Found a new cafe in Mongolia

Here in Mongolia there are no Starbucks unlike in Manila where there's one every corner (OK that's already exaggerated but in Makati City it's close to that.)  There is a Caffe Ti-amo though and there's about four of them here in Ulaanbaatar.  I've tried the one in Sky Department Store during my first month here.

I've blogged about Caffe Ti-amo about two years ago where I fell in love with their Gelatos and Affogatos (you can find my blog entry here Favorites: Gelato)  So when I saw the Caffe Ti-Amo here I tried their affogato and I was immediately brought back home even for just a few minutes.  Incidentally, I also met some Filipinos working here in Mongolia during that time too so the sound of people talking in my native tongue completed the experience. You can check out Caffe Ti-Amo Mongolia's  FB page here: https://www.facebook.com/caffetiamo.

However, today it was a welcome surprise to find this new cafe at the ground floor of Home Plaza Shopping Center near where I live aptly named "Cafe".  And as always, the first thing I tried is my all time favorite the Caramel Macchiato.

I would say the coffee and cake was not bad at all.  The mocha roll does have sesame seeds which was not quite a good combination with mocha but I would have to try the other cakes and their sandwiches next time to make a better assessment.  The price and ambiance was also OK and gives a home style atmosphere.  I also noticed that their tea and coffee are also offered as either hot or as a cold beverage which gives more variety   Next time I will try my favorite tea concoction which is the Chai Latte.

Ahh... suddenly life seems to be "close to normal" again.

Mongolia

I'm back!!! No, not in the Philippines but just back to blogging.  So it's already a month of being here in uber-cold Mongolia where the temperature hasn't gone up above zero degrees since I came here and this is just the beginning of winter.  I think if they offer here beer below zero it won't be profitable because I just leave my beer bottle outside my window and it turned to below zero.

Anyway, my life here has just been okay so far.  If I miss Filipino food I try to cook with what ever ingredients I can find in the local grocery.  I got  a package of canned goods and noodles from the Philippines so I can cook some sisig or pancit canton whenever I feel like to.  I still watch TV Patrol and other Filipino shows through live streaming.  And most importantly, I get to Skype with my wife and daughter everyday.  So aside from the climate, the distance and the language difference life still goes on (somehow) normally.  But not without days of wishing I am still back home.

A few days ago I posted this on my Facebook wall:

It actually came to a point where I asked myself "What am I doing here?"  And the reason why I measured it in twelve years is because I have this observation that events in life have a twelve year cycle (more on that on a separate post but you should try to check if that theory is true in your case as well.)  So I tried to reflect on my past twelve years and see if I ever thought of working abroad long term.  Twelve years ago I left my long time work with a local company and moved to a multinational company where I stayed for the next six years.  And the reason was not to work abroad but just to have the opportunity to travel.  Traveling abroad on business trips became more frequent but only on a short term basis as the need arises and my miles were piling up.  There were some invitations to explore opportunities to work in the Middle East and Papua New Guinea but turned them down.  My reason was that I can not bring my family with me and I don't want them to go through a tremendous adjustment.  Then how different were those opportunities to this one you may ask, and my simple answer is none at all except that this time I am determined to make a change in my life.  The time is right, the situations are different.  As I have mentioned in my FB post as life is a succession of events and experiences I believe that I have gathered enough experience in the past forty one years of my life to muster the strength to take this leap of faith.  The journey inside this elevator called life continues.

And for those who ask if there is Mongolian BBQ here, sorry but there has never been a Mongolian BBQ that originated in Mongolia and no I haven't seen Mr. Shooli either.