Welcome to my travels page. As I mentioned earlier one of the top on my list of Likes is definitely travelling and I have been very fortunate to have done much of that in my life time.

I've been to many places in the States such as Illinois, Michigan, Florida, California, Nevada, Tennessee & just twice in the past year, New York. In Canada, I've spent some time as a student in a little town called La Pocatiere, about 120km east of Quebec City where I learned to speak French the Quebec way (sorry guys, but it is quite different!) and also enjoyed some awesome outdoor sports such as kayaking, rock climbing, rabaska, sailing, and windsurfing - though you'd hardly call it windsurfing in anything less than a breeze!

After highschool, my travels led me further through beautiful European countries such as Italy, France, and Switzerland with my best friend Gizelle. We went in the hot month of August, AFTER the festival season when everything "touristy" was closed for renovations / repairs. So we ended up doing a lot of partying and wandered through the main historical attractions of each city we visited. That's definitely a trip I MUST do again!

I've spent a year in Japan, living right in the heart of Tokyo, the hi-tech centre of the world! Akihabara was the main electronics district just North East of Tokyo where you'd find a plethora of plasma TV's (not yet introduced to the Western world at the time), hand held computers, MP3's, and other gadgets inconceivable in my mind. It was all very futuristic for me and coming home to Canada was like traveling back in time. One thing I don't miss about Japan is their morning rush hour through their intricate public transit systems and the rush toward last trains barely past midnight. They have hired workers on the train platforms at different entrances to the trains just to push people in like a can of sardines!! Even if the train stopped abruptly at the next station no one would budge because we were literally packed in from wall to wall. Despite this and other cultural differences from my life in the West, Japan will always have a special place in my heart. I've always taken communication for granted here but there, in a world where I could not understand or be understood, where the alphabet I knew made no sense, where my Western upbringing and habits deviated from the norm (and everyone is pretty much identical over there), I discovered the true me - my strengths, my weaknesses, and just how far I can go til my tolerance levels break. It was quite a life experience for me and it's definitely made me who I am today. To all my friends I've met in Japan and who are still there today, I miss you guys and will visit you again soon!!

Since Japan was close by, I decided to spend some time in the Philippines, where I was born. Before that I had no concept of what it really meant to be filipino; I could never understand why my parents, as 1st generation immigrants, struggled so hard here in Canada to get to where we are today. I never really appreciated all they had done for me and my brother and what they continue to do now for us and our relatives who still live in the southern Philippines. I spent about a month in Davao City (where I came into this world) and then Cebu and during those two months I found it hard to believe that this poverty stricken country was my own. "Your cousins in the Philippines" was no longer an abstract allusion to me. They became real people with whom I share a special bond. It was their summer time then (April - May 1998) so my cousins and I spent every waking moment together. Though they didn't have much compared to what I'm used to in Canada, they gave me everything unconditionally. I remember the bet with Don Don by the river that earned him 1,000 pesos that helped pay for his trip to the Festivals in Cebu and gave him the encouragement to learn how to swim. I remember Glen teaching me how to swing dance at Auntie Bosiang's house in the mountains of Samal Island. I remember our endless hiking trip up the mountains of Samal to "Puting Bato", the White Rock, under the heat of the unforgiving Philippine sun at midday with all our cousins! I remember hearing the beautiful voice of Dada, my cousin, and her singing group, the Himig singers. As you can see, in my heart and mind I hold many dear memories of my time with my family in the Philippines, but most of all I remember Josette, taking care of me while I was sick for one week; me in a deep sleep & in pain from tonsilitis and a high fever and her, right by my bed so that she was the first person I saw the rare times I came to wake. Even my little cousins, Gliza and Roel Jr., came by every now and again to make sure I was getting better! Through God's blessing I was able to return in October 2001, to relive those memories and make new ones again with them and our addition to the family. Josette got married last Oct 2001 to a great guy, Richard Nierves and I'm happy to have stood by them on their special day, under God's witness as they joined in Holy matrimony (refer to my Philippines photo gallery). Hmmm... I heard that they may be expecting a little one now!!

~ I'd love to share with you now, some of the memories I've captured throughout my own exploration of the world. Enjoy!! ~

truly,
mars