TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE DIARIES

This is perhaps the best photos I have of the Philippines from my aeroplane window seat, well, so far. So green! And those inlet bays look really nice. For some reason, in my previous trips to the Philippines, I either arrive in the evening or when it's cloudy or when it's raining. In fact, when I landed in Manila, the skies turned grey and then dark. Luckily, the skies were quite okay during our descent. But for this particular flight, direct flight from Xiamen, China* to Manila, Philippines, the aeroplane was flying low when we entered Philippine airspace and maybe I am just on the right side of the window seat that I could see clearly the landmass and form of the Philippine archipelago. So the opportunities were there definitely to take the shots. However, I only have a pocket camera so the quality and focus of the photos are not that excellent sometimes, especially when you are taking it from a far distance. *I was in Xiamen, China for 3 days. I do not ha...

I have been wanting to visit Dresden for such a long time! Photo from Dresden Marketing GmbH. Isn't she a beauty? And I am going next week, for 3 full days to experience the old world charm & architecture of the city, learn a bit of (the war) history, enjoy the stunning sights and indulge in some authentic German food =) The plans are set on stone, so I hope the weather will cooperate. So looking forward! Keep in touch and follow me on Facebook: Travel & Lifestyle Diaries by Dutched Pinay Travels Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)

There are a couple of restaurants in the mountains of Busay that offers panoramic views of the city of Cebu. I have been to a number of them in the past years (Chateau de Busay, Mr. A, La Tegola and Blue Bar & Grill) and one of its latest addition is Lantaw Native Restaurant’s Busay branch. I am a sucker for views so this was very high up on my agenda during my Cebu visit. It wasn’t also difficult to get everyone in my family on the same page since they all wanted to come here anyway. I mean, tell me, who doesn’t want sprawling city lights view while dining alfresco like this? WHAT DOES LANTAW MEAN? If I were to base the meaning of Lantaw from the Cebuano dialect point of view, I do not really see any direct translation to English. The word is an action word and is usually used when we, Cebuanos, want to see something from a distance. Such as a medieval guard perhaps looking from the top of the tower fortifications for incoming enemies. Or anybody, in particular, looking o...

My mum has expressed interest in going to the most-raved about local attraction on Instagram and Facebook, the Sirao Flower Farms in the mountains of Busay in Cebu. But she complained that nobody really wanted to go with her so the visit never happened. As a backgrounder, my mum loves flowers. I guess, most mums do. The window of opportunity came when I suggested a visit to the flower farms after the company Christmas ‘Eat-All-You-Can’ lunch at Vikings . They have given the rest of the afternoon free for the employees, so why don’t we take advantage of the free time as well and visit this flower farm? There has been some change of wind, because suddenly, everyone wanted to go, haha. So off we piled up in 2 cars but before going to Busay, we had to pass by Marco Polo Hotel. This was just a few days before Christmas so we had to endure horrible traffic, in which I managed to even doze off to sleep throughout the ride inside the car. A 15-minute ride took almost an hour! That i...