Paraiso by the Philippine Madrigals

Check out this video of the Philippine Madrigals performing Paraiso. It is absolutely sublime.

Video uploaded on YouTube by Philippine Madrigals

I discovered this when I saw a reel of a short part of this performance in my social media feed. Philippine Madrigals is my favorite choir - I've seen them perform live twice and I have one of their albums - so naturally, I watched the reel and was immediately blown away. So much so that I wanted to see the full version. Thankfully, it was posted on the official YouTube account of Philippine Madrigals. I don't know how many times I ended up playing and replaying this video. They truly are outstanding! Someone commented that this is the music and the performance that you would want to hear welcoming you into heaven and I agree.

I also really love this song that is originally by Smokey Mountain and written by National Artist Ryan Cayabyab. In fact, this arrangement, or at least its build-up in the finale, is similar to the arrangement that Smokey Mountain used when they competed at and won the Tokyo Music Festival in 1992.

This performance makes we wish I could watch the Philippine Madrigals in concert again. Hopefully I will get that chance soon.

Watches, Old and New

I purchased a new watch: a Seiko Alpinist with a green dial. I know from many watch enthusiast friends that Seiko is a really good brand and a friend told me many years ago about how the Alpinist is a really good Seiko watch. He shared a sample photo of one with a green dial and I really liked it. Since then, it's been on my radar. In each of the last two years, Alpinist watches became available in the Seiko store near me but it is an expensive watch so I didn't buy it back then. Still, I noticed that in both those years, the Alpinists were sold out quite quickly. Clearly, this watch was really popular which proved what my friend said that it is a good watch. When it appeared in the Seiko store for the third year in a row, I realized that I was still thinking of getting it 5 years after seeing its photo so I decided to finally get it. It's my most expensive watch to date but I did get it at 20% off, making it a bit more affordable. I also really love looking at it when I wear it.

My new Seiko Alpinist watch

I also "sorted out" a couple of my older watches. The first one had a damaged strap. I really liked its strap so I didn't want to replace it and I hoped that I could have it repaired instead.

Damanged strap of my watch

Another friend at work is an avid watch fan so I asked him if he knew a place where I could have a watch strap repaired and he suggested Hunter Tradition. They have four branches and I visited their branch in Century City Mall. I'm happy I did because the guy there was able to repair my watch strap quite quickly using a combination of adhesive and stitching. I think their stock in trade is selling custom leather watch straps. If you need a new leather strap or you need strap repair, I highly recommend Hunter Tradition.

Hunter Tradition at Century City Mall

The other watch I sorted out was my G-Shock, which ran out of batteries a really long time ago. The thing is, most places that replace watch batteries don't seem to be able to replace the batteries of a G-Shock. I visited a G-Shock store and they told me that the service center is located in One Corporate Center at the corner of Meralco Avenue and Julia Vargas in Ortigas, which is not the most convenient place to visit. Still, I really wanted to finally use my G-shock again so during a trip to the Ortigas area, I decided to swing by One Corporate Center to have the batteries replaced. The unfortunate thing is that they couldn't replace the batteries immediately and told me I had to come back after about a week. It was such a hassle but at least now my G-Shock is working again.

Finally replaced the batteries of my G-Shock

I'm happy that I have a new watch that I really like and that I can finally wear two of my watches that I hadn't been able to use in a while.

Breakfast at the Westin Manila

Recently, a post appeared on social media about the buffet breakfast at the Westin Manila having a 50% discount for parties of 2 to 10 people. My two friends and I had been meaning to meet up for a while and since they are morning people, I suggested that we meet up for buffet breakfast at the Westin Manila. They both agreed.

I ended up eating here twice in two months. The first time was in August. My friends and I first planned to meet up in August but one of us, Irish, ended up having car trouble on the morning of our meet-up. As such, it was just Michelle and I who met up. Since we weren't complete, we decided to meet up again in September. This time around, everyone made it. Cool!

A lot of the standard items are offered, including international far such as bacon and sausages and local breakfast dishes such as longganisa and tapa. There's a variety of breads and sweet breakfast items. They also have an omelet station where you can request an omelet to be made with the ingredients of your choice.

That said, there are a few things that stand out at the Westin Manila breakfast buffet. First, they offer special dishes that require a bit of preparation. I took a photo of the selection during my first visit but I forgot to take a photo of their descriptions.

Special menu at the Westin Manila breakfast buffet

On my first visit, I got what I think was a version of Eggs Benedicts with tocino and maybe pork floss on pan de sal.

Special menu item I got on my first visit

On my next visit, I think I got another version of Eggs Benedict (I can't recall what the "caviar" on the dish is made of). Clearly, I have an affinity for this dish haha.

Special menu item I got on my second visit

They also have a taho station. I don't get to eat taho very often so when I see it, I tend to have it.

They also have croiffles, which are waffles made of croissant dough. I did try this as well.

The croiffles are the less even waffles on the right tray

The discounted buffet breakfast costs "only" P999. When I eat at other brunch places and I order their version of a big breakfast and get coffee, I usually spend about P800 or more. As such, the discounted Westin Manila breakfast becomes a steal, considering that I can get as much coffee as I want and have a wide variety of dishes.

Beautiful green wall at the Westin Manila

We were told that this promo had been going on since the start of the year and it keeps getting extended. I hope it gets extended even further so I can try it again in the future.

New Scrum Certification: Product Discovery and Validation

For the fourth time in less than two years, I achieved my fourth Scrum certification: Product Discovery and Validation!

According to the Scrum website, the purpose of Product Discovery and Validation is to "enhance value creation through practical application of discovery and validation techniques". When this training was made available to employees in our company, I thought it would very relevant to the work I do and that maybe I may possibly be able to apply what I learn so I signed up for it. Thankfully, I was given a slot.

Of all my Scrum certifications, this is the one I am most proud of mainly because at the time I took it, it was still Beta training. That means it was so new and still being tested that there were no sample exams available. When I achieved my three previous Scrum certifications, I took the sample exams provided at the Scrum website until I could get a perfect score consistently. This time around, I couldn't do that. Also, no one else had any idea what the test would be like and what kinds of questions would be asked. Even our trainer hadn't taken the exam yet. I also took this certification more than a month after the training, so my memory of the topics, concepts, and the material was not as fresh as I would have liked. Finally, the exam only had 20 questions and the passing score is 85%. That means only three mistakes are allowed. That's not a lot of room for error considering that I felt very unprepared.

In the end, I successfully passed the exam. I believe I got the same score as my trainer (cool!) and I was the first student who passed. I'm really proud of this achievement! Hopefully, I can apply a lot of what I learned at work and maybe use it to help build the skills of my team.

Revisiting (More) Old Favorites

I guess this still ties into my previous post about things that make me smile but over the last few months, I got to revisit many restaurants that I really enjoy but hadn't been to in a while or maybe try dishes that I haven't had in a long time. The first is Cafe Breton. It's been almost a year since I last ate here because there aren't a lot of Cafe Breton branches anymore. Two of the ones I used the visit a lot - the one in the Tomas Morato area and the one in UP Technohub - closed a while back. So when I found myself in Ayala the 30th one Saturday, I made sure to have my crepe fix here. I ordered their Fantastic Pinay crepe, which has mango, chocohazelnut spread, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream.

Cafe Breton Fantastic Pinay dessert Crepe

I also ordered their La Primavera Veggie Scramble for the first time. I knew I wanted a dessert crepe but I wanted to have something savory as well. It was pretty good.

Cafe Breton La Primavera Veggie Scramble

Another place I used to go to a lot was Almon Marina but it must be more than a decade since I last ate there. When I found myself in Megamall doing errands one night, I passed by Almon Marina and thought, I should eat here again. I ordered their Garlic Sausage, Pasta, and Salad combo. It felt quite nostalgic having this meal again after so long.

Almon Marina Pastalicious Combination

Going with the theme of combo meals, I also ordered the House Specials Set B at Pancake House. I used to really like their tacos and their spaghetti and it's been a while since I had those so when I found myself in Pancake House one evening, I got the combo that includes a hamburger, spaghetti, and a taco. I know that in Mexico, tacos have soft shell tortillas which I prefer. But I actually do like the hard shell of the Pancake House - among hard taco shells I've had in my life, theirs is the best by a large margin. This is a good comfort food meal.

Pancake House Specials Set B

I used to go to Bo's Coffee a lot because I regularly passed by one on my way home before but I haven't been there since I moved jobs several years ago. I had been planning to have brunch somewhere in the Glorietta area but then I passed by Bo's Coffee. I changed my plans and decided to eat here instead. I ordered Bo's Platter, which has corned beef, bacon, eggs, and toast. Naturally, I ordered coffee along with it. I can't recall how much this dish costs but it's definitely not as expensive as similar dishes in other fancier restaurants. I need to visit Bo's Coffee again in the future.

Bo's Platter at Bo's Coffee

I also got to revisit Cafe Mediterranean. I have two go-to dishes here. One of them is the Chicken Kebab. The other, which I ordered on this visit, is their Grilled Beef Gyro Plate, which is served with Tzatziki, tabbouleh, and moutabal. While it normally comes with pita bread, I opted to change it with buttered rice. After all these years, the quality of the food at Cafe Med continues to be really good.

Grilled Beef Gyro Plate at Cafe Mediterranean

The last time I was in Old Swiss Inn was about a year ago - which I wrote about in my previous 'Revisiting Old Favorites' post - but it remains to be one of my favorite restaurants. Not a favorite in terms of how often I eat there which isn't a lot but a favorite in the sense that I always enjoy my food there. While they have a few dishes that I normally order such as the Zurich Geschnetzeltes, this time I decided to choose something I hadn't had before: the Peppersteak Swiss Inn. It's a decent-sized steak and I really liked it! In the future, if I am craving good steak but I don't want to spend more than P1000 on it before service charge (it costs P979), I will have this one again.

Peppersteak Swiss Inn from Old Swiss Inn

The next restaurants are all relatively new in the Philippines but I do like their food a lot so I'm happy that I got to visit them all recently. These include Mendokoro (still my favorite ramen restaurant in the Philippines),

Mendokoro Shoyu Ramen with Aji Tamago and 3-piece Gyoza

Katherine's Cafe (their Bacon and Cheese Macaroni with Cereal Chicken is in the Kid's Favorite section of their menu but adults can order these as well and I was really in the mood for chicken and mac and cheese on that visit),

Katherine's Cafe Bacon and Cheese Macaroni with Cereal Chicken

and Texas Roadhouse (gotta use my BFF card haha but while I had always previously ordered their roast beef set, I decided to order their ribs set). Of course, their amazing complimentary bread makes Texas Roadhouse a current favorite of mine.

Texas Roadhouse Ribs set

I have to say, I'm really lucky and privileged that I have the opportunity to eat at so many different restaurants. I'm not exactly a foodie because I don't have a sophisticated palate but I do love to eat. Maybe that's also why I've been gaining weight slowly but steadily over the last year or so haha argh. If I continue to eat this much, I really need to start exercising.

Things That Make Me Smile

I recently acquired several pre-loved books. My friend Lala, who is an avid reader, was trying to find new owners for many of her books. I took a look at her collection and quite a few of them piqued my interest. I ended up getting six of them. Hopefully, I can find time to read them all in the next few years.

My new pre-loved books

You know you're adulting when purchasing new pillow cases makes you really happy haha. I realized some of my pillow cases were already torn and frayed. Which is not surprising given that I've had them for a really long time now. I tried to look for good pillow cases online but I wasn't able to find ones with designs and colors that appealed to me. I decided to just go to SM Department Store and thankfully, I found ones that I really liked.

My new pillow cases

One recent discovery I've made is this Choco Chip Hokkaido bread from Bread Talk. I've been a regular patron of this shop ever since it came to the Philippines many years ago but it is only in the last couple of months that I saw this item. It is really good! At P108, it's also quite affordable. Needless to say, I have purchased it a few times already since I discovered it haha.

Choco Chip Hokkaido from Breadtalk

Speaking of, I passed by the Itadaki Food Court in Mitsukoshi Mall recently and while I was there, I saw a Hokkaido Fair selling a wide variety of food items. Hokkaido is known for its dairy products so I decided to get something.

Hokkaido Fair in Mitsukoshi Mall

I purchased a couple of boxes of the Hokkaido Premium Pudding so I could share it with my family.

Hokkaido Premium Pudding

It was quite good!

Each box of Hokkaido Premium Pudding contains three of these cups

I now also have Landers membership. I decided to become a member because I saw that the Milka Strawberry Cheesecake, which I discovered in the Dubai Duty Free during my trip to Kenya, is sometimes sold here. However, it wasn't in stock when I went there for the first time.

My new Landers membership card

That said, my favorite ice cream, Ben & Jerry's Phish Food, was on sale with a 50% discount. Naturally, I got several pints haha.

Ben & Jerry's Phish Food on sale in Landers

My colleague had a business trip to Australia earlier in the month and came home with lots of packs of Tim Tams, including several flavors that are not available in the Philippines. I really love Tim Tams and I'm happy I got to try this new flavor. I got to try the Cafe Latte flavor and it really did taste like Cafe Latte. (Clearly, I've been consuming way too much sugar recently...)

Tim Tam Cafe Latte

Of course, the thing that makes me smile more than anything is quality time with loved ones. My friend Joyce celebrated her birthday at Fika, a Filipino restaurant in Capitol Hills. It was my first time eating here and I enjoyed the food.

Fika Restaurant at Capitol Hills

I also attended a few family reunions. Tita Susan came home for the firt time in a while and my family and I joined her and her brother Tito Raul for lunch at Romulo's. I met up with my relatives on my mom's side for my uncle Jorge's reunion dinner (his dad and my grandmother are siblings but I don't call him uncle because we are practically the same age haha). We had buffet dinner at Cabalen in West Avenue. I also joined my Tita Florence at her home for her birthday celebration. It was a weeknight and she lives quite far from me but it was a double celebration because her son and my cousin Fr. John was also in town so I decided I would go.

It really has been an amazing last few months and I am very thankful to have had the opportunity to go on safari, watch Giselle, and enjoy a lot of experiences and things that have made me smile.

[Rewind] BenCab, Abitare Internazionale, and Moooi Carpets Exhibit at Manila Pen

 I found myself at the Peninsula Manila a few months ago and as luck would have it, there was a pretty unique art exhibit at the lobby. Several pieces of National Artist Benedicto Cabrera, more popularly known as BenCab, were recomposed on tapestries created through collaborations with Abitare Internazionale and Moooi Carpets. "Three Muses" which was on display at the entrance of entrance of the hotel. The description next to it explains: "Inspired by the captivating beauty of women, two figures look away serenely while another glances mischievously at the viewer."

Three Muses

There were eight art pieces displayed all over the lobby and I did actually get to see and appreciate everything. That said, I just realized that I only took photos of two of them. The other one is this "Madonna IV". The write-up next to it says: "BenCab etches the essence of maternal love as a mother tenderly embracing her child, enveloping them in a cocoon of safety and warmth."

Madonna IV

Despite my regret that I didn't take photos of all 8 artworks, I feel very privileged to have seen a BenCab exhibit unexpectedly and for free. I had been to his museum in Baguio back in 2017 and I really do appreciate his art.

BenCab, Abitare Internazionale, and Moooi Carpets partnership

You can read more about this exhibit in this link. Thank you to Peninsula Manila, Abitare Internazionale, and Moooi Carpets for this unique and very enriching opportunity to appreciate art created in a different way.

[Rewind] The Philippines at the Paris Olympics 2024

I'm posting this late because I didn't want to interrupt my posts about my safari adventure but I would be remiss if I didn't post about the Paris Olympics. The Philippines achieved our best result in an Olympic Games. Carlos Yulo won two golds in gymnastics while Aira Villegas and Nesthy Petecio both won bronze in boxing. Way to go, Philippines!

"FILIPINOS CAN!" 💪🏻🏅

LOOK: The Philippine Olympic Committee proudly shares a photo of two-time #Paris2024 gold medalist Carlos Yulo, and bronze medalists Aira Villegas and Nesthy Petecio. | 📷: POC/Instagram via Arabela Cisneros, https://t.co/92tzXJz7A2 trainee pic.twitter.com/oMAJ6kUPb7

— INQUIRER Sports (@INQUIRERSports) August 12, 2024

Our first two medals came courtesy of Carlos Yulo. Caloy won gold on the Men's Floor Exercise. It was his first Olympic gold.

CINEMA!! 🔥🔥🔥

Carlos Yulo delivered a great performance in the men’s gymnastics floor exercise finals, scoring a total of 15.000 points.

Yulo’s final rank will be determined after the said Olympic Games event!#Paris2024 #OlympicGames #ParaSaBayan #100TaongLaban pic.twitter.com/6f3AMCZYUA

— One Sports (@OneSportsPHL) August 3, 2024

The next day, he doubled his tally, winning his second gold medal in the Men's Vault.

TRULY OUR GOLDEN BOY 🇵🇭

Carlos Yulo powers through with another exceptional performance during the men's vault finals event after scoring 15.116 points!#Paris2024 #OlympicGames #100TaongLaban #ParaSaBayan pic.twitter.com/TdvwXlEGeZ

— One Sports (@OneSportsPHL) August 4, 2024

These achievements allowed Caloy to set some Philippine records. He is the first Filipino to win two golds, the first Filipino to win two multiple medals in the same games, the first Filipino male to win a gold medal, and the first Filipino to win a medal in gymnastics. What an amazing athlete! I'm really happy for Caloy!

MAKABAGONG BAYANI KA, CALOY 🇵🇭

Carlos Yulo continues to rewrite Philippine sports history, achieving several FIRSTS after a back-to-back Olympic gold medal run in the floor exercise and vault final at the Olympic Games #Paris2024! #OlympicGames #ParaSaBayan #100TaongLaban pic.twitter.com/GjJFEXiRVy

— One Sports (@OneSportsPHL) August 4, 2024

A couple of days later, Aira Villegas won the Philippines' third medal by taking home the bronze in Women's 50kg Boxing. This was her first Olympic medal.

“SA YOUNGER SELF KO, I KNOW THAT YOU ARE ALREADY PROUD OF ME.” 🥹

After bowing out to Buse Naz Çakıroğlu of Turkey, boxer Aira Villegas remains optimistic and proud, giving herself a well-deserved pat on the back.#OlympicGames #Paris2024 #100TaongLaban #ParaSaBayan pic.twitter.com/OiECS2eBIX

— One Sports (@OneSportsPHL) August 6, 2024

And finally, Nesthy Petecio also took home a bronze in Women's 57kg Boxing. This makes her the fourth Filipino to be a multiple Olympic medalist after Teófilo Yldefonso (who won bronze medals in swimming in 1928 and 1932), Hidilyn Diaz, and Caloy Yulo.

NESTHY PETECIO 🇵🇭

⭐ 2020: First Filipino female boxer to win an Olympic medal

⭐ 2024: First Filipino boxer ever to win multiple Olympic medals#LabanPilipinas #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/h5Xf70YvYJ

— Team Philippines (@pholympicteam) August 11, 2024

Congratulations to all our medalists and to all our Olympians! Thank you for competing hard, doing your best, and bringing pride to our country. Mabuhay kayo!

Ballet Manila presents Giselle at the Aliw Theater

Last August 31, I watched Giselle, one of the most popular ballets, at the Aliw Theater. It was amazing!

Giselle

This ballet tells the tragic story of title character Giselle, a young peasant girl with a weak heart who dies of grief and madness when the man who courted her and whom she loves, Duke Albrecht, turns out to be engaged to someone else. I took a photo of the plot summary and you can read it in the next photo.

Synopsis

Renata Shakirova, a principal of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, played the lead role while Aleksei Timofeyev, a soloist of the Mariinsky Theater, played Albrecht. I thought they were both exceptional and tremendous artists. Renata was wonderfully expressive in both her movements and facial expressions, had magnificent technique, had breathtaking grace and elegance, and looked so effortlessly light. No wonder she is a principal at one of the best ballets in Russia and in the world! Aleksei was amazing too, with his tremendous presence and displaying incredible strength and power.

Curtain call of the cast with artistic director Lisa Macuja-Elizalde

Giselle was staged by Ballet Manila to uphold a promise made by artistic director Lisa Macuja-Elizalde. I read that this ballet was supposed to be performed at this same venue back in 2019 but a fire struck Star City and the Aliw Theater, which is right next to it, was badly damaged. The show had to be staged at the CCP instead. Five years later, Ballet Manila is finally able to stage Giselle where it was meant to be staged. We actually saw Lisa Macuja-Elizalde in the audience when we were there!

Aliw Theater

I'm really happy that I got to see Giselle. This was the first time I saw a show at the Aliw Theater (or at least the first time that I can remember). It's also the first ballet I watched since 2019, the last one was Swan Lake in June 2019. Hopefully, I get to watch more shows in the future.

[Kenya] Final Thoughts on Our Safari Adventure

I can't believe I have finally been on a safari adventure in Kenya. Before I share my final thoughts, here's a summary of all my posts about this incredible trip:

Safari Adventure in Kenya
The Big Five
Samburu
Lake Nakuru
Maasai Mara
Maasai Village Cultural Experience
Lake Naivasha and Crescent Island
The Giraffes of Kenya
The Elephants of Kenya
The Lions of Kenya
Special and Memorable Moments on Safari
Samburu Sopa Lodge
Sentrim Elementaita Lodge in Lake Nakuru
Mara Empiris Safari Camp in Maasai Mara
The Social House in Nairobi
Travel Tips
Final Thoughts

The vast savannas of Maasai Mara

Here's a recap of our itinerary:

Day 0: Arrival in Nairobi, check-in at the Hilton Garden Inn Nairobi Airport
Day 1: Travel to Samburu, check-in at the Samburu Sopa Lodge, afternoon game drive in Samburu
Day 2: Morning and afternoon game drives in Samburu
Day 3: Depart Samburu, travel to Lake Nakuru, check-in at the Sentrim Elementaita Lodge, afternoon game drive in Lake Nakuru
Day 4: Depart Lake Nakuru, travel to Maasai Mara, check-in at the Mara Empiris Safari Camp, Maasai village tour experience in the afternoon
Day 5: Whole-day game drive in Maasai Mara
Day 6: Depart Maasai Mara, visit Lake Naivasha and Crescent Island, travel to Nairobi, check-in at The Social House
Day 7: Depart Nairobi
Day 8: Arrival in Manila

White rhino in Solio Ranch

Kenya actually gets really cool at night. A friend of mine who had gone on a Maasai Mara safari many years ago told me about this. Also, our itinerary and tour document from Explorers Wild Adventures told us that "early mornings and evenings can be cool, so dress in layers." I discovered when we got there that apparently, Kenya has a really high elevation. When we stopped at a souvenir shop on our way from Nairobi to Samburu, a sign there said that we were 1,400 meters above sea level. That's really high! Thankfully, we didn't experience any altitude sickness.

The souvenir shop we visited said we were 1,400m above sea level

This next item should have been part of my travel tips but I forgot to write it there so I am sharing it here: bring face masks with you when you go on safari to Kenya because it is really dusty. I actually brought a lot with me but we didn't use them in our first two days there. On our third day, a lot of us were starting to cough or sniffle due to the dust so at that point, we started using masks. Our noses and throats started to clear up once we got back to Nairobi on our last day.

Ranger station at the Mara Triangle

While in Kenya, I bought a lot of "happy animals." At least that's one of the folks in one souvenir shop called them. These are animals carved out of stone and are painted with vibrant colors and varying designs. I actually got massively overcharged in that first souvenir shop we visited. Our guide Zachary told us that we had 20 minutes there and I was in two minds as to whether I should get these happy animals or not. After thinking about it for a really long time, I decided to buy several of them. To my surprise, I was given really high prices, a lot more than I anticipated. I really wanted to get them because I wasn't sure if I would have another chance to buy them elsewhere. But because it took me so long to decide and we were in a rush to leave, I stupidly didn't haggle. Ugh. I guess me paying way more than I expected would have been a good thing for Zachary and Explorers Wild Adventures since they brought me to that souvenir shop and I ended up giving them a massive profit haha.

Some happy animals I bought as pasalubong

We actually got to visit another souvenir shop on the road from Lake Nakuru to Maasai Mara where these happy animals were significantly cheaper. Naturally, I ended up getting several more of them here. I will say thought that the best place to buy the smaller happy animals is at the Maasai Market in Lavington Mall (which was a block away from The Social House, our hotel in Nairobi). Here, they are sold at a a fraction of the price at which they are sold in the touristy souvenir shops. (I don't recall seeing the larger happy animals here though.)

The Maasai Market at Lavington Mall

I also discovered that I love Kenyan coffee! My family and I really enjoyed the coffee we had while we were there. So when we stopped by a supermarket, we ended up buying a lot of Dormans, which is a Kenyan coffee brand. Some of them, we gave as souvenirs but we also made sure to get some for ourselves.

Dormans coffee that I took home from Kenya

English is spoken everywhere here and almost all signs that we saw all over the country was in English. This is quite different from most countries where signs are usually written in the local language, sometimes with English translations underneath. Take a look at this next photo and you will see Driving School Supplies, Apartment, Offices, Chemist, and Hardware. It's very much like the Philippines.

English signs can be seen all over Kenya

On our first night in Nairobi, before our tour started, I booked rooms at the Hilton Garden Inn Nairobi Airport. We were arriving in Kenya in the evening and we would be picked up really early the next morning so because I thought that this hotel was right at the airport, it would be the perfect place for us to stay. Apparently, it's about 5-10 minutes away by taxi. Thankfully, we were able to get a large van that could fit all of us plus our luggage so we didn't need to split up into two taxis. My hotel choice was still a really good one because we checked in at 10pm and most other hotels in the Nairobi city center are about 30 minutes away.

African-themed decor on the walls of Hilton Garden Inn Nairobi Airport

We made sure to have a heavy breakfast the next morning. Thankfully, breakfast is available at 6am and we all got our fill.

Main restaurant at the Hilton Garden Inn Nairobi Airport

It's too bad we didn't have a chance to see more of this hotel since it seems to have several points of interest. The restaurant has lots of great wildlife photos. As we were leaving in our jeep, we saw a really cool water fountain designed with ibex heads at the hotel driveway. I also love the artwork on the walls in the lobby, especially this next one of a woman and a giraffe. Apparently, these murals were created by an artist named Bankslave.

Beautiful mural by Bankslave at the Hilton Garden Inn Nairobi Airport

We flew Emirates to get to Kenya. Our flights took about 17-18 hours in total, including layovers at the Dubai airport that lasted about 4 hours. This was my first long flight since 2018 (and apart from me and my mom, this was the the first long haul flight of my family).

Emirates plane

I slept a lot on the plane both ways because I was tired and lacked sleep. Still, I still got to watch a few movies including Argylle (I loved this!), Bullet Train (I also really loved this!), Wish (I know this one got mixed reviews but I thought it was still good), and Turning Red (which I also enjoyed). I gotta say, I also love how the ceiling of our plane lit up as if there were twinkling stars when all the windows were down and the plane lights were dimmed.

"Stars" on the ceiling of our plan

Also, it is in the Dubai airport that I discovered Milka Strawberry Cheesecake. I bought one for myself and one for my family and I regret not getting more because these are exceptionally good! I've been looking for them here in Manila ever since. (I think Landers carries them sometimes so I'm hoping I can get them here soon.)

Milka Strawberry Cheesecake is really good!

This trip was truly memorable on so many levels. Apart from the amazing safari adventures in Maasai Mara, Samburu, Lake Nakuru, and Lake Naivasha, we survived:

- the Crowdstrike online disaster happening hours before our flight
- filing our Kenya electronic travel authorisations late and almost not getting them on time
- my mom almost losing her travel documents while we were heading to Kenya
- me almost losing my wallet in Samburu
- being chased by an aggressive elephant in Samburu
- protests in Kenya while we were there, including a nationwide one that threatened to make roads impassable on the day we were going to drive from Samburu to Lake Nakuru
- Typhoon Carina causing a bad leak in our house while we were away (thankfully, that's all that happened)

Wildebeests in the vast savannas of the Maasai Mara

I do think that all that difficulty made us appreciate our trip more, making it even more amazing and worthwhile. I'm tremendously happy and eternally grateful that I finally fulfilled my dream to go on safari with my family.

Maasai Mara Sunset