Author: Rochelle Sy Chua

Manila’s Metered Taxis

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Hai, Jo & I rode the taxi back to the office coz we missed the shuttle by 1 minute!

For me, it’s meant to be… coz we got to know the new meter LTFRB implemented!  Believe me, it’s sooooooooo cool!  I think this is the cheapest taxi ride I ever had in my whole life (in the Philippines).

I also realized that majority of the taxi in the Philippines are tampered… imagine I used to pay around 70-90pesos from GO to GBS but with this meter it cost us only 45 pesos!!!

It’s just sad that not all taxi drivers bought this meter as it’ll cost them Php16,000.00.  It is definitely worth it though, the driver was very proud of it as well.  He told us that all his passengers were very happy upon seeing the meter.

It will be mandated by January 2010 though.  I really hope this will push through despite of the disapproval of the different taxi companies.

The advantages that I can see are the ff.:

  • No tampering of meters! (this is very important for passengers)
  • Tax properly reported (good for government)
  • Passenger’s approval & confidence to the ride & taxi fee (makes it a joyful ride – good for driver & passenger hehe)
  • taxi ride properly documented (receipts- coolness)
Disadvantages:
  • meter is expensive – Php 16,000.00 (1 year warranty)
  • you can only get materials for the meter like receipt paper through LTFRB (so price is dictated by the government, no other sources for materials)

I did mention about the receipt earlier.  Promise, we were sooooo impressed.

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Here are the information that you can see in the receipt:

  • Taxi Operator Details
  • Car Details (Plate #)
  • Official Receipt #
  • Date
  • Distance measured by kilometers
  • waiting time
  • Taxi Fare
I really do hope the plans to make this mandatory on January 2010 will push through.

Rest of the pictures here.

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Breakfast at 美好美 (Mei Hao Mei)

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美好美 (Mei Hao Mei)
Taipei, Taiwan
via MRT – 南勢角 Nanshijiao

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This place is open only during mornings mainly because they serve only breakfast. And they are famous of it.

First thing I noticed is that they act really really fast! Another thing I noticed is that they are super efficient & they collaborate really well.

Here’s how they work: One takes orders, one cooks, one takes care of packing, one takes care of the bills and one takes care of helping customers on the coffee machine. They are just so fast, friendly, efficient and their food is super good & unique.

While my mom take our orders, I spent time taking pictures of the place. After a short while, the manager approached me and asked why I kept taking pictures of the store. My mom kindly explained that I’m a blogger and I always write about all my experiences & I’m definitely going to write about their restaurant. The manager quickly changed mood and started smiling at me ahhaha. I was scared for a second that time 😛

I honestly love the food! We ordered for take out as my aunt & her friend were still at the house. The food is overly cheap as well! My favorite is their omelette! YUMMY!!!

Here are what we ordered:

  • Cafe Latte (30NT)
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This is just coffee from their vendo machine.  The guy at the place was kind enough to assist my mom on it 🙂

  • Soya Milk (18NT)
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Going to Taiwan will not be complete without drinking Soya Milk!  My ever ever favorite drink! 🙂

  • Omelette (30NT)
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Most unique omelette I have tasted, I think they combined egg with lumpia wrapper so it can hold the egg and bacon inside it.. super yummy I tell you!  I just can’t get enough of it.

  • Egg Sandwich (30NT)
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The rest of the pictures can be found here.

Roch’s Taiwan Trip Photo Album

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I’m truly sorry that I wasn’t able to blog while I was on vacation (September 12-21).

I toured Taipei, Taiwan and had a blast.  Went to soooooo many places, took lots of pictures (more than 1k!!!).  Had so much fun with my mom & aunt.  Met up with colleagues during the end of the trip.

Went to temples, museums, amusement park, hot springs, famous parks & memorial halls.  One thing that I really noticed about Taiwan is that people are sooo disciplined & nice.

You’ll definitely see a series of posts about my Taiwan trip.  It’ll take some time to complete all of it so let me give you some idea what’s in store.

Here are the photos that I took while vacationing, enjoy!

 Please stay tuned for the write-ups 😉

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Kopi Tiam

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Kopi Tiam
Benitez Horseshoe Village, Quezon City
(02) 723-5674

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When my friend told me that we’re going to eat at Kopi Tiam, I thought it was Old Chinatown Kopitiam, apparently not hehhe 😛  It’s a different place, owned by the same owners of North Park.

I loved it!  The food is yummy, delicious!  It’s affordable too.  There are lots of parking spaces as well.

The restaurant is good for lunch, dinner and also merienda as they have chinese breads, pastries available and also nice desserts!

Here are what we ordered:

  • Fresh Honey Lemonade (Php 78)
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Same old lemonade but used honey as sugar… I think I like normal sugar better.  Ofcourse, this still tasted good as it’s not powdered, it’s fresh. 🙂

  • Snowy Mais Queso Con Yelo (Php 86)
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Normal Mais con yelo w/ a twist… sprinkled with cheese.  Just like how we serve spaghetti, we put a lot of cheese on top.  So this made it different.

  • Storm (Php 108)
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Kopi Tiam called this dessert its favorite.  They even put “It’s a must”.  So I can see all the people on the other tables ordering it too.  I didn’t order it as I have chosen mais con yelo as my dessert.  My friend said that it’s good.  So I guess I’ll try it the next time I go to this restaurant hehee 😛

  • KingDao Salt & Pepper Spareribs (Php 168)
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Not spicy, not too fat, cooked just right.  Sometimes when you eat spareribs, you feel like you’re taking the oil as well.  With this, you dont feel it much, so you can enjoy the food.

  • Boneless Honey Lemon Chicken (Php 212)
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This one is really good.  I still like Lutong Macau’s version better.  I’m sure though that you/other people will definitely like Kopi Tiam’s version better.  I just love chicken skin a lot, not really into meat too much.

  • Kopi Tiam Chami (Php 188)
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Combination of sotanghon & thin noodles, yummy yummy yummy.  It’s funny though that we ordered noodles instead of rice to go with the other dishes we ordered.  But we just wanted to try their noodles for a change.

They have only 2 branches though, one in Horseshoe village & one in Green Valley country club.  Hopefully they’ll open more branches, I believe this will be successful like North Park.

SOMS Noodle House

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SOMS Noodle House
5921 A. Alger Street, Poblacion, Makati City (near Makati Dog & Cat Hospital)
(02) 483-3554

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Had dinner w/ colleagues 2 weeks ago at SOMS Noodle house.  It’s an authentic Thai restaurant where you can dine in or take out.

1st thing I noticed is that there are lots of people dining there even if its outdoors, the chairs are just made of simple plastic.  Not really a place that usual people eat to.

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The food is yummy & affordable too, that’s why people kept coming back.

Here are what we ordered:

  • Bagoong Fried Rice (Php 85)
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What’s a Thai restaurant without bagoong rice?  Rice w/ soy sauce with scrambled eggs chopped, dried mango, meat w/ bagoong.  Nothing special but it’s good.

  • Gal Phat Pit (Php 120)
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I kinda noticed we ordered 3 chicken dishes hahahaa.  I don’t know why 😛  This is somewhat spicy, I especially love the leaves cooked fried, yumyum!  Chicken basil :P:P

  • Thai Tea (Php 40)
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Milk Tea put in mineral water bottle, not your usual milk tea.  I can’t seem to figure out what they put in the drink, it’s very sweet.

  • Garlic Pepper Beef (Php 120)
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Beef is soft, easy to eat.  Not too peppery.  We can choose either beef, pork, chicken or shrimp as the ingredient 🙂

  • Red Curry Chicken (Php 120)
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More spicy than the green one (see below) but I felt it tasted the same.  It’s just the color that’s different.  It tasted very good though 🙂

We also have the option to choose either beef, chicken, pork or shrimp as the main ingredient.

  • Green Curry Chicken (Php 120)
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Same w/ the 2 menu items above, we can choose between beef, chicken, pork or shrimp as the ingredient.  I just dont know why we kept ordering chicken hahaha!

  • Vegetarian Curry (Php 120)
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All the dishes taste the same, it’s just that the ingredients are different.  This time, it’s vegetables hehehehe

I’m not really fond of curry so I don’t think I’ll find myself to keep going back to the place.  But my colleagues do, they find the food at SOMS delicioouss!  They kept recommending the place too.  So I bet you might want to try this out if you haven’t, you won’t regret it 🙂

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