My Bucket List

Unfortunately I couldn’t post anything yesterday. Tim and I were over loaded with work and still packing for our March move. We will be moving to the capital soon.

So with all the office work and the packing, I keep my outlook positive during stressful days like adding things to my bucket list so that I know there is a purpose to live and to look forward to the future. Since I’ve been writing my goals and dreams down, I thought why not share it online.

Check out buckletlist.org where you can create your own bucketlist and share it with your followers. In addition to all of that, you can check out activities and new ideas that never crossed your mind.

I wrote down over 300 things to do in life and will start adding them slowly to my online bucket list. I’ve done a lot but here are some of the things that I’ve accomplished.

  1. Skydive
  2. Been to 2 continents at the same time
  3. Been to 2 countries at the same time
  4. Gambled in Vegas
  5. Attended a 3 Doors Down concert.

I managed to accomplish a lot of other things. So let me know what you think of the website 🙂 heres my profile https://www.bucketlist.org/list/belliontravels/

 

Z Hostel – Makati, Manila

Tim and I stayed at Z Hostel in Manila for a couple of nights and it’s one of the best hostels we stayed at. We didn’t pay much and location was suburb. At the roof top they’ve got a bar which turns into a mini club and has an amazing view of the city.

We highly recommend the hostel whenever you visit Manila. Z Hostel offers good breakfast and a nice cozy common area to use your laptop or read a book. The hostel also offers good recommendations on what to do around the city.

Budget : $$

Hotel Service : 8/10

Visited : March 2017

Tips :

  • Check out the area around the hostel. It has one of the best night life in Manila.

*this is not a sponsored post and all opinions are my own

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Bellion Travels – 9 Hours in Macau

We booked our trip with GetYourGuide.com to be able to explore Macau quickly and with a group of people. The tour consisted of 2 Indian families, 3 old single Singaporean ladies, 3 Israeli men, 2 couples from Australia, group of Filipino retirees from the US and there was us.

In our 9 hours in the city of Macau, we managed to do a lot and also learn a lot. So let me take you for a tour around Macau, the Chinese city which was colonised by the Portuguese and gained Independence on 20 Dec. 1999.

Our tour started from Hong Kong – Macau Ferry Terminal. We took the Turbo Jet to get to Macau crossing the South China Sea.

Here is what we did in 9 hours.

  1. Visited UNESCO Centre and St. Pauls Complex
  2. Walking Tour Through Senado Square (Largo de Senado)
  3. Bought Portuguese Tarts and Macau Biscuits from the local market located near St. Pauls Comples.
  4. Walked the Portuguese Alley
  5. Galaxy Macau Casino for Lunch
  6. Taoist Ma Temple
  7. Sands Macau Casino – To Try Our Luck
  8. Tour of Macau Tower Observation Deck: We decided not to go up because the weather wasn’t pleasant so the view wouldn’t be amazing. The Tower offers the highest Bungee Jump in the world.

We got dropped back to the ferry to head back to Hong Kong.

Tip: It always rains in Macau, so get an umbrella because they charge a lot.

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Bellion Travels – 3 Days in Hong Kong

We took Philippines Airlines to Hong Kong from Manila. Before writing down the itinerary of what you can do in 3 days; I added the below map from Trails of Indo China to explain our trip in a  more simplified matter.

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Hong Kong Map From : http://www.trailsofindochina.com/hongkong/map

As you can see there are 3 main islands which are all easily connected by a train.

Day 1: Kowloon (Orange Island)

We landed at Lantua Island where the airport is located and took the train to Kowloon. It took us almost an hour to find our hostel and we just gave up looking for it and asked a stranger if he knew where Urban Pack Hostel is located. He just pointed up and we realised it was on the 14th floor. (Interesting for a Hostel)

We left the hostel to have lunch and our first stop was to have lunch at the famous Michelin star Dim Sum Restaurant called ‘One Dim Sum’. 

For day one in Hong Kong, we decided to check out Kowloon so we visited 4 main markets.

  1. Flower Market: You can make out what kind of market it is by its name. LOL.
  2. Ladies Market: Good for souvenirs. Men can shop there too.
  3.  Gold Fish Market: They sell lots of fish, turtles and have pet shops. Weirdly, they sell the fish in plastic bags.
  4. Temple Street Night Market: We enjoyed walking around and exploring the local area. They have good and interesting street food.

Tim and I decided to walk to the Garden of Stars to take a picture with the famous Bruce Lee Statue. Afterwards, we walked back to the hostel to get enough sleep for the the next day trip to Macau

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Day 2: Hong Kong (Red Island)

Half of the day was spent in Macau.

As soon as we got back we took the train and headed to Hong Kong Island. We visited the Central Market and Mid-Level Escalator. Hong Kong Island was highly recommended for night life.

They’ve got great bars, clubs and restaurants. We spent the night at the Habour and headed back to Kawloon Island to have hot chocolate at Charlie Brown’s Cafe.

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Day 3: Lantua Island (Yellow Island)

Lantua Island is the yellow part of the map. We got up early in the morning, packed our bags and took the bus to the airport. It worked out cheaper for us but took longer.

We headed straight to the airport and rented a locker for 5 hours at the Airport Storage. 

Disneyland is located in Lantua Island but since we did not have enough time, we decided to go and visit Tian Tan Buddha followed by Ngong Ping Village and Po Lin Monastery. They are all located in the one area. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get on the cable car (AKA Ngong Ping) because it was under maintenance.

We headed back to the airport to catch our flight back to the Philippines.

So here is our 3 day itinerary in Hong Kong. We will post a separate blog about our stay and hostel.

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Flamin’ Meat at Meats Flame

Tim and I were fortunate to try Meats Flame before its opening. We were invited for food tasting and had chicken wings and spicy shrimps for starters. For the drinks, we had mango smoothie and strawberry mojito. As main course, we had beef and chicken burgers. In addition to all that, we had sweet potato and beetroot crisps on the side.

Everything was delicious and the food presentation was very artistic. I highly recommend the burger place. Hopefully, when they officially open next week, we will go back. Meat Flames is located on Jumeirah Beach Road, Dubai.

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Bellion Travels – 6 Days in Japan

Here is what we did in our 6 days stay in JAPAN.

You may have noticed from my previous post how I deeply, madly and truly fell in love with Japan. Tim planned our itinerary because it was his third visit to this amazing country so I left all the planning to him.

So not to make this post long and boring. I will post separately about each attraction in details and you can also scroll all the way down for the summary.

Here’s the thing, you can always play with the itinerary depending on your flights. If you land in the morning or leave in the morning so on.

Day 1:

We arrive at Narita Airport at 8 in the morning and took the shuttle bus to be dropped off to terminal 2 to take a train to the main station in Tokyo. As we go there we purchased a round trip ticket to Kyoto. Of course we booked the bullet train which is known as Shinkansen. It’s super fast and the speed is 240-320 km/h. CRAZY!!!

You can book a Shinkansen ticket online or at the counter (http//:shinkansen-ticket.com/) depending on availability. We risked it and booked it at the counter.

Keep in mind not all Japanese people speak English and most of the signs are in Japanese. Since Tim knew most of it and reads Japanese we didn’t find much difficulty, we recommend the Google Translate Image App, it is quite useful.

In just 140 minutes we arrived at Kyoto Station and decided to walk all the way to our hostel called ‘Khaosan Kyoto Theater’. Once we secured our luggage and freshned up, we took a train to the Bamboo Forrest and explored Arashiyama. We spend our time around Nishiki Market which is located 6 minutes from our hostel.

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Day 2:

Way early in the morning we decided to go Temple hopping so it started with purchasing a bus ticket for the whole day. So we passed by Yasaka Shrine and decided to skip it.

We headed straight to Fushimi Inari-taisha. We walked it all in 3 hours and made it to the top.

Afterwards, we headed to the Golden Temple known as Kinkaku-ji. We also attended a tea ceremony over there.

We then headed to the Silver Temple which is called Ginkaku-ji. It has a Zen Garden and Tim and I just sat there for almost an hour admiring the nature of the place and just breathing the fresh air.

Our last stop was at Chion-In. We took pictures and walked around the area for hours.

Yes, there are much more temples to visit but we had a great time enjoying the moment surrounded by nature. We then ended our journey exploring Kyoto-shi, Higashiyama-ku, Gionmachi Kitagawa area and had dinner there.

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Day 3:

We took the train and headed to Nara to feed the deers at Nara Park. We then visited Todai-ji temple and witnessed the biggest Buddha in Japan. It was MASSIVE. We headed back to the hostel to explore other areas in Kyoto but we met a group of people and decided to watch a Geisha show together which I highly recommend. Yasaka Hall Gion Corner.

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Day 4:

We woke up pretty early in the morning and to take the Shinkansen back to Tokyo, As soon as we arrived, we went straight to the hostel to check in. We stayed at Unplan Kagurazaka which was very convenient and had a lovely coffee shop on the ground floor to chill.

Tim decided that the first we should visit was the Meiji Jingu Shrine (Shibuya), we later walked to the famous market called ‘Takeshita Dori’. Takeshita-don is filled with boutiques, cafes and awesome fashion for the millennials. The street offers cute, adorable and trendy items.

We continued our journey to Akihabara to check out the games and anime world. After having a very late lunch at ‘Ikinari Steak Ogawamachi’, we decided it was time to take a train and head to Kabuki Cho where we explored the night life. Amazing lights and lots lots of people. Just a fun fact: Fast & Furious 3 Tokyo Drift was filmed there.

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Day 5:

First thing we did early in the morning was going for a Japanese bath at a place called ‘Odaiba Oedo-Onsen-Monogatari’. It is located in Koto, Aomi, 2 Chome. Please note people with tattoos are not allowed in, Japanese people associate inked individuals as part of Yakuza.

After spending almost 5 hours in that which we HIGHLY RECOMMEND, we then decided to have coffee at the Shibuya Crossing, Shibuya-ku to watch the famous intersection. Oh back to the Japanese bath, just know that you will have to be fully naked in front of strangers of the same gender and no one gives a damn. IM SERIOUS.

Back to our itinerary, we then went shopping at Omotesando and Aoyama. After buying a few items from there, we continued walking to the Owl Cafe & Bar Owl Village Harajuku to make it on time for our booked schedule. We enjoyed hot matcha tea and had a briefing about owls before petting and taking pictures. I was kind of an annoying person asking lots of questions.

Day 6:

Our last day in Japan 🙁

We checked out from the hostel early in the morning but kept our bags with the receptionists and went to explore Tokyo on our last day. We visited Senso-ji Temple and explored the local markets around it.

Tim and I stopped for sushi which apparently isn’t a thing in Japan but Ramen is. We had fresh sushi at a restaurant called ‘Asakusa Sushi Ken’. After eating a lot, we then decided to digest the food by walking to the Tokyo Obeservation Deck. Tim and I found it weird that the foreigners queue was quicker than the locals. We paid ¥ 2,060 for the first Observatory (£ 14) and if you want to visit the highest point, it would cost ¥3,090 (£ 21). That’s how our adventure ended, back to the hostel to pick up the bags and off to Narita Airport to Manila.

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SUMMARY-As promised here is a short recap of the trip:

Day 1: KYOTO – Bamboo Forrest, Arashiyama and Nishiki Market

Day 2: KYOTO – Fushimi Inari-taisha, Kinkaku-ji, Ginkaku-ji, Chion In, Kyoto-shi Higashiyama-ku and Gionmachi Kitagawa.

Day 3: KYOTO & NARA -Nara Park, Todai-ji and Yasaka Hall Gion Corner

Day 4: TOKYO – Meiji Jingu Shrine (Shibuya), Takeshita-don, Akihabara and Kabuki Cho

Day 5: TOKYO – Odaiba Oedo-Onsen-Monogatari, Shibuya Crossing, Shibuya-ku, Omotesando, Aoyama and Owl Cafe & Bar Owl Village Harajuku.

Day 6: TOKYO – Senso-ji Temple and Tokyo Observation Deck

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Meeting the Medicine Man from Eat, Pray, Love

It was an unexpected trip that was completely planned and organised by Tim. Lately, I’ve been fighting early stages of depression.

Tim thought this would be an opportunity for me to enjoy my time and have a stress-free vacation. We travelled for 5 days and 4 nights and we managed to do a lot which I blog about separately.

Since I’m a fan of the book Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, I became fond of Bali. One of the wishes written on my bucket list is to meet the medicine man in person, his name is Ketut Liver. He managed to read the authors future and gave her wonderful advises. I thought since we are staying in Ubud, it would be a great idea to visit him and so we did….

I told the staff at the hotel that we wanted to visit the medicine man Ketut and they said I was lucky because he lived close but unfortunately Ketut has passed away yet his eldest son is continuing his legacy but that didn’t stop us from visiting him, we were very eager to meet him.

Tim and I arrived at his house at 10 AM, we knocked on the door and he asked us to take off our shoes. He asked me to sit on the mat and to cross my legs, in the yoga position and he said that I was healthy enough to be able to sit like that.

He took my left palm and said I was very emotional and very sad. The first thing he said was ‘you are sad, quit your job’. He said there are a lot of people who are hurting me emotionally and that I think too much and lets things affect me. If I continue to allow this, my third eye will close. If I manage to close that eye, I will never find balance nor peace within myself. So, he said I should pray and mediate to be able to find my balance. He then said you will have babies, 2 kids. A girl and a boy however due to my health condition, I will have the babies quite late.

In conclusion, I need to quit my job to be able to find happiness and work hard towards something that would motivate me. A passion or desire and that I have the perfect husband who will support me. I told him, I will think about it and for sure I do need a change.

So peeps, I will clearly update you with my progress 😊

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Happy New Year – 2018

Happy New Year Everyone

Although the world isn’t safe and there are many political issues that are occurring around the world. Tim and I would still like to wish you all a year filled with prosperity, happiness, blessings and giving.

2017 had its ups and downs but because we are grateful for the many blessings we have, here is a recap of good and beautiful things that happened to us for the past year.

January

  • We spent New Year’s at home with Tim’s Mum watched ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ and at midnight watched the Burj Khalifa Fire Works live.
  • I had a neck surgery and got a lump removed. Thank God, I’m doing great.
  • We spent a weekend in Cove Rotana Hotel in Ras Al Khaimah

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February:

  • I applied for a visa to Japan and got it.
  • I also bought a new computer for my office desk at home.

March:

  • Tim, Mimi, my brother Omar and I attended Guns ‘N Roses. It was a concert of a lifetime.
  • Tim and I bought a 1 bedroom apartment in the Philippines.
  • We even travelled to Philippines to sign the contracts and continued our holiday in Japan.

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April:

  • In April we travelled to Hong Kong, Macau and Philippines again.
  • During the public holiday, Tim and I decided to stay at Al Ain Rotana. We waited 3 hours to check-in so they upgraded our room to a suite. HELL YEAH!. We even made new friends.

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May:

  • Tito Alpe and Tim joined me to watch the wonderful, spectacular Mary Poppins Show at the Dubai Opera.
  • Mid May, we travelled with Noor, her friend Jenneka and Mimi to Georgia. We celebrated Noor’s 30th birthday in Tbilisi.

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June:

  • I travelled to Lebanon by myself to apply for a new Palestinian Travel Document. Tim and his mum joined me later on this trip and on days off that didn’t require governmental visits, we travelled around Lebanon.
  • Since Tim and I are married over a year, I registered him in UNESCO as my husband.

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July:

  • We stayed at Bab Al Shams for the weekend and tested Tim’s drone.
  • Tim started a new job and officially commutes daily to Abu Dhabi. Since we have signed a 1 year lease contract with our current apartment, we decided to move to Abu Dhabi and leave the wonderful city of Dubai once our lease expires.

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Aug:

  • We stayed Al Hamra Village in Ras Al Khaimah for the weekend. Attended a pool party at night and the next day, we enjoyed a relaxed day on the beach.

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Sept:

  • Had an early celebration for Tim’s 29th We stayed at Sir Bani Yas for 1 night. It was long drive from our house. We had to wake up at 5AM to be able to check in at 1PM. LOL. We enjoyed an African themed dinner and a daytime safari activity on the island.
  • We went to the World Island in Dubai and visited Lebanon Island for the day.
  • We officially ended the celebration at a Caribbean/ Jamaican Restaurant in Downtown, Dubai called Ting Irie.

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Oct:

  • Noor, Mimi, Tim and I travelled for 4 days to Baku, Azerbaijan.

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Nov:

  • We travelled to Bali, Indonesia and met the medicine man from Eat, Pray, Love.
  • 30th, 2017, we travelled to Nairobi, Kenya.

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Dec:

  • We went to Masai Mara and enjoyed the African Safari and visiting the Masai Village
  • I had an early celebration for my 29th birthday at Atmosphere, Burj Khalifa. Had the highest of high teas in the world. LOL.
  • 2 days before New Years, Tim and I went to Motion Gate and Bollywood at Dubai Parks and Resorts

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So here were the highlights of our 2017 and hopefully 2018 will be filled with more adventures, more of positive vibes and positive news for everyone.

Wishing you all a lovely New Year

*Please feel free to share your 2017 best moments