The Unglamorous: A trip to D&D

Hello! It's been a while, how have you been?

We recently went to Divisoria and Dangwa to prepare for an upcoming event. We are staging the launch of a new scent for an Italian brand which has a rich history as a jeweler. Can you guess which brand?

We always post about the glamourous side of our job but there's a lot more to it than that and we want to share it with you through this photo blog.

Welcome to Divisoria!

Crowded and stinky yet beautiful and diverse in its own way especially if you know your way around.

All the bargaining and walking under the sun made us very hungry so we stopped to buy fried siopao. We know it's good because there were lots of people lining up for it!

We had lunch in the 168 food court but we didn't want to eat in a fast food chain that's easily available everywhere so we looked for a stall that had authentic Chinese food. We found one that has a branch in Binondo and had our Chinese food fix - Spareribs and Soy Chicken!

Wai-Ying in 168 Shopping Mall

And because we were already in the area we had our company shirts embroidered but the shop was full because they were working on Fruit Magic's company shirts. We left ours for pick up. Check out the cool computerized sewing machines! It still needs a bit of manual labor to replace threads but it was fun to watch the machines go!

Althet Embroidery Shop

One of our finds was a magic lamp! I'm trying to get the genie's attention!

That's me with a magic lamp!

Next stop was the BLOOMING Dangwa!

And it wouldn't be a complete LDL experience if we don't get to eat at every stop! So here's another welcome distraction, grilled buttered corn (lots of extra butter please)!

On to business, flowers that would match our event theme...

Dangwa is a 24-hour flower market, now that's FLOWER POWER!

While waiting for our sample flower arrangement we couldn't help but stop and smell the "roses"!

Aha! This will be one of our centerpieces - we got the "vase" from Divi!

It's dinnertime and we wanted to eat in a place that's walking distance. We found this cute coffee shop but they don't serve food!

So we ended up in a Tapsilog / Pares place! 

Ange and Claudine are all smiles because we had a long but productive day!

Here's our dinner spread!

The cold water and hot soup was much appreciated!

Here are some tips if you want to go on a buying trip to D&D - Divisoria and Dangwa:

1. Go around 11am because it's when most of the stores / stalls open

2. Reserve a whole day if you want to maximize your trip

3. Make a list and check it twice - Better to have a guide of what you need to make sure you get to buy everything and save on time

4. Wear appropriate clothes, don't wear jewelry because that will not help in bargaining for lower prices!

5. Your skin is your best accessory! Put on sunblock!

6. Bring a "manong" or someone who can carry your purchases if possible, it might be counterproductive if you have to lug things around (especially if you are organizing a big party and you have to purchase things in bulk). You may ask them also if they deliver!

7. Watch your things! It can be crowded and it's always better to be safe than sorry!

8. Smile when asking for a discount, your charm can go a long way!

Hope you learned a thing or two from this blog post! Watch out for our event blog to see how we styled and decorated the event with our D&D finds!

Cheers,

T

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