A Traveloka must have a great camera

My husband and I finally said goodbye to our old Canon Ixus and bought ourselves the Canon S90. Although our old camera served us well (bless its mechanical heart), we were getting a bit tired of having just a few options when it comes to shooting pictures. And if you're an avid traveler, that's not really cool.  

We were deciding between the S90 and the G11, but eventually size won. We loved the fact that the S90 is a small, point and shoot camera that has almost all the features of a pro. So you get the best of both worlds. After all, I don't want to walk around lugging a pound of metal that once I haul out of my bag whatever I wanted to shoot has already gone away. Plus, reviews of this camera are crazy. People are raving about it. And now I'm raving about it, too!

Here's a picture of my meditation pillow and mala beads in color

and in black and white.

Close-up of a donut. 

Portrait shot at night.

Changkat Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur at dusk

and at night.

Indoor shot of Pavilion Mall in Kuala Lumpur.

Kuala Lumpur's famous Jalan Bukit Bintang during noontime.

Jalan Alor, the famous food street in KL. 

Pictures are not that great yet. Still experimenting with the S90 so expect better travel pictures soon!

It's back!

Must go to Singapore. This is the REAL thing because everything becomes dirt cheap. I'm so glad that it's just a bus ride away from where I'm from. 

Sad for Bangkok

As much as I don't want to post bad stuff here in my blog, I just want to express my sadness over what happened to one of my favourite cities. Bangkok is beautiful. But political protests and violence has ruined the city. Several buildings were burned yesterday, one of them Central World, Southeast Asia's second largest department store. You can see a video of it burning above. 


Here are some pictures of Central World that I took during my trip last year. 

The street in front of the mall used to look like this before the Red Shirts closed it off.

Got this pic from the website.  

I hope Thailand recovers after this and resolves its issues. The country has so much potential. When all of this is over, I will gladly go and visit Bangkok again. 

The cutest trailer ever: BABIES

This movie is just way too cute. It shows the lives of four babies in different parts of the world, namely Mongolia, Namibia, Tokyo and San Francisco. The cute little tykes are the highlights of the movie, of course, but I can't help being interested about the locations, as well. Which makes this movie another must-see for travelokas/lokos like me. Watch the trailer and get ready to goo goo gaa gaa.

A must-watch for travelbugs: 'Eat, Pray, Love'

Although I did not like the way she whined in the book, the movie adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert's 'Eat, Pray, Love' (starring my favorite actress of all time, Julia Roberts) is definitely a must-see for anyone bitten by the travel bug. They said Ms. Roberts insisted on shooting in the exact locations (Italy, India and Indonesia) to make the movie more beautiful. And let us thank her for that! I can't wait for August 13.

Pacific Grove

A short drive from Monterey is the village of Pacific Grove, where we decided to spend overnight before continuing on the Highway 1 to San Francisco. This cute little village is what I imagined a small American town should look like. 

It has small, colorful buildings.

No traffic. 

Family-owned restaurants like the Red House Cafe where they have really good lunch specials. I had the warmed tomato mozzarella sandwich and it was really yummy. 

This house is so elegant and sophisticated. I wouldn't mind living here.

A lone tree by the beach of Pacific Grove

The beach is beautiful, but I don't think it's ideal for swimming. 

Romantic sunset

Seagull!

We stayed at the lovely Sea Breeze Lodge, near the beach.

This cottage is where you check in and have breakfast.

It was my first time to stay in a motor inn, a really cool and comfortable one at that. 

Our room.

The design is a little 70-ish but I love it!

We booked the Sea Breeze Lodge through Travelocity  and we got a double and twin room (for 3 adults) for only US$84.68 a night including breakfast. Not bad! 

And while we were on our way to dinner, we saw a couple of deers crossing the road in front of the lodge. How nice!

Monterey

Monterey is a picture-perfect town.  Literally. Although it was just a stopover on our way to San Francisco, we enjoyed the brief stay there. So much that husband and I plan to come back for a nice, quiet holiday and a whale-watching expedition. 

But since time was short, we just walked around the town and went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is a must-see.

Here are nice houses by the beach.

In the center of town.

Promenade by the sea

Monterey used to have a lot of sardine canning factories and some of their old buildings, like the famous Monterey Canning Co., are still on Cannery Row.    

Feeding time at the Aquarium

Leafy Seadragon.

Fishy.

So they sting, but aren't they beautiful?

My dad in front of a humungous aquarium.

The World's Most Beautiful Highway

I feel so ashamed.  My pictures don't give justice to the beauty of California's Highway 1. It's a state highway that hugs the Pacific Coast and goes all the way from Los Angeles County to San Francisco, around an 8 to 10 hour trip. It's probably one of the best road trips I've ever had and something that you should do before you die. 

If you're planning to go on this long drive, make sure you have company (an extra driver helps a lot), bring lots of water and sandwiches (it's nice to just stop the car and have a small picnic on the shore), and load up on sunscreen. And, of course, bring a really good camera. Mine was already pretty good but I feel that it's still not enough. 

Here's a lone windsurfer.

A shot of the coast.

Approaching one of the small towns on the coast.

Wild waves. 

Driving to the famous Big Sur bridge. 

The place where the mountains meet the sea.

Lovely.