there are two new dining experiences i've discovered my last few trips to baguio. the first is just around the corner from one my favorite eatings spots, cafe by the ruins. the ruins is very popular with tourists, but i wonder how many of them know that if you come out the ruins and take the first right and enter the doors of the mongolian place omai khan, that you are in for a really good dessert treat.

there is actually a fairly large pastry selection in this restaurant ranging from blueberry cheesecake to strawberry shortcake to banana pie. but everytime i go, i always go for one thing - calamansi pie.

it's listed as key lime pie on the ref menu, which it's not. and it's color green, which i'm sure is not its natural color, but hey, trifles. the pie itself is grrrrrreat. it's frozen - so it's like a citrusy sherbet served in a crust. it's very refreshing (something not often found in desserts) and has a good mix of tangy, tart, and sweet. a slice is about P60 or P70 - go, treat yourself.

somewhere down leonard wood is an old hotel called munsayac inn. tucked away on the second floor is a little vegetarian place called bliss cafe. i first decided to try it having read an article on it written by my friend donna demetillo. her review was outstanding and my actual experience of the place did give it justice.

i'm a big fan of veggie meat so i enjoy it in its many forms. but bliss cafe's chicharon has got to be up there on the favorites list. they did manage to get the texture of chicharon just right, down to the layer of fat found under the skin. this is good stuff.

the rest of my meal (i had the korean plate) was also very good. a really nice change of pace from the usual food you will find in baguio.

the place is distinctly buddhist and you can actually learn a lot about it from the books in there, and by talking to jim, the owner. i myself was not too enthralled by ambient music, but the chicharon and the strawberry shake i had to wash it down, made the overall experience something i would certainly recommend. 

the traveling pinoy will eventually (sooner than later most likely) land in hong kong. i was there last year for some work, some holiday, and because i only had some money, had to stay in a place that was cheap.

the panda hotel fit the cheap bill. it's located all the way at the end of the red subway line on the kowloon side of hong kong. but unless you're the type who wants to have everything right there as you step out of your hotel, this shouldn't be a problem.

panda is a 10-minute walk to either of 2 subway stations. to get to the tsuen wan station, which is the last stop in the red line, one goes through a walkway and a series of greenhills-like stalls and one fairly upscale mall. to get to the tai wo hau station, the second to the last stop, one walks on the street - but is less complicated.

from these stations it is around 15 minutes to mongkok - shopping haven - or around 25 minutes to the swankier hong kong side. this was really no problem for me and i rather enjoyed getting on a train at the end station when it was all empty. actually there is a shuttle service at the hotel, but we never took that - the subway was way more fun.

the hotel itself is ok. not good, not bad. just ok. the rooms are on the small side - but adequate for a base. they are clean and smell alright. there is a mall at the bottom of the hotel for last minute shopping or a quick meal. there is a congee house that is quite good. the staff was more than friendly and helpful. all in all great value considering the panda is easily 10-20% cheaper than 3 star hotels that are more in the center of things.

oh, and one more thing. when you walk to the tsuen wan station, you will see a park and shop supermarket. buy your food - even pasalubong food - here. way cheaper. oh, and another thing - make sure you get an octopus card for going around and buying stuff from 7-11. way cool. 

this is a new, five-star hotel, and i only got to stay here because it was a business trip paid for by the company. otherwise, it's certainly not the sort of accommodation i'd choose for myself. not because it isn't nice, but because, well, i can't afford it. actually, it wasn't death-defyingly expensive. just around $150/night which, i know, is pretty good for 5-star, but i'm a tourist class hotel sort of traveler

but the hotel was nice. very nice. it just opened last july and the rooms were great! huge room, extremely comfy bed (so that's what 300-thread sheets feel like), fabulous bathroom (with an overhead shower, which i really like), free traveler's clock. i know, this is what one should expect for a five-star hotel - but the promdi in me couldn't help but go, "wow!" especially when i switched on the TV and it said, "hi april, how may i help you? would you like to watch tv, order room service, call another room?"

the newness though showed in the slowness of some of the restaurant services. and the fact that the spa wasn't all there yet. but the staff, a number of whom were filipino, were very nice and seemed eager enough to be of service.

the breakfast room had a good and yummy variety ranging from unhealthy cereal (froot loops, which i had every morning) to healthy cereal (granola, which i stayed away from) to pizza. i generally washed my breakfast down with pink guava juice because it was just so darned pretty.

petaling jaya is about half an hour from downtown kuala lumpur and it seemed to me the only way to get there from the hotel was via an overpriced cab (if you get the cab from the hotel it costs 30 ringgit (around 360 pesos) to go to KL. but coming in from KL is just half the price. our business was actually in petaling jaya so we had pretty much no need to go into KL.

and as for shopping... well, one world hotel is adjacent to the one utama shopping center - a huge huge mall. so huge that i was just 1/4 into it when i got scared by the hugeness, turned back and stayed in my room. so if shopping was the only reason to leave petaling jaya, there was no need to go downtown at all.

just spent a great holy week holiday on bantayan island, off cebu. stayed at the sugar beach resort which we chose simply because it was the cheapest at P1,300 for a very spartan cottage (others were charging at least P3,500 a night because of the holy week). but first, how to get there.

many websites talk about getting to bantayan - which is basically catching a bus from the north bus terminal to the hagnaya port in san remigio and from there taking a boat to sta fe in bantayan. it's easy however to get lost in the rabble once you're actually in the bus station or the port because you will be hounded by tons of people trying to get you into their vehicle or into their boat. the main thing is to keep your wits about you and keep your eyes open for the signs that will tell you where to go and are clear enough. total fare per person would be P200-P240 depending on what bus and what boat you take.

the trip is long, but the roads are good so it isn't painful. and wow, the destination is certainly worth it.

bantayan island has some of the best beaches i have seen. on the way there i commented, "this, for white people, is the equivalent of dying and going to heaven." like most resort islands, the beaches are lined with different resorts and while bantayan had its fair share of people, i am sure it was nowhere near as crowded as white beach in puerto galera or boracay.

so sugar beach resort, where we stayed, is a public access beach and a number of people pitched tents (used the public toilets) or just slept on the beach. our cottage was small - just enough for a double bed with a little walking space, and the bathroom was very basic... but it was on a great wide stretch of beach and for the price, there was certainly no complaining.

it was really spartan though to the point that when the concert nearby started, our power went out - the managers apparently not anticipating how much electricity that sort of event took. and when the power went, the water went also. fortunately everything came back at around 2AM making it possible to flush again.

there was no room service or staff service pretty much, but once you've set your mind for a rugged island stay, then those things won't really matter. everything was a pedicab or tricycle ride away - or better yet, a good walk - so moving around wasn't a problem.

but ah, that beach... absolutely beautiful.

in the next posts i'll be talking about dining on bantayan island and a short trip out to virgin island.

there's almost a split personality to bantayan eating places. there are the very cheap ones and the expensive ones and - as far as i could tell - nothing in between.

in town there's a restaurant row which contains a portugese place, a bar/restaurant called the hard kock cafe, and a few others. we went to the portugese place for pizza which was in the P300 range but not bad for something found on a remote island. in these restaurants meals cost around P200/head. all of them have buffets for around this price. drinks are pricey with the cheapest margarita i found being P98 a glass.

then there are the sidewalk inihaw places, like this popular chicken barbecue place called khel's - which is at the start of the restaurant row. we had lunch there one time and had the following: 6 sticks of isaw, 2 sticks of wings, 1 leg and thigh, 1 stick of heads, 4 servings of rice (around 2 cups total), and 2 bottles of mountain dew. the price tag: P120. these places are also in abundance and i would probably recommend them more.

the food was so so. especially in the expensive places. overpriced. but there was this one place called balikbayan restaurant that had a nice, moist grilled pork belly. it took them close to an hour to get it served but it was on the good side. almost as good as the P120 grilled chicken feast. 

40 minutes by pump boat from bantayan is virgin island - a small haven that for many is the perfect tropical setting: long stretches of white sand ending in waters that reflect almost every shade of blue.

before landing on the island, you can stop a few dozen meters offshore and go snorkeling. there's a beautiful reef for the viewing 

there's a fee of P300/boat for docking but that entitles you to the use of a cabana/s and a charcoal grill. we were there at 9am to 4pm and saw a number of boats come in just for lunch. we didn't bring any food and made do with canned sardines from the caretaker's tiny store. 

at first our reasoning was to stay on the island long to make the most of the P1,500 we paid for the boat - but then we ended up staying the whole day just because the island was so beautiful and unpopulated (especially compare to bantayan) it was difficult to leave.

if you have the P1,800 to spare, definitely go to virgin island - even from afar it looks like the quintessential tropical paradise.