St.Luke's Hospital: Health and Wellness Center

So here's their "Health and Wellness Center," for people who undergo Executive Checkups. This is where they sit and worry about their test results. Why suffer in a doctor's stuffy office when you can suffer in style!

And this is me! Couldn't resist taking a photo, with that huge mirror just beckoning for me and my camera.

So, it turns out you might have heart disease, but at least the view's good.

St.Luke's Hospital series: The Presidential Suite

The Executive Suite of St.Luke's Medical Center costs a whopping PhP49,000 a month or a little over a thousand dollars. When he needed medical treatment, the First Gentleman, husband of our former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo stayed here.

Look it even has a jacuzzi and a designer chair. Not just any other plain ol' bath and stool. No, it's a jacuzzi and a designer chair.

The pillows, the attendant says, cost PhP2,500 each (or around $60). The photographs on the walls are photos by famous photographer Wig Tysmans.

Just like an apartment, the suite comes with its own dining room.

And finally, what is a Presidential suite without a view of the city?

Tomorrow: a trip to the hospital's kitchen.

St.Luke's series: The Lobby

Things have been crazy busy lately, so forgive me for being on an inadvertent blog hiatus. Anyhow, to make up for my lack of posts, I'll be posting several photos each entry for the next several days. For this week, I'll take you around a tour of St.Luke's Medical Center. A hospital? you ask. What's so special about a hospital that it merits not just a day, but a week of photos? Well, we may be in a Third World country, but man, this hospital is definitely world-class. Just look at the lobby.

Tomorrow, I'll show you the Presidential Suite, where the former First Gentleman, husband of former President Gloria Arroyo stayed during his confinement. The room looks like some swanky Upper East Side New York apartment.

Guess where?

A furniture shop? Nope.

The home of an eccentric recluse? Well, not really.

We're at a salon! The Shunji Matsuo Salon, located in Kapitolyo, Pasig City.

Welcome to the wonderfully eclectic world of Shunji Matsuo, the celebrated Japanese hairstylist who has worked with the likes of Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thurman and Madonna. Matsuo's mentor was none other than Suga Yusuke, or more popularly known as Jackie O's hairdresser. Matsuo's celebrity clients here in the Philippines include Imee Marcos, daughter of deposed President Ferdinand Marcos and former First Lady Imelda Marcos. In the Philippines, Matsuo's salon is headed by William Wong, who learned Matsuo's tricks in Singapore and Malaysia, where Matsuo's other branches are located.

The salon is a feast for the eyes. Everywhere you look, you're bound to see something fun and quirky. There's a whole glass case full of dolls, a bright red parasol by the waiting area, Japanese kimonos on the walls and so much more. Best of all, they're really good with hair cuts. My hair now is short and spunky, just the way I like it.