Rendang). I even love the Megamall food stall fake-ish Nasi Lemak :p Oh and yeah, lots of love for both Singaporean and Malaysian version of Kaya Toast. And of course, a must on my list, try out a food in Mcdonald's that's not available in Manila, and they had the Prosperity Burger in KK! I was actually planning to hand carry some Prosperity Burger on the plane, but they did not have a Mcdonald's in the airport, I ended up bring KFC Zinger to Manila from KK (KK = Kota Kinabalu), explanation for this one on the last paragraph of this post (why would I bother bring a Zinger home right? It tastes the same thing here)

And then the highlight of our trip, we stayed in Shangri-la Rasa Ria Resort! And yes it did cost us a hole in our pocket but totally hands down to Shangri-la, you'd never want to leave the resort. They have all sorts of activities in the resort, very kid friendly too. Hopefully, when Aleksa's old enough to appreciate trips, I would definitely want to bring her there.


What resort offers Sumo Wrestling? Only Shangri-la! They had fire fly watching, some trekking around, biking, hmm what else, sunset in a yacht, oh and they had billiards, ping pong table, and Boogie boards available! There's a different activity every day and if you have the money in the world to stay for a week in Rasa Ria, you'd never run out of things to do (No, we did not stay for a week :p)


We tried the different restaurants in Rasa Ria, and everything was splendid :) They had Japanese, local Malysian, American, Indian cuisine.

If you're not into the whole beach thing, they have malls in Kota Kinabalu, and we did spend our first night at the city. There were a lot of Filipino staff in the city, and they are everywhere. I just want to give a warning/heads up, the malls in KK do not have the cleanest restrooms. They are paid restrooms but they are not really clean, so better do your thing at the hotel if you are planning to go to the city and do some shopping. But if you're planning to stay the whole time at let's say a resort like Rasa Ria, you don't have anything to worry about.

Like all good vacations, you come back to reality, you go back to Manila, go back to work. Unfortunately, we had a bad experience on our way back home. Our Cebu Pacific flight was delayed for hours because of a bomb threat :( Luckily, we made it back home safely. I know Cebu Pacific is 'notorious' for its delayed flights but this was not their fault since they just got a call (probably a prank call) that there was a bomb in the plane. Even though you're not supposed to say the word 'bomb' in the airport, we already had an inkling and we were scared when we boarded that there might really be a bomb. Anyway we were given food stubs in the airport and ended up consuming all the stubs in KFC, that's why we ended up bringing Zinger back home :p That part felt like a dream that you'd want to wake up from, but overall, we still had a pretty damn good vacation :) Good stuff trumps the bad stuff!

Traveling.

The Cebu Pacific's P1.00 promo fare just ended! I'm actually one of those people who usually take advantage of the sale, even before the sale happens, I usually have a specific place to go to, and have planned/organized it already with people who will go with me, so when the sale comes, no more phone calls/sms to each other to decide since the plan and date's been finalized so I can book instantly as soon as I get Cebu Pac's announcement text. (I'm subscribed to their SMS alerts) Tickets for Bangkok and Hong Kong went as low as P1,200.00 (in case I have international readers, that's 24 USD only!) and that's ROUND TRIP tickets with taxes already. So that's damn cheap, the lowest HK fare I've seen was 2 years ago with P2,500, and this year's was like 50% cheaper than 2 years' ago P1.00 fare.

But this year I didn't book any tickets. We're still figuring out our personal finances and still have to recoup our savings. And I think I've reached my quota for 2009-2010 since for this year, I've been to Japan, Malaysia and Cambodia. I had to let this go, and Ian said no surprise bookings, so I have to talk to him first before planning a vacation. So now, my cousins will have to go without me next year to their trip to Bangkok! :D I so wanna go back there for shopping and food. So I'll settle for the next best thing, send money to them and ask them to shop for me :D It will come out way way cheaper than going to Bangkok.

If you want to be updated with Cebu Pac's sale, subscribe to their SMS alerts, email alerts (though this comes late) or follow them on Cebu Pac's Twiiter for real time updates. Some of my friends who subscribed to their alerts get it late, I dunno if I get it really early because I've signed up way way back, they must have a really big database or something that's why it takes a while for other people to get their alerts. Better just follow them on Twitter.

Always remember, traveling doesn't have to be THAT expensive :)

For 2011, still thinking, Ho Chi Mihn, Vietnam or Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia :D I'd surely wait for the 2010 sale for the 2011 travel. Hmmm or Osaka, Japan!

Next Stop: Siem Reap, Cambodia

Last July 19-20, I've finally set foot on Cambodia. I actually want to go to sort of 'exotic' country (for a lack of a better term.. hmm can't think of another word right now), like Cambodia and Vietnam, but nowadays I know a lot of people have been to Cambodia or Vietnam, so I'm thinking about Laos/Sri Lanka/Myanmar since I don't know anyone actually who's been there :) And it's just in Asia so it's cheap? :D There are still budget airlines to visit those countries, like Air Asia. We booked the flights via Air Asia, and it came out around Php 6,000? That's just like booking a domestic flight here, and this is a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Siem Reap, Cambodia. The Airbus they use in Air Asia is similar to Cebu Pacific's Airbus,Airbus 320 I think?

Anyway, I love Siem Reap's airport. It actually looks like a Spa. It doesn't have the hustle and bustle feel, everyone feels so relaxed. It's just a small airport. The only downside is like in Manila(we have the Php 1,620 and Php 750 terminal fee and travel tax), when you leave Siem Reap, they charge 25 USD. (And yes even if they have local money, Riel, the currency widely used is USD, 1 USD is 4,000 Riel)


I love our little quaint hotel, The Kool Hotel. It's cheap, it's clean, there's cable tv, and FREE WIFI! The cambodian Meals are only 2.50 USD (50% off). The downside is no elevator, and rooms are until 4th floor. There were 5 of us, 2 bed rooms, around 900 pesos per person for one night. Oh and they have really thick pillows, that I can't use it, it probably would have given me a stiff neck if I slept placing my head on it. But other than that, I really loved the small hotel.

Prices for Angkor pass: 1-day: 20 USD 3-days: 40 USD

I can't recall the names of all the Angkors we were able to visit but these I'm sure we went to:
Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon and Ta Prohm. I love the site of ruins. I loved Thailand's Ayutthaya. I think I'm more of into the ruins than modern structures because they have a bigger story to tell. The designs on the stones are really intricate :) We didn't have a tour guide, just a driver so we have to look up the history on our own.
The site of Angkor ruins is really vast, and you really can't go around in one day. That's why they have passes for tourists for 3 days and 7 days. I think, it's just my opinion, that one day is enough for me already to appreciate the ruins. For one, it's really HOT. Some people wore long sleeves polo because you'll really get a tan. I actually have a tan line - the sleeves of my dress :p

Oh I love how my lomo pics turned out, the film had this pinkish effect on it :)


The food's really good too! I tried their curry, Lok Lak, and Fish Amok.
Clockwise: Lok Lak with egg, Chicken Curry, Grilled Beef with Curry, Fish Amok

I wonder where my next destination will be :)

Next Stop: Kuala Lumpur

Last July 18-19, 20-21, I was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Originally, it was only me, my cousin Kat, and my friend Len, then Len invited her friend, Gladys and her boss, Lannie.. the more the merrier! :) We booked Cebu Pacific on sale, so the ticket to KL was only around Php 4,000 ish. Not bad right? It was the Malysia Mega Sale Carnival (July 4-August 31,2009), while shopping is the agenda, we thought we'd be able to visit Genting Highlands and Batu Caves aside from the usual tourist spot Petronas Towers, but we ended up shopping the whole time, and it rained on our last day so we were just stuck in the mall.

I opted to buy the local brands, like Vincci or VNC in Manila. Since the shoes are from Malysia, it's really really cheap. I'd say the price in Manila are around 3x the original retail price.

In every trip, one should never miss the trip to the supermarket for good finds. I even found Pods! Pods are made and sold in Australia, there are varieties like Twix, Mars, and Snickers Pods. I didn't know it's being exported to Asia, I actually googled it before in hopes of finding the chocolate somewhere in Asia like Hong Kong, but no, it wasn't a success. I'm so happy I found it in the Cold StorageGrocery in Suria KLCC.

I tried their curry, Nasi Lemak, and Roti Canai. The rest of the stuff I tried, I'm not sure if it's really Malaysian food because we've been eating in food courts so we have a lot of choices :) I've tried some good soup, and good fish but it wasn't my order so I don't really recall the name. I usually stick to the safe choices, like food I've read as recommended must try (like Nasi Lemak) The local chips brand Twisties is also good, these are being sold also in Singapore. The Lot 100 sour candies are yummy also, these are sour powdered jelly candies.
Of course I didn't forget the Starbucks tumbler to add to our collection (Ian and I collect these). Too bad there wasn't any Starbucks in Cambodia.


Siem Reap entry to follow... I definitely have more breath taking pictures to post! :)

Next Stop: Japan (Part 4)

Okay, so for the last part of my post! :) We extended for 3 more nights after our actual trip, we paid for the extension from our own pocket, and we went to visit Mt. Fuji! The thing is while on the way to Mt. Fuji we saw the mountain, it was really nice, but when we got to the observation place, it was cloudy :( And we can't see the darn thing.

Mt. Fuji
Mt. Fuji covered with clouds

After Mt. Fuji, we went to Hakone, rode a cable car and a pirate ship cruise.


We then took a cab after the pirate ship cruise, we rode on it for 30minutes and we paid 4,000 Yen or P2,000! Really really expensive, we didn't have a choice because there was no other way to get to the Ryokan. It's a traditional Japanese Inn. We had our own Yukata and we slept on the floor.

The next day, we went back to Tokyo and rode the Shinkansen. According to Wikipedia, the speed is 300km/h! We rode the bus to Hakone for like 2 hours or so, and went back to Tokyo for what, 25-30 minutes :D It was really funny because I was trying to capture the train on my camera as video and as soon as I bring out the cam from my bag, the train already passed.


Then the last tour we had before heading home was the Kamakura Walking Tour. On the day it was supposed to snow, was the unfortunate day we had the tour! Since it wasn't cold enough, it didn't snow, but it rained. We kind of got wet, so it was really cold. I didn't pay much attention to the tour guide because I was really really really cold. So cold that when we went back to the hotel I was willing to shell out for Domino's pizza delivery that costs 2,000 Yen or P1,000 for just one pizza! Haha but we just ended up resting first, and eventually had the courage to go out and eat dinner.

Back in Tokyo, we went of course to Ginza, Shibuya and Harajuku :) Oh and of course, Daiso shopping! Wasn't able to buy much for myself, since it's pretty much all pasalubong and food stuff that can only be found in Japan like all the assorted Kitkat flavors. And there's not really much to buy since stuff are more expensive there except for brands that are really made in Japan like Uniqlo and Muji.

Although I went home with 2 bags filled mostly with, well, thick clothes, and goodies for everyone (and not much for me) I went home with a GREAT travel experience! :) It's something that you can't pack on your luggage bag ;)

I definitely want to go back to Japan!

Next Stop: Japan (Part 3)

Okay okay, so now back to the real story :) Packed our bags, left Manila last January 2. What a way to kick off the new year!

We stayed in Takanawa Tobu Hotel in Shinagawa, which was a few min walk from the train station! :) Funny on how when we got to the hotel, we were looking for the aircon switch and we requested for "cool air" hahahaha. When the only thing coming out is hot air because it's winter. I was actually surprised that it wasn't as hard to communicate in English as expected, I thought I'd have a hard time talking to people. Ian was even texting me the 101's on how to ask for water, when I usually just normally ask for water casually in English.

The train was ultra complicated, there were a lot of lines, it wasn't as simple as riding the one in HK but after a while it's something we got used to :) We had our own Suica card so we don't have to buy tickets every time. It's quiet on the train, people are prohibited to talk on the phone, so you don't hear chatter. The train's efficient and on time. (Oh and riding the Shinkansen or the bullet train, is another story)

We went to Disneyland and Disneysea, one day each. The only caveat on the Disney in Japan is everything, well almost everything is in Japanese. Sometimes the staff would have instructions before the ride, and we're like "What are they saying?" I've only been to Disney in Hong Kong just last year, and people were saying the one in HK is small, and after going to the one in Japan, it really is true. In HK, it's easy to remember the area, in Japan, you really need a map to navigate Disney.

Well, Disney is still Disney, and it brings out the kid inside of us :) Nevermind that Disneysea is really beside a body of water, and we're all freezing while waiting on line for some rides for more than an hour! Disneyland is more for kids, Disneysea had the rides for adults. Didn't get to ride Splash Mountain, I didn't wanna risk getting wet and getting sick.

After Disney, the rest were all tours. We had the city tour, visited the Tokyo Tower, Meiji Shrine, Imperial Palace, Asakusa Kannon Temple. We also had the Sumida River Cruise.

We also had the Nikko Kegon Tour, and the highlight of this tour is the Lake Chuzenji and the Kegon Waterfall. It didn't snow in Tokyo but this area had snow :) We were only ones left outside the tour bus because everyone else was freezing and boarded the bus, the tour guide figured that we didn't have snow in our country hahahaha, it was that obvious. According to the guide, the temp was 1.7 C. Plus add the wind chill factor, it was super cold.

Now for the rest of the Japan Experience, it will have to be the Part 4 of this blog entry, for now I'll just post some food stuff.

A. Different flavors of Kitkat
I tried soy sauce, apple, sesame, strawberry, strawberry cheesecake, soy, green tea, cookie, and red bean. We stop at every convenience store that we pass by because some flavors are just available in New Days, in Family Mart, etc. Green Tea is only available in the Airport, beside Starbucks, near McDonald's. So right after checking in your luggage, check out the Airport mall first. Look it up in the Airport map :)

B. Starbucks
They have good Lavander Earl Grey Tea Latte! Plus if you're like me and you collect Starbucks tumbler, and you forgot to buy the tumblers, the Starbucks in the Airport has the complete one! They had Kyoto, Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, etc. I got a Japan 2009 tumbler and Shizuoka which had a Mt Fuji design. This one though, I didn't see in the airport, got it on the way to check out Mt. Fuji. They still give a free drink when you buy a tumbler.

C. Royce Ice Cream
Okay, Royce Ice Cream is found in convenience stores and is the same price as street ice cream! I bought Green Tea ice cream in cone for 300 Yen and Royce Ice Cream in Family Mart for 315 Yen! Times .5 so around P150 for each.

D. Yoshinoya and Pepper Lunch
When we first got there, we were so hungry and saw Yoshinoya right away, since we didn't want to look around anymore, we ate in Yoshinoya. I don't really mind since I get to taste the authentic Yoshinoya beef bowl in Japan! :) After a few days, we passed by Pepper Lunch. And it looked like Yoshinoya, the table/set-up.

Here in Manila, Pepper Lunch is in Powerplant, Rockwell and people line up for it. In Tokyo, it looked like a hole in the wall resto, nothing fancy. In terms of prices, well everything is expensive in Japan!

E. Mcdonald's is so expensive. I checked when I went to eat yesterday, our McChicken sandwich meal is P103. In Japan, it's 620 Yen or around P310! I didn't bother to eat in Mcdonald's while in Tokyo hahaha, I just got coffee once, that's it :)

F. Ate Takoyaki (Octopus balls!), Tempura, Fresh Sushi, Katsu Curry, Katsudon, Eat all you can Yakiniku, Eat all you can Wagyu! Wasn't able to go to Tsukiji :( Writing this post literally made me hungry!

Next Stop: Japan (Part 2)

Okay so before I move on with the stories, I'll write about this first... I tried to Google what to bring etc for spending winter in Japan but I wasn't really able to find anything online like do I have to buy boots, etc. What stuff I can bring and just buy there? Those 101's for the first time travelers to spend winter in Japan for girls! :)

1. Fur boots - not really needed, you can wear rubber shoes and thick socks BUT it helps a lot since it's ultra comfy and I wore mine the entire time. I used Bearpaw boots, and they're half the price of Ugg boots. In case you're in Japan already, one of my teammates decided to ditch her leather boots and buy a new one, look for ABC Mart(there's one in Ginza and Harajuku). We first tried to look for shoes in Ginza, and the prices of shoes normally are around 20,000 yen or P10,000! We saw boots some also in Harajuku, cheap price, but we didn't check if the lining is made of sheepskin or wool. The one that she got from ABC Mart are Vans with wool lining for around P2,000. In case you opt for rubber shoes, just make sure that its ultra comfy, so you don't hurt your feet. Oh, and last, about the boots, there's a question online wear socks inside the fur boots, or not, my vote, wear socks :) Not the thick socks, just the normal sneakers socks, so it doesn't get smelly. You don't really need to wear socks because it's warm but just for hygeine purposes.

2. Thermals (thermal leggings and tops) - I've asked everyone this, do I need them or not? I got mixed answers, yes no yes no. So to personally answer this, you can get away without spending thousands of pesos on thermals in Marks and Spencer or Debenhams. I just bought one thermal long sleeves and I didn't wear it everyday. On some days, just layers of long sleeves, shirt, sweater. On the days I wore thermal long sleeves, it felt like it's a substitute for the thick long sleeves, so yes, it's probably effective but you can substitute it with something else. But for under the jeans, thermal leggings or cotton leggings are needed. I think you can buy cheaper thermal leggings in Greenhills, I dunno if it's actually thermal or just thick cotton leggings but it works! (Thanks Jonah!) In Uniqlo in Japan, the thermal tops cost around P500, and we found them in Harajuku branch, the Uniqlo in the train stations are sold out on their thermal tops, but they have the thermal bottoms.

3. Ear muffs and gloves - Ear muffs for 700 yen (P350) and gloves for the same price that are really of good quality, we got from Muji! I brought gloves but the ones I got in Muji are more effective since the gloves had the 3M 40gm insulation for a cheap price. I already have ear muffs (Thanks Noelle!) but some of my teammates didn't bring, so they all bought there :)

4. Coats - I borrowed a wool coat and a cotton/polyester coat, if you can get a wool coat that's long, just right above your knees, that would be great! :) The wool coat I brought is short, and the other coat is longer, so I'm always torn on what to wear, but I swap them everyday.

Next Stop: Japan (Part 1)

I just got back last Sunday from Japan! :) Started 2009 with a bang, and a hole in my pocket hahahaha. Jan 2-11 with my team, first 6days all expenses paid. I have soooo much to blog about the trip! The food, the different flavors of Kitkat (apple, green tea, sesame, red bean, etc), how effin expensive everything is, how fat we all looked in pictures because of the weather, how friggin cold it was, oh but despite the cold, it was sooo much fun. It's one of those places you'll really fall in love with. Man, but everything was REALLY expensive. Anyway, more more stories to come. I haven't had the time since when we were there we rarely had sleep, 5-6 hours daily, and we got back Sunday night, had to go back to work the next Monday morning. For the meantime, I'll try to upload the pics now in Multiply and Facebook (if I manage to finish it tonight!) I actually took more than 1,000 pictures HAHAHAHA, but of course I'm not gonna post everything online and it's not going to be Rica and the Imperial Palace, Rica and the Tempura resto, Rica and her Katsudon. It's gonna be just a little bit of me, although I always have that solo shot haha :)

Beach Patrol.

A trip to Boracay is always a nice way to end the year :) The sun, the sand and the fun! It was the second year I planned a Bora trip with my cousins. But the trip wasn't complete because Ian wasn't able to go, and we were looking forward on spending time together. I'm just really really thankful that he's okay now, I don't mind that he missed the trip, Bora's sunset will always be there :)

And we're going anyway on Feb '09! Hooray for more beach trips. Haha, even people at work keep on saying, "Bora ka na naman?"

Swear, I'm such a spoiled brat ;)

Next Stop: Macau

In our 3rd day in Hong Kong, we went to Macau :) We went for a day trip, rode the ferry and did our own tour thing. I was really looking forward to trying Portuguese food, which we did in A Lorcha, and trying out the desserts like Serradura and Egg Tarts, even trying out the Porkchop bun/sandwich, which we all accomplished as well :)

I was going to do the same blow by blow post, but then, I got my Lomo Pictures today! I'm so happy on how it turned out, so I'll just post them instead. Just a quick rundown of some Macau notes..

A Lorcha

Cuisine: European

289 AA, Rua do Almirante Sergio

+853 2831 3193

A Lorcha was great, the waiters were Filipinos and they gave us a table even if we didn't have reservations. (So tip for whoever's planning to eat there, not all tourists got a table so better make reservations) It was just a few steps from A-Ma temple, which was the first stop for the tour since it's the farthest tourist spot. Get the baked Bacalhau with cheese and stuff, it's really good plus it's enough for 4 people.


Try Serradura and Egg Tarts for dessert. Buy porkchop bun/sandwich as snack :)

And now for the picturesque Macau from my Action Sampler :)

Really lovin' the pictures :)