Tamchoe Monastery in Paro, Bhutan

Between Paro and Thimphu in Bhutan is the Tamchoe Monastery. Also know as the Tachog Lhakhang, the monastery built on top of a small hill beside the Paro River dates back to the 15th century.

The temple, together with its iron-chain hanging bridge that crosses the Paro River, was established by Thangtong Gyalpo, a Buddhist architect and yogi, who was also known as Chakzampa or the Iron Chain Maker. Born in Tibet in 1385, he built iron-chain bridges in Tibet and Bhutan to help Buddhist pilgrims visit holy places.

Tachog or Tachogang means temple of the hill of the excellent horse. While here, Thangtong Gyalpo had a vision of the spiritual horse Balaha, the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara who turned into a flying horse to rescue merchants who were shipwrecked and fell into the hands of ogresses at the island of Lanka. His vision made him decide to build the temple there.

This is among the first temples visitors to Bhutan see upon their arrival since its on the way to Thimphu from Paro Airport.

We didn't get to walk up to the temple itself. But we crossed the iron-chain hanging bridge for the experience. For more Bhutan photos, follow @ivanhenares on Instagram. To visit Bhutan, you need to book a tour with a travel agent. If interested, e-mail me at tours@ivanhenares.com.

Huawei Mate7 has a battery life that keeps travelers moving

One major consideration for frequent travelers when choosing a phone is battery life. It's frustrating running out of battery while on a long bus or train ride between cities. You miss out documenting really interesting things you may see along the way, en route to your destination. Plus looking for a power supply when you arrive is an equally frustrating exercise. We all end up bringing bulky and heavy power banks to keep us going.

But there are smart phones that have batteries that last. I previously had a Huawei Ascend Mate 6 and can swear by its impressive battery life. Can't believe they now have the Huawei Mate7 with a 4100 mAh lithium polymer battery in a sleek 7.9 mm body! The battery definitely matches the impressive processing power of the phone. But still, it lasts longer than other smartphones because of its high-density Li-Polymer battery.

And check out the great photos I took with the Huawei Mate7 in Coron, Palawan!

Transitions® Signature™ adaptive lenses for people on the go

I've had to wear glasses since I was a teen. Unfortunately (or should it be fortunately), my grade is too low for laser surgery. So it looks like I'll be stuck with glasses. I've tried contact lenses but these are just too much of a hassle for me.

Having glasses makes it difficult for me to wear shades since I have to bring both pairs all the time when I travel. And that also requires me to change from one to the other when I move from indoors to outside and vice versa. The downside of that is, I tend to lose the shades! Because I move a lot, I've lost a good number of shades when my regular glasses are on.

Once I lost my shades that were in my backpack during a trip to South America. It must have fallen out while it was in the storage compartment of the bus above my seat. I realized when I was looking for them that they were gone. Another time, I was taking public transport here in the Philippines. I had the shades in my hand since I was wearing glasses. And the next thing I knew, I lost them. Feeling bad for spending on shades only to lose them, I decided to stop buying.

But we need shades especially when the sun hurts our eyes. During my recent trip to the Middle East, the sun was just too much! And it was just irritating moving around without shades.

When indoors, the Transitions® Signature™ adaptive lenses are clear 

When I got back, I decided to try out Transitions® Signature™ adaptive lenses. These lenses change shade or tint depending where you are. If you are indoors, they are clear like regular glasses. But when you are outside and the sun is bright, the lenses darken and serve as shades. Fantastic technology! I really don't know why I didn't get them earlier.

You can get from Transitions® Signature™ adaptive lenses all major optical stores. I’m happy that I got these new glasses since the Transitions® Signature™ adaptive lenses are fantastic.

When outdoors, the Transitions® Signature™ adaptive lenses darken depending on the level of sunlight

I had a grand time using my new set of Transitions® Signature™ adaptive lenses during a trip to Cambodia and Vietnam the week after. It was perfect for the indoor conference I attended and was very helpful when we visited the temples. No need for me to buy shades now!

How to avoid hidden charges when booking online on Cebu Pacific, AirAsia and Philippine Airlines

Have you tried booking online? Are you one of those surprised that the cost of the ticket increases every time you click the "continue" or "next" buttons? That's because of the many unnecessary or hidden add-ons that some airline companies automatically select for you when you book your tickets online. So here's a guide on how to opt out of the automatically-selected add-ons when booking on Cebu Pacific, AirAsia and Philippine Airlines.

100 days to Ivan About Town's 10th anniversary! #IAT10

In 100 days, Ivan About Town will turn ten! Sometimes, I can't believe I was able to last this long given that the blog is something I work on during my spare time. The past few months have been extra busy, with quite a number of new responsibilities on top of the old ones, which meant a scarcity of posts as you all may have noticed. But we're still here and celebrating this milestone!

In 2005, I was among those who took advantage of the entry of low cost carriers in the Philippines. Seat sales and piso fares were unheard of before these airlines entered the Philippine market. I booked a "free seat" plane ticket to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia and what happened next is history. It was during this trip to Kota Kinabalu and Brunei in April 2005 that I wrote his my blog entries.

Direct flights from the Philippines to many popular destinations today were non-existent at that time. And getting around took a little more effort via transit cities. It was my first backpack trip. And I thought, instead of having to repeat my stories to my friends when I got back, I'd just update them through a blog. The blog title, something I simply came up with off the top of my head, in the few minutes I had on the rented computer at Trekkers Lodge on April 19, 2005, was inspired by the thought that I could be a "man about town" for travel. And so Ivan About Town became the silly title of my new blog. Read more on the blog.

Two more milestones I'm celebrating this year are the 30th anniversaries of my first international trip on April 15, 1985 and my first travel journal which I completed in October 1985 at the age of six. Time flies indeed!