Malaysia: Chocolate overload in KL

I'm in KL for a business trip. So the only place I got to visit today, aside from KLCC of course, was Beryl’s Chocolate Kingdom where I had a chocolate overload! The factory churns out over a hundred varieties of high quality chocolate candies at prices cheaper than those in the same quality range. They use beans from Ghana, a recognized source of high quality cocoa beans. And since there are just so many kinds of chocolate candies from durian to tongkat ali, coconut and tiramisu, they give visitors samples to help you pick!

After resting a bit, I went around nearby KLCC to kill time. I wasn't in the mood to buy anything so I just enjoyed taking photos of the Petronas twin towers.

After strolling around KLCC, I met up with the rest of the group for dinner at the Pacifica Bar and Grill of the Mandarin Oriental. For my meal, I could not resist the temptation to order Wagyu beef! So I did! Yummy!

Ciento Comico
The night before we arrived in KL, I watched the hilarious Ciento Comico, a comedy show produced by the UPAA for the UP Centennial. I had complimentary tickets since many of my brods were major sponsors.

It was a great show! Willie Nepomuceno spoofed Erap and did it so well, you couldn't tell the difference. And little did I know that I would meet the real President Estrada later in the evening at a party of a brod. Yes people, that's really him!

Pampanga: Ultimate show-off in Pampanga and Giant Lantern Festival 2007

We had a great show-off today! I won't go into detail anymore since I've said so much about Pampanga already in this blog. So I invite you to visit Our Awesome Planet's detailed account of the trip: Part 1 - 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; Part 2 - 12:30 to 4:30 p.m.; and Part 3 - 4:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.

There were a lot of surprises we did not mention in our announcements. Aside from lunch at Claude Tayag's Bale Dutung, we gave each participant a bayong with our favorite Kapampangan goodies such as Imang Salud's ensaymadas, turrones de casoy from Santa Rita, Aurely's Special which is an inverted brazo de mercedes, Junjun's barbecue and puto pao from Nathaniel's. On the bus, we also served five gallons of the legendary buko sherbet of Brgy. San Jose in San Fernando!

I guess the biggest surprise for the group was that Among Ed Panlilio joined us for lunch at Claude's! The Giant Lantern Festival was as spectacular as always. And it was a great thing they returned the marching band tradition. Watch out for our upcoming tours. We don't plan on repeating tours so the next one will definitely be different. It was all smiles for everyone after 16 hours in flamboyant Pampanga.


Thanks to Bikoy and Anton for the photos! The video of Giant Lantern Festival 2007 was taken by Bikoy too.

Manila: Sunset at the Manila Yacht Club

It was a great opportunity to view the Manila Bay sunset! I just came from a frat party at the Manila Yacht Club. And I purposely arrived there early a while ago so that I could take photos of the yachts and the sunset.

Itself a piece of history, the club was founded in 1927. Now on its 80th year, it has hosted an international regatta, serves as the training ground for our teams to international yachting events such as the Olympics and SEA Games, and is an important venue for social gatherings.