Halong Bay: A World Heritage Site and one of 7 New Wonders of Nature

Halong Bay has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is located at the Quang Ninh province in Vietnam. It is also one of the recently declared 7 New Wonders of Natures, where our own Palawan Underground River is also a winner.

Being a Filipino, this place looks familiar, for the Philippines also have (almost) the same kind called the Hundred Islands in Pangasinan. The difference is The rock formation in Halong Bay is bigger than there is in the Hundred Islands of Pangasinan and from what I've read there are more islands in Halong bay for it has almost 2000 islands. Halong bay is also said to be like our own Coron, Palawan (I still haven't been to Coron so I have yet to find out).

We had a day tour to Halong Bay since were running on a strict schedule. We only had to spend a day in Hanoi to catch the train at night going to Ho Chi Minh City. So we decided on going to Halong Bay that doing a city tour in Hanoi.Halong Bay is about 3 1/2 to 4 hours away from Hanoi.

If your planning longer stays in the Hanoi area, you should consider having the 2 days/1 night or 3 days/2 night stay but costs double and triple the money.

How to get there:
You may book a trip to your hotel or any travel agency. I advice that you book online and ahead of time whether through the hotel or travel agency. Before going on this trip, I tried haggling and it worked! Until I found out that one of our companion booked in another hotel. But anyways, I haggled and every hotel has different price, they may say that its a promo for booking early in their hotel or you just want the price to lower and since they want you to book in their hotel, they will give you lower price. The lowest price a hotel has given me was 18USD per person. But the one that our companion booked was 25USD per person.

What will happen during the tour?
First, they will pick you up in your hotel around 8am, give you a bottle of water, have a 30 minute bus stop where you can shop and eat, then arrival at the port. When you aboard the junk (yes, they call the boat, junk), they will serve you with food first, and the food was DELICIOUS and let you take pictures.
A stop to one of the islands, and visit a cave, the Thien Cung grotto. It was alright, I'm not a big fan of caves but I appreciate the formation of stalagmites and stalactites and how great God is! 
For 1USD you may take a trip around the area having a Halong bay local tour you to other caves. Other tour also include kayaking in the area. You may swim in he area, specially when you've rented a kayak.

My advice is to bring extra bottle of water and bring extra food. Have in insect repelant. Bring a swim suit, sunglass, a visor or hat or even umbrella for the sun. 

Quan Vinh Port

Junks

Food served in the junk

The entrance to the cave

The community in Halong Bay

Fruit Vendor

superjola.blogspot.com

FIFTY SHADES TRILOGY BOOK REVIEW

I've read this book out of curiosity, when one of my friends in facebook post this book and (she) seemed to love it. So I downloaded this book via epub (thanks to epub readers!!!), because I don't usually buy books until I know its worth buying (I know, its weird), so I need to read it first. 

In the first part of the first book Fifty Shades of Grey, I was hooked, I knew there is something mysterious about Christian Grey and I could also feel the chemistry (as Anastasia Steele described it). Then the secret is out, Christian Grey is a sadist!!! Hmmm... interesting, I thought. What I really want to know is how did Christian became what he is. That is what kept me from reading the first book.

Fifty Shades Darker, I was beginning to get bored and fed up by what Christian and Anastasia is doing (you should read the book to find out). Everything is so detailed! I'm feeling a little gross out. So I started to skip pages when they would do it. And keep on skipping until I'm in the third book, Fifty Shades Freed. So I keep reading to discover who really is Christian Grey, what happened in his childhood and after I found out, 

I was like, THAT'S ALL? IS THAT REALLY ALL THERE IS?!!!

 WHERE'S THE BIG MYSTERIOUS SECRET?!

I really don't understand why people loved it, it is worse than the Twilight saga, but still looking forward to see it in film, 

(yes, to know how would they would do it and still don't classify as pornography).

superjola.blogspot.com

MARINDUQUE: Poctoy White Beach

Marinduque has always been a part of me, my mother was born and raised in the heart of the Philippines making me a half Marinduquenian. Yearly, I spent my summer and Christmas vacation in this place. And yearly, we celebrate the Moriones festival during the Lenten Season. Marinduque is the home of the famous Moriones festival. 

And the last two summers, we've been going to Poctoy White Beach.

If you love white sand, crystal clear water (you can sea school of fish), a little bit of sea weed, tan lines and friendly people then THIS IS THE PLACE FOR YOU!

Poctoy White Beach is located at the town of Torrijos.

How to get to Marinduque from Manila:

There are two ways to travel to Marinduque, by air and by sea.

By Air: only one airline goes to Marinduque, zest air. 

The travel time is about 45 minutes from the Philippine domestic airport.

There a flight to Marinduque once a day.

By Land/Sea:

Take a bus (Jac Liner, terminal is in Cubao, Quezon City) to  Dalahican Port, Lucena City, 

travel time about 3 to 4 hours. There are several shipping lines going to Marinduque several times a day from the Dalahican Port to the Balanacan Port in Mogpog or to Cawit Port in Boac or Buyabod Port in Torrijos. Travel time is about 3 to 4 hours depending on the ship.

How to get to Torrijos to the Poctoy White Beach

Take jeepney or air-conditioned vans to Torrijos.

Where to Stay

There are apartelles and resorts in Torrijos, but if you want to know the people, there are also homestay.

visit this site.

Mt. Malindig, a view from the beach

A very interesting view on the way to the beach.

superjola.blogspot.com

morning star hotel

Upon arrival at Noi Bai Airport, we waited for the hotel pick-up, he was late for about 30 mins. We already were thinking of getting a taxi but the fair was out of this world!! SO we waited for the hotel pick-up, which costs 18USD for the 6 of us.

Morning Star Hotel is 45 minutes away from the Airport. 30 minutes if there's no traffic

We arrived around 2:30am.

We paid 20USD for the room.

They also organize trips to Ha Long Bay, we paid 25USD each.

They also book trips to Saigon/Ho chi minh city through the reunification train (we'll get to that later).

They also contact other hotel in Saigon to arrange your bookings.

Have wifi! YEY!

Have desktop computers in the lobby.

Money Change by request.

my rating is 3 out of 5.

There's a rat/cockroach poop on one of the bed sheet. 

http://morningstarhotel.com.vn/

BEDS

BATHROOM

VIEW FROM THE ROOMS

FREE BREAKFAST

VIEW FROM THE ROOF TOP, THE HOAN KIEM LAKE

photos: jola bigornia photography

superjola.blogspot.com

HOW TO GET POSTAL ID IN ANGONO

Requirements:

1. Photocopy of Birth Certificate/Marriage Certificate
2. 3 2x2 picture
3. Photocopy of Cedula (makakakuha ka sa munisipyo 35php) 
4. 330php
Itsura ang Philippine Postal id



Ang Post Office ng Angono ay nasa gilid ng Munisipyo ng Angono malapit sa Angono Fire Department.



Pumunta lamang sa Postal Office ng Angno, dalin ang requirements, humingi ng form, fill-upan ang 3 form and ipasa ulit sa Post office. 

Nirerekomenda ko na pumunta sa Post Office ng umaga para makuha ng hapon ang id. Pag hapon na ipinasa ang form, maaring kinabukasan na makuha ang id. 

superjola.blogspot.com

Confessions of a Shopaholic Book Review

I just finished reading CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC of Sophie Kinsella, yesterday.I watched the movie like two years ago. Downloaded the complete epub of the series. 

My expectations are quite high for I find the Sophie Kinsella books interesting based on the previous books I read before (I've got your number and Can you keep a Secret?). BUT I find this first book of the Shopaholic series, BORING. 

I'm a little bit unfamiliar with the shops Rebecca Bloomwood is talking about, but there isn't much in the story itself. Its the kind of book where you would want to skip and skip because the story keeps repeating itself. and there isn't much going on between Rebecca and her love interest.

I don't know if I'll be reading the sequel (Shopaholic takes Manhattan/ Shopaholic Abroad)..

We'll just wait and see

NAIA 3 (Manila, Philippines) to Noi Bai Airport (Hanoi, Vietnam)

Around May, we planned to go out of the country, it my first time to get my passport stamped. My mother and her officemates decided to go country hopping. Our first plan is Vietnam-Cambodia-Thailand. But we're only planning for a 4 day trip, so we scrap the idea of going to Thailand. We booked a flight to Hanoi via cebu pacific Tue 03 Jul 2012, 2230H flight it was on sale!!! 

After the booking, I searched hotels and places to visit and day tour packages because we'll be spending limited time in each stop.

Tuesday, July 3, checking in Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal  3

And we met Phil Younghusband while waiting in NAIA terminal III

The View in the Plane, the moon is sooooo bright, I think we are already in Vietnam when I took this photo.

Arrived at Noi Bai Airport arround 1:30am Vietnam Time (2:30am Philippine Time)