Last Friday, I had a movie date with my college friends Errol and Mercie. We watched the much talked about movie - Inception. But this post is not about the movie (but I will have an entry about that in a while). It is about this Japanese burger I accidentally came across while waiting for my dates at the Shang.

That burger is Sango. Now, I am a fan of another Japanese burger called Mos Burger. I first came across this culinary delight during my hiatus in Singapore in the early 2000's. Ever since then, whenever I visit Singapore I'd have my fill of the most heavenly tasting (and most probably fattening) burger I have ever had the fortune of discovering. I even had the good luck to eat one in Hong Kong last January. Sadly, this burger is still an unknown in the Philippines.

So, when I saw this Sango burger at the Shang, I just had to try it. It looked A LOT like Mos Burger. It even had the same structure, and even the same packaging. When I finally got my hands on it, the smell that wafted through my nostrils told me that this was a promising venture. It smelled exactly like a Mos Burger. I was excited to taste it.


When I finally did, it wasn't a disappointment. It wasn't a hooray moment either. But it was a revelation. It tasted a bit like Mos Burger. The sauce was a little on the salty corned-beefy taste side, whereas Mos' sauce was tomatoey. It's almost a Mos Burger, but not quite. Still, i liked it. In fact, I might have that burger once in a while especially when a Sango store is so near my office in Makati. At Php145 for a Master Burger and Php 155 for a Master Cheeseburger, it's worth the little trip and splurge.

I really, really hate it when I stumble on links that feature items like these:


It's a travel bag that is small enough to be a school bag. You can even sit on it while waiting for your flight or for the school bus. The double back wheels make it easy to carry up a flight of stairs. It's customizable as well. It's very convenient and covetable (especially when I can think of an everyday use for it - as an MRT chair).

Too bad, it's really a luxe item for me at US$145 or about Php6,000+. Maybe when I win the lotto...

www.zuca.com

I'll try to make this as short as possible because I'm not up to writing a very detailed travel blog today. I just feel that I need to get this out of my system so I can move to writing other things. Haha. So...

Unlike my Hongkong trip last January, this was the first time I stepped on Thailand. It was also the first time that I went with just one other person - KC. Usually, when I go on out-of-the-country trips with friends, the headcount at the minimum is 5. Anyhoo, since our flight was scheduled at 9:30 pm on Inauguration Day, KC and I decided to meet at the north MRT station at 3:30pm so we'll have ample time to get to the airport on the other side of the city just in case it's traffic. If no cabbie will take us, we have the option to ride the MRT. Wais!

We got to the NAIA Terminal 3 in about 45 minutes. So we had like more than 4 hours to kill, which was fine with both of us because we needed to change our money to Baht at the airport and we had no idea where it is. So, while waiting for our gate to open, KC and I ate at Yellow cab. At almost 100 pesos a slice, it looked pathetically small next to the humongous slice of yummy pizza from S&R.

We killed more time by walking around the shops and then had some money exchanged to Baht at the currency exchange counter near the international terminal fee booth (rate was at Php1.70 = THB1). After than, we decided to check-in our bags and then wait for boarding time at the gate, and maybe catch a bit of sleep. But since we still have a bit of time to kill, we decided to get some coffee at Bo's Coffee near our gate. Perfect!

At boarding, as expected, everyone stood to line up even if the ground stewardess announced the seat numbers that needed to board first. Guess, everyone can't wait to get their butts on the plane. Inside the plane, I was surprised to find the space between the rows was so small it was impossible to recline the seats without making the person at the back of your seat feel even more uncomfortable. You can't even pass by to go to the toilet! WTF??!!! I don't remember my flight to HK being this sucky.

But even at that situation, KC and I found something to laugh at. The whole cabin was filling up with fog, like a fog machine feeding a stage with smoke. We found it so hilarious and a bit weird that we took pics just to be able to laugh about it again afterward. We concocted all sorts of stories to go with the fog and I'm guessing, since we were the only ones who found it funny, the other passengers thought we were smacked in the head or something.