Planes & Places & Plates

jacescoela a 20-year-old interior design student who's first love is writing, and eating and exploring has become her hobby (also, hubby). For more information, read: Hi, Reader!

[jacescoelawrites-blog]

Bangkok 2015

Do you have that one country you’ve always wanted to go to? I have. Well, it depends on which continent. For Asia, I have always wanted to visit Thailand because of its rich and preserved culture. I always thought that being there is a breath of fresh air from the fast modernization of our world. So when our school announced that they're holding a study trip to Bangkok, I was game...100%.

The tour was only three days long but I extended for two more days to get a personal feel of the city. Although, we were given spare time to roam on our own as our daily activities ended at 5pm.

As soon as we arrived at the Bangkok airport, we left to meet with Arch. K Samantha/Abacus Design in Sukhummvit. They are behind the interior designs of Bangkok hotels such as Sofitel, Anantara and Marriott.

[Disclaimer: For most of the trip, I took photos using my DSLR camera. I transferred them to my iMovie software since I was creating a movie project all to myself, but I had the mistake of not backing them up. For some reasons, as I upgraded my iMovie, everything went missing! I am still contacting Apple as to what to do, but for now I’ve got to bare the low quality photos--or the lack, thereof. UPDATE: Files not retrievable. &*^%@^($!!!]

Here are photos of their work that I took from their website instead. Hehe. *cries*

After meet and greet, we headed to our hotel to rest, or explore if we choose to by ourselves. But I was already too tired since I hadn’t had sleep before the flight, so my roommate and I decided to just stay in at the hotel. As soon as we got to to our room, this is what welcomed us:

A poorly lit and looks-old-is-old room that doors actually creaked. It was scary. But what’s scarier is despite the hotness in Bangkok at that time, the aircon wasn’t cool enough. It was difficult to rest. Our guidance counselor didn’t even sleep for that entire night because she was too scared that Toshio might be on top of her cabinet. Haha! I love horror films, but man, not that night.

For day 2, we met at the lobby at 8am to meet with our local guide for that day. We walked going to the Pahurat Market, which was far, but our dean wanted us to feel the city under the sizzling hot sun. It was so difficult to feel it when all I felt was my burning skin. But I don’t despise the walk entirely, as I was able to cross paths with monks going from houses to houses to be given food. It was a beautiful religious tradition to witness. Monks walked on their bare foot, and they cannot be touched, especially by women, to preserve their purity.

Pahurat Market is a fashion market, which easily bored the interior design students while the fashion design students went hoarding. After hours and hours of going around, we left for lunch and then went ahead to The Grand Palace [above photo].

Here is a schoolmate of mine, posing for the camera, who I don’t personally know. Haha. But I don’t have many photos from this place because they don’t allow it, so I’ll post this one instead. I hope he doesn’t mind, I wish he wouldn’t see. Oops.

The Grand Palace is a sacred place so it is super strict. If you’re planning to visit this tourist spot, make sure that you are covered well. And by well, I mean: no knees, no shoulders, no belly buttons and no cleavage. They can also be particular with the clothing, for example: I was wearing a tank top but with a cardigan on top of it, black leggings and sneakers...but they didn’t let me in. They said that leggings aren’t allowed because it’s too tight that it shows too much of my figure. But worry not, you can rent a long skirt that doesn’t match with your clothes so you can go in. But also bare the very long line. At least you’re not the only one. Hehe.

We went to the Queen Sirikit Textile Museum after. We weren’t also allowed to take photos as it might ruin the quality of the clothes.

Here are photos I got from their website.

After touring the museum, we went back to the hotel through Bangkok’s cheap local transportation: tuk-tuk!

I wonder how he was able to drive with his eyes closed.

When we were still in Manila, my friends and I planned to drink out for their last night, but when I got to my room, I started to not feel well so I decided to stay in.

In all honesty, the Bangkok trip wasn’t going well for me up to that night. I was mostly tired and feeling sick. I couldn’t get enough sleep. It got even worse for me when morning came because after showering, I noticed that one of my favorite pair of earring was missing! I guessed it fell on the tub, because I still had it on when I went to sleep the night before. I went to check the drain if it might’ve been stuck on there, but sucks to see that it has no cover. I felt so sad and bad that I decided to book to another hotel for the rest of my stay. *sigh*

Anyway! Next stop! The Jim Thompson House.

We rode this boat going to The Jim Thompson House. It amused me as to how the roof would come down whenever we pass under bridges.

Meet this guy. He’s a cool guy. He makes producing silk look so easy. I think I stood and watched in front of him for too long. I was so fascinated by his work.

We circled around The Jim Thompson House for a while, but sadly we’re not allowed to take photos, again. Although, The Jim Thompson House was the highlight of the study tour for me. Maybe because the tour focused more on interior design, or maybe because everybody there was just happy and jolly that it made me feel a little better.

Here’s the shirt I bought from their store, and it easily became my favorite shirt! I like the colors, material, and design. Look at those cute elephants! I am weak for elephants.

We went back to the hotel to have lunch, and then the others started to prepare their luggages for their flight back home. As for me, goodbye you poorly lit, looks-old-is-old hotel room that swallowed my earring *cries* and then hello this!

It was still too early to get some sleep so I met up with my friend and then we went night market shopping. Another bad thing happened though...I lost her halfway! The market was packed with people. I was panicking and worried sick for the rest of the night I wasn’t able to enjoy it. I was trying to call her but her roaming was off. After two hours, I gave up and went back to my hotel, wishing she’d message me anytime soon, and she did. Thank God.

I woke up at noon the next day. I planned to visit the elephant zoo but unfortunately, it’s a 3-hour ride from the city centre and it’s a whole day activity, which I was already late for.

I went to the Paragon mall instead to shop a little, and then craved for an authentic pad thai. So I searched for the best pad thai restaurant there and the Kalpapruek restaurant came up. I was looking for it for at least an hour because the people I asked didn’t know where it is, only to find out that it changed its name. What the heck Kalpapruek. Y U do this to me.

I ordered the spicy shrimp pomelo salad, pad thai, and this purple herbal tea.

After that, my friend and I met up and decided to have a dinner cruise for our last night.

Sunset!

Along the river were the temples and the palace. It was a fun cruise because of the Japanese teenagers who decided to join the performers dance. Although it was rather ridiculous. Haha. There’s also this server who talked to us in english with difficulty, but when he heard us speak tagalog, he said “jusmiyo, pinoy pala kayo! Pina-english english niyo pa ako!” then laughed. Haha. He was so happy to see fellow Filipinos, which made us happy!

The cruise ended at 9PM, which was still a bit early for us. So we decided to go to a bar and have some drinks for the night.

Instead of taking the cab, we took the metro!

We had wine for the night. I like to doodle on faces.

I woke up late the next day and so I hurriedly packed my things. I wasn’t able to check everything anymore when I checked-out, since only my clothes were out anyway...only to find out later on that my favorite bracelet was missing. I didn’t accidentally leave it, if you know what I mean. After all, it’s just a better-looking hotel. *sigh*

Here’s awesome cloud works to make up for the bad part of this trip.

I didn’t and don’t mean to sound so pessimist, I was rather constantly finding light despite what kept on happening to me. It's like I accidentally packed a bad luck. I did not, at all, expect for the trip to turn out the way it did. I thought it would be more of a breath of fresh air, but it was mostly heartwrenching. I lost more than I gained, I guess. But then I’ll take this trip as a good omen to signify that not every trip will just be filled with rainbows and perfect sunsets.

I still want to go back to Thailand, because friends have told me that Chiang Mai is a must visit. I just hope that the next time I’m on the country, nothing as bad as this would happen. Don’t get me wrong, there are good things that happened that I treasure that money can’t buy, but those material things has hold value to my heart.

Okay, let’s not get cheesy. For the most part, it was my fault. (That’s why it hurt a little more. Huhu.)

So see you again soon, Thailand! Be good to me the next time.

Xo,

jacescoela

[jacescoelawrites-blog]

Balesin Island 2015

Guess who’s back? Me! Only if you have noticed that the last time I posted was over a year ago. Haha. Anyway, it is already my semestral break, and my to-do list is empty (other than my pre-planned week-long hibernation after finals week) this week, so what better way to spend it than to finally post my adventures that I long promised to do! Hoorah!

I have decided to only post adventures that happened within this year 2015, just because my memory can only fully accommodate what happened 10 minutes ago, so what more from a year ago? Do the math. Just kidding. I’m not making you do math. I know you hate math. Unless you’re one of those people who loves math, then…then…do it?

Okay! So! Come with me and let me take you to my first out-of-town adventure this year: Balesin!

Balesin Island is located in Quezon Province that’s only a 20-minute plane ride from Manila. You wouldn’t even feel like you’ve been on a plane because it’s that short of a ride. It’s seriously like a blink of an eye, if you’re an old person who can’t help but fall into 20-minute naps. And then…ta-da! A paradise welcomes you. It’s like a completely different world from where you just came from, which is the hassle and hustle of Manila. Don’t even get me started on the traffic.

We stayed on the island for 3 days. As soon as we landed, we had been given a short introduction of the island. After that, we settled into our cabins and then circled the island accompanied by a tour guide.

This is Mykonos and Toscana, the two amongst the eight villas of Balesin Island, namely Balesin, Bali, Costa del Sol, Phuket, Royal Villa and St. Tropez.

Each villa is designed according to the country it took inspiration from–from architecture, interior design and landscaping. Each also has a restaurant that serves their respective cuisines.

The Royal Villa is newly built. It is actually not open for touring at the time, but we were able to get in, thanks to our sneaky tour guide! I wouldn’t want to miss this beauty!

If I am not mistaken, this villa is not open for the members unless you rent the entire place for P250,000 a night, or rent a suite for P20,000 a night. That IS a lot of dough, but if you have that much to spare, I wouldn’t say that this isn’t worth it. I mean, this villa really is top notch.

Our tour guide told us that the owners are planning to build more villas, but they never spill the beans to the staff until they are already built. Yes, everybody else just never know what comes out of a construction. Surprise, surprise.

For day 2, my baby cousins rode the ponies and then we went pool hopping!

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: if I ever die in the Philippines, I would so prefer to die in here. This place is uh-maze-ing. I love it. I actually think this deserves a separate post alone. I could go on and on about Mykonos. My emotions. Ah. I’m too weak.

I also love the Balesin villa. It’s close to everything and you’d feel close to home. It has a Filipino touch to it. I particularly love the odd shaped pool and the landscaping that surrounds it.

Balesin means Balete and Asin. If I am not mistaken, Balete because of a famous Balete tree on the island, and before the island was turned into this, it was used for salt making.

St. Tropez’s children’s pool…if you know what I mean and see. Looking out the balcony is the Pacific Ocean, but they say that the Phuket villa has its best view, also for the best sunset. Too bad I wasn’t able to catch it.

We had lunch at the Fish Fun, where we can catch our own fishes and have the cooks grill it for us. But if you don’t feel like catching, they already have tanks filled with variety of fishes that you can choose from.

Natalia and I were up for it, and this is her proud face when she caught a fish.

And then this is her face when she found out that we’ll have it for lunch. Haha!

If you call services for a ride, you’re either fetched with a golf cart or a jeepney. Natalia was always excited to ride the jeepney because California doesn’t have this, where she lives.

For our last night, they asked me what I wanted to eat for dinner, so of course I said Italian food! So we headed to Toscana and this is what awaited us--a beautiful Italian dinner setting. My heart is weak once again. The perfect topping for this trip.

I wasn’t able to take photos of the rest of what we ate–also from the beginning of our stay–because I was always too hungry from the activities to snap them. But for this one, well, of course, it’s Italian food!

Being unable to nap at noon, here is Natalia sleeping on one leg. Should you wonder how, well, only people who’ve experienced drinking too much would understand the real works of gravity. *wink wink*

After dinner, we headed to the clubhouse to watch a Broadway singer perform. It was fun because everybody sang along, and oldies actually danced along too! After the show, we went back to our own cabins and finally got some sleep.

For day 3, our last day, we had brunch at the clubhouse, packed our baggages, bid farewell to the stunning island, and then headed to the runway. This was our ride back to Manila which was smaller than the one we flew in. We also had it to ourselves which made us feel like we owned it. Haha! We wish.

I felt sad leaving Balesin, which is what I always feel when I leave places, let’s be real. But Balesin was such an amazing experience all in all, so kudos to everyone who’s behind this! I pray to heavens that they maintain the cleanliness and preserve the villas well. I can’t wait to go back! See you soon, Balete and Asin!

Much love,

jacescoela

P.S. I am already letting you (Balesin people) know that several years from now, there is a probability that you might find a smelly, fat and saggy body lying around Mykonos but with a huge smile on her face. That’s me. Sorry for causing horror, but please take care of my diseased body.

[jacescoelawrites-blog]

Hardwell in Manila 2014

For a non-EDM fan, it’s quite an irony that this is going to be my first official post in this blog. Your first post should usually consist of something of utmost importance to you, but I guess that won’t be the case with me. The thing is, I have one of the worst capacities of memory for my age, and as much as I would like to post my adventures in the past months, I couldn’t. I still have to recollect all that has happened from friends I was with. So since this event is the most recent and the freshest in my memory, and before I forget the details (or all of it), I have to post this as soon as I can. As soon as now, less then 48 hours, actually.

In all honesty, I didn’t know Hardwell until my friend called me up if I wanted to come with her to his concert here in Manila. Since she doesn’t have anyone to go with, and since I haven’t seen and been with her for almost a year, I told her why not. We were lucky we caught the pre-sale tickets (which is lesser expensive) before it ended! As lucky as it was the last day of selling the pre-sale tickets when she called me!

So last Wednesday, October 1, was the event at the Mall of Asia’s Arena. We left at exactly 6:15PM to hopefully make it to MoA at 9PM (the starting time based on the ticket), since we were coming from the north going to the south. We were already on our way to take the España route but it was raining nonstop from 5PM, and so the flood there was already knee-height! So we had to take the U-turn and find another route. Good thing my friend’s mom called and told us that there’s another way other than EDSA, but hell it was still super traffic! At 9PM we were still stuck along Pureza! My friend and I were already contemplating whether to still go or not, but it was like a sign when we found out that there was just a tiny car accident that’s causing the heavy traffic. They were taking up 3 out of 4 lanes, geezus. We got past them after 5 minutes and then it was finally smooth sailing from there on. Anyway, we were able to park at 9:30PM. We were almost running to get to the arena, only to find out that it wasn’t starting yet. A moment of silence for the girls who almost turned around to just sleep on their beds instead.

When we got to our seats, local DJs were playing. My friend saw a few of her friends so we became a group of 5 in an instant. Not a lot of people were inside yet; I guess they were outside waiting for the international DJs to play. After an hour, local DJs were still playing and it got really boring, so we decided to grab some snacks to eat. When we got back, still, local DJs. So we just sat while browsing on our phones or chitchatting. Meh.

At 11:30PM, KILLTHEBUZZ started to play! Finally! People started to come in and the arena was almost full.

After an hour, people obviously started to lose their energy. Including me! I guess we were all saving it for Hardwell. (And it also got a little boring. Sorry KTB)

So Hardwell is #1 because he starts at 1…AM? Kidding! But finally, the long wait was over! People started to get crazy and the arena was full!

I liked that he included Paradise and A Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay (!!!) in his remix, and Numb by Linkin Park. I really liked the Numb remix, though. I have been listening to it more than I should.

I didn’t know half of the songs that he played (I know the others now), so I was either sitting while listening or standing up while taking photos. I know, so lola of me! Haha! So I guess it was the right choice that we picked the lowerbox than the dancefloor. We almost bought the dancefloor though! But when my friend said there would be no seats, I turned it down right away. I don’t wanna Go Hardwell then Go Home with sore feet. But that’s just me.

It went on for 1 and a half hour and people were insane until the end! I wish I could maintain the same level of energy as them. But I’m 50% lola! And my memory is the most lola of me.

Can I just say…I really like those fire blasters! Is that what you call them? I want them! Where can I buy them? It might come handy when people annoy me. Well anyway, it went out for a little while. People started screaming “more! more! more!” and of course he went back and blasted fire at everyone! Just kidding. They were confetti.

For a non-EDM fan, I enjoyed it nonetheless. It’s still one for the books. So thank you, Hardwell! I didn’t do my homework because of you! But homework in short is HW, and Hardwell in short is HW. So does that mean I did my HW? :o

Hearts back atcha, Hardywellybelly! We’d make a cute couple you know that?

PS. Hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did! Photos were taken using my iPhone. I also edited some videos to put on this post, but Tumblr won’t let me. :< You suck Tumblryrelly. That’s almost hard to pronounce. Well… hard… well.

Xx,

jacescoela

[jacescoelawrites-blog]

Hi, Reader!

Welcome to my humble blog! I am jacescoela, a pen name derived from my real full name arranged backwards: Jacinto Ballesta Nicole Michaela. Here’s a little background of my blogging *attempts* and myself – I have more than 5 blogs out there…more than 10 even, I have already lost count, but none of them are active and public other than my M x Art blog. Why? Because I’m a lazy blogger and I suck at consistency, which may be the reason why Culinary Arts does not suit me. After graduating from Culinary Arts, I took and still am taking up another art-related course: Interior Design. Yes, therefore, you may conclude I’m artsy (also ma-art[s]e).

Anyway, what you will be expecting to read on this blog are mostly travel and food indulgences. Lately, I have been into visiting places and so I thought that it may be something worth to share, and since I love food – the one and only connection between Culinary Arts and I – I will also be posting tons of food and its whatnot. What I will be expecting from myself, though, is to keep this blog alive for the longest of time possible. So help me, God.

Enjoy! Cheers!

Xo, jacescoela