Banapple @ Katipunan

Breakfast before going to the airport, January 6. Free refrigerator magnet, yay!Table top.
Wall racks and some satisfied customers...
Yummy chicken. Oh, and they have great cakes and muffins! I didn't like their cookies though.
Banapple is located along Katipunan Avenue after the "Labor" hospital and before Katips and Biteclub if you're coming from Ateneo.

Cebu in Pictures, Part 4

The Rizal Memorial Library and Museum across from where I wait every morning for the jeep I ride to work.Banderitas adorn the streets for the Sinulog celebration, Sunday, January 20. I left Cebu for Manila on Friday, January 18. Weirdo, I know.
Waiting at the airport...
And then I returned the following Monday, January 21.
The cab passed by a cemetery with wall panels painted on by various artists. The artwork were mostly from computer games. This particular one was excellent!
We catch one artist starting on a new part of the wall... Um, what design could he have envisioned?
Back at Rajah, they transferred me to another room with just one bed. The cable channels only went up to 40 plus so as soon the room was available, I requested to be transferred to my old room one floor lower.
No, not just because of how many cable channels there were... I didn't like the room. The view from the window was the adjacent building's roof. I'd rather have no view. And the room's door was right along the main corridor and seen from the stairs and the floor above and the floor below.


On the bed is Cookie Bear, the Coca-Cola stuffed polar bear I won from that New Year's Resolution contest (2 entries down).

Cebu in Pictures, Part 3

Back in Manila. Did not attend the Sinulog festivities... Be back there tomorrow... And here are pictures of places I saw walking along F. Ramos street.The laundry place I found. They delivered on the same day I took my clothes to them. Nice.
A cute yellow orange house.
A coffee place. Hmm, looks faintly familiar.
A bakeshop.
Some of their products...
Cheese Stick Bread so-so ordinary. Monster Bread with hotdog slices so-so and mayonnaise-y.
Bacon n' Cheese sandwich so-so and mayonnaise-y. I won't seek out this place anymore.
I checked out a gym. The boys work-out separately from the girls. Hmm... Looked decent enough. But I still had no gym shoes... And when I was coming down (the gym is at the third floor- there's a warm-up for you), one girl-member thought I was delivering the bread I bought from Betty's. I will definitely not go to this gym nor buy any more bread from Betty.
When you've got the money...
And at the corner of the street is Robinson's Place mall.

New Year Win

So I was in Cebu when mom called and said that I had a bunch of mail at home in Manila. She asked if she could open them because they could contain something important. When she mentioned that I received something from the Coca-Cola Foundation, I told her I wasn't expecting anything from Coca-Cola and that she could open it. It was then when she read to me that I had won a stuffed collectible Polar Bear for submitting my new year's resolution that lander on their top ten. Wow! I forgot I had even joined that internet contest. Mosey on over to cokebarkada.com and you'll see their list. I'm picking up my prize at their Mandaue, Cebu plant tomorrow. As for my new year's resolution... yep, I think I'm handling it ok so far. :)

Cebu in Pictures, Part 2

Going to the office. It was raining a bit. The fare was P6 only. And the local term for fare was the same here as it is in Bicol where my parents are from. Ple-te. I'm not sure if I'm spelling it right. But at least, you should be able to pronounce it correctly. Ok, here: Plee-tee.Jeepney routes have a code. I rode the 14-D jeepney. And to go home, I just have to ride the same numbered jeepney. There were quite a number of route codes I saw like 14-B and 36-D. Wait, nope, the last one is a bra size. But there were quite a number of caucasians about so...Here's the terminal where I got off. Um. Here's the terminal where I got off from the jeepney to walk to my office building. In the background with the green roof is Marriott hotel. I can't stay there because the hotel rates are more expensive there. You have to pay for the hard-to-spell something-something-starred hotel name.Glance to the right and there's where I work. Under the lamp post in the middle. The building! No, it's not that small. It's eight floors tall.And beside the jeepney terminal is the Ayala Mall. Goody!Same stores you would see in Manila - Giordano, Springfield, Marks and Spencer, Memo, Jollibee, KFC, McDonald's, and then there's a branch of Smokin' Rice at the Food Choices level. No, I didn't eat there again.A shot of the roof. I was looking for a laptop security cable but found only a short one being sold at some tech shop. I didn't buy it. I wanted to find a gym I could go to. There was a Fitness First gym in the mall but I just passed by it. It was a relatively big mall. One lunch hour is not enough to go explore.

Cebu in Pictures, Part 1

Bound for Cebu, 12:30PM Philippine Airlines flight. Was at the Centennial Airport, Terminal 2 at 10:30AM.The flight was quick. One hour. And I was on a P375 cab from the airport at Mactan City speeding to Cebu City.
Here's the Christmas tree in front of the recently constructed Cebu Convention Center.
And here's my hotel room (Rajah Park Hotel) where I'll be in until the 19th when I'm moved to a studio room for a couple of days before moving back into a deluxe room. Find Pooper.
The hotel lobby where you can get free wifi internet access. I'm going to check out the health spa at the 3rd floor after I publish this.
A while ago, I remembered I haven't had lunch so I went to the Robinson's Mall across the street. There was a food court so I tried that first. The stall in particular was Smokin' Rice.
True to their name, the rice was smoking hot. And it stayed hot for maybe five minutes. Unfortunately, the pork chops were more like breading chops. Was there meat in there at all?
Sunset at the Fuente Osmena Circle Park.
And yes, those are pirated DVD's.
Welcome to Cebu!

Mexicali vs. Cyma

Mexicali @ Greenhills Promenade. Nice inviting wall decor...
My first time to eat a burrito. Very nice. Especially since I had the vegetables and any other dressing taken out. Just cheese, the rice, the beef, and the wrap, please. Very nice.
Cyma @ Shangri-la Edsa Plaz's The Ledge. Definitely a special place to have dinner with loved ones, for a special occasion and not just because a co-worker is resigning, or to go on a special date.
Above, a hanging lamp with hanging fish. Yes, I heard those fish are fresh from the morning's catch. Below, flaming cheddar cheese. When the waiter served it, he put something on it to make it burst into flames and he and his co-waiter co-chanted "Oppa!" Something something percent on service charge. Lamb chops. Looked big. The second piece at the bottom was just about the size of what your eyes can see. It's called an illusion.
Salmon. Not very tasty at the beginning. And then half-way through, maybe the sauce had seeped in and it was a little more tastier. And then after I finished the whole thing, um, it was just fish in my stomach. And you know what they say about stomachs... They have no memory.
No one said that. I just made it up. So, the winner for this round... Hmm, Mexicali for snacking. Cyma for impressing whoever.

Mr. Choi vs. Teriyaki Boy

Mr. Choi's Kitchen @ Robinson's Place Pioneer. Dark place. Makes for waiters and waitresses you have to holler at to get their attention.
Crispy pork in lemon sauce.Braised fish.Teriyaki Boy @ Medical City's The Strip. The menu.
The table-top setup.The overhead.The maki.The pork-topped "I should have gotten plain rice because this one has bits of vegetables in it" rice bowl.At Mr. Choi's, you have to be a little more patient. And I think it's more suited for the small "nicer" lunches or dinners, like when a team mate is resigning... With Teriyaki Boy, you get a filling let's-go-out-and-grab-something-to-eat-meal-hey-how-about-Teriyaki-Boy-ok-
what's-this-on-the-menu-hey-waiter-what's-this-ok-i'll-try-that meal. You do get the difference, right?