unesco

A Peek at the North Korean Countryside

September 29, 2013 by Bino 7 Comments

A lot has been said about the quality of life in North Korea’s rural areas that it’s initially hard to tell which is real and which is fake. For sure, some of them seem too far-fetched to be true – or are they? During those rare times when we got to venture out of Pyongyang, I couldn’t help but look out of the bus window at every chance I got. Would I be able to see any evidence of the starvation, the prison camps, the nuclear facilities? Judging by what we saw by the road side, it was evident that things operated at a different rhythm here.

They say that a good way to gauge a country’s level of development is to take quick glance at its rural areas. The countryside of North Korea did afford us a few observations. For one, there were no animals to be seen. We did not see a single chicken, pig, goat or cow outside toiling the fields. Moreover, everything was done with human hand. There were barely any machines seen that could harvest the many road side plantations (likely to have been deliberately placed to show the country as self-sustaining) we saw along the way.

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The UNESCO World Heritage Towns of Southeast Asia

May 1, 2013 by Bino 5 Comments

As a destination that’s well known for its diversity, the essence of a trip to Southeast Asia for most would probably include a rundown of the well-known ancient ruins, beaches and secluded islands, through natural landscapes and tropical rainforests and generally having a good time in the region’s megacities. A not so prominent (and less popular) theme are its old towns, some of which have been preserved as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. These are deserving destinations in their own right, and are perfect supplements to those doing long trips across the region. Earlier this year, I had inadvertently completed a small milestone by visiting all the UNESCO World Heritage towns in Southeast Asia. As there are only five, it’s no mean feat. I was not really ticking it off any list. It just happened.

brightly colored buildings such as these in hoi an, are a common sight in all of southeast asia’s unesco towns

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while might notice this habit of mine of ranking stuff regarding Southeast Asia. This one’s no exception. In order of preference (and I’ll explain why), this is how I would rank the 5:

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Taj Mahal: A Timeless Monument to Love

March 5, 2012 by Bino 9 Comments

We arrived in Agra at almost 11PM. Coming from my very first train ride on a sleeper car, I just wanted to get to our hotel. But there was one final hurdle.

the taj… a lot more atmospheric early in the day

After leaving the train station, I was immediately accosted by one of the city’s notorious touts. Did I want a taxi? Where was I going to stay? Oh, that hotel is already closed! No, no and no. We just walked on despite his useless inquiries as he tried to impose his choice of accommodation upon us.

We eventually got to our hotel – a relatively simple, if not overrated lodging mere minutes away from the Taj Mahal. This was after all what we came to see. This was why we’re in Agra, to lay our eyes on this gem in the middle of all the mess. A famous Indian poet once called it a “teardrop in the face of eternity” and experts rate it as one of the most beautiful buildings in history. We were about to find out if this white tomb is worth all the hype.

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The Unpronounceable UNESCO World Heritage Town of Mtskheta

February 15, 2012 by Bino 10 Comments

“M-TSKHE-TA,” I shouted, pointing furiously to my guidebook. It was our second day in Georgia and the plan was to visit this UNESCO World Heritage town only a few minutes away from Tbilisi. We were at the bus station and no one around us could seem to understand a word we were saying.

a cathedral whose name i can’t pronounce, in a town whose name i also can’t pronounce

It didn’t help that everything was in Georgian writing, which is totally alien to me. They don’t even use Cyrillic like the Russians and they have their own alphabet. We would have been toast and left to board some random car that could have been headed to war-torn South Ossetia had it not been for this helpful chap. “Oh, you are going to Skheta?,” he asked. Apparently, the first two letters of this town’s name are supposed to be silent. He directed us to a row of parked minivans. The most popular mode of long-distance transportation in Georgia are actually not public buses but these speedy contraptions called marshrutka – a legacy of Georgia’s Soviet past. For 1 Lari (approximately US$0.60), we boarded one of these to Mtskheta which was just 30 minutes away from Tbilisi.

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Puerto Princesa Underground River & Sabang Beach in Palawan

December 3, 2011 by Bino 3 Comments

On our last day in Palawan, we had to get up quite early in the morning to see the famous Puerto Princesa Underground River. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is said to be one of the highlights not just of Palawan but of the Philippines in general and at the time of my visit, it was gunning for a spot in the New7Wonders of Nature (which it eventually got).

the karst formations don’t look out of place in krabi (thailand) or halong bay (vietnam)

Although the Underground River is within the city’s boundaries, it is nevertheless quite far from the city center of Puerto Princesa. A drive of around 2 hours is required to get to Sabang Beach, where pump boats departing for the UNESCO site are located. Somewhere midway however, there is a great rest stop called “Buenavista Lookout” from which one can see a great vista of the surrounds.

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Memories of NZ Pt3: Bad Weather in Milford Sound

June 4, 2011 by Bino 3 Comments

We spent a total of four nights in Queenstown and used it as a base to explore the many daytripping opportunities around Otago and the many national parks which are all within a few hours drive from town.

mirror lake

On our first day, we joined a day tour to Milford Sound in Fiordland National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). This tour took us past several quaint villages across the southern part of the island, and into the western coast which has a much wetter climate. Again, we went with Great Sights. The bus picked us up from the hotel at 8AM sharp for the five hour drive. It was a very scenic drive as that morning was my first opportunity to see Lake Wakatipu in the day. We drove past the majestic Remarkables mountain range, into the town of Kingston. Our driver was especially enthusiastic and gave erudite commentaries on the notable landmarks during the trip. We passed by this extremely quaint town called Garston, with a population of only 106. Its known as the most inland town in New Zealand which does not really say much given that NZ is an island nation. What really caught my attention was the small number of people who live there – 106. I suppose it’s one of those towns where everyone knows each other. Having lived in big cities my entire life (Manila, San Francisco, Singapore), I entertained for a few seconds the possibility of spending a night or two in a town where it’s impossible to remain anonymous. But it disappeared not long after we left the town limits and passed by another (larger) town.

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