Wedding Ninong for the 3rd and 4th times

I became a wedding ninong (or principal sponsor) for the first time in 2017. It happened a second time in 2018. Then all of a sudden, in a span of just a week, I became a wedding ninong again for the 3rd and 4th times!

Interestingly enough, both weddings were out-of-town. Mon and Chelle got married first at Palazzo Venezia in Malolos, Bulacan. Both of them were my direct reports at the time that I left my previous job so a lot of our other teammates were also there, making it a reunion. I was quite happy that Chelle and Mon asked the male guests to come in Barong Tagalogs because I really miss wearing the national dress of the Philippines.

A first for me: I had to give a principal sponsor speech. When I met up with Mon and Chelle for lunch a few weeks before their wedding, they asked me if I could give a speech. They said that of all their principal sponsors, I was the one who knew both of them the most. I decided my speech would focus on what qualities both of them had that would ensure their marriage would shine and last through the ages. Their ninong gift to me was also a first: cheese bread and sylvannas from L.A. Bakeshop (among a few other things). Apparently, L.A. Bakeshop is a very popular bakery in Pampanga so I'm happy I got to try this.

Six days later, I found myself in San Fernando, Pampanga for the wedding of Migs and Diann at the Country Garden. Both of them reported to me in my previous role (the one I had right before I became Chelle and Mon's boss). As such, their wedding also turned into a pretty awesome reunion.

There was a bit of a scare for me though right before the wedding. For some reason, I thought the ceremony would also start at 4pm. I decided I would leave Metro Manila at around 1:30 pm so that I could get to the venue at around 3 to 3:30 and I would have enough time to get settled before the wedding. However, when I checked the invitation at around 11:30am, I realized that the wedding was at 3pm! I started to panic because I was at risk of being late (which would be a disaster because I was a principal sponsor). I ended up skipping lunch to help ensure I would get to the venue on time. As it turned out, I still arrived a few minutes after 3pm and I was worried that the ceremony would have already started. Thankfully, it hadn't. In fact, it actually started at around 4:30pm (it was really hot that afternoon so the coordinators decided to start the ceremony later in the day so that the sun wouldn't be so high up in the sky). That made me wish I had at least a quick lunch somewhere along the way LOL. I did make up for my missed meal by overeating during dinner. :)

Another first: I was asked to give a speech on the spot! Apparently, the principal sponsors who were supposed to share some words of wisdom to the newlyweds didn't make it. The coordinator ended up asking me and my ninang partner Maan (who took over as their manager when I changed roles) to give the speeches instead. I didn't want to say the same stuff I told Mon and Chelle LOL so I just did the best I could under the very last-minute circumstances.

As such, I am now a four-time wedding principal sponsor. I don't know how many more times I will be asked to be one but hopefully, I will be able to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of a ninong to all my current wedding godchildren. :)

Reunion Season

December and January are always filled with reunions and I'm fortunate to have had more than my fair share of them. The most significant one was also the most recent: I had lunch with my Grade 2 adviser, Mrs. Ontiveros, who is the best and most influential teacher I've ever had. I hadn't seen her in decades and while we talked about meeting up a couple of times, we never got around to finalizing a date. That is, until early this year. I asked if she was free one weekend, she said she was, and the date was set. I asked her if she wanted to see my family - she knows them and my brother was also her student - and she said she was actually about to ask me if I could invite them to our lunch date as well. Cool! We agreed to meet in Aristocrat Banawe and my mom and my brother were free to join. We enjoyed each other's company for many hours as there were so many stories to share. It was such an amazing, nostalgic, and soul-stirring reunion and I am so happy that we finally managed to catch up.

I also got to have coffee and dinner with Chachie right before Christmas. I think the last time I saw her was more than five years ago when we played board games in Ludo Cafe so it was great to see her. She's been through quite a bit over the last few years but she has maintained such a positive outlook in life which I find to be very inspirational. I got to meet her daughter for the first time and I also saw her husband whom I haven't seen since maybe their wedding. We hung out from the late afternoon until the early evening, when their family had to go to catch the evening mass. We met at Tyler's Cafe along Katipunan where I ordered the Ricotta Pancakes with chocolate chips, chocolate fudge, cream, and chocolate crumb and OMG it was sooo good! I need to visit Tyler's Cafe again so I can enjoy these delicious pancakes.

Another mini-reunion I had was with Ana and Earl at Motto Motto. I think the last time we had a decent conversation was when I was still working at my previous job. I did run into them quite a few times over the years but we never really properly caught up. We finally met up shortly after Christmas at Motto Motto in Serendra. It was great to find out what they were both doing over the last few years. We agreed that we needed to catch up more frequently.

Apart from these reunions with people whom I hadn't seen in a while, there were of course the annual ones. I had dinner with my friends from my first job at Relish Hello Happiness! My friends from our corporate social responsibility group in my previous company had dinner at Stock Market in Uptown Mall and we moved to Scout's Honor for coffee and dessert after. My college friends met up nostalgically at the house of the Jay's parents, which is where we had many parties when we were still in college. I had dinner with another set of college friends in Sentro. The team I last managed in my previous company had our Christmas party at TGI Friday's (a lot of them had moved on to new opportunities). Finally, I had dinner with my high school friends shortly after the New Year at my Michele's house.

As I look back at all these reunions, I can't help but feel very lucky to have made so many incredible connections in my life. Hopefully, I can continue to have these beautiful moments with people who mean a lot to me.

Happy 2020 and looking back at 2019

Happy New Year!

As usual, before I jump straight into 2020, I will take a look back at the last year. The highlight of my year was getting to visit Seoul and experiencing The Joshua Tree Concert of U2 there. This trip allowed me to see some city sights that I hadn't seen before, visit Nami Island and the Morning of Garden Calm, interview a North Korean defector during our DMZ Spy Tour, and go on an incredible street food tour that allowed me to enjoy a lot of amazing Korean dishes. It was also the first time that I got to travel internationally with one of my best friends Michele and her husband Ferg.

Seoul wasn't the only place I traveled in 2019. I also spent a night my high school friends in Sinagtala Resort in Orani, Bataan. I also revisited Club Balai Isabel during our company outing.

One really cool thing I did last year was perform travel agent duties for my mom who took a trip to Bali. She knew she wanted to go but she didn't know what to do there. I created her itinerary, booked her hotel (which she said was really nice), found her a driver with whom I aligned the itinerary, installed WhatsApp in my mom's phone and set up a WhatsApp group so my mom and I could communicate easily with the driver, rented a Smart Travel WiFi device for her so she would have mobile data when she was in Bali, then drove her to the airport and picked her up when she returned. It was the first time I did all this and my mom's trip turned out great. I was so proud of myself. :)

On the cultural side, I got to see quite a few stage shows. I took my family to see The Phantom of the Opera (it was the third time I got to see it). I took my mom to see Swan Lake by Moscow Ballet La Classique at the New Frontier Theater in Cubao. My mom and I also got to experience Van Gogh Alive in Manila. My family watched the 33rd Sampung Mga Daliri Atbp by the UST Conservatory of Music because my nephew was in the ensemble. Finally, I saw Beautiful: The Carole King Musical with a couple of my friends.

On the more mainstream side, I got to see quite a few movies in the last year. My favorites: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Alone/Together, Godzilla II: King of the Monsters, Knives Out, and Avengers: Endgame.

It wasn't all hunky-dory though. I had a health scare last year that triggered the need for a lifestyle change. I managed to lose about 10 kilos and so far, I've managed to maintain that weight. Hopefully, I can continue eating better and exercising whenever possible. In line with trying to having a better future for me and my family, I also got PRU Life policies for my nephews.

Back to more positive stuff. I managed to read four books last year, including the second Dan Wells trilogy. This is the most I've read in a single year and I'm hoping I can keep on reading this year. My family celebrated my grandmother's 92nd birthday. I played bowling for the first time in years as part of our department bowling tournament and I ended up winning highest men's score and my team was awarded best scoring team. My friends and I also visited Mystery Manila twice to try the Mr. Moriarty room and the Sorcerer's Stone room. I attended a few weddings and I sang in a couple of them. I went to a karaoke bar with friends on six separate occasions, the most times I had been in a karaoke bar in a single year in maybe a decade. I tried several restaurants for the first time, including Raging Bull, Salta!, La Mere Poulard, and Downtown Cafe in Pampanga. And of course, I got to play board games a lot.

2019 proved to be an amazing year that brought with it some rich and memorable experiences. Hopefully, I can continue to have more of them in 2020.

U2: The Joshua Tree Tour in Seoul

The unthinkable (for me) happened just before the year closed. I finally got to watch one of my all-time favorite bands, U2, perform live in concert! That this was The Joshua Tree Tour made it even better. After all, The Joshua Tree is arguably their best album and a favorite among their fans (myself included).

I have been listening to their music a whole lot over the decades and a lot of their songs are among the most played in my iPod (yes, I still listen to music on an iPod LOL). They became an even more significant part of my life when my band covered a lot of their songs during our gigging years in the 2000s. So when the Asia and Oceania leg of their tour was announced, I knew I had to watch.

The problem was that the tour originally included only New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea. They only announced the Philippine leg after sales for the shows in the other countries were done. By that time, my friends and I already bought our concert tickets in Seoul and we already booked our flights and hotels. Naturally, we weren't the only ones. Many of their Filipino fans, including a lot of my friends, got tickets to their shows in other countries already. Ah well, I just thought that it was a great excuse to travel with my friends and get to see more of South Korea.

Their concert in Seoul was held at the Gocheok Sky Dome. The show started at around 7:20pm and there was no front act so the moment the lights dimmed and U2 stepped out on stage, the stadium erupted. They played four songs before running through The Joshua Tree album in sequence. My two all-time favorite U2 songs are I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For and Where the Streets Have No Name so when they played these two songs (these are the first two tracks of the album), I got really emotional. I was so moved and overwhelmed that if their concert ended then and there, I would have already been satisfied. That they were just starting made my experience so much better because every song they performed after that felt like a massive bonus to an already amazing evening. (Check out their full setlist here.)



The show of course was legendary. Bono was truly impressive. He is 59 years old already but he was still hitting every note with power and confidence and he sang 24 songs with almost no break. The rest of the band were equally incredible. The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton were all at top of their game. Their music was powerful, evocative, and sensational and the atmosphere they generated was absolutely electric. As if the sublime sound they were generating wasn't enough, the gigantic LCD behind the band provided a visual spectacle that perfectly accompanied and complemented the music, making the overall experience truly magical and unforgettable.

I left Gocheok Sky Dome feeling ecstatic, blessed, and still in a bit of disbelief. I have now seen U2 perform live, something I thought I would never get to do in my lifetime. If not for the wedding I attended on December 11, I would have watched (or at least tried to watch) them again when they performed at the Philippine Arena. Still, I am very thankful that I got to witness one of my favorite musical artists perform live. This is an experience I will truly remember for the rest of my life.

Nami Island and the Garden of Morning Calm

Our fourth and last day in Seoul was spent touring the outskirts of Seoul. We booked a private tour with Sweetravel Korea. I think the standard tour that we took is supposed to include a visit to Nami Island, the Garden of Morning Calm, and Petite France but we adjusted our tour so that instead of seeing Petite France, we would go strawberry-picking instead.

Nami Island

This visit to the strawberry farm was first in our itinerary for the day. We were given a container and we could take as much strawberries as we could fit into it. There were so many ripe fruits that I ended up overfilling my container so I actually had to give some of my strawberries to Mitch and Ferg and I had to eat a couple on the spot. Apparently, I also picked the strawberries incorrectly but it wasn't my fault; we weren't taught the proper way for picking strawberries. Thankfully, one of the ladies in the farm saw me and told me how to do it correctly. Despite my blunders, it was a really cool experience and the strawberries were very delicious!

Our second stop was Nami Island. This has become quite a popular place to visit among Filipino tourists because of the many photo opportunities here, especially during fall. It is actually in the middle of the Han River and to visit it, you have to take a short ferry ride.

Welcome to Nami Island

It was December when we were there so it wasn't fall anymore. As such, we missed out on the photo op in the area lined by Gingko Biloba trees (this area looks beautiful during the fall). I still took a lot of photos, and had a lot of photos of myself taken, at the Metasequoia Lane. According to a sign in this area, this lane "began with seedlings from Seoul National University's School of Agriculture in 1977. First made famous as a setting for some of the most romantic scenes in Winter Sonata, it has now become one of the most visited spots on the island."

Metasequoia Lane

We then wandered around the rest of island to enjoy more of its beautiful scenery.

It seems that most other tourists don't venture much beyond the more popular photo op areas because there are a lot of other spots on the island that are quite isolated and serene.

I mentioned how the Metasequoia Lane was made popular by the Korean drama Winter Sonata. There's actually another spot on the island where another scene from this show was taken: the leads were building snowmen on a table. While I am not familiar with this show, I still decided to take a photo of it myself. :)

This is where a scene from Winter Sonata was taken.

After our afternoon stroll, we decided to take a break and have some coffee and pastries at a cafe on the island. I noticed that there was a really nice deck outside where you can view the Han river. Naturally, I couldn't pass up on this photo op, especially since there was no one else around. :)

We left Nami in the late afternoon to head to our final stop: the Garden of Morning Calm.

The Garden of Morning Calm

This place becomes very popular during winter because from December to early March, it features the Starlight Garden Festival. During this time, the entire place is decorated with lights, providing its guests with an incredibly intricate and dazzling display of color and illumination at night.

The garden showcases many awesome displays at night during the Starlight Garden Festival

There were a handful of vibrant tunnels that made for great photo ops.

The garden is actually a lot larger than we all initially thought. There are dozens of brilliant, interesting, and instagrammable sections throughout the grounds.

My favorite section though is this gloriously jaw-dropping sea/ocean scene.

We spent a couple of hours walking through the Garden of Morning Calm before heading back to our hotel. This was our last day in Korea and it was a good way to end our trip. That said, there is one more part of this trip that I still haven't written about: the U2 Joshua Tree Tour concert in Seoul.

DMZ Spy Tour

We booked a DMZ Spy Tour because my friend Mitch really wanted to go to the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) which is the ceasefire area between North and South Korea. However, shortly before our trip, we were told that we wouldn't be able to go to the DMZ because of swine flu concerns (presumably on the North Korean side). The tour company proposed some changes to the itinerary which we were ok with so we proceeded with the modified tour.

Wall of photos and memories at the My Town exhibit in the Odusan Unification Tower

Our first stop was Bugaksan Mountain. Our tour indicated that this was the infiltration path of North Korean Spy Commandos. We started out at the Bugak Palgakjeong Pavilion or the Bugak Skyway Octagonal Pavilion...

Bugak Skyway Octagonal Pavilion

...before going on a bit of a casual stroll/hike. We walked along a path that allowed us to take in some panoramic views of Seoul, especially at the Bugaksan Mountain Sky Observatory. (It actually started snowing ever so slightly while we were here; you can probably see a bit of the snow if you zoom into the following picture).

Bugakgsan Mountain Sky Observatory, with a little snowfall :)

Our next stop was the Odusan Unification Tower. This observatory gives visitors a glimpse of the separation of North and South Korea and the impact that this division has had and continues to have on all Koreans.

Odusan Unification Tower

The tower is located at the at the South Korean border, where the Han and the Imjin Rivers meet. There are many telescopes around the tower that allow visitors to look across the border to North Korea.

Possibly the most moving exhibit in the tower is called My Town, which shares photos and memories of families separated by the Korean war. It was heartbreaking to see pictures of these families, knowing that some of them were never, or will never be, reunited during their lifetimes.

Photos of families who were separated by the Korean War :(

After visiting the Odusan Unification Tower, we then headed to Imjingak Peace Park (also called Imjingak Resort) which also commemorates the Korean War. According to wikipedia, it was built to console Koreans who have been separated from their loved ones due to the division of Korea. One wall in the park is filled with ribbons that have messages of hope and prayers for unification.

Imjingak Peace Park

Visitors can also see a section of the Gyeongui Train Line which was destroyed during the Korean War.

Gyeongui Train Line

After lunch, we headed to a coffee shop at the War Memorial Museum Wedding Hall for what would be one of the highlights of my Korea trip: an interview with a North Korean defector. To be honest, I came into this interview with a lot of trepidation because I wasn't sure I would know what questions to ask or if the questions I thought would be too sensitive or even offensive. But once the interview started, my concerns quickly disappeared. As we listened to our interviewee's stories, we all wanted to learn and understand more and everyone in our group asked multiple questions. What I heard during this interview could fill a blog post or two by itself, but it was moving, humbling, and sobering to discover why our interviewee decided to defect, how he did it, the challenges he faced in crossing the border and later in bringing his family with him, and financially supporting his other loved ones who are still north of the border. Even as I write this, I am moved when I recall the tremendous difficulty that our interviewee had to endure and the fear he had for his life which led him to leave North Korea. One of the most heartbreaking things he said was after Kim Jong Il began his rule in 1994, North Korea experienced a massive famine that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths due to starvation. He even recounted seeing dead bodies piling up on the streets. :( I can't even begin to wrap my head around that.

After the interview, our guide took us to the War Memorial of Korea. This museum is massive, with exhibits spread across three floors of the museum. Due to the limited time we had, we skipped the first floor, which features historical exhibits prior to the North Korean invasion in 1950. We headed immediately to the second floor which holds the Korean War exhibits.

War Memorial of Korea

We then made our way to the third floor which displays items that have been donated to the museum. The exhibits here showcase the nations and troops who fought to restore peace. There was a section the featured the Philippines. An estimated 7,420 Filipinos fought in the Korean War, with 113 being killed in action and 229 more being wounded.

Tribute to the Philippines

This was the last stop of our tour. The day was absolutely jam-packed but it was very enriching and powerful. I highly recommend this to anyone who visits Seoul. Our tour was run by Kevin Hwang. I believe my friend Mitch booked him through With Locals. There are a couple of sites that provide Kevin's contact info (such as this and this) so if you are interested in booking this same tour or taking the proper DMZ Spy Tour (when there is no restriction to enter the DMZ), check out these sites so you can contact Kevin.

Seoul Food

We took a Secret Food Tour for us on our third day in Seoul. The tour is supposed to be a group tour but luckily for us, no one else joined us so it turned out to be like a private tour. This 3-hour tour involved a lot of eating and some walking as well. Our first stop was Gwangjang market, which we also visited on the evening of our arrival. We got to try some of the same food, plus a few more. There are a lot of food stalls here but arguably the most popular is the Gohyang Kalguksu Stall which was featured on Netflix's Street Food (episode 6).

Gohyang Kalguksu Stall, owned and operated by Yoonsun Cho

Owned and operated by Yoonsun Cho, this place is known for its delicious hand-cut noodles. Our tour included the drinks upgrade so our noodles came with a small bottle of Soju (this may have been the first time, or if not then definitely the first time in a long while, that I had alcohol at around 10am LOL) . Of course, you can't have Korean food without a side of kimchi. I'm a huge fan of hand-cut and hand-pulled noodles so I really loved this dish. The broth was really flavorful too, making it a perfect dish to have on a cold winter's morning.

hand-cut noodles from Gohyang Kalguksu Stall

After that, we headed to a nearby stall to have some bibimbap. (Cool thing about Gwangjang market: the seats are heated so even in winter, it feels quite comfortable to sit down.) Bibimbap is like fried rice with an assortment of vegetables and sometimes meat. I believe the bibimbap we had was a vegetarian one. We were also served some delicious mung bean soup.

bibimbap and mung bean soup

We then headed over to another spot to enjoy some mung bean pancakes. I believe these are locally called Nokdujeon or Nokdu Bindaetteok. These were served with some onions in soy sauce (or something that is like soy sauce) and our guide Joseph told us we can dip the pancake into the sauce. This was a good idea because it helps cut the oiliness and balance out the richness of pancake.

mung bean pancake

Our drinks upgrade meant that we also got a bottle of makgeolli, which is like a sparkling rice wine. I actually really liked this, it was like a light, alcoholic soda.

Makgeolli

By this time, I was getting really stuffed but we had one more stop in Gwangjang market to enjoy more carbs LOL. We got a plateful of what I believe was kimbap or gimbap, which is like Korean sushi.

kimbap or gimbap

These were served with rice cakes which I love.

rice cakes

Thankfully, we took a break from eating to go on a bit of a long walk. As we walked through the streets of Seoul, Joseph shared some interesting facts about the city. He also took us to Sewoon Rooftop to take in some panoramic views of Seoul.

After maybe an hour of walking around, we finally stopped at a dumpling restaurant to have some Korean dumplings. I forgot to take note of the name of this place or what the these dumplings are called. They are the sweet side but still pretty good.

Korean dumplings

There was a bit more walking after this before we made our way to Shin Old Tea House in Insa-dong for some tea and snacks. This was the last stop of our Seoul Secret Food Tour. Joseph explained all the tea options to us and highlighted one of them, saying it was something that was not very common so we all ordered that. Unfortunately, I can't remember what it was but it was fruity and delicious. We also got two types of sweets. I don't know what they are called but both of them were good.

Tea and snacks at Shin Old Tea-House in Insa-dong

Of course, the Secret Food Tour wasn't the only opportunity we had to enjoy local cuisine. On our first night, we walked over to a nearby restaurant to enjoy some delicious Korean barbecue. It was pretty cool that one of the wait staff here helped us cook the food in front of us. We got three types of meat but my absolute favorite was the beef.

Korean beef barbecue

We had more Korean barbecue for lunch on one of our tours but this one was not very traditional. Instead of beef or pork, we were served duck.

Korean duck barbecue

During another tour, we also got to enjoy some Dak Galbi, which is spicy chicken with vegetables.

Dak Galbi

Chicken and Beer is also quite popular in Seoul so we got to try it a couple of times. On our second night, we had dinner in Kkanbu Chicken. I ordered Cass beer to go along with it.

Chicken and Beer from Kannbu

On our third night, after the U2 concert, we had more chicken and beer in a restaurant near Gocheok Skydome. We actually got in the restaurant when it was empty but right after we ordered, a horde of people who I presume all also came from the concert went in so in a matter of minutes, the restaurant went from almost empty to full.

more chicken and beer

While this last item isn't Korean food, it is something we got to try in Myeongdong night market and I feel it is worth sharing. If you love takoyaki, try to look for The King of King Tacoyaki, which serves the biggest takoyaki I have ever seen and eaten.

The King of King Tacoyaki in Myeongdong

It is also packed with a variety of ingredients. It isn't cheap but it is really good and perfect for takoyaki fans.

Next post: DMY Spy Tour