asia

Coron, Palawan: Otherworldly Land & Seascapes

May 4, 2012 by Bino 14 Comments

Up until I first visited Palawan some two years ago, I was not exactly that fond of visiting beach destinations. ‘A beach here can be like a beach anywhere’ or ‘swimming can be done in the pool’ were the first two things that usually came to mind. But all it took to change this was that one trip. It’s been a few years but I still remember our small boat being anchored into one of the uninhabited islands in Honda Bay. Seeing the azure waters of the Sulu Sea on a fine summer morning, where the water clarity made the sea seem like a chlorine-free swimming pool that stretched for miles, really changed the perception. I had never seen anything like it up until that point. Of course, it also helped that the marine life was abundant and of great variety.

bird’s eye view of the town of coron

Due to this, perhaps it is no surprise that my summer trip this year again brought me to Palawan, the elongated Philippine province that stretches itself from Luzon in one end and to Borneo in another. I chose to go to Coron this time in the northern part of the province. Aside from the great water quality, I am also fascinated by limestone rock formations such as those found in Ha Long Bay and Guilin, and I heard Coron has lots of those.

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The Silk Road Journey Pt4: Shimmering Samarkand

April 28, 2012 by Bino 24 Comments

Just when I thought that Bukhara epitomized all there is to be seen in terms of mosques, madrasas and mausoleums; we venture into another such place – perhaps the most well-known among all the silk road cities – Samarkand.

the majestic registan square of samarkand – one of the most fascinating architectural ensembles I have seen

Unlike the more atmospheric Khiva and the more religious but understated Bukhara, Samarkand differentiates itself in grandeur. Also known as the “jewel of Islamic art,” the city was the capital of Tamerlane’s empire (the man responsible for bringing together the Uzbek identity) in the 14th century. Today, the city has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, credited as a “crossroads of culture” due to its pivotal role in bridging China and the West during the silk road era.

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The Silk Road Journey Pt1: Welcome to Uzbekistan

April 14, 2012 by Bino 20 Comments

Mention the country Uzbekistan and more often than not, one gets a mixed reaction. What is there to see? Why go there? Where is that? These were the most common responses I received when people heard that I was going to Uzbekistan. Ask me my opinions on Uzbekistan 5 years ago and I would probably ask the first two questions as well.

As one of the -Stans (i.e. Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, etc), people normally associate it with vast cotton fields, cold, impersonal Soviet architecture and perhaps tall, blonde receptionists all seemingly named Svetlana. In more recent times, Borat came into the picture to portray what is a backward and inaccurate depiction of the -Stans (notably Kazakhstan). Nevertheless, it did put this rarely explored region in the limelight.

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Bukit Timah Hill – Conquering Singapore’s Tallest Peak

April 1, 2012 by Bino 6 Comments

Few major cities in the world can lay claim to having relatively undisturbed tropical rainforests lying within the metropolis. Places like Rio de Jaineiro and Mumbai come to mind. There is another city, which very few people outside of it would include in the list I just mentioned. Surprise, surprise. That place is Singapore.

the long and winding trail…

Despite dubbing itself as a “Garden City” and filling almost every road, bridge, overpass and even airport with greenery, no one would usually make the logical leap and think of finding jungles here as well, much less an authentic one. The zoning of new land leaves less open ones as years go by but one place has remained untouched despite the rapid urban development and limited space – a nature reserve called Bukit Timah. Now measuring a mere 1.64 square kilometers, this was once part of a larger forest where tigers and many other indigenous animals used to roam.

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Singapore’s Chinatown: A Street By Street Look

March 24, 2012 by Bino 14 Comments

At first glance, having a Chinatown in a city where the population is three quarters Chinese seems rather… redundant. In Singapore, however, unlike in other traditional Chinese enclaves, the area seems to function more as a bastion of things past, a conservation area, rather than as a living, breathing mixture of establishments and houses genuinely catering primarily to the local Chinese community.

the massive buddha tooth relic temple at night

This is the second of three entries being done on the country’s ethnic quarters (the previous one was on Kampong Glam). This time, we zoom in on the city’s Chinatown which is loosely defined as the area immediately west of the financial district. This is the area that was historically set aside during colonial times for the burgeoning Chinese population in the island, though as we now know, the Chinese eventually comprised the majority of the island’s population and settled elsewhere as well.

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Following James Bond’s Footsteps in Udaipur

March 11, 2012 by Bino 1 Comment

Having two full days to spend in Jaipur proved to be of no help in shaking off the lingering travel fatigue. Apparently, one is not considered a serious traveler until one has done India and now I realize why people said so. It can sap the energy out of those who don’t fully open their minds to the highs and lows of the Indian experience. And on my sixth day, I was in for another test.

the seemingly floating lake palace on lake pichola

As our next destination was quite far away from Jaipur, we decided to take the train again this time. Because our train departed late that night, we got to witness a different scene at the station, the usual touts and scams aside. Many of the locals practically kept staring at us. Intently. When I said intently, it meant that they stood around 2 feet away as a group and stared with eyes wide open as if I came from outer space! I found it really surprising as this was not at all the case during the previous days. People elsewhere generally seemed impervious to the presence of foreigners as India (or to be more precise, the places we went to) were quite touristy, so this scene at the train station was certainly strange. Then, there were also the rats as big as cats running openly on the train tracks.

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Turning Pink in Jaipur

March 8, 2012 by Bino 7 Comments

If I were to list down the most exotic-sounding city names I have ever heard, Jaipur would be a shoo-in (along with Timbuktu, Ouagadougou, Samarkand and of course, Baghdad). Jaipur – the name alone brings to mind images of maharajas, stately palaces, bearded men with turbans and snake charmers – it’s the quintessential India in the eyes of naive foreigners like me who lack familiarity with the myriad of cultures actually found in this massive country.

more peach than pink… but yeah, i’m in jaipur all right

To be honest, it was not the iconic Taj Mahal in Agra nor the scattered UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Delhi that prodded me to come to India. It is rather the desert state of Rajasthan – a region of colors, festivals and bright architecture – which led me here. And surely, there was no better introduction to this northwestern Indian state than through Jaipur – the pink city, its capital.

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Joseph Stalin’s Hometown of Gori

February 17, 2012 by Bino 1 Comment

This was our third and final day in Georgia and it turned out to be an auspicious one. I woke up about an hour before sunrise in Tbilisi. Despite the darkness, I could make out these little white particles descending from the sky. It was snowing!

gori fortress

I checked the temperature and it said -7 celsius outside. What a way to mark my last day here in Georgia. We decided to try our luck once more that morning and searched for a minibus that was heading to Gori, a town that is famous for being Joseph Stalin’s hometown.

After doing the same routine at the bus terminal as the previous day, going back and forth and using nothing but sign language, we finally found the marshrutka heading for Gori. We were the first passengers in the van, and their system was to wait for it to fill up before it could depart (same with the jeepneys in the Philippines!) We sat there and waited for what must have been nearly an hour, hoping and praying that each and every pedestrian that passed by was looking to go to Gori as well. It was only when this group of American and British English teachers boarded that the van reached its maximum capacity.

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