100 Reasons Why I Love Backpacking

3:07:00 AM Pinoy Boy Journals 8 Comments


1. Waking up early to a non-A/C room

2. Trying to learn a new language

3. Drinking foreign beer: Chang, Beer Lao, Heineken, Tiger, Lion, Everest, etc.

4. Living on a less than a thousand Baht budget per day in Thailand

5. Getting to know locals more intimately

6. Banana pancakes - the real thing, with Nuttela peanut butter

7. Wearing cargo shorts everyday


8. Getting calluses from too much walking

9. Understanding the thoughts of a lady boy

10. Learning the value of respect vis a vis money

11. Getting free drinks in a dive bar


12. Getting free stuff everywhere

13. Getting more responsible with time management

14. Sitting outside 7-11 eating non-healthy food

15. Knowing that smoking can make you poor

16. Walking alone at night in sleazy Patpong

17. Meeting my first backpacker friend, a kind lady from Cyprus

18. Looking like a local in Little India

19. Losing weight

20. I learn to have no pretensions

21. Chatting with strangers

22. Making sure non-english taxi drivers understand me

23. Seeing packs of cigarettes with liver cancer, throat cancer, unborn fetus, feet disease, etc.


24. Sleeping in the same room with someone doing it

25. Sleeping in the same room with a snorer

26. Walking in the hallway naked

27. Walking in the hallway with a towel when suddenly it falls down

28. Listening to Moby's Porcelain while navigating the seas of Southern Thailand

29. Getting free beers from Filipina waitresses at The Venetian Hotel

30. Riding the midnight boat to Hong Kong Island

31. H&M

32. Stealing two local Thai magazines in some random park

33. Watching Chinese Kung fu dubbed in Thai

34. Spelunking the cave

35. Trying to find the best sunset in the world... So far, it's a toss between one in Guimaras and Negombo.

36. Riding a bus carrying my duffel and then just boxing everyone's face as i pass by because of my oversized bag

37. Getting an impromptu map of my hotel drawn on a tissue paper. Now that's what i call Singaporean hospitality.

38. Finishing half a plate, and giving the rest to a still hungry backpackers

39. Getting drunk during happy hour

40. Spending big big bucks on chicken bones

41. Electrolytes


42. Smell of ta
nning oil

43. Walking horizontally

44. 15 hour train rides

45. Getting scolded by the Malaysian immigration

46. Praying for my life on the plane going home to Manila from Shanghai

47. Crying in Suvarnabhumi Airport

48. Smoking with all Japanese chain smokers in a small cubicle in the airport

49. Living beside the river in Laos

50. Meeting people from all walks of life

51. Never been more proud to be a Filipino than when i travel

52. Realizing how much i value my home when i'm lonely

53. Doing IT when i'm lonely

54. "Would you like to go the beach with me, Jerik?" Ah, good times!

55. Buckets of Samsong whisky (1 full bottle), coke REGULAR, and Red Bull

56. No ceiling in my room

57. Shit on the floor.

58. A really really really warm room, with no A/C, not even an electric fan

59. Being followed by a monk

60. Asking a foreigner for a way around town. Like it helps.

61. H

62. Sleeping in the park

63. Mango shake and butter pancakes

64. Riding a motorcycle around town

65. Wearing trunks

66. Vodka Red Bull. I cannot sleep the whole night.

67. Thai fantaserye

68. Trying to get to my room - the door knob is ridiculously hard to key in.

69. Thai fried rice

70. Superbrand Mall of China

71. Uniqlo

72. Giving alms to poor foreigners

73. Getting more money wired through Western Union in Bangkok - the first time i used a wire transfer service

74. Going to Balicasag twice in two days

75. Getting chills while snorkeling, seeing 100 feet deep deep water

76. Sex on the beach. The first drink i ordered on my first visit to Boracay more than 20 years ago

77. A huge reptile in my room in Nueva Valencia

78. Ping Pong show

79. Shanghai sky. Full of smog.

80. Really good looking Chinese locals. Emphasize on REALLY GOOD LOOKING.

81. Getting random remarks from Chinese locals

82. Getting free food and bottled water from Thai officials during the funeral vigil for the sister of the king

83. "Pretty cool eh! Pretty Good! Pretty Nice! Pretty Awesome! Pretty beautiful! What?!" Pretty was officially my word when i first went backing. All i say is Pretty.

84. Bowing my heads, and putting the palms of my hands together

85. Taking my medicines on time

86. Walking non-stop


87. Bed Bug bites on my left arm

88. Speaking like an afro-american. Yo'!

89. Getting tired of eating too much - i settled for coke instead

90. Falling in love

91. Believed destiny was playing tricks on me

92. Crying when leaving. Separating from newly found friends suck!

93. Internet everywhere i go to update my family and friends back home through Facebook

94. Buying souvenir t-shirts, memorabilias, local magazines, and trinkets

95. Dreading the flight all the time

96. Air Asia. First time to ride a free seating plane. Yeah! Wass kinda surprised. It felt like i was just just watching a movie.

97. French women. They come. They go. I still love them FOREVER.

98. Australian backpackers are the coolest, wilderst, awesome youngsters.

99. Reading Lonely Planet and Frommers over and over again.

100. Getting remarks from people i met..

"You're the only Filipino i know!"

"Awesome Filipinos!"

"Wassup Pinoy Boy!"


"Take care bro!"

"Buh-bye!"

"Give me a tour when i go to the Philippines!"

"My apartment is free in case you want to crash in!"

"Take Care!"


"Thank You!"


So there. I think i could have written a hundred more. But it's past my bed time. Hope you enjoyed reading my 100 missing encounters. Remembered all of it and some more, maybe next time. Travelling is like an addiction! I would rather travel/backpack than take any other drug in the world. Everyone should go on trips, anywhere, everywhere, at least once in their life. It's that real moment to experience how it is to be anonymous in such a scary world. Till next, kids!

8 Comments:

Chyng said...

48. Smoking with all Japanese chain smokers in a small cubicle in the airport.

---> instant lung cancer!

@Chyng Whenever i travel and i smoke in one of those small cubicle. Hands down, it's always the Japanese ang kasama ko. And marami talaga sila and yung iba dun tumatambay. I agree-- lung cancer! This reminds me, di ko pa pala nuupdate tong entry na toh! ha ha 2009 pa! he he

hardcore! now that's the essence of traveling.

thanks for sharing. =D

@backPackingSheet i wrote this post after a month of traveling so imagine my loneliness! We all love traveling! Whenever i'm on the road, that's when i smile like there's no tomorrow! If you have reason why you love traveling. Share them with me! Thanks!!!

kemang~ said...

45. ouch.. why ? sorry to hear that

53. what do you mean by IT ? ha ha

76. what ? u have sex on the beach? ha ha, funny

@Kemang hey buddy! for 45. i flew from KL to Krabi, i was a novice traveler and the immigration official was looking for my departure card. i had it tucked in my lonely planet book. for 46. secret! ha ha 76. Yes and no. Sex on the beach is actually an alcoholic cocktail drink, usually, those beachbums love the drink. How are you?

kemang~ said...

pinoy

what do u mean by how am i? am i fine or not? yeah , i'm fine ;) actually i've booked return flight ticket to ho chi minh for 6 days, next june.. kinda regret after clicked the confirm button , as i just realized they're using USD.. u know, 1 usd = rm3.80 ! oh my god ! so expensive , and i dont know where to go for the 6 days.. i'm doing an itinerary on it , but i haven't complete yet as i have no spirit for the vietnam trip.. thought the trip will be so costly for me..

Hi Kemang! I have a few days free sometime after Christmas or early next year. Was thinking of trying out to travel to Malaysia again, but i want to skip Kuala Lumpur. Where do you suggest i go? Of course, i want where there's a beach. I want off the beaten path destinations. Hit me up! Thanks!