Sweet Bali High

I probably haven’t been travelling lately or perhaps the times have caught up with me.  I was recently in Bali with my friends and on our second day we planned to go to some spa for a massage after a long day of sight-seeing.  I asked our driver, Ari— a good-natured guy whose English accent can rival any call center agent working for a European account, if he has an idea on good spas around Ubud.  He mentioned one as what he can think of as reputable and I should have agreed right away because when I mentioned, “any other else?,” poor guy was caught off guard and started handing me his iPhone: “Here, you can take a look at Google”.  There you have it girls and boys, the universalization of travel.  If this was years ago, Thomas Friedman could’ve gotten an island tan if he went to Bali instead of India and might have ended up with that same conclusion: the world is flat indeed. But I digress. If anything, Bali has rekindled my love for traveling which was almost lost because it seemed, for a while, every place is the same.  The key, I reckon from this trip, is to just let things be.  Sometimes, the more you struggle with finding what's better or what's new makes you miss the goodness that just clearly surrounds you. So, did google found us a good spa? No.  We found a spa ourselves just by walking around.  As any self-respecting traveler should. 

Gone for the weekend in Hong Kong (The Lazy Girl version)

Ah, Hong Kong!  A cultural melting pot of East meets West, with great shopping, good eats and good-looking people.  It's a big city with people running around, streets that are gloriously confusing and a vibe that can only be exciting.  Having said that, a 3-day jaunt on "Asia's World City", seems like a taxing endeavor especially when you are going to do it all by yourself (i.e. good riddance, boring tour packages!).  However if you are well-traveled and have been there once or twice before, it should be fool-proof, right?  Probably true.  But sadly, not for us  We admit that once we've been to a place before, we tend to be pretty stubborn in our ways.  And lazy.  Big time.  This could be due to too much sun and salt water exposure.  Or  you know how you seem to be good at Physics and you think you got it so you end up not studying for the exam and then when you take the exam you "surprisingly" fail? Well, that's kind of what happened on our Hong Kong trip (And I really thought I was good at Physics!). So we end up missing the last cable ride to see the Big Buddha in Ngong Ping, not having time to see Takashi Murakami's exhibit at Gagosian Gallery in Central HK and (gasp!) having our dinner at Mc Donald's (a first in our international jaunts, mind you. KFC is of course another story).  When will we ever learn that in big cities like Hong Kong getting from point A to B will take a lot of perseverance and time?  This is a whole lot true when about thousands of people are also wanting to do the same things as you are planning to do and  you are taking mass transportation-- because you are not on said boring tour package.  Such are times when an itinerary is kind of important and time is sort of golden (aren't I the epitome of adulthood?)

Bagasbas Beach: A Summer Surfing Diary

(Note: This is a much delayed post.  I've started writing it last May, 2012 and never actually gotten around to publishing it because I thought back then that it read like a chatty blabber.  Then reading it now, I realized it's not so bad-- kind of like a comprehensible diary, if you will.  Also there are no proper entries in the blogosphere about surfing in Bagasbas Beach so I thought I might do a little public service and tell about my amazing time there.  xo-- K)

April 29,2012-- After an overnight stay at Tinaga Island in Calaguas, we are headed back home to Manila but not until we dropped by and checked out the surf at Bagasbas, also in Camarines Norte.  I was actually a bit wary that the waters might be flat, as what is expected during summer.  Oh, before I go on, I am in no way a surfer-- professionally or even an inch near amateur, I suppose, but I love to surf once in a while (the long board kind) and get wiped out most of these times.  So maybe I am in no position to be saying that the water is flat blah, blah, blah but really, what fun is there in surfing on calm waters?  And is that still called surfing?  But before I consume you with my thoughts, I was quite happy to see as our van parked along the beach avenue, that the waves were there.  One local surfer the I got to talk to told me that the waves in Bagasbas never actually goes flat even during summer months wherein some other surf spots become calm.  I don't know if this is actually true but if I can compare with my trip to San Juan, La Union a week before, I would agree-- the waves in Bagasbas are much more surfable (there is actually no "surfable" word, I just made it up but you would agree it sounds right, no?).  I also noticed that the beach is alive: people are everywhere and you can just tell that energy is pulsating in the whole area.

Nomnomnom (or what I did pretty much all the time while in Ho Chi Minh)

As much as I wanted to be the cultured and classy person that you all think I am, the truth is that I grew up watching cable TV.  This affected me in so many ways: at 15 my dream job was to be a MTV VJ (fortunately, this has changed, else I will still be unemployed), I thought Rachel Ray was a genius making 30 minute meals (still do, but still can't make anything other than fried eggs in 30 minutes!) and "Oh Tokyo" at WINS made my day (seriously, bring it back.  The host was so good at creeping out the Japanese-- The Japanese, of all people! She should be given an award).  The cool life as I knew it existed on the tube and people in there seemed to have more fun than I do.  Perhaps the ultimate life-changing TV show for me were the Lonely Planet series shown on Discovery Channel when I was a bright-eyed teen.  It opened my eyes to the wonderful world and all the fun of traveling.  They featured places like Paris, Thailand, New York and Havana and every time I would swoon and wish that I could go there someday.  But no other episode of theirs has stuck in my memory than the one they had of Vietnam.  To be precise, nothing in that episode has struck me more than when they started featuring food: Spring Rolls, Bahn Mi and bowls and bowls of steaming hot and delicious Pho.  Oh. My.  I used those two words way before you met Christian Grey, Ana Steele.  And I am completely PG.

Gone for the Weekend: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

I have a friend, E, who balks at the idea of a trip to Ho Chi Minh.  She complains that there really is not much there aside from the cheap North Face bags being sold there.  But surely there should be much more to this city other than factory overruns right?

Right! For as soon as my friends and I stepped-out of our hotel on our first day in Ho Chi Minh, or Saigon, as it is popularly known among the locals, I knew that E could have been balking at the wrong city.  The revving hordes of motorcycles winding through the roads of Ho Chi Minh is  already a reminder that this is no boring place.  Saigon is also well represented in the "East Meets West" adage of most cities for its history of being once the capital of French Indochina.

So before you go and buy your dirt cheap and brand-new backpacks, grab the most reliable one you have first and get ready to dance with motorcycles, be french with you architectural tastes, brush up with important history and open your eyes to a glimpse of life on the riverside (yes, get out of the city for a while!).

Secret's out: Calaguas, Camarines Norte

Sorry guys, I just realized that it has been quite a long time since we have posted anything on your favorite blog (can I get high fives for that?).  But its summer!  and we are very sure that you are too busy frolicking on some beach or catching flights overseas to even bother with a blog-- we are on the same page as you.  Luckily, I get to have a bit of a downtime today to actually do a bit of writing about a place called Calaguas in Camarines Norte.

Coron: Simply Paradise

 "I often wonder about people who live in tropical destinations.  What do their screensaverslook like?" -  Comedian Derick Lengwenus

 In a country where exotic summer destinations are aplenty, it will be quite rare for someone to easily

choose a favorite.  But for your consideration, ladies and gents, how about, Coron?  From the deep

abyss of its waters to the  peak of Mt. Tapyas-- you could say that Coron is gorgeous from head to toe.  

If you haven't been there yet, then you are missing big time on probably one of the most beautiful  places 

on Earth.    Not that we've ever been to all the places on earth, but Coron is just too amazing for words. 

Too amazing that I'll just shut up right now and let our captured photos do most of the talking.

"Seoul" Food

Did you like my title?  No?  Yeah, I know I’m trying too hard on this “writing” thing.  But before you dismiss my seemingly pretentious entry, I want to make a proposition: It will be delicious.  I promise it will.  Why?  Well it’s because I will be telling you about what I ate during our trip to South Korea (Hence the title?  Duh). It’s not hard to like their cuisine because IMO it is made to be liked and enjoyed-- not super fancy that you are intimidated to eat it (maybe Kimchi is an acquired taste but you can’t get any more democratic than cabbage), always generous in servings (even in the student meal categories) and if you are a carnivore, welcome to meat land, my friend (along with entrails and parts you probably would not like to know).

What we chowed on while we freeze our butts off in South Korea after the jump...

Lost in wintry Seoul

Getting lost has long been Quarter-life Vices' theme when it comes to travel.  Sure, we check what places are worth going but we never really strictly plan our days with a well mapped-out itinerary.  This philosophy has proved well for us so far but how about getting lost in sub-zero temperatures?  It could be a bad idea.  Images of hypothermia and frostbite (an ear falling out, perhaps?) comes to mind.  There's also the dowdy and plain ugly winter style for the novice cold-weather fashionista (puff-jackets with pom-pom bonnets?  Or how about jeans with white cross-trainers?)  Yes, it is so bad an idea that you want to forget about it.  But the lure of extremely-low promo air fares and the beauty of a foreign land we've never been to has  such a strong force that a bad idea could become a crazy one.  And you know, crazy ideas have the potential of being the most fun.  And who doesn't like fun?  So here we are, starting 2012 with a c-c-cold winter in Seoul and a bit of Nami (which is even colder but we're already on that road of crazy so what the heck, right?).

To let you know how cold it was in Seoul during our stay, a quick look at the weather forecast on our phones provides the fact: -10°C or -8°, or -3° and one Thursday afternoon we got lucky: 0° Celsius! (yay, we could finally get that one layer of thick clothing off!)  So, bundled up in a down jacket with a fur-lined hood and a bonnet with pom-poms dangling on the sides of my ear (two things I swore I would never wear but here we are),  I braved the Seoul winter with P and T to be able to tell you that the term "dead of winter" does not apply to a city as vibrant and enigmatic as Seoul.

Eating for the Weekend in Kota Kinabalu

Disclaimer:  I would like to say that the photos didn't do those yummy foods any justice.  I am not a food photographer and really, we are more of unable to control ourselves to devour food once the server lays them on our table.  So a quick snap here and there then ready, set, go... So we here at Quarter-life Vices apologize for that and for our next entries involving food.  Do not expect them to look appetizing but be assured that their sometimes already-eaten shots validates their worthiness on our blog. :)

 
Any trip to far-flung places merits at least a taste of the good food it has to offer.  You have to agree that it is indeed a waste if you just spend every day on a foreign country eating McDonald's. And when you are in a place like Kota Kinabalu, you cannot disregard the fact that delicious food surround you, yes you've read it right-- food surrounds you in KK as in the smell of bread being baked next door envelopes you or the thoughts of mee and dimsum at the eatery across the street can haunt you forever if you never give in.  Despite the food being generally pork-free because of the Muslim culture, we would like to tell you that hunger will not be your problem in Kota Kinabalu (maybe crossing the streets is, but that's another story).

Food Tripping in Singapore

Hawker centre.  Image by Clarisse Hernandez.

We do realize that you, our loyal two readers, may think that this blog is having an Australian twang what with all the NSW tourist spots and that bit on Kylie Minogue.  But be rest assured that Quarter-life vices is still committed to bringing you our meanderings from other places as well.  Today, we felt particularly hungry and thought about all the gastronomic delights that one teeny city-state offers.  Singapore may be small in size but it definitely measures up on our list of places to go on a shameless and delicious food trip.  With influences from the Chinese, Malay and Indian cultures (not to mention the modern-day Western investors that have called it home in Southeast Asia) Singapore is indeed a culinary melting pot and the results are all the way yummy.

Our food-trip guide for the best chows in the Lion City, after the jump...

Sand Surfing in Stockton Beach

(Part 3 of Exciting New South Wales series)

I long have been amazed and been into the water sport of surfing that when someone mentions the word "surfing", I instantly know that they meant getting stoked on the waves out at sea; whereas before I would link surfing as synonymous to browsing the WWW.  Can you imagine what a complete dork I was?  Not that it changed, obviously I am still an Internet junkie.  But now it seems that a new kind of surfing is here to haunt me: Sand Surfing; and of course, Australia has a place to do that (act surprised).  As that country/continent where riding the waves is a natural past time, it is inevitable that those surfing skills will find a way in the massive sand dunes of Stockton Bight in Port Stephens, NSW.

The Blue Mountains, NSW

(Part 1 of the Exciting New South Wales Series)

Tourists from all over experience a different Australia with the Blue Mountains.

By: KC

I have to admit, scenic mountain ranges is not what comes to my mind when Australia is mentioned.  Instead I have always pictured the great outback with a legion of Kangaroos and Wallabies hopping around, or maybe long stretches of sandy beaches with cute surfers bumming around.  Blame it on Outback Steakhouse and Billabong ads. These are, after all, perceptions coming from me who also once thought that Japan is where inter-galactic monsters take residence when on earth and that everyone at Alaska lives in igloos (I was in pre-school, alright?  I assure you I do not carry these views up to now).

Exciting New South Wales: a prelude

Pardon my brother.  This was my best Harbour Bridge shot and he is in it.

When people came to know that I will be in Australia for holiday and to attend a cousin's wedding, most quickly asked, "Where? In Sydney?". Perhaps its what comes naturally; most know a country from its capital.  Like when Filipinos abroad asks some Filipino tourist "When are you coming back to Manila?" and you answer knowingly that they meant Philippines because you are really from Bulacan.  But there's definitely a whole lot more to Australia than the city with that famous Opera House.  Quite specifically, there's more to New South Wales than Sydney.

In the upcoming posts, I prepared a journal of sorts of places I have been taken to by my lovely relatives in New South Wales.  Of course like any first-time tourist in Australia, The Opera House and Harbour Bridge are my must-see and a photo-op is inevitable on these landmarks but surprisingly there's so much more to see and take pictures of, places that I haven't even read about.  This is probably because I was obsessed in planning to get that perfect night shot of The Opera House (which I believe I didn't.  Oh well, there's always the next time).  Blessed with a cosmopolitan city, limitless beautiful sceneries, resplendent beaches and adventure in every corner, New South Wales has something for everyone and everyone will definitely have their own part of New South Wales that they love.

Watch-out for our related posts...