Manila International Airport Lounge: The Sky View Lounge at NAIA Terminal 3

Manila International Airport Lounge:

The Sky View Lounge 

at NAIA Terminal 3

Updated February 2023: Skyview Lounge is now Marhaba Lounge. 

Check out my new post here:Everything you need to know about Marhaba Lounge, NAIA 3 

The new Skyview Lounge at NAIA Terminal 3 is a pay lounge, which means you can enter this lounge for a fee. However if you are a holder of certain credit cards (like the American Express Platinum Card, the Citibank Premier Miles/Platinum, Security Bank Platinum/World or Diners Club, BDO Diamond Rewards), the  (AND 1 GUEST) are allowed to enter for FREE.

Fee for Entry (if you are not a holder of the cards mentioned above):

800 pesos: fee for adult and children 2 years old and above.

20% discount is applied to senior citizens.

Children below 2 years old are free.

Where it is located: 

At the International Departure area.

NOTE: There is no access to this lounge if you are in the Domestic Departure area. So if you are departing from this airport on a domestic flight, you will not be able to use this lounge.

Departure area is at Level 3. Skyview Lounge is at Level 4, seen above.

This photo is taken immediately after passing the final security check after immigration.

Look above and you see the Sky View Lounge.

You will find the stairs or elevator that goes to Level 4 to your right. Look for the signs. There are plenty of signs to lead you to where the lounges are

Hours of Operation:

24 hours, 7 days a week

Procedure for Entry:

1. Present your qualified credit card and your boarding pass to the counter in front. Or pay the fee if you don't have a qualified credit card.

• They get your boarding pass to get your flight information. Part of their service is to notify their guests if their plane is ready for boarding.

2. Sign the logbook.

3. You are given the WiFi password.

4. Then you are allowed to enter the lounge.

What You Will Find in the Lounge

FREE FOOD 

Hot dishes area

Chicken congee,
with condiments such as:
onion leaves, fried garlic, calamansi, soy sauce

Vegetable Yakisoba

Sweet and sour steamed fish
Stir fry beef

Steamed rice

Assorted mini sandwiches:

Cheese pimiento sandwich
Beef pastrami pan de sal
Open faced pesto chicken
Tuna salad square
Grilled eggplant sandwich
Open faced tomato and sliced cheese

(I love their sandwiches!!!)

Cereal

Assorted plain bread
with jam, marmalade, butter and cheese

Assorted pastries

(These pastries are really good.)

FREE DRINKS

Espresso coffee
(Don't miss the coffee. The coffee is really good!!!)

Tea

Liquor and Wine

Softdrink, Beer, Juice

Hot and cold water

SPACIOUS LOUNGE

You can choose to sit on these chairs...

Or take the seat with the view of the runway.

FREE WIFI 

WiFi speed at the lounge

FREE NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES

MALE AND FEMALE RESTROOMS WITH SHOWER

PRAYER ROOM

The door to the prayer room is the one at the left

MY TIP: 

Make sure to arrive at the airport AT LEAST THREE (3) hours before your flight to be able to use this lounge. One (1) hour is spent checking-in and going through immigration, an hour and a half (1 1/2) to eat at the lounge and the remaining 30 minutes is for boarding.

Comfort Food at the new House of Minis@ Liberty Center

Comfort Food at the new House of Minis
@ Liberty Center

My mom and dad often brought us to House of Minis when we were young. Our ritual would be to buy groceries at Unimart in Greenhills in the morning and then have lunch at House of Minis in Shoppesville.

My dad passed away in 1997. My mom continued going to House of Minis even after he passed away. She loved the food so much that she even brought my children to the restaurant to share her enjoyment of their food. My children now associate House of Minis with their memories of their Lola, and reminisce about what she usually ordered and how happy she was during those times.

My mom passed away last year. In honor of her memory, we decided to celebrate the passing of the year, by attending Mass, then dining at her favorite place and ordering her favorite food. We miss her so much. It was a bittersweet feeling. But somehow, tasting the same food that we enjoyed when we were young, while in the delightful company of our parents, comforted and warmed our hearts. It somehow filled the longing we have for the presence of our mom and dad. Now, we're creating new memories to share with our kids by dining at this place.

Mama would have loved this new branch of House of Minis. Why?

It's spacious and well lighted.

It serves the same food we enjoyed 40 years ago.

Our favorite, the Specialties of the House:
Complete meals with Soup of the Day, Dinner Rolls
and Coffee or Dessert (Ice Cream)

This soup did not disappoint.
It tastes the same as the ones we enjoyed when we were young.  

It's the same simple lettuce salad with thousand island dressing.

My mom and I usually order the mini Porterhouse cooked medium well.
It's still tender and yummy!!!

Finally, the chocolate ice cream for dessert.

It has the same ambience.

We all smiled when we heard the organist play.
It's reminiscent of the House of Minis in Shoppesville.
There's always someone playing when we dined at their Shoppesville branch 

It's the same linen and set-up we used to see,

There's plenty of parking space.

Location:

Contact Information
House of Minis
Liberty Center, Shaw Boulevard
Tel. No. 672 34 48
Operating Hours: 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM (All day dining)

HONG KONG: Food Tour on a Budget

HONG KONG: Food Tour on a Budget

If you're staying in the vicinity of The Langham Hotel or The Salisbury YMCA Hotel, you can incorporate this food tour in your sightseeing. These are my favorite food stops. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

DAY ONE

On Day One, you can have breakfast at Macau Restaurant, snacks at Sweet House Cha Cha, lunch at Ippudo Restaurant, and dinner at Cafe de Coral.

Cost for one person for this day: 173.80 HKD

THESE ARE MY SUGGESTED MEALS:

Macau Restaurant at Lock Road:

Morning Set: Macanese Crispy Buns with Pork Chop, 

Scrambled egg with scallion and ham, coffee (36 HKD)

Note: Morning Set is served from 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM

Portuguese egg tart (9 HKD)

Sweets House Cha Cha at Harbour City

Cha Cha Custard Cream Puffs (18 HKD)

Ippudo Restaurant at Silvercord

Shiromaru Motoaji 

(68 HKD +10% service charge: 74.80HKD)

"A timeless IPPUDO classic, Shiromaru Motoaji was the very first ramen served at IPPUDO.... The combination of Hakata-style ultra-thin noodles, topped with lean slices of pork, black fungus, soybean sprouts and scallions, produces subtle and gentle flavours." (from the menu)

Free appetizer

Cafe de Coral at Star House

BBQ Pork and Roast Duck with Rice (36 HKD)

Below is the map, so you can see how near they are to each other:

DAY TWO

On Day Two, you can have breakfast at Macau Restaurant,  lunch at a Michelin-starred Restaurant either at Bo Innovation (3 Michelin Stars) or One Dimum Restaurant (1 Michelin Star), and dinner at Macau Restaurant.

Cost for one person for this day: 902 HKD or 146 HKD. See below...

THESE ARE MY SUGGESTED MEALS:

Macau Restaurant at Lock Road:

Portuguese egg tarts (9 HKD)

Bo Innovation ( 3 Michelin Stars for 2014 & 2015)

Lunch Set Menu: 680 HKD + 70 HKD (for water)= 750 HKD
750 HKD +10% service charge: 825 HKD

Check out my post: Dining at Bo Innovation for more details

OR

One Dimsum Place (1 Michelin Stars for 2013)

Average cost for 2 persons: 138 HKD

Check out my post : One Dimsum Restaurant: A Budget Friendly Michelin-Starred Restaurant for more details

Macau Restaurant at Lock Road:

Macanese fried rice (68 HKD)

DAY THREE

On Day Three, you can have breakfast at Cha Cha Sweet House, lunch at Cafe de Coral, and dinner at the airport at Tsui Wah Eatery.

Cost for one person for this day: 112 HKD 

THESE ARE MY SUGGESTED MEALS:

SWEETS HOUSE CHA CHA AT HARBOUR CITY

Matcha Cream Puff (20 HKD)

Cafe de Coral at Star House

Baked Thick Cut Pork Chop with Cheese and Rice (41 HKD)

Tsui Wah Eatery at Hong Kong Airport

King Prawns in XO Sauce with tossed noodles (51HKD)

(Sorry, I forgot to take a photo of this food.)

Adidas Outlet Store at Riverbanks Mall, Marikina: Is it Worth Visiting?

Adidas Outlet Store 
at Riverbanks Mall, Marikina:  

Is it Worth Visiting?

All my readers are familiar with my August 2013 post: Adidas Outlet Store at C-5, Taguig: Is it Worth Visiting?. Two (2) years later, I'm out hunting again for a Supernova Glide to replace my 2nd Supernova Glide, a Glide 4, which I bought 2 years ago and was featured in my 2013 post.

I searched for it once again at the Adidas Outlet Store in C-5, then again at Caltex Mega Station, NLEX and Shell of Asia, NLEX. But I failed to find it. So I decided that if I can't find it at the Outlet Stores, I'm going to buy it online at Adidas Philippines.

The cheapest Supernova Glide I found in the online store of Adidas Philippines is shown below:

Before buying at the online store, I decided to visit the Adidas Outlet Store at Riverbanks Mall as a last attempt at finding a heavily discounted Supernova Glide. Lo and behold, I found a Supernova Glide. 

The cheapest I found is an old model of Supernova Glide, discounted by 70% the regular price of a brand new Adidas Supernova Glide 7W, which is 1798.50 pesos. The price of a brand new Supernova Glide 7 is 5995 pesos. However, the only size available for the old model is 6 1/2 which I found too tight. So, I further browsed at the store and then found the newest Supernova Glide 7 boost, discounted at 50%. It's the same one I found at the online store and with the size I wanted. But the price at the Adidas outlet store is only 2997.50 pesos compared to the online discounted price of 5095 pesos. 

My new Supernova Glide 7 that I bought
at the Adidas Outlet Store at Riverbanks Mall.

My receipt showing the discounted price of my new Supernova Glide.

So, is the Adidas Outlet Store at Riverbanks Center worth visiting? Yes, definitely! I still found the newest Supernova Glide at 50% off the original price, and 40% off the online price.

My tip: 

If you know the exact model of the shoes you want, you can call before you go to find out if there's a size for you.

Adidas Outlet Store Riverbanks Mall
Address: Unit 3031-3034, Riverbanks Mall, A. Bonifacio, Marikina City

Contact numbers: +632 650 40 64
Store Hours: 10:00 AM - 9:00 PM Daily

How to get there:

CEBU: Airport Transfers by Danny Noy's Cebu Taxi Service

CEBU: Airport Transfers by Danny Noy's Cebu Taxi Service

If you are traveling in a group of more than 4 people, you will need 2 taxicabs to travel from the airport to your hotel. A taxi in Cebu can only accommodate 4 passengers, excluding the driver. Current cost of a taxi from Mactan International Airport to Cebu City range from 180 pesos to 250 pesos, depending on the time of the day and the amount of traffic you encounter. So you'll most probably spend 500 pesos for 2 taxicabs. Since we're arriving 7:30 PM and do not wish to try finding 2 taxicabs for our group, we decided to spend a little more and hire Danny Noy of Cebu Taxi Service to pick us up.

Before our flight left from Manila, Danny Noy contacted us to give the cellphone number of Mario, the driver who will pick us up. Mario afterwards texted us himself to inform us of the plate number of the car he will use to pick us up. Then, upon landing at Mactan Airport, he texted us again where he is parked (at post no. 15), the car he is using (a Toyota Innova), and the plate number of the car.

Overall, the pickup from the airport was smooth and efficient and we arrived at Radisson Blu 30 minutes after departing from the airport.

OUR RATE FROM THE AIRPORT TO  OUR CEBU CITY HOTEL (Radisson Blu): 

700 PESOS for pickup of 6 passengers with luggage in a Toyota Innova

We also hired Danny Noy's Cebu Taxi Service to pick us up from the hotel and bring us to the airport. We decided to pass by Mactan Shrine before going to the aiport. Mactan Shrine is near the airport so transportation cost will be cheaper to visit it upon arrival at Mactan airport or prior to departing. More time is saved visiting it after arriving or before departing from Mactan Airport rather than visiting it on another day. Since we arrived at Mactan airport in the evening, we decided to visit Mactan Shrine on the way back from the airport.

Mario picked us up on time and we spent around 30 minutes at Mactan Shrine before proceeding to the airport. Our experience with them was as smooth and efficient as when we were picked up at the airport.

OUR RATE FROM OUR CEBU CITY HOTEL (Radisson Blu) TO THE AIRPORT WITH SIDETRIP TO MACTAN SHRINE: 

700 PESOS for pickup of 6 passengers with luggage in a Toyota Innova 

                              PLUS

300 PESOS FOR SIDETRIP TO MACTAN SHRINE 

CONTACT INFORMATION OF DANNY NOY'S CEBU TAXI SERVICE:

Email: dannymar07@yahoo.com.ph 

Cellphone numbers: 

09224633757 

09061534659 

My tips on estimating Cebu Taxi Fares:

1. Checkout http://www.worldtaximeter.com/cebu-city to calculate fares, or
2. Checkout http://www.tripadvisor.com.ph/ShowForum-g294261-i4630-Cebu_Island_Visayas.html

What Pasta to Pair with Italian Wine

What Pasta to Pair with Italian Wine

I'm neither a wine or food connoisseur but I enjoy wine and food and wish to share with you what I discover when pairing food with wine. If you have the same taste as I then you will enjoy it the same way I did.

We had Spaghetti Putanesca and Spaghetti al Fredo for dinner last night. So the challenge was to find what wine pairs with it and I discovered the ff.

SANGIOVESE PAIRS WELL WITH SPAGHETTI PUTANESCA

FRIULINO PAIRS WELL SPAGHETTI AL FREDO