Lagu

Of all the things I bought for the beach, I was proudest of my purchase of my Lagu beach blanket. According to their website, Lagu is:

"Lagu is the first beach-friendly beach blanket. Unlike ordinary towels, Lagu repels sand, allowing you to lay with ease while also conserving the beach. Its unique linen blend is allergen-free and has quick-dry properties, keeping it fresh for repeated use."

I particularly loved the fact that it was proudly made in the Philippines. I had convinced Lucia to purchase one as well. I went with Naranja, while she went with Celeste.

I have to say, it lived up to its 'sand repellent' claim. Given, that the sand at Laiya was mostly crushed corals, it still did its job when I wanted to lay by the shore and just chill. I particularly loved how quickly it dried so there wasn't any risk of lugging a moist towel in my travel bag. I also happen to have sensitive skin, so I was really glad about the allergen-free variable to the concept.


I actually wanted to get Violeta but she wasn't out in stores yet. Well perhaps, one day I'll purchase one for myself and hand Naranja over to someone.

I was also quite impressed with how large it was. Two people could sit quite comfortably without having to bang elbows (for this time though, I had my beach blanket all to myself hehe). So, in the end, my friend and I are totally happy customers!

I definitely recommend Lagu for beach lovers everywhere.

Vacation

So Lucia and I got together around January and decided to use some well-deserved leave credits. I must say, this is one of the most testing events I've ever had to endure. For one thing, Lucia could not make up her mind at the start of things. She wasn't sure where she wanted to go. Every suggestion was met with a 'I don't know'. I was honestly on edge most of the time I was discussing things with her. When I did have certain details set, she suddenly announces that she wishes to go to the beach but under the strict provision that it was to be cheap.

Of course I would aim for an affordable vacation, there's no sense to throw so much money in the wind all for a few days' diversion. I tried to contact Coral Beach Club but they were unreachable. Seriously, what was up with that? I tried to email them, call them, send them FB messages, all to no avail. On further research, I discovered that their beach was ill kept. The plot of shore they had was not private. So I turned my attention to Laiya, Batangas. Yes, I did all the research for this trip as apparently my companion was as useful as a toothache when it came to planning.

La Luz Beach Resort was the best looking resort I saw from the plethora of websites I accessed. It also seemed to be the most affordable. I particularly liked how they forbade the presence of karaoke machines on the premises. In order to make trip even more affordable, we added another person into our party: Andrea.

La Luz was rather confusing to contend with regarding a deposit. So, keep in mind that when finished with your 50% deposit, be ready to have the deposit slip scanned and emailed to La Luz management. They'll reply as soon as they can with a confirmation e-mail. Then, be prepared to nurse that deposit slip because it needs to be presented along with a hard copy of the confirmation e-mail upon check in.

So there was a lot of things to be done, details to be finalized, and of course: SHOPPING! I'll be discussing some of the finds I got in a later post. When you're waiting for something, time seems to just crawl. Thankfully, the crawling stopped and the day for my vacation had arrived.

Lucia and I will be coming from the Alabang area so we woke up extra early to catch a bus to San Juan, Batangas. As it turns out: THERE IS NO BUS FROM ALABANG TO SAN JUAN, BATANGAS. Don't be deceived as I was about the details listed on the ALPS website. They said they had a bus from Cubao that passes on through to Alabang then head to San Juan, Batangas and they didn't. So we had to take a regular Batangas bound bus that stopped at Tambo. The fare was 98 pesos. When we got to Tambo, the conductor directed us to this little green shed and said that a bus that goes directly to San Juan would be passing there. The manongs that were waiting there were very helpful and they were on the look-out for the bus that we needed.

We didn't wait too long, it was only around 15 minutes or so when the Alps bus passed by. The fare from Tambo to San Juan proper was 56 pesos. It was pretty smooth sailing. The bus was nearly empty and I was happily snacking on the sandwich that my boyfriend had lovingly made for me. Lucia was feeling a little queasy so I gave her some apple slices and that cured her right up!

When we got to San Juan, Batangas we were immediately accosted by a trike driver asking if we were headed to Laiya. Neither Lucia or myself had been there before so we said yes. He said he'd take us to our resort for 400 pesos. Can you believe that?! 400 bucks on a trike?! He says that was cheap since the original price was 600 and that the jeeps were on a strict schedule that wouldn't start until around 11 am. We were there around 9 am. So, unfortunately, I let our newness to the place overcome my sense of thrift and we agreed to let the man take us to the resort for a bartered price of 350 pesos. I still couldn't believe it. It certainly hit my wallet and it HURT.

In fairness, the trip to the resort was pretty far. When he dropped us off at La Luz, he was being pushy about picking us up when we were headed home. I just had to draw the line there and said NO. I was going to find another way home. The staff was very friendly. They helped carry our things up to the check-in area. I was rather upset at the time as the person who had the print out of the confirmation e-mail wasn't there yet despite promising that she'd be the earliest there since she was living relatively close. Good thing that I was the one with the deposit slip and all was good. The staff led us to one of the cabanas since the check-in time was at 1 pm. The view was enough to significantly lighten my disposition. The view was gorgeous!

The 2.5 days I spent there was well worth the hassle of planning and saving. The food was really good, I particularly enjoyed their 'make-your-own-omelette' thing at breakfast. If ever you're going to La Luz, be sure to pack aqua shoes. Their 'sand' is mostly rock and corals so they can be pretty painful to the feet. I know I'll be prepared the next time I visit this place.

Yakimixing It

So yes, I've been pretty much neglecting this blog and I have soooooo much to post about but I haven't all the time in the world, y'know? A girl's gotta make a living after all. So I've just been keeping my head down and working my tush off and what do I have to show for it? A happy home and an upcoming vacation haha!

But I'm getting ahead of myself. So let me write about something a little more recent, like today recent. Caleb and I tried out Sambokojin in SM Southmall around late last year and I fell in love with the place. Apparently, I can wolf down around 10 people's worth of Salmon Sashimi hehe. We heard about Yakimix opening up in ATC and we decided to give it a try.

Ambiance-wise, it's pretty chill. I like their overhead lights. I had to stare at them for a while, too. In my head, they were bubbles just itching to be popped (yes, I have a thing for popping those). SM's Sambo is larger but Yakimix has a cozier feel to it. We went there for the eat-and-drink-all-you-can for P520 each. Not bad, I must say.

What I didn't like was that their labeling of things to grill was kinda off. You're not really sure which one was which with the way they placed things. According to the boyfriend, the sushi was kinda dry. So that's disappointing. I made an immediate beeline for the Salmon Sashimi. Their mango juice is really refreshing! Great thing about it is that you can change your drink whenever you want. So, Caleb cycled through the red iced tea and root beer. I, on the other hand, was drowning in salad and hotdogs. Their grilled stuff is okay. Some are exceptionally delicious and others are WTH was that. I wish they had sauces to come with their grilled things. Instead, you have salt, pepper, and chili powder. I guess Sambo spoiled me.

Yakimix can, however, boast of their dessert selection. I was really happy when I learned they had a halo-halo section because that assures you of one thing: Leche Flan! I've been in love with the thing since grade school and I was pretty disappointed with Yakimix's try at it. It wasn't as creamy as I had hoped it would be and it was a bit over refrigerated. They made up for it with the chocolate cake, so that's fine.

Lucia joined us for lunch that day and she was starved! She totally made short work of the sisig, shrimp, rice, hotdogs, and several sushi that she had on her plate.

So was it worth the money? I'd say yes. Caleb and Lucia were stuffed and I got to eat the things I wanted. If I don't sound entirely believable, blame my partiality for Sambokojin's wider range of deep fried section. I miss their Salmon Croquet.