A trip to Bintan Indonesia with Friends

Ofcourse, I was with my friends; obviously :)

We went to Bintan last weekend, so yeah my trips lately outside of Singapore has been hectic.  I had no major trips outside Singapore except when I had to go to Cebu, my hometown to visit my family.

Anyway, Bintan is really near to Singapore like it's a 45 minute-ferry ride.  Early dawn of Saturday, I received miss calls from Chritian as I have asked them to call me so I can wake up early as I did not trust my alarm (or perhaps myself).  Usually weekends for me is like holy when it comes to sleeping :)) I can wake up at noon.  That's how late I start my weekends.  Yup, to be on the ferry terminal at Tanah Merah early, I decided to take a cab.  I was planning to actually take the train but I felt I'll not be able to make it so I had to cough up 20 dollars for the cab.  I arrived at the terminal on time and my friends were already there, queuing for out tickets.  I met them in their queue and gave my passport after the small talk :)  I did not take my breakfast so I found this Killiney coffee house and there I ordered teh (tea with milk) and kaya toast (slice bread with kaya; a spread made of coconut).  My friends finished their checkin and stuff and we got our tickets. We queued to going to the immigration and all the security stuff and no later that 10 minutes, we found ourselves boarding the ferry and off we went to Bintan Indonesia :)

We had a villa for ourselves at Nirwana resorts.  It's a two storey house, with two big common rooms and a  master's bedroom.  It's somehow furnished. In fact one can cook their food there which was part of our plan.  When we arrived at the resort, it was actually about lunch time in the coming hour.  Since we had our packed lunch we just looked for a nice place to have lunch :)

At around 1PM we were able to check-in at our villa.

There were so many things to do.  After we have settled ourselves, our first activity was the ATV. Unfortunately, it was not available and they that it's going to be on the next day that they'll resume operations :(  So we just decided to bathe into beach.  Hmmm there was actually a Meta Man - it's a triathlon actually and to my surprise, Sen. Pia Cayetano; senator of the upper house of the Philippines, was joining the event.  Anyway, the afternoon was the start of the swimming competition which made our stay there different.  For most of us, it was our first time watching a live triathlon.  There were jelly fishes in their beach so it was not that fun actually and their sand is a bit muddy so it did not feel good because when you splash and swim it would turn a bit murky.  Anyway, we explored their beach on the other side and the view is nice but not as good as we had in the Philippines - sorry if I am comparing....  Anyway, I told my friends that I'd go to the pool :)  I spent like an hour or two at the pool just enjoying the scenery and cheering the triathletes.  They were in the marathon competition already and they happen to pass by near the infinity pool.  To my surprise, Sen. Pia Cayetano was there and so I can't help but cheer.  At around 4PM my friends joined me at the pool.  My friends wanted to go back to the villa and prepare for dinner but then I asked them to cheer for Sen. Cayetano and at around 5PM she had the 2nd round already and when she was near the pool side we were shouting, "Go Ms. Pia" - she did smile at us but I think she find it so strange :D

Well,  it was getting dark already and we had to go back to our villa so we can prepare for dinner.  I think I made a mistake in my timing simply because I was using the Singapore time.  Indonesia is 1 hour advance :P

After everyone was ready, we were headed to The Kelong restaurant.  We waited for the hotel service for a few minutes then off we went to the restaurant.  To our surprise we saw Senator Pia again and so we did cheer and blurted, "Go Ms. Pia! Mabuhay!".   Anyway, we arrived at the restaurant a bit hungry and the good thing was, the place was not crowded.  Getting our orders was fast and the guy serving our table was friendly and it felt we were not too rushed unlike in Singapore restaurants where the service is a bit rushed :))  The food was good and the service was quite good so after our heavy dinner, we tipped the guy 10 Singapore dollars.  There was nothing to do actually so we just decided to go back to our villa and had our karaoke.  My friends brought their portable karaoke :) As usual, it' fun singing with friends =))

We decided to check the beats from outside and it was actually the Meta Man challenge finish line.  I think the organizers party.  The triathletes has been active for the last 16 hours as shown in the finish line clock.  I was so amazed at how sporty these people are.  I even saw some athletes at their late forties as you can see in their whitish hair :D  It left an impression on me to be a bit sporty as well or simply put I have to be fit :P I stopped going to the gym actually and I have not been jogging and not even doing the dance exercise in our Xbox Kinect.   It was getting dark so we decided to go back to our hotel to sleep already;)

Early morning, my friends were already cooking for breakfast.  Since there's a free breakfast for two because we had two extra beds, Christian and I took the free meal.  Mamul asked us to bring back some butter for the bread.   The breakfast served at Nirwana was quite good so I was full again. We took some butter and strawberry spreads. Then off we went back to our villa.  My friends were still eating and the German sausage I brought was really nice to look at so I had my hands on them.  They also prepared some spam so yeah I also devoured some.  After our breakfast, the first order of business was to go for an ATV ride.  Then the unexpected happened.  We were like being passed from one counter to the other just to get to their ATV and everyone was already exasperated because of the long walks.  For the last time, we demanded to the hotel staff to bring us to the correct place already. So they decided to give us a free ride going to the ATV venue.  Good thing we pushed through for the ATV for it was so fun.  The trails was really nice and a bit challenging.  Too bad, we only had few minutes left because we need to go back to Singapore early. With that, we only had 30 minutes ATV. But the whole thirty minutes was really fun.  I think I am going for an ATV adventure in Bintan in the near future.

After the ride, we went back to our villa.  We still have some few hours to prepare so some of us went to dip at the pool and some had the elephant and horse back riding activities. Me ? I went to the pool :D

One hour has passed and it was time to pack up.  It was rather fast to pack and we need to checkout from the resort at 1PM.  We waited for some few minutes to take the free bus ride going to the ferry terminal.

After some immigration stuff and some waiting, we boarded and off we went back to Singapore :)

I then realized I miss the wifi connection I had in Singapore.  Wireless internet at Nirwana is 30 Singapore dollars - quite expensive as most hotels nowadays are offering free wifi.  It was a fun experience but I think KL is more affordable and exciting if you want to have a vacation without the beach thing.  I think the beach part at Bintan is not that good as well so I think going to KL is more enjoyable.

Good night everyone and enjoy the weekdays?

Universal Studios Singapore with friends :)

Sunday morning, and MJ was calling out my name. Yeah she just finished her morning ritual while I was still slumbering in my bed with a snore ? 

My friends had to be at Vivo city around 9 to get the first tickets for USS and the metro will take us there at approximately 30 minutes.  I was a bit hungry so I ate my breakfast.  Ating was already waiting for us actually....

We arrived just on time and people were like going to the toilet and others were actually late too from the agreed time.  Some of us went hungry so we ate at Food Republic.  At around 10:15 maybe, everyone was at Food Republic and after some few minutes we started our journey to USS.  For most of us, it was our first time, so it made the whole adventure fun and exciting.

We rode the express train going to USS and when we got there, it was not that crowded.  The tickets were at 70 Singapore dollars but I used my Mastercard for our booking so we got a discount.  We even had this free admission tickets for the Maritime museum.

Our first challenge was to take the most heart-pounding ride which is the Cylon.  I have always been very scared of roller coasters and god the Cylon ride will my first and it's the toughest in USS.  I honestly felt numb and I know I had to be excited or worse scared but nada, I felt nothing....  MJ and Jason who were with me in the ride were all excited :)  Okay, the queue was not that long in fact when we arrived we just had to wait for a couple of minutes.  It is in fact a 90-second ride.  Then came our turn and yeah we were seated together hahaha and I began to feel uneasy.  I asked them that I be seated at the middle. Actually there were four seats per row.  When the clock ticked and the ride started everyone was like already laughing with no reason at all. The began an uphill climb of some few meters then a huge plunge.  All we could do was just shout.  Then came the 360 degrees flips and turns which sent our adrenaline to space then came the loudest screams as if it was our last minute on earth.  As I've said, it was 90 seconds right? Yet it felt the longest ride I had ever done.  After we finished the ride, we could have taken a second round but decided not to because there so many other attractions which we wanted to try. 

Our next ride was the Human, a less challenging roller coaster ride than that of the Cylon :D  Anyway, we enjoyed those two rides.  Marlyn, Rowena, Femilyn and Razel did not join us on that ride but our next one was a not scary one so they decided to join except for Razel - hehehehe :) 

There we found ourselves in the Mummy ride :) It is the Egyptian pyramid kind of replica and inside is the mini train ride.  It was quite interesting because it was like so dark and there were some surprises and the fire was real and you can really feel the heat blowing in our faces.  I got scared at the part where a mummy suddenly appeared on our sides with all the frightening sound.  The rest where just made excited by the twist and rapid turns of the ride.  It was quite interesting actually.  The next ride we took was the Transformers as in the movie.  Razel still could not join us but then the rest went into the Transformer ....  It was a 3D augment reality ride so it was so fascinating and interesting at the same time.  It's like you were in the middle of a battle field and you were riding in car being chased furiously by the Deceptecons; the villains in the movie.  The ride I should say was the most interesting of all and I like very much.... It's just that we wanted to try other things so we decided not to do our second round with Transformers. Anyway we were hungry so we ordered lunch and the meal was like 20Singapore dollars which is really expensive for a meal.  I think you will be wasting at least 100dollars in USS but if you shop just prepare more cash :)

After lunch, we decided to try the Jurassic/Dinosaur ride.  It was not that challenging but definitely you'll get out wet.  Your friends can even pay for a water gun and shoot you for 50 cents.  After that, we tried the castle ala Shrek themed movie house which was also in 3D.  Well you will just be watching Shrek and Fiona in a movie in a very interactive manner because you will be sprayed and the benches will shake from time to time and when spiders come out, there will be some fun surprises....  quite interesting actually but if you want more adrenaline stuff, this does not suit you then.  After that, we went to ride the dragon roller coaster designed for kids so yeah it was not that challenging.  We even invited Rowena, whose also scared of roller coaster and we were shocked when there were scary parts - Rowena's definition of roller coaster scare. All we could say was we were behind her in her shouts for moral support.

We also watched the Monster rock, where some scary characters in movies will do some play kind of thing with music so it was really like a rock musical with mixed up story telling. We had fun watching the Phantom of the Opera character well because of the way the actor played the role :)  The next attraction we had was the replica of hollywood movie set.  It was really amazing how movies are made :)  Just imagine were like a live audience in a movie in the making.  We saw some thunderstorm and fire and also some boats slamming into the pier - where we actually observed in a standing position.  I really liked this part of the tour because it felt so real :D

It was getting dark. But we continued to explore the universal studios.  Ate something from here to there and did some shopping.  We also had some cam whoring =))

We got so tired and it was for real really dark, so we decided to go to Food Republic @ vivo to have our dinner :)

Everyone seemed to have enjoyed the Universal Studios Singapore which was what that mattered on that day.  I would recommend this theme park for would be tourists together with friends and family ;)

A one night affair in Malaysia

MJ came to Singapore and part of our itinerary was to drop by at Kuala Lumpur :D

Yup2! We went to Malaysia via Jetstar on an early Friday morning.  It was a new scene for both of us.  I have been to Johore but KL was more of a city.  It was crowded actually :D  The queue at the immigration was really2 long with so many tourists from the middle east.  I think they love KL so much!  Anyway, we took the KL express and so were like hungry and we arrived at KL around 11 at the KL central.  We looked for a place to eat and we found KFC =)) and we had porridge and coffee.  Our plan was to first go to Batu caves before checking in at our hotel.  After that really quick meal, we went down, ask the information counter and we were able to find the counter where we can purchase our tickets.  KL's metro is quite good actually but very crowded comparable to that of Manila.  Singapore's metro is also crowded but it's so well ventilated.  Anyway, the ride to Batu caves was less than an hour and the train was spacious enough.

We reached the Batu caves excited and the entrance was free.  Batu cave is actually an Indian house of worship for what seems to be a monkey god.  Before you could reach the cave which was situated atop from a rocky mountain you need to climb the stairs of hundred steps.  This was quite an adventure and not for the weaker knees :D  When we reached the top most and entering the mouth of the cave, we were surprised that it's really huge and from the ceiling came some sprinkles of water from the mountain.  I was actually careful not to be hit in my eye or mouth as the place was really full of bats (obviously).  Did I mention the temple is place of worship for some monkey gods? Oh yeah, there were lots of real monkeys along the steps, be warned.  The place was a first time for us and there were some priests doing some rituals for the visitors.  MJ and I were curious what it was about so we tried to actually go inside the temple and the priest began to pray in a different language - I assumed it was a Hindu ritual in Tamil or maybe Hindi.  Anyway, we donated 10 ringgits and the priest gave us a milk and a candle to offer to the monkey god.  I did not get actually what was the ceremony so I just went along.  I think MJ was thinking the same thing :))

Anyway, after the ritual the priest took out some thread and then tied it to my left wrist then he was like murmuring about money and donation and saying 10 ringgit which was really funny because I did not understand what he meant.  He began pointing to the 10 ringgit and then tried to point to my wallet =)) So I took 1 ringgit and gave it to him or rather put it in his mini basket. I did some research and found out that the god was not a monkey as it is Murugan and it's from the Tamil people. A war god who defeated the demon.  So I guess the ritual the priest performed to me is some sort of a prayer to defeat the evils or maybe protection from evils.  Anyway, it was an interesting experience.  When reading about this god, there is a festival for this god and the devotees prepare themselves by eating some kind of vegetarian diet and abstaining from self indulgence so like they do some form of fasting and on the day of the feast they are into a trance state and they pierce their body with some spear or some metallic or wooden sticks.  I think I have seen this in National Geographic which seems really horrifying but to these people its like a devotion to their god and it's quite interesting.  In the Philippines which is mostly Catholic, during holy week, devotees re-enact what Christ did to save it's people buy having procession of penitence where they perform flagellation to the extent of crucifying themselves.  It's actually bloody and scary and seemed painful.  I haven't tried it and I don't want to try it....  Anyway, we descended from the temple after some photo ops and that made it scary as I can feel my knees shaking.  Did I say that there were 272 steps all in all ? Yes, it was a huge relief after we set our feet on the ground.  While taking pictures, there was this creature which suddenly grabbed my water bottle and it was scary.  It was another monkey incident of mine.  Therefore I conclude I don't like monkeys.... After the Batu caves, we went back to KL via their metro.

We arrived at KL central and we looked for the lrt to go to Bunkit Bintang which was where our hotel. We arrived at the station safe but really hungry so went inside the Berjaya mall I think and ate at their food court.  The serving was quite big and so our starving tummies were satisfied.  After that, we trekked the whole Bukit Bintang looking for our hotel. It's a two star so it's not that known.  We asked people around and they do not know what it was and they don't even know the address.  It was hot and crowded and MJs camera was dead! Yeah she accidentally lose her hold of the camera so like it fell when she was about to take a photo :(  Anyway, our last resort was to buy a map. We paid the map for like 10 ringgit and it was a huge one.  We went inside the mall and looked for a place to sit.  As we were scanning the map some lady approached us and she then asked if where we were from.  I just told her that we were kind of lost and we are from the Philippines. She was wearing this Muslim scarf around her head and she was inside the mall so we weren't scared at all.  Then she began to speak in Tagalog and so we were relieved and she helped us find our hotel :) which was so kind of her.  She was actually from Zamboanga and I think she has a stall in the mall. I was trying to connect to her by saying that she's Chavacanno, but then she's actually Tausug :) We thanked her a lot (said in Filipino) for helping us and we bade good-byes :)

We again began touring Bukit Bintang and viola our hotel was found.  We checked in and and after that, we slept =))  It was so tiring waking up in the early morn and trekking around looking for our hotel.  we set our alarm at around 6PM or something and off we went to KLCC to see the very famous Petronas tower.  We actually took the lrt and good think it was a walking distance.  The Petronas tower is a must visit I should say as it is really beautiful :)  We took lots of pictures and since it was dinner time, we decided to eat at KLCC. MJ loved the food in KL =))

After our Petronas adventure, we headed back to Bukit Bintang looking for some night life party but couldn't find a nice one.  We were supposed to meet a friend, a former colleague but he was actually admitted to the hospital so we cancelled.... Anyway, we couldn't find a nice spot so we decided to just call it a night.

The next day was our last day =)) We haven't shopped and I heard shopping in KL is also fun.  Anyway, MJ wanted to go back to Singapore by bus so we had to be at the mall earlier to book our tickets and fortunately we got an early schedule.  We decided to take a bus because we wanted to do some sight seeing but it seems that the sight seeing was not that interesting as all the way, we just see palm plantations.  What else to do was to sleep, good thing we had the lazy boy type chairs in the bus so it was really comfortable sleeping in this moving vehicle.  It was a long 6 hour journey....

We arrived in Singapore just on time to attend a birthday party in our flat and it's another feasting/celebration ;) And yeah, after the party, MJ and I went to Clarke Quay to party together with Janice :D

Euro tour - Munich

The next day was spent visiting another castle. It was a two hour ride by train and 30 minutes ride by ferry. Herrenchiemsee palace is beautiful and it's interesting because King Ludwig II had it to be a replica of some sort of France's Versailles. It was said he admired the King of France and so he decided to immortalize it building his castle with French taste.

Here are the photos of our tour at Herrenchiemsee, but no photo's taken from inside the castle because it's simply not allowed.




After touring the castle, we had our really late lunch. Their serving was huge for us so it was satisfying even if it was really late.

The castle trip took us a whole day.

The next day, our itinerary was to tour the Munich central - MarienPlatz but before that, we checkout some noteworthy structures just around Munich. We also passed by the German playground for their very famous Octo-beer-feast.

At MarienPlatz, ee checked some shops and watched some street performers. Then we watched the show at the Sankt Peter. It's was a great church bell show which was not to be missed :)

After the show we looked for some place to eat and there was this one mall we went into and there's a good food court. We ordered a lot :) German food is a bit sour which was not so strange actually and the sausages and hams were really good.

After lunch, we decided to go to the English garden or the Englischer Garten. There was not that many things to do except that the place was famous for nude people sun bathing. It was actually summer in Munich even though it was sometimes rainy and cold. We were a bit tired of all the walking so we decided to just sit down by the lake and watched people. Too bad there were no nude scenes =))

Anyway, we needed to still prepare our stuff because we will be leaving Munich that night. Our next stop was Paris and of course with love.

To be continued....

Next Stop, Munich Germany !

Gutten Tag !

Well, we left Barcelona and dropped by at Mallorca airport then went to Munich still via Air Berlin. The flight was a bit bumpy (and I hate turbulence which sends my stomach to a roller coaster) and so everyone was scared - not to death though. I believe we were praying then ....

We reached Munich late in the evening and we were meeting David at the airport. After we got our things, we went out of the arrival area and saw David...

We got out tickets and proceeded to a friend's house - actually Peter's friend. Mai was the one playing host to us. She's actually Filipino - German. Her mom is a Cebuano and when she finished her university in Cebu, I think she flew to Germany to stay and work. She's fluent in German but as what I have known, she's still more Filipino and she's proud of it :D She is with her hubby in their apartment and yeah we were the couch surfers ;)

We reached the station which was near Mai's place and the weather was a bit cold. They waited for us and it was so kind of them. David actually went with us as well and left after we safely arrived at that station (I forgot the name of that station). Anyway, it was late so when we arrived at Mai's and Glenn's place, we just had to sleep.

The next day arrived and our itinerary would be to go to castles in Bavaria :) We had our mini breakfast with all the yummy sausages and a cup of coffee just to have a good kick in the morn.
It was more than two hours of ride and people were actually sleeping in the train and since I had coffee, I was just enjoying the scenery. Their houses were totally different from what we have in my place (Cebu) and they were uniquely Bavarian.

We alighted from the train and we took a bus going to Schloss Neuschwanstein. A castle of Konig Ludwig II. An impressive castle I must say where Disneyland castles got their inspiration from. We actually had to options when we reached the entrance, either we take the chariot which we call in Cebu as tartanilla or we go there by bus - most of us wanted to take the bus but we did not fail to take some photos with the parked horse carriage. The castle is atop of the mountain sitting gloriously and so it added more chill. We had to wear scarves and our jackets :) We reached the foot of the mountain and we had to trek to reach the castle. It was a fun trek obviously and everyone was cam whoring. The castle was huge but they said it was not finished. Anyhow, we decided to get in and took that very long queue. There were lots of tourists and the good thing was we came earlier. After some minutes of waiting, it was our turn for the castle tour. Unfortunately, no picture taking was allowed. Sigh.... I just had to feast with thine eyes :D The view from atop was amazing when one is looking from beyond and the back drop was gorgeous with the hilly country side, farm villages and lakes and on the other side there was this water falls. That was the most beautiful castle tour I had in Germany! The tour lasted for around 45 minutes, more or less and since it was lunch time, we decided to eat at the castles resto. It was simple yet chic place to have lunch :) The sausage again danced on our plates then to our bellies and the cakes, not to forget were really heavenly. I love their food - very fattening ! =)) After the castle tour we trek and went to this nearby bridge where there's also a great view of the whole milieau. On the bridge you can write some dedication of some sort and I wrote my name, my address, and cebu !!! And just for fun, I wrote some of the names of my office mates and friends :)

We decided to go back to our pit stop :) To go downhill we need to take the bus and it was a quick ride. We decided to buy some souvenirs for friends and family and just agreed on a meeting place. I think we lost Bud and Elaine and so Kay and I were checking back our tracks while the other waited to the bus stop. Alas we found them in our second round of searching. It's actually difficult if you're a bit lost because the signs were in Deutsche or German you can't expect the country folks to actually converse with you in English (but not quite sure about this so don't take me seriously). We took the bus then the two hour ride train going back to Munchen proper. Kay had to meet some Cebuano friends who were vacationing as well in Germany so David, Elaine and I decided to tag along. They're a Cebuano couple who were living in Vancouver, Canada. I forgot their names (waaaahh need to ask Kay on this). Kay met her in Tokyo where she was studying her Masters while Kay was working as a software engineer. Anyhow, we were a bit lost as to where is the BrauHaus (beer house). After some minutes of walking we found the place. I think there was a miscommunication of the landmarks :) We settled and ordered food for dinner and of course the very famous beer in a huge mug. Trust me, they have the best beer in the world !!! :) It was so much fun talking to the guys and since David is Indonesian, we had to converse in English :) Though sometimes we do speak Cebuano. The place was actually very noisy but the atmosphere is just so inviting and really happy with all the banging of the beer glass plus this folk band tuning the entire building into their nice songs even though I didn't understand what they were singing :) One of the best beer session I had with friends :D After we finished, we went to the souvenir shop and I bought a cap for my dad and a pen for my brother :) Then we took some pictures, went out, saw HardRock cafe Munchen so we decided to run across as it was raining and checked out some stuff. I am not really a fan of the cafe or any of its souvenir stuff so I did not care to buy anything but instead, I busied myself taking some pictures from my iphone - imagine Sting's guitar on display and some artists :) The rain was still pouring hard, and the clock was ticking late, and yeah we waited a bit for the rain to subside or maybe stop. It did not come to a stop but the raindrops were a bit manageable already so we decided to go back to our temporary niche. David was so kind, in fact he went with us to the train station. We were sleepy but we need to be very careful simply because their station is a bit complicated like in a single platform, many trains will pass, just like bus stops where you have buses going to different routes. I know Kay was good in directions and so we were in safe hands :) We got to the apartment quite tipsy and sleepy.

To be continued....

Third day in Barcelona {Espanya}

Continuation : Still In Barcelona Spain

The third day was our last day in Barcelona. Our schedule allowed us to go only to Montjuic. We woke a bit relaxed but was surprised that at 8AM the district was still asleep. The restos were closed and it was hard to look for a decent breakfast. So, we ate bread with some spread and a glass of juice.

Out stop was Montjuic and we had to take the train. The train system is not that complicated but you have to be aware of the pickpockets as there are so many of them especially in trains. We reached there too early so we have to wait for the cable car operation to open so we spent a good 30 minutes at this park full of flower. We just took some photos....

We took a single route going to the fort while Peter and our Japanese friend had the round trip. We wanted to actually do the hiking....

Reaching the castle took us around 10 minutes and the ride was so interesting. You get to see the city on your left and on your right and beyond is the Barcelona harbor. As usual when we reached the top, it was all cam whoring :D

There was no guide and all that and we did not take any information map. There was a lot of Catalan history already care of Brian so we just wanted to explore and check for nice views :D After touring the huge fortress and having that 360 degree view of Barcelona, we decided to go back to the plaza and have lunch and get ready to our next destination :)

We had our lunch at this cozy resto serving local stuff. All of us had the Paella ala Catalan! The serving is actually huge and we were surprised cos we thought it's good for one person but nope it's for two for regular Asians. Anyway, we ate everything - remember we did not have a good breakfast :D

After our sumptuous lunch, we headed back to our hostel to prepare for our next stop.

We were riding a bus going to the airport and we were on time which was just perfect. We were taking Air Berlin going to Munich Germany. But, we had to stop at Mallorca Spain and took another plane of same liner going to Munich.

I actually fell in love with Barcelona because of it's history, their arts and culture. Oh Gaudi! He is all over the place - in a great way :) The warm greetings we had when we met folks in Rupit. And I love their Summer !!! Definitely a must to go back and experience Spain once again .... Viva Espanya ;)

To be continued :)

Still In Barcelona, Spain

Continuation ( Euro Trip : Barcelona, Spain)

The next day was, we were bound for Pyrenees - mountainous and a bit rugged with all the beautiful formation bordering France from Spain.

We needed to wake up early and be at the post office for our rendezvous. There we met Brian an American guy who's been living in Barcelona for less than 10 years - typical American, chatty and warm.

The travel was more than an hour or two from Cataluña post office or was it Correos Barcelona, ahh nevermind. It was interesting because Brian was on for a real deal - simply say hello to some Catalan history was what he did. We haven't had our breakfast so when we arrived at the starting point of our "mountain trek", we parked at this cafe. They served some really tasty breads and the coffee was good. Since it borders France, they say merci for their thank you :)

The trek started with some history about the houses which dates 1400 during the medieval times. The place was totally quaint. The cobble stones and the house in bricks but not the usual red bricks, instead, those that are just stacked stones perfectly stacked like some jigsaw. I can compare them actually to the stacked stones in my grand mother's farm in Cebu as her farm is on top of a plateau so they have this mini terraces. But in the Pyrenees, they were made for their house. As we continued our excursion on foot, we were greeted with a lot of houses where you would know who owned them because they have labels on their front door (I'm not sure if they do have back doors). And the dates as to when their houses were build were also on display. The way they displayed those markers were engraved. Then, we passed by a church so I had my simple prayers then we continued on until we reached the back side was it? Sort of a road to the other side of the mountain that is. It was beginning to be a real trek. I was not complaining, in fact, I loved it! The mountain air is so fresh and since it was a bit cool, the sun did not really pricked my skin. I am not sure as to how my mates felt but for me it was getting to fun.... We trek to the hillside descending and at the bottom of the hill we began to climb up. Lots of trees or should I say we were entering a forest but the village was still visible. The place was so calm and I guess we were the only ones making the noise. We knew that it was a trek so we were aware of what to expect. In fact, when I was still in Singapore, I trained myself to always walk from the office going to Buona Vista mrt station (imagine two train stops from my office). We continued to walk and when we reached the top, we arrived at this chapel - frail looking chapel but still a chapel from the outside. It was not advisable to get it as there might be falling debris. The view beyond the hill was fantastic and on the other side, you can see the village. It felt so great being on top. We did not stop there, as we were still starting our journey :) There were another mile of walk going to next mountain. It was another combo of some descends and ascends. Then we arrived at a roadside and Brian asked us if we wanted to follow on the road or go to a challenging trek, translated to mountain climb minus the gears. I said I was game for the challenge and my right hand shoot into the air :) Then everyone followed suit. Hehehehehe ;) And Brian was not joking as the trek proved really challenging. I went to Europe for a mountain trek which was funny because, Cebu is mountainous too and I have never tried to do some mountaineering, ironic! Well, well, well, we reached the top and the view was amazing. It was well worth it! Cam whoring was the labor of the day! It is actually a bit dangerous because we were a few meters from the mountain's edge so one false move and you'll be meeting St. Peter. After the trek, we started to descend and mind you it was challenging as there were dried leaves all over the place and that it proved slippery, so we had to be very careful. After that grueling descend, we were taking a flatter track going to another mountain edge. Along the way, people were just laughing boisterously and sometimes we would be singing :) Typical Filipino or should I say Cebuano! After another say 30 minutes of walking, we reached the mountain edge where there's a falls. Really nice and the place it breathtaking though the place is a bit hot already as it was around 11AM. We rested at the edge. We talked, laughed and sing some children's rhymes which was a bit silly. After that nice rest, we continued our journey and this time we were heading back to the village. Halfway to the village, we drank at this cold mountain spring which was really refreshing :) It was another 30 minutes of hike before we reached the village.

We had our lunch at the village. To feel and experience the Catalan culture, we tried deep fried rabbit matched with red wine and drank the wine the Catalan way. I honestly did not like the rabbit meat because of the strong smell but nevertheless I was full =)) Should I say I was a bit tipsy too :P

All for the good Barcelona trekking at the Pyrenees plus the breakfast and luch, billed each of us around 50 euros. And we gave Brian a tip of 30 euros.

After the trek, we asked Brian where to see some nice shops and so we alighted at the post office and head to the Las Ramblas. And there the shops were like mushrooms and all over the corners and there was a huge crowd. There was no recession or some sort of financial turmoil in that area. Everyone was like busy shopping :) As for me, I bought a pair of H&M high cut shoes. Some of my friends also shopped and bought personal stuffs. It was a long walk and I was still full from the lunch I had and I really did not feel hungry :) We continued roaming the shopping district of Barcelona until night time. We were walking and walking until the girls decided to go to the mall to buy some night snacks and breakfast. As I have mentioned, I was really full and so I did not buy food or anything. Peter actually went ahead after shopping so while the girls were buying at the grocery, I was busy doing my thing at the loo and then checked some stuff at the personal care section. After the girls paid their purchases, we decided to call it a night and so went back to our hostel.

And Oh, the place we went to was called Rupit ;)

To be continued ....