Melbourne, Australia 03'28'2014

Busy busy bee. I went through a lot in work plus a long vacation. Needless to day I didn't have time to edit and write. However I always make time until I finish. Watch out for more!

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Melbourne. It was a very hot summer day. The sky was completely cloudless and the sun's light felt like someone kept slapping my face. So I put my trustee sunblock on to keep the various damaging effects of the sun away hoho.

The only sunblock I use.

I had used various sunblocks before, but after breaking out like a prepubescent kid in high school after using a very bad yet popular sunblock, I am glad I found this. I have been using it since I started working back in 2010 I think. Safe to use on face and body and it really protects you like a concrete wall over the sun.

It was a long trip to where we were going and we really didn't know how to get there so we asked around a gas station.

Visitor Information Center. Where asking questions and all the maps are free.

Fruits!

The nice lady giving us direction.

On our way to the great ocean road.

The information center was very helpful and we were glad to know that talking to them, the map, and the brochures they gave us were free.

Looking at the map it didn't seem far at first but then she gave us timeframes in going there and we really got an idea of how far it was.

We drove for a few hours after the information center and it was high noon when we reached just before the entrance of The Great Ocean Road.

We stopped to explore a nice cove with a lighthouse called Split Point Lighthouse in Anglesea.

Split Point Lighthouse on the top left.

The beach right below the lighthouse

It was high noon. The sun was scorching, the sand burned as we walked barefoot towards the beach and yet the closer we got to the shore, the colder and stronger the wind blew through our bodies. Hot sand but cold air, it was a strange feeling.

A couple and their family on the beach.

Friends waiting for me to finish taking pictures :P

Pants folded up, feet on the sand.

Nice view of the beach and the lighthouse.

The sands of the beach, of course, can not compare to the fineness and whiteness of the sands of Boracay. But the beach was absolutely pristine, the waves were raging, the shore extended as far as the eye could see even beyond the cliffs far into the horizon. And the smell of the air coming from the sea was cool and fresh, reminiscent of the beach my family and I used to go to when I was a kid.

After all the admiring and reminiscing, we proceeded to climb to the lighthouse as all the other tourists did. It looked so near but it was father and higher than it looked...

A great view of the Anglesea river delta and the town.

View of the sea and just a fraction of The Great Ocean Road's full extent.

A friend climbing to the lighthouse.

Detour to the Loutit-Bay lookout.

And then I admired some more...

Going up towards the lighthouse there were amazing views. You could see the town of Anglesea, its river, plus the sea, and where both the sea and river meets - the river delta. Climbing under the blazing sun without an umbrella or hat was totally worth it with those views!

We then took a short detour from climbing to see what was in Loutit-Bay Lookout.

The rocky shore viewed from the lookout.

The beautiful turquoise sea and its strong waves.

At this time I was already really really in awe with all the beauty I saw. I felt very grateful for the moment and was amazed at how beautiful the place was.

After the detour we proceeded to climbing up again towards the lighthouse...

Getting ever closer towards the lighthouse. 

Sign pointing towards the lighthouse.

Wouldn't you just want to go through this path?

Reached the lighthouse!

View from the lighthouse looking down towards the shore.

When we reached the lighthouse I just took a picture of it looking from directly below it and then took a picture of what was below it and then we found another path leading towards another lookout...

Going down towards another lookout. already an amazing view.

A bunch of people also admiring the views.

A lady taking pictures just like me.

Going down and back to the car.

After the second lookout we were really hungry already and went back to the car. Still even going back the views did not get old. The place was just gorgeous.

From the car we headed farther into The Great Ocean Road but not before taking a picture of this...

Nice

The sign of The Great Ocean Road was full of tourists, very full. We practically had to wait in line just to take a picture of the sign. Was it worth it? Yes! haha

After the sign we went to a town called Lorne and ate at a restaurant called The Bottle of Milk.

The Bottle of Milk Menu.

Took a bite then a picture.

By the time we got to the restaurant I was hungry enough to forget to take a picture of the food! haha hence the bite on the burger.

It was a very good and famous burger restaurant never running out of customers. They even have their own website. We had to wait for people to finish eating before we could actually get a table to sit down and enjoy our meal!

After Lorne we couldn't get any farther into The Great Ocean Road because we were running out of daylight. So we decided to head back to the city.

We stopped for gas and some refreshments because it was a very long trip,  but then I was introduced to this ice cream...

The Golden Gaytime

Expensive? It's cheap compared to all the other ice cream on the shop!

The Golden Gaytime. It was very delicious. Nothing like I have ever tasted before. It had a vanilla ice cream as a core, covered in toffee ice cream, covered in chocolate, covered in cookies! damn!

Overall, the trip was the most amazing I have ever had. Looking back, thinking of all that I saw going to and being in just a small part of The Great Ocean Road, I thought of how many more truly beautiful places there are in the world and in Australia and how I would love to see and experience them all.

It was a challenge taking pictures in a place where the sun was the brightest I have ever seen but it was a learning experience especially with such a beautiful place.

There are many places in the world that advertise themselves as being the best or the "creme de la creme" but for a road trip adventure, The Great Ocean Road is truly one of the true best. It renewed my love of the world. It completely fed the wanderlust that consumes me.

An unforgettable and beautiful experience I will never forget.

Until my next trip, Goodbye!

~~`~~

A very special thank you to Tricia Nicolas Kapunan and Maybelline de Guzman without whom this trip would not have been possible.

Shanghai, China 01'28'2014

This is one month overdue.

I went through a lot this February, a lot. Sadly it affected my picture editing and blog writing, heck many things this month affected many aspects of my life by throwing me off my normal everyday routine. But things are going back to normal and as my vacation is coming very soon, I am expecting to be rejuvenated and renewed! Watch out!

The thing most affected I think is my planned "Holidays 2013" post which I still haven't even begun to edit. All the hundreds of (literally) photos I have of my friends through Christmas and New Year are still there, just there, and it's almost March! Sorry~

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I really wasn't planning on going out this time in Shanghai, because I already had gone to the place I wanted to go to before and I really wanted to just eat at my favorite restaurant near the hotel and then get a haircut at a really good salon, also near the hotel. Clearly I wasn't planning on roaming too far from the hotel!

But again, the pull of a friend's invite is indeed very powerful. I went with a friend to the place she was planning to go. Our trip there was just a day before Chinese New Year so everything was supposed to be decorated for the festivities.

She was planning to go to the "most decorated" place which is apparently Yuyuan Garden.

A very cute dog greeted us on our way to the train station.

My friend, taking in the morning.

Inside the train. It was a very long way to the city. We had to sit down.

Going out of the train station.

The trip from our hotel to the city is very long. That is part of the reason why sometimes I really just want to stay in and around the hotel.

However I was told the place we were going to would be worth all the fuss of going to the city so I expected a lot...

A bird. Caged.

The elderly, doing Tai Chi in the morning.

Around the corner near the garden. More people doing Tai Chi.

You can see how the red just vomits off the place! haha

Out of the train station, we still had a little walking to do. So I used Google Maps on my phone to see where we'll go.

Honestly, I was desperately trying to find a place with a lot of trees, then when we turned around the corner we were walking to, we saw chinese deco. I figured we were getting near but I was still trying to find a lot of trees! Until I saw the sign that said Yuyuan Garden, I really didn't expect the "garden" to be like that.

The very first thing you'll see entering Yuyuan Garden. Shops!

So many shops.

I really did not expect to find loads of shops in a "garden" it honestly looked like a mall but the decorations made it look more like a theme park.

Further inside we really thought that we were in a chinese theme park already...

Seriously creepy looking children/babies.

Gold! 

Beautiful red lanterns line the main street through and through.

My friend admiring everything!

It was a very beautiful place, stunningly decorated in all the chinese symbolism, colors, and characters you could think of. But there was still one thing bugging me: Why is it called a garden when all that's inside are shops, after shops, after shops and then some restaurants.

We were hungry, but we told ourselves we would walk through the place first quickly and then choose a good restaurant to eat in. And so we did...

Cute metal elephant statue.

A very grand decoration of something I wish I could understand the chinese language for.

An epic statue of someone very epic posing in a very epic way. :D

Beautiful red lanterns cover the building.

It was a really nice place to be in. Everything was bursting with color (which most of was red) and slowly but surely through the day the people and tourists were also filling up the place.

It is a very easy place to get lost in as there are many blocks throughout a small compound of shops.

We were about to look for a restaurant until we took a very fortunate turn on a street and saw these...

Adam and Eve.

Jiuqu Bridge. Look at that deco!

Goddess of Mercy? Tie Guan Yin? Not sure.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves plus the Prince Charming.

We stumbled upon a part of the garden called Jiuqu Bridge. As you go through the bridge you'd find these styrofoam statues of different characters which has no specific coherent theme. There were some Disney stuff, some from the Bible, some from Chinese Folklore I think. But all of them had the same thing: all of them had "ENZO" signed on them.

I wondered who or what "ENZO" was and why was he/it was there but I didn't bother thinking beyond that.

I really love this chinese mushroom dish which you can find in most of China, I don't know what it's called though. 

The Lady Chef, heating one of the many dishes we ordered.

Look at all the stuff we bought! and We're only two people eating!

Welcome Neighbor Restaurant

We were very hungry and we ultimately decided on this restaurant, still inside Yuyuan Garden, called "Welcome Neighbor Restaurant"

It was a cafeteria style restaurant where you' get a tray, go on the line, and pick the dishes you want from the display.

We were feeling very hungry and very festive as we were surrounded by the spirit of the Chinese New Year so we ordered nine dishes, I actually only counted now from the picture but when we were there we were just taking stuff from the display without care whether we'll finish it or how much it'll cost! Festive indeed.

A display of this chinese dessert I really like which I don't know the name of. 

Skewered fish anyone?

My favorite mushroom with peppers and wrapped in bacon! OMG!

A WHOLE cow's head, horns and all being boiled into a soup. Damn.

After eating we looked for some souvenirs to buy, then we saw more food, pictured above. Although very interesting and delicious to look at, we didn't taste any because we were already full, we even took some of the food we ordered in the restaurant to go.

After more walking we thought we'd seen it all until I became curious enough to see why people were all heading to one particular corner of Yuyuan Garden...

Shanghai City God Temple

I'm guessing this is the Shanghai City God?

The Shanghai City God Temple. It's tucked away at the innermost part of Yuyuan Garden and if there are no people going in you'd have no way of thinking there's a temple there!

It was still early in the morning but people are already going inside to pray. Entrance fee is 10 CNY.

People praying through all the smoke.

A photograph of a photographer taking photographs of the people praying. Inception! haha

People lighting their "Smoke/Prayer Sticks" which retails for 5 or 10 CNY depending on the size

Who is this curious fellow praying so intently?

You pay an entrance fee of 10 CNY and for you to pray you need to buy these things to burn, most of which are sticks, the small bundle is 5 CNY and the big bundle is 10 CNY. It must be a very very very lucrative business.

Red lanterns.

More red lanterns.

More more red lanterns.

An insanely disturbing statue of a deity or something. You can actually feel that just by looking!

The temple, which is dedicated to the many gods of Shanghai is relatively small compared to the very big and the most populated metropolitan city complex that is Shanghai.

After the temple we still didn't have souvenirs! and so we went for a little shopping...

A HUUUGE White Rabbit candy. Immediately bought it. For someone. I don't eat candy. Only chocolates :D

Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearl 

Tea Contained.

I bought a big White Rabbit candy and the tea that I have been trying to find almost every time I get the opportunity to be in a tea shop since... for a very long time: Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearl tea.

I believe Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf used to sell it but I guess it's too expensive or very hard to make? So they discontinued it?

What they do is infuse whole tea leaves with freshly bloomed jasmine during spring using various methods and then hand roll each of those tea leaves into small pearls and then keep it for storage. When you brew it, the whole pearls of leaves are supposed to unravel and swim in the cup like Dragons. Hence, the name.

The tea costs 1 USD per 6 grams, at least in that shop it does. That doesn't sound like a lot but considering that the leaves are heavy and 6 grams of it is just about one small teaspoon then you'll realize how special it is.

I bought 10 USD worth and when I looked at the very very paltry amount of tea leaves I got from 10 USD I immediately said to myself that I would only try it out on a very special occation and with very special people. It's still there in the cupboard waiting.

After buying the tea we went back to the hotel and rested...

Our Hotel

The view from my room.

Overall the trip was very nice but tiring, of course. It's really amazing how much adventure you'll get by just saying yes to a friend who invites you to places. I'll remember that.

I leave you with a picture of the hotel and my literally breath-taking view from my room on the 21st floor. (I hope you get the joke haha)

Until my next trip, Zaijian!