A Weekend in Singapore

I've been to Singapore several times already but I think it was only now that I am beginning to appreciate the charm of this tiny Southeast Asian country. Efficient, clean, and organized are the perfect adjectives to describe Singapore.

There were still a lot of developments being made around the city. These are something to look forward to in the next few years or so. I also noticed that they are starting to build iconic structures like the Esplanade, Singapore Flyer and the most recent one is the Marina Bay Sands, which has a very interesting architecture. It is an integrated resort which has a hotel, casino, museum and other attractions. There is an infinity pool at the top of the building which I find really interesting but you have to be a guest of the hotel in order for you to  have access to it.

I also had a chance to check out Salvador Dali's exhibit at the ArtScience Museum of the Marina Bay Sands. I enjoyed the whole afternoon because I had a very good company and I am looking forward of having more of this type of activity with her. I feel comfortable being with her. Her actions, stories and the things she's passionate about would tell you that she really has a good heart. We're acquaintance since high school but it is only now that we're getting to know each other deeply.

Palace of Versailles

As I am not really good at words, I will just focus on posting pictures.

Palace of Versailles is a suburb of the city of Paris. It can be easily reached by a train. I just forgot how long it took me to get there but it should be less than an hour. If King Louis of France, Marie Antoinette and Treaty of Versailles all sounded familiar to you, then, you know this palace for sure. If you've been to Paris and haven't been to Versailles, these photos will show you what you just missed.

Caramoan

Weekend in Cebu

Paris Basic

Bellarocca Island Resort and Spa

Let the pictures speak for themselves.

Bungy Jumping in Bali

One of the activities I really wanted to do, ever since, was bungy jumping. I am based here in the Philippines and my best option to do this is either in Macau or in Bali, both being managed by AJ Hackett. I've been to Macau thrice but I always skip doing bungy jumping because it was too expensive for me. Then, came the time that I had my vacation in Bali. I said to myself that I will never leave Bali without trying this. On my second day in Bali, I went to the location where they do the bungy jumping and without any hesitation, paid around less than 5000 pesos and went up to the jumping point and did it. I can't remember how did I manage to jump but yeah, I was able to do it alive. Here are some of the evidences:

AJ Hackett

Jalan Double Six,

Kuta, Bali, Indonesia

Regular Jump at IDR 990,000 includes t-shirt and certificate.

Life Changing Decision



Petronas Towers, KL

"High achievers spot rich opportunities swiftly, make big decisions quickly and move into action immediately." - Robert H. Schuller

I got a job offer as an IT Consultant in Kuala Lumpur. Accepting the offer was a very hard decision for me. Life changing, as the title says. I was really never looking for a job abroad as I was content with my current work as a Team Lead for a French IT company here in Alabang. A friend of mine referred me to a headhunter, and suddenly, I found myself heading to KL for a face to face interview with the employer. To cut the story short, I accepted the offer and will be starting there next month. I believe this is a perfect opportunity for me to start things anew and face the new challenges that I will surely encounter. Let's Go, Aaron!

Travelling Alone

They say that when you travel alone, you are really not alone because you'll meet a lot of people along the way. Just last week, I traveled alone to the capital of China, Beijing. Well, I actually did not intend to be alone. My ex girlfriend and I actually booked this trip. And since we were not together anymore, I decided to still push through with the trip alone. I really did not have any concrete plan about my itinerary in Beijing. I just did a little research on what are the must things to see and do there and had the rest of the planning when I landed in Beijing.

Some of my friends' impressions of Beijing are - It is a dirty city and the people are not disciplined. Well, I beg to disagree. I believe you really can't judge a country or a place when you haven't been there, in the first place. From what I saw, Beijing is clean and people are nice. Although you cannot communicate with them since looking for someone who can speak English is like finding a needle in a haystack. Your best bet are those western looking people who had settled in Beijing. About being not disciplined and spitting everywhere, I can't believe I heard this from my fellow Filipinos. C'mon, I think Manila has more undisciplined people and spitting in the streets is also quite usual here, huh.

I found Beijing a little laid-back. Well, probably because I was just expecting a busy city with myriads of people. It turned out that, although Beijing has around 20 million people, I only saw few people crossing the streets, considering I stayed in the city center. Maybe much of them were in their home. Besides, Beijing is also a big city in terms of land area, unlike, the super densely populated Manila. So even there were a lot of people, they were pretty much scattered around the city. I can see a big potential on their tourism industry. I believe they still can attract more visitors. They have interesting tourist attractions within the city, such as the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, and the Summer Palace. All of them were really grand and huge. And just around 1-2 hours away from the city, you can reach some parts of the Great Wall of China. When I checked out those places, I did not join any arranged tour so I can get hold of my own time.

Forbidden City

Entrance to the one of the Gates of Temple of Heaven

Great Wall - Mutianyu

Spring at Summer Palace

Summer Palace