Walking Short

Long before the infamous Damaso stunt, me and my friends have always wanted to try and experience Carlos Celdran's walking tour of Intramuros. My sisters joined the tour a couple of months back and had good reviews, much like as advertised  on TV or in blogs. I finally got the chance to walk the way of The Pied Piper of Manila last Sunday.

I've been to Fort Santiago a couple of times, latest was just march last year. I was surprised at the number of tourists, foreigners and locals alike, but was surprised most when more or less a hundred of them was also joining the Walk This Way tour. I was really expecting a small group, around 20-30 just like what I saw on TV. It's even more surprising that there are a lot of locals who were willing to shell out a steep Php1,100 for the tour.

The "show" began at the entrance gate of Fort Santiago with the Philippine National Anthem. With a small Philippine flag in the Pied Piper's hand, locals started to sing with their hands on their chest. This, I believe is a really nice touch to the tour.

Puerto Princesa Weekend

For years I've been dying to go to Palawan. I've heard so much great things from friends, from television, and from the internet. It didn't help that my girlfriend is from Puerto Princesa and she went home as early as November to spend the holidays with her family. I already booked tickets for me and my family to visit Palawan by February next year but I couldn't wait any longer so I decided to see my girlfriend for the weekend.

azkals: the new barangay ginebra

there used to be a time when all filipinos cared about was basketball. the PBA was on a high and everybody was part of the barangay. barangay ginebra, that is. those who are not ginebra fans are either employees of the other teams who gave them free tickets or just wanted to be "different" and mini-miny-moed on a list of pba teams.

years later and the hashtag #AzkalsVsGalaxy become a worldwide trending topic. i would not bet a year's salary for a #GinebraVsLakers hashtag becoming a trending topic in the near future. now every filipino is into football. all the haters are either bored by the game or again just want to be "different" and go against the flow.

heaven's paella

thanks to the demolition of the ACS building, our saturday lunch is now filled with uncertainty. the building used to house the old reliable jollibee wherein saturday after saturday i order the 2-piece chickenjoy and get bottomless refills of gravy. i never get tired of that crispy chicken skin, and now thanks to this blog i'm craving for it. now that its gone, we started to explore different restaurants around our building. last saturday, we had barbeque paella at heaven's barbeque.

out of the running

my first jab at running was a practice run at up diliman. it was just before the recent craze for running events peaked and i wasn't into it enough to finish an entire lap. then like zits on my face 15 years ago, running events sprouted everywhere. even my small college had one and that was my first ever official run.

my run wont be a finalist in the best first run ever award if there was one. i basically jogged a fourth of that 3k run then walked the rest. then right after the run me and my friends went straight to rodic's for their famous tapsilog. we were starving after that run walk. after feeling guilty of eating my run away with that sweet tapsilog, i vowed to live the healthy life and try to join more runs (and actually run) in the future.

a great burger in an unlikely house

it was an ordinary sunday with my family and we decided to have lunch at pancake house. browsing through the menu, all i wanted was a typical rice meal or a sandwich. i never really thought about burgers in a restaurant with pancakes in their name. i ordered a potato salad and a clubhouse sandwich. my mother ordered the jumbo house burger and soon as i heard it, i instantly changed my mind and ordered the same. she had me at jumbo. my mother, being a mother, gave way and changed her order to a sandwich.

politicality

i haven't seen good philippine tv in a while and now i'm religiously following this GMA drama. no, not the network, of course i meant the ex-president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. i just watched the Arroyos go into NAIA, put on a show and then get burned by immigration.

as soon as i caught the tweet announcing the TRO on the watchlist order of the DOJ, i got hooked. for days i've seen and heard different sides on the watchlist order whether its unconstitunional or not. the problem with the law is that it has loopholes, and to be perfectly honest, i believe both sides are right. it's just a matter of interpretation of the law. that being said, what are we arguing about here? the right to travel? do you honestly think that a normal filipino would experience the same? ramona bautista got away easy. though in all news network headlines, she is not of national interest. but cGMA is.

figaro bakes

it was the day before my girlfriend went home to palawan. we were supposed to meet at gateway at around 3pm. i got there on time but the heavy traffic at aurora swallowed up her time. our time. i originally planned on waiting at starbucks to at least add another sticker for that overrated planner but all tables were already taken. i then decided to look for another coffee house and settled finally at figaro.

KBOP: not a big Deal

maybe it was from watching too many korean drama series that my mother suddenly craved for korean food. when asked where we should eat, she would always say "anything korean." i then saw an deal on metrodeal.com for "Unique Flavors of Korea with KBOP's Delicious 4 Course Set Meals" at 50% Off. i purchased a voucher right away and happily told my mother. after waiting more than 2 weeks for the voucher to be valid, we finally had the chance to taste KBOP's flavors of korea.

it was a quiet Eidul Adha in Mckinley Hills. we arrived only a few minutes before noon but there were only a handful of people at The Venice Piazza. we came in at KBOP as their first customers which had my mother doubt the popularity, and hence the taste, of the restaurant. we ordered the set meal number 3 and added a couple more dishes. set 3 includes Kbop chicken, tuboo chorim (braised tofu), seafood pancake, korean Gyoza, 5 cups of rice, and a pitcher of iced tea. to add, we ordered  the kbop lechon and tomi chim plus a couple of servings of kimchi.