a photography and travel blog
Two weeks ago, I was given the Liebster Award for bloggers by Audrey, author of the blog Living for Experiences. I thank Audrey for this nomination as I did not expect people to be reading a lot of my writings and musings. It is an honor to receive such a nomination. Check out Audrey’s blog here and be inspired by her amazing insights on life and her useful tips on travel.Continue reading “Liebster Award 2017”
It’s been a while since my last write-up (or to be more accurate, since I last travelled). Honestly, I have maxed out my paid leave for the first three quarters of the year and have to wait for a few more weeks to be able to make use of the available balance. But that may not happen. I have resigned from my current post which might cause that balance to be forfeited; and it will take another long period before I could be allowed to take a long leave under my new / future employer. The good thing is that Singapore will have 7 long weekends next year. Some of the public holidays in 2017 will fall either on a Monday or Friday; so I am looking forward to working my road trips and photography projects around those long weekends. At least; until I get to my next major holiday. Meantime, I take the time to write this post to feature this beautiful country that has been second home to me for almost a decade.Continue reading “About Anniversaries”
This write-up should have been posted more than a month ago. I actually forgot I have these photos from our recent Club Med Bintan retreat; and I was only reminded of having them when I was looking at my passport while on queue at the renewal section of the embassy a few days ago. I have to admit that long holidays are always short. Even much shorter for a weekend company retreat like this one. And because they are short, there is always the chance of bringing home only a few photos; which you easily forget.Continue reading “Silence is Golden”
You know what? It’s a good thing we will have our company retreat next week. It will give me enough time to shake off this overwhelming feeling I had from my last trip. I just came back from Seoul and obviously still in a daze; my body already here but my mind still back there in the cold. I usually only spend a week or so in a certain place so I could use my other leave days to visit other cities and see as much places as I can. But this is the first time I wished I had stayed longer in one city. It is also the first time I heard myself wishing for time to stop (obviously dreading the work waiting for me back in the office). It seems that I am the only one who has not seen Seoul yet. At one time and for some reason, I passed off an opportunity in the office for a free winter travel to this place. I regretted that one. So I made it a point that I get to visit Seoul this year. With all these recent frenzy for Korean drama, this Seoul trip is all the more significant. 🙂Continue reading “The Seoul I Love”
Even the hard-working aspiring writers find themselves struggling for words sometimes. I was almost tempted to simply post these recent photos and let the images speak for themselves. Besides, a picture paints a thousand words, right? Yeah right. But a part of me also believes that a thousand words paint a beautiful picture. If you love writing, use it to make up for a lousy photography (which I have already done so many times 🙂 ). This is a blog anyway so try to make use of what you’re paying for. Use it or lose it. Constantly moving or travelling does not always get you somewhere. So we stop for a while and write about our most recent travels to help us articulate and reflect on the things that we have learned from them. And what is a more perfect time to reflect and to remember than during the last Easter weekend?Continue reading “Malacca: My Take”
This is another one of those times when you get to choose last-minute holiday destinations. We took one week off in the office to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year. At the back of my head, I was hoping that our company would send us to somewhere really cold or even exotic to spend the one-week holiday (like what our company usually do). Well, that didn’t happen this year. The announcement came in a bit late so most of us had to scramble and decide whether to go back to our respective hometowns or go somewhere else. The plane ticket to my hometown (Manila) could get a little pricey this time of year, so I just decided to go to nearby Malaysia. It seems that Malaysia for me is the default destination for long weekends and short road trips; for obvious reasons. From Singapore where I am staying, it is only a few minutes or hours away depending on your destination. Architecture, food, historical sites, beaches, nature, or theme parks; Malaysia has all that and more. You choose.Continue reading “Putrajaya Architecture Ramble”
I could have called this post “A Year in Review” or “My 2015 Travels” but I thought it would be a cliche. We always do this year-end post or write-up where we cross out a few items in our travel bucket list (or any bucket list for that matter) and admittedly, this post is in some ways no different. But it’s a little bit more than that. As I was writing the draft for this post, I breathed a prayer of thanks to my Maker for helping me get past a year of office work marked by an organizational mayhem caused by some internal special elite force who obviously refused to work for the common good. We are happy that we were able to neutralize that group and have put them all in the past. Peace has been restored and now we are back to doing the things that we are supposed to do, and that is (as a colleague puts it) “to work hard, to play hard, and to travel harder”. 🙂Continue reading “A Year in Postcards”
“Travelling: It leaves you speechless, then it turns you into a storyteller.”– Ibn Battuta
Finally, I ran out of sensible things to say except maybe to tell you about the series of crazy and unbelievable events that led me to this place and made me love it. Bangkok was one of the last cities I planned to visit. I have always loved the city and architecture which is quite evident in the subject matter of my photographs. I honestly was never fond of shopping, night markets, night life, and the beaches which I have always associated with Thailand (or even Bangkok). Did not really like ocean cruise holidays or water sports either (most of my friends live on land ). 🙂 A colleague however did a good job of documenting her last visit to Bangkok (her birthday) and with her interesting photos of the food and a convincing story of satisfaction, I was sold.Continue reading “Experiencing Thainess”
“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us”– Anonymous
This fascination with the east has been going on for quite some time now. Well obviously, I grew up in this neighborhood. And if you are here, you are spot on. Now is the perfect time to be living, thriving, and breathing in this part of the world.
So why Shanghai? Because Shanghai is positively electric. It is a testament to China’s aspirations and a centerpiece of its status as an emerging global economy. A place rich in tradition and dreams for the future. It is a fascinating mix of traditional buildings, colonial architecture, and futuristic skyscrapers most of which have no precedent. Shopping, dining, sightseeing, museum, or bar-hopping; Shanghai has all that and more. Not so surprised why so many people want to come here. I read somewhere that people in Shanghai are smart. To this a local cleverly replied: “Not really. But only smart people come to Shanghai”. So I guess that’s why I’m here. 🙂Continue reading “A New Orient”
This day trip to Legoland Malaysia just happened without much planning. To be honest, it was a result of simply having nowhere else to go. Legoland Malaysia is just a 1-hour bus ride from Singapore (where I am currently based) so it’s funny and embarrassing to admit that it was one place that I had yet to visit. I finally got my chance during a public holiday. The holiday fell on a Friday and I suspect some office colleagues already planned their long weekend somewhere really nice. And here I am. Stuck. I needed to go somewhere too. Somewhere. Anywhere actually.Continue reading “A Toy Story”
From Lines to Lenses