A visit to Kyoto won’t be complete if you didn’t step foot into a shrine. Or two. And practically all areas of Kyoto have them, so whichever part you choose to go to, you can be sure to pass by at least one. In Arashiyama, it was one of those unexpected things, us stumbling on a small shrine while following the Path of Bamboo, which I talked about in my previous post.
Continue reading “[JP18] Arashiyama, Kyoto: The Nonomiya Shrine”
One thing that frustrates me about traveling is the time constraint. Especially if I find myself someplace with soooo much to see, but with limited time on my hands to check them all out. Kyoto is one of those places. There’s just so many gems, so one has to be strategic in planning out their itinerary so they can make the most of it. As much as I appreciate being all chill and relaxed with my itinerary, I’m more the type that wants to cram as much as I can in what little time I have in a place. I’m greedy like that.
Continue reading “[JP18] Arashiyama, Kyoto: The Path of Bamboo and Bamboo Forest Trail”
When I think about it, I don’t have a bucket list. I’m just not the type to make one. So to hear people tell me that I’ve “already checked ‘climbing Mt. Fuji’ off my bucket list” is a bit strange, as I don’t have a list to speak of. Aaaand I suppose that’s my cue to say that, if given the opportunity to visit Mt. Fuji again, I’d definitely go “HECK YES, WHEN?!” Continue reading “[JP18] My Mt. Fuji Experience… (and why you should climb Mt. Fuji)”
I kept hearing about Bahay-na-Bato from friends and acquaintances, but I suppose they were never enough to pique my interest to make the effort to personally go there. It wasn’t until the parentals made a spontaneous decision to go on a day trip out to Luna, La Union to check out Bahay-na-Bato that I *kinda* looked into it. When I realized there’s a 3D art gallery featuring stone art, as well as a pebble beach nearby, then I went, I’M IN.
Continue reading “Bahay-na-Bato in Luna, La Union: Stone Art Gallery, Noble Home, and Pebble Beach”
Confession time: I’ve lived all my life in La Trinidad (give or take a couple of years), and I never even knew there are waterfalls located within a 6-kilometer radius. Like, it takes less than half an hour to get there. And here I thought my level of awareness was relatively, well, respectable. But still, it’s good to be surprised at times, and this is one type of surprise I wouldn’t mind getting. Continue reading “The Binanga Falls in Shilan, La Trinidad, Benguet”
In [checks the time] less than 2 hours, I’d be hitting the road to chase an elusive summer. Down south, this time, under the guise of a business trip, but really squeezing in as much pleasure side trip as we can. ‘Cuz that’s just how we roll. But! Before that, let me just wrap up my Mt. Fuji experience, which I shared about in my several most recent posts.
Continue reading “[JP18] Watching the Sun Rise from the Top of Mt. Fuji”
I just realized this earlier: it’s almost the middle of the year. Da*n. Time sure flies so fast I’m getting a whiplash. And the soles of my feet are itching once again. I sure miss those few times I’ve experienced lying under the stars, al fresco, with just me and nature (and everyone else, but they hardly matter when you’re in the zone, right?). Considering the climate at the summit (or close to it) of Mt. Fuji, that’s not something that can be done. Unfortunately.
Continue reading “[JP18] Staying the Night at the 8th Station Tomoekan in Mt. Fuji”
I wouldn’t say that I did a lot of research before climbing Mt. Fuji. Sure, I looked into the logistics part of it, weighed options (that would mean less expenditure, primarily), and looked at the basics on what to do and what not to do. Other than that, nothing else. I saw some clips off a few Japanese TV shows (thanks, Arashi and Nakai-san!) showing a glimpse of the trail experience and read some blogs. But no more than that. This was one of those things that I was just partly winging. (And before I proceed, lemme just say CONGRATULATIONS BTS AND ARMY FOR THE BBMAs TOP SOCIAL ARTIST BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK WIN AND THE FIRST EVER TOP GROUP AWARD! *proudArmyNoonarighthurrr*)
Continue reading “[JP18] Climbing Mt. Fuji via Yoshida Trail”
I don’t know exactly when the desire kicked in, but one day (when I was hiking up Yeongsil Trail of Mt. Halla in Jeju, South Korea – check out the video as well) I heard myself say out loud: I want to climb Mt. Fuji. I thought it’s going to be one of those things that you think about, resolve to do, then be relegated to the back of your mind, to be pushed off by “more important” things. But then a year later, I found myself planning for a trip where I can actually get to do it.
Continue reading “[JP18] That Time I Went to Japan to Climb Mt. Fuji”
There are a lot of associations to be made when “Shinjuku” is mentioned. Aside from being a major commercial center in Japan, it is also where the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building is located. And let’s not forget about Shinjuku Station, which is the busiest railway station IN THE WORLD. (Honestly, I was overwhelmed at how maze-like and vast it was.) But let me talk about our peek into Kabukicho, that part of Shinjuku which has gained the rep of being the “red-light district” of Tokyo. And that is where we stayed on our brief stop in Tokyo. *phew*
Continue reading “[JP18] Kabukicho and the (Red) Lights of Shinjuku”
I think the beauty of theme parks or amusement parks is how you feel as if you are transported in an entirely different world once you pass through its gates. For a few hours, you forget that an outside world existed, and your attention is pulled in all directions, so much that you tend to forget there are other people around. Until you realize you’re stuck in a long queue, that is. But I daresay it’s still a good experience to go through, one that I won’t mind repeating, if given the opportunity.
Heroism has taken on numerous definitions, and a lot of faces have been assigned to the word “heroes”. So much that, in my opinion, most of us have lost sight of what it truly means. Worse, most of us have ceased to care about what it really meant, and just throw the word “hero” around lightly. But there is a little bit of relief to be had in knowing that there are still some places – albeit too few already – that serve as reminders of the “heroism” that served as one of the main catalysts of building the national identity that we have today. One of those places that endure to this day is the Dambana ng Kagitingan situated at the Mt. Samat National Shrine in Pilar, Bataan.
History was my favorite subject sometime around the middle of high school to my first year in college. Except for the part that required memorization of dates and lengthy names, it was like reading a storybook, with protagonists, antagonists, and tangled plotlines and twists. Continue reading “A Morning Tour Around Corregidor Island, Philippines”
I’m not a foodie; at least, not in the strictest sense of the “foodie” that the blogosphere and this-age-of-social-media has defined. I am not picky with food, but I am not overly adventurous (still haven’t tried those pupa thingies sold in the streets in Seoul and Jeju). But I do know how to appreciate, and I am not difficult to persuade new things or, in this sense, new types of food. And if you go to a new place, and they have a specialty, then…. when in Rome, as the saying goes… right?
There is something about “old towns” that never fails to touch something within me. Regardless of the comforts and conveniences that I have grown accustomed to in a “digital” setting, there is something… comforting, when you go to places that evoke the past. I suppose because almost everything seems to have become so modern that they are, well, flitting, these “old towns” are those last hints that there used to something in the distant past that has somehow endured to this day.
Continue reading “[JP18] A Day in Kawagoe, Japan: Kurazukuri, The Old Warehouse Zone”
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