YEAR ENDER | Twenty Seventeen, a Year of Traveling with the Gang
[YEARENDER] Sunday, December 31, 2017
Okay, I beat my previous year’s Lakad Pilipinas year-ender by almost a week! It’s now the 18th of January, and it’s actually the first time I’ve tried writing a real article since the New Year commenced. The days after the holidays always set my writing in limbo, hopefully this kickstarts it for the new year.
2017 saw me traveling outside the Philippines more than around our own island. Don’t scold me just yet, I didn’t particularly planned it that way, it just happened. Heck, I didn’t even set foot in Baguio this year, which is kinda sad since I make it a point to visit my favorite city at least once a year. I promise I’ll make it up this 2018.
And as with the previous years, C was my constant companion on almost all of these trips, with our best travel buddies, Team RH, tagging on some of them. Why travel alone when you can share the road with your friends, yeah?
I just read my previous year ender, which, uhh, let me check, is eight days late in posting last year. This year, the Lakad Pilipinas annual report is posted even later! Like twenty-four days later! But better late than never. And yes, I’m recycling my previous year’s title. If you don’t like it, post your own one. Kidding. Lol.
Okay, so I’m about to run down sixteen of my favorite trips this year. But first, let’s see where I’ve travelled the past 2016. Hold on, need to check my image database, which is kinda hard now since it’s now location based, ditching my previous High Fidelity-ish autobiographical arrangement.
Sh*t. This is really hard.
Okay. After some minutes of clicking through folders, here it is.
Monochromatic serenity at Tha Chine River ©
A photo posted by Christian L. Sangoyo (@lakadpilipinas) on
January started in Central Thailand, exploring the lesser known provinces of Samut Songkhram and Nakhon Pathom. Then a quick getaway to my mom’s province in Cabanatuan went into the works. Then to C’s province in Zambales with a quick one-day jaunt to Binmaley in Pangasinan to eat roasted catfish (yep, you read that right). Then before the month ended, I was sent to Bicol for an assignment, revisiting Albay and Sorsogon, and finally setting my foot in cowboy country, Masbate. Then. Then. Then.
A photo posted by Christian L. Sangoyo (@lakadpilipinas) on
February started off in Leyte, my second time in Tacloban (this time with money on hand and friends to laugh with) and my first at Kalanggaman Island. We went further south, Mindanao particularly, a week or so later, checking out the lakes of South Cotabato and the beaches of Saranggani.
March, I was home and working my ass off on backlogs.
La Boracay? Full Moon Party! #BeachHopAsia2016 #teamRHofficial
A photo posted by Christian L. Sangoyo (@lakadpilipinas) on
April to May was summer trip time! Our two-month escapade, dubbed as Beach Hop Asia 2016, kicked off in Malaysia, running through KL, Melaka, Langkawi and Penang. We then took a flight to Thailand to meet up with the then, still complete, Team RH gang to party at Koh Phangan’s infamous Full Moon Party. Right after, we chilled down at Krabi before the gang went their separate ways.
With C, we continued our journey through Koh Phi Phi, followed by Phuket before flying to Sri Lanka. We spent two weeks in the country, taking a loop through Colombo, Sigiriya, Dambulla, Polonnaruwa, Kalkudah, Arugam Bay, Ella and finally, back to Colombo. Hmmm, Sri Lankans seem to love ending their places with the ah sound.
Wasn't just a dream. #BeachHopAsia2016 #HolidayIslandResort
A video posted by Christian L. Sangoyo (@lakadpilipinas) on
The last two legs of the trip involved Maldives and Singapore. I still can’t get over the fact that Maldives has bested the Philippines when it comes to beaches. And Singapore, I appreciated it better this second time around.
June came with another trip to Zambales. July was raining, so I didn’t leave home.
Until next time, Hanoi! #LakadPilipinas x #Vietnam
A video posted by Christian L. Sangoyo (@lakadpilipinas) on
Then August rolled in with a reunion with my favorite city in the PH, Baguio City. Then a Boracay quickie, where we weren’t really able to party that much. Then an even quicker trip to Hanoi in Vietnam, which I absolutely love. I’m giving it a hundred percent more love than Saigon. I can’t wait to get back and spend more time on this crazy place.
A photo posted by Christian L. Sangoyo (@lakadpilipinas) on
September rocked the house with an almost two-week trip across Indonesia. Jakarta. Bandung. Jogjakarta. Lombok. Flores. Bali. Indonesia is amazing. Their beaches can rock and roll with the best the Philippines has to offer too! An assignment landed me in Bacolod and Iloilo right after.
A photo posted by Christian L. Sangoyo (@lakadpilipinas) on
And because there’s just too many going ons during September, my mom didn’t let me out the whole October. Kidding. On the tenth month, I boarded a cruise ship and revisited Singapore and Malaysia, going back to Langkawi and Penang. I don’t mind revisiting Penang over and over and over again. In fact, we’re going back there next year!
A photo posted by Christian L. Sangoyo (@lakadpilipinas) on
Cold November (spawned a monster) found me in Taipei, walking until my feet died, and a long December saw me climbing the mountains of Bontoc. Well, we really didn’t climb that much. We sat at the veranda of the inn we’re staying in most of the time and ended the year with nothing but beer.
...and then, release. #LakadPilipinas #MountainProvince #teamRHwintertrip #teamRHofficial
A video posted by Christian L. Sangoyo (@lakadpilipinas) on
That totals to eight countries outside the Philippines and fourteen provinces within.
Hmmm, and apparently, this article has gone overly long with me forgetting to list sixteen of my favorite trips this year. Oh well, I’ll do it next year.
The year that was—thirteen Philippine provinces, thirteen hotel staycations, seven countries, and absolutely no itineraries.
Ah 2015. It has been a rollercoaster ride. There are months where I was on the road everyday and there are some where I was almost absolutely just at home. It was so unlike the previous years where I have multiple trips every month. But still, it is one of my most memorable travel years, having finally undertaken my longest trip so far—two months across South East Asia. I never even dreamed of going that far and that long when I started traveling six years back.
I’m actually unsure if I could top that this coming 2016. But heck, at my age, I don’t give a flying duck anymore about topping myself. I just want to go; relax on beaches, get lost on city alleys, hop across islands, and get absolutely drunk during staycations with the usual gang—which by the way turns out to be one of the best group of friends I can probably find that shares one common interest, Red Horse Beer travelling.
2014 was the year that I finally went crazy and left the comfort of traveling within the Philippines. I’ve been to a few countries before, but this year saw me setting foot on quite a handful of Asian nations. It’s also the year where I broke my own record of traveling for the longest period in one go—twenty five days. It’s nothing earthshaking compared to other veteran travelers, but yeah, it’s still something for me.
The year has been a fruitful one; breaking through the travel magazine industry and having some of my photos on print regularly, winning a few photography awards, getting a Bloscar nod for my blog, and finally hitting the two million page-view mark for Lakad Pilipinas.
Five countries around Asia, nineteen provinces in the Philippines, one hundred twenty nine days of traveling, forty thousand images, an innumerable amount of beer and endless wads of money on souvenirs and whatnots. Allow me to relive the year that was on something that’s now a constant on my travels; the phone-shot, low-fi, squared, filtered, uploaded on-the-spot—Lakad Pilipinas Instagram.
YEAR ENDER | Twenty One Thousand Sixty Eight Images of Twenty Thirteen
[YEARENDER] Tuesday, December 31, 2013It’s just a few hours before the year ends and I’ve just decided to do another travel year ender. I’m one of those bloggers who almost always post an article everyday, but the past few days have seen a trickle of posts from yours truly. It’s the holidays, I guess. It’s just so tempting to forget about everything and simply do nothing.
Wake up. Eat. Watch TV. Eat. Surf the net. Eat. Watch TV. Sleep.
That’s been my routine for the past week now.
But before the year ends, let me clear up the cobwebs now slowly building up at the corners of Lakad Pilipinas and have a peek at the year that was.
TWO THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED SEVENTY ONE IMAGES OF JANUARY
Silent rice fields, muddy rivers, and twinkling night skies. Nueva Ecija.
Booming waterfalls, craggy landscapes, fallen pillars, eons-old tree, and rushing waves. Aurora.
Swirling bare-footed crowds in maroons and unending devotion. Manila.
Kids dancing, strange costumes, sweet wafers, and crosses submerged on water. Bulacan.
White sand, full rainbows, sparkling blue waters, jumping kids, and sexy girls. Oriental Mindoro.
Delectable home-cooked dishes and old ash-buried churches filmed for TV. Pampanga.
PHOTO BY DOI OF THE TRAVELING FEET
I quit the corporate life on the second day of January this year and decided to pursue the life of a traveler. I was having doubts of it working out; I was unsure if my body can sustain it and was uncertain if my finances could carry the load of all the expenses I would incur without a normal eight to five job. But I went ahead and took the plunge.
Without looking at my calendar, I know for sure that the road had me longer than the previous year. And after adding everything up, I had been out on the road for 142 days this 2012. I almost tripled last year’s travel and it became apparent as the year ended; my body, totally fatigued, was craving for the permanent comfort of my own bed.
I always said I’m not counting the provinces I’ve been to, but well okay, I counted this time around just to see how much of the Philippines I’ve actually stepped on; it tallied up to a nifty fifty. Not even at par with most travelers out there haha.
I’m not sure what’s in store for me in the coming year. I’m even more unsure if I can travel as long as I did this year. But one thing’s for sure, the road hasn’t seen the last of Lakad Pilipinas yet.
Come along with me now, let’s recount the year that was.
Thirty one thousand seven hundred and four photographs, one blue and three black cameras, two unlined journals filled with spidery writings, a couple of retired walking sandals, fifty eight days of traveling on twenty four locations outside the metro, a week outside the country and a pair of very sore feet through a blur of churches, restaurants, hotels, streets, people, resorts, beaches, underwater escapades, tacky shirts, ref magnets, Starbucks mugs, sunrises and sunsets; allow me to recount a year's worth of walking through the Philippines.
This is actually the first time that I'd be doing an annual summary, begging off doing one last year since I was still working on two months worth of travel backlog and wanted to finish everything off before proceeding with it. As with photography, I realized too late that backlogs are part and parcel of travel writing .
So with half a year worth of backlogs, allow me to finally do a summary before the year ends in a few hours time.
