Travel Footprints

We had dinner at The Atrium in Megamall last night and had the chance to see the Manila, City Beautiful photo exhibit. It basically showcased Burnham’s master plan of the urban development of Manila as a city – evoking mixed emotions of both marvel and grief at the what was and what could have been.

As Daniel Burnham once put it “Possessing the bay of Naples, the winding river of Paris, and the canals of Venice, Manila has before it an opportunity to create a unified city equal to the greatest of the Western World with the unparalleled and priceless addition of a tropical setting.” I dearly hope it’s not too late to still make this happen!

This exhibit reminded me of the recent e-mail I got from a friend romanticizing the Old Manila :

Pasig was very clean. The photographer must have taken this photo (below) October to December timeframe. But Pasig, during summer would have beautiful water lilies, tiny Quiapo’s floating amidst white, yellow and purple water lilies that I remember. Water from our rich and abundant rivers were emerald green and blue. Napakalinis and walang amoy.

Manila was just a beautiful place.

If you’d take an L5 plane or a Piper Cab and take pictures of Dewey Boulevard (now Roxas Boulevard) from above, you’d be so proud to say, that the place is much better than Cote’ d Azure. Environment was just so very clean, air was refreshing, and take a look at the sea….wasn’t that a gift given to us during those days?!

Manila, City Beautiful will be on display at the SM Megamall Atrium until June 9 and The Block at SM City North EDSA from June 10 to June 30.

More information at:
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/257990/city-beautiful-exhibit-sm-supermalls

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!

As a UNESCO-declared World Heritage Site, Kathmandu Durbar Square attracts throngs of locals and tourists alike that makes it an ideal place for hawkers to sell their goods. This post gives a glimpse of the fascinating shopping scene in one of the busiest, most crowded attraction I’ve seen in Kathmandu so far.

These sellers set up their mats by the entrance of Durbar Square everyday.  Close of business is usually at around 7pm.

You get a whole range of trinket selections. These pendants are supposedly from Tibet. Some had meanings that the hawker was trying to explain but I didn’t quite get.

More souvenir items from Nepal…

I was with a Buddhist Thai friend who had to buy Thangka (Tibetan silk painting with embroidery) for her mom depicting a medicine buddha. This signifies good health for the family. We went to this small shop in the heart of Kathmandu Durbar Square with a sign boasting that they are ‘featured in most travel guide books.’

They also sell these local food like our pan de sal in the Philippines…

…and have a version of our very own ‘dirty ice cream’

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!

This was one short Guimaras getaway so we were already packing our bags soon after we arrived! Instead of a motorcycle taxi (habal-habal), we opted to use the tricycle (3-wheeler) on our way to Jordan Wharf from Brgy. Alibuhod in Guimaras. This ride would have cost us something like Php250 but we successfully negotiated it down to Php150 including one stopover in Trappist Monastery. The young tricycle driver seemed joyful with the thought of us stopping over at the monastery.

I was interested to drop by because the locals strongly recommend bringing home pasalubong from their store. So off we went and finally got to Trappist Monastery making a beeline for their gift shop. This store is the Guimaras counterpart of Good Shepherd in Baguio. Except for the fact that…wait…the shop was really manned by monks! And monks dressed heavily from head to toe despite the uber-humid summer heat!

Purchasing the products I decided to bring home, mostly mango bars and mango jam, I managed to strike a conversation with the monk behind the counter (I was shy, I didn’t know if they would be accommodating with small chats). Turns out he has been with the monastery for 7 years now. He used to be a civil servant, working for a national government agency, before he decided he wanted the sanctuary a monk’s life provides, devoting his life to prayer and work within the monastery.

Our tricycle driver took us to see the Chapel within the Trappist Monastery and suggested we meet a monk that we can talk to about prayer intentions. We had a long conversation with a monk who gave us an idea what they do within the monastery and the help they extend to communities. I saw boxes and boxes of medicine in one corner of the room available to those who need them. He asked us to write down our prayer intentions and that they welcome donations. All the sob stories I heard over the last hour makes anyone feel generous about giving this humble people more resources for their service to the community. Before we left, the monk gave a bag of rice to our tricycle driver. I felt better about leaving Guimaras at this note.

Accommodations are available within the Trappist Monastery for tourists. Contact Fr. Bruno Mendoza (09184212852 / 033-5813385) for rates and reservations

And it has not even begun yet! We haven’t been posting in our blog lately because we were so caught up in our training plan in preparation for our travel to Nepal next month AND prepping ourselves to move in a 2-bedroom bi-level condo unit we bought for nesting right in the heart of Metro Manila. Yes, the RoamingRonos are moving house soon!

So, our typical weekends this month were spent either mountain-biking in San Mateo, Rizal or Bataan, having our physical check-up in Medical City (we want our pink of health when we travel to a high-altitude country), bargain-hunting for outfits to bring to Nepal or window-shopping for furnitures that might fit nicely in our condo.

So far, on our quest for lightweight, thermal wear clothes for Nepal, we’re loving selections from Columbia (we already bought Columbia thermal wear, trekking shoes, jackets and long-sleeves blouse) and ROX (we got Aigle trekking pants on sale!). Rustan’s has a varied selection of travel stuff (travel bags, lock for our backpack, etc). Needless to say, we’re stacking up on shopping bags in our room already! 

All this big (and small!) purchases made Mr. Rono and I re-evaluate our finances this month as well. We love doing this to make sure that we are on the right track with our financial goals (successfully building a retirement fund for one!). As a DINKY (Dual-Income No Kids Yet) couple, we feel privileged to have the freedom to travel and splurge on our hobbies. But, we always have a big picture in mind in terms of finances (hence, the condo purchase among others). So, even if our top spendings are on travels and eating out (and now house amortization), we can still sit back with satisfaction on our financial health. I guess you can say we have become sensible lakwatseras as we grew older

We will be posting any other interesting preparations for our trip to Nepal as we try to make the most out of the few weeks left to stick to our training plan! For our future posts, we are inclined to put more tips and real-life experiences for the travelling couple. Since we both have full-time day jobs, we realized it’s pretty amazing how much travelling we try to do in a year. We wouldn’t say it’s easy though. It’s challenging to even take time off work for holidays. So we want try to write about our experiences here as much as possible and dedicate this to the road to our maturity. You know what they say, travelling…

…when you’re in your 20s, you have the energy and time but no money
…when you’re in your 30s, you have the money and energy but no time
…when you’re in your 40s, you have the time and money but no energy

So cheers to adventure travels for us in our 30s (almost!). We are both looking forward to sharing our amazing travel stories to our future kids and travel with them, in a milder fashion, as they grow up.

Some of the other highlights for the month of February for RoamingRonos: watching RENT The Musical (Mr. Rono didn’t enjoy as much, which woud have been avoided if he had a slight idea what the musical is about before actually going to the show) and eating ‘designer burritos’ at Ristras in Greenhills (we call it designer burritos because you customize all the filling depending on your preferences! We spent two of our Sunday lunches here this month alone!)

Notice that Ristras serve authentic Mexican beer (a bit expensive at Php200/bottle). Btw, DINKY is the term I got from Lindsay’s blog which I have been checking out lately for decor ideas on our condo

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!!!

Exactly a year ago, the Roños were with some talented photographers and PinoyNomads for our prenup shoot starting from the Cagayan Valley and ending up in Ilocos Norte via Claveria.

In this year’s trip to Ilocos, I took the opposite and ‘normal’ route from Manila and Pampanga towards Ilocos Norte. I’m not a big fan of long hours of travel by land (especially going back home to Manila) but there’s always this excitement in doing a road trip to north of Luzon simply because something interesting always turns up on the road to Ilocos. Here are some of my personal must-haves for pasalubong during stopovers.

Pangasinan has some of the best bagoong and dried fish around. Tarlac has fresh and cheap vegetables. La Union has the comfortable and inexpensive ‘inabel’ or Iloko weave. Ilocos Sur has, of course, the Vigan Heritage Site…

with the yummy empanada and Vigan longanisa…

There’s even an area called ‘The Vigan Empanadaan’ within the Vigan Heritage Site showcasing empanadas, a personal favorite. A sign there says: ‘The Empanada is a vintage merienda of the Bigueños. It is a delicious snack, similar to the Mexican Taco, of sauteed cabbage or papaya with egg of Vigan Longanisa stuffed in a crispy shell made from ground rice. It is a sentimental favorite of Bigueños, young and old alike.’ Amen to that.

And finally, Ilocos Norte has the historic Paoay Church, the man-made Paoay Lake and feast of bagnet (deep-fried pork), sukang iloko (cane vinegar), dinuguan, sarabasag (grilled pork soaked in vinegar) and pinakbet in any of the restaurants along the way.

Let’s not forget to bring home some chichacorn and kalamay from Candon City…

Oh and did i mention, the view of the beach from the highway is a beauty as well?

I’ve always equated La Union with surfing and fun. At least, that’s what me and my friends did last time I stayed in La Union so I was looking forward to going back again this year even if it’s mainly for work this time around. Due to some scheduling conflicts however, I had to travel to La Union by bus for the first time. So on this early Tuesday morning I brought myself to the highly-recommended bus line, Partas, to their Cubao-Arayat terminal for the 6-hour trip to La Union.

I needed to get off at Oasis Hotel which I was told was near San Fernando, La Union and, more importantly, could be spotted along the national highway. That should be easy, I thought. But as a first-time commuter to La Union, I was still a bit apprehensive so I decided to call on the assistance of the bus conductor –

Mrs. Rono: Kuya, pakibaba po ako sa Oasis Hotel sa La Union ha.

Conductor: Saan sa La Union?!

Mrs. Rono: Sa San Fernando. Sa Oasis (o-wey-sis) Hotel po.

Guy sitting beside Mrs. Rono: *speaking in Ilokano*

Conductor: Ahh…sa Oasis (o-wa-sis) Hotel

Mrs. Rono: Ah opo. Sa Oasis (o-wa-sis) Hotel

Needless to say, the bus did drop me off in front of the Oasis (o-wa-sis) Hotel. As the saying goes: In Rome, do as the Romans do The next day, I met with my group to go further up north to Laoag. Before leaving La Union, we stumbled upon a discovery – a cottage industry of woven fabrics! I like the soft woven fabric of bed sheets, pillow cases and towels, usually seen in Vigan shopping areas.

We had to ask around for directions looking for the house that sells ‘inabel’ (as shown in the picture above) and we finally found the area of inabel weavers tucked inside some houses of the town of Bangar, La Union.

It was a delight watching these elderly women in their workshop. The repetitive movements in the weaving actually reminded me of a scene in the movie ‘Wanted’ when Wesley Gibson tried to catch the moving steel out of the loom machine while training under Fox.

Our weekends typically involve mountain biking and the plan was to hit Sta. Rosa trails this Saturday. The trails of Sta. Rosa in Laguna is a popular biking destination in the south of the metro. This is where the last part of the movie ‘I’ve Fallen for You’ – starred by Kim Chiu and Gerald Anderson – was shot.

I was not in the mood to go biking, i was either going to stay home or still try to tag along with Hubby on the road trip to Sta. Rosa. I chose the latter but didn’t exactly know what i was going to do while they go biking. Although Paseo de Sta. Rosa (the meeting point of bikers before the trail) had a lot of outlet stores so the prospect of shopping was appealing.

But after seeing the bikers off, it was still too early for shopping in Paseo – outlet stores of Speedo, Nike, Levi’s and Adidas are still closed. Even the Kodak store (i wanted to have some pictures developed) and National Bookstore (i wanted to buy CDs so i can burn the photos i want to print) are also closed. So then, i decided to go up to Tagaytay which was a mere 30 minutes drive away, stopping by the fruit stalls along the way. In Tagaytay, I went straight to the recently-opened Robinson’s Supermarket for some grocery-shopping. Across the road from the supermarket, Josephine’s offers free wifi but i opted to hang out at Starbucks for a view of Taal Volcano and to watch a movie on my laptop. Besides, it’s the most tambay-friendly place I know.

Close to lunch time, Hubby texted they were on their way back to Sta. Rosa via Coffee and Upak trail (these are terms bikers use which i don’t even think the locals would understand). That was my cue to go back down myself. So i packed my things, dropped by Rowena’s for some pastries and drove towards Paseo.

Lunch at Paseo was a no-brainer. We always have lunch at Kanin Club for yummy Filipino dishes after bike rides. Well, Hubby already ate at the biker pit stop we fondly call Aling Pina before heading down. It’s not exactly a pit stop because you have to go out of the trail and into a highway and bike up towards Tagaytay, but crazy as it sounds, we do this. The store-with-no-name-but-we-call-Aling-Pina, in fact, has grown from a small shack to a mid-sized food place complete with bamboo bike racks catering to bikers over the years we’ve been going here.

Back at Paseo, our Kanin Club lunch was great as always and we went around to see what’s interesting in the stores. To wrap up our trip, we went for a massage at 360 spa located at the back of Paseo. Road trip to Sta. Rosa on a Saturday morning without an itinerary wasn’t such a bad idea after all.