Pyin U Lwin: With Strangers at the Hike to Anisakan Falls

“Why am I hiking when I had little sleep?” were my thoughts as we descend a steep dirt trail. We were headed to Anisakan Falls, one of the sites in my list of places to visit in Pyin U Lwin. But what was most bewildering are the 3 girls joining the hike aside from my motorbike driver that I hired. I don’t remember hiring guides or porters at that little shop at the trail jump-off earlier.

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Bagan: Breakfast in Myinkaba, Manuha Paya and Nan Paya

Day 4 of my journey in Myanmar has been great so far, especially with that magnificent sunrise over Old Bagan. We made our way to the village of Myinkaba, just along the road between Old Bagan and New Bagan. Breakfast was the first order of the day and it was also a great way to observe the locals on their more relaxed pace. I noticed the similarity with Myanmar’s neighboring Indo-China country like Laos and Vietnam who likes to have breakfast at the streets, particularly tea houses. I pulled out a chair and sat down with Mime and ate like how the Burmese eat.

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Batangas: A Weekend Wind Down in Balayan

It’s one of those trips that I just said yes without knowing exactly where I was going. I was yearning for a downtime after a somewhat busy week that I was ready to escape anywhere. It was an invitation to check out a resort in Batangas but I only knew of the details that day when I got into the car onto a road trip down south. We were going to Balayan, a town virtually out of the radar among four of us in the car. So following a crudely drawn map, a series of instructions and some pictures landmark as puzzles, we rolled on with a sense of adventure to find the resort named Blue Dolphin.

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Surigao del Sur: A Side Trip to Hinatuan Enchanted River and the Sibadan Fish Cages

The Enchanted River in Hinatuan was one of the places I was looking forward to in our Surigao del Sur trip. First seen on the famous Travel/Docu show “Born to be Wild”, I was immediately curios to see it for myself. Mid-day after taking lunch coming from Tinuy-an Falls, we proceeded to Hinatuan which is roughly an hour away from Bislig. Finding it gave a sort of mix feelings. Only to discover it’s not how I envisioned it seen from the famed TV show.

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Surigao del Sur: Tinuy-an Falls, Philippine’s Widest Waterfalls in Bislig

We made a good decision to delay our visit to Tinuy-an Falls the day before and opt for Hagonoy Island. Our driver, who I call Pacman, told us the falls grounds were crawling with visitors and the parking area extended a few hundred meters from the entrance. But when we got there early mid-morning, the crowd was manageable and we headed for the entrance with excitement flowing as strong as the lower cascades of the falls. We paid the P50 entrance fee and we’re in.

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Sagada Leisure Escape Chronicles

Finding myself back in Sagada just after at least a month of being there just shows how much I like the place. But my recent visit was all about rest and relaxation. No marked to do list and just see where it goes. Even so, it was a very interesting 3 days spent. A unique encounter with the cows at Lake Danum, some unexplored falls and an easy stroll downtown. Here’s just a recap of those days.

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Mountain Province: Going Offbeat in Sagada at Tap-ew’s Seven Waterfalls

“There’s a Seven Falls here in Sagada?” I asked again as It definitely caught my attention after hearing from the guy manning the registration booth at the Town Hall. We were originally planning to go to Bomod-ok Falls up north but he let us in on the idea of trying this one out since it’s a newly opened trail in Tap-ew, south of Sagada. He searched for a video in his computer then showed us the falls. We were immediately captivated that we knew we had to see it for ourselves.

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