MANILA, Philippines?Eduardo ?Nene? Lacson, CEO of Gen. Pacific Group Holding, SA based in Monte Carlo, usually chooses some exotic spot around the globe for his birthday. This year, he decided to spend it in Tanzania.

With close pal, glamorous Vicky Zubiri, he jetted from London?s Heathrow Airport to Darussalam, Tanzania. Après a 12-hour flight, they were met by Nene?s Brazilian friend Luca Casonatti.

In a small aircraft, they finally arrived in Maynard and went directly to their CC Africa?s Ngorongoro lodges. The place is a former volcano that now has several lakes in the crater. The lakes feed pink flamingos during the season.

After 10 days of enjoying the safari and interacting with the exotic Masai tribe, they left for Zanzibar and checked in at the trés posh Breezed Hotel, which faces the beach of the gorgeous emerald green Indian Ocean.

Here, Nene blew off the candles on the cake to mark another super fruitful and successful year of his beautiful life, darlings.

Nene Lacson later decided to spend a belated get-together with his pals from hometown Visayas and from Manille in his eye-catching Mediterranean-style house on Boracay.

He had his guests flown in to Boracay and for four days, played gracious host to them, naturellement. They included fellow Monte Carlo gangmate, jet-setter and businesswoman Minnie Osmeña; regular Paris-Manille commuter Annie Carmona; real-estate tycoon Freddie Olbes; Bacolod-based Parisian globe-trotter Edouard Lacson Garcia; and moi, natch!

The days were spent with endless pink champagne, excellent home-cooked French-style dinners and sunning by the Lapis Lazuli poolside.

Hong Kong

Then we were off to Hong Kong with the smoothest flight I?ve had in aeons on Cebu Pacific. (Oh, by the way, all our flights, Manille-Caticlan-Manille-Hong Kong-Manille were booked on Cebu Pacific, palanggas.)

Upon arriving in Hong Kong, we were met by the oh-so-reliable staff of the Intercon Hotel Hong Kong, who escorted us to the gorgeously renovated executive floor suites overlooking the awesome sights of the Hong Kong Oceanview. Now, that?s service, dahlings.

Dinner that night was at the excellent Opia resto, listed as one of the top 10 dining spots in Asia, superbly interiored by Philip Starck, no less, who also did the entire Jia boutique Hotel in trendy Causeway Bay.

We spent the next day shopping. That evening, we met up with Rep. Bongbong Marcos and his brilliant wife, lawyer Liza Araneta;
restaurateur Al Tengco and wife, Carla Reyes; architect George Yulo; and financial whiz Joanne de Asis Benitez for dinner at L?Atelier, an excellent French resto at Landmark, with world-famous chef Rebouchon-fussing over us in our trés privée salon.

Après diner, the glamour armada headed straight to the very exclusive Dragon Eye Club where we were greeted by Hong Kong socialites Reyna Harinella, her sister Shirley Hiranand and eye-catching Audrey Pucket Chui.

Drink it like Beckham

Would you believe we rubbed elbows with the perfect man, David Beckham, no less, who was with his Los Angeles Galaxy football members.

Let me tell you, we were all agog watching Beckham?s gang downing three bottles of Patron Platinum Tequila, while Hong Kong?s most gorgeous female and male models were hovering around them.

Moi noticed that only this drop-dead gorgeous blonde, a New Zealand model, was invited to sit with Beckham and his gang, dahlings.

By the time we left the club, it was already 3 a.m., and the football gang was still partying hard, as tons of paparazzi waited excitedly outside the joint.

Santana

On our last night in Hong Kong, we watched the fantastic concert of Carlos Santana, courtesy of our palangga Liza Araneta Marcos, at the fully packed Asia World Expo Center.

Wow! It was two solid hours of fab music and songs! But what brought the house down was when Santana played ?Black Magic Woman? and ?Smooth.? Even moi went bananas.

We then ended our four-day stay in Hong Kong, but not before we were toured around the Intercon by the hotel?s stylish public relations director Carole L. Klein.

More about Hong Kong?s Intercon, sooner than soon, palanggas!

Woman who knows how men should smell

Known as the ?nose of Calvin Klein,? chic Ann Gottlieb has gained world respect in the luxury fragrance industry because of her spot-on expertise in scent-blending.

Would you believe that men have been her target for years? She has developed in fact the super bestsellers Obsession and Eternity men?s scents.

Gottlieb is also the creator of favorite women?s fragrances such as Carolina Herrera 212 and Christian Dior J?Adore.

?If I know enough about the target audience, I can develop a scent for anyone,? Gottlieb said. ?The way I work is less about ingredients than the feelings they evoke.?

No wonder the chic Martini Bar at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel was fully packed with our town?s fun, trendy set, palanggas, when Unilever commissioned Ann to create the new fragrance collection for Axe!
Edward Arandia, marketing manager of Axe, told us, ?It is a privilege, an honor, to work with Miss Gottlieb. She is a true master of her art, and her work with Axe will surely energize the brand. It?s an exciting time for Axe.?

Gottlieb has come up with five men?s scents for Axe which will surely delight the senses: Click, Dimension, Pulse, Touch and the sensual Vice.

Taking a personal whiff of the new Axe scents is truly tantalizing, palanggas. With Ann?s magic wand, then the new Axe fragrances will surely become the favorites of the country?s male population.
Men, take a whiff and spray the scent on you, and your gal will love it!