Chiang Mai, Thailand: Starbucks

A self-confessed coffee addict and a loyal Starbucks customer, my eyes sparkled like how a kid's eyes sparkle when they see a shop full of chocolates when I saw a Starbucks sign while walking one Saturday morning.

This Starbucks is located conveniently. It is also near the second-hand bookstores so, after buying books, it's really nice to relax and sip some coffee and read the book you just bought. :) This Starbucks is three-storeys so there's enough space for a lot of people

With 500baht left in my wallet after purchasing Brida by Coelho, Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes and a Grisham book, I decided to give myself a treat after a long walk and a long book search.

What I appreciate the most is that it has a great ambiance for a person who would like to just read or write or study because it is not that crowded.

The Devil and Miss Prym

second floor of Starbucks. I was alone.

I read around 40-50 pages of the book and I stayed for a while before I left. I love how friendly the staff are and how helpful they are on whatever things you need.

Although there is also a Starbucks near Le Meridien where our conference was held, Chiang Mai Night Bazaar where I was at every night, and Rux Thai Guest House where I stayed, I still chose this because of it's ambiance. The one near the night bazaar is not that spacious and is always crowded.

Desserts at Sage, Baguio City

Sage is a new restaurant in Baguio. Up for trying something new, I said yes to my friend when she said we should have our desserts there after our lunch.

When we arrived at the place, I was stunned because I never expected such a relaxing place in the middle of Military cut-off. We were greeted warmly by one of the staff. We took our seats and we seated there comfortably until the staff gave us their menu and their "service water" or complimentary drink or whatever they call it. One thing I have to say, who needs flavored drink/soft drinks/cocktails if the restaurant would serve you this:

service water

We placed our order, waited for a few minutes, told each other stories then our food was served.

Before we had desserts, we shared a salad first.

 Their salad is really good. It's crunchy and really sumptuous. It's my first time to have a salad with pomelo and I was not really thrilled at first but when I tasted it, I loved it. The juicyness of the pomelo adds flavor to the salad. I just didn't like the cucumber because I am not really a cucumber lover so perhaps next time I'll ask them to not add cucumber on my salad. hehe

Smores Cake

I baked smores brownies before and it became one of my favorites so when we were there, it is what I ordered. To be honest, I didn't like it because the cake is not that moist and is actually not that soft either. It tastes okay but for people who likes moist/chewy/sweet/fluffy, this is not the cake I'd recommend.

I love using lemons for cakes and pastries because the sourness of the lemon is just enough for sweet, yummy treats. My friend ordered this and she was generous enough to share this with me. I loved it because you can still taste the essence of the lemon and still get the sweetness you want from having a cake. The icing complements the cake as well. The cake tastes really great!

The plating is great and the it really looked delicious. We tasted it and we were not disappointed. This is by far, their best cake(out of all the 5 I tasted) for me. nuff said :)

green mango sorbet

Since my friend wanted to try their sorbet, we got one. There are different flavor available like watermelon, melon, and I forgot the others but we chose this one.

Several things I have to say about this sorbet, it's for sharing, it's delicious, it's all natural and you can really see it, it's affordable and it's something you'll always want to have whenever you go to Sage so yes, I had that the second time and third time I went there :)

Overall, Sage became one of the restaurants I love to go to whenever I am in Baguio. The ambiance is nice, the staff are very accommodating, pleasant and friendly, the food is great and the prices are reasonable :)

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Boracay 2013 Day 3: Jonah's Fruitshake and Ariel's Point

We woke up early on the third day because we wanted to roam around the island and buy some stuff for our friends back home. We also had to look for a pharmacy because my hand was inflamed and my friend is aching all over because of the water activities we did the day before.

We looked around but no store was open as we were too early. We then walked around D' Mall instead. We enjoyed our morning walk there because it was only us two in the place. 

at D'Mall, looking at that Pharmacy that is still not open

We then had breakfast at McDonald's. The food there are at least around P10 higher than the "real" price so there's no McSaver Meal and that broke our heart. haha

Since our trip to Ariel's Point is at 10:30, we went back to our hotel after our breakfast and after buying some meds. We rested for a while, prepared our stuff and we went to Jonah's Fruitshake and Snackbar. Our friend recommended the place because he said they served the best fruitshake he has ever had. I though he's just exaggerating but I gave it the benefit of the doubt. :)

my mango avocado shake

We then walked to Ariel's Place(the meeting place) and waited for the time(and the boat that will take us to Ariel's point.

the baller and our "ID" pass

The travel to Ariel's Point was roughly 30-45minutes. Quite long but thankfully, with the high energy of everyone in the boat and the overflowing drinks, the trip didn't feel very long.

yes. I was wearing a skirt!haha

watching the ones already jumping/diving

We had buffet lunch, overflowing drinks(softdrinks, beer, water, vodka, rhum and rhum coke) and banana cue for dessert. The thing I loved so much during that trip to Ariel's Point aside from the sumptuous food and the drinks are the people we went there with. They're all very friendly and energetic and very supportive to the people who are scared of jumping(and I'm one of them).

after standing at the cliff for 30minutes, I finally jumped! weehaa!

that 15m board!will try that next time I go back :)

We left Ariel's Point right after I jumped. That jump I just did was a last minute one, actually.haha!

We got back to Boracay at 5 in the afternoon. Tired, exhausted and sore, we didn't join the pub crawl anymore. We just had dinner when we woke up at 9 in the evening and slept after we had dinner.

Realizations:

-cliff diving(or in my case,jumping) is fun. I realized that right after my jump. Since my jump was the last, I was not able to do it again. The next time I go there, I'll jump to my heart's content

-Traveling with a friend who is not the type of person who mingles with other people hinders me from establishing connection and friendship with other people. So there will no longer be a next travel for me and Dex. ;)