From Kuala Lumpur we went to Genting Highland, a place on top of a mountain that was developed starting in the 1970's by one of the richest man in Malaysia. Fast forward to today, it is the site of the First World Hotel, renowned for being the second largest hotel in the world, a casino, a theme park, a mall and a nearby residential village.


To go there you need to take a bus from KL Central Station, you can either go there by car or a bus that will have a stop at a place that will offer visitors to ride on a cable car. Riding the cable car seems more exciting as it gives you a wonderful view of the surrounding mountains.


It is said to be the longest cable car in Asia and about a kilometer long if my distance estimate is correct. It was also my first time to ride the cable car.

Here are some photographs that I took:




Lobsters, crabs sells for like 250.00 per kilo. Remember at SM its about 600.00/kilo. I bought 2 kilos of lobster which we ate up in like an hour the first night after I got home.

On our way to Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte we stopped over at Vigan, Ilocos Sur to attend a mas (fyi: I got to mass once in every 5 years), eat some empanada and of course visit the heritage village at Calle Crisologo which is included in the list of the United Nation’s World Heritage Sites.



Walking along Calle Crisologo – seeing those antique shops and old houses that dates back to Spanish colonial era kind of gives you a slight picture of how life was lived back in the old days.




Around the area you’ll see the Ilocos Sur capitol hall and the nearby park.





Vigan is a great place to visit on the way further North of Luzon, either by pit stop or the main point of your destination. There’s a nice inn near Calle Crisologo where visitors can stay.
What a way to have a fine food trip (Empanada, but many says Batac’s Empanada is the best of em all) go down a historic tour of the old colonial houses at the heritage village in Calle Crisologo or stroll around town riding one of those horse carriages parked besides the church.
All that and then some.

One of my favorite places so far is Quiapo, located in the heart of Manila its the place where people converge with each other. The religious ones, students, leftist militants , hookers, junkies and the occasional thieves which scares those whom have never been to this place before. Generally a safe haven for blokes like me. I feel more secured rummaging around this place than lets say Greenbelt in Makati. I’ve scored over two hundred pirated DVD’s in this place. Sue me for buying pirated stuffs.


I remember during my college days me and my friend Jacob would skip school and instead spend our day just walking around Quiapo, sometimes we would buy hard to find cd’s by bands like Pennywise, Sham 69 and Bad Brains. Jacob got all of his original Clash cd’s from this place. At that time it is priced at 250.00 each, cheaper compared to the 450.00 price that record shops at the malls are charging.

Bottomline; I love going to these kinds of places, Cubao, Divisoria, Quiapo and Avenida, its very much alive, the people, the historic old buildings, the city itself, this is not some pretentious place like Rockwell or Greenbelt which is awash with fake plastic people…
I am still looking for a girl who would go out on a date with me and go strolling in Quiapo mindlessly.

Used to be the center of economics in both the post war and pre war Manila. It was said that SM founder Henry Sy started selling shoes at this historical avenue. But that was the so called “Kopong-kopong Days”. 

Today Avenida was somehow rescued from total oblivion during the late 90’s when as a UST student myself I have witnessed the erosion of the place, it’s like a total ghost town back then. Mayor Lito Atienze somehow brought back some color to it, albeit some architectural design flaws, it can be improved much better. Still and more importantly it had renewed vigor and the place are now livelier than before.

It’s not Disneyland or some European walkway where you can sip coffee and talk to your girl like Ethan Hawke and Julie Delphy. Avenida has its charms totally different from the others. I can say it borders from exotic, to chaotic to serene. I take long walks here sometimes just in order to get my mind back. Of course I do it with one eye around me. Thieves are everywhere and they do exist in Avenida also.

It’s much safer than ordinary Filipinos would think. I know that mindset of thinking about crowded places being a hum drum of criminality. Where else can you find a more exotic locales in the city, where they sell cheap ipods, a blind Bob Dylan guitarist belting out classic Pinoy blues, a pub house and all that comes with it hehehe.

I go to and from work by taking the LRT. Everyday it brings different experiences although at first glance it might look like a re-run of the previous day, but as the saying goes “You can’t cross the same river twice”. Same with my Trainspottin experience I guess. Each day there are an abundance of moments that I witness that are worth pondering about. From the grumpy passengers, sleep derived zombies rushing for work, lovers in tight embraced, lost Korean tourist, old lady waiting to be offered a seat ( to no avail ), beautiful girl waiting to be offered a seat ( she waited for 10 seconds before someone offered her a seat ), to myself, minding or haplessly trying to while away the 30 minutes I spend on each trip. Sometimes peering over my shoulder to read SMS exchanges of the passenger seated beside me, but most of the time I pretend I was a newcomer in this city, trying to appreciate the blurred scenes I see outside the train window, the Pasig River, National Museum Building, the abandoned Metropolitan theater, the torn down old GSIS building adjacent to SM Manila, the Luneta Park, old haunting relics of Avenida…Everyday I passed through them and all the time I find myself wishing for a change. An improvement of sorts…

Well I think I had to wait up for those changes or forget about it as I had myself to change first….

Went walking around Makati City, the business hub of the Philippines as they say – one Sunday afternoon after I got done with my work shift. It feels a bit eerie like you’re in some zombie – end of the world movie, comparing Makati during weekdays to a Sunday is like day and night.

There are too few people on the streets, with almost all establishments closed down, a few cab drivers trying in vain to pick up passengers, security guards and a few wanderers like me were the only walking and moving figures I encountered.

The towering buildings seems like ghosts bearing shadows upon us.

Rush hour in Makati during weekdays was like “every man for himself” with regards to riding a bus or flagging a cab, Oh no not this day though.

The pay phone booths are lined up and are all “pretty vacant”.

You can call whoever you like, politicians, enemies of yours or some random person and shout the hell you want and nobody will bother you.

Do we just had a zombie virus outbreak that I missed knowing about?

Anyway I’m out of here.

On the other hand, a jumper might not create too much traffic jam this Sunday afternoon.