Looking for a New Buddy

Since our Indochina trip is finally on the move, I think it is necessary for me to check out the things that I will need for the travel. I was thinking that a luggage will do for me, but since the girls I am with are taking their own, I think I'll be the guy again so I need something that is convenient and comfortable for me. Thus, a travel backpack.

Now, I am the search for the backpack that I will be using for the Indochina trip, and hopefully for future backpacking trips. While online, I stumbled upon a site which gives great tips on how to choose your travel backpack. That's when I learned about a daypack and a travelpack.

Basically, a daypack is the smaller version of a backpack, which is on my perception, my hand

y dandy backpack (for school or for weekend travels). Think about multi-purpose for my backpack. Moving on, a travel backpack is somewhat similar to the backpacks mountaineers use, that elongated pack with spaces for tent and water bottle. On the site, it discussed what packs are suitable for women and men and what brands are the best for it.

Travel packs comes in various sizes, not by inches, but by volume. According to the site, a 30-45 pack is suitable for a 5'3'' frame like mine.

Deuter and North Face, both international brands, manufactures these packs. With that in mind and thinking of at least 30L of these backpacks, I came across these bags:

Deuter Futura Vario and Deuter Futura 32

Deuter Fox 40 and Deuter ACT Zero 45

Deuter ACT Trail 20 SL and Deuter Spectro AC 28 SL

North Face Women's Terra 55, North Face Women's Terra 45 and North Face Women's Terra 40

So now, all I have to do is scout for these bags, choose what is more suitable for me and pay it with my hard earned money. :)

I will update which bag I have bought. :)

Happy White Day!

March 14:

So today is White Day for the rest of the Asian countries, except for the Philippines. :( Sadly, we don't celebrate it, so I think, nobody is expected to be surprised today. EXCEPT ME!

White day is basically the "gender equality" day for the Asian countries. A bit of a background, Valentines day, which is February 14 is the time for the girls to give something sweet to their boyfriends or boy friends. Its the less obvious way of admitting that you are crushing on this guy. Hahaha! A month after, its White Day, March 14 which is the day that the guys give back the favor. Girls will have this cheat day, they can eat chocolates and sweets for valid reasons.

My boyfriend, a Pinoy, based in Japan celebrates these kinds of stuff. Us being in the separate worlds, he makes sure that I am greeted on White Day. Simple greetings will do, but this year, he felt that something should be done extraordinarily. Only a couple of close friends know that I really hate surprises, hindi naman kasi bagay na nagbu-blush ako, bilang morena ako. A joke on the morenas in the office, "uy, mamaroon-maroon siya!". Maroon = pink + dark skin. And that surprise thingy was a thing between me and Louie. He all knew about this.

Anyways, going back to the story, kinuntsaba niya ang boss ko sa office, an officemate and my college girlfriends to basically spend this day on the next level. With the dramatic kuntsabahan within these four local people and the "coffee date" with a boss, turned the unsuspecting me into a trap. So earlier today, he had my college girlfriends come over to my office (I'm a morning person, so I am usually in the office before 8am, office hours at 9am) with a cake. I really wanted to see these girls because I feel that they are the ones that I can really talk to, in the matters of personal and professional life - but I'm busy writing my reports and pagod na kapag dumating ng bahay. :( In all fairness, si Louie lang ang nakapagpa-gising ng 4am sa kaibigan ko. And she's living all the way from Bulacan.

My morning surprise!

So there, they surprised me with an Oreo Cheesecake from Banapple (one that I love) and we had breakfast together. I really need those hugs, those simple conversations right now. :D

Oreo Cheesecake from Banapple

Chocolates from Tito Mark

To my bestest friends, Amae and Coeli, salamat sa pagsakay sa trip ng boyfriend ko. Closet romantic kayo, kaya alam ko, deep inside kaya kayo pumayag dahil kinikilig kayo sa idea na yun. To Louie-san, Japanese boy, you know how I hate surprises but still, tinuloy mo. To Tito Mark, for greeting me a Happy White Day, thank you for remembering and for taking care of my Dadi Bi there. To Boss Ara and Camille, ginising nyo ako ng maaga at pina-excite nyo ako sa coffee date, dapat magagalit ako, but its all worth it.

We're on it!

As I have written in the past entries, me and my friends are planning to take an Indochina trip this August. Well now, its not just a plan but a true blue, 100% sure trip! (I'm really so happy.)

Thanks to Facebook and my subscription to CebuPacific page, I came across an update on the flight sale of one and only Cebu Pacific Air. :) All their domestic and international flights are in 95% off, so I grab the chance, texted my college buddies, retrieved their information and we're good to go. :) (Just to make the long story short).

Since it was a sale, my heart was pounding when they are not replying on my messages (duh, its 8:00 in the morning when I communicated with them) and checking my credit card, I'm just 3000 bucks away from credit limit, so its a no-no. :( Good thing, Coeli got one and she rarely use it, so we used hers.

Finally, we got our confirmed bookings on Manila- Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) on a late night flight in August 18. We were able to get it for Php 4,800 (all-in for the three of us). Sadly, with that flight, we have to limit the time for each spot for that country.

So, there, we have flights out of Manila, but coming back is also a struggle. I tried Tigerairways, despite it based in Clark, Pampanga and managed to find a flight from Bangkok to Clark, all inclusive (baggage, taxes and airport fees) at Php 10,400 for the three of us.

Dividing all our gastos for the airline tickets, we'll be paying about 5,300 on MNL- SGN and BKK-CRK trip. That is really not bad. :D

For this, we give our outmost thank you for Coeli's card, to her brother who she called up for her passport details, to my mom who responded easily (though with "bakit" at the end of her text) on my passport inquiry and for Amae who became our middleman on the conversations.

This is it girls! :D