A Nomad's Travel Diary

We really underestimate the power of being nice to a stranger. Or in this case, a customer.

I was looking at my photos from our trip late last year to Osaka when I saw this picture:

The guy on the left is Minoru. He works at Seeks, a steak place in Shin Sai Bashi, Osaka. They have the best Kobe beef by the way. Then again, it's not like we got to try any other Kobe beef place in Japan. But our tour guide recommended it and I trust her!

We had with us Japanese translator apps on our phones and I'm telling you, you HAVE to have one if you don't know a lick of Japanese. We were struggling without our tour guide and were limited to eating at places where there's someone who can understand English.

We decided to test our app on Minoru so we type an English phrase.

"Hello, my name is Pea! What's your name?"

The phone plays it back in Japanese. Minoru is amazed. He looks at me, points at himself and says "I, Minoru." (The entire time I am thinking of Tarzan)

We all laugh. He tried asking us if he can speak in Japanese to our phone and have it talk to us in English. He does this by doing hand gestures. The app doesn't do that unfortunately... so we had to settle for the peace picture instead. 

This was my fondest memory of Osaka. 

So be nice to foreigners you meet! And get an iPhone! :P

...surely has not seen the Vientiane airport in Laos.

We flew from Siem Reap to Pakse Airport (which wasn't too bad btw), waited there for an hour and then had another flight to Vientiane. I reeked of gas after I got off the bus that took us from the tarmac to the airport terminal. And then.. this:

Nope. I don't think ours is this bad.

Check out that awesome baggage carousel! 

(Okay fine, this is a domestic airport but still... Okay fine, I'm bitter. LOL. I'll blog again after I see their international airport. I've been to a couple of our PH domestic airports - I don't remember them being as bad? Unless I'm being really biased right now.)

EDIT: My friend just told me the Legazpi airport is worse than this. Not sure how to take that. I'll have to see it to believe it!

I love animals. Well, not all but most of them. As long as they're calm and touchable. Therefore, I also love elephants. 

In my 2nd blog post, I mentioned how I love being able to touch animals. It doesn't matter if their skin feels rubbery, slimey or just tough and dry. I'd touch them anyway!

When we went to Malaysia about 2 years ago, I was able to feed a baby elephant and an adult elephant. It was pretty cool in that you can just go up to these creatures with a pack of peanuts with you and they'd just literally inhale it all in a matter of seconds. It's amazing! I was told you can also feed them by mouth which sounded pretty disgusting but even more so when you actually get to do it. It feels mushy, warm and soft inside. It's an elephant's mouth and it just gobbled up my entire hand (without really eating or swallowing it of course) and now it's all slobbery. It doesn't care though, it just wants them peanuts and fruits.

I loved it! So I ended up hogging feeding time which annoyed the other tourists. Bahahaha. Sorry about that!

If you look closely, you can see that the baby elephant's foot is chained. :( In the second picture, I didn't look very comfortable getting near it (I also have no clue what it's trying to tell me but it did scream... which is probably why I look terrified but strangely laughing in there). In the last picture you'll see an elephant just annoyed and ignoring me lol.

In Bangkok, I was also given the chance to do this. It wasn't a 1-minute ride like what we did in Malaysia but about 30 minutes complete with the elephant posing (upon its master's command), getting scared (of the water - we had to cross a shallow pond) and randomly screaming at times. After that short trip, it ate about 2 bunches of bananas in... 10 minutes. What the heck.  

I received this a couple weeks ago and thought this is something good to read for people who like traveling especially to places that aren't very tourist-friendly. The throw-down wallet is a really good idea and is something you might need even when you're in your own country. You never know who you'll meet today!

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Hi, I’m Fred Burton with STRATFOR. We get a lot of questions at STRATFOR regarding personal safety while traveling on vacation. We would like to address three specific points with this video. The first is vacation preparation, the second is how to choose and be safe in your hotel and the third is situational awareness.

I have laid out some items that I always pack whenever I’m going on vacation; the first is a surefire tactical flashlight. You can utilize this for a range of different emergencies. I like it to be used as a possible weapon where you can blind an assailant on the street in the event of a robbery at night. It’s also a great tool to help you get down emergency stairwells and exits in the event of emergency at your hotel. The other thing that I routinely carry with me on vacation is a very good knife, I like the Benchmade Griptilian Knife that has a locking blade. Paracord is wonderful with multiple uses to tie off anything that you want to utilize it for. It can also help you in the unfortunate event, in case you need to attempt to rappel off your balcony. Another item that’s wonderful, is a rescue belt, this one is by Bisons designs. I like it because you can wear it, and it’s always there. You could utilize this is as a tourniquet. Another thing to always remember is make sure you bring enough medicines with you, and any kind of specialty kind of medicine. In my case, I always carry an Epipen in the event of, or to help prevent anaphylactic shock. The last thing I would like to bring your attention is a company called Global Rescue, they will come to your aid anywhere around the world in the event of an emergency. They will help you get out of the country, they will medevac you, they’ll physically send people to help you.

Before your vacation, you need to research the specific area that you intend to travel to with an eye towards the hotel that you’re going to stay. Make sure that this is a low crime area where there hasn’t been any violence, such as robbery or terrorists plots or previous attacks. When traveling I always try to stay on the third floor. I pick a hotel room that’s on the interior of a property with a balcony. The balcony affords you the opportunity, if you needed to, in the case of a fire or another emergency, to rappel off, utilizing either your emergency belt, your paracord or even sheets from the bed.

After getting into your hotel room, the first thing I always do is make sure once the door shuts, that it has a very good locking mechanism that is going to work. If it doesn’t, you should request another hotel room. After checking the locks on the hotel door I always walk the emergency fire exit to show me where it’s going to go, with my flashlight so I have a good mental reference as to how things are going to look in the event of an emergency and I have to utilize the stairwell to get out. Another important factor to take a mental note of is whether or not you have sprinklers in your hotel room and in this case we do which is a very good thing. Situational awareness while on vacation is key. You want to stay observant and alert, don’t carry a lot of cash and I always carry a throw-down wallet. That’s a wallet that in the event of an unfortunate robbery on the street, you could give that to the bad guy and yet you have other cash in your pocket and credit cards. Whenever I venture out into the local economy or into a city, I’m always carrying my pocketknife, my flashlight as well as my paracord, just in case.

Read more: How to Travel Safely - Tips from a Former Agent | STRATFOR

This is why I hate plane food. And probably the second reason why I hate flying to the US. (I also hate packing. That's definitely number one.)

I usually use that description for super strong coffee (not that I've ever feasted on socks before, it's just how I imagine it to taste like) but if I were fooled into thinking I'm eating plane food that's actually boiled socks that are super salty, this is it. And it's not that I hate ALL plane food anyway. I even blogged about one I actually liked.

The fried rice btw was very deceiving. I thought it would taste fine but what was I thinking. I should have just slept and starved.

We hate their food so much that one time we bought 4 McDonald's cheeseburgers and 2 10-piece nuggets so we have something else to eat for that 11-hour flight other than what they serve. Who cares about old and cold burgers and nuggets if it means not having to eat wet/soggy, super salty, disgusting chunks of 'meat' and 'vegetables'?

When will they have good food? The only thing I actually finished this flight was the apple they gave us as snacks.

P.S. 
As I'm writing this, there is a 2-year old boy who, for the love of God, will not stop screaming/wailing/crying. He sounds like his fingernails are being pulled out but I'm looking at him right now and he's just standing... And screaming. 

The Oatmeal's idea of how planes should be set up will really be helpful right now. 

I'm sneaking in a couple of minutes to post my Wat Maha That pictures real quick since I know I mentioned that in one of my super old blog posts. I don't have a lot but I hope from my few pictures you'll see just how beautiful it is. As with my other post about Bangkok though, I wish it wasn't so dang hot in there. I was sweating the first minute I got off the tour bus.

See that last image with the head of a monk at the bottom of the tree? They said they found it there like that, that it was nature that did it and that this happened in the 1900s. Is that unbelievable or what.

...Or in this case, Thai tea! I was drinking gallons of Thai iced tea when we were in Bangkok. It's soooo good!

We went to this one restaurant which I have no clue what the name is because it was in Thai. I took a picture of their glass with the logo for reference.

Their Thai iced tea there is different in that it's not your typical orange-colored iced tea but it tastes exactly like one if not better!

Another favorite I had in Bangkok, which I hope they will bring to Manila, is KFC's egg custard. Oh my goodness I was dreaming of having it every single day while I was there! I could probably eat 6 of those in one sitting if I didn't care about my health. 

So good!

Lastly, we also had Mo's Burgers. This is something we first discovered in Seoul and found here again. As with KFC's egg custard, I'm still waiting for Mo's to come here. :) I only had my phone with me in these places so my pictures are crappy. I'm not even posting my picture of the burger I had for fear that I might give you the wrong impression. Let's just say my picture doesn't make it look very appealing.

Overall, I liked the food here and I discovered how good (and how my stomach can't tolerate) spicy Thai food really is. 

I was planning on writing about Sydney (yes, that way overdue post) but I had a friend ask me why my posts are all about Australia. And I thought her comment made complete sense.

So today I'll tell you about my trip to Bangkok last February! I'm only 2 months delayed! LOL.

This is my second time to visit Bangkok. The first time I went, all we did was look for places where we can buy knock off signature bags or find malls and other places where we can shop. We also did a lot of getting stuck in traffic. I don't think I really got to experience the real Bangkok since my parents relied heavily on private drivers and didn't like taking public transportation.

Not this time!

This time I got super templed-out. Check this out:

My favorite place has to be this temple from Bang Pa In Palace:

It's just amazing how they were able to maintain places like these. In the Bang Pa In Palace you can even rent your very own golf cart. I felt so lame because I was so excited to drive one. Bahaha. That was fun a lot of fun! I wish the Intramuros in Manila were this beautiful also...

I'll post more pictures later! Have to go work for now. ;) I'll show you pictures from Wat Maha That next! That one made me wish I went to Hue in Vietnam and had me wanting to go to Cambodia to see the Angkor Wat. 

For some strange reason, Posterous isn't allowing me to post all my pictures in my previous post. I've spent too much time already trying to make it look all nice and organized and I don't want to waste any more time but I also still want to show you some pictures so I'll just include them here.

Picture one is from the Walpa gorge. Next one is another one of those camel ride pictures, after that is a photo of our tour guides who were very warm and friendly and me under a tree! I think I have discovered a new hobby - taking pictures under trees! :)

After 10 years, I am back!

And no, I can't blog about the new places I've been to yet until I tell you about Ayers Rock and Sydney (with Sydney in a separate post)! Yes, yes, I am still talking about the Australia trip which was already 2 months ago. Bah.

That's what happens when you take a 2-week vacation. By the time you come back, you're ready to declare email bankruptcy -- and that's just email! But I'm whining now. So let's talk about Ayers Rock!

Ayers Rock is a desert. It is super hot in there and everything is overpriced because they know that you're not in a city and therefore won't be able to find bottled waters and Pringles easily. This is of course, still on top of being in a rip-off country.

If I can let go of the prices for a second, then yes this is a beautiful place to visit. I never imagined I'd be able to see the Uluru with my own eyes since I only got to see that on RPN 9 (a local Philippine channel) when they would show documentaries on snakes and spiders. I didn't see snakes there though (just one but I was on a camel so that doesn't count) but I did see a tiny spider in our bathroom.

Best thing in Ayers Rock: Riding a camel into the sunset with the Uluru always in sight. It was like riding a really slow and much taller horse. I loved it!

Next best thing: Having dinner out in the desert and then watching the stars and listening to nature's calming sounds. So peaceful! And you can actually see the stars! When you do the Silence of the Sounds dinner, make sure you don't end up with a drunk dude in your tour group. We had one in ours and he kept shouting, talking to himself and just being plain obnoxious. But being in that place, you will not have the energy to get annoyed - the beauty of the place trumps any annoying drunk man!

Aside from that, you can also see the mountain range (if that's what it's called). It was breathtaking. And I rarely use that term! I think I used it last to describe the Grand Canyon. Although to be honest, the Grand Canyon is still the most beautiful place I've seen.

We also went to the Walpa Gorge (last image in my mini-gallery). That is also another beautiful place to visit. I would love to just hang out there and eat a sandwich.

Ayers Rock place is one that you'll only visit once in your life. 1 - it's too expensive, 2 - it's too far and 3 - there's really nothing else to do aside from seeing the desert and its beautiful land formations.