The Traveling Kit

The first time I went snorkeling, the fish I wanted to find was Nemo. Walt Disney's movie has become so popular it excites me every time I see a colorful clownfish (or anemonefish) underwater.  Nemo fortunately isn't hard to look for in the Philippines due to our tropical climate. Native to warm waters, this type of fish can be seen in reefs even as shallow as three feet. It's often swimming in or close to a sea anemone, its comfort zone. At times, it will loiter around to explore its surrounding environment.  Here are some of the Nemo shots we've taken in Palawan, Samal and Negros Oriental. The first one was taken by Kuya Romi, our tour guide in Palawan. I would say that Nemo isn't the most awesome or amazing fish in the sea. What I like about it though is that it doesn't swim away if you dive closer to it. It will even look you in the eye and seemingly say "Hi!"

If you live in an archipelago where crossing countries entails a plane ride, going to Kuala Lumpur from Singapore by land is something new. I tried looking for a detailed guide on the Internet, but I couldn't find one, so here's something based on our experience last July: Take the train to Woodlands station in Singapore. Fare depends on your starting point.    Proceed to the ground floor where the bus stops are and take Bus 150 to Kotaraya Terminal, Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Fare is SGD 1.30.     Get off at Singapore's immigration checkpoint. All the passengers will do so, thus you can just follow their lead. For first time travelers, make sure you have your disembarkation card ready when you face the immigration officer; otherwise, you will be referred to a police officer just like one of the travelers we went with.     Once you're cleared at the immigration, follow the direction to the bus stop.    Take the same bus number (the driver is now Malaysian) and use

If you are planning to explore Samal Island, you should not miss the Giant Clam Sanctuary. It's located at the white sand islet across from Barangay Adecor, the fishing village beside Pearl Farm Resort. I had no idea about this tourist spot until our habal-habal driver informed us during our three-day Samal getaway last March.  "You will never regret visiting the Giant Clam Sanctuary; you will find clams of different sizes and colors there," assured our boatman. I'm glad we listened to him and trusted his words, as the underwater creatures didn't disappoint us. As we snorkeled in awe, we saw 15 to 40-inch neatly-arranged endangered clams; the young ones close to the beach and the huge ones at the deeper part of the sea.  Fortunately, we went there at low tide, so we could walk on the beach and take a closer look at some of the giant clams in the sanctuary. Their shells are beige and dull; their structure, which is similar to hard corals, helps them bl

Gardens by the Bay may span 101 hectares, but when your stomach starts to grumble, you will find yourself heading to one of their dining areas. In our case, we opted to have our lunch at Supertree Dining because that was the closest place pointed out to us by one of the staff. Haha! Supertree Dining is a large food court with a few restaurants to choose from. While taking pictures of the nearby supertrees , my travel buddies picked Hill Street Coffee Shop. Though its name doesn't suggest, they serve good food which pleased our stomachs as well as our pockets. Here's what we ordered (mos of the description copied verbatim from their menu): 1.  Traditional Singapore laksa - Spicy curry and coconut milk based broth with thick vermicelli, cockles, prawns, shredded chicken, bean sprouts, sliced egg and fish cake 2. Crispy and tender homemade pork roll (ngoh hiang) - Aromatic marinated minced meat and taro with our chef's special ingredients wrapped in bean curd skin

Tourists in Singapore will definitely see modern skyscrapers in the country's downtown area, but what I didn't expect is that some can be amazingly unique. Deviating from the traditional rectangular blocks, they are built in distinctive shapes, making myself appreciate architecture and engineering as challenging and exciting fields of study.  Marina Bay Sands Hotel Built with a boat-looking roof terrace connecting the three 55-storey irregularly-shaped hotel towers, Marina Bay Sands Hotel for me signifies Singapore's thriving tourism industry. At first, I couldn't imagine that a building like this has been constructed merely for leisure: huge hotel rooms, casino, restaurants, bars, museums, and posh shops. We passed by its lobby on our way to Gardens by the Bay, and it was certainly crowded with tourists from all over the world. I wish we could at least visit the observatory area and see the infinity pool at the sky terrace, but I guess that's something th

Popularly known as Japan's fashion street, Harajuku taught me that fashion is spelled as passion. It's not what you see on mannequins, magazines and shows that matters, but what you are confident and comfortable putting on, whether you are within the walls of your room or under the scrutiny of wicked eyes. Harajuku is the place... where individuals troop with their own fashion and be one with the crowd where cosplayers and snappers are both interesting subjects to photograph where you can consider the world as your living room and sit as if nobody cares where you can brightly dress up, look around and just be merry where rainbow colors are not seen in the sky but on trendy hair where wearing unmatched socks doesn't mean poverty but style where you can isolate yourself from everything, put on your mask and get lost in your thoughts where getting up from a fall is as lovely as red roses in summer where the chic and the pla