A weekend with no plans, but was a fun weekend after all! We were actually booked at the Riverfront Garden Resort on Oct 9th, but on Friday at 3pm, I received a text message saying that they are currently still not accepting day tours and overnight stays due to MECQ in Cavite. I booked with them on Sept 30th. The MECQ status was announced on Oct 1st. I felt like they should have told people about the cancellations on Oct 1st, not the day before the reservation. Also, I felt like I deserved an email – not just a text, I thought that was super unprofessional. They require a 50% down payment so I have no choice but to reschedule, but I will wait for the next lockdown status is announced before rescheduling. Our tentative date for this is on Oct 30th, if the MECQ status changes for the rest of the month.
It is such a bummer because Mine and I have been excited about this all week, and she has filed her leave so there’s no way we’re staying in this weekend. We decided to have a staycation somewhere in the city instead. I looked for a room on Booking.com and found one in Shell Residences. Unfortunately, the facilities here are still closed so we just had to accept our fate that our pool dreams aren’t going to happen this weekend. But still, I am happy to meet my friend and just hang out. I haven’t seen her since July, so it’s good to just hang out and talk.
SHELL RESIDENCES
I had to redownload Booking.com and Agoda as soon as I read the text from Riverfront at around 6pm. After looking through available rooms, we found this room at Shell Residences. I just thought of choosing from those condominiums near MOA, so we can find other places to go to if we wish to go out. I picked this specifically because the price is the same as what we booked at Riverfront. Like I said, unfortunately, the pool is closed, but at least they have WiFi in the room. The listing initially said that WiFi isn’t available.
The host was super nice, and even the staff who came the next day were also super approachable. She was there on time during check-in and helped us work things out in case Celine decides to join us in the room since the maximum capacity is 3.
Mine and I just talked and hung out for 3 hours before we went out for sunset and dinner. We started watching movies when we got back from dinner at around 8 or 9pm. I ended up sleeping until around 10:30am the next morning. I had the most comfortable sleep! Sometimes, I really sleep better when I’m not at home. LOL. We didn’t really have any activities other than Seascape and dinner, we really just wanted to rest and hang out.
Since it’s a condominium, there are also a lot of restaurants on the ground floor and a convenience store (Alfamart) where you can buy your necessities. It really is super convenient!
I actually want to book this room again – hopefully when the pools are open!
SEASCAPE VILLAGE
Celine suggested that we go to Seascape Village since it’s a 10-min car ride from Shell Residences. I have never heard of it before – I thought it’s a new spot, but when we got there, we figured out that it’s been there for a while. I’m not sure when it opened, but a quick Google search tells me that it’s been around since at least 2018.
Seascape Village is located along Atang Dela Rama, Pasay, Metro Manila, just right behind the Manila Film Centre. There is a huge sign in front so you won’t miss it once you are on this road. (I wanted to take a photo here but it’s so huge, I would have to take the photo from the road and risk getting hit by a car if I want to capture the whole thing. LOL. Let’s not do that!) It is open from 10am-11pm, but the best time to come here is during sunset because you’ll get a beautiful view of the sunset by the bay, and then enjoy some dinner after.
Like I mentioned earlier, Seascape Village is nothing new, it’s like an improved version of “dampa” with a better view. Once you enter, you will be greeted by people asking you to come to their restaurant but that area is almost empty because of course, people would be drawn more towards the view of the sunset and the sea. The tables and chairs are over there, but the fish market is by the entrance.
I suggest going to the left side of the bay area because they have a grassy patch where you can hang out and take pictures while watching the sunset. That is if you don’t really want to have dinner there or would prefer to wait before having dinner. We spent most of our time there because we could at least sit down comfortably. Just make sure to watch where you sit because there are some irresponsible pet owners who did not scoop their pet’s poop. -_-
We weren’t really in the mood for seafood, but we wanted to have Korean food because we saw Samgy Garden, which is right in the middle of Seascape Village. However, apparently, this restaurant is super in-demand and you need to make a prior reservation. On the way to the entrance though, I saw that there was a Korean restaurant at the Manila Film Centre so I told Mine that we can check that out instead.
LEE’S KOREAN RESTAURANT
I’m actually glad we decided to come here instead! Ok, admittedly, we were slightly bitter about Samgy Garden but I really couldn’t complain about Lee’s Korean Restaurant! Their unlimited pork samgyupsal set is PHP500 (which is cheaper than Samgy Garden). It has the normal side dishes – lot of them, soup (I don’t know exactly what soup it is, but it was spicy!), and also comes with rice. It’s the complete package for just PHP500! The time limit is 2 hours, which is normal.
The place is huge so there is definitely physical distancing going on and they will check your vaccination card before they lead you to a table. The staff is also super nice. I’m not mad at all that we ended up having dinner here instead because, at the end of the night, I was so full and my teeth hurt from too much chewing. HAHAHA. I definitely recommend this restaurant!!
Nice place with a gorgeous view of the sea and sunset. What I really need right now! 🙂