I'm Back!

My trip to the Philippines was short lived but thank you to everyone, family and friends for making it truly memorable... I can't wait to come back!

Highlights:

• reconnecting with family
• learning, seeing and tasting something different until it's not and then doing it again
  
• I sort of mentioned it above but it deserves to be said again. Eating!
• meeting new people and making new friends
• learn-smile-grow, eat-eat-eat!

Boracay is beautiful. From Manilla; it's a 45 minute plane ride to a 10 minute tricycle ride to a 20 minute boat ride to one last tricycle ride before you're officially unplugged. Here's a few pictures from our stay...

*navigational tools drop-down if you hover over the slideshows



Have I mentioned how good the food was? Masarap!



Family is what it's all about. It's easy to forget or lose sight of that when you grow up and create a life for yourself half way across the world. But it's trips like these which remind you that even though you/they have been far away, you've always been together in spirit.



Here's another video I captured with my a630. Our last evening in the Philippines - dinner at Mama Nelia's house:


family from Joey on Vimeo.

Thanks again everyone for the memories! And a special thank you to my Dad who flew us out and made this trip extra comfortable by givin' up the couch ;) and for the impeccable coordination of every single one of our requests.

Oh Pho Sho

Last night we rode out to Pho Cafe in Silverlake. The windstorms from the night before made for a night ride in LA like I've never seen. The sky was clear and the air was clean.

This is the route we took from Venice to DTLA to Silverlake and back.

We made it to the restaurant in great time. The service was less than par but the downtime gave us plenty of opportunities to go MacGyver on our cameras. Anyway, this place has good food, reasonable prices and hip/fusion decor. I wouldn't recommend it if you're looking to grab a quick bite but if you're in good company, the food is worth the wait.

Itadakimas! Lime charbroiled steak with egg roll and shrimp over noodles (cold). Also known as #17.


Like most things, food also looks better through Feaver's camera.


Free beer! The house comped our beer to atone for the service (or lack thereof). Taiwan beer starts like Sprite and finishes like a lychee... not bad.


What seemingly appeared to be the house specialty. Slow drip coffee over condensed milk. This stuff is like your socks after a 31 mile bike ride; potent.


Gettin' fishy - Liz through the glassware


On another note, this marks my 100th blog post! Hooray-Hoorah! Bikes, food, beer and friends... yep, that pretty much sums up the previous 99.