Visita Iglesia around the Philippines

Whenever we hear the term Visita Iglesia, we normally associate it with visiting a number of churches during the Holy Week, most especially on Maundy Thursdays.

This post refers to churches or shrines which we had visited during our travels. Visita Iglesia literally means church visits. They say that whatever you wish on the first time you visit a church will be granted. I am not sure if this is true but we do go to the church to thank God that we had arrived safely and for Him to protect us during our travels.

The churches are not arranged chronologically but on how the blogger loads them here, he he he. Here goes:

Although this church is near my wife's hometown of Pangil, this is the first time I had visited the place. We were able to visit the place to attend a church wedding. The San Pedro de Alcantara church in Paete, Laguna was built in the 17th century and may be one of the best preserved churches in Laguna.

It's more fun (funnier) in the Philippines?

With the new DOT campaign slogan, Filipinos are divided as whether to support it or find fault again (remember "Pilipinas Kay Ganda"?). But with Pinoy creativity and sense of humor, a lot of memes can now be found on the internet using the said slogan.

Here are our take on the slogan with photos recycled from previous travels:

San Juanico Bridge, Samar-Leyte

Kawa-kawa, Ligao, Albay

Sunday Lunch at Sbarro

When my wife reports for work every other Saturday, we usually do our grocery on Sundays at SM Bicutan since its the one nearest our place. Once in a while we go to the SM Mall of Asia. And that's what we did today.

Before doing our grocery, we decided to have our lunch first and asking our daughter what she wants to eat, she immediately replied: Sbarro. We've eaten there a couple of time and its the usual fare that we order.

Chow down at Johnny Chow

We finally had a chance to use our voucher for Johnny Chow worth P1,000 which we bought for P500 from a group buying site. Since our household help left us before the new year, most of the time we've been either eating takeouts or at our favorite neighborhood restaurant.

We decided to have dinner there after picking up my wife from work at the  Marriott Hotel Manila, which is just beside and has a connecting pathway to Resorts World Manila (RWM) in Newport City, Pasay City. Johnny Chow is located on the 2nd level of the RWM Mall together with a lot of restaurants both on this and the 4th level where the cinemas are located.

Planning Our Singapore-Melaka-KL Trip

Our plan of doing the Singapore-Melaka-Kuala Lumpur trip started when I was able to book a one-way flight from KL to Manila for my wife, daughter and me on the 5th of December this year for less than P4,700 (I inadvertently did not remove the 20 kg allowance for the 3 of us, which I don't think we will be able to use the 60 kg baggage allowance). Since it was only a one-way trip, we decided to wait for another promo fare to Singapore. That way, we get to see two countries in one trip. Since Melaka is between the two cities, we also included it in our plan, which is to stay three days in Singapore, a day in Melaka and two days in KL. Our target date for the flight to Singapore is on the 30th of November.

photos courtesy of http://www.streetdirectory.com, http://www.petronastwintowers.com.my, http://www.malacca.ws

We chose that month because it is a Friday as well as a holiday in the Philippines making it a three-day weekend.  Coupled with the following events: it's my daughter's birthday on the 29th and my 50th birthday on the 13th of the same month. It will also give us a year to save for this travel. The first and last time I set foot in Singapore was about 20 years ago and this would be the first time for my wife and daughter. I am sure that a lot has changed since then.

Watching the 2012 fireworks from a distance

Every new year's eve, we usually stay in a hotel to avoid too much smoke from the fireworks but at the same time giving us a good view of the same. This year, we decided to return to the Atrium Hotel on top of the EGI Tower in Pasay City. It is at the corner of Gil Puyat and Taft Avenues occupying the 15th to the 25th floor. The lobby is located on the 15th floor which has a business center, a restaurant and a casino.

15th floor with the lobby and the Christmas tree behind us

The staff were friendly although they seemed to be understaffed and there were too many guests that night. When we got to our room, there was only a king-sized bed whereas we understood from the website that we checked in was that there are two double beds. We called front desk and they immediately sent an extra bed at no extra cost. We also called housekeeping to provide us with another blanket which was quickly delivered.

The last time we were here was about nine years ago and the place looked as we left it, except of course for some aging. The room we had seemed not to have been renovated since the last time we were there. The carpet was very dirty that it doesn't feel right walking on it barefoot. The television is still the old picture tube type but has cable. The toilet was dirty and I tried to flush it. It seems the water is dirty or the plumbing is rusty which makes the water brownish. The paint on the wall is peeling.Lighting is provided by mostly lamp shades making the room a little bit dark,.