If there was some doubts on the appearance of the sun when we boarded the bus from Legaspi to Sorsogon, it was all exiled to rest as the blue and green waters of the sea regaled in the bright and clear skies. The boat ride was all smooth sailing over the calm waters and as we approached Subic Beach in Calintaan Island, I reckoned to myself "this is just another beach" in my own beautiful country.

The sky was a picture of a hesitation when we boarded the bus from Legaspi to Sorsogon. It looks like it was caught in between raining and sheltering the Earth below from the blistering sun, which was keen on making an appearance that day. The weather was shaping out fine and the absence of rain made it more ideal, but there are still a few patches of dark clouds that are hovering above. The same set that made our earlier attempt to see Mayon Volcano up close a futile one. As the bus revved up its engine and gathers speed on the highway and wind brushing against my face increases its tenacity, I looked out the window and was greeted by a particular view of a majestic countryside.

I'm so excited about my upcoming trip to Vietnam and Cambodia this coming November that I decided to settle our accommodations in advance through the internet. I usually travel on a stringent budget and leave no room for costly decisions on the road. The more money I save will eventually roll-over to funding for my next trip. My trip to these two Asian nations also serves as a great opportunity to bond with my brother, the person who was responsible in introducing me to traveling when he took me on my very first out of the country trip to Kuala Lumpur in May 2007 and a month later to Singapore. Being tasked as the master planner of the trip I started by choosing Roomarama.com as a medium to look for our short-term accommodation. 

The stone fish is staring out his aquarium like a delirious sea creature high on helium when he spotted two travel bloggers, one a Chinese looking dude and the other one a semi-Chinese looking dude with a flair of Spanish blood walked inside the "Old Village Seafood Restaurant" in Kota Kinabalu.

Stone Fish: Well, what do we have here. I hope they'll be the one to free me of my misery in this small enclosed space I'm in right now, but hmm they don't seem interested in shelling out 10.00RM for a 100 grams of myself. They just taking pictures.

Zibra Shell: Roger Clemens on that Stone, those dudes, they don't look like the seafoods kind of guy. They just order them Tiger Beers, so looks like you're gonna be there for quite some time. Me? I got myself ordered by that cute family sitting over there. I saw them point me out to the waiter. 

Years before the boy who goes by the name Siddharta would become known as Gautama, the Buddhist religion founder, he was always in search for his life's meaning. It was a life-long quest that would ultimately help shape a big part of our world. I was always fascinated with the Buddhist religion, it strikes me as its centered on one's peace of mind and its relation to every living things around. When I found myself on a bus going to the Ngong Ping highlands to visit the Tian Tan or otherwise known as the "Giant Buddha",  peace of mind nor with myself has always been the slippery toad caught between my hands. Right here this moment and gone the next.

This was the continuation of the interrupted process that happened here. It was almost a mass of water as large as the sea have formed between us. I could feel the blank and puzzled stare at my shoulder, I too could only look at her with amazement at how things could turn around so quickly. Maybe it has always been my weakness that I always force someone to pick up a hammer and hit my head with it. The boat ride was extra torture as it travels at half the speed of ordinary boats. The whole trip though was ably made up by the ever presence of wonderful scenery across Honda Bay.

Surrounded by a man-made lagoon, the City Mosque at Likas Bay in Kota Kinabalu achieves a floating like apparition as seen from a distance. As I trudge closer from where we got off the bus, I can hear chants of worships spread out on the open air, and in a place like that with the bay fronting the opposite side and the Mosque facing it against the lagoon - the chant easily bemused the ears even of those undaunted passersby. At that point, I was feeling a different kind of beat, as I quickly cut distance between me and this architecturally gifted place of worship of our Muslim brothers. After gorging on street foods in Kota Kinabalu, I was finally experiencing the place in a new light and perspective.