Smorgasbord of upcoming trips to the Middle and Far East

Next weekend I will be flying to the FAR EAST to visit family. This will be a grand time spending precious time with my loved ones and travelling with them as well. My parents are getting old—my dad turns 70 and the family will be holding a big feast for him, hence this trip. My mom cannot travel long distance as well to visit me because of her health, so we recently made a pact that we’ll just travel locally, within the Asian region, as long as it’s not a flight of more than 4 hours.



Family is important and when you live across the globe, those few moments every year when visiting should be well spent.



So here’s my a lil bit crazy travel itinerary:



DUBAI, United Arab Emirates







I have never been to Dubai so I am very excited for this stop over. I will be staying a night and a whole day in Dubai and have already mapped out my agenda. I even booked an afternoon tea at the Skyview Bar of the only 7-star luxury hotel in the world (I know there is no such thing), Burj Al Arab! I cannot wait!



Also, I am quite relieved that the Dutchman is not travelling with me this time because in Dubai you can get in prison for giving a peck on the cheek to your other half or even just by mere holding hands! And its Ramadan so they are uber strict. You know, I cannot get off my hands from the Dutchman.



SINGAPORE







Will be staying a few days with the sister who lives in sunny Singapore. I will do the rounds while she works during the day. In the evening we’ll paint the town red. Wait, I think I am too old for that.



This is going to be 2 trips to Singapore and I'm crafting my agenda to cover many things to see and do, stuff that I have missed since my last visit several years ago.



CEBU, Philippines!







Ah, my home (is)land. Daddy’s big party -- he turns 70! This is going to be a massive family reunion as well. I am really curious about my relatives from both sides of extended families. How they look like now, how they are now, their kids, what they are busy with now, etcetera. I do have good relationship with a few of my cousins but for the rest, I haven’t seen them for a very long time. I was 21 years old when I left Cebu (I am 43 now), thus I rarely joined extended family gatherings.



I just realised that I have lived more than half of my life on earth outside Cebu. That is a milestone.



HONGKONG SAR







A week (well 5 days) in this busy metropolis with mom, dad and my sister. Brother and his family will not be joining because someone needs to run the business at home and pay for this trip, haha. The last time I was in this city was 11 years ago. That long.



MACAU SAR







The perfect side trip from Hongkong, but what I am really thrilled is the Portuguese Pastel de Nata (egg tart) and the bakeries in Macau are selling them. They are sooooooooo good.



Macau was once a Portuguese colony.



MALACCA, KUALA LUMPUR & CAMERON HIGHLANDS in Malaysia







A road trip with my mom! And oh, driving right hand on the left hand side of the road is going to be a bit of a challenge I am sure! Not panicking =)



We will see a little bit of culture and history in Malacca. I read that this used to be under Dutch territory so I am quite curious to see some Dutch architecture and influence in this city. KL for a quick stop over to admire the Petronas Towers, then we head off to the Cameron Highlands for some nature tripping and a lovely cup of tea in the middle of the luscious tea plantation. I heard they have a strawberry farm there as well.



So much to look forward to with the family.



July-August

Asia Travel