Travel
Archived Posts from this Category
Filed Under Travel
It has been several months already and I still hardly written anything about my trip to Bohol. So as promised, here’s one review on the resort that we stayed in.
Accomodation
Well… I’m not a very picky person and I’m very easy to please as well. The cottage that we stayed is a twin-sharing suite that has basic necessities which is a large and spacious bathroom, refrigerator, a powder area, air conditioning and of course, beds! The cottage has a terrace with table and chairs. Pretty basic but hey, do I need a television in a vacation?
There are different type of rooms to choose from at Dumaluan that would suit your varied taste. You can even opt to get a room complete with television, bathtub, among others. But of course, you’ll have to pay extra.
They use generator as backup power and apparently, brownout is frequent that in the three days that we stayed there, they had to use their generator twice. The bad thing is, it broke and the management had to call in mechanics to fix the generator.
(more…)
Filed Under Travel
The company I work for has been very good to me that they gave me an all-expense-paid trip to Taiwan starting last Thursday. They even arranged for the express processing of my visa to Taiwan that instead of waiting for 5 working days, I got it in less than two days. They also booked a hotel and airport transportation for my convenience and it didn’t stop there. They gave some pocket money that I can use to shop and dine.
It’s almost real…. Most of what I said so far is true but not all. Actually, only a few words in the first sentence is false. In realilty, I’m here in Taiwan for work-related matters. As a matter of fact, I’m here in the office while writing this post. I think I also have to state that I’m also here in the office last Saturday and Sunday and that I went home at 3am in Sunday Morning and went back to office at 10:30am. On Monday, I went home at 1:30am the following day. I was back in the office yesterday, Tuesday, at 9:00am.
So you thought that I’m really here for leisure? Cm’on, that’s too good to be true. For a production support person like me, site visit is very seldom (I didn’t have any last year). And if we have to travel, that means there’s a BIG problem and that’s the reason why I’m here. I feel like I’m a T-Bone steak (marinated and cooked) thrown in a Lion’s den.
If there’s any good that I can think of, it’s that opportunity to come in another country (especially that it’s my first here in Taiwan) and that per-diem that you can use to buy some local goods. And here, you don’t mind how much the food is. You have more than enough money for that, anyways.
So I guess it is better if I go back to work now so I can complete whatever work I have to do here. I’m already longing on my wife’s hugs and kisses
Filed Under Travel
As I already stated earlier in this post, we’ve been to Bohol last Dec 1-3. It was our second honeymoon as well as a rather short vacation. Short as it is but we definitely took advantage of all the time we had there.
Bohol is a prime tourist destination in the Visayas. An island endowed with natural bounties and rich in cultural heritage. It boasts beaches that rivals that of Boracay’s and is very popular for diving enthusiasts. Bohol has a lot of places that would surely delight your senses.
So how did we get there?
Air Travel
Coming from Manila, we need to get there by plane. So sometime in September, I booked a flight in Cebu Pacific via their online gateway, cebupacificair.com. I got to book one Go(P99+charges) seat and a regular seat which cost me less than P7,000.00 back-and-forth. It could have been lower if I had both seats as promo (Go) but unfortunately, only one seat was available. Apparently, the published Go Rates of Cebu Pacific is limited to a number of seats per flight. But compared to Philippines Airlines price, it still is a steal. Besides, CEB is using their brand new A319 for the Manila-Tagbilaran-Manila route.
Accomodation
We stayed at Dumaluan Beach Resort which we booked months ago. Villa and room prices at this resort are very affordable. Aside from that, Dumaluan is far away from Allona beach area where most of all other popular resorts are in. To top it of, the resort is just right beside the Bohol Beach Club, a high-end, highly-popular and exclusive beach resort in Panglao Island. And you are free to roam their beaches. We booked on a P1650 per night (with breakfast for two) airconditioned villa with no TV but with a bathtub. You won’t need that there, anyway.
You can contact Dumaluan at +6385029081 or you can go their website.
Transportation : Bohol
It is a must that you rent a car(with chauffeur) to get you around Bohol. It is highly recommended that you contact a rent-a-car before you go there so you can negotiate the price. But if you don’t have time for this, transpo is readily available outside the airport. Airport to resort trip usually costs around P500 while a seven-stop trip around Bohol will cost you around P2,000.00. The driver may ask for additional fee for every additional tourist spot you’ll visit. As far as I know, Hinagdanan cave is out of the way so that will incur additional charge.
For the transpo, we hired Tatay Domeng and his KIA Sportage. He’s very good and accomodating and if not with the broken aircon of his service car, he’s very much recommended. When travelling in groups(3 or more), renting a van is much better. You can contact him at +639195226610. Don’t forget to include the driver in you lunch and snacks. 
Food
Dinner in Dumaluan is a little bit pricey and since the area is not commercialized, you don’t really have a choice but buy their food. Actually, the price is still affordable and normal for a resort. To have a taste of the city, ask your chauffeur to drive you to Island City Mall (their own version of SM Malls) where you can find the usual fastfood.
I’ll be creating separate posts for each place that we visited in Bohol so stay tuned.
Filed Under Travel
HongKong is a great place. It is a symbol of development in the region and , along with Singapore, is the envy of its neighbors. A small country as it is (chinese province), it’s almost unbelievable that they have made so much development and progress in a little over a century. As I have said, the British must be very proud of what they did and achieved for HongKong during their occupation of the city. I think that the discipline of its people and the will power of their leaders contributed well, if not the main reason, why they achieved their current status.
In general, we enjoyed the vacation well. We’ve visited a lot of places and shopped in different places. It must be noted that this is also the first time I went out of the country wherein the only purpose is leisure. I had a great time visiting HongKong and surely, my wife and I will be back in the near future. It was really a great experience coming here. It was already the end of the winter season and summer is fast approaching. I’m sure summer is a better time to visit HongKong.
Filed Under Travel
Victoria Peak (85%)
Ok. This is actually one of the few places where you can see a real house… i mean, mansions if you call it. Land in HongKong is so precious and scarce that everybody is living in condominiums and those who can afford to have a mansion must be really rich… as in exceptionally rich.
So to get there, you’ll have to take the Peak Tram bus (top-down double-decker bus) from Central going to the Tram station. You then have to queue and buy the ticket to ride the tram going to the peak. Of course, you can ride a taxi from Central to the Peak Tower but you’ll miss the experience of riding the Tram. I think it is part of the thrill. The view from the top is amazing, it’s like looking at a large postcard but it’s real. The view is breathtaking.
Shopping
I guess everybody will agree that HongKong is the shopping haven of the world. No one should leave me in Sham Shui Po alone and with lots of money because for sure, I’ll spend them in a flash. You’ll find there electronics items, electronic parts, power tools, cellphones, computers and most especially… remote controls …helicopters, airplanes, trucks, heavy machines, robots… oh my, I can’t believe I’ll see so much interesting items!
Errr, for ladies, Sasa is everywhere in HongKong. There you can find perfumes and cosmetics all in bargain prices. And what’s more? They are all originals! For shoes, bags, shirts, jackets, etc, I suggest you visit Tsuen Wan area. It’s at the end of the MTR’s Tsuen Wan Line and since the area isn’t as known as Sham Shui Po, Mong Kok and Temple Streets, the price is lower. My wife even saw an item 50% cheaper than the price in Temple St. Generally, the price in Tsuen Wan area is 30% lower than in Temple and other downtown street markets.Try to check out shops of branded apparels like Bossini, Giordano and Baleno because for sure, you’ll grab one or two items for yourself at very low prices you can’t imagine the items sell at that prices.
I suggest you give yourself at least 5 hours for each of the shopping areas in Sham Shui Po, Mong Kok and Tsuen Wan. Goodluck if you can scour the are in a day.
DisneyLand (95%)
Ok, this may not be as big as the one in Florida and Tokyo but it sure will still entertain you a lot. If you want to take a lot of pictures and enjoy site seeing, this would be the place for you. Though it is a little bit pricey (HK$295), I think it is worth it. I never really thought I’ll be able to go to a DisneyLand in my lifetime but I just did. We arrived at Disney at about 2pm and left at around 9pm or so. The park closes at past 8pm but visitors can still go and shop around. We enjoyed having pictures with the Disney characters. Pooh and Tigger are the best though we would have loved to have picture with Minney Mouse. The queue is quite long so you better make the most of your time.
There’s a lot to see around the park but one must not forget to see Adventure Land and a ride with the Disney Train. Oh I’m really tempted of writing everything we’ve done inside the park. It just shows how I enjoyed it but I have to limit myself with it. Maybe next time…For now, that would be enough. Oh, make sure that you are full before you go here and bring some snack because food in Disney has a stardust in it, you can barely afford them. haha!
Ocean Park (80%)
This theme park at the edge of a hill is the best place for thrill seekers. However, be ready to be patient with long queues on each rides. With a HK$185 price tag, it’s a little bit affordable and it’s near downtown Hongkong, too. Since time is of essence, we just selected some of the attactions inside like the Dolphin Show, Sea Lion, Reef Atoll and most especially, THE CABLE CAR!!! There’s a lot of interesting things to see in this theme park. There’s a lot of food stalls here especially in the BoardWalk area. However, I still suggest that you take your lunch first before you come here. They closes at 8pm so make the most of your time.
Transportation : MTR (90%)
The amazing Octupos card will help you on this. Hongkong has such a very efficient transportation system that you wouldn’t want need to have your own car. Besides, living in a cramped condominium will mean additional cost for parking. We used MTR mainly but there’s another line which is KCR east and west. MTR subway will get you everywhere in downtown HongKong. Those that you cannot reach by subway, use the bus. The British must be very proud of how they transformed HongKong to where and what it is now from its humble beginnings before and during the time of the Opium wars.
Filed Under Travel
OK, before I veer away to a totally different topic, let’s go back to discuss my HongKong vacation.
I’m actually with my wife and three of her friends when I toured HK. We booked a regular package from Holiday World Tours via Active Travel. The Cebu Pacific package is already sold out so we were forced to choose Philippine Airlines which is just fine since they are using the NAIA Centennial Terminal. Of course, PAL comes with a higher price. To make this analysis easy to bite, I’ll post it in several chunks. Each item will be graded and they are as follows.
NAIA Terminal 2 (80%)
At first, I took a turn that made me end up in NAIA Terminal 1. I should have not turned right in Sucat Rd so I immediately proceeded to Terminal 2 after asking directions from the guards. Our friends are already waiting in the terminal for 20 minutes already and they can’t enter the terminal because we have their tickets. It’s not a good day to start a bad hair day for any of them so I pressed the pedal to the metal.
Arriving here from HKG didn’t gave any problem except for a few minor hitches like the arrogant scrutiny of the Custom official. Hmnn… I think I’m already used to that. Airport Taxi will sure ruin your already empty pocket so the four of us (the other one, Lhei was fetched by her mother) just packed all our baggages inside the compartment of my car. We were fortunate that we were able to fit the baggages in and my brother was kind enough to fetch us at 11:30pm. So since terminal 2 is clean and orderly compared to terminal 1, I would give it a fair enough rating.
Airline : Philippine Airlines (80%)
Pricey compared to Cebu Pacific. Used a B747-400 from MNL-HKG. You can feel the turbulence with a Jumbo jet and I guess it’s not about the way the PAL pilot flew the plane but because of the plane itself because when I flew via Cathay Pacific last July, 2005, I experienced the same. Going back to Manila, it was a breeze. We flew on a PAL’s A300 and the ride was smooth. I’m not sure if I just slept deeply but I think I didn’t feel anything until the descent when I felt like my ears are popping out. They served filipino dishes during the flight and they tasted good.
HongKong Airport (Chek Lap Kok) (90%)
This is admittedly one of the most beatiful airports I’ve ever been. It’s better than KLIA and Schipol. It’s huge but clean and orderly. The immigration area is very large and there’s a lot of online counters. I’m all praises to this airport. It’s so huge, you can get lost.
Hotel: Panda Hotel (60%)
Panda Hotel is a 3-star hotel somewhere in Tsuen Wan area. It is quite far from the downtown area where most of the shopping area are located (Mong Kok, Sham Shui Po, etc) but it is still very accessible via MTR. We just used the hotel as a base since what we do there is just sleep and bathe. The rest of the days, we are out shopping!!! However, I wouldn’t recommend you to book on this hotel. Just book here if you can no longer get other hotel. It doesn’t necessarily sucks but with their price, you can get a better one in HongKong that’s near any of the MTR stations. Panda is about 300 meters away from Tai Wu Hao MTR station. That’s quite a walk and remember that all day, you are already walking and 300 meters is not near. No, there’s no pedicab or tricycle that will ferry you to the hotel.
Filed Under Travel
Since I can’t wait
