First Week Back in Manila

This is, I think, one of the last photos of me in the office before they officially closed it down.



My first day back, after taking a quick nap, I met up with Oliver for lunch and Razon's halo halo. Analyn happened to be here visiting so she tagged along together with Badette.





I tried to pass the time at the mall while waiting for Oliver to finish his shift so we can head out to catch the Little Mermaid preview. Contact me for tickets. I'll give you a hefty discount.





The preview was a success and if I hadn't been so preoccupied, I'm sure I would've enjoyed it as well.





The next day, after another Mermaid meeting, I then met up with Rhommel. We picked up Gavin and met up with Willie who wanted to show us Ayala Triangle all decked up.







Sadly, all the restaurants were extremely crowded so we headed back to Paseo. We ended up at Yellow Cab and Willie introduced us to Dear Darla, a unique pizza experience.







Willie then dropped me off at the Fort where I met up with my college friends. We all had a great time that we barely noticed that it was already 4am.



The next day, I met up with Willie, Pau and Rhommel. We all went to church to pray and then headed out to Eastwood for dinner and Happy Lemon.









The next day was spent with my family. We went to church and then went crazy with desserts at Becky's Kitchen. Sadly, I wasn't able to take photos. We then passed by Banawe for me to try Chatime.





It has been quite a busy week for me, I just have to meet up the rest of my friends soon before I run out of juice. :p

Yakimix Podium

Oliver has been repeatedly telling us about Yakimix every chance he gets so it makes perfect sense for us to have lunch there for his birthday. We went to the one in Podium since it's a working lunch for him and it's the one nearest his office.



I immediately noticed the hanging lamps which I liked so I tried to take a picture but was informed that photography is not allowed.



If you don't already know, it's a buffet style restaurant that features a smokeless grill. I have to point out that it is indeed smokeless and you don't leave the restaurant smelling like food much like when you eat at Pepper Lunch or any similar restaurant.



I don't really enjoy waiting for the food to cook so it's great that they have cooked food and sushi also available. I particularly liked the Taro dessert.



Most of the what I tried were quite good. The beef and broccoli, I liked so much I went back for it. The sweet and sour fish was also nice. The lechon kawali which I was most excited for was a big let down. The pork didn't taste fresh.





Their cakes and other sweet treats are from Goldilocks and Red Ribbon which was perfect for my craving. They also have quite a variety of Selecta ice cream flavors, another reason to save room for dessert.

Orchard

On Oliver and Analyn's third day, we decided to stay at Orchard...well, we originally wanted to stay at Marina Bay Sands but apart from it being a bit expensive, Em-J didn't want to go there because he says it's nothing special and that the Sky Park is too crowded. Orchard is actually the best option since it's right smack the shopping district.

We stayed at the Royal Plaza on Scotts, home of the famous Carousel.

It was a simple room but I loved how friendly the staff were. The sheets were also lovely plus everything in the fully stocked mini bar is free, how very generous of them. Security is a bit strict since key cards are required in the elevator. 

Clarice was starting to feel lazy and just wanted to order in at McDonald's. Lol! We walked along Orchard and eventually decided to have lunch at Takashimaya's newly renovated Food Village. For dessert, Em-J suggested Maggie Moo's at 313. 

We saw an outdoor art exhibit on our way to 313. Orchard Road is always interesting, you never know what to expect next. 

After dessert, we decided to head back to the hotel but we chanced upon Night Safari's Halloween Promo at ION. 

By this time, it was already a bit too late to head back to the hotel so we decided to go straight to Lau Pa Sat for dinner. 

Interesting, I only found out when we went there that you're not allowed to sit outside if you don't order any satay. Nobody really wanted those from our group but we were left with no choice. 

After the filling dinner, we headed back to Royal Plaza. Oliver wanted to swim which was not part of our plan. None of us brought a proper swimming attire but the hotel staff still graciously allowed us to use the pool wearing our regular shorts.

I can't say how much I loved the hotel. I do have one complaint, the white macaron that I bought from Carousel, supposedly a White Chocolate Truffle tasted like garlic. The rest were wonderful though.

Universal Studios Singapore

I was finally able to visit Universal Studios Singapore on Oliver and Analyn's second day here. The park is usually open from 10am to 7pm but on the day we visited, it's closing an hour early because of some event.

For that reason, I wanted to head there early but as you know, we all took our sweet time getting ready. We left the house at 10am, had breakfast at KFC, realized that I left the camera at home so we had to head back then it started to rain quite hard. We decided to take a cab but it took forever, I think we were waiting 30 minutes before we finally decided to just take the train.

It was not too crowded when we got there, my general impression is Enchanted Kingdom with a heftier budget. I think the general feeling of it being like EK is brought by the fact it's a bit small. The different "lands" just about had two to three attractions. Even then, there were still a few attractions that we missed and we only got to watch one show out of a handful.

It was good that we've been there once after hours so we zoomed by Hollywood Blvd. (You can visit Hollywood Blvd to dine in or check out the shops for a minimal fee when the entire park is already closed, thus after hours). It has a lot of souvenir shops which can take time if it's your first time there.

We posed for a few shots at Madagascar and quickly left since there wasn't much to see. A Crate Adventure, a river ride is still closed. 

Next up is Far Far Away, we had fun at Enchanted Airways, a roller coaster ride and the Shrek 4-D Adventure. There is also a minor introduction before the actual Shrek 4-D show which I also found nice but was a bit long. The staff in charge of hosting the pre-show was a bit difficult to understand and their crowd control personnel can also be a bit more hospitable. I heard them shouting to some guests at one point. 

By this time, we were already a bit hungry but the Waterworld show was up next and has specific timings so we just had a quick Churros snack and proceeded to "The Lost World" where the show is taking place. It was quite exciting, we got a bit wet since we decided to sit just behind the splash zone. We didn't really mind being that we're already a bit damp because of the rain. People were walking around with plastic coats but we didn't know where to get those. 

There were also a couple of rides at that zone, the Canopy Flyer, which I didn't expect to be a bit fast. I readied my camera to take a picture of the view from up above only to be surprised that I zoomed by the sights fast. 

The other ride, Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure, had quite a long queue. We decided to skip the queue by giving up sitting together. We queued in the single passengers lane and acted as fillers to rafts that lack one passenger.

We then headed to "Ancient Egypt", there were also two attractions but we skipped the first one, Treasure Hunters since it had a 30-minute waiting time. The other one, "Revenge of the Mummy" is the best attraction for me. We had so much fun, we immediately queued back after the first ride. 

The next zone, Sci-Fi City, has the Battlestar Galactica but it's still closed. So we headed to the last zone, New York. 

And here's my 30 Rock Tribute. 

There's one attraction there, Lights! Camera! Action! which was very interesting. You are taken to a soundstage that becomes the setting for a major hurricane in New York. 

On our way out, we chanced upon Frankenstein.