Unique Bathrooms

One thing I really appreciate when I travel are very clean and unique bathrooms. I must say though that the best ones are found in Japan. They have fancy toilet bowls that produce heat and sounds to muffle your business and multiple bidet features. 

My most favorite bathroom to date is the one at Manami Resort. The bathroom in their villa is huge! The shower and toilet area is separate and their sink is ginormous. Their restaurant CR is truly unique. It's the only toilet I've seen with parrot wallpaper, special sinks and interesting lighting fixtures.

And here's a few more interesting ones in Singapore:

*Our unit's bathroom 

Cebu

Bangkok 

There were other unique bathrooms in other countries, but at some point I stopped taking photos, haha. The elements are the same, but other countries like in Europe, Pakistan, Sri Lanka etc. decorate differently. Maybe I'll try to unearth photos of them (if I have any).

#BeKind #StaySafe

Cebu! Cebu!

It's been quite some time since I visited Cebu. Here's my video blog about my last visit -



Full blog post at Lakwatsera Ako.

I also had the chance to meet a number of Cebu bloggers and would like to say thanks and hello to those who showed up: Arnold, Markee, Rodel, Empress, Miong, Webslave, Sinjin, Wilhelmina, McBilly, X and Linnor (with Jerry!).



Will be updating this post once I have my vlog about Cebu food. Yumyumyum!

What it Feels Like to be in a Race (my Cebu and Davao trip)

I must say I've been living a horrendously crazy schedule the past few weeks and that's the main reason why I haven't had the time to blog. My Davao-based friend, Migs, noticed that I've been making "summary posts" the past few weeks. Ahhh, sowee, I've been just really extra busy.

Anyways, I felt like I was a contestant for the Amazing Race last week. I'd say it's one of my busiest weeks for the year, having 2 sets of visitors, an event for educators (another one of my backlogs), the 1st OPM Songhits awards, dinner with Sweetie's friends, and speaking engagements in Cebu and Davao, plus a whole lot of other stuff. I had to talk really fast for my gig for STI in Cebu to catch my flight to Davao. I arrived at the airport just before the counter closed (whew!).

At STI's National Youth Convention in Cebu. Photos by Mhel and Kim.



Check out the full album at the STI Picasa Web Album.

I was quite overwhelmed with the number of students present at the Mindanao Students IT Education Conference. I had to psyche myself up not to hyperventilate over speaking in front of 3,000+ students. Here's a short glimpse -



After speaking at the MSITE I was feeling quite dizzy and slipped out just before the event ended. I had dinner later on with Davao friends, The Usual Suspects - Blogie, Migs, Winston and Jun and met Ted Padova (Adobe evangelizer) and Rodney at the Fwendz Diner.

This is me with Fwendz Diner owner, Tope. More about Fwendz Diner at my Lakwatsera Ako blog.


After eating a hefty dinner, we proceeded to the Nokia party and enjoyed taking photos -



So, we thought we took more than enough photos, and moved to Basti's Brew for a late night cup of coffee and then called it a night.

The next evening was a really interesting one. After eating a late merienda at Basti's Brew, Andrew, Migs, Ria and I proceeded to Hairzone and indulged ourselves with a foot spa/massage. It was Andrew's first time to have one and the look he had on his face when the attendant asked if he wanted colorless cutex to be painted on his toes was priceless. And it's only in Davao that I've experienced having foot blush wiped on my talampakan. (Methinks I need the works to really feel relaxed).



It took the whole session for us to finally decide where to head for dinner and we ended up at Red Moon Chinese Cuisines & Delicacies and was joined by Blogie. For more in-depth coverage about Red Moon, head to my Lakwatsera Ako blog.

Things just got more fun after dinner. We moved to Studio Onnie, located just a few steps away from Red Moon. Studio Onnie, owned by Onnie (who's really cute and funny, and a local celeb for ABS-CBN-Davao), is a comedy bar with Ahbet as its most popular host. I was quite lucky to meet them since everyone is Blogie's friend. Take a look at the photos and find out what transpired while we were there.



Here's me and Winston being grilled by Ahbet.



Check out Blogie and Migs' song numbers.

As if hanging out at Studio Onnie wasn't enough, Blogie insisted on giving me a tour of some new stuff in Davao, so we went to see David in all his glory at Seawall and the fabulous, wonderfully decorated Davao City Hall.



Whew! I just conked out the whole day yesterday after celebrating Mom's birthday when I got back.

Here's some posts about the weekend by The Usual Suspects -
Winston
Blogie

And coverage at my Lakwatsera Ako blog.

Cebu! Cebu!

I've been to Cebu many, many times. I think this would be my tenth visit now. Yesterday I couldn't help but giggle with the welcome that the Mactan Shangri-la Resort & Spa staff gave me. They put this necklace on me -



Now, now it was a very nice gesture and the last time I experienced it was at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Bali last December when they hung a garland of kamachile on me (I thank them with a prompt ahoooo!)... but in Cebu? I never experienced it with Waterfront Hotel and Marriot Hotel. I only understood why they did it upon arrival at the resort. It's a resort!



I walked around a bit after exhausting my laptop's battery and enjoying the free wifi at the lobby. I would've dived in the swimming pool or gone to the beach, but I had to finish up with ework. I was craving for pasta so I headed over to Acqua and enjoyed the seafood marinara. Acqua is an Italian resto within the resort (also with free wifi!) and after that I proceeded to my room to do my reports. Took a nap and then my best friend fetched me to have dinner. We drove around for a bit and settled in at Amigo, a new grill place a stone's throw away from the resort. We were the only customers in the resto, so we enjoyed the full attention of the staff.

I woke up bright and early today for the 8 a.m. call time for the Cebu ICT. The "Marquee" where it's held here at the Mactan Shangri-la was quite a loooooong walk from my room. I definitely thought that I should've just worn jeans and sneakers to the event. But then again, Sasha wouldn't agree since she advised I should be wearing dresses to my speaking engagements.

I was definitely nervous - remember I have stage fright! And having bigwig CEOs, top government officials, foreign delegates in the audience didn't help any. I was part of the panel for the "Promoting Investment in Asia ICT/ITES", read up on it in my work blog. Anyway, here are some photos that TeamAsia took for me using my fool-proof idiot camera.



I still got a few days left here in Cebu and hoping to meet up with Cebu bloggers, SEOs and even open source people, or whoever! I moved the meet-up coz I'm kinda stuck here at the Mactan Shangri-la. Hope to meet Cebuanos on June 28, 6 p.m. Bo's Cafe, Ayala Center Cebu (the one near the yummy foodie area, I mean near the entrance where there's a Starbucks). (Oh! And for the bloggers - my friends are kinda looking for some to be a problogger, so you might wanna come so I can refer you guys to them).

Travel: Bohol and Cebu

I think I'm still too tulala to blog about my vacation. It was actually my first time to travel to the Visayas region on a vacation. I've been to Cebu at least ten times already, but I've never seen any of the historical sites and Bohol was just a far-fetched idea I've been toying around with my high school friends.

Ever the organizer, Marc rounded up the Band of Bloggers for this Bohol-Cebu trip. I was quite hesitant at first because of work. I dread coming back to pages and pages worth of email and missed deadlines (OC ito!). Anyway, I don't regret tagging along.

I don't want to mince any words, so I'm just going to share my experience through photos. You can also see the photos I took in my Picasa web album. And don't forget to listen to the BOBCast Episode 7.

Day 1:

Abe booked us for the last flight to Cebu. I was quite surprised that the Cebu Pacific flight was delayed! I remember that their claim to fame is on-time flights. Wonder what happened.

Rico, Sasha, Chris, me and Gail. Photo taken by Abe Olandres.

Travel tips for the day:
1. Always, and I mean ALWAYS come at least an hour and a half before your flight. Listen to the BOBCast to find out why.
2. If you're booking online, make sure you print-out your ticket and that you use your real name (no nicknames!) and bring government-recognized IDs such as your license, passport or company ID.
3. Pack all your toiletries in your check-in baggage. That way you don't have to stuff everything in at the airport.
4. Better wear slippers/sandals when travelling. Your shoes and slippers go through the inspection machine as well. (Ugh! And to think you can't put alcohol in your bag! Sniff sniff).
5. Pack lightly. (I should do this!).

And, of course, doing an all-nighter is really next to impossible. We had to find a place to sleep at around 3 a.m., either that or wait it out at the Supercat terminal. Special thanks to my college friend, Max, for accommodating our stuff in his pad.

Day 2

Spent the morning at the Supercat terminal (or should I say seaport?) and ferrying to Tagbilaran. Finished our malling and had lunch at a quaint little place called Payag Restaurant. It's grilled, grilled, grilled food anywhere you go in the Visayas or Mindanao region! After lunch we waited for Marc and Sharm to arrive and then we hopped on to the following:

Hinagdanan Caves

Shell Museum

Dinner at Payag Restaurant

Travel Tips for the Day:
1. Know where you want to go even though you have a tour guide/driver who'll be showing you around. Make sure you ask him questions. It's not common knowledge that one of the past Philippine presidents graduated from Bohol University.
2. When you want to buy a shirt, buy it! The branch of Island Souvenirs in Bohol is the best I've seen in the different branches I've been to nationwide.
3. Bring a small bag where you can stuff important basic things such as your wallet, mobile phone, shades, camera and tissue (and an Ipod Nano if you have one).
4. If you want to blog about the food you eat, make sure you take a photo of the serving before you eat it. (Notice, I don't have photos of the food! I forgot! Waaahhh!).
5. Walkie talkies are really helpful when you're in a huge group. That way you can easily order your food when your companions are at Chowking and you're still shopping. Make sure though that you guys know who will do the ordering.

Oh, and make sure you're still pretty when the wake-up call comes. You have to expect that someone would either take your photo or video while you're sleeping or being nudged awake (I'll get you for that Marc!!!).

Day 3

Much more exciting day since we had a good night's sleep. We went to the following:

Blood Compact

Baclayon Church

Python

Tarsiers Sanctuary

Floating River Restaurant

Man-Made Forest

Chocolate Hills

Dumaluan Beach, Teaching Chris Sandberg how to eat balot.

We had dinner at one of the beach resorts. I couldn't understand why in all the restaurants we ate in the service was slow.

Travel Tips for the Day
1. Don't sleep when everybody's awake. Check out the photo of the most documented snore. If you really have to, do a starfish and hide under the covers or pillows.
2. Make sure you bring a hat, sunblock, bottled water and a fan to protect you from the harmful rays of the sun. It could get quite hot.
3. Make sure your camera's batteries are fully charged! Mine died on me at the Chocolate Hills. Good thing I managed to take some photos.

Day 4

Woke up at 4:20 a.m. to prepare for the whale/dolphin watching expedition.

Huwhaaaat?!? No dolphins? No whale? All I saw was a snout!

So we just spent the day at the beach and then slept early (it's a vacation silly!).


Travel Tips of the Day
1. Know when to quit. We woke up really early to see dolphins and a whale. I just saw a snout. We got hungry and just went back to the resort to eat.
2. Don't be too scared of what you step on in the beach. Stepping on starfish was quite frightful, but at least I didn't step on any sea urchins!
3. When staying at the beach, don't forget your water and shades and sunblock!

Day 5

Woke up early again to have breakfast (service still sloooooow) at the Dumaluan Beach Resort restaurant and then took the Supercat back to Cebu.

At Cebu we had lunch at Sunburst (the equivalent of Max's Fried Chicken in Cebu) and then bought guitars (prices ranged from Php1,500 to PhP5,000).

Top: Fort San Pedro. Bottom: Magellan's Cross and Basilica de Sto. Nino, Cebu.

Travel Tips for the Day
1. Know what the region offers especially when it comes to food, local delicacies and products their famous for. Since Miguel wanted a new guitar, I made sure I got one for him in Cebu.
2. Don't be complacent about traffic. Waiting it out at the airport is not so bad.
3. Limit your things to just 3 bags and make sure you have space in your bag for pasalubong.

How much did the vacation cost each of us?

Tour (inclusive of 3-day overnight accommodation, breakfast and transfers) - PhP5,500
Plane fare - PhP4,300 + PhP400 terminal fee (Manila and Cebu)
Food (lunch and dinner) - approx. PhP500/day
Pasalubong - PhP700+ (got shirts at Island Souvenirs for PhP280 each and local delicacies
Total Spending: approximately PhP12,500

Translations
tulala - dazed
OC ito! - I am obsessive-compulsive.
pasalubong - take home goodies for your family and friends

Travel Blog: Davao and Cebu

Picture this.

Soft, cool sand going between your toes

Salty, tangy wind blowing… whipping…

Small waves crashing through the shore

Sun rays streaming through a tree

And nothing else but the wide blue horizon in front of you.

Oh yes! I’m at the beach tap-tapping on my laptop (now belly-top).

Are you now itching to go to the beach? It’s summer! Go!

The past few days have been a blur of activity. I spent the weekend in Davao to attend the Davao Blog Party organized by Blogie, Andrew, Jun, Marc and countless others. Abe, Jayvee, Abe and Janette also came from Manila to attend. It was a huge success with a hundred percent more attending versus target. After the party we had durian coffee at Blugre Café (with free wifi!). Oh! And we stayed at Casa Leticia, the hotel with free wi-fi and the most number of electrical plugs I’ve seen in one hotel room (I managed to charge my laptop, 2 phones, Ipod and PDA all at the same time!).

We all wanted to go white water rafting, but wasn’t able to plan for it. Rex, a Davao-based friend was kind enough to bring Abe, Abe, Jayvee and me to Costa Marina, Samal Island. Costa Marina’s a really cool place. It just took us less than 15 minutes to get to the dock and a five minute jetty ride to the resort (at PhP12 each!). We all just chilled the whole day, napping, eating and taking photos. Wanna know how much fun we had? What Abe’s really cute dance (hihihi).

In the evening, Dennis invited us to his “house that Adsense bought” (more of Adsense paying for the rent). There was so much food! I liked the kinilaw best and the “clams” (too bad Abe and Jayvee are allergic to seafood! So I ate their share haha). After dinner, Abe and Jayvee did some jamming. Watch the videos here.

Jack’s Ridge, a place overlooking Davao City, was still very much beautiful. Rob, a college friend brought me there two years ago and I thought that the first timers would have a grand time at the place. We ended up at a cozy bar and did some videoke. Watch Abe as he sings a love song.

We had an interesting time at NCCC Mall. Who’d have thought of naming their stores “Juice Ko Day”, “Wear Else” and “We Make Scents”? Crazy isn’t it?

I would love to live in Davao. Aside from free wi-fi all over the place, where else could you eat three barbecues with unlimited rice for only PhP25? Buffet at “Buffet Palace” (the best in Davao) for only PhP200 (and buffet at PhP75 to 99 in other places). Everybody is so easy to speak with, no hassle whatsoever! The place is as clean as Singapore. Not crowded. And the best thing? The beach is just 15 minutes away!

Click on the photo to see more pictures.

Davao

See Davao Blog Party photos here (click on the photo please):

Davao Blog Party

After Davao I hibernated in Cebu for 48 hours. Managed to go to the beach with my best friend. In the evening we went to 22nd St. (they have branches in Las Pinas and Malate in Manila), a comedy club. We had a hilarious time and basically laughed the whole night. It was a good thing we didn’t push through singing on stage. I can just imagine going through the “interview”. I would’ve probably been so embarrassed and would’ve probably died on the spot. Well I left Cebu crying again because parting with one’s best friend is never an easy thing to do.

Click on the photo to see more pictures.

Cebu