i headed to northern vietnam early this month and the weather that time had started to get cooler which i love! i was supposed to go during a long weekend in august but i had a lot of apprehensions that time, considering my dough was at its utmost scarcity. i was also a bit scared when the posted weather in those months would mean chances of typhoons and needless to say but i say it anyway, northern vietnam likely equates to halong bay. although news can sometimes be downright horrible, as human as i am, reading news about boats that sunk in the bay slightly deterred my yearning to visit the UNESCO world heritage site.
but i am just glad that i took the leap of faith!
i purposely chose an unusual photo for an introduction to northern vietnam because there are already tons of photos of halong bay all over the online world. and i don't want to be predictable.
oh let me cut this vague chase.
having been ruled for about 300 years by the spaniards, some of us may still refer the small unit of government in the philippines as barrio but most of the time today, it's now being referred as a barangay. the traces of the once spanish dominion on our country, have slowly been fading away - save maybe, christianity. with the catholic religion deeply rooted in our culture, each place has its own yearly celebration that either honors Jesus or venerates patron saints.
part of my agenda of taking a brief vacation back home was to celebrate with my family the yearly fiesta celebration in our far-flung little barrio. as my mother has put it, it's a form of thanksgiving for the blessings throughout the year by sharing a feast to everyone, family, friends and even strangers.
a long weekend with friday as a holiday is a rare occurrence in this island state. given that its handful of non-working holidays are already plotted in the previous year, i still came down to an obscure goal of what i would have liked to do. my inability to fill these three days with a more carefully planned out jaunt, only showed how i could never be a great planner. i set this ultra pressure upon myself more than anybody in order to keep me going.
spending the three days in the island was something that i couldn't let my fate carve such proposition. it was beyond unacceptable.
over a month prior, i shuffled a few options for a better agenda and i chanced upon this legoland malaysia deal with a 5-star accommodation inclusive. the itinerary was one day in legoland, overnight at the hotel and on the following day, sanrio hello kitty town. i almost gave in to the deal but its strict time-frame shooed me away to sahara desert. to think, i'm always apprehensive about travel deals but it's just me.
after traipsing around cagayan de oro and bukidnon, my friends and i proceeded west bound to visit fame's home city. we did not take advantage on anyone because we're too good to indulge yet again of another free transport; that we took a bus and let the countryside air caress our faces in an hour and a half journey to iligan.