Snapshots: Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

It's been gloomy and rainy all week here, so I thought a nice, sunny picture of the beach would cheer us up some. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Snapshots: Carmeli's Glasses, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

My friend Carmeli's sunglasses on our trip to Kota Kinabalu. Cute right? :)

Snapshots: Monsopiad Headhunter Village, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Yes, those are human skulls, prized items from days and years past when headhunting was still being practiced in Sabah. Now the Monsopiad Cultural Village opens its doors to tourists who want to know more about what it's like to live in one of these villages. When my friends and I went, we got to watch a performance of a traditional dance by the young ones of the village, and even got to participate in the show (haha). We also tried our hand at their ancient weapons, which was pretty fun, after which we politely declined their offer/challenge to eat a traditional snack of living, breathing woodworms, which seemed terribly horrifying. (You can make me jump off a tower with just a bungee cord tied to my leg, but it takes an entirely different kind of balls to eat uncooked, living organisms. Except yogurt.)

Snapshots: Kokeshi Dolls, Malaysia

A favorite pasalubong or souvenir that I like to give to my female friends and family, in different forms - from actual kokeshi dolls, kokeshi doll pens, to even umbrellas that look like kokeshi dolls!

Snapshots: Friends Off To The Beach, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Carmeli, Edell and Dale in Tungku Abdul Rahman Marine Park in Kota Kinabalu, from our trip way back in 2008.

Snapshots: Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

My friends and I are off to the beach for the long weekend for some much-needed R&R! On Saturday we fly to the esteemed beaches of Boracay - certainly not the quietest beach in the Philippines, but I am hoping for some quiet "me" time to reflect and think about life in general, chori burger and margarita in hand. :P

In anticipation of the weekend, here's a picture of a beach in the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. I remember swimming a few meters away from the shore here and being able to feed and snorkel among schools of fish. It's a lot of fun until they start nibbling on your finger instead of the bread you're holding out for them. :)

And this is completely out of topic, but wow, WAY TO GO JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO ON WINNING THE US OPEN MEN'S SINGLES FINAL AGAINST ROGER FEDERER! I loved how, when he was asked if he was going to buy something to treat himself using his US Open prize money, he answered "Maybe cheesecake for my [21st] birthday." Too cute! I'm still a Rafa fan but I have to hand it to this guy, he's got nerves of steel for sure, and so young at only 20 years old! VAMOS DELPO!

Snapshots: A Biweekly Photo Journal

It takes me a while to post entries about my travels, mostly because it takes me a long time to write, and to compound the issue, I don't always have the opportunity to just sit down and flesh out my journeys into words (you might then ask, "Why the heck do you still write a blog, then?" The answer, my friend, is simple - writing and traveling are my passions, and this blog affords me the luxury to put them together. So I might not have all the time in the world for them now, but someday I will, and until that happens, I make do with what I have...but I digress).

What I have a lot of, however, are pictures from my trips - heaps and heaps of them tucked away in folder upon folder within my trusty hard drive, gathering dust, or shall I say megabytes? So starting next week, I'll share two random travel photos with you every week for as long as I have pictures to post!

The picture above was taken in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia last year. I went on a three-day trip that cost my friends and I only PhP 13,000 each for everything - airfare, accommodations, food, shopping, and various activities. But more on that next time, and more pictures soon! For now, I leave you with this picture of my friend Carmeli's funky heart-shaped sunglasses - incidentally, it's her birthday today! Happy birthday Carmz, I miss you! And to everyone else, 'till the the next snapshot!

Blogging from Kota Kinabalu: Last Day!

(Note: this post was originally published on my personal blog)

We are flying back to Manila tonight! It's been a great trip. Yesterday was a blast - we went on a jungle trek and crazy things happened, the kind that only happen to stupid tourists like us...hahaha! We also went to the Poring Hot Spring. To cap off the night, we walked by the wharf where there is a strip of restaurants and pubs and we went and had drinks at the Shamrock Irish Pub. We drank pints of Irish beer and I also had a Shamrock Sunrise, which I guess was an Irish version of Tequila Sunrise, and all this while watching football on ESPN. Very Irish, yeah?

I'll post pictures another time, as we are headed out for a tour of the city, after which we'll be visiting the cultural village and possibly the wildlife zoo, and then we'll go straight to the airport.

Blogging from Kota Kinabalu: The Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park (Day 2)

(Note: this post was originally published on my personal blog)

Yesterday we went to the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park and visited three beautiful white sand beaches:

Mamutik Island - my favorite island out of the three. Mabelle, Dale and I went snorkeling and there was so much fish! They follow after you thinking you would feed them bread. The sand was powdery white and the water was nice and warm.

Manukan Island - the biggest of the three islands, and it had the most people. Look, there are pine trees by the beach!

Sapi Island - they had huge komodo dragons (at least we think they were komodo dragons) just walking around the island!

We then had dinner at a restaurant a few doors beside our hostel.

Carmz and I got to walk around the city after dinner while the others watched Twilight. More on that next time, but here's a strange picture - they had these crustaceans trapped in mineral water bottles inside an aquarium and I'm thinking, how did they manage to fit those in there? My theory is they raised those crustaceans inside the bottle since they were very very small...which is kind of sad and cruel! Let's hope my theory isn't true.

Today we're headed for Kinabalu park...I love this whole free internet thing at the lodge!

Blogging from Kota Kinabalu!

(Note: this post was originally published on my personal blog)

We're here! Arrived early evening last night. Some pictures from the plane:

We are staying in a place called Lavender Lodge, a simple hostel of sorts for backpackers. It's my first time to stay at a place like this and I might even like it better than staying at hotels, because it's a lot like living in someone else's house as a guest. But no one brings your stuff around for you and we had to lug our bags to the fourth floor of the building, which is cool I guess - adds to the whole "roughing it" experience.

Today we are headed for the Tunkuh Abdul Rahman Marine Park - I hope I got that right. We're going island hopping and snorkelling yay! And tomorrow we go to the Kinabalu Park to do a bit of hiking, check out the hot spring and go on a canopy walk. Laters!