I'm tired of just staying at home, never exploring, never seeing what's out there. Last year may have been full of travel-related surprises but I don't know if I'll get luckier this year. So, I prepared some list to track of 2013!

This year I wanted to travel my own way even if it means I'll have to be a budget traveler. I'm sure I can do it. I just need to prepare myself by reading lots of budget traveling tips and hone my backpacking skills which is at level 0 by the way. My mom still pack my things every time I travel but that may come in handy given my plans to have a vacation as early as end of January. Oh, I will be needing more income sources for that and my school too!


The past few weeks of 2013 has been stressful to me. I rarely go out and when I do my wallet vomits. So I think I'm gonna let it vomit one more time and this time for a vacation. That's it! I am gonna look up fantastic vacation deals on the Internet or persuade my bored friends to have a week-long vacation somewhere.

I love vacations! The last one I had was a long long time ago but it was more of an immersion (than vacation) in our own farm. I'd rather play farmville, I just don't wanna go back there. I'm hoping to visit Bukidnon again this year after our 2 Days trip slash long term planning  last year. I hope I can call it a vacation this time around. I just want to relax, de-stress and stay away from the third world problems of the city!

It's going to be my first trip this year if ever!




And talking about travels, I'm gonna start working on my passport next week because I'll probably fly to Singapore this year. Probably. *crosses fingers* As for my local travels, nothing is certain but according to my list I want to explore more provinces in Mindanao. Like I said I hope to visit Bukidnon (again), climb Mt. Puting Bato (again) or Mt. Apo (ftw), go to Little Boracay on DFAT 2013, then join Soccksargen Experience Tour in September. I also want to visit Agusan Marsh!

And if I ever get the chance to fly to other provinces I'll have to avail more air fare promos for my highly ambitious Batanes, Palawan and Baguio plans. Oh, I just can't wait to travel this year and turn this boring personal blog into a blog full of adventures! But more than anything now I just want to take a break and have an awesome vacation!

Last year, I rode planes more often than I expected. Those plane rides and their package full of adventures weren't expected as well. In fact, the only air travel I was expecting for was the one I booked with my friends Renz and Anj last May 2012.

While we were doing a local cable TV show we decided to book tickets to Boracay for fun and for the show. I was so excited because it's going to be our first time in Bora, our first out-of-Davao trip together and it was the first time that I got a nod to travel miles away from home after my 9 days Manila trip in 2010. lol

Unfortunately, excuses piled up one after another and we decided not to go through with the trip. Sadly, our show suffered the same fate. And just when I thought I'd be stuck in Davao City whole year 'round, came unexpected travels which I never imagined.

It started last August when I got an invitation from Abs-Cbn for a studio tour. And I flew all the way to Manila on a weekend to experience the behind the scenes of prime television. Here's what happened!

Show was over! Gluta-emitting Lights were switched off. lelz

Then came October. Unlike my first Manila trip this year, this one, I have long anticipated. My involvement on this event is however unexpected. To make the long story short I was one of the organizers of this years' WordCamp Philippines. The whole organizing was fun but at times a bit intoxicating. Pero bawal mag-strong!! So we stuff our mouth pizzas every night.





During that week-long stay in Manila, we frequented Greenhills and other shopping malls (Rockwell, Resorts World, Greenbelt and MOA). We also got lost around and experienced typhoon in Manila! That typhoon wasn't so bad but it compelled us to walk all the way to the train station from Greenbelt 3 and had us soaked and cold. We also visited Manila Ocean Park.


Finally, my 3rd trip! "Touch down Cebu I've waited so long to meet you!". And there I was! Finally, in the Queen City of the South, the place I've long wished to visit ever since my Grandparents snuck up on me and went to Cebu when I slept as a child. And it took me, (calculating) almost 10 years to get there to think that we have relatives living in Cebu. But thanks to RAFI! :'-)




I know my trips are nothing compared to big time and highly experienced travel bloggers out there but my little adventures around Davao can match theirs - more or less. Hehehe. My point, Davao: Life is here!





2012 was indeed my year! It was eventful, exciting and fattening. But above all, it was a year full of realizations. I realized that we really do make our own choices and decisions in life. And no matter what, be it for better or for worse, what's important is we move forward.

I feel so blessed and I'm just really thankful that God's been good to me in 2012. Despite I stopped school I'm thankful to have such wonderful friends, blogger buddies and a supportive family at my back who helped me shape up my year. And looking back, 2012 is the year that moved me. It moved be to become a better person.

Now let's all move on and embrace the unexpected journeys that lies ahead this 2013!

2012, The Year That was. . .moving.

I have long accepted the fact that I can never go shopping without being incessantly whiny and in boring times - a bitch. Thinking about it, I feel like I was more of a whiny kid than the bodyguard my Mom asked me to be for my sisters who needed to buy clothes for their Christmas parties.


Oh yeah, Christmas! With Christmas coming and parties going on just about every corner shopping malls gets really crowded every time. And that's when the whining starts!

1.) I hate the crowd.

I may have experienced a terrifying earthquake inside a Mall where people screamed to their lungs shattering nearly every glass window into pieces and leaving two children (an 8 years old me and my 5 years old cousin) crying for help but I don't think that's where my hatred to the crowd started.

It could be the smell and the temperature a crowd creates that usually comes with extra bombing of farts and fifty shades of darkness but maybe there's something more than that. Sometimes my eyes get sore just looking at the crowd moving to every direction. And it's makes me dizzy as hell! 

2.) My indecisiveness!

This is when I feel like I've made the biggest decisions in life. What to buy!? Which color? The pricey or the cheap one? Does this look good on me? Should I buy this? What the hell. This has always been my problem when I go shopping alone. And I'm the problem when I go shopping with others. I get a headache just wandering around to look for whatever it is I 'need or want' to buy and it gets worse when life puts a lot of questions in between picking and purchasing an item. I don't think I'm a bad shopper though.

3.) Strange Faces!

When we go out for shopping we usually see a lot of people around. We meet strangers and even say hi to some who looks familiar but later on we realize that we were never acquainted to them. It turns out we just saw them the other day in a coffee shop, jeepney ride or something like that.

And imagine if you're in a crowd that has lots of strangers in it. I don't know why but sometimes I nod to these eerily familiar people whose names and faces bothers me a lot. Also, I think my mind couldn't process a lot of familiar faces and the pimples in them all at once. I'm easily distracted of the haggard and funny faces of Christmas shoppers that even if I don't intend to be mean I start laughing like an idiot in the middle of the Mall. OH, only God knows why!

4.) I'd Rather Be Alone

This is rather lonely than snobbish but I prefer shopping alone. However, it would be nice and I sometimes wish to meet a friend along the way but whenever I spot a friend my ninja skills would've had me turn invisible. Sometimes, it scares me that they'd be talking about how much I lose or gained, how's my academics, work or worse have I finally gotten into a relationship.

Another thing! I hate going around with pushy staff. They follow you like you're a thief and they try to mess up with your choices. One time, I was having a hard time picking a long sleeve polo that'll suit my brown vest. A saleswoman told me it goes well with yellow. But I look fat in yellow so I picked blue. She told me I'm gonna regret it because blue doesn't go well with brown. Then I told her 'Did you know that 'brown and blue' is a royal color combination most popular to Versailles!' Chos.

5.) The Crowd Hates Me

Who wouldn't? When you turn into a cranky whiny monster who's on the verge of becoming a misogynist asking why do girls like shopping a lot.

I think the only time I'll like shopping is when I have a lot of money which is like only once a month. Do you like shopping? So, how's your last minute Christmas shopping?  

As you know it some people say that the world is gonna to end tomorrow. And honestly, I really couldn't care less to those people and to the Mayan prophecy. I'm a person who believes today is more important than yesterday, than tomorrow and probably than ever!

Yesterday has gone. Let's all move on because contemplating about it would serve no purpose how so ever. Tomorrow is unpredictable. But if you start working on it TODAY, by expressing yourself, doing the things you like and going for the things you love, then you will likely have a better tomorrow. Chos!


So let me tell you what I did today because today is more important like I said. lol

Given that I may or may not put the Mayan Prophecy in consideration. I had an awesome Pre-apocalypse lunch today at West Empire Chinese Restaurant and Sea Food Garden. I was so full that I didn't even eat dinner. And I think I'm good until the end of the world. By the way, as of writing this, the world's end is 1 and a half hours away!


So, the lunch was very intimate for a group of very diverse bloggers. Arguably though you'd always feel comfortable just by being surrounded with people you share common interests with, in this case it's food and of course blogging. More so, there's nothing like meeting the restaurant owners, Ms. Belinda Suaco and Jong Tan, who in the first place invited us over to experience Davao City's newest foodie wonderland.

Before taking our lunch we had a little tour around the recently opened West JBT Plaza located just along Lanang Street across Waterfront Hotel. The JBT plaza has an international fusion cuisine buffet called "Jaime's Restaurant", an authentic Japanese Restaurant called "Chiyo Authentic Japanese Restaurant and Yakiniku House", a coffe shop called "Perfect Cup Cafe and Bar" and lastly, the truly resplendent West Empire Chinese Restaurant and Seafood Garden.

Top Half: Chiyo, Bottom Half: Jaime's Restaurant

These 4 distinct food establishments in one building, I must say, gives exactly the kind the kind of ambiance you would expect. Chiyo being authentic especially with two Japanese vip rooms; Jaime's perfect for binge eating with its elegant fine dining ambiance; Perfect Cup Cafe being cozy and West Empire being an empire where you don't only get to eat good food but feel like an old hungry Chinese emperor!

I think I'll start calling the restaurant 'West Empire' so its quite lengthy name won't disrupt my flow. Heh. Now I'm about to talk about the food but before that I need to tell you I want to keep this post short. Perhaps, I'll start by presenting to you the foooooooooooooooood! Count the o's and that's exactly the number of dishes served to us. Imagine that!?

Siomai , Hakao, Assorted Cold Cuts and Xiao Long Bao <3

For appetizer we had the Assorted Cold Cuts, Siomai and Hakao. And for soup we had the Eight Treasure soup which had 8 different chunky ingredients in a rich tasty soup. Also they served us their best seller! An instant favorite after I first tried it at Crystal Jade in Greenhills - the Xiao Long Bao! Oh dear God, their Xiao Long Bao tastes better than the former. And Thank you Lord! I don't have to fly to Manila to kill my cravings! Most importantly my quest of finding a Xiao Long Bao in Davao is finally over.

Fried Crabs with Salted Egg

The first main course to arrive the table was the Fried Crabs with Salted Egg. This is a must-try because the salted egg gives a pungent sweet and salty taste that well complements a generous serving of crab meat. Ironically though, the fried crabs was the last to be eaten because we were too shy to show the incredible hulk within us! You know crabs!! Next time I'm gonna get my hands real dirty for crabs. *Grrrr! Crush that puny shell!*

Warm Prawn Salad / West Empire Special Seafood Noodle / Spareribs Salt and Pepper Steamed Lapu-Lapu in Soy Sauce / Taro Puff with Assorted Meat / West Empire Special Fried Rice French Beans / Lemon Chicken Fillet / Sizzling Beef Tenderloin (Chinese Style) Two-way Bamboo Lobster (Sashimi and Sotanghon in pot) / Chilled Mango Sago / Fried Crabs with Salted Egg

Lobsters were also served but it was easier to eat than the crabs. I still like the crabs better though until came a dozen plates of shell-less food which we all ate, of course, after taking pictures of them. We talked about a lot of stuff over lunch. We talked about blogging, about the food, the restaurant, Ms. Joyce shared to us some food trivias where I learned Xiao Long Bao literally means Little Dragon Bun, and some more random stuff while submitting to the tenderness of the sizzling beef tenderloin, the freshness of the steamed lapu-lapu, the palatableness of the lemon chicken fillet and others with each having ridiculously good food adjectives.

And OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH! If Aliens were to invade our planet during the end of the world this would easily come off as a peace offering to them. It's gonna send them away from Milky Way because of its creamy goodness! If Zombocalypse were to happen then this is going to be the cure for its sweetness. And if it is indeed the end of the world I don't care for as long as I'm very happy to discover the existence of warm prawn salad.


It was so good that we almost forgot to take happy photos of ourselves! lol





Lunch ended at around 3'oclock with a cool cup of Mango Sago and Buchi for desserts.

Almost three hours of eating, taking of food photos and intimate talk equals awesome Pre-apocalypse lunch that I will never forget even if the world ends tomorrow. And I don't even care. :-)

West Empire Chinese Restaurant and Seafood Garden is located on the second floor of West JBT Plaza along Lanang St.,The Insular Village, Davao City.