Hay Salamat..

... Kris Aquino will be removed na from Pilipinas Win na Win.

photo credit: pilipinas-lagaluda.com

For those who have been living in a cave these past few months, Pilipinas Win na Win replaced Wowowee as a noontime show in ABS-CBN. The hosts were Pokwang, Valerie, Mariel plus Kris Aquino and Robin Padilla.

photo credit: kapamilyalogy.blogspot.com

Robin and Mariel has long left the show leaving Pokwang, Valerie and Kris Aquino. I have watched the pilot show (when the hosts were still complete) and it was a disaster. Kris Aquino hogged all the spotlight (as usual) and the dating talkative Mariel and Pokwang wasn't able to host that well because Kris kept on cutting them off nasasapawan sila ni Kris. I stopped watching the show after that. And during my chismisan session with various friends, Pilipinas Win na Win would always come up in our conversation. Sadly, it looked like it wasn't rating very well. ABS-CBN did something about it and moved Showtime (which i think was rating well) to the 12noon slot and bumped Win na Win to a later time. Weird no?

I wasn't surprised this happen. I actually EXPECTED it to happen. Don't get me wrong. Kris Aquino can darn well host. But she can't share a stage with other hosts. She's best if you put her in a game show na siya lang ang nagsasalita or in another show where she interviews someone. In short, she must host in a show alone, or with Boy Abunda who can tirelessly put up with her.

Now, I read an article that Kris Aquino was asked to leave the program. She will be replaced daw with four old singers. Great move by the station. Wowowee was rating very well before and if only Willie Revillame didn't act like a prima donna and had that tantrum, they'd still be on air. Almost everyone I know didn't like Win na Win. Primarily because of Kris Aquino and how she tries hard to be maka-masa. Hopefully, her replacements will do better this time or else they have to junk the show and invent something a lot lot better. Tingnan niyo ang Eat Bulaga sa kabilang channel. Steady na steady lang. Never na yanig =) In fairness, kapamilya ako ha? =)

H&M and SM Baby Clothes

H&M STORE

Anika's one of those lucky babies na sa sobrang ka-cute-tan, people love to buy her clothes. She's luckier because her Lolo (my dad) lives in Amsterdam where there's a H&M Store. H&M should seriously open a store here in Manila just like Mango, Zara, Payless and Forever 21. They have super nice clothes for babies and adults. Affordable pa! H&M has collaborated with lots of designers since 2004 like Karl Lagerfeld, Viktor&Rolf, Madonna, Roberto Cavalli, Kylie Minogue, Jimmy Choo and the most recent, Lavin.

H&M (which stands for Hennes & Mauritz) is a Swedish clothing company which has stores worldwide EXCEPT HERE IN THE PHILIPPINES! grrr! If you live in Manila and want to shop at H&M, the closest country you can go to is Hong Kong. 

Anyways, since wala pang pamasahe for HK, we are just now happy recipients of H&M gifts from my Dad and friends in Holland. Here are some recent H&M clothes for Anika:

 

Hello Kitty fleece jacket which is soooo kyooot (not to mention super warm too hehe)!!

 

Pink and white dress for 9-12months which I'm sure will fit Anika already in two months time.

 

I love this top/dress. When I saw this naghanap ako baka may kasamang pang adult hehehe! The embroidery is so nice.

 

At night, Anika changes to long sleeved onesies. We put pajama bottoms na lang on her so that mosquitoes won't bite her. When she was still in my tummy, my dad sent tons of H&M onesies na super gamit na gamit ni Anika. Now that she's turning 6 months, these onesies barely fit her anymore. So I was so happy when our wedding Ninang Ellen sent these onesies for her.

SM DEPARTMENT STORE

If other countries have H&M, we Filipinos have the ever reliable SM Department Store. When they gave themselves the tagline "we've got it all for you", it wasn't a joke. Not only they have a vast collection of anything and everything, their prices are also super affordable. And the salespeople, well, para silang nakadrugs lang. Joke. Seriously, the moment you step inside the department store, each and everyone of them greets you as you pass by. Those far from you even shout their good mornings. Really! After you get used to all their greetings, you will find that they are all super friendly. As in over the top friendly and helpful with matching full colorful makeup on. You gotta hand it to them for their effort and I commend SM Department Store's management for this.

Anyways, magpapahuli ba tayo when it comes to fashion?! Siyempre hindi. Everytime we are at SM, I always go home with something for Anika. They have super cute outfits: pajamas, pambahay and clothes to wear for pasyalan. Here are some of my most recent finds:

White razor back sando with detail and matching pajamas.

Gray razor back sando with matching gray pajamas.

 

Details of the razor back sandos.

Cutie pink dress from Baby Company

Adorable and presko shirts. I bough the matching shorts too! =)

What To Do In ILOILO: Part 3

On Sunday, we went around Iloilo by renting the taxi that we rode when we arrived the day before at the airport. He picked us up at the hotel when we were checking out. We just left our things with the concierge so that we didn't have to carry them while touring.

Apparently, there are SO MANY beautiful churches in Iloilo. So many that it looked like we were doing a Bisita Iglesia. I like it though because I like entering churches especially the old ones. It's like I can feel everything that has happend there all these years!

Our first stop was Miagao Church. This stunning church is included in UNESCO’s list of heritages sites under “Baroque Churches of the Philippines.”

The altar is a lot like that of San Agustin Church's, isn't it?

Photo taken by Alvin. He's getting better na in photography no? =)

This is the Guimbal Church. It's 400 years old already! Super duper old to the max!! It is also said that it has one of the tallest belfries in Iloilo.

We got hungry na so we ate at Allan's Original Talabahan. This restaurant was highly recommended by the locals so we just had to try it.

Inside was laid back. They have unmatched tables and chairs, gravel as flooring and planggana for the oysters.

The oysters were so fresh!! Do you know how much this planggana of oysters cost? Only 30 pesos!!!!

Six pieces of baked oysters costs 60 pesos!! Super mura diba?! Ang mahal kaya ng oysters sa Via Mare!! I ate and ate a lot of oysters!! I texted my dad to rave about how fresh and cheap the oysters were in Iloilo. He texted back saying to take care in eating oysters because my stomach might not take it that well. And then I felt a rumbling sound. Uh-oh! Too late papa!!! =D

After eating, with a 400 peso bill (imagine how much oysters I ate!!), we started going around Iloilo again. This chuch is the Molo Church. It is also called a "feminine" church because of the female saints along its main aisle.

Like the other churches, it was just as majestic.

Manong, our driver, had to make an "emergency" break (if you know what i mean). He ate too much oysters too! So he dropped us at this nice quaint massage place called Nuat Thai. As usual, super cheap lang. Php 350 for a one hour massage plus a 30 minute foot massage. The foot massage was heavenly. I could hear alvin snoring on the lazy boy beside me. The massage was a different story. Maselan kasi ako sa masahe eh. In fairness, I'm hard to please when it comes to massages. For me, wala pa rin tatalo sa mga bulag sa New Vision in Vito Cruz Manila.

After two hours, manong picked us up at Nuat Thai and took us to Jaro Cathedral. This was were Garciano Lopez Jaena got baptized.

ME: Babe this is so cool! Alam mo ba dito bininyagan si Garciano Lopez Jaena?!

ALVIN: Talaga? Sino yun.

ME: Di ko alam, pero for sure sikat siya.

ALVIN rolled his eyes.

ME: Oo na! Wala nang tatalo sa sea snake information mo! Che!

The inside Jaro Cathedral was so grand! It's nice because the people of Iloilo really maintains their churches.

This is the bell tower located in front of the Jaro Cathedral. Manong the driver said that his lola said that there's a tunnel under this tower that leads to Jaro Cathedral. Dun daw nagtatago ang mga people from the Spaniards. Coolness!

This is the facade of the Jaro Cathedral.

After going around, we went to The Biscocho house to buy pasalubongs. I bought piyaya, biscocho, butterscotch, polvoron and those tiny broas like things with polvoron inside. They're my favorite, i just fogot the name.

We tried to taste the Cagayan lanzones. Okay lang. Di naman masyado fantastic. It tastes the same.

After buying lanzones, we went to the airport already. We were so early! Wala na kasi ibang mapuntahan eh. I was running out what to wish for already because they said that if you go inside a church that you've never been to, you can have three wishes. Ang dami dami na eh! haha! And besides, I was missing Anika na already so much! It was our first out of town trip since she was born eh. Super nakakamiss talaga!

Here's Alvin carrying our checked in pasalubong box at the new airport in Manila.

To summarize, we really had so much fun. Adventure talaga the trip. And ofcourse, it was the first time again to have Alvin all to myself! Hihihihi!

What To Do In ILOILO: Part 2

Our Saturday itinerary was to tour Guimaras. Armed with just a map, we went to the harbor to board a boat to take us to the island. The fare was 13pesos per person and the boat ride took 15-20 minutes. When we got to the island, dinumog kami ng mga tao. They all wanted us to rent a tricycle or a multi-cab from them. We went first to the tourism booth and inquired. They gave us specific places that we can go to and assured us that the rate these people were giving us was the standard rate.

We rented a multi-cab for Php 1,500 for the whole day. The driver served as our tour guide also.

Mukha namang multicab ride pa lang, enjoy na enjoy na ang Alvin =)

Our first stop was the Monk Sanctuary. We prayed inside the church and had a monk brother bless us. The place was so peaceful.

We passed by the Mango plantation which they said was the biggest one in the Philippines. Sadly, we weren't able to eat mangoes there because it wasn't in season. Masarap pa naman daw ang mangoes ng Guimaras.

We then went to this over looking place (a restaurant) which had a breathtaking view. Picture picture!

Our next stop was the lighthouse. We had to walk to go there because the road was narrow and the multicab cannot go through there anymore.

This was the (very) old light house used during the Spanish times. Super rusty na siya and there was a writing there that said that it was dangerous to go up the lighthouse.

Eh may makulit na bata.

I stayed on the ground while Alvin went up. The view daw was fantastic.

We rode again the multicab to go to this resort so that we can go island hopping. Matagtag ang road kasi di pa siya ganun kadeveloped.

It was lunchtime when we arrived at the resort. Super sorry I forgot the name. But they serve cheap fresh sea food! Yum yum!!

After eating, we inquired for the island hopping. Thankfully, there were also two couples who wanted to rent a boat so we joined them. The cost for the boat rent was 400pesos for two hours and 100pesos for the succeeding hours. We went around to see the really nice islands.

We stopped over in one island where they have these giant turtles. They rescue these turtles from the island and they take care of them. You can have your pictures taken for just donations. However, you have to be super quick because the turtle should only be outside the water for one minute the most. Huge turtles no? I saw the biggest one and I swear, it looked like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Michaelangelo, is that you?!

And then we continued our island hopping. This island is called the Turtle Island because (duh) it looks like a turtle! Kyoot  no?

We "parked" the boat so that we can snorkel. I wasn't able to look at the fishes and corals because when I was about to put on my goggles, the korean WHO we were with started shouting "SNAKE! SNAKE!" and started climbing the boat through the "katig". I felt something slither in my legs so I started scrambling and climbing the katig. I was super panicking already because I couldn't climb up because the katig was so slippery. I grabbed the katig with both my arms and wrapped both my legs in the slippery effing bamboo katig. My dear hubby, who was supposed to be the defender of my tiny universe, was laughing because I looked like a baby lechon daw that time. 

When I was already on the boat, panting and still shivering from the experience:

ALVIN: Babe, sea snakes do not bite.

ME: Thanks for telling me that now ha. Sana kaninang nasa ocean pa ako, sumigaw ka na na hindi sila nangangagat para hindi ako nagpanic.

ALVIN: But you know, they are the most venomous sa lahat ng reptiles. Manood ka kasi ng National Geographic.

There he was, smiling, so proud of what he knew about sea snakes. Kung di lang mahal yung nakasabit na camera sa asawa ko, naitulak ko siya sa tubig eh!

After all the commotion, we relaxed a bit in one of the island. I stayed on the boat because di pa ako over dun sa sea snake experience ko.

And then the all hopped on our boat again and went inside this cave. Super duper nice, I tell you. Ang Alvin, tuwang tuwa! Being an adventurous and outdoor person, this is the closest he can get na to his old life. Mountaineering, spelunking and camping are my hubby's hobbies. 

Here's a picture inside the cave with our new found friends. 

After the island hopping, we went back to the resort and boarded the multicab again. We were on board a boat again to Iloilo city by 6pm. 

We were so exhausted when we got to the hotel. We ate dinner at Jollibee na lang para tipid because I scheduled a massage for us at 10pm. However, we rested in our room at around 9pm and umaga na kami gumising hehe.

What to do in Iloilo Part 3 coming up!