Travelogues

Tell tales of a conference in Manila

saigon — Thu, 21 May 2015 21:18:00 GMT

I attended RightsCon in Manila 23-25 March 2015, which was the first to be held in South-east Asia. Rightscon is a tech conference about digital rights and related issues.

My itinerary for Manila and back was arranged by a travel agent in New York, and after a third try to fix the flights I got my tickets and accommodation in Manila for three nights.

I haven’t visited The Philippines since 2009 though I have many friends ever since. You know they are a lot and taking a large portion of friends in my facebook than from any other country.

It was quite early in the morning at 6am when I arrived in NAIA after a sleepless three-hour flight from Singapore. After sorting out my currency at the money changer with good service inside the airport, I took off.

I took a cab just in-front the gate, a metered official airport taxi as said in the booth sign. I jump- in and the driver didn’t turn the meter on. I am not accustomed with php currency and a bit confused when he asked for 600p. I admit I was such a poor negotiator back then. It ended up with 500p to bring me safely to Holiday Inn in Ortigas, Pasig. It’s quite a difference sum when compared to just 2sgd to reach the city from Changi airport in Singapore. That happens. He has a family to feed and I am alone in a foreign land.

There are many fellow participants that I know before though I know almost none of the organizers except from their emails. So it was a very good chance for me to be included for a talk at the conference. Indeed, I was amongst the first to send-out my presentation after being confirmed for the talk. They said so.

On the first day in Manila I was entitled to follow a whole day pre-conference about the Future of Internet in the Philippines which was targeted for the local participants. I can see the organizers were so eager to facilitate this event as good as it should be. They were really engaged in serious debates in this meet-up to resolve the differences.

There are friendlier people in this two-day conference than the one that I had formerly in Singapore. Not sure why it is. Maybe people were too geeky in a tech conference than in a social conference. Is geekyness mean they are more attached and dependable to their gadgets and becoming less sociable?

For me, this is one of the best conferences that I had attended about internet and related issues with multi-facetted parallel sessions which need a delicate mind to choose which session is best suited to your necessity.

A Local Encounter that Changed my Perspective - Taming Bangkok Transportation in three days

saigon — Tue, 9 Apr 2013 19:44:18 GMT

Was arriving in Bangkok after an eight-hour van ride from Siem Reap, Cambodia. My destination was Khaosan road in Old Bangkok which is bound by the Chao Phraya river.

I was in Bangkok before, on transit only. This time it is my chance to use Bangkok transportation to reach places around the city. First thing to do is to gather all the information I could get about Bangkok. There are so many brochures, travelling booklets, magazines in Khaosan area. There is a tourist office near the Phra Arthit pier where you can get lot of information for free.

So I plan to try the river bus by which you can go from one pier to another along the Chao Phraya. Bangkok authorities make a good cause of doing transportation along the river which is hardly implemented in another country such as Indonesia where I came from.

When arriving at one pier, it is possible to reconnect to a BTS station nearby. I was then reaching pier 1 from pier 13 in Khaosan and reconnect with a BTS near the Thaksin bridge. Bangkok Mass Transit System, popularly known as BTS, is where you can use the BTS line to reach places in Bangkok. Indeed people use these BTS stations around Bangkok as meeting places. Bangkok is well connected, BTS lines are connected to other Skytrain or MRT lines as well.

For example, from BTS station at Thaksin bridge you can go to Silom intersection that allows you to choose the next station. A magnetic card is used for ticket that you can vend from a machine. You can exchange the necessary amount of coins indicated by a table at the machine front. There is also a daily ticket that allows you to use for the whole day until midnight. In this case you won't need to buy each time you want to go from one station to another in a day.

I did stop at Hua Lamphong BTS station on my way back to Khaosan road. From here I took a bus no 53 to reach my place. A friendly usable transportation method in Bangkok.

The next day I decided to move on and stay around the Phaya Thai station for it's easier for me to reach the airport by means of Airport Rail link. This special MRT will link from Phaya Thai directly to the Suvarnabhumi airport and it took about 25 minutes. There is also an unstoppable express line if you are on the rush to reach the airport.

Well, the good thing about Bangkok is the transportation where people can easily commute from one place to another and in a cheaper mode than using a taxi or tuk-tuk, which is another story to tell.

Photos: Such a devotion on a Buddha statue in Siem Reap

saigon — Mon, 7 Jan 2013 17:16:00 GMT

Being in remote places and getting lost is something I always wishes to do. Places that I haven't ever been before, exploring new things that I've not got the chance to experience. Traveling overseas would really give many chances of meeting people from all over the world; interact with other races, befriend with other nationalities other than my own. Travel Photography Scholarship 2012 from WorldNomads.com is a great opportunity to explore more about world heritage. Photography is a new thing for me and lately I have been trying to use own pictures to accompany my journals. I live in Indonesia. I've been visiting few of the ASEAN countries like The Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. I am well versed in english, both verbally and written. I like to document my coming travels or things related to world heritage sites. Some of my works are put in a blog -which is merely a travelogue- http://www.datacom.co.id/blog.html

My Scholarship Entry - A local encounter that changed my life

saigon — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 17:28:00 GMT

Been living in Surabaya most of the time of my life is not always giving me a chance to explore some parts of the city. The city itself is packed with three millions population and recognized as a trade center for the eastern region of Indonesia.

Surabaya is a port city which has a harbour Tanjung Perak at the northern part and an international airport Juanda at the southern part, the latter is twenty kilometers away from the city proper for 45 minutes ride by means of bus or taxi.

The city heritage is marked by European buildings and Chinese old past in the form of monasteries for different kind of beliefs. The northern part has a Moslem theme, situated in a conclave called Ampel.

The city expands to the west where the land is marked with newer apartments and luxurious estates while the east is facing the sea and acclaimed for ocean park and mangrove plantation.

The city center is hectic with business, sometime jammed and becoming rough during working days. At last city is at ease at weekends and holidays. In Sundays, several roads are proclaimed to be free of motorized vehicles where people can walk or having bike ride for a few hours in the morning. The roads are crowded with people walking around with loud bands, singing on the street, street-art performers, food peddlers, some babies and dogs are also having their days out in clear air.

Despite the hot and humid air, the city is easy to tame when you have more time than just dropping by. Not to mention there are enough local food to taste. Try rawon the black soup, a culinary delight of native origin, gudeg for well cooked jackfruits, or gado-gado the Indonesian salad version.

And when you’re bored with city life, a neighboring places are within reachable distance. The mount Bromo is about three hours ride from Surabaya. Malang is a nearby town or you may go as far as the southern beach of Pacitan facing the Indian ocean. Shorter distance like Tretes on the mountain side is just 54 kilometers away.

Photos: Surabaya

saigon — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:50:00 GMT

Exploring Surabaya, a growing city with some heritage.

My Travel Writing Scholarship 2011 entry - Journey in an Unknown Culture

saigon — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 11:07:00 GMT

Ho Chi Minh city or Saigon was really a place to explore the Vietnamese heritage when I was there in November 2010.

There was no hassle when I arrived in the evening at Tan Son Nhat airport. No need to fill in an immigration card to enter Vietnam. The airport is not far from the city center. You can take a taxi to reach your destination. Choose wisely which taxi that you will take. Traffic is on the right side of the roads while in my country where I came from is on the left. I don't recall any traffic jam when I was there.

On language barrier; I have no difficulties in speaking english as most people understand or at least they try to. At the university where I’ve been visiting, I met students who speak english very well. They do speak in pure english accent, I am still amazed of this ability. Well, english is not my mother tongue either.

On food, there are specialty of Vietnamese dishes available only in Saigon. Most of them are well tasted to my likings.

Saigon is home of sandwich called banh mi. Banh mi consists of baguette bread filled with slices of meat, sometime egg, tofu mix, vegetables and sauce. Baguette is French style bread, smaller but sweeter to adapt the taste of locals.

During my days in Saigon, one US dollar is exchangeable to 20,000 dong more or less. Therefore a banh mi that cost 15,000 dong is about 0,75 US dollar.

The next in the menu is rice noodle called pho, a regular meal in Vietnam. Always cooked in delicious meat broth, pho is widely avail throughout Vietnam, not only in Saigon. Always served with fresh leaves like basil, cilantro, mint and lot of bean sprouts.

Another dish that I have encountered is the broken rice style called Com tam. A mix up of cooked rice combined with slices of meat and others. Again this is a specialty from Saigon where rice is abundant.

Places of interest are all over the city like the Notre dame cathedral church, adjacent to the famous central post office, war remnants museum, city hall, temples, Ben Thanh market and the river side. There are several churches in Saigon, something derived from the French colonial past.

I stayed in district 1 where there are lot of small hotels (hostels) at budget range or even smaller backpackers hotels that you may find in the alleys of Pham Ngu Lao wards.

Saigon is also a good start to visit the surrounding area in South Vietnam by boat through the Mekong river to towns like Ben Tre, My Tho, Can Tho, or as far as to Chao Doc near the Cambodian border. Indeed you can go to Phnom Penh in Cambodia by boat from Saigon. They do organize such tours. Ask for their brochures at first when you arrive in Saigon so you can have a very good plan on your journey.