Sunday, December 25, 2011
I was compiling a list of things I did this 2011, and this is the travel bit. You may read my 2011 in Travel part One post here. I couldn't just put out all of my adventures in one post - it was faaar too many!! I <3 this year - it was amaaazing !
JUNE
June 4 - Baler, Aurora: Mother Falls. Baler Museum. Quezon Par. Balete Park & Millennium Tree. Stayed at Bahia de Baler. Ermita Hill (where the people went up to try and escape the tsunami of so long ago). Old Japanese Tunnel. Souvenir shopping. Baler Catholic Church. Quezon's new house. Marker for Aurora Quezon. Baler City Hall & Square.
June 5 - Baler, Aurora: Surfing Lesson & bumming at Sabang Beach.
Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija (to get a bus back to Manila).
June 10 - the start of my very first ever backpacking trip!!
Cebu-Mactan International Airport. Cebu Ferry Terminal. Supercat ferry to Tagbilaran City, Bohol.
Bohol: Mag-Aso Falls, Kawasan Falls, Canugao Falls (this one was scary - we had to plod through rice fields just to get here!), Sagbayan Peak. Stayed at Darunday Inn. Bojol Grill (dinner).
June 11 - Bohol Countryside Tour: Chocolate Hills at Carmen. Butterfly Center. Man-Made Forest at Bilar. Tarsier Viewing. Loboc River Cruise. Hanging Bridge (ha ha - one of the scariest things I've ever done. Good thing there was shopping in the end to reward me for my bravery ;) ). Python Viewing (Prony). Baclayon Church. New Blood Compact Site. Bohol Bee Farm (hmmmmm yummy ice cream + bread spread!)
June 12 - Bohol Sea Tour: Dolphin Watching (a success although I did not see much and they did not swim beside the boat). Snorkelling at the Marine Fish Sanctuary. DUmaluan Beach. Hinag-danan Cave. Taver's Inn. Bohol Quality Mall. Plaza Rizal. Bohol City Hall. Tagbilaran Church.
June 13 - Bohol Tourism Office. Macaque Monkey Sanctuary (Cantamucad, Loon). Punta Cruz Watchtower. Island City Mall. Alona Beach.
June 14 - Bohol Sea Tour # 2: Dolphin Watching. Snorkelling at Fish Sanctuary. Balicasag Island. More Dolphin Watching (saw some dolphins swimming past the side of the boat. What's more, is that there were very few boats trying to chase after the dolphin! Amazeballs!). Vanishing Island. Virgin Beach. Rode a habal-habal for the first tmie ever. Bohol Beach Club.
June 15 - Tagbilaran Pier. Supercat ferry to Cebu. Sugbutel Hostel. Crown Regency: 4D Theatre: The Lost Island. Viewing Deck. Edge Coaster. Sky Walk. Ayala Center Cebu. Shopping at Mango. Bufffet dinner at Crown Regency.
June 16 - Fort San Pedro. Plaza Independencia. Cebu City Hall. Magellan's Cross. Basilica del Sto Nino. SM City Cebu. Colon Street. Cathedral & the Museum. Heritage of Cebu Monument. Casa Gorordo. San Diego-Yap Ancestral House. Shamrock (Pasalubong shopping). Basilica del Sto Nino Museum. Dinner at CNT Lechon.
June 17th - End of backpacker trip. Cebu-Mactan International Airport.
June 30th - Ninoy Aquino Terminal 1: Airport Lounge. Business class: Etihad from Manila-Abu Dhabi.
June marked a turning point in my life: I backpacked alone in some parts of Bohol and in Cebu. It's the first time i've travelled solo - so I decided to choose a place where I could be quite familiar with. As we all know, Cebu is almost like Manila. I was supposed to go abroad but the airline tickets were quite expensive when I was trying to book for stuff at the last minute. Nevertheless it made me believe in myself: that I could travel alone and survive by commuting around. Ther was a lot of research involved in this solo trip before I did go though!
JULY
Ahhhh the start of one of my favourite months of 2011. It was another turning point in my life. :) Read on!
I was pretty jetlagged on that day but nothing can stop me from going around my favourite city in the whole entire world!
July 2 - Tower Hill. Kensington High Street. The Gap. H&M. Kensington Park. Kensington Palace. Hyde Park. South Kensington. Gloucester Road. Wembley Stadium. Take That: Progress Live 2011.
Ahhhhh.. I finally saw one of my favorite boy bands ever. LIVE. And with Robbie Williams!!
July 3 - Victoria Tube Station. Westminster Cathedral. Wimbledon: Men's Finals (Nadal vs Djokovic). Queue for hours on end to watch Djokovic win from a screen in Court #2. We may not be inside Centre Court but the atmosphere of just being there. PLus, we saw him come ot with the trophy too! Pimms & Strawberries & Cream. Hmm Yum. Yum.
July 4 - First day at work. 175 Bishopsgate. Hmm. Little did I know that my world is gonna go topsy turvey.
July 6 - Leon's. Spitalfields Market. :) I realized who my real friends were. And yes, what they told me was true. I really was regretting all the things that I said.
July 9 - Buckingham Palace: Changing of the Guards. Starbucks. New Scotland Yard. Westminster Abbey. Houses of Parliament & Big Ben. Trafalgar Square - tried going up the lions, but it was too slippery in the sculpture. Covent Garden. Zizzi Pizza/Pasta Place. The National Gallery.
July 10 - Westminster Cathedral. Ashford OUtlet Store Shopping (Kent, England).
July 15 - Drinks out the back of the office!!! (COney & Barrow)
July 16 - Cambridge, England: London's King Cross (high speeed train to Cambridge). Sedgewick Museum. Nando's (hmm peri-peri chicken at its finest). Punting at the River Cam (so relaxing and so nice!!!). King's College. Cambridge High Street.
July 19 - Drinks at All Bar One (boss's treat!). Tennis lessons of sorts at Islington.
July 20 - Party at my friend's house. The first party we ever threw together - it was a little get together of sorts!
July 22 - Wimbledon Tennis Tournament at work (but not exactly in Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Club). Dog & Fox Bar @ Wimbledon Village.
July 23 - St Pancras Train Station. Canterbury West Train Stn. Canterbury Tales. Canterbury High Street. Canterbury Cathedral.
July 24 - Bearsted. Leeds Castle.
July 26 - Strada Restaurant, St Katherine's Docks (where boats are moored) - quaint little place.
July 28 - Bowls at Finsbury Square. Tried a new sport~ if I could call it a sport.
July 29 - Thames. Millennium Bridge.
July 30 - London Paddington. Oxford. Blenheim Palace (childhood home of Winston Churchill)
July 31 - Kew Gardens. Kew Palace.
Tiring July? Well, wait until the next few months! Such a shame that in July we failed to go out of the "comfort" area of Southeast England and London. We didn't even begin to take overnight trips out until August!!
So, that's it for now. Wait until Part Three and Part four of my Travel 2011 posts! :)
Post a Comment