Our 4:55am flight from NAIA Terminal 3 to Bacolod were fairly in time, arriving a little past 6am in the morning at the relatively new Airport in Silay. We were welcomed by a few taxi drivers and companies offering their shuttle services heading to Bacolod Town proper which is around 45minutes away. There were Taxi shuttles which they fill in costning 150 Php per pax. There is also a taxi-van for 450 Php. We chose the latter since it has the same price for the 3 of us for the taxi, plus we have the van only for the 3 of us.
Category: Travel
China: Ancient Town Fenghuang
At least a couple of hours bus ride from Tongren, we arrived at the town of Fenghuang, located at the north-western side of Hunan province. Since our next bus ride to is a bit late in the afternoon, we decided to spend some time in town. Fenghuang has two sides, the modern and the ancient. The Ancient River side town is considered as one of China’s Heritage and also one of the two most beautiful town in the whole China, the other being Chang Ting in Fujian Province.
Transit: Manila NAIA Terminal 3
By this time, there may already be a number of impressions posted about the NAIA Terminal 3, the not-so-new spanking airport to open in Manila. Last week, I finally got to see the new terminal when my friends Oggie and Eric were headed to Bacolod for the long weekend. For many travelers, this is a welcome development since the old domestic airport and the NAIA Terminal 1 is already aging. So what do I think of the new airport?
Vietnam: Sapa Rice Terraces
Just like the Ifugao Region in our country, Sapa, Vietnam also boasts of scenic mountain views and rice terraces. Though it’s a wide spread practice among our Asian neighbors, this rice irrigation system that turns mountain slopes into scenic stairways to the sky have unique beauty in each country. Sapa Rice Terraces crawls picturesquely in the region’s valley.
Batanes: House of Dakay
Just over the town of Ivana, stands the oldest stone house in Batanes known as the House of Dakay. Built in lime and stone in 1887, it is the only 5 structures that survived the frightful earthquake in September 13, 1918 which literally leveled the the whole town of Ivana to the ground. Most of the structures like the shutters and floors still retains the original materials. Only the thatched cogon roof has been changed every thirty years since 1917. It is a small impressive structure which earned a UNESCO heritage building title.
Transit: Train to Tongren, China
With no longer a reason to stay more in Chengdu since the western area of China is closed we decided to head down instead south to east of China. It was one detour we had to think hard since it wasn’t in our original itinerary. With that I had to drop my flight from Chengdu to Guangzhou on my last day, that’s 4000 Php down the drain since I can’t refund those tickets. And the thought of traveling many miles down was a bit daunting.
Vietnam: Sapa Village and its colorful Ethnic Minorities
After a long 9 hour overnight train ride from Hanoi to Lao Cai and another hour van ride up the mountains from Lao Cai, we found ourselves at the elevation of 1650m above sea level at mountainous village of Sapa, Vietnam. We were having breakfast at the Little Gecko, a pleasant small restaurant at the side street near the plaza. It was just opening that morning that chairs and tables were still being arranged by the lone staff. It’s funny how she just left us all alone the restaurant to buy/get the needed ingredients for our 30,000 VND breakfast meal.
