Indochina Backpacking Tour Itinerary + Expenses (Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam)

2014
Every time I visit my blog I feel like all the backlogs sitting on my Travel folder is haunting me and begging me to expose them to the interwebs. But I don't know why I've never found the time to do just that until now. Soooo, this is me trying to slowly sync my blog with my life starting with a 6-month overdue post.
I went on an 11-day Backpacking Trip with two of my bestest girlfriends from high school on my mid-year break last June 2014. It started when my NZ-based friend Catrina, messaged me on Facebook last January saying she will visit the Philippines during her summer break and would like to go on an adventure. The next day, we stumbled upon a Cebu Pacific seat sale, and off we book our tickets to Thailand and Vietnam (5 months before the planned trip!) . We had already planned on taking a bus or train from Thailand to Cambodia so there was no use in booking an extra plane ticket to or from Cambodia anymore. My other friend Maica booked her flight a few months later for almost twice the price of our ticket.
You would actually be surprised that this whole trip cost me just as much as my 4D/3N HongKong Tour last year. And if I'd have to choose between the two: the city and lights or the laid back backpacking, I would personally go on another Indochina Tour again. I made this itinerary with the help of various posts I stumbled across the web and with hopes of me being able to help others as well, I'm sharing with you our itinerary along with a summary of expenses and additional comments based on my firsthand experience.

Indochina Backpacking Series Itinerary

Manila to Bangkok
Departure: May 30, 2014 NAIA Terminal 3
Arrival: May 30, 2014 Suvarnabhumi International Airport

Monsters Overseas Tour - Mayday Parade Live in Manila

2014
This particular concert is actually Mayday Parade's 4th in the Philippines, but since I'm fairly new to the concert scene, it was only my first time to see them live. I was not a dedicated monster until this concert, really. Roee just needed someone to accompany her during the M&G so I agreed to get the Pulp Royalty package too. And I must say, it was one of my best decisions this year! I got to meet lots of awesome new friends at the PR/VIP line outside the venue. It was as if we've known each other for a long time already! <3

Traveling with Friends 2013: Ocean Park Hong Kong

2013
Our last day in Hong Kong was spent in Ocean Park which is a bit far from where we're staying in Mongkok. We had to take the MTR to Admiralty then ride the bus to Ocean Park. As soon as we arrived we were greeted by cute babies- felt like Disneyland all over again!

Traveling with Friends 2013: Hong Kong Disneyland

2013
They say Disneyland is the happiest place on Earth, I beg to disagree, though. Mainly because I really can't remember much of our trip since I'm blogging about it 8 months later. Haha Anyways, our day started off early- ate breakfast at a nearby canteen for HK$33, got lost in the train station and eventually finding out that we got off the train early. We, basically, had to pay twice the fare to Disneyland because we got off at the wrong station! Pshh. Hours later, we found ourselves in Disneyland so, yay!

I forgot how much we got our Hong Kong Disneyland Park tickets for... but we bought ours in our hotel so it was a bit cheaper.
One thing good about traveling with friends is they never get tired of taking pictures- either of you or with you. They would even ask you if you're satisfied with the shot or not! Parents easily get annoyed with that and your friends don't/won't. :p
Q's Photobombing LVL: 1073419560384610
Here, have a tourist-y photo of me in front of the carousel! ;)
Oh, look! That's almost my name! Haha
My favorite thing in all the places I've been would always have to be the kids. I mean, c'mon, look at those kids in the strollers! Aren't they the cutest? Disneyland even has a Stroller Parking in almost every corner of the park!
A couple eating overpriced ice cream, I supposed. Heh Disneyland and their crazily overpriced market!
My favorite place in the park because it's vintage-yyyy(?)! Heee~
Don't forget to watch some of the shows in the park- just don't forget to take note of the time. We were able to watch The Golden Mickeys while we're there.
Obligatory tourist-y photo 2.0
Headdresses are always fun to wear... when you can't afford them. Haha
We left right after the fireworks display in front of Cinderella's Castle. This usually marks the closing of the park. We head off to have dinner at Mcdonald's then shopped for a bit at Ladies' Market before hitting the sack.
That's it for now, I guess. My last HK blog entry will be about Ocean Park (I hope it won't take me another 8 months to write about it Haha).

 Quennie Barrameda © Hong Kong | October 20-23, 2013

Traveling with Friends 2013: Hong Kong Day 1

2013
It has always been a dream of mine to travel with friends. One day in May, Abi sent me a message on Facebook asking if I want to go on a trip to HongKong. I said yes, of course, because who doesn't? But I had to ask permission first. The next day I asked my Mom and Dad and they instantly agreed because I said I can take care of all the expenses myself (heh). Little did my Dad know that my Mom gave me money to pay for the airfare right away as the seat sale was about to end. Also, they took care of all my expenses eventually. Hahaha parents
The entire semester was a waiting game on its own because our flight was scheduled 4 months later right in time for our semestral break. I literally took my last test for the semester and head to meet my friends and go to the airport right away. But, if anything, this trip felt more of a motivation for me to strive harder rather than just a break after all the stress. 

Bazooka Rocks II

2013
Early 2013, I got hook to this certain Massachusetts-based band. My heart broke when I learned that they were just in Manila last Februrary 2012 for the Liv5 mall show series. The fact that they announced their break-up a few months after I learned that didn't help at all. But they just loved the Philippines so much that they had to specifically ask the promoter to include them in the line up (since a lot of fans petitioned for it on Twitter). It was late May when they announced that ARTTM was included- I instantly knew that I have to go even if I didn't had someone willing to go with me at that time. Luckily, my friends Cheska and Martin were super game! I was kinda butt hurt that I didn't learn of the Fast Pass and Pulp Royalty packages which guarantees Meet & Greet with your band of choice, though. I would have cried in front of Halvo (ARTTM's Bassist) for sure.

 
If you're living under a rock (Heh sorry just had to use that pun) and doesn't have any clue about what Bazooka Rocks is... well, it is an indoor rock festival which promised to give 14 hours of live music from 12 different bands. Not to mention, there was only 1 massive pit- which means, no sections!!!!!! And the tickets only costed Php 3,140. The festival started at 10 am and ended at almost 1 am, though, so that was a total of 15 hours of live music. Every peso we spent was definitely worth it!!!!!! 

TONIGHT ALIVE
I went because of A Rocket To The Moon and my friends were there for All Time Low so the first few bands didn't quite mattered to us (sorry I know this notion is wrong). We had to travel from Laguna pa and getting there before 10am isn't very possible as I was going with 2 sleepyheads. Haha We arrived there at almost 2 pm just in time for Uchusentai Noiz. Sadly, we missed all the local acts and RadioDriveBy :(The picture above is of Tonight Alive. We were at the merch line at the side of the stage. The line was insanely long that we couldn't get out to watch at the pit, so we had to settle watching them from afar instead.
WE CAME AS ROMANS
I'm not a fan of metal so witnessing how good We Came As Romans is live really came to me as a surprise!

Luckily, when we were almost in front of the line, All Time Low came in front for the merch visit. We were literally just a few feet away from them so the 4 hours that we spent waiting was kinda worth it! Everyone in front of us panicked that's why we were able to cut a few people out =)) Sorry, we were really just in a hurry. As soon as we bought our choice of band merch (I got an ARTTM, of courseeee), we took a cab to our hotel for check-in. And because of this, we missed Red Jumpsuit Apparatus' whole set!!! We should have really went to the venue earlier. Oh well, next time...


When we came back to SMX, RJA just finished and Anberlin was next. I've never heard of them before but I really liked their song Adelaide. I heard they're doing their final tour this year so there's a high chance they're coming back to Manila to play one last time--- just like what Rocket did :'( Ah, you guys.


When Anberlin was done with their set, everyone from the back kept pushing in so the tendency for us people inside the pit was to be pushed to the front (which was only possible to some extent since the pit can obviously only hold so much people). We were initially at the back but due to the immense amount of people pushing from our backs and sides, we found ourselves almost in front (approximately 10th row) when the crowd semi-calmed down. I honestly felt I was going to die! Sure, it was in airconditioned room but when there's just so many people shouting "All Time Low!" "Stop pushing!" and a lot of curse at the same time, feeling the cool air was next to impossible.


Usually, there's a timer showing the amount of time left before the next band comes in, but it disappeared and got replaced with this white cloth when it was ATL's turn. Needless to say, everyone went berserk when this cloth appeared. I've seen a lot of girls and guys, even, who passed out and were carried out from the pit by the bouncers. I was so close to passing out, as well, because I was so dehydrated since we all forgot to bring water with us.



But it went away as soon as I heard Lost In Stereo's first note!

There was a bra drop which explains the bra in Jack's hand. I think, he was trying to catch another bra from the audience in the picture below. Typical Jack Barakat.


My favorite part is when Alex sang Remembering Sunday alone. He then played Therapy which was then joined by the other members (plus Matt Flyzik, their ex-tour manager). 


One of my favorite songs, no matter how painful it is to hear them play it last, was Dear Maria!


And then it was A Rocket To The Moon's turn! I've cried over them already and I will probably still cry because of them, but I'm pretty sure they'll be back in no time. FOB came back rockin', right?



I'll save you the cheesiness in this post, just read about all the drama here. But needless to say, seeing my absolute favorite band play one last time in Manila was definitely one moment I will treasure forever! Shhh I know what you're thinking; they're not just some band, okay?!


Halvo, my obvious biased from the band, was being his goofy self taking lots of selfies with his band and the crowd. 



Nick promised to be back in Manila with the band- they're not just sure how soon or how far it will take, but they will definitely come back. You see, I'm really holding on to this. He went back last January 8, 2014 for The 8123 Tour (blog post about this soon) with The Maine and This Century, sadly without the other ARTTM members, but in time, in time, you'll see.

They took one last picture with the crowd and then it was time to say good bye, for real. They played their very last show in Boston on August 30 and 31, 2013. If I had known of this sooner and had millions to spare, I would have went, but the world is not a wish-granting factory, so I'd just have to resort to the fact that I've seen them at Bazooka Rocks. Thank you for making this happen, PULP Live World!


Pictures at the hotel...

Merch!!!

I supported live music and took home a hell of a memory!

Until we meet again, ARTTM.

xx, Quennie