Travel Diary: Tbilisi, Georgia

2014 was the year of the horse, and I claimed it as my year as soon as it started.  I knew in my heart many wonderful things were in store for me, and it didn’t disappoint.  I have received so many blessing last year that I could only but dream of.  God has been so very generous to me and my family, and I cannot be happier.

After waiting for many years of getting back on the road again, finally, I was able to make good trips in 2014.  The first one was a trip with my BFF to Tbilisi in Georgia which kick-started my travels for the year.  And you might say “Tbilisi what?!?!!”  I know, I know, it sounds like a place in the middle of nowhere but believe me, it is a lovely capital of a country that sits nicely in the Caucasus region of Eurasia.  Georgia used to be part of Russia until they decided to break away (several times!) and gained independence in 1991.  Their history is colorful you should hear it from the words of their locals.

This trip was actually a super belated birthday present from my bestie for my 35^th birthday last year.  We just never got around to planning it because of work schedule but finally, we were able to push through with the plans last summer.  My ultimatum was we had to make the trip before I turn 36, and so we set the dates in stone – first week of June.  Yes, the nerve of me to make demands, haha!!  Dear husband was okay for me to travel without him because really, who says no to a free trip?!?!!  Bestie booked the air tickets and hotel while I chose which tours to take.  Our stay was for 4 days, and it was really glorious!

We flew via Fly Dubai, the budget sister airline of Emirates and checked in at Terminal 2.  Our flight was after midnight and was just about 3.5 hours long.  The plane wasn’t full so we were able to sleep and stretch our legs with the free rows towards the back part of the plane. We landed at about 5:00 am, and bought our visas upon arrival.  Passing through the immigration was a breeze and only took us less than 10 minutes.  Although the airport transfer we booked didn’t arrive, we managed to get to our hotel by hailing a cab.  We had to bargain with the cab driver though because the initial price they quoted us was ridiculously expensive.  Good thing we knew about the tariff so we avoided getting ripped off.

We got to Hotel Elesa just before 6:00 am but since our room wasn’t available yet, we decided to leave our luggage first and get ourselves some breakfast to kill time.  Luckily, our hotel is right smack in the middle of the old town so everything was reachable by foot.  We took advantage of the quiet roads to take photos and explore the nearby orthodox churches that presented a lot of Byzantine and neo-classical influences.

Our hotel is a small, bed and breakfast type of family-owned accommodation.  Apart from location, the service is just impeccable.  We booked the standard room with balcony that has a view of the Kura River and Cathedral of Saint George.  Every night, Beth and I would sit in the balcony and drink Georgian wine to wind down.  Breakfast was served in the attic which has a homey kitchen. The old lady of the house made sure we were full before we leave for our day's adventure.

our quaint hotel is right behind a monastery

Day 1 was spent checking out the Old Town and the Rustaveli Boulevard.  It is amazing how Tbilisi is accepting of religious diversity.  Proof of that is the existence of a mosque, a synagogue, an Armenian Orthodox and Georgian Orthodox Churches within 500 meters from each other.

beautiful morning in Tbilisi's Old Town

the 4th century fortress, Narikala just behind our hotel

lovely view of the Old Town

Sameba Cathedral (Holy Trinity Cathedral) on a peaceful Sunday morning

BFF with the cable car station in the background

Bridge of Peace, a pedestrian bridge that crosses the Kura River

Norashen Holy Mother of God Church built in the 15th century

The Great Synagogue

we had our late lunch at Entree, just a few meters from our temporary home

Meanwhile, Day 2 was the most exciting part of the trip where we explored the Eastern side of Georgia and tried their local wine.  We also met a couple of locals who made their traditional bread.

Day 3 was a trip up the Northern Region.  The mountains were beautiful and serene.  I had a moment with nature and felt God talk to me.  Really, the place is that peaceful.

Day 4 was spent exploring more of the Old Town surrounding our hotel.  We also took the funicular to go up the Mtatsminda Park which overlooked the capital. We also went to see Kartvlis Deda up close and took the cable car.

So grateful for the chance to travel again, and hopefully, this is not the last for me and bestie.  

Pilipinas holiday

(Super long overdue post)

Wondering what has kept all three of us preoccupied during our much awaited break back home?  Goodness, you cannot imagine how busy we were especially during the week before the little one’s baptism! I was getting crankier nearer the date as I still had loads to finish, but thankfully, it all, ahmmm, went well.  The baptism stories and supplier ratings can be found here & here in case you haven't seen them yet.

One thing I am thankful about our holiday is the fact that it never rained the whole time we were on our vacation.  It did drizzle like twice, and dark clouds loomed for a few days, but we were very fortunate we didn’t experience rain (and the hassles that come with it when you’re in the Metro).  However, we had a taste of Manila’s humidity for 5 weeks -- as in the sticky feeling (plus polluted air) every single day!

We stayed at my in-laws’ place 90% of the time we were in the Philippines.  We borrowed my family’s van to get us around with hubby driving all the time using his UAE license.  Both our driver’s licenses were expired, and I only got the chance to renew my driver’s license the week we were flying out of Manila.  Meanwhile, the hubby couldn’t renew his license because his license was apparently flagged for a traffic ticket issued by the MMDA on Aug 2006.  We had no idea he had a violation because for one, he didn’t receive a ticket from the MMDA officer.  Turns out, a lot of people renewing their licenses also encounter this problem.  We'll just deal with this on our next trip to Manila.

Dine.
As expected, we feasted on food most of our stay.  Sorbetero ice cream, taho, Pan de Manila pandesal, Jollibee….wow!  We had gastronomic feasts almost everyday.  It wasn’t a surprise that we gained weight after all the eating we’ve done.  While in Manila, we’ve eaten at Max’s, Sinangag Express, Conti’s, Fazoli’s, Sbarro, Metro, Tokyo Tokyo, Pepper Lunch, Sentro 1771, Napoli’s, Via Mare, Pancake House, Mary Grace, Bob’s, Bigby’s, Reyes Barbecue, Yoshinoya, Crustacia & Paseo Uno in Mandarin Oriental, not to mention take outs of Yellow Cab pizzas, Red Ribbon cakes, Emerald Garden siopaos, and Lola Idang’s pancit malabon.

taho & sorbetes -- yummy-ness!

who cares about diet when there's Yellow Cab Pizza

the "simple pero rock" na halo-halo

we missed this oh so badly!

the most delish siopaos we've ever tasted

at Fazoli's Eastwood with my sibs and niece

Oh, have I told you we had Starbucks virtually every other day?  I got 3 planners from all the drinking sprees we had, and even bought one from a fellow blogger (two of these are gifts to friends here in Dubai so they were pretty much put to good use)

Shop.
The malls we frequented during our stay were Rockwell, ATC, Glorietta, Greenbelt and Bonifacio High Street.  But days before the holidays, all these malls brimmed with people doing some last minute Christmas shopping.  I am so glad we did our shopping of presents in Dubai way ahead so when we got to Manila, the only thing left for us to do was wrap them. We didn’t shop a lot while on holiday because we had to consider baggage allowance, and the fact that we’re traveling with a baby.  We bought a few shirts from Collezionne C2 for the husband and myself, and snagged some Lacoste shirts, which are cheaper in Manila (they cost double in Dubai, and we don’t understand why!).  And because I'm breastfeeding, I got a few nursing bras and tops which I ordered from Fab Naima.  Of course we didn’t forget to shop a few items for the little bear.  Just the essentials, actually.  Mom got him those fancy bling binkies from Baby Company, while I stocked up on his Dr. Brown's bottle brushes & Cycles laundry soap, too. But imagine my shock when we went to Rustan’s and saw how much the Mustela line of baby products cost.  Dang, a bottle of cologne for Php 2,249 (or was it P2,449)??!!  Seriously, I only paid a fraction of that amount for my son’s cologne, and even bought it just for this holiday trip.  I cannot believe how huge their mark up is!  So if you guys in Manila want some Mustela baby products, just let me know, and I’ll sell them to you at a much, much cheaper price (I can arrange for shipping, or if you can wait, i can meet up with you when we come home in July).

So you see, we were always in Makati and Taguig when we needed to shop or just simply get out of the house. We were mall rats, to say the least...hehe!

Meet ups & parties.
Despite having a breastfed baby in tow, we managed to meet up with some of our friends.

me & my HS friends and kiddos at Lex's 1st birthday bash at Museo Pambata

with ex-colleagues

good friends from way back in HS

at BHS still with Lousienne & Ramt

We were also able to attend a wedding of our college friend, Jing to her fellow-lawyer beau, Jes.

from Partypicslive :)

Of course, we didn’t miss our HS barkada’s annual Christmas party.

HS friends get-together

We squeezed in some meet ups with my online chums, too. Nikki, who lives in the northern part of the Metro, was very kind to meet up with us on the 24th Dec.  And she even bought a gift for me & Dade.  Ain't that super sweet?  We also met up with Jacqui & Pat, who were my suppliers for jewelry & all-natural products respectively.  Unfortunately, we forgot to some pics.  Sayang!

with Nikki & Dwayne

celebrate. 

The holidays on both our families’ sides were extra special mainly because of one special creature: our dear Baby Dade.  The first time my side of the family saw him they were very thrilled.  It was my maternal grandma’s 88th birthday, and what better gift to give than another great-grandchild na magmamano.  And my grandfather was so pleased to meet our little one who was named after his father (my great grandfather), along with my aunts, uncles and cousins. 

Of course, Ryan’s family was doubly happy.  Dade happens to be the first grandchild so as expected, everyone fussed over him. He got LOADS of attention from left to right, which he enjoyed I’d have to say.  Christmas eve was spent with my family, while Christmas Day was spent in two places – at my Aunt’s place where my grandparents live (morning), and at Ryan’s family house where his maternal clan held their annual Christmas Party (afternoon). Hectic as it sounds,  I'd say we did enjoy the day to the fullest.  In fact, despite the weariness from all the festivities that day, we still managed to drive all the way to 6750 in Makati for a late night coffee at…where else, but Starbucks! :) 

Rudolph's friend on Christmas Day

Meanwhile, New Year’s eve was spent at Ryan’s side of the family.  We had dinner at his aunt’s place where we met up with his cousins from his father’s side.  And then just before the clock struck midnight, we drove back to Ryan’s family house to welcome the new year (and new decade!).  When we got there, we were surprised to see that everyone were in pigtails (even the boys!), and were wearing character t-shirts.  Instead of greeting us happy new year, they were screaming, “happy birthday, Dade!”  Aaawww, ain’t that sweet! My little boy turned 5 months old on the 1st Jan so they prepared something special for him.  His uncles got him a cake and balloon arrangement (my son loves balloons), while his Aunt K organized everything, and gathered all the plush toys to decorate the place. It was the best “month” birthday Dade has ever had because for a change he was surrounded with more loved ones, aside from his Mom and Dad!  Our wedding anniversaries were not forgotten, but my kwentos on these occasions deserve a separate entry.

Dade's 5th month and 1st New Year Celebration

********

See, our holidays were truly a blast! Thus, for the first time ever, I cried during our return flight’s take off.  I immensely enjoyed our holidays that it actually hurt to leave and say our temporary goodbyes. Well, I guess I left my heart in Manila.  And now I couldn't wait for our next vacay.  Just 3 more months -- that's not a long way to go anymore.

Zero Travel for 2009

Since I worked here in Dubai, I have made it a point to travel every year to fulfill my dream of seeing the world. But now that I am expecting, travelling has taken a back seat and will perhaps remain in there for another year or so. I have a very good reason why I can’t travel, but I still couldn’t help but feel envious of my Pinoy colleagues who are bound to travel to Turkey this August. They are flying out before Ramadan, and the package they got was really, really good. What makes their trip better is that they're going as a group. I bet that would be so much fun!

Not that I've never been to Turkey before. In fact, Turkey is the first country I’ve visited since I moved here to Dubai. It was Eid Al Fitr in 2005, and I traveled there with my bessie B. It was an enjoyable 4 day-3 night tour, and for the price we paid, it was well worth every fil we shelled out! That’s what I like about being in Dubai – you are right in the middle of the world map so you can travel to the East and West at lower costs. Seeing new places is what I am missing right now, hence, the green envy feeling. 

Here are some of my old pics when we went to Istanbul and Bursa in Turkey 4 years ago. (and yes, it was xx lbs ago, too!) It was so cold then…around 9-12 degrees Celsius...and much colder up in the mountains in Bursa where our bums were frozen cold at 4 below zero!

checking out the galleries as soon as we arrived

the clock tower next to Dolmabahce Palace

inside Hagia Sophia

(behind me is the mosque's mark facing Mecca)

Hagia Sophia still...remnants of Christianity in this unique museum

the famous Blue Mosque with six minarets

at Taksim Square (shopping is so expensive here!)

hold that tram!

buying souvenirs at Bursa

first snow experience at Mt. Olympos in Bursa

going for the Bosphorus Cruise

nice view while cruising

and I got to be captain for two minutes :)

the entrance to Topkapi Palace

Hopefully in 2011 I could start traveling again. I'd like to see Mauritius or Maldives before they vanish due to global warming. And a Euro trip would be lovely, too. Let's see how it goes :)

Our Macau & HK Family Trip - Day 2

We woke up a beautiful, sunny day with eager faces as we would be going back to Hong Kong that morning. After having breakfast at the hotel, we checked out and waited at the lobby for the shuttle to take us to the pier.

waiting at the lobby

When we arrived at the pier, we took the next ferry back to HK. Did I tell you that in both ferry rides I was able to doze off? Probably because it felt like being rocked gently like a baby.

the Turbo Jet

Upon arriving at HK, we took the MTR to get to our hotel. It was just a couple of stops from the Central Station so our travel was a jiff. After quickly checking in and depositing our pieces of luggage in our respective rooms, we dashed off to the MTR again and got off to the Central station where the bus depot going to The Peak was located.

little miss independent

at Central, HK

Riding the bus going up The Peak turned out to be a wise decision because taking the tram takes a while due to the long queue they have. Apart from that, we also got to see more sights while the bus was traversing the winding road. We were seated at the upper deck of the bus so we had a nice view of Hong Kong island. Upon arriving at The Peak, I immediately recognized the old green tram that we took when I was 6. I remember then we took the tram both ways, and I still vividly recall how the experience was. It is now used as a tourism office there. Of course we didn’t let the opportunity pass to take souvenir photos!

bus ride to the Victoria Peak

the old Peak Tram

view from above

Since it was almost lunch time, we all agreed to troop to Burger King, much to my niece’s delight. We had to have something quick and easy to eat because we still have other planned things to do after going around The Peak. After a quick bite, my Mom & Dad decided to just wander around the area as my Mom had a terrible headache then. We kids went ahead to see Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum.

french fries forever!

at Madame Tussaud's

Naomi & Naomi

stealing Brad :)

yo, Michelle Yeoh!

like mother, like daughter

blue-blooded for 5 seconds :)

I'll beat you, Tiger!

move over, Barrack!

After the museum tour, we all met up again and decided to go back to the city our Mom could rest in the hotel. That’s when we took the tram going down so Ryan, my siblings and niece could experience the ride. Across the tram station, we waited for the bus that took us to the Central. It was an interesting bus ride because we passed by The Landmark, and I swear I heard LV calling out my name :)

Peak Tram

life's biggest temptation
(and no, I didn't give in!)

We got off at the harbour where my Mom and Dad and we kids split up. They went back to the hotel to rest while we younger ones seized the rest of the day. Dad advised us to take the ferry to get to Kowloon so my companions can take another route getting to the other island. I happily obliged and we all ran happily like crazy kids trying to catch the ferry which was almost ready to leave.

all aboard!

As soon as we disembarked the ferry, we walked our way to spot the Avenue of the Stars. We enjoyed the leisurely walk and the breathtaking sunset. We tried to find a junk because I remember when I   was a child, our hotel had a great view of the waters that separate HK Island and Kowloon, and I saw a lot of junks sailing from morning till night. We ended up finding one, which was a commercial junk that tours people around. It's not the same I’d say because the junk I remember used to transport goods to the other side of HK.

just chillin'

the junk

Walking a bit further, we finally found the Avenue of the Stars. We took several snaps, of course! We did try the Squid delicacy, too sold by the lone food booth there. Its aroma was so good we couldn’t resist trying them. It was so yummy!!

here we are

ready for my take

someone's a fan

the harbour by night

We wanted to go for the night market afterwards but decided against it because it was getting late. We took the train and headed back to the Central. We wandered around the International Finance Centre and tried to look for Royce Chocolates. The ads in the MTR were misleading because we found out there was no Royce Chocolates outlet yet in the shopping mall. Thinking that I may not find another time to look around for the Reva shoes I wanted, we explored Lane Crawford and found them on sale (yippee!). I tried on a few pairs, and was pleased to know that they still have stock of the black with gold buckle in my size.  Even though it was uncomfy at first, I'm still pleased that I bought it because I had something to wear here at work when I temporarily bid goodbye to my heels.  We restrained ourselves from buying more from the neighboring shops as we vowed that the trip was purely a leisurely one – no shopping except for souvenirs! So we ended up taking the MTR to get back to our hotel. Dinner was at a nearby Fairwood branch but sadly, ended up not touching my meal again :(

nope, we're not lost - trust me!

At 9:00 pm, we were back in our respective rooms after kissing our parents goodnight.