Valentine's and Chinese New Year Weekend in Subic

The first of my twice a year privilege of staying in the Company staffhouse in Subic was perfectly timed for Valentine's and Chinese New Year. It was a truly relaxing and refreshing holiday doing what we enjoy most--- eating, sleeping and shopping!

We started out with lunch at our favorite Indian restaurant Rama Mahal. They have the best Spinach Paneer in my opinion. Loved their Grilled Lamb with mint sauce and Shrimp Rice Biryani too. Then it was Royal Subic for our usual chocolates and chips. Havaianas slippers are cheaper here by almost P100 so if you are in Subic, take advantage of those.

We had the whole afternoon to do whatever we liked, E went biking while Mom and my sister T caught up with sleep. I alternated between sleeping and surfing the net.

For dinner, we were invited by our cousin RP, who is a doctor based in Subic, to his home. We had a most wonderful dinner with his family -- they served steamed crabs and shrimps, grilled pork and tilapia cooked in coconut sauce. Everything was so yummy!

Loved this weekend!

Hong Kong January 2010- Days 3 and 4

We started our third day in Hong Kong by going to Holy Mass at the St. Peter's Chapel (11 Middle Road, TST, a short walk from YMCA Salisbury). After Mass, we took the MTR to go to Central:

My HK-based friend DP suggested Tasty Congee and Noodle House at IFC Mall for our Chinese dimsum lunch. We were just in time at 12Noon as the lines outside were just starting to grow. After a few minutes wait, our number was called.

We ordered congee, noodles and dimsum. Everything was excellent. The place was also really nice with dark Chinese furniture:

After the heavy and satisfying lunch, I brought Mom and Dad to IFC Mall's skygarden which was really beautifully done and had the most fantastic views of the harbour and the city.

After a tiring afternoon going around the mall, we decided to take the Star Ferry going back to Tsim Sha Tsui:

In the evening, while Mom and Dad rested at the hotel, we got to meet my best friend from grad school CC, friend from college GDR and new friend KR. We went to TST's newest mall iSquare. We chose Kraze Burger as E was craving for burgers.

On our fourth and last day, I decided to take pictures of our hotel room at YMCA Salisbury. Despite its low price, the hotel really offered value for money accommodations, we had a basic coffee maker and anLCD TV. The location was in the middle of everything at TST, a short walk to Harbour City, the MTR station, Star Ferry, Nathan Road, etc. etc. I wouldn't mind staying in this hotel again.

Of course we couldn't leave Hong Kong without one last Dimsum meal at the airport. We decided to go to Maxim's more upscale restaurant at the Departure area, the dimsum were so fresh, yummy. I miss my hakaw!

Hong Kong January 2010 - Days 1 and 2

E and I used our Asiamiles mileage points for this trip and arrived in Hong Kong around 1:40 PM , but Mom and Dad's Cebu Pacific flight arrives around 6:40PM, so we had about 5 hours to spare. We decided to go to the nearby Citygate Outlet Mall to scout out bargains. Unfortunately, we didn't find anything to buy. We had fun making "tambay" though. I was telling E that we should relish those moments since our life in Manila was always hectic.

Here we are at the courtyard of the mall, having coffee:



Dad loves Chinese food and so we started on our Chinese food trip right there at the airport. It was a choice between Crystal Jade and Maxim's Roasts. Crystal Jade was full, so it was Maxim's for us. Their Hainanese Chicken rice is good!



Since there were four of us, we decided to take the taxi to our hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui. If we had taken the Airport Express it would have cost us HKD90 per person, while the taxi ride cost us only HKD250.

The next day, we decided to go to Causeway Bay for Uniqlo, Muji and Ikea. We had lunch at Rice Paper, a vietnamese restaurant at the World Trade Center where Uniqlo and Muji had branches. Mom shopped for clothes because she "lost" her luggage. Well, someone mistakenly got her luggage at the airport, while she in turn got that person's luggage. Lesson: make sure that you get the correct luggage! Rice Paper was quiet and calm, and had good food too.

After going through our "list" at the stores, we went back to TST so that my parents can rest. We took the MTR this time:

While Mom and Dad rested, E and I walked around TST. We saw Hullett House which was one of the newest developments in the area where all the expensive jewelry and watch stores were. There was also a hotel. The courtyard was a favorite background of newly married couples for their portraits. We saw at least three couples while we were there.

The following picture I had to ask E to take, it is a picture of all the people outside Chanel waiting for their turn to go in. It is the same scenario outside the Louis Vuitton store. There is no recession there, people had money to spend!