A Journey in Life as One

Palace in the sky...

2012-01-30T00:45:00.000-08:00

It was December when we decided to go to Tagaytay to celebrate our "day". Oh anyway... I would like to share the photos and the experiences we had when we went there. It was rather a spontaneous move!

in Picnic Grove

The road up/down to the Palace in the Sky.

We went to the Picnic Grove and we had a great time sitting there and taking photos of the view... it was spectacular, really! And then there was People's Park in the Sky. It was a bit far from where we were staying, but we just had to go up the heights! The view is cool, there was the garden, the Shrine of Christ... some really cool Pine trees... and of course the breath taking view yet again.

San Juan Church

2012-01-29T00:20:00.000-08:00

This Church looks very great from the street. It is called San Juan Church and looks a bit old too. I thought this church would look good more if there is a wedding here, I guess. From the brick walls, you would immediately notice how great the church stood from the outside and how old probably was.
i have not known much about this except that we always see this church whenever we pass by this place from Mandaluyong City, We took some time to go inside the church and see its beauty from within. The church has about 300 seating capacity and is spacious. it was not hot inside, probably because there wasn't a lot of people when we were there. But I noticed that for those who want to offer silent prayers and light candles for their prayers and intentions... they may do so.
For those who wants to take a glimpse of the place, Please see the pictures. apologies i couldn't take better ones. =(

724 Steps Above: Mount Tapyas, Coron Town

2010-04-10T02:34:00.000-07:00

Now that we are done with the Island Tours, Let me now share with you the step by step journey towards the peak of Mount Tapyas. So much have been said about how beautiful Palawan is, but not many has experienced this much talked about place. Well, we have, and will surely be glad to share the feelings, and pictures of course. * Thank God we did went up the hill. It sure does not look promising when you are at the town proper, looking at the almost barren mountain - but you can never be prepared at how beautiful the place truly is when you see it for yourself.

Well, it was said that Mount Tapyas is called this way because during the world war, a bomb was dropped and caused the other half of the mountain - tapyas is a tagalog term meaning "ripped off".

Quite a number of villagers await you from this starting point on your way up. Most mineral water sellers accompany you as you go up the mountain - yes we have been accompanied by two kids who where in their highschool. It was summer vacation and they have thought of selling mineral water here at the site to the mountain climbers wannabe like me. =)

The steps have no markers, but the kids who went up with us confirmed that there are 724 steps to the cross! The above 200th marker is the last identifier of how much more steps you have to go through.... Barely making it to the half of the steps, i am a bit exhausted, and catching for my breath! I am excited though of what is up there! so up we go - my friends, my boyfriend and I.

There is the cross, it looked so near from our view... But we have a couple of hundred more steps to make to get to the top. We have to go up as fast as we could, it is almost sunset and we need to be up there in the summit before we lose the chance of sunlight seeing the whole town, and the coron islands view from the top.

Taking the steps one at a time, hurrying at some points... the villager kids have told us that it was really beautiful up there... and there is the mountain range they call the "Sleeping Giant". It is reflecting as a man lying on his back - with a very obvious head and body form.

We are very close to our successful climb uphill. I am now smelling what true nature is! The air is much colder now, the view whilst still in the working our way up the steps is getting even better, the beauty is slowly unfolding itself. This is one way you are to feel God's manifestations and love! I think I could go over and over raving about the wonderful feeling as you go high up the ground.

Finally! I can see quite a number of people running around the site, obviously mesmerized by the view they are seeing from there! Now im much more excited than I was before the climb!

Now with all these, I am really lost for words - no better adjective can describe the beauty and the wonderful things that we have in our country, there can be no other place i want to be at the time! It was perfect timing! Witnessing sunset from the top of the mountain is truly an experience worth every step.

We give tribute to all those who have worked hard for the cemented steps up this mountain, for the villagers who have kept the place safe for tourists, for the two boys who have served us a guide as we go up the mountain.... and to God who is magnificently manifesting his love through these wondrous works of art everywhere - not only in Palawan, in the Philippines but all over the world!

Coron Islands... Part two of the Planned turned DIY tour!

2010-03-27T22:40:00.000-07:00

Starting off with the last stop for the day... The Banana Island. We asked the boatmen but they didn't know why the island is called "Banana Island", we found out the next day through the caretaker that this was due to the shape of the island, almost similar to a shape of the banana leaf.

We paid an entrance and overnight fee of 700 pesos per person (including the huge hut we slept on) in this island.

The view is magnificent, from the boat, about a few minutes before our boat settled this was the view we get to see. The clear water, the white sand that we all love!! My friends and I are too excited to get down the boat and just relax and enjoy the place all to our selves!

We came to the place at around 4 to 5PM, almost sunset, which excites us more since we are to witness another beautiful sunset. The place is peaceful, there were perhaps just a few people around, the family of the owner, his 3 caretakers, and a foreigner couple who according to Manong is on their 2nd night staying at the island. We went to seek out the place, checking out the few cottages where we can stay for the night and deciding on it before actually trying to discover what else this island has to offer to us.

Thanks to Yanthi, this picture was the view from inside the huge cottage we're staying!

My friends enjoyed the beautiful shore, the white sand and the sun almost losing it's strength... We found the perfect place for a jump shot. The spot seems to have this purpose for all its visitors! Thanks to my BF for this wonderful jumpshot! We couldn't have done this without you!

The Banana Island by the way, relies on solar power for electricity. The lights are not very well lit, the flashlights we brought shone much brighter than that of the island's lights. There are no water directly flowing from the faucet ( they are currently fixing their water systems) and so the caretakers have to carry pale of waters to fill two huge water basin in each of the room's toilets. The caretakers are friendly, and are always ready to assist us. They even lend us their whole kitchen so we can cook our food, both dinner and breakfast the next day.

I just have to share a few more pictures taken in the island before the day finally gave way for the night to come. Hope you like the pictures and may you find inspiration in them, as well.

After a few more minutes, when the sun is finally saying goodbye, we headed off to our cottage for a nice fresh water bath! We have been exposed to much to the sun, ans sea water that the sale is forming crystals in our skin! We just have to freshen up and prepare for dinner before totally heading off to sleep and end the day. Even the bird, stopped for a while and has probably enjoyed the view of the whole island, and the sea.

Time passed so quickly, the strong winds woke us up at about 5:30AM. The sun is shyly peaking and is ready to rise anytime soon. With the cool sea breeze, away from the noisy cars, and traffic of the city... We can't help but just spend time watching the sea, and feeling the strong wind blowing our hairs, touching our faces. Banana Island is definitely the best place to be at that time.

At breakfast, we were told to go to the nearby Island, The Malaroyroy Island, Also owned by the same owner of the Banana Island. This is perhaps one of the best beaches I have been! The island is right in the middle of the sea. The sand bar bridges two islands, and thus connecting them. The water is clean, the sand is powdery white. This island is just 5-10 minutes away from the Banana Island. We were not prepared at the breathtaking natural wonder that awaits us here.

The saddest part really was when we have to leave the place for Coron. It is almost 11AM and we have to travel another hour back to the island loop from this far island. Our ride was rough, all of us get splashed with sea water even on the boat. The waves are just huge... almost 3 feet high! All us brave girls, for every splash, the sea gets a loud laugh from our group. We endured the scorching heat of the sun and the waves. It was one of the roughest ride i had to take in all of my boat riding experiences.

It so hard letting go of the Malaroyroy Island... Leaving the place meant, we are just a few hours away before entirely leaving the place, Palawan. It was sad that we have to go as far as this place just to be able to enjoy the beauty of nature, but I feel proud of what the country's islands has to offer the world!

Our next stop would be the TWIN Lagoon. The entrance fee for this place is Php 100 per person. Whether you went down and took a dip or not, you will have to pay the entrance fee. Note that when coming from the Cayangan Lake, the entrance in this island should be free. (We did not know that until after reading some posted island tours in the guesthouse where we stayed. I supposed our boatman knew but did not tell us. My friend saw some caretakers of the islands giving the boatman their share of the earnings whenever they bring tourists for snorkeling, or for a tour...) So when you are going for a trip, make sure to plan everything out, and avoid miscommunication!

This was the last of our island tour. We headed off to Coron Town proper, took a slow bath (NOT BY CHOICE - the water in the shower at the guesthouse was only dripping!) and got dressed so we could go to the "Bayan" and find some decent lunch - at 3PM!

This wraps our our island tours. I will still have to share what happens in our attempt to climb Mt. Tapyas, and what the Maquinit hot spring has to offer its tourists.

Entrance Fees:

Banana Island - 200 day tour / Overnight - additional 500 for a huge cottage / additional 400 for a smaller cottage/ and 200 for an open air cottage fronting the beach.
Fresh water bath available, electricity is available at night only, free use of kitchen, kitchen utensils, stove for cooking, and best of all - free entrance to the Malaroyroy Islands!

Twin Lagoon - 100 pesos per head (it doesn't matter if you took a dip or not) Free if coming from Cayangan Lake, so make sure to come from the lake when going to the twin lagoon.

Coron Islands... Love the place!!

2010-03-24T03:22:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting for this day to arrive!! We arrived at around 5:45Am in Terminal 3 airport. The airport has been improved. It is better now than the domestic airport that I have seen a few years back when we went to Boracay.

This was the plane that took us to Busuanga airport. My guess was that it is only a 60 seater plane.. but frankly speaking, it is not as bumpy as expected. So the short 30 minute trip from Manila to Busuanga Airport is enjoyed, and not quite felt.

**To look for information on cheap bookings, and promos, you can always try to visit their site as often as you can at Philippine Airlines Website.

We arrived at Busuanga, with no one to pick us up. My friend has been in contact with a guesthouse owner where we are staying but his van was no where to be found. So off we rode to one of the vans and just asked the driver to drop us in the guesthouse. When we went there no one was expecting us! We didn't even see the owner as he was still sleeping at that time. How could anyone forget you have a guest arriving?!The caretaker, was not so accommodating either and just told us to buy our food from the market and will just cook at wherever we will go on our way in the boat. Our boatman was not aware we didn't have things to cook these with! Now that's another bummer as we were supposed to be informed there's no way we could cook the raw fish and meat we brought with us during the tour. Patrik's Guesthouse is not so guest friendly after all. If we have more than 2 days, we would have tried to look for another place to stay, but we have limited time... and so we were stuck.

At around 11AM, our boat ride started and off we went to our first Stop. Siete Pecados. This is where we had our first snorkeling time. The fishes are not as many as expected, the corals are dead! They are lying in the seabed, pale, white and lifeless. so sad we couldn't see more colorful fishes. (I swear our snorkeling was better at at Laiya years back compared to this spot in Siete Pecados).

Next stop was the Kayangan Lake. This place is really wonderful! I love the view, the serenity of the lake, the sometimes slippery steps going up the mountain trail... it is really a wonderful experience, and view from the top! We spent ample time here taking pictures of the view from top. We also spent some time dipping at the very peaceful lake, with no other crowd. We had the place all too ourselves!

Too bad we had to leave this place... It was one of the best places (Nature) I have seen. I wish there are more places like this in the country, so beautiful, not exploited, but well recognized.

Next stop was the Barracuda Lake, our Boatman assistant said that there are big barracuda fishes found in this lake, hence the name Barracuda Lake. This was a freshwater lake in between 2 limestones. There's a steep stairs you have to climb, and the same to go down to the lake, for a dip. We didn't push through as it is a low tide when we were at the place, we can't go through the small entrance to the lake because of the sharp limestones. We were there about a few minutes to take pictures and off we went to our next stop. The caretaker, did not asked for an entrance fee already, since we didn't stay that long anyway.

The second to last stop of the day 1 island tour, is the Skeleton Wreck. Here we spent some time to swim, and snorkel around the place. We saw some fishes, no Corals, and a shipwreck. It was a skeleton of the said ship whose ruins are left in the site. We only saw a portion of the ship wreck.

Islands on Day 1 trip, encircled in below Coron Island Map and their entrance fees:

Siete Pecados - 100 pesos

Kayangan Lake - 200 pesos

Barracuda Lake - 100 pesos

Skeleton Wreck - 100 pesos

Watch out for the 2nd part of the trip to Coron! :) We'll be posting more pictures.

Second Installment of the Roadtrip... Now in Subic Bay!!

2009-10-25T06:47:00.000-07:00

After our Montemar Beach Experience... We headed off to Morong for a Bataan White Corals Experience.. From Bagac, we traveled up to morong, following only the road signs leading us to the Pawikan Conservation Center. It was a long drive with worries that we might soon ran out of gas as the sign keeps popping up that the car is low in Gas now. hehe

Finally, At the Pawikan conservation Center... We found 3 Sea turtles, small medium and average sized ones. they are the only ones there, no baby turtles, no other worth seeing... :( quite disappointed that the conservation center did not have much to offer. The pawikans are lovely though, It is the first time i have come so close to one and have actually touched their "feet". The caretaker said they bite to we cannot touch the head.

We gave the person there that asked us to enter the place 50 bucks as "entrance fee". After going to the site.. we decided to go to further, but having changed our minds in going to the Bataan white Corals, we then headed towards Subic Bay, after seeing the road signs. :) I thought there might be more to see in Subic than in another beach resort that might just be similar to where we have been.

Going to the subic bay, We saw low rates sign of the Subic Bay Venezia Hotel... Hmm thought we could just spend the night there for lower rates; the concierge was very nice at giving us additional discounts since we checked in at almost 4 in the afternoon already. The room is very comfortable, the bed sheets are nice, the amenities are complete and they even have a water heater for our coffee. They also have a Casino in this place...

Oh prior to this, we also had a great time go Karting. It was our first go kart experience and we had to try it at Subic! haha as if there are no go kart places here in Manila.

The next day, we decided to have lunch first before going home; we had to go too the bay view area (
Waterfront road) but there are limited choices, i think we will not enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed our Aristocrat meal. We were so full and I sure do love to eat their chicken barbecue! It is really the best barbecue ever!!

It took us another 2 hours of long road trip from Subic bay to Manila, A very worthy travel of fun and spontaneous decisions. haha I like to have planned events, journey, etc... but being spontaneous at times helps add spice and adventure! :)

In the spirit of fairness, I think this was built for the Maya birds. It was called Villa Maya. hehe I thought this one is cute, isn't it so we took the time to take a picture and have it shared to everyone.

This can be seen at the Subic Tipo entrance. It is on your right side coming from Subic - Manila bound and on your left when entering Subic (from Manila).

Yakimix... A Buffet Experience

2009-10-25T05:42:00.000-07:00

Whatever you read on some people's blogs, there is just nothing compared to the real thing! Armed with 1000Php and people's comments on how great it is, off we go to the Hobbies of Asia Building in Macapagal Avenue last Friday and went to try the Yakimix eat all you can buffet.

It was about 1230 in the afternoon when we were there; we were immediately asked to wait while a table is being cleaned for me and my BF. Oh well, no worries, at least there are no other people in line waiting to be seated ahead of us... unlike what others said that people line up in this restaurant. Great for us we dont have to wait as we are already sooo hungry.

After a few minutes of waiting, we were seated to our table, good for 4 people, ahh it was comfortable! The seats have cushion.. hmm i can already sense how much longer we are to enjoy this experience. We looked around the buffet table, before divulging in getting the food and not knowing there could be more options, right?

BF loves Tempura, and so he went and got himself quite a number of these shrimps. I went to get some uncooked hams, bacon rolls, chickens, beef...

There are 4 options, cooked buffet, uncooked (for your own grilling experience), the variety of maki and sushi, and the desserts. We haven't even started the main course when i feel excited trying out the desserts as they look like they are calling unto me... (eat me.. I'm yummy!). There are 2 choices of soup as well, and I guess there are appetizers like that of the Kim chi (I do not like this so i did not bother to try).

The cooked part have a number of choices, fried chicken(chinese style), crispy pata, sweet and sour pork, tempura, fried rice, plain rice, beef tenderloin... others in the menu list provided below are not present when we went there. The raw ones have beef and pork rolls with asparagus, chicken barbecue marinate, spicy chicken marinate, hotdog, shrimp, cuttlefish, barbecue beef stick... and many others that we did not try anymore.

The service is really good too, the people refills your glass of juice or softdrinks really fast and whenever they see it full, they will already volunteer to ask if you would like to have a refill. My bf even got another glass of Mango Juice when offered and he hesitated because he said he will need to finish off the softdrinks first. The waiter said its okay for him to get him the juice in another glass already. Their drink all you can drinks options are 1. Blue Lemonade, 2. Softdrinks, 3. Mango Juice 4. Iced Tea; You have the option to try them all whenever you ask for a refill hehe.

The cooked meats are great... the sweet and sour pork is spareribs, the tempura is average sized but they don't have the tempura sauce and only have the sweet and sour sauce.We just dipped the crispy pata in vinegar since we have not found any crispy pata dip anywhere. :)

Now the desserts! We ate small egg tarts, cheesecake, and strawberry cheesecake and fruit salad!there are black forest slices too, but since i enjoyed the tart more than the sweets. We have not tried their ice creams but they have your ordinary flavors and some ice drop too.

The whole experience is really great and we will surely return for more soon. For 499Php, we sure were too full and too happy with what we had. haha BF loved the smokeless grill as well.. At least even if we cooked some meat, we did not smell like coming out of a kitchen!

My only regret when we went to Yakimix was that we did not have our cellphones with us. So we do not have any proof of the experience, and no photos to show off to you guys... I hope my words are enough to bring you to the place as well... If you think you are a bit far from Macapagal avenue, they have also opened a branch in Tomas Morato.

HAPPY EATING.... Happy Blogging!

Details you would like to know

Php499 eat and drink all you can lunch promo

Php580 eat all you can for adults

Php 55 drink all you can

Lunch Time = 11AM to 2PM

Dinner Time = 6PM to 11PM

Their full menu is found in this site:

http://www.munchpunch.com/restaurants/branch/menus/6243.aspx

Chillin' at Bubba Gump in Greenbelt

2009-10-21T05:24:00.001-07:00

My BF loves shrimps... having this in mind and having no other options in mind, we went to Bubba Gump in greenbelt to for our share of their steaks and shrimps. What i love about Bubba gump was their fast service... yes, the famous "Run, Forest Run" has to be put for the crew to see and assist you. At an average, I think there are just about 10 seconds and they will be attending to you already. No time wasted when Forrest Gump ran, and so are this restaurant's crew.

The Shrimp was good in taste, but their serving size is not great for sharing... haha maybe because the 3 pieces tiger prawns shrimp grilled right in front of us was just not enough for BF who always puts shrimps as his number one favorite. Bubba Gump's prices are quite expensive, not your day to day restaurants as it will most definitely put hole in your pockets!!

Their drinks are cool, and are put in a very huge tall personalized Bubba glasses. They are worth to be shared... but I'm warning you, they would be gone before you know it... go for their house specialty drink and you'll never regret it! Bubba gump's restaurant ambiance are homey, perhaps, it is similar to your typical "ranch" type restaurants with really cool and unique designs from the inside. The tables and chairs are specially designed as well, sitting at it with your back perfectly laid back relaxes you while you munch and chat at the same time.

Bataan... Churches and Beaches

2009-10-15T21:38:00.000-07:00

It was a clear day when we left manila at around 6AM. Heading towards the north with no clear plan at all.. We just have a list of Bataan hotels and resorts where we can stay for the night... not sure where exactly though. haha We have planned to stay in Balanga Crown royale Hotel, but passing thru the small "Inn" looking hotel, we decided not to stop by and I am sure we will only be staying in our rooms if we did stop there as the Balanga is the "city" of bataan where there are not much nature attractions.

First Stop was in Abucay - we went to view the Balanga Catholic Church. It was close at the time of our arrival and only the small chapel beside it was open. We managed to take a few pictures of the church's front facade, which is not very attractive compared to the Manila(Intramuros) area churches. The left side of the church is a cemetery(it does not look like a century old cemetery but a very common one). The right side of the church is where the small chapel is, it also has its office to its right with very little space for car parking.

After our stop to the said church, we headed off towards Bagac Bay, with the hopes of having an accomodation facing the beach; we were informed that the bagac beach is a nice place with cheap rates too. Unfortunately the bagac beaches have suffered greatly from the "Ondoy" typhoon, soome cottages still need to be cleaned and the beach shore needs to be cleaned as well. We did not stop and take aa further look around, as their day tour rate is a stagerring 300 bucks!!

Next option is Morong Beaches... But we called and have been answered by someone from the Montemar Beach Club, so we did not go to Morong and decided to go visit Montemar First. Their overnight rate is about 3100bucks with free breakfast and well, we were told that the Montemar has really nice rooms and the beach is also quite heavenly. Since we are in Bagac stopping by won't hurt anyway. We were asked to call the front office first prior to the guard allowing us go inside the resort vicinity. We were given a room at the first floor, sea and pool view, but we requested to have a room at the 2nd floor instead, and they allowed us to change rooms and did not even charge us an extra hour since we arrived prior to check in time.

The view is really great, the waves are almost perfect, but the water is rough and not quite good for non-swimmers. The Montemar Beach is in between two land formations...

There are lots of things to do in this resort, 2 swimming pools, but the one is closed when we got there. We dipped into the blue pool, the water is cold, chlorine free! We enjoyed the almost an hour dip and chitchat at the pool because it was shaded and we were not much exposed to the heat of the sun at noon.

Non-water activities are available as well and there are spacious places for sports like basketball and volleyball, and even a small children's playground. There was also a hanging bridge joined and supported by two old trees, one must be careful climbing these trees as the structure needs to be repaired, some soft spots can cause accidents, so I did not dare try to cross it.

There are some cottages where you can relax and just listen to the beach waves, and the bird's sweet humming sounds... even the sounds of the dancing trees makes the day in relaxation perfect!

At sunset, the montemar beach isn't the best site for sunset viewing, here is a picture of the sunset here in Bagac... its just ordinary, but still romantic, in my opinion... The weather too is perfect, it was such a blessing that we did not encounter rains and have enjoyed going around the resort from "left" to "right". If it weren't for the cost, I would have loved to go to this place quite often. From the services, the courteous greetings, the beach shores, the huge rock formations, the trees, the spacious rooms even is just a perfect getaway! We were there at a time where the beach is not packed with people and it feels as though we have the place all to ourselves!

It was such a sad time thinking about leaving the place... :( I was so relaxed at this place, felt as though I am really close to nature, and though there are no other things we did at the place aside from walking from one beach side to the other, it seems like the time is not enough for more than that! Oh if other beaches have ant holes in the sand like the ones in potipot, Montemar beach has a number of baby crablets! haha they are not biting, but are really cute crustaceans that walks or crawls really fast when they see moving people on the shores. No worries about the sea water too, it is really very clear - like that of a fresh water body. Montemar, by the way is a Triple A rated resort, and it does feel like everything is indeed rated triple A in this resort. :)

Bakasyunan Resort and Potipot Island

2009-04-29T23:49:00.000-07:00

Our day started early last April 27, leaving manila at about 5 am and headed towards north to go to Iba, Zambales where the Bakasyunan Resort and Conference Center is. The trip was a pleasant one, with great views of the mountain ranges and rice fields along SCTEX road that leads all the way to Tarlac. It only took us about 4 hours trip from Manila to Zambales, our destination with the new expressway open to private vehicles.

You will not be bored and will most likely enjoy your trip in this road that seems to never end with the sceneries that will unfold right before your eyes.

We arrived at our destination - Bakasyunan resort and Conference Center around 1030 AM, too early for the check in time, but they let us in and use the room we have previously reserved since there are no morre occupants anyway. The place is huge, but not as large as i have imagined it, being a 3.5 hectare lot, i think it was rather small than in my imagination. The place is yet to be cleaned with ssome of the stuffs left over the fun and games that must have happened here over the weekends. The place is nice to stay at, it is peaceful, with lots of things to do like hang out on the hampers and relax, sit by the beach side and just watch the strong waves and so on. The resort also have a clean pool with a nice slide, they have pools for adult and for kids. My only comment on their pool is that as per my opinion, it has a lot of chlorine in it, you can smell the chlorine when you are near it, and well, I had to admit I have to give up swimming though I loved the slide because the chlorine just gave me a severe headache.

Bakasyunan Resort people are very friendly and accomodating, they did not charge us corkage fees, and was even happy to sell us rice (we bought our own ulam for our 3 day stay at the resort. Since we were there on a weekday, it was like we have the resort all to ourselves, and we even used the cottages near the beachside for free. They have installed volleyball nets along the beach too, and you can just bring your own ball to enjoy a game or two.

About the beach, well, I'd say the shore is not very clean, it was packed with dead corals and the sand is gray in color, almost black when wet. We have waited for a sunrise and a sunset at the beach, but Bakasyunan and all the resorts in the area does not have a good view of this. there are not much to enjoy except the wonderful sound of the sea waves. The waves are strong, but still manageable that some kids still swim and play with the waves with their so called "surfing board". Cloud formations in the area is a good sight as well, nice place to spend the time chatting with your special someone as you smell the sea breeze.

This is what the Bakasyunan Resort offers, an activity place for families and company or friends outing.

We went to Potipot Island in Uacon Zambales, another 1.5 hours from the capital, Iba to see the so called white sand and virgin island in the middle of the middle. To get to this island, there is no other way but a 5 minute boat ride worth 400 bucks from any of the resorts in uacon. Many people stop by the Dawal Resort, Sun Bloom resort, and or, Isla Vista Resort but we saved ourselves the entrance fees of these resorts and availed of the boat ride from a local resident who was even kind enough to cook us rice since we only brought ourselves ulam. The boat is also 400 bucks, with fenced parking alongside the home of the boatman's family. Our ride is a bit rough becauuse of the strong wind and waves but it was worth it! Entrance fee is 50 pesos in the island (i heard someone owned this island already and for the water and use of CR and some built stone and wooden chairs along the shore, it was worth the time. The sand is indeed white, not fine but it can pass for those who haven't seen the white and cool sand of the Boracay Island. This place is of no electricty and have limited to no facilities at all. It can be developed but i guess it will lose the "nature feeling" when it happens. There is a portion in the island where the prevailing smell is that of a mussel, a clam and all the other seashells combined. hehe... The island is almost bald, with few trees for shades during a very hot humid day. The feeling is just different when you know you are in an island, with the possibility of not being able to go elsewhere but to ride a banca and headed to civilization. haha I enjoyed my day at the island, because of the peacefulness, the serene sound of the waves as it touches the shore, the spectacular view, the cool damp air... the smell of nature. This is what I enjoyed the most. We had to leave the island an hour earlier than our assumed time, because of the weather, heavy rainfall is expected and our worry is that we would not be able to cross the sea and get back to our resort in time.

On our way home, we stopped by a location called the 24th IB(Infantry Batallion), and flew a kite and enjoy the nice stron wind that blew our kite away. This is also, another wonderful experience, a fun and exciting thing to do, free of charge. :)

All is well that ends well, It was a wonderful 3 day trip away from home... and close to nature. It is one of the best getaway experience that we have spent together. I sure am excited where we are headed off on our next roadtrip...

LaMesa Eco Park

2009-04-24T20:37:00.000-07:00

We came from a trip to La Mesa Eco Park in Quezon City. I have read so much about this park and have even seen a couple of pictures from officemates as well... so we decided to visit and have a look for ourselves. We took the commonwealth road all the way to winston street and turned left to the Eco Park. It was funny though that the security guard from the winston street entrance asked for a donation of 10 pesos so we do not have to go around the back entrance.

The parking area is huge, but is not possible to accomodate like 100 cars, buses are required to go down a different road, possibly another parking area much farther than the one closer to the parking entrance. Entrance fee is 50 pesos for adults, 30 for children and free for senior citizens and children below 3 feet. All other amenities when you get inside is not inclusive of the park entrance. They have Paintballs, boat riding, horseback riding, butterfly hatchery, biking and wall climbing amongst others. Cottages are free though, first come first served basis.

We spent an entire 4 hours inside the park, walking up a trail, climbing the stone stairs to see the dam, and eating a hotdog and buko juice sold inside the park, taking a lot of pictures as well. I'm impressed with the park because the Comfort rooms are clean, not a slight uninviting scent is present; that is a good indicator that the place is very well maintained, and I hope they keep it that way. It is a good start to our future nature trips.

*If you decide to go for a swim, it is advisable for you to come early, we went there at around 11 am and the people and the pool is not yet packed with people (it was a friday - weekday) and was packed when we are leaving the park att around 3pm. They refuse entry to the pool area if the maximum capacity of 300 is reached. So be there early.

*The view of the dam is spectacular. It is beautiful in its own way, suggest you go up the stone stairs and experience fresh air and nice view you can see over there. Its worth the sweat and the thirst, even the heat of the sun...

Total Estimated Trip cost just for 2 (not including the gas....):
Donation to guard: 10 pesosEntrance: 100(50 each)
Meal: 65 (hotdog on stick and a hotdog sandwich) and 50 ( 2 cold fresh buko juices)
Drinks: 53 coke and a coke light

No, we did not avail of thee boat ride as it costs like 100 for a 20 minute self service boating spree... Butterfly hatchery is also at 50 bucks each person, and swimming costs 80 per head.

Acropolis Clubhouse Swimming

2009-02-20T04:28:00.000-08:00

It was a nice family bonding at the Acropolis Subdivision's Clubhouse in Mandaluyong City... what could be better than having a swimming pool all to yourselves, you and your family alone?? Ha! that sure is the best thing... right? My BF's family had a way of really enjoying their time together... the family was complete during the said outing; Even Inang was present and took a dip in the pool. It took us about 10 minutes from their home in Mandaluyong to this place, and yes we are already at the cleanest private pool ever with no back aches from long trips! Here are some pics taken at night (we had the place reserved 6PM to 12MN).

At the back was the Gym/Basketball court, also for rent to non-residents/lot owners.

I was honestly surprised when we arrived at the place. The subdivision is about 25% full of houses, some are still under construction and most of the lots around it are still empty. The whole place is really a great place as the place is windy too, like that of an "out of town" feeling you would have in wide resorts you have been. Renting of the place was cheap, you can play your loud sounds as well here, and cook your barbecue (just bring your own charcoal and grill).

The Pool water is clean and it seems like it was newly changed, there have been no traces of heavy chlorine smell. I would say that the place is really family friendly. There was also a kiddie pool, and some parts of the pool where you are dipped in water up to the waist and just relax. The three shower rooms are clean, showers are perfectly working as well. I just have but one comment that the place is not well lighted as it was a bit too dim for the night and the caretaker did not bother to open about a light or two for us.

Whatever the experience, Wherever we went, I'd still say that the mini vacation and family bonding is rather sweet and meaningful. Being part of a family as lovely as theirs is truly a gift.

Further Details:

Acropolis Clubhouse Mandaluyong (rented private pool)

* This is not a resort *

Villa Escudero...

2008-11-15T02:14:00.000-08:00

It was our First Monthsary, Yes we planned to have it in a wonderful getaway place down south - Villa Escudero. The place is very nice, with a man made lake, a nice but a quite small swimming pool, on your first night, you will be greeted with a nice serenade, and you can even request for your favortie songs.. just make sure it is a popular one so they would be able to sing it for you. The staff are all smiles and they make sure all yourr requests are well taken cared of. They even knocked on our cottage when we almost missed the dinner time.

We had a blast with the buffet lunch the next day with the man made falls as well, this was an overflow of the place's dam, i suppose. The foods are overflowing, the food are yummy and i love the coconut milk and sago dessert. It is so native in nature. The place is packed with people when we went there because of the people who are there for a day tour, inclusive of the museum entrance. The museum houses a lot of old things like an old uniform from the world war 2, coin collections, and a weird preserved head called the shrunken head. it was of a normal size imported from a place in africa, and was given as a gift to the ancestors of the Villa estates.

It was a great place to relax, spend time riding the carabao cart inclusive of the villa enttrance, as well as the boating facility. If you have time to spare, the whole of villa is so huge you will be tired of walking, we walked around the place, an old ancestral house, a coconut field, amongst others. They also have a little know place that looks like you are bound to a forest area if you walk through it.

As a whole, the experience is very nice, memorable and something worth sharing. I have even told friends they should go and try the place, have an overnight stay and mingle around the place to enjoy the nature and the happy faces of the people at the Villa.

On a Roadtrip to Bataan...

2008-11-03T01:20:00.000-08:00

I love history, I love historical places but my mind have no such retention for the details and so I will just give you the link to wikipedia's for the history of the Mount Samat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Samat.

For the most part, what i love about historical places is the differnet kind of feeling they give you, a sense of being proud perhaps for our ancestors who have fought for our liberty and perhaps for theirs as well. Our trip to Mt Samat is not planned at all but as a suggestion of my boyfriend's mom and relatives that we took time to visit thee site and also the spring in Abucay. It was a nice place to visit, if you have a day to spare and would want to relax, the perfect spot would be cross on top of the Mount Samat. The view is very spectacular in this site with a great view of the bataan peninsula. A nearby museum also is found at the foot of the mountain.

The place is vvery nice, and we did not even notice we spent an hour up there in the cross. The cross asks for an entrance fee, be sure to keep your ticket as they want you to show the tickets when you ride the elevator that will take you up the cross.

Icebergs... not in the Atlantic but in Mall of Asia

2008-10-29T16:06:00.000-07:00

It was a fine sunday, we were walking or rather strolling the baywalk area in the Mall of Asia when our hungry tummies are asking for some gastronomical delights... the truth is, it was more of an eye candy that caught our attention... The Lights of the Icebergs Restaurant caught my attention... looks like they have more than ice cream sundaes and banana splits.

My BF ordered Shrimp Gambas and I ordered Chicken Parmigiana... It was really delicious, Too Bad there were no eye catching pictures but the ones I have here alone... The Muscle Rootbeer Float is huge! And here's my proof of it... hmm alright, I will be honest, the float is really yummy but the actual stuff you'd be able to drink is limited as it is quite half filled with rootbeer bubbles... not great for drinking at all if you are not looking forward for some bad tummy gas. hehehe!

Icebergs staff did not serve us fast when we were there, few customers are around the place only and they seemed not to care to let their clients wait even if they could have been served earlier. I would still not give them a high rating when it comes to customer service. Food is ok, serving size is mediocre, and customer service is poor. I would not blink in giving triple "A" for the lights though as the place is really well lighted... good for their "ice cream sundae theme"; Icebergs is a perfect place for groups of friends, not for couples. It is okay for families too, but may be too distracting for the kids.

Overall, Our MOA Icebergs experience is not very special, It was not noteworthy as well, but just a plain, ordinary dining experience. We finished off the food served fast though since we are really hungry! haha ;)