WALK FLY PINOY: Travel, Photography, Asia

Why Travel Tuesday: Back on the Road

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 09:00:00 +0000

(Every Tuesday, I will be featuring a photograph from a place I have gone to, a photograph which I believe will inspire others to go out and see the world for themselves. For this week, Why Travel Tuesday talks about the oftentimes insatiable feeling of starting another journey, whether it be for just a few days or a even a few months. There is nothing like the feeling of being back on the road.)

Rough riding on a 4x4 through the sand dunes of Mt. Pinatubo
It's a great feeling, isn't it? That feeling you get the first few hours of your trip. The possibilities and opportunities that life "on the road" offers are endless. You are off to experience something completely new. And the excitement is just gosh darn insatiable.

And yes, I am back on the road to continue what I set out to do October last year—backpack Asia for six months. I am currently transiting through Ho Chi Minh City, making my way north all the way to China (see the part 02 of my itinerary). I'm still figuring out which cities and towns to stop in. I am taking it easy this time. And I'm posting more stories and photos from the first three months of the trip. So please, please stay tuned!

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Packing List Redux (A Much Needed Evaluation)

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

I should consider myself extremely lucky that I am able to sit back and evaluate the list of things that I have on my backpack halfway through the trip where else but in the comforts of my own home. Yes, I have been back home since the day before Christmas Eve and I am still in the Philippines. However, I am leaving very soon to continue what I set out to do August last year

Thus, it is only appropriate that I revisit my packing list. I have to pack lighter and bring only what I learned I needed the most. I need to ask myself:

How many pieces of clothing did I really use? Which ones?
What item was most useful?
What item I should not have taken with me in the first place?

But before I can answer all that. I first have to consider one very important factor: weather. Weather in the countries I will be visiting on this leg of my journey. There's Central and Northern Vietnam, Southwest China and Peninsular Malaysia. And wouldn't you know it? Peninsular Malaysia is the only place above that doesn't get winter. Yes to heavy winter clothes in my backpack! Okay. I did choose this. I chose to travel in the northern hemisphere during the colder months. So let's just get this list over with, shall we? Below is the packing list I made a few months before. And what I think of each item now.

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Why Travel Tuesday: Visiting Famous Landmarks

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0000

(Every Tuesday, I will be featuring a photograph from a place I have gone to, a photograph which I believe will inspire others to go out and see the world for themselves. For this week, Why Travel Tuesday talks about something we all like to do when we travel: tick off famous landmarks on our bucket list. And if at all possible, goof off in the process.)

We all do it and it's nothing to be ashamed of. Most likely, you have saved up for a while and sacrificed a lot to go on your trip. Whether it's India's Taj Mahal, Cambodia's Angkor Wat, or this one, China's Great Wall, do not let anyone tell you that it's too touristy, or it's too tacky. It's in your bucket list. Have your picture taken. Tick it off. You deserve it.

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9 Backpacker Districts Every Budget Traveler in Asia Should Know About

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 08:38:00 +0000

More often than not, when we talk about budget travel, we usually refer to traveling backpacker style. This usually means hostels instead of hotels, street food stalls instead of restaurants, and do-it-yourself sightseeing instead of packaged tours. There is a lot more flexibility nowadays, of course. But it is still well worth knowing which area in your next travel destination to check out when you want to find the cheapest options available.

In my travels around Asia, I tended to trod along the backpacker trail. (Why wouldn't I?) Thus, I had been able to see first-hand how each place checks out. I have my favorites and, of course, my not-so favorites. Let me list them all down here:

1. Pham Ngu Lao, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam

The very busy Pham Ngu Lao street juts out southwest from the Ho Chi Minh City Bus Station. That alone is a plus point for me. It's close to the center of everything. The area is a dizzying combination of street signs, bootleg book peddlers, sidewalk food courts, bright and gaudy bars and restaurants, and of course, motorcycles! I have been to Ho Chi Minh twice (thrice, if you count my transiting there from Cambodia) and I know I will stay in the Pham Ngu Lao area the next time I am in Ho Chi Minh.

Recommends: My My Arthouse (hostel's a bit tricky to locate but great value at 7 USD per bed)

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Bangkok's Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Photo Essay)

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Even though I was still hung over from the simple lifestyle and the mountain vistas that trekking in Nepal afforded me, I knew that I was already in another country with its own rich culture waiting for me to explore it. It was the first time, too, that I was traveling solo. My trekking partner has moved on to Vietnam, whilst I opted to stay in Thailand. So on that day, I decided to get out of the hostel and walk around Thailand's capital Bangkok.

Since I was staying in the Khao San Road area, the one thing I knew I could walk to was Bangkok's Grand Palace complex. It takes around 30 minutes to get there. Just walk west along Khao San Road towards the police station on the street corner. Turn left and walk straight, crossing one big intersection, until you get to Sanam Luang Park. Walk the length of the park and at some point, you will find yourself staring at high white walls. That's the the Grand Palace complex. And within those walls lies Thailand's most sacred building—Wat Phra Kaew, also known as, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.

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Roomorama Has Got It Going On*

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 11:04:00 +0000

I first heard of Roomorama when I attended a backpacker event in Manila organized by the amazing duo of Lois and Chichi of We Are Sole Sisters. The concept was very interesting. People from all over the world rent out their properties via Roomorama to people who are looking for an alternative to hotel accommodation when they travel. I talked to the Roomorama rep present in the event and was offered to try it out for free.

At this point, do you really need to know why I signed up? Okay. If it wasn't for free, I can honestly say that I will still try it out. Here are six reasons why:

1. Easy to use website

I signed up on Roomorama.com (which in itself is free, by the way) and found the website very easy to use. No need to read up or anything like that. The design is easy to navigate and you instinctively know where to go and which button to click on. Process was simple, too. Inquire to confirm availability of the property and then book. In my case, the owner of the property answered within 24 hours and in no time, I had booked a one-night stay in a decent-looking property in New Delhi: The Estate.

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The Big Six-Month Backpacking Itinerary (Part 02)

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

As it stands now, I have completed half of my originally planned six-month backpacking journey. And as expected, much of my plans for the first three months didn't really go as I imagined them to go. Few things:

India: Missed the train to Jaisalmer. So we went to Dharamsala and later to Amritsar instead.
Nepal: Flight to the jump-off point of the Everest Base Camp Trek was cancelled twice in two days due to bad weather. So we did the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) Trek instead.
Southeast Asia: Opted to explore northern Thailand instead of hurrying to cover the length of Vietnam north to south in less than three weeks

Thus, in my first three months, I covered Singapore, India (Dharamsala, Amritsar, New Delhi, Agra and Varanasi), Nepal (Kathmandu, Pokhara and ABC Trek), Thailand (Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pai), and Vietnam (Saigon). (See full map in my Where I Have Been page. Also, please stay tuned for more posts on these places!)

With an extended trip like this, there are just some things that are beyond one's control. So you learn to roll with the punches. That is one of the most important things I have learned traveling this long. That said. Here's Part 02 of the Big Six-Month Itinerary, the places I intend to cover early 2012. Operative word, intend. I am most definitely open to changes.

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Best of the Best Travel Experiences of 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:01:00 +0000

So the year is finally winding down. I can't really say that this year has not been good for travel. Because it has! It totally has. Probably, the most travel I have ever done in my life. I mean, I did decide to bite the bullet and go backpacking for six months. And I will say that it has been the best year ever. There, I said it. There were highs and lows, of course. But it's all good. It's all part of the adventure. I had the most rewarding experience, the most exhilarating, the most delicious, etc., etc.

As a way to commemorate all of them, and as my yearender of sorts, I decided to do my 12 best of the best travel experiences of 2011. Here we go.

1. Most Jampacked Trip

We only had four days to explore one of the biggest countries in the world, which happened to be one of the oldest civilizations in the world. So what are we to do? Jampack it all, tourist-style! In all four days, we covered two huge, and I mean, huge cities, three UNESCO World Heritage Sites, our first winter experience, a high-speed sleeper train experience and a super high-speed Maglev train experience. We went to China.

(See more posts about China: China: Beijing, Forbidden City, China: Great Wall at Mutianyu)

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The Holy City of Amritsar and the Golden Temple

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 07:00:00 +0000

On our way down the mountain from Dharamsala, we figured we did not want to bus it to Delhi for another 14 dark, ass-numbing hours. We did our research and found a city worth breaking our journey in. Again, this was a part of India different from the rest of it primarily because of religion. We decided to stop by another one of India's holy cities on our way back to the capital. This holy city is not Hindu nor Buddhist. It is Sikh. And it is called Amritsar.

I realized looking back that Michael Palin also stopped by Amritsar in his BBC series, Himalaya. First, we went to Dharamsala, it being our contingency plan having missed our train to Jaisalmer. Now, we were heading to Amritsar on a whim. Later on, we will be following his itinerary in the Nepal Himalaya. And that wasn't planned as well! Freaky.

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Why Travel Tuesday: India-Pakistan Wagah Border Ceremony

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 05:26:00 +0000

(Every Tuesday, I will be featuring a photograph from a place I have gone to, a photograph which I believe will inspire others to go out and see the world for themselves. For this week, Why Travel Tuesday features the bizarre India-Pakistan Wagah Border Ceremony.)

© Paul Xymon Garcia 2011
Now here's a real treat for borderholics. When in the holy city of Amritsar, India, one of the more touristy things to do is to head to the India-Pakistan border in the village of Wagah at sundown. Wagah, split right in the middle between the two countries, is the only road border crossing between the rival countries. And every sundown, the village gets packed with people on both sides as there takes place a bizarre military ceremony between the India Border Security Force and the Pakistan Rangers.

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How to See the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:29:00 +0000

If you, like us, found yourself in Dharamsala, India, with the rare chance to see most famous Buddhist in the world, the living incarnation of the boddhisatva of compassion, His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, then better seize the opportunity. You are most likely just spending a few days in this little Tibetan town in northern India, just like the holy man himself, who circles the world seeing heads of states as well as Tibetan refugees scattered all over the globe for the better part of the year.

But the question is, how? It's simple really. Here are seven simple steps.

© Paul Xymon Garcia 2011
Step 01: Check if the Dalai Lama is giving a public audience (most likely, a lecture) anytime soon. You can do that by going to www.dalailama.com. Yes, His Holiness has a website. If he is giving a lecture, check if it is open to the public. We had the good fortune of being in Dharamsala when a group of Korean Buddhists was also there for a lecture with the DL, a lecture which they had earlier scheduled and opened to the public. I assume by now you get that the DL is a very busy man.

Step 02: Secure yourself admission into the lecture. No, they will not accept walk-ins. Security is very tight in and around his residence and the main temple, the Tsuglagkhang Monastery. So better have proper identification when you enter. First things first, make sure you have two passport-sized photos and a photocopy of your passport. If you do not have them, then McLeod Ganj is littered with ID photo stalls and shops. Walk in and have your photo taken and your passport photocopied. Simple as simple can be.

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Bungy in the Nepal Himalaya

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 06:35:00 +0000

Bungy jumping was something I was determined to do on this six-month trip. Hey, I was jumping out of my comfort zones anyway. So why not jump all the way. Plus, ever since two friends of mine, Angelica and Cindy, did it a year ago, I knew I wanted to put myself on that ledge, like they did. My original plan was to do it in Rishikesh, India. But the travel gods had other plans and I had to tweak my northern India itinerary and forgo Rishikesh.

Good thing there was another outdoor adventure facility along our way. This was in Nepal. I knew I had to do it there. Else, it will be a while before I get the chance to do it again. And wouldn't you know it? The facility's name is The Last Resort. I know, scary when I first heard it. Why would an outdoor adventure facility name themselves that way? As soon as I got over the name, I signed up. They have an office in Kathmandu's tourist district, Thamel (a place which I will write more about later). We signed up there and booked a day trip for around 86 USD. The cost will include, apart from the jump itself, a round-trip bus to the facility and a buffet lunch.

© Paul Xymon Garcia 2011
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The Backpacking Story So Far

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Another month has come and gone and yes, I am still on the road. Traveling. Clearly, I have a lot to be thankful for. I left home October and even though it has only been a couple of months since, I feel like a lot has happened already. And I'm only in my third country on this trip!

Unlike other monthly wrap-ups I have done on this blog, this one will sum-up, not the best content in the travel blogosphere (which are plenty), but rather the goings-on in this small world I call my travel life.

THE TRIP SO FAR*
I started in Singapore, seeing, well, more like tasting it, through a few friends who have become locals there. Bash it all you want, Singapore to me remains to be the tiny 700 square kilometer island where you could sample all the best foods (and therefore, cultures) of Southeast Asia.

© Paul Xymon Garcia 2011
A few days after that, we flew to India, keen on seeing desert landscapes, mad urban sprawls, and peaceful temples. I got to see the last two, but due to Indian transportation misfortunes, we had to forgo Rajasthan. We, instead, opted for mountains and found Tibet in the heart of northern India.

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Daytrek to the Dhauladhar: Prelude to the Himalayas

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:00:00 +0000

My first taste of the Himalayas was, in fact, not in Nepal, where I am now. No, I saw my first snow-capped peaks in the Indian Himalayas—the Dhauladhar Mountains. And this was a good thing. It was some sort of a prelude for what was to be one of the most rewarding and most breathtaking experiences, literally and figuratively, of my travel life. But I am getting ahead of myself.

© Paul Xymon Garcia 2011
Let's begin with our accommodations in Dharamsala, where the Dhauladar Mountains can be viewed and accessed from. Our hotel on this leg of our Indian journey was one that was a above the Tibetan town center of McLeod Ganj. Technically, it was not even part of McLeod Ganj, but rather in a village above it. We can either get a cab to get to our hotel. Or walk up to it, an effort which took 30 minutes as the trail was all uphill. The first time we did walk the trail was at night, which I was not a fan of. Night-trekking, I mean. But again, that's alright. It was beneficial, in fact. It gave me a taste of what it was like trekking in the cold air of the Himalayas. Also, have I mentioned it was all uphill? It was.

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Why Travel Tuesday: the Most Beautiful Plane Ride in the World

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:00:00 +0000

(Every Tuesday, I will be featuring a photograph from a place I have gone to, a photograph which I believe will inspire others to go out and see the world for themselves.For this week, Why Travel Tuesday features the most beautiful plane ride in the world: one long uninterrupted wall of the snowy mountains of the Himalayas.)

© Paul Xymon Garcia 2011
It was to be the third country in my six-month backpacking adventure and I wanted to do everything right. I read in Lonely Planet that when flying in to the Nepali capital Kathmandu from Delhi, India, request a window seat on the left-hand side of the aircraft, which was precisely what I did. When I got to my seat, however, someone was already occupying it requesting that I transfer to his seat by the aisle. Normally, I’d concede. But not this time. Which is a good thing. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had that shot. Or that experience for that matter. We flew right along the highest mountain range in the world and it was all we could see for most of the one and a half-hour flight. It was amazing.

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Keeping a Candle Burning for Tibet: the Norbulingka Institute

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:00:00 +0000

Preserving a culture's heritage is very important, especially now that the west seems to penetrate every modern city in the world. Preservation becomes even more important, I think, when the culture in question is exiled in another country. Fortunately, for the Tibetans exiled based in Dharamsala, India, they have the Norbulingka Institute.

© Paul Xymon Garcia 2011
The Norbulingka Institute, named after the Dalai Lama's summer palace back in Tibet, is a learning institution dedicated to Tibetan studies, which includes the preservation of Tibetan arts (painting, embroidery, literature, etc.). The institute also has two guesthouses, a cafe, shops and a temple which houses a 4-meter high gilded copper statue of Sakyamuni Buddha.

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Finding Tibet in Dharamsala, India

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 11:59:00 +0000

“Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.”
~ His Holiness, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

And so it was that we missed our train to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, India. I was really looking forward to seeing a real desert town and from the pictures I have seen of Jaisalmer, the huge stone fort and the town that surrounds it, it looked straight out of the Arabian Nights. Like at any moment, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves would come storming over that mound of sand in the distance. But we all knew we had to let go of it. Something else was planned for us. We talked and hashed out a couple of places (Goa, Ladakh, etc.) until we agreed on Dharamsala in the foothills of the Himalayas in northern India. The name alone sounded something else. And it was. I knew that it was a part of India that was completely different from the rest of it. I didn’t realize it until I got there.

© Paul Xymon Garcia 2011
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Singapore Challenge Won

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 15:12:00 +0000

(Editor's Note: Post is in response to a challenge posed a few weeks back: The Singapore Challenge.)

We were sitting at the table inside this small kitchen with dirty white tiles, semi-new furniture, and a variety of food right in front of us. Our hosts, in true Filipino fashion, bent over backwards preparing and cooking just so they would have a nice meal to serve the new arrivals. It was our first time in Singapore and we were looking to make the most out of our four-day stay under a very limited budget. Almost inevitably, the conversation got to costs and how expensive things are in this city. So we asked, “What we can see in Singapore?” One of them, a Filipino-born Singapore-bred, replied, "This (pointing to our small kitchen) is Singapore. You want to see the rest, you pay."

At the back of my head, I knew he was right. But I was there to prove him wrong. And I did.

The total money I spent to get my *ss from Manila to Singapore and stay there for 4 nights and 3 days is:

7,626.38 PHP
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The Jaisalmer Misfortune

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 09:48:00 +0000

Finally getting out of the city. Finally seeing a real desert, a bona fide sand dune for the first time. That’s because today, we are heading to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. But before all that begins, we needed to sort out all our other train bookings in India. Best to reserve them early as the Indian transpo system gets extra congested this Diwali season. So we thought, why not get our tickets at the New Delhi railway station today while we wait for our train to Jaisalmer. Not the best plan, looking back.

By dlisbona | CC BY
We went to the New Delhi railway station at around 1 in the afternoon, four and a half hours before our scheduled departure. Seeing as we arrived pretty damn early, we went ahead and dropped by the foreign tourist ticketing office (second floor, Pahar Ganj side, New Delhi Railway Station). There was a long queue but hey, we had a few hours to spare.

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Why Travel Tuesday: Best Mystery Meat in Delhi

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 08:00:00 +0000

(Every Tuesday, I will be featuring a photograph from a place I have gone to, a photograph which I believe will inspire others to go out and see the world for themselves. For this week, Why Travel Tuesday features my first Anthony Bourdain moment on this trip: the Best Mystery Meat in Delhi.)

It was our first night in India and we were extremely hungry. We took the night bus to the Kuala Lumpur airport straight from Singapore. From there, we had to take a six-hour flight to Delhi. Upon arriving, we had to adjust our watches two and a half hours back as we changed time zones. By that time, I was really looking for something full and satisfying. Luckily for us, our Delhi host had something in store. He knew of a kabab place somewhere in the old city, Karim's. The problem was he did not know where it was exactly. It was through a small alley jutting out from one of the small streets, right by one of the main market roads at the Jama Masjid bazaar in Old Delhi.

© Paul Xymon Garcia 2011
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Kindness of Indian Strangers

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

There was one conclusion we reached two days into Delhi as we boarded our first inter-city bus to Dharamsala: we have been sheltered from the chaos that is India the past few days. Not that I did not appreciate what our Delhi host did for us. He practically toured us around and for the most part, it was at his expense. I mean, that goes above and beyond any guest could hope for.

But on that evening, as we tried to locate our bus in that small makeshift bus terminal, which was really a dusty unpaved piece of land adjacent to the Tibetan neighborhood of Majnu Ka Tilla in the Indian capital, we realized what was we got ourselves into.

Not unlike the bus terminal we went to
Photo by David de Mallorca | CC BY
Granted, as you approach the terminal, there will be people asking for your tickets. If they see that you are not a passenger of their bus, they will refer you to another. We were pointed to a middle-aged pot-bellied man in red shirt. We handed him our ticket. He glanced at it, returned it and then told us to wait. This exchange happened three more times before Angelica and I started getting worried.

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Singapore Is People and the Food

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 03:38:00 +0000

Months before I came to Singapore, before I even knew I was going to Singapore, I realized that I was going there for two very important things. Beyond the sights and the attractions, I was there for the food and the people. Perhaps due to its geographic location—right at the tip of the Malay Peninsula, right when ships from the Strait of Malacca enter into the real “far east,” they must first come to Singapore. Thus, this tiny port city grew to be the meeting point for many Asian cultures, particularly Indian, Chinese and Malay. And with each of these rich cultures come food, glorious food.

© Paul Xymon Garcia 2011
It’s a pity really. Many pass off Singapore to be an expensive city, a city where you catch flights, a sterile and plastic city. And as the adages go, it’s the amusement park with the seat at the United Nations, the Disneyland with death penalty. Really, few people take that extra effort to peel off its layers and see it for what it is—Southeast Asia’s true melting pot of cuisine and people. That is what Singapore has come to mean for me. Singapore is not Singapore without the people and the food.

Luckily, due to the country’s more relaxed immigrant laws and its growing need for talents, a lot of Filipinos have gone to Singapore for work. I say that’s lucky because I now know a handful of people who are now living and working there. And it was through them that I truly got to know Singapore and Singaporean cuisine better. Hopefully, as a way to pay my gratitude forward, the information here reaches other travelers wanting, needing a guide on some of Singapore’s good eats.

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Night Life at the Marina Bay Sands

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 08:06:00 +0000

I have spent the whole day walking and sightseeing to cover all of Singapore’s places of interest. From Orchard Road, to Little India, to Chinatown and even Sentosa. At 6 in the evening, I knew it was time to wind down. So off I go and meet two of my friends from high school who just happened to be in Singapore at the same time as me. Granted one of them was now based there for work. Still, it was funny when we realized that not many years ago, we only did meet-ups at the nearby fast food joint. Now, we are meeting in poshy, first-world Singapore, at the Marina Bay Sands at that! We’ve come a long, long way.

© Paul Xymon Garcia 2011
The Marina Bay Sands Metro Station is a bit of a walk from the Marina Bay Sands area itself. There is only one exit but form there, you will be crossing two big intersections and one building block to get the boardwalk area. The way's pretty straightforward. Besides, just look up and find the three buildings with the big-*ss boat-like structure on top of them. That's the Marina Bay Sands building.

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Why Travel Tuesday: the Dhauladhar Himalayas

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:16:00 +0000

Every Tuesday, I will be featuring a photograph from a place I have gone to, a photograph which I believe will inspire others to go out and see the world for themselves. For this week, Why Travel Tuesday features the first snowy mountain I ever laid my eyes on: the Dhauladhar Himalayas.

© Paul Xymon Garcia 2011
Yes, contrary to the couple of entries that I have been able to post ever since I started my trip, I am no longer in Singapore. In the 10 days that I have been traveling, I have been to three countries and four cities. Imagine that. The photo above is of the Dhauladhar Mountains, a section of the Himalayas visible from the quaint little town of McLeod Ganj in Dharamsala, northern India. I chose to post this photo because seeing it every single day gets me excited. Coming from a tropical archipelago like the Philippines, snowy mountains are not something I grew up with. Seeing these mountains made me realize why I travel: to behold something absolutely new and different.

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Singapore: Little India

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Xymon Garcia) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:26:00 +0000

It was our second full day in Singapore and we still had a bit of exploring to do seeing as we slacked off the whole morning the day before. We chose to do Little India first because it's close to Orchard Road where fellow backpacker Angelica and I met up. Plus, it will be sort of our practice for when we finally get to the real India in the next few days. So off we go and hopped on the nearest MRT station in Orchard and got off at Little India station.

© Paul Xymon Garcia 2011
Getting to Buffalo Street, the heart of Little India, is easy enough to figure out. The street is on the other side of the food market building where the MRT exit opens up. If you still cannot find it, follow the scent. The fragrance of the thousand and one spices and of the burning incense will most definitely hit you in the face once you get off the MRT Station.

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