Western Oz Adventures: Swan Valley

One of the highlights of my trip to Perth was going to Swan Valley. Jex was able to visit it during one of his work trips with some of his office mates and brought home a lot of nice goodies. He wanted to take me there but a prerequisite of going around Swan Valley is a car (or some sort of transportation to bring you around). After summoning my Google-fu I found several Swan Valley tours that we could take but eventually chose the Speed Grazing tour with Taste Bud Tours.

(Note: huge photo dump ahead)

Western Oz Adventures: Hillarys Harbour

One Sunday morning Jex took me to Hillarys Harbour. It was sunny and windy and perfect for taking photos.

Western Oz Adventures: Kings Park

What can you do in Perth as a tourist? Doing a simple Google search will bring up a list from TripAdvisor of popular attractions in Perth. The top 3 items on the list can all be found in one place - Kings Park.

Random Friday

My sister and I went to the mall last Friday to do a list of stuff. Ever since I became a bum going out has become a rarity so I took advantage of the opportunity to take photos.

Visiting Perth a.k.a. Honeymoon Part 2

I am a lazy kangaroo, just like in the photo above. Today, I am finally posting about my trip to Perth last December. Prepare for photo spam!

More Washi Tapes for Me!

Sooo...I bought more washi tapes. I'm a hoarder at heart so I don't know why I'm still surprised that I ordered 10 rolls of washi tapes just for me.

Kitchen Diaries: Tikoy Lumpia

My sister and I finally tried making tikoy lumpia! We usually get a box or two of tikoy during Chinese New Year and the way mom serves it is by dipping them in egg and pan frying. It's the only way I've ever eaten tikoy so when my sister told me about tikoy lumpia I really wanted to try it.

Kitchen Diaries: Chocolate Chip-Banana Mini Muffins

We don't have an oven at home because it was submerged in flood during typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana). You really never know what you have until it's gone. I never had the urge to bake anything while we still had an oven, but now the lack of it makes me want to bake so much!

Washi crazy

After our first set of washi tapes Set and I just had to have more! Heykessy restocked some of the designs we wanted to order the first time around so we grabbed the chance to get them. After much anticipation they're finally here!

Kitchen Diaries: Apple Crumble

I learned how to make crumble from my sister. She made a mixed fruit crumble before and I helped her make the crumble topping. It's really easy and simple to make so I thought of making it for Jex. Yay oven!

In the oven

Sunday Family Dinners: Stuffed Chicken & Mexican Red Rice

I was supposed to make the Mexican red rice along with the fish tacos, but I ran out of time so I decided to make it for our next Sunday dinner. I looked for a dish that would go well with the red rice and found a recipe for chicken breasts stuffed with apples and cheese on food.com. Cheese and apples are awesome together!

Also, I was able to take photos! I had my camera with me in the kitchen and man was it difficult to remember to take photos. I was able to take most of the photos at the start and at the end. Not much photos in the middle of the process, unfortunately.

My cheese choices for the stuffing

Sky Full of Lighters

I might be pimping this photo too much already, but it's only because I'm so happy with it.

This one's for you and me, living out our dreams
We're all right where we should be
Lift my arms out wide I open my eyes
And now all I wanna see
Is a sky full of lighters
A sky full of lighters

-- Lighters, Bad Meets Evil feat. Bruno Mars

Beijing Sojourn

Beijing Sojourn, a set on Flickr.

Finally sorted through my Beijing vacation photos, edited, and uploaded them. I still have Beijing day posts to write!

Water From the Ground

Fountain at the UP-Ayala Technohub

Red Orange

Beijing Part 3: 2nd Day

Dongzhong Street

East Gate Plaza is the service apartment we stayed in during our Beijing vacation. It's located along Dongzhong Street in the Dongcheng district of Beijing. It's around 45 minutes to an hour away from the Beijing Capital Airport 2. The area reminded me of the inner streets of the Makati CBD (Central Business District), except with wider roads. It felt like a nice area to live in. It was clean, had small shops and food places, near the mall and subway station, and, overall, felt like safe place. If ever (though, I doubt it) I get sent to Beijing for long-term work I'd like to stay in this area.

Beijing Part 2: 1st Day

It was around 10 or 11 in the morning when I woke up after 4 hours of attempting to sleep in the hotel lobby. It was the 15th and officially our first day in Beijing. According to our itinerary we were to visit the Lama Temple and Qianmen.

When we woke up Jex's dad had already come back from his solo exploration. He had already bought us Yikatong cards for the Beijing subway. Similar to the Octopus card in Hong Kong, the Yikatong is a contactless stored value smart card that you can use for paying for rides in the subway, bus, and even taxis. We never got to try using the Yikatong for other means aside from riding the subway, though. It costs 20 RMB to buy one card. You can load additional amounts into your card in stations using reloading machines. You can return the card, where you'll receive your 20 RMB deposit plus the amount of any remaining load in your card.

Photo credit: http://www.ginza-mall.com

Beijing Part 1: Introduction

Warning: Long post with lots of photos ahead

Beijing, also known as Peking, is the capital of the People's Republic of China (PRC). I honestly didn't know what to expect for our trip there, except that I had to bring some clothes fit for cold temperatures and comfortable walking shoes. Aside from the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, and maybe some temples, I also didn't know what else I'd be able to see there. I only did very light research on places to visit, traveling by subway, food, prices, and the weather. Compared to our Hong Kong trip last year, I was totally unprepared for Beijing. I wasn't too worried, though, since I'd be travelling with Jex's family.

We decided to have our bags cling wrapped for the flight going to Beijing. Why? Just to be safe. I'm not sure of the statistics, but there have been incidents where drugs or contraband were slipped into an unknowing person's bag in the airport. And with the recent execution of the 3 Filipino drug mules in China, well, you get the idea.

In NAIA Terminal 3, the wrapping service is provided by Protectabag. You can find their store/stand right near the counters where you pay for the
terminal fee travel tax. It only costs P160.00 per bag, no matter what size. So, what's the point of having your bag wrapped?

• Easy to detect if someone has tried to insert anything into your bag
• Easy to detect if someone has tried to open or get anything from your bag
• Accidental opening
• Minor handling damage
• Rain damage

I never knew you could open a bag's zipper by poking the zipper with a ballpoint pen.

International Travel Goal 2011

Last year, I promised myself that each year I would travel to at least one international destination and at least one local destination. Thanks to the Cebu Pacific's Piso seat sale I was able to visit Hong Kong with my sister last year. Luckily, I also got to fly to Bangalore, India because of work. Cebu & Bohol were my main local destinations for 2010.

I'll be flying off to Beijing later. I feel totally unprepared because unlike my Hong Kong trip last year, where my sister and I really had to plan our itinerary and figure out how to get around Hong Kong by ourselves, I am more of just tagging along. I read a few articles here and there on places to visit and how to get around, but nothing too detailed. So, right now I'll be printing out Beijing-related stuff in case we need it. I also downloaded a few apps on my Nexus One.

I'm just hoping to experience as much of Beijing as I can (hopefully the good stuff) and to bring home decent photos. I found a few photos on Flickr, which gave me inspiration.

The Great Wall by Gedsman

The National Centre for the Performing Arts by red ernest

The Temple of Heaven by Stuck in Customs

Nifty Fifty

I've been researching on what fixed zoom lens to get for my Canon 500D. It's only been less than a year since I got my camera and I'm pretty happy with the kit lens, but for the type of shots that I want to take it felt like I needed wanted a new lens.

I was choosing among several lenses:

• Canon EF 35mm f/2.0
• Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
• Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
• Sigma 30mm f/1.4