Big Foot Archives

Excess Taiwan Visa Requirements for Filipinos

Posted on November 23, 2016 at 14:26 Big Foot 3 Comments

Almost a month ago I wandered through Taiwan with three good old folks from college. It would’ve been my second overseas trip this year had I been granted a Japan visa last July. Getting rejected on my very first visa application turned out traumatizing that I had to read multiple blogs and consolidate all the requirements the authors stated for this trip. My pessimism even worsened when my friends started getting Australian, US, and Schengen visas. Fortunately, in the end, I was granted with my first (of many, hopefully). Listed below are the requirements I prepared. You can only guess which ones made the cut.

All original documents have their corresponding photocopies but only that of the PSA birth certificate was received, making a total of nine requirements submitted. It may have been a bit of an overkill with the documents but screw it, I was too terrified of another rejection. After all, requirements can vary from one applicant to another and it never hurts to come with more than just your war paint.

Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines
41F, Tower 1, RCBC Plaza, 6819 Ayala Avenue, Makati City, 1200 Metro Manila
(02) 887-6688
Filing time: 08:45–11:45
Processing in 3 working days for the amount of 2,400 peyses (they also expedite for only a day)
Releasing time: 13:45–16:30

Updated on March 3, 2017: I have disabled commenting for this post as I have replicated it in Itinerant.

Frolicking in Fortune Island

Posted on June 9, 2015 at 20:55 Big Foot 4 Comments

Fortune Island

It was last year when I first heard of Fortune Island, and because I know for a fact that in this life I will probably never ever step foot in Greece and on this island are pillars which resemble those of The Parthenon, I immediately locked it as a target. Last month, while looking for beaches to go to, I read in the comments of a blog post about a trip to the island organized by #JJTours. I contacted two of my friends and in no time I was already at the bank paying for the down payment. What did just happen.

The day of the tour came, and we huddled at the McDonald’s by the MRT Buendia station. Red Chuca, the tour manager, arrived and told us that he actually forgot about us three as he was on the road when I told him about my deposit. If I didn’t make a follow-up the day before we would’ve been left out and I would’ve committed suicide using the five liters of water we brought with us.

We left in two vans at 03:30 and arrived in Nasugbu, Batangas two hours later. Breakfast was at Jollibee before we proceeded to Fortune Island Resort, which seems to be the gateway to the island. The island has no electricity, freshwater source, store where you can buy food, and most especially, restroom (well, they said there was a functional one but I really didn’t look for it). That means that if you’re staying overnight, the resort is the place to do your thing, mantra, or whatever it is that you need to do.

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