Adventure Accounting

WARNING: This is another one of my long blog posts with photos.  My day began early at 5AM. I would like to say I was excited, but I was not. As years and travels go by, I grew some lazy bones and prefer to snuggle with the sheets. Even adventures require some sort of work.  It was a hot and humid morning in Dambulla. Not a stranger to that weather. The weather helped me get out of bed.  I arranged my tuktuk via the guesthouse. They offered me a rate of LKR 1,500 . I guess that's lower than the usual tourist rate of LKR 2,000.  Fields during the tuktuk ride to Sigiriya I read about the pricey tickets of tourist attractions in Sri Lanka. But I still frowned when I saw the rates charged by Sigiriya.  $30/ LKR 4,260 for a day ticket?!?!?!?! Tickets for Angkor Wat was $40 for 3 days. I knew that. But still. So much money for a day. Ugh.  Onwards.   The sun came up and lit the grounds of Sigiriya.  Sigiriya was a mon...

What do Rome , Athens , Siem Reap , Ayutthaya , Bacolod and Ollantaytambo all have in common? Ruins. These dilapidated (ex)important structures drives tourist to enjoy their ancient magnificence. Peru is filled with ruins. The most important and prominent being Machu Picchu. But I’ll eventually get to that. For now, I’ll show you the ruins left by aliens in Pisac and Ollantaytambo. Yes aliens. That’s according to the “Ancient Aliens” documentary. (Now I know that not all docus are true, but just play with me here).  The flight from Lima was smooth. I landed in Cuzco and almost froze. I spent some time unearthing my jacket from my luggage before finding my driver - Eduardo. I requested my hostel to send up a car to pick me up from Cuzco airport to take me to Ollantaytambo. We will be exploring the Pisac ruins along the way. Shining sky, cold air. Hiring a car was a pricey decision costing $80 for the first four hours and $10 for a succeeding hour. Y...

Saturday started off with a morning buffet breakfast at O Hotel. Good enough. It was too much to expect for bacon.  We confirmed our research with the receptionists before conquering the humid and gloomy weather.  We boarded a jeep bound for “Bata” and got off the Pepsi Plant – paid Php 7.50. The tourist price for the trike to The Ruins is Php 50.00. The real fee for locals is Php 20.00. If you have a local, swerte mo, or you can assert your right (it may or may not work). Ah well, what is new about this touristy places? It is kinda tiring to expect for a fair price all the time.    The ride is smooth, the bumpy ride is just a couple of meters. Fun to ride in a trike with all the sugar canes around you. The Ruins is located in Talisay. This is a good hour away from the city center. The Ruins is dubbed as the Taj Mahal of the Philippines, not because of its looks, but because of its history. The house was built by a sugar baron for his wife...

An hour’s worth of sleep in Soekarno Hatta International Airport left me groggy. My alarm went off; it was time to catch my   Yogyakarta flight. Man, I’m getting old, sleeping in airports is not my thing anymore. :P There’s an airport fee of IDR 40,000 when I flew from CGK to JOG. Fee was collected at Air Asia’s check-in counter. I fastened my seatbelt upon finding my seat and slept peacefully. I was asleep even before the plane was filled with all the passengers. I arrived early in Adisucipto International Airport past 6am. The tourist information center was still closed. The Customer Service booth was open, I was able to get a city map there. I also asked where I could find the Transjogya terminal. There are nosy touts when I exited the airport but I held my nose up and pretended I was a local and I knew what I was doing – even with my camera in front of me. Maybe I partially succeeded coz they left me alone.   I followed where the buses stopped, and I deduced that...

With Lisbon as my base, I can explore another UNESCO World Heritage Site, just a 30-minute train ride from Rossio station. A train leaves every 20 minutes so I didn’t pre-book a ticket. My hostel was just 5 minutes away from the station. Had to purchase a separate train ticket for this one. The grounds of Sintra are vast. If you want to explore everything, it would take more than a day trip. But I didn’t have the luxury of long travel so I had to make the most out of a day trip. From the train station, I followed the signs until I reached the bus stop. Paid €5 for a round trip bus ride. Alternatively, you can reach the old Sintra castle by walking for 20 minutes – uphill. They said this is just around 1.5km. The hostel said you’ll pass by a shop selling some awesome pastries. If you are a slave to the sweets, it may be worth it – or so my hostelmates said. A full bus The hostel gave me great directions and tips how to reach Sintra. The girl was very enthusias...

The plan: Walk going to Syntagma Square slowly. Explore the Roman Agora area. Get profile-picture worthy shots. It is Day 2 of Ancient Athens. Time to utilize th e € 12 combination ticket that we boughtin Acropolis . When planning your itinerary, check the opening and closing times of the sites in this link . Some sites are closed on Mondays/Tuesdays. I ran out of goddess-like outfits that day. Laundry was scheduled that night. I had to wear a black dress during a scorching hot weather.   We started the day early. We were at the Temple of Olympian Zeus shortly after 9:00am.    Tyring out yoga poses Jumpshot. Yes, those are my cycling shorts. Huli! Wa-poise!

The previous daywas uneventful. We were brimming with energy when we arrived at Athens Studios to meet our tour guide for the walking tour - costs €6. I warned Marj that these walking tours are very tiring, and it doesn’t give you time to take photos/camwhore. The tour started at around 9:00 am. Lots of Australians (there are always Australian backpackers), some from other EU countries. From Asia, there’s just us and some girls from Singapore. I feel some kind of kinship whenever I see someone from South-East Asia backpacking around the world. Surprisingly, there were no Americans. We made our way to Syntagma Square, into some side streets (that I can’t recall). At some point, we stopped for some snacks and a toilet break. Very important. Better empty your bladder even if don’t feel like it. There will be no time to pause after this break. I bought a banana from a fruitstand for €0.20. I like our local bananas better. It was a flurry of ancient stories. Al...

So I walked and walked to figure out how to go to Kinkakuji from Arashiyama . I got lost and lost because I thought Daikakuji was the Japanese translation of the Golden Pavilion. That epic realization came when I was walking around the streets going to Daikakuji... which was 30 minutes of walking according to the tourist information booth. Booooo. With empty streets and no helpful Japanese people in sight, I had to rely on the bus routes in the handy Kyoto Bus Guide. I was out of the JPY 500 zone, so I was expecting some additional fee riding a bus, but I didn’t have a choice anyway. In that area, waiting for a bus took quite as long as 20-25 minutes - the bus schedules are still posted and still followed in the bus stops. I headed to the transfer point to ride any bus that's going to Kinkakuji. Kyoto transfer point. An elderly man sat beside me during the bus ride. He had limited English. He said he will show me the way to Kinkakuji since he was getting off th...

Kyoto was the capital of Japan for more than 1,000 years. You’ve heard about that before? Probably because you also watched Rurouni Kenshin during your younger days :)  Kenshin decided to go to Kyoto to hunt and fight Shishio Makoto. He gives Kaoru an emotional hug as he bids her farewell. I chose a dorm which is 10-15 minutes away from Kiyomizudera temple. I started walking early, walking at 8:00 in the morning to beat the crowd, with plenty of time to wander around the streets of Kyoto. What I didn’t know was that it was a 10-15 minutes UPHILL walk going to the Kiyomizudera temple. 10 minutes UPHILL my friend, UPHILL. Prepare to huff and puff. The uphill path was lined by lots of quaint little shops – some were open and some were still closed. My breakfast was gone by the time I reached the entrance.   Shops and students The temple opens as early as 6:00AM and the crowds were already there at the entrance. These crowds were not foreign tour...

I decided to stay in Asakusa after reading various reports in the ever reliable Tripadvisor. I exhausted my brain cells trying to figure out what area to stay in Tokyo. I concluded that the complicated subway map is proof enough that I get to any part of Tokyo as long as I stay near a station. Asakusa was the choice. It offers cheaper dorm rooms compared to those located near and around Tokyo. The streets give off the Old-ish Tokyo Vibe. There are old buildings or trying-hard to be old buildings. The tall tower is the Tokyo Skytree Asakusa is the home of Sensō-ji Temple. Hence the crowd. For the four days that I was here, the crowds always looked like this. Better visit this early in the morning (7 to 8-ish AM).   Kaminarimon (Kaminari Gate)

We have four full days in Bangkok. I wanted to have two full days for sightseeing and two days for shopping. Bangkok can be a perfect base for lots of side trips around the city. Most of the side trips are one or two hours away from the city proper. My choice: Ayutthaya. Being a world UNESCO World Heritage site, the choice was easy. How to go to Ayutthaya: I wanted to do this DIY rather than join a group. According to Tripadvisor, the best way to DIY Ayutthaya is by riding a minivan. Alternative options are taking the bus and train. We went with the minivan – read: parang FX. I found this blog as a guide in DIY-ing our Ayutthaya day. We navigated our way from Sala Daeng to Victory Monument station. By reading the exit maps, we located Fashion Mall Shopping Center. In front of the mall are   these minivans that will take us to Ayutthaya. Someone collected BHT 60 when we got in. A couple of minutes later, some locals and some fellow tourists arrived. The pre...

My research lauds Bangkok as THE shopping heaven. My friend is a non-shopper and I am... let’s say a moderate buyer and an excessive window shopper. So shopping is not really THE Bangkok plan. Bangkok offers some more temples. So here we go: The Grand Palace Tour. Map of the Grand Palace and surrounding temples. From Sala Daeng station near our home base, we rode the train going to Saphan Taksin Station, where the Central Pier is. We followed the signs to get to the boat station. Destination: N9 Tha Chang, the jump-off point of the grand palace. A boat conductor collected fare for BHT 15. View from the boat I’ve read about some Grand Palace Tour scams and our hostel warned us of such. Some tuktuk drivers will tell you that the palace is closed, and he will take you to a special tour. True enough, when we got to the grand palace grounds, there were a bunch of touts shouting that the temple was closed. The speakers of the Palace boomed and warned us about t...

Another sunblock-filled day in Siem Reap. Time to utilize our three day pass in the Angkor Wat Complex. So here's our camwhoring adventure continued. There are some really steep steps. Although it was "off-season" when we were there, the tourists are still everywhere! If you want a super solo shot, you have to patiently wait for everyone to go away.  

This is gonna be a long post. Not a long read. Just long because of the pictures. It took me considerable time to choose the pictures for this post. Is there a limit on the number of pictures in a blog post? Harhar. Enjoy looking at our happy camwhoring adventure!  Despite the twister-like weather the previous day , Siem Reap greeted us with lots of sunshine. We slathered ourselves with a healthy layer of sunblock. For touring the Angkor Wat complex, I decided to get a personal guide. The guide is different from the tuktuk driver. Angkor Wat guides are licensed, and their standard rate starts at $25. Quite steep right? It is actually one of the most pricey expenses in our whole Indochina trip . But I read that getting a guide can really help you appreciate the Angkor Wat complex more; plus you get the chance to help a local. The most important advantage: somebody will take our pictures. Bousavy guesthouse provided our English-speaking tour guide: Mr. Em Khemra. First sto...