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: 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.