Back from China

Ni Hao! Its been an exciting trip and i've enjoyed it a lot. Seeing China is a different experience from other countries that i've been to. It is rich in culture and history. Some are preserved and some are still buried waiting to be discovered...



One thing about visiting China is the BIG language barrier. If you just arrived, a hand language is useful. But you can get along as you stay longer and enjoy it. Really!

Never leave your home or hostel without your phrasebook and the address of your home written in Pinyin or in Chinese characters.

The first week I visited my Swedish friend Robert and his family in Shanghai. I've spent few days on their beautiful golf villa house and seeing Shanghai. Since it was a weekend, we got time to to visit Century Park and the Shanghai Circus.




After a few days, i'm on my own to discover China. I have bought a train ticket "soft-sleeper" from Shanghai to Beijing. It's comfortable and quite expensive. Well, I guess sometimes you have to have a taste of the different thing even if cost you few bucks. And to think its just the start of my trip and i still have a lot of budget that's why i decided to take the ride. :) It's a 12hr train ride to the capital. I left Shanghai in the evening and arrived Beijing in the morning. Travelling alone, in the train station, nowhere to go but to seek adventure I started to look for a place to stay...



Although there are few accomodations for foreigners travelling in China, it is quite high standard than those hostels in Southeast-Asia. I arrived in Far East Hotel and got a dorm bed for RMB40, that's about Php270 per night, not bad. :) I've got lot's of memories in Beijing. One time my roommate invited me to join them on a Karaoke bar to have dinner, few drinks, sing and have fun! It turned out to be a multinational karaoke singing night. Hehehe. We were 15 all in all from 7 different countries singing songs from the Backsteet Boys (the crowds favorite) to ABBA. We got a free buffet dinner that's why we lasted 5 hours singing our lungs out...


The next day I went out to visit the Forbidden City and Summer Palace. It's 2 hours away from the city proper via the public bus. In the old days, when it is too hot in the Forbidden City the King lives here. It's breezy and bautiful. The weather is fair no clouds for picture perfect sceneries but still i enjoyed strolling around the palace.



One thing about backpacking on a limited time is that you try to see everything but you have to do it cheaply. Although sometimes you don't have a choice on those expensive way to go to a tourist spot.

The day has come to trek at The Great Wall of China... we were 6 people from the same hostel who decided to go. It was a 10 kilometer trek traversing Jinshanling to Simatai section of the wall. I guess the picture will tell more of the story...

Next stop Xian!

Another long hours of train ride. This time on a hard-seat with Eva, an Italian girl that I met when I visited the Forbidden City. We were the only foreigners on that part of the train. We've met Chinese students on a vacation to Xian. This is the time when I had actually conversed in Mandarin. The student ask us in English (they have quite good english) and we answer in Mandarin with the help of my phrasebook (i am trying to learn to speak chinese) .

The city of Xian is once the capital of China back in dynastic periods and famous for the recent archeological discovery of the century, The Terracotta Warriors.

It also surrounded by natural landscapes and also well known for Mt.Huashan which is famous for its breath-taking cliffs and its unique characteristics and its 5 peaks.I climbed Mt Huashan with Omesh and the very kind Chinese couple that we met.


Finally, my last destination before I get back home is the Hangzhou (The West Lake). It's an hour and a half away from Shanghai.

Backpacking in China

I'm off this weekend (April 15 to May 3 2006) for my next trip. It will be a 3 week trip across China! I'm hoping to see as much sites that i can within the short period of time. Same as before, i will be on a shoestring budget but still have alloted few bucks to enjoy :). I hope i could meet a lot of people and learn about their culture. I'll be visiting my friend, Robert in Shanghai. Can't wait to see The Great Wall in actual view not from books or on postcards...

My route:
Shanghai -- Xi'an -- Beijing -- Hangzhou -- Xitang -- Shanghai.

Backpacking in Indochina - August 2005

One month backpacking in Southeast Asia (Indochina).

Taking the cheapest flight from Manila through Airasia I started in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia. I spent few hours there waiting for my connecting flight to Bangkok, Thailand. I went back to the well known backpacker street in Thailand, Khao Sarn Road where accomodation and food is cheap to spend a night. I consider this as my first major backpacking trip considering I was out the whole month. I was planning for this trip for a long time. My Lonely Planet Southeast Asia on a Shoestring is almost out of date. Nevertheless, i'm still excited that time and also praying for my safe trip.
I set out to see the charm, history and the culture of the famous Indochina. From Bangkok, I hopped-in to a bus bound to Aranyaphratet border to Cambodia. It was a rainy afternoon so stayed there overnight so i could cross the border next day. At the Thai-Cambodian (Poipet) border you can see a lot of Khmer Refugees. The rain made the road muddy. People pushing wooden carts and casinos on the side. I knew that my adventure started from then on.I was reading few books about the history of Cambodia. How they suffered and still the past has strong imprints to their faces.

I came from The Philippines so i don't need an entry visa in going to ASEAN countries that thing made me save a lot of money and time. I managed to flagged a Toyota Camry taxi shared with a kind local woman going to Siem Riep. Before the gate the woman suggested that i should hide my backpack at the back. They say that if the police see a foreigner riding the taxi they will need to pay an x amount for tax.... hmmm.. good thing I looked like a local. The road to Sosiphon is very rough. Our tires blew 2 times and it has been one of the most memorable roadtrip my life. :)

One of the fascinating sites of Cambodia are the temples of Angkor Wat. Listed among the UNESCO World Heritage sites you may wonder how they built this massive stone temples. I think its one of the most amazing structures ever built by man. You can see the Bas Reliefs that stretches along the walls. After much amazement i left Siem Riep to see the country's capital. Phnom Penh.

It's a different story here. Around the corner you can still see the past. The Killing Fields and S21: the Khmer Rouge genocidal centre. I didn't say a single word the whole time I was visiting the Killing Fields. It was so haunting that when the time I went to S21 I didn't even have the guts to get inside the School turned into killing machine where gas chambers replaced classrooms... I was ready to move on and get out of Cambodia.

Again, a long bus ride to border and the city. From Phnom Penh I went to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. By this time 8-12 hours bus rides now seems to be a short trip. I'm learning to be patient and manage to get a comfortable sleep while sitting on a bus. It's always a relief to bring a music player while you're on your backpacking trip. Along the way I met Maria and Francis (from UK) on the bus...

When you think about Vietnam you always associate it to its history of war. Truly, you can see what is left of the long days of fighting. "We" visited the Cu Chi Tunnels. We also made friends to other travellers Snapper(from USA a volunteer for 4 years in Palawan. He speaks fluent Tagalog) and Taeryn (from Korea but she grew up also in the US). We had a good time eating delicious food, telling stories and drinking beer. After Ho Chi Minh City we decided to go to the beach! It was in Mui Ne. We spent a couple of days there relaxing and chillin... We also visited the Sand Dunes. By this time I realized that I don't have much time left so I decided to push through with my trip.

I went to Nha Trang to dive and to see the underwater world of Vietnam. I even met 2 fellow Filipinos there. Had few drinks! Im almost halfway on my trip when I met Kelly in Hoi An. She was doing the RTW (Round the world) trip. I rented a motorbike to see neighboring cities. I drove to Danang. Then afterwards we went to Hue, also a World heritage site. I'm beginning to like the habit of seeing the UNESCO World Heritage sites. :) Maybe one of my goals in the future, to see all of them... who knows anything can be accomplished if you have the will. Again by this time I was rushing. I went to Hanoi and visited the caves of Halong Bay. It is somewhat reminds me of Palawan. Limestone cliffs and caves.

Since it will take me 1 day and long haul bus ride to Laos. I decided to get a one way ticket. It will cut my time and still manage to see the sites of Laos. I arrived Vientianne and took another 8 hour bus ride to Luang Phrabang since the VIP aircon bus already left by the time our plane arrived we settled to ride the public bus. Back in Vietnam, Kelly warned me that it is usual that you will see a man with AK47 on the bus. It serves as bodyguards. 1 bus, 1 bodyguard with AK47. It is said that back then there are militants who ambush buses thats why it came to that point. Good thing I was warned otherwise it will be uncomfortable for me to sit on a 8-hour bus ride with a man with a gun beside you. We arrived Luang Phrabang late in the evening. It is said that it is a backpackers sin to arrive on a place in the middle of the night. But this time we have no choice. We found a nice guesthouse few blocks away to the Mekong River. We visited the temples, night market and Kuang Si waterfalls. It is refreshing to be back in natural waters again... By this time its my birthday... I had awesome sunset dinner and had few drinks afterwads... In the morning im going back to Vientianne. My journey is almost complete and my money is running out...

One thing about shoestring travel is that you always have to be concious on your belongings and your money otherwise your beautiful journey turns into a nightmare.

"A dollar saved a day goes a long long way...." as my fellow backpackers say.

I arrived Vientianne I was in transit to Thailand. I rode the sleeper train overnight from Nong Khai Train Station to Bangkok. Again, slept a few nights in Khao San Road. Ate my favorite thai foods. Pad thai and Banana Pancakes... Bound to the airport I met a Japanese girl who works in Thailand as a volunteer. She had to pick up her friend at the airport.

I had to flew back to Kuala Lumpur...

I spend few hours at Kuala Lumpur airport even slept there at the bench while waiting for my connecting flight early in the morning. I have few bucks left and its 70km away to the city. I just relax, eat and slept. I flew back to Clark (Manila) and took my bus ride.

It's nice to see my home again...

In the end,had few money left on my pocket but i've accumulated a lot of pictures, met a lot of people and saved a lot of memories that I didn't regret that I made this trip...