El Charro Mexicano, Costa del Este

Went to try out a Mexican restaurant located in Ocean Mall, which is situated right next to the hotel.

Extensive menu - i want to try everything!

The colorful interior

The ambience is very "Mexican"

Some wall art and old photos of Mexican warrior (i think). I have no idea who the guy in this picture is.

Besides the colorful walls, the tables and chairs are colorful too!

Now back to the food - I was served with tortilla chips with tomato salsa and chili dip as starter.

My mains - Fajitas de pollo (chicken fajitas) served with a dollop of frijoles refritos (bean paste) and guacamole. The tortilla is included and served in a small basket tray covered in colorful cloth. Nice and colorful presentation😍

Huge portion too. I think this can easily serves 2 pax.

Nevertheless i managed to finish them - It was my lunch+dinner.

How to eat: Scoop the chicken, bean paste and guacamole onto the tortilla, then fold it to make a wrap.

Total bill: USD15.15 (RM68.73) after service charge.

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After this heavy meal, I went to visit the nearby sundry shop located at the ground floor.

It was manned by 2 Chinese teens (i believe are the owner's kids). They were busy streaming on some Cdrama.

I went to the snack section just to browse on local snacks - yea, i found some cheaper plantain chips on the shelves.

And chicharrones (deep fried pork rind) too!

It was packed in those cheapskates see-thru packaging like our Keropok or Muruku-style plastic packaging.

This "Anthony" must be a local snack entrepreneur.

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A cafe with a Greek name "Athanasiou" - also located right next to the hotel. Athanasiou means immortal. So, after consuming their coffee/pastries can become immortal?😂

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The hotel lobby at night....very quiet....

Zielo @ Costa del Este

My colleague from the Cayman Islands (Caribbean) was scheduled to return home after a few days in Panama office, so my 'boss' decided to have a 'farewell' dinner with him and invited us along....sort of a get-together dinner too since we are from different continents and hardly meet together (a Latino, a Scottish, a South African of Dutch descent and me an Asian).

We went to this high-end restaurant located in Times Square Center, which is quite nearby our hotel too.

Despite our generation gap (gen X, Y, Z), we have a common interest - food!

The Scottish made a visit to the toilet and then came out after some time....with an amazed look.

He then showed us some photos he took in the toilet (which is the reason took him so long). It tempted me to check out the toilet's interior!

So I went in to the 'ladies' and wow-ed at the tiles, both walls and floor!

It has brightly lit floor (like a stage) with violet and pink theme, meanwhile the 'gents' has green and blue theme (based on the pics he took).

*I couldn't take too many photos coz there were people in there.

This is the most aesthetic toilet I've seen in my entire lifetime😂

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The "boss"....

What I ordered - tortelloni

closer shot....it was just ordinary....

Cheers!

I forgot what drink this is...but definitely non-alcoholic.

The bar....

But mostly people dined at the proper dining table...

by 8pm there was a performance by local singers, slow romantic songs, in English and Spanish...

Here's the view outside, taken from the balcony.

A moon crescent, not sure what's the symbolic of this with the restaurant, but definitely not related to any religion😆

Yea, there is an outdoor (balcony) dining too. We prefer the indoor for the aircond.

Indoor bar (there's another one outside)

More picture of the indoor bar....

This is how the lift lobby looks like. The lift button is hidden behind the bottles. You have to maneuver your hand across the small hole and press the button behind those bottles. By the way, those are empty bottles. 

It was a great get-together evening. The "boss" settled the bill. Yay!

Fantaxy Bakery, Sri Petaling

Went to have a 'look see' at the neighbourhood newest bakery.

The interior is well designed like a French bakery. 

Seems like "another Lavender" with the standard items at similar price range.

This bakery has outlets in Subang, Puchong and Cheras and sells handcrafted cakes, artisanal bread, French pastries, desserts.

I bought a Portuguese egg tart (RM3) and a long sausage in charcoal bun (RM6.90)

Both tastes so-so only. 

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Had fish noodle - red snapper with mi xian in milky fish broth at Hai Kah Lang....

RM24.50 nett after service charges and tax.

Springy noodles, with 6 slices of boneless fish in it.

Nice to have once in a while.

All around Panama City

Passed by the spiral 'Pandora' building (F&F Tower), so I took a picture of it from afar.

Approaching near, the car was on standstill due to the evening traffic, so I took more 'better' shots of the building and its surroundings.

The driver saw me taking pictures of the spiral building, so he drove me to a nearer spot to get a nicer shot.

there you go....right in front of that building! 

thanks Mr.Rodriguez (driver)😃

On the way back, were on the Pan-American highway which is managed by Panapass (in this country). This highway connects the South America to the North America.

PedidosYa - something like our Grabfood or Foodpanda.

It is an Uruguayan multinational online food ordering and delivery service based in Montevideo, Uruguay. Founded in 2009, the company operates in 15 Latin American countries.

[Below] Somewhere in Costa del Este - another luxury apartment.

Road signboards. "Calle" means street.

A nice place to jog in the neighborhood - along the coast

Sunset around 6pm+

It gets dark soon...

The newer apartments mostly exceeded 40 floors.

Water fountain - it reminds me of "The Symphony Walk" fountain in IOI City Mall (Putrajaya), but this one is right front of the Towncenter Mall (Costa del Este).

Both have lights with water 'dance' at different frequencies and visual patterns.

Office Birthday Celebration

While in the Panama office, I managed to join their office monthly b'day celebration which is usually held on every last day of the month.

Last time, it used to be in the evening (teatime) but this round it was in the morning (breakfast).

It was just a simple and brief celebration with staffs gathered in the common area to sing the birthday song in Spanish and English, then followed by some 'makan-makan'.

As it was still early, the b'day cake was kept for lunch. The office admin was kind enough to arrange the helpers to serve this with ice-cream for the 'after lunch dessert'. It was yummy.

Meanwhile, breakfast was ready for everyone in the office. Yay!

What's on my plate - hojaldres (deep fried dough, like Chinese 'ham chim peng' but without the filing and is not sweet), some grilled meat and sausages. Wash down with a cup of orange juice😂

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The weather outside the office. It was sunny and hardly rain in Panama...

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My breakfast in the hotel - some leafy greens, salad, and smoked salmon.

Weekend laze around in the room. It was too hot and sunny to go out during the daytime.

Stayed at 14th floor, I can see the office buildings (on the opposite) from my room. Not my office, but some other companies. My office is located some 10-15 minutes' drive from the hotel.

The hotel desk is too small for me to work😅

But the bed is huge. Backpain after slept on it. I prefer a firmer mattress😅