Are you well-traveled?
This site (Visited Countries) allows one to click buttons beside countries one has been to. I tried it out and got this generated map. Neat! From the looks of it though, it seems like my past travels have been limited to North America, Europe and South Asia. The still unconquered lands of South America, Africa, North Asia and Australia await.
create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands
The exercise got me thinking about the Philippines and whether I actually saw as much of it already as I think I have. After all, I was born in the Visayas, spent my childhood in Mindanao, and am living out the rest of my adult life in Luzon. There is this common notion too that most often, one sees more of other countries than his own.
Did I really see enough of my own country?
Well, the answer came in the form of Lakbayan, which I stumbled upon during my blog hopping. Eugene Alvin Villar, who describes himself as “a not so innocent yet naïve hardware engineer”, got the idea for Lakbayan from the Visited Countries site.
Through Eugene’s nifty programming, he created a map of the Philippines on the left side with a list of areas on the right. All one has to do is go through his list of areas in the Philippines and click on a button depending on frequency of travel to that place, which he divides up into 5 categories. At the end, you click a button to get your Lakbayan letter grade.
Here’s mine.
My Lakbayan grade is C+!
How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!
Created by Eugene Villar.
Yikes! The exercise was an eye opener for me, to say the least, since I thought that having lived in the 3 major islands and being sent on provincial work assignments by my previous employer would have gotten me a higher mark. Not so! Looks to me like there is still a lot more Philippines out there to explore!!!!
What about you? Are you a seasoned turista abroad? Or a true-blooded Lakbayan-ista?
This is cool Jane! I did the lakbayan and got a C. Will do the world map tonight. Hope you are better!
Jane: Hi Cathy! Naku pareho tayong C! You know, this just motivates us to try and see more of our own country, doesn’t it? Yes, am a lot better.
that’s a good score, Jane. for Lakbyan, i fail! though for Asia, am sure I will get a good score.
hope you are feeling much better now.
Jane: Ay, ok na ba score ko? Guess the Mindanao part hiked my score a bit. Thanks to my Dad who was assigned there, I learned how to eat durian, hahahaha. Yes, am feeling better. Pain is erratic but tolerable. Thanks, sexymom!
Hi Jane!! I got a C- 🙁 Got me thinking that I should travel some more. I did the world map thing too. I’ll post it on my site. Thanks for the great links!!
Jane: Great! Will check out your site soon.
cool link
Jane: Thanks.
Hello Jane! I came across your blog via a comment you posted on Aileen Apolo’s blog (a post about why she wants to live in Davao). Since you have a connection to our fair city, I’d like to consider including your blog feeds in the Davao Blogspace (http://www.davaoblogs.com) — it is the aggregator site of Davao blogs. 🙂
Also, pls submit your blog to the Davao Blogs Directory: http://dir.davaoblogs.com.