Cebu: A Weekend in the City

In summer of this year, we managed to squeeze in a weekend trip to Cebu. It was my first time there; and I must say, that quick getaway definitely gave me a reason to come back. Presented in a format unusual from my usual, read about the 30 or so hours I spent in the Queen City of the South and its vicinity.

Cebu: Temple of Leah

Ever since it opened to the public, Temple of Leah has become part of the "must-see places" in Cebu. So in the short span of time that we stayed in Cebu City last May, we made sure to squeeze this in our itinerary. The place is still under development and expansion, but it already makes for a visual spectacle.

Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar

Being born and raised in the metropolis, sneaking away to the less urban landscape is always a refreshing experience. Having a change of scenery where it feels like you're trapped in a different time? Even better.

Bacolod: Of Sugar and Smiles

It may not look like it in this photo (or all the other photos because I was having too much fun making aura everywhere lol), but was definitely all smiles during our trip last month to the City of Smiles, Bacolod! Although it was a pretty gloomy weekend, I did not let the weather dampen the mood. It was my first time going to Bacolod and I'm torn between wanting to go back and not-- and for totally good reason. Know more below the cut!

That Windblown Effect

It's a brand new year! What are your resolutions for 2017? I don't usually make on for myself, but I have a feeling this year isn't going to be just another year for me, so guess what-- I went ahead and listed down a few resolutions! One of them is to blog more, and blog often. It's pretty ironic to kickstart with a backlog, but I have a lot to make up for. Plus, I've been dying to share my photos from the Pililla Wind Farm in Rizal, so it's good to finally be able to do so.

Presenting: Puerto Princesa (Part 2/2 of the Palawan Photo Diary)

Here's the second part of my Palawan photo diary! (First part here.) Finally got around to blogging again after months! As I mentioned in my previous post, this one will be about my stay in Puerto Princesa (which was mostly food-tripping lol).

When we got back from El Nido, we spent the remainder of our stay at the Purple Fountain Courtyard Inn. It's the most beautiful place ever! The place is like a blown-up Mary Grace, with vibrant lodges and pretty trinkets. Of course I couldn't not take advantage of the scenery and take photos!

What follows would be a spam of photos from the ultimately picturesque lodging, with some photos of my outfit sneaked in. And at the end of this post aaaaare: food pointers! Enjoy!

The eponymous purple fountain

Camisole: Forever 21

Flip-flops: Havaianas (MYOH 2013)

These pairs are said to bring fortune to the household; you are supposed to put rice grains or bigas in the man's jar and coins in the woman's jar. (We bought a pair for our home!)

Lace top: H&M

Tank top: Uniqlo

Flip-flops: Payless ShoeSource

As promised, I shall now share about some places we ate at in Puerto!

Our stay at Purple Fountain was inclusive of free breakfast at their restaurant. You can choose between a continental breakfast, or a Filipino one. Well, by the photo below, you know what we got. I highly suggest you get the lamayo though! It's Palawan's very own take on the dried fish. You should also buy from the market and take them home (like we did)! Just tell the vendor that you will bring it home with you and they will seal and pack it in a travel-friendly way.

White Fence Country Cafe / 
Purple Fountain Courtyard Inn

Manalo Extension, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan

One thing that I learned during my stay in Palawan is that they have a history with the Vietnamese people, particularly during the Vietnam War. Because of this, Vietnamese food became far from a rarity in the province. We were actually supposed to eat at a Chao Long place near our hotel; however, when we got there, the place was full of people! Thankfully, the tricycle driver knew another Vietnamese restaurant, and brought us there. The downside, he charged us a tad too much for our fare* (in Tagalog, "tinaga kami sa presyo").

*Tricycle would be the best way to get around the city. However, be careful not too appear to tourist-y or else they will take advantage! We were doing well except for that chao long incident, really. It helps if you ask locals at the hotel lobby about the usual fare rates from point to point, so you'll at least have an idea on how much to pay. (Have I mentioned how remarkable the trikes in Palawan are? They are very different, also bigger, than the ones in Manila! Actually, the tricycle looks different for almost every province; interesting, right?)

Overprice trike fare aside, I have no other complaints because the food at Rene's Saigon was good! We all got the Beef Stew, as well as an order of their fresh spring rolls and french bread. The meat in the stew was very tender, and the stew itself was flavorful! Not too salty, but just right. Tasted very authentic too! Maybe the fact that the owner is Fil-Vietnamese helped. The pork and shrimp spring rolls were, well, indeed fresh! The peanut sauce complimented them great. Another perfect partner to the chao long was the french bread. As a fan of garlic bread, believe me when I say that it is really good. They have different variants of the french bread actually, but we opted for the plain one.

Rene's Saigon

Rizal Avenue Extension, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan

Of course we had to eat at local favorites too! On one of our days at Puerto Princesa, we ate lunch at Balinsasayaw. I remember we were supposed to eat at KaLui's, another famous spot, but they were under renovation. I forgot what we ordered, but I do remember their signature dessert! It was ube ice cream topped with cashew and chocolate sauce, served in a coconut. It was so good that we even got another order after, no kidding! In case you didn't know, cashew (or kasoy) is another nut delicacy that Palawan is famous for.

Balinsasayaw

Puerto Princesa City, Palawan

Balinsasayaw has at least 2 branches in the city, if I'm not mistaken. Another tourist food spot we ate at was Kinabuch's. For dinner, we just got their bestsellers. They also serve tamilok, an exotic food that is famous in Palawan! They are like worms; apparently, they are really long oysters. Admittedly, we were all too chicken to try it out, so of course we did not order that.

What we dared, however, was crocodile sisig! It was actually spontaneous; we were just buying pasalubong  (check out one of the photos above for a sample of a traditional decoration we got for our house) when we spotted this stall selling crocodile meat. Like they all say, it tastes like chicken.

Crocodile Meat

Pasalubong Center

Puerto Princesa City, Palawan

For me, destinations can be categorized into the following: for food, for adventure, and for sightseeing/ history. These are not mutually exclusive; in fact, I would label Palawan as a food and adventure destination.

My family really enjoyed my stay in Palawan, and we will definitely return some day. I feel like I haven't gotten the most out of the Palawan experience yet. For one, our Underground River tour was actually cancelled because of the impending storm. Funnily, the next day, which also happened to be our last day in Palawan, the weather was ultimately pleasant. Perhaps Palawan really wants us back haha!

x Erika Rosales

PS: Sorry for the awful alignment of the icons! Apparently Blogger is experiencing some bugs. It's driving me crazy, and now I'm thinking twice about giving my blog a makeover. Also considering switching platforms ha!

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Exploring El Nido (Part 1/2 of the Palawan Photo Diary)

I'm back! Been really busy with school (that I even forgot about my blog's 1st birthday last March 16), but I'm just really happy to be free now! Unfortunately, my freedom will be short-lived since I'll be returning to school in a week or so (sob).

Well, I guess I had my summer in advance last December anyway! During the Christmas break, we went to Palawan and explored El Nido and Puerto Princesa. This post will be the first out of two posts I'll be dedicating to our Palawan trip. Read on to find out more!

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It was our second time being in Palawan, as I was told (the first one being during my toddler years, so I really don't remember). However, it was our first time checking out El Nido. I've seen photos of the limestone formations that the place is famous for, so I was so excited to finally be there!

Getting there meant enduring a 4-hour land travel from the Puerto Princesa airport. The place reminded me of Boracay, except more peaceful, and  less crowded and "commercialized". 

The highlights of our stay would be the dinner by the beach, and the island hopping. Honestly, I'm not much of a beach person because (1) I quite don't want to get any tanner, and (2) I don't exactly have a body to flaunt lol. But I do love swimming and trying out other watersports! What I can say about El Nido though is it's more of a feast for the eyes out of the water, rather than underwater. There aren't much fishes, but the limestones are breathtaking!

We took the Tour A, and we were brought to different islands and lagoons. I tried to take as much photos as I can, but I had to be really careful unless I wanted to lose a gadget to the seas haha! (Not a lot of them are ~koala tea~ but anyways!) Some were taken with a Nikon D90, some with my iPhone 6, and some with a Lumix waterproof camera.

Click the photo to enlarge the panorama shot!

#fromwhereistand ft. my MYOH pair from 2013 (I think?)

That's me!

I took some other photos underwater, but the lighting isn't exactly good so yeah. (I don't have a GoPro sarreh)

One of our last stops was in some island wherein we ate lunch prepared by the boatmen themselves. The lunch cooked over a campfire was delicious, and was also made refreshing with fresh fruits for dessert! Since we stayed there for quite a while, I managed to have my little *shameless* photoshoot! Like I said before, I don't have body worth flaunting, so feel free to skip through them lol.

But first, I want to share with you guys these metallic tattoos from Karma Chic! Perfect for summer, aren't they? Besides tats, they also have cami tops that come in quality fabrics and lovely colors! Check them out on Facebook or Instagram to see all they have to offer.

They stayed in tact for around a week on my skin! The triangle (made up of triangles) on my hand started to come off pretty early though because I guess I touched it (or it hit stuff) a lot. But the other ones, despite being taken to swimming, were still there!

Here come's the part where there was a lot of "no breathing" involved hahaha! What, not everyone has the quick metabolism (or at least the time to make up for that by working out incessantly) to have a great body. But everyone can have the confidence, and at this point, I'm just proud of myself for having that.

Doing the Natalie Dormer-smirk heh

After eating late lunch, we went into the Big Lagoon, and again stopped in another beach. There, other tourists were playing volleyball, while some were just chilling and sipping their drink of choice-- fresh buko juice, or beer. My family and I were part of the latter, drinking juice out of a young coconut. Afterwards, I had it opened up so I could eat the "meat".

With that last stop, we headed back to the main proper. We were granted with the lovely view of the sunset on the way back.

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And that's the end of my El Nido photodiary! You can also check out my Instagram (@_erikarosales) for more photos! You'll also see on my IG that my hair right now is no longer like the one in the photos-- I now sport a lob, huzzah! I've never really had short hair before, but I'm really glad I took the risk! I'll probably post about that soon. But first, do stay tuned for part 2 of my Palawan Photo Diary, which will focus on Puerto Princesa!

PS: Belated happy birthday to my brainchild, Style and Sundry!!!!! I might give it a makeover when I have time hehe.

x Erika Rosales

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