My Shangrila: Plantacion Montana Fuentes

Dotted with mahogany trees and mangoes…an intriguing interplay of light and colour of greens  imbued a feel of placid state, the flavor of course is my  personality that is reflected as  fashion designer, a freelance writer and a blogger  interacting  a lifestyle about living in a dream ‘paradise’.

                   

Montana Fuentes  is my state of mind, built precisely from my kind of visuals …I have found a home.

And, amongst this intriguing mix, is my choice to shift the idyllic  piece of tranquility that nestled amongst the trees into a tightly private playground that gives little clue about the personality of its occupant. A  place where I unwind far away from the excitement and applause of the catwalks, the limelight and the highs of the fashion world.

The home is eco- inspired  with the feel and flavour of the country sides. It is also naturally endowed with the personality of its dweller.

Speaking about my symbiotic relationship with the eco-system and my decision to make this place my abode, it is a land blessed by God in many ways and it's my duty to protect the habitat and nourish it, above all, Montana Fuentes  is my own shangrila, frankly, I knew the moment I laid my eyes and it was one of those great life altering transitions.”

Although  we can be inspired anywhere, but living in Montana is to live with nature. Most people see a mango and take it for granted. I smell the perfumes of the blooms in December, I warm the blooms with mini bonfires in February to keep them warm. That is what being close to nature is about. You learn to respect unconditionally when you live with it.

I have travelled literally to the corners of the world…to  Europe, the countries of the East, lived in the world’s most luxurious hotels, dined with high cuisine, but my favourite place is still home.

 The Plantacion Montana Fuentes  houses me. It directs and channels my personality!”

“I’m a taga-bukid, first and last”

Being a typical PROBINSYANO

I was born and raised in Zamboanga del Sur, but for the last half of my life I have lived in Dubai. Since compulsion formed no part of my decision to work here, I am at ease in this lively cosmopolitan city. I speak few of the languages-as it is somewhat a melting spot of many nations; have a wide swathe of friends and sufficient resources to partake of Duba's many attractions.


I feel at home here, and yet it is not my home in quite the same way as Philippines. My connection to Zamboanga is visceral. It is the Eden of my childhood. It is the setting of my earliest memories and perhaps my most profound experiences. It is my home by birth. It is where my ancestors are buried, where my parents live and died. Dubai is my home by adoption. It is where my style sanctum flourished my being.


I accommodate claims of both places in my heart by describing myself as an expat, at liberty to come and go as and when I like. It is this flexibility, this freedom that underpins my happiness here.

Almost every year, in the early July, I make up an excuse to head home to my ancestral village in Zamboanga. It isn’t as if there is an anniversary or birthday to celebrate. In fact, if I had to ascribe a reason, I would say it is a matter of roots.


Although many expats love to return home, the power wielded by Gulf money, the flourishing life, Pinoys lured away the temptation to go back home. But, the acid test for the born-and-bred-in-the Philippines-but-living-elsewhere-now, coming home is more on sentimental reasons, kiss and goodbye!.

Mountains of coconuts and bananas, hills of paddy, yards of morning glory flowers, rows of glinting buffaloos herding in the gleaming sun... this is the lure of home.


I have always been fascinated by the romance of nature and faraway illusions of huge forest, trudging through meadows, before clogging parchments with dreams about drinking coffee-in-the-mist I canonised so long ago. It was this pastoral road trips and the idea of getting back to nature that thrills me. So, when I flew to Zamboanga last summer, I convinced myself that I have to leave Dubai's confines and get to my boondocks that held forth the promise of a creative
cornucopia.


I imagined my last holiday back home, arriving late on a long trip from the local domestic airport, engulfed in darkness, air thick with the chirping of crickets. Our headlights revealed a lonesome carabao and her fawn in the woodlands behind us. The roar of gushing wind was hypnotic, but I was too tired to go any further at that late hour and crawled into sleeping instead.

What sounded like the hellish roar at night turned out only to be the river by the crack of dawn. Hot coffee and a stick of C in hand, I sat on the wooden chair composing nonsense haikus and eventually ventured out towards the water. Teetering across mossy stones, I decided to plant myself on a rock and let fresh air and creativity swathe me.


As the sun rises I took some excellent trails only a few meters away from my Balinese- inspired house cum retreat. Realising rather quickly that I was all fairly out of shape, I took on the fallen branches as support, to get down on all fours to climb over rocks still moist with what I hoped was only morning dew. The path took me an exhausting 100 feet up that offered me an Edenic views of Yllana Bay and surrounding hilltops.

Gasping for air as I was near exhaustion, nature, I learned, despite my delusions, isn’t necessarily benevolent, but the rusticity had me feeling more at peace with myself and the world and did in fact give me a new lease on creativity.

i'm coming home.................!

Being just Normal....

Of BIRTHDAYS & being FRUGAL

My previous birthdays were spent in a Hollywood scenarios. Three months bookings been done to ensure the success of the big day. A seven star hotel was on my dream, complete with high gourmet of Asian fusion ..the best amongst that life could offer. Inquiries were too harsh sometimes rigid, about where do I work and salaries. Knowingly that Filipinos stereotyped as the most frugal kind of people that worked abroad, I was fully been interviewed as if I can’t afford. Ahahahaha, as if!!!!

Next is the wheels of luxury, the king of the road, the vehicle to the stars- stretched limousine. Rented for one thousand dollars per hour, the car shimmers with quirks and decadence. The interiors flash with glaring sounds, a mirrored bar complete with champagne, wines and sodas. Ten of us were booked on that special day, the closest among the close friends.

The after party-selecting the hippest and the newest bar/disco in town to finally end up the birthday bash.

The ten who will share on my table were selected among friends, artists,nobles and and celebrities…but ended up on my friends mostly.

On that evening everybody dressed to the max, thy kingdom come. It was the merging of the fiercest spender in the city….gauging prominence on their arm blings—only HERMES and LOUIE VUITTONS were allowed.

The food were absolutely mouth watering, of course, it was so expensive duh!!!!!

The crowd was brilliant and sartorial too. Everything on that day seemed endlessly perfect….except my wallet!

I don’t mind at all, it was my fabulous birthday and who needs birthday celebration on the pathetic lowly indigestible, disgusting, cheap, shameful, tasteless, pedestrian stall in the forgettable alley….duh!!!!!

Lifestyle is a way of life, if you don’t have it…fake it!, buy it, borrow or still worst…steal it! Ahahahahahaha!

Did I mention that my friends never fake it?...rule number one: to be real.

We only have three rules actually:

1.  Are you famous dahling!( seen in glossy mags, high events)

2.  Do you travel to fab places..(London, Paris,Milan,New York)

3.  Do you have Hermes baby….!

LONDON...can't get ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!

LOVE LONDON!
London is yesterday, today and tomorrow bubbled together. Zizzling. Joie de vivre.Cool.Hot.Lots of attitude..loads of it!! and I can’t get enough..
This city is a paradox. A sometimes vibrant, sometimes grimy, on which wildly contradictory images are juxtaposed. Where urban kitsch

LONDON BRIDGE

exists cheek by with old grandeur, blazing neon clashes with soft green, where the stiff upper lip keeps its counsel while the avant-garde raves on.

HARRODS- my favorite SHOPPING playground

London is constantly reinventing itself while remaining a sentinel to the past. Music, fashion, the arts – if it’s cutting edge….. it happens here first.

Being tired of London is being tired of life…. it is said. The rain and drear be damned, the city’s chic quotient never diminishes.

guards at BUCKINGHAM

I love the botanical gardens; the exquisite 19th-century homes, and soak in the buzz at Bloomsbury, a peculiar mix of architecture, literary history and traffic!

LONDON'S DOUBLE DECKERS

London is shopping heaven.Piccadilly, Harrods my favorite…., Burberry and Harvey Nichols on the basement where I bought my new designer’s cutting edge shirts and belts, it is the place for style junkies, with Chalayan to Versace, McQueen to McCartney.Sublime.Portobello Road, Brick Lane, Greenwich Market.

LONDON's lovely cafe'

For street creed, it’s Soho, of course, the unbearably trendy The Dispensary and Shop for funky, retro clothes. Poste Mistress is shoe heaven, an improbably kitsch boutique, with shoes by Marc Jacobs, Michael Perry and Lulu Guiness – Kirsten Dunst and Emma Bunton love it. And the Natural Shoe Store has environment-friendly, cruelty-free and ‘Vegan’ shoes. Wow
Art lovers had reason to rejoice:
The Classics: The Royal Festival Hall, Royal Opera House – the home of the Royal Ballet, Sadler’s Wells, Barbican, The Royal Albert Hall. West End. Eccentricities: Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, Fan Museum , Saatchi Gallery, Museum of Garden History, Bramah Tea and Coffee Museum, Dickens House Museum, Sir John Soane’s Museum, Florence Nightingale Museum.
Nightlife?…lots of it…!!!!can’t wait to be back again!!!!!

the CAPITAL HAUTENESS....

Manila is a city where surprises are wrapped in an unpretentious boxes – amid streets that have unexpected scenes tucked away, people that reflects a cohesive life and living, and smells and voices that have a tale to tell.

I have been pushing off writing this article for the longest time, finally, somehow, even after all that had been said and done about it, a blank page is probably the starting point because once the first words get written, you’ve embarked on a bit of an adventure…one that may end in disaster, or glory, or both.

 

The city frees me in a way that no other city does. It makes the blank page an invitation. It makes the words appear from nowhere. It makes me clever and creative, witty and funny, and if I’m in Seattle's Best on a lazy summer day at Greenbelt Makati, with a cappuccino, it also makes me very stylish. No, really.

Why does Manila inspire me so? Why do the crowds give me place to think? Why does the noise facilitate the poetry? I don’t know. I just know that some of the places I am going to talk about in the next few paragraphs make writer’s block a piece of fiction. These are the places I go to for inspiration....

While Manila gave me the emotional quotient, Makati is my style therapy especially my favorite eco-fashion retail mall- Greenbelt. I love this place, this is where Covent Garden, Champs Elysees, Avenue Montaigne rolled into one.



My scripts always start and end with characters. Drama, comedy, pathos, all are born from and expressed through characters. And Seattle's Best Cafe is one place ever where I meet characters, starting with a virtual FB friend Bang Pineda, one beautiful person whom I am at ease with. Dressed in gray track fabric cargoes,and armed with Louis Vuitton classic bag as he paints his nonchalant smile, along with his incredible cosmopolitan urban manners, I was mermerized. This guy really displayed the grain, the texture of CHIC pinoy.

 

To toast some more, and then a little....I roam around between Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Ferragmos and the Zara...and feeling so at home.My style barometer roused up notches...
The tall trees and fabulous gardens of tropical orchids and bushes..made me feel more on an eco themed habitat of what is modern living......all about.

with my friendliness...monsieur Noli Onate

STRESS AND THE CITY

Like any other cities in the world, Dubai offers lots of luxurious spas to de-stress and rejuvenate city weary and tired bones..so here I am trying to refresh on weekend by spending a detoxifying indulgence...emerging so cleansed..both body and soul.

January 2, 2;30 pm

Destination: Detox
I have a date with my therapist. Nothing cataclysmic. Just that new-age pandemic called urban stress. Deadlines, pollution, junk food, road rage, insane commutes. The usual suspects. Super-stressed-me is off to break this vicious cycle of abuse with a detox weekend at my favorite detox haven. Detox devotees Gwyneth, Oprah and Beyonce would approve. They all swear by cleansing, which claims to flush the body of accumulated toxins through diet, exercise and massages. I’m curious. Is there really a truth to the benefits of detox? I decide to throw skepticism to the wind and surrender. The stunning view of the Arabian Sea from my 20th floor room is to die for. I’m ready. Paltrow, make way.

3. 30 pm

Desserted!
Time for a quick minestrone and leafy salad at nearby Cafe before my massage appointment. I eye that mango chiffon mousse with puppy eyes. Alas,Biba, my detox guide, gently reminds me it’s out of bounds. She spells out the deal. Alcohol, tea, coffee are strict no nos. Drink a ton of water (like eight litres a day). Easy on food with a high Glycemic Index. Fruits and leafy veggies rule. I squirm uneasily as memories of yesterday’s sin—McDo's double yummies and deep-fried potato wedges—come surging in. I’m not telling her.

4.30 pm
Spa way to heaven

My detox journey begins. THAI massage is first.Apputra, my handsome masseur from Bangkok, whisks me into the bergamot-scented spa chamber. As my feet soak in the warm water, salvation seems like a distinct possibility.Appu begins with a Thai head massage combined with inhalation therapy using essential oils. I feel my breathing passages opening. A body exfoliation using dry herbal powders, then a brisk application of jasmine oil. A 10-minute-steam further opens my breathing passages and skin pores. Then, a purifying point face massage followed by a hot herbal poultice therapy to stimulate blood circulation and lymphatic drainage. The lemongrass purifying soak is last. I do a Mena Suvari a la American Beauty in my rose-petalled bath. Sipping honey and chamomile tea, I’m the boy... in the bubbles.

7.30 pm
Lean equals light

I’m peaceful. I’m famished. Happily, I discover fit and healthy is not equal to bland and tasteless the way the chefs make their detox meals. My salad of asparagus parfait and smoked chicken is a masterpiece of taste and texture. The massage seems to have set in motion a virtuous cycle. Just mineral water with my healthy meal, please. Wine? Diet Coke?.... What’s that?

9 pm
Room with a view

Time to sit back and dream. Detox is as much about recharging the mind by spending time introspecting and cleaning your thoughts. Looking out from the huge bay windows, I see a glittering Dubai skyline and an unending sea. Thoughts of the day flit in and out, work, my own unruly love life. I catch my reflection in the mirror as I’m about to turn in. My skin glows. Detox beats botox. Anytime.


Coming clean

Check out time. Not sure how I’ve fared on Project Detox. But I’ve succeeded in wooing my body back. All those spa soaks have left me feeling like a pampered Cleopatra. No drastic liquid diets and colonics for me. I’m no cleansing convert. I’ve enjoyed this version of Detox Light, though. Pure pleasure and relaxation. I’ll be back for that wonderful soak... Ah, the unbeatable lightness of being

j'adore le PARIS.....!!!!!!

 Staying at Le Marais in Paris

We arrived Paris on late afternoon by taxi from Gare du Nord, the busiest train station in Europe.Taking Euro star train from Dover in the United Kingdom where we spent two weeks in London, my friends decided to go Paris and feel the good life, so I said, why not? Gay Paris...here we come!. Our  Euro Channel  trip was flawless and smooth, and it was such an exhilerating experience. I love Paris, and I adore Le Marais, an old area in the heart of the city of Haute Couture. I was so reluctant to stay there, it was a friend's idea that on our Parisian  sojourn, it's Le Marais or nothing.Wow.
 

Le Marais

Our hotel  was at Rue Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie, and old three storey  building with a real old Parisian structure, I was about to cry, why can't we stay in a  more hip and newly built hotel like the one I stayed on my last trip? The winding century old stairs was for me agonizing, I carried my luggage way up to the third floor. My goodness...I uttered helplessly, knowing there was no more time to look for other hotel and it was getting darker.

Le Claireur-Paris/Le Marais

The area was bustling with tourist but for a good reason, the streets are full of boutiques and classic restaurant. The buildings are old and beautiful and the whole district is full of real, old style Parisian atmosphere.

open cafe-le marais

 

Many cafes are located in this area,  an oasis to the night lovers, the good life seekers, you can do all that you imagine in Le Marais.The short distance walk to the city center and the main atrractions makes Le Marais the most chic and trendy area in the french capital.

Our hotel room was typical, with french  windows just perfect with the best views on the activities down on the road, it was a very charming neighborhood. We just walked  to Notre Dame, The Left Bank, Pompidou, Hotel de Ville and the Louvre.

 Le Marais means outdoor cafe life,  you can’t walk one block in Paris without coming across an outdoor cafe  and many of the corner cafes set up their tables and chairs auditorium style, where the street life becomes the stage.  On early morning I still could smell the aroma of freshly baked bread though our french laced windows.

Paris is all about walking  just about anywhere in the city and feel alive, secured and often, be inspired.