pasig river cruise: ferry stations

i have been bugging B about trying this pasig river "cruise" for months. we even searched for the exact location of the HULO ferry station since this is the nearest station to us ... and has been mentioned on several blogs that i have read as a good starting point for this trip ... unfortunately, B was not available for this trip :(


straight from work, my colleague and i boarded a taxi and asked the driver to bring us to the ferry station.

note: be careful. i would say that there are two types of stations. one is associated with the pasig ferries and the other one is for those small wooden boats meant to carry passengers crossing from one side of the river to the other. don't worry here are some pictures of the stations so you have an idea how they would look like.


most of the stations have the same facade ... if i'm not mistaken except for quiapo (see picture below) and bambang station (floating station) ... i'm not sure about kalawaan and intramuros ... we were suppose to go to kalawaan but we ended at bambang so we could catch the next ferry.



there are comfort rooms inside the stations. picture taking is not allowed inside though.

some stations issue tickets that are bar coded while others issue a stub-like. however, both would display the amount and station where you're bounded to.

we took the following trips:

• hulo-bambang (24-jan-09),
  
• bambang-escolta (24-jan-09)
• escolta-bambang (25-jan-09).

for ferry schedules and fare matrix, click here.

binondo food trip

when: (2009) January 24 and Janaury 25
where: binondo, manila

we went to binondo last weekend to have a glimpse of how the filipino-chinese community celebrate chinese new year ... and we ended up indulging with chinese cuisines.

here are some of what we ordered/ate/bought during our 2-day binondo walkathon.

SAVORY RESTAURANT
address: Escolta corner Plaza de Moriaga Sts., +63 2 3091053 to 55
half fried chicken: PhP 160

pansit canton guisado: PhP180
personal comment: fried chicken tastes like it was turbo-broiled + roasted + fried and i love the pickled radish that comes as its siding.

SINCERITY RESTAURANT
address: 497 Yuchengco St., +63 2 241990/2419972
fried chicken: PhP300 (whole), PhP150 (half)
pansit : PhP250 (small), PhP360 (medium), PhP500 (large), PhP650 (xl)
personal comment: fried chicken is more of the fastfood type ... because of the breading/coating. the pansit was quite soggy ... but nonetheless, both tasted good. we even got a big bowl of almond jelly dessert for FREE!


SHANGHAI FRIED SIOPAO
address: Ongpin St. Look for the yellow sign on the picture
bola-bola siopao: Php15
personal comment: it's not really that "fried" ... only the bottom part ... and it's quick fried. if you would compare it with fried dumplings, it's not the crunchy type.



HOPIA at ENG BEE TIN
address: 628 Ongpin cor E.T. Yuchengco St. (beside Binondo Church), +63 2 2429765 to 66
website: www.engbeetin.com
flavors: ube (yam) is one of the best sellers. there's also monggo, choco-peanut, mochaccino, ube-queso, ube-langka, ube-pastillas
prices range from PhP38-above, depends on the flavor
personal comment: i love the ube and monggo flavored hopia.

TIKOY
flavors: original white, ube, pandan, butterscotch
prices range from PhP40-above, depends on the size and flavor


FROGS
address: LSA Fastfood (one of the eateries near the creek ... look for the signage)
fried frogs: PhP110 for 4 pieces
personal comment: my first serving of frogs and they do taste like chicken

pasig river cruise: schedule and fare matrix

for those who are interested, here are the trip schedules and fare matrix.
(as of 25-January-2009)

a. pasig ferry's schedules for each station:

• weekdays

• saturdays
  

• sundays
  

b. pasig ferry's fare matrix:

c. for inquiries:

calauit island

Calauit Game Preserve and Wildlife Sanctuary

during our visit, we saw the following animals:

a. horses
b. zebras >> such shy animals. if you try to come near, they would (tendency) to move away ... or it's probably because they are camera shy :D

c. calamian deer >> "calamian" ... these are local breeds ... home-made in the calamian group of islands. by the way, coron is part of the calamian group of islands.

d. giraffes >> we saw many giraffes. if i'm not mistaken and if i was listening attentively, the tour guide/care taker mentioned that there were 40 giraffes living on the island.


>> TIP: try feeding the giraffes. this is a must try. personally, we enjoyed feeding ATHENA, the most friendly among the group.

e. porcupines >> they do have hard spikes. lucky us, we were able to touch one. we noticed that they were restless ... maybe because we were disturbing their sleep. porcupines are nocturnal animals. they sleep during the day and are wide awake at night. kuya rolly, the guide said that porcupines are farmers' "enemies" for the former steal the latter’s crops once the sun is out of sight.

f. monkeys >> our distant relatives. these ones are very playful. there were two male and one female monkeys in captivity . a divider separates the male from the female.

g. bear cat >> this specie is a cross between the bear and cat families.

h. crocodile >> fresh water crocodiles ... however, only one went out of their hole

i.narra tree >> the philippines’ national tree

j. banato tree >> have you seen a camouflage tree? CAMOUFLAGE? army-print? YES! we do have one ... presenting the BANATO tree!


learned something a thing or two ...
>>> is a zebra black with white stripes or white with black stripes? <<<
>>>what is an antler? and antelope? <<<

some tips:

1. if you're coming from coron town proper, leave early so you would be able to catch the animals' feeding time. unlucky us, we were very tired the day before we did this trip and instead of leaving at 4AM, we started heading for the road it was at 4:30AM.

2. bring food for your breakfast ... so you won't experience the “nightmare breakfast” we had ... :(

3. before going, ask your guide what would be the best mode of transportation ... from coron town proper, it's almost a 3.5-hr drive and 15-20 minutes boat ride ... but you can also opt to have a full 3-hr boat ride instead.
the choice of transportation would depend on the season ... the size of the waves ... and the moolah!.

a van can be rented for PhP5000 (with side trips to some other spots) and for the boat, i think it's around PhP8000, for the straight boat ride. the 15-20 minute boat ride for crossing the island is around PhP600.


*rates mentioned were as of june 2008.

referrals:
>> diy coron by oferrer
>> patrik's place at coron town

KL towers 101

kuala lumpur, malaysia.



menara means tower in malay.

PETRONAS TWIN TOWERS >> the world's tallest twin-towers



if you want to visit petronas towers' skybridge, we suggest that you go directly to the booth, located at the basement of the tower and line-up early for the tickets. tickets are for free however only 250 tickets are being handed-out daily.

visitors are allowed to bring their cameras on the towers' bridge and inside the exhibit area (beside the ticket booth).



there are 88 floors and the skybridge is located on the 44th floor. our tour guide boasts of the elevator's speed ... soaring high on a rate of 1 floor per second. (watch out for the pressure on your ears)



here are some of the shots we took ... making the most out of the 10-15 minutes quick see and feel of KL city's aerial view on the twin towers' bridge.




KL TOWER >> tower on a pineapple hill

bukit means hill.
nanas is pineapple.

unfortunately, we weren't able to visit the KL tower ... BUT STILL we won't let this stop us from taking some pics of the tower on a hill.

welcome

we're giving it a shot

...

inspired by the travel blogs that we've read

... and ...

in return for all the help that we got from other people's journals

we're starting this travel (and everything in between) blog

...


to share our trips and pictures,

to give some tips, some to do's and the dont's

to encourage other people to see and explore the places that we've been

and to learn from others as well ...

sharing ideas on everything and anything under the sun ...