Category: Travel
Japan: Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe (Part 2)
Personal cultural highlights from our trip: Exploring Arashiyama Enjoying food at the Tanabata Festival (my first festival in Japan!) Witnessing the Makura Daiko during the Ikutama Summer Festival
Japan: Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe (Part 1)
In between transitioning jobs, I asked C to go with me to Osaka (and tour the nearby prefectures) since it seemed like the perfect time for vacation for both of us. It was the first time I’ve visited Japan in summer (an earlier trip with family happened in May, just as spring was ending, where the […]
The Other Side of Intramuros
C and I signed up for one of the Free Royal Postal Heritage Tours, hosted by the Filipinas Stamp Collectors Club. We took the car and parked it inside the walled city, near the San Agustin Church (so that at the end of the tour we’d be near the car already!), and walked to the […]
Attending UXHK on a Budget
I recently attended UXHK as an independent designer (i.e. not sponsored by a company). It’s not as easy to plan and budget conferences if you’re doing freelance, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Granted, most of the people I’ve met were from companies who are investing in UX, but some of them have come independently (or […]
Building confidence while traveling
It’s been a while since I traveled ‘alone’. When I studied for a semester at NUS, living alone abroad was a very liberating experience that pushed me to become more independent and I missed it. Since then though, I’ve mostly traveled with friends and family. When I had to fly to Hong Kong alone […]
Going out of town and re-energizing for the week
Last weekend, C and I went with our friends to Tagaytay and did nothing but eat, drink some good wine and beer and alcohol, play The Resistance (which messed with our friendship so bad), and meet some work deadlines. The weather was so cold (Manila standard of measurement) and the place was so very beautiful. […]
Corregidor Island Daytrip with C
C and I were looking for a place to visit that isn’t too far from Manila (basically, something we can do in a day). He ended up treating me to Corregidor Island for my birthday last December. There’s only one tourist company in charge of visits to the island: Sun Cruises Philippines. The PhP 2,300 […]
shame at feeling bourgeois
I was supposed to go to a client meeting today, and the building was somewhere around Chino Roces Avenue. With the usual Makati traffic, it took me an hour and a half to get there from Eastwood. It was the first time I’ve ever gone to Chino Roces, and I had to get dropped off […]
End-of-the-year Tagaytay Datetrip
I’ve been wanting to get out of the city for a long time now, and I’ve honestly been feeling sick getting cooped up in the middle of all these buildings and of everything familiar. I confessed to C that I wanted to just get a ticket to somewhere and then fly out spontaneously, without plans […]