Best of Ilocos Norte: Paoay Church: UNESCO Heritage site

Paoay church is famous for being one of the four remaining baroque churches in the Philippines listed as a UNESCO Heritage site. I've been able to visit San Agustin church in Intramuros, Manila when I was still in college and last year was able to visit Miag-ao Church in Iloilo when we went backpacking there. I wanted to visit Santa Maria Church in Ilocos Sur but I was not able to because of time constraints. Oh well, it will be one of the many reasons I would want to go back North, isn't it? ^_^.

Paoay Church, Paoay, Ilocos Norte, Philippines

Iloilo Travelogue#1: Miag-ao Church - the Baroque experience

One of the things that I've included in my travel bucket list is to see in person those few declared UNESCO heritage sites in the Philippines. I've always known that I will feel regretful when I'm already old and gray and not be able to visit any of those 8 sites when I had the energy and chance to do so. Luckily my husband supports these wishful thoughts and he agreed to celebrate our wedding anniversary backpacking in and around Iloilo province so that we will be able to spend time together and visit one of the four baroque churches that can be found in the southern town of this nose-like province - the Miag-ao Church.

This will be the first of the few posts about our travel experiences in Iloilo. I hope you'll enjoy reading it. :)

Travel bucketlist: Visit Miag-ao church - checked

Travel Bohol part 4 - Chocolate hills, Butterfly sanctuary, Hanging bridge

What would a visit to Bohol be if you would not see the great Chocolate hills, which was the number one tourist attraction here long before the white sand beaches of Panglao were discovered. Most of the scattered hills are situated at Carmen town which is about an hour and a half away from Panglao. So be prepared for the long drive.

The famous hills are actually protected under Proclamation No. 1037 that took effect on July 1, 1997. The two agencies implementing this act are the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS). Furthermore, the House of Representative introduced House bill No. 01147 on July 6, 2004 stating that the hills are considered a National geological monument, penalizing anyone who will cause their destruction and defacement. Good job congressmen! ^_^

Chocolate hills - Bohol, Philippines

Travel Asia: Winter in Beijing, China Part 6 (Great Wall of China)

"He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man" - Mao Zedong

Despite the cold weather and heavy snow, we're finally off to pursue one of my long time dream -- to climb the Great Wall, the symbol of Chinese ingenuity, enlisted as a UNESCO Heritage site in 1988 and also considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World in July  of 2007. It was set to fortify the borders of China against Northern nomadic tribes.

The closest gateway to the Great Wall is the Badaling gate which is situated in Yanqing County, around 70 kilometers from Beijing Central. The Badaling great wall is strategically reinforced a lot of times during the Ming Dynasty to defend the capital against Mongolian intruders. Standing in it actually made me feel like I'm Mulan. LOL :)

Me and the Great Wall

Travel Asia: Winter in Beijing, China Part 5 (The Summer Palace)

Oh Summer Palace! This is one place that I felt we could have explored more, said to be the largest and best preserved Imperial garden in China and was designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1990. It was meant to be, as the name implies -- the Summer vacation home of the emperor or empress during ancient times.

The dominant structure here is the Yu Feng Pagoda that is set on top of a hilly ground facing Kunming lake, the lake itself was actually extended in 1750 by the Emperor QianLong to imitate the famous West Lake in HangZhou. 

As an extensive traveler, the Emperor took notes of every beautiful places he's been in China and incorporated it in the construction of Summer Palace.

view of the Yu Feng Pagoda over a courtyard

Travel Asia: Winter in Beijing, China Part 3 - Temple of Heaven

Another tourist attraction worth seeing is the Temple of heaven, another UNESCO world cultural site, which is, (could you believe) much bigger than the Forbidden City and a little smaller than the Summer Palace. The temple was built in 1420 during the Ming Dynasty to offer sacrifice to the heavens for good harvest.  Like the many tourist spots in Beijing, it has an entrance fee (around CNY 20). Tip: Ask for a free map.


To get there: Travel via Subway Line 5 and get off at Tiantan Dongmen Station, leave from Exit A and you'll find the East Gate of the Park of  the Temple.

Imperial Vault of Heaven

Travel Asia: Winter in Beijing, China Part 2 - Forbidden City, Jingshan park, Belhai park

Another way to see the glory of the forbidden city is through Jingshan park which was originally a part of the Forbidden city until the 1900s but, when a road was put up, it was cut off from the city's Northern gate. It's a bit of a climb just like in Namsam Tower (if you've been in South Korea) but the view of the city from the top is all worth it. There's also a makeshift photobooth on top where you can get dressed up as an Empress or Emperor and have your picture taken and you can get a printed copy -- a worthwhile souvenir (hehe). My husband and I have one and it's now one of the best picture we have together. :)

view of Forbidden city from the top

Travel Asia: Winter in Beijing, China Part 1 - Hotel Kapok, Forbidden City, Tiananmen square

February 2011 - we decided to spend a very winter-y honeymoon in the very historic city of Beijing, China. Which we later found out was the perfect place to be during a Chinese New Year. Why? Two reasons:

(1) No foot traffic and (2) No vehicular traffic!

Beijing houses around 19.6M people according to Chinadaily and that's a "huge crowd" during rush hour if you ask me. It's very nice to know that during the two weeks celebration, almost everyone from the city has traveled back to their hometowns or provinces and are spending the National holiday with their families. So, we got to have the city all to ourselves (which is good since we are in our honeymoon). Travelling to get to the different tourist spots was a breeze.

The  Very Red walls - Forbidden City

Travel Asia: Autumn in South Korea Part 1

Autumn in South Korea: Part 1

I love to travel and I am grateful that God gave me the opportunity to see a little more of the world I know.

One of the most memorable travel that I had was with my then boyfriend and now husband, Dennis. When we went to Korea for a little R&R and backpacking in November of 2009. It was most memorable because we did not only get to see the UNESCO Heritage sites and  for me, experiencing autumn for the first time, but this is where he finally asked me to marry him.

After completing and compiling the required documents to get a Korean Visa. Our journey started off easy. We headed off to board the Cebu Pacific plane at around 7PM on November 10 and it flew us straight to Incheon International airport which is about an hour or so from the capital -- Seoul. I had a bit of a hard time at the immigration because of the "mugshot" picture in my passport (I can't wait to change my passport!!Arrgh!). But after that, everything went ----> cold. Yep, it is a big change of temperature for me since I came from the very hot and always summer-y islands of the Philippines. The usual weather here is about 24 degree Celsius (which is already cold for us) up to 32 degrees Celsius. So when we stepped out of the airport with a temp reading of 11 degree celsius, I went into shock. We wanted to know if there is an express train that goes from the airport to the city just like in Hongkong but the train is being constructed at the time. So we opted to ride a bus (which is much cheaper compared to taxis) to take us to a stop near the inn that we're scheduled to stay for the first 3 days. The bus system is very efficient. We easily got our tickets through a counter that is just outside the airport however, we had a hard time communicating with the driver where we needed to go. Since no one speaks English and there are no other tourist around, Dennis had to constantly check with the driver where our stop is but with no luck, the nodding driver dropped us at the wrong stop. And, so we walked the cold cold street of Seoul and tried to find our way through the map that we got from the airport. It's almost 1am now and the weather has become bitterly cold for us. We decided to just try our luck with a taxi. We waved at a black taxi that halted in front of us with no effort. We showed the taxi driver the piece of paper with the name and address of our hotel and crossed our fingers that he knows where to go, he called a number (probably the hotel) and spoke Korean, he nodded and we boarded the taxi with our luggages at the trunk. The driver entered something into his GPS system and made a quick U turn. After a few blocks, he stopped in a small inn in a narrow alley. Yim's house -- finally we're here. 

Note:

For info about the requirement and recent update in getting a Korean Visa if you're a Filipino, kindly visit the link below. As a tip, never submit your documents stapled and always have an extra copy of everything with you. Make sure all documents are complete. There will be no interviews, you'll just get a number, fall in line and pass all the requirements to the Korean consuls, she'll check it and give you a stub when to come back for your passport (usually it took about 3 to 4 days for us). DONT LOSE YOUR STUB.

http://embassy_philippines.mofat.go.kr/eng/as/embassy_philippines/visiting/visas/index.jsp

YIM'S HOUSE

Our home for the next 3 days. Yim's house,  is a budget friendly inn that serves well to "backpackers" like us. The internet is free, there is drinking water (hot and/or cold) outside the hallway that is also free for guests which came very handy since we usually have the urge to eat cup noodles or drink coffee or hot tea during our stay. Our room had two twin beds set in the far corners of the  main room, with a vanity table set in front of it, there's a small tv with cable, a small refrigerator, couple of chairs, the closet is right infront of the entry way, and we have our very own toilet and bathroom. Mr. Yim, checked us in and led us to our rooms reminding us to close the lights and all the appliances whenever we leave the inn and to use the slippers by the doorway whenever we step inside the main room. Our stay was quite okay for the first two days and convenient since it is near to almost all the tourist spot in the city, but, I guess the cold is getting into me. I felt the heater is not enough to warm the small room and having the bed leaning on the cold concrete walls when you sleep doesn't help fight the cold as well, I felt suffocated at times too and felt that the window curtains has never been washed and since it is a small room, the musky dust seemed to have settled inside and with the thin air, the smell won't go away. Anyway, it is comfortable as you can get with 35,000 Won a night (around PHP 1420.38 only or around $35), that is already a good deal with all their freebies. And, besides, we are not planning to stay in the room all the time, for the first three days that we're in South Korea, our itinerary was concentrated in visiting all the tourist spots in Seoul which includes all the UNESCO heritage sites in the city like the palaces -- Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung and Biwon garden etc. We also intend to visit the country side as well to see and get to know the people outside the bustling Seoul. 

SEOUL

Gyeongbokgung palace was our first stop; it is said to be the grandest among the five palaces in Seoul and it is. When I walked closer and closer to it's gate, the palace guards marching outside did a good job in making me feel I've stepped back in time. The long colored walls and arches of the palace gate already satisfied my eyes. I feel really grateful to have seen this wonderful place. And it costs only 3,000 Won or $3 (around PHP122) to see it. It's not also hard to find - Coming from Jongno subway station 3 switch to line 3 (going to Daewha line) and get off at Gyeongbokgung stop.Walk straight till you see the walls. After passing the inner courts of the Gyeongbokgung palace, there is a large park that accommodates the National Folk Museum and the National Palace Museum of Korea. I forgot if we pay a fee when we entered the National Folk Museum but I don't remember paying anything

the arches of Gyeongbokgung palace

Me outside the National Folk Museum

Anyway, it's a folk museum so expect to see the evolution of the Korean traditional clothes -- han-bok (which I regret not buying or trying one on when we were there). Well, knowing Dennis, I knew he wasn't that thrilled to enter the museum (or any museum at all) so we did not finish seeing the whole place and just went outside and walked around while we took more pictures. It was a big place and I couldn't seem to see where the walls stopped. When we got tired, we had a little coffee in this small cafe nearby. I was grateful there was a lot of walking involved, in this way, I will be able to get my blood circulating and not be able to feel the cold weather.

Me at the Lotus pond in Gyeokbukgung palace

Hyangwon-jeong, a hexagonal pavillion in the middle of a lotus pond sits on the north part of the palace and is said to be one of the most picturesque and photographed view of South Korea. You may think that it is a two strorey building but actually it is a three-storey building if you count the structure below the first floor. The King Kojong had it built in 1867, he had a pond dug in the south of it and the pavilion built on the island in the pond. They say, the king took many walks here. The bridge is not accessible to tourists though but it is really worth the visit. There are some picnic tables around the pond that I think will suffice if you want to enjoy a quiet day reading books or share a meal with a loved one.

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