Beach Bonding on White Pink Sand of Sta. Cruz Island

This was the day I was waiting for, our visit to Santa Cruz Island. What makes me excited to visit Santa Cruz Island? Well, it’s pink beach. Yes! The beach has pinkish sands. Only rare beaches has this shade of sand.

We woke up early, ate our breakfast and prepared for our trip to Santa Cruz Island. It was drizzling and I was worried if how the sea waves are since my Aunt Maria told me we’ll not pursue the trip if the waves are notorious. Good thing we still pursue the trip despite the on and off drizzle.

On Vacation to Zamboanga City

Few months ago my Aunt Josie and my cousins (Jason, Patrick and Brendan) from Australia flew to the Philippines to spend one month vacation. Part of their vacation was spent touring around Zamboanga City, Cebu and Bohol. Since I was the most traveled member of our family, I was the one who attended everything about the trip. I should have recommended Boracay but I suggested Cebu and Bohol to them instead as I wanted to revisit these places. Also, Panglao seems inviting. We have relatives who lives in Zamboanga City so accommodation and food were not something to ponder about.

Sinulog 2012 | The Grand Parade Carousel

It's been almost a week but I still have Sinulog hangover. I can't get over with the experience I had during the festival. Actually, I have never been to any major festivals here in the Philippines, and so when I watched the Sinulog Grand Parade Carousel, it made me more enthusiast to witness more festivals here in the Philippines.

 

Sinulog is an annual festival held on the third Sunday of January in Cebu, Philippines. It's a celebration to honor Santo Niño, or the child Jesus, who used to be the patron saint of the whole province of Cebu.

Up North | 3D / 2N Ilocos Trip

Have you checked our Philippine holidays proclaimed for this year? We've got a lot of long weekends this 2012 and that means a lot of chance to travel, it could be overnight or 3 days and 2 nights. That might sounds short period for some to chill and to explore but there are ways for us to enjoy those travel days.

One proof that I fully enjoyed a trip for 3 days and 2 nights is when I traveled to some provinces in Ilocos region.

How to get there? Ilocos can be reached by bus or by plane. Two major buses that ply from Metro Manila to Laoag are Partas Bus and Florida Bus. Travel time takes about 10 hours or so. But if the long road trip isn't good for you, you can travel by air via Cebu Pacific or AirPhil Express. Travel time takes about 1 hour and 25 minutes.

We got a promo fare when we went to Ilocos, our ticket is from Manila to Laoag.

Airbnb | Week-long Stay at Shaw Residenza

A lot of hotel reservations, vacation rentals and short term accommodations are now raging online. I  wasn't familiar of these online services before until my cousin introduced it to me. From then on, I use these services whenever I look for hotels and cheap accommodation. And ask if these are secured and legit? Yes they are, I haven't found any problem at all. Recently, I used Airbnb to look for cheap accommodations for my Australian relatives during their visit here in the Philippines. It's hard to look for a place to stay but with the help of Airbnb I was able to find a good place that suits the needs of my relatives - price, accessibility, security, comfort and cleanliness.

I found Airbnb easy to use when looking for a place to stay. You only need to input the place you wanted to stay, inclusive dates and number of guests, then it'll list the recommended accommodations for you.

Where in Hong Kong?

Hong Kong is a small country with full of attractions and tourist spots. We spent almost 5 days of our holidays in Hong Kong and with a day side trip in Macau. But I supposed 5 days isn't enough to get to many destinations Hong Kong can offer. We still missed some places that are worth visiting, and I wanted to go back soon.

Anyways, before I end up my Hong Kong - Macau travel series I'd like to create a post with regards to places we've stayed, eaten and shopped during the trip.

Where We Stayed? Looking for a place to stay during a travel is difficult. A lot of things need to be considered like location, amenities, safety, and service. We stayed at Cosmic Guest House. The guesthouse is located at Mirador Mansion, 54-64 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Almost all guest houses in Hong Kong is located in buildings.

"Mirador Mansion"

The Peak + Symphony of Lights

It was our last day to stroll around and visit some tourist attractions in Hong Kong. We have our flight back to Manila the next day, early in the morning so we have to enjoy the most out of our last day in Hong Kong.

We were so dead tired from all the activities we had from the past few days of our trip so we wanted to have a more relaxed and not in a hurry trip this time. It was actually hard for me to get up from bed that day but my Aunt wanted to meet us up and have lunch somewhere in Mong Kok. She told me to meet her at McDonald's in Jordan area.

From our guesthouse in Mirador Mansion, we rode a train from TST (Tsim Sha Tsui) Station going to Jordan. It doesn't take us long to get to Jordan Station since it was just one station away but it took us a long time to locate where exactly the McDonald's she's talking about. There's a lot of McDonald's and I forgot to ask what exit should we take. Anyways, I just called my Aunt and she instructed me the direction.