SEA Games 2015 - Tennis Finals

ABBEY: The 28th SouthEast Asian (SEA) games is one of the events for the celebration of 50th year of Singapore. Most of the tickets of popular sports events were sold out. Good thing that tennis is for free at Kallang Tennis Center. We went to watch the finals. The event was delayed as it is waiting for the rain to stop. It started at 1PM; two and a half hour behind schedule. Nevertheless, the excitement rose once the spectators saw that the courts were being prepared.

The first match we watched is Mixed Doubles between Philippines (Denise Dy and Treat Huey) and Thailand (Peangtarn Plipuech and Sonchat Ratiwatana). Filipino fans' cheers roared at the bleachers giving encouragement to the pair. Dy and Huey bagged the gold on the third set. Filipinos stood up and waited for the match to end on the last couple of serves. Even Huey waved up his hand telling the fabs to cheer more. It was a good match.

Then at 3:15PM, the Women's doubles commenced. Again it is between Pinoys and Thais. After the mixed doubles, Dy was paired up to Katharina Lenhert to step up against Noppawan Lertcheewakarn and compatriot Varatchaya Wongteanchai. The first and second sets were both exciting as the Pinays really exhibited their talents to beat the Thais. But the Thais were not giving up so easily as well. Philippines got the silver for the event. The crowd roared loudly for all the players and awarding ceremony capped the day.

WILL: I love rain and this is the first time I want it to stop. 

Tennis finals is behind schedule and on our luck at almost noon the pouring stopped. We were comfortably sitting at the centre court and one of the ushers announced that Philippines vs Thailand on mixed doubles will be held at the court #4. The stomping, the cheers and applause seems never ending when the Denise and Treat won the match. 

Without lunch and all we had are free bottles of water, we queued to go back at the centre court. This is where the match for women's double. Thailand vs Singapore again. This time, Thailand's people answered back the Filipino cheers. There are laughs when the shouts of encouragement copies each other. Haha! Thailand won the first two sets. 

I am so proud to be a Filipino. Tennis is not an easy sports and not a cheap one for Filipino to get into it. But still some exist to compete internationally and bagged some titles. 

SEA games! Roar!!! I hope Olympics will be held in Singapore too. I know Little Red Dot can accommodate that big event.

Smoke Resto Boracay at D'Mall

ABBEY: Wilma knew about Smoke from the famous Pinoy travel show host Drew Arellano. They said that there are two branches of it in D Mall, Boracay and the one we found is located in the center of D Mall. I didn't bother to search for the other one as I'm already hungry :)

I ordered spicy garlic pork. Yes, you read it right. Even the noontime sun made us sweat finding that place, I still prefer to eat spicy food. But that's ok, I got their calamansi shake which cooled me down. It was delicious and refreshing. The restaurant also offers other Pinoy food like pork sinigang and tapsilog. You won't believe what Wilma had, check her entry below.

WILL: A research will lead you to a pretty perfect holiday. And I stumbled upon Drew Arellano's "Biyahe ni Drew". They covered Boracay and how to save some pennies for an extravagant experience. And Smoke caught my attention.

After we checked-in on our second hotel, we headed to D'Mall for lunch. We were both tired from our land tours and the walk from Station 3 to Station 2 seems unending. We stepped in to the D'Mall and saw the Andok's as landmark but the Smoke where nowhere to be found. 

We walk, walk and walk and luckily we asked one of the local and guided us that it was located at the back of Andok's. Gosh! 

We sat, ordered and minutes later the hot bulalo and kaopad are on our table. I ate the food as if I never eat in my entire life. Yes we are at the beach and the sun gave a scorching heat but the bulalo still gave me a relief. Their version of bulalo has a spike of ginger. Its soup soothes well with my rice with shrimp paste.

Smoke Resto is definitely worth my long walk.

Jonah's Fruit Shake & Snack Bar Boracay

ABBEY: I'm not aware that Jonah's fruit shakes are a "thing" in Boracay. All I know is that I want a refreshing drink after arriving on the island. Since the Philippines has the best mangoes on the world, I tried to have mango-banana shake. 

Within a couple of minutes, a glass of golden yellow drink was served. It was a great energy booster. The mango is not too sweet and has smooth texture. An order of fruit shake will costs you Php100 - Php120.00. I also tasted their tacos. No other comment on it but delicious. 

WILL: My friend's and I missed to taste the famous shakes from Jonah's when we first set foot on Boracay Island. In this time, I will not let the opportunity knocked me off again. It is on my list. 

We were looking for a place for us to have a 4pm snack then we stumbled upon at Jonah's Shake. Not on original plan but we chose to dine on the spot.

I got the well ordered mango-melon shake. Sip after sip. It is a just that Jonah's praised to be the best shake in Boracay. You will notice that the sweetness of this drink is not coming from a sugar but from the mango and melon itself. A perfect cold and smooth drink for almost 40degree celcius temperature at Boracay. 

Do not forget to reserve a seat on peak hours or you will be waiting too long for your turn.