Category: Thematic
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First-time in You Jie Xiao Chao Restaurant
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…and Manila’s other hole-in-the-wall eateries It was another holiday in the Philippines as we commemorated the Day of Valor, celebrating the bravery of Filipino soldiers who fought during World War II. Supposedly, my friends and I were scheduled to go to Corregidor Island, the fortress of Japanese soldiers. Unfortunately, the…
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First-time in Danao, Cebu: work and vacation in one
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There I was again traveling alone. It usually happens whenever I travel for business wherein I would be left to my own devices. Having been used to working with non-profits, I often visited new and unfamiliar places without any welcoming party at the airport or a transport service. Sometimes it…
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First-time in Cagayan de Oro City
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All of my trips to this southern Philippine city had always been for business. My first visit to Cagayan de Oro City, or CDO, as most Filipinos refer to it, was a decade ago when I was there to hold a training workshop with the local affiliates of the organization…
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First-time in Tune Hotels near the Kuala Lumpur Airport
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When I thought of Kuala Lumpur, what instantly entered my mind was the Petronas Tower, Malaysia’s poster image. Because of its prestige, I envisioned KL as an urbanized metropolis. But its distance from its international airport totally took me by surprise. Good thing we found Tune Hotels located right in…
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First-time in Hilton San Francisco, California
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When it comes to hotel chains, the name Hilton is not unfamiliar to tourists. Not only because it’s a nice family name but also due to the brand image it has carved in the hotel industry. My first nights in the US, specifically in San Francisco, were spent in a…
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First-time in Farmerbrown San Francisco, California
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Farmerbrown. The name wasn’t familiar to me before until I encountered it and it definitely stuck in my memory bank. Not only was the place where I had my first dinner in San Francisco, if not in the USA, but how I got there was in itself an interesting tale.…
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First-time in Black Island
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Nothing prepared me for the surprise I’d find in my first-time at Black Island. Part of our Calauit tour in Palawan was some stopovers at islands around Busuanga. A short distance away from Calauit was Black Island, where the Slovenian franchise of Survivor, Survivor Srbija: Philippines, shot some of their…
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First-time in Malatapay Beach Resort, Negros Oriental
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Right after our plane touched down in the runway of the Dumaguete City airport, at the capital of the Negros Oriental province in the Visayas region of the Philippines, we embarked on about half an hour ride by van to the southern part of the island towards Malatapay Beach Resort.…
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First-time in Kusina Salud through the Viaje del Sol
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Getting out of the capital of the Philippines, Manila, to nearby cities and towns is not an uncommon occurrence among the urban dwellers. With friends and relatives from abroad visiting every now and then, it gives us more reason to escape the metropolis. But with the “Viaje del Sol”, Spanish…
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First-time in Guangzhou RiverSide Youth Hostel (Jiangpan)
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I’ve never experienced hosteling until I went to Guangzhou, a city in the southern part of China. I thought it would just be another small hotel, or an inn, for that matter. I didn’t expect that there was entirely something different with the experience, particularly with youth hosteling, which I…
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First-time in Calauit Island: A Sanctuary for Animals
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As Alex the lion, Melman the giraffe, Marty the zebra, and Gloria the hippo escaped to Madagascar and to Africa, we also had a little escapade of our own into a small island in the Calamian group in Palawan, called Calauit. It’s a wildlife sanctuary created by the Philippine government.…
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First-time in Coron: A Paradise in the Philippines
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Coron is one of the must-see places in my list of destinations within my home country, the Philippines. Together with Busuanga, Culion, and several islands, they form the Calamian group of islands in the northern tip of the Philippine province of Palawan. Though not as hyped as Bali or Boracay…
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First-time in Los Angeles, California
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“LA is great big freeway…” so the song goes. And big freeways, indeed, fill the Los Angeles landscape. Next to rows of palm trees, of course. My good friend Cathy was kind enough to host me all throughout my LA trip right after the conference which I attended in San…
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NCVS 2009 with Michelle Obama and some Hollywood stars
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Forty-five hundred people. Thirty-something new friends. A grand opening session. This has been the biggest conference I have attended so far. This was the National Conference on Volunteering and Service (NCVS) 2009. It was a gathering of various non-profits, government agencies, and corporations all over the United States. So, why…
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First-time in San Francisco, California
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It was my first time in San Francisco, California. In fact, it was my first time in the US. On a bigger scale, it was my first time across the Pacific. I went to the US to attend the 2009 National Conference on Volunteering and Service as a representative of…