Adventure Accounting

Kiyomizuderadid not fully satisfy my quench for autumn , it was too early to experience the full beauty of the autumn foliage. My other planned day in Kyoto initially included visiting Kinkakuji/ Golden Pavilion and some other Kyoto city sights, but I wanted to try something else. Somewhere to experience autumn again. One of my roommates suggested I go to Arashiyama. Arashiyama is a district outside the Kyoto city district. To get here, I just had to ask my roommate for directions – that’s why I love staying in dorms! How to go to Arashiyama (from Gojo Station): (Hankyu Line) Walk from Gojo guesthouse to Gojo station – I think this is just one or two blocks away. Kyoto City Subway Karasuma Line: From Gojo Station(K10), Shijo Station (K9) - JPY 220 From Shijo Station, go to Hankyu Railway Karasuma Station. Hankyu Railway: From Karasuma Station, ride train going to Katsura - JPY 180 (until Arashiyama) Hankyu Railway: From Katsura , ride the line going to Arashiyama Fr...

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...

Day 5 of our Korea Chronicles is "free day". Anything goes. My friends planned to explore Hongdae or shop some more, and I wanted to see more palaces and cherry blossoms. There were other palaces and I was thinking they hold the key to finding more cherry blossoms. I said I’ll have some solo time exploring the city and we’d just meet again in time for the shuttle back to the airport I really learned to appreciate solo travel after my first solo trip in Europe. Having travel buddies is fun but I craved for the peace and freedom offered by solo travel. I just have to muster the guts again to befriend the strangers and take my pictures. After four days of navigating the streets of Seoul, I was quite confident that I can reach my destinations with no issues. Or so I thought. I got off Chungmuro station and headed to the direction of the Namsangol Hanok Village. There’s no entrance fee and I just entered and explored the place. At the entrance of what I thought...

Boujour Paris! It was another cold morning in Paris. Although I was in one of the most beautiful cities on earth, I wasn’t exactly springing out of my bunk bed when I woke up. Felt like I was waking up to a morning going to Simbang Gabi – read: anlamig. I had a lazy morning. Took my time in eating my breakfast and getting ready to conquer Paris. The Louvre is also covered by the Paris Museum Pass. So I can skip the line to buy tickets. However, there is still the line to enter the museum – which can be quite long, if you enter the Pyramid entrance. If you want to skip the long lines, use the side entrance in Passage Richelieu. Get off at metro stop Palais-Royal Musee du Louvre. I’ve gotten hold of the metro by now. I still need to consult the map of course, but as long as you have your destination in mind, you’ll eventually figure out which trains to ride and which stops to get off. It is like solving a puzzle every time you  ride the metro – finding the easiest route from po...

My second day in Rome started out early. I was the first one to get up and I prepared for the day ahead. Breakfast started at 7am in a nearby cafe. I plotted out my itinerary for the day. There's a heart in my coffee. I cannot get lost. I cannot make mistakes.  I do not have the time to get lost or to make mistakes. I headed off to Termini Station to ride the metro. I still wanted to use the metro instead of the bus system as my primary mode of transportation. Luck wasn’t on my side. There was a rally that day and the metro was closed. Phoooey. A lot of tourists were also disappointed.  My next option, was to walk, walk and walk to get to those spots. Under the sun. For one whole day. I briefly considered to sign up for a tour or a hop-on hop-off bus but I immediately dismissed the idea. I didn’t like the idea of having a stone-set itinerary, even though I had limited time in Rome.  Rallies. Boooo.

I had the first glimpse of Venice when I was in Macau way back in 2008. We explored the Venetian Macau – a hotel and casino resort.   Hahaha! Back then, going to the real Venice was still a dream with no plan. Venetian Macau The man-made scenery was nice and amusing. You could see that it was man-made but it was still picture worthy. There is a canal and you can ride a gondola (cheaper than the Venice price of course). The gondola - Venetian Macau version

Since I flew to Marco Polo airport, I had to ride a bus going into the island. It took me around 15 minutes to get my thoughts in order. I’ve landed in Italy. I was traveling alone again. I was actually excited and scared to go sol again.   Ciao! Buon Giorno! Italia! Arrival at the airport My passport was not stamped when I departed from Cologne . It wasn’t stamped either when I arrived in Venice. I guess Schengen really “borderless” when you travel between Schengen countries whether you travel via train or plane. Too bad, I was expecting to collect some stamps.

The walking tour ended shortly past lunch time. For some reason, I wasn’t really hungry even after all that walking. I still had pent-up energy. I was supposed to spend the rest of the day visiting one or two museum. I decided to go to Rijksmusuem by taking tram 10, my destination was just two stops away. boarded. The standard Amsterdam shot with the canal as the backdrop. I was discreetly looking at the map to watch for the street signs. Even if I was sitting in front of the screen, my short term memory cannot keep up with the names of the streets. I was supposed to get off at the Nieuwe Spiegelgracht stop. Sige nga, i-memorize mo yan . The tram had a couple of stops which are difficult to memorize as well. The tram stopped... at its last stop. I was the only one left in the tram and the doors were left open. The conductor said ”Last stop”. I got out.