Wanderlust Diary

My friend Youri who graciously toured us for a day in Seoul introduced us on a special treat while working our way around Myeong Dong. This shopping district is really packed with people, not just ordinary folks I think, youthful people who come here with their dates, shopping and eating all in one.

This vibrant district has made me happy, mainly because there was ample supply of everything I need. Food, drinks, clothes, beauty products and some people watching on the side..great!

Youri patiently guided us to this new type of food which I was curious about. I stepped into this restaurant and in an instant, I felt this tingling smell that made me sneeze..oh yes…that a whole lot of chili pepper in the air.

As I further researched about this restaurant on the net, Yoogane is more famous for their dak galbi.

Wikipedia says that “Dak galbi, also romanized dalk galbi, is a popular South Korean dish generally made by stir-frying marinated diced chicken in a gochujang (chili pepper paste) based sauce, and sliced cabbage, sweet potato, scallions, onions and tteok (rice cake) together on a hot plate”

This hot, spicy and favorful meal can work out an appetite. Youri did all the ordering, and we were served with a hot plate ready for take off!

The server was mixing it all up and we were all staring hungrily. It strangely became addicting at first bite even though I thought I couldn’t bare the spiciness. I wish someone could bring this to the Philippines! I love to try more of their specialty. Right now I am wishing I was back in Seoul.

This looks utterly familiar with avid watchers of the series friends. But this is not New York but in Beijing!

Located at Chaowai SOHO, 6 Chaoyangmenwai Dajie, Building A, Suite 06, this small cafe has earn the love we, Friends fanatics, can give! It was a bit difficult to find this since it is not in a open area (it would be perfect if they relocate this outside the building!)

We saw the owner, Du Xin when we visited there and made it a pictorial for our group much to the delight of the owner who pretended to be Gunther, the lovable bartender. The whole cafe is a replication of the original set, thereby bringing in much nostalgia for the 90′s.

You can actually watch episodes of Friends showing on their TV set sitting on the familiar orange couch! Also the huge mugs are lovable. I wanted to buy those.

Do drop by this cafe in case you don’t have the budget to go to New York yet!

One of the famous resorts in Cebu is Plantation Bay.

The beauty of this resort is that they have a whole lot of chalet or villa to accompany family or group guests. Some of the rooms have easy access to the Lagoon which is breathtaking to see in the morning.

The blue green scene can make you love vacation in Cebu all the more.

The last time I stayed here was 4 years ago, I remember the pool choices were either salt water or fresh ( which means the typical chlorine based pool). We got to try their kayaking by the huge lagoon. Good thing here is not you don’t cramped in one pool area. The resort has variety of pools you can try on, you can enjoy more privacy in this kind of setting.

Our trip was just short and sweet, wasn’t able to try their in house restaurants. This resort is a bit out of way than going to Shangrila Mactan, but it is the way going to Crimson. If you can manage to visit the city for some local dinner, go ahead and explore the wonderful city!

I am a frequent traveller, but it does not mean I need to spend so much on plane tickets just to reach my desired destination.  Booking a flight is the most stressful part of my planning, I have to buy cheap tickets (so I can expand my budget for other things).  Usually, it involves a lot of searching of flights, waiting for the clock to hit 12, restlessness and more.  I had to endure this part of the travel and the rest is easy.

Here are some tips I can share with regards to traveling around the Philippines.

Cebu Pacific Air

follow their twitter account for Sale announcements

- This carrier has endless sales.  But of course, they target on location sales.  They rotate their sales 3-4 days, with interesting titles.  But compare first with other carriers because sometimes their prices are deceiving (after tax).

The most awaited sale is their zero pesos sale.  I notice that they will offer that near the year end for next year’s flights (limited seats only so their website will be jammed for sure).  Do take note to go around their website (google cebupacificair and click on their other links aside from the main page to go in during huge sale periods).  Analyzing the dates, check on rates 3 months before your actual planned trip, sales will pop around these times.

- They now offer only hand carry (7 kg) so beware of add in, you can check in online to buy add ons ones

- The airport for this plane is NAIA 3, which is cleaner and bigger.  Do take note that you MUST arrive 40 minutes prior to your plane’s departure or else you will not be allowed to go in even if you beg!  (I tried that, I was 5 minutes late, no excuses, even if my time is not sync with theirs)

- Local airport fee: you need to pay 200 pesos

- Food on the 2nd floor are generally cheaper than the ones inside the waiting lounge.  Stock up before you go in.

- Read on their inflight magazine, there are a lot of useful articles

- Local destination I have tried using this carrier: Busuanga (Coron Palawan), Caticlan (Boracay), Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Laoag, Naga

Airphil Express

- This is the low cost carrier of Philippine Airlines.  The departure/arrival is in NAIA 2 which is nearer to the NAIA 1 (old international airport).

- Aggressive in promotion at par with Cebu pacific. Check out their website every week for more updates

- I personally rode this once or twice..no bad experience.  This is actually relatively new low cost airline..hopefully they will catch up with Cebu Pacific

- Sometimes, you can check out their mother company Philippine Airlines for occasional promotions (Midnight weekend sale, Pal fly all you can etc)

Zest Air

This was once an airline called Asian Spirit.  Revived as Zest Air, it aims to get the local flight market share.  They do not aggressively promote like the big ones (Cebu Pacific) but sometimes you can get cheap flights using this.  The disadvantage is that the airport is the old domestic airport, which is much smaller and looks unorganized.

Other airlines:

Seaair ( this is the only airline the flies to Batanes due to its smaller aircraft).  Their new planes are faster and sleek looking but the old ones are like the ones from hell! I tried their old plane when I went to Caticlan (Boracay) before, it was really antique looking, their belts do not seem to hold in place.  Well, I survived so I think it counts but still, I hope they upgrade all their planes soon!  This is the most expensive I have bought.

Now they are already partnering with other airlines to offer flights out of the country.  I hope it is as cheap as other airlines.