Bucal, Calamba

View from main entrance of Sol y Viento resort

IMHO only, a waste of mountain, space & spring water pool opportunity; design?! while awesome in size, position and certainly unique, the man-made waterfall is...well...too man-made for my liking I guess

Well, couldn't this town have been much more...quaint

Okay...adequate showers & they look alright imho; but do swimmers use them pre-plunge?
at least they, the guests, weren't in cotton t-shirts and shorts unlike in most resorts here

along the national highway

Oops why is this photo here...Tom Yum Goong made by Indonesian neighbor; two weeks ago, surprise Kimbap made by Korean neighbor. I don't ask! They give :-)  All masarap 

Pho Hanoi restaurant along the way to Los Banos

simple, clean, straightforward, so you know focus is on the food, which must be good; note palochina furniture of which there are many along the road. The pho and some other dishes we ordered were delicious, fresh, in a home-cooked Vietnamese way; but we were slightly put off after realizing the special Pho Hanoi did not contain the ingredients as pictured...and we were only told after we asked about it (and after we had eaten it all, in hunger) that it was all beef, and with added beef as the other ingredients were out of stock. Sadly, the cold dessert (Three Colors--bean, gelatin, with shaved ice and milk) was not available as the gelatin imported from Vietnam was out of stock. Oh prices are alright too. Reasonable.

Vietnamese Restaurant

     My husband keeps hoping the Thai neighbor will open a Thai restaurant in the area.  She cooks her Thai food at home so well, but is not inclined to selling it. She is in fact, returning to Thailand, back to a career put on hold by her husband's posting here.  A big loss, we will miss her cooking...oh, more than that, the pleasure of her company, of course.

     Attention, restaurateurs....there is NO Thai restaurant here. None that we know of anyway.  We are happy with places like Songkran Thai street food in BF Paranaque. That's the sort of place we seek.  We are certain we are not the only ones.

     There is also, strangely, just one Korean restaurant in Paseo de Santa Rosa. And none in the surrounding areas. We like Umni, a nook hidden in Paseo.  On our most recent time there (last night), the two ladies who wait tables, cook and roll kimbap ,greeted us happily.  Oh, they know us already!  A comfort, in this time of "growth" in the city.  

    Just the other day, the Rustan's express cashier also greeted me cheerfully, asking about my family.  Where has your husband been?! She asked. He was there so frequently before.  Well...of course, I replied, it's that other place at the corner...(the big South Supermarket).  Rustan's is far being the "little bookshop" of Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks' "You've got Mail". But it still is the little neighborhood sari-sari store that's lost customers to the big guys.  Not for long, though...Shopwise is happening soon.

    ARG, INSERT LOST PHOTO OF LAGUNA CENTRAL/SHOPWISE CONSTRUCTION HERE!


     Back to the subject. In Alabang Town Center and in BF Paranaque, there is Xoi Vietnamese Kitchen.  Again, I am no food blogger. I will just say, we enjoyed the food. It was delicious. You know, in the way that my first bite's transported me to "Asia".  It's when the flavor's essences (lemongrass, hoisin, peanut, fish sauce...) sort of travel through my nose and I remember random times and places in Southeast Asia.  Plus I have been drinking black G7 Vietnamese coffee for breakfast everyday for a couple of months now..so I was happy with Iced coffee (with condensed milk). 

     We also tried it for the first time. It was dinner, and for lunch I had wanted pho in Pho hoa Ayala Triangle. The last time I was there was last Christmas. It was packed, there was a wait list. Today I saw it had closed down, covered with a tarpaulin sign saying Bread Talk will open there soon.