The Holiday

It's 1am I am still awake. I went through my movie collection in the living room and checked out some old movies to watch.
Earlier today, I am thinking of watching an English film- I mean, with a British accent. So I took The Holiday.
Theme of the movie?- Unrequited love and finding new love and be human again :)
I saw this movie in 2006 as part of my training when I worked for a UK account. I saw it with a whole bunch of people, and I felt not so kilig. Until I saw again the movie tonight.
Aww, tunaw na tunaw ang aking puso with the lines. It was well-written.
It was hard to choose who is my favorite character.
It's about two women who are so problematic on the love department, and decided to go on a vacation by switching houses. They are both planning to getaway from their usual environment and the people they often see- especially their exes. So Cameron Diaz's character went to live in London at Kate Winslet's character's cottage- and they both met local guys.
In this movie, I learned a new word:
Meet-cute- this is the term used by film writers when they wrote the part where the guy and the girl meets for the first time.
ex: Amanda and Graham had their meet-cute at the local pub.

And of course, to see Jude Law's character, being hopelessly in love is totally making me drool.
Minsan talaga, marerealize ng isang tao, how important it is to take a step back and asses the situation. Running away doesn't necessarily mean you are being a coward, but instead, it gives you the time to think.
Ako personally, kung uso lang ang house-switching dito sa Pilipinas gagawin ko yan. Haha. Minsan you need to dissappear so you'll be able to think clearly, but some people totally disappear for good to start anew in some other place (which is a totally different story)
What can I say, this movie made me wept again.

Dinner at Brasas

We had no definite plans last Valentine's Day. But since we have the liberty to try new restaurants, I decided that we should try something new and not located at megamall (para maiba naman)
Spot.ph has released a list of restaurants under Php500. Wow pabor na pabor sa mga tulad namin na tipid mode.
We chose Brasas which offers Latin American Cuisine. They are packaging themselves na nag seserve ng Latin American streetfood. According to them, they are a fast food without being a fastfood.

So we went to Brasas at around 7pm just in time for dinner.
Now, whenever I go to restaurants I have to go through my "invisible checklist" kung pasado ba ang resto na to. Hehe. First and foremost the ambience of the place. Hmmm..- Check. As they say, they exude a Latin American vibe. Interiors palang halata naman :P

From the entrance, mejo masikip. But it's ok. Mejo ghetto style sila, with graffiti and all.

Now the food.

May burger na may rice pa! Brasas burger tastes great.

Patacones is a must try, but it is kinda brittle. The brasas burger tastes good especially with the cheese sauce and lots of catsup!
The food smelled like a street food talaga- but in a good way. It all tastes great.
Guarapo is a sugarcane juice, muddled mint and squeeze of lime- this tastes great. Not your ordinary iced tea. Though I ordered the Latin Iced Tea it reminded me of the iced tea from Nutrilicious.
Service- wise, staff are all friendly. You have to go to the counter to order, just like you are ordering from Mcdo of Jolibee.
We were seated by the window and you will have a pretty good view of the north and south bound traffic. :P

Prepare 1k kung gusto niyo mabusog :)
Brasas is located at the 5th floor of The Podium

Puerto Princesa Palawan Vacation

Yey! Our first vacay for 2014.
It was a really organized trip. This was our first time to avail of package tours. (when we were in Davao, we were lucky enough to have friends who are natives so they know the place around)
Thank you Augusto Miggel Travel and Tours for a very organized trip. From pick ups to drop offs, to super fun tours, Thank you!

First day in Palawan.
Upon arriving at Puerto Princesa, we stayed for 2 hours just to rest and waited for our tour guide. We first went to the Puerto Princesa's own version of Baywalk. It was much cleaner compared to Manila's. I didn't take that much picture because it wasn't that interesting at daytime.
Then we went to Plaza Cuartel- which is a tourist attraction in Puerto Princesa, a significant place during WWII.

Plaza Cuartel- Spanish Ruins dedicated to the American Soldiers

As promised by Mayor Hagedorn, this statue is to honor the American WWII soldiers in Palawan

Immaculate Conception Church- Just in front of Plaza Cuartel

 Puerto Princesa also offers irresistable night life. We went to TIKI Bar at Rizal Ave. to have a taste of Crocodile Sisig- who they consider to be a certified aphrodisiac.

At Tiki Bar, with our tour guides Kuya Ruben and our new found friends, Radek and Yhannie.

 On our second day, this is the time we went to Underground River and Karst Mountain. The queue for the Underground River is soooo long our patience was tested. Ganon kadami ang taong gustong makita ang Underground River. We lined up for 1 and a half hour to be accomodated. We had to cross the sea to get to the next island where the Underground River is.
Here are some snaps:

Interesting Rock Formations insdide UG River :)
Lahat na yata ng shapes and sizes ng mga bagay nasa loob. I even saw a rock formation that looked so much like a cathedral I wasn't able to get the pic, it was too dark

Our tour buddies!

 Here are also some shots of the other islands we visited, Pandan Island and Cowrie Island
Pandan Island is where we experienced fish feeding, and it has more of a peaceful vibe.
It was my first time to do a trick shot! Yun na ung pinaka gimik ng mga locals dun. :)

Trick shot with the star fish :)

Fish feeding with Pandan Island, In fairness, ang takaw ng mga fish. We fed them with bread buns.

Henna Tatts also available for P50!

HELLO Cowrie Island!!! So beautiful, with the pristine sand.

Nipa huts by the shore at Cowrie Island.

 I don't want to go into details on how much we spent on this vacation, because no matter how much we spent, it was all worth it because Palawan is so beautiful. Hopefully, next stop, EL Nido :P