Baler is a Beauty (even if photographed on an iphone, on an overcast day. sorry.)

View from Ermita Hill.  Obviously, my iphone didn't do it any justice.

 There have been numerous trips and travel opportunities that have not pushed through in my quarter-life-- trips that are so well-planned, detailed and dreamed on for days but then something happens and then one thing leads to another and then, the trip ended before it even started.  I believe this happens to most of us, and it doesn't even have to be out of town travel.  It could be simple trips or quick get-together with friends that goes awry after you have exhausted time (and sometimes money) to plan it out.  And then there are things that you don't plan for, things that are just of the moment and then it all falls into place.  Is careful planning a jinx in itself? But before I further discuss this and bore you to death, let me just say that our summer trips here at QLT for this year are rather unplanned and yet they turned out to be the most fun we've had.  But then again most of our trips are unplanned AND fun.  What am I even saying? Yeah this is just regular stuff.  I might actually bore you to death.

Or not.  Because we went to Baler.  You cannot be bored at Baler.  You just can't. 


Though we've been there before, as saplings wanting to learn to surf a little, we can't say no to a quick text from Istokewa surf tours asking P if we want to join another Baler surf trip (STILL as saplings wanting to surf a little). I mean, if you were stuck in a quicksand and Ryan Gosling appeared near that pool and offered you to grab his hand, wouldn't you take it? (Or if you're a guy, Miranda Kerr is applicable or whoever Victoria's Secret Angel or Sports Illustrated swimsuit hotness you can think of. Pfft...) In this analogy, the quicksand would be your proverbial "stress" and Ryan Gosling would be Baler.  It can be any other person of course but well, we are talking about Baler here and Baler, my good friends, is a beauty.

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!).

Dazzling Orient Cave at the Jenolan Caves

(Part 2 of Exciting New South Wales Series)

Image capture taken from http://www.jenolancaves.org.au . All rights belong to jenolancaves.org.au

There was a  previous post about Blue Mountains in NSW last month and in it, I mentioned Jenolan Caves as among the national parks you can visit in The Blue Mountains Heritage Site Area.  The Jenolan Caves is one of the world's oldest and astonishing cave systems in the world.  It consists of ten caves open for tourism but there are also many other caves in the area only accessible to cavers as they are quite complex .  Some are even believed to be undiscovered.

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...