Spring is Here!

Because it’s better late than never, especially for pretty pretty things.

Until now, I’ve been totally ignorant of the fact that the start of spring is one of the most fantastic times to go see the world. Cities and towns emerging from winter are out to celebrate in style, breaking out the best wine, treats, and cutlery. Everyone’s just full of glee to see a patch of green take over the white. Warmth is out to take over; everything’s fine with the world again.

Floating Wishes and Soaring Hearts in Taipei: The Vid

I’ve already professed my love for Taipei in my previous posts here, but that’s no reason for me to stop gushing about one of the prettiest festivals I’ve ever been blessed to see. If you’ve hung out this blog for long enough, you know what’s next — yep, it’s the vid! This is for kindred spirits Jan, Ralph and Alex — here’s to a lifetime of our wishes coming true!

Song: Go With It by Tokimonsta

If you want to check out the what-how-where’s of our adventures in Taipei, you can read about them here.

Bewitched by Siquijor: The Vid

Don’t you love it when stars finally align your way? 2013 has been really good to me so far; I’ve garnered a lot of good experiences and memories that I’m sure will last — and we’re barely halfway through the year!

Here’s a vid of one of my favorite escapes so far — Siquijor is simply one of those places that just makes me grow fonder about growing up in a blessed archipelago. Enjoy!

If you’re interested to read the what-how-where’s of our Siquijor adventure, you can check out the all-about-Siquijor post here.

Song: One day / Reckoning Song (Wankelmut Remix) by Asaf Avidan

Taiwan Day 2: An Ode to Kindred Spirits

Nothing beats good, lasting friendships, especially when things don’t go as planned…

The day’s grand itinerary was supposed to be kicked off by a visit to the Yangmingshan National Park, where we expected to be deluged by pretty pink cherry blossoms. The mountain, however, had other plans and instead, we said hello to strong winds and the chilly rain. We didn’t stand a chance in our laughable winter attire. Here we are in our best I’m-trying-not-to-look-like-an-icicle smiles, in the lone sakura spot that we managed to find. We ended up riding the loop shuttle bus around the mountain, wherein we found out that driving blindfolded is probably one of the many talents of the drivers in Yangmingshan, as ours calmly put the pedal to the medal in zero visibility on the mountain’s winding roads.

Taipei Day 1: A Time to Be Bright, and a Time to Get Steamy

I impulse-booked my ticket to Taipei based on street food alone; I’ve heard the chow was phenomenal. That being said, I didn’t have much of a plan when I landed in Taipei, aside from the Lantern festivities in Pingxi on the coming Sunday. Happily, Taipei was a fun place to play it by ear.

My adventure started on an early Friday morning. Our plane touched down on the break of dawn, and with the Taipei transport being very easy to figure out, I arrived way ahead of everyone in the hostel, including the receptionist. It was a good thing that the Bangka district was precisely where you’d want to be if you’re killing time in the morn. I strolled through the alleys behind our hostel, where the wet market was slowly coming to life. Colorful meat balls and vegetables decked the tables to tempt you to brew a hotpot. Butchers went about carving out whole carcasses of pork, while live chickens clucked away, perhaps in mourning for their fallen comrades, undressed and hawked on display.

Floating Wishes at Pingxi

Fairy tales do come true / It can happen to you / If you’re young at heart…

Along with the thousands of wishing lanterns floating around that day, there was definitely a hint of whimsy in the air. I always knew only good can come out from still watching cartoons — after learning that the floating lanterns scene from Tangled (a movie adaptation of Rapunzel) was inspired from an actual festival in the town of Pingxi in Taiwan, I had my heart set on joining the festivities and having my own wishing lantern soar.

Enchanting Siquijor

It was hard to believe what was right in front of our eyes — the cascades of crystalline blue-green water had me hypnotized, and we had the waterfalls all to ourselves. I look around and think — friends, we’ve made it to paradise.

Siquijor is a gem of a find, one of the places that really makes me want to know my home country better. It blew my mind thinking how an island as accessible and gorgeous as this one could stay under the radar for so long. As I looked around to see my co-passengers at the ferry from Dumaguete, almost more than half were actually foreigners, aside from the few locals making their way home. And then there were us, a gang of giddy local backpackers — not a usual sighting, I guess.