Hooters Bar in Manila

I've been to Hooters Bar at SM Mall of Asia's bay area twice. The first time was out of curiosity, and second time was when my monthly drinking buddies chose to hang out in the baywalk area. The establishment is located at the right (or north) side along San Miguel by the Bay, quite a long walk from the mall.

Hitting the Food Markets

Wife and I left home before 6:00 am this morning to buy fresh produce at Binan Public Market. We were quite surprised to see that all parking space were full, as some restaurant operators and biyaheros (resellers) are still in the market. 

Hankering for other seafoods aside from usual milkfish and tilapia, I was able to buy talakitok (trevally), dulong (dwarf goby) for fishcake, and dalag (mudfish) which was turned into pesa dish for today's dinner.

SLEX's 300% Toll Hike is Highway Robbery!

Starting on 07 July 2010, people who use the South Luzon Expressway will have to endure the 300% increase on toll fees. That is if South Luzon Tollways Corp. (SLTC) or the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) were not bothered by their conscience, to reverse their ruling of increasing the toll fees at astronomical terms. Remember Albay Governor Joey Salceda, the guy who called GMA as luckiest bitch? I couldn't agree more with his recent statements as follows:

"Trade with Manila is the lifeblood of Bicol and the SLEX is the main artery. The SLEX toll fee amounts to an unavoidable imposition on our traders, farmers, students who study in NCR, workers who work in [Philippine Economic Zone Authority] zones in Cavite, Laguna and on ordinary families who visit their relatives in Quezon City. We can not even protest by not using it. The prohibitive cost is tantamount to a curtailment of trade and our freedom to travel," Salceda said in a statement.

Meralco Deposit Refund

We just received our Meralco electric bill. The bad news is that it is our highest electric bill on record! :(  

The good news is our bill includes a notice that we could get our deposit refund starting next month. :)  Details of the deposit refund and downloadable MDR form can be found here.

Now, there's just one problem. I cannot find the required Meralco deposit receipt when I applied for Meralco service about 15 or 16 years ago. How can ERC or Meralco expect their customers to keep the deposit receipts after so many years? Meralco must have records of their customers' deposit payments as basis for the computation of the refunds.

Caylabne Bay Resort, Cavite

Its been more than 5 years since I set foot again in Caylabne. During those previous visits, its  exclusive for members only, and it was also managed by an international hotel chain. This time as its now open to the public, I noticed a drop in quality of dining equipment used as well as in maintenance of facilities. But at Php 900/person for use of facilities plus buffet lunch and 2 snacks, I think our company paid reasonable fee for our teambuilding last weekend.

Leaving Makati at 7 am thru Coastal Road route then traversing the Maragondon mountains, we reached Caylabne's gate on a hill after 2 hours. The resort's security guard checked our group's name against his arrival list, noted our bus' plate number, number of guests, as well as the food and drinks we are bringing in. Prior to reaching the resort, we also passed the magnetic road portion, as our bus crept thru a semi-level straight road. The bus was using its 3rd gear, but we experienced a crawling speed like we are just a notch above first gear.