Coffins scare the hell out of me. I said it before and I’m saying it now — The Poor Traveler is not the Brave Traveler. There are so many things out there that terrify me. One of them is death. And most of the things related to it. The mere sight of a coffin is enough to make me shiver. [...]
Our tour bus stopped in front of what looks like a cricket field. “We gonna play?” I mumbled. The green field lie in front of Tudor-style buildings that somehow reminded me of Old England. Malaysia was under British rule before. It was only when I caught a glimpse of the flag pole in the southern end of the field that I [...]
Our Day 3 in Singapore started early. We were up as early as 7am. The first item on our itinerary for that day was the Chinatown Heritage Walking Tour, which I was very excited about because I had never been to this part of Singapore before. Note that it is a Do-It-Yourself tour. Even before the trip, I already determined [...]
Many times, I consider the rain a friend. It helps me think. It makes me feel. It brings inspiration and brings back memories. But during our City Tour, the rain was a complete and utter b*tch. All it did was pour when we were exploring the great outdoors and stop when we were indoors. And then, when we were back [...]
The night before, we asked Arvee, a Punta Bulata staff, to talk to three habal-habal drivers to pick us up at 5:30am the following day. At exactly 5:30 am, our habal-habal rides were at Punta Bulata waiting for us. The problem was, we had just woken up. The exhaustion from the Danjugan Trip the day before got the better of [...]
When sugar baron Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson had his mansion built for his Portuguese first wife, Maria Braga, I bet he didn’t foresee that it would be intentionally burned down later on. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have made it so intricately beautiful. Not that I’m complaining. “The Ruins” is just beyond beautiful. While browsing photos of tourist spots in Metro Bacolod [...]
Puerto Princesa City may look vibrant today but like many cities in the Philippines, it also has a dark history. This is most evident in a small park in Barangay Liwanag called Plaza Cuartel. Plaza Cuartel looks like your ordinary city park with concrete pavements, towering trees and benches. The ruins of an old garrison and tunnels are proof of [...]
The Baclayon Church, formally known as the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in Baclayon, is one of the oldest churches in the country. It is usually the second stop in the Bohol Countryside Tour. (The first stop from the airport is usually the Sandugo Monument.) We initially wanted to follow the usual itinerary and visit this immediately [...]
Even before boarding the plane, the Poor Traveler and his friends were already excited to explore Bohol. When we landed at Tagbilaran Airport, we were pleased that the driver from Bagobo Beach Resort was already there to pick us up. Straight from Tagbilaran Airport, our first stop was the Sandugo Site. For my non-Pinoy readers, “sandugo” literally means “one blood.” [...]
The Poor Traveler and his friends only had one destination in our itinerary for the third day of our Ilocos Tour — Vigan! We actually had spent some time in this beautiful city on our first day but we had very limited time to see much of it. Because we had to be back in Manila by 7pm, we only [...]
The Poor Traveler and his poor friends began the Day 2 of our Ilocos Road Trip at around 6am. The first stop for the day was the Cape Bojeador Lighthouse in Burgos, Ilocos Norte. To be honest, before that moment, none of us had heard of this destination before. But I’m telling you, of all the places we have visited [...]
Next in our itinerary was the Paoay Church. I must say, I had very high expectations. It was one of the places that I was really looking forward to visiting in this trip. I’d seen hundreds of pictures of this UNESCO World Heritage Site and each one of them blew me away. But boy, none of those pictures did justice [...]
After a blast from the past at the Crisologo Museum, the Poor Traveler and his poor group proceeded to the Pagburnayan. Our immediate reaction was wonder what “Pagburnayan” was but a few moments later we were already at this place where countless pots were piled up and lined up. I was thrilled with the idea that we could be throwing [...]
When the Poor Traveler and his poor friends were planning a cheap trip to the Ilocandia, we weren’t expecting much. We just wanted to see three things — Vigan, Pagudpud and the Bangui Windmills. We hired a budget travel agency to take us on a road trip to Ilocos for only P3,300 per person and we had no idea what [...]
After our two-day tour in Iloilo and Guimaras, the Poor Traveler and his poor friend decided that it was time to head home. But the flight tickets that we got would have a connecting flight in Cebu City. Our plane would land at Mactan International Airport at 4pm and would depart for Manila at 6am the next morning. But we [...]
