Cant help but #Fall for Seoul

I therefore conclude that Seoul is my soul city! I will never get tired of this place and I will always visit whenever I can. I especially love autumn, my favorite and most beautiful season when all the leaves are like flowers. They are so red and yellow! So parks are a must-go places on autumn in Seoul and they will never run out on many amazing parks! For my third trip, I only had a few days of stay. Let me share with you the two awesome places I went to.

1. Haneul Park where the golden grass are in full bloom! This is located at Metro station Line 6: World Cup Stadium.

Feel free to emote!

2. Seoul Grand Park is accessible via Metro subway Line 4: Seoul Grand Park station
This is an enormous park and you will love to walk here! Your eyes will feast on trees and there are also museums and amusement park inside!

Entrance

Walking is love on this kind of street

A fairy tale park

I always envy South Koreans for their amazing public transportation and the provisions on nature parks which the city I live lack. I do hope that in the future, our city mayors will come up with this kind of parks that will benefit its citizens. I love you Korea! Till next time!

Weekend in Bislig City, Surigao del Sur

August is monsoon month in the country where most flights are delayed due to inclement weather. Coincidentally, my cousin's wedding is also set in August and I made a promise to come. So off I go together with my father. This is also my first time to travel with my father and I'd say it's fun!
Though this was not my first time in Bislig City, this was my first time landing at Butuan. This route was  shorter than the one from Davao City. My father and I took the earliest flight so we can be there before noon time. We only have a weekend so I will just share about the two places that I have visited in this small town.

What to visit: Ocean View and International Doll House
There is a long walk up to see the ocean view. There is also a restaurant and a small museum that contains international dolls. The owner is a Swedish guy married to a Filipina.
Entrance fee: P20 to the museum, but if you will not visit the museum, the entrance fee is consumable at the restaurant.

Entrance going up

Inside the Doll house!

The ocean view.

Enchanted River at Hinatuan - this is an hour-away from Bislig City. This is very famous for the crystal

Roaring Romblon, Romblon!

I had a great experience in Romblon, Romblon last summer for a librarians' conference.
This beautiful place should be in every Juan's bucket list. Let me share with you our itineraries and the awesome hotel that we have stayed.

How to get here:

From Batangas port, we travel via 2Go for 8-hour that leaves in the night. This part is very convenient as you can sleep at the bunk and they offer also free breakfast. If you haven't tried this mode, now is the time!

Where we stay:

Dream Paradise Mountain Resort - I'd say this is the best accommodation in the area. The owner is very kind and the food that they serve is heaven! The resort has a very good ambiance. The four-day stay here was super worth it!

After the 2-day seminar, we tour around the island and this is where we've been:

Isla de Cobrador - this is a white beach island with inhabitants. The water and sand is refreshing to the soul!

I love Cobrador!

Moana moment! 

Bonbon Beach - It has a long sand bar that you can walk to.

Sea, sand and sun. Can't ask for more!

Fuerza San Andres - This port has a history to tell! Romblon is a historical place too aside from the great beaches that they have.

The walls have stories to tell!

Mangrove and bird sanctuary - Yes, this town also protects its environment. We had a chance to plant mangroves and see some birds local to the town. 

At the sanctuary.

My Ms. Earth activity portfolio! :)

Marble place! - Truly, you haven't seen the best of this town if you don't go to the marble mountains.

Kilometer zero - My favorite part of the trip wherever I go is to hunt for the kilometer zero.

I almost miss it because it is toppled down!

That was quite an experience and I promise to visit again as I only saw Romblon. I have to go back for the other islands! What are you waiting for? Escape the city now and visit Romblon!

Thrilling Taipei!

It was my first time to be away from home on the eve of New Year and literally welcomed another year in mid-air! I'd say I like it because you are ending and starting the new year travelling. So, in this post, I will share with you places that my friend and I visited and walked in this beautiful city of Taipei.

Where did we stay: Backpackers Inn Taipei
Address: No. 84, Huaining St, Zhongzheng District, Taipei, Taiwan 100
Nearest Metro: Taipei Main Station and NTU - Red Line
Nearest Attractions: 228 Peace Park, National Taiwan Museum 

I highly recommend this hostel because it is budget friendly, close to the metro, with free breakfast, staff speaks the language, clean and well-maintained. 

How to go around the city: Taipei has a very efficient public transportation! So you can travel like a local! We did not buy an easy card which is fine. You can just buy every time you ride a train. 

MRT Token

Travel like locals!

We actually don't have any itineraries and I realized that is how we roll whenever my friend and I are travelling. Looking around the hostel, I found some itineraries. Here it goes: 
1. Signed up for the Free Walking Tour by Like It Formosa (you can like them in Facebook!)  and voila, you already have three itineraries that involve about 2.5-3 hours of walking with tour guides. Though it is free, you have to give tip at the end. We joined the following walking tours: Golden Era and Historic tour. Here's their schedule.

Just be at the meet up point on time!

* Golden-Era Tour: Started at Ximen Station. The guide related the history of influences in Taiwan and showed us the remnants of the Golden era. 

The North Gate (original structure)

Shop district. 

God of the City temple. There is a free blessed tea on the side

* Historic Tour - started at Longshan Temple Station Exit 1

According to our guide, Taiwan has the longest Martial Law for 38 years under Chiang Kai Shek. The tour ended at his memorial hall. 

Tip: Behind of this memorial hall is a very famous dumpling house. You should try it!!!

The group who joined the tour outside Longshan Temple.

Old street

Typical shop house

Peace park story is connected to Chiang Kai Shek

Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall.

2. Yangmishan National Park

How to get there: Jian Tian station exit 1, then take Bus R5

That's also the station for Shilin Night Market

This National Park is so huge. So you just have to choose your trail. We trekked the Mt. Qixing summit unexpectedly! :)

Trees have QR code if you want to read more about it. How cool is that!

Our fresh look before the trek :)

Our trail. 2.5km walk to the summit!

     

    

    A lovely squirrel along the way!

We made it at the summit!

3. Jiufen Old Street - Taiwan has many old streets and one of them is Jiufen. For a day, you can do Jiufen and Shifen but since it was raining that day and foggy, we just visited Jiufen then returned to Taipei. We got one-way free because we recommended our hostel in Facebook. We just paid the return way. From Jiufen, we took Bus 1062 and alighted at Zhungxiao Fuxing station, two stations away from Sun-Yat Sen Memorial Hall. 

 Jiufen old street is the inspiration behind the Studio Ghibli movie "Spirited Away". I am a big fan of Hayao Miyazaki so this is a delightful place to me even though it is raining. 

I'm a happy kid!

Small alley full of shops!

4. Sun-yat Sen Memorial Hall and Taipei 101

After visiting Jiufen Old street, we walked from Zhungxiao Fuxing station to Sun-yat Sen Memorial Hall where Taipei 101 is also very visible. 

Sun-yat Sen

Two famous symbols of Taiwan

Pointing at Taipei 101

Taipei 101 as the photobomb!

5. Taipei Zoo - I am not a big fan of zoo but somehow my friend and I have enjoyed this place. It is a huge area and you feel as if you are inside a forest. Another delightful thing to see were families with children who were oblivious to rain because it was raining the whole time we were at the zoo. 

We've seen koala and tapir which I haven't seen yet in my life!

How to get there: From Taipei Main Station, change train at Daan (R06) for the Brown Line (BR). This line will end at Taipei Zoo. 

Entrance is NT60. Quite cheap for about a five-hour walk. You can also ride cable cars on the other side but we just opted to walked inside the zoo. 

At the entrance

Koala! For the first time, I've seen one! 

Great panda showing off!

Tapir!

Into the woods!

6. National Taiwan Museum and 228 Peace Park - These two are on the same location near NTU station. The museum charges NT 30 for entrance while the park is of course free! These two are very close to our hostel, literally our neighbor!

National Taiwan Museum!

They also call it bangka!

Taiwanese Indigenous figurines!

In the middle of the park!

Peace park!

Free concert at night!

7. Night Markets!!! - Taipei has a lot of night markets, four of which we were able to check out! But the best so far and most crowded is the Shilin Night Market. I love Shilin Night Market because they all have the Totoro and Spirited Away cute items! And now I have Totoro socks and eye mask. This is a happy place! 

How to get there: Jian Tian Station Exit 1 (Red line)

Look at the crowd!

Totoro and No-face.

Food!

We only stayed for short six days and it is not quite enough to explore Taipei alone! This city is great and I know that I will be back! Spending the first week of new year was great! Hope you can visit too and include this in your bucket list!

Happy New Year!!!!:)