Inlove with Thai in Los Banos

First time I ate at this restaurant I fell in love with the food (and the budget as well!).

Authentic Thai cuisine on an affordable budget in the heart of the busy UP Los Banos street. A hidden treasure of their place.

























Ning's Thai

How to get there: The place is along the road going to UPLB campus. It's near to another famous spot on UPLB which is Mernels (popularly known for their tasty chocolate cakes. Currently the place is under renovation, you might overlooked the small sign bearing its name. If you got lost, just ask any of the people in the street. Surely they know where this palce is =P.

What to expect; Err...waht else..authentic thai cuisine!

Budget: 200 pesos is enough.Though the more you are, the lesser you'll pay.

Here are the sample of the food in their menu:




















Im sorry but i forgot the name of the food that we've ate (we actually just point on the picture posted on the wall for the food to be ordered) but if you're eating here this rice bagoong with mangga with scrambled egg with pork bits is a must-order food!. Kanin palang ulam na! And since this is a Thai cuisine, expect that its hot and spicy. Yummy!



















Another food that we've ordered is like the Thailand version of our pansit, though its not that much the same as our pansit but the taste is also delicious! Their pansit has basil and peanut and Thai sauce. And of course, it is also spicy but with a little bit of sweetness.




















For 55 pesos, you'll get a 5 pieces pritong lumpia from Ning Thai. But wait there's more to a lumpia. Inside is the commonly laman which is the toge but there is also some meat plus another kind of vegetable that I cant distinguish whether singkamas (turnip) or raddish. But what the heck, as long as its delicious Im good. It is serve crispy hot and better be eaten while hot. The sauce is a combination of soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, onion and cucumber. Yummy!

All in all, the experience of eating again (my first time was in Fenruary, the second time was today) is truly worth remembering and you'll always feels like it's worth visiting again pag napapadpad ka sa Los Banos!

Trippings around Manila (and a little bit of history)

Last Friday, something unexpected happened to me. I made a quick trip around the City of Manila early in the morning. Yep, that's right morning time on a work week day. Thank God I need to go to Manila for my medical exam and got rejected since my passport was tampered (im renewing my passport now actually) and since i told my boss that I'll be at the office after lunch I had a lot of time to roam around Manila and discover the beauty (and madness i.e. the traffic) it has to offer.

1. First PitStop, Bookworm's heaven: The National Library
For weeks now im looking for this particular book "By Sword and Fire" by Alfonso Aluit. I've searched and inquire in almost all Powerbooks and National bookstore here in the south and in Makati area but sadly this book is already extinct (it was published last 1994).Still i didn't let my enthusiasm go down and I tried looking it in National Library of the Philippines. Luckily it's available there!
It's like Christmas comes to me that day.
Im so happy for my discovery. Though i can't borrowed the book because I dont have a library card (I refuse to get a id picture outside, heck i have a lot of 1 x 1 picture at home) and I can't bring it home either (its prohibited). So I scheduled myself on June 6, the whole day will be devoted in reading this book at the library.


2. Second Pitstop:Roaming around the Agrifina Circle
After National Library, I went to the Luneta Park area, and since im not too familiar with the area, I just found myself in the Agrifina circle. Great view if your in that area coz you'll have a clear view of the Ionic structure of Department of Tourism's and the National Museum.

Department of Tourism's building: ganda noh?!


















One tip, if you want to enjoy the scenic beauty and tranquility of Luneta park, better visit the place during morning time of a weekday. Im sure you'll enjoy you're walk in the park =D.


And since im already in the area, i've tried to enter the museum, but alas, the museum will not open till 10:00am. Darn! It's only 8:35 when i arrived on the place!Oh well, might as well visit the place some other time.

By the way, the Museum's office hours is 10:00am-5:00pm Wednesday to Sunday.

National Museum building, where the Philippine artifacts are located



















Side entrance of the building




















Back view of the building




















The other building of the National Museum, where the collection of prized Philippine paintings are located




















Front view of the building.
And since i can't enter the premises of the building, i just content myself in looking at it from the outside and marvel the design of this buildings.

Third Pitstop: the Post Office Building.
Last but not the least, my trip won't be complete without visiting the famous Post Office building in Lawton. The majestic building on the side of Pasig river serves as a reminder on how mighty and important the Postal system was before. And since only a few people use snail mail, the building is not overcrowded same as before. This is indeed one of the beuatiful buildings Manila has.


Side portion of the building

Blurred picture of the hallway

Marker posted by the National Historical Institute of the Philippines.

Front view of the building

Old typewriter/postal machines used in their office.

Impressive as it may seen today but this buildings is not the original structure. It was re-constructed from the original plan since the original building was destroyed during World War 2, especially during the battle of Manila wherein the city was totally devastated by the retreating army of the Japanese and advancing forces of the Americans.

There's a lot of interesting buildings and spots in Manila like the Metropolitan Theater, Manila City Hall, the UST and FEU campuses, Malacanang Palace, the whole Intramuros area, Bayview and Manila Hotel, Quiapo, Dela Salle college, and many more that made their share during the war.

After I've read the book of Mr. Aluit, I''ll tell you more about it!

Random Thoughts of a Single Guy

It's been raining since this morning when i left our house till now (its 1:23pm). Definitely it's rainy season already! No thanks to global warming.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Last night's dance session at Gold's Gym was superb! The steps are so easy but the problem is we jump, kick, and turn more than ever! After i arrived home, my body is aching especially the legs and knees. Ouch! But nevertheless it was worth it.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

I had a very productive un-planned Tuesday afternoon. Already in the gym and starting to close my locker, little did i know that i don't have my locker keys and padlock. So i decided to go out and buy a new one plus made a side trip to the police station to fetch the police report for insurance plus submit the application form for the Southern Race of SOS (mind you i have to go back to the office just to get the application form) all done in less than 30 minutes. Threadmill exercise do work =D.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Swine flu is at rage in news now. Hopefully it wont affect our country. Keep on praying though!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Now seriously considering going back to dating, but the mind tells otherwise: "mag SOL ka muna!"

Dubai in my mind

Am doing some cleaning stuff in my HDD and i found out this pics of my sojourn in Dubai two years ago.
Here are some of the pics using my brand new (then) camera which I bought in City Center Dubai.

Mosque and trade boats on Dubai canal.

Shrubs with flowers on dubai highway.

CNN and Reuters office in the Middle East

Dubai high-way signs

Burj-Al-Harab front.

Dubai canal

Souk street

Trade boats in Dubai

Crazy week that was!

My life just get even more exciting after easter.

Easter Monday, was as dull as ever. Techincal Training in the morning then Specialization training in the afternoon.

Easter Tuesday was the day i receive the info that I'll be going to KSA to supervise (ahem!) the material engineering group.

Yey! I said to myself. Finally after 1 year it's finally come to realization. So much happy that i've invited a friend to meet me at Makati to celebrate (eating in Pao Chin is our way of celebration).
Easter Wednesday, still training day at the office. When i went to the gym to attend hip-hop class i was informed that there will be no class on that day to give way to indian/bollywood inspired dance.

Hmmm..sounds interesting. I decided to give it a try.

After20 minutes of being late, the girls finally starts preparing for the class. But when the other girl starts fixing her belly dance outfit with many burloloy na kumakalansing i've panicked and run out of the room! I dont wanna seen belly dancing in front of the camera (yes they have camera because it was sponsored by Women's health magazine), not in my dreams, and my AGL might kill me =D.

Easter Thursday, conflict of schedule with other friends in outreach program made me go to Makati last minute to attend a meeting and not attend the movie review in Tuloy. In fairness to me I always arrived early in my duties now hehehe. Meeting last till 11:30pm, sleepy and hungry after the closing prayer i immediately tok off and headed home.

Easter Friday was the most memorable one. I received a confirmation from my boss that i'll begoing to KSA and anytime soon i'll have to prepare my documents. Yey! After office hours, i arrived in the parking lot of Gold's gym in Alabang, and notice something was incorrect. There we're a bus parked in that area (where normally cars, SUV usually stays), and a lot of cars we're there (to think it's Friday, the parking should be spacious). And upon entrance to the Gym lo and behold, a shooting of Ai-Ai and Sharon's movie was underway and they we're filming right inside the Men's locker room. Luckily the director still allow us gym goers to stay in the locker room and change our clothes (well of course in the cubicle and not in the common area, dami kayang gays dun!) and even watched when the're shooting the movie. After gym I immediately proceed to our PM. The laptop that i've bring didnt read the powerpoint presentation of my friend, then after we made some adjustments the projector this time didn't work properly. Talk about malas.

Then after the PM we proceed to a fastfood in madrigal and after I attend a little meeting with a group of friends I decided to go home and guess what i've found out in my car....

MY SPARE TIRE WAS STOLEN!!!!

Panicked at first, I immediately checked the vicinity since it's only an hour that i've parked there. But alas there were no people around that i can claim as suspects.

Sad and disappointed with the fastfood security i went home.

Easter Saturday, father found out that it was stolen and instruct me to report it to the police. My stupid reply was "wala naman magagawa pulis, nanakaw na eh". And he even asked me to report it to the insurance agent in which i reply "di sakop yan ng insurance, gulong lang yan eh"

Stupid answers, now I just finished talking to the insurance agent and she assure me that stolen spare tires are covered by insurance.

Tomorrow ill prepare the documents and hopefully by Friday I can get my brand new tire =D.

oh btw, saturday i went to bilibid to do outreach then to a friends house to help her clean for a party then to videoke till late at night.

sunday was a whole day event in makati (we dance again for the second time in front of many people) and a stroll in market2x.

Talk about a hectic week

Cartoon Version of Me

Was doing round of blog hopping when i came across Mr. Bloggusvox's website and did a bit of reading (which i always do naman especially pag may new article). It was his blog's first anniversary and to commemorate the event he prepared a cartoon picture of his blogger friends. Andlo and behold, i almost fell from my chair after i read in the comment that im included in the pic. Hahahaha. Looking closely, yes it was indeed me, i was wearing the black shirt and eyeglass (the picture he referred was the one i use in Persepolis).

Thank you Mr. Blogusvox, and here's to a more years of blogging our life to the world!

Summer Here We Come

ahve you experience the heat today? It's so hot today, and according to CNN Weather Bureau the temperature in Manila reach 34C! Thank God it was windy today, at least di humid. And since it's so hot napaisip tuloy ako ng mga effects ng summer.

It's so hot..

1. ... when Mamang Sorbetero tried to serve the dirty ice cream ala Dairy Queen style, the ice cream fell off the cone (nice try manong!)

2. ... nobody's wearing skinny jeans now (ang init kaya sa loob nun!)

3. ... the emo people replaced their black t-shirt and pants outfit to a white shirt plus billabong shorts (let's go the beach mga pare!)

4. ... im tempted to swim in the nearest mass body of water here in Las Pinas (i.e. Manila Bay)

5. ... im so tempted to do item no. 4 but was reminded by HMO rep instruction in one of our conversation: "stpidity is not covered by your HMO".

6. ... when one of the office held their fire drill outside their building, the demo flame went ut of control, and the real firemen came to the rescue.

So boys and girls, wag magbilad sa araw or else....


HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!!

Visiting the Grave..Paying Homage to the Great Persian Poets

After our late lunch in a resto near Persepolis, we headed back to the city of Shiraz to visit another famous tourist spot. The Garden of Hafez and Saadi

(The tomb of Hafez)























As per Persian culture, they have prepared the tomb of Hafez with beautiful and well manicured garden.

(Interpreter!!!!)

(The golden libingan of Hafez)

When we visit the place, even at 4:00pm, a lot of people was still in the garden. The place is very much crowded, and since we're the only east asian in the throngs of people a lot of them we're looking at us. Tourist!!!

A must do here in the Tomb of Hafez is to touch the golden tomb. Since there's a lot of people who want to touch it i Just laid my finger on it and went away. Ayoko nga makipagsiksikan just to touch the tomb. =P

Since the concentration of people was in the tomb, I just help myself taking my pictures in the garden.

(me and the flowers..hehehe)

(i need an interpreter!)

(huh?asan?)

A cute tyke was playing near where we stand. We took picture of him, while his parents was looking. The kid is just so cute =D.

Another young boy ask us to take picture with him. We feel like a celebrity having our picture taken by many people. Hahaha. The family was so happy as well.

On to the next garden!!!

Next on the lsit was the Garden of Saadi. It's a 15 minute drive from the last garden. This is much bigger than the tomb of Hafez, it has underground restaurant and a lot of ponds with fishes.

(where's the fish???)

(dami parin tao kahit late na)

(gotcha!)

(touch the tomb again!)

(family day at the park...este garden)

(door leading to the tomb)

(gardens..gardens..everywhere)

(entrance of the underground resto in the garden)

One thing that really struck me about this place was the beautiful mosaic ceiling of the underground resto. It's so Persian!

And they had another underground pond inside, with fishes again.Galing!

And since we've been walking from afternoon till nightime, we refresh ourself by ordering an traditional Persian ice cream. The ice cream is made of sotanghon (yep, the chinese sotanghon you buy at the market) plus ice plus sweeteners. The people love it, but me, yaiks! And we tried to converse with some Iranian women, very nice of them to talk to us =D.

(me, jasper and our driver with his girlfriend)



















After the tiring evening, we went our way to the famous restaurant in downtown Shiraz. It was fun to visit this famous place. Really appreciate the Persian history and cultures.




















Bye!