You know I’m out of topics to blog about when I start posting my travel budget. This one is from my one-week trip to Thailand and Malaysia at the beginning of the month. The main purpose of the trip was for the tennis, but we ended up dollie shopping in Bangkok instead. I extended my trip to include a week in Penang, just because.

This trip is expensive, compared to my month-long trip back in June spanning five countries. However, it still came out cheaper than the budget I drew up when I was still planning for the trip. And this is the moment when I admit that I really cannot be a hardcore backpacker (that sounds sooo wrong). Haggling will never be my forte, and I will splurge whenever I can. And I will never stop buying doll clothes and books.

Shopping aside, the biggest expense in this trip was my 4-day stay at the Sunway Hotel in Georgetown. I needed to work during those four days, so I splurged on a hotel to ensure that I have a stable Internet connection. Ironically, the Internet at the guesthouse where I transfered to was much better. Hmp.
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The first three weekend of October has been spent in three different places, so last weekend, I was more than happy to just stay put in Manila. Saturday was spent with grade school classmates whom I haven’t seen in years, while Sunday was spent with high school friends whom I haven’t seen in months.

Posting my photos of my friends without their permission. MWAHAHAHAHA.

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Aside from the Philippine Blog Awards’ Visayas Leg, we had another mission in Cebu: to eat, and to eat well. Lucky for us Cebu has a lot of great homegrown restaurants that not only serve good food, but are also quite affordable.

Abuhan’s beef pochero. Photo from file because I couldn’t be arsed to take any photos that evening.

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This is actually the fourth time I’ve been to Cebu, but there’s still a lot more that I haven’t been to in the city. I was alone when I first set foot in the island, there were two of us when I returned a a few months after, and there were three of us when I returned last year. Last Saturday, I was in a group of fourteen bloggers: Gail, Marc, Juned, Melo, Karla, Sha, Hana, Markku, Winston, Coy, Mica and Ada.

Magellan’s Cross

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I’ve been back in Manila since Monday morning, and I’m now waiting for another flight out. I’ll just be gone for the weekend, to attend the Visayas leg of the Philippine Blog Awards, since I missed the main event in Manila. But this post is not about this trip, it’s about my last weekend in Penang.

Sayuri at Penang Hill

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My work week has ended at 6am this morning, so I checked out of Sunway to move to a more budget friendly accommodation. I’m now in my room at the Hutton Lodge, a beautifully restored colonial-style house. Ironically, despite the huge price difference, my Internet connection here at Hutton (wireless, very low reception) is heaps better than my Internet connection at Sunway (wired).

Still, rather than regret the amount I spent, I just tell myself that here at Hutton, I don’t have this view outside my window.

Sunrise in Georgetown

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Penang was shrouded in gray when I looked out the window. I went back to my book, resigned to the fact that there’s nothing I can do to change the weather. The plane’s descent seemed to take forever, the landing bumpy and for lack of better term, swerve-y. Soon enough, I was stamped back into Malaysia and driving through highways and streets made familiar by my previous trip.

KOMTAR from my window

The rain poured in earnest as we were driving towards Georgetown, where I’ll be staying for the next couple of days. I decided to go back to Penang because I felt I missed a lot when I hurriedly left the island last June. This time, I’m taking my time to get to know the city.
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I’m sitting here at Mango Tree at the Bangkok Airport, waiting for the overpriced Thai food that I ordered. Cheap food at Suvarnabhumi meant fast food, and I’m in no mood for Burger King today.

Pretty but overpriced airport food

I am leaving Bangkok today, alone once more. The girls took the red eye flight from Bangkok to Manila last night, giving them one whole day to spend in Bangkok and just enough time to shower before heading to work.
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