The Island Explorer

When I last visited Macau, the City of Dreams were on its final stages of completion. Now, it is fully operational, brightly lit and beaming with promise. It may not look like a city, but the newest kid on the Cotai strip is definitely making some noise.

I'm quite familiar with Macau already, having set up events there for my corporate clients. This will be the first time that I will be blogging about the place though, since it's my first official time on vacation here. 

If you read the title, how many of you would think this post is a rant? I guess, a majority. But I'm not going to write about how useless our government is. I am here to share a recent experience. I was on flight 5J 143 bound for Manila from a recent 5-day 3 country tour. I was with my 10 year old daughter who would be leaving for the US the next day. We arrived at midnight, and we breezed through immigration and baggage collection. We had to pass the customs desk, so I gave the declarations form to the officer. I checked the electronics part, since I bought a Mac Book Pro in Hong Kong. I've always bought my macs in HK, and I have probably brought in 4 pieces already in the past 5 years. I was supposed to buy an iMac, but settled for a Mac Book Pro since it was just really such a hassle to bring home.  Because of my intention to buy an iMac, I asked a friend who knew someone from the Customs if it was indeed legal to bring in an iMac. I mean, a laptop could be easily be kep...

I was getting bored of the food in Cebu, so I asked for something different. I was looking for a place that was not fancy and non-Filipino. After some researching, we decided to head off to Guadalupe in Cebu City, near the capitol building for a hole-in-the-wall Spanish restaurant called Arano.

The Grand Quartier Suites is located in the upscale residential hillside community of Crosswinds. The hotel takes its design inspiration from the Swiss Alps, hence, makes it try unique from the other hotels in Tagaytay.

When we were walking back to our room, we took a wrong turn and ended up in the garden villas near the poolside. We were able to catch a glimpse of these villas, so we curiously approached the front desk and asked how much the villas were.

It is often said that the "flaw" of Shangri-la Boracay is the beach. Well, if one compares the sand quality of the resort's private beach to White Beach, then it is really inferior.