Snapshots: Angkor Wat, Cambodia

I'm reminiscing about my epic Vietnam-Cambodia trip on my next post!

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: AJ Hackett Bungy Jump, Macau Tower

It’s been exactly a year since I grabbed life by the balls and freaking jumped off Macau Tower! Thank you AJ Hackett, your business is life-changing. I may work for a multinational medical and consumer company that helps improve and even saves lives, but your adrenaline-inducing services are just as necessary to life. I can’t wait to do business with you again (I really want to bungee jump in New Zealand! Somebody, anybody, please sponsor me! Haha).

I’ll write about my Macau Tower bungee experience this week, do watch out for it!

A Guide to San Juan, Laiya, Batangas, Part 3: Cafeño

My last few posts have been about some memorable cafes I've been to, so I thought I'd close out this series with an entry about a lovely cafe from my home province of Batangas.

Cafeño can be found at the heart of San Juan, Laiya's poblacion or town proper, right beside the gas station. It's a portion of a big ancestral house, and the cafe stays true to this with an old-world kind of feel, which I love:

That's my Mom and Dad! :)

My family always stops by here after a day at the beach, and our usual orders are the Adobo Flakes, Eggs Benedict Longganisa(done Filipino-style - on pandesal!) and the Kapeng Barako Ice Cream Sundae:





Apparently their specialty is Churros served with Spanish Cocoa, which sounds really delicious - I ought to try that the next time I visit.

On our beach trips, we usually leave San Juan at around sunset to head home, and on the particular trip when I took these pictures, the light was particularly warm and orange, and it was just perfect for pictures. So I'm throwing this in as the last photo, because I think it's rather pretty, and I'm calling it "Table for One" ('cause I'm cheesy like that :P):

Cafeño
No. 9 Cor General Luna and Rizal St.
San Juan, Batangas, Philippines
Phone (043) 575-5161
Open Monday-Sunday, 8:00 am to 8:00 pm
Cafeño Facebook Page

Snapshots: La Boulangerie Francaise, Hue, Vietnam

I love the random little places one finds when traveling. Our brief stay in Hue, Vietnam last year wasn't particularly special, and perhaps the least eventful of our Vietnam-Cambodia trip. But Tiff, Jen and I finding this random little bakeshop in one of our strolls along the streets of Hue was at least memorable.

The food wasn't particularly spectacular, to be honest - a few different kinds of affordable pastries and decent coffee - but we were drawn to the place somehow, and found ourselves coming back more than twice in the few days we were in Hue. I guess the fact that it just seemed out of place where we found it made it alluring, and gave it a unique charm.