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Quezon City is my home away from home in Metro Manila. It's my Big Apple in the Philippines --- where big dreams are made of! (cue music : Empire State of Mind!)  Flicker Photo by Jun Sabayton Did you know?! There are streets called New York, Brooklyn and Manhattan in Quezon City. Google it! Dubbed as the City of Stars because of the presence of major broadcasting networks, it is also the most populous city in the Philippines and the largest city in Metro Manila in terms of land area. A few days ago I was invited at the Press Launch of the Quezon City 75th Diamond Jubilee Anniversary at the Quezon Memorial Circle which I visited for the very first time! I'll tell you more about that and my tour of the Pres.Manuel Quezon Heritage House on on my next blog post. For now, I'm very excited to share these information about the upcoming events on weekend that will surely delight you and your friends!  This coming weekend, October 10-11, 2015 is the culmination of Quezon City's 75th Diamond Julibee Celebration. To cap it, the city government prepared grand activities and events to delight its constituents and guests. Here are 3 of the major events you should put in your calendar! OCTOBER 10, 2015 Quezon City Diamond Jubilee MADRI GRAS [ 4pm to 7 pm ] This will feature a parade of 500 festival dancers like Pangbengga, Sinulog, A't-a'han, Dinagyang and Maskarra to celebrate the City’s colorful 75 years. It will start around the areas of Tomas Morato and will end end at Rembrandt Hotel where each group will showcase their grand performance. This is a great opportunity to witness some of the best festivals in the Philippines without breaking your budget. Make sure to watch this parade and take it as part of your staycation experience!  OCTOBER 10, 2015 Quezon City GRAND PARADE OF LIGHTS [ 7pm to 11 pm ] Right after the Madri Gras, a grand parade of lights will follow to celebrate the City's bright tourism and key destinations. There'll be atleast 10 floats that will shine bright and make your night!  Grand Lights Parade will follow the same route used by festival dancers. Check the map below for your reference.  OCTOBER 11, 2015 PARADE OF LIGHTS and GRAND CONCERT [ 7pm to 11 pm ] If you missed the first day of parade of lights, you can catch it on day 2! To close the celebration, Grand Parade of Lights and Concert will happen simultaneously at starting at 7PM. While the concert is on going at Quezon Memorial Circle, the floats will tour around Visayas Avenue, Mindanao Avenue area and end at Quezon Memorial Circle by 12MN just in time for the Fireworks display. This will be the grand “salubong” celebration for October 12, the exact founding day of Quezon City!  Jam with Parokya ni Edgar, Rocksteady and many more at the Quezon City Circle! Don't forget to use the official hashtags #QCRocks75 #iLikeQC to share the celebration online! SEE YOU HERE AT QUEZON CITY!!!
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THIS IS THE PIZZA that made Camarines Sur famous! You have to try it when you visit Bicol so make sure to dropby in CWC. Yup, Laing Pizza was first introduced by CamSur Watersports Complex when in opened sometime in 2008 to give foreign visitors and wakeboarders a taste of Bicolano cuisine.  Laing is one of our famous Bicolano dishes. It's made of dried taro leaves (gabi leaves) cooked in creamy coconut milk with chillies. You have the option to put fish flakes or shrimp paste but majority prefers to have pork bits.
This pizza became very famous, no wonder other restaurants soon followed their footsteps... As a local, I also love this laing pizza fusion and I always order it when I'm at CWC. It's a must eat when you're in Bicol! You can order Laing Pizza at the CWC Clubhouse. Check www.cwcwake.com for more information about wakeboarding, accommodation, restaurants and other updates about this worldclass watersports facility. For other MUST EAT when in Bicol, check my previous posts. It's ChooseDay again and this time I'll share about my foodie find when I travelled to Mindanao. Well, I know most Filipinos are familiar with Asado and Bola-Bola siopao but how about Malunggay siopao?! It was during my visit in Cagayan De Oro last March that I got to try this this nutritious bun with freshly cut malunggay leaves and meat fillings. The locals love it so the foodie in me got curious and I ended up I taking a bite too during my visit.  The verdict? It was surprisingly good! You can see bits of fine malunggay leaves in the super light green dough but it doesn't have any after taste. You still savor the good flavor of siopao yet feel less guilty because of it's healthier than the ordinary one.
Did you know that Malunggay leaves contain more Vitamin A than carrots, more calcium than milk and more Vitamin C than oranges. No wonder aside from pastel bread, CDO offers this malunggay product as part of their finest original pastries. Malunggay Siopao and Malunggay Pastel bread are just two of the nutritious products offered by Chai-Me-Pao-Food. They have a Café near Xavier University (Ateneo De Cagayan De Oro). For those who are curious and interested about this, you may email them at malunggaypastelbread@gmail.com. 
How many flavors of icecream have you tried? True to Bicol's identity, 1st Colonial Grill serves Sili ice cream among other local flavors which made them famous to locals and tourists. Your food adventure in Bikolandia won't be complete without capping your meal with sili (chilly) ice cream that will surely make you hot and cold at the same time! MUST TRY!
#1stColonialGrill is one of #Albay's best restaurants and put #CulinariaAlbay in the gastronomical map of the Philippines. You can find them in the following location: 1. Daraga, Albay 2. Pacific Mall, Legazpi City 3. SM City, Naga City 4. Elias Angeles, Naga City I have visited these 4 branches in Bicol and I heard their expanding soon! Sili ice cream is always sold out in every trade fair they participate in even in Manila and look, even famous cosplayers Aloida and Lui had a scoop! Watch their video. #ProudlyMadeinBicol Sili Ice Cream for the First Time!!! Yes, I somehow had a dibs on it when we accompanied our Singaporean friends (SPY batchmate from SSEAYP) in the Walled City of Manila. For those who haven't tried it, I highly recommend you book the BamBike EcoTours for a different kind of experience in touring the historic sites of Intramuros. Here's a photo when I first used the bambike last March.  I want to go back again for another BAMBIKE ride! I also want to try their Intramuros Experience Tour soon.
I love bicycling that's why when I saw this interesting bicycle parked outside Plaza San Luis Complex, it really got my attention. Curious, I went inside the shop and asked about this bicycle with some parts made of bamboo. I was told it's called BAMBIKE, a handmake bamboo bicycle which is 100% Filipino made with 100% materials from Philippines and 100 % sustainable.
With scorching summer heat here in Metro Manila, I can't help but crave for DJC Halo-Halo, one of may favorite in Bicol. I first tasted it sometime in 2012 when I was still working in Naga City and they opened a branch along Magsaysay Avenue. I didn't have any idea about them prior their opening in the city aside from my foodie friends telling me that it's REALLY famous in Albay. I must admit that living in Naga for so long, I was more familiar with Ice Blink around the downtown area. Rain or shine, DJC Halo-Halo became my staple dessert and snacks too especially when I'm craving for something cold near my place of work. During the CHOOSE BICOL familiarization tour of Choose Philippines, our ever reliable tour & FOODIE guide Kuya Bryan, famously known as Bicolano Man, brought us to the first and original home of DJC Halo-Halo. DJC Halo-Halo is definitely a Must Eat
when you visit Albay this Summer! This #ChooseDay, I'm sharing this video from Choose Philippines. It's been a year since the first time I traveled with the whole team when they were invited to explore the City of the Naga and key destinations in the region I love, Bicol. Watch the video below and know where you can EAT, SLEEP, and more!  Choose Philippines Team with Alec Santos Naga City Tourism Office and Jerome Palma of Bob Marlin I hope this YouTube video will help you plan your vacation and hopefully you will choose to visit Bicol as your holiday destination. CHOOSE BICOL. CHOOSE PHILIPPINES. One of my dream travel destinations is Batanes, the northernmost part of the Philippines. After a year since I bought my Skyjet open ticket, I still have to find time to make it there. So for now, while I'm still preparing my itinerary and ticking items on my bucket list, I would like to share this Choose Philippines documentary produced by my good friend Tina Marasigan and her team.
I hope you'll enjoy the Choose Batanes videos as much as I do and let's travel to Batanes! |
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MABUHAY!
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