Trip Ko Lang

Trip Ko Lang 2009

Congratulations to TripKoLang.com for winning the best blog award for 2009! Hahaha. Just kidding, but how I wish… This is my blog so I get to award myself… any violent reactions? Read this first… I’m writing this eye and click catching 2010 opener post to acknowledge all the effort, resources, food and travel discoveries that I had gone through to make this blog interesting and worthwhile to read. It all started last Feb 2009, from 34 unique visitors and 925 page loads to 2,000 unique visitors and 11,500 page loads by end of 2009.  Being in the online world for almost a year now, I see this blog as a success! Sharing my own experience in food and travel is my only goal in this blog. Being able to help readers get the basic and vital information on their food and travel interests is all I need to make me happy and keep this blog going…

Here are TripKoLang’s 5 most viewed and most wanted blog posts:

1. Makansutra Asian Food Village

2. Cebu Itinerary

3. Singapore Survival Tips

4. Bohol Itinerary

5. Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt

Here are my 5 favorite posts for 2009:

1. Pino Resto Bar

2. Republic of Cavite Restaurant

3. Makansutra – The Taste

4. Loboc River in Bohol

5. The Skywalk Extreme Challenge

TripKoLang is looking forward for more food posts on drinks, latest restos, budget meals, dating places and more. Watch out for added fun and adventure on travel posts on weekend travels, backpacker style, in & out of the metro, not well-known places worth visiting and etc. If you have any suggestions on featured posts, just drop me a comment or email. Thanks!

I would also like to thank Shotnroll.com for contributing yummy food shots. Thanks to OurAwesomeplanet’s photo contest for winning our photo entry - Lihim ni Lola. Thanks to my new found blogging friends and to all my readers. By the way, TripKoLang is now in Facebook, if you wish to join me and be fan just click here. Thanks!

Let’s all welcome 2010 with new discoveries and adventures. Cheers!

Ziplock

One reliable Ziplock is a must have in any group trip. It’s not for your left over food or travel snack but for all your travel expenses. I learned this idea from a friend and started to adapt it in all my group trips. It was very helpful and made our trip so much easier. All you have to do is bring a Ziplock and put all your money inside it. Like for example, we were 6 in our group, we had each pay 2,000php, and got a total of 12,000php to spend in our entire trip.  Assign someone to be the money keeper and payer. Everything went out smoothly; we were able to pay for our transportation, food, entrance fees and other travel expenses without any hassle in chipping in, counting for change or money getting mixed up. Then at the end of our trip, whatever was left in our ever-reliable Ziplock was divided among us. Guess what, we survived our trip without overspending, in a reasonable budget and even had us take home our extra money. So the next time you’re going to have your group trip, don’t forget to have a Ziplock ready for your travel money.

Travel Money

Beach, Sunset, Viaduct, Burgos Lighthouse, Windmills

Evening of 26 Feb 2009, we decided to take the last trip (9.30pm) of Florida bus going to Pagudpud (fare-550php). After the 12 hours bus ride, we finally reached our destination, Pagudpud, rode a trike (fare-50php) going to Polaris beach resort. Had our breakfast around 9.30am, got to try Ilocos’ style longanisa, yummy! We right away went swimming until lunch time. At 2pm, our trike/tour driver arrived and our north bound tour started (tour-600php-per trike). Actually, there was a long list of places to visit but because we started late afternoon, we just went to 4 places – Kabigan Falls (10php entrance fee + 100php tour guide), Blue Lagoon (20php entrance fee), Viaduct, and Agua de Grande. Most of our time was spent in Kabigan Falls, we had to trekked and crossed small rivers to get to the falls (approx. 20-30 mins.) Swimming is allowed, water is so cold but really clean and refreshing. In Blue Lagoon, Viaduct and Agua de Grande, we just had our photos taken – experiencing breath-taking views, calm, and being one with nature.

We didn’t had enough time that afternoon and so our south-bound trip happened the next day. Because we are on a budget, we decided not to take another tour trike and just commute – should have been a bus/jeepney ride and trike. But luckily, the owner of Polaris hotel volunteered to drive us to Bangui (barrio where the Windmills are located). When we got there, we can walk for 2-kms. if we wanted but we decided to ride a trike (90php per trike-2 way). Again, we had a lot of pictures taken, jumping and running with the wind. Last stop, Burgos Lighthouse, we decided to hire our trikes, agreed in a special price of 400php per trike. We were very thankful for our trike drivers, for agreeing to bring us to Burgos, it was a bit far for a trike ride and they were helpful in taking our pictures and watching over our belongings.