Sometimes it's nice not to go out of town!!

I've seen a glut of films this week...4 in a week..that should keep me quiet for a while!

Saturday night was Borat...it is absolutely hysterical and at the same time shocking...I found it hard to think of a group of people he doesn't insult in the movie. I don't think I'l be recommending the movie to my mother...I could be wrong, but I think she may be a little 'shocked'! Sunday evening was Happy Feet...cute, but definitely for kids and not for adults, admittedly the only other animated movies I have seen have been the Shrek movies so I was expecting something like that, i.e. slightly more adult content; no matter, the penguins were cute and there were some amusing lines but that was about it!

After pottering around Manila on Saturday afternoon and indulging myself in some wishful thinking I wandered over to the new kid on Roxas Boulevard, the G Hotel (2090 Roxas Boulevard), as mentioned by Carlos last week. It's an interesting property and from a design point of view a lot of thought has gone into it...the property is completely black and white...from the carpets in the lobby, to the uniforms to the floor tiles. It's all very smart, but what worries me is keeping it looking smart - black is easily chipped and white is very easily dirtied as can already be seen around the property. The staff are very friendly and seem to be spending the majority of their time offering show rounds, on Saturday out of 50 rooms, 45 were occupied - not bad considering that they only opened on 17th November. There is a nice little cafe/bar on the 7th floor which has a nice breeze and a sideways-on view of the Bay. The basics of the hotel are very nice, but it needs a few final tweaks just to get it 'right'...

The coffee shop on the ground floor

the view from the bar/cafe (Mirage) on the 7th floor


The views from the function room on the 7th floor, actually a very nice room with a terrace running around the front and the side...perfect for a small wedding.





The pool, really quite small, but perfectly adequate and catches the sun most of the day, the first picture shows the cafe/bar just to the right of the pool.


And finally, the facade...

If you're planning on driving down there, the hotel has a huge parking lot just next to the hotel.

Sunday saw the day spent at Greenhills, the Island Boy from Cebu being in town and not having been to Greenhills for a long while! So lunch, shopping/pottering and a movie...the branch of Fully Booked at Greenhills is actually pretty good, I picked up a few books I had been looking for; I had always thought it rather small but had missed the areas at the back and the upper level!

Dinner on Sunday was down at the Bay at So Woo, a Korean restaurant at Harbour Square (opposite the CCP), food was excellent and the added bonus was sitting outside on the terrace overlooking the bay with a lovely clear night of stars and lights. A quick hop, skip and a jump over to the G Hotel to see how it shapes up at night...terrace still nice, but they seriously need to do something about the lighting at night!

So, all in, a nice relaxing weekend - nothing too stressful, just enjoying what Manila has to offer and enjoying the nice weather...the company helped too!