Davao Trip Day 02

Breakfast was awesome. Southerners may not be as talented cooks as my people, but they sure know how to showcase their assets: we were served poultry produce from our hosts' backyard. Yes, including the pork tocino.

Then off we went to the nearest zipline ride, in Outland Adventure. Davao has the longest zipline in the country, but it was 2 hours ride to get there and we had a lot of things planned for the day... so we'd take what we can.

Adventure didn't stop there. We road a boat to Samal Island. Went swimming, and then had a buffet dinner at Pear Farm. I plan to go back to Davao, but I'd fix my itinerary and stay at Pearl Farm for the whole trip. It's not just the food, it's really a beach paradise.

That's my brother having fun with a guard's gun. The guards were nice and, of course, they took the magazine out before they let us hold the M9.

Davao Trip Day 01

First thing you have to do when you get to Davao is to get your ass to Marina Tuna Seafood Market & Resto. Order three plates of tuna sashimi and whatever other tuna dishes they serve.

Don't worry about trying everything on their menu at once, you'll rush back in the next day anyway so you have time :)

Then have some pomelo for dessert. We were fortunate enough to tour a pomelo farm (slash-banana-farm-slash-piggery-slash-fish-farm community; hundreds of hectares of land).

Then as usual, grub!!!

Skinny Fat - Current Workout Routine

The following is my current work out routine and schedule:

Monday	Shoulders
Clean and Press	4x8	35lbs
Arnold Press	4x10	15lbs
Neutral Grip Press	4x12	10lbs
Front Grip Dumbbell Press	4x10	15lbs
Bent-Over Flies	4x8	10 lbs
Tuesday	Legs
Low Bar Squat	3x8	52.5kg
Stiff Leg Dead Lift	3x5	53.5kg
Leg Press	4x12	80lbs
Lunge Dumbbell Squat	4x12	10lbs
Leg Extension	4x10	27.5lbs
Leg Curl	4x8	25lbs
Thursday	Chest
Inclined Bench Press	3x6	25kg
Bench Press	3x8	27.5kg
Inclined Dumbbell Press	4x12	15lbs
Inclined Flies	4x8	15lbs
Saturday	Back
Dead Lift	3x8	52.5kg
Chin Up	4x8	-15lbs
Barbell Rows	3x8	35lbs
Seated Cable Rows	4x8	20lbs
Lat Pull Down	4x8	25lbs

Special thanks to http://tableizer.journalistopia.com for converting my Excel spreadsheet to HTML table.

My favorite workout is Clean and Press. I don't know why I find it fun. It took me a month to graduate from 25lbs to 35lbs. Although I still have some good days and some bad days: bad days when I have to pause in order to complete 8 reps. Until I can execute it properly without rest, I wouldn't think about increasing weight.

I value proper form over heavier weights. So I usually start with a 3x5's then inch my way to heavier weights by increasing reps until I'm confident enough to increase weights.

So for my Dead Lifts and Squats, I started with 3x5's at 47.5kg. Then after a week or two, increased the reps to 8 while maintaining the weight. I do that until I'm comfortable with 3x12's or even 4x12's before adding 1.25kg and dropping sets and reps back to 3x5's.

My least favorite work outs are usually those on machines like Leg Extensions and Leg Curls. And my reason is simple: I'm short and I can't rest my back because I can't reach it. I guess these machines were targeted for

Movie Review: Source Code

After disappointments named Red Riding Hood and Sucker Punch, I finally received my desired "movie state" with Source Code.

I'm glad I didn't know anything about Source Code until I found out I was going to watch it the following night. I'm glad because I didn't have any time to process the title at all; To all my fellow geeks: No, they do not show any actual source code.

"Source code" is the name of the project/operation that hacked into a vegetable man's brain to force him to hack some dead dude's consciousness to figure out the identity of a terrorist that plans to kill [at least] a million people.

The movie was well executed. It did better than good because the story was complicated but it was well presented -- it captured my attention enough to push the questions until the movie ended:

The Quirks

• So now that A is B in the parallel universe created by Source Code, what happened to B? He just disappeared?
• And since A is B, how the hell will his relationship with Christina work? Come on. You think "it's the new me" would cover the fact that you don't know any of your common friends because you have the memories of an ex-military?
• We found out that the parallel universe where A was able to save his train from exploding continued in existence. So that means that the other times he "went back" also created these parallel universe where a train did blow up. It's just that he died in those universe. Right? Or does the existene of the universe rely on him being alive? ...Oh shit, this is Haruhi Suzumiya all over again!!! I am the universe.

Chelsea Market and Cafe at Serendra

Chelsea Greek Panko Crusted Feta Cheese
Choice of salad: yes, I often go for whatever namesake food they have because I expect it to embody the restaurant's character. If Chelsea' Chelsea Salad is unsatisfactory, then there's no point going back. Good thing I enjoyed it!

Chili's wraps, burgers, and fajitas

I love Chili's selection of burgers and wraps.

I usually get the Cajun Chicken sandwich (it has burger buns) when I don't have enough fat allowance in my diet. My family always orders the bottomless nachos (with free salsa) -- the best part about it is that you can even take home your left overs and they still refill your salsa. Too bad the bottomless (mango and/or strawberry) margaritas aren't served anymore!

Chicken Caesar Wrap
Fajita chicken, romaine lettuce leaves, Caesar dressing and Parmesan cheese wrapped in a soft flour tortilla
You can order additional Guacamole

Munich, Europe Trip: Colleagues

So here I was trying to maintain anonymity to avoid alienating readers. Then here comes a colleague asking why didn't I include them in my Munich [vacation] posts!

So to my friends in Munich, thank you for my memorable trip. May the next one (??) be more fruitful and eventful!

Jan is the boss. You know it's serious and incontestible when any of the [following] guys say "Jan said..." I'm not 100% certain about company rules and such but I'd play it safe and skip posting Jan's picture. He's a pretty visible guy, showing up on TV's (youtube) etc.

Then we have...

Pattaya - Thailand Trip Day 05, Swenson's Ice Cream Bar

Ice cream lovers, there is a Swenson Ice Cream bar in Pattaya. Actually, my boss said they have two such stores!

Awesome, awesome, awesome ice cream and milk shakes.

Pattaya - Thailand Trip Day 05, The Sanctuary of Truth

We spent half of our day looking for The Sanctuary of Truth. It was our last chance to visit the place and we didn't want to miss it. You HAVE to see the place if you head to Pattaya. And do reserve a full day for it. Start early and plan ahead, make sure you have a map; ask your landlord to help you get a ride that knows the place.

You will enjoy:

Pattaya - Thailand Trip Day 04, bugs for dessert

Into FearFactor stunts? Why don't you head out to the streets after dinner and have some crickets, larvae, and other strange-looking bugs for dessert? If you're lucky, you'd stumble upon deep fried scorpions!

Pattaya - Thailand Trip Day 04, Tiffany

Tiffany is the most magical place I've been to in Asia (nope, haven't been to Disney World in Asia because I've seen the one in LA when I was in high school).

We watched "pretty men" lip-sync and dance and it was so much fun! See these beautiful girls? Guess what. They're dudes!

Pattaya - Thailand Trip Day 04, Chef@Home

Chef@Home is a resort just around the corner from where we stayed. We were looking for breakfast and the place was inviting so we went ahead and had a seafood omelette, Thai beef salad, and that middle dish... I forgot what it was but everything was gooooooooood.

Pattaya - Thailand Trip Day 03, Sugar Hut

After a weekend of going around Pattaya and a round trip to Bangkok, today was a work day. Nevertheless, we received a dinner treat!

Sugar Hut Resort has it all: outdoor pools, beautiful landscapes housing birds that chirp/sing none stop, Thai-style villas, and for the bloggers: free Wi-Fi!

Bangkok - Thailand Trip Day 02

I have two priorities in Thailand: (1) eat Thai food, (2) shop 'til I drop. And I don't mean dropping because I don't have any more money left, but because my legs would fail because of how long and how far I've walked.

This was my only shopping day in this trip, and it wasn't as fruitful as expected. My tip for you: get a map and make sure you comb through Jatuchak (Weekend Market) as well as you can.

We took a bus from Pattaya to Bangkok (Morchit terminal since it's closest to our destination). Took a really short taxi ride to Jatuchak ("Chatuchak") Weekend Market (it was a Sunday) then just kept on walking around until our feet hurt.

The worst/best part of the day was finding the bus back!
The cheap restaurant we stopped for lunch was the "most Thai" we had :P

We had the same food pictured above on our last day, in the airport terminal. It was awful compared to the food from here.

Pattaya - Thailand Trip Day 01

From Bangkok Airport, we took a taxi to Pattaya. First night was spent recovering from the flight and the hour ride to Pattaya. It was raining hard that night. I didn't know Pattaya flooded on heavy rains -- I thought I'd only experience that back home.

If you're a first time visitor, let me give you some background: I spend vacations eating. So you'd see a lot of food pictures. Do drool.

We went to Fuji, a Japanese restaurant, for lunch. Thailand food is absolutely inexpensive compared to [good] food in the Philippines. But Filipino food is better prepared from home whereas "home cooked" Thailand food, even the good kind, is commonly bought in the market.

Fuji (Japanese Restaurant)

Kimpura at Greenhills

There are only a handful of good Japanese restaurants in Metro Manila. Kimpura is definitely one of them. Whatever happens, you have to get oysters and steak.

Munich, Europe Trip: last couple of days

My last couple of days were a blur of food and food.

Munich, Europe Trip: Day 11, Olympia Park and Stadium

Went up an elevator at 7m/second to get a good view of Munich.

Munich, Europe Trip: Day 11, best gelato in town

Sarcletti's (established in 1921) is a family-run business that is rumored to serve the best gelato in all of Munich.

How to get there

Munich, Europe Trip: Day 11, missed my bike tour

I was supposed to go to Lenny’s Bike Tour but I missed it because I was stupid. I wrote down 4:30pm but the tour was actually 4pm. Meeting place was somewhere near the above image.

I walked around because most of the places (German Museum and Glyptothek) were already closed.

Munich, Europe Trip: Day 11, BMW Museum

It was cool, interesting. But I'm not into cars so I was a little crushed when I had to choose between BMW Museum and the German Museum. I chose BMW only because I've been to quite a few traditional museums back in Austria.

Bavaria, Europe Trip: Day 10, Neuschwanstein Castle ("Schloss Neuschwanstein")

Had the best tour this day with a couple of colleagues (and a very pretty girlfriend whose name I can't pronounce).

Munich, Europe Trip: Days 5-9, a blur of work and food

Back in Munich, my hours were spent on work -- work that is interesting for me but would bore your ears off if I talked about it. So let's just skip to the food!

I love how bread -- sandwiches and pastries -- are so well prepared and presented in Europe. I love sandwiches, but I love pastries more. So a sandwich and a pastry for dessert? Bring it on!

Austria, Europe Trip: Day 4, end with a hike and a cake!

It had been an activity-packed day! But since it's my last day in Austria, I can't just sit around when there is still daylight to enjoy! Especially when the view outside is...

...breathtaking.

So this guy volunteered to walk me around:

Austria, Europe Trip: Day 4, Hofberg Palace

“Sorry, no pictures please!”

Goolai Chairman in the House!

On February 2009, I wrote about discovering a pretty, little bug on my [favorite] Goolai Salad.

Two years later, I find a reply from the chairman of Goolai salad on my post. Awesome. These people know how to keep their image.

First and foremost, I would like to stress that finding bugs in [fresh] green salads is common. It's so common, you probably don't eat enough fresh salad if you never experienced it. The post I made two years ago was simply to share that little experience. Although I've found small worms, etc. on my salads before -- even those from expensive restaurants -- I never bothered about them. I interpreted them as "it can only mean my salad is fresh!"

Anyway, below is the comment from Goolai's chairman.

Austria, Europe Trip: Day 4, Golden Roof ("Goldenes Dachl")

Right after Ambras Castle, I went straight to check out the Golden Roof. I came there 5pm, which was exactly the same time they closed. Just my luck. So I learned the hard way that museums and such close at 5pm on Sundays, and 6pm on all other days.

Walking around the same area, I also saw the oldest church in Innsbruck.