Another long weekend is up coming by August 29-31 since August 31 is a regular holiday. It is National Heroes Day here in the Philippines. Since it falls on a pay day (end of the month) I am sure as early as today Filipinos are now searching for a better, nice but cheap place to stay overnight for the family. As usual, outside the Metro are hot spots like Antipolo,  Rizal in the east, Batangas, Tagaytay, Cavite and Laguna in the South and Bulacan, Subic, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan and Baguio in the north.

If you have money outside the country trip is also a possibility but you have to sacrifice your Friday. Near places like Hong Kong and Singapore are possible places if you have money. You might also consider orlando vacations.

Hopefully we could find a nice out of town since we are planning to have an rest and relaxation spree out of town as well. Metro Manila is so hot for the past days because of some low pressure area in the country and we need a cooler place at the moment.

I will never forget our two days stay at the Heritage Hotel in Pasay City, Metro Manila. It was a once in a lifetime stay where we were accommodated for free for two days inclusive of buffet meals from breakfast to dinner. It was almost an indefinite stay courtesy of the airline where we booked because the plane where we were supposed to board accidentally became out of order.

During our trip to Belgium, our airline had to postpone its flight due to technical problem which was why all the passengers of that flight were given a complementary stay at the Heritage Hotel.

It’s too bad that we had to secure another flight to be in Belgium the following day because of my sister in-law’s wedding occasion. If not we could have stayed in the hotel for a couple of days more. We’d better enjoy our stay there while we were there without our choice. After all, we were housed in a suite room, although I think they didn’t have walk in tubs especially for my wife who has undergone caesarean during her giving of birth but its bathroom is really nice.

With a hotel this beautiful, one wouldn’t mind having another delay of flight.

One thing that my Belgian brother in-law observe about our restaurants here is that we have added attractions like TV or widescreen mounts on the restaurant’s wall.

One time, we were having dinner and our attention was disturbed by the programs shown. According to him, in his place the usual European restaurant doesn’t have this amenity. Dinner or eating together is the usual time when people should have a conversation.

For us Filipinos, dining areas are usually attached to a living room where we don’t have dividers. Thus, while eating we can also watch TV at the same time.

I wonder on how it fells to spend a night in the most expensive suite hotel in the world like in Burj Al Arab in Dubai United Arab Emirates. Its room suites will cost you $1700 to as much as $15000 suites for an overnight stay. This hotel is 321 m (1,050 ft) tall which made it the second tallest hotel building in the world.

Burj al-Arab has 202 duplex suites each with butler service, 42-inch plasma TV, a one of a kind royal bathroom, specially made area rugs and carpets. The Royal Suite comes with an indoor Jacuzzi and revolving bed.

The hotel stands on an artificial island and it costs US$650 million to build.

It’s been two weeks already since my brother in-law invited us to try HotRocks Steak for lunch. It is located in Libis near Shopwise Hypermart beside Goodah Restaurant. I was there and saw the place but we have not been able to try the food because we were in a hurry then.

Until last Saturday when we decided to have our grocery shopping in Shopwise. I said to myself that I will never let this time to pass until I got to try its 100 pesos steak and since I was also curious about those photos hanging on their wall, I also spent the time to look around the place.

What do you expect for a 100peso steak? For my capacity maybe it is not enough. I eat a lot although I’m always on the look-out for weight loss supplements that work. Still, I really like the way it was cooked and I also like the taste, but for some other foods in their menu I will promise to my self to try it again on my next visit.

With regards to the photos hanging on its wall and if you want free steak, just submit your 8R-sized photo with frame and the outlet will hang it there for free if chosen.

It’s been a while that we have not able to visit Libis until last Saturday when we spent our family lunch in that piece of the metro. After searching for a new restaurant to try, we bumped into Sizzlin’ Pepper Steak Restaurant. The place is cozy and nice but since I was not craving for a sizzling steak at that time, I only ordered pasta because I thought I would be needing some cholesterol treatments already if I did order steak. But my wife ordered steak and chicken vegetable salad. I am not a vegetable person but I almost consumed her salad and also tried the steak after all.

This is something to be visited again. Foods range from 150-250 pesos but it’s really worth the price. Fish fillet is also good. My son was able to consume it all.

A few months ago, I was wondering about the shooting crews scattered along the helipad side of Fort Bonifacio. I was able to pass by it almost three times every Tuesday of the week. I thought it was a new movie or “teleserye” on TV until such time when I saw John Lloyd Cruz’s Greenwich Pizza’s commercial. The advertisement was shot exactly in the place were I was passing by almost everyday on the way to my son’s school. It’s the same spot where we usually bike around and jog.

The added enhancements and software development on the production enable to make the place look somewhat different. This advertisement shows John Lloyd saving his male friend from being possibly bumped off by a car.