Bene Balm Review

Bene Balm $18 (Php 806.41)

I fell in love with Bene Tint from first use, though the dryness it caused my lips is another story. I topped it with other balms and lip gloss brands to solve the problem. When Benefit Cosmetics announced that they'll be launching a lip balm line, I was excited to get my hands on their newest addition. A week after, I had the product with me.

Holy Week in the Philippines: Travel Tips

Holy Week is one of the longest holidays in the Philippines - next to Christmas / New Year.
It's that time of the year when every Filipino tunes out of the hustles and bustles of city life and try to reflect and be with their families. Most embark on a pilgrimage from 5pm of Holy Wednesday until 6pm on Easter Sunday. This year, Holy Wednesday will be on April 1, 2015 and Easter Sunday will follow on April 5, 2015. Expressways (NLEX / North Luzon Expressway and SLEX / South Luzon Expressway) on both sides of Manila are expected to clog up on those dates with fleets of vehicles bound to leave and return to the Metro. Travelling on these dates is not for the impatient ones - staying in Metro Manila is highly recommended if you hate crowds.

For those needing tips on how to pull of a trip in the Philippines during the Holy Week (or on other long weekends), here's my advise:

1. Plan the trip ahead of time.

• Give yourself 2 months to plan during your free time.
• Refer to blogs online for help on how to go about your vacation, especially if it's your first time to visit a place.
• Read a lot of reviews about the places you will visit, these will help you decide on your final itinerary.
• Include plans on where to dine.
• To stick to your schedule, you need to have your itinerary mapped out. Warning: 2 hours on google map's estimate might take you 4 hours in reality. Travel time computation of google does not consider the heavy traffic involved.

Filipino Applying for a Tourist Visa for the First Time

Whoever said that travelling is possible for people with no money is lying.

First off, you need to ensure the embassy of the country you're supposed to visit that you have the means to support your travel. (Thanks to the many undocumented alien Filipinos who sought the chance to work abroad and earn in foreign currency fast - just illegally :(. They made sure that normal Filipino employees with a little to spare for travel pass through the eye of the needle for visa applications). Unless you have a sponsor to lend you a bank certificate with an ADB/Average Daily Balance of not less than Php 100,000 for the past 6 months prior to your visa application, you may have to prepare at least 7 months ahead before your planned trip - that is, if you have no savings account. Probably the best advise I can give to someone who wants to start travelling outside the country a lot ( that is most often neglected by other bloggers out there ) is to: KEEP A SAVINGS ACCOUNT IN THE BANK WORTH PHP 200,000 MORE OR LESS AND NEVER EVER SPEND IT - just keep it there lying around forever for visa purposes.

Chowking Drive Thru

I passed by Starbucks Clark in Berthaphil to grab my morning fix of caffeine. Constructions were everywhere! Then I saw it: the very first Chowking drive-thru store to my knowledge. I was curious, so I beelined into the entrance of the driveway and ordered Siopao at the window. According to the guy who took my order, theirs was the 2nd Chowking branch with drive thru in the Philippines. The very first store of that type is in Pangasinan. Wow. The tag line "linuluto" circa 90's completely evolved - that which depicts Chowking food being freshly prepared only upon receipt of every order. I wonder how will this fair in the Philippine market. It's a good idea though. Less unhealthy (?) or not. We can see the trend - everything drive thru by 2035 I guess?