Fun Friday

Phoebe and I were going to meet her friends Chatchie and Lexi to foray at Quiapo for some precious videos. The meeting place was at Jollibee between the church and Mercury Drugs after lunch . We get off the Carriedo station and started walking to the direction of the Quiapo Church. There were quite a lot of people because it was the first Friday of the month..... and many devotees of the Black Nazarene were there to hear mass. When we got to the plaza in front of the church we started to survey the area to look for the Jollibee in between the church and Mercury Drugs. After some minutes of craning our neck and squinting under the 12 noon sun we finally found the Jollibee restaurant.... it was located at the 3rd floor of a building at the left side of the church. There we found Chatchie waiting for us.... we waited some 15 more minutes... before Lexi arrived...while waiting I took some snapshots of the devotees below.... they already spilled at the side of the minor basilica... because there were so many devotees hearing mass.

When Lexi arrived we immediately proceeded to the video enclave.....We spent more than 2 hours and loads of money scouring the area. Afterwards we decided to head to Cubao for dinner... good thing there is the LRT2 line.... the commute from Quiapo to Cubao only took us a couple of minutes. We had our dinner at Hap Chan... as usual it was a very dependable resto for a decent chinese food and it is very affordable. After our sumptous dinner we decided to stretch our legs and head towards Cubao-X (Marikina Shoe Expo)... there is an attempt since last year to revive the place and turn it into some eclectic mix of art galleries, shops, and cafes.


The first shop that we visited was a store carrying mostly graphic novels.... Frank Miller's, Neil Gaiman's, etc... Actually I found a graphic book of Neil Gaiman's Stardust and I promise myself to comeback and buy myself a copy before Neil's visit here in the Philippines this coming November. I really need to save myself money to be able to buy this book because it is quite expensive.... donations accepted :-) The person who owns the place and tending the shop was a young man possibly in his late 20's.... and he was very engaging to talk with. He really knows his merchandise and his shop is definitely a good source for hard to find graphic novels.

The next shop we entered was Heritage... the place is filled with Filipinianas... and I tell you the place is filled with various artifacts, curios, trinkets, publications, prints, artworks, sculptures., etc. The collection also comes from various circa such as pre Spanish, Spanish, Japanese, American, 60's, 70's, and even 80's. Looking at the various artifacts and whatchamacallits is such a source of fun and even information. You can find yourself lost with amazement with the various things you will find in this shop.

The next shop we entered is quite colorful... the name of the shop speaks for itself "Vintage Pop" so as expected there were lots of items from the 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's... This is a pop culture collectors' haven. Looking at the items on display brings back fond childhood memories. The owner was even there and gladly answers inquiries.

The next shop we entered was Halo.... the place is on their first day of soft opening. And I tell you the owners of this cafe/resto is the most friendly and accomodating host I have ever met. Just look for Ces.... then again you don't have to look for her ....she will definitely greet you once you entered their cafe and really make sure that you get the coffee or slice of cake that you want immediately. The nice thing about Halo is that all they serve is organic... they even have a vegetarian burger....nah not the TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) variety... it's made of something else and it is very filling. Their cakes and patries are all sugar free .... the coffee they serve came all the way from Bohol...

After all the walking that we did our feet finally started aching...we dont have to look far because right next door is a brightly lit cafe "Happy Turtle". The decor was fantastic.. they have two big aquariums mounted on the wall and an aquarium in the counter. They serve coffee, tea, fruit shakes and cakes. I decided to have fresh strawberry shake....and dude it is really fresh.. not the creamy milk shake with a tinge of flavor that you'l find in most cafes these days... The place is really such a treat to sip coffee or fruit shake ....because the aquariums dude... they really RAWKS! especially the turtles... watch the video I recorded and embedded in this blog to see what I mean.



The shops here are usually open between 6pm until 9pm... I am a bit tired of going to posh shopping places like the Bonifacio High Street in Serendra... well... hmmmm... not really... but you see... Cubao-X is a definite welcome change... the owners are very accomodating... and the place has a lot to offer... there were some art galleries and cafes that we have yet to visit... plus there's also the ever dependable Bellini's if you are into authentic Italian food at a very affordable price.