Oh My Janey

Trekking to Tangadan Falls in La Union

trekking to tangadan fallsWhen my sister finished her residency program in October, she was set on a mission to travel anywhere and everywhere. I got dragged along in this mission and I suddenly found myself traveling more frequently than anticipated starting November. I was exhausted and tired and broke, but it was all worth it.

I originally planned to visit La Union with Aika, but I ended up traveling with Ate, Riza and KP first. Before the trip, I had never been to La Union but I had wanted to visit for the longest time, not for the surfing but for the chic hostels and the bustling food scene. I am happy to report that La Union didn’t disappoint. We had no itinerary, no plans whatsoever but we still had fun. I enjoyed every minute of it, and the weekend trip wasn’t enough. Even before we left, we were already itching to go back.

We started our weekend getaway with a short trek through the mountains to reach Tangadan Falls in San Gabriel. They said it’s a 45-minute hike but it took us two hours! I blame it through our inexperience and the gazillion of photos we took. [Read more…]

How to Visit Taiwan Visa Free for Philippine Passport Holders

guide to taiwan visa exemption application

(UPDATE October 18, 2017: Taiwan will be visa free for all Philippine passport holders starting November 1, 2017. So I guess this post is now obsolete. But still, Filipinos can now visit Taiwan more easily.

Why not visit my Taiwan travel itinerary instead? :D)

Back in December, I was itching to travel somewhere cold, foreign, and East Asian, lol. I didn’t have enough funds and it was almost Christmas, so I knew applying for a South Korean or Japanese visa would be problematic. When I saw a seat sale to Taipei, I had to book immediately. The next day, I already secured a round trip flight to Taipei for the Chinese New Year weekend with my sister and Marianne.

I had three reasons for wanting to come back to Taiwan. One, I fell in love with the country the first time I visited last winter. Two, the seats are usually on sale. And lastly, I could apply for a Taiwan visa exemption! I had to apply for a visa last time I visited, but now, Taiwan is now visa free for select Filipinos.

Last year they announced that they will waive the tourist visa for Philippine Passport Holders who can meet a certain criteria, such as having a visa issued by certain countries. I was ecstatic because visa fees for Taiwan are not cheap. It also meant I had to skip the process of applying for a visa and organizing all the requirements for it.

As much as going on adventures and conquering challenges are exciting, filing for necessary travel documents is not exactly fun nor exciting. But for my last visit to Taipei, I just applied for a visa exemption online and had a smooth transaction in the immigration in the Philippines and Taiwan.

I love Taiwan and I definitely wish more people will love it as much as I do. To encourage you to give the little country the love it deserves, here’s a step-by-step guide an on how you can enter Taiwan visa free. [Read more…]

From 2016 to 2017: On Being Braver, Tougher, and Punnier

hiking mt. pundaquitIt was still 2016 when I started writing this post. But as usual, life happened. Procrastination happened. And alas, I completely forgot about it. I put it off for awhile and I ended up taking days to finish this post. It’s a perfectly apt way to round up 2016, my worst blogging year since I started in 2010, as it reflected my writing pattern.

I’d love to say something profound, and I’d even want to brag how I ended the previous year with a bang. But I spent the last two days of 2016 binge watching Gilmore Girls, in bed in my pajamas, something I have done every other weekend last year. Do I regret it? Definitely not.

I didn’t even do half of what I said I would do in 2016, but I ended up doing some unexpected things. It wasn’t a bad year. Though it’s not the best, it’s stupid not to be thankful for all the blessings and opportunities the year opened for me. Though there were times that I almost digressed back to my old self and questioned whether my actions are symptoms of depression (apparently not!), I grew up a little and realized that trudging on is better than wallowing. Besides, you can’t possibly go through quarter life crisis twice!

Despite all the memes saying it was the worst and in spite of all the crying, shouting, and delivering lame jokes everyday, 2016 wasn’t that bad. [Read more…]

Taipei Travel: Fangirling at Meteor Garden’s Ying De University

national taiwan university

[UPDATE 04/14/2018: Hello! I’ve been receiving messages telling me that the National Taiwan University wasn’t used as filming location for Meteor Garden. I doubt this post is popular enough to drive hordes of MG fans to the university just to take photos. But if my post, in some way, has contributed to that, then I apologize. Taiwan has recently been visa-free for many countries, and that might have contributed to the influx of tourist? I’m not sure.

In my defense, I did some research before going and some blogs did say that the university was used for filming. I’m still not sure what’s true and what’s not, so if you plan to visit the school, then please note that there’s a likely chance that it really wasn’t used for filming. Thank you and apologies for the confusion. 🙂

UPDATE 07/21/2018: A friend recently visited Taiwan and came back with proofs that the university was indeed used as one of the filming locations of the first Meteor Garden. She visited the exact spot used for this scene, and yes, it was in NTU. :)]

It was May 5, 2003 when a local TV channel first aired Meteor Garden. I was 12 and prepubescent and was deeply attracted to the four Taiwanese boys who ruled Ying De University. So when people asked me why I decided to travel to Taiwan, I wasn’t joking when I said it’s because I’m a Meteor Garden fan.

Surely, San Cai, Hwa Ze Lei and Pineapple Head no longer roamed the grounds of the fictional Ying De, but there’s no stopping us from visiting National Taiwan University, one of the campuses used to film Meteor Garden. It’s in Taipei and easily accessible from the subway, that’s why we opted for this instead of going all the way to Chiayi County for National Chung Cheng University.

It was our last day in the country when we visited National Taiwan University. After spending the morning at Yeh Liu Geopark in New Taipei City, we rode a provincial bus en route to Taipei that passes through NTU. It was a long and bumpy ride, and we almost fell off our seats a couple of times. We almost missed our stop, too, because we all fell asleep!

Since we had a flight to catch that night, we could only spare an hour to roam around the grounds of F4’s Ying De University. [Read more…]

Korean Fire Noodle Challenge: How to Cook Buldak Bokkeum Myun

korean fire noodlesBeing a spicy food lover, enthusiast, advocate and worshiper, I was itching to try the Samyang Buldak Bokkeum Myun (불닭볶음면) instant noodles, or more popularly called Korean Fire Noodles.

How spicy is it that there’s a Korean Fire Noodle Challenge, just seeing who can handle the heat? I was thinking of joining in the fun, but I realized soon enough (thankfully) that I am no vlogger. I hate speaking to the camera and I am far from photogenic. Let’s leave that to the Youtube stars.

But still, the spicy lover in me couldn’t resist it. So I trooped to my favorite Korean mart (Rada Mart!) and bought a packet of the buldak bokkeum myun.

Though my cooking skills are limited to frying hotdogs and boiling instant noodles, I’m still delusional to think that I am fit to write a cooking guide. [Read more…]

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