While some might find six-hour bus rides tedious and exhausting, I quite like them. There's a certain kind of serenity to be found when being in transit, in that place between one's place of departure and destination. Also, nice shoelaces, Steph!
Forever in love with Coron, Palawan. I long to come back so that I can marvel yet again at its towering limestone cliffs, swim across its secret lakes, wonder in fear and curiosity at its shipwrecks, and uncover more of its secrets.
I'm itching to go to the beach. Hopefully we get to surf this weekend!
I also miss our default beach place, Kota Keluarga in Laiya, San Juan, Batangas. For more stuff to do in Laiya, visit the quirky neighborhood cafe called Cafeno - read more about it here.
I live in Ortigas Center, an urban jungle in all its grey and concrete glory: cold, emotionless office buildings, snooty high-rise condos, and a Starbucks in just about every corner. So I was immensely thankful when my Korean drama-loving friends Mabs, Ris, and Ica tipped me off about a one-of-a-kind, cozy and cute coffee shop just a few streets away from where I lived that served good food AND played KPop (a guilty pleasure of mine, and we are all allowed one, so you mustn't judge!).
So now Subspace Coffee House is a favorite hang-out. They had movie nights in February and will have them again in April. They also offer a free upgrade on your drink every Monday (that's today!) so head on over there to try their drinks - my favorite is the Dark Chocolate Mint, but they have some other unique blends too like the Purple Potato Latte and the Peanut Butter Latte.
Pictures, pictures, and more pictures! Plus a KPop video to close this out by KPop royalty Big Bang - Gawker says it's the perfect pop song, so they must be doing something right! (Is Gawker often sarcastic though? I don't know, but whatever - it's a really addicting song, I've had it on repeat on my iPod for weeks.)
Salmon & Egg Turnover + Dark Chocolate Mint
Subspace Coffee House Unit 103, GF Grand Emerald Tower F. Ortigas Jr. Road, Ortigas Center 1606 Pasig, Philippines
It's been rainy and gloomy the past few days, so here's my attempt at bringing back the summer sunshine if the weather won't - a week's worth of beach pictures to try to bring back the summer mood. Enjoy!
Salmon and Egg Turnover + Dark Chocolate Mint = Saturday Afternoon Treat. Plus, they're playing a SHINee playlist here at Subspace, and since they just came back with a new music video, here's some new KPop to match this post. Happy Saturday! :)
The scorching heat that characterizes Philippine summers is best enjoyed at the beach or poolside, armed with an ice-cold drink, alcoholic or otherwise. On the other hand, there's something about being stuck inside a stuffy albeit air-conditioned office building, with its endless cubicle dividers and fluorescent lighting, that makes the summer weather rather unbearable. Basking in the rays of the sun while swimming in the cool waters of the sea or walking along pristine white sand under the blazing heat? No problem, in fact, I welcome it with open arms! But existing - the mere existing - as in literally just being there, in a place of drab and gray and concrete that is the urban jungle on a ridiculously hot and humid day? It's so unbearable that you're just compelled to take a break.
Luckily there are places of respite near our office building where we can quickly run off to for a quick summer break in the city. So one Wednesday afternoon, suffering through the midweek blues and hating the heat a little bit, my officemates and I decided to head on over to Burgos Circle in Bonifacio Global City to seek refuge. And in seeking refuge, what did we find? Macarons, gelato, and milk tea, thankfully.
Our first stop was at Bar Dolci:
The three little words everybody likes to hear on a hot summer day:
What welcomed us inside Bar Dolci:
My favorite macaron flavors, so far - Salted Caramel and Choco Chip:
A candid shot of my travel buddy Jen and our tour guide Sokha from our trip to the temples of Angkor in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I'll be traveling with Jen again soon, this time in Laos in order to close out our Indochina experience.
Jen! I saw your message on Facebook about our Laos trip, I will reply shortly, just let me do a bit of research! See you soon! :)
The legendary dinner of 7 kilos of seafood wolfed down by 5 hungry ladies was actually a dinner set along the expansive shores of Jimbaran under moonlight and the peaceful glow of lamps like this one. It would've made for a romantic dinner setting, except we were a bunch of girls who ate like guys. So yeah.
I can't say it wasn't fun though, because it was a blast! We'll save the romantic dinners for another time.
I had dinner with a bunch of college friends Friday and they gave me the low-down on a bunch of upcoming summer activities in the city and (just a little bit) beyond. And seeing as it's Monday and all, I thought it'd be nice to post this to get us through the work week - just some things to look forward to in the coming weekends. Time to start planning your summer folks!
March 24-25: Surfista Travels, La Union
Learn to surf and meet a bunch of new people in La Union with Surfista Travels! I took my first surfing lesson late last year and we've been back in La Union twice since then. The sun, the sand, the surfing - formula to an epic weekend. And the team at Surfista Travels will arrange everything for your weekend surf trip so you don't have to worry about anything. If you need more convincing, check out the video below:
March 31: Bactidol 12-Hour Sing-A-Thon, Redbox Eastwood
Gather a team of ten and put your throats to the test for Bactidol's 12-hour sing-a-thon! We already have a team in the office, and we are registered and ready to go sing up a storm on the 31st. See you there! You can check out the registration instructions and full mechanics here.
April 13-15: Billabong All-Girls Surf Camp, La Union
One more trip for all the lady surfistas out there by Billabong and Surfista Travels. Official Site
April 14: Outbreak Manila 5k Run, Nuvali
The phrase "run for your life" has never been as appropriate for a 5k marathon as it is for this one. In Outbreak Manila, not only must you race against time and exhaustion, you must also outrun hungry zombies! I'm not a runner at all, but this is very very tempting. The site is all sorts of witty fun too!
I learned how to surf thanks to FLOW! We went to their November leg in La Union last year which was amazing fun - we did yoga and samba, and also learned about eating healthy with their raw food workshop. Plus, I met some lovely people on the trip. It was a great weekend to relax, get refreshed and rejuvenated. I'll probably write a whole other post just about my FLOW experience soon, but for now, sign up for their April leg in Baler before slots run out!
I received pasalubong from Bangkok from two friends this week (thank you Carms and Mabs!), so I thought I'd post a photo from my own Bangkok trip. Happy Sunday!
There's so much stuff to buy in the Archaeology section at Power Plant! We passed by to get Happy Lemon and I found these magnets, as well as these super adorable villainous jelly shoes. So want!
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