Dear Japan,
     I’ve been thinking about you a lot for too long. I don’t know if you’ll believe me but it seems that I just can’t get you out of my mind since the first time I saw you 12 years ago. You might think that I’m being cheesy about saying stuff like these, cause I know a lot of people are also into you that you might think I’m just like everybody else, they may even be writing the same love letter as of this very moment, but still, here I am, hoping, hoping that this simple note maybe enough for you to notice me.
     You know what, I can still remember it clearly up to this day, it was during the days when my passion for travel and adventure was nil. Back then, I never thought of exploring different places and experience different culture or even thought that I’ll have the interest in doing so. Then one evening, I just happen to catch a documentary about you, your people, and your culture airing on the now defunct ‘RPN 9’. The show was very simply made, very plain and boring actually, and the monotonous commentary was just uninspiring, yet your natural beauty shone through. Your unique and rich culture was enthusing and your proud and highly disciplined people, admirable. These were enough to stimulate my imagination without the need of any special effects. And then guess what, from that very moment, I started to love everything about you, and my love for you just grew and grew, and until now has never faded. I’m writing you this letter to let the world know why I do. To let them know the things I found so attractive about you, these will serve as my inspiration and I’m hoping you’ll hear it too.
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Gilon-Gilon Street Dancing
Just in time for the start of Bangus Festival 2012, I'm reposting some of my shots of the Gilon-Gilon Street Dancing last year.

Gilon-Gilon, which literally means as rich fish harvest, is one of the highlights of the month-long Bangus Festival. This features contestant from the 31 different barangays of Dagupan City dancing around its streets in colorful costumes centered on the city's main attraction, the Bangus (Milkfish).

Check out some of my photos last year. Hoping this year I'll have another free pass to shoot more close-ups =)

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The SEDCO Complex
For the duration of my stay in Kota Kinabalu, I observed that almost all people there were either slim or lean, and the few others that I thought were overweight were tourists but very rarely nor I have seen a local. Then it struck me, I was in a Muslim country where meat is prohibited, and where 'fat mama jokes' don't really sell. For the meat-lovers though, Kota Kinabalu still offers meat along the Chinese restaurants in Jalan Gaya but for the rest of the people there, it’s all about the seafoods.

With the sea located just at the very edge west-side of the city, Kota Kinabalu is a seafood paradise and as it is blessed with abundant of marine life. The city serves the most unusual of sea creatures through its numerous seafood restaurants scattered around the city. From high end restos to budget eateries, this is where you can find some of the best seafoods in the world.  As a budget traveller, I always try to look for the cheapest place to eat yet still provides almost the same experience as eating out in a pricier resto, so during my first night in Kota Kinabalu along with a fellow traveller, Marky of Nomadic Experiences, we walked around the city and discovered this place almost right in the middle of KK City.
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