Walking Around Rotorua

Hello everyone!

I'm here for a different post. It has been a while since I have posted a non beauty related post and to be honest my mind is just not working right now . I wanted to inspire myself back into writing so I decided to write something different today. I am now currently in Rotorua, New Zealand for vacation and it is such a beautiful place (minus the cold). I kinda wish I brought my trusty dslr here but unfortunately I'd have to make do with my bf's Samsung 4.

I have been complaining about gaining a lot of weight since I arrived here. I think I might have gained 2 to 3 kgs in the past two weeks. I'm not kidding! The food...my gosh..the food!!hahaha It is super cold (for me!) so I had a hard time exercising as well. Due to my non stop complaints, my bf and I went out for a "walk" since I'm too lame to jog. We ended up walking for about 2 hours, then we had lunch then walked for another hour. I was so exhausted when we arrived home though. Anyway, here are the pictures that we took. It is basically composed of flowers because I was so amazed by how pretty the trees and flowers here are! Hhaha! Hope you enjoy!

 This is us!Excited to start out walk! 

We love neon!

That's a golf course by the way.

Oohh..look at those white flowers! 

Here are some pink ones! 

A Sakura tree!!

We walked from our house until we reached the Government Garden. It is basically a garden with flowrs and hot springs. It is located beside the lake.

Rotorua is located at the mouth of a volcano or something like that. So there were a lot of geysers and hotsprings around. I haven't a chance to see a geyser up close though. 

TULIPS!! I love how they mixed and match the colors of the flowers! Love the red and white combo!

So pretty right?? Aside from the flowers, there were also a lot of birds around. Like this chicken-looking bird! Hahah

There were also ponds around the park. 

 White tulips...classic!

It took us around two hours to reach the park so I was a little tired already.We decided to look for a place where we can eat. We fond a spot under a tree near the children's playground. 

I love me some peaches! I have like 5 cans of these in my room..hahaha..wait ..need to buy  more!

 Gotta have Dingdong!

Once these birdies saw us eating..they came.. they were soo noisy!

After eating, we then went for walk again... this time,heading to the lake..

Under this bridge is a pool/pond that smells like sulfur.. 

We saw some black swans! Black swans were imported to New Zealand form England ( I think) for ornamental purposes and now there are a lot of the swimming in the shallow areas of the lake.

PINK!

We also saw this super adorable giant dog! A lot of people pet him and take pictures and he does not seem to mind. He is soo nice. I'm still a bit scared though...

Other pictures around the lake.

Soo that was it! I hope I was able to give you guys a glimpse of New Zealand! 

Take care!

-MAIA

my "Ginabutan" meal ~~ Cebu City

Hi there!!

I'm here for another Cebu related post! I'm going home tomorrow so my cousin wanted me to try a certain food/restaurant that as she said can only be found in Cebu. She asked me if I have tried or have heard about "ginabutan". "Ginabutan" is a local term that comes from the  word "ginabut" which  means something that is pulled out. I  told her I have not heard of it nor tried it so she said that is where we are going to eat today. I am excited of course! It was a bit far from where we came from and when we got out of the  jeepeney ( public transportation in the Phil, Google ir!), we had to walk for about 5 minutes and we arrived in this sort of rustic place and it was not a five start restaurant. It is more of a "carinderia or canteen" type. There were lots of people there already and there were tables with a two boxes on top of them. One box, contain the "puso" which is rice wrapped inside coconut leaves and then the other box contains an assortment of fired stuff. (Don't know how to really explain it but look at the picture below.)

As you can see above, the box is full of "fried stuff". And if you live fried "anything" this is heaven!! So the man gave out plastic bags and he gave us two each. I was confused at first, but my cousin told me that one plastic will serve as our place mat. We basically lay it on the table and the other bag is where we put the things that we "pull out" from the box, hence" ginabutan". Now, I am not really into fried food but the smell and look of the food in front of me was so tempting! The "ginabot" is fried skin (I think), so I got two, the two ngohiong ( similar to lumpia, God knows what's inside it, but is delish!) and fried sausage. I gave the plastic bag to guy there and he chopped my order (how convenient!). Let me just say, that per table, there in one man that acts like your waiter/caretaker. I you want clean hands, just ask for an alcohol disinfectant and he will give it to (They have one!). He will then give you one plastic bag and you put your hand inside and it will act like a "glove" so that your hands will not smell like fried food after eating (yey!).

I ate around 4 "puso" and really wanted to eat more but my shorts and stomach was about to give out so I just stopped there. The sauce is really good!! I do not know what they put in it but it makes the fried "stuff" taste even better. The food itself is not oily at all and partnered with rice...ooohhh....heaven!!!

The place itself I think will turn off most "delicate" people but I saw a lot of men in business suits eating there and they seem not mind. There are cars outside the shop as well. My cousin said that there are lots of "Ginabutan" places all around Cebu City. The prices won't break your bank as well. I think the three of us, spent less than P200.00 (aprrox US$4.00) pesos all in all. The "puso" costs P3.00, porkchop: P15.00, ginabutan: P10.00, so not bad at all.

If you plan to visit Cebu, do try their "Ginabutan", its cheap and delicious!

How about you?Have you been there? Do you like fried food? Do let me know in the comments below!

Sorry for the low picture quality, I forgot to bring my camera :(

Thank you for reading my post or for looking at the pictures or for just dropping by. I really appreciate it!

Take care!

--maia