Chili Flavor

One cannot simply visit Bicol and not try First Colonial Grill's famous Chili Ice Cream. Yes, you heard (read) right! One thing we, Bicoleños, are known for is our love for everything spicy. Well, maybe not so much for me as I grew up in Manila, but for everyone else.

Image source: NSO Bicol

It's a really crazy idea to have a chili flavored ice cream but they did it anyway.

I might not be able finish 3 scoops of chili flavored ice cream, but I didn't go all the way to Bicol to pass up an opportunity to have a taste of this famous flavor. I had a couple of teaspoonfuls of it and I'd have to say that it's not that bad. Initially, you'll just taste the milk, the chili kicks in once the whole thing goes down.

One of the other weirder flavor is the Calamansi (Calamondin) Flavor; which was a strange mixture of citrus and milk flavor. If you have a sensitive stomach, this would definitely trigger a gastric problem.

Calamansi Flavor

Pili Nut Flavor

Location: Villa Amanda Building
                    Rizal St., Sagpon, Daraga, Albay
Phone:     (052) 481-1212, (052) 483-1212

Things we did in Bicol:

Day 1: CamSur Watersports Complex in Camarines Sur
Day 1: Walk around my dad's home town Gubat, Sorsogon
Day 2: Bulusan Volcano Natural Park: Boating and Trekking
Day 2: Rizal Beach in Gubat, Sorsogon
Day 3: Mayon ATV Tour with Your Brother Travel and Tours
Day 3: Lunch at Embarcadero de Lagazpi
Day 3: First Colonial Grill's Chili Ice Cream
Day 3: Cagsawa Ruins in Albay

This is NOT a sponsored post.

So, I tried the Bento Box mania that is so big in Japan and here's what I came up with...



I just found out about this craze from a friend of mine who started a few weeks before I did. And as I've been doing my research, I learned that there are a lot of tools which can be bought for this kind of food prep. I just wish I can find some here in Doha. I'm planning a trip to Daiso soon and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. For now, I just use cling-wrap for molding the rice into shapes and manually cutting dried seaweed for the eyes/face of my rice.

I enjoyed making these and I plan to continue. It takes about 30 minutes to prep if you have your veggies, rice and proteins ready beforehand. The only downside to this (and my husband agrees with me) is that you wouldn't know where to begin eating, especially the rice.

I know this is perfect for making lunchboxes for toddlers and kids going to school, but hey, I believe there's a kid in each one of us.

Image Source: mcdonalds.com.ph

McDonald’s Qatar announced today that more than 28,000 free Egg McMuffins will be redeemed by customers across Qatar on March 9th, 2015 during National Breakfast Day. Dubbed the World’s Biggest Breakfast, National Breakfast Day will witness more than 400crew members in 28 McDonald’s restaurants across the country, who will serve thousands of customers in just four hours.

Yesterday was a good day because I got news from our HR that our leave has been approved. Although it's still in August, I'm very excited and am now starting to plan itineraries for both Raymond and my family. Of course I am also looking at a trip for only the two of us. Did I mention that I'm also thrilled that this is happening in the most scorching month in the Doha calendar.

But before all that takes place, let me share with you what we did in the Philippines in our vacation last 2013 (sorry, this is outdated). Let's start with our ATV adventure at the Mayon Volcano (consider this as part 1 of the 2013 vacation).

MAYON ATV TOUR

Mayon Volcano Bulkang Mayon is an active volcano in the province of Albay in the Bicol Region. It is known for its "perfect cone" because of the symmetric conical shape of its crater.

We heard of Your Brother Travel and Tours from relatives who have tried their ATV tours and decided to try it out ourselves. They are accredited by the Department of Tourism as an ATV service provider for the Mayon Lava Trail.


And by Zac Efron.



There was a little run-through on operating the ATV at their parking area.



And we were good to go.


Of course my sister has all the good photos.




And Raymond, too.



Unfortunately, the Mayon was shy that day and was hiding behind a gang of clouds. Still beautiful, nonetheless. The thing also was that our guide knows the perfect angles to take photos.


The route was quite challenging, with different terrains, water, rocks, mud and everything else.

They have a camp at the end of the trail (by the way, we opted for the Basic ATV Trail, P2,500 for a 350cc single seater ATV) where you can rest or decide to climb up a lava wall with a helipad at the top and zoom your way down in a 300 meter zip line (additional P300 for the zip line).



It was quite scary, some of the rocks were moving and you can see some light from the inside which just means that some parts of the lava wall were hollow inside.


Only Raymond had the courage to go through with the zipline, so I had to go down the lava wall by foot.

It was a really fun experience and we would definitely do it again if we ever go back to Bicol.Maybe by then I'd have enough courage to go down the zip line. We might also even try a father route than this.

Thanks to Your Brother for the great tour and accommodating us graciously.

Your Brother Travel and Tours
Located at the back of Lignon Hill Nature Park
Diversion Road of Legazpi
Brgy. Pawa, Legazpi City
(052) 472-9871
+63917 595-8859
+63905 455-7594
email: yourbrothertravelandtours@yahoo.com

You can also inquire at the Lignon Hill Nature Park, they have some staff there to assist you on going to the site.

Things we did in Bicol:

Day 1: CamSur Watersports Complex in Camarines Sur
Day 1: Walk around my dad's home town Gubat, Sorsogon
Day 2: Bulusan Volcano Natural Park: Boating and Trekking
Day 2: Rizal Beach in Gubat, Sorsogon
Day 3: Mayon ATV Tour with Your Brother Travel and Tours
Day 3: Lunch at Embarcadero de Lagazpi
Day 3: First Colonial Grill's Chili Ice Cream
Day 3: Cagsawa Ruins in Albay

This is NOT a sponsored post.