EJ Padero dot Com: Volume 1

A leisurely drive around the Metro last night ended up at the Global Fun Carnival, SM Mall of Asia Complex.

I hear it opened just a couple of days ago, on October 27. I guess that explains why the place was still pretty much in a sort of “soft opening” phase, not yet too busy and with only a handful of visitors here and there.

Mga Takas:

R.I.P. Jumong?

Tip: The carnival grounds is loose gravel all over. Wear appropriate footwear for that sort of terrain. It won’t be long before those wearing thin slippers (even fancy, thousand-peso Havaianas) get sore feet. High heels? Good luck.

Related link:
Global Fun Carnival [Official Website]

What is it about the view from a very high vantage point (on stable ground) that can be so relaxing? Here’s a shot that does the trick:

View from Tagaytay Highlands: The Spa & Lodge
Photo taken facing north-east, I think

Add that to an afternoon at the spa, getting pampered and massaged and there you have temporal bliss – until the Metro Manila traffic strangles you on your way home.

Tagaytay Highlands [Official Website]
The Spa & Lodge [Tagaytay Highlands]

It’s my Dad’s birthday tomorrow, but the party was last night at the fabulous Club Mwah along Boni Avenue in Mandaluyong, amidst the razzle of their Bedazzled 7 production – the latest installment of the series dubbed Follies De Mwah.

The Vegas showgirl (err, showgay?) styled musical production featured campy-sexy numbers from Cats, Madame Butterfly, West Side Story, Victor Victoria (to name a few), a twisted Little Mermaid meets Titanic spoof – and even a special guest appearance by Tina Turner, who teased my Dad with a bit of a lapdance! Haha! Stupid me wasn’t able to catch it on camera. Very entertaining work by Pocholo Malillin and Cris Nicolas. Bravo!

Click a thumbnail below to view the bigger picture:

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It’s one of the house specialties slash novelty dishes of a place named Green Ats in Tagaytay.

Upon seeing the sign and after verifying that it really did say “Hot Sizzling Buko”, my culinary curiosity got started. I wondered about things like, “Will it taste like chicken?”, and “Will I be able to stomach it?”, or “The toilet isn’t very fancy. Maybe I should have some Imodium ready before I try it.”

Unfortunately, the sizzling buko wasn’t available the first time I was at Green Ats. Even the waiter, who was new, admitted he didn’t know what it looked nor tasted like. It then became a reason to return, which I was able to do last night.

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After attending mid-morning Easter Mass and while the father was visiting his parental units in Cagayan de Oro, we headed South and up to Tagaytay and then to Nasugbu, both in Batangas.

It took around an hour and a half to get to Tagaytay through moderate weekend traffic. Though I once did clock in at just 45 minutes – picture Maritess the Revo doing Initial-D impressions around mountains at past midnight. It seemed every Juan dela Cruz and his mother were up in Tagaytay! The eventual drive back down to Manila took, guess what! Four freakin’ hours! I had my foot just holding and releasing the brakes all the way down to level ground in Cavite.

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Commemorated Araw ng Kagitingan (April 9) a week early by driving up Mt. Samat in Pilar, Bataan and checking out the Dambana ng Kagitingan (Shrine of Valor) World War II Memorial. The mountain itself rises almost 2,000 feet (610 meters) above sea level at its peak. Here, the Memorial Cross makes this strategic vantage point even more commanding – or acrophobic:

The Memorial Cross is a towering structure of steel and reinforced concrete with an elevator and viewing gallery (arm of the cross). The height of the Cross is 92 meters (302 feet) from the base. The height of the arms is 74 meters (243 feet) from the base. The length of the arm is 30 meters (15 meters on each side). The viewing gallery is 18 by 90 foot with a 7-foot clearance.

The fact that my grandfather, who was a Captain in the engineering core of the “Fighting” 41st Division during the war, was among those who valiantly defended Bataan until it fell, then suffered the infamous Bataan Death March and the POW Camp O’Donnel in Capas, Tarlac (and survived!) will always be a personal source of pride and inspiration for bravery*, honor, duty, and the will to survive.

He defined their main activities in the engineering core as basically either, “building things or blowing them up.”

Photos of the Memorial Cross and War Museum after the jump.

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