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Mithun Divakaran

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Authentic biryani menu Monumento Manila

Philippines: Back in Manila, in search of Indian food around Monumento

Date: January 5, 2023

After two full days at LiwLiwa beach, it was time to head back home. We went back to Mommy Phoebe’s Place for breakfast.

Breakfast Liwliwa beach Zambales Philippines
It was a good hearty breakfast; cost us ₱445 (₹660/$8/€7.3)

We then went back to our room, checked out of Cafe de Liwa, and took a trike taxi to San Felipe Public Market. We then boarded a Victory Liner bus to Manila.

Misty clouds Zambales hills Philippines
It was raining for much of the journey
Rainy rice fields highway Philippines
The bus would only make a few brief rest stops

We were delayed a bit due to highway traffic closer to Manila. So it was past 4pm when we finally reached the Victory Liner terminal we got down at. We took a taxi, got home, and then went to a restaurant called Fat Cousins’ Diner. It was not good. Just mediocre food at high prices.

Date: January 6, 2023

After doing some work, I decided to step out to check SM City North EDSA, one of the largest malls in Manila.

Road to SM North EDSA Manila rains
I headed to the mall on a Grab bike taxi

The main mall has the usual brands you will find in any SM mall. I went to the Annex wing to check out ‘Cyberzone’ — which as the name suggests, is where all the electronics shops are.

SM City North Electronics mall Manila
I mostly came here to check out the gaming stores

Aside from stores selling PlayStation games, you have pretty much every major brand of electronics available here — from laptops, gaming PCs, TVs, appliances, and of course mobile stores. Lots and lots of mobile stores and accessories for mobile phones.

Raindrops window Manila mall Philippines
I spent some time at SM North EDSA, not because I wanted to… but because it was raining outside
SM North pedestrian bridgeway Manila
Once the rains had subsided, I used the bridgeway to get to Trinoma mall on the other side of the EDSA highway
SM North EDSA construction Manila
There was a lot of construction going on at Trinoma mall’s site

I searched on Google Maps and found a few Indian eateries in the Monumento area, just 5+ kilometres from Trinoma/SM City North EDSA. I thought I’d check it out and grab some dinner from there.

Continue reading “Philippines: Back in Manila, in search of Indian food around Monumento” »
Subic Bay town boats Philippines

Philippines: Strolling around San Felipe town; visiting Subic Bay

Date: January 3, 2023

After arriving in LiwLiwa yesterday and checking out the beach, we wondered how to spend the day today. We took a trike to San Felipe Public market, and tried to find a money exchange place that would accept Singapore dollars. Unfortunately, I learned that even though there are many Filipinos working in Singapore, in small towns across the Philippines… don’t expect money exchange centers to accept a wide a variety of foreign currency. US dollars are still your safest bet.

Santo Tomas sand river Zambales Philippines
The Santo Tomas river of sand

Fortunately I managed to find a money exchange place in the neighbouring town of San Narciso that would accept Singapore dollars and converted some in exchange for Philippines pesos.

Breathing a sigh of relief, we had an early lunch now that I had enough cash in hand.

Lunch pasta sisig Zambales
Cafe de Verde was the name of the restaurant but the food was quite forgettable. Mediocre at best. All this came to ₱590 (₹876/$10/€9.7)

We sat at the restaurant to do some work as the mobile internet in LiwLiwa beach wasn’t always reliable.

San Narciso Zambales Philippines
After we left the restaurant, we walked around San Narciso
San Sebastian Parish church Zambales
San Sebastian Parish church
Old house San Narciso Zambales
An old wooden house that’s now open to visitors

There wasn’t much else to do in this town, so we took a bus back to San Felipe.

Continue reading “Philippines: Strolling around San Felipe town; visiting Subic Bay” »
LiwLiwa beach blue sea aerial drone

Philippines: Getting to Liwliwa Beach, Manila to San Felipe (Zambales) by bus

Date: January 2, 2023

After mostly mall-hopping in Manila, just after the New Year, we decided to take a break and head out somewhere. I had looked for beach destinations in Luzon itself and that’s when my girlfriend suggested LiwLiwa beach in Zambales province. The town/village we would need to get to was San Felipe and we would have to take a bus from a company called Victory Liner to get there.

So we took a taxi to Victory Liner’s Cubao terminal, in Quezon City.

Victory Liner Cubao terminal ticket counter
Although we did get to the terminal by 8:30am or so, unfortunately the tickets for the 9AM bus to Iba were already sold out

So we only got tickets for the 11AM bus. Tickets to San Felipe cost ₱484 (₹726/$8/€8) for one. We booked our stay at Cafe de Liwa which offers a few cottages as well. The owners recommended getting down at San Felipe Public Market. So Victory Liner buses going to Iba or Sta. Cruz are both good. See this route map (orange is Zambales line) to get a better idea.

We sat at the terminal and I used the wait time to get some work done on my laptop.

Inside Victory Liner bus Cubao Manila
We boarded our bus by 10:45 in the morning

The bus left on time and the journey would take us around 3 and 1/2 hours. Watch the video at the end of this post which features clips from our bus journey.

Philippines arena sports stadium Manila
We drove past the Philippines Arena and Sport Stadium

Philippines Arena is where a lot of major concerts now take place. Now I know why Filipino K-pop fans complain whenever events are held at Philippines Arena — it’s so far from the city!

Continue reading “Philippines: Getting to Liwliwa Beach, Manila to San Felipe (Zambales) by bus” »
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