Once Japan A Christmas : Food edition

Its true what they say, Ill love Japan for its foooood.

First three photos are good finds in Hyakendanna🤫. Our favorite Cheese Shirasu (fish) pizza👌And Crab Pasta plus free appetizers from Bistro Masuya.💚 According to Sed, he had his best Danish bread at Intersect by Lexus at Minato😄And he also convinced me to have snacks at Mo’s Burger since it’s the first time we try it in its origin while always trying it in other Asian countries with its branches😂The Dark Chocolate Ice Cream at Tokyo Observatory was the perfect partner while we hang out for a bit.💙Tokyo Milk Cheese for pasalubong and since the brother first knew about the brand, he also bought and I ate a lot😜Okonomiyaki and Katsudon toppings at a basement located Izakaya in Shinjuku (Ill edit when I remember lol) and huge and yummy Takoyaki at Gindaco.😋Just some of the tons of food I filled my tummy with. 🇯🇵✨

#Taiwannareallyreallywannazigazigahh

So I had extra me time to use to blog 😂. Reminiscing our Taiwan trip with the brothers and cuzzies.

Taipei 101 Mall

Shifen Falls

So this trip was an inaugural cousin trip of some sort. Making Taipei our meeting place from Manila, Vancouver, Singapore, Calgary. Haha! Thanks to us for defying the nautical miles. Months of planning and effort especially from the cuzzos from North America 😂 but worth it. Thanks to PAL for the good steal I got 6k roundtrip each so I can treat the boys too! Plus the pilot going to Taipei was a classmate of mine! Smooth flight in fairness.

It’s my first time in Taiwan. Never been there even for a layover. So I was excited to see as people say I will enjoy the food trip! While waiting for the brothers and cousins from around the world 😂, I decided to book us a trip to Jiufen on our first morning. I mesaged Leo Sun, who was recommended by a teammate at work. I decided last minute as we got nothing planned on the first day and cousins planned Jiufen the day we are flying out. We needed to go back to Manila a day earlier. The Jiufen trip I got was just half day or 6hrs for 3000 NTD or around 4500 in PHP. We were supposed fetched in the hotel and dropped in the hotel as well. (By the way we stayed at Stay Inn Taipei)I requested to pass by the Yin Yang Sea and Golden Waterfall on our way to Jiufen. But, on the day of our trip it rained while we are having breakfast at Mos Burger accross the hotel. We stayed in the Zhongshan area near Shuanglian station. The tour guide Chouly from Leo’s team volunteered to pick us up in front of the food chain instead, so yayb We were just three so we were seated comfortably the whole trip. Whats amusing is the tour guide played OPM songs! 😂 Leo and his team are known to specialize facilitating tours for Pinoys. But, I also enjoyed the F4 songs along the way. As in the original F4..age revelation just like that. 😜 Highly recommended. Let me know if you need more information. Did I say she was also good at taking photos? Look below for our Jiufen photos:

Yin Yang Sea and the surrounding mountain views from our view deck is so beautiful even if it was raining. The manmade Golden Waterfall is also interesting. Both we were able to see en route to Jiufen. Klook and KKday have packages too but you have to walk long so it might not be preferred for kids.

When my brothers Sed and Sean and cousins Mr and Mrs Yeo arrived, we met at Ximending to kick off our foodtrip and just enjoy the Taipei Friday night. Milktea, Hotstar Chicken, Torched Beef and the Noodles topped our list!

The following morning we went to Shifen at Pingxi District for the Sky Lantern experience and the Shifen Waterfalls! I love it!

Then, we went to Taipei 101 at night. Formerly. the tallest building in the world.

Our last whole day was about City Tour! And Shilin Food trip.

Hopefully, Filipinos are forever visa free to this neighboring country. Food trip amd milk tea indulgence is fun. I heard other cities and towns are as fun!!

Portland Day Tour

Portland is not a huge city like other cities in the US. But, it’s neighborhood, artsy, and unique feel made us fall in love with the place. Our trip was not planned. We were spending a night at Seattle when we just suddenly decide to go to the not-so-nearby Portland since it is just a few hours away via I-5.
Our last visit was last November and it was still Autumn. I love how the colors of the season seem to partner well with the city’s vibe. Walking along Chapman Square with all the fall colors is just one of the beautiful things we did. One woman we met said that we arrived at a gorgeous day 🙂 There are a lot of parks around so we experienced Oregon autumn at its finest.  

People are friendly. They readily give suggestions where to eat and voluntarily taking us picture around downtown upon learning we are tourists.
Foodtrucks! Food trucks are famous in Portland with almost every corner accessible to one around town. From Middleeastet to American food.. there are a lot of choices available.
We had lunch at Jake’s Grill. Almost everyone suggested to head for lunch here. There are two Jake’s Grill – one famouse for seafood and one for steaks (the newer one) . Since we are just near the latter when we got hungry, we decided to dine there. Food was good, I can say.

There are a lot of cafe’s, ice cream shops, and artsy corners around. Who can miss the Portland streetcar? This is also known as a common means of transportation here.

Grouse Mountain

Our family went to Grouse Mountain for a short trip. It’s still fall at the mountain. No snow in sight. But, we were still amazed with the view! The overlooking Vancity view is just breathtaking. What else could better? Well, I can say having lunch with the view is! We requested to be seated near the window so it is superb! The Altitude restaurant have reasonable serving sizes of delicious food to share. We personally loved the Nachos. 😊

We just basically roam around the place and just purchased the Alpine experience for CAD 44 per adult which includes the Alpine experience or the Skygondola ride and Plateau activities. One of the activities is the Grizzly Lookout. Meet Coola and Grinder, your favorite Grouse Mountain Bears. 

For more information, check Grouse Mountain website : https://www.grousemountain.com/

Best Island: Boracay

A day after posting in my Instagram  account about my favorite island, Conde Nast Traveler awarded it as the Best Island in the World for 2016! Yay for Boracay. 💙

Sidetrip to Legoland Malaysia

In the middle of our vacation last Summer in Singapore, we decided to spend an overnight trip to Legoland Malaysia. When my husband told me about this, I got giddy because I love kiddie themed travels haha. So I checked Legoland Malaysia’s website and got happily confused with the theme room to choose. Finally, we decided to try the Pirate-themed Premiere Room and booked it!

There are Adventure-themed and Kingdom-themed rooms as well. One Kingdom room is a suite that accommodates up to 8 people! Room rates start at around RMB650. Premium Rooms start at RMB 820. Prices include buffet breakfast at the Bricks Cafe.

As advised by my cousins, it is best to spend an overnight stay so it will not be tiring for us to tour the theme park and go to and from Johor Bahru and Singapore. We purchased the two-day tickets for about RMB 280 or PHP 4200 or USD 96 which includes two-day access in both theme and water parks of Legoland.

May I also suggest to go there during the ‘BER’ months? We went there during summer and it was too hot. Good thing we stayed at the hotel so we rested from time to time hehe.  

How did we went there from Singapore? We booked through WTS Travel. The pick up point is at their  Singapore Flyer office. We chose the 9am trip but we were there at around 8am. At first we were curious if there was a queue but the attendant said none. So we just waited only to realize that the bus already arrived and it was already full when we got in! So we were seated apart. Imagine if you are with kids, it is much of a hassle. Seeing the brighter side of it, the travel time is just short – around 1 hr and 45 mins including the immigration stop. But, I still provided my feedback to WTS and they acknowledged. The coach bus will drop off passengers at the entrance of Legoland and pick up point is at the same place. I love the choice we made regarding the time as we have maximized our stay and tour in the theme park. Guests can leave their bags at the hotel if it is not yet time for check in or if check out is too early. Coach bus roundtrip  fare is at SGD 25 per person. Tip: If taking WTS, be more mindful of the bus assignment and double check with the attendant so you can get the best seats. We did that during our trip back to SG. 

Singapore Trip 2016

The Shopes at Marina Bay Sands

Singapore is still one of my favorite countries in Asia. I have not seen the whole Asia yet. I have been to around ten and I still keep coming back to Singapore.

“The story of Singapore is rich with twists, turns and triumphs” as stated in Singapore’s travel website: http://www.yoursingapore.com/ . Truly, this independent and progressive country is rich in history and culture.

This is some sort of a “throwback” post from just a few months ago about my visit to the Lion City.

We have stayed at two Swissotel Hotels. Thank you to my cousin as she was able to book our hotels with discounts! Wee! 😀 We stayed at Swissotel Merchant Court located near Clarke Quay and Singapore River. I love the quaint, vintage architecture of the hotel! When we arrived, some of the portions were being constructed. But, we were informed ahead of time. The attendants and receptionists were so helpful and courteous. We were accommodated at a Premiere Room (Corner Room) with a balcony overlooking the pool and Clarke Quay. Happily, we were given one of the newly renovated rooms. The view is just perfect for a vacation vibe. The bathroom is very spacious, clean, and has elegant interiors.

Merchant Court

The view from our room at Swissotel Merchant Court

Our stay at Swissotel Merchant Court comes with breakfast. There are variety of choices for breakfast – Asian, Continental etc. We all love the food!

Ready for Buffet Breakfast

Love Locks SG version at Clarke Quay

Our cousin Em and her fiancé Jeremy  are one of the best tour guides in SG! They bring us to unique and not so ‘touristey’ places. During this vacation, they brought us to Sentosa Cove’s Quayside Isle which is a place for gastronomic adventure with a wide array of coffee shops and restaurants. We decided to have lunch at Kith.

Quayside Isle View

Wealso went to Marina Bay Sands which I miss!

Thanks Jeremy for the ride! Best SG tourist guides ever

How can we skip Universal Studios Singapore?! There are new rides. But, I came back for the Transformers ride! We tried getting the VIP access this time so we have saved a lot of time by having a special queue!

 


For the latter part of our vacation, we stayed at Swissotel Stamford. This hotel is strategically located at the heart of the city with easy access to City Hall station MRT. It is also one of the tallest buildings in Singapore. It is also right beside Raffles City Mall.  I can say that the hotel is perfect for both business and pleasure because of the location. Our room gives a nice view of the Singapore flyer and the city.

City View from our Swissotel Stamford room

There’s a lot more to do in Singapore depending on the type of vacation and purpose of visit.One can have sidetrips to nearby towns, cities, and countries too. We did go to nearby Johor Bahru during this trip. But, will save that for a different post 🙂