Chelsea - Serendra Mall

It was up to my choice to decide where to eat for my last dinner in Manila.

The moment I set my eyes on Chelsea I wanted to try. I was too lazy to read up reviews before I left, I had too much to do :) 

We sat outside because it was full inside, it looks like a deli/bar inside.

Before our food came, we had complimentary Focaccia bread with grilled garlic bulb - a good pacifier for the hungry ghouls.

We ordered the fig pizza, angus beef burger (so much for trying to be vegetarian), salmon tartare, molten cheese rissoto ball and  chocnut cake to share. All in all I had a great dinner but also it was a mini farewell for me... so even IF the food wasn't good, the good company made up to it. ;)

Thanks so much girls! 

Pares King

Pares King - Open almost 24 hours.

We never found out their definition of almost 24 hours but it's the best local fast food I have ever had! I had a great meal of Beef Pares, Ensalada Ampalaya (Bitter Gourd Salad) , Laing (Taro Leaves) and Halo-halo (Filipino ABC) !

I love the interior of Pares King, it's like a cottage for kids, with boots flower pots and cloud lamps. Cute!

Legazpi

After a fruitful 2 days of swimming with the whale sharks we went to spend a night at Legazpi.

The main attraction would be Mount Mayon or Mayon Volcano.

"The most destructive eruption of Mayon occurred on February 1, 1814. Bombarding the town with tephra that buried the town of Cagsawa—only the bell tower of the town's church remained above the new surface."

After the eruption in 1814, the Daraga Church was built on top of the mountain and is now the country's historical treasures.

We were totally overwhelmed by the beauty and the weather, we just couldn't help ourselves. =)

Thanks NLC and GGA for the photos!

Dear flying friends, I had so much fun! Thanks for the great last weekend!

This is the best Filipino breakfast I've ever had.
Really, I'm not a fish person but this Tilapia is so fresh and well fried and the almost non existence bone almost made me lick my plate clean! My father will definitely be proud of me. =)

Donsol

So swimming with the whale shark, or locally known as the butanding is a must do in Donsol. On a good weekend, you get to see more than 20 over butanding, but if you're not in luck, there's no sight of them. Too many (good) things happened over the weekend...

Waking up at 4am to catch the 6am flight to Donsol.

Mayon Volcano , Woodland's Resort - Where we stayed at Donsol, the sunset before we took the boat out to see fireflies at the mangroves.

2 hours dinner by this eccentric lady at Barracuda Cafe, though, food is yummy, around the town of Tabacco market and the church that was built in 16th centuries.

JUMP!

Over the weekend, I jumped 17 times into the sea, saw 3 whale shark's fin on the water surface and swam over 2 hours with them (collectively). How was it? Oh, it was definitely a very surreal experience, feels like as if you were flying in the water but when you see the whale shark about to bumped into you, you wish you could just jump out of the water straight away - well that's how I felt, I know some people actually wished that they could ride on the gentle giants!

It was quite stressful in the beginning when the guide told you to get ready and before you know it, he said, ' NOW! NOW! NOW! JUMP!'. Then you have to jump into the water before the whale sharks swim away. Sometimes when the guide is really good, the moment you jump into the water, you see the gentle giant head on. Oh my, many times I swerved right away as fast as I could but the guide always pull me closer to it and laughed.

But when you get to actually swim side by side with the whale shark, your whole world seems to quiet down and you're in a surreally calm atmosphere, watching the giant fish swimming next to you or underneath you, until they come too close to you or you have a collision with a fellow blind snorkeler. Haha... =) But this is definitely a once in a life time must do experience!

Thanks NLC for the photo!

S.C.U.B.A

Aren't they beautiful?

All the photos are taken at Koala and Arthur's dive sites at Anilao.

Thanks to KJL for the photos!

Ukkokei Ramen Ron

My Japanese friend, told us that there's a really good ramen place in Manila. Ooh...then it is definitely a must try!

So after the tiring scuba weekend, we went to have ramen before heading home. This place is apparently, one of the best ramen place in town!

I had the Ukkokei Shoyu Koumi - Ramen with Shoyu Sauce. The distinctive flavour is from the deep fried minced shallots and it can be quite bitter towards the end. But the ramen is so chewy and the soup is so 'comforting' it's a great meal after a tired day. :)

My friend had the cold ramen in sesame sauce.

From the looks of it, you know it's good isn't it? *grin*

Well, it is. I was very happy, I must say, this is definitely the best weekend I've had.

And it's March already, I hope March is as eventful as February has. :)

Anilao Rocks!

I did it!

I must say, I'm quite proud of myself and I didn't expect to say that I will definitely come back to Philippines to do more diving with the great bunch of people that I've met!

Over the weekend we went to Anilao for our check out dives, meaning, to check out from diving class. :)

Bambu Villa Resort, where we stayed. Our dive master - Neyney was checking the equipment to make sure everything is ok. Right before the dive, everybody just lounge around doing nothing. Before the dive, the dive masters gives briefing to the group then only everybody suit up and head towards the waters!

Anilao is a great diving spot. Apparently there are more than 10 dive sites at Anilao.

I must say it was very terrifying in the beginning, but at the end everything is worth it. Even the sunset was amazingly breath taking. Just looking at the sunset feels like a reward after a hard day's of work.

So for our training dive, we went to Cathedral and Koala. At Cathedral, you get to feed the fish and they swarm in schools around you as for Koala, the corals are really beautiful but I don't have any photos to show you.

These photos are taken at Cathedral courtesy of my friend who has an underwater camera. :)

To all my diving class buddies... you guys are a great fun to be with!

I'm glad I took up scuba diving. :)