Texas 2018 Bookstagrams

May 14, 2018 / Chachic / Leave a comment

Hey everyone, I wasn’t able to do a blog update prior to leaving but I was in Texas from end of April to the first week of May to attend a friend’s wedding. The last time I traveled to the US was in 2013 which was also to attend a wedding. And my last long haul flight was in 2015 when I visited Prague and Munich! So it’s been a while since I traveled that far. I was updating my bookstagram account while I was there and I wanted to share those posts here too.

Bookish tote bag haul

Amazon and Gumroad comics and graphic novels haul

Indie bookstore: Wild Detectives

Indie bookstore: Deep Vellum

Deep Vellum haul

Wedding Night Stand book quote

Better at Weddings Than You book quote

I wasn’t able to do that many touristy things but I’m glad I was able to go to two indie bookstores, thank goodness for Uber for letting me go around Dallas. I wouldn’t have been able to visit those stores otherwise! And I also need to pat past Chachic on the back for ordering ahead and taking care of my comics/graphic novels and bookish tote bags haul. Back in Manila now and back to regular programming. I’m still catching up on sleep and errands so I haven’t really been able to read but hopefully that will change soon. What have you all been up to lately? Read any amazing books that you’d like to talk about?

Cebu: Vacation and #BuwanNgMgaAkdangPinoy

August 20, 2017February 5, 2018 / Chachic / 3 Comments

Hello, WordPress followers! If you also follow me on Twitter, Instagram and Litsy, then you would know that I was on vacation on Cebu for a few days. Cebu is one of the provinces in the Visayas region in the Philippines, and I went to Moalboal and Cebu City. It was my first time in Cebu and I had a great time! Also realized that the last time I traveled on a domestic flight was in 2011 when I went to Bohol. I’m hoping to be able to do more local travel in the near future. While I was in Cebu, I was able to do some #BuwanNgMgaAkdangPinoy posts so I’m including those in this update.

In Moalboal, we stayed at the gorgeous Hale Manna resort, which is owned by Liana’s family. Liana blogs at Will Read for Feels and I met her through the circle of romance readers in the Philippines. It never ceases to amaze me at how I keep meeting awesome bookish people, both online and in real life. I was able to meet with Liana while in Cebu, first at Moalboal and then we traveled together back to Cebu City. Here are some pictures of Hale Manna in Moalboal, swipe left to see all of them:

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In Cebu City, first stop was Liana’s book cafe called Books and Brews. I love book cafes and if I lived in Cebu, I would definitely be a regular in this one. The cafe has an extensive selection of books written by Filipino and foreign authors which you can read while hanging out at the place. It’s also cozy and comfortable and a good place to study or work in, if you would prefer not to read.

When I was researching on what places I’d like to visit in Cebu, I knew I would want to check out ancestral houses if there were any in the area. We got to visit two of them: Casa Gorordo and Yap-Sandiego House. I’m a sucker for historic places and these two were a pleasure to view. They’re both typical “balay na tisa” or “bahay na bato”, built in the 1800’s with a mix of Spanish, Chinese and Filipino influences.

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We also got to see Museo Sugbo, which is Cebu’s provincial museum. It was previously a provincial jail but has been converted to showcase the history of the province.

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Last, but certainly not the least was getting to try the food options in Cebu that aren’t available in Manila! I loved both The Chocolate Chamber and AA Barbecue, and I’m sure you’ll be able to tell why based on these pictures:

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I hope you guys enjoyed this update post. I had an amazing time in Cebu but it’s always good to be home in Manila. 🙂 If you’ve been to Cebu, please feel free to share your own experience. Also, would be happy to hear suggestions on what ancestral houses in the country should be included in my bucket list. For those who haven’t been to Cebu, I hope I’ve made you more curious about the province, and that you’ll get to visit it eventually.

Weekend Trip: Chiang Mai

October 3, 2016 / Chachic / 15 Comments

Exactly a month ago, I wrote a blog post about sense of belonging and how that relates to my current job. I wouldn’t say I’m fully integrated into my new office yet, but I’d like to think I’m getting there. Last Thursday to Saturday, our whole office traveled to Chiang Mai, Thailand for an office team building trip. I’ve experienced that kind of thing before with my previous office when we visited Bintan Island, Indonesia. I’ve never been to Chiang Mai so I was really curious about it. Also, anything that would help in getting to know co-workers and potentially bonding with them is a good thing for me at this point. Our schedule was packed with office-related activities and presentations, but I was able to join a group that went around the city for a couple of hours. Here are some pics:

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Chiang Mai seems like a beautiful and historical city, I would love to go back and explore more of it. I was in the middle of Magic Binds by Ilona Andrews prior to the trip and I didn’t get much reading done during the trip so I was only able to finish it when I got back, will try to write a review of it soon. I’m still tired from staying up late and traveling though, so not making any promises. If I don’t manage to write new blog posts this week, you can always find me on Instagram and Litsy.

Weekend Trip: Club Med Bintan Island

September 7, 2015October 3, 2016 / Chachic / 5 Comments

I didn’t get that much reading or blogging done over the weekend because we had an office team building trip from Friday to Saturday. To be perfectly honest, I was dreading it because I had a feeling that spending more than 24 hours with co-workers would be really awkward. It wasn’t as bad as I expected and I was able to have a little bit of fun (hey, gotta make the most out of a trip away from the city). We went to Club Med in Bintan Island, a ferry ride away from Singapore. I was in Bintan earlier this year for my birthday but stayed at a different resort. Some shots of the place:

And there were monkeys in our room’s balcony:

My normal beach thing would be to read by the beach but there wasn’t really any time for that because of the packed schedule that we had for team building activities (games, dancing, table tennis, etc.) Also, my co-workers confiscated my Kindle and put it in our room’s safe together with other valuables. They said reading during team building trip is not allowed because that’s being antisocial.

One of our team activities was (a dummy version of) archery! I didn’t get a pic but it was fun to play Katniss/Fire for 30 minutes. We were supposed to have a trapeze lesson but it was cancelled when it started raining. So we took advantage of the free time we had by going to the spa where I got a 30-minute massage and was able to sneak in some reading time (my weekend read was Suddenly One Summer by Julie James):

While the trip was fun in its own way, it was super tiring because I haven’t had that much physical activity in ages. So I just took it easy on Sunday and finished reading Suddenly One Summer. What about the rest of you, how was your weekend?

Europe 2015: Regensburg Update

July 19, 2015July 19, 2015 / Chachic / 3 Comments

After being wowed by Cesky Krumlov in Czech Republic, we decided to visit a medieval city in Germany too. We checked travel forums and asked German friends and Regensburg kept being recommended as a nice place to visit. Other cities that we would have loved to visit were Rothenburg and Nuremberg but they’re farther away from Munich and we didn’t want to waste too much time on train travel. About an hour and a half away from Munich, Regensburg is a charming city by the Danube river with a rich history – first capital of Bavaria, previous center of the Holy Roman Empire, the residence of the Thurn and Taxis nobility and now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

We started with lunch at a cafe across the church:

Here’s the view of the city from the bridge tower:

This 12th century Stone Bridge was one of the first built-in Europe. I read somewhere that it helped inspire the Charles Bridge in Prague. It’s currently under construction so I couldn’t get a good shot:

The Porta Praetoria was the gate to the Roman camp Castra Regina from 179 AD. It’s amazing that a structure that old has been maintained and incorporated into the city’s architecture:

Goliathhaus is a 13th century patrician residence with a mural of David and Goliath:

The Schloss Thurn and Taxis is within the grounds of St. Emmeram. It’s a 19th century neo-Renaissance palace built from a monastery. The Thurn and Taxis family built a postal system in Europe in the 15th century. No pictures were allowed inside Schloss Thurn and Taxis so I only have a courtyard picture and a paparazzi shot of the floor of the winter garden:

A sign with directions and a medieval house which has become a shop:

This is the last of my series of posts about the places we visited in Europe during our two-week trip a few weeks ago. If you want to check out the rest of my travel updates, here are links to them:
Prague
Kutna Hora
Cesky Krumlov
Munich, where I met up with my Goodreads friend Estara
Neuschwanstein Castle

I’m waiting for some rolls of film to be processed and I’ll try to share some lomography shots when I get the results.

Europe 2015: Neuschwanstein Castle

July 12, 2015 / Chachic / 9 Comments

It’s been more than a month since I came back from Europe and I’m still not done with my travel updates here on the blog. I’ve even gone back home to Manila since then. I’ve been distracted by real life, reading and writing book-related posts (which is what this blog is actually about LOL). As promised, here’s an update on Neuschwanstein Castle, one of the sites we visited that I LOVED.

Neuschwanstein Castle is probably one of the most famous castles in Europe. It was the inspiration for Disney’s iconic Sleeping Beauty castle. It’s located above the village of Hohenschwangau, which is 2 hours away by train from Munich. I really, really wanted to see Neuschwanstein which was why I chose Munich as the exit point (with Prague as the entry point) when I was booking tickets for Europe. Check out the pictures and let me know if you agree with me that Neuschwanstein Castle is worth a visit.

View of the town of Hohenschwangau and Alpsee, the lake nearby:

Some shots of the front of the castle:

And the back of the castle:

We joined a tour of the castle interiors but pictures weren’t allowed inside, which is too bad because the rooms we saw were all beautiful. Not surprisng since King Ludwig II intent was to make the castle his refuge from court life. There is a magnificent view of the castle from a bridge called Marienbrücke:

From this area, there is a view that shows Hohenschangau Castle, where King Ludwig II grew up. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to explore this yellow castle.

I’m so glad I got to see Neuschwanstein Castle in person, and in such gorgeous weather too. It’s really the stuff fairytales are made of.

Europe 2015: Munich Update

June 29, 2015July 19, 2015 / Chachic / 13 Comments

I think most people who include Germany in their Europe itinerary usually choose to go to Berlin. But when I booked the ticket to Prague and was trying to decide what other city to visit, Munich was the first place that I thought of. Mainly because I wanted to see Neuschswanstein Castle, which I will talk more about in a different post. If I had done more research, I probably would have chosen to visit the Romantic Road from Frankfurt to Munich, which is a tour of medieval towns in Bavaria. I can always go back, right? 🙂 While Munich is not always an obvious choice when planning a European tour, I did enjoy exploring and discovering more about Bavaria’s capital. As a bonus, I got to meet a long-time online friend in person! Again, more on that in another post.

It’s funny how we visited as many castles and palaces as we can during our trip. Our first full day in Munich, we chose to explore Nymphenburg Palace and its surrounding gardens:

Park palaces Amalienburg and Badenburg:

The Hall of Mirrors inside Amelienburg, a smaller version of the one in Versailles:

During one of the days we were in Munich, we met up with one of Kim’s friends and she showed us around the area. We visited the elaborately decorated Asamkirche, which was built by the Asam brothers to be their private church:

We explored the outdoor market Viktualienmarkt:

The famous Marienplatz:

Shakespeare and Co. is an indie bookstore in the Marienplatz area. It has the same name as the renowned bookstore in Paris. Unfortunately, most of their stocks are German titles so we weren’t able to buy anything:

The Munich Residenz is another royal palace located in the city. It was previously used by the monarchs of the House of Wittelsbach.

The Antiquarium, the oldest room in the Residenz. It was created to house the royalty’s collection of antique sculptures. If these were antique during the 1800s, then they’re now ancient:

One of the mirrors inside the palace and a super fancy cabinet for china:

Ancestral Gallery, which displays portraits of the rulers of Bavaria:

A bejeweled crown and a ceremonial sword from the Treasury inside the Residenz:

A traditional German meal that I had was cheese spatzle with Hacker-Pschorr Radler (beer with lemonade and my favorite out of all the beers we tried):

Have you visited Munich? If you have, what did you think of it? I’m not aware of any books set in Munich but I believe The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is set in a city nearby.

Europe 2015: Cesky Krumlov Update

June 20, 2015 / Chachic / 9 Comments

Cesky Krumlov is a UNESCO World Heritage medieval town (or city?) about three hours away from Prague. When we were planning day trips out of Prague, I initially hesitated about going to Cesky Krumlov because it felt like the travel time would be too long. But the pictures that I’ve seen showed how gorgeous the place is that I didn’t mind the road trip as much. Like with the Kutna Hora day trip, we joined a tour company for the day just because it’s hassle-free when it comes to transportation arrangements. The downside is that we felt a bit rushed while going around. We definitely felt like we could have spent more time in Cesky Krumlov, maybe even spend a night there. If I had to choose a favorite out of all the places we visited, I would go for Cesky Krumlov with its mix of renaissance, baroque and gothic buildings. It was founded in the 13th century and was developed until the 17th century. It really is very beautiful, the kind that can make you say, “ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS?” If I could find a job in that place, I would live there. It looked like the setting of every fairytale or medieval fantasy novel that I’ve read. There’s even a medieval castle that has been very well-maintained. I don’t know why but a city or a town instantly looks better in my eyes when it’s beside a body of water. And the Vltava River meanders around Cesky Krumlov. Again, I don’t think my words can do enough justice on this place so I will let the pictures I’ve taken show you what I mean.

Our first view of Cesky Krumlov included a bridge that looked like an aqueduct with corridors on top connecting the palace to servants quarters.

After going through the bridge, we were treated to this view:

We walked around the town leading to the main square, where there is a fountain dedicated to victims of the plague, since this disease took so many lives in Cesky Krumlov. There were some nice cobbled streets and of course, I had to take a shot of their manhole cover with the town’s seal.

Cesky Krumlov’s palace is the second largest in Czech Republic, after Prague Castle. We joined a lovely tour of the palace but unfortunately, pictures weren’t allowed inside. So I can only share some exterior shots of the palace, and also a bear in one of the bridges leading to the courtyard.

A fuller view of the tower:

The panoramic shots at the start of this post are views from the palace and here’s another one from the same vantage point:

All pictures were taken using my phone’s camera. I’m sorry if the brightness and contrast aren’t consistent in all the pictures – I edited some using my laptop and some using Instagram. Have any of you visited Cesky Krumlov? While I don’t know of any books set in this gorgeous place, I’m sure I’ll be reminded of it whenever I read a well-written medieval fantasy or fairy tale.

This Is… Children’s Travel Books

June 18, 2015June 21, 2015 / Chachic / 2 Comments

In my recap about my vacation in Prague, I mentioned that I bought only one book during our entire trip. It was a children’s book about Prague called This Is Prague by Michaela Kukovicova and Olga Cerna. I got it from an indie bookstore that was mostly selling Czech books and it was the last copy that they had. I probably would have been tempted to buy more than one if they more stocks. As mentioned in a previous post, I also thought it was pretty cool that the bookstore sold postcards with illustrations based on the book. I looked up the title and found out from the publisher’s page that it’s actually a tribute to Czech writer M. Sasek’s “This Is…” series of travel books for children. Then one of the friends I traveled with last year reminded me that he got a copy of This Is Paris from Shakespeare and Company. Now I want all of the books in the series that feature places I’ve visited! That would be This is Paris, This Is Munich, This Is San Francisco and This Is Hong Kong. I wouldn’t mind collecting all of the books in the series but I’ll prioritize the places I’ve been to because the books would make nice souvenirs. I need to find a way to get these. Unfortunately, they’re not available in Book Depository and shipping would be very expensive if I order them off Amazon. I tried looking for these books in bookstores in Singapore but they’re not available. Sigh, I’ll have to think of another way of hunting them down. Are you familiar with M. Sasek’s books? Are there any other illustrated travel books that you think are fun to read and collect?

Europe 2015: Kutna Hora Update

June 16, 2015June 16, 2015 / Chachic / 7 Comments

As mentioned in my earlier update about Prague, I’m also doing recaps of the day trips that we did in Czech Republic. Last year’s Europe trip really tired me out because I felt like we kept hopping from out city to another even though we only visited four: Paris, Barcelona, Aix-en-Provence and Milan. So for this year, I wanted to visit only two cities and just plan day trips from there. That way, we only had to lug our suitcases around three times (from the airport, from Prague to Munich and then back to the airport).

One of the cities we visited from Prague was Kutna Hora. We joined a day trip organized by one of the many tour groups in Prague. It was just more convenient for us to join a tour group for half a day because it included the bus rides (about an hour and a half each way) and a tour guide to enlighten us about Kutna Hora’s history. Kutna Hora and its neighboring town, Sedlec, is one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites in Czech Republic. In its heyday, this mining city was the second richest in the country. Today, it’s a quiet and cozy city that has well-preserved historical structures.

Near Kutna Hora is the Sedlec Ossuary, which has a creeptastic collection of bones that have been made into decorations. There is a huge chandelier of bones that contains at least one of every bone in the human body and also a coat of arms of the House of Schwarzenberg.

One of the well-known sites in the city is the gothic cathedral of St. Barbara, who is the patron saint of miners. Apparently it took 500 years for this church to be finished.

After exiting the cathedral, we saw a path lined with big statues, like a smaller version of the Charles Bridge:

I enjoyed walking around the cozy cobblestone streets of Kutna Hora.

We also saw this huge gothic water cistern that was used for water storage, it was filled with water through an irrigation system. And like with Prague, I noticed that even manhole covers have nice designs on them.

Have any of you visited Kutna Hora? I don’t know of any books set in this city but I think it would be a good inspiration for some authors, I’m sure Sedlec Ossuary would present various story ideas.