Merchant's Lane Cafe, Kuala Lumpur

If ever you run out of places to go to in Kuala Lumpur, you can never go wrong with going on a food trip.  And if you are a social media savvy, an instagrammable food, cafe or restaurant is a bonus.

Merchant's Lane Cafe is exactly this.  Good food and coffee plus a quaint interior for your photos.

I ordered flat white coffee.  It was good but I prefer if it's a little sweeter.

For the main course, I had Hongkie Beef Stew.  The beef was slow cooked to perfection.  It's very tender that it melts in your mouth.  It came with mashed potatoes (under the beef), bokchoy and savory sweet barbecue like sauce.

Merchant's Lane Cafe is located near China Town.

Just a few steps away after this street sign.

It's easy to miss it but it's the first door (green color) of the building.  You have to climb the stairs to get to the dining area.

Merchant's Lane Cafe:

First Floor, 150, Jalan Petaling, Off Chinatown, Kuala Lumpur.

Opens at 11:00am to 8:00pm

Note:

This post is based on my personal experience only.

Please check their official page for the updated details.

Colmar Tropicale, Berjaya Hills Day Tour

I had a quick vacation in Malaysia last August 2017.  I attended a christening of my friend's daughter to whom I was chosen as one of the godmothers.  I extended my stay and took the chance to explore some new places and revisit some old.

First stop, Colmar Tropicale.

Colmar Tropicale is a French themed village and hotel in Berjaya Hills Resort, Bukit Tinggi, Pahang, Malaysia.  It is around an hour away from Kuala Lumpur so it's a perfect destination if you are looking for a day tour outside the city.

Make sure to book your trip in advance.  If you're going on a day tour, they have shuttle service from and to Berjaya Time Square to Colmar Tropicale.  Here are the schedule as of August 2017:

Berjaya Time Square to Colmar Tropicale:  9:30am / 12:00pm / 5:15pm / 8:30pm

Colmar Tropicale to Berjaya Time Square:  8:00am / 10:45am / 4:00pm / 7:30pm

Rate:  RM 60.00 / Adult / return shuttle (RM 55.00 4-12 years old)

Entrance:  RM 15.00  adult / RM 8.00 child

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to book in advance because they do not have an online facility for booking.  If you want to book online, you will have to email your credit card number in a form to authorize them to charge the amount.  I wasn't comfortable with providing my credit card number so I took a chance on buying the ticket early morning on the day of my trip.  Their ticketing office is at the 8th floor of Berjaya Time Square.  When I got there, it was already fully booked.  Mind you, it was a Monday!  I had no choice but to contract a taxi and negotiate a round trip fare plus waiting time.  The initial asking price of the taxi was RM 200.00.  I told them it was too much and I do not have money since I'm already going home the next day.  Final price that I agreed to pay for a round trip and 2 hours waiting time was RM 130.00.  That's more than double the amount of the shuttle!  Anyways, I agreed to it because I don't have anywhere else to go in KL for a whole day.

As expected, the Colmar Tropicale Village is perfect if you like taking pictures.  So even if I spent a lot to get there,  I enjoyed my quick stay at the village just by taking my own pictures lol.  There's nothing else to do after all. :D

There are also a few restaurants where you can have a snack or lunch.

For the final vedict, RM 130.00 plus is too much to spend for a half day or full day trip in Colmar Tropicale.  If you'll pay RM 60.00 to go here I'd say it's not bad.  Nevertheless, I was happy despite the struggles to make this trip happen.   And that's priceless. :)

Boracay Island Hopping

We only have one full day to enjoy some activities in Boracay.  Before our trip, we were thinking of doing island hopping, parasailing and helmet diving.  When we arrived in our hotel, someone approached us already and offered island hopping.  The rate was P600 per person (we were 4).  We will be joining a group tour which includes three islands - Puka beach, Crystal Cove and Crocodile island.  Buffet lunch was also included.  Since we were too lazy to check other options, we agreed to get the package and paid P200.00 per person for down payment.

The next day, we were picked up at our hotel at around 9am.  The island hopping tour was supposed to be at 9:30am.  Unfortunately, we waited for the other joiners until past 10:00am.  I don't know if they woke up late or something or the tour were still trying to fill in more people to join.

First stop, Puka beach.  I remembered when I first went to Boracay in 2006, this was the only island for island hopping.  It was so virgin like really an isolated island with just a few locals selling accessories.  I remembered how my friends and I enjoyed beach bumming and swimming in Puka beach because we practically had the whole island to ourselves.  Fast forward to 2017, there were a lot of people from different island hopping tours, a lot of nipa huts, benches which are owned by the shops or eatery in the island.  Sadly, we only stayed for 40 minutes which was not enough to enjoy Puka beach.

The next stop,  was at the lunch area.  We were expecting to eat sea foods since we were on the beach and based from our other past experiences in island hopping in Palawan etc.  Unfortunately, the only sea food in the buffet table was "daing na bangus" (milk fish).  They also served a small plate of calamares (squid) per table.  We had chicken barbecue, pork barbecue, vegetable, "pansit" (stirred noodles) a small banana and soft drinks.

The next stop was Crystal Cove.  Crystal Cove island is actually a private resort.  If you want to go inside and enjoy their amenities, you'll have to pay P200.00 for the entrance.  We decided not go inside anymore so we did not pay P200.00.  We didn't think it's worth it since we'll probably stay for about an hour or two.  We stayed outside the resort and swim by the shore.

The last destination was supposed to be Crocodile island but the boat man told us that the weather was not good to stop by Crocodile island.  Instead, our boat stopped by somewhere near Crystal cove for snorkeling.  We did not go snorkeling anymore but the other tourists did.  We noticed that the bread were floating so we were wondering if they even saw any fishes in the area.

Based from our experience, I wouldn't recommend island hopping when in Boracay.  We actually enjoyed the beach front more.  The fine white sand of Boracay is what makes it unique.  You don't have to go far to enjoy Boracay 😊😊😊

Boracay Sunset

Sunset in Boracay never gets old.  It is truly one of the classic beauty of the island.  A picture perfect view that doesn't need any filter.

Boracay 2017

I have been to Boracay three times.  The last time was last March 2010.  So when my friend told me that they just booked a Cebu Pacific promo round trip flight to Boracay for only P1,500.00 plus per person and invited me and another friend to come, I did not hesitate to go for the fourth time.  Unfortunately, I did not get the same promo rate as they did.  Mine was a little expensive than theirs's at P3,000.00 plus round trip.  Still not bad :).

So what's new with Boracay?

Caticlan Airport to Boracay
First of all, I was completely clueless of the new way to go to Boracay.  I just know that our route was via Caticlan and this is still the shorter way to go to Boracay (vs via Kalibo).  What I remembered from my previous trips to Boracay was that from Caticlan airport, there's a boat ride from the jetty port and you'll arrive at the Boracay beach front.  That wasn't the case anymore.
Since there's the new Caticlan airport runway, we rode an airport bus going to the old but renovated Caticlan airport.  From there, we paid P450.00 going to Boracay. Included were a short aircon van ride to the jetty port (around 5-10 minutes) boat ride from jetty port (around 15-20 minutes) and lastly, a multicab ride (also around 15-20 minutes) to Boracay beach.   When we stepped out of the multicab, we did not see any signs of the beach nor our hotel.  We had to ask a guard of an establishment where the beach front was. Turns out that we travelled on the main road of Boracay and we had to walk to a narrow path that leads to the beach.

Accomodation 

It's easy to get lost in choosing accomodation in Boracay.  The old rule was Station 1 is for the more expensive accomodation where it is less crowded and nearer to the famous landmark, Willy's rock and grotto; Station 2, for the party people where most establishments like restaurants and shops are located; Station 3 for the less expensive accommodations.  Although, generally, people refer to this as a guide, there are already 5 star hotels in station 3 and budget hotels in station 1.

I checked the reviews and ratings in Tripadvisor and Agoda and found Bluelily Hotel, which is located in Station 1.  It's a good thing that I thought of checking if they have a website and if I could book directly.  Luckily, I got a better rate when I booked directly in their website.  For 3 days and 2 nights, we paid P4,160.00 for 2 persons so that's P2,080.00 per person for 2 nights including breakfast.  It's a good deal considering that it's in station 1 and beach front.  I also think we got our money's worth.  Nothing fancy but the queen size bed was comfortable.  There's an extra bed for massage.  The bathroom is small but it has hot shower, toilet was flushing without any problems, it has enough hooks to hang towel and clothes, towels were replaced daily and no water interruption.

However, don't expect too much on breakfast.  They do no have a dining area except for the outdoor dining with the beach as your view.  It was raining on our first morning so we had our breakfast in our room.  Available breakfast choices were Filipino (silog) and American (toasts, cereals).

The Wholesome Table, Estancia Mall, Oranbo Pasig City

The Wholesome table offers healthy and organic food choices.

I was disappointed with these detox drinks.  I was expecting it to be in a glass, freshly juiced, but it came in a bottle which gave me the impression that it's not freshly juiced.  

We ordered organic pork, chicken and eggplant parmigiana.  

Pork tasted good, that it made me wanna order rice.  Of course, it had to be brown rice. :p

The chicken was so so.  The eggplant parmigiana was just ok too.