Food Trippin Baler: Bay's Inn Restaurant

Our weekend escape in Baler isn't complete without the yummy dishes in places around offers. Near Bahia de Baler is an inn at the beach side. It is known as Bay's Inn, and it has a restaurant where most of the people come to eat. The place is just beside the beach and cool breeze and a combination of nice view will greet you as you go here to dine.

The place is big enough to accommodate large number of people. They have seating at the covered area and some are found just outside, nearer the beach area. Most of the tables can be rearranged as to how many the guests are. In our case, we always get to make them long tables since we are a large group. The crews are friendly and they quickly attend to your needs. However, during peak hours, they may seem to ignore you but constant reminding and a friendly smile can make them attend to you faster.

Place to Stay in Baler: Bahia de Baler

On our Baler trip, we booked Bahia de Baler for our over night stay there. It is located at Sabang Beach. It is a resort near the beach and is a few walk away from the sands and the sun.

We got there at around 6 in the morning. Our check in time was at 2pm and they were kind enough to let us leave our stuff there while we go around and tour the town. Their receiving area was nice. It has some couch near the counter for waiting guests. The facilities around are also good. They have a mini gym for the guests. Also, at the back, you can see that they have some animals in large cages. One looks like a deer and there is a bird on the other side. The place is nice and clean and all green. It is refreshing to feel the morning breeze there as the leaves danced with the wind.

Weekend Escape at Baler: Surfing the Waves with Mahdox Surf Shop and School

Since Baler is famous for surfing, the challenge for my trip with UPLB COSS, my college organization, is to conquer and ride its waves. After our long trip from Manila to Aurora and touring the town and admiring its beauty, our last day was dedicated for the challenge of the sea that awaits us.

We went to Mahdox Surf Shop and School which is a few blocks away from Bahia de Baler. They offer surfing lessons with rent of a surf board for Php350. The lessons is for an hour which means, you have an hour to try to stand on a surf board without getting wiped out. 

Backpacking Singapore: Orchard Road

Orchard Road is a famous tourist destination in Singapore. It is considered as the retail and entertainment hub of the city. It is a one way street with lots of stores along it. Most of the branded items are found here, all you have to do is walk the streets and enjoy shopping or window shopping on the different things on the stores. This place is a shopaholic's heaven.

The road got it's name from the different fruit plantations on it during the 1800's. However today, the place is all buildings and stores all around save for the trees along the streets. Tall buildings line the streets along with the displays that will sure attract people walking by.

Backpacking Singapore: Haw Par Villa

One of our goals for our Singapore trip was to look for cheaper alternative in touring around. We researched on some places that offer free admission and we had Haw Per Villa on the list which is located at Pasir Panjang Road. We got there by their bus system which was about an hour ride from our place in Clarke Quay.

We got up at around 7am in the morning so that we can leave the in at around 9am. We have a lot planned on that day and we need to start early so that we can do everything. We went to North Bridge Road, near Funan DigitaLife Mall and waited for SBS 51 bus at the bus stop there. We should have waited at South Bridge Road at Boat Quay because it was just across the street we are staying in. Waiting for Bus 51 takes time and so you need to wait for a while before it arrives.

Place to Stay in Singapore: River City Inn

For our four day stay in Singapore, we pre-booked an inn so that there is no hassle when we get there. We booked River City Inn which is a backpacker's inn found in Hong Kong Street in Clarke Quay in Singapore.

From the MRT station, we got into Central Mall which is accessible from the station. We got across the mall and a few blocks from there is Hong Kong Street and just a few walk is River City Inn. We got there on our first day in Singapore just to leave most of our baggage. Originally, we planned to leave the stuff at a friend's house but it was quite far. As we talked to the owner of the inn, we learned that we could leave our bags there for a day for a fee. They charged us SGD3 each baggage and we availed of it. It is better and convenient for us since our booking was for the next day when we get back from our day tour in Malaysia.

Weekend Escape at Baler

My org mates invited me to spend a weekend with them at Baler, and being the travel junkie that I am, I instantly said yes. We are off to Baler for the weekend!

Baler is a municipality in Aurora. It is the capital of the province. History tells us that before Aurora was a province, it was under Tayabas, which is known as Quezon Province today. Aurora was named after former President Manuel L. Quezon's wife and soon was separated and was named as a province. Baler is the birthplace of former President Quezon and so, the town honors him.

Food Trippin' Pampanga: Lunch at Aling Lucing Sisig

My brother needs to break in his new car and he planned for a a road trip on the long weekend of August. The plan was go to Clark, Pampanga, go to Pure Glod Duty Free and then go back home. It was the first time I got excited and so, I researched because I didn't want to settle for that plan, I want to food trip too! I researched and learned that near Clark is a famed Sisig Place nearby in Angeles City, the town just next to Clark, and so off we went to my special request to have lunch at Aling Lucing Sisig.

Aling Lucing Sisig is found on Valdez Street in Angeles City Pampanga. It is just near the Clark, a jeepney ride away. Since we are using our phones as GPS, we managed to get it's direction and followed it. This is their original branch and some blogs says that the one found in malls or in other branches does not compare to it. i am not sure but since we are already near the original place, might as well go to it and have a taste of this famous dish they have.

Place to Stay in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Fern Loft Inn

Our arrival at Malaysia for our day 2 trip is around 1am in the morning. We initially planned to just stay at a 24 hour mall but later on, while planning the itinerary of this trip, we decided to look for an accomodation so that we could have a place to sleep and take a shower before we go on our day trip at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We chose Fern Loft Inn for our short time 
stay there.

Located in Chinatown, we grabbed a cab after Aeroline dropped us off at Corus Hotel. The cab was about RM35 and we felt we were fooled by the cab driver since the other group paid less. It was very uncomfortable in the cab, thankfully there were many of us in there. The good thing about it is that cab drivers in Malaysia are ready to call the place wherever you are going to ask for directions. One thing you will never see in cab drivers here in the Philippines. We reached the area after a long while because the cab driver needs to gas up before going to Chinatown. We arrived at the area after several minutes of searching and trying to call up the place. The cab dropped us off a place similar to Manila. We waited for the others and after a while, decided to check in because someone might take our reserved room.

Taiyaki Treat for Snack

Taiyaki is a Japanese fish-shaped cake usually with filling inside. It is a common snack in Japan and it comes with various filings inside such as red bran paste, custard, chocolate, cheese, etc.

I have known this snack for a while now since we discovered a small stall along Muntinlupa National Road selling this. It was owned and managed by a Japanese man and his family. You can see him usually cooking the fish-shaped cakes as people queue up to order.

Backpacking Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: A Visit at Petronas Twin Towers

After our tour at KL Tower, we rode a cab going to Petronas Towers, our next stop on our one day trip in Kuala Lumpur. Petronas Twin Towers is considered to be the tallest building in the world when it was completed in 1998 and lasted until Taipei 101 was completed in 2004 which surpassed it. However, it still remains the tallest twin towers in the world today. It is approximately 1,483 feet high and has 88 floors in it. The two towers is joined by the Sky Bridge joined in the 41st and 42nd floor.

Visitors can actually go up the tower but there are only 1000 tickets that are available everyday and it comes with a first come first serve basis. Usually, people line up here early in the morning just to go up this famous structure. Since we got to Kuala Lumpur at dawn and we were so tired, we just opted to sleep our way in the comfy beds of our inn and just decided to go here before we go back to Singapore.