Winter in the desert

Who would have thought that I'd have my first winter experience here in Riyadh? Here where we're surrounded by the desert? Pretty sweet eh? 

After those long,hot-sun stricken days, winter comes along with its flesh-freezing temperature. 

Winter starts creeping on your bed by the month of December, peaks by January and slowly fades by the end of February. During its coldest days, you may want to keep your coats,sweater, socks and pants within reach or wear it at all times. You will start debating with yourself if you're going to take a bath or just stay in the comfort of your winter clothes. The water here turns ice cold, so if you still want to take a bath, you'd better have hot shower and a thick bathrobe prepared after you do. Not taking a bath is a big hit too. Haha. 

As of December 8, 2015 12:36am

This is by far the coldest temperature I've recorded since I came here. It feels good and really cold, but mostly good. 😜 I like the cold weather, it makes my resting hours feel more comfortable.

Now, I am waiting for the temperature to hit 2 degrees as reported in the news. 

Kamsa- kamsa Park

Kamsa-kamsa park -- derived from the arabic word "kamsa"  meaning five. It was called kamsa-kamsa because the entrance fee was only five riyals before.Later on, the fee was increased to ten riyals, thus, the new name; "Ashara- ashara park" (from the word "ashara" which means ten).

    If you are here in Riyadh, you would know how strict the place is. What would it make you feel if you have found this one place that you will be able to do as you like, eat Filipino food, and enjoy the day with your friends and families? I know it will make you feel great! And yes, this kind of place exists!

   Kamsa-kamsa is roughly a 2 to 2 and a half hour drive from the center of Riyadh. Most of our kababayan visits the place to relax and free themselves from the strict policies in the city proper. It is one of the favorite destinations here because it has good, picturesque surrounding, picnic grounds, basketball court, and even a soccer field.

These landscapes can be a great place to take pictures or go mini-hiking specially if the weather is not too hot. 

Everyone can rent cottages and tables or just bring your own picnic carpet like we did. We try to stay on the cheaper options because you don't need to spend much to enjoy. :) 

The soccer field.

Wandering around the park will fill your eyes with the beauty of nature and feed good vibes to your soul.

                 The bridge's view from below.





Try crossing this 200 ft. tall bridge at the center of the park. It is a mixture of fear, anxiety and adrenaline rush to make it to the other end.

Places you can see while walking at the lower part of the park.

   Kamsa-kamsa is a wonderful place to spend your day off and relax. You will surely love it here and revisit again and again. The resemblance of warmth and enjoyment from the Philippines is one of the reasons why OFW's here in Riyadh still feels at home.

Where hunger is SATISFIED!

My bestfriend and I, along with my boyfriend went to a small food chain here in Taytay, Rizal.

It was past nine o'clock when we went to   Frank & Charles. The place is not that big but it's cute, cozy, and enticing.

(Photo grabbed from Frank & Charles facebook account.)

Frank & Charles is located in Tanchangco Avenue Taytay, Rizal (near Puregold Taytay). Although the location is not very easy to find, a lot of people are coming to this place. Believe me, once you've tried their food, you'll be coming back for more. 😁 

First dish that we've tried was cheezy fries. It was good! Just the right amount of salt, the fries was soft & crisp. (Try it with the cheese separated instead, 'coz it's kinda "nakakaumay" in some way if it is mixed.) 

(Cheezy Fries - 65php)

The second dish was Buffalo Wings in Barbecue flavor. It tastes good too, even the meat itself (if you're not eating the skin like me, LoL) gives off its bbq flavor.

(Barbecue Buffalo Wings - 170php/6pcs)

After that day, my boyfriend & I went back there for two consecutive days. 😜 On our last visit, we've tried their burgers. 

I had burger #4: Hollandaise Benedict.

It was good! 

My boyfriend had burger #3: Frank & Charles Original

And as he said, "Ang sarap!"

All in all, the food was great, the crew were all modest and they have free WiFi. 😁 (password is on the receipt)

We were so full, that those burgers was already our dinner & we had to rest for a while before heading back home.

Here's a menu, because the store doesn't have any available menu cards that they can provide. (They have it in the counter tho.) 

(Photo courtesy of my bestfriend)

*Frank & Charles are open from 2pm till 12 midnight.

-Le Fille à Papa 👑❤️

I found serenity in Zambales.

After a month since the incident, I, together with my love and a few friends went on a trip to Zambales. I badly needed a break from all the stress, pressure, heartache, depression...and so forth,so...

As we were planning the trip, we saw a good deal from Metrodeal online, which costs 999php per head for a 2D1N island hopping in Zambales. Since it was somewhat a good deal, we grabbed it. The said deal includes an overnight stay at Anawangin Cove plus boat transfers & ammenities such as tents, life vests, lunch & dinner, etc. 

An additional 100php was added for us to be able to visit another island that is not included in the package.

The photo above was taken at Pundaquit, where we met our tour guide & it also served as our pick up point.

From there, we started our bangka ride to the first island. 

Camara Island

It took us about 15-30 minutes to get to Camara Island. It is quite small and there's not much to ponder around. But, if you're into rock climbing, this is the place. (It might be too steep for that though.) The place is still beautiful inspite of it being a bit small (coz it's mostly rock formations that you'll find), it's also cozy and has a good view of the mountains adjacent to it.

Picture taking was our "thing" here, although, honestly, not just here but for the whole trip because of the picturesque views. We spent at least 20 minutes on this island before we took off to the next one. 

I was in awe at the sight of the second island- Capones. Atop the mighty mountain is an old-abandoned light house. We were given 30 minutes to visit the light house and explore for a bit.

After a while, our tour guide was already waving at us to come back down. We then headed to the final island where we're gonna stay overnight.

Anawangin Cove was almost an hour away from Camara Island, but it's worth the travel since we were welcomed by it's astounding beauty. Our tents were prepared by two men who greeted us upon arriving. There is no electricity, hotels or inns, and even mobile network is not available in the area, so you will surely feel one with nature here. 

As the title says, "I found serenity in Zambales". For a moment, I was able to push everything behind, explore nature's beauty, calm my heart and just feel the cool breeze of the wind as it brushes onto my skin...

*This would have been a very long blog, so, I decided to do a different blog for each of the other two islands. Itinerary & expenses will also be included in the next blogs. 

Thank you for reading!

-Le fille à Papa ❤️👑

Free Treat!

My friend & I were running some errands yesterday when she met a guy who treated us for lunch. 

Here's how the story go...

Our meeting time was 9am but aparantly my body clock was not working perfectly & my alarm clock didn't do it's purpose too. To cut it short, I was late. Haha! 😝 Moving on, I decided to go directly to the place (I just thought she's already there) then stayed in Ministop while waiting for her. 

The above picture is a screen shot of the game that I was playing while waiting. It is called "Sky Force", which I remember was the exact game I used to play in an arcade. 😸😼 

Time went by and after almost 3 hours of waiting, my friend got back (we only used instincts to know where each other was coz I don't have my phone & she doesn't have load) with a man beside her. I was kind of puzzled coz we just kept on walking with the guy, yet she hasn't introduced him to me. (Point is, the moment is so awkward! We're heading to a food chain where the guy will buy us free lunch and I do not know him at-all.) 

He, whose name was "Toks" offered us to have lunch in Army Navy. We just agreed to him, besides he was the one who chose it & will pay for it.

I don't know what the dish is called coz Toks was the one who ordered the food and it was good! 👍 Specially the fries!😋

Below: Me, Toks & Nica

Toks was nice & cool, but a bit eer "mahangin" tho. LOL! *haba kasi ng hair ni gandang Monica!*

Basically this blog gives to you a share of the experiences I've had, stressing out our free meal (yey!) in Army Navy (YEY!) 😝 yesterday. Thanks for reading!

- Le Fille à Papa

Enchanting Puerto Galera.

Puerto Galera is known for its white sand beaches. It is one of the places here in the Philippines that is under my to-go-list. So, I gathered information that I need to go there with my friend & boyfriend. I've read blogs, websites & even reviews online. 

The Trip

Our meeting place was at Mcdonald's in Crossing. From there, we rode a jeepney to Cubao then dropped off near GMA Kamuning. The bus station is called "Jam" which took us up to Batangas port. (bus fare is 175php/head.) Upon arriving in the pier a lot of men/women are gonna offer you deals to ride their boat or to check-in to their hotel. We chose "Galerian Tours" for our bangka which costs 500php/head (two-way) or 275/head (for one-way only). And we accepted an offer for a hotel that we can settle in. The hotel costs 2000php/room for 3pax already.

*Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of the boat. 😋

Arrival at White Beach

The boat ride was a little bumpy (we felt kinda dizzy) because of the waves. But, I felt safe travelling with them. The crew were very helpful & they leave on time no matter how many passengers is in the boat.

Going back, upon arrival at the beach, we went to "Sea Jewel Beach Resort" to drop our things.

Above is a picture of the hotel and below are some of the pictures in the room:

(1 single bed)

(1 Queen size bed)

(the bathroom with hot & cold shower)

The staffs in the hotel were all hospitable & welcoming. The ambiance is perfect & the hotel is just a 2-3 minute walk to and from the hotel. We were able to check in around 10am instead of 1pm so by 11 am we were already walking around the beach.

Le Beach

It was so beautiful that I can't take my eyes off. I wandered around for quite sometime when I saw a Tattoo stall. I went in to have a Henna tattoo. It was on the upper right side of my back which says "Le Fille à Papa" (Daddy's Girl) with a butterfly on the end. Since I'm still drying the tattoo, I had a lot of time to stroll around the beach & spoil my eyes from the beauty of it's clear blue water. I don't have much pictures to show coz I buried the image in my head instead. 😋 

The majestic waves of the beach held me in awe the whole time.

Such beauty, I thank God for creating this.

I would definitely visit this place again. It is so serene that you can just sit around swallow it's beauty & talk to the heavens above. Blue skies, warm summer sun, quiet surrounding, kids running around & building sand castles, clear blue water, the smell of the ocean, the mountains on each side, everything is just perfect. 

Activities

Picture taking is already a main stream must-do when you're in a place this beautiful specially if it's your first time visiting it. But other than taking pictures or swimming what we did I must say was a one of a kind experience. If you hear the words Banana boat you already know what it is & what's going to happen if you would ride on it but if you hear "Crazy UFO" now that's another story.

We rode the so-called Crazy UFO for the first time in our first ever Puerto Galera trip. It was a really, REALLY bumpy ride. Good for 5-6 pax which costs us 300/head for a 15 minute craziness. 

Above is one of the hundreds of pictures that we have for the ride. Unlimited picture shots for 500php, which we divided in two since we were 2 groups in 1 ride. To keep our pride, we will not be posting all the pictures from the ride. 😁😜

At night, the beach is like Boracay, parties here & there but sad to say we just slept that night due to exhaustion. Anyways, we don't need a drink to have fun, right? 

Food Galore

For our brunch upon arriving, we ate at the hotel which was a costly b'fast. Then for our dinner we roamed around looking for the cheapest food chain in the area,then we came across "Food trip's Chicken Inasal". We all ordered Petso which includes half itlog na maalat, atsara, two slices of tomato, the chicken petso + unlimited rice. It was not bad and it was not that good either but our tummies got full.

We were given 2 halves of the egg coz each one of it combined is only good for a half of it.

The next day, we had hotdog & longganisa for b'fast. 

Price list:

Hotdog- 25php

Longganisa- 20php

Rice- 10php

Lunch at the next stall where we had our breakfast.

Price list:

Chicken nuggets- 25php ( A big NO! It doesn't taste good!)

Togue with tofu- 25php

Rice- 10php

C2- 45php (forgot how many ml it was but it's bigger than the regular size)

Back to reality

Our check out time from the hotel is 11am. We went to get the copy of our Crazy UFO ride from the photographer after packing our things.

Galerian tours boat arrived 5 minutes before 12 noon which was the pick up time. One of the good things for Galerian tours is that they were always on time, another is they go straight to White beach from Batangas port & vice versa. The trip back to the port was only a one hour ride.

We then rode a tricycle to take us to the "Grand Terminal" where we rode a bus going to Cubao. The bus is under "ALPS" and the trip costs us 157php/head (Up to Guadalupe/Crossing only). It was an air-conditioned bus, has Wifi & a television. At that time a movie was playing & the story was very interesting (title: Apocalypse if I'm right hehe). It took us 2 hours to arrive in Guadalupe which was my drop off point. On the other hand, they dropped off at Crossing. 

Guadalupe to PRC is my way & it took me 15-25 minutes before I arrived at home.

Expenses (per head)

Jeep from Makati to Guadalupe- 8php

Bus from Guadalupe to Crossing- 10php

Bus from Crossing to GMA Kamuning- 12php

Bus from Kamuning to Batangas Port- 175php

Bangka (Round trip)- 500php

Hotel Accomodation (2D1N)- 667php

other expenses:

water (6Liters)- 180php

Terminal fee (in Batangas port)- 30php

Environment fee- 50php

Terminal fee (in Puerto Galera)- 10php

food- it depends on the prices of the food chains in the area

Total expense was around 2-3k per head includes everything (ride,food,accomodation,crazy ufo,unlimited pics for ufo,water,pasalubong,etc.)

- Le fille à Papa 💋

One last scream in Scream Park Manila

My cousins, siblings & I have planned this since last week and fortunately we were able to go. 

Here is a picture of the Park's main entrance gate. Starting here, a few zombies are gonna welcome you to the park.

Our pass was purchased online via metrodeal so we got it for 299php/head instead of 550php for walk-ins. Each voucher is entitled for unlimited pass to the 3 attractions in the park. 

The first attraction is a Vigan old-village inspired (or whatever it's called :p can't remember) which is way too short. It was no more than a minute walk once you enter (then you'll reach the baggage counter). Cellphones or other gadgets are not allowed inside the attractions so you have to leave it in the counter. Then you'll be heading to the second attraction.

The Haunted Mansion is the second attraction wherein you would have to walk through a maze-like interior which is totally dark. A lot of zombies were scattered around to scare you of & they're doing some creepy sounds that adds to the scary feel of the attraction. We went inside the mansion twice since the pass is unlimited so why not? My cousins were even playing inside the mansion (counter-strike attack as they've said) although they were screaming most of the time. Hah, they also bluffed the on & off lights as "disco lights" which is not good if one of the guests' is epileptic so there should be a sign or a caution on the entrance door for that. It is not air-conditioned so you can imagine how much sweat we have once we got out of the mansion. And mind you, carefull for the last zombie after you exit from the mansion!

Last but not the least is the cementary. The attraction is not so entertaining except the part where we were all having a hard time looking straight because of the lights that a zombie popped out from one of the graves.

Later on, we took our baggage went to the bar area where there is a band performing. We stayed a little while just to catch some air & sit down. There was supposed to be a "zombie dance performance" but we've decided to not wait for it & left to eat. 

The picture above is the band playing. It's a metal rockfest I guess? If I remember it right as written on the tarp.

Here are some of the pictures we have from the park:

Scream Park Manila did made us scream. It was a fun & exciting experience for us but in our opinion the attractions were "bitin" so it would be better if there were other attractions aside from the 3. 

Dated May 31,2014 (which is also the last night of the park)

-Le fille à papa