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...

Background I have a bucketlist. Not a virtual one, not a pinterest board, but a real bucket list written in pen and paper.  I wrote Sri Lanka there.  I some a photo of Sigiriya Lion Rock somewhere (I cannot recall where), and it led me to Googling about it. Pretty awesome. Just with that, I wrote Sri Lanka in my bucket list. Map & Route I only wanted to spend a week in Sri Lanka. The tourist places are scattered throughout the island. The cultural triangle is at the middle. I decided to focus on the cultural triangle and tea plantation. I skipped exploring the beaches because I scared myself reading about solo female travellers who were sexually assaulted in beach areas. Not taking a chance on that.  I visited a lot of Hindu and Buddhist temples and I could say that they were all "same same but different". To break the monotony of the ruins, I headed to the mountain region of Nuwara Eliya to enjoy the tea plantation. The cool and dam...

I booked the Manila-Shanghai and Beijing-Manila tickets one year before the departure date. These are the most advanced tickets I ever purchased. That’s one year of advanced planning and saving. When I shared my plans that I will be in China for more than two weeks, most people were baffled: What will I do in China for two weeks? Shanghai and Beijing can be done in a rush for a week. So why spend so much time in one country? China is a HUGE country.   I was careful drawing those boundaries A couple of websites that we really helpful for planning Chroniclesof Marianne.  She did a great job of documenting her adventures Pinoyexchange Beijing  Detailed and helpful info for the Beijing Leg DIY Great Wall (Mutianyu)  Super helpful.  Since we initially had 18 days in China, I chose to copy the China itinerary of The Chronicles of Marianne. I set out itinerary to start in Shanghai, the long train to Taiyuan then to Pingyao, train to Datong...

Communication Language may be difficult at times, the tour guides can speak enough English to get you . Sign language / charades helps. Food in Cemoro Lawang Like I shared in a lot of my previous blog entries, I am not a foodie. I like eating, but I will not exert a lot of effort researching about a place’s unique cuisine. I was lucky I found this really nice eatery-type of restaurant in Cemoro Lawang. This is just a couple of meters away from my homestay. The prices are reasonable. And I love it that their menu is short. I feel that if a menu is long, it is more of a “customer-pleaser” than “sharing a cooking talent”. Also, less options makes me more decisive. I urge you try their drinks! I really really love susu jeruk (milk with orange), susu jahe (milk with ginger) and their teh (tea).   Tea with potato fries :) Their Indonesian hot soup is also amazing. Their mi goreng is really pansit . I like the instant mami version better. Buy ...

Cemoro Lawang is the closest town that you can use as a base to Mount Bromo. It is a quaint and quiet town which thrives on the flock of tourists. The tours start as early as 3:30am, and then you’ll be back in your homestay by 9:00am. The tours are arranged in such a way that you can catch an afternoon flight out of Surabaya, which is around 4 hours away.   By 11:00am, there’s almost no tourist in sight. My homestay offered tours for IDR 125,000. I didn’t haggle down the price, I thought it was already fair. He offers the usual tour: Sunrise at Penanjakan view point then hike to the Bromo Crater. I inquired if there’s a tour to include the Savanah and Telletubby land. I wanted to go back   - after showering and eating. He said he doesn’t offer those tours but he could get an ojek driver for me so I could tour it that afternoon.   There's not a lot to do in town. So I hired the ojek for IDR 75,000 to take me to Savannah and Telletubby land. BUT the v...

“Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the one less traveled, and that has made all the difference. - Robert Frost” The usual route from Yogyakarta to Mount Bromo is via Probolinggo, a bus terminal filled with touts. I read lots of horror stories about the drama in Probolinggo (I have one as well but that’s for a separate blog post). The other option is to get a package tour from your hostel or any travel agency and then endure a 15-16 hour minivan ride with other tourists. Two lousy options. Both not fun. After some careful research, I stumbled across the Bromo backdoor route via the town of Ngadas. I read about the Malang-Ngadas-Cemoro Lawang route from these amazing bloggers. A good acquaintance, who also did this route, helped me out with the details. Kurtzy WalkFlyPinoy Ambot Ah So there are some adventurers who did this route. The thing is, they are all male. That made me a bit apprehensive about doing this route. Since you are reading my blog post...

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...

Indonesia: Planning, Preparation, Budget and Itinerary At the close of 2013, I had four definite trips for 2014: South Korea (winter edition) , Batanes , Romblon and China. My major target for 2014 is Egypt. However, I realized I wasn't too brave to conquer Egypt given the unstable political situation there. Plus, I'm a female solo traveler. I can be brave but I have limits. So there's no Egypt 2014. :( To compensate for this, I booked a Manila-Jakarta flight during the January Piso-fare sale of Cebupacific. I booked the return flight from Jakarta to Manila on another Piso-fare sale which was also in January. Jakarta is not my main destination: It is Borobudur in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. I was led to Borobudur by the Discovery documentary Ancient Aliens - I borrowed a copy from my wushu classmate and I was intrigued by these theories about Aliens. I cannot explore the Pyramids of Egypt yet, so it is gonna be Borobudur. I added Mount Bromo to my itinerary alt...

2014. I wanna keep up with my blogging. I'll try. New year, maging masipag hanggang kaya! My 2012 Travelogue belongs to Asia . Two Asian Countries required me to apply for a visa: South Korea and Japan . Click on the links how I got those back then.  So... I attempted to get multiple entry visas for both SK and Japan, and I succeeded. Multiple entry visas with a non-flattering shot

I was not enticed to go to Malaysia, specifically Kuala Lumpur. I’ve talked to people about their travel adventures in KL. The general consensus: MEH, but there are some interesting tidbits. I wasn’t even enticed to buy a round trip ticket even during those glorious Piso fare days when the fuel surcharge was way lower. What made me change my mind: Beth, one of my best friends (BFF 1), moved there for work. Given a Piso-fare opportunity, I booked a roundtrip ticket with Cebupacific for Php 3,755.61. Sarah (BFF 2) booked her ticket as well. Sara (BFF 3) just gave birth two weeks before so we brought her hugs to Beth.Tickets were bought in February. Travel date was in October. Lots of time to save up for the trip. The very famous Petronas Towers. The standard tourist view shot. The Itinerary and Budget          I am the self-appointed itinerary-and-budget manager for travel. I had some difficulty crafting this itinerary because...

Departure Day. Ugh.  My flight from Narita Airport was at 10:45 am. I wanted to be in the airport two hours before that. As early as 6:15, I checked out of Nishitetsu Inn Nihombashi and withstood the cold morning breeze of Tokyo. It was a windy walk going to Tokyo station. That was 20 solid minutes of walking. I boarded the posh-looking Narita Express (N’ex). This ride is also covered by the JR Railpass . There were lockers where you can leave your luggage and you’ll have to key in a passcode. I was feeling clingy to my stuff and I didn’t wanna figure out the whole passcode thing so I kept my luggage in front of me. Narita Express It was a one-hour ride going to the airport. I watched the Japan scene float by. Played some tunes in my Ipod. Anything to ignore my hunger pangs and to forget that I was leaving Japan. Be mindful of the stops. Some airlines depart at Narita Terminal 1 and some depart at Terminal 2. The names of the stops are shown on the screen...

Time to use the Japan Rail Pass again. The trip from JR Kyoto to JR Nara station took almost an hour. I felt the fatigue creeping in my me that day so I played snoozefest with my alarm that morning. It was around 10am when I landed in JR Nara station. Train heading to Nara An officemate went to Nara the previous year and I was enchanted with the roaming wild deer in Nara Park. It would be fun to meet a Bambi in person. Bambi Nara Park is a 25-minute walk from JR Nara Station – says the tourist information person. You can also take public transportation going there but why rush? Walking is always part of the adventure. I made a stop in CoCo Curry House for some filling mid-morning “snack”. Passed bu Kōfuku-ji Temple. A bunch of Japanese schoolboys offered to take my picture. I forgot to change the settings back to "Vivid colors" mode.  I was giddy with excitement to see a deer.Weeeeee! One approached me cautiously.  Any...