Lakad Pilipinas

For those of us who would like to visit the most picturesque places in the world to capture that perfect shot, traveling is always on our mind. In fact, almost everybody loves to travel. And most, if not all of us, want to see as much of the world as possible.

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Batangas has long been associated with weekend beach getaways. With its proximity to Metro Manila, the province has always been one of the go-to places for people looking for a quick escape from the grind of the daily city life. But there’s something more to this province south of Manila than crowded beaches. Delve deeper and rediscover a luxurious side to Batangas, something you can easily do with a day tour, and without breaking the bank.

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Our main predicament when we were in Dili was how to get to the iconic Cristo Rei statue. It was perched atop a low mountain on the eastern side of the city and was too far to get to on foot. Well, we can certainly hire a taxi to get us there, but we deemed it to be a tad too expensive for our budget since we still have a long way to go for our two-month SEA2Africa2018 trip. Plus, we’d have to ask the cab to wait for us to go back, which would double the fare.

DILI’S ICONIC CRISTO REI STATUE

We scanned the interweb and found that we can actually ride a microlet to get there, it would only cost us a quarter of a US dollar each but it really doesn’t go all the way to the starting point of the hike up, we’d still have a ways walk. And we read further that there aren’t any microlets going back. Darn.

It was a Sunday and the plaza near the Palacio de Governo at the center of Dili, Timor Leste’s capital, was teeming with families hanging out at the park. Afternoon mass has just commenced and everyone was at their Sunday’s best. Kids were playing along the grounds while parents watched, sipping on hot bowls of bakso soup from a nearby street vendor as they do. We were watching everything with joy. Delighted at the seemingly simple way the Timorese people enjoy life.

As sundown commenced, we went past a thin clump of trees from the park and wandered into the coast. The beach, though rugged, was very clean. Which was surprising, Dili being a capital city. Well, I guess it’s really not a city city. There’s no CBD, the skyline is devoid of any skyscrapers, there are no malls, and traffic jams are virtually unknown to this place. Everything feels very provincial. And in a good way.

Bali, the so-called Land of the Gods. Everyone, it seems, wants to go to Bali, the beach island paradise south of Indonesia. It first appeared on the tourist map as one of the three K’s eighties backpackers and surfers jump to around Asia, Kathmandu, Khao San Road, and Kuta—the most famous area on the island province. From what was once a back-country Indonesian island, it quickly rose to fame. And soon, huts were replaced by luxury hotels, and its multitude of age-old temples started to fill up with tourists.

I visited Bali a few times the past years, my trips ranging from overnight to a full ten-day beach and temple bonanza. But for the course of this Bali travel guide, I would limit the trip to a single week just to make it simple. A few of those ten-day trips were spent doing nothing anyways, just lazing around the pool and hunting for bargains at the local markets.

Food isn’t really the first thing that comes to mind when one speaks of Bali. What this island paradise south of Indonesia conjures up are images of white sandy beaches filled with skimpily-clad bodies and moss-laden temples perched on cliffs. Bali has become such a popular year-round destination for tourists that modern air-conditioned restaurants and popular fastfood places can be found just about anywhere. But dig deeper through the local eateries they call warung and you just might be surprised to find something unique to eat in Bali.

BALI’S INFAMOUS BABI GULING

Yes, they do serve local dishes on the many fancy restaurants in Bali, but for a more local taste—which is a lot easier on the wallet, by the way—the way to go is to eat where the locals does. Be brave. Go down and dirty, and legitly eat your way through Bali.

Twilight was upon us as our van wended its way across the traffic-laden roads of Kuta and parked along the driveway of the Trans Resort Bali in Seminyak. We were supposed to check in around midday but our Bali temple tour took much longer than expected. Now on the tail-end of the Bali leg of our two-month Asean Summer Loop tour, it has been more than a week of non-stop touring for us around the island. What we’re now craving for was a much needed rest before we fly out to Jogjakarta.

EVENING ARRIVAL AT THE TRANS RESORT BALI

THE RESTAURANT OVERLOOKING THE POOL AREA

Located near Seminyak’s restaurant lane and shopping area, Trans Resort Bali is a fairly new resort on the island. It has, however, quickly garnered a reputation for being one of the premier resorts in the Seminyak area of Bali, and fairly so. The five-star resort boasts of almost two hundred rooms and suites, sixteen of those are grand villas each with an access to a private pool. It has a dedicated restaurant that serves legit Indonesian and Western cuisine, and it also has a spa which provides superb Balinese massage.