Our Room Number

Our bed.

Actually the room was  small. For P2610 (with breakfast) per night I think it’s  bit overpriced. Yung 2610 is for 2 person lang. Since we  brought my niece it’s an additional 350. If we pick additional person with mattress it cost 550. Eh when I saw how small the room is, yung 350 na lang. Buti na lang, we bring along our handy camping gears (mat, blanket and extra pillow.) So solve na yung niece ko dun.

The only good about this hotel is that, it’s very near to SM Baguio and walking distance to Session Road. 10 min walk to Burnham Park, Market and other business establishments in the city and since the hotel is situated in a busy street, you can hear the vehicular noise during the day and even in the evening.  There was also an on going construction so it added the noise in the morning.

A stone’s throw away to SM Baguio

After placing our things in the hotel, went to SM (san pa…) for a quick lunch and we headed to Mines View. We asked the taxi driver to bring us there, when we were close, it was so traffic na so we decided to walk na lang.  Yun nga lang hindi namin kabisado pag pagpunta kaya we follow our instinct and we  realized that we are in Good Shepherd Convent instead…

It was our first time here, We didn’t know na magkalapit lang pla and Good Shepherds and Mines View.

The Good Shepherd nuns make and sell different kinds of pasalubong items which are very popular among tourists / visitors in Baguio.

long queue of cutomers eager to have those yummy treats.

So I got, 4 jars of ube jams. 1 peanut brittle, 1 no sugar added strawberry jam, 2 chocolate chip cookies, it all cost, 1200 plus, the prices of Good Shepherd’s products are a little bit pricey.  Well, I just consider this written on the cap of the strawberry jam we bought. It’s for charity

Ube jam is a must try. It’s smooth creamy, not cloying…in short masarap. The rest of the products we bought, well nothing special, mahal lang talaga….hahahaha.

Good Shepherd also has a store for bread and coffee just across the cashier.

Since, we just had lunch,  we just had, civet coffee

It’s my first to taste this kind of coffee…at first I was hesitant kasi di ba, I know how it  became  civet coffee.  Pero syempre I gave it a try,  I am so glad, I did…kasi the taste  was so wonderful. Would love to have another cup sana kaso haba ng ng pila sa bakeshop.

After that, we headed to Mines View Park.  Although there’s nothing really much to see in Mines View, the place is still one of the top destinations in Baguio. Nothing new to offer, with so many vendors peddling souvenir items, while some offer souvenir photo wearing Igorot costumes for a fee, or ride a horse or pose with a large dog, for a fee too.

Ofcourse I won’t let the New Year start without my year end post. I don’t want to be in hiatus for the rest of 2012 di ba, hehehe.

So…like 2010, 2011 had been a fruitful year for me. I was really blessed with lots of things….in work, my family, travels, friends, health and lots more. So many that it’s countless. Thank You Lord for everything.

Now, as I face 2012, I am praying God’s guidance.  To give me wisdom as I face more challenges in life. To keep the family safe and healthy.To make my husband more patience  and more loving and most of all a prosperous 2012 not only for me but to everyone.

As we end 2011 may we reflect and be thankful for every event, every moment to this
point that has shaped our lives.

May we let go of any hurt, resentment or regret.

As we enter the first moments of 2012 and beyond, may the opportunity of all that the
new year brings fill our hearts and souls with love, joy, contentment & the desire to achieve all that we see is possible for ourselves and for others.

May we discover, believe in, and truly live our passion, remembering to give…. to also receive  and to continually pay it forward in the hope of making our world an even more beautiful place.

May 2012 and beyond be everything you dream it can be.

I miss all of you and Happy New Year everyone.

Last year, PM organised, All I want for Christmas project for her blogger friends and readers. It’s an exchange gift thing, organised online. It was a blast last year. Now, since Christmas is just around the corner, she is again organising another All I want for Christmas. Salamat PM.

I did, enjoy last year exchange gift. So hindi ko ito mapapalampas kahit sobrang busy.

So to start off, here are my wish….

Something small:  A black coin purse

Something big:  A hand purse

Something cute:  earphone

Something soft:  socks or a pillow

Something techie: IPAD or a Kindle or a GPS or a memory card for my camera

Something fancy: A D&G or Fossil Watch

Something (insert your favorite color):  Pomegranate Shower Gel from body shop

Something wearable: A silver necklace with cute pendant (from silverworks)

Something you need: A parker nice ballpen

Something you can use for work: Since I got lots of pens, pencils and marker on my work station, I badly need a cute, pen/pencil/marker organizer (please)

Something sweet: Lipton Milk Tea

Dear Santa I’ve Been Good and I really, really, really want: A new house or my own car (don’t worry this is a wish for my hubby)! Yeaaha!!!!

For those who wants to join, well…you could try, hop on to her blog , today kasi is the last day of joining hehehe.

So ayun nga, I arrived last Nov. 11. I really don’t know why pero parang sobrang namiss ko ang Pinas. Na enjoy ko naman ang Doha. I got friends naman dun,maybe I do wanted to go home because, Christmas na ang ambiance sa atin and I don’t want to miss a Christmas Tradition that I been doing for years and it’s collecting Starbucks stickers.

For this year, I have to collect 17 stickers by buying nine (9) Christmas beverages and eight (8) core beverages or purchase twenty-three (23) core beverages. Well, I decided to do option 1.

It’s the time of the year that I am a regular or shall I say an avid…coffee drinker at SB. Usually kasi, I try other coffee shops if I wanted a coffee fix. Buti na lang, the sandwhiches at SB are getting good. Actually meron na nga akong fave sa sanwhiches nila, before kasi I just get bagel and cream cheese lang.

My first sticker comes from a serving of Cafe Mocha. I also got a SB clubhouse sandwhich. I must say, this sandwhich is a real yummy. Favorite ko na sya.

Since I’ve been here in Manila for a week pa lang, 5 pa lang ang stickers ko (I started collecting last Monday lang). So I guess, will be a SB drinker for a moment.

So who wants to have coffee with me at SB?

This famous brand of chocolate came from Lebanon and is closer to Swiss or Belgium style chocolate.

I know my husband will go mad when he finds out how much this cost but sabi ko nga sa friend ko, might as well buy it here rather than buying it in Manila. Mag dadalawang isip lang ako. Besides it’s only once you get to have the chance bucks to buy something special.
By the way, the Patchi store in Manila was made famous by Ben Chan when he brought the franchise last year with a store at the Fort.

I tried a piece and I have to say, I understand why Patchi chocolates are so pricey. Patchi is a brand that blew my mind.  It really good. It is chocolatey delicious.  Really like it.

Maiba naman….

So…how are you everyone. Sorry wasn’t updating lately. Was really busy with work and tons of deadlines but thinking that next weekend I will be home, it ease all the tiredness.

So in my one month stay, I had adjusted somehow….the weather here is getting better, the temperature is slowly dropping ,  they say winter in nearly coming.   About the food naman here in Doha,  I seldom cook because the serving here is good for 2 people. So we usually buy food and bring it home. One meal cost around 15 riyals (175 Php).  I dont really miss pinoy food because there are lots of pinoy resto here. During lunchtime, we eat in this pinoy restaurant. Their menu are filipino dishes like nilagang baka, bulalo, chopsuey, bangsilog, longsilog at kung anu ano pa. Wala nga lang pork…so sa Manila na ko mag sisinigang na pork. 

Hindi ko rin namiss si Jollibee…

Hi Jollibee.

 Jollibee opens its first store at the Al Meera Consumer Goods Mall in Doha. Accodring to some of my friends who lives here, when Jollibee newly open last year, there were large crowd inside the and long queue outside the restaurant.  One of my friend waited 3 months before she visited Jollibee because she was avoiding the long queue.

 By the way, there’s also a chowking store here but haven’t tried it yet.  I am not sure if I’ll try it after my bad chowking experience in Pinas (my phobia, hehehe)

Here is my serving of chicken and fiesta palabok  with drinks for 15 riyals (around 175php)…..yummy. The serving is very Filipino (except for the lemon instead of calamansi which is not available daw in this country). It was just enough compared sa serving ng regular resto here. This time no sharing for us. Namiss ko yata si Jollibee.

Since we are talking about food….let me share pics of our take-away dinner the other night…

 Beef Sisig. The photo above doesn’t give justice to how the food taste but I tell you, mas masarap pa sya sa natikamn ko sa Pinas. This is just a single serving by the way but  it is a big one and  it’ s good for 3 people.

We also had Fried Chicken Biryani

Fried Chicken Biryani.

I first tried Biryani in Melbourne. I got hooked the first time I tried it. Kaya I am  happy that Biryani is almost in every menu of most resto here.  Biryani according to wikipedia is  is a set of rice-based foods made with spices, rice (usually basmati) and meat, fish, eggs or vegetables. The name is derived from the Persian word beryā  which means “fried” or “roasted”.

Again, that serving of Biryani is just a single serving but I tell you, it’s huge that 3 of us shared.

Hay pano kaya ko mag didiet kung ganito hehehe.

Have a splendid week everyone. Kami dito malapit na mag weekend

Virtually anything can be found there, from local traditional garb and beautiful embroideries and perfumes, to food, spices, musical instruments, and pre-colonial antiques.  The shop and stall keepers are laid back, not in the least bit pushy, and do accept and expect some bargaining. 

more souvenirs here.

garments and lots of garments

 Colorful pashminas

We wanted to have coffee but most of the coffee shops are full then we saw one familiar coffee shop, CBTL. There was no customers but when I asked for a latte, they run out of coffee (wht the….) so we just ordered Freez. Freez by the way is a non-alcoholic drink. 

To purchase liquor,one must have a license.  You can only get a license when you have obtained your residency permit and you will need to get a letter from your employer confirming your salary in addition to paying a certain amout of deposit.  -wikitravel

So walang lasing dito hahaha.

Before heading home, we dropped by at the Gold Souq which is just a stone’s throw away from Souq Waqif. There are lots of lovely and pricey jewelries to choose from and this eye pendant caught my attention

and here is another pricey eye candy, I saw on our way home

at maraming ganitong luxury car and nagkalat sa daan….

It was a lovely evening for us. A great experience to keep too. 

Happy weekend everyone.

At first we, were a bit intimidated to try this resto because all crew are men and most people eating that time were men but we were really craving to have shawarma at that very moment.

So we headed straight to this resto and  ordered 3 beef shawarma for take-away (sawa na kasi kami sa chicken). Each cost 14 riyals (around Php 160), they have a smaller serving that cost 7 riyals, gutom na kami kaya we bought the larger serving.

While waiting for our shawarma, we  noticed that there are cars stopping in front of the store to order for takeaway.  This resto must really offer good food.

I took a photo of those men preparing the shawarma…..this made me hungry….

A few minutes our order arrived. We headed straight home. Excited to eat our beef shawarma.

It’s a big serving. I think it’s twice longer that what we have in Manila.

The shawarma was good and taste even better with their garlic sauce which looks a bit different…

Looks more like a mayo to me but it’s garlic sauce indeed…

Since the shawarma is too long, we cut it in half and I was happy to see whats inside…

Pure, thick slices of beef. Yummm. I was that full after finishing the half. The other half, well, It was my dinner the next day hahaha.

You like shawarma my friend?

I haven’t got to explore Doha yet because 1-it really is hot out here, 2-our place is  a bit far to Qatar’s tourist spot that we have to have a car, 3- we don’t have a car and ever if we have a car, we don’t know how to drive.  There is a mall near our office (Royal Plaza) and  I’ve  been inside, thrice and I got bored already  because there are less to see and the shops are a bit pricey but last Tuesday when my friend JG invited us for dinner at Royal Plaza,  I was able to spot a sale on Guess store. We went there and found a cute item on sale….

So that was I that day….a happy Girl….can you see it?

We then got hungry, so we had dinner at Roma Pizza located at the 3rd level of the mall

I had a serving of roma pasta…hay It was a huge serving that I wasn’t able to finish the whole plate.

I got to thank my friend JG for the pasta dinner.

Then that night too,  our Aussie team leader, asked if we wanted to come and visit Villagio. He was scheduled to do his weekly grocery. Villagio by the way is  a shopping mall located at Aspire  Zone in the west end of Doha. 

Villagio caters signature shops, including many famous brands in the US, UK, Italian and German markets. So wala akong nabili hahaha but I happen to enjoy  the malling experience…. or should I say, the great window shopping malling experience.  Maganda kasi ang place.

Painted sky like in Venetian Hotel, Macau

Then there’s the Gondolino - The main feature of the Gondolino trip is the gondola, the legendary venetian rowing boat.

There are lot more to see at Villagio Mall but we weren’t able to totally roam the whole place since, our Aussie team leader is in a hurry din. Oh well….sana makabalik kami before we head home.

Weekend here is almost over…Friday and Saturday kasi ang off, work start on Sunday naman. So enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone, wherever you are.

Qatari Riyals

I’m in Doha, Qatar right now. I arrived here last Saturday afternoon (Qatar time). The temperature was around 39C and boy it was really hot. Will be spending a few weeks away from home

I’m on my 3rd day here. First day of work was last Sunday. I am amazed that there are lots of Filipino here. You can find them anywhere and they talk to you in Filipino. I found few filipino resto just near my work so I think I wont be missing some filipino dishes, yung nga lang no pork here.

By the way, let me share photos of the hotel where I’ll be spending 4-6 weeks here.

My access card.

A short hallway going to my bed but before that let me show my huge bath tub. Too huge that I cannot get a whole shot.

 cute giveways.

Finally my comfy bed

I’ll be sharing more of my Qatar stay next time. For now, have a blessed week everyone.