Adventure Accounting

I had a blast with the sunset tour and the morning-lunch tour . I was willing to give my money and time for the Flamenco show. Initially, I did not want to watch one because I felt that it was too touristy. Something like the Aspara show in Cambodia – something nice to do do but you can skip it. I learned that most of the people in the tour were thinking of joining so we kinda felt that we already did two tours together, why not do another one? Our tour guide gave the name and address of the bar. We showed up there are the required time and someone took us to the alleys of Seville to a small bar. The bar was pretty small and it kinda reeked of alcohol and smoke (well it was a bar, I reckon). There was a small stage and monobloc chairs was set-up for the audience. It took a long time before the performers arrived – we waited for an hour, I think. The flamenco originated from the Andalucia region of Spain, specifically in Seville – as I learned from the morning-lun...

Here's another photo-packed blog entry. I arrived in my hostel around 3:00PM. Settled my stuff, got some maps and headed out to the neighborhood to explore the place. I stepped outside the quaint street of Seville. It was hot. I know that’s a pretty lame description of the place, but at that time, that’s the most memorable attribute I remembered.    A leaning building   I included Seville because I basically followed the itinerary suggested in Why Go Spain (I used the same guide when I planned the Italy leg of my EU I trip). Seville is an architectural delight to the eyes. I knew that immediately when I explored the streets.   My main issue now (aside from surviving the scorching weather) is asking someone to take my photo. I’ve had a travel buddy for two weeks so I was able to explicitly direct and review my shots.   This wasn't the angle I wanted. But I had limited options. After a long late lunch and a trip to the g...

Tokyo Imperial Palace is the sorta equivalent of our own Malacanang palace. This is the main residence of the Emperor of Japan. The Imperial Palace lies on the former site of the Edo Castle. If you are an avid fan of Rurouni Kenshin (aka Samurai X), you’ll probably be familiar with Aoshi Shinamori and Misao. Both served as defenders of the Edo Castle.   Aoshi and Misao. I used to have a poster of Aoshi-sama in my wall. From my home base in Asakusa, I navigated my way to Tokyo Station. I decided to get the Asakusa+Ginza Line day combination ticket with cost me ¥ 1,000. Although it was just Day 3, my Preloaded Pasmo card of ¥ 2,000 which I bought in Day 1 was already below ¥ 500. Even though I have a planned route, I still make some mistakes in getting off at the wrong station - sayang sa pamasahe. Mas type ko ride-all-you-can; no other charges if I make mistakes. The moat around the palace I think I got better reading the crazy metro map. And I was able to u...

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...

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...

It was 6:30 when we arrived at the front entrance of the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. It was already closed. I resigned myself to just taking photos of the sign. But our driver said we could still get inside. He drove us to the entrance. True enough, there were some guys hanging out ( read: tumatambay ) at the front. Kinda scary scenario for tourist girls, in this old high-school-turned-prison, at night, with a bunch of guys. I didn’t feel safe at that moment, but I wanted to see the place. We were charged $3 because it was already past the museum hours. I knew the fee costs $2 so I smelled that this was not exactly legal – ala colorum na tour itoh teh . We bought the tix anyway. Our driver went with us inside. He kept on apologizing that he didn’t speak a lot of English because he didn’t go to school. We smiled and said that was okay – he was so helpful. He toured us around the deserted prison. The ten commandments, the prisoner's version He said he was a sma...

After a getting a quick dose of cool air from our aircon, we were ready to conquer Phnom Pehn. We started our tour around 3:30pm. The forums advised to haggle, so I did. I haggled the guide fee from $20 to $15. This includes the pick-up fee from the bus station. Tuktuk A palace. Now that I've crossed countries, I noted some distinct features in Khmer buildings. There are some pointed thingies in the roof It was a dusty ride going to the Killing Fields. I think it is around 50 minutes away from the city center, passing through some rough roads which sprayed dust from time to time. The locals covered their nose and mouth when they pass these dusty areas. Our driver was considerate - he bought us masks. Some vanity shot with the mask It costs $5 to enter the Killing Fields. The tour comes with the audio guide, just like the ones in Europe. We were all set to explore the place. I lacked research about Cambodian history before going to this tri...

Or Saigon, as I’ve known since my kindergarten years. Kinda harder to spell now. We landed in Tan Son Nhat International Airport past midnight. Normally, I’d like to camwhore around a new airport, but it was already past midnight. It was a toss between arriving a new land and wanting to rest my head in the nearest pillow available.  Group pic time! We headed to the foreign exchange desk to change our dollars. The forex rate then was 1USD=20,700 VND. We changed $50 = VND 1,035,000 for our 5nights/4 days stay. Our accommodations, the bus fare and tours all accepted dollars so the Dong will just be for food, tips, minor purchases and some souvenirs.   The forex counter After being millionaires, we headed to our pick-up service. I booked the pick-up service from our hotel (Bich Duyen Hotel) for $14. I didn’t want to deal with taxis after arriving in a foreign country after midnight. After all, we are millionaires now, so we deserve some royal treatment...