Lakad Pilipinas

I’ve been nagging my travel partner, like forever, for us to visit the Singapore Botanic Gardens every time we take a trip to the Lion City. She would say yes, but that would be it. We would always skip it on the itinerary. One time, she ‘fessed up, “what the heck are we gonna do there?” She exasperatedly asked me. Well. I really have no idea, I just wanted to see it since it’s the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in Singapore. Honestly, I just wanted to cross it off my list of World Heritage Sites to visit, lol.

VISITING THE SINGAPORE BOTANIC GARDEN, AT LONG LAST

So, after much more nagging, we finally went to the gardens, the oldest of its kind in Singapore, like 158 year-old old. This garden is older than my grandma’s rheumatic grandma. I was readying for a good belting of I-told-you-so, after our visit.

Straight from East Timor, we flew back to Bali for a couple of days before taking another flight to Singapore. It’s the third country for our SEA2Africa two-month summer trip, and why Singapore? Well, next to Malaysia, we love Singaporean food! Plus, after almost a month of traveling, we’re hankering for the comfort of a first-world country—spell, fast food.

YOTEL SINGAPORE ALONG ORCHARD ROAD

So, we’re spending four days on this leg of our trip and our lodging of choice is YOTEL Singapore. YOTEL? The name sounds cool, indeed. Tucked on one of the quieter parts of the bustling Orchard Road, the hotel is sleek and very modern. It has branches in London, Boston, Amsterdam, and New York, and this is the first one to open in Asia.

It wouldn’t be a proper Lakad Pilipinas year ender if it wasn’t delayed by a couple of weeks. Again, pardon my late year ender (year after year, after year).

Anyhow, so, this year, we finally broke out of Asia. I mean, I have previously traveled to Europe before—my first ever trip abroad—but my favorite travel partner has never made it out of Asia yet, our travels mostly focusing on South East Asia. This year, we were able to visit Australia and her dream country, Morocco—and a long-month visit too! So cheers to that!

Three of my photographs appeared on NGCP’s 2019 calendar. NGCP or National Grid Corporation of the Philippines is a privately owned corporation that manages the government’s nationwide power grid and transmits power from where it is produced to areas that need it.

Their calendar focuses on off-the-beaten places in the Philippines, particularly those from Sorsogon, Mountain Province, Iligan City (Tinago Falls), Romblon, La Union, Quezon, Aklan (Bakhawan Eco Park), Antique, Aurora, Surigao Del Sur, Nueva Ecija (Minalungao National Park), and Zambales.

Two of my photos recently appeared on Crescent Hopes, a small book published by the Ayala Foundation. The book delves in detail about the Bangsamoro Young Leaders Program- Leadership Communities which aim to uplift the lives of the people of ARMM by recruiting young people to enact sustainable programs.

SULU SUNSET TAKEN FROM THE MARINES CAMP IN PATIKUL

It tracks the progress of the first batch of fellows chosen by the foundation who spearheaded projects in the five provinces of ARMM and the changes they have imparted in their communities. From the Yakan weaving and dried fish processing in Basilan, crab farming and Inaul weaving in Maguindanao, a boat project that ferries students and transports fishes in Tawi-Tawi, coffee farming in Sulu, and marketing the palapa condiments in Lanao Del sur.

My story and photographs about Cagayan recently appeared on the second issue of My Charter. The magazine is the official inflight publication for Royal Air Charter Service Inc., a Philippine air carrier since 2002 that provides non-scheduled airline and cargo services from Clark-Macau, Cebu-Macau, Laoag-Yichang, and Kalibo-Macau.

The article, titled True North, Six of the Best Things to Do and See in Cagayan features places from the Cagayan Valley Region. The cover spread features an expansive view of Sibang Cove in Calayan, while the following pages discuss about Palaui Island, Calayan Island, the Callao Cave in Penablanca, Iguig pottery, the colonial churches of Cagayan Valley, Tuguegarao’s pancit batil patong, and Anguib Beach.

The province of Tarlac in Central Luzon is really not known for tourism. In fact, some people even dub it, jokingly, as the toilet stop of Luzon; the area being frequented only by motorist needing to relieve themselves on their way to another province. But my visit to Tarlac opened my eyes to its many tourist spots and food places unknown to most travelers in the country. Tarlac has a lot of tourism potential—it has historical places, museums, adventure parks, religious destinations, hiking and biking trails, waterfalls, and gastronomic places. With this travel guide, allow me to help you get lost in Tarlac.

ShopBack is one of my go-to sites whenever I shop online, and that’s getting more and more frequent these days. It’s not a shopping site per se, but a site that lets you get discounts on almost anything that’s being sold on major shopping sites across the web like Lazada and Shopee, and even travel sites like Agoda and Klook. You buy a product, and you get a percentage back from your purchase, which is then stored on your ShopBack wallet. This is good as cash, something you can use to buy more products, or withdraw to your bank account.

I first used this when I purchased a Sony lens for my mirrorless camera a year or so ago. I registered on ShopBack, clicked on the Lazada site from the ShopBack site, and then searched for the camera lens I wanted. It is a cumbersome process but it saved me at least a thousand bucks on my purchase.