World Pyro Olympics 2011

Since hindi nakapanuod si lablab ng fireworks display nung birthday niya last year, we planned to watch the pyro olympics on Seaside Boulevard, SM Mall of Asia in Pasay. It was last February 19, Saturday. Dumating kami ng 4 or 5 ng hapon to reserve our seats in front of the bay. There are a lot of choices where you want to place yourself. You can buy tickets from SM itself from 100-1,500 pesos, i think the difference is the location and ung 1,500 yata e may pagkain nang kasama. Ayaw naming magsumiksik sa mga masa kaya lablab had an idea to reserve some seats on those resto infront of the bay. She told me that last time they reserved seats in Cafe Breton besides Seattle's Best. 

So upon arriving in the mall we immediately went to the resto and asked how much is the reservation. At first I was shock because it is 500pesos per person, so we tried to look for another but since the barge where the fireworks will be coming is just in front of Cafe Breton and Seattle's Best we asked how much for us to reserve in Seattle's it is only 400pesos, 

the difference is that in Cafe Breton the 500pesos reservation is fully consumable, ibig sabhin kahit anu sa menu nila pwede mong blhin using the amount of your reservation kasi sa Seattle's there is only a packaged meal for you and as the crew told us it is amounting only to about 300pesos, so parang may 100pesos kang bayad sa panunuod. Kaya we decided just to take a reservation in Cafe Breton since we can just consume the whole amount by eating and drinking coffee, you can also choose on what table you want to seat. They will place a number with your name, para walang umagaw ng mesa nu, hehehe. 

One hour before starting ang dami na agad tao, so we went immediately to our reserved seats and fortunately we are just right in front of the barge. The first fireworks display is Portugal. By the way it does not immediately start the competition, may mga intermission number pa, and the Philippine national anthem and Portugal national anthem were sung. Maganda ang pagpili nila sa music at mailaw talaga ang display, eksakto sa pagputok ng fireworks. Here are some pics from the place (wala akong dalang cam nun kaya these photos are taken from my phone.)

the finale

May 30mins interval to the next competitor which is I think the main event since the next performer is the champion last year which is UK. It started with singing the UK national anthem then the fun starts again. The music was slow and they do not have flashy fireworks, but they did a great job on experimenting how the fireworks will look in the sky. comparing it with Portugal which can only produce maximum of 3 colors on one firework UK can do 4-5 colors sa isang putukan! And wait there's more, it is not a typical circular shaped firework they have from smiley, to flower, planets!!! I am just thinking how can they  make those firework with previce structure. Beloy are the pics from UK's presentation.

the finale

Overall I thought that 500pesos will be just a loss of money, pero kung nandun ka na, it is super worth it!!! makikita mo nang todong lapit ung mga paputok na aakalain mong tatama sau, para kang nanunuod ng 3D movie sa IMAX and the best thing is that you are seated comfortably without any people standing in front of you and you can dine while waiting :).

Seat Sale Promo for the Year of the Metal Rabbit!!!

Inabangan namin ang mga airline companies mula Chinese New Year eve hanggang matapos ang aming shift kung maglalabas cla ng promo seats on their online sites pero wala akong napala hanggang sa umuwi na ako sa bahay at nakatulog. Sa aking pagising ang unang tinitignan pagbukas ng pc at pagkonek sa internet ay ang Facebook nang aking makita ang isang post ng isang kaibigan tungkol sa piso sale ng cebupac. 

Piso seat sale of Cebu Pacific

Kaya agad akong tumungo sa kanila online site at xempre, forever na nagload ang website. So while waiting since may promo seat sa cebupac ay tumingin na din ako sa site ng airphil mas mabilis magload kesa cebupac at meron din silang seat sale 88pesos to most of its domestic flights. 

88peso seat sale of Air Philippines

So ininform ko ang ilang colleagues ko sa opis to check it out also, since lablab  is already in the office pinatry ko rin xang maghanap ng gusto nya. Sa aking paghahanap latak na lang ang natitra sa mga seat sale, all of them does not fit the 3days 2nights trip ang pinakamalapit na ay 1week stay pero syempre hindi ko kinuh, kaya nga naghahanap ng sale para makamura diba e kung magsstay ka dun ng 1 week baka hindi ka na makauwi dahil sa gagastusin mo dun, hahaha. So medu napagod na ako and mapanuri (one of my friends in the office) told me to try checking zest air. 

PHP214 seat sale of Zest Air

And that is the best idea of all, so i went to their site and found out that they have also seat sale that will start feb. 4 to feb.7 and the travel period from june 1 to aug. 31 this year. Matyaga akong naghanap ng available dates na may sale, either to Kalibo (Bora) or Tagbilaran (Bohol) and again mapanuri saw that there is an available date so then I went to that date but check also another date to see if there is also an available promo and to my surprise too, sakto ung date na tinignan ko sa anniv namin ni lablab, so I grabbed the opportunity and booked it ASAP.

Cebu Pacific - piso sale for all domestic flights, downside; may web admin fee that cost 200pesos, no check-in baggage (add 100 for 15kilos check-in baggage) at mabagal ang website.

Air Philippines - 88pesos for most (not all) domestic flights, plus factor; no admin fee, free 15kilos check-in baggage at medyo mas mabilis maacess kesa sa cebupac.

Zest Air - 214 pesos on all domestic flights  ALL IN besides from travel tax, plus factor; mabilis ang website (siguro dahil lahat inaacess and cebupac at airphil), downside; may web admiin fee na 78pesos at ang airport nila e sa old domestic airport, hahaha.

In the end, may napala din naman ako sa pag huhunting ng seat sale, we are bound to Bohol this July!!! Yipee!!! Hope the weather will be great, hehehe.

Camsur Watersports Complex, Naga (Day 2 and departure)

The original plan was to go to Caramoan on the next day and since it is very windy and the weather is not cooperating we decided not to go, because in order to go there you will need to ride a bus and a boat to the island, since it has a bad weather the sea is most likely wavy. Instead, we went to Naga City proper to buy some pasalubong and hopefully visit some old churches to take pictures. We ride the free shuttle to the main road and then took a bus to the city. It is just 15mins bus ride and you will find yourself near SM Naga since the terminal is just beside it. 

San Francisco Church in front of Bigg's

Then we ride a motorcycle to Biggs, a popular resto in Naga. The main Biggs is located in between Chowking and McDonalds in the city proper. 

The ambience is like 80’s inspired, if you happen to eat in Johnny Rockets, Biggs is like a local version of that. They offer burgers, rice meals, and pasta. 

I ordered the most watering burger they have and added bacon on top of that. Lablab also ordered burger but a smaller one. Their burger is fried not grilled so somehow It tastes oily. After our lunch in Biggs, we went back to the bus terminal to buy some pasalubong. We found ourselves on the corner store near CBC Plaza. From baskets to slippers and pili nuts, they have it all, and not only that the t-shirts sold in CWC is half the price on this store, so we bought two shirts for us, some pili nuts, pili tarts and pili keychains. Also, across the street you will find a bakery that makes toasted siopao, we did bought some but in the end they were wasted since I think it will just last for 2 days. So we rode a bus back to the dropped off point of the shuttle and called the front desk to pick us up and went back to our room. 

Swimming Pool near the lake

After resting lablab wants to have a massage in front of the lake but that night is a rainy night so we waited for the rain to stop and then go the kubo near the lake and swimming pool and have our massage. Our dinner is again in the clubhouse and ate pizza spaghetti. I would recommend their pizza, it is thin crust and the cheese used is not mozzarella but just ordinary quickmelt but taste good. After our dinner, we head our way to our room to have a nice sleep and pack our things for our flight early next day. 

Again the weather is not in favor of what we will do, it is a rainy morning the wind is much stronger, we went to the front desk to return the key to our room and rode the shuttle to the airport, and as expected the flight was cancelled, with the earliest possible flight is next day we decided to just ride a bus to Cubao. So we travel to the bus terminal and ride a bus towards Manila. It took us 9 hours in the bus to Manila passing through Camarines Norte, Quezon Province, Batangas and Laguna. Overall the experience is awesome, a lot of new things tried and new places and food tasted. CWC is highly recommendable, if you are on a shot budget I would recommend this place, although there are a lot of foreigners the prices of the food and accommodation are budget friendly. Maybe next time we will visit Naga the weather will be at its most pleasant day and try to go to Mt. Isarog and Caramoan.

Camsur Watersports Complex, Naga (Day 1)

This is somehow late and I still want to share our trip to Naga in Camarines Sur. Last year I got an online promo ticket to Naga for only Php88 (one way) and planned a trip there with lablab. We talked to several people for our itinerary and they gave us some tips for our trip. First off, to visit Camsur Watersports Complex (CWC) in Naga and then for our next day to visit the Islands in Caramoan. January came and we need to decide fast for our journey, so we decided to make a reservation on CWC for our 3 days 2 nights stay. 

We want to test our luck so we decided to the airport early to catch the earliest flight because our flight was moved into an afternoon schedule, WHALAH! Our luck paid off, 4 passengers did not take the flight so we replaced them on their schedule making ourselves successful chance passengers. We left Manila sunny but arrived at Naga airport cloudy and a little windy, about 40mins travel time. 

 

Naga airport is just a small airport with a small runway that maybe the reason why only small planes are flying on that destination. We got our bags and got out of the airport, outside a shuttle was waiting for us to be transferred to CWC, this is a free service offered by CWC’s administration. After 10mins drive from the airport we arrived at the place. 

Their front desk in located in a huge hall with a big swimming pool at the back. The hall is kubo-inspired architecture and most of the materials used are wood. The staffs are very polite and accommodating. We paid for our balances and they handed the key to our room that is called a trailer. 

The trailer is the metal container used in transferring big cargos and usually seen carried by 10-wheeler trucks. Our trailer was a green one that is good for 2-4 persons. The trailer is divided into half, making two rooms in one trailer.

Inside the trailer

Inside the room is one queen size bed in from of the TV and bathroom and also air-conditioned. One of the free services of the complex is they have free wifi all over the place! It is a good thing we brought lablab’s laptop with us. After unpacking our things we got out of our rooms and started to take pictures and proceeded to the location where the man-made lake is. There are two big lakes found in the place one called Lagro del Rey and the other is where the wakeboarding activities are.

Lago del Rey

In Lagro del Rey you will find some other water activities like boating, kayak, boat wakeboarding, jetski, and an obstacle course made of inflatables (if you are watching wipeout it is almost like that). On the far end of the place is the training lakes where newbies normally start. It is just one stretch of water with the cable pulling you is on top but sadly it is closed for renovation when we went there. 

Kare-Kare

We took our lunch at their clubhouse just at the side of the big lake. We were surprised by the prices, we thought that since there was a lot of foreigners in the place it will be pricey but is not. We ordered inihaw na liempo and kare-kare. Man! You should try their kare kare, it may not be saucy but it does taste really good! Also they are using bagoong bicol, different from the ones in Manila, their bagoong is dry and colored yellow. After eating we went back to our room to rest. In the afternoon, we went back to Lagro del Rey to do some workout, we rented a kayak for an hour and paddle our way around the lake. 

Motorized Cable

Then we went to the wakeboarding lake. In wakeboarding you are usually being pulled by a high speed boat but in CWC they are using motor and cables on top of the lake to pull you. I think on the lake it can have 10 wakeboarders in the same time. The track is an oval lake with obstacles. Most of the boarders are foreigners maybe preparing for the tournament on the week after our trip. After a few push by my lablab I was convinced to try the kneeboard. 

Starting Post

One of the Pros

Kneeboarding is almost like wakeboaring but this is more stable since you are just on your knees the whole time and uses a different board. 

When doing the kneeboard you should avoid the obstacles since it is just for the wakeboarders and if ever you will crash into one of them you must let go of the rope pulling you to stop, then on the side of the lake there will be a motorcycle waiting for you to drive you again to the starting post. After 4 times of trying I did not finish the whole track because I always end up in front of the obstacles and just letting go of my rope, hehehe. Tried and exhausted we went to the swimming pool near the clubhouse to take a swim then got back to the clubhouse to eat dinner and have a nice sleep back on our room. The whole was very fun no dull or boring moments since there are a lot of riders that sometimes show off for the audience.

Restorante Bigoli

 

If you ever missed Fazolis in Eastwood I have a new place for you (if this not a new place for you, well for me it is, hehehe). It is located near the cinema ticketing booth of Trinoma (top floor) in North EDSA. Lablab saw an ad in clickthecity while looking for the schedule of the movie "The Tourist" and wants to visit the place. We then decided to have a taste of some of their dishes. The resto serves Italian pasta and pizza. It is not a fine dining resto so don't expect someone to get your order (and also because they have few staff). The same as in Fazolis they have unlimited garlic bread (well as they say it, it is complementary garlic bread). 

Spaghetti al Pesto (Php170)

Fettucine Carbonara (Php170)

 

Lablab ordered a Spaghetti al Pesto with 2pcs of Italian Chicken (it is like a combo meal) and for me it is Fettuccine Carbonara with 2pcs of Chicken also (you may think that it is too much chicken, well I ordered a solo but they punched in the combo meal, hehehe) and a slice of White Pizza Bacon.  

White Pizza Bacon (Php65)

Then, its eating time!!! Lablab said, "the chicken and pesto looks familiar..." and when I tasted the chicken it taste familiar also, it is like when our office is still in Eastwood and taking our lunch at Fazolis where the chicken is awesome and the pesto is delicious! Then we agreed that this establishment is like a sister company of Fazolis. I approached a crew and asked if they are affiliated with Fazolis and he even doesn't know what it is. So to our surprise it is not in any way related to that resto in Eastwood. The chicken is delicioso as well the pasta. It is a long time that I have eaten a very creamy and tasty carbonara. 

Inside the Resto

Overall, if you want a taste of Italian dishes and wants the best value for your money, you better try Bigoli. Not only the food that is great but  the value for money because of their generous serving size. And for a bonus, they offer unlimited drinks for only Php35, I think that's the lowest it can get for a good resto.