BACK FROM OUTER SPACE

I've been procastinating to write this entry for the longest time.

I was suppose to blog my last trip but it was really difficult with the moving and all. I remember that I was religiously detailing every move last year in blogspot but I wasn't able to do it this time around. The trip (Hehe, that was two months ago) was again very productive and It's amazing that the people that I was traveling with finally experienced the feeling of "nirvana" that I was bragging about. It's a very grounding experience, it leaves you with a feeling of being insignificant compared to the vastness of what's happening around you, the different cultures that you get to experience, but it also gives you the feeling of accomplishment and the feeling of being able to champion yourself with every extreme situations that you get to face.

It's really spiritual. You get to know more about yourself and your country while getting lost in transition. New accomplishments for me on this year's journey - I really got to enjoy the company that I was with, last year I was traveling alone and it was a way for me to break away from my comfort zone. I learned that I can survive with what's essential. I enjoy more the spartan way of living... and how the most mundane of event can be the grandest experience ever - such as watching the beautiful sunrise on the beach, I mean sunrise is an everyday experience, but it is only now did I really appreciate how a great event it is for me personally. How I'm blessed by God, that he allowed me to live another day. The trip allowed me to enjoy life's simple pleasures that I always take for granted before.

What else? Hmmm. It was my first time to ride an elephant. It was just so scary because the one that we rode was pregnant and was irritable. We joined this trek in Chiang Mai and there were like 10 of us, 5 Pinoys and 5 Europeans. One of the higlights was the elephant ride. Damn, I never thought that Elephants loved banans so much. We had to buy dozens and had to feed the elephants during the entire ride.

I was able to meet a number of friends that I haven't seen for the longest time. Camille, a good friend that I worked with in Juice TV treated us to a cool nightout in Singapore. We ended up in this cool bar where we saw South African (hmmm... male strippers) dancers. It was a ladies night so there wasn't anything much to do. It turned out a swell evening nevertheless.

I met up with Anne, my super close friend who had to leave Manila and work in Saigon producing commercials. Anne was already a big producer here in Manila, producing the biggest local commercials, but she left everything here to start a career there. I think she was sobrang burnt out here na in Manila. She's enjoying her stay there and she brought us to this cool Market to sample the very best of Vietnamese cuisine. The market was their version of Quiapo or Avenida I think. It was food trip and we, Robert, Jethro and I enjoyed it really well, the other guy that we were traveling with Carlo had to attend to his church service so he missed what we thought was the highlight of our Vietnam trip (I really had to give it to him, he's traveling but he tries not to miss his religious obligations).


My fave country was China. It was a pity because we were only given a two weeks visa in China so we had to cut our trip short. But still, it was an amazing experience. My second time in Beijing and Shanghai but there's always an amazing discovery whenever I'm there. We got to meet my friend Edward who also left his design job in Manila to try it out there. He's doing very well in Shanghai, and I heard that a number of Pinoy designers are actually a big thing in China now. We saw Kenneth Cobonpue's store, and a number of Bench Body outlets on the big malls there. It's good to see that Pinoys are making a mark in such a big market. Pity that we arrived on a weekday in Shanghai so there wasn't much nighlife to checkout.

I'm enjoying photography so much. I took a lot of pictures of the trip and Photography's really my new found passion. You can check some of them at my flickr page - www.flickr.com/photos/bohemian_child

We're producing something that hopefully materializes by the next quarter. We shot a number of footages during the trip and hopefully we'll be able to edit it as a travel show with a twist. It was actually Robert's project and I'll be helping in my own little way.


Well, that's about it with my last journey. It was such an enriching experience and given the time and the budget, I'll definitely do it again. It's a misconception though that traveling should be expensive. Hey, we were able to do it in less than what one will spend for a week's vacation in Boracay or Palawan.

It's not a trip for everyone though. It's difficult and it's a process that one should experience with an open mind ... but the rewards and the learnings are just indescribable.