03.22.08
last day in macau
on our second and last day in macau, line and i woke up late. darn! we were so beat the previous day that i woke up at around 10 a.m. with not much time to lose, i immediately hit the shower and woke up line as soon as i finished.
quarter to 12, line and i were again ready to explore macau
by this time, we’ve already packed our bags and on our way to check out of the hotel. as we’ve done the previous day, we left our bags at the hotel counter upon check-out. that way, we didn’t have to pay for an extra night [lest you forgot; we're budget travelers, hehe...]
prior to leaving the hotel, we agreed to do the following:
1) find the ruins of st. paul
2) find macau’s grand prix and wine museums
3) call our hostel in hong kong
4) do all these things by 5 o’clock
unfortunately, we were unable to do item 2. we got sidetracked by unexpected errands causing us to lose a few hours. first off was brunch. we didn’t know where to get decent food. by decent, something i recognize and something that looks palatable. there’s a mc do estab near our hotel but since i swore off mc do, we had to find another place. our search led us to starbucks. blame this on my tendency to patronize things that are familiar, although, i haven’t been to starbucks here in the ph. well, it’s the most familiar among the many places which offer food with labels we could hardly read. then we had to find a hardware store in order to buy a 3-way plug and lock for line’s bag. the 3-way plug is a must since that’s what is used in hk and we need it in order that we can charged our batteries and cameras. as if we’ve enough time in our hands, we got lured by this little shop:
@ kin seng mobilias travessa fortuna
line got so fascinated with the numerous jewel boxes
haha, pabaga mi ug nawong and asked the tindera to take our pic. she happily obliged us since line and i each got a chess set @195 MOP[macau pattacas]. when we left the store, we learned that the tindera was filipina.
the above store is situated on the road leading to the ruins of st. paul. on this stretch, there are numerous souvenir shops selling many interesting trinkets..
a few steps from the store, we could already see the top portion of the ruins. the feeling was total “exhilaration” when we saw the ruins. as in we couldn’t contain the excitement. haha, the ruins of st. paul was both our ultimate goal in coming to macau..
line. on the rare occasion that she would volunteer to be in the pic…hehe, one always has to prod line to pose before the cam..
there were so many tourists when we reached the ruins. it was amazing as the tourists who came were a blend of asians, americans, and europeans..
the ruins up close 
the plaque telling a brief history of the ruins 
vetlongwalks mark 
back of the ruins. further back [the gray horizontal bar??] is the museum of sacred art [left] and the crypt [right]. the museum of sacred art houses silver altar pieces, gilded statues and paintings by 17th century japanese artists .
on the left side of the picture above, there’s a steel ladder which allows people to climb the church’s facade 
original stone remnants of the church encased in glass
the crypt 
inside the crypt. it was eerily quiet. it was chilling looking at all those dead bones of people 
at the sides of the pic above, one can see several rows of dead people’s bones
line in action 
view from below 
me waiting for line to be finished… 
the power of timer 
me @ the museu de arte sacra 
line and my big shadow separated by a glass enclosure 
waiting for line 2. hehe, at this point my cam went low batt on me… 
the crowd when we left the ruins [2 hours after]. line got fascinated with the little boys and girls in uniform on a saturday 
free taste… but for some reason line and i didn’t sample these cookies 
as soon as we left the ruins, we went looking for payphones in order to call our hostel in hong kong. there were payphones near the ruins, but unfortunately we couldn’t connect to the hostel’s number in hong kong. as we would be arriving in hk in the evening, we prioritized securing our accommodation. thus, we decided to forego checking out macau’s grand prix and wine museums…[going to the first museum was my second goal in going to macau, thus was a bit disappointed. yet, another reason to go back to macau]. after our failed attempt, we decided to look for an internet cafe to email our hostel. we went back to senado square and ended up in macau’s tourist business center
here, we were able to use the internet for 30 minutes free of charge. there are only two available computers here. tourists may use the unit free of charge for 30 minutes. first come, first served basis. as there were two other tourists using the pcs when we came in, we had to wait for 45 minutes for our turn. i sent an email message to the address which consistently answered my messages. however, this too failed. i got no response this time. 
we left btc around 4 or 5 pm and headed back to our hotel to get our bags. as the hotel had a shuttle service, we waited for a couple of minutes for the shuttle to take us to macau ferry terminal. by this time, line and i no longer have enough pattacas to purchase ferry tickets for hong kong. thus, line used her reliable plastic to get us a ride via turbojet to hong kong.
line and i on board turbojet bound for hong kong 
ticket fare costs 176MOP. travel time is roughly 60-75 minutes. turbojet docks at the shun tak center. a bit far from tsim sha tsui [tst].
end of our wonderful macau trip and the beginning of the hellish first night in hong kong
03.15.08
macau: day 1 [2 of 2]
an hour or so into our exploration of macau, line and i were led from one alleyway to another. in one alleyway, we were led to this:
one of the buildings near the fountain above 
L: the plaza where the fountain is located// R: alleyway
if i’m not mistaken – line and i chanced upon macau’’s residential area 
wall art
a little further, we came across this uninteresting building 
as it turned out, the building is one of macau’s historical places. this place has been turned into a museum and people are welcome to check out the place free of charge. 
to see more of this place, check out my previous entry entitled “Lou Kau Mansion“
insert vetlongwalks here…. hehe, habit – but pay attention to the nice flooring though
i want these wooden frames in my house, but how??? 
gate of an apartment??? 
ah sweets………..
a closer look
ice cream… line took this pix for jenny 
starbucks — haha, if i didn’t come to macau, i wouldn’t have tasted starbucks’ coffee. hehe, i’m such a cheapskate that i avoid paying for highly-overpriced coffee drinks if i can help it. in this instance, however, line and i had to get coffee to ward off the cold [we had the coffee for breakfast the following day, though, not on this day. plus blame it on my tendency to buy something that's familiar, starbucks lang ang familiar na coffee shop.] 
back at senado square 
taking photos of the photographer 
another pix of line [or at least part of line] in action..
another shot of me in senado square on our way back to the hotel
we left senado square and headed to the other part of the city where modern buildings take center stage 
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the side of casino lisboa. from this angle, the structure looked as if it were about to fall…[although, it's not that apparent in this picture. but it does look that way to me when i saw it then.
another shot of casino lisboa. sorry, this pix is a bit dark. promise, the succeeding pix are much clearer..
metropole hotel. our home for the night. booked this hotel through www.directrooms.com @$77/night. senado square, the ruins of st. paul, the casino area [casino lisboa, the wynn, and other casinos] are just walking distance from the hotel. roughly 5 to 15 minutes walk.
vetlongwalks at the hotel lobby… after 3 hours of walking, line and i decided to wait out the remaining hour at the lobby. hehe, kapoy na lakaw. nalukop na namo ang senado square and the casino area with only the porkchop sandwich to sustain us. 
our room… gahi ang bed. i didn’t mind kay anad ko ug folding bed, hehe. although nagsakit ang likod ni line the morning after. 
disposable slippers provided by the hotel [don't mind the feet, though] /room’s carpet 
another side of the room and our gubot things…
an hour after we checked in, line and i were once again ready to hit the streets of macau. take note; we didn’t have a decent sleep the night before and yet we’re ready to make the most of our limited time in macau [we arrived in hk midnight of dec. 27. stayed at the airport until 2 a.m., left for macau at 7 a.m.]
the top of casino lisboa [front view] 
line in front of casino lisboa 
my turn 
casino lisboa minus the “piña-like” top 
another side of casino lisboa. yup the casino is just one humongous building 
at this point, line and i decided that we explore the casino area some more once we got back from coloane. coloane is another island in macau. haha, we were determined to find the church of st. francis xavier. hehe, suckers kaayo me sa princess hours. the church is where prince gian and princess janelle were wed.
in front of hotel lisboa, there’s a bus stop for buses to macau’s two other islands [coloane and taipa]. we took the one going to coloane[ bus 21A as the church of st. francis xavier is in coloane island. the fare from lisboa to coloane island is 5 MOP [macau pattacas]. travel time from lisboa to coloane is roughly an hour or so [kalimut ko sa exact time.] bus travel was a pleasure as there were many beautiful sights along its route. one of them is taipa island’s The Venetian [another humongous and beautiful casino].
of course we didn’t know where st. francis xavier was and we were so proud to ask around, thus we ended up getting past our right stop. we ended up at Hac-Sa Reservoir BBQ Park. at the end of this street, one can find a famous Portuguese restaurant. The place was jam-packed, thus – line and i didn’t check out the resto. Plus when i mistakenly reached their kitchen i saw the preparation of a “lechon de leche” hehe, nothing wrong was done. place was clean, i just didn’t like seeing the preparation of the dead little pig [lechon de leche], hehe…
at this point, my cam started to act up. thus, i don’t have much pix. i still have to borrow pix from line. hehe, sorry.
anyway, after trial and error bus rides and lengthy walks, we finally found the church… 
vetlongwalks again!!! 
notice the arcades of white and yellow arches at the sides of the church. under these arches are open air restaurants serving Portuguese and Chinese food. i didn’t see these food establishments at the time of princess’ hour’s shoot, though. we didn’t eat here since we didn’t like the resto’s selection. plus it was already past 7 that we were afraid that there wouldn’t be any bus going back to macau proper.
as it was already past 7 pm, the church was closed. line spent several minutes here taking lotsa pix. after we had enough of the church, we decided to explore the area. the area was spookingly quite. i think people there retire very early. we found one little bakery and bought some tuna sandwich. around 8 p.m., we decided to leave the area and head back to lisboa. to complete our “saag experience” of the day, we again took the wrong bus and ended up at macau’s port area. it was night time and the area had a “dangerous” feel to it. we walked some more [hehe, me not wanting to take a cab kay mahal], checked the numerous bus route posters found in bus stop waiting sheds. we rode the bus which we thought would take us back to lisboa. we passed by one casino, which i couldn’t remember now, when the bus driver started to talk to us in rapid chinese. as we knew nothing of their language, we could only give him a blank stare for a reply. he got exasperated with us until one lady talked to us in english. she asked us where we were headed and then gave the driver instructions of where to drop us off before she got off the bus. apparently, the bus wouldn’t be passing lisboa’s front area. thus, we had to walk some more until we reached the familiar lisboa. hehe, the night lights were truly impressive and we were confident that we’ve reached the right area this time as we could now see the “piña-head” of lisboa. before we head back to the hotel, we had dinner at one local restaurant. the staff didn’t speak english, thus line ended up pointing at pictures on the menu.
view from the restaurant where we ate. darn, succeeding pix were truly blurry as my cam would conk on me from time to time 
macau at night 
lisboa at night [one side of it]
wynn and lisboa from afar. the pix doesn’t do justice to the place. but the whole casino area lit with beautiful lights was truly magnificent, reminiscent of las vegas 
wynn’s lake show poster 
the show was truly beautiful. the water show runs for about 5 to 10 minutes. it was really a nice show to cap our day. all the saag-saag forgotten.
click on this link to see the video of the lake show…
enjoy macau!!!
will post about our last day in macau soon. be featuring the ruins of st. paul and the museum of art…
03.12.08
Lou Kau Mansion
On our first day in Macau, line and i searched for the famous Ruins of St. Paul. However, our poor sense of direction led us to this seemingly uninteresting building.
We soon learned that this uninteresting building is one of Macau’s famous historical places: The Lou Kau Mansion.
Click on this link to know more about the mansion.
we got so fascinated with the place that i think we spent almost an hour here. i swear line used up most of her cam’s memory in taking all these high-resolution pictures [although the ones used here were resized for easier uploading.]
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*all photos used here are Line’s. used with her permission.
03.02.08
palawan preview
okay. it’s been two weeks since i got back from my palawan trip [feb. 16-21, 2008]. i still haven’t blogged about it. it’s not because i don’t want to, i just don’t have much time in my hands. anyhow, i’ll just do this little preview thing – hehe, this way my college friends won’t kill me for not posting the pix as promised… you guys holler if you chance upon this [p.s. - ivz, i brought you some sand as promised, but darn i misplaced it. i still have to look for my little pouch. you see, i rushed from the airport to work, my mother did the unpacking of my bags and she couldn't remember where she placed the little bag containing the sand, darn!]
mayor hagedorn welcomes new arrivals 
rizal avenue – puerto princesa’s main road [from the airport]
souvenir shop along rizal avenue [there are around 5 or so souvenir shops in along this road]
palawan provincial capitol 
feb. 16 – 1st stop: palawan butterfly garden 
this butterfy loves me
2nd stop: crocodile farm and nature park
3rd stop: rancho monica – the view from sen. mitra’s[+] house
4th stop: baker’s hill – one neat cr they have at baker’s hill
ahh, stomach upset
back in puerto princesa; the provincial capitol at night
feb. 17; beach by the gas station @ roxas – end of the 3-hour smooth road… a gruelling 3-hour travel follows
roxas stop: our rented van.. behind the van is the beach above
ahhhh spectacular sight - beachfront – view from our resort – this more than compensate the 3-hour bumpy ride [or the 6-hour trip]
hut 10; greenviews resort – corong-corong, el nido palawan
view of el nido beach
famed rock of el nido beach [5-7 minutes away by van from our resort]
el nido town
after lunch; view from the resort’s restaurant
another view from the restaurant
el nido town hall at night
dinner at balay tubay; cheap good food – loved their mashed potato [ a little place with the now defunct "kahayag" feel to it
balay tubay interior
feb 18; low tide in its truest sense [two of the motorized bancas in the pix were the ones we used for our whole day island hopping]
crystal clear water; vetlongwalks goes island hopping
1st stop: cudugnon cave
the beach outside the cave 
moi and al – on to our next stop
2nd stop: snake island [el nido's version; there's a bigger one in puerto princesa at honda bay if i'm not mistaken] [view from the mountain] 
3rd stop: pangalusian island
corals – view from the banca, hehe, don’t know how to snorkel
amazing boulders… you’ll see lots of this – makes you think there really is a supreme being who created this 
lunch stop: south miniloc island.. them foeigners stopped for lunch too
4th stop: the secret lagoon – to get here you’ve to do a 3-5 minute walk in knee-length wavy waters and then climb up to a small whole 
5th stop: the big lagoon
last stop; entrance to the small lagoon where i dared not venture [hehe, it's only 4 feet deep, but water past my waistline scares me to death]
feb 19; before going away pix
van stucked in the mud [3 hours of bad road; worst when it's raining as in this case]
lunch stop; roxas - end of the 3-hour rough road
vietville – the last vietnamese village in palawan
feb 20. underground river tour [official name of the underground river; changed to one below in order to meet the requirement of UNESCO - that is, a natural wonder should bear the name of the place where it's located]
boat station in sabang. the bancas will take tourists to the underground river [first come - first serve basis]
on our way to the underground river
mushroom stalactite
hehehe, camwhoring at the underground river [my sister's officemate paying close attention to the boatman as he explained the sights in the cave] 
the light; end of the underground river tour
the satisfied crew after the 45-minute tour
lunch at sabang’s tribal restaurant after the tour
buenavista view deck [this dude here is a backpacker extraordinnaire!! - story soon]
dinner at the famed ka lui restaurant [really strict reservation policy; advance warning - not for those who will not take off their slippers and shoes - the resto has squeaky clean - shiny wooden floorings]
moi in one of the souvenir shops at rizal avenue on our last night in puerto princesa – shops are located beside ka lui’s]
feb 21.: packed and ready to be back in cebu [waiting for the apartelle's van to take us to the airport]
leaving puerto princesa. the end of my palawan trip
this last pix says it all – one satisfied vacationer
minus the rough roads, the whole trip is the best i’ve had..
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[yes, miss deb - i recommend palawan, but i don't think the kids would enjoy the long-hour drive to el nido and other nice places.]
enjoy palawan!!! will find time to write about the details of the trip so you out there who is planning on a trip will have an idea of what to expect. but be warned, i’m no professional.
there's no special reason for the name except the love of putting my foot in front of the other until i'm breathless. traveling is a new found love for me. though i'm not blessed with beautiful-looking feet, i've gotten the habit of taking photos of my feet every time i set foot on lands outside of my beloved cebu. THANKS FOR VISITING!!! leave me a note or two. send it to vetlongwalks@yahoo.com or drop me a comment here. would love to hear from you!
BE WARNED: i'm no seasoned traveler nor a professional travel writer. contents here are purely accounts of my own travel experience.
[photo taken @ the palawan butterfly garden - feb.08]
-chocolate hills [carmen bohol]
-underground river palawan
-dapdap beach [anda bohol]
-el nido, palawan
-club fort med [boljoon, cebu]
-murcia, negros occidental
-dumaguete, negros oriental
-taal volcano [view from tagaytay]
-sunset in cavite
