OUR AWESOME PLANET

Sunset Over LA :)

I'll be on a blog leave until the end of March. I'll surely miss updating this blog regularly and I'll surely miss exploring the culinary delights of Manila. It's been fun over the last few months, specially when I receive comments and feedback from my readers. I love the conversations! This blog is very fulfilling for me in making connections with other people and in the process, I learn more secrets :) I leave you with this beautiful sunset picture of LA taken during the landing of our PAL flight. My brother was teasing me about some insider secrets of Los Angeles and I might have some posts on our LA adventures. Stay tuned...

Philippines

[Dear Awesome Planet #3 ] My Favorite Blogs about the Philippines I

Dear Awesome Planet,

Hello there!

came across your blog recently (When I was checking out info for the Philippines) and ended up trying the 5-hour-massage of Bing. It was great referral. Thank you so much.

I am an expat living in Manila and would like to explore what more this city has to offer, outside of big malls and Greenbelts. I would be grateful if you could refer me to other blogs from where I can get additional info. Thank you and have a nice day!

Ben

Dear Ben,

I'm sharing with you my favorite blogs about the Philippines. I love these blogs because of the personality of the people behind these blogs and they would truly give you an honest-to-goodness perspective about what Manila has to offer:

desserts comes first blog by Lori ( http://dessertcomesfirst.blogspot.com/ )
rants and raves by wysgal ( http://wysgal.blogspot.com/ )
writings on the wall by aj ( http://www.annalyn.net/ )
marketmanila by marketman ( http://www.marketmanila.com/ )
celdran tours by carlos ( http://celdrantours.blogspot.com/ )
ironwulf by ferdz ( http://ironwulf.net/ )
old manila walks by ivan ( http://oldmanilawalks.blogspot.com/ )
my sari sari story by sydney ( http://my_sarisari_store.typepad.com/my_sarisari_store/ )
pinoy travel blog group led by abe ( http://www.pinoytravelblog.com/ )
awesome Pilipinas! by anton ( my compilation: http://anton.blogs.com/awesome/awesome_pilipinas/index.html )

Let me know if these helps!

Sincerely,

Manila, Philippines

The quest is ON for the First Filipino in Mt. Everest!

Armed with the passion to become the first Filipino to set the Philippine flag proudly on top of Mt. Everest in May 2006, Romi Garduce kicked off his quest in conquering the highest mountain in the world last March 3, Friday. The plan was to make this as low key as possible because of the political implications (won't elaborate anymore :). Romi is an officemate and a good friend for some years now, and I'm glad that our company supported him in this quest. We ensured that back-up plans are in place and agreed on a 3 months leave of absence. He would be attempting to climb the summit and be back in Manila by May 15 (at the earliest) or May 29 (at the latest). May is the best time and the only window for safely climbing Mt. Everest @ 29,028 feet (8,848 meters).

On a related topic, the 1st all Filipino Mt. Everest expedition team has now been trimmed down to 17 core members. The core group of the Mountaineering Federation of the Philippines Inc. (MFPI), including Transportation and Communications Undersecretary Art Valdez, Butch Sebastian, Fred Jamili, Jong Narciso and federation president Regie Pablo, will spearhead the Philippine expedition. They just finished a 10-day alphine Mountain Course training in Mt. Cook National Park in New Zealand. Here they tackled the 3,754m Mt. Aylmer and the 27 km long and 3 km wide Tasman Glacier, the biggest among the range of glaciers present in the park. The team is set to climb Mt. Everest in May 2007 and for sure will set other records including becoming the first all Filipino expedition team and the first Asian woman on top of Mt. Everest. Female adventure racers Janet Belarmino, Noelle Wenceslao and Bukidnon-bred Karina Dayumdon are part of the selection. Also John Tronco, is their official photographer ( talk about a well funded star-studded team ).

Stay tuned for this and good luck to all our Filipino Climbers!

Manila, Philippines

Chef Ed's Spanish Cuisine + Chef Canoy's Mediterranean Cuisine = Fig & Olives

I was surprised one day, when I say our favorite business lunch place Chef Ed's was converted into Fig & Olives Mediterranean and Spanish Restaurant. The story is Chef Ed decided to concentrate on his other restaurants (Filos in the Fort, Teak Bistro in Rockwell and managing the Splendido, Tagaytay Resto?) and Chef Canoy took over. However, what's great is that they kept the spanish cuisine menu intact and Chef Canoy introduced Mediterranean cuisine specialties. I'm a great fan of mediterranean food because of its unique taste, the availability of couscous in the menu and it has healthier food options than Filipino cuisine. The ambiance was kept intact, the great service of the waiters, and unfortunately, the expensive pricing too (Hummus for P180?!) But I love the healthy name of the restaurant -- Fig & Olives!

Manila, Restaurants

[ Playa Calatagan #5] a Manos Greek Tavern Dinner

Ever since I've tasted Greek cuisine in Australia three years ago, I've been looking for an authentic greek cuisine in Manila. The first time, I saw Manos Greek Taverna with its inviting blue and white structure, I hesitated to try it out because of the fear of being disappointed with a Filipino-style Greek cuisine similar to Mati in Rockwell. I was waiting for raves about this place before I try it out. AJay's first blogged Manos Greek Taverna in Nov 2005, and I recently read a poetic tribute by Dr. Honrado Palugod on his hellenic dining experience to this place that made me decide to check it out. On our way back from Playa Calatagan, we decided to have this as our last stop before finally heading back home. I've tried the best sellers in the house: Tzatziki, Hellenici Salata-Greek Salad, Mousaka, and the Baklava dessert which are indeed very good. On the contrary, the kebabs were ordinary.

I love this place because the food is healthy, ingredients are freshly made by the owner, and Manos is almost always there to entertain his guest -- very hospitable fellow. Manos claims that everything is cooked in Greek virgin olive oil which comes from their olive plantations in the island of Crete :)

Philippines, tagaytay

[ Playa Calatagan #4] Beautiful Golden Sunset!!

Right in front of Playa Calatagan beach is this golden sunset. It is soo beautiful just to watch this. This post is just all about the sunset shots I made and I suggest that you gotta watch this when you decide to visit this place. For those of you who are in the office and I do hope these shots would de-stress you and make you more excited to visit the Philippines awesome beaches. Enjoy the sunset shots! summer is here, finally :)

Beach, Philippines

[Dear Awesome Planet #2] Golden Sunset Resort, Calatagan

Dear Awesome Planet,
2 thumbs up! :) ur web is so exciting. web pa lang nakakarelax na what more

just want to ask few questions. just want to know if you've been to golden sunset resort at calatagan batangas. pls advise me with the rates and if we're allowed to cook our own food there.

hope to hear from you thanks and hope to see more places in your web :)

thanks and God Bless

---dawn---

Philippines

[ Playa Calatagan #3] Stay a week or stay a lifetime @ Playa Calatagan!

>>>> Our Playa Calatagan 254sqm Lot and Membership for SALE! <<<<

Ah, life is indeed a beach. With a beautiful beach such as Playa Calatagan -- I do hope that it can bring it's vision alive of bringing the Boracay spirit in Calatagan, 3 hours away from Manila. Landco already learned their lessons with the Punta Fuego and Terrazas seaside communities where it gets boring as you stay longer since it is private and there is only so much you could do. What's great about the Playa Calatagan vision, is that there is a private resort for the seaside community but also there is a public commercial area envisioned to be the Boracay Party Place of Batangas :) As mentioned in my earlier post, I'm glad the Palacios family decided to develop their beach and it has huge huge potential. They are just building the clubhouse now and selling phase 1 (out of 4 phases to be developed) which only started last november to priveleged guests.

This is actually an exclusive (naks :) and I want to share this opportunity to my readers -- specially if you are a beach person or you are a balikbayan looking for an investment or a beach home. Take note that I refrained from using retirement house since the vision is that the community would be younger and more vibrant :) I think this is a lot better than the Anvaya Seaside community in Subic. Let me tell you why.

Beach, Philippines