On a bench right on the sidewalk, we busily checked our mobile phones on what we can do in the city. We were right outside our lodging in Sydney, trying to adapt to the unexpectedly nippy weather and taking advantage of the inn’s wi-fi while waiting for a relative to pick us up. In between scanning our phones, we watched as people pass by, still amazed that we’re now actually in Australia.

FLY TO AUSTRALIA ON SCOOT’S YEAR-ROUND PROMO FARES

Booked on a Scoot flight from Manila to Sydney and after a fun sixteen-hour layover tour in Singapore, we finally arrived at the Sydney International Airport around noon. We wanted a hassle-free transport to our lodging so we purchased a cheap van transfer via Klook (₱770.00 per person) in advance. It was definitely cheaper than if we took the train or hailed a cab. Redeeming it was as simple as showing the voucher on our mobile app at the Redy2Go booth at the airport, them giving us a physical ticket, and us boarding the shuttle to the city.

With our hope of going to Balabac dashed, we settled for El Nido instead. From our original plan of exploring the southernmost town in Palawan, we’re now heading north. Everyone in the group had already visited El Nido more than once, except for J, but still, we’re all quite excited since we’ve set our sights on one of the lesser visited places in the area, Linapacan.

NORTHERN HOPE TOURS IN PALAWAN

From Puerto Princesa, we sought the help of Northern Hope Tours. We could’ve taken the public bus going there, but since we were a big group, we decided on taking a van (₱500.00 per person) instead—more fun for us that way. Northern Hope took care of everything, we just texted them where we were staying, and they picked us up early the next day after we had our silog breakfast.

Sapa welcomed us with a bright blue sky. The air felt nippy and it felt wonderful walking about with Vietnamese mountain people on their colorful garbs along its sun-strewn sidewalks. Trees abound, pines mostly, making us reminiscent of certain regions in the Philippines.

MORNING AT SAPA PARK, THIS WAS WHERE OUR BUS DROPPED US OFF

“This feels like Baguio”, I told C. “No, it’s more like Sagada,” she threw right back at me. Well, Sapa seemed like a combination of both, ten or twenty years back. Throw in a dash of Banaue into the mix and it almost encapsulates our first impressions of the town. Well, almost.

An alley full of delectable street food mixed with regular market fare swarmed across our way; a menagerie of fruits and raw meat mingling with banana pancakes and crisply fried pork strips. It was heaven. We ambled from one stall to the next, dodging the local crowd milling about Trat’s Night Market, unable to decide what to have for dinner with the multitude of choices presented to us.

FIVE HOUR LAND TRIP FROM CAMBODIA’S SIHANOUKVILLE TO THAILAND’S TRAT

The Province of Trat, located on the southeastern side of Thailand, was our gateway to the land of the elephants. Thailand was the third country for our Same Same Summer Trip, which started in Malaysia and pushed through Cambodia. Landing in Siem Reap and taking the land trip to Phnom Penh and the beaches of Sihanoukville, we exited at Koh Kong border and entered Trat through a five-hour land transfer by van (USD18.00 / PHP910.50).

My two main factors when renting cheap accommodations in Boracay are its cleanliness and its proximity to the beach. The fist one is a no-brainer, especially if you’re tagging the whole clan with you, but the second one can be optional. I like my beach lodging to be right there at the beach itself, my room just a hop away from the sand and the sea—budget permitting. But if pressed for funds, well, you compromise somehow. And that’s actually how we ended up booking a room at the Galleria de Boracay.

This inn is almost in between the main road and Boracay White Beach’s Station 3. It actually has a pretty good location, if you don’t mind that the beach doesn’t start right at your doorstep. It’s less than thirty seconds by foot from the road, which means buying goods from convenience stores is a breeze and inexpensive. It sits right by the Original Talipapa, a market of sorts selling souvenirs. And it’s also near carinderia eateries, should you need to scrimp on food spending.

In terms of its proximity to the beach, it’s about three minutes away via a maze of narrow side streets. The path opens at the Station 3 side of Boracay White Beach, rigth  at the corner of Crown Regency Beach Resort Boracay. This was also where we booked our Boracay island hopping tour, which they also gave discounts for.

It was not the perfect weather to be sailing for eight hours to one of the farther atolls in Maldives, but we really have no choice. With only eight days—now seven—on our itinerary at this beach paradise of a country, we made do with what we have. So, without hesitation, we left our lodging in Hulhumale, boarded a bus, then a ferry to Male, took a quick cab to the port and set our bags on another ferry. We’re bound for paradise.

NOT REALLY THE MALDIVES I WAS HOPING FOR

There are two types of islands in the Maldives, local islands and resort islands. The former is where Maldivian people actually live and the latter is where tourists frolic—yes, those expensive resorts with water bungalows you usually see on postcards. Our destination is a local island located at the South Ari Atoll, Maamigili.

The waves tore the beach to pieces; pushing it, sculpting it to a near-forty five-degree slope. We stood at the edge of the mini-precipice, gawking and wondering if its possible to actually swim here. Instead, we sat down, the sea lapping our feet every time another batch of waves comes in, snatching our bottles of Lion Beer overhead whenever a particularly huge one slams into the shore, and simply enjoyed the setting sun without ever dipping down the raging sea.

GREEN TRISHAWS AT THE MAIN ROAD OF ARUGAM BAY

It was the surfing season for Arugam Bay, a stretch of sea east of Sri Lanka. We found our way to this surfer haven after almost half a day of changing local transports southbound from Kalkudah to its main town by trishaw (LKR250.00), then a bus to Batticaloa (LKR44.00), and another bus ride to Kalmunai (LKR59.00), a bus to Pottuvil, where Arugam Bay is located (LKR93.00), and finally a trishaw (LKR200.00) to our lodging, Seahorse Inn. Surprisingly, even with Sri Lanka’s outdated transports, everything is well organized and getting from one place to another was a breeze. We were, nonetheless, totally bushed as we arrived at Arugam Bay.