Christmas Decor Shopping in Paskuhan Farmers Cubao

Last week, I finally got the time to shop for a lantern and some Christmas lights for this Christmas season.
I am always looking for the cheapest tiangge possible where I can buy affordable but quality Christmas decors or decorations or ornaments or whatever you call them.
For years now, when it came to Christmas decors, the PASKUHAN TIANGGE in Farmers Cubao have been my haven. This Tiangge for Christmas ornaments opens every night only during the Christmas season. I have been to Divisoria a couple of times this season and the price there was relatively higher compared to Paskuhan Tiangge.

Paskuhan Tiangge in Farmers, Cubao, Quezon City

 The place is located just beside Farmers Market and accessible through EDSA. Finding the tiangge is very easy because the area is very bright because of the various Chrismtas lights being sold. The luminous place will surely grab your attention.

I was able to buy two sets of LED drop lights or rain lights for 350 pesos each. Drop lights are very much in as a Christmas decor this season. The price of this set (8 pieces of stick per set) in Divisoria ranges from 500 - 650 pesos. But here in Paskuhan Tiangge in Farmers, the price for this same set ranges from 350 - 450 only! I was able to haggle the price to 350 pesos.

Drop lights/Rain lights 350 pesos per set (8 pieces per set)

I also bought a big lantern made of capiz and light bulbs about 2 - 3 feet in diameter. The original price was 1,800 pesos but I was able to get it for 1,650 considering I also bought the drop lights on the same store. They also accept lantern repair so I would not have to worry reusing the lantern I bought for the next Christmas season.

Huge Lantern for 1,650 pesos

Connecticut Elementary School Massacre: 27 dead including 20 children

A shocking headline made the December 14, 2012 news about a massacre that happened in an Elementary School in Connecticut, USA when 20 year old young man had shot 27 people including 20 children. A separate dead body was found in a nearby house bringing it a total of 28 casualties once police found  this related to the case.

The shooting started at around 9:30 in the morning according to the police. Victims were mostly children around 5 to 10 years of age. Seven of the victims were adults including the principal and the killer himself. It's  yet to be identified whether the suspect was killed by himself or the police. Another dead body found in a nearby house was allegedly the killers mother. Only one person suffered an injury but survived.

The killer, Adam Lanza, was 20 year old young man who was allegedly a former student in Sandy Hool Elementary School. He was first mistakenly identified as his older brother because of the identification card he was carrying with him when he went to the School. According to investigation, Lanza allegedly shot his mother in their house before driving to his former school.

According to former classmates and friends of the suspect, Lanza was a nerdy shcool boy back in High School. He wore rather more formal clothes than normal kids his age and had a few friends. Adam Lanza was a shy but intelligent and polite young boy so investigators had to dig further on how this young man had committed such heinous crime.

Other sources told that as a kid, Adam was forced by his mother to study harder. His parents were divorced, his mother was known to be a gun enthusiast and had a collection of firearms. She even brought her children to gun shooting sometimes. Investigators found that the gunman was very accurate at his shootings.

President Barrack Obama had already expressed his condolences in the massacre, even ordered to lower the US flag to half mast.

3 ways I know to watch Pacquiao Marquez 4 live

Everybody is already excited about the upcoming fight of Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez this coming December 9 (December 8 in Las Vegas, USA). I'm sure most of you can't wait to watch it live as much as possible and are looking for sites online that would provide you with a channel or a live stream video.

I have listed 3 ways I have tried and tested (except for no. 3) that would surely provide live action on your screen.

1. SopCast - This is what I use mostly and needs a bit of effort. SopCast is a downloadable software where users online can publish their videos for other users to watch. Its definitely free and needs no registration.
Just download the software on their website here.
The next step is to look for available SopCast channel that broadcast the fight. This is a bit hard and needs a bit of patience because most of this videos are illegally broadcasted and are being controlled and shut down by online admin.

I have listed some of theSopCast channels I have used previously for the Pacquiao and Bradley fight. Hopefully it will still run for the Pacquiao Marquez 4.

sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/93289
sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/69756
sop://broker1.sopcast.com:3912/6002
sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/51813
sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/24267

sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/29629

sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/24267
sop://broker1.sopcast.com:3912/65154

sop://broker1.sopcast.com:3912/85856

sop://broker1.sopcast.com:3912/85856
sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/7524

2. Subscribe to Cignal Pay per View (PPV) - This is a legitimate way to watch the fight and needs no effort at all. You only to need to pay 550 pesos on top of your regular monthly subscription fee to be able to watch it live and commercial free. Of course one prerequisite is to have existing Cignal account.

Check out their site here for more info. 

3. The third one is what I will be using right now to watch Pacquaio Marquez 4. I have subscribed to PPV of Destiny Cable (Global Destiny CATV which was newly acquired by Sky Cable). This is much more expensive than Cignal TV because you have to pay for one time installation of digital box worth 2000 pesos plus the PPV fee of 1000 pesos. 

Call their hotline for more information 418-0000.

Ilocos La Paz Sand Dunes

Check out this video I uploaded where you can see my mother rocking Ilocos La Paz Sand Dunes.

The place was okay, but really really hot. We planned to go there early in the morning, so the sun will not be that much in effect, but the place was still blazing hot even at nine o' clock in the morning!

My advice for you folks if you plan on going there, wear rubber shoes, or anything with think soles. The sand was so hot it almost burned my feet!

Our lunch at Big Buddha Greenbelt, Makati

Just had lunch at Big Buddha located an the 2nd floor of Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center Makati. Just right after the Cinema in G3, you will find a row of restaurants and Big Buddha is at the end of that row.

The ambiance of the place was nice, the service was not so bad either 

Big Buddha serves mainly Chinese dishes, but they also serve other Asian Cuisine as well. For a group of 3, we ordered three dishes:

• Fried Crispy Chicken
• Beef Broccoli
• Fish Fillet with Taosi Sauce

We ordered one plate of Yang Chow Rice, to share and bottomless Red and Lemon Iced Tea for Drinks.

We chewed on these crackers while waiting for our order to come.
Big Buddha also served us their House Tea

from L-r: Fried Crispy Chicken, Beef Broccoli and Yang Chang Rice

The rice wasn't enough for three persons so we ordered 2 plain rice for 60php each, a bit expensive for a small cup of rice I think.

Among the three dishes, I liked the Fish fillet the most, although I am not sure if that's really the name of the dish. The chicken and broccoli were also delicious but there were other restaurants I knew that served these dishes better.

I think this is the Fish Fillet with Taosi Sauce, it also has mushrooms and tofu in it

On the Spot outing: Cheap Hot Spring Resort in Pansol, Laguna (Bonsai Resort)

Last weekend, my boyfriend’s relatives from Cabanatuan visited us in Cavite for a semi family reunion, because his Tita came home from Japan. We decided to have an on the spot outing that day and the nearest and most ideal place to go to was Laguna.

I initially looked for a nice but affordable private hot spring resort in Pansol, Laguna online but since our outing was on that same day, I had difficulty looking for an available resort. There were some I have found to be available but the rates were a bit higher than our budget.

We realized it was pointless to look online because of the time constraint and decided to drive to Pansol and just look for a nice resort on the spot.

Luckily, when we got to the main highway of Pansol, there were already guys with placards with “Resort for Rent” or “Private Pool for Rent”. We talked to the first guy who approached our car and quickly made the deal. It was 7pm already.

He escorted us to the resort that met our qualifications (he was on a motorcycle), just less than 5-minute drive from the highway. Bonsai Resort was a compound type of resort divided into three pool sections. We had bonsai 2 which was in the middle. We rented the place for P4000 pesos overnight, for a group of 15 persons.

It had the following amenities:

• 1 adult pool (3ft-5ft) warm water
• 1 kiddie pool (which is more like a Jacuzzi for me 
• 2 rooms with 4 double decks per room, air-conditioned 
• 3 bathroom 
• 2 sinks for cooking with stove   a refrigerator with 1 pack of tube ice
• Tables and chairs
• unlimited videoke
• wide area parking

BONSAI 2

 

kitchen

2 bathrooms inside

4 double decks per room, air conditioned

The water in the pool was clean and warm. At first I couldn’t bear the temperature of the water in the kiddie/Jacuzzi pool but it felt better after a few moments.

 The only thing I did not like about the place was that blankets were not provided. I had difficulty sleeping because I was so cold and I could not turn off the air-con because some of us were okay with the air-con turned on.

BONSAI 3, a bit more pricy than bonsai 2

This was the sign at the corner of the street going to Bonsai Compound

Of course, our trip to Laguna wouldn't be complete without stopping by to Colette's, famous for it's bukopie. :)

Colette's

You might also want to check out our trip to 88 Hotspring Resort also in Pansol, Laguna.

On the Spot outing in Pansol, Laguna (Bonsai Resort)

Last weekend was a blast for me. Finally, I have met my boyfriend's relatives, (on his mother's side). They visited us from Cabanatuan with his Tita who came from Japan. We decided to spend our time together by having an "on the spot outing." We were already in San Pablo, Laguna at that time, so the nearest and most appealing place to go to was Pansol, Laguna.

We tried to look for a private hot spring resort in Pansol online at first but decided that it would not be practical. Aside from the resort that we found were a bit higher than our budget, we were not sure if these were still available because we would rent the resort on that same day. So we decided to go to Pansol and look for a resort ourselves which was actually not hard! The moment we reached the main highway of Pansol, guys with placards that said "Private Resort for Rent" approached us. After 5 minutes, we arrived at Bonsai Resort. It's a compound type of resort which we rented for P4000 from 7 PM to 9 AM. After seeing the place, I realized that I have seen the resort online when we were still looking for a nice resort that day. As I remembered, the price was a bit higher than P4000, it was P6000 in sulit.com if I was not mistaken.

Bottom line is if you are going on an on the spot outing in Pansol, Laguna, it will be more practical to go there and look for a resort personally than look online. There are many guys along the highway of Pansol who would be happy to assist (because they have commission, hehe), and recommend an affordable and ideal resort for the guests.

Bonsai Resort, more pictues at viacommute.blogspot.com

You can also read my other blog here for more details about bonsai resort. :)