PPC Palawan: Day 1

Just arrived at Puerto Princessa City, Palawan. The flight was delayed for about 25 minutes due to air traffic. It's not shocking seeing there was so many people in the airport starting from the entrance to checkin to boarding. It was like a scene at movies where everyone was rushing out of one place, everywhere was crowded.




Why is it that everytime you're in a hurry, the worst things happen. We left the house 2 hours before departure. We normally leave 3 hours before since we would need an hour travel from Cavite to the airport. On the way to the airport it was really traffic, we were on the road for more than the normal one hour. Then when we arrived at the airport, as I mentioned the line was so long, good thing my mom asked the guard if we could cut the line since it was only an hour left before the flight. Once we checked in, the line was long again going to the gates which took more than 10 minutes. I was reallt hungry so I bought a veggie lasagnia parmigiana which consisted of eggplants and cheese. It taste really wierd. But i liked their pistachio cheesecake.




It was finally boarding time and the plane was far from the airport building so we needed to ride a bus to the plane. Once boarded it did not take of yet but waited for about 30 minutes.

Finally we arrive at the city of Puerto Princessa and was greeted by the shuttle driver of microtel inn.








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Location:National Hwy,Puerto Princesa City,Philippines

Weekend at Singapore

Went on an early trip to Singapore over the weekend since I was excited for my new phone. From the plane my friend picked me up at the airport but was at the wrong terminal and I was not able to activate my roaming. I was forced to purchase a local sim to also save on load. so we finally met and headed straight to sentosa since my relatives were there already.




I was really hungry then so we headed to KFC and ate, then toured around the place. I tried their rosta burger since we do not have that in the Philippines. We suprised my parents since they were not expecting me on an earlier flight.






I was really tired that day but I enjoy maximizing the weekend.

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Location:Anchorvale Dr,Singapore,Singapore

Happy Veterans Day!

Thursday! One day before pay day, before the weekend. Was given the chance to go on leave so I could leave earlier to Singapore. Really excited because of my new phone. Hopefully everything goes well, because, although it is my second time to fly the plane alone, it would be my first time to fly alone overseas.

Since I was really excited about
my phone, first thing I wanted to do was go to the mall and get my sim card cut to the microsim. Unfortunately, when I woke up, there was no freaking water. As per my brother, the water service cut the line for maintenance or something. So I had to endure the cold water from the deep well. We headed to the mall near us, where our friendly cellphone technician had a stall to get my sim get cut since I had nothing to trace it with manually. Sad thing was, he was noy able to purchase the cutter. So I had no choice but to go to MOA cause I new there ought to be someone that does sim cutting there. Partly I wanted to also go to Starbucks to complete my sticker for the planner. And yes, finally I found a place that cuts sims. After that I wanted to reserve some tickets for Harry Potter next week. I did bot want to watch it in Imax anymore, which we normally did before. I wanted to watch the whole film in digital 3D but they do not sell tickets yet.

It was around 8:30 and we were really hungry and ny brother wanted to eat at Jatujak, which is one of the restaurants we normally eat at in MOA. I enjoy any type of food, but one of the best I like, aside from Japanese and Chinese food would be Thai. From what I know, Jatujak (pronounced chatuchak) means market.

When we eat there, we never miss out on ordering noodle soup. You could choose from different types of noodles, and you can add beef, mixed fresh cuts, or mixed balls. Aside from soup, I really like the fried spring rolls for appetizer.

For the main course, I recommend the chicken pandan, spare ribs, kebabs, and beef with basil. The last two I really like. It was my first time to eat rice there since what I normally do is order the soup then just eat the viands. I enjoyed the rice because you could really feel it is high grade jasmine rice, and it really smelled good also. Their pad thai is too moist for me, I'm not really a fan. And of course, do not forget to order dessert, their sticky rice is fantastic. Like the filipino bico, it is sweet and the mango ads a twist to it. I'd give them a 9.5 for taste, 9 or service since I never had a complaint, and 9 for price since we get discounts through SMAC/Prestige.





And before going home, I stopped by Starbucks to claim my stainless steel limited edition planner.




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Location:Antero Soriano Hwy,Kawit,Philippines

Week 45: Friday going Saturday

Damn, there was so many things that happened Friday, going Saturday. I woke up last Friday at around 3 pm to go to MOA and get my picture taken for my postal ID and also get stickers from Starbucks, I was more excited on getting the stickers. First thing I did was get my picture taken then we ate at Mann Hann. My brother really likes chinese cuisines that why we decided to eat there, and we order the normal set we usually order, Lechon Macau, Mapo Tofu, and Yang Chow, those are the food that do not disappear in our table whenever we are in a chinese restaurant. Although it is not as good as North Park, I still like eating at Mann Hann.

In terms of taste, I'd give it an 8, although I have tasted better tasting food I still enjoy eating there because of their wide variety of food, and aside from chinese cuisines, they also serve Filipino food. The price is also reasonable and I'd give it a 9. Service is also good, not bad.

After dinner, we headed to get my picture, but they actually made the wrong package, so I had to wait a few more minutes so they could fix it. Once I got the pictures, we headed to Starbucks to buy coffee and get the stickers for their limited edition planner. I enjoy collecting the planners even though I don't get to use them. I was able to collect 3 planners last year, and only got to use it for a month.

This year, they bring back my favorite Peppermint Mocha, together with the Toffee Nut and Praline Mocha. An to get the planner, you would need to buy 9 Christmas Blends and 8 regular drinks.

We headed to the office after coffee because I was asked to go on overtime to get some work done before some company visitors come on Monday. I came to work and saw that I aisle that I was in was actually deserted since all my previous team members were out of the office.

After 12 hours of work, my co-workers and I went to my friends house for her farewell party. I am going to miss one of my best friends and confidant when she leaves, but goodbyes are inevitable. We ate and sang and drunk. Boy, I was already sleepy that time.

Last but not the least, once I got home, I just showered and headed to my friends place and headed back to MOA for a get together with my high school friends. We ate at Tia Maria's for a little mexican food. We ate all sorts of mexican inspired food from nachos to quesadillas to chicken wings. Taste was ok, maybe I am just exposed to tacos and nachos that often that it's a common taste to me, but i really love cheese, so i liked their quesadillas but for me it needed more cheese, so I would give it a 7 for taste. Service is good, although it seemed that their waiters were very limited, I'd give it an 8. Price was ok, we split the bill into 6 so it was not bad, I'd give it an 8.

So that was my weekend. I slept till Sunday afternoon to regain some strength.

Week 44: Preparing for Undas/Eating Mang Inasal

Last Sunday night, we went to pick up my dad from the airport and headed to Dangwa after. We were one hour from my dad's ETA so we decided to eat dinner first at Mang Inasal. Usually, I would order their Chicken Inasal with unlimited rice, but I decided to try their sisig combo meal that came in a cute container.

Our order came, which was faster than normal, and my order consisted of one cup of rice and a really small serving of pork sisig. If not for the container, I would not have ordered it. Compared to 1/4 barbecued chicken with unlimited rice which was the same price, the sisig was not really worth it, the serving was too small even for the cup of rice it came with. Another bad point was that the service is a bit slow, most stores have complaints that the service is a bit slow, which is acceptable when barbecuing the chicken, but when we ordered another sisig combo meal for take out, we had to wait more than 20 minutes before we got the order, which I am not sure why there was a delay.

Mang Inasal is famous for their chicken and unlimited rice at an affordable price. You would normally see any Mang Inasal branch filled with many people eating, and you could find several branches within an area. For most that does not know, Mang Inasal originated from Iloilo, just a boat ride away from Bacolod which is famous for the Chicken Inasal and mostly everywhere you look, you would see restaurants selling them. For most of restaurants that gets commercialized, the taste seems  to change and loses the authenticy. For me, the taste is just right, I'd give it an 7. Value for money is good, which is a 10, however, service could do better at 7.

When we got to pick up my dad from the airport, we headed to Dangwa to purchase some flowers to bring to the cemetery for our dearly departed. Dangwa in Dimasalang St. is where flowers are normally dropped from growers. The place was not as crowded as I remember from last year. As the years past, few people actually go there to purchase flowers. People are getting more conscious on spending money, but as they say, flowers wither and candles burn out, but prayers are eternal, or something like that. If we really want to honor the dead, it would be best to pray for their peace.

Week 43: Four Eyes, Dinner @ French Baker

Just got my first glass last Thursday, damn, I didn't know my eyes were bad already. I'm getting used to wearing glasses but I don't to wear it all the time. I was curious why they called it corrective glasses, do they correct the eyes and heal them or do they just correct sight when your wearing them? Sorry for my ignorance.

I just realized that my eyes were going bad when there was an APE conducted in our office. I think only my right eye is affected. That's what you get when you face the computer most of the day.






I was at MOA Thursday to buy additional materials for the Halloween decorations at the office. It was fashion week for spring/summer collection and ate at Frech Baker which was in front of the catwalk for Freego jeans. I usually order pasta or meat, this time I wanted to try their fish ala meunier for a change. My order came and it looked good, but when I tasted it, it did really met my expectation. The taste was a bit blunt and needed more flavor. I am a salty eater, I got used eating salty food since my brother sometimes cooks are food too salty. As I understand it, when you cook something a la meuniere, there's butter then lemon. The sauce did not really taste like butter, more of cream and I did not feel the taste of lemon. It did not taste bad, it just lacked more taste to it, maybe more pepper and lemon. With the fish aside, I like their other choices like their cordon bleue, pork chop au poivre, and hickory spareribs among others.

Rating the restaurant, I recommend it for casual dining. It tastes nice and the price is reasonable since the taste is nice, the choices are great and serving is big also. You could check their menu here. I'd give taste and preparation 9/10, I love their pasta and others, it was just I did not like the fish. Service 7/10, the people are all scattered, and I was waiting for the cashier lady while she was just speaking to some of her co-workers, and when we requested for water, they gave it after asking the second time. Price, 8/10.

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Location:Kawit,Philippines

The Baranggay Elections

Just got home from the Baranggay Elections, which ended around 3 in the afternoon but we stayed in the area for a while to observe how the election would go. My brother was a candidate for kagawad, and I only voted and my friend.

The election in our area was held in the public school. Our place is divided in 3 baranggay although the division was really chaotic. I am registered under Tabon 1, were my cousin was runnung for chairman and my brother was running for kagawad but they were under different parties.

As we stayed in the place, we got to see several things. The precint that I was registered to had issues with a person that signed the wrong name, which also caused the delay in counting. The issue was that someone had signed in his name and he was no longer able to vote, and someone even mentioned that it was his sister's husband that did it claiming that he was the one listed, afyer a few minutes of arguing, they decided to check who signed it an turned out not to be him and it was someone else they did not know.

While waiting for the counting to stop, we went by the other baranggays to get news. My cousin's son was running for SK chairman and was on the lead, but we could never avoid sore loosers to give their own opinions, but what the heck, that is one of the fun things of winning.

We went home since I had to go to work, and the counting was still not complete, so while I blog this, I am not sure if my brother made it.




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Location:Magdiwang Hwy,Kawit,Philippines

Week 42: Lunch at Tokyo Cafe

Had lunch at MOA Sunday afternoon after the service. We were supposed to eat at Sbarro but the line was long and they did not accept credit card so our second choice was Tokyo Cafe. We were really hungry since it was already 1 in the afternoon. I was expecting some kind of authentic Japanese food but it was mostly pasta, pizza, sandwiches that had a Japanese twist.

I ordered Bacon Tomato Cream Pasta and Mixed Seafood platter that consisted of fried shrimp, squid and fish. The pasta tasted like carbonara but with tomato bits, I enjoyed the taste since I like pasta but it was too creamy for me, and it lacked something in the salty side. The seafood platter was dipped in breadcrumbs which was overpowering the taste of the meat.

Rating my first time to eat in the place, I'd rate the food 7/10, I did not really enjoyed what I ordered, but I liked what my friends ordered. In terms of service, we did not really encounter anything bad, so I'd give it an 8/10. In terms of value for money, for me the taste was not worth the price since the taste was really common yet price was high, so i'd give it a 7.

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Location:Magdiwang Hwy,Kawit,Philippines

Week 42: Trying Victory

Woke up really early today because I slept for almost 12 hours. Went to church at 8 with my mom since she was going to go to her batchmate's house after. I was also off wondering again since it was the weekends. My friend invited me attend a service at Victory Christian Fellowship Malate. It was my first time to attend a live service from a Christian Fellowship and well, I did not really know what to expect, but I can say that I enjoyed it. It wasn't like the "alive alive" cliches. I am a Roman Catholic and I believe that everyone has a right to believe what they want to.

The topic of service was the Filipino mindset of "Ningas Cogon" wherein a person is only active at the start. I am guilty of that. Normally I try to start something and try to plan it from the beginning, really excited but after a few days, the excitement goes away, you can say that I get nored easily doing something. A good example would be the previous blog that I started, I think I was only active for a month then stopped. The perserverance went away.

The question is, what motivates you to do something, what's your reason? Sounds like a coffee commercial, but seriously, what keeps younmoving? Hopefully it is not money or desire for power.

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Location:Antero Soriano Hwy,Kawit,Philippines

Week 42: Saturday Lunch at Tagaytay

It looked like it was going to rain, we were headed to Tagaytay after work. Due to the gloomy weather, we were expecting it to be really cold in Tagaytay. From work, we headed off to Tagaytay, but since it was the last day of campaigning for the Baranggay Elections, almost all the roads were affected. So after traveling longer than usual, we arrived in Tagaytay nearly lunch time, and it was hotter than we expected. We ate lunch at Kubo Kubo Ihaw Ihaw along Aguinaldo Highway going to Batanggas.

During weekends, you could choose from ordering from their menu or choosing some of the precooked meals in their counter ("turo turo" style) and they have many variants to choose from. Today, we ordered from the menu; Calamares, Kinilaw na Tanique (raw fish soaked in vinegar), Sisig among others, and since we were in Tagaytay, Bulalo (bone marrow soup).

The order came and they served rice in a banana leaf, and that would be where you would eat. I love the smell of rice wrapped in banana leaf, or cooked with pandan leaves because they make the rice smell good. You could either sit at the main building or at the kubo (nipa huts) in the garden. Since the kubo was in the garden, it was hard to avoid mosquitoes, but I don't really remember, if the last time we ate there, there were lots of mosquitoes. I would suggest considering plantings some tree that repel mosquitoes like citronella.

If I am to review the place, I would give them an 8 for food taste and presentation. Some tasted good and others could taste much better. The Bulalo, which I really don't eat except sip the soup, was a bit salty in taste and seemed to have too much umami (monosodium glutamate). But I enjoyed the Kinilaw and the Calamares. If you are at Tagaytay, and you want to taste Filipino dishes, maybe you could try eating here since most of the food they serve is Filipino style. The service was so so, it wasn't bad and the waiter assigned to you is attentive, but serving the food took a while, so that would be a 9. Price is reasonable, we were 13 and the price was around 4000 which was not that bad, so in terms of value of the food, I'd give it a 9.

After lunch, we headed to Bag of Beans to buy a whole blueberry cheesecake.

Week 42: Friday Dinner at MOA..

Yes, last workday of the week. The week always seems faster when you only work for four days. It would be nice to have a 4-day work week instead, right? Woke up early to go to Mall of Asia so I could get an idea for my Halloween costume for the company's Halloween celebration. The costumes were expensive, did not want to spend money on that right now, so I decided to have my costume sewn instead, I am still not sure though of the design.

We also bought a gift in the department store and went to have it gift wrapped, the line was a bit long, but there was no line for Prestige card holders, so we went there. So much for their priority lane, we still waited for someone to finish but the lady wrapper still called for someone in the regular lane. Not being a brat, but don't you understand the word "priority"? What's the use of having that as a privilege? Anyway, someone was kind enough to help us.

Every thing was done, all that is left to do was to eat dinner. We were walking around the activity center and saw that there was a showroom for Chevy's and they also had Bumblebee roaming around for some pictures. I was just fascinated since it was the name of our new team at work.

We headed to Fish and Co. to eat our dinner. It was actually only my second time to eat here, and both times, I was with someone that is allergic to seafood. I ordered the same as before since I really like anything with cheese, that's why I ordered the NY Fish and Chips since the fish was stuffed with Parmesan. I really like the people in the restaurant because they are really attentive even tough there are lots of people eating. You know that they really take care of their customers, that's good customer service, plus the food is great also but is a bit pricey. So if I am to rate Fish and Co. - MOA, 10/10 for service, 9/10 for food and presentation, 8/10 for price.

Week 41: Masskara, the next day! (Sunday)

Woke up early that day to attend mass that Sunday although it was in Ilongo so I was not actually able to understand it. Just prayed in the Bacolod Cathedral then we walked to SM to buy some stuff, taking a look at souvenir items along the way.

In the afternoon, we went back to Araneta St to watch the street parade. It was my first time to watch the Masskara street dancing so I was really excited. We were at the backend of the audience and the show had just started. Since I wanted to take some pictures, I found my way to the front of the people. One lady kept telling me that I could go in since I had a camera, but I was scared by the rampaging street dancers so i just stayed back. My friend also told me that it was normal to see some of the dancers faint due to the heat and the heavy masskara, and we did get to see several dancers faint on the street.

So after standing for about an hour or so, we got a bit tired and decided to go to the back stage and get pictures with some of the dancers. Our feet were so sore but we really enjoyed the day.

Once the dance was completed, we decided to go home, but since the roads were still closed, it was hard to get a jeepney. Once we got one, even though it was really packed we got on and squeeze our way through.

Week 41: Masskara! (Saturday)

The Philippines is rich with festivities. The Masskara festival is one of the most colorful festival here in the Philippines. I really enjoyed festival even though the weekend was very tiresome. The weekend was very memorable to me for several reasons, there was so many bloopers that happened.

The first day, we stayed at The Sugarland Hotel at Bacolod. The place was so so. Check-in time was 2:00 PM, we arrived at the hotel at 12:00, so we decided to go to MO2 Days Inn hotel to check if they already had rooms available for the next day since I only reserved one night at Sugarland since they only had the suite available, which was a bit more than the budget. Good thing, unlike that Saturday, Sunday was not as much fully booked so we got a room in Days Inn for Sunday which was actually cheaper. You would want to save as much money for other stuff. So we got back at Sugarland at around 1:45, we stayed at the lobby and waiting 15 minutes, went to the receptionist and was advised that they were still cleaning the room and asked for another 30 minutes. 30 minutes passed, they were still not finished, they gave as complementary ice teas. In short, it was after an hour before we got to check in. And because all of us did not get enough slip the night before due to the time of our flight, we slept, well, they did. After rest, we went to Lacson St. to watch the electric Masskara parade, which had only 4 participants. I am not sure if they were the winners of the parade the day before.

Visita Iglesia

One of the traditions in the Philippines during holy week is Visita Iglesia.

The tradition of visiting seven churches on Holy Thursday is an ancient practice, probably originating in Rome, where early pilgrims visited the seven pilgrim churches as penance. In the Philippines, the faithful carry out this tradition of Visita Iglesia (Spanish: Church visits) and some expand it to include fourteen churches and say the Stations of the Cross, with one station in each church. - Wikipedia

I usually spend this time with my family, enjoying the road, bonding with my family and strengthening my faith.

Last year, we visited 14 churches from Bulacan, Pampanga and Zambales. The Philippines is rich in historical churches that are field with history and culture.

LENT

It has actually been a while since I was last able to post something in this blog, and this time, I really promise to keep it more updated. The last post was actually about one of our various ways of celebrating Christmas in the country, and this post now is about Lent.

PHOTO FROM www.beverlycovenantchurch.org/

Filipinos are known to be religious, and not being biased on my own belief, I would be posting some of the churches found in the Philippines as part of the Lenten season. I enjoy visiting the churches not only to pay homage but the churches also depicts the history of the town and it also showcases the different buildings during the olden days.

Next time, I would also try to post about other religions in the Philippines but I'm afraid that my knowledge in other religion is poor.