What would winter in Hokkaido be like without the ski adventure?
While other people are trying to make themselves warm from the cold weather, we tried to expose ourselves to a “cooler” and extreme adventure. Having no experience made it difficult at first but eventually, I managed to complete a few beginners’ trails.
Sapporo Teine is a ski resort just 30 minutes train-ride away from Sapporo Station. The place is complete with equipment and ski outfit rentals, restaurants, lifts and beginner to advance ski routes. The snow is deep and powdery so no matter how hard you fall, it won’t really hurt a lot. Lol!
For more info about the resort, visit their website here.
I’m Back!
Wheewww! The latter part of the year has been quite tough at work when I thought it will be a more relaxed yearend (due to “code freezes”). Unfortunately, it was not.
But then, I was able to slot in a 10-day holiday; a much-awaited stress-relieving trip in my favorite country- Japan! They say it is one of the most wonderful places to enjoy the winter season, so I made it my goal this year to be back and spend white Christmas in Hokkaido even just for a short while.
Indeed, this is the most wonderful time of the year for me! Sharing with you some of the clips of this 4-day winter adventure.
Click here to watch the video on youtube
I, actually, don’t know what to feature yet, so I only made this 1-minute video of our Maldives trip. I still can’t get over from last weekend… Separation anxiety, is it? Who wouldn’t feel that, huh, having been to a place considered as paradise? Alright… I’m exaggerating. 😆
Budget? My friends keep asking me this, “How much did we spend?” Uhmmm… I can’t say this was a low budget trip but preparation definitely helps – from expenses to activities, even to the OOTD’s. Lol! Just be prepared. As long as you are, you wouldn’t even mind spending slightly more than the estimated ones. Don’t worry, I’ll be sharing our DIY itinerary to “those in need”. 😊🤣
Activities? I think we’ve covered enough- experience the luxury of a private island resort and likewise feel the good vibes in a local island. This ‘4 nights and 4 days’ trip was jampacked. The excursions we had were tiring but worth it (will be posting them soon).
Overall, this adventure was overflowing with fun, fun, and fun. Although, I’ve been dreaming about a different scenario- a more romantic one (cheesy)- but still, no regret. As quoted, we would rather look back at our lives and say we can’t believe we have done that instead of saying “I wish I did that”. Yeah! Will definitely be back soon!
Because the smell of the ocean never gets old…
Sharing with you the first night and day of our trip to the Maldives – “the sunny side of life”
Our first 2 days were mostly spent at Malihini Kuda Bandos, an island resort just 10 minutes away from Velana International Airport.
Teasing you first about our 4-nights, 4-day adventure trip to the “sunny side of life”… Maldives!🇲🇻
When I got the chance to book for a holiday trip in Krabi, I made Phi Phi Islands the first entry in the list of places I need to go to. Aside from the fact that it became famous because of the movie, “The Beach”, people would say that being there is just gorgeously relaxing.
So… Here we go with expectations versus reality. 😊
(Maya Beach photos are not mine, screengrabbed)
After the island tour, for me, gorgeous is correct. But, relaxing might depend on what time are you visiting the islands. They, actually, become too crowded with boats and tourists. Nonetheless, it is still a must-not-miss place to visit while you are in Krabi or Phuket.
The weather wasn’t cooperative when I went to Krabi. It rained heavily the night before our island tour schedule and continued ’till early morning of the next day. It was gloomy, but the activity still went off with a disclaimer, “Join at your own risk!” The heck!! 😆
I was also hoping to run on the sands of Maya Bay, but unfortunately, it has been closed. It’s ok though. We got 3 more islands left to explore.
- Bamboo Island
- Phi Phi Leh
- Phi Phi Don
- Maya Beach (closed)
Fortunately, the sun went to show up a bit when we arrived in Phi Phi Leh. There was a little sunny vibrant feel in my pictures. 😊👓🕶
The Viking Cave is an additional site in Phi Phi Leh. However, since this is a private property, tourists can’t go nearer. Well, our tour guide just told us that there are Viking paintings in the walls of this cave, hence, the name was derived.
The full-day tour includes a lunch buffet meal and is usually served in Phi Phi Don. Expect that by noontime, this beach will be filled up by speedboats doing the tour.
Bamboo Island. I like the environment here as it is quite relaxed. Maybe because only a few people were on the island when we arrived. Normal tours would drop by here first before the next islands, but ours made this the last leg in the itinerary.
I know, I am late with the trend but, better late than never. So after months of contemplating whether this would be useful for me or not, I decided to buy a recreational drone – an addition to my ever loyal mobile phone in capturing the best moments (in a bird’s-eye-view) of my adventures.
I named her “Sparkie” by the way- the DJI Spark Snow-cap White drone.
Here’s her maiden flight (Pardon my panning. I’m still working on how to control and achieve the best movie-like shot. Lol!)
Singapore is a concrete jungle in every aspect (infrastructure, transportation, etc.) but this part of the country seems to be behind the fast-pace way of life… An island, 15-min-boatride away from the east, where the remaining traditional kampong (village) can be found… This is Pulau Ubin.
When you visit Krabi, don’t miss out the sunset island tour and night snorkeling package offered by Mariam Travel and Tour. You’ll get to hop into 7 islands, 3 of which are connected by sand ridges or tombolos and you can walk from one to the other during low tides. Also, you will experience the beauty of the sun setting down and painting the sky orange upon heading to Railay Beach (famous for caving and rock climbing activities) for the barbecue dinner. The highlight of the tour is the night snorkeling with the bio-luminescent plankton. At the site, all lights are turned off. When you plunge into the water, your every move glows. I wasn’t able to take a single photo of that though, since cameras/phones are discouraged (because the light source from the LCD’s will lessen the plankton’s glow). But well, some of the best moments are never captured by cameras.
They are experienced and cherished first hand.
… Isle of Betel Nut
… Peranakan
… Pearl of the Orient
… Food capital of Malaysia
Months before I stepped foot into this part of Malaysia, I only heard those tags above associated with the place. In fact, I never got interested in visiting the island until I joined an airline company 6 months ago.
Sometimes, being burned out helps you discover more places. Wonderful places! I got stressed one day and had been wanting to go somewhere to just roam around and ‘chillax’.
I searched for nearby places to spend the weekend and whoahlah!, an “Escape the Ordinary” ad popped up – “FREE THINGS TO DO IN PENANG”. 😮 Catchy for a low budget traveler like me! 😉
And there goes me and my backpack! I booked the Scoot flight and a Booking.com hotel for a 2-day adventure trip in Penang!
My hotel was in George Town, so immediately after checking in, I went out to explore the vintage-feel, history-rich streets of the town. Yeah! It is indeed, FREE!😊
Welcome to my page!
I used to write a lot about all my adventures years ago. But then, I got tired and lazy to compose articles so I stopped… I tried reviving it but my blogspot page eventually got abandoned. It’s still up though and waiting to be updated.
However, I feel like giving this another try. Again??? Duh! Well, I just hope I can sustain. I do have that one important thing anyway. I do have extra T-I-M-E! Thus, jepoisadventures.com is born. (Version 3.0)😊
So, why the caption?
ME? Obviously, no need to explain.
MY BACKPACK? Hey! I don’t aim to be Dora’s best friend. It’s just, I settle with one backpack every time I travel. I see to it that everything fits inside it, so… Cheers to traveling light!🍻
AND THE PLACES I GO? Of course, our common denominator- travel to ANYWHERE we can!
There are too many travel and adventure blogs out there and I won’t be competing with them anymore. I can’t even suggest for a budget itinerary because sometimes I tend to spend more. I may feature “my not so recommended DIY trip” and I bet, no one would dare to do that. 🤣
I revived my passion for blogging not to advise to “try this or try that”. I only want to share some of my adventures – the memories captured in my frames. No need for too many words… Just pictures… and videos… 😉
Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.– Anthony Bourdain
