Vieux Chalet

I love food, no doubt about it... I don't mind traveling to get a tasteful meal. This is one of the vices I think I won't ever give up.

One Saturday morning, my friends and I decided to do some catching up and of course, what better way to do it but over a good meal. Amalie, suggested to visit Vieux Chalet- an authentic Swiss restaurant located in Antipolo city. It's an exclusive restaurant inside the Villa Christina Subdivision. Hidden in the series of private vacation houses and residential houses lies this one of a kind restaurant that we don't usually see in the metro (or a little bit outside the metro.) Unfortunately, there is no public transport going to the place so one must bring a car or ride a cab. The place accommodates only a small group of people so it's best to get reservation first before you visit the place.

I found this link in the website that will give you directions to the place. Click below:

http://vieuxchalet.tripod.com/howtoget.html

(Thank you to the writer of this article at tripod.com. I could have not explained the " how-to- get-there " part at all. I'm just glad some people are really good in giving out directions! )

The facade of the place looks homey.

Vieux Chalet also offers overnight accomodation packages. A mini pool beside the room is also available for the guests.

Here's some of the menu they offer. Just zoom in to see the price! hehe..

My friend Amalie "tries" to play the piano as we wait for our food to arrive.




Sausage pizza- One of the house specialties. I find it yummy, but really nothing special ;b

Reg, shows off the sausage festival platter ( I think that's what they call it ).

You can never go wrong wiht this sausage pasta. Hmm... isn't it too obvious we're sausage lovers?

Zola Resto Cafe , Baguio City

Here's another food place to try in Baguio - The Zola Cafe. This place is also located along Session road, it is a bit more commercialized and got more food options than Oh my Gulay! ( see previous entry ) but I say food is also satisfactory. Big servings, especially their rice meals and reasonable price. Be careful on their spicy entree though, it might be too much for you! ( You can always let the waiter know to lessen the spices if you want to ) Good news to internet addicts, this place offers free Wi-fi too!

Thai Rice - yummy dish but too spicy for my taste. This rice meal is complete in itself, got bits of pork, shrimp paste, veggies and

Mango cake is good but i find it dry, they can improve more on this.. ( I hope )


Omellete for the Veggetarian


This is their version of Adodo rice with tinapa flakes! ( Smoked fished flakes with bits of pork adobo )


The palce offer, pastas, pizza and a lot more goodies for a fairly reasonable price.

Oh my Gulay!

With or Without the Panagbenga Festival, Baguio will always be one of the best places to visit if you want to get some relaxation and good food. Let me share some of the places I found during my palatial stay in the city of Pines. Here is one of the best Resto's in the city.

Oh My Gulay! Restaurant is located on the fifth floor of the La Azotea Building along Session road. It's amazing that it has an outdoor feel despite it's location. The place is full of great and interesting art pieces. It's interior is very stylish and lots of photo opportunity for those who love taking pictures. The restaurant only serve vegetarian meal so it's a haven for all those who love veggies.












Club house sandwich with vegetable salad - Yummy!!!

Kabute Pasta - Garlic sauteed mushroom in cheese sauce pasta for only Php100
The house special Oh my gulay salad!




It's our lucky day! One of the locals agreed to teach us how to prepare and eat a "NGA NGA" - native cigar-like delicacie from fresh leaves and fruit seed, said to have some healing and relaxing effect ( NOT offered in the restaurant )

The leaves and fruit seed ingredients for NGA NGA

PANAGBENGA FESTIVAL 2009

Baguio city is called the Summer capital of the Philippines - cool climate, explicit natural beauty and rich cultural heritage makes it the favorite out of town hangout of both local and foreign tourists alike. Every year, the residents of Baguio celebrates the Panagbenga Festival (formerly known as the Flower Festival) which literary means the "season of blooming." It usually lasts for a month with highlights every weekend. The Grand Float parade and the Street dance parade, usually done at the last week of the celebration showcases beautiful flowers found in the region.

HOW TO GET THERE: From Manila go to Cubao or Pasay and ride the Victory Bus Liner. This bus line caters land transfer from Manila to Baguio daily. ( Rate : Php 440 - one way for standard aircon bus, Php 670 Deluxe bus without CR and Php 700++ for Deluxe bus with CR )

Vacant transient houses, dorms, hotel and houses for rent are extremely hard to find during the Festival season so I suggest you book ahead of time if you wish to visit Baguio at this time.Hotel rates varies from Php 1500- 5500 per night depending on the location and the facilities of the place. Transit houses and dorms are for those traveling on budget. We got ours for only Php 250 per head per night, 2 people share a room and has a common lavatory ( 2 rooms, 1 toilet ) It is a newly constructed building so the place is clean and nice for the price.

Here are some photo's from the PANAGBENGA 2009 Grand Float Parade.


Street dancers wearing colorful costumes

SM Flower float first showed up wow-ing the crowd

TV celebrities participated in the parade - Kim Chui And Gerald Anderson

Marching Band dancing while playing lively music as they walk the streets

Sponsoring a float is a good way of advertisement for these products

Salute to these Police officers who wera proud their culture. PNP cops wearing "bahag"

If you love rice, go to Kanin Club!

Most Filipinos would never feel satisfied without eating a full rice meal in a day, I for one is an avid fan of rice. Can't seem to last a day without it... On our way back from Tagaytay, we decided to take the south Super Hi-way (SLEX) to avoid the traffic via the Coastal road going home. We passed by Santa Rosa Laguna and so we decide to eat dinner at Paseo de Santa Rosa. This place offers lots of restos to choose from but since we are all hungry after a tiring day in Tagaytay, we wanted to eat somethign heavy. We decided to try this new restauraurant that we saw the- Kanin Club

The name didn't sound too enticing at first but we wanted to see what this place have to offer...

The menu lists common Filipino dishes but with some exciting twist -an example would be the sinangag na sinigang ( fried rice sinigang) . I must say, the owners of the resto and the chefs did a great job in recaging the traditional Filipino food. Here's another good food and good price place I would surely visit again. Here are some of the foods we tried..

Sinangag na Sinigang - Sinigang Flavored friend rice with crispy kangkong toppings. Must try for Sinigang lovers!

Ginataan Hipon (Shrimps in coconut milk)

Kare- Kareng gulay - Vegetarian Kare kare, of course witout meat but withoutt sacrificing the taste

Crispy Liempo. Bacon cut pork liempo. Really crispy and addicting!

The place have an indoor and out door ( smoking ) area and since the place ( Paseo de Santa Rosa )hosts live band performers on weekend nights, you can just chill out and relax while enjoying the food.

Macau Museums

Apart from being known as one of the most luxurius city in Asia, Macanese shows love for arts and culture. It has many museums that showcases Macau's historical past and colorful present.

TIP: Tourists can get a day pass at the Tourism office in downtown Macau for anly $25 MOP. This pass is good for all museums listed below namely, the wine museum, Grand Prix museum, Macau Museum, The Lin Zexu Museum, The Maritime Museum and the The Macau Museum of Art.

Take a peek of some of these places!




In this room Macau Museum, a narrative film shows the humble beginning s of the Macau's fisherman's village


A diorama of Ancient Macau

Typical food on a Macanese family celebration

Trivia on wine's history

Dresses of Wine connoisseurs

A replica of tools and materials needed in old fashioned wine making

Hey Jaja! Those grapes are plastic! HAHA!

Wine fermentation barrels

Age old wines - They say the older the wine is the better taste and quality it has

Tour guide inform tourist on different kinds of wine

Best part of it all! Free wine tasting

Vintage and historical car displays at the Grand prix Museum

Some racing cars exhibit at the Grand Prix museum

Whew! That museum hopping was tiring but it was surely memorable too. Some good food for the brains. Love it!

Minhas férias de Macau - Part 2

Just can't get enough of Macau. Sucha small place but so many sights to see. Here are some more spots to visit in this 3-island wonder place!


The arc going to the shrine of Ama and temple at Mount Dep Sek Tong







peaceful ambience in the temple makes it a perfect place to contemplate



Look at those intricate post carvings!





lots of dragon and turtle statues in and out of the Temple





The Buddha shrine




huge incense burner just beside the temple going to the Shrine of A-ma



The Shrine of A-ma. A-ma is the patroness of Seamen, fishermans and Merchants and it's where Ma-cau got it's name









This is the most famous restaurant in Coloane. Tourist from Macau mainland go to Coloane Island just to eatat Restaurante Fernando




Restaurante Fernando has a refreshing outdoor dining place and a cozy indoor area

Steaks are cook in authentic Portuguese style.

the spinach soup is awesome!!!

Juicy roasted chicken taste pretty okay, nothing special


I am not a really into fried fish but this simple looking fish dish is really worth a try!

Fresh vegetable salad complements the steak well

The Black beach - This is the only beach in Macau. Not really that fancy, I say our own Batangas beaches are even better but since this is the only one they have, they say this is all packed during summer

The Praia Avenue park is the most emblematic palce inTaipa, it used to be houses of high ranking officials that is now converted into museums and tourist reception area

houses are lighted and is more beautiful at night

One of the many Catholic Church in Taipa. This is said to be the oldest in town. It is where most Catholic Macanese attend mass. Morning Mass is usually conducted in Mandarin Language



a small park and side street restaurants infront of the Church

The Red Market is where you get the best quality Chorizos and dried foods in the city.

This place have the best beef Jerky in town ( market place down the ruins - St. Paul Cathedral)

Another Attraction here is the Macau's Fisherman's warf

Lot's of activities to do do here at the warf - they even offer wargames!!!

This castle is actually a museum inside

The warf has a convention center too!

The Macau warf walkway - There is a free golf car shuttle that can tour you around the place if you don't feel like walking

Macau's version of the Colosseum

Some ship displays infront of the Convention center

Hay.. just updating my blog makes me tired... still more pictures to share in my Macau adventure.. Next stop Macau Museums....