Tagaytay Overnight

December 29-30, 2009

Dropped by in McDo Tagaytay just to say hello to Jason and Len of DPSC (Doha Photographer Shooters Club). Jason is a friend back in Qatar. He knew how much I wanted to join the club but I just could not afford to buy a decent DLSR from the salary that I was earning.. Haha.. Poor little girl.. So instead, they would just ask me to pose for them... Now that he's here with some DPSC members, they invited me to pose for them again but sadly, I was not able to join them for a photoshoot in Fantasy World since Ruthie had to meet up with her His Sounds choirmates.

Went to Starbucks to have some cup of coffee and for a breath-taking view of Taal Lake, but it was too crowded. Decided to just have a little merienda at Pancake House which is just beside Starbucks while waiting for Ruthie's friends.

Snapshots while we were sightseeing the beautiful Taal Lake..

When her friends arrived, we went to Mahogany Market to have our dinner. There were many food stalls just in front of the market. My first time to be there actually. I was told that they are known for the famous "bulalo", that's why the place is always jampacked. Aside from the bulalo, we also ordered papaitan, tuyo and ... geez.. I don't remember the names.. lol..


Enjoying the dinner at Mahogany Market

Then decided to just wait for the rest of their choirmates at Bag of Beans.The place was more beautiful at night. I was not able to take photos since battery of the digi-cam was almost dead. Also, I was not in my best mood that night cause a loser stole my parking space. I was about to park when he suddenly snatched that one and only space.. Ha-ha. I ordered Black Forest Frappe with a cherry on top of it. When it was served, everyone was like... "wow".. All of them ordered hot coffees. It was so cold that night. Service though was super bagal. As in super slow... Good thing, the place was so cozy..

L-R: Love, Me, Ruthie, Michelle (everyone was saying I look like her.. Do I? Must be our tanned complexion)

Then we stayed over in the house of Ruthie's friend. That was the time I realized I forgot to bring some important things like towel, camera charger, shirt, (so I slept wearing a tube mini dress which I was supposed to use for the shoot..) But I was happy because I was able to bring my blanket. I swear I can never sleep without it. My Pooh Blanket will always be my security blanket... :) On the room, we found a portable massager.. Winks.. We liked it a lot. I want to buy one too.. I dozed off after my bestfriend gave me a massage at the back. (I still owe her a Wensha Spa massage as a Christmas gift..)

Rooch and I at the rooftop of the house. Was so cold. The wind was even blowing hard.

Goofing around the webcam, our fave hobby....

I slept around 3:40am and after just almost 3 hours of sleep, we drove all the way to somewhere (forgot the name of the instituiton/building, but it's just in front of Picnic Grove). His Sounds performed there for a conference. Wow, they were so good. I wish I could sing too.. While I was at the Powder Room, people kept on praising them. Some people were even greeting me, thinking maybe I was one of them. Ha-ha...

Posing after the concert with bestfriend Ruthie. Thanks Jenny for the shot.

His Sounds.. Photo taken by yours truly from Jenny's DLSR.

Her friends still wanted to go somewhere else after the performance. So I told Ruthie to stay and spend more time with them, since she's leaving on the 16th. But I wanted to sleep then, so I went home... I have an insomnia, because someone keeps on thinking of me every night, and that's one of the reasons why I am anemic. I was actually seeing double vision while driving... So I pulled over in a gas station and bought Gatorade and some chocolates.. Thank God, I got home safely.

It was so fun spending time with my bestfriend. She is the greatest. Is she really leaving for Europe? Another bestfriend is leaving for Italy also.. Oh Avick, do you really have to a leave? This is new, because I am the one who normally leaves the country to work... But I cannot stop them from achieving their dreams... Who knows I might follow them..



Much love,

Daintypinay

Sonya's - Antonio's

After reading many good reviews about Sonya's Garden in Tagaytay, I have always begged asked my girlfriends to set a day for us to go there and spend a lunch or merienda eating damo erk, veggies..The plan never pushed through because of the conflict in each one's schedule... You could blame their employers...:P

And so after more than year of curiosity on how Sonya's Garden look like, I finally got to be there last December 12, 2009 with Bessie Avick and younger brother John.

The truth is, it was unplanned. Don't we just love unplanned lakwatsas?. I went there to pick up Avick and dropped my mother somewhere. We were supposed to eat either at Sanctuario or Leslie's, but decided to drive all the way to Sonya's Garden to feed my curiosity.

The place was very peaceful. But I must say that I was kinda expecting for something more, I guess. We were not able to make a reservation prior to the visit, and felt so outcast because it looked like that there was a function going on that day. So we just had a little photoshoot..

These are the rest of the the photos taken @ Sonya's Garden:

Afterwards, drove all the way to Antonio's to have a sumptuous merienda. It was an expensive merienda yet a worthy dining experience. Foods are very delicious. True enough, Antonio's lives up to the hype of being one of the best fine dining destinations of Tagaytay.... This is such an intimate place perfect for all the lovebirds out there. Can't wait to go back and spend a candlelit dinner here. But who would be my date? Ha-ha.

Snapshots @ Antonio's

Antonio's is simply imcomparable. Service is even far better than the hotels... :) It is suggested to make a reservation before coming...

Loving Tagaytay,

Nori

Another Fun Monday

Went to Makati yesterday with Ruthie to enroll in a Fashion School wherein I'll be studying makeup... I was actually torn between two schools before, but after reading reviews and doing my research, I finally made a choice.. Bes and I decided to take a cab from their house since I find it so hard to drive in Makati particularly in Ayala Avenue area .... Parking is bad and all those crazy one-way streets is way too much to handle for a girl like me... Traffic that day was like bumper to bumper... If you've never been to the Philippines -- you have no idea how bad it was.

Headed down to Greenbelt 1 to buy some stuff for other people but ended up buying things for ourselves.

Had our early dinner at Fish & Co. in Greenbelt 3.
These are the foods that we ordered.

I must say that the rest of the crew were so nice, friendly, and very polite. But sadly, I don't think the taste of the foods is worth your money.
Rooch did not even finish her pasta.

Tired and restless on our way home. Rooch and I could not help but talk about out favorite subject which is -- "Mr. Someone". People were about to go home when we reached the church for the Simbang Gabi. Obviously, we were deadly late.

As planned for that night, the gang (GANG = Nori + Ruthie + Tal + Nat + Tita Luz) went to Paskuhan Sa Imus to eat a very good Filipino treat this Christmas Season-- bibingka (rice cake)... While waiting for our bibingka, we ordered Mami and Goto matched with Barbeque Tenga and cold softdrinks. Yummy! :) Goto and Mani
The Lovebirds Nat & Tal with Tita Luz aka The Buzz
Bibingka just arrived.. Sarap!

There were also tiangges, wherein you could buy cheap items. Bought some items, mostly hair accessories. Much to our delight, on our way home, we found an Ukay-Ukay shop just in front of SM Bacoor. It was already 10:30 PM by that time.

(1)Rooch found a violet winter jacket while Tita Luz was busy choosing dresses. (2) Tal wanted to buy everything while Nat was comparing prices.

We were so overwhelmed when we entered the shop. Lots of clothes, bags and shoes to choose from.. Didn't know where to start. It was fun choosing clothes while haggling for the price (that didn't quite work, though..LOL) ;)

Leaving you a candid shot of mine that night,

***while enjoying the fume of the barbeque at my back, which is actually part of the experience... :)

Harbor Square

Since I live downsouth, I find it nice to unwind and dine in at Harbor Square which
is just beside Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and facing the beautiful
Manila Bay.

****************************************Harbor Square******************************

**********************************Manila Bay, Baby!********************************

************************************************************************************


There are plenty of restaurants inside the compound to choose from.

Here are some of the food and bar establishments at the Harbour Square I got from the net: NIGHT KEBAB PERSIAN RESTAURANT, Jollibee, Starbucks Coffee,
Pancake House, Grappas Ristorante & Bar, Dencio's, Teriyaki Boy, Icebergs, Tajima,
Mocha Blends, Kala, Mini Shabu-shabu, Shrimp Ahoy, Singkit, Coal, Sogtsu, Shabumshabu, and Brad.
note: Just in case, I missed any establishment, please let me know..

@Icebergs with bestfriends Anj and Rooch after the Sunday Service:




@ Switchyard with forever favorite friends Kuya G, Bes and Bessie.




Girl from the South,
Nori

Marina: Two Thumbs Down!

After the concert, the gang and I were supposed to go to MOA, but traffic was heavy so we just headed our way along CCP Complex to have our late Dinner. I swear, I was so hungry then. I left the house around 2PM, and the concert finished at 9PM. You bet, way too hungry that I ended up following a Land Cruiser instead of a Pajero ... And surely Avick and Ruthie were as hungry as I was because they did not notice it wasn't Carll's vehicle anymore... Thanks to Anj for being alert, or else....

There were other restos inside the compound, but I had to admit that we were lazy to walk around that time. Ended up spoiling the night at Marina Resto, since it was the nearest resto from the parking area.


Marina so far holds the Worst Customer Service Award in my list.
I am not exaggerating. But I've never been that upset and disappointed with regards to the service of a restaurant.

Why was I so upset??
First and foremost, I was very hungry... When we entered the resto, no one was there to greet or assist us and to guide us where to sit, etc.. Okay, that's fine!Not really a biggie. But waiting for 15-20 minutes before getting our order was something else. And another half an hour before we got our Calamares, Sisig, Sinigang Na Hipon was too much suffering.


We were almost done eating Calamares when they served that so-called unlimited rice. And there were no more Calamares on the plate when they gave us the sauce.


There was no egg on the Sisig nor a kalamansi, so it looked so pale. They are charging a lot for an uberly bad service. Unbelievable!!!!!




Quoting Ruthie, foods are just so-so (Read:Neither very good nor very bad; only fair.) eating here is definitely not worth your money.

Anj was right, we felt so unhappy and unfulfilled after eating. That's not all folks, another years of waiting when we asked for our bill. When it finally arrived, no one was coming to get our payment. Carll even had to go to the counter to pay it. Damn... May I just add, that the Wash Room was not clean.. No tissues to be found there either. What was that??

To our dismay, we all decided to pay the exact amount and did not bother to leave any tip for a service that really sucks.
I got to agree with Avick -- TWO THUMBS DOWN!!

Not Coming Back Ever Again,

Nori & Friends

I'm Back!!

Mabuhay!:)

I am back in the Philippines in case you still don't know, after being gone for eight long months. Friends, my phone got busted and I lost my old sim card in the desert of Middle East.So please forgive me if you are not getting any call or text message from me yet. Still in the process of collecting your numbers:)

Yesterday, I woke up very very late because I am still adjusting with the time difference between Qatar and Philippines. Blame me and my alarm clock for waking up very late. I got to leave the house at around 3:30PM. Okay fine, meeting time was set at 2PM.

Reached Sta Ana (to pick up Avick) at around 7PM. Yes, that is how far my house is. And definitely that's how terrible traffic was.

Anyways, to cut the long story short, Ruthie, Avick and I reached Metrowalk around 8:20PM. We were already in the parking area when Ivy left.



I was so sad and disappointed that I was not able to see her. Really! Ivy is nine-months pregnant by the way.





HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE NIGHT:

Let me introduce to you the wonderful ladies who made my night....
With the many restaurants to choose from in Metrowalk, we followed the recommendation of Ythin to have our dinner at Steak House.
Well, the food was good, price was just right and the service was not bad.




Try not to miss these 2 guys if you're in the area... :)
Why? See for yourself..


Next Stop: KTV
I believe, part of being a true-blooded Pinoy is the love for music... Actually, we were choosing between Chicago and Music Platinum, but we chose the latter because they offer a better package. In addition to that, room is cozy, price is reasonable, sound system is good, and the selection of songs are updated. But then again, it's not about the place, it is all about the "company"...


After singing our hearts out while dancing for three hours, we felt like our bodies and minds need some caffeine rush. Unfortunately, Starbucks in Metrowalk was too crowded. We decided to go to another Starbucks along Emerald Ave,but it was closed already. Frustrated and a little sleepy after a joy ride along Ortigas, we ended up having our coffees in...... (guess where else?)--->
Mcdo Mc Cafe...
Conversation of the night...
I really just want to insert this.



The rest of us just talked about random things, while reminiscing the fun memories in college. We definitely missed each other... I will forever be blessed that I got to meet these chikas... You know the feeling that you just want to stop the time so you could share more stories and hear their stories as well.... And basically spend more time of laughters... That was exactly my feeling...

Sadly, my dear bestfriend Ruthie could not stay any longer, since she has a Concert at 3PM. Yes guys, Rooch has a golden voice and because of this talent and gift, it took her to different places...Proud bestfriend!!! Segway lang,huh.. In other words, I wanted to thank her for this gift... Merci!!!Sure, I will take this with me on my next destination.... But for now, let me review my French Books first.

Going back to my story, I had to drop her home to Bacoor. Drove all the way again to Roxas Boulevard with Avick, Ythin and her bf Ron (less Marge and Abby) to watch the sunrise and have my Mocha Java Chips and Tuna Pandesal at Starbucks.


I had a great time guys, till next time? Truly, friends are gift from God. So treasure your friends. Spend much time with them... It's not easy to find real ones...


Love you all,
Nhet

P.S.
Ythin introduced her bf to us.We are so happy for her.
Ron, you are a nice guy. You have our votes.
Please take care of our Tintin...