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Mt. Kinabalu: A Flyby to Remember
A few years ago, when the business of budget flights to nearby Asian destinations was still at its infancy, I had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to do a Mount Kinabalu flyby aboard a tiny Cessna. I was transitioning from freelance writing and directing to working as a regular slave when the offer to write the pilot of the travel show “Air Safari” came. I readily said “yes” thinking this would be my last chance to have That One Grand Adventure before being chained to a 9 to 5 job (little did I know that even grander adventures would come with that 9-to-5 job, but that’s another story). With the offer came…
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KL’s Hop-On Hop-Off Experience
Some hard core travellers would tell you that hopping on a tourist bus is a waste of time and money. By ‘hard core’ I mean backpackers on their thirdorfourth round-the-world trip who consider such things as expensive tourist traps. Why not just go around the city on your own? they would say. Why spend money on something you can do for so much less? To some extent, this is true. But riding tourist buses has its own merits, too. For one, it allows a traveller to see major tourist attractions for the least amount of time. This is perfect for business or transit travellers. Aside from this, riding a tourist…
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Hotels: Number Twenty Guest House, Melaka
I have three words for Number Twenty: surot (bedbugs) sungit (rude) ingay (noise) This hostel is a good concept that failed in execution. It may be very cheap, but then again, you get what you pay for. It’s easy to get drawn to its seemingly perfect, Ikea-furnished interior but it’s a whole different story when you’ve actually checked in. I won’t get into details because just thinking about it exhausts me. Suffice it to say that if getting eaten alive by bedbugs is your thing, then go ahead, knock yourself out.
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Hotels: The Chinatown Boutique Hotel, KL
This is where H and I stayed during our KL visit. It’s clean, it’s safe and it’s right in the center of Chinatown. Very accessible via taxis and buses. The LRT is just a couple of blocks away. It’s also a short walking distance from the Central Market. Highly recommended! Oh, and it’s affordable, too. A DeLuxe Double Room will cost you RM110 or roughly Php1,500/night. If you’re sharing the room with a friend, that’s Php750/night! Not bad at all! From their website: Chinatown Boutique Hotel is prominently located in the heart of Chinatown (also known as a Petaling Street), Kuala Lumpur which is a bustling…
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Malaysia: Ikea, baby!
Before going back to Manila, we just had to stop by the Swedish furniture company, Ikea. The last time I was in Ikea, it was still squatting in the basement of One Utama. But now, it has a space all its own in Damansara. It’s quite a long way from downtown KL but it’s worth the trip. Here are a few shots of our visit. I love the thought that went into designing this bar stool by Nike Karlsson, i.e. the metal wrapped around the foot rest to avoid damaging the wood, thus prolonging the stool’s life. Nice. I drooled over this ultra-modern…
a Filipina's take on travelling the world
