Travel, Photographs and Lifestyle

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Frequently Asked Questions for Hongkong PART 2

Where Can I Ride The Open-Top Double-Decker Bus?

Bus 15C from the Star Ferry Pier to the Peak Terminus (and vice versa).

How Many Passengers Can Fit in 1 Taxi?

Maximum of 5 passengers (plus the driver) so a total of 6 people in 1 taxi. 5 big adults might not fit. Adjust as necessary.

How Do I Go To Jumbo Floating Restaurant?

Bus 71 from Central

http://www.nwstbus.com.hk/routes/rou...utedirection=R

Bus 75 from Central

http://www.nwstbus.com.hk/routes/rou...utedirection=R

How Many Trams Are There in HK?

Two. The Peak Tram and the HK Island Tram aka Century Old Tram & Ding Ding Tram.

I Want To Ride The Island Tram, Which 1 Do I Take? Where Can I Find The Tram in HK Island?

The Tram runs on the major roads of HK Island (Des Vouex/Java/Hennessy/etc) and are almost always located near an MTR exit.

Unless you are going to see Happy Valley Racecourse, you can ride any tram except the 1 that says "Happy Valley".

Enter the tram at the rear, exit at the front after placing your octopus card on the reader / paying coins. Fee: 2HKD.

Recommend routes: North Point to Central/Sheung Wan.

http://www.hktramways.com/en/service/routemap.html

When I Ride The Tram, How Do I Know Which District I Am At? Where Do I Alight?

For 1st timers, the catch is, you don't! Riding the tram will be a mix of adventure and finding clues. If you see the famous skyscrapers, then that's Central. If you see the big Sogo and a lot of shops/people, that's Causeway Bay. North Point is mostly a residential area.

Nonetheless, it's still fun to ride the tram and if ever you get lost, just ask around for the nearest MTR exit.

Which Hostel Has A Room for ____ People?

Please go to the hostels' websites and check. We already provided the links to their websites.

Which Hostel Is The Best?

See Above. (Post #2)

Is My Hotel OK?

If you are going to book in a hotel that is not listed above, DO NOT WORRY. Go to Tripadvisor.com to check whether the hotel is good or not. We cannot give a feedback for every hotel in HK since there's just too many of them.

Tripadvisor also provides traveller photos of the hotels. This thread is not an encyclopedia of Hong Kong hotels.

Where Is My Hotel Located? What Is The Nearest MTR Station?

For simple questions like this, please go to your hotel's website and look for the location/transportation section.

How to Know If Your Hotel/Hostel is Highly Accessible

Go to your Hotel/Hostel's website and look for the Location/Transportation/Map Section and check whether there is a nearby MTR exit.
*Content taken from PEX

Tarsier Behaviour

Tarsier Behaviour

Habitat. Tarsiers are arboreal. They live in and around the base of tree trunks and the roots of plants such as bamboo. They can occasionally be found in holes are at the top of trees. In Mindanao, tarsiers appear to thrive best in second or third growth thickets along the coast and in the valleys.

Behavior. The Philippine tarsier is nocturnal. They hunt at night, exclusively for animal prey. At day time, they hide in hollows close to the ground. When kept in captivity, individuals may huddle together or intertwine their tails. They are believed to live in groups, larger than just one male and one female. The female appears to take care for the young exclusively: no male parental care has been observed.

Diet. Tarsiers live exclusively on animal prey. Their diet includes primarily insects such as cockroaches and crickets, but may occasionally be extended with reptiles, birds, and bats. A Philippine tarsier in captivity will eat live shrimp and fish in a bowl of water.

Sounds. The tarsier produces a a number of different calls. The loud call is a loud piercing single note. When opponents meet, they produce a soft sweet bird-like trill. When several individuals communicate, they can produce a locust-like chirping. Females have a specials sound to indicate that they are fertile.

Scent Marks. Male tarsiers have epigastric glands, which they use for scent marking.

Reproduction. Females tarsiers have a prosimian-type uterus but a higher primate type placenta. One unusual feature is that they have multiple breast pairs, yet generally only the pectoral pair is functional. The other ones serve as anchoring points for newborn. The gestation period of a tarsier is about 180 days (6 months), and only one young is born at a time. When a tarsier is born, it is already in a well-advanced state of development. It is born well furred and with its eyes open. The head and body length at birth is 66-72 mm, the tail is 114-117 mm long, and its weight is 25-27 grams. They are able to move about after only two days. The mother carries infants with her mouth or on her belly. No nest is built. The female parks her infant while foraging. A young tarsier can climb after two days and jump after four. After about 19 days, young tarsiers already move around much like adults. It is breast-fed upto about 60 days. Juveniles tend to be more uniformly colored than adults. After two years, young tarsiers become sexually mature. The female has an estrus cycle, or recurring period of heat, of 23.5 days. Mating can take place any time of the year. Tarsiers can become 12 to 20 years old.

Where to Meet the Tarsier

You can visit the tarsier at the Philippine Tarsier Foundation, and see it in its natural habitat.

The Philippine Tarsier Foundation,
Km. 14 Canapnapan Corella, Bohol 6300 Philippines
Tel: (0912) 5163375
Mobile: (0918) 6021326
Email: tarsier@mozcom.com
Website: http://www.philippinetarsier.org/.

Please avoid visiting the tarsiers kept in cages along Loboc river. Here, these shy animals have a miserable life, and normally don't survive for long.

Further Reading

Some notes on primates and the place of the Tarsier within the hierarchy of primates can be found on The Primates by Dennis O'Neil of Palomar College.

Another website featuring pictures of a tarsier is http://www.tarsieruk.homestead.com/Home.html.

Condensed from material by The Philippine Tarsier Foundation

PHILIPPINE TARSIER UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

The Philippine tarsier, (Tarsius syrichta) is very peculiar small animal. In fact it is one of the smallest known primates, no larger than a adult men's hand. Mostly active at night, it lives on a diet of insects. Folk traditions sometimes has it that tarsiers eat charcoal, but actually they retrieve the insects from (sometimes burned) wood. It can be found in the islands of Samar, Leyte, Bohol, and Mindanao in the Philippines.

If no action is taken, the tarsier might not survive. Although it is a protected species, and the practice of catching them and then selling them as stuffed tarsiers to tourists has stopped, the species is still threatened by the destruction of his natural forest habitat. Many years of both legal and illegal logging and slash-and-burn agriculture have greatly reduced these forests, and reduced the tarsier population to a dangerously small size. If no action is taken now, the Philippine tarsier can soon be added to the list of extinct species.

Physical Description

General. The Philippine tarsier has a gray fur and a nearly naked tail. The middle finger is elongated. Head and body length are around 118-149 mm; It weighs 113-142 grams. Males are larger than females.

Eyes. In comparison with his body size, the eyes of the tarsier are enormous. In volume, the capacity of the bony eye orbits, or eye sockets, is larger than that of the brain case, and also larger than its stomach. Their eye sockets have post-orbital closure rather than the postorbital bar of the prosimians. This feature keeps the eyeballs from being pressed against by the powerful temporal muscles to their sides.

Tail. The tarsier has a relatively very long tail (232 mm), generally naked except for a tuft of hair at its end. The underside has dermal ridges like those found on human hands and feet. Its tail is used for balancing like a tripod; they prefer an erect posture at all times.

Head. Like an owl, the tarsier has a joint between its skull base and spine to allow head movement of a 180-degree arc. Its upper lip lacks a cleft yet, but still has muscles, so that it can make facial expressions. The adult brain weighs about 4 grams.

Teeth. Tarsiers have sharp teeth, enabling them to catch their prey easier. Unique among primates, tarsiers have only two, rather than four, incisors in their lower jaw. Their dental formula is 2.1.3.3 1.1.3.3 x 2 = 34.

Ankle bones. The name "tarsier" or "tarsius" is derived from the animal's very long ankle bones. The tibia and fibula of the tarsiers are fused in their lower portions, acting as a shock absorber. This is considered a primitive trait, which can normally be seen in quadrupeds. The lower limbs are twice the length of its trunk. These enable the tarsier to leap about three meters from tree to tree. Its movements are similar to that of a frog.

Comparison with other Primates. Tarsiers share some characteristics with both the prosimians and the anthropoids, while they also have some characteristics peculiar to themselves. Taxonomists have classified them as intermediate between both groups and have assigned them to their own infraorder, which contains just one living genus: Tarsius. Fossil records of this genus are found, dating back to the Eocene epoch, from 54 to 36 million years ago.

Like many prosimians, they are nocturnal and have grooming claws and bicornuate uterus.

Like anthropoids, they do not have a tapetum (a reflective layer in their eyes).

In tarsiers, the internal structures of the nose and ears and the blood supply to the brain and to a developing fetus are more like those of monkeys than of lorises. The monthly sexual swellings of female tarsiers are also similar to those in anthropoids.

BOHOL TARSIER- WORLD'S SMALLEST PRIMATE

BOHOL TARSIER- WORLD'S SMALLEST PRIMATE

Bohol is home to not just the world’s biggest snake in captivity but also the world’s smallest primate — the tarsier! Yes! The most adorable cute wide eye creature!

The province of Bohol is famous for the Chocolate Hills and the tarsier. Right after breakfast @ SUN Avenue Pension, we headed straight to this place where there were several trees surrounded by fences. It didn’t take long for us to see the numerous tarsiers clinging on the branches.

At the Gate they have this big signage -Remember, NO FLASH and NO TOUCH. With their big round eyes, flash would definitely blind the tarsier! Please be considerate.They get stressed out when people touch them. Please take note that tarsiers commit suicide by smashing their heads against hard objects when they get stressed out. So please, NO FLASH and NO TOUCH, wag matigas ang ulo, live and let live!

I cried FOUL, when I learned that some tourist uses flash when they take photos. If you happened to visit the Tarsier be it in Bohol or elsewhere in the Philippines please remind your fellow tourist, not to use flash and not to touch the Tarsier. Let's be vigilant in our own little way! Help preserve the TARSIER.

Monday, October 25, 2010

LRT MRT SYSTEM MAP

Sunday, October 24, 2010

LRT ROOSEVELT STATION NOW OPEN

LRT ROOSEVELT STATION IS NOW OPEN.

Oh my gulay! Finally the much awaited LRT Roosevelt Station is now ready to serve the riding public! I can now go to Manila Ocean Park via UN AVENUE STATION! Yahoooo!

Fast Facts:

LRT ROOSEVELT is directly in front of WALTER MART in Muñoz, Quezon City.
LRT ROOSEVELT STATION TO LRT BACLARAN STATION FARE is P 20.00.
TRAVEL TIME IS MORE OR LESS 40 MINUTES.

The newly-opened station is the second part of LRT 1’s three-part North Extension Project. Last March, the LRT 1 Balintawak station was opened, extending the train line by 2.2 kilometers.

With the opening of the Roosevelt Station, the Light Rail Transit Administration (LRT) is only a station away from closing the LRT-Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 3 loop, which is expected to be fully linked next year with the construction of a common station in front of SM North EDSA in Quezon City.

The LRT Line 1 currently runs along EDSA from Roosevelt Avenue in Quezon City to Monumento in Caloocan City, then along Rizal and Taft Avenues from Monumento to Baclaran in Pasay City. The MRT 3 line stretches along EDSA from North Avenue in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City.

HAVE A SAFE TRIP EVERYONE! Enjoy the newly opened LRT in Roosevelt!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Palawan Pension House

Cheap Pension House in Palawan near the airport.

Whenever I travel, I personally prefer staying in a hostel, inn or pension house rather than staying in a hotel, 'coz I am practically out the whole day exploring places, and all I need is a decent bed and place where I can sleep at night and take a bath in the morning.

Much that I wanted to stay in an expensive hotel my budget won't be enough to pay for a P10,000/ a night accommodation.

So if you are a practical person like me then read on...

I am practical not a cheapskate I don't compromise my safety and health over a few hundred pesos, I still prefer a bed without bed bugs, so please be very careful in choosing a place to stay, you won't want your vacation be ruined by bed bugs or your safety compromised.

Here are a list of some Pension House in Palawan:

Badjao Inn
350 Rizal Avenue, Puerto Princesa City. Telephone: 6348.4332761 Website: www.badjaoinn.com Email:
badjao_inn@yahoo.com
Price Range: Php350 - 950

De Loro Inn
PEO Rd. Bancao-Bancao, Puerto Princesa City. Telephone: 6348.4348408
Website: www.deloropalawan.com
Price Range: Php780 - 1500

D Lucky Garden Inn
Rizal Avenue, PEO Road, Puerto Princesa City. Telephone: 6348.4337869/4336576 Email:
luckygardeninn@yahoo.com
Website: www.luckygardeninn.com
Price Range: Php690 - 1090

One Rover's Place
355 Rizal Avenue, Puerto Princesa City. Telephone 6348.4341338 / 4332245 Email: gigitrav@yahoo.com
Website: www.oneroversplace.com
Price Range: PhP 950 - 2000

Pagdayon Traveler's Inn
Rizal Avenue, Puerto Princesa City.
Telephone: 6348.4349102
Price Range: Php600 - 700