Day 1: Arrived in Manila

Recap: So four years ago, I went to the Philippines... 

The following took place on Thursday, 16th October 2008:-

We landed at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (Clark Field) at 5.20pm.

It was a 2-hour flight from KK. It was interesting to note that on the flight:
- 3 languages were used for announcements etc (English, Bahasa and Mandarin)
- we had to fill in immigration and customs forms onboard (these were later needed at the immigration and customs counters on arrival at Clark).
NOTE: You cannot bring in/out legal tender aka $$$ amounting to more than 10,000PHP or USD$10,000.
- before landing, the inside of the plane (where all the people were) was “sprayed” (required by Philippines’ side, maybe as a way to prevent the “importation” of airborne diseases, who knows…)


Other than that, it was just like any other flight. 

(L-R) : Mie, Ted, Say, Me, Chel, Fab. We were waiting for our airport van to send us to Malate.   

While waiting for our ride, it was kinda hard to NOT notice that the locals there think WE were locals. One even confidently said that Ted had been there (the Philippines) SIX times when we were all first-timers. LOL! Their fave quote: “You look like Pinoy.”  - we got a lot of that throughout our few days in the Philippines! 

Malate was a 2 - 3 hours’ drive from Clark (it cost us 3500PHP (RM270) for the trip) and though the timezone is the same as Malaysia, it gets dark a lot earlier...and the traffic in the Philippines is CRAZY - more on that in future posts - but we finally reached Malate in one piece. Too bad it was too late to do much so we just checked into Malate Pensionne, bathed and went to the nearest restaurant we could find (Joward’s Seafood Restaurant) for supper and then called it a night. (With the exception of Fab and Michele who went to try out the “Nightlife Entertainment” there.)

For your eyes only, here was the balance of my Pesos at the end of Day 1:

That is 10,251 pesos.

Do the math and you’ll know I brought more than the allowed legal tender of 10,000PHP. I didn’t know there was such “limit”. Fortunately, Fab had less so I just passed some to him so we were both “legal”. 

The Road Once Taken (to be continued)...

Next: Day 2 (Exploring Manila)

Actually, it was four years ago...

Back in February 2008, AirAsia had their "free airtickets" campaign and I wanted to travel somewhere. Thus, knowing a friend who had travelled abroad before, I asked if he had any plans to travel then. Ask and ye shall receive! He called me up and told me that there were plans to go to the Philippines. I immediately bought tickets in the following days. But before anything else, let's first meet the travel bunch… 

The following took place on Wednesday, 15th October 2008:-

This is us in Kuching waiting for our flight to Kota Kinabalu. (I arrived from Brunei the day before.)

(B-F): Fabian (Fab), Mar (yours truly), Teddy (Ted), Lindsay (Say) and Rimie (Mie)

Yes, we only travelled half a year after purchasing our airtixs and between the long gap of buying the tickets and the travelling itself, anything could have prevented the trip from materialising - fortunately, nothing did. 

Arrived at Kota Kinabalu International Airport Terminal 2. 

Our flight landed at around midnight (that's why the date on the photo above is already 16th) and our friends Ben, Young and Michele (Chel) came to fetch us. The latter also joined us for our Philippines trip.   We stayed at Ben’s house in Putatan, about half-an-hour from the airport. It was a kind of a reunion since we all haven’t seen each other for quite awhile so we had supper first before settling for the night.

The following day, 16th October, the 6 of us (including Chel) went to Centrepoint KK to“acquire” some Pinoy currency. For the record, the exchange rate then was 100PHP (pesos) = RM7.50 or RM1 = 13.3333PHP.

And soon, it was time to board our flight to Clark, Manila…

Me, Say, Chel, Mie at KKIA…and the guys (not in the picture obviously) departing to Manila. 

All of us brought about at least 10,000 pesos (RM750) each…

We would eventually find out that this was NOT enough…

The Road Once Taken (to be continued)...

Let's start at the beginning

There is a Malay saying: "Jauh perjalanan, luas pemandangan" ("The further one travels, the broader one's views/horizons"(?)

Travelling for me is just that - a way for me to broaden my views, to realise that there is a world beyond my front steps, to appreciate life...and I have always always wanted to travel. Well, the opportunity finally came 3 years ago...

That said, the Philippines was as good as an eye-opener as any - marking an "official" start to my life as a traveller!  :D

Image: http://www.haimenonline.com

Over the next few posts, I will be recalling my adventures in the Philippines but before I begin, here's a little "teaser" of what to expect! ;)

6 friends get together for a trip.

They stay in a gay area.

Where people think they are locals.

And there are a lot of gay bars.

One, possibly gay guy, takes a liking to at least 1 of the 6.

The 6 travel across the land and sea and end up on horseback at an ACTIVE volcano.

The 6 very nearly didn’t get back!!!

Stay tuned...for the road once taken!

A Road Once Taken

I love to travel.

And today is the day I decided to dedicate a blog entirely about it!

Image: http://www.groovetravelers.com   

But before we hit the road, I'd like to share some of my favourite travel quotes:

Twenty years from now, you will be more dissapointed by the things that 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

I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list. - Susan Sontag

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be. - Douglas Adams

So come: Let's Explore! Let's Dream! Let's Discover!

A Road Once Taken...