Travel Love (Music) : Miles Away by Years Around the Sun

Pinagbuyutan Island, El Nido, Palawan

It's been a month since I started working again. It's been two months since the last time I was on the road. And there are days like these, when I miss being back on the road. May it be in a crazy and hot Asian city, or up in the cold mountains, or by a calm and quiet river, or camping in an island.

I miss the freedom and the realness of the moment.

A Tribute To Last Places

Hsipaw, Burma

“The people who live in the last places – the people who are most neglected and least valued by the larger world – often represent the best of who we are and the finest standard of what we are meant to become. This is the power that last places hold over me, and why I have found it impossible to resist their pull.” 

- Stones Into Schools, Greg Mortenson 

There’s a certain kind of magic I feel when I prepare for a day or a week of trekking/walking. When I pack only the basic things I need. There’s a certain kind of excitement I feel when I wake up charged and ready to explore a new and distant place. 

Burma Travel Tips

Kalaw - Inle Lake Trek

Most backpackers who travel in Southeast Asia do not include Burma in their itinerary. It’s considered to be relatively more expensive, dangerous because of the political climate, too much of a ‘hassle’, and technologically isolated. 

But this is exactly what made Burma so interesting for me. I’ve always tried to give countries like this a chance. People said India and Nepal are not safe places to go to but I had a safe and great time traveling in them for two months. 

I wanted to see and experience Burma for myself. I stayed there for 17 days, I wanted to stay longer if not for the food sickness I experienced twice. But Burma has been worth all the ‘hassles’. I found it gave me such a memorable and unique travel experience.

What's Next After Living Out Your Dream?

Mui Ne, Vietnam

Dec '11

Photo by Anthony

I was recently invited to give a talk on traveling and career break by Tara Let’s Go Asia. Tara Let’s Go Asia’s goal is to encourage people (especially professionals) to include travel in their lifestyle. One of their maiden events was to bring together these people to hear speakers share their experiences and tips on how to make more money and save up for travels, and how they were able to do their own career breaks. One of the speakers was my good friend Paul of WalkFlyPinoy who I travelled with for two months on my Big Trip, and has long since lived on the road pursuing his love for travel, travel photography and writing. He told the organizers of Tara Let’s Go Asia about me and how I was able to ‘reintegrate’ myself back in the corporate world. After a few weeks of convincing, I said yes. 

The People You Meet On The Road

"There was once a man who became unstuck in the world – and each person he met became a little less stuck themselves. He traveled only with himself and he was never alone." 
- Castles in the Sky, Film by Taylor Steele

I walked into the common bathroom and was fascinated by its design and how a backpackers’ dorm isn’t that bad after all. It was my first day of traveling solo, my first time staying in a dorm without knowing anyone. “Hey!” Another girl walked in and she’s my first friend on this whole backpacking trip. We decided to see the city together, and met more people and walked around the city proper after that. The next day I saw her off as she left for another town and I was preparing to leave that afternoon as well. She’s one of the people who frequently liked my travel photos in Facebook and wanted to meet again in a beach in another country. Sadly, I wasn’t headed that way. But she’ll forever hold a place in my memory as the first person I met while traveling solo. 

On Friendship

MIB Days, Circa 2008

We were all laughing and making jokes. Not having a care, well just a little bit, if we’re disturbing people in the other room and in the hallway. It’s been quite a long time since we hanged out together. But there he was, on the bed, laughing with us. The love of his life next to him. I wonder what she must be feeling about everything. I wonder what it must feel like to be in her place. I wouldn’t want to be in her place. He, on the other hand, has always been like that. The strong one, caring more for the people he loves, even though everyone’s worried about him. 

"So, you Work to Travel?"

2015 Vision Board

Source : Various including Wanderlass, AdamTheTraveler

I recently started a new job. During lunch with my colleagues in the project, their post-graduate education and degrees were discussed. And I got asked the question : “Do you have a masters degree? Do you have plans of getting further studies?” It was asked in a non-condescending manner (they're really nice and really really smart people), just like a normal question given the backgrounds of most of the people that are working here. 

The only answer I could come up with was : “It used to be part of the plan. But ever since I started traveling, it doesn’t seem to be anymore. Maybe in the future, but for now it’s not.” 

"So, you work to travel?" 

Serene Inle Lake and Bike Rides in the Countryside

a fisherman rowing using his leg

After three days of trekking in the mud, under the rain and eventually the sun, and seeing hills of beautiful farmlands, we finally made it to Inle Lake. The morning fog was still partly covering the lake. Around it are villages and mountains. Another way of Burmese living awaits us. And hot showers of course.