A healthy weekend

'twas the weekend before Christmas... so we decided to go on a healthy weekend break.  We'd heard about The Farm at San Benito through the Lonely Planet originally and then from friends who mentioned it during our time in Manila.  It's a coconut plantation which has been transformed into a health farm/retreat.  It sounded wonderful, if a bit expensive.  And if I'm completely honest, I never thought that we'd manage a break there.

But, we decided to treat ourselves.  Our options for getting out of the city are becoming more and more limited as the due date of the baby nears.  The Farm is only a drive away.  And it's Christmas, so why not treat ourselves!

We were picked up by The Farm's transport on Friday afternoon.  Traffic was thick getting out of the city, but once we were past the airport the rest of the drive was fairly quiet.  On arrival, we were given cold coconut water with a slice of cucumber - very refreshing.  It was dark, but the whole resort was atmospherically lit, including our room.  We stayed in one of the Sulu Terrace rooms.  On the ground level there is the bathroom and a Thai-style chill out area.  On the first floor, the small but perfectly formed sleeping quarters.

With my big belly and increased need for night-time toilet visits I was a bit wary of the steep steps up to the room.  But, this is where we were to stay so we just compared it to camping and got on with it.  There were no broken bones to report at the end of the trip.

Upon check-in we were reminded that the resort only serves vegan food.  The receptionist was keen to double-check with Mr H that this was ok.  His face must have given away the impression that he couldn't survive 2 nights without meat!

The food throughout our stay (2 dinners, 1 afternoon tea and 2 breakfasts) was very impressive.  I just couldn't believe the variety you could achieve using only vegan ingredients.  The highlights were the chocolate and pecan pie on the first night and the granola for the first breakfast.

The portion sizes are not vast, but if you go for the set menu you can choose between 2 to 5 courses.  On the first evening, we weren't sure we were going to be full, so we ordered some bread.  It was delicious, and it came with 3 spreads (cashew 'butter', pesto and coconut 'butter') but it was rather overpriced for what you got - 300 Pesos (almost £5) for 6 very thin and small slices of bread.

What is there to do at a health farm?  Each day there is a set of activities which you can choose to join, or you can simply find one of the chill-out points around the resort and enjoy the silence doing nothing.  There were 3 yoga classes a day, various other exercise classes, walks around the resort and flower arranging.  We didn't do any of these.  We lay by the pool, or in the chill-out area under our hut and just really relaxed.  I've been having really swollen feet recently, and at the end of the weekend my feet were back to normal size.  It was brilliant.

It was all over too quickly, even though it was nice having 2 nights in a place for a change.  As we headed back to Manila, the air became thicker and smoggier.  But it was wonderful to have fresh, clean air for a whole weekend.

I'd recommend a trip to The Farm, even more so if you can get a good offer.  It's not cheap, but it is very special.

A flying visit to Mactan (Cebu)

Photos from Crimson Resort & Spa, Mactan (Cebu)

Between arriving back in Manila from our UK trip and the baby arriving in February, we had a long period of potentially being 'stuck' in Manila.  December seemed the perfect time to get some weekend breaks in before it would be a bit more difficult to travel (being unable to fly after 35 weeks of being pregnant) or just too risky to be too far away from a hospital.  So we decided to go to Cebu, or more accurately Mactan.

There are numerous flights everyday from Manila to Cebu, and once you get there, there is a good variety of resorts to choose from.  It should be an easy hop, skip and a jump from smoggy city to beach.  If you don't have flight delays of over an hour in each direction.  But we won't let that ruin the trip.

We'd booked in to stay at the Crimson Resort & Spa.  It was delightful from the moment we arrived.  We were greeted with a refreshing welcome drink (I can never tell what's in these welcome drinks, but pandan perhaps in this one?) and then driven in a golf buggy to our room.  The room was a 'Garden Deluxe' and very spacious and luxuriously kitted out.  There was a big opening between the bathroom and the bedroom, but luckily there was also a wooden blind which could be pulled across.

The resort was extremely well kept - neat pathways lined with gardens and trees between all the rooms and the public areas.  3 swimming pools, 4 eating spots, a bit of beach (although all beach on Mactan is man-made) and lots of sun loungers for chilling out on.  The weather was fine, so a perfect break all round.

The only disappointing thing was that we were there for such a short time.  We made the most of this by mostly lying on the very comfortable loungers at the pool bar.  We also had a bit of a dip in the infinity pool at sundown, whilst the resort staff performed a dance symbolising the fishermen coming home after a long day at sea.  

The food at the Azure pool bar and for the breakfast buffet was very good.  We had a little extra entertainment at breakfast too when we spotted a couple wearing matching PJs.

A perfect way to spend 24 hours, and to feel rejuvenated after the smog and craziness of Manila.

I did get my refund, without travelling to Araneta!

I was so enraged by the refund fiasco that I wrote an email to their customer service department.  Even though this was on a Sunday, they responded almost straight away.  The upshot - I managed to take my tickets back to a ticket outlet within walking distance of our flat and they electronically refunded me the money.  Why couldn't they just do that in the first place?  Anyway, at least I got the refund without having to travel to the other side of Manila.

I just want to get a refund

Maybe we are a little spoiled living in the UK - with the mostly flexible refund policies on bought goods.  Or maybe it's just a more customer-focused economy.  The policies here in the Philippines don't seem to be so flexible.  Or customer friendly.

In normal situations, you'd probably be a little ticked off if you *had to* go back to the same place where you purchased something to get a refund.  You might expect that you can go to another store / outlet of the same brand and be able to get a refund there.  What if you had to go somewhere completely different to get a refund?  Somewhere that is a good hour away by taxi from where you bought the item.

This is what happened to us, to get a refund for a cancelled concert ticket.

On the reverse of the concert ticket, one of the 'Terms and conditions' states: "In the event of a show cancellation, pls. return ticket to the place of purchase."  (I have transcribed that exactly as it reads on the ticket.  Don't get me started about the use of abbreviations like 'pls').

So that's what I did.

When I got there I was told that I had to go to Smart Araneta.  Which is in another part of the city altogether.  And it's not close by.  I was told that they don't have any processes in place to give me a refund.  I pointed out the text on the back of the ticket.  The lady serving me just looked at me as if I was from Mars.  And then said 'Sorry ma'am you have to go to Smart Araneta'.

I was fuming.

At a combination of things.

The absolutely ridiculous policy that you have to go to somewhere else altogether to get your refund processed.  The fact that the information printed on the ticket is plain incorrect.  The gormless look on the face of the lady serving me.  The fact that I would have to sit in traffic for an hour or so each way to get this refund processed.

And I suppose at the fact that we didn't get to see Two Door Cinema Club live in Manila.

Intramuros

Within Fort Santiago

Manila doesn't have a huge number of tourist attractions.  One of the most famous, if not the most famous, is Intramuros.  It is a citadel built by the Spanish in the late 16th Century, to protect the city from foreign invasions.  It was badly damaged during the Second World War, but restoration work began in the early 1950s.  Today it is a mix of old Spanish-looking streets and buildings, some of which have been turned into museums, and an area where local Filipinos live, work and play.

After almost 11 months in Manila, this was a site which we had still not visited.  We decided to visit today.  We had heard mixed reviews from others who had already been there - some friends who live in Manila and most recently from my dad and sister who ventured there during their short stay in Manila.  So I dug out the Lonely Planet to get some tips.  One of the best tips was to head to Fort Santiago, where they have a visitor centre which gives out good maps of the walled city.

Horse and carriage

Fort Santiago has been made into a museum.  The grounds are immaculate and the buildings in a good state of repair (other than those which are under restoration at the moment including the Rizal Shrine).  As you wander around the fort, you spot many a horse and carriage (of many different designs).  Whilst the horses are tiny, they are in very good condition (compared to some of the ones we've seen in Binondo and at Taal Volcano).  You could walk along part of the elevated wall which gives views of the Pasig river and real Manila on the other side of it.

One of the quirks of Intramuros is that there is a golf course which wraps around it.  I'm no golfer, but I'm led to believe that it's quite a prestigious course here in Manila.  It was odd walking up to one of the walls and seeing people teeing off below you.  Not a sight I had expected to see!

Manila Cathedral

From Fort Santiago we wandered down General Luna street.  Along this street lies the Manila Cathedral - an impressive looking building, but currently closed for renovation.  Parts of the street are cobbled and there are various restaurants and souvenir shops.  It has a really old feel to it, and you could be in parts of Europe here.  From there we headed down a few side streets, with our final destination of the Bay Leaf hotel in mind.  As you head down the side streets, the feel of Intramuros changes completely.  The streets become full of tricycles (of the push-bike rather than the motorbike variety), local street stalls and, as it was a Sunday, lots of locals enjoying some time with their family and friends.

Today was the day that Manny Pacquiao was fighting Brandon Rios in Macau so as you walked down some of the quieter streets you could hear TV / radio broadcasts of the fight.  Manny is a pretty big deal in the Philippines.  And he won the fight.

Bay Leaf roof deck (ignore the finger)

We reached our destination of the Bay Leaf Hotel only to find that the roof deck didn't open until 5pm.  We asked if we could go up for a look anyway.  When we got up there we realised that the bar there WAS closed, but that you could order food and/or drinks from 9 Spoons restaurant and get them delivered to the roof deck.  So that's just what we did.  It's a great spot with views all over Manila, including the bay.  It would be a great spot for some sundowners.  We'll just have to head back.

So I probably would recommend Intramuros for a visit.  I'd start at Fort Santiago and work your way from there - it gives you a base, and you're not just dropped somewhere in what may feel like a bit of a ghetto to some.

Haggis, kilts, ceilidh dancing & free flowing whisky... and we're still in Manila!

I think I'm from the 'Gordon' clan.

An annual event in Manila is the St Andrews ball, organised by the Manila St Andrews Society.  Ostensibly it's to celebrate St Andrews Day (30 November), but really I think it's just an excuse for a good knees up.  And a good knees up it was.

The ball was held at the Manila Polo Club.  I've been past the Club on a number of occasions, and I've always wanted to go inside.  It has a grand entrance and you can just peek at a nice driveway and manicured lawns through the entrance.  That was definitely one of the deciding factors when I saw the event advertised.  It is also more reasonable than some of the other balls (tickets were 3500 pesos each) and the word 'haggis' was included on the poster.  I couldn't pass up another opportunity to munch on some haggis (we'd missed the Burn's supper in January this year).

Being a Friday night, traffic was, well, to put it the Filipino way 'very traffic'.  In other words 'very heavy traffic'.  It took us about 20 minutes to find a cab, and then about half an hour to travel maybe 3km.  I don't think we were the only ones who suffered as the room wasn't quite full when we arrived at 7:50pm (we were meant to be seated for dinner by 8).  People kept filtering in and eventually there must have been about 250 people there.  I never thought I would see so many kilts in one place in Manila.

Clan paraphernalia decorating the ballroom

There was a lot of ceremony, lots of food, free flowing booze and ceilidh dancing.  A great night.  We had a bit of a delayed start - we weren't eating until about 10pm.  This was after a demonstration of Scottish dancing by some local children (they were fantastic), the chieftan's address (sadly he couldn't be there, so it was read by Roy Espiritu who gave up his piping duties for the night) and the piping in of the haggis.

Starter was tomato and basil soup (tasty) followed by haggis and neeps (they forgot the tatties.  They did rectify their mistake by bringing us cold scoops of potato), and then onto fillet steak, chocolate pud for dessert and a cheese selection.  Very indulgent.  There was wine and whisky on the tables and you could order beers and other drinks from the waiters.  They even made me freshly pressed apple juice!

  

Plenty of ceilidh dancing followed, in amongst a performance from a band called The Spirits (a Celtic fusion dance band apparently).  Plenty of fun.  We lasted until about 1am, but the party was still in full swing when we left.  I'm sure there were plenty of sore heads in Manila on Saturday morning.

Buzzing Boracay

Puka Beach, Boracay

We were lucky enough to have some visitors for the first 2 weeks in September - my parents, Jill & Peter, and my sister, Sarah.  It wouldn't be a fair representation of the Philippines if all we'd shown them was Manila.  We debated, at length, where else we should go in the Philippines.  The main spanner in the works of choosing where to go was the weather.  We hadn't lived through a rainy season in the Philippines yet, so had no idea what effect these much fabled storms would have on travel plans.

In the end, we settled on Boracay.  It is one of the highlights of the Philippines, there are very frequent flights there and on paper it's a short easy journey.  On the weather maps, which show the 4 main weather regions of the Philippines, it also seemed to be one of the places that escaped some of the worst weather.

There are 2 airports which feed Boracay: Kalibo and Caticlan.  Caticlan is much closer (a short tricycle ride, followed by a short ferry ride, followed by a van/tricycle ride to your hotel.  Kalibo has an additional 2 hours bus ride to get to the port for the ferry across to Boracay.  2 benefits of Kalibo though: bigger planes fly there, and it's considerably cheaper to fly there.  So we flew into Kalibo (with delays, a 7 hour journey!) and out of Caticlan (no delays, 4 hour journey).

View from our apartment at Argonauta

We had booked to stay in an apartment, part of Argonauta resort, about 10 minutes away by tricycle from the main White Beach.  We were greeted with a refreshing fruit juice on the terrace overlooking Banyugan beach.  Stunning.

The accommodation at Argonauta was great.  A 2 bedroom apartment, with a lovely verandah was perfect for us to be able to enjoy the time together as a family.  The breakfasts served were hearty and delicious.  You could choose from various options including healthy (muesli, yogurt and fresh tropical fruit), light (fresh fruit, pancakes and 2 boiled eggs), Filipino (fruit, rice, longanissa sausage) and one which included eggs and bacon or ham.  They would easily keep us going all day, with perhaps a light snack in the afternoon.  The service was warm, friendly and efficient.  A definite perk was the free shuttle which provided us with transport to anywhere on the island, with the very friendly driver Alan.

Puka beach

We had a good mix of weather.  Our first full day was spent sunning ourselves on Puka Beach.  No complaints at all about the weather that day.  The second day was a bit mixed.  In the morning we managed some beach time at Ilig Iligan beach before the rains arrived.  On the third day it was a bit grim, but we decided to make the most of the fact it wasn't raining and headed out on a round-the-island boat trip.  This included only one snorkelling stop, at Crocodile Island.  I was a bit disappointed as on visits to other islands in the Philippines there had been numerous snorkelling stops.  Still, it was a fun way to see the whole island from the sea!  We had a bit more rain the next day, but decided to go up Mount Luho for views of the island from an alternative perspective.  Even with the rain, it was great being able to see the island and the sea.

Along with the sightseeing, we had a few good meals.  Our first meal was at Kasbah, which also has a branch in Manila.  We sat with our feet in the sand and enjoyed a delicious North African supper.  Next was at Cyma, a greek restaurant which also has a branch in Manila.  Very good Greek food including their famous flaming cheese, which is delivered to your table with the entire staff shouting 'Oooompa!'.  We also enjoyed a beach barbeque, again with our feet in the sand, wood-fired pizza at Aria and a home-cooked meal at Argonauta.  Not bad choices for such a tiny island.

Because Boracay is one of the highlights of the Philippines, it is busier than a lot of the other places we've visited.  But it is a deserved highlight.  The beaches are long, white and beautiful (especially white beach), the sea clear blue and warm, and the food options great.  Would I go back?  I wouldn't rush back, but if we have more visitors, it might be a place I recommend to them.

More photos from our Boracay trip.

Things to do in Makati: Drinking

There's clearly something missing from this picture...

It's been a while since I've written a post related to 'Things to do in Makati'.  I haven't been doing much drinking recently, but I haven't been staying away from the pubs altogether.

Drinking establishments in Makati come in many guises.

There is Burgos Street, the main artery through the red light district.  I have never been to any of those bars, so can't comment.

Near to Burgos, there are 2 good bars - Handlebar and Howzat.  Handlebar is ostensibly a biker bar, but really it appeals to a much broader audience too.  They show lots of sport, have live music and a great barbeque.  It's a good place to hang out, with seating both indoors and outdoors.  Howzat is a sports bar with screens lining the walls showing all manner of sports.  A good place to go if you want to catch the football and eat pub grub.  We've never tried the food, but the pies looked very good as they were being taken to other punters' tables.  Howzat also stocks a huge variety of imported food - Bisto gravy, Vegemite, cheeses, chutneys and other sauces, confectionary...

Nearer to where we live, around Legaspi village, there is a handful of bars.  An Irish pub, where they have a weekly pub quiz on a Tuesday night.  Cablecar bar, where they show sport and host nightly beer ping pong games.  Bond Bar, which looks like any old modern bar, although we haven't been in.

In the Greenbelt shopping mall, there are a few decent options too.  One of my favourites is Prohibition.  Unless you know it's there, you wouldn't be able to find it.  Unless you Google it and find blogs like mine which give the secret away.  It's inside another bar, called Dillingers.  There is a fire exit type door, with the standard 'no entry' signs.  But you push the bar, and there you are in this other 'secret' bar.  It is nicely done out and has a good roof deck.  The music kicks off at around 10, but up until then you can have a very pleasant time on the comfy sofas.  You can also, as in many other bars, buy a whole bottle of a spirit and pour your own drinks (see the picture at the top of this blog - the Tanquerey is missing sadly).

All the hotels have (mostly posh) bars, many of which we haven't been into.  The Holiday Inn (at Glorietta) however, has a great rooftop bar right next to their swimming pool.  It's newly finished and has a good vibe about it.

And then there are all the others we haven't tried - those in Salcedo village.  And those at The Collective.  That has to be on our list over the next few months - apparently a collection of funky bars, some of which have good live music.  If we make it there, I'll update the blog.

Until then, cheers.

We've been infested

This is not something I wanted to take a photo of.

A few weeks ago, I went to take some sunflower seeds out of the plastic container (a recycled peanut butter jar) they were stored in, but noticed some movement inside the jar.  I had a vague recollection of my mum talking about weevils when we lived in Swaziland.  They must be weevils I thought.  I checked the package they had come in and it too was full of the little critters.

I threw them in the bin and didn't think anything else of it.

Until a recent Tuesday.

I'd just come in from a swim (with my swim cap still on), and wanted to start preparing dinner.  I went to take the brown rice out of the cupboard, but noticed a few dark marks on the floor of the cupboard.  I picked these up and the looked like baby weevils.  Nothing to worry about I thought.  I measured the rice into a jug, added some water to let it soak.  And then I saw that the rice packet was alive.  The bloody things had made it into the rice as well.

"Oh no" I thought.  They're probably not just in the rice, they're probably in many of the other packets of grains etc. in this cupboard.  Right enough, they were in the flour, the cornflour, the icing sugar, the cous cous... they didn't seem to like baking soda though.  Time to chuck everything away and give the cupboard a proper clean.  This cupboard does get cleaned every week.  And we had eaten the rice on the Sunday.  So, it is entirely possible we'd had a bit of extra added protein.

That wasn't enough for me though.  I felt so creepy-crawlied out that I had to go to the mall to buy some good food canisters.  Luckily, the mall shuts at 9, so I did manage to find some canisters.  I will need more, but for now my muesli is protected, as are my oats and pasta.  I haven't re-stocked on anything else.

I have done some reading, and it turns out that weevils are most likely already in the grains when you buy them.  In the form of eggs.  These eggs hatch if you don't make your way through the ingredients quickly enough.  One solution is to freeze anything you buy for 4 days before putting it in your cupboards.  Apparently this kills the eggs.  Just remember to put whatever ingredient into a sealed plastic bag so that the moisture in the freezer doesn't ruin your grains or flour.

No doubt we'll have another infestation during our time here, but for now I'm going to buy smaller packets of rice and make sure that everything is in a sealed food canister.

A visit to the homeland

We're very excited to be heading back to the UK for some autumnal weather and some good British food.  I have planned a few blog posts to go up whilst we're away (the wonders of technology).

We've been in Manila for just over 9 months now, so it feels like a good time to go back to the UK for a short visit.  One thing that isn't short is the length of my list of food to eat.  Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries.  Fish 'n chips.  Curry.  My mum's chocolate cake.  And various other things.  Can't wait.

It'll also be great to see family and friends after such a long time.  Our niece, Lauren, who will look so different from when we saw her during Christmas 2012.  Parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins.  Very exciting.  And they'll get to see the ever-growing Harvey bump in 4D rather than just on Skype or photos.

Ah, and to have the freedom of having a car and being able to drive wherever, whenever we choose.

I may report back, on our return to Manila.  Or I might find other topics, more related to the Philippines.  Only time will tell.

Riding the MRT in Manila

Even though I almost always have my phone with me, which has a camera, I am still not in the habit of using it to take pictures.  So this will be another blog post without a photo.  Google 'Manila MRT rush hour' to get a feel for what it's like!

A few weeks ago we had tickets to see The Killers at Smart Araneta Coliseum, in Quezon City.  Quezon City is one of the 16 cities which make up Metro Manila and is to the North of Makati where we live and work.  We had planned on getting a taxi there after work, but one of my colleagues reckoned that it could take 3 hours to get there at rush hour.  She suggested we take the train.

We have been in Manila for about 9 months now and we have never taken the train.  No time like the present then, I suppose.

One of the reasons we haven't taken the train is that the stations just aren't conveniently located.  We both work on the main street in the CBD.  There are 2 Mass Rail Transit (MRT, the name of the train) stations to choose from.  But both are a good 30 minute walk away.  Getting a taxi to one of the stations is an option, but it's nearly impossible to get a taxi at rush hour, especially if there is any rain at all threatened.

We decided to head to Buendia station as we thought we would have a better chance of getting on a train there; it should be a bit quieter than Ayala station.  Ayala station is situated next to a massive shopping centre, and has more offices nearby.

The walk was mostly ok.  However, the last 200 metres or so are along a very narrow, unlit path where you are hemmed in against a big wall with a protective railing (protecting you from the road).  Not somewhere you'd want to be by yourself.

We found the ticket desk easily enough.  Tickets were only 12 pesos (about 17 British pence) each for a one-way journey.  Good job we could save some money here.  Tickets for The Killers were more than 6000 pesos each!  That's about 100 quid.  We followed the masses of people down to the platform.  The signposting was poor.  I think there was an indication of the route direction, but there were no route maps.

One of the good things about the MRT is that they reserve the front 1-3 carriages for women, pensioners and disabled people.  If you're pregnant, we found that your husband can accompany you on this carriage.  But, this doesn't make these carriages any quieter than the rest of the train.  There were hundreds of people on the platform.  We didn't manage to squeeze into the first train.  Luckily the trains come along every 2 minutes or so.  It took us 4 goes before we squeezed ourselves into a carriage.

I don't think I have ever been so closely packed in with other passengers anywhere in my life.  Apart from maybe at an Arctic Monkeys gig where the crowd went mad for "Brianstorm" and charged forward to the stage.  I was really shocked at what lengths people will go to, to squeeze onto the train.  Really, you could not move at all on the train.  If there was nothing to hold onto, it didn't matter because you couldn't fall over anywhere anyway.

But the train got us there in 15 minutes, whereas a taxi from the same point would have probably taken about 1.5 hours.  The train station was joined to the mall which was joined to the Coliseum, so there was no wandering around trying to find the venue.

Would I do it again?  Probably if I was travelling to the other side of the city.  But probably not at rush hour, especially as my belly grows!

I just want to buy an ice-cream

Well, and eat it.

Friday night = treat night.  If I'm lucky.  I was lucky - we headed to a Gelato stand in Greenbelt 3 which a huge selection of flavours.  I went for Amaretto.  In a cone.

The ice-cream lady scooped up a nice big ball of ice cream, placed it on the cone.  And the cone broke.

She tried again.  The same problem.  This time, some of the cone attached itself to the ice cream, and landed up back in the original tub.

She handed over the scoop to another lady.  I could see she was about to try the same thing again.  At this point, Mr H couldn't watch any longer.  I suggested that I just get a cup, instead of a cone.  Ah, problem solved!  By the customer.

I still really wanted the cone though - I ended up with an ice-cream that might be served at a children's party, to look a bit like a clown.  All that aside it was delicious.

5 days in Hong Kong & Shenzhen

At the end of August we had 2 Filipino public holidays quite close to each other - Wednesday 21st August was Ninoy Aquino Day and Monday 26th August was National Heroes Day.  This meant that by taking just 2 days of leave from work, we could have a 5 night trip away somewhere.  We decided to go to Shenzhen and Hong Kong as we have a few friends there, and we had loved Hong Kong on a previous trip.

First stop: Shenzhen.

We were amazed at how easy it was to get to Shenzhen from Hong Kong International Airport.  You simply follow signs for the Sky Pier, buy your ticket, hand over your baggage tags (if you had checked baggage on your flight), and then go to the pier to board.  Someone picks up your bags, and you pick them up when you get to the ferry terminal in Shenzhen (Shekou).

Unfortunately though, we arrived into Shekou at lunch time.  This meant that the visa-on-arrival desk was closed.  You need a visa to get into China.  We had to wait for an hour in the terminal until it opened again.  It was closed from 13:30 - 14:30.  But that aside, it was a seamless process.

We met our friend, Petula and her daughter, Viola, for a late lunch at Gaga (I think).  We had delicious salads and fruity ice tea.  I was so hungry I'd forgotten what I'd ordered and started eating Mr H's salad instead of mine.  Oops.  Both were delicious.

Shenzhen is a new city - developed only in the last 30 years.  The financial district (the very new part) is very well planned and laid out, with some impressive buildings.  Back in 1999/2000 I had spent 6 months in China (Suzhou).  Shenzhen really didn't feel much like the China I remembered from 13 years ago.  This may be because China has changed a lot, and probably because Shenzhen is such a new city.  It still felt different to Hong Kong though.  A bit more 'China' than that.

There isn't a great deal for tourists in the city.  But we enjoyed wandering around - the huge squares (some with line dancing - something which was familiar from my time in China at the turn of the century), the new smells and scenes.  And we did visit one tourist attraction - Window Of The World.  It has replicas of famous landmarks from around the world; some huge, some tiny.  Everything from the Sydney Opera House to the Pyramids to Niagra Falls, the Eiffel Tower etc.  An odd place, but something different!  It was so hot and humid that Mr H had to go and buy a new shirt afterwards!

We ate some great meals whilst in Shenzhen - dimsum in the shape of little piggies and homecooked Chinese food being the highlights.

From Shenzhen we took the train to Hong Kong.  It's an easy ride, which takes about 40 minutes from the Chinese border to Hong Kong harbour (on the Kowloon side).

Hong Kong is a fantastic city - it has a real buzz to it.  On the Kowloon side it feels very Chinese and on the Hong Kong island side it feels very cosmopolitan.  On the first night we ate at a Thai hole-in-the-wall type restaurant in Kowloon Walled City.  For years this area was ruled by gangs, but now it is full of Thai people, restaurants and shops.  The food was so authentic and pretty cheap.  Breakfast the next day was at the Australian Dairy Company.  There was nothing Australian about it.  Another hole-in-the-wall type place, that had a queue of about 40m snaking up the street.  Service is brisk, the food is simple.  But it is truly delicious.  Their specialty is eggs.  Scrambled eggs.  I had scrambled eggs with bread.  The others had macaroni soup + scrambled eggs with bread!

Having been to Hong Kong before we didn't feel a strong urge to go and see lots of touristy things.  Instead we wandered around some of the local department stores and walked along the Avenue of Stars, before heading out for more food.  This time we went to Soho.  It is such a change from what we're used to in Manila - it was thronging with people, spilling out of bars and restaurants.  Such a good atmosphere.  We ate at a Greek restaurant and then went to meet Mr H's friend for some drinks in a few bars.

On our last day we headed down to Aberdeen where one of my cousins, Pablo, lives.  I was expecting it to be a bit more open than Central Hong Kong, but I was wrong - lots of densely packed, high rise apartment blocks.  We jumped on a boat to Lamma island to go and get an early seafood dinner.  A short ride across, and it is totally different to Hong Kong.  Very quiet - just a line of seafood restaurants along the shore.  We chose our fish, had it cooked up and enjoyed our meal with the sun going down over the bay.  A great end to a great trip.

Seemingly simple tasks

Before I continue, I'll point out that I realise these are distinctly First World problems.  But having spent the last 14 years, or so, in a First World country, I have been conditioned to think in a First World kind of way.

We set out to do 3 main tasks on Sunday morning:

1) Buy tickets to watch The Killers live in Manila
2) Find a copy of Swim Philippines
3) Do the weekly shop

The first 2 tasks took us close to 2 hours.  2 hours?!  Both should have been possible within about half an hour based on the location of the venues where we needed to complete the tasks.

To get The Killers tickets, I knew we needed to head to SM Makati.  The walk, from our apartment, to SM Makati takes us through 2 malls: Greenbelt & Glorietta.  Within Glorietta there are a number of sports shops.  Mr H had it on good authority that at least one of these sports shops (Planet Sports) would stock the free Swim Philippines magazine.  So we headed there first.

Mr H's enquiry was met with a blank stare.  We know that the magazine is stocked in this store, as we've picked one up there before.  Next stop was a running store, Athlete's Foot.  This time, it was suggested we head to the Speedo store.

Speedo, for those of you who are not familiar with the brand, makes swim wear and related kit.  It's all about swimming.  Mr H's enquiry again was met with a blank stare.  Sense of humour failure was starting to set in.

We ventured to another store, Toby Sports.  At this point Mr H had decided to use my phone to bring up the Swim Philippines Facebook page to avoid any confusion due to potential misunderstandings in Brummy English vs. Filipino English.  We were directed to another store, Toby's Arena.

I should point out that Glorietta is a big, sprawling shopping mall set over at least 3 floors.

As soon as we walked into Toby's Arena we had 2 shop assistants half a metre behind us, following us to the checkout.  But they also just looked blankly at us when we asked.  The person behind the checkout went to enquire in the back room whether there were any magazines (we *think* they knew what we were talking about), only to find that they don't have any.  And they didn't know when they would get any copies.

We ended our search there.  Unfulfilled.

Our next task would surely be easier.  I'd read that you could buy The Killers tickets from SM ticket outlets, and I knew there was a ticket outlet in SM Makati.  We found the ticket outlet, and it was all going well.  We were shown a venue layout, shown the different prices, shown that tickets were available... we made our decision and I brought out my Smart Money Mastercard to pay.

"Oh, sorry ma'am, but you can't pay with a Megalink Mastercard, you can only pay with a credit card."

*Sigh*

So we went in search of an ATM.  The first one we found kept refusing our transactions (with multiple cards).  It must have run out of money.  The second one spat out some cash.  In fact it spat out a lot of cash.  5000 Pesos in 100 Peso notes!!  We were finally able to purchase our tickets.

2 tasks done.  At least 2 hours down.

And we still had the nightmare of the weekly shop.  Which is rarely weekly, because we both hate doing it so much.  It wasn't such a nightmare, about about an hour later we were home eating salami sandwiches on great French bread.  Epic over.

3 days in Palawan

Photos from our Palawan trip

With a Filipino public holiday falling on a Friday (often they fall midweek), we thought it was too good an opportunity to miss going somewhere like Palawan which needed more than a weekend, mostly because of the long journey.  We took the Thursday off work, so had 3 nights away.

We had heard that El Nido is the highlight on Palawan, and one of the highlights of the Philippines, so that's where we headed.

To get there it is a bit of a trek... an hour's flight from Manila to Puerto Princessa followed by a 6 hour road journey to El Nido.  The last 1.5 hours is on dirt road!  We had heard some horror stories about the minivans; mostly to do with them being completely packed and the roads being really bumpy.  We were very lucky both ways - on the way North to El Nido we had a row of seats to ourselves and on the way back we booked onto a 'daytripper' minibus which has very comfortable seats, and only 9 of them (not 14 or 17 as on the others).  And the journey passed quite quickly - lots of lovely rural scenery to look at (including countless carabao, or water buffalo, lounging around in big muddy puddles) and a few comfort stops along the way.  The minibus dropped us right at our accommodation too, which was an added bonus.

We stayed at Treetops in Corong Corong, just south of El Nido.  It's a very small B&B, with only 2 rooms.  The rooms are more like mini-cottages, built all out of local lumber on a platform so you really felt like you were in the treetops!  It's run by an English gent and his Filipina wife.  Fresh fruit and juice when we arrived, a clean comfortable room and very peaceful.  The breakfasts were superb, and Dave (the owner) cooked us a Thai meal one night.  Delicious.

The weather wasn't amazing whilst we were there, but it is the rainy season after all.  We arranged an island hopping / snorkelling trip (Tour A) for our first full day there.  There were only 4 of us on the boat and we visited 5 or 6 sites including a small lagoon, a big lagoon and a secret lagoon (obviously not so secret anymore).  The sun came out for our first stop; it really made it feel like paradise with swimming-pool blue water.  Stunning.  We are so lucky to live in a place where we can escape to gorgeous beaches so easily.

We had a barbecued lunch on the beach - freshly caught white snapper (not caught by us!) and meat kebabs with rice, salad and mango for dessert.  It's the stuff that dreams are made of.

The rain really came down at our last stop and by the time we got back to El Nido we were soaked.  The only answer was a cup of tea.  Well, for the girls anyway.  Beer for the boys.  A great day.

On our second day we decided just to go for a half day trip, mostly so we could have some chill-out time in the morning.  Again the weather wasn't amazing, but it didn't rain until we got back so we managed to stay fairly dry.  Until we had to get off the boat back at El Nido and the water came up to our waists!  Mr H had changed into a dry pair of shorts so he was less than impressed!  Oh well.  The islands that we visited were gorgeous - Helicopter Island with a long beach and Paradise Island which we had all to ourselves.

El Nido is a small town, but due to the number of tourists there are lots of eateries and shops selling souvenirs.  We ate at Altrove, an Italian restaurant run by a Czech guy.  It has great promise (a wood-fired stone oven cooking the pizza), but perhaps because it was the low season it didn't quite deliver.  The food was ok, but they didn't have a lot of the more interesting options on the menu.  On the second night we ate at a French restaurant - La Salangane.  The service and the food were excellent.

What it does lack though is an ATM.  There are 2 establishments which take credit cards, and for the rest you have to pay in cash.  Luckily our B&B would accept a PayPal payment otherwise we wouldn't have been able to afford to eat for half of our trip.  I had totally underestimated the amount of cash we would need!

We had a bit of a wait for our flight in Puerto Princessa, so we stopped off at Cafe Itoy.  A great place serving many varieties of coffee, cake and food.  An unexpected find in a provincial town.

Definitely a recommended trip if you have a few days to spare.

A daytrip to Villa Escudero

Just less than 2 hours away (by car, on a Sunday) from Manila, just inside Quezon province, is a place called Villa Escudero.  Previously a coconut plantation, it is now a bit of a tourist attraction.

For PHP1400 (about £20) you get to see the museum, the grounds, ride on a carabao cart, have lunch, swim in the pool and watch a cultural show (at weekends).

Was it worth it?

Yes.  It's always worth getting out of the city and being able to breathe some fresh air.  It was also a fun day, spent with friends.  But actually, it's a pretty decent place to visit too.

The museum is housed in an old pink church (see picture).  It contains a broad assortment of artefacts - christian processional carriages, furniture, souvenirs from the Escudero family's travels, ceramics, war memorabilia, stuffed animals, dried insects and even a shrunken head from the Amazon.  A weird and wonderful collection.  My only criticism would be that there wasn't really much information about the artefacts, so you were left guessing about a lot of them.

From there we rode the carabao (local water buffalo) cart to the 'resort'.  At the resort there are hotel rooms, a swimming pool, a river where you can bamboo raft and an open air restaurant.  Just along from the open air restaurant is the hydro electric plant.  And this is where you have lunch.  With your feet in the water, which is pounding down the hydro from the river.  Certainly a unique experience.  Lunch was a buffet of Filipino food and was really delicious.  Plenty of dishes to choose from, including salad and dessert.  No complaints.  Other than our prune-like toes after lunch.

Following lunch was the cultural show.  I didn't have high hopes, but actually it was excellent.  It was a series of dances, with music and song highlighting Filipino history and culture.  Really well performed and choreographed.

And then it was time to head back to Manila.  Other than along the driveway on the way to and from the plantation house, we didn't see many coconuts.  It really is just a tourist attraction now.  But definitely one worth seeing if you find yourself with a spare day whilst in Manila.

We hired a car and a driver from Viajero car rental (about PHP2500).  It was definitely easier getting there via car than it would have been via public transport.

What to blog about next...

It's interesting (to me at least) - this blog is attracting readers from all over the world.  Especially Russia for some reason.  'привет' if you're reading this from Russia.  (Hopefully Google translate has translated that properly, otherwise I may be offending a lot of people).

So, what would you like to be reading about?  If you have any suggestions for topics, please use the 'Comment' feature built into the blog (if you can figure it out - I think it's something that Blogger needs to sort out) or drop me an email (if you have my email address).

Today we're out and about exploring Villa Escudero.  I'll blog about the experience, perhaps next week.

Long weekend in Singapore

Photos from our Singapore trip

When we were considering moving to Asia, one of the places on our hitlist was Singapore.  Neither of us had been there.  Now that we're in Manila, it's only a short flight to Singapore, so we decided to go for a long weekend.

We loved it.  It is so organised, so efficient and so clean.  There is so much to see.  And so many eateries to choose from for every meal.  We had a great time.

We arrived very early on the Friday morning and took a cab from the airport to our hotel.  Inside all the cabs, there is a big screen indicating the driver's name, the taxi's registration plate and the time that your journey started.  We noticed, on subsequent taxi journeys, that this screen is also used to convey messages to the driver e.g. if they go over a certain speed they're told to 'Drive Carefully!'.  The cabs are all metered (no questions asked).  And the drivers don't expect, or even rarely (in our experience) accept tips.  They will give you the exact change even if it means emptying their pockets onto the seat to find the precise coin required.

After a good night's sleep in a very large and comfortable bed we headed out for our first meal.  I'd done a bit of reading before we came and found that there are a lot of cafes serving breakfast and brunch.  There was one a short walk away - The Book Cafe.  It was fabulous.  A great menu, and we ate outside in European fashion, people watching.  A good start to the day.  From there we wandered along the Singapore River to Clark Quays and then down to the harbour area where you get great views of the CBD and a lot of the other landmarks associated with Singapore (Marina Bay Sands hotel, the Art Science Museum, Singapore Flyer etc.).  We stopped for a drink at Harry's Bar, part of the Esplanade.  After almost choking on the cost of the beer.

For our first touristic (oh, it is a word.  I was expecting it to come up with a red squiggly line underneath it) activity, we boarded the Singapore Flyer.  A bit like the London Eye and the first ferris wheel I remember ever being on.  It was a very clear day and we had great views of the Grand Prix track and all over Singapore.

In the evening, Mr H had booked us a table at Raffles Grill, for my birthday meal.  What a treat.  The service was impeccable, the food scrumptious (although Mr H would have liked a slightly bigger portion for his main) and they surprised me with a lovely birthday cake complete with candle.

Day 2 started with a trip to the Botanic Gardens.  Oh, after breakfast - this time at an Australian bar at Robertson Quay.  Also very good and luckily a bit cheaper than yesterday.  The Botanic Gardens are free to wander around, which was a pleasant surprise.  They are vast and a great way to pass a few hours.  We couldn't help lamenting 'if only there was something like this in Manila'.  A great place to go and get some peace and quiet, or even go for a good run.

From the Botanics we headed to Orchard Road, famous for its shopping malls.  There are countless malls selling everything from expensive designer wear to knock-off electronics.  We didn't stay long - neither of us is a good shopper.  It was getting close to lunch time, so we hopped on the MRT to Little India.  Predictably the MRT is quick and efficient.  We found a busy little restaurant, full of Indians so we decided to try that for lunch.  Some Paratha, curry and dhal filled our bellies.  So good.

The evening highlight was a trip on the Night Safari.  Hundreds of people queued up to board a series of electric trams to be driven through the safari park, with a guide pointing out the various animals.  It's obviously not quite the same as a night drive in Kruger National Park, but it was fun all the same and good to see lots of Asian animals including the Asian varieties of lions, elephants and rhinocerous.

It was 10pm before we could get some dinner, so we decided to hit one of the famous 'Hawker Stall Centres', this one at Newton Circle.  Mr H had been told to try chicken rice, but unfortunately the 2 stalls selling it had closed - they  must have sold out earlier on.  We settled for some Sweet & Sour chicken, fried rice and satay.  Very good.

Our last day again started with breakfast.  This time at Epicurious, also at Robertson Quay.  I had, perhaps, one of the best breakfasts ever.  A nutella and banana toasted sandwich served with strawberries.  So good.  We then headed down to China Town.  If only we hadn't eaten - there were so many hawker stalls selling such an array of delicious smelling food, but we just couldn't fit anything else in.  We'll just have to go back.

All too soon it was time to get a cab back to the airport and head back to Manila.

Frozen peas and other miss-cellaneous

Like any big decision, the decision to move far away from home involves a lot of thought, discussion and thoughts of 'what if'.

Before Mr H even had his confirmed job offer, we were playing through lots of scenarios in our heads related to 'if we moved' and 'if we didn't move'.  A lot of the 'if we moved' centred around being so far away from friends and family.  When we lived in England, we were about 2.5 hours away from Mr H's family and about 4 hours (if we flew) away from mine.  It wasn't as if we could just nip round for a cup of tea.  But being on the other side of the world, 15 hours minimum flying time, is slightly different.  You can't just nip back for a weekend.  We rationalised it based on 2 key factors: 1) we wouldn't stay away forever and 2) technology is so good these days that it's easy to see each other via e.g. Skype.

When we first arrived, we had a really shoddy internet connection.  This made Skype calls, with video at least, nigh on impossible.  A big priority for us, when we moved to a more permanent abode was to get a very decent internet connection.  It was such a relief when we did - we managed to have decent conversations with our families for the first time in about 3 months.

My other big considerations in the 'if we move' category were the availability of food I liked to eat, or ingredients for baking.  Would there be decent flour so that I could make bread?  Would we be able to get cheese easily?  When I lived in China back in 1999/2000 I would wake up dreaming of macaroni cheese or beans on toast.  Both bread and cheese were very difficult to come by.  Where you could get bread it was inevitably sweet.  And where you could get cheese it was processed.

It turns out you can get flour here, but it tends to be very white all purpose flour.  I have yet to find any wholegrain flour.  Or self-raising flour.  I have been able to find recipes where I can use all purpose flour e.g. to make pizza base or cinnamon buns, I guess because it's a common flour in the USA.  But it is just SO white.  But you can buy bread here, which isn't sweet.  And I even found some decent-looking wholegrain bread the other day at The French Baker.  I didn't buy any (I had too much shopping as it was), but I will venture back out to try it at some point.  You can also get cheese in many varieties.

But I hadn't considered missing the British countryside.  Or a good British pub (granted, Mr H had mentioned this a number of times before we left.  I just didn't 'get it', according to him because I had spent so much time outside of the UK already.)  Or the big sporting events (Wimbledon and The Ashes).  Or having a car and the freedom that brings with it.  Or the convenient banking hours.  Or the reliable postal system.  Or the reliable public transport system in the bigger cities (and the amazingly awesome journey planner).  Or the clean, fresh air of little Wokingham.  Or being able to see independent cinema (I don't know how many more action blockbusters I can stomach).  Or being able to listen to decent chat and music on the radio (at least I'm getting to fulfill my guilty power-ballad pleasure during every taxi journey I take I suppose).  Or being able to kick back and watch something decent on TV (which is not Asia Food Network).  Or frozen peas.  

Beautiful Bohol: Part 2

It's been a while since we were in Bohol, and a while since I blogged about the first part of our stay... but I should finish it off.

Day 2 started again with breakfast at Arts Cafe.  Delicious, freshly prepared food.  

We hadn't quite finished eating when I saw Ramon, our driver, waiting for us outside our hotel.  I ran down to ask him if it was ok to wait 15 minutes or so.  He was so punctual the whole time we were there.  It may be because his watch was set at a time about 15 minutes ahead of the actual time.  Later on in the day, we asked him if he'd take us to the airport the following day at 1pm.  

He said: "What time is it on your watch?"  

Mr H looked at his watch and read out the time.

Ramon looked at his, read out a time about 15 minutes ahead and said "Ok, they're roughly the same time, that's fine.  See you tomorrow."

So Ramon took us on the 'Countryside Tour' of Bohol.  The full tour includes 9 stops:

1) Blood Compact Shrine

This is the site where the Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi and Datu Sikatuna the chieftain of Bohol performed a blood compact, on March 16, 1565, to seal their friendship as part of the tribal tradition.

It's marked by a monument.  A lot of the other tourists didn't seem to have any qualms about climbing all over it to have their pictures taken.

2) Baclayon Church and Museum

The second stop was this church, which is considered to be one of the oldest churches in the Philippines.  Ramon told us that it's built from coral.  It was really impressive.  We didn't look around the museum, but did wander into the church.

3) Python Sanctuary

And then it was on to meet Prony, the the longest and largest snake in captivity.  I think it's the longest and largest because it gets fed pretty big meals (a pig every few months) and doesn't have very much space to move around.  A sad sight to behold.  There were other animals in the sanctuary, also in pitifully small cages.

4) Tarsier watching

From Pythons to Tarsiers.  Tarsiers are one of the world's smallest primates and are indigenous to Bohol.  I'd been worried about the conditions the tarsiers would be kept in, but I was pleasantly surprised.  There was a really big enclosure, full of jungle where the tarsiers seem free to roam around.  I was a little concerned that there were paper markers pointing out where a tarsier was sitting.  I looked really closely, but couldn't see anything tying them to the spot.  I spoke to one of the rangers who told me that they sit so still during the day because that's when they're resting.  It's at night that they come to life and move around.

Other than some really inconsiderate tourists who were intent on waking the tarsiers up by blowing on them, speaking to them etc. it was really pleasant to see these cute bug-eyed beasts.

5) Man Made Forest

After the tarsiers we drive towards the Chocolate Hills.  Our route took us up 'chicken intestine road' (so called because of all the sharp bends) through the Man Made Forest.  Essentially just a standard forest with lots of tall, straight trees planted in nice straight lines.

6) The Chocolate Hills

Other than the tarsiers, Bohol's other big tourist attraction is the roughly 1200 Chocolate Hills.  They have a very distinctive shape and apparently look at their most beautiful at dawn and dusk.  We arrived in the middle of the day, in the rain.  They were still really impressive.  We were driven to near the top, and then could walk up some 200 odd steps to the top of one of the hills to get a great vista of some of the other Chocolate Hills.

There were 3 other things on the tour, but we didn't do them:

Loboc River cruise

Butterfly Conservation Centre

Hanging Bridge

Instead, we stopped at another church this time on Panglao island - Dauis 'Our Lady of Assumption' church. It is famous for a well that is at the alter.  Another beautiful church.

We arrived back at the hotel at a reasonable time (mid afternoon) thinking that we'd be able to enjoy a cocktail or 2 during happy hour, only to be met with a sign on our room door saying that no alcohol would be served until midnight Tuesday!  All because of the election.  So we had to make to with enjoying some sunshine as we lay by the pool.

We did manage to find some alcohol later that night at a hotel bar along Alona beach.  Phew.

On our last morning, again we enjoyed an Arts Cafe breakfast before getting in some last minute pool time.  The sun was out in full force and it really felt like we were on holiday.

I'd definitely recommend a trip to Bohol.  It's an hour away from Manila, by plane, but feels a whole lot further.  It's quiet, clean and beautiful.

Walking to work

I've probably said this a few times on the blog, but I love being able to walk to work.  No more being at the mercy of other drivers on the road, and it's so close that I don't spend hours of my life commuting.  I thought I'd put a few pics up of the walk itself:

1) The first crossing from our apartment block

 2) Left turn onto Gamboa

3) Right turn to walk through Washington Sycip Park (one of 4 parks in Makati - really pretty and quiet).

4) Across the road and another right turn onto Thailand (Rada) Street

5) Left turn onto Dela Rosa Street (see the elevated walkway to the right of the picture)

Things to do in Makati: Eating

When I first arrived in Makati, I was struck by just how many restaurants there are.  It's not like some of the other Asian cities I've been to where there is lots of street food, hawker stalls and hole-in-the-wall type restaurants.  I'm talking about proper restaurants.  And a really international selection.

Perhaps this is because Makati is the main financial centre in Metro Manila.  It's not entirely representative of the rest of the Metro.  But this is where we live and work, so this is where we spend most of our time.

Within Makati there are at least 3 BIG malls - Glorietta, Greenbelt & Powerplant.  Within each of these malls there are countless restaurants representing cuisine from all over the world.  Often these are chains, either national or international.  With lots of fast food choices.

Outside of the malls, particularly within Salcedo Village, Legaspi Village and the area around Burgos Street there are numerous other restaurants.  The restaurants found here tend to be independent and a bit more interesting.

There is a great website, www.munchpunch.com which gives details of local restaurants including, sometimes, a full menu.  This is really useful as most restaurants don't seem to have their own websites.

We've eaten at Japanese, Korean, Italian, North African, Spanish, Middle Eastern, Indian, Thai, American, Vietnamese, Mexican, Serbian & Filipino restaurants.  Generally, the quality of food is decent (some better than others).  But sometimes it's just a bit sweet, or a bit greasy.  The service isn't quite up to European or American standards - the most common grumble being that food is just served when it's ready.  If you're part of a big-ish party, this can sometimes mean that the first person has finished eating before the last person's food has even arrived.  And the costs are far below what we'd pay in the UK.  Generally, a meal for 2 in a decent restaurant, with drinks is almost always less than £15.

Particular favourites are:

1. Spudoo (for lunch) which is found in the RCBC office block.  Spudoo serves what is probably best described as 'comfort food'.  Roast lamb, spare ribs, lasagne, salads, great sandwiches, baked potatoes etc.
2. Balkan (Serbian food) which is on Perea Street in Legaspi Village serves delicious food, but the bread rolls in particular stand out.  Really good bread isn't easy to find here.
3. People's Palace (Thai food) in Greenbelt is excellent, serving authentic tasting Thai.
4. Tsukiji (Japanese) which is on Pasay Road, almost directly opposite our apartment block.  A bit more expensive than some of the others but really really good quality.

During the working week, there are also Jolly Jeeps, which are a bit like the trailers you get at the side of the road in the UK serving breakfast rolls, hamburgers etc.  Jolly Jeeps display their available, ready-cooked, dishes of the day for punters to pick and choose.  They're then served on plastic-bag covered plates, and the punters will stand at the counter wolfing down their food before making way for next-in-line.

I've only been brave enough to try the banana-cue and banana turon from the Jolly Jeeps.   Both of these are local specialties which tend to be served as merienda or an afternoon snack.  Banana-cue is 2 small bananas, on a kebab stick, covered in sugar and fried.  Banana turon  is banana, wrapped in a pastry case similar to a spring roll, covered in sugar and fried.  Both frighteningly healthy.  But who cares about the health properties when they're so tasty!