• Documenting Life,  Scrapbook,  Travel journals,  Travels

    Travel Journal | Philippines 2018

    This travel journal was done a couple months ago but never got to share with so many things on my to-do list. This cover is a custom-made album cover which is 1 of the 3 I got made. For this size, I got the guy to etch the geotag and “GO” on the cover to see how it works. This is a different size from the other mini albums as I thought I’d test out a “personal planner insert” size. There is always room for adding little bits and pieces from your travels, so don’t limit yourself. I added some sand and some small seashells we gathered. This gives my…

  • Documenting Life,  Travels

    Destination | Sambawan Island

    Only since our trip to Kalanggaman Island have I started getting even more curious to see what other places I can take my kids to that are within easy reach of Tacloban City. And I found quite a lot of options that has perked my interest. And one of these is Sambawan Island off the coast of Biliran in Leyte, Philippines. After seeing the photos, this was the place I set my heart to visiting last February over the Chinese New Year holiday we had in China. Getting the information has been easy… from other bloggers to the Biliran Tourism website and friends who have been there. DAY 1 From…

  • Documenting Life,  Scrapbook,  Travel journals,  Travels

    Travel Journal | Kalanggaman Island

    On our recent adventure to the southern part of Leyte, Kalanggaman Island, I decided to create a travel journal after we returned to Shanghai as I didn’t get much chance to do it while there. Although this island is off the main island, somehow it still is part of Palompon. Getting there from Tacloban is not as difficult as I thought it to be. We hired a private van from Tacloban, which took about 2.5 hours. And then had a boat waiting for us in Palompon to take us to the island, which was another 1 hour. While waiting for our boat, the skies started to get dark and was…

  • Kalanggaman Island
    Documenting Life,  Travels

    Destination | Kalanggaman Island, Leyte

    For the first time in years, we traveled back to the Philippines during the Golden Week in China; this is that weeklong holiday, the last big holiday of the year… It was a very short trip but I was so glad that on this trip I finally managed to go to the Kalanggaman Island off the coast of Leyte, part of Palompon, a small city in southern Leyte. This was a perfect getaway – no internet, no electricity except for the power generated from solar panels, almost like back to basics. Here are some photos from our 2-day stay. DAY 1: Anticipating our arrival on the island after a 3-hour…

  • arlyna Philippines 2014
    Documenting Life,  Scrapbook,  Travel journals

    Postrip Part 2: Philippines Travel Album

    This is a 3-part series showcasing the travel albums that are currently on exhibit at the Shanghai Mass Art Gallery (上海群众艺术馆) in Shanghai. You can also read more about this event at the Postcrossing blog. This second post is about the our trip to the Philippines. Originally we were to go to my hometown Tacloban City, but Typhoon Haiyan/ Yolanda happened and we could only get to Manila. So this travel journal documents what we ended up doing during that year’s Winter Break during the Spring Festival or Chinese New Year. This cover is made from acrylic which I ordered from a local online store, cut to a 6×6 inch…

  • Scrapbook,  Travel journals,  Travels

    Travel Journal | Tacloban City (Part 2)

    This is the second part of the 2-part post of how I documented one of our summer trips. The first part can be found here. For this journal, I made a notebook to go into my Midori Travelers Notebook which turned out thicker than the first part. Which has it’s pros and cons. Srill, I’m quite happy with the way this turned out and so this post is quite heavy with images. Here’s a look at some of the pages: I love this little globe sticker from Midori which I picked up in Osaka last June. And the Ali Edwards tags from the Go Story Kit as perfect opener. I…

  • Documenting Life,  Travels

    Destination | Tacloban City

    Over a year after the devastating Typhoon Yolanda or Typhoon Haiyan ravaged through my hometown, Tacloban City, I got the chance to go back, not once but twice in July. Here’s a little photo tour from those 2 trips. To be honest, when I got off the plane on the first trip, I wasn’t sure what to expect. From the airport, I could already see telltale signs of change from the aftermath but it seems like things are back to normal, people going on with their lives. Throughout the first week of running errands, going back and forth downtown Tacloban, I continually look everywhere. Part of the landscape looks like…