Wednesday's Anchovies

February 2017, I returned to the Land of the Philippines. With the same purpose, this time I am spending my six weeks working stay at Balanga city. Way to Fortune Island Genesis Bus Terminal Bataan In my forth week of stay, I had a chance to go out of the province and visited Fortune Island in Nasugbu, Batangas. Thanks to invitation from Belle, a friend met during our Mount Pinatubo hiking trip three years back. We arrived at Buendia bus terminal at 0300 on Saturday. There was a total of seven of us, Arvee, Rachel, Ri, Cindy, Ruth, Belle and I. As there is no clean water supply and electricity provided in island, each of us grabbed a 4L of Absolute drinking water at 7-Eleven before leaving for Nasugbu. The journey took approximately two hours. On arrival, a tricycle driver offered to arrange the round trip transportation to get to the Island and we agreed on. Loaded up at Nasugbu Wet Market Charging area provided before departure to Island Finally, we were on o...

When it comes to the most popular weekend getaway in Bataan, a visit to Mount Samat is a must. Commuting from Balanga city, one can hop on the jeepney heading to Bagac at Balanga terminal and simply tell the driver “Mount Samat”. In 20 minutes’ time, you will be at the jumpoff point. At the foot of the Memorial Cross  Bataan Bus Terminal From the starting point, it is a 6km distance to the top of Mount Samat. Most visitors will usually have their private vehicle or hire a tricycle at foot of the hill. Online sources had it said that a single trip usually cost 100 PHP per pax and higher, with minimum of two passengers required for each trip. There were also some real good cyclists in the lovely morning. En route The well conditioned road. After an hour and 15 minutes of walking, I am at the summit and greeted by the 92-metre high Shrine of Valor. Better known as the Dambana ng Kagitingan, the Memorial Cross was erected in year 1966 in memory of the Fil...

This is the third time I participated in an international marathon. Chombueng Marathon, we came across this event from a group of avid Thai runners on the trip to River Kwai Int. Half Marathon in 2015. 15 January 2017, I completed my first overseas 42.195km in the Chombueng Marathon happening at Ratchaburi province. It was the coolest event I’ve ever been to, with its chilly temperature at ground surrounded with mountains. Bib collection at Rajabhat University Chom Bueng The race itself is a long wait after all. The registration took place four months prior to the event. This year the Full Marathon runners were selected through balloting. It is also the first time all runners had to undergo the process due to overwhelming responses (For more information regarding to the marathon, you can visit to its website here ). As much as I wanted to make it to the event, I was struggling with myself since the day I signed up. The finisher Medal 2017 A small tent fit for two li...

Our recent Thailand trip was really a budget one and thus we came out with one street food challenge. Hehe, have been to Thailand for few times but we hardly dine beside the street, the most is having those street food like moo-ping or crepe, but this time we are targeting our 3 main meals of the day! Ratchaburi – Dine beside the street challenge! Egg-wrapped Phad Tai beside the river! Prepared with heart by the uncle, at Ratchaburi Night Market :) Very Chinese style breakfast, soy milk and Chinese fried churros~ Coffee and unknown tea plus rice served with minced pork as breakfast. All the beverage menu is in Thai language and we actually order by pointing others’ food LOL. Noodles soup under Chulalongkorn Bridge and train station. Too bad that there is no any train pass by when we dined there, LOL. Chom Bueng – Dine beside the street challenge! Had our lunch at a food stall nearby Chom Bueng University after the race kit collection....

We had been to Bangkok for few times and for this time, we decided to have some free-and-easy walk around Chinatown although we had been there before this. One of the main reason is because Chinese New Year was approaching during that time (this post was dragged for around half a year LOL). It was quite interesting to get to know how Thais celebrate Chinese New Year, the festive food also quite different with Malaysian Chinese! From Sathonr Pier, we took a blue flag boat which cost us 40Baht per person for the boat ride. Then we dropped at N5 Ratchawongse and walked towards Chinatown, followed the crowd :P On the boat :) Enjoyed a short river cruise in the morning. Here we are! As usual, busy traffic!  And with lots of shops selling gold! Haha! One of the popular snack during Chinese New Year festive in Thailand!!! One pack is combination of few different snack like sesame biscuit, dried winter melon, sugar coated nuts and ot...

Click HERE for our first night at Ratchaburi. Our second night at Ratchaburi was after the Chom Beung Marathon where we traveled back to Ratchaburi from Chom Bueng and stayed for one night before we traveled back to Bangkok. We stayed in NumSin Hotel again for another night :p On our second night, we decided to walk to another side of the town, to further explore this small humble town >.< So here we are, Chulanlongkorn Bridge :P There is actually a train station beside, made us felt like being at River Kwai .  Click HERE to see our great experience loiter around River Kwai Train Station :P Have our pre-dinner under the bridge :P Signature pork noodles :) The rail :) Ratchaburi, Jar Town :) Signature product here is dragon-designed jar which made them gained the name of Jar Town. It was a lovely evening :) After that, we made our way to night market area to look for dinner :P Ratchaburi’s landmark, the clock tow...