Ironwulf.net: En Route – The Philippines, Travel, Photography Blog

Let’s literally go beyond what North Luzon is mostly known for. Go past the borders of Ilocos Norte and step into the neighboring town of Claveria in Cagayan. I was awed by the raw beauty of Claveria even under gloomy skies on my first visit that I immediately planned a return trip soon after I got back to Manila. I was able to spend a few days here with my friends and found it as a destination in itself. Here you can find a dedicated video, the itinerary and travel budget chart for claveria and a side-trip to Tuguegarao.

When at sea, jelly fishes creeps me out. When beach waters are populated by these I’m hesitant to swim through. Imagine getting scars, itchiness and even fatal wounds from them. Last thing I want is getting myself pee-ed on just to neutralize the poison, or so I heard. I know I try to avoid them when I see them but I also can’t help but be fascinated by them as well. These semi-transparent sea creatures are very graceful dancers of the sea. And I find them even more fascinating when I saw a lot of them in Manila Ocean Park’s separate exhibit, Jellies, Dancing Sea Faeries.

I know we came to Singapore for BEP but we’ll not ignore the last act of the night Beyonce. It took two hours of waiting under a new DJ spinning some house music. But this lady just entranced the audience the minute she appeared on the stage. She’s just an amazing performer and I really got a kick when she did a cover of Alanis Morrisette’s You Oughta know in between her song “If I Were A Boy”. Her tribute to Michael Jackson was also moving. Of course she capped off the set with her famous “Single Ladies” with all the youtube videos of people doing their own versions at the start to lead to her actual performance.

Department of Tourism Philippines and MTV Asia has a joint project soon to be launched first thing in October. We were fortunate enough to get an exclusive preview of their collaboration with renowned Filipino-American Apl.de.ap (Allan Pineda Lindo) of Black Eyed Peas called “Take Me to the Philippines”

Coming from the Petronas Skybridge we went down the basement level of KLCC Suriya Mall and headed to a long pedestrian tunnel going to the Concourse level of Kuala Lumpur Convention Center to visit the Aquaria KLCC. I’m excited to see this and see how different it is from our very own Manila Ocean Park.

I was swatting mosquitoes while sitting on the Northern Bus Station in Vientiane. It was 7:30pm, 30 minutes before my boarding time and I started applying a mosquito cream lotion on my exposed skin. There were several buses online and I wondered which one would be the VIP bus I would be taking. I saw other foreigners starting to move on to the last bus on the right. Yep it was our bus, “Luang Prabang” as the sign says. I placed my large pack at the lower storage and hopped in.

I just can’t get enough of Batanes so I’m making another post on Sabtang. If I really have enough time, I would spend months just exploring all the corners of the islands of Batanes. Here’s a video of what is like traversing the road to Chavayan, the southern town in the charming little island of Sabtang. That coastal road scene just sticks in your mind. Also included is a short drive to Nakanmuan natural arc at the white beach. Video after the jump.