How do you think ROX - the store and this multiply site will help push a Filipino backpacking culture and community? How can we fill the gap to encourage them to go into backpacking in the country and outside the country?
We don't have a multi-million budget but we are committed to make this happen... definitely not overnight, but a consistent step by step approach.
Hope you can send us your sentiments and creative ideas that would help us develop a "Backpacking program at ROX." We hope its something we can realistically implement
sponsorship? (joke!) :) at present, backpacking in the philippines is now an established outdoor sport/hobby. IMHO what the backpacking community need is proper training in LNT. http://www.lnt.org/ if to promote local/foreign backpacking, a good outfitter/guide company should be established with various or multiple contacts around the country & abroad to assist in the dreadful logistical nightmare a backpacker may encounter. a good way to start it may be a 'fun climb' of sort... complete with proper backpacking training...AND don't forget the LNT. HTH ;)
We can promote it by DOING it! There are already so many groups that go around the country, not necessarily thinking they're a backpack crowd but are fundamentally experiencing the same things that backpackers want to experience. Mountaineers, birders, bikers all around the country are mapping out worthwhile landmarks as they do need to travel all over and stay in reasonably priced places. After we do it, let's BLOG about it and post in travel forums so visitors can wise up about Philippine travel. I strongly suggest people connected to LGUs and DOT offices to make and distribute fun maps with attractions for each of their towns with complete transport and lodgings info. We should have these at all airports as well (FOR FREE)!!! I believe this is how other countries promote their local attractions!
Information Dissemination. It is now common for people to post their travel experiences on the net. I suggest, we create a website to come up with a "Philippine Backpackers' Journals" website. On this site, backpackers can sign up and post their travel adventures on an easy to understand format. This, i believe is what we can do for now, for fellow backpackers. I would be glad to contribute to local travel destinations.
i agree (with my sister) and everyone else! - thank you everyone who came to the backpack talk last Sunday - we hope you learned something / got inspired.
I'd like to do a "Philippine route" trip - any suggestions of what are my stops? :-)
For those who wanted to know my itinerary for the Southeast Asia trip:
We first got our VISA to China in Manila (everything else did NOT require VISAS), then we
flew from Manila to Singapore.
Bus from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. - saw Petronas Towers
Bus from Kuala Lumpur to Penang, Malaysia. - World Heritage Site: Penang
Bus from Penang to Bangkok, Thailand. - Grand Palace / Kao San Road / Temples
Van from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi, Thailand. - Quiet place / live on river huts
Bus from Kanchanaburi to Chang Mai, Thailand. - AMAZING trek (met real nice friends from all over the world) includes elephant ride / meals / village visits / raft ride
Bus then a SLOW boat (2 days) from Chang Mai to Louang Phabang, Laos - World Heritage Site (most beautiful place I've ever seen)
Bus from Louang Phabang to Vientianne, Laos - rented a bike and saw most of the city!
Bus from Vientienne to Bangkok, Thailand (as a stopover)
Bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap, Cambodia - THE Angkor Temples
Bus from Siem Reap to Pnom Penh, Cambodia - Genocide Museum!
Bus from Pnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon, Vietnam - Mekong Delta trip / Cuchi tunnel - Cao Dai trip
OPEN BUS (one bus ticket for the WHOLE of Vietnam)! from Saigon to Nha Trang, Vietnam - absolutely wonderful beach town
From Nha Trang to Hoi An, Vietnam - UNESCO World Heritage Site
Bus from Hoi An to Hanoi, Vietnam - Halong Bay (overnight at picturesque chinese junk)
Bus from Hanoi to Vietnam / China border: Nanning, China
Train ride from Nanning to Beijing China - Forbidden Palace / SECRET Great Wall Trip
Train ride from Beijing to Shanghai, China - the Bund
Train ride from Shanghai to Shenzen (border of Hong Kong), China
I think another huge barrier to bringing tourists here is indeed the "stigma" the Philippines has as far as security is concerned. I remember reading a post in Thorn Tree about a potential backpacker to the Philippines having second thoughts because of the security warnings and such.
Spreading the word is also helps... I'm doing my part in Thorn Tree, I even posted a link to the ROX Multiply in the thread where posters, um, post about where to get travel gear and such. Also, my friend is starting a blog about travel and commuting in the Philippines, http://missplaced-direct.blogspot.com/ . Little guides like this could help backpackers be less wary and more prepared for the country. (My friend and I are even planning to go "backpacking" through one of the LRT lines, haha.)
And "if you build it, they will come"... though I don't quite know what IT is just yet.
I enjoyed the talk last Sunday, and I can't wait to go backpacking for real soon. :-)
I've travelled to Singapore and stayed in some backpacking Hostels. They usually cater to foreigners only. You can look at Hostelworld.com or just google "Backpacking" and you will find a lot of ideas there. I'll be going to Germany,France and Switzerland this June and will be staying in a backpacker hostels. Way cheaper than 2 or 3 star hotels. Around 17 Euros for a night with breakfast, but you'll be sleeping with 3 other people(which I don't really mind).I really don't like staying with friends or relatives when travelling.It leaves out the adventure.
How about forming your own ROX Outdoor Club? Arrange very specific tours and open this to those who are interested. Start small, maybe a trip for 5 to 10 people at first. For example, you can offer a Sagada trip, but be sure that there's someone with you that knows the area, so that those joining the tour need not pay for a tour guide just to go to the Hanging Coffins, or the Falls, or to Batad. Those sights are accessible to those who know it and to those who know who to talk to, and you're saving those on tour a few extra pesos by knowing where to go. I would say there's a lot of people who are so interested to go backpacking and just enjoy the outdoors, but just don't know where to start.
Nature Awareness holds these tours and they give back to the local communities. If you'd like to have a small group or bring your whole office, Violet can help you. You can join their scheduled trips or design your own. Rox can partner with them if interested. Spelunking, hiking, cultural tours by the fun-loving Vio. They do tree planting trips too! For more info: earthspirit13us@yahoo.com
you can post backpacking itineraries (complete, with budget & other info) so that other people may try them out on their own.
I agree with this, also it would be nice if the number of days will be limited to a maximum of 2 weeks some are just given a 15 days vacation leave for the whole year. Announce it 3 months in advance which will give people time to save up and file for leave and even do overtime to finish work. Start with countries that does not need visa entry. Last year we did Manila-Singapore-Kuala Lumpur-Cambodia-Thailand (Bangkok and Phuket)-Kota Kinabalu in 2 weeks.
This June we are backpacking to Kota Kinabalu again and Brunei.
Hope you guys can do Vietnam, East Timor, Laos and Indonesia
When I was in New Zealand you would be able to get brochures of all adventure sports,hotels,hostels,camping areas,restaurants etc..in restaurants,hotels,airport.This enabled me to plan my trip without going thru tour agencies.So I guess the local government should be the one to start all these.They should compile all interesting places and accomodations restaurants in a particular region and distribute them wherever backpackers might go.There must be something like a Lonely Planet book.Being able to plan,book and pay thru the internet must also be available.Most backpackers plan way ahead and would as much as possible would like to be confirmed with a place to stay.
When I was in New Zealand you would be able to get brochures of all adventure sports,hotels,hostels,camping areas,restaurants etc..in restaurants,hotels,airport.
True! That's the same in most of the airports I've been to, except for NAIA. Then again, in the case of NAIA, I guess I'm just too eager to leave the damned place to notice anything lol But yes, some brochures from the tourism office as well as maps if manila (for free, not for sale) would be great
Hi, it's true we need to make these information more accessible to the public. For some years now i refer to an mms website for backpacking itineraries and this year i found out about this site http://www.pinoymountaineer.com/. apparently, it's an improved version of the mms website and their goal is also to promote backpacking in the philippines by sharing valuable itineraries online. aside from backpacking itineraries, simple tour packages should be made available to tourists and even locals. I think there's a lot of these already being offered by different groups... might be good if there's one portal to link everything.
Maybe ROX should ask first our Ka-Primer for those who are interested in mountaineering/backpacking before we sponsor or organize projects outside the company. I'm sure there's a lot of employees who are interested. Sad to say that most of your activities were done already before we all know. ASK, INVITE & ORGANIZE. Thanks
Maybe ROX should also ask our Ka-Primer for those who are interested in mountaineering/backpacking before we sponsor or organize projects outside the company. I'm sure there's a lot of employees who are interested. Sad to say that most of your activities were done already before we all know. ASK, INVITE & ORGANIZE. Thanks
I think one of the greatest things we'd like to share about backpacking is the "saving-up-for-a-backpack-trip" aspect. Saving is a great skill to learn (for the rest of your life) and backpacking is a realistic goal to save up for.
Quick question I probably should have asked during the forum: How much stuff did you actually bring? I'm trying to come up with a rough packing list, and I'm curious to see how you folks did it.
How much stuff did i bring? - TOO MUCH! Of course it really depends on what kind of person you are. A friend who was with us on the trip actually had SEVERAL belts to go with his different outfits! It depends on your priorities.
But I'd say - bring as little as you can - just the necessities. And I read, the best kind of backpack is the one you can fit under your bus seat (that's hardcore backpacking for you). Remember that you can (and probably will) buy souvenir shirts when yo go overseas and so you don't need to bring too many shirts.
DO bring a nice pair of pants for traveling in Asia though (you need them for visiting temples - shorts are not allowed).
Thanks for answering (and adding me up). I'm planning to go on a mini-backpacking thing (which is really just a cooler way of saying I'm taking a vacation and being cheap about it) which I'm sorta using as a "dry run" of sorts for any major backpacking I'd want to do... and I agree, saving up for it is definitely a skill to learn... I've probably saved up more cash because of this trip than any other point in my life, haha!
I'm toying around with the idea of making a backpack trip / loop around the Philippines. I know food will be no inexpensive problem - there are turo turo and karinderias everywhere. What I'm wondering about is where could i spend the night at 100pesos or less. Does anyone know anyone who has done a trip like this?
For those interested, we're doing the backpack talk again on July3,2008 Thursday at 7pm. I'll be giving away a copy of our Southeast Asia itinerary - some wanted copies of it last time we talked.
AND maybe my computer presentation will work this time, so please spread the word. BACKPACKING is an incredible way of seeing the world without having to spend much - your dream of traveling the world is POSSIBLE.
There should be (1) a directory of backpackers hostels/inns which people can refer to in planning their trips; (2) compilation of possible itineraries; (3) a backpackers club; (4) regular talks; and (5) a cause that the group will advocate.
I just came back from Europe and did backpacking.There is a site hostelworld.com where you can choose from the lowest to the highest price hotel and get comments from people who stayed there.If you want to go downright cheap there is another way.They call it couchsurfing.Check it out at couchsurfing.com.I'll never stay in a high priced hotel in europe!The hostels ranged from 18 - 30 euros with breakfast and free wi-fi.High class hotels you had to pay extra for these!
We'll arrange another schedule if the speakers are available. Maybe you wanna share as well your experience,we can include you as a speaker. you may email me at rox.cs@primergrp.com
Rox, the July3 talk was really good, very interesting; though i didn't think the question posed in this post was answered (How do we help create a Backpacking community?) or maybe we were left to figure that out ourselves. Would be great if this will actually be tackled in the next talk so ideas can be gathered. Just a suggestion. :)
Ultimately, an online bulletin board of some sort is the best resource for building a pinoy based backpacking community. I don't know how to set one of those up but I do find the bulletin boards of other countries, like the Thorntree Forum to be quite helpful. They also must be well-maintained such that those who need help will find help and not just get snarky comments.
Check out: September / October MetroHim (si Mark Anthony Fernandez ang cover) page 37 cover says: Have P45,000 will travel - 9 countries, 3 months including airfare!
Do you know of any community backpacking sites where backpackers could find willing hiking buddies? I searched the net but I couldn't find Philippine based sites.
HI!!I am seeing 2 school of thoughts in backpacking here.One is backpacking as climbing the boondoks and camping out or in other words mountain climbing and the other one as (Wikipedia)Backpacking to denote a form of low-cost, independent international travel.Maybe we can define first which we are discussing.Thanks
HI!!I am seeing 2 school of thoughts in backpacking here.One is backpacking as climbing the boondoks and camping out or in other words mountain climbing and the other one as (Wikipedia)Backpacking to denote a form of low-cost, independent international travel.Maybe we can define first which we are discussing.Thanks
Initially, our discussion is (was) on the "low-cost, independent international travel".
For those interested in the "hiking / trekking" type of backpack - visit the UP Mounaineers site (which i am a member of as well). :-)
you can post backpacking itineraries (complete, with budget & other info) so that other people may try them out on their own. 