Mac and Cheese in South America Video is Here!

Shout out to our friend Marvin Hernandez for taking the time, choosing and patiently stitching clips from our gazillion videos. Thank you!

So this was my fiancé and I's 2-month South America adventure compressed into a 6-minute visual display. I can still feel the chill!

I Made It To Machu Picchu!

It was everything I hope it could be, and more. Seeing the real thing, wow, Machu Picchu, it's sublime. You'll know what I mean when you see it :)

This is our first view of Machu Picchu from Inti Punku or Sun Gate for tourists that opted to hiked Inca Trail to get there.

This is me fighting the tears lol jk.

That's the llama and ongoing maintenance construction that will greet you on the way to the ruins. Caution: heavy foot traffic. Pakadaming tao even if it was just 8 in the morning!

And here's my holy grail in its glorious, unedited beauty.

I didn't cry. It's impossible to cry when you're surrounded by a bunch of tourists pressuring you to be over with your photo ops/personal moments/whatnots asap so they can have theirs too. They're vicious like that. I did, however, had this loony smile plastered all over my face the whole time. It was so surreal, I really have no words.

Mac&Cheese in Machu Picchu!

I'm still writing down everything, trying to relive what happened so it's gonna take me quite a while to put it out here aside, of course, from being a painfully slow writer.

I don't want to say it was the greatest day of my life - although it's super close enough - since I do believe that there will be more days like this. I will strive to create more days like this. It was, however, the greatest and happiest 2 months of my life I'm not sure how can I ever top it.

I did it, WE did it!

There are days I'd still want to pinch myself. Looking at photos I couldn't believe we were really there. Sometimes I want to high five myself for a job well done because believe me it really wasn't easy. I'm not rich, I don't have a fat bank account not even parents nor relatives to support me financially.

Does that make me a stuck up jerk? I hope not. All I did was hold on to my dream and persevere. It might sound a cliché but it's true: dreams do come true if you work hard enough for it. No matter how long it takes you to dream it, believe that you can. Sooner or later it will.

Malaysia and Singapore Day 1: Kuala Lumpur

This post is extremely late but I'm still gonna try anyway. Happened almost 2 years ago ( (February 23-27, 2012!). I booked a Clark - Kuala Lumpur - Clark flight for 2 persons through Airasia that cost me PhP3810. This was in the time when connecting buses from Trinoma to Clark airport was still non-existent.

The Cheese and I had to take a bus all the way to Dau terminal which was no problem at all as most buses going up north stop by Dau bus terminal. I think we only paid 88 pesos each. Then from Dau terminal we just had to walk a few meters to Jollibee and looked for the airport shuttle service that will take us to Clark International Airport. We paid 50 pesos each contrary to the 100-peso fare I've read from other commuters' blogs most probably because there were more than 6 passengers inside. If there were less people and we absolutely must have to leave already, we'd probably pay 100 pesos each too.

Check-in was a breeze as well as immigration (even though the officer behind the counter asked me STILL what's my purpose of travel and how am I related to my companion - which still scares me!).

Then we're off. By the way, the Cheese and I agreed that one of the flight attendants looked exactly like Carmen Soo that we had to sneak in our cameras just to take her photo.

We landed at LCCT after 3 1/2 hours. Though branded (well the name says it all anyway) as a budget airport - aside from serving as Malaysia's domestic hub - LCCT is a very busy airport with very diverse travelers. You only have to look to your left or right to realize this.

Immigration, though long, was also a breeze (thank goodness!). We exchanged a bit of our dollars into ringgit in one of the money changers open so we can pay for our bus tickets from LCCT to KL Sentral Station - Kuala Lumpur's transportation hub. One of the first things you have to remember when traveling to mainland Malaysia is the distance of the airport to the city. It's about an hour away by bus. In reality, this really makes sense because you are saved from the airport-to-city congestion, like we have here in Manila, that normally occurs when airport is smacked right in the middle of a city. 

We bought our Skybus ticket to KL Sentral first for RM9 then decided to eat first at one of LCCT's restaurants. We chose Marrybrown because despite the name, it screams of local. Indeed, Marrybrown is to Malaysia what Jollibee is to Philippines.

After a quick super late lunch at Marrybrown, we boarded the Skybus that will take us to KL Sentral. I was impressed at their suburbs, the road condition and the almost non-existent traffic. Not sure if we were just lucky.

We arrived at KL Sentral around 4.30pm Although it is not exactly one you could call state of the art, as a Filipino I appreciate what they did there. KL Sentral is your central point to almost anywhere. Buses, electric trains, high speed trains, monorail and intercity trains can be found in KL Sentral.

Our IT was a bit hectic. We're squeezing in as much sights and activities in as little time as possible. That same day, we're to board a sleeper train to Singapore (more about that later). With a very exhausting IT in mind, I've searched for ways to lessen our burden while we explore a bit of KL before our 11pm train ride to SG. I specifically looked for rental lockers in or near the area to leave our humongous longpack and backpack so we won't have to carry them on our backs for about 6 hours. Good thing KL Sentral has electronic rental lockers! For RM5, we were able to squeeze our longpack in their small-sized locker. The locker was actually spacious than what we originally thought. 

With packs off our backs, we proceeded in buying MRT tokens (they use blue, coin size ones) that will get us to our first stop: Jalan Petaling aka KL's Chinatown. From KL Sentral station, we alighted at Masjid Jamek (a short 2 stops away) and had to walk for 3 minutes to get to Petaling Street.

We alighted at Masjid Jamek station standing directly beside a garbage-free river.

It's like stepping into a smaller and slightly neater Divisoria/Binondo. Street foods left and right, (knockoffs) bags, perfumes, and whatnots here and there. Petaling Street has such a lively vibe it doesn't help at all to ease our ever growing excitement. 

Just a few things of what you'll see in Petaling Street.

Bacon in the street because why not

Despite a good number of food stalls to choose food from, we ended up just eating freshly squeezed orange juice, roti pisang (banana) and lamb satay hahaha.

We were pretty amazed to find the sun shining brightly still despite it being 7pm already!

After circling the Chinatown vicinity, we decided to proceed to our next stop: Bukit Bintang. We didn't have a map yet of the city (which was a big mistake) so we relied from saved maps on our mobile phones. To make the long story short, the Cheese and I walked a few kilometres to get to Bukit Bintang from Jalan Petaling when there was a shorter way to get there all along! But as always, we charged this to experience and hey, we got to our destination anyway, medyo pawisan lang.

It was an achievement to arrive in Bukit Bintang area with the sun about to set down in the horizon. We tried looking inside the many malls lined up in BB (Plaza Low Yat, Sungei Wang Plaza and BB Plaza) but did not stick around for long as we had another stop before we leave for SG that night: Petronas Towers.

While crossing a street we came upon an A&W restaurant that we just had to have a quick bite first (we do this in every country we go to ever since A&W in Manila disappeared).

Do you know how we planned to get to Petronas Towers? By walking and following the damn Menara Kuala Lumpur!

Menara is the tallest landmark in Malaysia, even towering its neighboring Petronas Towers. Needless to say,  if we find Menara it means we're close to Petronas Towers already. Now we know how the 3 kings did it just by following that star to find baby Jesus hahaha.

Let's play a game we shall call follow that Menara.

While following the Menara we came across all sorts of fancy hotels, an Evanescence concert at KL Live and a KL visitor's booth (below) where we finally got a map of the city yay!

Armed with a map, we don't have anything to worry for now.

We're almost there!

We got sidetracked by KLCC's bright lights so we scoured the mall first super quick. Uniqlo store was having a sale at the time where I scored 2 flannels for 600 pesos! Kinokuniya, I wanted to stay longer but I couldn't :(

Finally, we were outside the foot of Petronas Towers and looking up the mighty twin buildings. It was amazing seeing them up close. There's a park fronting Petronas Towers where people get their famous photos taken. We did those too. On our own. Canon timer was our bestfriend that night!

The sariling sikap couple shot

We got back at KL Sentral at around 10.30pm with still ample time before our 11pm departure. We collected our bags in the locker area, did our business in the loo and bought water in a convenience store. After completing all these, we went looking for the gate at Level 2.

Kuala Lumpur to Singapore by Train 

I know I booked a trip on a really complicated time and aimed for 2 countries despite such a short period of time, I had to make it work. I waited for seat sales to Singapore, unfortunately I only scored a late night return flight to KL from SG. I checked my other options: bus, other airlines or train. I chose the latter.

Taking a sleeper train is an all-new experience for the Cheese and I. I bought our tickets online from http://www.ktmb.com.my/ which I charged to my credit card. I printed it before leaving Manila and presented to the officer at the train station. I tried reserving seats months ahead but the website told me reservation opens 60 days before my departure haha. Excited lang. So I did that, made the reservations 2 months before. Lower bunk bed is more expensive than the top bunk but I don't want to risk any falling from the top bunk so I chose lower bunks for both of us.

Train 25 - Senandung Sutera mainly travels to Singapore and vice versa during nighttime. The ticket said we leave at 11pm but in reality, the train leaves at 11:55 (read this in a lot of blogs too). We will arrive at Woodlands station in Singapore at 6.30 in the morning.

There were so many passengers that night I saw only a few vacant beds, at least on our coach that is. Here's the Cheese and I resting our feet after an afternoon of walking.

Our train experience wasn't bad at all, in fact, I had a really nice and comfortable sleep. I remember I was only jolted out of sleep once when I felt the train was about to derail hahahaha. I kid, I kid. This rail station is actually ancient so don't expect for it to run smoothly and quietly (?!). The Cheese and I were probably too tired to care so we didn't mind. The bed sheets and pillow cases were new though and smells okay so I had no qualms about it.

That ends our first day adventure in KL, you'll read more of it in my next few posts but for now we're off to the Lion City!

Singapore 2013 Series: Singapore Art Museum

I was quite lucky because the week when I was in the Lion City also happened to be the Singapore Art Week. It was a week filled with visual art events from left and right, Singapore was practically buzzing with excitement. Although I wasn't able to catch everything, especially the paid ones (haha), I am pretty satisfied with the ones I saw. One of the places I was able to visit is the Singapore Art Museum or SAM in Bras Basah Road. 

A little flashback before I continue. When the Cheese and I were on Singapore last February 2012, a melting Superman met us in front of SAM.

Fast-forward to January of 2013. A new installation artwork, designed by Gerald Leow, inspired by the famous Greek statue Laocoön and His Sons will welcome you.

Snakes by Gerald Leow

Entrance fee was waived that day as SAM participated in the week-long art week events. Yay!

My mobile snapshot of lower right painting does not give justice at all to its beauty because it absolutely is. It was so simple yet mesmerizing. My friend Ten and I both fell in love with it!

Photography inside the museum shop is not permitted which, obviously, I found out too late because I was able to catch a quick snap of these notebooks with witty statements.

After taking in the sights inside the main building, we walked a bit and crossed the road to get to SAM at 8Q, an extension of the Singapore Art Museum. There's a bit of trivia on how Sam at 8Q got its name. The more obvious one is its location. It is located at No. 8 Queen Street near Bras Basah Road. As for the not so obvious one, it is said that SAM at 8Q is roughly 88 steps away from from its mothership SAM. I don't know about you but I find that really cool!

A close-up of above's art. Akala ko nung una spaghetti with lots of cheese art hahaha!

Wall doodles as seen on the stairs leading to more arts.

I'm gonna have a bit of bias here when I say that I liked this installation mainly because it was by a Filipino artist named Leslie de Chavez. Reprezent!

Governators by Leslie de Chavez

Thank you Singapore Art Museum for a lovely and stimulating afternoon. I had so much fun! I can't stress it enough, Manila need more museums, museums with nominal fees easily accessible to the public.

Singapore 2013 Series: Walkathon in Central

Ten arrived early morning of Thursday. Diane and I waited for her in Changi airport so we all could get back to Bukit Batok together.

Come Thursday morning, we had our breakfast at Bukit Batok hawker center. I had a French Toast and teh oh (hot tea) while Ten ordered a kaya toast set.

We visited Diane in her building so we could all eat lunch together at Lau Pa Sat. But first, we bought milk teas from Old Tea Hut (where a bajillion people were lining up too!).

Lau Pa Sat was filled to the brim when we got there. Typical lunch scenario, says Diane. Here, you can spot people from all walks of life. Expats, locals, tourists, they're all here. It's crazy inside! Choosing where and what to eat was the hardest decision I made for that day. There were just too many choices!!! After walking and looking around for about 15 minutes I finally settled to a pork roast meal. Napaka-safe lang ng order ko. Waley.

Look at the magnificent Victorian structure of Lau Pa Sat. The building itself is already a tourist spot in my opinion. Lau Pa Sat used to be Singapore's old wet market called Telok Ayer before it was converted into a hawker center.

After lunch, Ten and I got on a bus not really sure where to go. We got off somewhere (I forgot the name already) and from there walked our way to National Museum of Singapore. 

When we got to NMS, it was only then that I realized Fort Canning was just nearby. Someday I wish to watch a [hipster] music event in those grounds hahaha.

I'm a sucker for museums. The museum at the Raffles Hotel was in my list of to-go places. So we went there after checking out SAM (this will be in another post). Raffles Hotel is home to the famous Singapore Sling. No thanks, we can live without having one. Here's how the backyard looks like from the second floor.

I was a little heartbroken when I saw this on the door of the Raffles Museum. Why didn't you wait for me?? huhu. We went inside the Museum Shop instead which breathes a vibe of mustiness and oldness hehe. I wanted to buy something but, yeah, you got it, they were expensive.

We left Raffles Hotel a tad sadder, took a bus that will take us to Orchard, well, the huge H&M store to be specific. We saw this pretty cool wall art when we got off the bus.

No, I'm not one of those people that posts their day's worth of shopping hauls primarily because I didn't have a haul to show hahaha. I know I like/want/need/wish to own a LOT of stuff but I take pride in the fact that I am not an impulsive buyer. I am pragmatic when it comes to spending my hard-earned money. Actually, kuripot talaga ko kasi no choice, wala akong magulang/kapatid/ibang kamag-anak na maaasahan.

I digress.

Loved the stair lighting of Isetan that I just had to take a snap.

We had our dinner at Food Republic inside ION Orchard. I ordered a Ban Mian good for 3 person (pretty bland for my taste. see that's the problem with some Singaporean dishes I've tasted, they're not exactly winning in the jolt-your-senses-with-various-flavors contest OR THAT'S JUST ME).

I'm glad Ten was having so much fun with her first authentic Singapore Rice Chicken. Look at that serving.

I'll have SAM post next!