Coffee at Vietnam

Vietnam is pretty famous for its coffee. When I was making our itinerary for our trip, I made sure that there will be free time for coffee.

We were going to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. Located north of the country, Hanoi is known as the city between the rivers and the second largest city in Vietnam. Since we purchased out tickets during an airline sale, choice of dates was limited. Nite to self, check the yearly forecast o the country first prior to booking. September is the time where the season changes in Hanoi, from summer to fall. Summer seems to be also a rainy season for Hanoi, and since I was planning on going to Halong Bay, I was praying it doesn't rain so the view won't be ruined.

And finally, it was time for our flight. Since the airline only has a few flights going to Hanoi, our trip was set Saturday (late night) to Wednesday (early morning). And since this is the most ideal schedule, almost everyone that we rode with going to Hanoi were also the same as the ones we went home with.

Our flight arrived early Sunday midnight, just enough time to let us rest for a whole day of city tour for the rest of the day.

Suggested places to go is the Ho Chi Minh museum, followed by the One Pillar Pagoda, the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the Presidential palace, the Flag tower, the the Temple of Literature which are actually walking distance from each other if you are up for it. It is important to note that the mausoleum is only open in the morning from 8:00 am to 11:00, and is closed Mondays and Fridays so it is best to start early and wear long pants rather than shorts.

Clockwise from the top: Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, One Pillar Pagoda, Ho Chi Minh Museum, Flag Tower

After a tiring but fun stroll along the area, you can head off to Old Quarter for lunch. After lunch, you can head off to Hoan Kiem Lake
Were the Turtle, the Huc bridge and Ngoc Son Temple can be found. The lake is also next to the water puppet show.

The Hub Bridge
If you are interested, you can visit St. Joseph's cathedral. The church was built in 1886 in the neo-gothic style. Near the church are coffee shops which are fillef with people sitting down on small stools placed on pavements around the street, which is the common site to see through out Hanoi.

St. Joseph's Cathedral

We decided to stop by for some coffee after attending mass. We chose a place that wasn't so crowded and order iced coffee and iced tea to cool down. We were curious at what the people were eating while drinking coffee and we realized that they were sunflower seeds, it seems that the snack is abundant in the place.




After coffee, it was finally time to head back to the hotel to rest our tired feet. After a quick rest, we headed off to old quarter to check out the night market, nothing really much to see though. Since all our energy was used up, we just ate dinner at the restaurant next to the hotel. Aside from coffee, your Hanoi trip will not be complete without trying their Pho noodles (both dry noodles and with soup) and rolls.




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The other Cagayan

I read in an airline magazine, when you say Cagayan, people would normally think Cagayan de Oro. This seems to be true. It's famous for white water rafting, and also is the nearest airport to some Mindanao destinations. But I'm not blogging about CDO right now. Today, I will let you see the other Cagayan, or parts of it.

Cagayan in the north, is part of the region of Cagayan Valley (Region 2) in the Philippines.  Cagayan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of Smiling Beauty, its capital is Tuguegarao City. It is at least a 15 hour drive from Manila, or you can also opt to take a plane which only lasts 45 minutes. The ideal days to vist the place would be during summer because the whole Cagayan Valley may be the most visited region of storms and heavy rains.

So, what can you do in the place? You can visit Callao Cave in Penablanca, the most known tourist spot in the province. It is roughly 45 minutes away from the city. You can hire a van or trike to take you to the place. If you are in a large group, it is best to hire a van. The cave has 7 chambers, 5 of which have sky lights. The last 2 chambers are more harder to reach as you would need to go down a rocky pathway and is not advisable to visit during rainy season as the way becomes muddy, none the less, the first few chambers are sufficient enough for you to enjoy. There is a minimal entrance fee and a volunteer tour guide will assist you inside the cave.

From the entrance, you will climb stairs to the entrance of the cave which will take 15-25 minutes depending on your phase. The chambers are just a few meters away from each other so this is really not as strenuous as you may think.

The Chapel at Callao Cave

After trekking the cave, you can also go for a relaxing boat ride along Pinacanauan River just at the side of the cave. A both ride will cost you Php 500/boat and you can also eat at the end of the river where the boatman will pick you up after. At nightfall, you may also be able to see bats storm out of the bat cave near the river.

Once you are back in the city, one thing you should miss is trying out Tuguegarao's famous noodles, the Pancit Butil Patong. It got its name from patong or to put on top. The noodles, together with its toppings also comes with soy sauce, onions, calamansi and a bowl of soup.

For Catholics, the next activity you can do is visit some of Cagayan's churches. Cagayan is a great place during the Holy Week if you want to do some Visita Iglesia. Some known churches are the Basilica Minore of Our Lady of Piat, Iguig Church in Calgary Hill, and St. Peter's Basilica in the capital. The Basilica Minore in Piat houses the miraculous image of the Blessed Virgin Mary while the Iguig Church has life size images of the stations of the cross and has a view of the Cagayan river.

Basilica Minore (L); Iguig Church (M); St. Peter's Basilica (R)

If you have run out of activities to do in the capital, you can also consider going to Santa Ana. Santa Ana is the home of the Cagayan Special Economic Zone which host casinos and other gaming facilities, some exclusive to Chinese visitors. You can also see several second hand vehicles for auction there. To know more of the place, visit the municipality's facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MySantaAna. 

Being on the northern part of the Luzon, there are many coastlines and beaches in Santa Ana. Port San Vicente is located at the edge of Santa Ana and is the entry point via boat to the place, across the Port, you will also have the view Palaui Island.

You can take a ferry trip from Santa Ana to Batanes, the farthest place north of the Philippines, during the calmest of weathers.

From the port, you can hire a boat that can take you to the three most famous destinations in the place; Palaui Island, Maninad Island and Anguib Beach.

Palaui is considered to have one of the great beaches in the Philippines. The view is breathtaking and can be compared to a mini Batanes. You can either trek the island which will take you at least 2 hours to reach the other part or you can ride a boat that will take you to the other side which takes 45 minutes. On the other side of the island you will see the lighthouse of Cape Engano.

As mentioned on the picture below, the lighthouse was inspired by 3 lighthouses: in Cape Bojaedor in Burgos, Ilocos Norte; in Capones Island, Zambales and Isla de Cabra in Mindoro.

The lighthouse is an additional climb of 20-30 minutes, which was really tiring especially during the time the sun rises the highest. Good thing the view of the island was really worth it.

After a tiring walk from the lighthouse, you can relax at Anguib beach (pronounced as angib). Half of the beach is private and offers an entrance fee of PHP 500 together with buffet lunch. The other side costs only PHP 20. According to the locals, you can also reach the beach via land but the gate towards the beach is normally closed, so the best option is still to take a boat ride to the San Vicente.

Anguib is tagged as the Boracay of the North. Don't get your hopes up as the sand is not as fine as Boracay, and there are also many weeds in the water. There is also not much to do in the place. During weekends, they say that the beach really gets packed with locals.

Maninad or Crocodile Island is a small island between Palaui and the mainland. From afar, it looks like a crocodile and the place is really stoney.

Well, can I say that the trip was worth it? Honestly, for me I travel to explore. I want to learn as much as possible, as they say, the more you travel the more open-minded you become. You get more experience. If you are after the beaches, I'd give it an 8. There is not much to do in Cagayan considering you will have to travel for 15 hours by land, but I recommend the place to people who wants to learn about caves, if you want a secluded place to enjoy on your own, if you want to hike and explore.

If you are planning a trip to Tuguegarao via plane, 4 days is enough (flights are in the morning only). An overnight stay at Santa Ana in the first night, rest on the second, then tour the city on the third day.

View of the Cagayan River from the airplane.

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

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.

Bolinao, Pangasinan - What to see!

There are many things to see in Bolinao aside from the beaches and caves. You could also stop by the Cape Bolinao Lighthouse. Built by the Americans in 1903 on a 300 feet (91 m) high promontory at the western part of Cape Bolinao, the lighthouse still sends signals to vessels passing by the area. Within the area of the lighthouse is a view deck wherein you would be able to see the blue ocean. The lighthouse is open for th epublic to visit but visitors are not allowed to enter inside the lighthouse. There is also an abandoned beside the foot of the lighthouse.

(Cape Bolinao Lighthouse)

You could also visit the falls in Bolinao, there are namely two falls, Tara Falls and Bolinao Falls. The two falls are near each other. Bolinao Falls are actually two falls, the people in the area calls them Bolinao Falls 1 and 2, the second being a more shallower water wherein kids could swim on. Bolinao Falls 2 is also better than Bolinao 1. The road to the area is rough and you would see mostly trees and mountains. Tara Falls is also a nice place to go to.

(Bolinao Falls 1)

The Saint James the Great Foitress Church in Bolinao is located in the main town of Bolinao, it celebrates it's 400th year on July 25, 2009.

(St. James Church)

One of the local delicacies in the place in Dinungoy which is rice cake cooked in bamboo mixed with coconut milk and salt. It tastes like suman, only is a bit sweeter and tastes good when eaten freshly cooked and still hot.

(Dinungoy)