MUNICH, GERMANY. The moment we stepped out of the train and into the large platform of the Hauptbahnhof, the first thing I thought about was FOOD. Not because I was hungry per se but because of the endless options of tummy delights they have there. So if you are thinking of putting off any food intake until you arrive at the Hauptbahnhof, these are just some of the choices you will find when you arrive there
MUNICH, GERMANY. With a huge consideration that our hotel should just be near the main station (Hauptbahnhof) of Munich, we booked two rooms in Winters Hotel located along Arnulfstrasse.
Why near the Hauptbahnhof, you ask? Because we thought that since we would be arriving during the Christmas holidays when most of the restaurants and establishments are closed, then it would be best if we just stay near the main station so that we could just go out of the area and catch a train ride to a nearby town whenever we please.
OBERAMMERGAU, GERMANY. Whoever says gelato (ice cream) is a no-no when it is cold hasn't experienced yet the bliss of eating one during a cold, winter morning. Taking a break from our long walk along the snowy roads of the town of Oberammergau did we come across this dainty little cafe with Luftl paintings on its facade. We were already freezing outside and in dire need of a place where we could sit down to rest out restless and almost-numb feet while we sip a cup of hot cocoa or coffee and perhaps slurp some soup so we ran towards it the moment we saw it.
GERMANY. I have been going through our holiday photos earlier and I still could not get over the fact that I had been here and I saw firsthand the magnificent views. It had been my first time to experience snow and seeing how it was able to transform a place to something magical was beyond any description or adjective I could think of. It was love at first sight with Germany.
NEAR MUNICH, GERMANY. Running out immediately of things to do may be impossible to happen when you are in Munich but if ever that happens, here is a day-trip idea that may catch your fancy.
MUNICH, GERMANY. It was not a spur-of-the-moment decision that I was in Munich during Christmas Day. I was there because Munich was the starting point of the 2-week tour that my family and I joined in. Anyhow, I will discuss more about that as we go along!
MUNICH, GERMANY. With a distance of 36 kilometers, getting to the Munich city center is still a 30 to 45-minute ride from the airport. There were a lot of transportation options available to get to the city center. There's the bus, car rentals, hotel shuttles which you can request from the hotel where you will stay in, taxis (which cost about EUR 70 for a 33-kilometer ride) but we chose the most economical of all without taking too much time and without being so tedious to use: the S-bahn.
DECEMBER 24, 2014 (MANILA, PHILIPPINES)
9:20 PM - Fifteen minutes after we requested a car through Uber, the drivers were already texting us that they were already near our place. We went down the elevator and wheeled our big luggages out of the cold, December evening excited for the next days to come. It was our first trip ever as a family outside of Asia and we could not be more excited about it!
When I claimed early last year that 2014 will be a good year for me, 2014 really became good to me. I can say that it had been a year full of lovely surprises, adventures and revelations. It had been a year full of firsts, a year of productivity and opportunities, a year of daily wonder and thanksgiving. I am not saying that charting through 2014 had been a smooth one but the joys far outweighed the sadness; the sureness exceeded the doubts.
METRO MANILA, PHILIPPINES. The Iscreamist is an ice cream parlor unlike any other. Why? For one, it uses UV fluorescent as its light so it has this blue ambiance inside that makes it hard to take a good picture unless you use flash photography. Next would be the flash-freezing of their ice cream delights with the use of liquid nitrogen which is kind of cool specially if it is your first time to try it!
METRO MANILA, PHILIPPINES. I am always on the lookout for that place within the metro where you can get a piece of steak that is not only cheap but also smackingly good and money-worthy. I think that habit stayed with me as I have come to love this steakhouse near our university that serves just that. I keep coming back to it even after I graduated as I became quite convinced that there is no more steakhouse out there other than it that serves some nice, delicious steak for a fraction of the cost of those that we do find in malls and fine-dining steakhouses.
METRO MANILA, PHILIPPINES. In lieu with my current goal of staying fit and healthy (well, I try to be!), I dragged my whole family down last Sunday to this hole-in-the-wall restaurant beside A. Venue in the outskirts of Makati called Beni's Falafel. I usually try hard to resist doing so as my brothers are meat-loving persons and are not particularly into healthy options but when I read that they also offer chicken meals alongside their vegetarian bestsellers I instantly thought that this would be the perfect time to bring them to one.
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA. Set in a colonial building in which its furniture, lightings and wooden carvings were all made from Cambodia, Romdeng is part of TREE (Training Restaurants for Employment and Entrepreneurship) which is a global alliance of training restaurants based on a successful model of social business which not only helps their students to become skilled and happy young individuals but also provides, along the way, customer satisfaction and a continuous cycle of corporate sustainability.
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA. Since we were already in Vietnam, we made sure to also visit its neighbouring country Cambodia. We left Ho Chi Minh on Christmas Day last year and took a bus going to Phnom Penh. It took us about 6 hours and $14 each to get there. A long travel actually but cheap which is favorable for us since spending less is a top priority. During the trip, I could not help but notice how much similar Cambodia is as compared to the Philippines. They both have the same look of the streets, the houses and even the people and how they dress!
METRO MANILA, PHILIPPINES. Tucked along the narrow Isabelo Mendoza street in Marikina is this lovely place called Rustic Mornings. The place was established 5 years ago and was more known as Isabelo Place. Though it also functions as a restaurant, it was more famous as an event place back then. Reservations were a must if you want to dine there until two years ago when they converted it as a full-fledged restaurant where people can just walk in and enjoy the place and the food whenever they please.
METRO MANILA, PHILIPPINES. Hot-Star, a popular shop in Taiwan due to their humongous chicken chop, has now found its place in Manila!
"Lav, before anything else, how humongous is humongous?", you may ask. That's a fair question! Well, it is as long as your typical 12-inch ruler, it is bigger than your two palms placed side by side and it is larger than your face. If I haven't sparked a tinge of curiosity from you still, I do not know anymore what would.
METRO MANILA, PHILIPPINES. Christmas is so near! I can already feel it from all over; from the traffic, the number of people that flocks the mall, the Christmas songs, advertorials, decorations, Christmas lights, that cool breeze, they all make the nearness of the holiday season more evident. And with that comes along the Christmas shopping too.
METRO MANILA, PHILIPPINES. Congratulations to BAGA Manila for celebrating their 3rd year anniversary last November 14 and 15! I am no first-timer in BAGA Manila but it was my first time to experience the new BAGA at their new location. I was still able to visit their A. Venue, Makati location for about three times, I think, before they transferred to Lakefront in Sucat, Muntinlupa City last April of this year. BAGA Manila is a food night market especially dedicated to barbecuers and grillers hence the name: BAGA = BArbecuers and Grillers Association.
