Those of you who are getting married, visiting this Wedding Expo 2008 by Themes & Motiffs will help you big time in selecting your suppliers, photographers, videographers, etc for your Big Day. Slated on March 8-9, 2008 at the PICC Forum, PICC Complex, this wedding expo will feature lots of products and services from different suppliers and of course a chance to avail big discounts, exclusive promos, freebies, etc. Visitors will also get a chance to win free honeymoon ticket to Macau!

So get yourselves registered and avail of these special packages and great deals!

After its recent sold-out run, Atlantis Productions' hit staging of the Tony Award Winning Broadway Musical AVENUE Q was back in Manila to re-spread some holiday cheer at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza. Winner of the 2004 Tony Award for Best Musical, AVENUE Q is most accurately described as a cross between SESAME STREET and RENT.

Since Joal and I loved the RENT, we knew we would likewise love this show. And we're right! We enjoyed AVENUE Q so much that we kept on talking (and even singing some of the lines) about it until we got home. We liked the songs "It sucks to be me," "Schadenfreude," and "Internet is for porn." The show was great rioutous fun. We think people who grew up with Sesame Street (or even Batibot) will share our amusement about the show.

AVENUE Q is a mature take on the universally loved puppets and issues like quarter life crisis, racism and pornography are tackled with much humor; but still parental discretion is advised.

Featured in the stellar cast are Rachel Alejandro as Kate Monster/Lucy T. Slut, Felix Rivera as Princeton/Rod, Frenchie Dy as Christmas Eve, Rycharde Everley as Brian, Joel Trinidad as Nicky/Trekkie Monster and others, Teenee Chan as Mrs. Thistletwat and Others and Aiza Seguera as Gary Coleman. It was directed by Bobby Garcia and Chari Arespacochaga.

This book was written in the first person narrative of Christopher John Francis Boone, a very intelligent and yet autistic 15-year old boy. He is a mathematical savant, has a photographic memory and knows all the countries in the world including their capitals and all prime numbers up to 7,057; however, Christopher does not understand human emotions, gestures, and relationships.

What I like most about this novel is that, Haddon narrated the story with wit, warmth and humor, thus made me see Christopher's difficulties and the chaos of autism.

The story started when Christopher found the pet poodle of his neighbor, who's living across their house, stabbed with a garden fork dead. He decided to solve the mystery of the dog's death including it's murderer and wrote a book about it. Christopher investigated the crime on his own, despite his father's vehement disapproval, and in the process, uncovered many secrets which involved his family.

Christopher, despite his autism, showed bravery and maturity as he tried to solve his own problem. Christopher despised the colors yellow and brown but was able to conquer his loathness with them when he travelled alone.

Although I'm not a Math savant and there's a few math problems in the book which I skipped through, I did not miss any important storyline. This short book is filled with both humor and pain and its impact will last much longer. Highly recommended for a general readership.

If you're going to Cagayan de Oro, give Pearlmont Inn a try for your accommodation. It's affordable and worth your stay. I personally like the interiors on the 2nd floor. The walls in the hallways are full of paintings that are all originals. The decors include some antiques and flora.

The rooms are quite small but it's just fine. The bed and its sheets are all cleen. The bathroom has hot/cold shower. The staff are also friendly and accommodating.

The rates of this hotel as of April 2007 are the ff:
Standard - Php 1,150.00
Deluxe - Php 1,400.00 (with ref)
Family - Php 1,600.00 (4 persons with ref) not all rooms includes a bathtub

Amenities and services include an airconditioned room, TV with cable, Hot/Cold Shower, Telephone (no phone charges within city), privielege to eat at the restaurant, use of function rooms, fax service, safety deposit box, laundry Service, and WIFI Service (prepaid cards). Breakfast for 2 is also included in the package. The breakfast per person includes one egg with rice or toast, a choice of beef tapa, bacon or tocino and coffee or hot chocolate. If there's something I miss until now is their hot chocolate..excellent! The chocolate is very pure and would melt in your tongue as you taste it, hay! I wish I knew where I could buy something like that in Manila.

Moreover, Pearlmont Inn is conveniently located in Limketkai Drive, it's just 125 meters from Limketkai Mall. If you love to walk, you can actually walk from the hotel to the Mall and back. Jeepneys and taxi cabs pass along Pearlmont Inn so commuting is not a problem.

More details:
Address: Limketkai Drive
Telephone No.: (8822) 72-9455; 72-9111; 72-7477; 856-2653 to 55
Fax No.: (8822) 72-8913

For more pictures of Pearlmont Inn, please see our photo page.

Joal and I didn't know that a certain Zoobic Safari exists in Subic until we got there. The three-hour travel time was not fun at all, I guess, because Joal and I didn't know that Subic was so far. (We were just following my family, who were in the other car, from Makati to SBMA.)

Entrance fee here is P300/each. As you enter the zoo, you will be greeted by cubs and tigers who are inside their cages. There's also a place there where you can have your picture taken while you're feeding a cub with a bottle of milk. I think the picture costs P300 when you're 2, P500 when you're 5 and for only one copy. Too bad, Joal and I didn't know that we're going there so we didn't make our money ready for that adventure.

At the lobby, there's a souvenir shop where you can buy Zoobic shirts, bags and other Zoobic items. What fascinated me there was the Ostrich egg that was so huge and costs P1000. The saleslady said that the ostrich egg is equivalent to 12 pieces of regular eggs and can make 8 llaneras of leche flan! (oh d b?!)

Zoobic Safari is composed of Zoobic Park Petting Zoo, Zoobic Serpentarium, Tiger Safari, Tiger Close Encounter, the Savannah, and Rodent World, among many others.

Zoobic Serpentarium is where different kinds of reptiles are (of course). You'll see variety of iguanas, lizards, snakes, turtles and crocodiles.


The Zoobic Tiger Safari is my favourite part for here guests are able to feed the tiger/s with live chicken at the price of P200. (Of course, we were not able to do so as we're financially unprepared, heheh.) We are inside this improvised secured tram to get us closer to the tigers. We were greeted by George, an 80-year old tiger, who actually ate the live chicken my sister bought. The guide dangled the live chicken toward George who was not actually aggressive to go after the chicken. I actually wanted George to jump over the tram and ferocioulsy crample it or even just shake the tram a bit so he could scare me. But he didn't. I was not scared of him although he's so big and a lot lot heavier than me. Maybe George is too old for that.

In the Tiger Close Encounter, there is a small train that will take the visitors around the cages of the tigers. The tour guide then gives a short history of each tiger and explains the origin of their names. Before we left, joal was able to take pictures of the newlyborn cubs who were hidden under a tarpouline. We were told that they hid the cubs because George was trying to eat them. The cubs were actually 4 but now they're only 3 as the other 1 was already eaten by George. (sniff! galit ako kay George!)

Found in the Zoobic Savannah are ostriches, guinea fowl, wild boards and potbellies. If I'm not mistaken, the tour would take about 2-3 hours. We suggest that you eat first before you go to Zoobic so you will have the energy to walk around.

I think the P300 entrance fee is already worth it. It's just so wrong timing on our part as we're not physically and financially ready when we went there. So we suggest that when you go there, be sure that you're prepared for the long hours of travel whether you're commuting or driving. Also, make sure you have withdrawn enough money as there's no single ATM machine in the area. The tour also makes you feel like a child again but in a different level. (It made me think then how long have I not been visiting any zoo. Heheh.) Good part here was I was able to tour with my complete family and Joal.

I think you should go there now while it's still not that expensive; in fact, Zoobic Safari is not just for adventurers but also ideal for educational trips and family outings. :-)


(Note: We visited Zoobic Safari in January 2007. Prices and features may change.)

If you're travelling in Pagudpud for a budget, we certainly recommend this resort called Polaris. It has the same shoreline as the famous Saud Beach. Mhe-ann is our contact person here. Since it was off peak when we went there (Nov 5, 06), she gave us the room on the 3rd floor for only P800/night, which is normally P3500 during peak season (December to May). The room can accommodate 3 persons; it has two beds, a bathroom and an aircon.

Polaris has a restaurant at the lobby. The food was around P200-P500 and good for 5-6 persons. You can actually buy food from the market before you go there and have it cooked by Mhe-Ann or Paula, the charge is only P50.

A day after we arrived came our very memorable tour in Pagudpud. We can't believe that we were able to go to all of them in just a single day. Thru Joseph and his tricycle, we were able to go to Kabigan falls (which could be reached after a 30-minute walk), Paraiso ni Anton, Agua Grande, Patapat Viaduct, Timmangtang Rock, Bantay Abot Cave, Nacatnagan Cliff, Don Hermanos Islands and the breath-taking Blue Lagoon. We found that Pagudpud's beauty rests not only on its fine sand and clear water, but its isolated wonder. We only paid Joseph P600 for this whole day trip.

Unique Qualities of Polaris:

The veranda on the third floor has a good view of the sunset. Don't forget to catch it at around 5:30pm. But we didn't stay there long enough, we went downstairs to get a full view and feel of the place. The experience was unforgettably awesome!

One more good thing about Polaris is that you can buy your food in the market and have them cooked in the resort for P50. I'm not sure if other resorts allow that. Actually there's a restaurant at the lobby but I find it expensive for just the two of us. If you're coming in group, then the expenses are less and more worth it. The food in Polaris is good though I actually liked their chopsuey which I ordered twice, heheh!

How to get there:

If you're coming from Laoag, take a jeepney to the bus terminal of Pagudpud. There is no aircon bus to Laoag so prepare for the heat but don't worry, the air is not polluted. Fare is P70/person. When you get to Pagudpud, take off at Baduang Market and ride a tricycle to Polaris, fare is P30. Polaris is famous in Pagudpud as it's just beside Saud Beach and a certain public resort.

Contact Details:

We suggest that you contact Mhe-Ann first before you go there, much more when you're going during peak season as reservations are difficult. Her number is 0919.307.8803. I'm confident that Mhe-Ann will treat you nice and the rest of her staff.

This book is a debut for Audrey Niffenegger. And being a first-timer herself, i think she made the complex timelines with ease. The Time Traveler's Wife is a love story concealed inside a suspense novel but is far from a science fiction exploration of the space-time continuum. The book is about the two characters - Henry DeTamble and Clare Abshire whose passionate love affair endures across a sea of time and captures themselves in an impossibly romantic trap. Henry is a time-traveller; a genetic mutation which causes him to spontaneously travel through time, disappearing from view, leaving behind his clothes and possessions, and arriving naked in another time and another place. While Clare is leaving a chronologically normal life, Henry isn't. After their first meeting (Clare was 6 and Henry would be 36) Clare will always wait for his arrival. She has known him all her life. He visits her numerous times during her childhood and adolescence, and inadvertently reveals that they will be married in the future. His last visit is on her 18th birthday in 1989, and will be separated for two years. Finally, they meet in 1991, a real time for both of them, Clare is 20 and Henry is 28. Henry does not know anything about Clare and Clare has to show Henry the diary she made as a testament of Henry's existence in Clare's past, which is still in Henry's future. Henry begins to experience the events in Clare's childhood and at the same time experiencing life with the adult Clare in the present. In the novel, the future cannot be changed, and many tragic events are foreshadowed in the past.

When they soon get married, Clare and Henry have to struggle to survive and maintain their love, and at the same time fighting a complex disorder that constantly threatens their existence. They yearn for the domestic drudgery and the homely comforts of marriage without the constant fear of separation. He longs to be able to live only in the present and he and Clare desperately search for a medical treatment for the disorder but to no avail.

Although the love in the story is very much appalling and intense, a part of it I find ultimately depressing: Henry's father never recovers and continues to mourn for years when his mother died, and Ingrid (Henry's ex-girlfriend) committed suicide after losing Henry to Clare. The love in the story has such a passion with no middle ground, no growth from the experience.

But my most favorite part is the way Henry describes love through his letter to Clare. This is how it goes:


Clare, I want to tell you, again, I love you. Our love has been the thread through a labyrinth, the net under the high-wire walker, the only real thing in this strange life of mine that I could ever trust. Tonight I feel that my love for you has more density in this world than I do: as though I could linger on after me and surround you, keep you, hold you.


This book is time well-spent and worth your money (although I got this for free from Joal, heheh.) Grab your copy now and prepare for a lovely, moving read. But is so sad.

In the beginning, CASA RAP was just a small bungalow whose screened terrace served as a mini cafe with a convenience store. But now, it has become a destination as well. CASA RAP boasts of its delicious entrees not to mention the cozy ambience brought by the bountiful plants that surround the whole place.

Here are the things that you can see inside the CASA RAP:

1. Art Gallery and Gift Shop
It showcases Sister Emma's artworks made out of dried flowers and weeds. Also sold here are mini fountains, parols made of bamboo wrapped with katcha or old barongs, pottery items, handicrafts made by the Mangyans in Mindoro. Our friend Dinah bought here a pair of fancy earrings and Joal bought a bracelet for souvenirs.

2. Greenhouse Cafe
Behind the bungalow is the greenhouse constructed initially for rare and varied plants. Organic vegetables and herbs found their home between ornamental plants. It has expanded gradually to allow for fun dining. The food consists of Southern Tagalog cuisine reinvented out of old recipes handed down from
generation to generation.

3. The River
This river is about 40 ft below which can be reached by negotiating 133 concrete steps! You'll see ancient tall trees, bamboos and a variety of indigenous plants including edible ferns and mini-cucumbers, which are sometimes included in the salads being served. On your way there, you'll be amazed with dotted multi-colored impatiens and other flowering weeds.

You may wish to stay there for a while to observe its wonders while hearing the chirping birds.

4. Templo
Those who are less adventurous welcome CASA RAP's latest addition - Templo- a screened area squeezed between clusters of bamboos at the edge of the lot overlooking the river.

Templo, as derived from its name, is very conducive to meditations. Zen inscriptions can be found on hanging clays along the way.

5. The Nursery
Discover the plant seedlings situated near the exit of the Templo.

6. The Carpentry Shop
On the way back to the greenhouse, you will notice a carpentry shop where wooden furniture are made out of molave from old houses or driftwood collected from the beaches of Quezon and Batangas.

CASA RAP accepts reservations for business meetings, reunions, workshop seminars and demos, wedding and other parties.

Other information: Open daily from 7am to 5pm for breakfast, lunch and snacks. Dinners and special occasions that call for special menus can be arranged at least 2 days ahead of time. For reservations, you may contact: (043) 726-2873. For Art Gallery and Gift Shop inquiries, you may contact Sr. Emma at 0916.212.6685 or Glenda at 0926.755.8032.

To see the map on how to get there, please reply to this message or send us an email.

Ohlabinan is a very nice place to stay in Sagada and very much affordable. I think we only paid P800/night with 2 beds. Our room has a large window which gave us the chance to see the brightest full moon. Also, Olahbinan has a veranda at the 2nd floor overlooking the St. Mary's Church.

Olahbinan is not hard to find as it's near the Municipal Hall and is off the main road.

Located at Station 1 Boracay Island.

La Luz Resort is a private commercial beach that truly has beautiful cottages and amazingly clean beaches and surroundings. If you’re planning to go there without difficulty, we suggest that you search on the internet first. Since Joal and I went there unplanned, we had the hardest way in getting there and had to ask strangers for directions. Also be prepared for the shaky and uncomfortable ride as the roads there were bumpy.

La Luz is best for those who are looking for peace, quiet and refreshing place. It has cabanas that are nice and clean. The rooms were furnished with furniture made with bamboos. I think, foods are already included in the package and they serve in buffets.

Since rooms are quite inadequate, we advise that you make reservations weeks or months before your arrival. They accept day tour though, but they can not assure the availability of the rooms and cottages.

If you’re looking for a resort where you could treat your kids, we do not recommend La Luz. Well, La Luz is good but we don’t think it’s child-friendly because the sand is rough. There’s also no swimming pool to wade in that makes the activities limited. However, if you’re looking for a cozy, romantic place with a special one, La Luz for us is the best place to unleash those romantic thoughts into action!

Bag of Beans is easy to find because it’s just right along the main highway of Tagaytay. It’s deceptively small but once you get in, it’s big and has a very cozy look. It’s actually a garden themed café that offers great coffees, pies, bread and cookies. I think it’s a coffee shop, a bakery and a garden restaurant all rolled into one. Joal liked its hot chocolate and me it's cappuccino. But what we liked here more was the ambience – very quiet, the lights were good and it has an element of wildlife surrounding comprising of a pet monkey, a rabbit and love birds.

I don’t think your trip to Tagaytay would be complete without you coming here!