Frannywanny

I got a feeling that next year's gonna be a good good year!!! I can't believe that 2009 is finally coming to a close. This has been a year where we have witness major natural disasters, a number of great losses and a couple more sad news. However, trying to stay positive, there are also a lot of things that I am personally thankful for this year and I'd like to share these with you: 1) Travel Nothing relaxes me more than planning for an exciting trip! 2009 found me in four amazing spots namely: China , Hong Kong , Singapore and the Visayas region ! Next year will be another big traveling year that includes that much-awaited two weeks honeymoon to certain countries in Asia. Boy, I can't wait! 2) Frannywanny.com This blog has been my pride and joy for the past 2 years. Here I eagerly share with everyone my latest food finds, my travel notes and a lot more. Before starting on this entry, I even had to go through every single blog post that I've made this year to remin...

Despite the fact that our feet and legs were mercilessly battered by walking around Guangzhou to visit their tourist attractions and to see what the China Import and Export Fair has to offer, we made it a point to keep our tummies happy. Guangzhou was said to specialize in Cantonese cuisine. However, to match our hectic schedule, we settled for these local fast food chains and dishes that didn't fail in delighting our taste buds: 1) Kungfu If Manila has Jolibee, then Guangzhou has Kungfu . This was the first unique restaurant that I saw when we arrived at the train station. Also, during the short taxi drive to our hotel, I saw at least four more outlets normally occupying a corner lot or a huge area in the mall. How can I miss it? With a bright red and black logo plus an image of Bruce Lee, Kung Fu has really stirred our curiosity that it was unanimously chosen as our dinner stop for our first night. The menu board was in Chinese and so we resulted to just pointing our orders o...

While our Guangzhou trip was primarily meant for business, we made it a point to still enjoy and immerse ourselves in the culture that speaks much about our roots. Throughout our four-day visit in Guangzhou, China, we have managed to try a couple of local dishes, visit a popular tourist spot and go on a romantic dinner cruise on our last night. So, while preparing your itinerary, try to find time to visit these places to make your visit more memorable and truly enjoyable: 1) Beijing Pedestrian Road This pedestrian road is lined with retail outlets and food stalls for locals and tourists to enjoy. Think about it as a mall without a roof where you can enjoy dining and shopping al fresco style. Also, this road has actually a long history dating back to the Sung Dynasty and probably even beyond. A proof of which can be seen in one portion where they have a glass display at the middle of the street that shows the actual road used back in 960-1279 AD. Seeing this gave me goosebumps, I can...

I am a very cautious traveller. While majority would prefer an adventure-filled trip where anything goes ; I would prefer having a set itinerary, a guaranteed accomodation and clear transfer arrangements. This, I figured, would save me from all the headaches and hopefully maximize my budget too. Since it will be our first time in Guangzhou, we didn't want to take any risk in ending up homeless in a place where English is not their primary language. Finally, after a week's worth of internet surfing and getting recommendations from travel agencies, we finally got a lovely room at the Grand Continental Service Apartments . The hotel is located at the tip of the famous Beijing Road which is a pedestrian street lined with bargain shops and stalls. Normal room rates range from CNY 248 (approx. Php. 1860 / $38) for the Standard Single Room to CNY 1380 (approx. Php. 10,350 / @212) for the Deluxe Three Bed Rooms apartment. The room is fairly big and the bed is very comfortable. I love t...

This is the first of my 7-part travelling series . Here I will be sharing with you details and tips on two of my latest travel destinations: Guangzhou, China and Hong Kong . No brochure-like narrations here, all you will read are personal insights that we have gained throughout our week-long adventure. I hope you'll find these useful and you'll enjoy your trip as much as we did :) Guangzhou, China Guangzhou is located at the Southern part of China. It is easily accessible from our favorite travel destination called Hong Kong. Our trip to Guangzhou was brought about by the Bi-Annual China Import and Export Fair . This fair opened up Guangzhou to foreign investors all over the world. Cantonese is the main dialect in this province of China while RMB (renminbi) is the official currency. Getting there Just like any trip to China, you would need a Chinese Visa to be allowed to enter Guangzhou. Since I had to renew my passport this year and it took the DFA a pretty long time before t...