• Israel,  Middle East

    Visiting Israel’s Red Canyon

    I became aware of this place because of an instagram post. After seeing the post, I asked Igal if we can go to it on my next Israel trip. He wasn’t aware of the place but he was also interested to see it. I went back to Israel in August 2018 and stayed for five weeks. Of course, we followed through and paid the Red Canyon a visit. Going to the Red Canyon Our day of visit to the Red Canyon was quite eventful! Our itinerary for the day included a quick stop at Ramon Crater (Makhtesh Ramon), which is what was initially entered on the Waze app. However, on…

  • Asia,  Guide,  Philippines

    Getting a Police Clearance in Makati City

    I recently obtained a police clearance in Makati City and I will be sharing in this post the steps I had to go through for the application. First, it’s important to know the location of Makati Central Police HQ. I read that this is the place to go to when applying for Police Clearance in Makati. The police station is: Located at the corner of Ayala Avenue and Yakal Street Right after Makati Fire Station Across The Alphaland Makati Place You’ll have to leave an identification (ID) card when you enter the police station’s gate along Ayala Avenue in exchange for a visitor’s pass. Go to the leftmost part of the station where police clearance…

  • Asia,  Philippines,  Travel

    Temporarily Disconnecting a Globe Telecom Postpaid Line

    Everytime that I travel abroad, I stay connected by getting a local sim from the country I’m visiting since it’s more economical than using (very expensive) roaming services. My last international trip was to Israel and it was for almost 6 weeks. Prior to departure, I tried to see if I could temporary disconnect my postpaid line given that I could save a month on bill.   I found a step-by-step guide in Globe Telecom’s website about temporary line disconnection. The guide is a bit outdated since Globe already changed their account interface; but, the general idea is there. I’m providing below an updated guide with Globe’s current interface.   Step 1.…

  • Israel,  Middle East,  Travel

    A Day of Walking in Jerusalem

    I visited Israel for the first time in 2017 and I had the chance to visit Jerusalem twice. The first one was when when I went on a group tour organized by Tourist Israel. The second was when Igal and I joined the tip-based walking tour organized by New Sandeman.   Holy Sepulchre Church was included in both of those tours. However, we only stayed outside the church on the New Sandeman tour (the one with Igal) where the tour guide talked about its history. On the way home from the tour, I told Igal that I also got to see the inside of the church in my Tourist Israel…

  • Asia,  Hong Kong,  Transportation,  Travel

    Less than a Day Stop in Hong Kong

    I recently traveled to Israel and, on my way there, had around 14 hours to kill during my stop in Hong Kong. I’ve been to Hong Kong before so I didn’t feel the need to go far from the airport. Here are things I did and considered for my recent stop in Hong Kong.   What will I do with my luggage? I used two different airlines – Cebu Pacific Air for Manila-Hong Kong and Cathay Pacific Airlines for Hong Kong-Tel Aviv. This meant that my luggage was not checked all the way to my final destination.   When faced with this kind of situation, I usually look for a…

  • Asia,  Environment,  Philippines

    Tree Planting in the Philippines

    Last July, I learned from an article that there’s an existing law which requires each able-bodied Filipino to plant one tree every year starting at age 12. It’s the first time I’ve heard of it and that means I owe the country a lot of trees!   After reading it, I googled about tree planting activities that I may be able to participate in and saw two possible options – Haribon Foundation and Masungi Georeserve.   Haribon Foundation Tree planting activities are held between June and November of each year because planting during the rainy season increases the newly-planted seedlings’ survival rate. Adoption of at least one (1) seedling will…

  • Asia,  Philippines,  Transportation,  Travel

    Three Weeks in the Philippines: 4 Nights in El Nido

    After enjoying the beauty of Coron, our next stop was El Nido. In this post, I’ll talk about our trip to El Nido plus a few things we didn’t do but might help you in planning your own trip. I will also include some photos from my trip with Igal this 2018 plus some photos from my trip with friends last 2015.   Getting to El Nido We came from Coron and went to El Nido using a fastcraft ferry. I’ve talked about ferry options between Coron and El Nido in my Coron post. Here’s a link to the Coron piece if you’d like to read about it. If you’re…

  • Asia,  Philippines,  Travel

    Hiking Mount Ugo

    It all started with this kind of conversation one day last year   Me: You’re going on a hike? Friend: Yeah. Wanna join? Me: Will I be able to do it? Friend: Yeah. Me: Okay.   And that’s how I got myself into a two-day hike of Mount Ugo. It was my first hike and people in our group were surprised to learn that I was doing this one as my first. Apparently, my friend has a reputation of taking first timers to major hikes 😂   We started the traverse from Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya and finished at Brgy. Tinongdan, Itogon, Benguet. Here is the general timeline of our weekend hike:…