Philippines Week 1 of 3 of my 2014 Vacation

Week 1

Day 1: My mom and I just stayed home to rest from our long flight from the U.S. to Manila. We just hung out with family and we had a home service to get our nails done! I basically got a mani and a pedi every week it was around $4 bucks for a mani and a pedi with a nail art on every single nail!

Day 2: We went to Robinsons we looked around for a bit I bought a swim suit cover up, we ate at Mangan a Filipino Cuisine that was average in pricing. I had mais con yelo, mango shake, puto bungbong, okoy, and Arroz Caldo. We headed to Sm Megamall which is the mall that I always went to when we used to live in the Philippines, it's a pretty big mall it has 5 floors and the building is divided in A and B Building, they also have an Ice Rink, Bowling Center, and movie theaters, they've been extending and renovating this mall a lot. I really enjoyed Simple Joys (bought a lot of cute jewelries), Kamiseta (bought a top and accessories), Sunnies by Charlie ( I bought 3 pairs of sunglasses haha!). I also enjoyed eating lots of delicious food for cheap!
http://www.kamiseta.com
https://sunniesbycharlie.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Simple-Joys/134171190008552

There was a creepy guy that followed us closely for 3 floors at the escalator. I moved a step ahead at the escalator he moved closer, and when I look at him and let him know that I know he was following me, we got off the escalator I waited for him to go first, and he pretended to talk to a guy and ask for the time, I didn't see him anymore after that, which made me calm down and made me feel a lot better. My mom and I got a facial at Let's Face It- my mom and I got a facial for around $10 each (they pricked our faces and my face was definitely blackhead free! but it hurts 100x worst than getting your eyebrows threaded!). We ate at Max's Restaurant, I really enjoyed their Caramel Bars and I actually bought more to bring home.

Day 3: We went to Divisoria basically cheap and you can bargain just like Chatuchak Market from Bangkok (my money belt was definitely useful in the Philippines, especially to this place). There's a lot of snatchers, etc. so tried to blend in and didn't even try dressing up or putting much makeup on, I didn't wear any jewelry at all, I got really paranoid after that weird guy from the mall that followed us.

We were basically there after lunch til around 7 pm. We only went to the 168 Mall and that's probably the only place I'll go to when I come back.

Day 4: I was basically at the salon from 11 am to 5 pm, yes it took forever to get my hair done! I got a haircut and hair color with highlights at Beauty Brick for 7, 300 Pesos. I basically showed him a picture of the hair color and the highlights that I wanted. The base color was Medium Brown. The base color plus the haircut was 3, 800 Pesos, and the highlights was additional 3,500 pesos. The hair dresser is Mr. Shin, he's Japanese but grew up in Korea, and now has a salon in the Philippines. He studied at Toni and Guy. He also has a translator. He does highlights, hair color, haircut, digi perm, hair relax and rebond. The hair services are by appointment so call in advance! A lot of my aunt's friends went here and really liked it, it's pretty pricey and it's a higher end salon in the Philippines. The services depend on your hair length etc. After your first service at Beauty Brick they give you a 10% discount every time after the first visit. My aunt and a friend got a digi perm (curly hair for 1-2 yrs). I think it's around 3,000 pesos- 5,000 pesos depending on the length of the hair. I really like my hair color, but I wish I got a hair treatment. The employees are really friendly.
https://plus.google.com/112706647710536456855/about?gl=us&hl=en

Beauty Brick Address: Unit 103 Dona Consolacion Bldg. 122 Jupiter St. Bel-air Makati City

Phone Numbers: 408-3398/473-5108; 0917-520-0044


We got dropped off near Market Market, we went around the vicinity first because my aunt said there were things to see. We went to Fully Booked ( a bookstore), there were higher end shops across Market Market. We then finally went to Market Market, and I went to Etude House and I bought a Collagen Moistfull Firming Eye Cream and it came with a mini Collagen Moistfull First Essence ( a face moisturizer that has collagen which helps tighten your skin). It was around 1,200 pesos. I also got 2 of the pump containers (like the one from Sephora) I like it because I put my makeup remover and my toner on it and I don't have to tip it over and make a mess, and the product is controlled. It was around 200 pesos each, and I got a free Brush Cleaner. My fam picked us up, and we went to SM Aura to eat dinner at Mesa (another Filipino Restaurant). SM Aura was one of the newer malls, and it was a bit fancy, and the stores are higher end/ name brands.

If you look close it's actually books piled up together :)

 http://www.fullybookedonline.com

inside Market Market! They also have movie theaters!

http://www.sm-aura.com

http://www.zomato.com/manila/mesa-1-bonifacio-global-city-taguig-city

Turon is a Filipino snack made of thinly sliced bananas and a slice of jackfruit, dusted with brown sugar, rolled in a spring roll wrapper and fried. I actually didn't get to take a picture of the actual dinner because I was really hungry!

Day 5: We went back to Market Market to look around some more. We went back home after 2 hours. We went out to go to Eastwood/High street. I bought a pair of sandals at Celine. I also got to taste Happy Lemon, which was really awesome. I had the Cocoa with rock salt and cheese which sounded weird to me, and I was really skeptical on getting it, but I tried it anyway. I was really happy that I tried it because I really enjoyed it and I love it! It was really yummy and I wanted to go back but I didn't get a chance to because I was already too busy. I will definitely come back and have this everyday if I could and try other drinks they have.

Cocoa with rock salt and cheese :)

https://www.facebook.com/HappyLemonPh


Day 6: We went back to Divisoria because my mom had to exchange/ buy something. Right after that, we went to Mall of Asia. I went to Kamiseta again and I bought a long sleeve top that had flowers it, and I also bought a headband. I went to Sunnie by Charlie and I got 2 more pairs of sunglasses haha! They are really cheap, trendy, and fashionable. We then ate at Lugang (Chinese Restaurant), I really enjoyed the Xiao Long Bao dumplings and the green tea ice cream. I didn't eat much of the other things that we ordered, which I forgot what it was called. After we ate, we went to Uniqlo (Japanese brand clothing that is "affordable") almost everything started at 990 pesos, I bought 3 pairs of jeggings. I bought a white one with black floral pattern, a solid black, and a solid gray.

https://sunniesbycharlie.com
http://www.lugangcafe.com.ph/our-menu
http://www.uniqlo.com/ph/

Day 7: We went back to SM Megamall just because it's our go to mall, we also went to St. Francis and got some phone cases/covers. We also went to the Podium. I went to the Beauty Bar and got 2 of the The Balm Instain Blushes, because it's not sold in stores in the States. I also bought another pair of sandals at CMG (sister brand of Celine but more higher end at least what the associate told me). I ate some Cinnabon, because I never had one, and I like the Cinamelt at Mcdonalds :)

My Budget for this week: $800 for food, shopping, facial, manicure and pedicure, etc.

Next Blog: Philippines Week 3 (Last week of my 2014 Vacation): Boracay & Family Gathering.

Bangkok Day 5: Chatuchak Weekend Market (Last Day at Bangkok!)

Day 4: Chatuchak Market: http://www.chatuchak.org

So from our station (Asok Station) we had to go all they way to Mo Chit (which is the last stop on the top of the picture). Chatuchak Market is right outside the Mo Chit train station. So from Asok station (yellow dot) to Mo Chit Station it was 42 baht each for the train fare.

I probably ate coconut ice cream more than 5 times same with mango and sticky rice!

Tip Number One: Stay together because you will get lost! Chatuchak Market is too big to look for each other, and every aisle looks the same so you would never know where you came from. It's really big that they even have a bus to take you around Chatuchak Market. So if you see something that you really like buy it! because most likely you will never find the way back, and you would be wasting time. If I didn't leave on a Saturday I would definitely go back on Sunday because you will not finish this all in one day. I think it starts from 9 am to 6 pm. We were there from around 10 am til 5 pm and we didn't even reach half way! Chatuchak Market has around 15,000 booths.

They sell everything at a bargaining low price (local price) they basically sell everything! from clothes, silk, jewelries, shoes, purses, accessories, to little knick nacks, and even pets! 

They didn't let us try on clothes. 

During March it's really warm so bring water and wear lightweight clothes!

During my Bangkok trip every time we went shopping we had big reusable bags to put everything there and not carry a bunch of bags.

I had a money belt underneath my top to keep my money safe, my purse just had water, lotion, wipes, hand sanitizer, change, etc.

I did shop til I drop but it was totally worth it!

Everything was around 70 baht-1000 baht. There were some booths that were pretty pricey for this place but I didn't buy from them. 

I bought some brass rings for 1000 baht for both. I will have a different blog post for everything that I bought in Bangkok. So you can see a more detailed picture and more info.

I spent around $300 on the last day.

We went home at around 5:30 pm and we sate dinner at Terminal 21 and rested at our hotel and we left for the airport at around 7:30 pm. 

I bought a long champ bag at the duty free inside the Suvarnabhumi Airport before we left Bangkok, I bought a Longchamp Planetes Large(black on black). I will show it on the blog post with everything that I bought in Bangkok.

My Budget for Bangkok

My airfare: $200

The hotel for 5 days (my share of the room): $165 each for 5 days

(**I shared the room with my aunt and my mom it was $100 a day for our room but we split the bill, and it was $33 each person a day)

Entrance fees/food/transportation/tips, etc. $200 (for 5 days) each

 MY own Shopping: around $850

So my overall expenses was around $1,400 for Bangkok

I did have a plan for 7 months prior my trip and some savings before I went on this trip and I also had a budget for the Philippines which would be in a separate blog post with the things that I did in the Philippines and the stuff that I bought there.

I want to go back to Bangkok I really enjoyed it it's less scary than the Philippines, and clothes and accessories are just as cheap. 

NEXT BLOG: Philippines Week 1 and Week 3 of my 2014 Vacation

Bangkok Day 4: Grand Palace, Emerald Palace, Reclining Buddha, Wat Pho + Shopping at Terminal 21

Bangkok Day 4: Grand Palace and Emerald Palace and Reclining Buddha

This is the dress code for The Grand Palace and Emerald Palace, I basically explained the rules for the dress code in my previous blog post. 

The entrance fee for The Grand Palace/The Emerald Palace is around 450-600 baht altogether.

Reclining Buddha 

There are a lot of recking buddhas but this is the most famous one inside The Grand Palace

(Bottom of the feet)

Wat Pho

No entrance fee for Wat Pho

(Wat Pho at night- photo from our dinner cruise, bangkok day 2)

After the Grand Palace/Emerald Palace we wanted to go to Wat Pho. Wat Pho is right across the Grand Palace/ Emerald Palace, you will need a water taxi to get to the other side it's probably 5 mins.-10 mins max and it should be around 100 baht each for a water taxi to get across ( We know the info because we had a really nice taxi driver that told us what to do to not get scammed and not get ripped off).
 We still got scammed! We took a tuktuk to take us to the dock but the driver took us to the Private Boats which ranges from 400 baht each-800 baht, the private boat will take you on a tour, and not drop you off across. They didn't want to tell us where the water taxi was so that we would take their tour.  We weren't the only ones lost, a lot of the tourists were getting dropped off at the same place we got dropped off. My family and I just started to walk around and ask where the water taxi was, every person we asked would say different things so we were confused. There was this guy just standing on the side of the street and he saw that we were lost so he approached us and told us that Wat Pho was closed "on their lunch break" and that they would resume in an hour or so, so he recommended us to go to a temple and go to a jewelry expo and then he said that the tuktuk will drop us off to the cheap water taxi to get us across to Wat Pho. So he called a tuktuk driver and he told the driver to drop us off at the places that he said and they were talking in Thai so we didn't really understand most of what they were saying, he even bargained the fare for the tuktuk for us.

We were really thinking that he was really nice to tell us directions etc. so we were really happy that someone helped us. But when we got off to the first stop it didn't even look like a tourist spot. It was just a building and there was one small buddha inside. There was a guy inside that was explaining things to us. We were the only people there. There was leftover food near the buddha. I was by the door because I didn't want us to get locked inside because there was really no one around and I had a funny feeling about the place, so I didn't trust anyone. After that we all knew that we were getting scammed, so we wanted to leave and we told our tuktuk driver to bring us back to where we were but he didn't want to. He kept insisting that we go to the jewelry expo "for him" we asked why and he said it will give him free gas, and we then found out that the jewelry expo had an entrance fee of like 500 baht each, he basically said there's free beer etc. and you can buy jewelry (it was a way for them to do some sales talk while you were getting carried away drinking). So we asked him why he didn't tell us about the entrance fee and about him "wanting to go there for free gas" he didn't say anyything. We didn't really know how true that was but we knew that he would get something if we end up going to the jewelry expo. So we told him to just take us back and we'll just pay him 300 baht, he said ok. The guy who helped us and the tuktuk driver were basically working together to get money if we went to the jewelry expo.

So we went back near the Grand Palace and we asked a personnel that worked there on how to get to the cheap water taxi to get us across. She told us to take a tuktuk (again) and drop us off at a nearby market. We then arrived at the right place and we saw a lot of tourists going through the market and the dock for the cheap water taxi was there and it was 10 baht each. We finally then arrived at Wat Pho I was already too tired, and still pissed off at what just happened to us, so I just sat down to rest most of the time that we were at Wat Pho, it was really small anyway so I didn't really have to walk a lot. Regardless of what happened we were still very thankful that nothing bad happened to us, and that we were able to figure it out right away.

So my advice would really be research on where the places really are located, so you won't get fooled by anyone who will try to tell you other directions. I would only ask staff members that works inside the temples, students, guards, hotel staff, etc. Even though we really had a nice taxi driver that day I don't trust them a 100 percent even the tuktuk drivers, especially not random strangers approaching you telling you were to go.

Terminal 21

After Wat Pho we went back to our hotel at around 3:00 pm, we rested for a little bit and we went to Terminal 21, this was the day that I finally get to go around this mall, because the past few days that we would drop by there I wasn't really able to shop.
There is a beauty buffet inside the mall and the brand Human Touch ( which is for couples) matching pillow cases, mugs, etc.)

We were here for around 3-4 hours? I tried to save the remaining bits of my money for Chatuchak Market( a weekend market even cheaper than the things I bargained from Platinum Mall).

I still spent around $100. This mall is more pricey than Platinum Mall and in this mall you can try on clothes but you CANNOT bargain. The accessories at Terminal 21 are better quality than Platinum Mall. The turquoise necklace and is actually brass so it would not tarnish/fade. I bought the turquoise brass necklace and the silver brass earrings for around 750 baht for both. I bought nail polishes and a Gino McCray brush (which is really soft) at Beauty Buffet. The nail polishes are actually pretty good quality and I think it was around 100 baht each.

I would probably do a separate blog post for everything that I bought in Bangkok.

NEXT BLOG: BANGKOK DAY 5: Chatuchak Weekend Market (Last Day at Bangkok!)