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A P50,000 budget for a trip to nine countries for 10
weeks, inclusive of airfare, food, accommodations, land travel and
museum fees. Sounds impossible?
The Travel Club, the country’s
preferred one-stop travel shop, says it is possible as it launches
The Sketching Backpacker, a breakthrough travel book about
backpacking, written by freelance graphic designer/artist/ TV
reporter and true-blue backpacker, Robert Alejandro. Printed on
recycled paper, The Sketching Backpacker chronicles Alejandro’s
10-week backpack adventures around Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand,
Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Macau, Hong Kong and the
Philippines. The best thing about this nine-country foray was that
Alejandro and his friends went at it with only a minimal budget!
The Sketching Backpacker’ is
replete with information and vivid impressions of wonderful
destinations that seasoned backpackers can relate to and for those
who have yet to embark on such an exciting but budget-manageable
adventure, learn from. The book features the author’s drawings of
the fascinating places and people of each destination, complemented
by a wealth of information on the sites, from the basics like
language and currency exchange rates to famous tourist attractions
to movies filmed on that location. One time in Bangkok, Alejandro
sketched a tuktuk and when its driver saw him, he immediately rushed
in and posed for the sketching backpacker. Also at the Thai capital,
Alejandro drew a young man doing restoration work at the wall of the
Grand Palace and when he saw him, nodded in approval—proof that
art has no boundaries of language.
More importantly, The Sketching
Backpacker offers tips on how to visit these countries in the most
inexpensive and fun way, providing a roster of backpacking hostels
and restaurants, to go with estimated cost. When they started their
journey in Singapore, they stayed at Cozy Corner Backpacker’s Inn,
which he says, was as inexpensive as it gets in the Lion City at
S$80 a night for 5 persons in a room. It’s not even close to a
2-star standard hotel, he writes, but it was “cool” because he
was able to hang out with other backpackers, whom he found friendly
and respectful, and learned first-hand how the “backpack
culture” goes. Later in Vietnam, Alejandro and his friends took
advantage of the “open bus” ticketing system, worth $14, to
literally go through the country, from Ho Chi Minh City to Nha Trang,
Holan, Hue and Hanoi.
Above all these, though,
Alejandro gives his most important tip for backpackers: “It
isn’t about the places you go—it’s about the people you
meet,” he writes.
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