Travelife Magazine's Suitcase Tales

A staycation at the Peninsula Tokyo

2012-01-29T18:21:00.001-08:00

We took one of these around Tokyo last weekend

For last weekend in Tokyo, we decided to book a staycation at the Peninsula Tokyo, one of Japan's best hotels and certainly my first choice for a quick R&R. There are two hotels in Tokyo I have proprietary feelings over, as I've been with them from the very beginning and for many milestones: the Park Hyatt Tokyo, which was probably the world's first truly modern hotel, and the Peninsula Tokyo. For both hotels, I attended the grand opening parties and I have also been part of many of their amazing events.

The Peninsula Tokyo's opening party was certainly one for the books. Guests had run of the house and you could go to any of the outlets and sample the best of what they had to offer, so all evening we went back and forth between Peter, Hei Fung Terrace, the ballroom and the different function rooms as there was something different in each one. It was literally one big party with music, food and merrymaking all night.

Peter, the signature restaurant of Pen Tokyo

Hei Fung Terrace

I've also been invited to some very fancy dinners at the Peninsula Tokyo -- the Pen Tokyo certainly knows how to throw a nice party -- both on a grand scale and on an intimate scale. One of the most enjoyable events was a dinner for eight in the private dining room of the Peninsula Tokyo, which I think if Tokyo's most beautiful private dining venue, arranged by general manager Malcolm Thompson. Patrice Martineau, chef of Peter, the Pen's flagship restaurant, had created a very special menu and a magician had come in sometime during dinner to mesmerize the guests.

The prettiest private dining venue in Tokyo

Click here to read about this amazing dinner

Meanwhile, over three years ago, I was also invited to a very formal and fancy dinner at the Pen, where I was seated next to Malcolm in his table. He'd very thoughtfully sat me next to B, who was then living in Tokyo as well but on the way to make the big move to Manila. This was how I met my friend B, with whom I have had so many fun times with in Manila.

The living room of Peninsula Tokyo's Park Suite

It's been a while since I'd stayed at the Peninsula Tokyo so a staycation was long overdue. However, the last time I'd stayed here, I'd had a beautiful Park Suite with a living room that faced the Imperial Palace. This was just before I'd made my own big move from Tokyo to Manila, and it was so fitting an end to a very grand stay in Tokyo.

I stay in beautiful hotels all over the world so not too many hotels faze me, although I do appreciate a great hotel when I stay in one. But I have to say that my stay at the Peninsula Tokyo has been nothing short of amazing -- especially in the little details, which is what count a lot.

Much has already been written about the room amenities. At a time when these were non-existent elsewhere, the Peninsula Tokyo had built-in nail dryers (yes, nail dryers and not hair dryers) and Lavazza coffee machines in the room.

Here's a photo of the built-in nail dryer in the dressing room.

A REALLY INTELLIGENT ROOM

But what I really appreciated on this stay is the way the room is really thoroughly planned out with intelligence. The switches are exactly where you need them, so you don't need to think twice and look all over the room for which switch goes where. I stay in hotels half of my life, so I can tell you I'm always wishing for a switch or a button somewhere and I won't find it. And super high-tech hotels are quite the norm these days so I stay in one every few months; but it always takes me a day or two to figure out which button goes where as there's probably a logic to these but it's nothing outrightly obvious.

But here, at the Peninsula Tokyo, there's a privacy button in the dressing room and the bathroom (and even in the toilet!), for example, so that you can push it if you here housekeeping knocking on the door. And you'll only really appreciate it when you're taking a shower and you hear the bell, and you realize you don't have to rush out in a towel just to tell housekeeping to come back later.

And, yes, the dressing room and the bathroom are actually separate rooms from the bedroom, even in the regular rooms, and the bathroom is across the dressing room. So it makes everything neat and orderly.

Controls everywhere, including in the shower

There's also a temperature reader in the main room and also in the dressing room so you don't have to wonder how cold it is outside while you're choosing your clothes for the day.

There's a hands-free phone on the mirror in the bathroom so you can make calls or take calls while putting on your makeup or washing your face.

And the sound system in the room is just fantastic. I brought some DVDs to watch while vegging in the room and it's made movie-watching a simply fantastic experience.

So my home in Tokyo is about ten minutes away from the Peninsula Tokyo. But I can certainly imagine myself doing a staycation here every so often.

* * *

JOINING HANDS FOR JAPAN

To commemorate the resilience of the Japanese people

one year after the Great Earthquake,

and to celebrate the beauty of Japanese culture.

DON'T MISS THIS AMAZING CULTURAL EVENT

ON SALE EVERYWHERE NOW

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

Extra lessons from Ricky Gervais

2012-01-27T06:21:00.000-08:00

In Tokyo tonight, the discussion over dinner was about the BBC sitcom called Extras, which was created and starred in by Ricky Gervais, the creator of the original hit UK series The Office. I'd seen Seasons 1 & 2 of Extras when it first came out, buying it at a Virgin Megastore on a trip to London, and I'd enjoyed every single minute of it.

But recently, a friend had schlepped over to California for a few days and he'd finally bought me the Downton Abbey series I'd so been wanting to see, as well as the Christmas special and final episode of Extras, as he knew I liked Extras and think it's a brilliant piece of work.

THE SUPERSTARS ARE THE EXTRAS

The concept is pretty good: top stars -- mostly British performers although there are a couple of Americans who do cameos as well -- star in Extras, but they're literally the extras; the icing on the cake. The main performers are Ricky Gervais as the extra who gets a shot at the big time, and his C-team (instead of the ideal A-team) composed of a female best friend who's quite lacking in brain cells, his hapless agent and Barry, a former famous actor who's been down on his luck for years.

As we discussed it tonight, we agreed that the humor in Extras is very British; so if you're familiar with British culture and the British way of life, you'll find yourself in stitches throughout. But even if the UK isn't your thing, you'll find it funny enough all the same.

"I think people will like it, whether they understand English culture or not," my friend said. But when I thought of all the nuances and scenarios that were so brilliant if you know the background, I had to disagree. Barry, the down-and-out actor, for instance, was the real-life star of a very big television show called East Enders many years back -- so in a way, he was playing himself, although in a highly satirized version.

I don't know if East Enders ever made it to our part of the world (although I'm sure it was a hit in Australia and NZ), but I'm almost sure there was not a single Londoner who didn't know of the show at its height -- although of course, lots of people who pride themselves in appreciating the finer things in life never admitted to watching the show.

But, again, if you know how big the show East Enders once was, you'll appreciate better the depths to which the actor Barry fell, that he ended up doing roof repairs in pretty low neighborhoods and finally -- although happily -- selling mobile phones at the Carphone Warehouse, a discount retailer that is all over London.

LESSONS FOR EVERYONE

What's universal about the Extras, I said tonight, is the fact that every single person in the world wants that big break that will change his or her life forever. Everyone is waiting and dreaming about it.

The tragedy here is not that there are too few breaks; but that when the break finally comes, some people are too un-clued in to realize or recognize it, while others throw their opportunities away and thus, the opportunity to change their life as well.

Extras is really a season full of laughs, but beneath the craziness of the stories are some undeniable truths: regardless of where you are in the food chain, life is generally shallow and it's really up to you not to make it so; and everyone has their weaknesses, but it's the way the weaknesses are managed that make some people different from the rest.

"KIRI GA NAI"

And to add: a good friend of mine when we were both living in Tokyo -- I've returned to Manila and she's long returned to the United States -- used to always tell me that her husband never failed to remind her: "Kiri ga nai." This basically means that no matter how hard you strive, there will always be someone better than you in some way; so it's good to keep striving but it's best to know when to stop thinking that the grass is always greener elsewhere. It'll always be greener in some parts and browner in others.

Everytime she mentioned this -- she was a very ambitious lady and as far as I could see, she had everything anyone could ever want: brains, beauty, personality, pedigree, a picture-perfect family (you could literally use them for an ad), lots of friends and the kind of life most people only get to read about -- I always thought to myself how ironic such a statement was coming from someone like her, to whom everything was given in amazing abundance.

Just some random thoughts on a pretty cold night in Tokyo, ensconced in one of my favorite hotels in this city for a weekend staycation. My home is only 10 minutes away but I can so live in this hotel.

* * *

JOINING HANDS FOR JAPAN

To commemorate the resilience of the Japanese people

one year after the Great Earthquake,

and to celebrate the beauty of Japanese culture.

DON'T MISS THIS AMAZING CULTURAL EVENT

ON SALE EVERYWHERE NOW

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

The best siopao in Tokyo

2012-01-26T15:55:00.000-08:00

Perhaps because we just finished Chinese New Year, but yesterday I went to the old and very traditional area of Kagurazaka, home to some of the finest Japanese restaurants in the country, to buy a couple of siopao. Yes, I know it sounds very strange to venture all the way across town to a neighborhood full of ryotei (traditional Japanese restaurants serving kaiseki meals) and then to buy a Chinese snack food.

NOT YOUR TYPICAL SIOPAO PLACE

But Gojuban is no ordinary Chinese siopao place. It's been doing business and selling the very same siopao in the exact same location since Showa 32, which in Western years means 1957. That should give you an idea of just how good it is, for it to have been in business for so long.

That's the siopao kitchen of Gojuban

They have at least 18 different kinds of siopao here as well, so you're spoiled for choice and there's no excuse for getting tired of eating siopao as you can literally have a different one for every meal and even for dessert.

These are just some of the siopao I saw yesterday when I visited. And, yes, I did buy siopao here but I also ate at the very highly-rated ryotei next door whose chef used to work at one of Japan's very few Michelin three-star ryotei. I like these kinds of places more than the actual Michelin-starred ones sometimes, especially in Japan where the language and cultural barriers mean that so many very good restaurants slip the Michelin radar. And less hype means more value for money and easier tables to book. But that's another story.

Those are cases of siopao waiting to be heated and served.

18 DIFFERENT TYPES OF SIOPAO

Back to my siopao yesterday first.

The standard siopao that Gojuban has been selling for over 50 years is the regular nikuman, which is basically a meat siopao. It's a mixture of meat and vegetables.

Nikuman

Then they have an original siopao called the Gomokuman, which is Gojuban's most famous siopao and its bestseller. It's stuffed with all sorts of good things including seafood, vegetables and an egg.

Gomokukan

Another bestselling original siopao is the agoo pork siopao. Hope I'm getting the spelling in English right as I'm translating from Japanese here. But this siopao is made with Okinawa's famous Agoo pork and it's also got peanuts inside. The store is very proud of this siopao.

SIOPAO MADE WITH BLACK PORK

My own favorite is the kurobuta siopao which is made with a mixture of black pork from Kagoshima and vegetables, and everything is mixed with black sesame for a very refined taste.

Kurobuta man

They also have another kind of siopao made with black pork from Kagoshima, but this time they use black pork alone without any combination of vegetables and black sesame. This one is highly recommended as well. It reminds me of the xiao long bao with its rich soupy sauce trapped inside, oozing out of the siopao when you bite it.

SWEET SIOPAO

Anman

Another popular siopao, although not personally my favorite, is the anman siopao which is basically a sweet siopao which uses red bean paste with sesame oil to bring out the rich sweetness.

The serious business of bringing maiko to Japan

for TRAVELIFE Japan Night at the Dusit Thani of Feb 16.

Japan Airlines (JAL) is flying the maiko over,

and two seats have been reserved separately for their maiko headpieces alone.

A SCALLOP SIOPAO

Kaibashira nikuman

Then there's a siopao called kaibashira nikuman, full of tender scallops that reminds you of the sea when you take a bite out of it.

SHRIMPS & CHILI GO TOGETHER

Ebi chili man

And the ebi chili siopao which is very representative of Chinese food, and it's another original of Gojuban. Basically shrimps in chili sauce are used as siopao filling.

Pirikara nikuman

There's also an addictive pirikara nikuman, which is flavored with lots of spices. And, if you're still into spices after this, there's always the Korean-inspired kimchi nikuman, which of course is full of kimchi.

Kimchi nikuman

NOTHING BUT VEGETABLES

Yasai man

And the yasai nikuman, which is the healthy option, made only with vegetables; and the matsutake nikuman, which uses Japan's famous matsutake mushrooms mixed with pork and shredded bamboo shoots.

Matsutake nikuman

They also have the mozzarella man, which is a siopao filled with mozzarella cheese and pizza sauce; and the custard man, which uses a Chinese-style cream custard fillling for an addictive dessert.

Custard man

And what did I buy, you might be asking. I bought the regular nikuman, as well as the black pork nikuman. And for lunch today, I've just had the black pork nikuman and it was absolutely delicious.

KAGURAZAKA GOJUBAN HONTEN

Kagurazaka 3-2, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo

Tel (03) 3260-0066

* * *

JOINING HANDS FOR JAPAN

To commemorate the resilience of the Japanese people

one year after the Great Earthquake,

and to celebrate the beauty of Japanese culture.

DON'T MISS THIS AMAZING CULTURAL EVENT

ON SALE EVERYWHERE NOW

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

Pepe Smith on the Beatles in Manila: Part 2

2012-01-25T06:32:00.001-08:00

Part 2

Aside from the fact that Pepe’s life is the stuff of movies, there are the pivotal events in music history in which he was directly involved. The Beatles’ disastrous concert in Manila on July 4, 1966, for instance. The date is significant not just because of the Beatles concert but because of what did not happen.

THE STORY ACCORDING TO THE BEATLES

According to an interview, The Fab Four gave in London a few days after their Manila concert, as documented in the Ultimate Beatles Experience website, then-First Lady Imelda Marcos invited the lads for a lunch at Malacanan with the First Family and about 300 children of the country’s prominent politicians and military officials. The group failed to show up.

The snub made banner headlines in all the country’s leading newspapers and news programs. Pepe, then a member of Eddie Reyes and D’Downbeats, one of the front acts of that fateful concert, recalls the incident in amazing technicolor detail.

“They didn’t snub her at all!” he insists. “There was a miscommunication somewhere. I don’t think the band even knew about the invitation—or there might not have been any invitation.” Versions of the story vary, but the Beatles themselves said that their manager Brian Epstein failed to tell them about the lunch, which Pepe says is the most likely explanation.

“I remember waking up at around 11:30 AM, the day after the concert, and watching the news. They showed the presidential table all set up with no Beatles in sight,” he recalled. Because of the ensuing embarrassment, especially to the First Family, the Beatles reportedly had to beat a hasty retreat from Manila.

The serious business of bringing geisha to Manila from Japan.

Two seats have been reserved on JAL, just for their intricate headpieces,

which cannot be packed in luggage and checked in.

MEMORIES OF THAT DAY

Pepe, who, together with some band members, escorted the Beatles to the airport, said things were pretty tense before John, Paul, George, and Ringo boarded the plane. “One of the members of the Presidential Security Battalion pointed a .44 at one of the guys—I think it was George—and, if I remember right, even confiscated an attaché case of money from them,” he says. “It was a bad moment. They were even made to walk to their plane instead of being provided with a shuttle.”

The Beatles concert was also significant for Pepe because that was the first time he got to perform Stones covers in such a big venue. D’Downbeats opened with “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” to impress the audience and, most importantly, to impress The Fab Four. Eventually, Pepe would become known for his Jaggeresque strut and sneers onstage.

MORE BEATLES STORIES

Precious are his little stories about the Beatles.

“Before the concert, George and Paul took a peek at the audience," he told us. "At the time, musicians didn’t check what the house was like, it just wasn’t done, but I guess they were curious. And each time they did, the audience went wild.” In true rock-star form, the girls couldn’t be far away.

PEPE IN TOKYO

The arrival of the 1970s saw Pepe in Tokyo. It was a period of experiments -- musical and otherwise. Pepe loved Japan and some of his tastes in food (“I love uni sushi!”) and music were formed there.

“The energy of Tokyo was fantastic," he recalled. "There were lots of people and I remember the bars. Some were really small and one on top of each other in a building, so musicians, after finishing their set, would either go up or down to listen to another band play.” This cheek- by-jowl existence resulted in some surprising encounters.

“We were playing in Shinjuku, and one night we went to watch this band. One of its members was this unassuming whitey who would just play the most kickass guitar. Wally [Gonzalez, guitarist for Juan dela Cruz] later told me that that was Andy Summers of The Police. Andy Summers, man!”

Even after all this time, his incredulity is unfeigned. The world was certainly different then.

FIVE DAYS TO GET TO TOKYO

“The first time I went to Japan, I took a ship, the American President Cleveland. It took us five days to get to Tokyo,” he recalls. “I was in Japan because Wally had met a promoter who invited him to play there.” At one point, Filipino musicians -- even then recognized as the best in the region -- were playing gigs in Tokyo’s best-known bars.

The very proper Japanese audience probably didn’t know what hit them when Pepe Smith started playing. By then, Pepe was already a seasoned musician, even a famous one for his stint as the manic drummer for D’Downbeats (think Animal in The Muppet Show).

He recalls one gig in particular. “We were in B&B in Shinjuku and I was watching D’Swooners,” he says, lighting up another cigarette, “...and the manager asked me if I wanted to play. So I did.” Pepe would eventually team up with Wally and Mike Hanopol to form Zero History, playing covers by The Doors, The Grateful Dead, and Jimi Hendrix for six months.

After their contract expired, Pepe and Mike joined up with Speed, Glue, and Shinki, a bluesy, rough and ready psych/acid rock & roll outfit that would presage the sound of Juan dela Cruz by several years. The band put out two albums and also highlighted Pepe’s growth as a musician—and chronicled a habit for which he’d be known for years.

“I was Speed, in the band’s name,” he says somewhat sheepishly. By this time, Pepe had developed a taste for nice clothes and money earned from gigs would go towards this, among other things.

“I met Gorro, a designer who liked to work in leather,” he recounts. “He’d make these really nice leather outfits that I’d wear. Really prime stuff.” When asked what happened to the clothes, which in today’s vintage-obsessed world would probably fetch a fortune, he replies, “Man, I don’t know...”

A TRIP TO LONDON

What his clotheshorse tendencies did get him, though, was a trip to London. “I accompanied my girlfriend at the time to London," he said. "She was going there to try to sell Gorro’s creations and model as well.” In London, proving that rock & roll is its own nationality, he hung out with legends.

“Tetsu, a musician I knew in Tokyo, played for Free to fill in for Andy Fraser. And we even crashed at Paul Rodgers’ house who at that time was married to a Japanese model.” Even more significant for any musician, Pepe got to jam at The Speakeasy Club, London’s infamous rock venue, where he saw Ten Years After and Jethro Tull.

MUSIC AND CHANGE

“It was at The Speak that I smelled the beginnings of the punk movement,” says Pepe of the time.

Change was definitely in the air. As the 60s merged into the 70s, rock & roll became more raucous with long-haired bands, like Free, Ten Years After, Led Zeppelin, a rawer Rolling Stones, and other acts. In the Philippines, the arrival of the 1970s brought the First Quarter Storm, a series of mass protests by students that eventually led to President Marcos declaring martial law in 1972.

Pepe was based in the Philippines by then and on his way to Japan for another gig when martial law was imposed, thus paving the way for him to join Juan dela Cruz instead. “I wrote that in a toilet, 20 minutes before going onstage. I was on acid at the time,” says Pepe about “Ang Himig Natin,” the de facto anthem of Filipino rock. It was December 5, 1972 and the history of Philippine rock & roll was about to change forever.

This appeared in a previous issue of TRAVELIFE Magazine.

* * *

JOINING HANDS FOR JAPAN

To commemorate the resilience of the Japanese people

one year after the Great Earthquake,

and to celebrate the beauty of Japanese culture.

DON'T MISS THIS AMAZING CULTURAL EVENT

ON SALE EVERYWHERE NOW

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

The many trips of Pepe Smith, Part 1

2012-01-24T17:44:00.000-08:00

Pepe Smith came to visit one day, bringing with him a dozen tales of travel and adventure.

Let’s face it: You don’t get to be Joey “Pepe” Smith, Rock God, without developing some sort of wild-child reputation—earned or not. He swaggered in for the interview an hour late, looking so much like a battle-worn tomcat who had figured in one too many back-alley skirmishes. Tall and gangly, wearing a leather jacket, skinny jeans, his hair slicked back in his trademark semi-pompadour carrying a guitar case, Pepe Smith looked every inch the rock legend that he is.

His craggy face was more Keith than Mick; it’s not one that can launch a thousand ships, to be sure, never mind a few canoes, but it does have that quality more common in teenage boys bent on having a wild night out on the town than on 60-year-old men.

But that’s Pepe—he has the dissipated look aspiring rockers hope to hone to perfection, and yet the man hasn’t quite let go of that devil-may-care attitude that only the youth seem to possess.

YOU CAN'T JUST PLAY IT

Perhaps that’s his secret. “You can’t just play it, you have to live it,” he was once quoted, paraphrasing Charlie Parker. And it may well be a personal philosophy, whether or not he realizes it. The guy is always totally in the moment—whether hanging with the boys at a corner store, drinking beer at a high-rise penthouse in the middle of Makati, or gamely posing for phone shots with children’s minders, as I witnessed a few minutes into our shoot, when the neighborhood nannies realized there was a bona fide star in their midst.

His is a popularity that cuts across classes—the masses love him because he’s one of them, a local boy who made good. Pepe has the common touch—he knows how to talk to people. Just minutes into the interview, he was chatting away with everyone, as if we’ve been friends for years.

THE GIFT OF GAB, AS WELL

Pepe has a gift for storytelling—and what stories!

“This is what happened,” he’d say more than once during that long evening, arms flailing in all directions, and he’s off into the past with another fascinating anecdote about life on the road—before he became Pepe Smith, father of Pinoy Rock.

“For many people Joey [Pepe] Smith wasn’t the inventor of Pinoy rock. Joey was Pinoy rock,” writes Eric Caruncho in his book Punks, Poets, Poseurs: Reportage on Pinoy Rock & Roll. It’s a heavy burden, becoming a myth in one’s own lifetime, something Pepe is all too aware of. In more than one interview, he has decried the mantle young musicians have placed on him, a status he probably didn’t aspire to.

“It’s not my place,” he has been heard to say at one point, alluding to the god-hood he’s been bestowed. “They shouldn’t expect me to carry the flag.”

But can you blame them? In an industry that celebrates longevity as much as talent, Pepe has more than earned his place in the pantheon. People say the times shape the man. And Pepe Smith is certainly a product of his time.

POST-WAR BABY

Born in 1947 to a Filipino mother and an American serviceman father, Joseph William Smith grew up in the American bases in the Philippines at the cusp of an era that was leaving behind the conservative 50s and embracing the hippie mantra of free love, and the flowering of liberal ideas that would soon overtake the world.

Growing up in the turbulent 60s, the young Joey (“I wouldn’t use the name Pepe until I was in Juan dela Cruz”) was certainly exposed early on to the music and the mores that would shape him and his music. By 18, he was already playing in a band, feet set toward a road he would cleave to for the rest of his life.

LIVING IT UP IN VIETNAM

Meanwhile, let’s picture a dive—in Saigon of all places.

So—“This is what happened...” Cue the soundtrack. There’s a bar full of US servicemen drinking, a pall of thick cigarette smoke in the air. Some of them are nursing their drinks in silence, no doubt thinking of loved ones at home. Some are at tables, their conversations punctuated by “F--k yous” and “Holy sh-ts,” as if swear words will keep death at bay. Overall the air is thick with desperate merriment.

It is 1965 and the bar, a makeshift affair that doubles as the airmen’s open mess in daytime, is full of young men, most of whom won’t likely be going back home alive. The booze, smoke, and music are a narcotic that make the men forget for a night the business of war and death.

On the small stage is a lanky young man, not yet out of his teens, his swagger reminiscent of a young Mick Jagger, whose onstage antics would soon become known to thousands of young Filipino rockers, belting out covers by The Doors, The Rolling Stones, and The Animals, and trading insult for insult with the soldiers. The young man is Joey Smith and he is 18 years old.

“Man, I get goosebumps remembering that time,” he says. “This production company needed some singers to entertain the soldiers in Vietnam, ” he continues.

“It was something else. We got into Tanson Nhut Airport, and I remember thinking then that Vietnam looked just like the Philippines. You know, open fields and all.” Pepe and his band were tasked to perform at a makeshift bar. And what a bar it turned out to be.

“It was noisy, and everyone was drunk and would insult each other, including the band—and we’d insult them right back,” he says, without missing a beat. “We’d dedicate most of our songs to the ‘short-ribs’—those who only had short-time ribbons—and we’d get heckled by those who’d already done several tours,” he says, laughing.

Even then, Pepe was already living the life. “We were put up in the villa of the French ambassador, and from the villa, I could see the countryside. I felt like I was in the Philippines!”

THE VIETNAM WAR

Apparently, even with a war on, they weren’t in any real danger because they weren’t in the frontlines. “We could hear the bombs sometimes in the distance, though.” Although one time, “we took a chopper—you know, those big ones you see in movies about the Vietnam War—to Dha Nang,” he begins, warming up to the story.

“We were playing for the servicemen when there was this really loud explosion. We all ducked— suddenly everyone was on alert. That was the only time I felt like we were in the middle of a war. One of the GIs was taking a shower when the explosion happened, and he came out all covered in soap, shouting, ‘Let’s get out of here!’”

It could almost be a scene in a movie.

Did it never occur to him that it would be dangerous? Why go to a war zone?

“Well...” he goes, seemingly at a loss for an answer.

“It was an adventure,” he finally says with a shrug.

To be continued.

This appeared in a previous issue of TRAVELIFE Magazine.

* * *

JOINING HANDS FOR JAPAN

To commemorate the resilience of the Japanese people

one year after the Great Earthquake,

and to celebrate the beauty of Japanese culture.

DON'T MISS THIS AMAZING CULTURAL EVENT

ON SALE EVERYWHERE NOW

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

Japan in the winter

2012-01-24T05:53:00.000-08:00

It's nice to be back in Tokyo again for a few days, even if cold weather and I have never really been good friends. I dislike winter, even if Tokyo winters are relatively mild and full of fine days -- unlike winters n Europe which are accompanied by grey skies and the kind of damp chill that goes straight to your bones.

In fact, Europeans who visit Tokyo during the winter just can't get over the great weather over here vis-a-vis where they've come from, and it's not unusual to see them walking around in the dead of winter here with only a light sweater and scarf because this isn't really cold, as far as they're concerned.

But in my books, this is certainly chilly. And exactly right now we're approaching what the Japanese call "daikan" or the coldest time of the year, which is at the beginning of February.

WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT WINTER

Still, there are some great things about coming to Japan in the winter, aside from the fact that the percentage of encountering snow is pretty high. Last night, for example, what started out as a drizzle quickly turned into a pretty massive snow storm for a few hours; and overnight the city was blanketed in white, although it quickly disappeared today as temperatures rose.

The food in the winter is also delicious, and this is just about one of the top reasons why foodies should consider Japan in January or February. Foremost on every foodie's list are the seasonal specialties like fugu (blowfish) and winter crab, as well as lots of seafood that only make their appearance at around this time.

But the Japanese really love to eat fugu in a stew over winter, and for many, it's a New Year's tradition and something to chase away the winter blues. If you've been reading this blog, you'll know that eating fugu is considered a rather dangerous and exciting thing to do as it can be a highly poisonous fish if not cleaned and cut properly, and several people do die eating fugu every year.

But in reality, most people who die by eating fugu usually do so because they've cleaned and cut it themselves, or else a friend or a relative has. It's illegal to serve fugu at an establishment to clients if you don't have a proper fugu license, so fugu is pretty expensive at legit places and some people do end up eating fugu the cheaper, private way and paying a much higher price in the end.

THE BEST VIEWS OF MOUNT FUJI

Winter is also the best time to see Mount Fuji in all its glory because there are more clear days in the cold. Lots of people visit Japan and take a tour of Mount Fuji in the spring or summer, but they're disappointed with Mount Fuji doing a disappearing act because the likelihood of a hazy day is very high in spring or summer.

In fact, I have a couple of friends who've come to stay over at my home in Mount Fuji no less than four times, and they haven't been rewarded with a view of Japan's most picturesque mountain yet.

In the winter, you're likely to get to see Mount Fuji but you'll have to put up with the pain of getting the snow chains on -- where my house is, those new all-weather tires just don't work as snow can get thigh-high -- and with -18 degree temperatures and clearing the snow out of the driveway; but you're rewarded with a picture-perfect winter wonderland as far as the eye can see and a most beautiful, unencumbered view of Mount Fuji. And fortunately, the caretaker down the road has a snow plow that makes clearing the snow a breeze.

So, yes, Japan is great even in the winter. Just another cold evening in a never-ending, and never-endingly eventful Travelife.

* * *

JOINING HANDS FOR JAPAN

To commemorate the resilience of the Japanese people

one year after the Great Earthquake,

and to celebrate the beauty of Japanese culture.

DON'T MISS THIS AMAZING CULTURAL EVENT

ON SALE EVERYWHERE NOW

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

Crazy snow and spicy food in Tokyo

2012-01-23T00:43:00.001-08:00

Hello from the land of sushi, where of course we're celebrating Chinese New Year with a Chinese dinner even if I'd much rather have wagyu. We arrived in Tokyo last night to an airport that was unusually full for 8 PM. Narita Airport is far but it's one of the busiest and yet most efficient airports in the world. My usual time from getting out of the plane and into the car is 10 minutes, especially if JAL parks in the terminal nearer immigrations, where you don't need to use the connecting train.

THE LONG LINE IN

But last night was chaos. The foreigner line at immigration snaked through the hall and most people must've waited over an hour for their turn. And even in the foreign residents' line, which is usually a two-minute wait at most, there was a line all the way to the health check counter.

What's going on? I thought. And it didn't help that some people in the foreign residents' line -- who should really know what to do at the immigration counter by now -- hadn't filled in their immigration forms. So when they got to the counters, that's the only time they filled in their forms, taking a good extra five to ten minutes for this.

This put lots of people in a bad mood, and we were all grumbling about how people like this should step aside to fill up their forms instead of hogging the counters unnecessarily. Finally, one of the officers opened up the Japanese lines to the foreign residents and so I got my turn at the immigration counter a few minutes quicker.

By the time I got to the counter, I was just happy to get out of that line and I was already thinking of something else. But it was the immigration officer who struck up a conversation.

"It's such a busy night here tonight," he began. That reminded me again that I'd had to wait about 30 minutes instead of the usual 3 minutes for immigrations. So while I was doing the fingerprints and all that stuff needed to get into Japan, I asked him: "What's going on? It's never usually like this."

MOVEMENT FOR CHINESE NEW YEAR

He replied: "Even I'm surprised. I think it's Chinese New Year. Lots of Chinese on holiday moving around, either into Japan or out of Japan." He was probably right. At least 1 billion people are celebrating Chinese New Year this weekend.

And speaking of the Chinese, it seems almost inevitable that they're going to be taking over the world just by sheer numbers, and then by their quite admirable aggressiveness and ambition. Landing in Japan last night just reminded me of this fact, and it made me also realize just how much the Chinese have made themselves a part of Japan, their relatively small, prosperous and attractive neighbor.

For one thing, lots of Chinese are ski-mad and so many wealthy Chinese have bought properties in Hokkaido in Northern Japan, which is supposed to be the best skiing in this part of the world. Not a few Chinese, too, now have second or third homes in Tokyo and other major Japanese cities. This was never the case before, but now it's become the norm with so many of them flush with cash and quite enamored with Japan, which is safer and more orderly than most other places in Asia.

YOUNG & FLUSH WITH CASH

My next-door neighbor in Tokyo, for instance, is a relatively young Chinese guy who made his fortune early on by working hard in Hong Kong's financial industry and then investing in Hong Kong real estate. Then he retired and now he spends his days managing his investments and traveling the world, living a pretty cushy life and dividing his time between Hong Kong, Tokyo and New York. He lives next to me but he has a string of apartments all over Tokyo and one of them is just used as a halfway house.

More and more of these kinds of successful Chinese are making homes in Tokyo or having vacation homes in prime Japanese holiday spots like Mount Fuji (which is supposed to have very good feng shui, so it's popular with Chinese) or Hokkaido.

SPICES FOR DINNER

Chinese New Year is pretty subdued here in Tokyo compared to elsewhere in Asia, obviously, but we're going out for a Sze Chuan dinner as I'm in the mood for something very spicy, especially as it's suddenly started to snow like crazy. And Chen, this place we're going to, which is the Tokyo branch of a famous Sze Chuan restaurant in China, is the spiciest place I've ever been to in Tokyo, and it's very well known especially for its spicy mabo tofu dish and equally spicy dan dan men.

There's lots of Chinese new year celebrations going on all over Asia tonight, but if you're in Macau, don't forget to head over the seaside near Macau Tower and the Kun Iam Ecumenical Tower as there's a fireworks celebration at 9 PM. And tomorrow, the 12 Zodiac characters are appearing all over Macau from at 10 AM - 1020 AM at the Macau Ferry Terminal, 1120 AM - 1150 AM at Senado Square, 315 PM - 340 PM at Isao Hon Park and from 355 PM - 420 PM at Macau Fisherman's Wharf.

Happy Chinese New Year wherever in the world you happen to be. Love, peace, prosperity -- and a year of more amazing travels to all.

* * *

JOINING HANDS FOR JAPAN

To commemorate the resilience of the Japanese people

one year after the Great Earthquake,

and to celebrate the beauty of Japanese culture.

DON'T MISS THIS AMAZING CULTURAL EVENT

ON SALE EVERYWHERE NOW

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

Life, love and pain

2012-01-21T07:02:00.000-08:00

Tonight in our neck of the woods, my neighbors and I had a community barbecue where everyone brought something to share and we all sat around a very long table just catching up on what had been happening since Christmas.

If you've been reading this blog, you'll know that we organized a series of Christmas cocktails/ open houses during the holiday season and this project really brought us all closer together. Then we sort of disbanded after the last Christmas cocktail party, which was at my house on December 18, and everyone went their separate ways.

I happily stayed in Manila to reorganize my life but over half of my neighbors flew off all over the world for Christmas in foreign climes, in places as disparate as Dubai, Connecticut, Aspen, San Francisco and Vancouver, among others.

POST-HOLIDAY REUNION

So today was a reunion of sorts and we exchanged stories about happy events and mishaps over the holidays. But towards the end of the evening, just as I was about to go home, I was persuaded to stay for a few minutes longer and sit beside two ladies. We began a very interesting conversation about life, love and pain so my extra five minutes ended up more like an extra hour.

One of the ladies had just returned from Amanpulo this morning, and here in this idyllic paradise she'd thought about her life and figured out a couple of things.

"Pain makes us stronger," she said. "It's what makes us appreciate better the good things in our life."

THE NECESSITY OF PAIN

I couldn't have agreed more. I hate emotional pain as much as the next person, but I also think it's a necessary evil that gives you more depth as a person and a greater capacity to empathize with other people. For me, pain is the stimulus that pushes you to examine your life and reflect on things you ordinarily would not have the time, patience or inclination to think about. After all, it's so much easier to coast along happily most of the time.

Interestingly, I had this same sort of conversation with my friend last night. We'd been talking in depth about life and love as well, and I'd said to him pretty matter-of-factly: "Everyone is going to break a few hearts and everyone is going to get their heart broken a couple of times."

THE JOYS OF GOING SOLO

Another topic that had been discussed last night and tonight as well was the idea of traveling solo. The lady who'd just come from Amanpulo always travels by herself and she loves it. I do, too, because I'd rather go by myself than go with people I have little in common with, just for the sake of having someone to be with. And I'd rather go ahead and go alone than wait forever for companions to join me for a place I'd really like to visit.

I also think traveling solo has many benefits. You have more reflection time, you learn more about yourself, and you're able to push yourself more to the limit if you don't have other people to rely on or to pull you back.

The third lady tonight who was listening intently to the two of us discuss the merits of traveling alone finally spoke up: "I think I wouldn't mind traveling alone. But I just can't imagine eating in a restaurant alone."

We smiled at her. Of course it's so nice to eat a great dinner with someone you like or someone you love. But if that isn't possible, that wasn't stopping either of us from having a very good meal. And I'd rather eat alone than have unsatisfactory company. The lady who'd just been to Aman said: "You can taste the food better. You can observe more things. Observe your surroundings."

But the third lady protested: "But if I'm eating something really good, I want to tell someone about it."

That's when I smiled at her and said: "Aaah. That's what your Blackberry's for." And that was my cue to call it a night. I stood up and excused myself, saying: "I'd love to keep talking about life all night, but I've got to fix my own life bright and early tomorrow."

Yes, I've got a plane to catch and it's the start of my never-ending, and never-endingly eventful Travelife for 2012. Good night from all of us at Travelife Magazine and Happy Chinese New Year.

* * *

JOINING HANDS FOR JAPAN
To commemorate the resilience of the Japanese people
one year after the Great Earthquake,
and to celebrate the beauty of Japanese culture.

DON'T MISS THIS AMAZING CULTURAL EVENT

ON SALE EVERYWHERE NOW

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

A Salon de Ning Night

2012-01-20T08:17:00.000-08:00

Everyone needs at least one really fun Salon de Ning night once in a while. And mine was so long overdue. Finally it happened tonight.

The beautifully-printed invitation for Salon de Ning’s anniversary party with a Bollywood theme came sometime back and of course I’d made up my mind to go from the very start. The Peninsula throws great parties and I like everyone at the hotel, and most especially Pen GM Sonja Vodusek; so I definitely try to attend every Pen event as long as I'm in town.

THE CHAMPAGNE BABYSITTER

But if you've been reading this blog, you'll know that I've also been trying to live a quieter life compared to last year, paring down the socials to allow me to focus more on the really important work at hand. Last year was just crazy in terms of schedules.

And this year, Travelife Magazine is exactly at that point where we're expanding to a fourth media dimension (television) and it's taking up all my extra concentration and energy, so I've had to slightly pare down my schedule.

But tonight I made allowances for the Salon de Ning party and I even found an Indian-print dress to wear as it was a Bollywood-theme party. And I asked a friend to come along with me even if I knew it would be fine to go alone since I would know at least half the room anyway.

What a fun night it was. Lots of people were in Indian dress and almost all the ladies were wearing a bindi on their forehead. They had Indian dancers in the middle of the evening; and in one corner of the room, two artists were painting flowers and images with henna on anyone who wanted to have something done.

"Should we get something done?" We said to ourselves. I was so tempted to have at least a small flower painted on my hand. But then one of the waitresses told us it would last for a week and I was just wondering how I would go through a week of meetings with flowers painted on my wrist.

CHAMPAGNE LIKE WATER

So we concentrated on the champagne instead, and happily so. Moet was literally flowing like water and the waitresses kept bringing glasses to our table, so my friend and I were downing it like shots. I don't usually drink a lot but tonight, there he was daring me each time to empty my glass so we could have another.

"You've been babysitting that too long," he would say, referring to a champagne glass half-full that had gone just slightly warm. That meant I'd been nursing it for about ten minutes instead of five. And so of course we would both do a merry bottoms-up.

THE JOYS OF TOASTING

We talked about all sorts of things, too, and for about half of those things, we found reasons to toast to. When I wasn't drinking champagne, I was laughing my head off at the things we were toasting to. For example, we toasted to the person who introduced us, to Colegio de San Agustin, to confidence (and I can't even remember why we toasted to this now), and to living life like we won't be here tomorrow -- among about a thousand things. I didn't exactly count but I wouldn't be surprised if we'd drunk at least a dozen glasses of champagne each by the end of the night.

80s MUSIC BY MULATTO

At about 10 PM, the band Mulatto came on and they played really nice songs from the 80s. Some of the songs I knew, and some I didn't. We were sitting for the first part, just listening to the band but mostly talking and toasting. But at one point, we were sufficiently inebriated so that my friend suddenly said: "Whatever song is coming on next, we're going to dance." I thought he was kidding, but yes, we did end up on the dance floor and it was really fun.

And while we were dancing, he said to me: "Do you know I don't even dance?" He could've fooled me because he certainly was working that dance floor as if he owned it.

It had been a pretty busy and serious week, and a Salon de Ning night with way too much champagne was exactly what I needed to take the edge off. Even just a little bit, and even for just a little while. Just another evening in a never-ending, and never-endingly eventful Travelife.

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

La Girolle for the 2nd time

2012-01-19T01:10:00.001-08:00

Tonight I had six invitation to events all over town. Everything looked interesting and fun and ordinarily I would've gone to at least four events; but since the new year began, I've been working doubly hard but living a quieter life than usual. So I narrowed down the invites to two parties and then asked my team to go and represent Travelife in the other events.

But when 7 pm came and I was expected at Party # 1, what do you know? I was still at the office and inertia overcame me, so I decided to skip it and head home for a few minutes before Party # 2. Then I guess you know the rest of this story, and how it's so hard to leave home once you're back. I ended up not going to Party #2 either. How nice it was to end up staying home, although I'm sure everyone who went to those 6 events all over town had lots of fun.

There's also a big all-night Bollywood-theme party tomorrow which I'm pretty psyched to go to, so I thought I'd conserve my energy for the party tomorrow night and for my never-ending Travelife instead.

LUNCH AT LA GIROLLE

But today I had a really fun lunch that took me out of the office for longer than usual. A friend had invited to lunch today and he asked me where I wanted to go; then he basically left the decision to me. I quickly made reservations at Masseto and I was really psyched to eat at there again for the fourth time in recent memory.

And as I was waiting for him to pick me up at the office, I was already thinking that I would order Chef Tippi Tambunting's handmade tagliolini with foie gras. That was on the menu when I was there for dinner two nights ago, you see, and I'd so wanted to order it, but Tippi had persuaded me to try the sweetbreads with foie gras instead. It was good but I was still keen to try the tagliolini.

FOIE GRAS PLANS CANCELED

But when my friend arrived and I got into the car, he said: "I'm having a health check tomorrow so I'd rather not eat foie gras. How about somewhere at Fort?"

So I had my secretary cancel Masseto and instead we took our chances without reservations at La Girolle. "It's new and sometimes it's very good and sometimes it's just okay," I explained, but since he had never been, we decided to go there instead. I'd just been mildly satisfied on my last visit but I decided to give the place another chance.

Save for one table, La Girolle was nicely empty when we got there, although it was past 1 PM so most lunchtime diners must have already left. The menu is quite streamlined at lunch, but the chef, Ian, has an explanation for this: he prepares everything based on what's available in the market so his offerings are very limited. He does all the marketing himself, and usually he goes to Farmer's Market unless he's somewhere in the South.

PASS ME THE SALT

Spaghetti with clams

I'd been psyched for pasta since the morning so for my first course I got the spaghetti with clams. It came nicely arranged with fresh herbs and lots of clams, so it made a very good first impression. Then I tasted it. The sauce was good but nothing I would wax rhapsodic about. It lacked oomph. I remembered how someone next to me had asked for a bowl -- yes a whole bowl -- of salt the last time I'd eaten at La Girolle, and so I asked for some salt to spice up my pasta as well.

My friend ordered the fish, and it was just ok

For my main course, I ordered the short ribs done sous-vide style. And if you've been reading this blog, you'll know that I love everything done sous-vide, and especially short ribs. So far, the best sous-vide style short ribs I've had in Manila is in Opus; I've never been disappointed with their short ribs and I really like this dish so much that whenever I eat at Opus, I never look at any other main course.

MY FAVORITE DISH

This was incredibly tender

The mashed potatoes were good

So of course I was eager to try La Girolle's version. The meat was excellent and very tender, and it was done to perfection. Chef Ian is quite proud of his techniques and ways of doing things, and I must say that he did this very well. My only critique was that the meat was perfect but not seasoned enough to be tasty. Maybe it's a matter of taste, but so far I've found that I've needed the salt a lot when I eat at La Girolle -- and I usually never ever ask for salt at restaurants.

HAPPINESS IS A HARD BANANA CAKE

I could've eaten a couple more pieces of the banana cake

The best things about lunch today were the delicious bread at the start, the very tender short ribs and the banana dessert done three ways. Overall, the dessert was a little too small to make me truly happy but I really liked the banana cake which was very different from banana cake anywhere else. It was actually hard -- almost like a very thin piece of toast that you could pick up and eat like a cracker -- and very tasty. I loved that one.

"It's very hard work to keep coming up with a new menu," Chef Ian told me, because unlike other restaurants which have a standard menu and a few weekly specials, La Girolle's lunch menu changes every week and his dinner menu changes just a little less regularly. That's really hard work because it means you need to think of so many new dishes every few days; and so the risk of not getting things right a lot are of course very high. "We work ten hours a day here," he added.

For a small restaurant, he's got 14 staff. "This isn't the kind of food you can make with just three people," Chef Ian explained. The verdict? I think he works really hard and La Girolle has good enough food and a nice atmosphere. These were almost the same impressions I had on my last visit. But if I had to give him some unsolicited advice, I would say: Change the specials if you wish, but make sure you have some perfectly done staples on your menu because consistency is almost as important as novelty.

La Girolle

2F Blue Sapphire Bldg

30th Street corner 2nd Avenue

Fort Bonifacio

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

Dinner at Casa Marcos

2012-01-18T06:10:00.000-08:00

Paella at Casa Marcos

Tonight the Travelife team celebrated the return of our managing editor Carlo from Manado, Indonesia, where he attended the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 2012, which is just about the most important tourism meeting in this region; and it was also a farewell for our director for business development, Gel, who is flying to Italy next weekend for ten days in Rome and Tuscany on official business for Travelife.

To celebrate, we all ate at Casa Marcos at the Fort, which is a new-ish Spanish tapas place right at that corner when you make a sharp right to turn into Burgos Circle from the main Fort area. We'd heard the food was good and we all wanted something that we could eat in a very relaxed way with wine and cocktails. Carlo, especially, had just spent a week in Indonesia and -- although he said the food was great -- I think he was hankering for Western food.

OUT OF MANADO

He'd just arrived this morning, you see, after an all nighter that involved flying out of Manado yesterday and one stop before Jakarta, and then waiting for hours at Jakarta airport for the early morning flight to Manila. Obviously he'd had very little sleep but he'd gone straight to work, because our policy at Travelife is that if you want to work at Travelife and travel a lot (and, yes, the trips are coming out of our ears at the moment...), you'll have to be able to travel and work without any interruption.

"You should be able to work from abroad as if you're still in the office, and go seamlessly from travel to work and then travel again," as I always like to say. No jet lag, no down time. We're Travelife after all. Not some indie publication trying to just copy everything we do.

This grilled pampano with Marcos sauce was my favorite

Very garlicky clams

TRIPS COMING OUT OF OUR EARS

So while eating and drinking, of course we were talking and planning travel. So Carlo had just returned and he was fascinating us with food stories from Manado, Gel was closing ads while thinking about enjoying pasta in Tuscany, and I was booking a hotel in Yangon via email, coordinating a trip to Taiwan for my TV team via text, and looking at my phone calendar for still-open dates for trips to the Middle East and Eastern Europe that were just waiting for my go signal. Meanwhile, Bryan, our creative director, was already planning what he would do on his trips to Japan and the Czech Republic this year. And, oh yes, I have two tickets to Paris I have to find time to use in the next six months.

MEMORIES OF SPAIN

The food at Casa Marcos was perfect, too, because it made us think of going to Spain. As if we needed even more trips this year, but yes, I was just in Spain last June but I can always use a trip to Spain again or think of an excuse to go to Spain. I remembered a couple of restaurants I really like and my favorite jamon jabugo shop in Barcelona.

Now Casa Marcos at the Fort opened just a year ago but if the name sounds familiar, that's because it's been around since the 1940s, although then it was located in the Roxas Boulevard area. It was owned and run by a Spaniard with the surname Marcos who then sold the business to his friend, recipes and staff included. The guy running it now is the grandson of the friend who bought the business.

Kalderetang usang from the past

EVERYTHING FROM THE 1940s

Casa Marcos closed temporarily but in 2008 it opened in the Ortigas area; then now there's this new one in Burgos Circle. Most of the recipes are original from the 1940s so it's pretty delicious, old-fashioned cooking. The kind of stuff you'd imagine your grandmother to make if you had a Spanish grandmother.

Steak a la pore out of Batangas beef.

I couldn't believe how tender it was.

Anyway we looked at the menu and ordered everything that looked good. They had four kinds of paella including a black paella and a saffron one, but we ordered the tomato-based paella. We also had a beautifully grilled pampano, a steak a la pobre (which I hear is one of the most popular items on the menu and a great favorite of the owner), pandesal sandwiches filled with corned beef and adobo, and wild boar meat. And, oh yes, some of the guys ordered the kalderetang usang, but that never made it to my end of the table.

Delicious grilled pampano

Wild boar for a main dish

THAT FAMOUS MARCOS SAUCE

Casa Marcos is famous for its Marcos sauce, which is a special vinegar made from a secret recipe. All I know is that it takes at least three days to make and it's got tons of garlic. It goes very well with everything, but it was especially heavenly with a bit of the grilled pampano and a spoonful of paella. I'm not even a fish person in general, but this was really good.

Pan de sal with corned beef

Pan de sal with adobo and kesong putt

They also make very good pandesal, and again it's the old-fashioned kind that's very solid and tasty. It really brings you back to the good old days before people tried to cut costs and maximize profits. So their pandesal sandwiches -- they have about 10 kinds -- are very popular all day. But what was most interesting is that they had two delicious desserts made out of this same pandesal. These came out almost like French toast and topped with ice cream, and it was very good.

Pan de sal for dessert, topped with ice cream

It was a very nice evening -- the kind that a magazine staff that's always on the go and that wants to climb every single mountain should have every once in a while. I left midway at about 930 PM because that's my cut-off time for most events on a daily basis, but everyone else was still eating and drinking merrily. Just another night in a never-ending, and never-endingly eventful Travelife.

CASA MARCOS

F121 Forbeswood Heights

Rizal Drive, Bonifacio Global City

Tel (632) 703-7784

Tel (632) 552-3781

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

Weekend with Travelife in Malaysia: May 18-20, 2012

2012-01-17T08:53:00.001-08:00

Yes, we're big Malaysia fans. Malaysia's so near and yet so different from us, with many fascinating facets including the influence of Islamic culture and the presence of the Straits Chinese. It's truly such an interesting combination.

Malaysia is also a far more developed society with advanced infrastructure and yet also a very well preserved heritage. They've kept their most beautiful old towns intact. The UNESCO World Heritage areas of Malacca and Penang are just beautiful.

And did we tell you that all of us at Travelife Magazine love the shopping there? Our team enjoys the night markets and the malls while I really love the specialty boutiques that sell creations of local designers and artisans. Every single dress I've bought in KL has received rave reviews for being so unique. So you know I'll be heading for KL with an empty suitcase...

If you've never been to Malaysia, this is the perfect opportunity for a quick look-see. Join us for a fab weekend that Travelife Magazine has planned in cooperation with the wonderful and hardworking team of Tourism Malaysia.

Discover the best of Malaysia

in a weekend with Travelife Magazine

TRAVELIFE MALAYSIA TOUR

3Days/2Nights

Enchanting Malacca & Modern Kuala Lumpur

* Visit the UNESCO World Heritage city of Malacca

* See beautiful Kuala Lumpur

* Enjoy a special cultural show and night cruise of Malacca

* Taste the famous street food of Malaysia

* Shop for bargains in Malacca’s amazing weekend market

* Buy unique crafts and clothes at Kuala Lumpur’s iconic Central Market

Yes, all in a weekend!

From US$ 650* per person

What's included:
* Roundtrip economy airfare via Malaysia Airlines
* All transfers as per itinerary
* Two nights at the luxurious five-star Casa Del Rio hotel right on the idyllic Melaka River
* Daily breakfasts
* One local cuisine lunch upon arrival
* One night cruise on the Melaka River
* Tours as per itinerary
* Services of an English-speaking tour guide

What’s not included:
* PHP 1,620 Philippine Travel Tax
* PHP 750 Airport Tax, payable at the airport
Tips for guide and driver

FOR MORE INFORMATION & RESERVATIONS:

Contact Travelife Magazine

Meg at Tel 8138400/ 8922620

Email travelife@travelife.biz

THE TRAVELIFE TOUR ITINERARY

FRIDAY, May 18

0500 hrs Assemble at NAIA 1

0750 hrs Depart for Kuala Lumpur via MH0805

1125 hrs Arrive in KLIA and proceed directly to Malacca.
Lunch enroute.

1500 hrs Malacca orientation tour

STADTHUYS
Built in 1650 as the official residence of Dutch Governors and their officers, this a prime example of Dutch architecture.

CHRIST CHURCH
Built in 1753, the church took 12 years to complete and is known for its antique handmade pews, its ceiling beams constructed from a single tree, its Brass Bible rest which dates back to 1773, and for a tombstone written in Armenian that can be found inside the church.

1700 hrs Check-in to the hotel. After settling in, you may wish to stroll the river or to start exploring the town on your own.

The CASA DEL RIO hotel is a luxury five-star hotel located right on the banks of the Melaka River. This will be your home for your two-night stay in Malaysia.

1900 hrs Enjoy an authentic Malaysian dinner and cultural show hosted by Tourism Malaysia. After dinner, you may wish to visit Malacca’s famous weekend market, which will be open on both nights you are in Malacca.

SATURDAY, May 19

0800 hrs
Breakfast in your hotel.

0900 hrs
Continuation of Malacca city tour

BABA NYONYA HERITAGE MUSEUM. Built in 1896, this was once the family home of the Baba Chan family. Today it is a wonderful living museum and a testament to the beautiful culture of the Straits Chinese.

JALAN TUN TAN CHENG LOCK. Walk through this narrow street lined with boutique hotels, souvenir shops and interesting restaurants. This was once known as Millionaire’s Row because all the wealthy local families used to live on this street.

ST. PETER’S CHURCH. This 17th century church is the oldest church in Malacca that is still being used today.

ST. PAUL’S HILL. Stroll up this famous hill for a 180-degree view of Malacca and a look at the old fortress with the Dutch gravestones. This church was once the temporary resting place of the remains of St. Francis Xavier, and a marker is still in place where he lay in state.

CHEN HOON TENG TEMPLE. This is Malaysia’s oldest traditional Chinese temple, considered one of the most significant in Southeast Asia. It received a UNESCO award for outstanding cultural restoration.

KAMPUNG KLING MOSQUE. Built in 1748, this is one of the oldest mosques in Malaysia, and it is especially famous for its unique architecture.

MENARA TAMING SARI. Take a ride 110 meters up Malacca’s famous tower, Malaysia’s first revolving tower built with Swiss technology, for a panoramic view of this UNESCO World Heritage city.

MELAKA MARITIME MUSEUM. This is a wooden replica of the former Portugese ship Flor De La Mar. This ship was carrying vast treasures from Malacca to Portugal when it sank off the coast of Malacca. Today it is a museum that showcases the history of maritime trade in Malacca, once one of the world’s busiest ports.

1200 hrs
Lunch on your own. This is a wonderful opportunity to sample Malaysia’s famous street food along Jonker Street.

1300 hrs
Free and easy afternoon to wander around Jonker Street or the Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock, or to visit one of Malacca’s large shopping malls.

1800 hrs
Dinner will be on your own and we will have many suggestions for you. Malacca is famous for its chicken rice and satay.

1945 hrs
Assemble at the hotel for a river cruise.

2000 hrs
River cruise along the Malacca River. After dinner, you may wish to visit the Malacca weekend market along Jonker Street for more shopping.

SUNDAY, May 20

0600 hrs
Breakfast is bright and early so we can head out to Kuala Lumpur as soon as possible.

0700 hrs
Check-out of hotel for the two-hour transfer to Kuala Lumpur.

0900 hrs
Arrive in Kuala Lumpur for a city tour. From your bus, see the King’s Palace, the Petronas Twin Towers and Sultan Abdul Samad Building. Afterwards, there will be a quick shopping stop at Malaysia’s famous Beryl’s Chocolate Factory and at Karyaneka, Malaysia’s top handicrafts center.

1200 hrs
Stop at Central Market, Malaysia’s one-stop shopping place for crafts and foodstuffs from all over the country. Lunch is one your own here, and this is a great place for last-minute shopping.

1430 hrs
Depart for Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

1730 hrs
Depart for Manila on Malaysia Airlines MH804.

Thank you for joining us on the TRAVELIFE MALAYSIA TOUR.
www.travelifemagazine.com

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

Girls' night out at Masseto

2012-01-17T07:35:00.000-08:00

My favorite chocolate tart

Photo of one of the pastas last week

For my third meal at Masseto over the past seven days, I had dinner with my neighbor and we actually did a very long girls' night out that involved more chitchat and very little food. I'd actually been psyching myself up for one of chef Tippi Tambunting's pastas -- especially as I'd had an assortment of her pastas as a starter last Friday and I'd loved it -- and I'd also been gearing up for her delicious chocolate tart.

I'm a creature of habit and so I rarely digress from the stuff I like. But my neighbor was on day 2 of her diet and this pretty much inspired me to count calories tonight as well. So I made up my mind to have just one dish for dinner, and that was to be one of Tippi's fresh handmade pastas. But when Tippi came over to say hello, she so strongly recommended the foie gras with sweetbreads (they have a foie gras festival ongoing right now) that I just had to have it.

Foie gras and sweetbreads tonight

With my neighbor's help, we were both able to have our cake (figuratively) and eat it too. After the holidays, everyone's on some kind of resolution to eat healthier and lose weight and we're no exceptions. But she's of a firmer mindset than I am. If I had not been with her, I would probably have been on a carbo overload tonight.

LOTS OF TALK BUT NO FAT OR OIL

But, as luck would have it, we were able to spend the evening in a nice restaurant and still have a good dinner without breaking either the bank or the scales. Tippi made her a fat-less and oil-less salad and steak, while I stuck to my unhealthy foie gras and sweetbreads -- but at least I had neither starter nor dessert.

Aside from the food, the best part about the evening was the conversation. I don't do a girls' night out very often so today was quite a rare event. And we giggled for most of the evening and caught up on each other's lives. Or at least I told her about my life -- and I hope I didn't bore her to death with the details.

We also talked about our travels and the places we want to visit. She travels almost as much as I do, if not more, and we both agreed that our wish lists never get shorter. She said: "I want to go to Botswana or Rwanda when it's safer. I'm really up for adventure." I stared at her open-mouthed. She's Ms Luxury personified, after all, and her usual idea of slumming is a five-star hotel without the word "deluxe" in it. As in just five stars. It was really hard to imagine her in Rwanda and loving it.

One of these days...

Meanwhile, I said: "I'm going to Myanmar and Kenya this year. But one of these days I'm going to find the time to do the most far-flung outposts of the Silk Road."

MADE ABOUT CRUISES

We're both big cruise fanatics as well, and interestingly she's only been on Seabourne cruises while I've only been on Silversea cruises -- and we both like our respective cruise liners a lot. They're both about the same level in the small ship category, although Seabourne is a smaller and therefore more intimate experience. This is better for some people and not so good for others. A smaller ship means a more congenial and yet also exclusive atmosphere, while a slightly larger ship means there's more capacity for better dining options and better entertainment.

But, of course, both cruise lines are still way smaller than the big daddies of cruises like Crystal and Celebrity, which can hold thousands of people. They're really almost like floating countries, I like to say.

"Haven't you ever thought of taking another cruise line? Exchanging Silversea for Seabourne?" My neighbor asked. But just like with my food and restaurants, when it comes to cruises, I stick to what I already know and like. Why fix something that's not broken?

Just another evening in a never-ending, and never-endingly eventful Travelife.

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

Lunch with Dino Ferrari, AFC's new celebrity

2012-01-16T22:50:00.000-08:00

Earlier today I took a break from the office and headed to the Dusit Thani's UMU Japanese restaurant to have lunch with Dino Ferrari, the new AFC celebrity chef. He did a little cooking demonstration at UMU's teppanyaki grill and then he and his girlfriend Andrea sat down with me for a lunch set of tempura and chicken with soy sauce.

We had a really fun time talking about his experience over five weeks of the AFC Celebrity Chef search, and all the behind-the-scenes events that people in front of the television never really know about.

Of course he's excited to be beginning his one-year stint with E&O as the top creative chef. Apparently he'll be shuttling between E&O properties in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, possibly spending four days in Kuala Lumpur and then the weekends in Penang. The E&O has beautiful properties in both cities, and the Eastern & Oriental Hotel in Penang is especially lovely and historic.

"Where will you live?" I asked him. Dino shrugged but someone else whispered that she'd heard that E&O was giving him a place by the marina of Penang, which is a really swanky new dining and shopping hotspot with fancy yachts parked right in front. It's also got ritzy apartments overlooking it, and perhaps that's where Dino will be staying.

THE CRUCIAL MOMENT

Then of course we got to talking about how he even got into the competition. Apparently he watches AFC all the time and one day he saw the TV commercial for the Next Celebrity Chef search. Immediately he rang up his girlfriend and told her something like: "We're making a video. I'm entering that contest."

So they made a video, and apparently it was a pretty run-of-the-mill-one (in Dino's own words). Lots of people sent AFC very polished and impressive videos but he and his girlfriend just shot one with an HD pocket camera with a very basic spiel. Something like "Hi, I'm Dino Ferrari and I should be your next celebrity chef..."

Well, obviously it worked. Dino made it to the first round of 35 entrants; and he still remembers how he broke the news to his dad, who was in Switzerland at that time. He sent his dad a message -- I guess he meant he sent a text -- saying "Papa, can you call me? It's nothing bad, though."

OFF TO MALAYSIA

I laughed when I heard this. Of course. So many young people never call their parents except when they get into trouble. But this time Dino had happy news. He told them: "I got accepted for the AFC competition and I'm going to Malaysia all-expenses paid."

The next five weeks in Malaysia were really tough even if they were holed up in beautiful hotels like the Eastern & Oriental Hotel in Penang; and they weren't without their share of pressure and intrigues. "Everyone had their own strategy for winning the contest," Dino recalled. "Some contestants tried to impress big-time, while one or two tried to put themselves up by trying to bring down everyone else. I was really shocked, in particular, to learn that one of the contestants who I thought was my friend was actually saying bad things about me in the interviews."

TWO SIDES TO CONTESTANT B

The contestants were all interviewed on video separately and they were all asked to give their opinions of other contestants. Dino says he always said ok things about the others and he thought that this particular competitor -- let's call her Contestant B -- was also at least giving neutral comments about him. Of course they're all competing for the top prize, but he didn't think this was a good enough reason to try and bring down the others.

So it was pretty much a shock for him to learn later on that Contestant B had been treating him nicely to his face but saying bad things about him all along. He only found out when other people who had watched the filming of Contestant B's interviews started telling him about it.

That's when Andrea butt in and reminded him: "You have to understand that not everyone's a nice person." Then she said to me: "He's really like that. He's so nice so he thinks everyone is like him."

Then we went on to more pleasant topics. Or should I say -- more delicious topics? But before we began talking about food, I just had to ask him: "Apart from the cooking, why do you think AFC chose you?"

He didn't hesitate with his reply: "I knew what a celebrity chef does and what they needed. A celebrity chef doesn't only cook; he entertains as well. So I was banking on winning with my cooking skills and my personality. I put everything I knew about being a celebrity chef into this competition."

A SURE WINNER

Pat Montinola, who represents AFC in Manila, agreed when I had a chat with her afterwards. She said: "You know what the makeup artist told me during the first filming? He said, "That guy Dino's going to win for sure. Look at how he's saying hello and talking to everyone."

Then I finally got to ask him the question I really wanted to ask him: Now that you're a celebrity chef. What would you cook for friends coming over on a Saturday night?

He replied: "I usually have about four or five friends over, and they all eat a lot. I'd serve them smoked salmon pasta, which is my favorite dish of all time. On a fancier level, I'd probably serve them a smoked duck salad with a honey balsamic vinaigrette. Then boys like steak, so I'd do a glazed pan-seared steak and serve it with a thick walnut butter and perhaps a rice pilaf with raisins. For dessert, I'd do a mango clafoutis."

EGGS BENEDICT A LA DINO

What's your ideal breakfast? I asked him.

He said: "My own eggs benedict!" Andrea nodded next to him and added: "It's really good. I've never had a better one than Dino's eggs benedict."

I asked him: "What's so different with your eggs benedict?"

He replied: "My sauce is a typical Hollandaise sauce, but I use grapefruit instead of lemon. Grapefruit gives an aroma and a hint of sweetness."

Then he added: "I love to make brunch. I'd do eggs benedict and a stuffed French toast, coated with almonds."

Andrea added, perhaps because we were on the topic of "French" things: "He also does a very good French onion soup."

Dino nodded. "French onion soup is time consuming, but if it's done right, it's really very good. You need four hours just to caramelize the onions. And most people finish it with red wine, but I like to finish it with cognac."

Andrea added: "He likes to finish it with Hennessy. It's probably the most expensive onion soup in Manila."

THE FIRST MEAL

AND A DISH THAT TASTED LIKE CHRISTMAS

"And what was the first meal Dino ever cooked for you?" I asked Andrea. How lucky is she? She has a boyfriend who cooks.

She replied, with a smile: "I knew he cooked because friends had already told me so. But one day he said to me: 'I'll cook for you this weekend.' He made me a mushroom risotto with bread crumbs, and a perfectly-done steak that was better than anything in a restaurant. He also made an ossobucco that tasted like Christmas, for some reason. I guess this was because it had fruits in it. Then he explained the logic behind his cooking, and I said: 'Hey, you're good.'"

If only all of us were so lucky. Just another day in a never-ending and never-endingly eventful Travelife.

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

The power of positive

2012-01-16T06:38:00.001-08:00

There's a saying about how everything comes in threes. Well, I now believe that because I've just had three pieces of very good news coming one after the other, and they've so made my day today. I almost ended work with a hop, a skip and a jump.

Even production work on Travelife's upcoming February-March 2012 issue is going extremely well. I've been working pretty hard on this issue especially as my managing editor Carlo is in Manado, Indonesia right now for the just-concluded ASEAN Tourism Forum, and so I've taken on lots of additional work myself. But sometime after lunch, when I looked at our pagination board, I realized that most of the content is done and we are way ahead of schedule.

"A CHARMED LIFE"

Life is usually very good for me -- my best friend used to always say I lead "a charmed life" -- but a couple of weeks ago, that wasn't exactly so. I wish I could write more about it, but I shouldn't; so let's just say that it was a pretty difficult period.

But I'm a great believer in the power of positive thinking and in the idea of gaining headway via small steps when things just seem too overwhelming. Trials come to everyone at one point or another so we all just need to know how to handle them in the best possible way.

I'm not one for overly sentimental or emotional writings, but let me share with you a simple and inspiring poem that I came across over 20 years ago. I kept this in my wallet for a very long time to remind me of how to live each day as well as possible and how to deal with the arrows of life when they came. I only finally threw it away when I realized I'd imbibed this philosophy so much that I didn't need the piece of paper in my wallet anymore.

JUST FOR TODAY

Just for today, I will try to live through this day only,

and not tackle all of my life's problems at once.

I can do something for twelve hours

that would appall me

if I felt that I had to keep it up for a lifetime.

Just for today, I will be happy.

I will remember what Abraham Lincoln once said:

"most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be."

Just for today, I will try to strengthen my mind.

I will study. I will learn something useful.

I will not be a mental loafer.

I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.

Just for today, I will adjust myself to what is,

and not try to adjust everything to my own desires.

I will take my "luck" as it comes,

and fit myself to it.

Just for today, I will exercise my soul in three ways:

I will do somebody a good turn, and not get found out.

I will do at least two things I don't want to do--just for exercise.

I will not show anyone that my feelings are hurt.

They may be hurt, but today I will not show it.

Just for today, I will be agreeable.

I will look as well as I can,

dress becomingly, talk low, act courteously, and criticize not one bit.

I will not find fault with anything

and I will try not to improve or regulate anybody except myself.

Just for today, I will have a program.

I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it.

I will save myself from two pests: hurry and indecision.

Just for today, I will have a quiet half hour all by myself to relax.

During this half hour, I will try to get a better perspective of my life.

Just for today, I will be unafraid.

Especially I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful,

to have faith in the good,

and to believe that as I give to the world,

so the world will give to me.

Just for today.

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

True confessions about the office

2012-01-15T07:12:00.001-08:00

"What's happening? Anything we should know about?" A friend messaged. This was just one of many messages I received recently from people who read this blog fairly regularly, who have noticed that I haven't been keeping with my usual daily blog routine. Someone else had sent me a BBM: "Have you finally run out of things to write about?"

On the contrary, life's been full as usual and I have a backlog of notes and photos on my Blackberry in fact; but I just haven't had much time to write since the holiday break because I've been so busy planning Travelife Japan Night on February 16 and working on our upcoming Travelife February-March 2012 issue (out on the newsstands on February 15).

TRUE CONFESSIONS

I also have a confession to make. I usually get home from some event or a dinner at about 1030 pm, and my golden time for blogging is usually between 1115 PM and 130 AM. And last year, I was able to do this almost religiously -- if not ridiculously, considering I put in very long days prior to 90 minutes of blogging every night -- for almost every day of the year. But recently, instead of blogging, I've been watching episodes of The Office (US version) in bits and pieces every night.

I watched The Office sometime back but I haven't seen it again in a long time, although I was perhaps one of the first fans in Asia of The Office UK version, which is the original The Office.

I was in London, you see, when it first came out and although the first episode was a little lame, things improved from the second episode onwards and I was hooked. I had to tear myself away from England to return to Asia as this meant cutting off my TV time for The Office; but when it finally came out in DVD, I made sure I got it ASAP.

BETTER THAN THE OFFICE

By the way, I like Ricky Gervais' next project Extras even more. I haven't really liked anything else he's done after, but I think Extras is absolutely brilliant and even better than The Office. Lots of the jokes and references are very local, and the slang is very English; but if you're familiar with British culture, it's really hilarious.

It's such a pity, too, that Ricky Gervais only made two seasons of Extras. It must be a British thing because the other very funny British show that was produced on a limited run is the classic slapstick comedy Fawlty Towers. I could never understand why they ended this show at the height of its popularity.

But back to Extras. When I have a very long haul flight and I'm worried about running out of movies -- like when I ride a non-Southeast Asian carrier that still has limited movies. Or worse, a carrier that doesn't have video on demand in club class! -- I bring my Extras DVDs to keep me entertained. It doesn't matter how many times I watch it, I still like it.

THE REALITY OF MEDIOCRITY

Now The Office US version has had a longer run than the UK version so there's been more to enjoy. Admittedly, there's lots to criticize about it, but at the same time, it's very entertaining to observe the reality of mediocrity. There's also been more leeway for the director and actors to develop the show's characters and therefore make everything more interesting. I haven't been able to follow it as closely as I've followed the UK version; but recently I finally bought the last few seasons and I've been so enjoying watching them.

It's so nice to end my day watching this on my computer, and I actually have to force myself to turn it off if I want to get some decent sleep. As for tonight, you have no idea how much self control it took to force myself to write an entry instead of watching an episode of Season 6.

A NICE WEEKEND

It's been a nice weekend, though, and yesterday was especially busy. Hyundai launched its 2012 events calendar book at lunch with a pretty big fashion event and I attended this since I was one of their 12 essayists -- they have 1 essayist per month and I'm March 2012. I enjoyed meeting Fe Agudo and the other Hyundai executives and also my fellow essayists. One of them said to me: "My husband and I love your magazine. It's so well put-together." That certainly made my day.

In the afternoon, a very nice and hardworking European lady with three degrees and a model's figure came over to my house for afternoon coffee. Not too many people travel as much as I do, but she's one of those who can probably outrun me in this department. And, interestingly, she's been mostly to those exotic places no one's ever thought of going to.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE

"What's your favorite place?" I asked her. And I'm not kidding you when I say that about 60% of the places she's been to in the last 36 months are places I can't pronounce or have never heard of. But her favorite place is one I certainly know of but have never ever thought of visiting. Until yesterday.

She said to me: "I love Pakistan."

Two things come to mind when someone mentions Pakistan to me: the cricket superstar Imran Khan and terrorists. In particular, Imran Khan had married a London socialite, Jemima Goldsmith, daughter of billionaire Jimmy Goldsmith, and the story had interested me because a transition from gilded luxury in London to I-don't-know-what-kind-of-existence in Lahore seemed unthinkable even to me.

After that, everything else I know of Pakistan has to do with terrorists: the hunt for Al Qaeda and the murder of a Western journalist who was kidnapped on his way to what he thought was going to be an interview.

A NO THAT COULD HAVE BEEN A YES

And yesterday, hearing about Pakistan made me blink twice because just the day before, I'd had the opportunity to say yes to a trip to Pakistan and I'd actually said no. It seemed like too much chaos and too little of other things. But here was my friend who'd been everywhere exotic, saying she loved Pakistan the best.

Then she added: "Lahore is beautiful. Especially the old part. The houses of the wealthy are all very well kept and everything is intact. I've never seen anything like it. And the shopping is great and the food is so good. The fabrics and crafts you can buy here are just unbelievable."

I stared at her, trying not to ask the next obvious question. She's as blonde as a Barbie doll and Pakistan -- in case you were living on another planet until yesterday -- is prime anti-Western terrorist ground.

She almost seemed to read my mind, because she then said: "Oh, but I only go with locals. And I cover myself from head to toe so you can see only my eyes."

Covered or not, I certainly thought she was incredibly brave to venture to such places. And wow. I run a travel magazine and even I'd never ever thought of Pakistan as a destination. Until yesterday. Maybe I'll put it on my bucket list soon.

Hope you had a great weekend and best wishes for a wonderful week ahead from all of us at Travelife Magazine.

* * *

JOINING HANDS FOR JAPAN

To commemorate the resilience of the Japanese people

one year after the Great Earthquake,

and to celebrate the beauty of Japanese culture.

DON'T MISS THIS AMAZING CULTURAL EVENT

ON SALE EVERYWHERE NOW

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

A paper clip chose Florence

2012-01-13T05:14:00.000-08:00

Some years back I did a thoroughly enjoyable aimless trip. I was in Vienna one early winter, and I'd just spent close to three weeks driving around Austria and Hungary. One evening, I decided I had had enough of Vienna finally but I still had a week to kill before flying to London.

I was staying then at the Le Meridien hotel right in the heart of Vienna, and it had just opened a month before. It was the talk of this very old-fashioned town that a modern luxury hotel had dared to open in this city that prided itself in continuing centuries-old traditions, and with so many innovations that are pretty standard now in design hotels, but they were certainly shocking at that time.

AHEAD OF ITS TIME

For example -- and, mind you, this was probably close to ten years ago -- all the rooms had touch-screen automatic everything and cloudy glass walls for the bathrooms. Yes, only floor-to-ceiling glass separated the bedroom from the bathroom, and even the door was one of those easy-swing types that never really close fully.

This was quite something at that time, although now things are different and it's not quite a novelty anymore -- although still not the ideal room for the squeamish, especially if they're rooming with someone else. But they are a dime a dozen these days, and last year alone, I think I stayed in about four such design hotels somewhere in the world; including just last month in Hong Kong.

Anyway, Vienna had never seen anything like it in the deluxe hotels category and everyone wanted to see what it was like. So whenever my friends came to pick me up for a meal or a party, they would always find some excuse to come up and see my room. The hotel was that much of a cocktail party topic when it opened.

A PAPER CLIP CHOSE FLORENCE

Anyway, after enjoying myself at the auctions and the parties in Vienna -- and Viennese certainly kn0w how to party -- I decided it was time for a change of venue.

But Vienna exactly at that time was just wonderful. The Christmas markets had opened (my favorite was and still is the very large Christmas market in front of city hall), and party season had begun -- the furs, pearls and diamonds were all out of the closets.

My friends were bringing me to parties were diamonds outshone the candles and fur was de rigeur. I remember one party near the Vienna Woods were a society lady even had her accessory fur -- a tiny little dog who behaved so well -- in her handbag.

My any-occasion little black dresses were woefully inadequate and I suddenly had to schlepp over to a couple of nice boutiques off Stephensplatz to buy a some more sparkly evening wear to be suitably attired for Vienna's social life.

But, anyway, back to how I got to Florence. I was in my hotel room and I literally threw a paper clip on a map of Europe lying on the coffee table, vowing to fly to wherever it landed. The paper clip stopped just short of Florence so that same day I walked into a travel agency in Vienna and booked my trip to Florence.

Several days later, I landed in Italy with no firm plans other than a reservation for six nights for a room with a terrace that offered a perfect view of Florence's Duomo, and a vague resolution to fit a day at the Ufizzi Palace into my very empty week.

I’d last seen this great museum as a child and I wanted to get reacquainted with the fascinating Renaissance period. It was the first time since my college days that I traveled anywhere without plans, family or friends.

On my first evening in one of Italy’s greatest cities, I firmly pushed away the temptation to avoid the stigma of dining alone by ordering room service pasta and eating in front of the television. After all, Italy is a country made for savoring life, whether you have companions or not.

So instead I dressed up for a date with myself, and the hotel concierge sent me to a historical trattoria several blocks away.

It was a rainy Sunday night and the maitre’d sat me next to another Asian girl dining solo, who turned out to be doing Florence on her own as well for a week. She’d just arrived from Tokyo that very same day.

PARTNERS IN CRIME

We became very good friends from the moment we began a conversation in Japanese over the first course of a rich pasta. By the time dessert rolled around, we’d made plans to meet every night for dinner at a good restaurant. It was the perfect arrangement, allowing enough freedom so that we could still do whatever we pleased in the day; but not allowing for many moments of loneliness at night.

It’s easy to sightsee or shop alone while the sun is out. However, even the hardiest of solo travelers will pine for some company once darkness sets in. Every night, my new friend Keiko and I took turns choosing a restaurant from the plethora of choices Florence offered. Then we ordered what we wanted, drank it down with a bottle of wine, and split the bill in half.

FLORENCE IS ALSO FUN ALONE

During the day, I wandered the streets of Florence alone, without an itinerary or a even a map. After seeing the city’s requisite relics of greatness, I wanted to see the city beyond the attractions that put it on the tourist map.

In the process I discovered small markets only locals frequented, quiet neighborhoods crammed with vignettes of real life, and utterly charming tiny restaurants that dished up pasta based on grandmother’s recipe to regulars at lunch for three euros a plate. This was the Florence that never makes it to postcards but it was the city I fell in love with.

Would I have found my Florence if I’d been armed with a guidebook, printouts from travel websites, and hundreds of tips and bits of information from well-meaning friends, eager that I see everything I should? Perhaps not, because my Florence came about by accident – the result of a week of walking around alone without plans. And in a purposeful life, sometimes that’s the best kind of trip.

A version of this appeared in the October-November 2011 issue of Travelife Magazine.

* * *

JOINING HANDS FOR JAPAN

To commemorate the resilience of the Japanese people

one year after the Great Earthquake,

and to celebrate the beauty of Japanese culture.

DON'T MISS THIS AMAZING CULTURAL EVENT

ON SALE EVERYWHERE NOW

"Me Time" in Lipa

2012-01-12T05:36:00.000-08:00

The other day I headed down to Lipa to stay at The Farm at San Benito for some much-needed R&R. It was long overdue and I'd been trying to find two free days I could block off to spend some time here, and finally I found it this week after all the holiday rush was over.

For me The Farm is a really convenient getaway compared to so many other detox places, so I try to go here as often as possible. That's probably once a quarter, for at least an overnight stay. And yes, I like the food, and the fact that I always drop a kilo or two after a stay here.

Curry at The Farm

Interestingly The Farm was very busy even after the New Year's and all. In fact there were so many foreigners and most of them were on a week-long serious detox. I found this out the funny way, as I couldn't help noticing how I was told The Farm was pretty full but I was the only one in the restaurant for three meals in a row.

STARTING THE YEAR RIGHT

"Where's everyone?" I finally asked one of the staff. And that's how I learned that almost everyone there was staying for about a week and basically not eating. Serious detox, but a great way to start the year right with good health and less toxic substances. I would certainly do it if I could.

I basically filled my schedule up with all the treatments I liked: the four-hands Yin Yang Dry Brushing, a facial, and something called the Tibetan Steam Therapy. I also always try to book the longest therapeutic massage I can, preferably after dinner and under the stars. It was my Me Time, after all.

FULL SPEED AHEAD

Happiness is seeing a whole family of peacocks

on your way to breakfast.

But somewhere in between my hectic not-supposed-to-be-hectic days, I had a chat with Resident Manager Jennifer Hazen. Apparently The Farm is undertaking major construction this year, with an entire new set of private villas going to be built on a lovely ridge behind its restaurant. Each villa will be luxuriously modern and equipped with a private pool. If all goes well, these will be completed and ready for guests by Christmas this year.

At the moment, it's only the Master Villa that has a private pool, and that's my favorite place to stay at. It's really beautifully done with a very nice bedroom with floor-to-ceiling glass windows and a lovely terrace to just sit around in, admiring all the greenery.

But if I'm by myself, I usually take either the Garden Villa or the Palmera Suite as the Master Villa is just too big for one person. Beautiful and luxurious as it is, it would creep me out to have all that privacy.

This stay, I took a Garden Villa and they gave me one on the side that I usually don't take. I often take the villa that's nearest the pond as it's really quiet and it overlooks a ridge. But this time, I had one of the villas near the spa -- Villa 15, to be exact -- and I liked it a lot. For one thing, it's a skip and a hop to the spa, and it has a real feeling of being in a house as it's fenced on all sides.

DIFFERENT STROKES

Each villa has a slightly different layout as well, but this one was just right in size and layout for me. It doesn't have the expansive feeling of some of the other villas, but for a short stay, it's nice and cozy.

I also never pass this way near Villa 15 as the property is so large and my usual accommodations are in another part of the estate. But this time, by staying in Villa 15, I realized how similar it looks to the Aman Resort in Ubud. They have the same kind of walkways between the villas, and that same feeling of peace.

I hated to leave but real life was calling me back to Manila. In fact, on my check-out day, I even had to rush back to Manila for a 5 PM meeting at the Fort.

"Better than nothing," Jennifer and I agreed. And truly it was. It was such a nice way to start the year. Just another couple of days in a never-ending, and never-endingly eventful Travelife.

For my last meal at The Farm,

I splurged on calories and had this relatively sinful

and absolutely delicious chocolate tart.

JOINING HANDS FOR JAPAN

To commemorate the resilience of the Japanese people

one year after the Great Earthquake,

and to celebrate the beauty of Japanese culture.

DON'T MISS THIS AMAZING CULTURAL EVENT

ON SALE EVERYWHERE NOW

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

Joining hands for Japan

2012-01-11T05:45:00.000-08:00

Tonight, the TRAVELIFE Magazine team and the teams of the Embassy of Japan and the Dusit Thani Manila sat down in Dusit's UMU restaurant to iron out the details for TRAVELIFE Japan Night at the Dusit Thani Manila on February 16.

This very unique event will feature a wonderful Japanese degustation dinner and a performance by Japanese young geisha (called maiko), who are flying over from Japan just to perform at Travelife Japan Night. This will be the first ever visit of Japanese geisha to the Philippines.

REAL GEISHA IN MANILA

I don't need to sell you on the geisha performance. Most of us have read that riveting book, Memoirs of a Geisha, or seen the movie; so we know what a geisha is. But perhaps what needs explaining is just how special a geisha performance is, and especially one outside of Japan.

First, it's not easy to see a geisha performance. You might spot a geisha getting into a taxi or walking into a teahouse in Kyoto, if you hang around the Gion district of Kyoto on a visit; but to see a special performance is a completely different story. Outside of the few spring recitals of the geisha, which are open to the public but tickets are hard to get, it's virtually impossible for a regular foreigner to see a real geisha performance.

A RARE SIGHTING

For one thing, it's expensive. An evening can easily run up to six figures. And also, most tea houses are pretty snooty. It's not enough to flash the cash; you actually have to be introduced by a respected existing client to get face time.

Second, real geisha almost never travel outside of their cities -- and mores to a Third World country like the Philippines! It's been a pretty remarkable feat that we've been able to get geisha to fly over for Travelife Japan Night.

But tonight, what really shocked me -- and to think that I'm the one planning the event -- is the labor of love this is taking in terms of the degustation meal. We've just gone through the elaborate menu of seven or eight courses, and almost every single ingredient in this very special menu for Travelife Japan Night at the Dusit Thani is being imported from Japan. Yes, we're literally bringing Japan to the Philippines for Travelife readers and friends -- and even I didn't realize the implication of this until I saw everything in nuts and bolts tonight.

TRAVELIFE EVENTS:

LABORS OF LOVE, NEVER DUPLICATED

All I can say is, wow. If you like Japanese food, don't miss this event because there won't be another like it. I can guarantee that this very special evening is impossible to duplicate.

The meeting tonight also made me appreciate Chef Fukata, who is probably the best Japanese chef in the Philippines today. He certainly is the most serious one, and he regards his craft with utter devotion. It was very inspiring.

I eat at UMU all the time so I take it for granted that he serves pretty good Japanese food. And, of course, Chef Fukata is known to me because he used to be the chef of the Embassy of Japan itself. But tonight, the detail and care he took with the menu, and his refusal to compromise the quality of this degustation experience, impressed me very much.

EVERYTHING'S COMING FROM JAPAN

I guess UMU and most other Japanese restaurants serve food using a combination of real Japanese materials and locally sourced ingredients. That's how you keep prices reasonable. But for Travelife Japan Night, almost every single thing is being flown in from Japan to give you perhaps the most authentic Japanese evening ever conceptualized in the Philippines.

So come join us for an evening you won't forget. And reserve early. I looked at our table chart tonight and I can already predict that allocations for seats will be extremely tight. We'll be releasing other details and finalizing prices soon.

JOINING HANDS FOR JAPAN

To commemorate the resilience of the Japanese people

one year after the Great Earthquake,

and to celebrate the beauty of Japanese culture.

DON'T MISS THIS AMAZING CULTURAL EVENT

ON SALE EVERYWHERE NOW

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

See beautiful Mount Bromo in Indonesia

2012-01-10T18:28:00.001-08:00

In TRAVELIFE Magazine's December 2011-January 2012 issue, businessman Dondi Joseph captures the elusive aspects of the area around Mount Bromo, one of Indonesia's most famous and most beautiful volcanoes. Dondi joined a group of professional photographers and very keen hobbyists on a photo safari, and they got caught up in a sandstorm -- which just made things more exciting. Never a dull moment with Travelife.

Read about it in Travelife Magazine. The travel magazine by real travelers with great stories. And that's just one of the reasons why we're #1.

DONDI JOSEPH not in the middle of nowhere

and far from alone with his camera.

WHERE ARE YOU HEADED IN 2012?
To Myanmar. I’ve been postponing for years and I’ll postpone no longer! It also looks like France is on the travel menu. There comes a time in a man's life when he needs to wine and dine – and visit his mother-in-law.

SNOW-BOUND CHALET OR VILLA BY THE BEACH?
Tough question. I scuba dive, so beach trips are welcome and easy getaways especially in the Philippines. But deep down I love both cool forests and humid tropical jungles, and vast landscapes. Snow? Not a requirement for a trip but anything cooler than tropical is always welcome and refreshing.

HOW DO YOU GET THROUGH LONG-HAUL FLIGHTS?
I almost always travel economy so I stay calm with zen-like acceptance of the usual discomforts that are all just part of the travel "game". I enjoy airports so I look forward to transit breaks, and always make it a point to take a shower in one of the lounges so I get on the next flight feeling refreshed. Plus there is my e-reader with over 1,000 books to choose from and reading it always relaxing and sleep inducing.

YOUR BEST DISCOVERY IN 2011?
Traveling with pure photographers on photo safaris. If the chemistry is right, you share both camaraderie and creative passion, and discomfort and a lot of laughter. And I also discovered Scottish writer Iain Banks. This guy is twisted and so are the characters in his books.

* * *

ON SALE EVERYWHERE NOW

DON'T MISS THIS AMAZING CULTURAL EVENT

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

Read about the amazing Panama Canal

2012-01-10T05:43:00.000-08:00

In TRAVELIFE Magazine's December 2011-January 2012 issue, Travelife Contributing Editor and perpetually Hungry Traveler Jerome Velasco writes about an amazing trip he did from Florida to Costa Rica via the Panama Canal. Prior to entering the historic waterway, he says he diligently read everything he could on the Canal and attended all the lectures on board his luxury ship.

Read about it in Travelife Magazine. The travel magazine by real travelers with great stories. And that's just one of the reasons why we're #1.

Contributing editor JEROME VELASCO

goes ashore in the Caribbean.

WHERE ARE YOU HEADED IN 2012?
I’m staying at the Ice Hotel in Sweden in February, and taking a Black Sea cruise in June.

SNOW-BOUND CHALET OR VILLA BY THE BEACH?
Definitely snow-bound chalet, as there are none in the Philippines.

HOW DO YOU GET THROUGH LONG-HAUL FLIGHTS?
I hate them but since there is no other way to get to my destinations, I grin and bear it. And I worry about the jetlag later on.

YOUR BEST DISCOVERY IN 2011?
Costa Rica. It’s got everything in a small, compact area including volcanoes, the world’s most expensive coffee, and ox-cart making farms.

* * *

ON SALE EVERYWHERE NOW

DON'T MISS THIS AMAZING CULTURAL EVENT

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

Skiing and not loving it

2012-01-07T23:07:00.000-08:00

Today I had lunch with my friend XX and his family, in his home, which is one of the best residences of its kind in the Philippines. They'd all just come back from skiing holidays over Christmas and New Year and it was their first family lunch for 2012. XX was kind enough to invite me to join them as I know some other people in his family anyway, and it was a very nice way to spend Sunday.

FORMAL AND HEALTHY

XX's family lunches are pretty formal affairs with waiters bringing plated courses of food coming one after the other just like in a restaurant. It was all healthy and Filipino today, and very good. We had sinigang to start and I only got a little bit because I actually don't like sinigang much. But after tasting it, I really regretted just getting a bit as it was delicious. And the waiter who served it didn't come around to my side of the table again -- I guess because there were a couple of other courses coming up anyway.

You're also expected to bring good conversation to the table, so each family member has really interesting stories to tell -- even the littlest members. Moreover, everyone in XX's family lunches has to give an update of their life since the last get-together.

SKI-CRAZY AND LOVING IT

And so much of the talk around the very large round table today centered on skiing as they're all crazy about it and over half of the table had gone and spent the holidays together in one of the toniest ski towns in North America. So many celebrities head to this ski town for the holidays and, among many others, they'd seen Matt Damon, Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffiths. Apparently, Matt Damon looks much older than in his movies, Antonio Banderas isn't as tall as you would imagine, and Melanie Griffiths keeps herself really fit.

They all learned to ski at about the same time as they learned how to walk so they're ski-mad and great at it. And I am so not a skier. So XX then recounted to everyone with some glee a BBM exchange about skiing that we'd had over the holidays, between Manila and his very posh ski town -- much to everyone's amusement.

WHAT IF YOU ACTUALLY DON'T LIKE IT?

XX had sent me a photo via BBM from the slopes, you see, and after seeing it I'd replied back: "If I actually liked skiing, I would be seriously envious of you."

He immediately BBM-ed back with a hint of incredulity: "You mean you don't ski?"

I'd had skiing lessons in Tokyo, Australia, New Zealand and New Hampshire. And my weekend home in Japan is about 15 minutes away from the best skiing nearest the greater Tokyo vicinity. But I'm 100% hopeless at it. So I'd replied: "I never undertake things I can't be good at."

I've got so little spare time. What's the point of spending it doing something I'm lousy at? But what then followed from XX was a long-distance discourse on how some things are worth doing just because you enjoy it and not necessarily because you're good at it.

I completely agreed, but I just didn't have the heart to reply then -- to this ski-mad group of people -- that not only do I suck at skiing, but I don't enjoy skiing either.

I'M FROM MARS AND THEY'RE FROM VENUS

But today I was put on the spot in front of his whole family, all tanned and fit after two weeks in the snow. And they looked at me as if I was from Mars, since I was obviously the only person at the table who didn't ski, and didn't like it.

So finally I had to tell them my I'll-never-do-it-again ski story, set in New Hampshire years ago. One evening I was with some Filipino friends having dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Boston on a Friday night at about 10 PM. It was February and suddenly it started to snow heavily.

"Let's go skiing!" One of them said, and to which everyone except me enthusiastically said "yes" to. I'd done it before and even taken lessons from a pro; but skiing was just not my cup of tea. But somehow I was persuaded to join them after the five Pinoy guys in the group all gallantly offered to guarantee a stressless experience.

So there we were in New Hampshire the following morning and soon I was on a medium bunny slope attempting to navigate down when I tumbled over. Of course the five gallant guys rushed to my side and helped me up. But after this happened a couple more times, they all decided to head in different directions, all conveniently too far away to observe my next few tumbles.

So, anyway, that put me off skiing for good. And at lunch today, everyone thought it was a pretty funny story so they sort of forgave me for disliking skiing so much.

JUST WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR

Then in the evening, two of my closest friends came over for dinner and literally took kilos of psychological weight off my shoulders with very good advice about some things I'd been mulling about in my head with great distaste. Call it an epiphany moment, but it certainly reminded me of exactly what good friends are for.

I fed them Malaysian-style shrimp curry, garlicky mushrooms and a spicy squid dish, and in exchange they'd provided me with the first sensible advice of the year.

Just another day in our never-ending, and never-endingly eventful Travelife.

* * *

ON SALE EVERYWHERE NOW

DON'T MISS THIS AMAZING EVENT

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

How ant eggs and sashimi can kill you

2012-01-06T06:31:00.000-08:00

Tonight I had dinner with three 20-something guys. Who would've thought that would be so much fun? Certainly not I, as I'm more used to hanging around guys a generation or two older than me rather than younger. But tonight we laughed and talked and got inspired with all sorts of ideas for travel, for life, and for Travelife Magazine.

Our host for the evening was Kian Kazemi, a half-Iranian and half-Filipino guy who's pretty famous in his own right since he used to host a backpacker-type travel show and he's been in Big Brother as well. He'd done both just for fun, and they'd been very good experiences for him.

Anyway I'd met him at a party sometime back and we'd always talked about having dinner in his restaurant; but you know how it is with cocktail party chatter -- you say "let's meet up again" or "let's have dinner soon" and nothing really happens. It's just a polite way of saying goodbye.

The platter of roasted meats was delicious,

especially with the garlic sauce and the chopped tomatoes

Eggplant stuffed with rice cooked with lentils & spices

GOOD TIMING AND NOT JUST A POLITE GOODBYE

In this case, however, it wasn't really just a polite goodbye because Kian really meant it. But life was crazy in the last months of last year and I was lucky if I had even a spare couple of hours for anything not involving a Travelife. But this year -- and it's only been a few days into 2012 -- it was probably Fate that we had dinner today. A couple of texts and good timing had lots to do with it -- good timing is everything, isn't it? -- and I finally made it to his restaurant Persia Grill tonight.

The decor at Persia Grill

Persia Grill has many outlets but tonight we went to the one in Legazpi Village, just opposite Greenbelt 5. It's on the casual side although it's tastefully done up so that you can come here for a date or a nice dinner. Prices aren't cheap but they're inexpensive, especially for Makati.

Now you might be wondering where the Persian connection comes in, although I've already mentioned that Kian's half-Iranian. His father is Iranian and his mother is Filipina, but even she's learned to cook Iranian food so the cuisine here are real family recipes. Kian himself likes to cook when he's not busy doing a hundred other things.

And my visit was just in time, too, because I'd been hankering for Middle Eastern-type of food for the past few days after endless dinners involving the usual Filipino holiday fare or else everyone's favorite food of last resort: Chinese. So what I really wanted to have tonight were a lamb biryani, a couple of kebabs, and lots of hummus.

The hummus platter

The guys loved the fried ox brains

Well, I got what I wanted. We left the ordering to Kian and he asked for the house specialties -- although he left out a couple of things to encourage us to return and have dinner again. But we had everything I was pining for, plus a couple of other exotic things that Kian and the two other guys I was with seemed to enjoy a lot: ox brains fried to a crisp, almost like sisig, and served with calamansi and bread.

Wow. I stuck to my lamb biryani and let the guys fight it out for the ox brains. But they really liked it and apparently it's one of the most popular things on the menu.

My favorite was the lamb biryani

with fried white onions

and a great gravy sauce to pour over the lamb and rice

TALL TALES FROM REAL PEOPLE

Another thing I really liked was the conversation. Gossip and talking about other people bore me to death, but I'm all ears when someone is telling me about his or her own life. And Kian, who's been all over the Philippines while shooting his tv show, had lots of interesting adventures to tell. Almost as many as us.

Good old-fashioned Iranian soup

ALMOST LIKE CAVIAR

One of the most fascinating was his tale of eating ant eggs somewhere up North in the Philippines. He told me the place but for some reason I simply can't recall it now. All I remember is him saying that eating ant eggs is a really interesting sensation that's almost like caviar because the eggs burst in your mouth.

Unfortunately he had an allergic reaction to ant eggs, which he only found out that night. Of course. Not too many people will have opportunities in their life to find out they're allergic to ant eggs. But at 1 AM he suddenly couldn't breathe, and he had to be rushed to the hospital nearby, in the middle of nowhere. I was horrified at the thought.

"You're lucky you were near a hospital," I said. "And you're so lucky they actually had medication for that sort of thing." We all know what a hospital in the middle of nowhere in the Philippines can be like, after all.

"They had the medication on hand," he told me. "Apparently quite a lot of tourists have this allergic reaction so they know what to do." They'd stuck an IV in his arm and in a couple of hours he was fine. But what a story. Of course I'm never eating ant eggs.

THE DEADLY FISH

Then it was my turn to tell a story, and I told them about fugu, the blowfish delicacy that is so prized in Japan as a winter dish. Kian is thinking of visiting Japan so this story came to mind.

Blowfish is terribly expensive in Japan because only licensed practitioners can cut it up and serve it sashimi-style to the general public. The other popular ways of eating blowfish are in a stew (nabe) or deep-fried. But it's the sashimi-style that's the risky way of eating. It's strictly regulated because the some of the blowfish's parts are actually poisonous (especially the liver), and an inexperienced slicer may end up not cutting the fish meat up properly to get rid of the toxic parts, and kill someone as a result.

Every year, a couple of people in Japan do die from eating blowfish, although mostly the death cases are from people who've caught a blowfish themselves or managed to get one somehow, and then also cut it up themselves for private consumption. Just a few years ago, a famous TV personality actually died from eating blowfish, although I think a restaurant was involved in that case.

They laughed when I told them that the lousy blowfish slicers serve you blowfish meat sashimi-style that's either bland or deadly. The most expert slicers will leave just a little bit of the toxic stuff on the fish so that you get a tingle in your tongue from the poison when you eat the fish, but that tingle isn't enough to kill you. The lousy slicers will serve you fish meat without a tingle so it's so bland, or with too much tingle that you're dead by morning.

We also talked about life philosophies and what it takes to be a success in life. All very interesting, especially with cups of aromatic Persian tea that apparently Iranians drink all day.

SILK CARPETS GALORE

The food at Persia Grill was great, and apparently they do catering jobs as well. And when they cater, they do the works including bringing over some carpets, a water pipe, and even a samovar if you want one. They can even fix up your living room to look like an Arabian Nights souk or a Moroccan palace, lining it from wall to wall with beautiful silk carpets. And they have a whole range of silk carpets because one of Kian's dad's businesses is a carpet shop that caters to a very upmarket clientele. He recently outfitted the offices of a very big businessman every person in Manila has heard of, and he had to fly to Iran just to do that.

And speaking of silk carpets, my friend J and I had another one of our long and frank conversations via BBM this morning -- and ironically it began with a silk carpet shop. Without even a "good morning," he'd sent me a BBM at about 930 AM today that went straight to the point:

"Mesgarzadeh is MY favorite carpet shop, NOT yours," he messaged, referring to my recent blog entry about a month of eating (July 2011) that included a photo of the finest carpet shop in the Dubai Mall. They sell top-quality silk carpets and they can be rather snooty if they don't think you're there to buy. "I told you about Mesgarzadeh," he stressed.

I sent him a smiley face and typed out: "I put that in just to check if you're still reading my blog. Even without anything about you in it."

Best wishes for a wonderful weekend from all of us at TRAVELIFE Magazine.

PERSIA GRILL

Prince Plaza 2

Legaspi St. corner De La Rosa St.,

Legazpi Village, Makati

Tel. 403-9999

* * *

ON SALE EVERYWHERE NOW

DON'T MISS THIS AMAZING EVENT

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

Travel photography expeditions this summer

2012-01-05T00:12:00.000-08:00

Ever wanted to try your hand at professional travel photography? Well, here's a chance to explore an exotic place and learn a new craft as well.

Our Seoul cover photographer, Dylan Goldby, is part of the Flash Light Photography Expeditions, the premiere choice for photography enthusists looking to take their photography to the next level. The group is dedicated to providing in-depth photographic adventures for photographers all around the world.

Their workshop embodies their motto of “Travel Well, Shoot Better.” Each participant will go home with a portfolio of new images to show. Flash Light Photography Expeditions firmly believes that having a camera does not make you a photographer, but working with photographers will achieve images that contain both the essence of the destination and the technical direction of a photographer.

The group has destination workshops scheduled for Seoul in April 2012, Chiang Mai in May 2012, and Jeju Island in September 2012.

Click here for more details.

ON SALE EVERYWHERE NOW

DON'T MISS THIS AMAZING EVENT

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

A month of eating dangerously: July 2011

2012-01-04T20:11:00.000-08:00

Here are more photos, mostly of food, taken with my Blackberry while traveling and eating around the world. This is how my July 2011 looked like.

The Dubai Mall has everything.

I tried to think of food and clothing brands it didn't have

and I could only name a handful.

It even has a branch of this great gelato place circa 1907.

I had a great super chocolate gelato here.

A very nice coffee shop at the Dubai Mall.

I love Cacao Sampaka for its very dark hot chocolate and ice cream,

and I always visit the Tokyo branch in Marunouchi.

It was so hot when I visited Dubai so I was very happy to find this oasis.

The best croissants are from Maison Kayser in Paris.

If I don't eat them in Paris, I usually get them at the JAL lounge in Tokyo.

But Dubai Mall had an Eric Kayser branch!

The Dubai Mall even had a branch of my favorite Paris deli.

The Armani Hotel adjacent to the Dubai Mall

is such a chill place to stay in.

Some of the yummiest roast chicken I've had:

at Rostang, the Dubai outpost of Michel Rostang

at the Atlantis Hotel

It was chicken for two,

but I ordered it for myself.

Still at Rostang at the Atlantis Hotel in Dubai:

a very good lobster bisque.

I really indulged myself at Rostang and had a huge meal.

I started with a large slab of pate de foie gras.

This isn't food. But it's a photo of my favorite carpet shop

at the Dubai Mall. Right next to Galleries Lafayette.

Artwork at the Atlantis Hotel, Dubai

A giant indoor aquarium at the Atlantis Hotel

My favorite place at the Atlantis Hotel

A steak at Aubergine with my friend M:

Last meal before flying to Dubai

Trio of appetizers at Aubergine with my friend M

ON SALE EVERYWHERE NOW

DON'T MISS THIS AMAZING EVENT

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook