Places To See In Singapore

Turning a business trip into a fun trip is easy, says moi. Last February, my company sent me to Singapore to attend an Aviation Convention to network and find leads (I used to work under the Sales & Marketing Group). Being in sales is all about connecting with people and establishing trust. It’s not easy to turn leads into a client, but I learned a lot from the experience and it taught me how to think and operate in a different kind of setting.

I had the chance to explore the city with couchsurfers by joining a group through the CS website.

Chelsea chasing waterfalls

Singapore Botanic Gardens: watching students play

Singapore Botanic Gardens amphitheater

Hanging out by the water

 

Singapore’s transportation system is known for being efficient and easy to use. Here’s me and my BFF hanging out at one of the stations before my flight home.

I stayed at their apartment for 2 nights and it was like having a slumber party after prom.

Bukit Timah’s Old Railway Track

When I saw this, I immediately thought that it’s a good venue for a pre-nup shoot.

Spending my alone time strolling along the roads of SG

Spending my alone time strolling the streets of SG

Little India

Bollywood

FOOD. I love Indian food.

Zam Zam Restaurant – please do not miss this place! Serves DELICIOUS Indian-Muslim food.

Chicken Biryani, milk tea and curry soup. This is heaven.

The most famous mosque in Singapore, Masjid Sultan

National Gallery of Singapore features art of Southeast Asia. I gathered a lot of photos from this musuem and I think it deserves a separate post.

Exploring the museum with my Cotopaxi Cusco!

Marina Bay Sands from afar

Walked around the city with my CS friends Chelsea and Leslie

Gardens By The Bay

My friends going loveydovey

Singapore Light Show

It’s a quick show so better find your seat early!

Chijmes, a compound made of restaurants. It’s a former convent.

Lots of nice restaurants offering different cuisines

Beautiful date place

Clarke Quay

Famous for bars, restaurants and clubs – this is where the night life is.

Lau Pa Sat Hawker Center – the best place to get food in Singapore is through a hawker place!!

Whatever it is you’re looking for food-wise, it’s in the hawker place. Filipino, Indian, Chinese, Indonesian…errrthing!! Agggh.

During this trip (after the days assigned for work) I luckily connected with Leslie from Couchsurfing, and showed us that Singapore is more than just a progressive country with tons of buildings. There’s a lot of nature too. If you plan on exploring this side of SG, make your research and look for a local that can be trusted and willing to bring you around. This may not be easy to do, especially if you are used to joining *pricey* group tours, but give it a try!

Filipinos today visit SG more often – thanks to budget fares from Cebu Pacific and Air Asia – since there are relatives and friends who can accommodate and tour us around!

Wishing you adventure and explorations and good food.

 

3 Blogging Purposes

Writing portfolio. I do aspire to be a travel writer someday. It’s not a serious goal, (absolutely not a quick win) that I’m trying to achieve, but if there is a chance and I feel ready, it would be great to travel and write for a living. This is a fantasy  – as of press time I am writing this from my workstation in the office. Not there yet.

A tricycle in Cagayan De Oro, Mindanao fits 8 people (including the driver)

Expression. Being able to translate ideas into words that people can read and build their opinion on is cool. I don’t have much followers or readers, this I know, but I do check my blog visits and I see some readers from different parts of the world and that alone serves as fuel to keep writing. I recently got invited to visit Isla Una, a restaurant serving all-Filipino food. I never would have had this opportunity without this blog!

Never thought I’ll be invited as a blogger to write about food!

Fun. Everything all boils down to whether it’s fun or not. A friend of mine shared with me his biggest learning in life: Life is simple. It’s us humans that make it complicated. As individuals who grew up in a social construct (go to school, get a job, be polite, respect women and elderly, etc.) we tend to follow rules for the sake of following them and not because we want to. I’m 30, getting older by the day and I don’t like wasting my time on things that stress me out. Eliminating the tiny sources of stress in my life has become one of my greatest joys.  It’s fun to share the things that make me happy. You should do it too! Diving makes me happy. Traveling to new places make me happy. Doing physical activities that need mental awareness and lots of focus make me happy. What is that one thing (or those things) for you?

Snorkeling in Batangas is FUN and it’s free!!!

So go do what makes you happy! I wish you a lot of love, light, positive vibes and peace of mind. 🙂

Here’s a short clip from a sea trip and my review of Earth Kitchen, that restaurant that promotes our local produce and other raw materials from Filipino farmers and workers.

Hiking in Salt Lake City, Utah

Many people may not understand it but I find the simple act of  walking as a healing activity. Everyday I walk to work for some 20 minutes under the heat of the sun, and do the same at night.

I walk to the bank, I walk to the stores, I walk to the hospital, and even when I go out on a date, I walk it.

I take it as time for thinking and reflecting about my days.

My suggestion for you: if you visit a new place, go for a walk or a run. Travel allows you to see the place for what it is, feel how warm or cold it is in your skin. You will witness the activities of the residents during the early morning sunrise, and see how people retire during late afternoons.

If you do this, I can guarantee, the place will be more memorable than the last photo you took.

Hiking in Utah

http://www.cotopaxi.com

Beautiful mountains of Wasatch

Half of this hike ended with a nap 🙂

After this hike, I lied down on the ground for a nap. I had the most wonderful view before I dozed off. Aspen trees all around, a lake, rocks, sunshine – a beautiful scenery surrounded me.

I miss Utah.

Photos taken by Cotopaxi VP of Product, CJ Whittaker.

Follow him on Instagram: @chadofutah

Slot Canyons in Lake Powell, Utah

Take a look at these photos from my friend CJ Whittaker, VP of Product and co-founder of Salt Lake City-based company, Cotopaxi. I am a proud supporter and user of Cotopaxi products. Their bags are made in Mariveles, Bataan, Philippines, and I’m from the PHILIPPINES!! Each purchase supports marginalized communities from all over the world.

One hot afternoon in Lake Powell

Lake Powell: hiking with Dave

Lake Powell: Up, up we go.

Lake Powell: Distant shot

Lake Powell: I’m a tiny little creature among the wild.

Lake Powell: Yey! Water!!!

Lake Powell: Again, hiking with Dave.

Lake Powell: Doing what they call ‘the chimney’

Lake Powell: In between canyons. It was a great day to squeeze myself in ’em.

Lake Powell: Awesome shot by CJ Whittaker

Lake Powell: on the boat with the cutest dog, Henry

For this hike, I used my Cotopaxi Luzon Del Dia. It’s a one-of-a-kind bag, this means no bags are alike! It’s lightweight, I love its colors and I just throw in all my stuff and I’m good to go. Credits go to CJ who designed the bag and took these photos!

Check out this video of their factory in Bataan: https://vimeo.com/140953942

Follow CJ Whittaker on Instagram: @chadofutah

#cotopaxi #gearforgood

Freediving Intro Lesson

My first full edit!! Here’s a compilation of footages from my Freediving Intro course. The clips were taken in Bagalangit, Batangas, which has become one of my favorite places on earth. I go there for scuba diving too.

It felt really good to dive without a tank and not to be confined with gear. I had to dive with a wetsuit, though, to protect myself from the cold. I get cold easily and I shiver and I will need to stop diving immediately, and this is NOT cool at all.

It was difficult at first to get my head down in order to dive, but after a lot of practice I was able to do it and it made me jump (in the water) for joy!

My instructor in diving and free diving is Veronica Fajardo. Contact her at 0995 197 0073.

Freediving Teaser

I recently went freediving for the first time. Here’s a teaser clip from the footages that were taken by one of my friends who also freedives (a lot), Liz.

Love & Travel: Do They Really Meet?

Do these two dimensions meet along the road? I have  wondered if this is possible – to find real love while on travel – despite the tight schedules, the airplane and bus rides that never seem to end.

My latest plane ride that took me to Singapore, February 2016

When you are away from ‘reality’, can one make a sound decision on whether to pursue a real relationship or not?

From my personal trips, I have met a lot of people. Most of them turned into friends, or simply just Facebook contacts. I am pretty sure that most of those I may never see again in this lifetime but we are able to keep in touch through our travel photos. It is so easy to connect today with downloadable apps, especially Facebook where we get updated with each other’s whereabouts.

Then there is another set of people that holds a more special place in my heart. Travel has taught me that it is possible to have an uncanny connection or chemistry with a stranger. In just a few minutes into a conversation, you easily feel at home. These are the people that I think of having another trip with, or maybe, spend a portion of my future with. Sounds a bit creepy, but true!

Walking around Singapore to find Little India, in my alibaba dress sold to me by a Filipina!

Like what all of us have learned in our adult life, not all good things last. There is a departure date for you, for her, for him. Time suddenly flies by too quickly and there’s no way to stop it. The connection was only good for a number of hours, days, weeks. ‘Reality’ is just a plane ride away.

What happens when you want reality and escape to mix, to overlap? When you want to do your usual grocery shopping in loose clothes in a foreign country to cook a mean local dish, or change your daily commute route because you are in an entirely new city?

At National Gallery of Singapore

Maybe crossing over is possible, anything is! It could be difficult, as anything could be. Maybe traveling more will give me a logical answer, or lead me to an epiphany, as how it has been for the past couple of years. The only thing to do now is to KEEP SEARCHING AND WALK ON.

 

 

Where To Next?

Long term plans have never been my thing, even when I was younger. I never ever wanted to own a house nor a car. I never wanted the responsibility of paying for and caring for property for many years. I think I never felt like I wanted to settle in one place.

This way of life became even stronger and evident through the years. When making life decisions (e.g. where to go next, how to execute a project, saying ‘yes’ to an invitation), my brain automatically brings out these 3 judgement calls

• What do I really want to do?
• What do I love to do? (1 and 2 are very different from each other)
• What is good and right for this moment?

It’s my own 4-way truth test but kind of silly…

And then come the ‘overthinking’ and ‘overexcited’ phase but that’s an entry for another time.

Whether it’s right or wrong, I have no way of knowing, but so far…it’s working.

Tarak Ridge, Bataan

Share with me how you make YOUR decisions.

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Curious about Tarak Ridge? Click here.

What questions do you ask yourself right before you go to sleep? Here’s mine.

Interested to see other mountains in the Philippines? Click here!

On Getting Comfortable With New Beds

After having had several solo trips, I have gotten used to sleeping in new beds. Sleeping close to people I do not know after a long day of walking or making friends with strangers and then sleeping in one small area together after only 30 minutes of talking. These situations may seem odd and unsafe or dangerous to some, but these are normal to me now.

If someone showed me a picture of how my life is like now 4 years ago, I wouldn’t have believed it. I would never have imagined myself doing crazy things such as sleeping in an airport, hitch hiking in a foreign country, booking a plane ticket with NO plans at all, not booking a hotel room, couchsurfing, getting on a motorcycle with a ‘guide’ into a ‘secret’ waterfalls and seeing him bring out handcuffs from his motorcycle. Nope.

My sense of getting familiar or comfortable with a new situation and beds have gotten better through time. As long as I have my basic needs – food, water, roof above me or a tent to sleep in – I’m alright. Ohhh maybe I need the internet, or my phone camera, some cash and candy…

Travel and adventures changed me a lot. Maybe a bit too much. There’s this gnawing fear in me that people who have known me from many years ago will no longer want to be friends because I have changed a lot. I can only hope that I did, for the better.

Blog Feature: We’re On HappyMagpies

I’m glad to share that my interview with Indie is now on HappyMagpies. We talked about things I love to do (so THIS MIGHT BORE YOU).

Indie is a Lithuanian girl who loves discovering new things and falling into adventures. She is a student in Denmark in DNS Teacher Training College, eager to become an inspiring teacher. Her mission is to write personal experiences about living/wwoofing in different communes/eco-villages/organic farms, adventurers, related to the study program, being an expat in Denmark and of course – travelling. She has written more about her story here.

Lake Powell

I hope you can check it out!