Shops at the Bicol International Airport

There are many choices for eating, drinking and shopping at the Bicol International Airport. Here's a quick share of them on this First of April.

There are many choices for the hungry here including Biggs, which has many branches across the Bicol region.

There are the familiar eats like Dunkin, Potato Corner

The shops include many selling local products.

Shops include an OTOP shop, one selling mainly souvenir shirts, and another selling various handicrafts.

Chocolates by Mayon Gold

I got a few shirts for myself, the wife and our daughter. I also got a few bars of chocolates to enjoy and write about later. Tip to travelers looking for souvenir shirts: They have more variety and higher quality shirts and designs here than in Cagsawa or other touristy areas in Albay. And that's no April's Fool joke!

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A nice can of sable cookies from Japan

Visitors gave us some souvenirs from Japan. These turned out to be small cans containing sable cookies. As is usual of omiyage or souvenirs from Japan, the packaging was interesting, attractive. Here is the can of cookies.

The can features popular representations of Japan including the Tokyo Sky Tree (the tallest building in Japan), Hachiko the dog, the Shinkansen or bullet train, temples, and sakura (cherry blossoms).

Details on the cookies including the manufacturer

Decorations on one side of the can.

The other side of the can.

Inside the can is bubble wrap to protect the contents and a pamphlet on the maker.

The cookies come in different shapes and each is a different kind of cookie. The mountain-shaped cookie is pistachio. The lighthouse-shaped cookie is ichigo (strawberry). The station-shaped cookie is cacao. The train and square-shaped cookies are butter. The small sakura-shaped cookies are blueberry. There are also small candies sprinkled around the can.

Here are the cookies.

The cookies side by side with the guide.

These were not large cookies but small or bite-sized. The taste is not really spectacular. They're regular as far as cookies go. The experience of eating them though is enhanced by the packaging. I keep the can as my pens and other items fit in the can. I have other cans like this that I kept and use to store a variety of items including office supplies and stuff for my hobbies.

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Chocolate milk from Carmen's Best

I found out that Carmen's Best, well known for their ice cream, also had chocolate milk. I saw this at a stall they had at a pop-up event at the parking lot of the UP Diliman College of Science Library. I tried one at first and easily finished 1 Liter during the day at my office. I ended up buying a couple of bottles to take home for the weekend. I forget the price of a 1L bottle but they had a promo for buying 2 or more bottles. I recall that the price of 1 bottle though is less than other milk brands from local farms.

Nutrition information for the chocolate milk

Information on the manufacturer and recommendation for consumption after opening

I haven't seen this being sold at supermarkets (yet) so hopefully there will be a Carmen's Best stall in future events at the University.  I will definitely purchase a few bottles for our consumption.

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