Buenos Aires Mountain Resort

resort's main gate

Buenos Aires Mountain Resort

         A renowned resort in the province of Negros Occidental is Buenos Aires Mountain Resort located at the upper portion of Bago City. Regardless of the weather condition, people do come here for family gatherings and other activities.
          It was good timing for the MESS members to schedule their acquaintance party here and had booked a nice spot in the resort. Below are the photos I took outside and inside the resort.

Destiation Vacation: Disneyland, Hong Kong

Destination Vacation: Disneyland, Hong Kong

Disneyland ticket

guidemap

                Everyone was so excited early in the morning to get into the bus to see Disneyland for the first time. We have the whole day to enjoy all the rides and take pictures inside the very famous theme park in the city. As soon as we arrived at the theme park, everyone was busy taking pictures of themselves with everything that we found amazing.

Destination Vacation:The Venetian Macao Resort Hotel

The Venetian Macao Resort Hotel, Macau

             It was almost 5 o'clock in the afternoon when we arrived at the Hotel Venetia, just the right time to see the bright lights of Macau and the hotel itself. From the entrance, the hotel was already crowded with people, a sign that something is up inside the hotel which we were all excited to see. The Venetian Hotel is known worldwide for its unique interior structure and design.

Destination Vacation: Fisherman's Wharf Amusement Park, Macau

amusement center

Fisherman's Wharf Amusement Park, Macau

     Our first stop in Macau was the Fisherman's Wharf Amusement Park. This is the famous amusement park in Macau and the most entertaining especially at night time.

     Obviously the park was quite boring when we arrived because the adventures, the exciting sceneries and rides here start in the evening. There are a number of unique structures in here which are basically new to us. Luckily at this time, we have the entire area to wander around and take pictures because visitors do usually come here at night time.

Destination Vacation: Macau Fisherman's Wharf Convention and Exhibition Centre

Macau Fisherman's Wharf Convention and Exhibition Centre

              It was mid-afternoon when we visited the Fisherman's Wharf Convention and Exhibition Center. This is just located at the right side of the main entrance of the amusement park. Actually, there was no important event occurring when we came in. We just simply roamed around and captured every thing that we found interesting both inside and outside of the convention center. Visitors at that time were only allowed to stroll around the ground floor of the convention center. The exit leads us to some areas of the Fisherman's wharf.

                    

Convention Center's lobby

Destination Vacation: St. Paul's Ruins, Macau

St. Paul's Ruins, Macau

             We had the entire day to visit the tourist spots and go around Macau. Macau is a one-hour trip by ferry from Hong Kong Island. We noticed that the road signage especially in St. Paul's Ruins are written in Spanish. This is because Macau was once colonized by the Portuguese empire hundreds of years ago. The structures of the buildings here are also influenced by Portuguese architectural design. Macau is very famous for its gambling activity as the source of the country's economy. That's why we were all so excited to stay here 'til 9 o'clock in the evening just to observe the sparkling and busy night life of Macau. We visited the notable St. Paul's Ruins, which is the remaining structure of the Cathedral of St.Paul that was built centuries ago at Rua de Sao Paolo.

Destination Vacation: Aberdeen Sampan, Hong Kong

Aberdeen Sampan main entrance

Aberdeen Sampan Tour Company

            It was almost lunch time when we dropped by Aberdeen Sampan, a tour company in here in Hong Kong Island. They have boats available for touring around the Aberdeen shore for 30 - 45 minutes. From afar, we saw small and large yachts and the tourist boats known as Sampan.  In addition, hiring those boats is the best way for tourists to get an excellent view of the harbour of the south shore of Hong Kong Island. As for us, we hired a boat good for 15 persons with a female operator.

Destination Vacation: Avenue of the Stars, Hong Kong

Destination Vacation: Avenue of the Stars, Hong Kong

         T'was our first day of tour here in Hong Kong, so we left Rambler Garden Hotel as early as 7:30 in the morning. Our itinerary for the day was the City Tour and we were heading to the Avenue of the Stars, where hand prints and autographs of the City's famous stars are printed and set in cement on the wide alley of Victoria Harbour Waterfront located at Tsim Sha Tsui.

Destination Vacation: Rambler Garden Hotel, Hong Kong

Rambler Garden Hotel's main entrance

    Rambler Garden Hotel

           Destination Vacation posts are my blog's special editions since these posts talk about my one-week vacation in Hong Kong and Macau. Everything we did such as, places we went and food we tasted are all listed and featured in Destination Vacation posts. Please allow me to tour you around two (2) of the famous places in the Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Macau.

PICS Convention at Business Inn

Business Inn main door

Philippine Instrumentation and Controls System Convention (PICS), Business Inn, Bacolod City

            The latest annual PICS convention dated last July 19 - 20, 2012 was held at Business Inn, Bacolod City. Business Inn was chosen to be the venue for the said convention because of the large numbers of participants who confirmed to join the said event. This was my opportunity to roam around the hotel and capture some photos of both the participants and the venue.
           Honestly, this is my second time to visit the hotel. I came here an hour earlier just to have some ample time to take pictures inside the venue despite of the bad weather. Below are the photos of some of the areas in the ground floor. Honestly, I could not get up to the second floor due to some policies imposed by the hotel.

Wara Wara

The Korean owner of Wara Wara

    A Family Dinner at Wara Wara

     Wara Wara is a relatively new Korean restuarant in the city at Central City Walk, Robinsons Place. This is also one of the famous Korean restaurants in the city that provides two ways to cook your own foods, namely Shabu Shabu and Yakiniku. The Shabu Shabu area is for those who love to cook soup, while to those who enjoy grilling their foods must proceed to the Yakiniku area. As we entered the restaurant, I noticed a Korean owner (shown in the photo) personally assist some of the hungry customers who are quite confused on what foods and appropriate ingredients for grilling or for the soup.
     The Shabu Shabu area has tables with a large stove in it. You can cook your ingredients at your own desired taste and style. As for Yakiniku, each  table has a grilling apparatus where you can have your meat grilled either medium rare or well done.
     At the right side of the entrance of Wara Wara is the array of various ingredients for grilling and soup which include the beef, pork, chicken, vegetables, spices and sauces. At the opposite side is the display of different types of kimbap, salads for desserts, plain rice and fried rice.        

21 RESTAURANT

Afternoon Snacks at 21 Restaurant

     Another famous restaurant along Lacson Street in Bacolod City is the 21 Restaurant. This is a fine-dining restaurant which provides the best delicacies of the city. The restaurant is also famous for its Batchoy, a noodle soup with thin slices of pork, pork liver, pork chicharon and egg. Most of the time when we come here for batchoy, the ingredients are already out of stock especially during rainy days, which shows how good their batchoy is.

     One afternoon we decided to stop by and have some hot batchoy and cheese sticks for our afternoon snacks. Cheese sticks and batchoy are our favorites here and are at very reasonable costs. Aside from their best delicacies, the restaurant is a nice and cozy place for all diners who wish to have a comfortable place while enjoying their favorite meals. The place is very clean, the service is good and the food is a must try.

Surprise Birthday Lunch

Surprise Birthday Lunch at the School

         It was July 25, a day with morning and afternoon classes, papers needed to be returned, and deadlines to be done before the day ends. This was no special day for anyone else in the office with deadlines to catch and classes to meet. As for me, I have to find time with friends in the college because today is my birthday. Actually I already asked them to have lunch with me a week ago so they could save the date. We even decided the particular foods to buy just for a lunch enough for us.
               Well, hours before lunch time when I asked my friends to buy some additional foods or drinks for the lunch and they told me we had enough already. However, while I was in the office I never knew my friends were busy preparing something I did not know, a big surprise lunch!

My Birthday Dinner at ShabuNiku

A Special Birthday Dinner at ShabuNiku 

       It was July 25, a special day for me with a planned dinner with David and Tita Miriam at a relatively new restaurant along Lacson St. in Bacolod City. According to one of the restaurant crews ShabuNiku is owned by some Korean businessmen who bring about the Korean delicacies to the Philippines.  Outside the main entrance are the tall baskets of flowers displayed at each corner of the main door.

Free Starbucks Refresher Drink

              Starbucks Refresher Drinks

            Most of our available time is spent here in Starbucks Coffee at Lacson St., Bacolod City. This has been my favorite place to have a hot cup of decaffeinated coffee mocha during my leisure time at least twice a week. As a result, two of us were given this special coupon. It's all about their limited offer from July 31 to August 12, a buy one, get one Starbucks refresher beverage for lucky individuals. Well, I am not into iced non-coffee based drinks but this time, I truly wanted to try and enjoy the special privilege.

Overcharge with Sweets at Calea Pastries & Coffee

    Calea at Balay Quince

           Calea Pastries & Coffee is one of our favorite dessert havens in the city. This is located at the ground floor of Balay Quince, situated along the business district of Bacolod City, Lacson St. 

            The photos I posted here are mixtures of two (2) events. One was just an after-lunch dessert with my boyfriend, while the other was on my birthday right after our heavy dinner. Calea Pastries & coffee is famous even outside the region due to its irresistible cakes and sumptuous pies which all mark the uniqueness of Calea.

The Park and the Farm at May's Organic Garden

A Quick Stroll At May's Organic Garden

         We had an unplanned organic buffet lunch on the weekend because we knew there is a new restaurant at Pahanocoy, Bacolod City. This restaurant offers organic buffet lunch at reasonable cost. May's Organic Garden is famous for their vegetables freshly picked from their garden and organic meat directly from the farm just within the area.

vegetable vendors

         Aside from the food, a spacious park is currently under construction although there are areas that are partially done and we, and the rest of the customers got the chance to roam around. Apart from the recreational park, a farm was built at the far end and some animal houses were under construction. 

           The photo above shows the large cottage near the entrance. I guess this is for large group for family gatherings or meetings. Likewise, a large area near the restaurant with array of tables where display of fresh vegetables, fruits, and some organic products are sold here.

Healthy Buffet Lunch At May's Organic Garden

Buffet Lunch at May's Organic Garden, Pahanocoy, Bacolod City

     It was an unplanned lunch when we thought of going to Pahanocoy to try the healthy Eat-All-You-Can lunch at the new organic restaurant owned by Ramon Uy. This was my second time to visit the place, yet this was my first time to dine and try their buffet. We came in a little bit earlier than the usual lunch time because we knew a lot of health conscious individuals come here for lunch. Luckily, we were able to choose a nice spot inside the open restaurant, an area where the display of foods was just next to us. Indeed, early birds get the best spot to eat their foods! The picture above shows the streamer hung at the back entrance of the open restaurant.

Milk + Tea Station at Balay Quince

Balay Quince building

           Milk + Tea Station at Balay Quince, Bacolod City

           It was a fine sunny Saturday afternoon that made us decide to look for some refreshment before going home. Since we were already driving along Lacson St., it was better to stay at any of the famous dessert and coffee shops along the area. Until finally, we parked the car in front of Balay Quince and was able to catch the vivid photo of the colorful rainbow above the building.

        Balay Quince is one of our favorite stopovers along the business district. We agreed to go to Milk + Tea Station for some cold and refreshing milk teas with various enchanting flavors mixed with your favorite flavored jellies. Milk + Tea Station is located at the second (2nd) floor of the building where people from all walks of life come here to savor the healthy and famous milk teas in town. In addition, Milk + Tea Station also offers hot coffee such as espresso, cappuccino, etc.

Organic Overload at Fresh Start

            Fresh Start at Central City Walk, Robinsons Place, Bacolod City

     It's now time to go green and healthy! A lot of health conscious individuals come over here at Fresh Start to try not only the vegetables and fruits but also the organic chicken served in delightful style with green leaves and fresh sauce. As for us, gradual transformation into being a vegetarian is not that hard to do anyway. Organic meat is also tasty aside from being a healthy food.
     As we entered Fresh Start the scent of strong  and fresh herbs was the first thing we noticed.  They do not have much various food options to choose from, so I guess that was one of the reasons why the menu was written on the wall or blackboard at the cashier's space. Homemade piayas are displayed at the cashier's area at very very low price. I did try their piaya because most of the people I know assured me that it has a unique, rich filling and one of the best in town.