Sea of cars

In a crowd, do you blend in or stand out?

Took a photo of the parking lot near Jatuchak(chatuchak) market while waiting for the train to arrive.  Nothing special about the photo.  I mean, it's just a bunch of cars - until I spotted the cutest car in the lot!

Why, hello there Pink! 

So cute and groovy :)

4th Manila food and beverage expo 2010

We dropped by the World Trade center last weekend to check out the 4th Manila food and beverage expo.

The usual suspects were there - yummy but deadly fried food on a stick!

Take your pick!

Normal red hotdogs, beef franks, corndogs, bacon wrapped hotdogs and waffledogs

Fancy sausages also available

Yummy fresh lumpia

Big Daddy's Chicken Chop

The best thing that we tried that evening!

For p80 ($1.72) you get 1 big piece of chicken sprinkled with the flavor of your choice. We tried the normal and spicy which were both good. The chicken is not completely boneless though, but I guess that's good because you are assured that it's real chicken and not just a big chicken nugget :D

Cez Lopez's Ultimate Brazo Bars that I bought because I saw this sign

but it was just okay for me. I mean, it's good but nothing special :)

Colorful Lambanog (coconut wine)

Pretty Taiwanese noodle maker

cute food art

Huge Mangoes!

The biggest mixer I have ever seen!

Some of the stuff that I bought :) The Sanfal juice (orange variant) is so good that we finished 2 bottles that night!  There were so many things on display that night. 

Pear, Black rice and String bean juice!

kidding on the string bean - the green one is actually soya milk :)

this huge mango is 1.3 kilos

can't get over how huge it is

hmm, mango!

But beside Nugget it just looks normal :)

The Manila Metropolitan Theater

"The Manila Metropolitan Theatre is an art deco building designed by the Filipino architect Juan de Guzman Arellano, and inaugurated on December 10, 1931, with a capacity of 1670 (846 orchestra, 116 in loge, and 708 in balcony). During the liberation of Manila by the United States and Filipino forces in 1945, the theatre was severely damaged, losing its some of its roofing and walls battered. After reconstruction by the Americans it gradually fell into disuse in the 1960’s. In the following decade it was meticulously restored in 1978 but again fell into decay." wikipedia

We were fortunate enough to go inside the Metropolitan Theater last Sunday. I was a bit taken a back at how dilapidated the place looked. I remember watching "Ibong Adarna" here in 1995. The building was already falling apart then but I did not expect that it would be totally abandoned in 1996.

How it looked before - a 1930's postcard of the Met during its glory days

Aerial shot of the theater during 1945

Heavily damaged during the war in 1945

Earliest photo of the Metropolitan that I found online. Caption says "Philippine Night" given by the Filipino Blue Jackets of U.S.S. Henderson in September 12, 1934. Photo was taken in one of the theater's ballrooms.

76 years after

How the ballrooms look today

The view of the stainglass window from the inside

Ninoy!

I can almost imagine how grand this place must have been in the past

A few folks have made this place their home... complete with pet chickens and dogs

Others come here to rest under the shade

Save the Met!

Thankfully, the restoration project is in full swing now

Soon the Metropolitan will be restored to its full glory

*Old photos sourced online most through Skyscraper.com

Bukit Bintang

I love Malaysia! So far, I've had 4 trips to this country... 3 of those visits happened in the span of 1 year. If I could I think I would drop by more often :) There is just something (can't pinpoint what exactly) that makes me feel at home here. Hopefully I can come back soon to visit Penang, Kota Kinabalu (and hike to Mt. Kinabalu), Ipoh and of course Kutching!

One of my favorite spots in Kuala Lumpur is Bukit Bintang (Star Hill in English). I like how it is close to almost everything - malls, mono rail, Petronas Twin Towers, KL Tower, Jalan Alor (Hawker Center) and KL Central.

Busy streets where you can encounter all sorts of street performers...

Is that a purple Vuvuzela (haha, kiding!)

local tunes

One time I thought I was hallucinating when spotted Michael Jackson in the crowd!

Yes! It is him :D

We also saw Mr. Silver

and his brother, Mr. Gold

Must be cool to be able to do this!

I tossed a coin and made a wish at this lucky fountain in front of the Pavillion Mall. The mall is right accross the lovely eco boutique hotel that we stayed in during our last trip.

I bought a few things in the groceries nearby :)

and this Japanese coke with toy for Erman's collection

My week in pictures

It's a Friday Saturday again and once again I am amazed at how fast this week was! I find it a bit sad that lately the days seem the same for me. I think I spend too much time cooped up at home and online - working, reading news, browsing etc. That is why I am really looking forward to my 1 week no computer vacation next week :)

My day always starts with Nugget! It's so hard to resist this dusty old cat.

Working. For the past 2 weeks I have been working from 8pm to 12nn. I need to fix my body clock soon.

My egg shell collection collecting dust outside. I think this is about 3-4 weeks worth of eggs!

Yay! Crabs for dinner.

Emergency drill last Saturday, June 12

This morning they went all out. It's good to know that the emergency response is fast but I really don't understand why they had to blast the water cannons. Sayang yung tubig! Also the sirens were turned on for hours...

My mom has been over feeding Nugget again!

How folks spell Sandwich Cake nowadays!

I love it when Nugget sleeps on the chair beside me :)

but I think he feels that he has had enough pictures for the day. Yep, that's his arm trying to grab my camera away >:D