Travel Footprints

Went to R.O.X. to attend their Travel Talk Series last night! Topic for this week is Travel Blogging, with Dominic (www.dongisim.blogspot.com) as guest speaker.

The Travel Talk series is part of R.O.X.’s ‘Where Have You Been in the Philippines?’ campaign. You can also participate in their photo contest and win exciting prizes like a trip to Batanes for two and lots of travel items! Check out http://www.rox.com.ph/wherehaveyoubeen/ for more details

R.O.X. is the biggest outdoor sports and recreation hub in Southeast Asia located in Bonifacio High Street, Taguig City. With three levels of all outdoor sports recreation gears and equipment from Hiking, Climbing, Water Sports,Surfing, Adventure Travel, Wellness, Cycling and even Scuba Diving.

From http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/178466/bangkok-in-shambles

I can’t believe the riots in Bangkok elevated to this intensity already! We were in Bangkok last April 10 for our flight back to Manila from Kathmandu and the security checkpoints along the highway from the airport was enough to scare us off and stay as far away from the city (and closest to the Suvarnabhumi airport). And, good thing too, because it was during that time that a large crackdown on those anti-government protesters occurred leaving at least 15 people dead and almost a hundred more injured. Now, the so-called Red Shirt protesters are torching the city! Tsk.

My distinct memories of Central World were shopping for shoes at Nine West about a year ago (the great Thailand sale!) and meeting a friend for coffee at the main lobby of Offices at Central World. I’m sure they’re gonna find a way to rebuild the mall somehow. I just hope the situation in Bangkok settles down peacefully in the next days.

If you don’t see the video, click here!

Thank you Nuffnang!

You guys do have impeccable taste! lol Kidding aside, we are immensely delighted to be chosen as the featured blog for the month of May especially since we are newbies in the wonderful world of blogging! We are giddy and ecstastic and definitely honored to have been selected!

Keep up the great work and more power to all of you! You guys rock

As soon as I got out of the Tribuvhan International Airport in Kathmandu, the chaos – sight, sound and smell – around me seemed to evoke memories of my first arrival in Uganda a couple of years back. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but there really is something about Kathmandu that I find very similar to Kampala (capital city of Uganda).

Maybe it’s the fact that it’s dry and dusty or the crazy honking of cars and motorcycles as pedestrians mindlessly cross roads while vehicles weave in and out of traffic or that the electricity goes off every so often (load-shedding/ brownouts/blackouts of 16 hours in a day at most).

I have been told countless stories of how it is like this side of the world but really experiencing what it has to offer is a whole different thing. This is the first time I ever set foot in a South Asian country. No words can ever describe how my first impressions are. Everything still looks surreal.

We’re leaving for Nepal today. After months of training and travel planning, our Nepal holiday will finally start today. It will take us 2 days – today and tomorrow – to travel to Kathmandu alone (Thai Airways flight has a stopover in Bangkok). We are expected to arrive in Kathmandu mid-day tomorrow.

During the weekend, we once again scoured outdoor shops for additional gears we will be bringing along for our trek. It was important for us to bring thermal clothing that are water-resistant AND lightweight. Majority of the gears we bought were from Columbia. We even got to be certified Columbia Titanium card holder because of our ‘loyalty’ to the brand. We hope Columbia lives up to expectations during our trek in the Himalayas. And we do promise to give a gear review after our trip along with the other gears we bought (e.g., North Face, Aigle, Habagat) from ROX.

We’re keeping our fingers crossed that we will be safe and sound (and comfortable!) throughout the trek. In the meantime, cheers to pad thai and tom yum soup as we take time to relax in Bangkok first before the next great adventure of our lifetime!

Last Sunday, we went with a group of friends and family to see the long-anticipated return of Avenue Q in the Philippines. Mr. Rono managed to catch the first run of this Tony Award-winning musical play here in Manila back in 2007. He was so amused by the play that he bought the soundtrack home with him. His little sister was particularly fascinated by the play’s music. Maybe it did have a ring of Sesame Street songs to it, albeit more mature, but the music particularly appealed to this grade schooler. So when we told her we are bringing her to see Avenue Q last Sunday we were met with big, loud cheers! This was gonna be our pre-graduation gift to her as she enters high school next term.

Avenue Q is hugely entertaining! Not just the music and the funny lines (politically-incorrect most of the time but that’s why we love Avenue Q!), the performers were certainly astounding and awe-inspiring starting from Rachel Alejandro (pre-school teacher Katie Monster/seductive Lucy the Slut), Felix Rivera (new graduate Princeton/closet queen Rod) and Joel Trinidad (pervert Trekkie Monster, bum roommate Nicky and one of the Big Idea Bears). Aiza Seguerra as forgotten child star Gary Coleman, Frenchie Dy as a Japanese psycho-therapist Christmas Eve (with songs like The More You Ruv Someone) and Calvin Millado as an aspiring stand up comic with Thea Tadiar in a supporting role were also sheer delight to watch.

Acting and singing (sometimes for two characters in one scene!) while holding a puppet is no easy feat. The cast delivered their stellar performance like one well-oiled machine and Mr. Rono’s little sister had the time of her life all throughout the play with shy giggles and heartfelt laughter scene by scene! The talented cast really had us all stupidly grinning throughout the show

Avenue Q is on its final run this week until March 27. If you want to catch Rachel Alejandro and Felix Rivera in their next musical, don’t miss out on Xanadu! This surprise broadway hit musical will be brought to the Philippines for the first time this September and we are oh so excited to see it. Rachel and Felix is again paired as the two lead stars – Clio the Greek muse and Sonny the struggling artist. Their encounter will lead Sonny to achieve the greatest creation of his life – a roller disco! Yes, the performers will be on skates onstage and Felix says this is gonna be one uber-fun musical! Do catch the show this September! Check out www.xanadumanila2010.blogspot.com for ticketing details

Last Saturday, we were at Fort Bonifacio for our usual weekend work-out in preparation for the Nepal trek. Mr. Rono wanted to let loose on his bike so he hit the route within Fort Bonifacio we call AFP Trail. I, on the other hand, did not feel like biking so I instead went to Boni High Street, parked my car and did some running.

I soon stumbled upon an event happening in the Fort Boni Open Field called the Nestea Fit Camp Hot and decided to check it out. For only Php50, I got an all-access pass to all the ‘classes’ offered like Beach Volleyball, Ultimate Frisbee, Touch Football, Hip Hop, Beach Basketball, Flag Football, Yoga, Zips. Since I was waiting for Mr. Rono anyway, I decided to join the Yoga class which was slated for 1.5 hours. That pretty much got me preoccupied until Mr. Rono arrived from his biking session

I’m glad we got to catch the Nestea Fit Camp Hot before its final schedule on March 27! Some more pictures from my phone camera:

P50 all-access pass comes with one cool Nestea iced tea bottle!

Yoga session for everyone!

Ultimate adventurer and famed mountaineer Romi Garduce gives a thumbs-up sign for the Roaming Ronos as we embark on our great trek over the Gokyo Valley (even if our goal of 5,483-m Gokyo Valley climb may be dwarfed with his 8,848-m feat summiting Mt. Everest in 2006).

According to juice.ph (cover story for March 2010 issue), Romi is the first Filipino to climb an 8000-meter peak, one of the first three Filipinos to summit Mt. Everest and the current Filipino record-holder in the quest to climb the world’s Seven Summits (he’s climbed six out of a total of eight peaks in two different lists).

More conveniently, he is working in the same company as Mr. Rono! So at least, we get first-hand advice and tips for Nepal travel (he gave us contacts of his sherpa during his climb!). We also get heads up on what to expect while doing a high-altitude climb in the Himalayan mountain range (altitude mountain sickness, especially!).

Truth be told, altitude mountain sickness is basically what scares me most with this climb because I know that it’s not the greatest feeling in the world. I had some sort of an experience on it while travelling in Ethiopia a few years back (Addis Ababa is located at an altitude of 8,300 feet and I spent hours on the toilet because I was always felt like I had to throw up – and I did a lot of times!). Romi said AMS really causes serious health problems, even for healthy travelers.

AMS or not, we’re still really psyched for this climb! Thanks Romi for inspiring us to see the real outdoors and may our spirit of adventure live on!

We’ve given it a whole lot of thought and it was finally decided that, despite the odds, we would still want to do the 16-day trekking package for Gokyo Valley Lodge Tour. The package came out way higher than originally quoted because there are only 3 of us left willing to do the tour (minimum of 8 persons required for the original quote). But what the heck! We only live once

In a nutshell, this is what we will mostly do while in Nepal as part of the package tour we got :

Day 1: Arrival in Kathmandu (1,327-m.), meet and greet at airport and transfer to Thamel. Overnight hotel.

Day 2: Free day in Kathmandu to explore on your own while we prepare documents for your trek. Overnight hotel.

Day 3: Drive early morning to airport for short flight (35 min) from Kathmandu to Lukla (2,840-m). After arrangement of local porters, trek Lukla-Phakding (2,610-m) – 5 hours. Overnight lodge.

Day 4: Trek Phakding – Namche Bazaar (3,440-m) – 6 hours. Overnight lodge.

Day 5: Rest day for acclimatization in Namche/excursion to Syangboche (3,720-m), Everest View Hotel (3,859-m), Khumjung (3,780-m) and Khunde (3,840-m) & return to Namche – 5 hours. Overnight lodge.

Day 6: Trek Namche-Dole (4,200-m) -  6½ hours. Overnight lodge.

Day 7: Trek Dole – Machhermo (4,410-m) – 4½ hours. Overnight lodge.

Day 8: Trek Machhermo – Gokyo (4,790-m.) - 4½ hours. Overnight lodge.

Day 9: Rest day/excursion to Gokyo Ri (5,483-m) & return to Gokyo – 5½ hours. Overnight lodge.

Day 10: Trek Gokyo – Thore (4,300-m) – 5 hours. Overnight lodge.

Day 11: Trek Thore – Tengboch (3,860-m) – 5 hours. Overnight lodge.

Day 12:  Trek Tengboche – Monjo (2,835-m.) via Namche – 7 hours. Overnight lodge.

Day 13: Trek Monjo – Lukla (2,840-m) – 6 hours. Overnight lodge.

Day 14: Fly (35 min) Lukla – Kathmandu, on arrival transfer to Thamel / Trek ends. Overnight hotel.

Day 15: Free day (buffer day in case the flight from Lukla cancels on schedule) in Kathmandu. Overnight hotel.

Day 16: Departure day/transfer to airport for onward flight.

We are arriving in Nepal early on for better acclimatization to the place before we fly to Lukla, the trailhead for the trekking trip. We were told that unlike others, say Canadian or European trekkers, Filipinos need more time to do a high-altitude climb because the sherpas (guides) always have to bring them back down to a certain level to avoid altitude mountain sickness (AMS). Here are some of the pictures from the travel agent :

Landing at Lukla Airfield (Short Take Off and Landing)

Mt. Everest (8,848-m.) from Gokyo Ri (5,483-m.)

Yak, Himalayan Oxen, used for transporting goods

We’re a bit apprehensive that we don’t get to complete the trek all the way to Gokyo Valley but we will damn well make sure we try our hardest

Last Saturday was an adrenaline-filled ride on my favorite biking trail called Killer Loop, one among the many wonderful bike trails in Bataan. In total, it took us about 6 hours and 4,000 calories to complete this 35kms loop!

Steep technical climbs, punctuated with spectacular views of Mt. Samat on one side and the South China Sea on the other, the trail definitely offers a great way to commune with nature while maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

I’m so glad I have the Real Leaf Green Tea with me on this trail ride, it was a great reward after the ‘killer’ climbs and I was so looking forward to chugging it all down when we reached the top! It takes one bottle of Real Leaf Green Tea drink to recover energy during a pit stop of the grueling whole day bike ride in Killer Loop to be able to share a laugh with fellow bikers

Killer Loop consists of fast flowing technical descent especially along Joyce ‘trail’ that just plasters a smile over your face…

…or makes you want to jump for joy!!!