Snapshots: "Canang" Flower Offerings, Bali, Indonesia

Whenever I think of Bali, I'm reminded of canang - flower offerings placed in store fronts, sidewalks, on the dashboards of vehicles, and of course in temples. The offerings always provided a dash of unexpected color - and random picture perfect moments - in the most common places.

Twenty-Freaking-Five and Alive! The Epic Vietnam-Cambodia Trip

I've posted about this trip quite a few times already, and for good reason - it remains as, and probably will forever be, one of my life's greatest adventures.

Through this trip my love for travel was cemented. It was the first one that really took me out of the world I knew in such a massive, epic way, and I was pretty much in awe the entire time.

I have so many vivid memories from our trip to Cambodia and Vietnam, and often they come back to me randomly - sitting on plastic chairs in a roadside eatery at 2am on our first night/day in Ho Chi Minh; seeing Angkor Wat for the very first time at dawn on our first day in Siem Reap; walking along the lovely narrow streets of Hoi An; finding a tiny, hole-in-the-wall patisserie in Hue; and making friends with strangers on a junk boat cruise in Ha Long Bay. My two weeks in Vietnam and Cambodia remain to be two of the best and most unforgettable weeks of my life so far.

Cambodia





Hoi An, Vietnam


Hue, Vietnam



Hanoi and Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

Twenty-Freaking-Five and Alive! Bungee Jumping from Macau Tower

I don't know how it happened. The year has gone by so quickly, and now it's September, the month I turn twenty-freaking-five! I'm more than a little freaked out about the idea, and the dreaded Quarter Life Crisis isn't exactly helping. I could really use a vacation right about now, but life is crazy,and some much needed R&R will have to wait.

In any case, for this month I thought I'd post about my five favorite, most epic, most memorable travel moments so far, starting with jumping off a height of 233 meters in Macau!

Flanked by two friends (Mabz and Edz! You let me go up alone and sh**-scared to the top of Macau Tower so I could jump right off it, but you guys watched and waited patiently from the ground floor and I guess that was enough and all I could ask for! Thanks for keeping up with all my crazy! Because you guys are crazy too! Haha.) we visited Macau Tower bright and early on the official first day of our trip, having arrived in Macau the night prior. To be honest, I was hoping for bad weather - because I heard that you couldn't do the bungee jump in bad weather. Yes, some part of me really didn't want to do it. But the universe would have different plans as the sky was clear and pretty that day, which meant I was really going to do it. I was really going to freaking jump to my potential death.

After I had paid for the jump on the ground floor and rode the Elevator of Doom (seriously, longest elevator ride IN MY ENTIRE LIFE) to the top floor, I took my time at the viewing deck, delaying the inevitable, taking pictures to try to calm my nerves:

The staff overseeing the viewing deck must have noticed that I was about ready to burst into tears, so he talked to me a bit, showed me the side of the building where I was going to jump, and assured me that I was going to be okay, and that I was going to want to jump again after I did it. I didn't believe him then, but I can tell you now that it's true - it's been a year since the jump and I would really want to do it again (and I hope to do it again, maybe in New Zealand next!).

Thank you, Kuya, for being so nice to me! :D

After a while I kind of just thought, "F*** it, let's just get this over with" and proceeded to the top floor where the AJ Hackett headquarters was. They made me change my shirt and suited me up, and pretty soon it was time to jump.

I vividly recall standing on the edge of the tower, all geared up and ready, hands outstretched with my neck tilted up because NO THANK YOU I REALLY DID NOT WANT TO LOOK DOWN RIGHT NOW. I remember gasping for air because HOLY S**T I WAS SO HIGH UP AND PRETTY SOON I WAS GOING TO JUMP and I remember my fight or flight reflex kicking in for a millisecond, and for a millisecond I thought about stepping back to ask for more time, but I didn't want to be a wuss and I knew that if I backed out then that it would be that much harder to actually jump, so for the nth time that morning, I thought "F*** IT, LET'S REALLY JUST GET THIS OVER WITH!".

I remember leaning my body forward slowly, leaning forward just a little bit, and before I knew it, gravity was doing all the work, and I was falling and falling fast, with the most amazing, exhilarating feeling EVER. It wasn't like riding a roller coaster that made your stomach turn and churn with G forces, it was just... free falling, and this will probably sound cheesy and silly but I recall thinking "FREEDOM!" as I fell fast. Because I had jumped from so high up, there was actually time to revel in the moment, and it didn't go by as fast as I had expected. If you're going to bungee jump, it's best to jump from as high up as possible to make it totally worth your while.

After a while I had to deal with the recoil of the bungee cord, so I had to stretch up to reach my feet and pull on a chain that released the hold of the cord on my legs, so that I was only connected to the cord from the waist and was falling right side up instead of head-first (it's more comfortable since all the blood doesn't rush to your head). I wasn't even scared to release my legs - after you jump from a height of 233 meters you start to not get scared of a lot of things.

After the jump I realized that it was really the wait that killed you - the jump itself was not at all scary. You only had to get over the fear of actually doing it, of actually deciding to jump off that ledge, and the most amazing adrenaline rush awaited.

The fear before the jump though, is really part of the fun.

After you jump from Macau Tower they give you a Baller ID, a badge of honor of sorts, along with a t-shirt and a certificate, and - get this - a discount card for your next jump. With the discount card, you get your fourth jump from any AJ Hackett headquarters free! (A reminder that yes, bungee jumping is life changing, but it's also completely commercial as well, and a pretty lucrative business).

I wouldn't mind making AJ Hackett rich though. Because bungee jumping and free falling? Totally worth it.

Macau Tower, I conquered you!

last picture taken from here.

Snapshots: Sunset in Legian and Babi Guling in Ubud - Bali, Indonesia

Finally, free wi-fi! We're at a restaurant in Legian, Bali right now, surrounded by Aussies who are all watching an AFL match. Tiffy our Australian travel buddy flew out to Sydney last night (have fun at the John Mayer concert dude! Rissee, Jen and I will try to visit you next year, haha!) so there's no one to tell us what they're all cheering about. She did say that the AFL is a mix of football and rugby, though, is that right? I only follow and play tennis, sorry. Team sports kind of scare me. Haha.

Anyway, our five days and four nights in Bali went well! We went to the beach, went snorkeling, visited Ubud, went outlet shopping for Billabong and Ripcurl stuff, and had the EPIC babi guling, that is, spicy roasted suckling pig! Bali's a pretty interesting place - it looks so much like the Philippines, but there's so much about it that's so different from home. I guess that's how all foreign places are though. I've realized from all my trips so far that every place I've visited does remind me of home in one way or another, but that of course, it always has something new to offer too.

We're flying to Kuala Lumpur tonight, and from there, we're getting on a plane back to Manila tomorrow. It's been an epic trip! I can't wait to write about it and post pictures. Maybe I'll do it at the airport tomorrow. For now, here's a picture of the legendary Balinese Babi Guling!

Snapshots: Ion Orchard, Singapore

We're on Day 3 of our epic Asia trip for the year! Currently in Kuala Lumpur, getting a breather after our flight from Singapore. We'll be heading out to explore the city later.

Singapore was awesome! We got to go around the city on the first day and went shopping. Many thanks to Rox, our awesome hostess with the mostest, who took us around the city and treated us to great food (it was SO good it made Rissee cry - and I'm not even exaggerating!)! We capped our first night in Singapore by taking on the G-Max Reverse Bungee in Clarke Quay - which was INSANE! Shout-out to Rissee and Tiff who did the ride with me! Thanks for bearing with my unsexy screams. Haha.

On the second day we went to Universal Studios - which was also pretty awesome! A shout-out to Mabz who did the scary roller coaster rides (and the futuristic tea cups - she hates those tea cup rides, haha!) even if it was more than a little against her will. GOOD JOB!

Finally, a trip to Singapore won't be complete without the shopping - and shopping we did! Shout-out to Edell, who shopped her heart out at the Bugis Market and went with me to Cotton On and Rubi - cute 10-dollar flats for the win!

More pictures and updates soon! Heading out to Bali tomorrow. Yay!