http://blog.pikala.com Life and work in Rotherhithe, London Fri, 06 Feb 2009 17:09:00 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Right now I'm sitting in Easyjet flight to Helsinki. I'm on my way to spend a weekend in Helsinki and 2 nights in Turku, my hometown. I'm really looking for seeing my friends since it's been too long since last time. 2008 I went to Finland only once for midsummer ... http://blog.pikala.com/?p=70 I came back to London 4 weeks ago and now it's good time to review my time in Philippines. First things first: I really liked Philippines and most Filippino people I had pleasure to meet. Most of the time I compared everything to Thailand where I've been many times - ... http://blog.pikala.com/?p=71 I wasn't planning to stay at Manila at all but changed my mind after Lorna said that she could show me around there. Almost everything that I thought about Manila was true: bad traffic, scamming cabbies, mostly ugly buildings and too many bars where guys spend time with local girls ... http://blog.pikala.com/?p=64 My summary of different beaches and places to stay in PG: Sabang Center of nightlife. Place to be if partying is important. Most diveshops are here. Beach is not really suitable for swimming and bar scene could be too much for some even though naughty parts are behind curtains. Little La ... http://blog.pikala.com/?p=65 It seems that my web server has failed so it wasn't possible to publish more blog entries from the road. I also had pretty good time at Puerto Galera and didn't really fancy writing anything anyway. I'll be home in about 24 hours and hopefully server hasn't failed too badly. ... http://blog.pikala.com/?p=66 Getting to PG from Talisay was reasonably easy, just 45 minutes with jeepney, 2 hours with bus and 1.5 with small boat. Immediately when I arrived at the pier I knew this is nice place. Imagine harbour from Pirates of Caribbean and you are getting close. And my resort at Coral ... http://blog.pikala.com/?p=63 We took advice of our lovely host Gloria and spent evening at Tagaytay town. Compared to Talisay where we are staying it's very lively town with plenty of up scale resorts and restaurants. Tagaytay also it some 640 meters above Talisay making travel between these places somewhat a challenge. Road ... http://blog.pikala.com/?p=61 Weather didn't look too promising in the morning but cleared enough so that we felt comfortable taking boat ride across Taal lake to volcanic island in the middle. It was quite windy and we were quite wet once 45 minute crossing was done. No problems with that and after ... http://blog.pikala.com/?p=60 I've been lazy until now and have taken easy transportation options with taxis and minibusses. From Subic I'm now going to Manila with normal bus - it seems that I'm only foreigner here. Bus is actually better than I thought. Airconditioning, spacious seat and not too noicy. 120km journey will ... http://blog.pikala.com/?p=59 It's time to move on from Subic Bay. I ended staying day longer than I thought but still this place isn't going to get too high on list of my favourite spots. All huge tankers in the bay just prevent charm of a nice beach destination. Beach is ok but ... http://blog.pikala.com/?p=58