It seemed at the beginning of the year that I’ve lost the desire to travel. Well, it’s there, it’s just that unlike the previous years, I was more laid back. Whereas before I’d spent countless hours and days of mad research, I’m now content to sit back and just go whereever I feel like going.

No long term planning, no checking to see whether the stars and planets are aligned just right on my travel dates. I’m happy to stay put in Manila.

This sounds pretty contradicting to what I’ve been writing about in my travel blog. I’ve been to a couple of trips out of town, but they’ve been organized by other people. Frankly, I don’t mind taking the back seat and letting other people take charge and make the decisions for me.

The upside was that I’m making an effort to explore Manila. Whereas before I dread having to go to Manila, now I’m looking forward to it. In the past five months, I’ve been to Manila more times than I’ve been in the past five years. The dirt and chaos that I’ve always complained about are the very things I love about this city.

But now I get that feeling stirring inside. That old wanderlust, which I thought I’ve lost. I kinda feel like a traitor, but I suddenly got this strong feeling of homesickness for Melbourne. I guess I loved Melbourne more than I thought. But Melbourne can wait. Manila needs me.

For me, anyway

In answer to Sheila’s request:
A photo of the best chocolate cake you’ve ever had~ XD (plus a watermark of the address and contact number of the shop where you can find it)

As much as I love chocolate, I can’t seem to fully appreciate chocolate cakes. I mean, I eat them, I like them, but they’re not really high up in my cake list. I’ve had my fair share of good chocolate cakes — there’s that very rich chocolate cake Heinji baked for Rey back in 2004 that was great but after a few bites, I totally gave up on it. There’s also that chocolate cake Anton bought in Pampanga.

My favorite, however, was this molten chocolate cake Chef Rob of Cyma surprised us with:

Photo borrowed from Kainpinoy.com. Too lazy to re-do this with the evilmartian.org watermark.

Listed in the menu as Skolatina, this delectable dessert costs Php210. Quite pricey, I know, but it was so worth it. Everybody in the table (and in the whole food tour) agrees.

Cyma’s first branch was in Boracay, but they have also opened their Metro-Manila branches in Trinoma, Greenbelt 2 and Shangri-La Plaza mall.

Finally answering photo requests made from way back when.

From Anna D:
Ooooooooh ahahahaha. A photo of anything/one that would instantly make you happy for the rest of the day. =)

 
I love receiving mail. Whether it’s a postcard, a greeting card, or even just the registry notice from the post office makes me happy.

 
Even happier still if the envelop contains a book I’ve been wanting for a long time.

Yes, I’ve given Book Mooch a chance.