There is something about a place you visit that appeals to your senses. You pick up good vibes, you fall in love with the sites, the cuisine surprises the plates. Whatever the reason is, you get addicted and swear you’ll come back again…and again and again.
I found good reasons to visit places I’ve been to. It used to be the nightlife but I’ve outgrown the phase. These days, I can’t put my finger on what it is in particular. I just know I have to go back. In some places, I know exactly what I want to go back to.
In Iloilo, I crave for not for the batchoy but look forward to De Ocampo’s 5-rolls barquillos, the piaya and biscocho. I like it that it’s not as sweet as the other brands.
It was Megaworld Corporation who brought me back to the City of Love (my apologies for tagging the city as the City of Smiles on a previous story, but made amendments where I could) for updates on the continuous transformation of Iloilo Business park for a development. The state-of-the-art International Corporate Plaza rising in the 9-hectare Commercial and Boutique Hotel District is impressive.
ILOMOCA is a pulled me into its bosom to view the latest artworks on display. With 1,500 privately owned artworks, the pieces are displayed on rotation. The Adoracion Valencia Gallery showed another impressive set of artworks. This October, I heard the museum is scheduled to display a different set.
One plane ride away from Davao is Hong Kong. What excites me about the place are the egg tarts of Marco Polo hotels (always served as warm as the hotel’s hospitality). These goodies I can have without lining for hours to get a bite of a local Michelin-starred delight. The not-too-sweet egg tarts in this hotel deserve more stars than a constellation. Shopping at Harbour City Mall, the other culinary delights and discovering new sights will follow.
You worry about HK’s current situation? Are you Pinoy? We’ve seen worse and been through worst in Davao. Plus, you know how the media can blow the situation out of proportion, and there’s also fake news, both of which we have witnessed in our own place.
Recently, the Marco Polo Hong Kong hotels came to visit bearing exciting news (sigh, no egg tarts though). Over a fantastic dinner, General Manager Dalip Singh and Director of Communications Samantha Poon together with Harbour City’s Karen Tam gave us good reasons why we should all visit HK and stay at the Marco Polo hotels in the next month—great deals, exciting events, good food, stylish accommodations all in one chic address (read here: http://ofapplesandlemons.com/2019/09/another-hong-kong-trip-why-not/).
How about you, what places keeps luring you back to places?
Also published in the SunStar Davao newspaper.
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