Psalm 139

Psalm 139

1 O Lord, you have examined my heart

    and know everything about me.

2 You know when I sit down or stand up.

    You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.

3 You see me when I travel

    and when I rest at home.

    You know everything I do.

4 You know what I am going to say

    even before I say it, Lord.

5 You go before me and follow me.

    You place your hand of blessing on my head.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

    too great for me to understand!

7 I can never escape from your Spirit!

    I can never get away from your presence!

8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;

    if I go down to the grave,[a] you are there.

9 If I ride the wings of the morning,

    if I dwell by the farthest oceans,

10 even there your hand will guide me,

    and your strength will support me.

11 I could ask the darkness to hide me

    and the light around me to become night—

12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.

To you the night shines as bright as day.

    Darkness and light are the same to you.

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

    as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

16 You saw me before I was born.

    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

    before a single day had passed.

17 How precious are your thoughts about me,[b] O God.

    They cannot be numbered!

18 I can’t even count them;

    they outnumber the grains of sand!

And when I wake up,

    you are still with me!

***

Dear Heavenly Father & Creator,

It's amazing how in the scripture is says that you know everything about me--the number of hair stands I have on my head, my innermost thoughts--and how each and every single day of my life is already laid out even before I was born. This is how intimate You are to me, Lord. This is how precious I am to you. I can't even begin to understand & imagine how big your love is for me. Who am I before you, Lord? Nothing but a speck of dust in this vast galaxy you have created.

No matter how hard I try, no matter what I do, I know that there's nothing I could do to ever deserve this from You. May You help me not to forget that. May everything that I do be a reflection of gratitude for your grace that You so abundantly showered on me, and when I fall short, help me remember that that Your love is unconditional.   

Your daughter,

Yza

Bangkok 2016 - Day 1

Felt so good to back at one of my favorite cities ever, Bangkok! I, together with two of my friends went on a short trip to BKK last March. It was a much needed breather from our busy lives in Manila. Four straight days of laughter, BTS rides, shopping, awesome food, and four straight days of seeing my love's face--Mario Maurer, practically everywhere around the city, Haha! What's not to love about Bangkok? ♥

I didn't take much photos on this trip--for a change--because I wanted to be in present, in the moment. Char! Here's our Day 1: 

PRE DEPARTURE AT NAIA TERMINAL 3

• Checked in, grabbed some coffee & exchanged currencies

I didn't have any US Dollars at the time and just exchanged my Philippine Peso straight to Thai Baht. I actually like this idea better. I computed and found out that I actually got more out of my Peso. 

DAY 1

We took a 6:20 am flight via Cebu Pacific so we could maximize our first day in Bangkok. :) 

• Arrival at Suvarnabhumi International Airport

Our I-had-no-sleep-but-I'm-excited morning faces :)

• Bought an AIS Traveller SIM Card at the Arrival Hall - THB 299

• Made our way to our Airbnb flat via Airport Rail Link--Suvarnabhumi Airport to Phaya Thai Station, a one way trip cost us  THB 45. So convenient! I envy Bangkok's efficient transport system. Hay.

We made it to our flat in less than an hour. The flat my friend, Nino booked was fantastic! Based on its location & the security of the building itself, I could easily tell that it's one of the better condominiums in Bangkok. In other words, it was very yayamanin. It had everything you'd need--high speed wifi, a functional modern kitchen, condiments, toiletries, etc. It was all provided for.  And to add to that, the host & her family were great too! I'll share more about my first Airbnb experience in a separate post.

After freshening up & resting for a bit, we went out for lunch.

• Lunch at Siam Paragon...McDonald's! Haha We had a food tour scheduled that evening so we decided to reserve our appetite for Thai food. ;)

Chicken Nam Tok Rice for THB 69

I think this is the Thai counterpart of our Crispy Chicken Fillet meal. I love how "fresh" it is even though it's practically fast food. It's crunchy, spicy & tangy! Everything about this dish works. Really good! I hope they’ll still have this on the menu next time I visit Thailand.

Sorry not sorry. I just had to. Haha! An obligatory photo when in Thailand

And this is how they show BFF affection. How sweet are these two?

• After lunch we took the BTS to Asok. We still had hours to spare before the food tour, so I took my friends to Terminal 21. 

Terminal 21 is a multi-level travel themed mall. Each level is a different city. It’s a great place for photo ops! The mall was so well thought of that you’d even want to enter & take photos inside every restroom. I know I did!

There's no shame in love, yes? Hahaha

We went window shopping and settled at the food court (Pier 21, San Francisco floor) to buy something to drink. Of course, I got Cha Yen/Iced Thai Milk Tea! Oh how I missed it! During the trip, I drank it maybe once or twice, by “one or twice” I mean maybe a couple of hundred times. See what I did there? Waley. Hahaha Ang sarap talaga!

After what seemed like forever, we were still too early for the food tour. But since we wanted to avoid the rush hour (We had “Manila MRT rush hour” in mind. Mahirap na. Haha), we already went to the food tour’s designated meeting place.

Figuring out how to get to Sam Yan Station

• We took the MRT to Sam Yan Station that's connected to Chamchuri Square, the meet up point.

To be honest, aside from eating, there’s literally nothing, nothing to do there. This is when good company comes in handy! Time flew with nonstop stories & laughs with Nino & Nessa.

A little before 8:00 pm, we finally met our food tour guide & fellow tour mates!

• With an open mind & an empty stomach (Sorry for the geeky foodie “Iron Chef” reference. Hehe), we were so ready to take on the Bangkok food scene! The tour we signed up for was the Midnight Food Tour by Bangkok Food Tours. The fee included our very own tuktuk for the duration of the tour & a ride back to our flat. How convenient!

Here's a photo of us from our tour guide, Phang.

Looking all tired & haggard at one of the "secret" roof top bars in Bangkok, Wat Pho all lit up as our background  

I'll post more about this tour in detail soon but just to give you an idea, within the span of 4 hours, we had about 3 dinners with drinks, dessert & street food in between. We were so full towards the end of the trip, we almost gave up...but of course, we didn't. Hahaha 

The food tour ended past midnight, our last stop being arguably the best Pad Thai place in Bangkok. Yes, we ended the tour by having carbs at midnight. The food tour was quite pricey but it was worth every Baht. I highly recommend it. :)

That sums up Day 1 of our 4-day Bangkok trip. Long, tiring, but definitely fun! Part 2 up next.

Thanks for reading! ♥

Hugs, 

Yza

A Reintro

It's been more than a year since I've been on a blog hiatus--well, this isn't the first time. In my defense though this time around, a lot, I mean, a lot of things has happened.

I must say that the past 10 months has been the most exciting, challenging, and fulfilling time yet in my life--yes, I am now I full-fledged entrepreneur. Woot! I shall blog about that very soon. It's been long past due. Hahaha I'm working on it. ;) It still feels surreal whenever I think about how fast everything happened, at a time when I least expected it to happen. The "inspiration" folder that's been on my files for years has finally been brought to life. Truly, the God's timing is always perfect. No doubt about that. 

Jeremiah 29:11New International Version (NIV)

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

This new road I'm on hasn't been easy. I've shed tears, have gotten to know a side(s) of me I never knew existed, had my share of curve balls thrown at me, made mistakes & bad decisions, but I really wouldn't have it any other way. Through those experiences I learned, got braver, tougher--tougher than I thought I could be.

Now, enough of the rambling and onto the real "reintro"...

I'm Yzabel, a 20-something-year-old chef-entrepreneur, whose life can be summed up with these 5 Fs: FOOD, FAITH, FANGIRL-ING, FAMILY & FRIENDS. :) These are basically the things I blog about, and please keep your fingers crossed with me as I challenge myself with blogging once again. Have lots of things I've been meaning to share. :)

Hugs,

Yza