Random Travels & Reflections

Manila Sunset... No filter needed

2014-08-13T23:56:00.001-08:00

I got a call from my best friend Lee, she was driving and was so awed by what she saw in the horizon, she just had to make sure I look out my window to see it.

The Manila Bay Sunset! There's really nothing like it. I thank God everyday that my condo is where it is. I get to see God's painting in the sky. I swear it's different each day.

As I shared to my Facebook friends a couple of days ago, it makes me love doing paperwork looking at this view.

With all that happened this year--having emergency surgery, a difficult recovery, residual reflux to this day--the beauty I see outside my window gives me hope for the future.

I see it as God's encouragement, that whatever difficulty I face... Just like the sunset, some things are constant. Like his everlasting love for me. Thank you, Lord!

The Big Move

2013-06-30T07:31:00.001-08:00

Moving is never easy, particularly in the wee hours of the morning... I still have a huge headache from the sudden leasing of my aunt & sister's condo. I've been managing our rental properties for ages but this one's really something else.

I had to move stuff out of the apartment to get it ready for the tenant in just four hours! Good thing a neighbor rents out her 7th floor unit for 1800 php/night so we had somewhere to place our stuff before I accepted our new condo three floors up.

It was not a pretty sight at the studio apartment. I'm just thankful that I had people working at my kiosk who are also my distant cousins. So I have people who cares about me & were there to help no matter how late it was.

At least I've got the new aircon & the shower heater installed now. I find I didn't mind not having a proper bed yet as long as I have a/c & hot water. I did a double take with the 2500 php installation fee though. Ugh! That hurts.

Now I'm waiting for the architect to do his thing. A condo this small needs an expert to decide where everything should be. Though I'm absolutely dreading the bill. :(

Canada: To Apply for a TRV or not

2013-06-28T17:39:00.001-08:00

My mother and I are in a tizzy right now. We were sent an invitation to visit by my sister--who is a permanent resident in Canada--the statutory declaration says that she & her husband will take care of everything we might need while there. Who wouldn't want that, right?

Certainly, this travel junkie is all excited and salivating at the thought of seeing the Canadian Rocky Mountains up-close! But the timing is awful... I'm in the middle of a permanent move from my Valenzuela apartment to our newly-acquired Makati condo.

It's just a total mess right now and I also have work to contend with. To add to the confusion, Mama can't stay past the summer season in fear of her joints acting up in the cold. That's really our main concern, that she enjoy her 75th year... The year of visiting all her kids & grandkids scattered about in Canada, Australia & New Zealand.

We're both excited to see my brother & his family in Ontario, some of his kids we have not met since they were born. We also can't bear to disappoint my sister's kids in Alberta. The eldest, 17-year-old Jian, worked at KFC so he can save for his grandma's plane ticket.

Aww... this is hard. Should we go through with the Temporary Resident Visa application? I just hope we get approved (or not) while it's still summer there.

Corregidor: Island of Valor

2013-02-28T22:00:00.000-09:00

Cruising to Corregidor

2013-02-28T17:58:00.001-09:00

Keeping my family entertained when in Manila has become one of my unofficial "duties". They know for a direction-challenged, allergic-to-drive person I certainly do get around a lot. As long as there are cabs and I can ask around and pretend to know where I'm headed, I'm good to go.

A cruise to Corregidor Island, the World War II fortress, is highly recommended. A day-long excursion to get some idea about what Filipino and American soldiers went through in the war against the Japanese invaders... I thought it was perfect especially for my young nieces and nephew.

Sun Cruises provides ferry services to Corregidor so we contacted them a few days before we were set to sail. The price was 2200/adult and 1250/child for a day tour package inclusive of roundtrip ferry transfers, entrance and terminal fees plus guided tour of the island and buffet lunch.

We showed up at the Sun Cruises office before 7:00 am and got our boarding passes and hopped on a van to the CCP Bay Terminal (beside the Folk Arts Theater) where the catamaran MV Sun Cruises was docked. The ferry is much like the one we traveled in from Kowloon to Macau.

We showed up at 6:

The departure time was supposed to be at 8:00 am but some tour groups arrived late so we left 30 minutes later. Great to leave Manila's traffic and pollution for a day but wait, its trash seemed to have followed us! Sad to see snack wrappers and all sorts of plastic floating from Manila Bay to Corregidor Island.

After over an hour of sailing, the tadpole-shaped island was at last in our sights. Trams aka tramvia were waiting for us, they ushered the groups according to the language they want as there were English, Filipino and Japanese-speaking guides on the trams.

So much history of pain, death, defeat and ultimately triumph are what Corregidor Island represents. Not your usual day tour, for sure.

Tigers, Pythons & Co. @ Malabon Zoo

2012-10-26T00:00:00.000-08:00

Malabon Zoo is a private sanctuary for animals located just off MacArthur Highway near Monumento, Caloocan. It has earned a reputation for having more animals than the much-larger Manila Zoo.

Having had my post-grad studies in Valenzuela, I've always been aware that there is a Malabon Zoo but it was only when my nieces and nephew was in town that I actually got to visit this zoo.

It's located close to Malabon Elementary School and the sign boards along the streets to the zoo were very helpful in pointing us in the right direction so we arrived at 10:00 am and paid the ₱100 entrance fee.

Cute sayings and quotes about life, love, even lyrics of songs like Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World" dotted the various animal cages. It was nice that we were just in time for the feeding of the animals like the orangutans. It was fascinating to see these huge primates running around, being awkwardly cute.

The zoo also allows you to hold pythons for photo ops and my nephew Jian, nieces Mariel & Kee, and my brother-in-law Manoy Lito eagerly paid the ₱200 to get their pictures taken with the snakes.

My sister Maris, my friend Joy and I were a bit more apprehensive but much persuading and taunting by the kids left Joy and I no choice but to try it. I've always been grossed out by snakes, but honor was at stake, so I held one Burmese python for posterity's sake and it was not so bad. It helped that the snake was docile and not slimy at all.

The zoo also has a tiger cub named "Dionisia", and she was incredibly cute and playful. She's like a big cat jumping around and swatting our hands playfully. She got too energetic at one point and jumped off the table that the handler pulled on her tongue to quiet her up.

That was weird to see and we felt very bad for the tiger cub. She was just a baby and just playing around. The incident somewhat tainted our enjoyment of petting a real honest-to-goodness tiger cub. Sorry your tongue got hurt, dear Dionisia!

There was a grizzly bear in this zoo too. Though it looked quiet demented, just bouncing around, moving its huge head up and down. Maybe it's the stifling summer heat that was making him do that or the cramped cage, or both? Poor thing.

There were many adult tigers and I've always been fascinated by how smoothly they move. The crocodiles were amply represented as well. This zoo do have more animals than the Manila Zoo but I wish there were more space for them to move around.

I hope the well-intentioned Malabon Zoo people can transfer some of their animals some place with more room. I appreciate that it's privately-owned and it must cost the owner a pretty penny to keep them fed and clean but the place is a bit small. Maybe they can donate or lend some of the animals to Manila Zoo, God knows that zoo has the space.

Malabon Zoo & Aquarium
1 Governor Pascual Avenue
Potrero, Malabon
Tel: 3613083

Tagaytay Accommodations: Mar Ermino's

2012-10-24T00:00:00.000-08:00

Unplanned overnight trips can be challenging and our excursion to Tagaytay was definitely a challenge. Just imagine looking for a place at 8pm in a strange touristy city... hmm, good thing the much vaunted Filipino hospitality and friendliness to lost strangers worked for us.

It was dark when we left Picnic Grove and after our dinner at Andok's, we retraced our steps and walked down Kaykulot Road (right across Tagaytay Picnic Grove) and found Kuya Mar Ermino's hostel/rooms for rent. An a/c room to accommodate all five of us for ₱1200 was a good deal so we plunked down the money, was handed the key for room 4 and got ready for bed.

The house is in a quiet neighborhood, the mattresses were firm, the bathroom clean (no hot water though). The store in front of the house is also very convenient, we bought coffee and bread there for our breakfast and Kuya Mar was kind enough to give us hot water.

Ermino's is a no-frills, value for money place. A good night's sleep was had by all and we were grateful to have this place to stay in Tagaytay City when we needed it. If you ever find yourself stuck at the Picnic Grove at night--you're not the picky type and don't mind cold showers--then Ermino's is for you.

Update: Mar Ermino's has improved! They have free wi-fi now, cable TV and hot shower. ₱1800 for 24 hours, good for 2-4 pax. You can actually haggle for a discount down to ₱1500 with breakfast. :)

Mar Ermino's Rooms
Kaykulot Road, Sungay East
4120 Tagaytay City
(across Picnic Grove Exit Gate)
Tel.: +639172483189

Peoples Park in the Sky, Tagaytay

2012-10-22T15:36:00.000-08:00

no apostrophe here

Our Taal Lake jaunt done, we rode our rented trike up to Mount Gonzales where the People's Park in the Sky is located. It was called "Palace in the Sky" in the time of the high-flying, lavish-living Marcoses and was made specifically for Ronald Reagan's eventually scuttled State Visit.

The view atop this half-finished mountain retreat is marvelous. The highest point in Tagaytay City, what makes it even more special is you get to see four different bodies of water in one place. Hello there Taal Lake, Balayan Bay, Manila Bay and Laguna de Bay, it's nice to meet you. Ha!

You can also see the posh Tagaytay Highlands--a golf and country club development--from up here. Famished, we immediately looked for a picnic table where we ate the Jollibee meals we bought in the city proper.

After lunch, we walked around the park. The girls had fun in the giant pineapple structure. I remember having my picture taken as a kid in that thing!

The view is gorgeous of course, but I wish this place is better maintained. The buildings are falling apart, the railings rusty. I'm happy that there are new toilets constructed though. My visit a year before was marred by a nasty encounter with a dirty toilet, so I'm glad that problem has been addressed.

clean toilets, at last!

more fun in the Philippines...

This place could be much nicer and lots of people come for the awesome view anyway, but improvement is clearly needed if we're serious about our ambitious tourism goals. The Philippines is truly beautiful, the infrastructure should keep up accordingly.

People's Park in the Sky
Mt. Gonzales
Tagaytay City

Entrance fee: ₱15
Parking fee: bus ₱40
car/jeep/motorcycle: ₱20

Boating to Taal Lake and Volcano Island

2012-10-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

Unplanned overnight trip or not, we woke up refreshed. Sporting our hastily bought, matching "Tagaytay" t-shirts, we were raring to explore more of Tagaytay. The owner of the hostel we stayed in recommended his cousin to drive us around in his tricycle.

We had no plans to go boating but Neil the trike driver explained to us that it wouldn't cost us too much (₱450) to drive down to Talisay, Batangas where cheap boats for rent could be found to get us close to Taal's Volcano Island.

The thought of getting near a rumbling volcano ( Alert level 2) thrilled us but due to the increasing seismic activity, PHIVOLCS (Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology) had forbidden anyone to horseback-ride up the crater to look at the "lake within an island within a lake" phenomenon. That's just too bad for us, but at least everyone's still interested to see Taal's famous "big leg" up close.

The tricycle ride to Talisay was not for the faint of heart. There were stretches of road that were under construction and I almost choked at the thick fog of dirt that enveloped us when we drove by. Manay Ella and Dit also had to walk for a bit when the trike got stuck on a particularly steep road.

But we arrived at Tantiongco's Resort in Brgy. Leynes, Talisay still in high spirits, with the great view of Taal Lake and Volcano Island encouraging us. The resort offers rooms for overnight stay and boat rental. We just wanted to sail on the lake and get close to the volcano and crater so we rented a boat which we haggled down to ₱1200.

The boat ride was enjoyable and took about 20 minutes to get us close enough to the "big leg" cone aka "binintiang malaki", the famous crater in everyone's mind when you say "Taal Volcano". Honestly, I think it's much prettier and more mysterious from afar.

Lava rocks were also pointed out to us by the boat driver. It was fun just driving around the lake, so close to this famous "smallest active volcano", home to the "tawilis" the only freshwater sardine of the Clupeidae family in the world". How's that for trivia?

When we had enough sightseeing and pictures, it was time to go back to shore and take the dusty ride back to Tagaytay with a quick stop to our driver swore was Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's vacation house. Could it be true? Hmm... debatable, but we snapped pictures anyway.

Horseback Riding @ Picnic Grove, Tagaytay

2012-10-09T13:37:00.000-08:00

Tagaytay has always been a go-to place for me and was next on my nieces' list of places to visit after our beach-bumming Boracay adventure. Its proximity to my place in Manila is a big plus and it's where I usually take my visiting family, so we planned a day trip, but fate had other plans.

The original plan was our good friend Ate Alma was supposed to meet us at Gil Puyat (aka Buendia) LRT station and drive us to Tagaytay but some clueless guy at a Petron gas station pumped the wrong fuel into her car so it would not start anymore. Bummer.

Anyway, we were already there so decided to just commute to Tagaytay from Gil Puyat and since my numerous visits to the place have all been via private car, I was absolutely clueless. We saw a JAM Transit bus station, asked the dispatcher if it will get us to Tagaytay and hopped onto the first bus that was ready to leave.

Big mistake. The bus was bound for Batangas and just let us off at Balibago bus station in Sta. Rosa, Laguna so we had to take a jeepney ride to Tagaytay. But it was all good. People were nice enough to give us directions and reassure us that the jeep will surely drop us off to where we should be.

Long story short, we alighted at the city terminal and took a tricycle to the Picnic Grove. Whew! It was 5:30pm so I decided to do the horseback riding because having a picnic in the grass and kite flying like what I did with my sister's family the week before, was not an option anymore.

We were quickly losing daylight so we hurriedly paid off the ₱50/person entrance fee and walked to the riding trail on the left side of the picnic grounds and haggled with the touts for the horse rental.

A ₱200/horse fee was agreed upon for an hour of galloping around the trail. Girlie was apprehensive at first, but rapidly gained confidence once her horse started cantering around.

Cousin Dit got a smaller horse more suited for a kid and we laughed at the size difference. Horseback riding is my favorite thing to do in Tagaytay so it was a nice feeling to share the fun with my nieces, nephews and siblings.

The view at the ridge atop the horse was breathtaking and the fact that it was sunset and we were the only ones left riding, made it seem more special somehow.

The guides took us way down the rocky hill and back to the main horseback riding trail. It was quite exhilarating (though a bit scary) riding a horse down a hilly slope! It was worth the 2-hour commute from Manila just for that.

Everyone had fun and swiftly gained a lot of confidence on horseback, that at the end of the hour-long ride, nobody needed the guides anymore. Alyssa, Girlie and Dit were riding and guiding their horses themselves! My sis-in-law Manay Ella wasn't as daring, though.

It was a thrilling few hours of commuting and riding... but as we got off our horses we realized we had nowhere to stay in for the night and no change of clothes!

We looked around the souvenir shops and found matching shirts for the next day. Walking down Aguinaldo Highway, we found an Andok's Lechon Manok restaurant and had dinner there. After which we proceeded to look for a hostel where we can rest for the full sightseeing day ahead. What fun!

Tagaytay Picnic Grove
Brgy. Sungay East, Tagaytay City

Entrance fee: ₱50/head for 4 years old and above
Parking fee: car: ₱35
van/coaster/jeep: ₱50
bus: ₱100

La Carmela de Boracay Resort Hotel

2012-10-03T00:30:00.000-08:00

We stayed at La Carmela de Boracay on our Boracay trip. The standard quadruple-sharing room we got was just right for us. It was spotless and there was enough room for our luggages which was a relief.

The bathroom was clean with the usual complimentary toiletries but the glass enclosure was elevated off the floor which made the toilet area wet after someone uses the shower.

The complimentary breakfast was good enough, but choices were limited and the restaurant is small so you better show up for breakfast earlier if you wanted to be served immediately.

The pool is nice but I had the feeling when I jumped in that every kid there has urinated in it because the water was weirdly warm and way too chlorinated.

Nevertheless, we had fun at La Carmela. The building is beachfront and is very close to D'mall, D' Talipapa and the fire dancing bars. The 3200/night we paid for our room was more than worth the fun we had at "the world's best beach".

La Carmela de Boracay Resort Hotel
Station 2, Balabag, Boracay Island
Malay, Aklan
Email: info@lacarmeladeboracay.com
Phone: +63 36 288 5423, +63 2 8979184

@ Boracay, "The Best Beach In The World" part 2

2012-10-01T00:30:00.000-08:00

Boracay was voted "Best beach in the world" in 2012. It's been at or near the top of the world's best for years and when you get there you'll understand why.

It has a reputation for having the softest, finest white sand in the world. When you hold the sand in your hand, you might be surprised that it has the consistency of talcum powder. I've visited a lot of white sand beaches but Boracay's sand is in a class by itself.

Don't try to bring sand home though, the authorities are trying to stave off sand erosion in the island by discouraging the practice so just buy a small sand bottle sold from the souvenir shops if you'd really like to take some with you.

Anyway, you visit paradise for the fun and sun and Boracay have lots to offer. We tried the banana boat ride which cost us 2500 for 9 people. It was 30 minutes of holding on tight to the rubber boat and getting splashed in the eyes with salt water which was a challenge for me and my niece Alyssa since we were seated in front, but that's a small price to pay for the experience.

We screamed ourselves hoarse just for the fun of it and the feeling of utter freedom in the middle of the waves. It's worth every penny my other niece Hazel paid for the whole thing. I'm an extremely lucky aunt that I'm close enough in age to my nieces to get invited to their trips, haha!

Boracay is famous for its night life so we could not resist plunking our butts on bean bags at The Bamboo Bar in Boat Station 3 to drink some cocktails and see the fire dancers do their thing. I'm not much of a drinker so I nursed my martini the whole night while the others had a bit more.

Those fire dancers are seriously fun to watch. I wondered how they do it without burning various parts of their anatomy. I would probably singe my hair if I try those moves! They are seriously fit too, those gay guys are sexy and that girl's abs was just unreal.

The next day, even if some were nursing mild hangovers, we rented an outrigger boat for 3000 to take us snorkeling to Crocodile Island. It was great to see all the colorful fish though we wish we brought an underwater camera, that was really awesome. Some enterprising boatmen were selling buko juice in the middle of the ocean for ₱50 so we bought several when we were ready to get back on the boat.

We also did some swimming after snorkeling away from the White Beach, it's really crowded in April there so beautiful as it was, we appreciated the chance to swim in relative peace somewhere else.

Tired of the roasted chicken and pizzas we had from Andok's and Yellow Cab the previous day, we asked around and found Bella Bistro Boracay who agreed to cook for 100/kilo the seafood and tuna we bought at the D'Talipapa wet market. It was one of my best meals, fresh and oh-so tasty. I'm starting to drool just thinking about it.

Feeling wonderfully full, we walked around the narrow street of D'Talipapa and bought funky bangles for ourselves and key chains and refrigerator magnet pasalubongs for our friends. Dit even bought me a dress which pleased me to no end.

I visited Boracay years ago and it was a shock at first to see it so crowded and noisy now--with so many people running around and touts everywhere selling all kinds of stuff--but I'm glad it's getting the attention it deserves.

I might long for the peace and quiet of the past but I'm aware of the positive effect of the tourists' presence on our economy. I just hope Boracay would be developed responsibly because it is truly a treasure and an island I will always love to come back to no matter how many years pass by.

@ Boracay, "The Best Beach In The World" part 1

2012-09-29T19:34:00.000-08:00

When my niece Girlie called and confirmed she's coming home for a short vacation after 5 years of living in New Zealand, I was practically giddy, I missed my ex- roommate and childhood nemesis ( I remember her always messing around with my stuff when she was really young, and I being the 10 year-old auntie that I was, would scream bloody murder and would often ask God why he was punishing me with such a nasty little brat ;)

The memory of those difficult days faded away somewhat when she asked me to accompany her to Boracay. My heart did a somersault several times over when she told me she'll pay for the whole thing too. I knew my decision not to strangle her when she was young would pay off eventually, muahahaha!

Anyway, she was coming over with her little sister Alyssa and her other sister, Swiss-based Hazel (aka Chigo) would also fly in ahead of us with her mom Ella, cousin Dit, and friends Michael and Marsel to make things even more fun. I was tasked with booking our trip and since it was short notice, I decided to ask my friend Joy (who has a cousin that owns a travel agency for help) and they gave us a reasonable price for our group of four.

We were originally planning on having just 3 in our package but we were convinced to add one more person because the additional price is just 2000 pesos and we thought our cousin Rhea (my other ex-roommate) would love to join us, so our travel was set.

This trip was arranged within a week of departure and there were no available seats on the flights to Caticlan so we had to fly via Kalibo International Airport in Kalibo, Aklan. This airport was not as big as I expected and there weren't enough seats to accommodate all the tourists flying in and out of Boracay so be ready to stand in a corner or sit on the floor especially if your flight is delayed.

I don't recommend flying in via Kalibo because you'll have to ride a van or bus for another 2 hours to get to Caticlan. I'm not for long bus rides at all, I get bored so easily and I get dizzy trying to type a blog post on my iPod or iPhone anyway.

Our flight was mercifully on time and there was someone from our hotel, La Carmela de Boracay, waiting there for us and he herded us to the bus and after 2 hours, we arrived in Caticlan and quickly boarded an outrigger boat to take us to Boracay island itself.

After alighting at the Cagban jetty port, we were picked up by the van from La Carmela and took us straight to White Beach Station 2 where the world's best beach with the finest and softest sand awaits. Boracay, It's wonderful to see you again!

Blog, blog, blog!

2012-09-27T21:09:00.000-08:00

hanging in there...

I know I've neglected this blog time and again. Work has been merciless the past months and the fact that I'm the only one left of my five siblings in the Philippines did not help matters. Add to that the headaches (and rewards) my small business have given me, left little time to write and sort through pictures of my travels the past months.

I've been traveling like nobody's business, both for work and sightseeing that I have got literally thousands of pictures saved on my computer and external hard drive. Boracay, Corregidor, Tagaytay, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, CamSur, Albay, Ilocos, Coron, Baguio, Leyte, Samar... all in the past year and a half. As a matter of fact, I just got back from Leyte a week ago. Not bad, huh? If only I can spare some time to write about them all.

But something happened that made me think how important it is to put the recollection of my travels and photos on this blog. A few days ago, I could not open my Seagate external hard drive and to make things even more complicated, my Lenovo Y410 laptop suddenly and inexplicably died on me! So I was faced with the possible scenario of all my travel photos being gone.

It made me wish I've blogged about all the places I've visited. Good thing I found some tips to open my hard drive again and was able to retrieve my pictures and I promised myself to write my experiences and post on this site more consistently. I've also bought a new laptop last weekend, so I'm good to go. Wish me luck. :)

Hong Kong - Macau Itinerary

2012-09-26T23:40:00.000-08:00

Here's our itinerary (and some recommendations) for our Hong Kong & Macau trip via our travel agency:

Day 1 Meet & transfer to Silka Seaview Hotel.

*** Ocean Park in the after lunch for an extra $60.

Day 2 Breakfast at hotel then Hong Kong city tour : Stars Avenue, Aberdeen Fishing Village, Mid-levels of Victoria Peak , Jewellery City & Factory Outlet.

Afternoon Disneyland tour until the fireworks display.

Day 3 Breakfast at hotel, then pick up for Macau tour with lunch (approximately 9 hours) Upon arrival, sightseeing tour begins with casinos Wynn Macau, Grand Lisboa, The Venetian Macao, City of Dreams and certain World Heritage Sites including the landmark of Macau – Ruins of St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church and Senado Square after tour, transfer back to Hong Kong.

Day 4 Breakfast at hotel , free time until transfer to airport.

**package rate per passenger: 185 x 3 = 555 USD
macau optional tour: 80 x 3 = 240
total in usd: 795
airline rate: 44.10
total in peso: 35,059.50 (cash payment)

Note: We had a tourist guide meet us at the Macau ferry terminal to make it easier for our elderly mom, but going around the city is pretty simple with the free shuttle buses provided by the casinos that you can probably do the sightseeing on your own without much of a problem.

Dragon's Treasure Show at City of Dreams, Macau

2012-08-24T23:30:00.000-08:00

The City of Dreams is just across The Venetian Macao and was our last stop on our day-long Macau excursion. It's the usual casino with gleaming marble floors, interesting ceilings and nice water features. Isn't it obvious that I'm all casinoed out by this time?

Anyway, we decided to watch a show at the Bubble Theater to see what everyone's raving about in blogs and message boards. We joined the long lines and bought our 50 MOP tickets at the counter. This show is every 30 minutes at 12:00pm to 6:00pm (probably on account of the large day-tour crowd from Hong Kong) and every hour thereafter up to 10:00pm, so getting a ticket was not a problem.

The show itself was great. You enter into a domed theater like what you see in a planetarium. It's better to be situated at the back to better appreciate the 360-degree screen.

I loved the bright and colorful lights and the speed of the dragons swimming onscreen. I got a little dizzy following all the characters around, haha! Truth be told, I barely paid attention to the story because the LED lights were just so awesome.

The show lasted all of 10 minutes and was a great experience, a perfect end to a wonderful day. On our way out, we saw the pictures taken on our way in, plastered on key chains & refrigerator magnets.

We looked somewhat nice in it--and since my sister was still pining for the Disneyland photos we forgot to claim the previous day--so we grabbed these photos for $20. That ends our Macau adventure and we took the free shuttle bus to the terminal to catch our 5:00 pm ferry back to Hong Kong.

City Of Dreams
Estrada do Istmo
Cotai, Macau
Tel: (853) 8868 6688
Email: contactcentre@melco-crown.com

The Venetian Macao

2012-07-31T21:17:00.000-08:00

The Venetian Macao is huge. It is the largest single structure hotel building in Asia and the largest casino in the world. It has the usual casino amenities but what sets it apart from the rest is the Venice-inspired part of the building where visitors can ride a gondola around the San Luca canal while the gondolier sings.

But first we needed to get some lunch. We went to the Venetian's food court and ordered some Hainanese chicken which was great and this beef soup that was so hot even for us Bicolanas, it practically burned our tongues!

Good thing we had plenty of water to wash it down, but our Mama was just floored by how ridiculously hot it was. So my sister Maris and I just shared our food with her because that soup was just unbearable.

We walked around and found the Venice side of the building. Hmmm that ceiling was really cool. It looked like real clouds up there. A gondola passed by and the song the gondolier was singing was "Dahil Sa Yo" a Filipino love song. It's true then, you can find Filipino workers everywhere!

The ornate ceiling fascinated me--truly, casinos go for this kind of thing--the flashier the better. The golden orb in the lobby was no slouch either and we enjoyed the opulence of the place by posing for seemingly endless photos. The human statues in the hallways were pretty good too, but it must be a tough job. I hope they get to keep the money thrown at them at the end of their shifts.

It was a shock to step out of the building and see how bright and sunny (& hot!) it actually was. That virtual cloud really had as fooled for a while.

Ruins of Saint Paul's, Macau

2012-07-30T23:30:00.000-08:00

The Ruins of St. Paul's is the facade of what was once the Cathedral of Saint Paul built by the Jesuits in the 16th century and was ravaged by fire in 1835. It is Macau's most recognizable attraction and is probably the place to visit when one finds oneself in this former Portuguese colony.

It is part of the Historic Center of Macau listed in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites since 2005. It is quite impressive, though the swarm of people all trying to get up close and personal with the ruins is kind of off-putting. I would have loved to have taken a picture without the sea of tourists milling about.

But I can't begrudge the dear old thing its success. It's truly a wonderful place to visit, the crowd notwithstanding. It's weird to see clothes hanging in the breeze from the adjacent buildings though, not something you would expect to see so close to an iconic heritage site.

My mom and sister were too tired to hike up the steps so we just took pictures at the bottom of the stairs and sat in front of a nearby store to eat our Portuguese egg tarts and smoked pork fillets. Those Macanese treats were good!

Senado Square (Largo do Senado), Macau

2012-07-30T16:59:00.000-08:00

Senado Square has been Macau’s city center for hundreds of years, a part of the “Historic Center of Macau”, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Surrounded by neo-classical buildings built by the Portuguese colonizers, this place is really something to see.

I’m a bit of a history buff. I’ve always loved old buildings, especially centuries-old churches. It must be the small percentage of Spanish-Portuguese blood in me (inherited from my maternal grandmother’s frisky friar grandfather). Indeed I was happy as a clam just roaming around this square, appreciating the intricate artistry in the building of this site.

I also loved the Portuguese pavement stretching through the rest of the plaza. I got a little bit dizzy staring too long at the wave-like patterns of the carefully laid out stones.

I spent some time just admiring the paved sidewalks on the way here and it was impressive to see, though apparently really hard to build. They say it’s a hazard to pedestrians when wet, but it’s undeniably pretty. Now I want to visit Portugal to see the mother of all pavements there!

We walked by the Holy House of Mercy, Leal Senado and spent some time admiring the interior of St. Dominic’s Church, founded in 1587 by Spanish Dominican priests. It makes this church 20 years older than Manila’s San Agustin Church! I’m totally blown away.

Senado Square is not just a place to gawk at historic buildings it’s also a place for shopping and dining. We had great fun buying shirts and souvenirs but what takes the cake is the food. Rice cookies, pork/beef fillets (I loved the hot and garlic ones) and the best of them all, the Portuguese Egg Tart from Koi Kei Bakery. They were giving out samples too so we were stuffing our faces while waiting for our purchases, yum!

Grand Lisboa, Macau

2012-06-22T07:51:00.000-08:00

The Grand Lisboa Hotel and casino is the tallest building in Macau at 261 meters (856 ft.). It has the flawless 218-carat diamond "Star of Stanley Ho" on permanent display in the lobby together with the Qing dynasty sculpture of a bronze horse head from the Summer Palace.

It's a worthwhile visit just for those two, but throw in our tourist guide's hilarious stories about the Grand Lisboa's owner, "The King of Gambling" Stanley Ho's complicated love life (4 wives, 17 children!) and we've got a very entertaining glimpse at the life of one of the world's richest men.

I loved this building's unique structure with its lotus-inspired facade and sharp edges. The intricate design of the ceiling was quite eye-catching and mom just had to pose beside the giant vase near the entrance.. oh ma!

Dragon of Fortune @ Wynn Macau

2012-06-21T01:53:00.000-08:00

Wynn Macau was our first stop from the ferry terminal. We were just in time for the "Dragon of Fortune" to make an appearance from the globe dome located at the casino atrium complete with billowing smoke and fire.

Lasting for four minutes, this show is pretty dramatic, especially the opening of the gilded ceiling. Very Vegas... after the dragon did his thing, he went back down to his domed lair just to pop up 30 minutes later to give the gawking tourists another round of fierce stares amid the fog.

Since we didn't plan on gambling, we just went about the building and enjoyed the opulence of the place. It's just amazing to see the people milling around--throwing loads of money on designer bags, shoes and jewelry--too bad, I'm too cheap to comfortably spend that kind of money around, haha!

I'm very grateful that I have enough money to travel with my family now, so I'm not whining too much. Although the plan is to have enough to buy that Prada or Hermes bag without too much guilt in the future.

But for now, appreciating stuff on my travels like Wynn's "Performance Lake" fountain show (pictured above), is the way to go.

Arrival @ Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal, Macau

2012-05-20T14:43:00.001-08:00

The ride from Kowloon to Macau took an hour and we got excited when we saw the Macao Sands from the ferry window. Hmmm but I wonder what's the deal with that volcano right beside it?

The line to the immigration counter was long and it took us about 30 minutes to get our passport stamped. I'm thankful that Macau allows Filipino passport holders like me a 30 days visa-free stay. It must make the serious gamblers among us happy, huh?

We were met by our tour guide Sari at the arrival hall. She's Indonesian, but can easily be mistaken for a Filipina. She was charming, spoke good English (and a smattering of Tagalog too), so we quickly felt comfortable with her.

Sari led us through the bustling crowd, and out to the seemingly endless line of shuttle buses provided by the various casinos--Wynn, The Venetian, Sands, Grand Lisboa, MGM Grand--so many to choose from! You can ride for free to whichever casino you want to visit, which is cool.

Since they have shuttle buses to take you to the casinos, you can actually wing it and forego the tour guide but we were traveling with our mom. We didn't want to tire her out by taking a wrong turn, amid the hustle and bustle, and getting lost in a foreign country.

We headed to the Wynn casino bus (to catch the dragon show) and enjoyed the view of Macau with its gleaming new buildings, cobbled streets & temples. The old and the new fabulously mixing together. I love it.

@ Hong Kong's China Ferry Terminal to Macau

2012-05-15T19:33:00.000-08:00

When planning a trip to Hong Kong, I highly recommend an excursion to Macau. It's just a ferry ride away, so why not? It also helped that in our case, my mother has Portuguese ancestry and she was excited to somewhat get in touch with her "roots" by visiting this former Portuguese colony.

I had my travel agent fix our itinerary for our Macau day tour. I wanted to make sure we'd have the chance to visit both the historic places in Macau and also the towering casinos. We were picked up by 8:00am to go to the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront where the China Ferry Terminal is located. The New World First Ferry tickets we got was for 9:00am so we had plenty of time to chat with the nice Chinese-Canadian lady who was waiting to board a ferry to Guangzhou.

We passed through Hong Kong Immigration and found out that my sister misplaced the extra copies of the arrival cards we filled out previously so we had to fill in new ones, but aside from that, we breezed through immigration as usual.

At about 8:30am, we were instructed to proceed to berth 13 to wait for boarding. The number 13 is not unlucky for the Chinese unlike for most of the world which I think is refreshing, but apparently 4 is a "no-no" for them because it rhymes with "death" in their language, hmm they are not as evolved as I first thought. So at exactly 9:00am we boarded the New Ferry LXXXVI and we're off.

Taking a ferry from Hong Kong to Macau is said to be the most popular way to travel between the two Special Administrative Regions and now I know why. It's very convenient, it just took us an hour to arrive at Macau's Outer Harbor Ferry Terminal. The ride was smooth and the view from the boat was amazing and at HKD 139 it was cheap too.

China Ferry Terminal
33 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Kowloon, Hong Kong
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Bargain Hunting @ Temple Street Night Market

2012-05-14T15:49:00.000-08:00

Temple Street Night Market is one of the busiest and biggest flea markets in Hong Kong. It's conveniently right across Silka Seaview Hotel where we were staying, and after a busy day of touring, we had a lot of fun just walking up and down the street looking for bargains and taking in the authentic Hong Kong Chinatown vibe of the place.

It opens in the late afternoon and ends at midnight. Get your comfortable shoes or flip-flops ready. Temple St. Night Market is five blocks of rows upon rows of glaringly-lit stalls, so make sure you have comfortable footwear, that way, you can seriously hunt for bargains. One can buy anything from jewelry, magnet souvenirs, lucky charms, clothing and food here. Fortune tellers also abound.

We bought souvenirs like the ubiquitous key chains, refrigerator magnets and mirrors ($20/piece) with "Hong Kong" emblazoned on them, to give away to our family and friends back home. My sister bought her boys some cool $50 shirts, mom bought herself a body bag for $70 and we also got the 3 for $100 scarves they are hawking in one of the stalls.

Temple Street was very safe, we roamed around without worry and everyone was really nice. We also walked by the Wing Sing Hotel, it's smack in the middle of the night market and still very near Silka Seaview. If you want to save a little money on your accommodation, Wing Sing is an option. Though we were very happy with Silka Seaview, it costs more.

A tip: if you see something you like, buy it! We came back the next night to buy more scarves (it's surprisingly "quality" for the $33 apiece we paid for it) and the lady selling it wasn't there anymore. That was a bummer, but Temple Street Night Market was a blast... just don't forget to haggle.

Killing Time @ Jewellery City, Hong Kong

2012-05-11T20:55:00.000-08:00

When you arrange your trip through a travel agency, a visit to a jewelry shop or a factory outlet is almost always inevitable. This is a way for the local tour guides or agency to make more money off the tourists.

On our trip to Hong Kong, after the compulsory city tour (the word "compulsory" rubs me the wrong way, but whatever), we were brought to Tokwawan Road in Kowloon at Jacky Chan's Jewellery City Co..

There was some cursory introduction about jewelry making, but everyone knows we were there to be tempted to buy their merchandise, and were ushered to the showroom post-haste.

It's not bad really, my sister and I bought some silver rings for $150 and our mom loved her bedazzled $400 magnetic bracelet so much, she swears days later that claims of its "healing properties" were true ( No hypertension in weeks! She enthused).

I guess it's not a total waste of time and our tour of the factory outlet in Hung Hom resulted in me finding my friends' usual choice of pasalubong (ref magnets) and we bought some quality shirts for $100 so I'm not complaining too much.

But do be quick about looking around these places or else you won't have much time in Disneyland or wherever you're supposed to go after that. Don't linger more than you have to, buy what you want or need and skedaddle. Spending time in Disneyland and Ocean Park are way more fun.

Jewellery City Co. Ltd.
Unit A3, Ground floor
Merit Industrial Centre
94 Tokwawan Road
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel (852) 2764-1133
Fax (852) 2764-175
Email jcl@jewellerycity.com.hk