Sunset, Coffee Sips, Serenade, And A Whole Lot Of Walking In The City

There's a sense of comfort in going to a familiar spot whenever I go out. A well-known coffee spot. A regular restaurant. Since I started working from home, I've been making an effort to experience new and different things every time I leave the house. I challenge myself to visit and discover new coffee shops, restaurants, and events. Life is short, and although familiar things bring comfort, stepping out of my comfort zone helps me grow.

I thought it would be fun to shake things up and try something new today.

@gabbiebi and I took a stroll to get some stuff at Landers. We couldn't help but pause on our way to Landers, captivated by the colors of the sunset. The city sunset is a breathtaking sight but there's something truly magical about beach sunsets that captivates me.

We picked up a few things at the supermarket and then checked out a couple of stores near the Uptown Mall. We don't often go to this area, so we decided to see what the stalls had to offer. We were curious if there's anything cool going on. The stalls aren't all fixed yet, but there's this stall that sells all sorts of plants.

We were gonna check out a busker at the Uptown Parade, but we figured we'd go for a walk first.

One of the highlights of our walk to BGC was visiting the Boni Viva Luci (means wondrous life in light) exhibition, where we were mesmerized by Isaiah Cacnio's Celestial Waltz. If you were to take a closer look, you would discover that it is made entirely of water gallons.

After that, we went to Uptown Mall to buy coffee from Pickup Coffee and got choco chip cream cheesesticks from Auntie Anne's. We decided to visit the Uptown Parade this time to catch the performances of the buskers.

We went to the Uptown Parade last Friday to catch some buskers, but they hadn't even started singing after 15 minutes, so we ditched the plan and walked instead.

This time, we found the perfect spot in front of Dave Linao, the busker. I was a bit shy about being in the center though, but free listeners can't complain, right? 😄 It was actually like the busker was singing just for us.

As we were munching on our snacks and sipping our coffees, Dave's performance captivated us so much that we couldn't resist asking for a few songs. First, we requested "Palagi" by TJ Monterde. We made sure to drop a tip before making our request.

The place filled up when Dave started playing the song we requested, and we got the front-row seats to capture everything. I admit, I'm feeling pretty smug about our spot at that moment.

For our next request, we asked for "Latch" by Sam Smith. While I do enjoy the original version, my love for the acoustic rendition is on a whole different level. Dave mentioned it had been ages since he last performed it, back when he used to enter singing contests. His Latch performance was amazing!

By the time we left the place, it was nearly 10 pm already. Enjoying a busker's performance for such a long time? It's a completely new experience for me. Typically, they serve as mere background noise while I engage in conversations with my friends. But this time? Dave's performance was the highlight, and we loved every minute of it.