San Augustine's Sound Of Music

San Agustin Church

This blog has long been overdue. I just want to share another amazing day of my life the “Usapang Kanto” way. There’s no better way to do this kind of whole day affair other than doing it with your family. We started the day with a good food at one of my family’s favourite Filipino restaurant in Intramuros, Ristorante Delle Mitre, located near CBCP. We had the usual and as ever, I had their mouth watering signature dish, sinigang. We tried their coffee. It’s fine, value for money, nerve stimulating hmmm anything that will describe a good brewed coffee but it will not change the way I crave for Sumiyaki at UCC and my Bustelo at home will still be better than Ristorante Delle Mitre’s signature coffee. I’ll make sure that I try their pastries on my next visit.

Anyways, my brother was invited in an exhibit in San Agustine Church. It was an exhibit of images of saints made out of ivory. It was Fr. Pooh’s friend doctor, whom I forgot the name (I’m sorry), who made and designed the images. The location was really secured because the images are really valuable and expensive. Cameras were not allowed inside the exhibit rooms so ergo, I don’t have any pictures. It was my first time to roam around San Agustine Church because most of the time, we only stay inside the church. I never thought that San Agustine is a one big museum. There’s a 17^th or 18^th century feel when you’re inside the museum area.  Accdg to my brother, all the churches in the Intramuros area fell down during the war because of the bombings except for San Agustine Church and also, the most valuable treasure of the church is the church door. I so love being with kuya when we do museum trips because he always has a trivia to say. I lost count of the numbers of rooms we’ve been to but I can tell that some of the rooms have a creepy feel, some gave me goosebumps. It was probably just paranoia because I know that it’s an old church so there’s a big possibility that there are a lot of entities inside it. The best room we went to is the room where the bamboo organ is. If I’ll paint an 18^th century choir area, I will paint it exactly like that. Big chairs with oversized hand rest, big strips of wood for the floor, ceiling high bamboo organ and the view of the whole altar. It was a very hot day when we went there and as much as I wanted to, I can’t stay inside the exhibit rooms for long because not all of the rooms were well-ventilated. Good thing, there’s a friendly refreshment store by the exit. The exhibit left me with good feeling. Overall, it was such a good exercise of nationalism and religious beliefs.

We spent the next half of our day at the Resorts World to watch the Sound Of Music. It is always a must to have coffee before watching a play. Maybe not for everyone but at least for my family, I guess our blood is partly coffee and we badly need to sustain it haha!

SanAgustine Church Entrance

The lead star, who portrayed the role of Maria Von Trappe, on the date we watched The Sound of Music was, Joana Ampil. We were lucky enough to get a good seat; we were like 5 rows away from the stage. My mom always gets sleepy when watching plays or performances onstage, but she never snoozed throughout The Sound of Music. I even saw her singing once in awhile. The last time she snoozed on a play was with “Sampung mga daliri” by the UST conservatory of music (please don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of “Sampung Mga Daliri” and it was incomparable to the Sound of Music, I just used it as an example to express my mom’s sleeping habits when watching plays) The Sound of Music was such a blast. All of them did well. I love the accent and their voices and the orchestra. It was never a snore fest and I highly recommend everyone reading this blog to watch it. I think it will run until February 2012. Aga Muhlach’s daughter, Atasha, was so adorable. I can go on and say a lot of good things about it. I guess you just need to watch it to experience it yourself.

It was a long and amazing day... another well spent time for family bonding. Until my next blog! Chao! 

Illustrado for a Day

Illustrados for a day wannabees

Villa Tortuga by Lito Perez- I’m sure you’ll get a lot of information about it if you’ll search it on the net but this blog will be helpful if you want to know the exact feeling of the whole trip.

August and September are our family months, we made sure that we set up a family day every week for those months. We thought of a different kind of trip this year. Initially, we thought of going to the beach but my parents hate riding the local airplanes so we tried to think of something else. My brother got an article from the inquirer about VillaTortuga.

Villa Tortuga

It is a vintage house rented and preserved by Lito Perez, a designer, in Taal Heritage Village in Batangas. Reservation is a must so we called a day before. I’d say hmmm not bad for 1500php/person which includes welcome drinks, lunch, heritage tour, and a family photoshoot on Lito Perez designed vintage clothes.

We started our day with a good cup of coffee that we brought at the Basilica de San Martin de Tours in Taal. Cafe Bustelo plus the view of an enormous and mountain-like 256 years old church opened the Henry De Tamble within us and it led us back in time... Batangas Illustrado for a day wannabe? Let’s get it on!

Basilica de San Martin de Tours in Taal, Baangas- We met our tour guide, Kuya Bennet, at the Basilica. He gave us a lot of nice to know facts:

*Taal is a UNESCO heritage site. The local government in Taal made sure that there’s no commercial establishment in the area like SM, fastfood chains etc except for the only convenience store in the area, 711, which strictly followed the rules and regulations of the local government like minimal ads etc. It is also true that there is no night life in Taal.

*Basilica de San Martin de Tours claims to be the biggest Catholic Church in Asia by land area which includes the area outside the church itself. The thought was contested by the Sto Domingo Church.

Basilica Ruins

The Basilica was undergoing renovation when we went there. Our travel guide, Kuya Bennet, also gave a short history on how the elders in Taal debated on how the church’s ceiling should look.

Old Taal- after the Basilica tour, the next part of the Itinerary should be at the Agoncillo House but it was closed for maintenance on the day we had the tour so instead, we went to the Old Taal which is by the Taal lake and overlooking the volcano and Mt Makulot from San Nicholas, Batangas view. On the way to the lake is the ruins of the old basilica that was destroyed by the volcanic eruption in 1600s.

Lunch @ Villa Tortuga

Caysasay Church- This church is very rich in history. The church was made by the Chinese traders and has a hint of Chinese culture is every part of it. One can tell right away that the church was inspired by the Chinese people because of temple-like roof and windows. The history of the church evolves with the image of Virgin Mary caught by a fisherman, Juan Manicad. The history is a bit weird but it made sense. Near the church is a healing well.

Villa Tortuga- After the tour, we headed to Villa Tortuga for lunch. Villa Tortuga is situated by Pansipit River which drains to the Balayan Bay to the South China Sea and Taal Lake. Pansipit River was the super highway in 1500s since most of the Chinese traders use it to sell goods during those times.

lakas trip pix

We had our welcome drinks served by a waiter on his 16^th century costume. After an inspiring and perspiring morning time travel, a fresh mango juice from Villa Tortuga, will really make you say “aaah refreshing!”

Evolution of Cameras

 

 

 Sir Rogee , the person who manage Villa Tortuga, gave us a quick tour of the house then we all went to the photo studio inside Villa Tortuga. Lito Perez had the house air-conditioned. They said that the temperature inside the house is the same during 1600s, maybe that’s why people in the past can withstand wearing long Filipiniana gown and coats. One will surely understand why a reservation is needed once you got inside Villa Tortuga. The house is not that big and the dining area can just probably hold 20 persons at a time. At the photo studio, we changed to Lito Perez’ designed 16^th century Filipiniano clothings then we had our family sepia photo. After the photos were taken, we headed to the dining room, still on our filipiniana clothes. There were 2 helpers serving heirloom recipes.

We had Malunggay Sotanghon soup, Adobo sa dilaw, ensalada, paksiw, tapa ng Taal, pork with pineapple, fish omelette in tomato and the best dessert ever... suman and batirol Yummy!

It was a good experience. You’ll really feel that you are living in the 1600s with the ambiance, the helpers in costumes, us in costume, and the music that adds accent in every factor that I said. The music they played can only be heard from the show at Paco Park. My parents enjoyed every bit of our stay in Villa Tortuga. After the good food, more photos taken at the dining area, and loads of conversation, we headed to the next part of our itinerary the Villavicencio house.

Rizal in Calamba

Villavicencio Compound: They call it as the gift house. It was the gift of Gliceria Villavicencio’s husband to her after the wedding. It is a big colourful house where the new telenovela of Nora Aunor was shot. It is also a bed and breakfast so anyone can stay there for the night. There was a bridge connecting the gift house to the main house but they were not able to preserve it. At the main house, a cold face towel was given to all of us before the film showing about the history of the house and the unrecognized heroine, Gliceria Villavicencio. After the tour, we had another serving of Batirol and Suman for our snacks. For the last bit of our tour, we went to Galleria Taal.

Galleria Taal- I think that this is the most expensive museum in Taal. It features the evolution of camera owned by Manny Inumerable and vintage photos from John Silva Collections. The photo that caught my attention was the last photo of Jose Rizal in Luneta.

Well, it was a good experience. We enjoyed every bit of the trip. I will definitely recommend Villa Tortuga to my friends but I guess it is just good for a one time experience. I can’t think of a reason to go back.

After the Villa Tortuga Taal Tour, we spent the night in Tagaytay and ended our day with a dinner at Leslie’s. We thought that we still had a hangover of being an illustrado the day after so after our breakfast at Bag of Beans, we went to Calamba to see Rizal’s Heritage House. It was a disappointment because the furnitures were just replicas. There is a saying that “There’s nothing to do in Calamba” well, I think I’ll second demotion to that. After seeing Rizal’s Shrine in Calamba, we had lunch at RSM then we met up with some family friends. That's how our Illustrado for a day ended. It is so nice to express how you love being a filipino once in a while.

Singapore City Adventure

At the train w the map

This travel blog is not that comprehensive. This is just based on my general observations and experiences but I hope it helps you in any way it can.
Suggestions before travelling to Singapore:

Cigarettes with prices in SG

Travel light
If you’re a smoker, do not consider buying your cigarettes in Singapore. Check the guidelines on how much cigarettes you can bring.
If you have a drinker friend, just buy him a bottle of liquor at duty free. The price is more or less 50% off than the price outside the airport (Allowed: 1 litre per passport)
Check out the Do’s and Don’ts in SG. Yes, Singapore is indeed a fine city. They will fine you for a lot of things.
Check out the SG attractions and plan your days in SG (but it didn’t work for me hehe)

Airport

Arrived at the airport about 2 hours before the flight.
Bad Vibes: Travel tax should be paid upon luggage check in... 1,620php plus 750php terminal fee amf! That’s steep! Customer service at the travel tax counter? Snail-ish. There were less than 10 people on the queue and it took more than 30 mins to pay for the travel tax. And here’s the best part, the cashier at the counter got pissed then he said “Teka naguguluhan na ko sa inyo e” The F!

Anito and the foreigner at the airport

Good Vibes: Things to do at the airport while waiting for the flight:
1.    Observe: Anito and the foreigner.  Check out the picture. I think they’re together. The first thing that hit my mind when I saw them? “So you think you can get away with that huh? You can’t bring that ancient artifact outside the country” (hehe bad melon!)
2.    Classic picture taking by the airplane.
3.    Yummy coffee
In all fairness, Airphil is on time.
Arrival at Changi Airport Terminal 2
Terminal 2 at Changi airport is really nice better than their terminal 3. We bought the EZlink card (12 Dollars) then took the train going to Ang Mo Kio. The best Singapore welcome... thick southern Indian scent inside the train and durian’s smell by the supermarket upon exit of the train.
The map is a must when you want to go around Singapore. The train map reminds me of the London Underground map. I’m lucky to have a Singapore Tourist Guide Book.

Travel tax

S’pore Discovery Center/ Army museum
The travel going to the Discovery center is much better than the travel going to the place where I stayed. The smell at the train is not as olfactory bulb blasting like the night before. You can tell that we are the only tourist on board since we are so busy checking the map. There were like 4 to 6 nationalities in every train cart. I heard the ringtone of a Chinese looking old guy, it was like the ending theme of a classic Chinese movie funny!
Discovery center is really good for school fieldtrips. It is educational and interactive. We were able to watch Sammy’s Adventure (3D). Too bad we missed Kung Fu Panda’s screening time. We met a Filipino waiter. The food inside the Discovery center is expensive, just like in any other tourist spot. We had Sarpino’s Pizza, the pizza is ok but the lasagna arrrrgh! Awful! (50% onions and 50% lasagna and taste like caldereta)
Army museum is just within the Discovery center’s compound. The shooting range is really nice and the show was amazing. There was a real battle tank and helicopter inside the screening room and you will feel like you were in a real combat during the show.

Universal Studios

The best day of our trip is the day when we went to USS. We rode the Sentosa express from Vivo Shopping Center. I opt to ride the cable car but it was too expensive and according to some of my friends, the view up there is not worth the price of the ride. Anyways, the feeling was whoa when we arrived at the Universal Studios. Imagine this, upon entering the theme park, you’ll see the signature orb with the words Universal Studios going around it and the smoke at the bottom of it and the music that compliments the beautiful site. Anyone will surely get excited upon entering the theme park.
We tried the extreme Galactica, the mummy, we watched donkey, shrek etc. I love every bit of that theme park. The best show that we watched was the Waterworld. It was a jaw dropping experience. I really had fun. I also had my precious pictures with the casts of Waterworld, Madagascar, Kung fu Panda, and many more. 
The only bad vibes that day was the food. I needed a heavy meal so we went to Goldilocks inside the Kingdom far far away area and we had chicken. Unfortunately, it was halal and I only had a couple of bites then I stopped eating it. I just had mashed potato for lunch tsk tsk loser!
We went to Sentosa right after and had coffee at Palawan beach then we crossed the hanging bridge to get to a small island which they say was area below the equatorial line. We also went to the Siloso Beach and went up to see the Merlion.

Chinatown

Orchard Road
Overwhelming! That’s the best way to describe it. We watched some super talented people performing at the street, had ice cream, shopped at Cotton On, check out the new releases at Nike and just roam around while waiting for my friends.



Makansutra
The hawker center by the Marina Bay. We had stingray, yang chao, chicken and fried squid. The place is always crowded and that is the area where a lot of Filipinos meet up. I love the sugar cane juice.

Drinking by the street

Drinking area by the Street
I never wanted to stay at fancy restaurant or bar. I felt that to really experience Singapore I need to be on the streets. I had 3 Tiger beers, satay and a good long talk with my closest college friends and Amal.

Makansutra

Marina Bay
Amazing architecture, fancy mall and whatta lighting show. We were not able to get inside the art museum because there is a private red carpet event where some Hollywood stars will be in but unfortunately, we were so tired to go back to the venue by 10pm. There were photo ops around Marina bay, fancy restaurants and Starbucks by the bay, I wanted to have coffee while watching the light show but it was full haist but its fine. I enjoyed it even without coffee anyways.

It was a really good experience. I will definitely go back to Singapore given the opportunity. F1 Race?? We’ll see hehe