Welcome to Hong Kong Disneyland, the happiest place on earth!
Finally, you’re about to make your childhood dream come true and meet Mickey and the gang, dance with the princesses, play with Woody and Alan, watch Lion King live, and sing and dance with Moana and Maui! As a bonus, you can also see Iron Man in the, well, iron and hide out in the Star Wars rebel base with R2D2 and Chewbacca!
Festival of the Lion King show (Adventureland) at Hong Kong Disneyland @rigorism Instagram
All is well right?! Only, what they don’t tell you is that Hong Kong Disneyland is the most expensive attraction in Hong Kong, both for the tickets and during the time you’re happily trapped inside (for maximum of 11 hours).
Finally, after five days of getting pampered and sheltered in Copenhagen with breakfasts, dinners, afternoon walks, cups of tea, [failed] snowball fight, a Royal Opera performance, and the warmth of Merete’s candlelit sitting room, we are now on the road (and currently almost by the sea) to Berlin, Germany and after a few days, to Prague, Czech Republic.
At about 630am this morning, Niklas and I boarded the quite comfortable (nice reclining seats, wide legroom, heater) Eurolines Bus leaving Copenhagen and arriving at Berlin by 230pm. Yep, this bus travel is about 730 hours, more or less the same time (not sure about distance) on the bus from Manila to Ilocos Sur, maybe even until Vigan. The difference: we are crossing countries and not provinces or regions. Also, we are boarding a ferry for an almost 2-hour crossing of the Baltic Sea from Denmark to Germany. Continue reading Copenhagen to Berlin: notes from the road and the sea→
Roughly 4-5 hours from Manila lies Fortune Island, a semi-isolated-used-to-be-super-private island off Nasugbu, Batangas. They say this is as close to Greek’s ancient ruins as could be possible, with the clear blue waters as your backdrop! Who would have thought that the typhoon destruction to an uber exclusive island paradise would result to a steadily becoming popular destination for beach bums and island campers? Known for its picturesque rows of Athens-like pillars and half-destroyed half-gorgeous statues, Fortune Island gives each traveler a nice reward for climbing atop the stairway-lined hill that leads to it’s “viewpoint ruins” and, as my friends saw and experienced, cliffs and caves. To reach Fortune Island, take the San Agustin Bus line at Coastal Mall in Pasay, going to Nasugbu (3-4 hours, PhP 200-220 AC (about $5), PhP 130-150 (about $3.5) non-AC). From there, take a 15-minute tricycle ride to Fortune Resort Dive Center (pre-booking necessary with caretakers Mang Dante 09394895292 or Chris 09087225628 is necessary) which is the jump-off point to Fortune Island. The 45-minute 10 pax-max boat ride costs around PhP 6000/$135, plus PhP 400/$9 island entry fee (overnight price, negotiable; day trip is cheaper). With upper limit calculations, that’s about PhP 1250/$28. Add in food, booze and other expenses, a beach camping (yep, no rooms) weekend at Fortune Island would be about PhP 1700/$38 which, I must say, is quite cheap to “experience” Greece and of course, enjoy the Philippines’ endless summer with the company of family and friends under the sun and stars. [Special thanks to Hazelle for organizing this CouchSurfing trip back in May and providing all these info I’ve already forgotten.]
It’s been a while since I last had a long vacation (last ones were in Hong Kong and Macau in January and Baler in April) so when the chance to go to Coron came up, I just couldn’t let it pass. Palawan is known as one of or probably the last frontier here in the Philippines in terms of it’s natural beauty, picturesque landscape and rich marine biodiversity. And, Coron and Busuanga, due to its relatively more difficult (read: tends to be more expensive) accessibility by flights and ferries, remains to be as such.
Unfortunately, typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) already ravaged a lot of its magnificent corals and fell trees. There were reportedly 6 casualties and some islands’ structures succumbed and totally collapsed. Nevertheless, Busuanga and Coron remain to be a beauty that everyone needs to see. And like what E and I probably said all the time during the trip, we are in our happy place!
So, through this quick Instagram Travel post of our vacay (Aug 22-27, 2014) let us (the self-proclaimed Cool Kids Club, aka CS Weekend Escapists, aka CouchSurfers and friends) take you to our happy place!
IG post: The Cool Kids Club on vacation! Lezgo! #Coron #Palawan #itsmorefuninthephilippines #worklifebalance #yolo ——— L-R from Top: aisle to aisle selfie; inside the 80-seater ATR, seatmates E and G; baldy brothers Niklas and Gustaf; Elizabeth looking out the window amazed with Busuanga’s rich green landscape; E, V and Isa upon arrival; the baldies and the crazy K on vacay; and Kapil of the Cool Kids Club.
Reblogged is a series of blog posts on my life in India coming from the weblogs I set-up. It’s an attempt to put the stories all in one place! The post Safdarjang Tomb: from Mistake to Majesty was originally posted on April 6, 2012. I visited Safdarjang Tomb with my VSO co-volunteerJulie on March 17, 2012.
It’s Saturday! Yey! I’ve been waiting for Saturday to arrive since I planned on going around Delhi, or at least being able to be at another tourist spot or two! Julie, a co-volunteer asked the day before (was it?!) if I would mind if she’d come along. Of course, I said not! It was actually better to have someone with me, walking around in a foreign city!
The Diarist Wanders 