Ascertain Bliss

Green Kiwi w/ Bagoong

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 04:34:00 +0000

i moved to the Middle Earth..

consider this as an invite to my new home..

see you at :

Solaire

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 00:35:00 +0000

photo : at Solaire's booth during travel expo this year in MOA/SMX
The buzz about Solaire Resort & Casino is too loud to ignore even for a non-casino goer like me. It had opened its grand doors last month and people seemed to be swarming in since then. I see photos of Solaire flooding in the net.

Could no longer resist the hype, last week, I went to check the casino with my brother and my teens! wt#. The facade is so grand with colored lighted water fountain dancing ( not seen in photo ) right about the entrance/drop-off lobby.

Upon entering, we saw the gaming area which seemed to be taking 95% of the whole place. Unlike other casinos located in the different hotels in the country, whereas hidden and private, here at Solaire_ gaming tables and machines are taking over the whole place, open w/o walls and doors. It really is a casino per se.
We passed by the registration area and the q was long. I dismissed the idea of registering cos I know it would be another futile membership card. Like I have Resorts World which sits rotten in my wallet.

Brother wanted so bad to take photos of the gaming area, baccarat tables, slot machines and whatnot. By this time thu', the casino was already off limits for photos. I think they allowed it during the soft opening period cos I saw gazillion photos of people in it, posted in the net.
So what he did, he looked for an area ( in the food court ) where the casino is very much visible, took photos as if aiming for my daughters. Done. This one ( photo ) was one with my daughters, slot machines in the background, haha.
It was actually a Monday night and the casino was in full swing. The area with gaming tables was loaded with players.

Going back to the lobby, apart from the open casino, the grandiose chandelier is stealing the whole scene. Brother said he read that it costs millions and one of a kind. If you're keen about it, do google it. Sorry I'm too lazy now, haha.

Daughters insisted I should have one taken with this grand ( have you noticed it too? I kept using the word all throughout, must be cos the place is really "grand", haha ) painting. Only because I wore a red top and the painting is predominantly red, haha.

We continued on our walking tour ( haha ) and really at this point it was very obvious we were just loitering, haha. Everywhere it's written " below 21 not allowed at this point" ( so I was adamant in finding a single area where I could hide my teens, haha) . As in everywhere!, cos everywhere is a casino premise.

Except for one or two restaurants on the side, which we dared not try to enter cos I read how expensive they are and I honestly couldn't afford them that night. Besides, we came full stomach cos we just had a buffet dinner at MOA ( so much cheaper, haha ).

Until we reached the saving grace _ the food court, where we belong, haha. Food here are relatively expensive also when you compare it to mall food courts, but also relatively affordable from the rest of the place

My girls just bought each a pastry and a drink. Just so we could mask our obvious loitering, haha. Me, I didn't get any, I was literally still burping when we got here from the dinner buffet.

Then we were good to go. But first brother wanted a photo op with this dude! The car I guess is a a grand price in one of the casino games. I just had to crop the photo cos brod didn't want to be seen here, haha.

Proportionately, so far at this stage, Solaire actually reminds me of Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.

April Fools 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 23:31:00 +0000

I am such a permanent prank on April Fools. I was born on April 1. Don't worry about me, I'm ok with the date of my birthday. If I would be granted to choose my birthday, I wouldn't hesitate to keep April 1. It's a happy day. The world is busy making prank on each other. What's more fun than practical jokes!
Here in Ph, my birthday usually falls on a holiday. It would either be a day in a Lent or sometimes it would fall on Easter Day. This year it was the day after Easter.

It was my first time not to spend my birthday with husband (since I got married ). I guess, my daughters were so aware of this fact, they took ownership of making me happy on my birthday this year. Not that they hadn't in the past, only this time, they were on their own ( piggybank stashed, haha ) w/o the dad financing.

One of the little highlights of my day was they surprised me with a birthday cake.

Having cake on my birthday? Oh man I tell ya, it's big for me! Already! I couldn't remember the last time I had a birthday cake with candles to blow for a wish.. and I have been bithday-ing for two scores + some years now. Do the math, will ya?

Oh sure, last year ( 2012 photo ), I almost had a birthday cake in one of my birthday post celebrations. It was a random ~~restaurant~~ complimentary cake slice and no candles, so it's not counted, haha.

This year, I was also with the same friends on my birthday. Just at home with random snacks, and you know what was the prank of the day? .. aside from it was a bad hair day for me, haha..

!
!
!

I had accidentally deleted all photos my friend took of my birthday, surprised cake moments included, haha. Also we found out, the camera was memory cardless, haha.

So this one ( photo ) was actually not candid anymore but a retake, haha.

Although I missed husband + bday getaways, it was a happy birthday. I was with my daughters as always and close friends. Those who weren't there made their greetings over phone calls and ofcourse FB messages. Thankyouverymuch <3.

The next day, I celebrated again with a bestfriend over a lunch buffet. Thankyou.

I still had the cake vibe in me, so I had a plateful of pastries, I knew I couldn't finish them thu'. But hey it's my birthday..haha.

The greatest gift ofcourse is the gift of life. Thank you Lord <3.

LTO 2013 : Student Permit

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 03:46:00 +0000

Last Tuesday, I dragged my older daughter from her bed to LTO, to get her a student permit (driver's license) so early before 8am. That day she had to attend classes start at noon and didn't have a good night sleep. Hence the cranky face ( photo ).

Before which, I goggled around the net about requirements. The official website of LTO was down ( I thought so ) and only found some from personal blogs which are dated and I didn't find any with the present year. I couldn't rely on dated blogs cos as we all know, government agency like LTO changes its rules from time to time. So upon entering the nearest ( to my home) LTO branch ( Las Pinas) , I went straight to the requirements wall area and had confirmed the following rules :

For Filipino Applicants :

Qualifications :

> must be at least 16 years old
> must be mentally and physically fit to operate a vehicle
> must be able to read and write in Filipino or English

Requirements :

For 18 years old and above

> original and photocopy of birth certificate
> in the absence of bc, you can use any government issued ID/documents : SSS, TIN, passport,etc.

For minor below 18 years old

> include a written consent of a parent/ guardian w/ xerox copy of ID

Basically those are the only infos that I needed to know for my daughter. She's already 18 years old and only needed a xerox copy of her birth certificate to go with the application form.

A staff ( the man in green/ photo) who monitored/ facilitated the customer service area was very attentive and upon knowing our purpose,

he immediately handed my daughter an application form to be filled -up. He guided us to the sitting queue which luckily was not yet heavy at 8 am. LTO official business hour starts at 8am. Daughter was # 18. Not bad.

30 minutes, to 40 minutes at the customer waiting area but the transaction windows were still closed. After us, the q was beginning to grow heavy. The facilitator said to wait for further announcement cos at the moment this branch was still offline. Before 9am, an announcement was heard, suggesting transfer to nearer branches like Muntinlupa & Paranaque which were already online or if not in a hurry wait until the branch got online.
Daughter couldn't wait cos of her classes. I asked if this LTO would still be open the next day ( almost a Lent holiday, holy Wed.)

Yes it would be. So we quit the q and headed home.

So yesterday ( holy Thurs. ) was a take two of the previous day. We were at the same LTO at exactly 8am. Look, it was breezy ( photo ). Very light crowd, heaven! The semi-holiday (Holy week) worked to our advantage.

Daughter was #8 of the q that was already moving. Yay!

Took just 15 minutes max at the customer waiting area, then daughter moved to the next q for evaluation. After another 15 minutes, daughter was called to the image capturing and electronic signature window.

Beside the girl ( photo ) doing electronic signing is the window for evaluation where documents and application are being evaluated. Also there, the applicant is asked to read aloud an oath ( in English or Filipino, your choice ), with right hand raised ofcourse.

Daughter almost done, with only two steps left to do_ payment and claim. We did our favorite diversion while waiting _ phone camwhoring! haha. Out of nowhere a handsome man appeared walking infront of our seat. #swoon, haha. It was local actor/celebrity Jomari Yllana. Now Jomari passing by us and we thought we had captured him in the background, haha. Failed!

Then daughter was called for payment. Total = P317.63 only.

Subsequently, she was called at the releasing window. Finally her student permit was released!!! Very happy cos it only took exactly one hour for the whole process!

We rewarded ourselves for the job well done with hearty breakfast at the nearest fastfood.

Casa Manila

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 03:30:00 +0000

One of the houses inside Plaza San Luis Complex inside Intramuros, Manila is Casa Manila.

The house museum showcases a life style of the Illustrados - the rich Filipinos during the 19th-20th century, who were given almost equal privileges as the Spaniards who ruled our country then.

It has a beautiful courtyard which presently is a popular choice for wedding reception venue and other events.

The house is huge and now a days it could easily be mistaken as a hotel. But during the 19th-20th century, it was just but a typical home of an Illustrado family. Inside are authentic antique furniture of the said era.

It was a Monday ( photos taken in 2010 ). The museum was close. Cousins were very insistent. I suggested we used the exit stairs to enter the house.

A guardia civil ( guard in character of Spanish soldier ) suddenly appeared by the kitchen window and stopped us from entering the premises. haha.

Oh well, have you noticed?_ I knew quite well my way in here? Hold tight cos I'm going to reveal to you one of my secrets...

I used to reside in this house.. eerie? haha. It's me! 16 years ago! Relief?.. that I didn't say hundred years ago? haha.

Fact is : I was assigned there for couple of months when I was an employee of Dept. of Tourism. How's that? Yes my dear, yours truly was once a bonafide government employee ( for a long time actually).

Now, I'm not going to just give you a peek of the museum but also of my ~~shameless~~ vintage photos, taken pre-digital years, haha.

A blast in the past!

Right here ( daughter & me photo) my older daughter was only 3 years old.

There was a period that I didn't have a nanny so I had to sneak her in and brought her to work everyday. Haay, the story of my working mom life. Now, this girl is turning 19 next month. Can you believe it?

Yes, I had to sport sets of authentic Filipina dresses of 19th-20th century as daily uniforms.

If you're going to visit the museum these days, the included exhibit of the 19th-20th centuries Filipino dresses during my time, is ofcourse not there anymore. It was just a season exhibit which was also why we were assigned there for a certain period only.

I actually attempted to give you a short tour of the house and wanted to share something about the specific parts shown on the old photos. Mind you, we memorized a scripted 5 pages tour of the museum and had them recited everyday for every visitor/group , countless times a day.
So here, after 16 years, approaching (if not there yet, in denial?) old age, I couldn't grasp a word . I couldn't even remember the parts of the room.

I just hope the vintage photos somehow gave you a glimpse of what's inside, and hey Casa Manila museum is just there in Intramuros , in case you haven't been there and keen on a heritage tour.

A Baby Dedication

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 04:56:00 +0000

My newest godchild is such a doll. Looking at her in this pic, right now I feel like I want to squeeze her like a marshmallow, haha. Soo cute! Notice how awkward the way I held her?

Excuse me, but my youngest daughter is already 13 years old. Should I explain further? haha.

Two months ago, I attended this Christian ceremony as one of the god mothers who are actually long time friends from my daughters' school. My newest "kumare" ( my godchild's pretty pretty mom ) has her older kids going in the same school too. So technically, they are my co-parents. But more. I mean, my friendship with them has grown big as our kids grew from pre-school to... my golly, some of our kids are actually in college now!

Although I'm a Catholic, this was not my first time to witness such. I had attended a number of my in laws' ( who are mostly Born Again Christians) similar event, but only as a ( eating, haha! ) guest. Hence I didn't really have a good grasp of the significant of the ceremony being that different from our baptismal in Catholic church.

First of all, this one is not called " baptismal / Christening ", but "dedication". I gathered that the rite is somehow a public statement by the parents, dedicating their child in the Christian faith. When the child reaches a certain age, when she's matured already to place her faith in Christ, then that's the time she would be baptized.

Hmm, that makes sense to me.

Oh well, I'm not really going to dig further. I know_ don't talk politics and religion in public, especially if you are not religious like me, haha.

Makes sense????

I actually dedicate this post to my beautiful god child with a beautiful name Haley Thiarese. I know you can't read this yet, but when you grow-up in this highly virtual world, when you stumble-upon this blog ( if blogspot is still around, fingers crossedxxx ), I hope this would take you back to the day of your dedication when I begun to partake in a pixel of your life.

How Are You : Catanauan Cove

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 08:41:00 +0000

Sometimes, it took me months ( even over a year ) to find and reply comments in my old posts cos I don't get to read them right away, unlike those who comment using blogger account. I would only find them when I get to revisit my old posts. Nevertheless, however late and futile already_ I still reply.

Like_ just today I found this almost a year old comment (above screenshot) in my Catanauan Cove post. The resort post itself is already almost three years old (2010). I thought of doing a sort of update about the resort which brought me back to my old post. There I found the comment which I replied right away.

Well, the sad part is the comment is full of disappointment about the resort and quite contrary to what I was claiming in that post. The difference is I came to visit Catanauan Cove in its earliest phase. In its almost virginal state.

Personally, I've long wanted to revisit this private resort in Bondoc Peninsula (Quezon Province). I wanted to see how it progressed since my visit in 2010 when it was still relatively undergoing construction and found it to be a paradise of a beach. If only I had not gotten negative feedback from one of my bestfriends when she & family came to experience the place last Nov. 2012. I would have had revisited it by this time. Above photo was actually hers, taken during her visit. Oh well, I stole it from her FB and the rest of the photos coming below, haha. She'll never find-out anyway. She doesn't read my blog, haha.

this infinity pool, overlooking the ocean, was not yet there during my visit. nice!

I don't remember the resort having this area either, I guess it wasn't there yet too.

But I remember there were already activities for rent like kayak even then.

From this view, seems the beach is perfectly alright..

Not quite obvious with this photo of the beach she took, the reader's comments above, echoed and reaffirmed my friend's disappointments towards the resort. She exactly told me that the water was dirty and full of jelly fishes. I actually felt a little of guilt here cos I highly recommended the place to her. Expecting that the place must be more beautiful by that time cos of added structures like the infinity pool and whatnot. My friend also added the isolation she felt with fear cos she & family was the only overnight guest that time. It was a holiday in November. They stayed in a cottage by the beach.

I feel a little sadness here cos I truly feel concerned. I was happy when I discovered that there was a high-end resort in my home province (Quezon), I also love the proximity of it from Manila and that it's only takes a short road trip. I really thought I would come to frequent this resort on its full blast.. but well, hearing these low maintenance buzz..

I wonder why the resort can't get motivated by their tree.. imagine 130 years old and still strong and beautiful. The resort is barely three years and already maintenance is an issue. Catanauan Cove is I think going for members only when it reaches its full capacity and temporarily open to the public.

Sad :(

Phil. Travel Expo 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 05:45:00 +0000

Like last year , I went to Phil. travex this year on the first day_ a Friday at MOA/SMX. Unlike last year thu', I didn't have any itinerary to fill-in.

This time, it was more snooping around. Had no intention to buy & book any airfare nor accommodation. Also travex helped me huge to kill time while waiting for my daughters who were at the MOA Arena ( just across this SMX) watching concert of Paramore. I was with a girlfriend.

Still, couldn't help but to be gushy over cheap deals available in the expo. Only I couldn't really really commit future dates at this time. Mainly because my daughter in college has undefined school schedule 'til summer. Neither I could be able to travel without my girls the way I used to when husband was still around. But with my partner at farfar away land now, nobody will sit for my baby teens.

Back to the expo, crowd wasn't that mad when I entered. Maybe because it was already late at past 6 pm. Only, few hours left before closing at 9pm.

Airways booking still busy thu'. But not as crazy as I had seen in the past years. If I were keen on booking a flight, I thought the q was relatively manageable.

Province of Leyte booth with beautiful mannequin.

A tv production covering the event.

Thailand booth with actual spa/massage going on. I saw a tip box there, token from those who would succumb to the temptation, haha.

Quite similar those two. Don't you think so?

Guam with live music and dance.

Girlfriend and I had fun at Solaire Casino & Resort booth. It has photo live booth which snaps a photo then you can upload & post it on your FB account same minute.. haha, yes we are that shallow!

There are also some slot machines for demo purposes. Solaire Casino & Resort is opening next month here in Ph.

There goes my PH travex this year. I'm happy to note that this time my wallet had not been slashed.. cos I didn't buy any deal! haha.

Outbound Activity @UPLB

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 09:51:00 +0000

My younger daughter is 13 years old. Sometimes I suspect, the age gap between us is taking its little toll. Like this morning, as usual I prepared her lunch+recess box for school, in to her Igloo lunch bag which she herself bought by her own money. To my annoyance, she transferred everything in a small paper bag, kissed me goodbye and left for school. wt#.

Other than those small annoying teen's acts, this girl is actually very sweet. And still my tail, or so I thought..
cos it hurts to recall when she started to stop me accompanying her to school trips. Like a year or two maybe?. She thought otherwise thu'. She would tease me that I'm a clingy mom! haha.

Weeks ago her school had an outbound activity in U.P.,Los Banos, Laguna. I guess you could equate it to a day camp or a team building.
Ofcourse, I wasn't allowed to go with her. Tears :(:)

I just stole these photos from her schoolmates and teachers. Thank you.

Two days ago before that outbound day, she just got out of flu. So you could imagine how worried I was when I saw this photo of her mud crawling..

Notwithstanding the special considerations I requested from her school to be excused from extreme activities. Daughter said the kind principal was in anyway watchful of her and always asking her if she could do a certain activity before she was allowed.

But there she was.. all fun for her. She said yes to all activities, needless to say.

Some happy trekking photos..

Setting the bar a bit higher_ a little hiking up a low- highland?

The hiking/trekking daughter loved so much. She said it was so easy for her to do this activity cos she's used to it. We frequent some adventure trekking like here., here, here, here, and I know there are more post links in my archive. I'm just lazy now to do it, haha.

I have never heard my daughter talked with praises about her school trips eversince. This was the first time she went home all happy face bubbling with recollections of the outbound activity.

This must be something for her.

When I saw her photos in F.B...

I'd say_yes indeed :)

p.s.: she also took home muddy shoes and clothes :))
pps: and a box of delicious buco pie <3

updating going on...

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 03:14:00 +0000

I'm happy most of the photo links in this blog that have been cut for quite awhile,
are now working.

It happened, I was not aware that the host of my photos weren't able to transmit the images to blogspot.
Until a concerned reader ( ty so much my dear only one follower, haha ) emailed me that my blog photos weren't showing.
I checked and found out that indeed only scripts were left. No pictures.
wt#.

Almost 400++ posts since 2009 ( not counting another hundreds of posts at my other blog with the same predicament). Nos. of photos x nos. of post x nos. of years = nos. of photos to reload!!!

I got overwhelmed just thinking about the works I have to put all over again to this blog ( and to the other one ). I don't even..
Anyway, my blogs are so low profile and if not stumbled upon, no one would know. No relatives and close friends read my blogs. Neither my husband nor my daughters (my blog muses) read my posts.
I reckoned, letting go (as in let my blogs die a natural death) is the easiest option.
Yes?
Oh no!
I can't.
My blogs are my personal recollections since 2009. I put so much heart and soul into them. Okey not so much soul, but cast them in the air? I'd die.
I'm a sucker of memories like that.

So I have started to update the photo links and thu' it has been quite a wholatta works, I've been enjoying reading each old post.
Obviously, I'm my no.1 ( maybe the only one? ) follower. haha.
Haven't updated all the posts, but almost there..

In the process, I hope to be able to post new ones..

ps: hey, the last one is my own! it's actually a painting of me (w/o the scripts ofcourse) by brother. it has been up on the wall in my bedroom for the longest time. took a photo of it and tadah! how about a pat on the back. thankyou.:))

Alma Mater Matters..

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 14:01:00 +0000

Few months back, I went to visit my alma mater. First time since I graduated from college decades ago. It's a shame that I'm admitting I haven't looked back ever since Haven't attended a single class reunion or any alumni homecoming. I was so totally cut off. I blame it to the stage of life called "adulthood', haha. I was consumed and still is, by the challenges thereof _ careers, marriage, children and infinite whatnots. Some of my classmates, I got reconnected only through Facebook, just lately.

I entered the familiar gate of my youth and walked the same corridors my black school shoe used to walk on a daily basis decades ago. I saw nuns and uniformed girls who mobbed me with flashed back memories.

drama. cut!!!

I reached my destination. The registrar. I just had to get some school documents that would support my present venture. Done in a minute.

By the way, I went with my girls. None of them go to this school, just so you know.We made a little tour. I thought this would give them a little glimpse of their mother's student life.

It used to be an exclusive for girls school during my time. Today, it's now an open gender school and already a university.

Before I bid goodbye to my alma mater once more, I dropped by the prayer room with my girls, the same one I frequented when I was a student here.. many many years ago.

Crazy About The Hobbit

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 07:51:00 +0000

It all started with The Hobbit which they watched last X'mas holiday and fell in love with this pre-sequel of Lord Of The Rings. My girls couldn't get over it and had me dvd marathon-ed with them the trilogy..

..of LOTR : Fellowship Of The Ring, Two Towers & Return Of The King. We dedicated the recent weekends to be consumed by these 3 loong movies at home. Yes two days of LORT!!! Notwithstanding the fact that I had seen them all in the theaters with husband on each actual showing.

Well now, blame me never if my Englishes gots my masters really confuses, haha.

Furthermore, my dreamy girls have raised the bar of their hobbit's craze. They are presently bugging their dad to bring them to The Hobbiton. Atleast, they want a promise from him. Not to make haste (haha, so hobbiton!), they can wait.

We all know that this location set is open to the public and offering Movie Set Tours for a fee ofcourse. In New Zealand. wt#???
In fairness to my girls, they know dreams come true. Their dad is actually currently based in this land of the hobbits.
So, maybe..

.. my girls' fingers are crossed. haha. Good luck my preeeciousss ( gollum??? )

p.s. in case you haven't seen this flight so full of hobbits, elves, dwarves, orcs && other LOTR characters

enjoy!

To Go Or Not 2Go?

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 05:43:00 +0000

Our recent Boracay commenced very much with tidbits of challenging peak-y flight to Caticlan, but with quite comfy arrival transfers. It was also spiced by two opposite accommodations here and there. Now we reach the clincher_ our departure from the island back to our home.

Already, our last day was a "reroute", cancellation of our flight back to Mla, was expected. Neither I expected a positive rebooking. haller!! Miracles don't happen on a peak season!!!

So I looked for the next available option.

If we couldn't fly, maybe we could sail??? Right away ( like 3days before, while still at the beginning of our holiday ) I booked at 2GO via internet and had randomly purchased us e-tickets. Luckily I was able to get slots for three but didn't have much choice about the beds. I just somehow availed whatever available. As long as it would get us back safe to Manila on the date we needed to be there, it was fine.

I was excited for my girls as it would be their first to experience to board a ship. The girls were giddy about it.

.. and then _ I overheard the loudest NO!! from my husband (overseas) when daughter mentioned to him that I had booked us at 2GO for our trip back to Manila. Well, that too was expected. I knew so well that my over protected husband/dad wouldn't let us travel by sea, on a ship that would run on the darkest hours ( 7pm to 5am ), even with him, especially without him!
I knew that would be very difficult on him.
But I gotta do what a mother gotta do.
Be reourceful.
Be dual.
Be the "man".
Quick.
Firm.

.. and avoid confrontations. haha. So I hid while daughters tried to soothe the angry/worried dad. In the end the dad had no choice. But to pray for our safety.

We checked-out from our room on the roof top and had departure transfers quite a contrary of our arrival transfers. We carried our luggage and walked a sandy alley off to the road where we hailed a tricycle and asked the driver to bring us to the port. For the ride, we paid P100 only.

At the Boracay jetty port, we rode a passenger ferry (aircon) for less than P50/head and in less than 25 minutes we got back to Caticlan port.

We were at the ticketing office of 2GO in Caticlan atleast 3.5 hours before departure time per advice from the e-ticket. I thought it was ok thinking I would have time to upgrade our boat accommodation in case there were available slots. Only to find out that there was no way for any upgrades. It was super fully booked already and many people were chancing their ways to get slots but to no avail. Also, you don't need to be that early. An hour before departure time is fine.

At 5:30pm, dep. time was at 7pm, we proceeded to the port to q for the port/tax payment and eventually got inside the boarding gate.
It was killing us. After the 3.5 hours of waiting at the ticket office, again there_ we were waiting to board for how long more? We didn't know. At the other room, more people were waiting to board.

The only consolation we had was the sunset happening beautifully infront of us. Otherwise, the boarding gate/room was queasy, sweaty or was it just me and my girls?

What followed was the part that would make me not 2GO next time :

I lost track of how long we stayed there but I would say atleast 2 hours. I witnessed how crazy the boarding was with other boat ahead of us. There was only a small door/gate where passengers were supposed to exit to go board the ship. The q was mad! No system at all. And then the name of our boat was announced for boarding. Commotion. Then followed by another confused announcement of another boat name. No one was sure of what boat would board/depart first! omg! wt#! Angry voices! Everyone wanted to be the first to go out that small gate of an exit.I could relate. I felt the same. I needed the fresh sea air badly or I would collapse. Lots of pushing here and there. I held my girls' hand until we made it outside. Then we had to walk, almost run, briskly to get to the jetty. When we got near the boat, only then that people q kindly and patiently.
wt#!!!!

Finally we got boarded. There was a mini welcome concert happening there at the lobby of the ship.

I passed by the reception counter and overheard a number of people complaining about their room /bed reservations. Loud angry voices. Then it reminded me I needed to make a stop myself for some concerns. I read in our tickets that my girls and I got beds so far away from each other. At the ticketing office in Caticlan, I was advised to settle my concern with the on board reception officers. The reception told me to wait until the rest of the boat settle down so they could make some arrangement for me. There were atleast more than 7 people I heard with the same concern as mine.

We went ahead to locate our beds at the "tourist" area which was with centralized ac, and the whole place was surprisingly clean, organized, and quite habitable. I was pleased. My girls were excited for this new experience.

This is how an actual bunk bed of 2GO looks. Nice actually.

A little disappointment thu'_ I thought there would be only a small number of bunk beds per room. Turned out like hundreds of them in a hall. No choice at this point.
Toilets & baths were common.

We managed to resolve our concern on our own. We found out that my two girls' beds were actually nestled side by side, being both the upper parts of the beds. The bed nos. deceived us, we thought they were far away from each other, but actually not .The girls were happy.
Me not yet. Mine was located at the next hall. That was the problem.

I waited for the first level of my older daughter's bed to be claimed. I planned to switch my own if possible. My younger daughter's 1st level bed was already occupied by an elder woman who right away refused my request.

On the other side, luckily, the claimant was a young man with a kind heart. Immediately he agreed for a switch. Problem solved!!!

Now that our bed concerns were settled, we had to answer the hungry calls of our tummies.

Hot/set meal available . One viand+rice+side dish+canned drink for a minimal cost. We were satisfied.

There was also a snack bar at the lobby.

After the set meal dinner, we were knocked down. The last announcement I heard was an invite to grace the boat bar at the next level. None of us knew when the boat moved to depart Caticlan. We were already deep in sleep at that point.

The following morning, I woke-up seeing my daughters having hot-choco ( they bought from the snack bar) by the window of the ship, near our bunk beds.

No more time to go around the ship cos by this time we had reached our destination, It was around 6am.

Good morning Batangas port!!!! Yap, it was Caticlan-Batangas, no direct trip to Manila.

From Batangas post, we took an aircon bus bound to Alabang. No hassle. Buses were waiting right outside the fence of the Batangas port. We reached Alabang in 1.5 hours.

Safe and sound. Proud too. Of my girls, of myself, for having gotten through this challenging trip with those bumps along the way, we still managed to have fun all the way!

* 2GO or not 2Go?
Yes again, why not. I'll just make sure I get a private cabin and not during peak season please, cos I think the crazy boarding had to blame the huge influx of passengers, aside from I'd say lack of boarding system. Hopefully, 2GO would be able to resolve this cos really it's one good alternative to/from Boracay.

Boracay2012 : Our Room 2

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 03:35:00 +0000

.. and I thought this time I would have a quiet, private Boracay with my girls when I booked our accommodations at Fairways & Bluewaters cos it's tucked away from the pulsating beaches of stations 3,2 &1. Are you kidding me??? 95% of our recent Boracay was spent at the long beach. The whole day. And some little nights.

#can you spot us? Our long beach days ended in a q like this..

.. at the road end of D'Mall where shuttle services of hotels/resorts located away from the beach stations like our resort, and the likes of Shangrila, Discovery Shores, etc. , drop and pick-up guests. For four days, we were commuting back and forth to Fairways & Bluewaters / D'Mall.

It was actually hassle-free cos it's not that far anyway but my girls pleaded to extend a day stay at Boracay and wanted it to be at the long beach.please,please. haha.

So on our second day, we were already scouting around station 2 for an overnight accommodation. It was difficult to get a room then cos it was a peak season, hence a long weekend holiday and a Saturday at that. Almost all hotels we like were fully booked if not located hideously.

Until finally, with the help of a local, we landed in a room at the uppermost floor of this little building. It's right beside Astoria, where I stayed before. The location is awesome cos it's at the tail of station 1 and at the head of station 2, sort of. It's beachfront and just perfect for our extended stay.

Our room is technically at the roof top of the building. Obviously this is a no high end hotel which is just befitting my shallow pocket at this point.

There are only three units at the rooftop and very very brand new. As in... we were the first guest to use it. I'm always so happy to stay in a brand new place. So much so that if you would make me choose to stay between a grand but old tired room and a humble but new room like this_ I'd choose the latter ofcourse! When the room was showed to us, the night before we checked-in, it was still under going finishing touches with a promise that it would be all ready for us the following day.

Nothing much inside but a bed and a t.v. But you don't need much if you're in Boracay!! Anything you put inside a room would just be a useless distraction to the world class beach outside your door.

And how about a generous free wifi!!! In our previous hotel, we paid for wifi, hourly.

Bathroom with brand new toilet fixtures, the best!

Even better cos our stairs landed at the door of Real Coffee & Tea Cafe. Downstairs also were Hawaian Bbq and Yellow Cab.

Not to forget that Astoria was just right beside us, which had awesome Halloween themed dinner by the beach that season. Now you ask : What's inside that coffin????

See ya!

* our room @ Fairways & Bluewaters here.

Beach Coves

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 14:56:00 +0000

Before my memory of Fairways & Bluewaters, Boracay totally fails me, I thought I ought to share the rest of my experience there, right now or never:) It has been a month, let me refresh you from my latest post on this to the previous-est : around this resort, the most fun filled activity we had here , our room, our awesome land & sea transfer, our Halloween outside the resort. Then now we go....

... from where I was standing here ( please ignore the empty bottles of smbeers, definitely not mine, haha., it was 7 am, haller!!), I saw...

these

One of the private beach coves of the resorts.

And this one too. Obviously, privacy is generously provided at this resort.

This also caught my eyes.

I lingered a little at my chosen platform and enjoyed more my bird's eye-viewing..

At the other side, I spotted the biggest beach cove of the resort.

It has a longer u-shaped white Boracay beach...

.. disrupted by a massive rock formation with a hole like a gate but no doubt another true beauty by itself.

I knew right then that that's the beach to check- out first, over the other beach coves in the resort. Besides at this point my younger daughter was pushing me to bring her to the infinity pool which is located there and if you're keen about it, you could jump here to see.

So there we went down the beach and that's me and younger daughter. Seems such a perfect beach, right?.. from a far!

Unfortunately, closer_ there's my older daughter tiptoeing over what-are-they? Massive seaweed garbage? I got confused, I was thinking : well atleast those are still organic and naturally sea produced. But still... you can't swim with them getting all over your body. That's so gross.

And then, came the real garbage. Plastic cups, candy/chips plastic wrappers. Such a shame for a high-end resort, don't you think so? Especially that the rest of Boracay : many other private beaches, stations 1,2,3 long beaches. are all so clean and white and pristine and oh so perfect Boracay!!!

Then, as if the management had e- read my thoughts..that quick, before I even thought of tweeting it ( haha, no worry, my tweeter account is dormant and never been used since created, haha ) a truck arrived with cleaning aides and started to clean-up.

So maybe, we were just too early for the beach. It was 7 am.

We chilled away from the water while the aides were busy cleaning up. In fairness, can you spot the perfect
sugary super white sand?

The villas behind us are spa cottages. I'll make a separate post on it, maybe later ;)

We also found the cave chapel nearby these spa cottages.

After seeing that we couldn't use the first beach for a swim..yet, we thought of checking the other one nearest which is located after another rock formation behind me (*see photo) at the end of the first beach. But actually changed our mind and decided to go out of the resort and go to the stations beaches.

The following morning, after breakfast, we went to check this other beach of the resort. This one is smaller. Same should have been perfect beach except that it lacked maintenance. The big rock is in full view here and quite an awesome photo backdrop.

Yet, the privacy and "au naturel" state of this beach served its purpose for us to take beautiful photos for our private collections like the one above.

Noel Bazaar 2012 (part2)

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 05:08:00 +0000

From part one of my post on Noel Bazaar 2012, here goes the part two. That cute Asian doll, we saw with his siblings...

.. at this booth with more cute stuffs. Lots of pastel dainty collectibles.

Mossimo. Well, seems like a sale is always happening on its mall outlets. What's new.

Keep calm and don't splurge.

Splurge and freak out.

Neon fashion bloggers' accessories. I say "fashion bloggers" cos I see them on the otd posts, wearing gazillion arm candies & necklaces & belts_ all at once, like a Christmas tree dressed with shining ornaments! Pardon me. I'm old. Can't relate. haha.

Bib or collar necklaces? Don't know how to call them. My girls thu' have already accumulated quite a number of them at home, yet I haven't seen them wearing any of them yet.

Make-up. Free make over! *wordless about make-up, haha. Not wearing much lately. I nearly forgot how to put it on mah face. Totally on a cool-off period with these girl's bf.

Too many shoes..

Too many to let them collect dust on shoe racks at home, if we buy more.

.. lots of folded flats also, which I say a pair of is a must- have for itchy feet like mine.

Hip shorts. My girls love them. They purchased like 5 pairs.

And women, what is a bazaar if not for tons of dresses and tops, on sale!

I pleaded my older daughter not to purchase anymore of those dresses thu'. Her closet is already screaming for space! I think she should be banned from bazaars for the next 2 years, haha. Or maybe she should have a booth herself. Sell what? Her pre-loved clothes!!! For 90% off. Fair enough?

Noel Bazaar 2012 (part1)

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 04:36:00 +0000

This post is on Noel Bazaar 2012. If I'm counting it right this would be the 3rd year I'm giving this bazaar a whole lotta' space here @ my unknown blog :))) for free!!! No matter how small this blog is, Noel Bazaar, you can't totally ignore it cos during "ber" months, atleast 500 readers minimum!! daily! drop by to browse my Noel Bazaar annual post alone : Noel Bazaar 2011 part2 , Noel Bazaar2011 part1, Noel Bazaar2010, and some more in my food blog . Sorry, I'm just lazy now to gather/include more links.

What I'm trying to say is_ hey Noel can you just spare me an entrance fee everytime I visit you??? haha. Remember the face of this cheapskate mom!! ok, I kid! Entrance is only P50 by the way.

We went there yesterday, a Sunday here at Ph. The lobby display theme is seemingly white Christmas. With those fake snow the kids surely love.

I'm reiterating here _ I'm so over these bazaars ( except food bazaar! that's a different story), I easily get bored by the aisle and aisle of booths with the same boring items. Blame it to my age. I've been to so many bazaars in my life, I thought I had seen them all. Yet I still go. For my girls. Whose fun spells cheap shopping thrills.

Yet I couldn't deny some booths still provide me a"tick". Can you spot me there???

@ the Lacoste overruns booth! which I'd say the box office hit! Everyone was there grabbing a Lacoste bag. Selling for P2.5k each bag, for all types available. I mean big and small priced the same. Ofcourse designs were limited but people were crazy about it! I heard they charged additional P100 for the paper bag.

No, I didn't get any. I know, it was a steal for P2.5k. But I don't just buy cos it's a steal. I didn't find a design for my liking. So I made a pass on it.

Another booth which I thought was interesting_ the designers' eyeglasse/shades. For P1.5k and up. Those fitted my budget went against my taste. So bye-buy here too. I think I saw the same booth at Robinson's. Manila.

After those two booths, I found other booths not much of my interest. Oops! there was another one to include thu'_

The Rustan's booth. Which was kindah' lame too. Except for the cute boxes of Schwarzkopf hair color.

I bet these are already available at the department stores, only we saw them first here so my daughters were excited about the colors. They didn't stop until I bought for them. P510/P570 each. I have no idea how much is the regular price at regular stores. Actually this was the only item I bought from the whole bazaar :))). And it's not even for me.

I snooped a bit at this booth too..

.. but walked away fast too..

As usual, this bazaar includes a stage program. Only yesterday got a boring show with a magician I think:).

Along the celebrities' booths lane, there wasn't one that's worth to mention. Although my daughters were excited when they saw a booth of Ramon Bautista. Yeah, my girls are fan of the wacky Ramon. Few months ago, they bought a pocket book by Ramon B. and saw them laughing so hard while browsing it together. Anyway, they were disappointed that it wasn't ready yet when we first passed by it.

Before we exited they made sure to come back to that booth. It was on business already. See how they took a pic of each infront of the booth. haha. fans! Not much to see there also. Few books of Ramon, some tshirts, maybe by Tado and few pre-loved clothes.

I intended not to buy anymore nachos cos I had bought already from the grocery two days ago. Had I known we would go here, I would definitely buy here.

Gelato. Always mouth watering eye candy.

Allright.
shall cut here.
for now.
I
will
see
you
on
part 2.

Around Fairways & Bluewaters

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 09:29:00 +0000

This was the road view from the window of our room. Across was the panoramic view of the sprawling world-class golf course of Fairways & Bluewaters, Boracay. And wt# was wrong with me??? I didn't even bother to snap a single photo of the lush greens fairways. And we were there inside Fairways & Bluewaters for 4 days with nothing but bluewaters and fairways!! wt#!!!!

See, I even snapped some of useless greens but none of the beautiful fairways, just few feet across where I was. Blame my lack of inclination for golf. Maybe later when I get the chance to play golf, you'll see nothing here but golf.golf.golf. haha.

I know I promised you a tour of the resort ( for those who haven't been there yet, stay with me. and if you've been there already, whatelse you're waiting for? go browse other blog, haha ).

Beach holiday here could be boring if you start comparing it to the busy loud long white beaches of stations 3,2,&1 of Boracay. Especially if you don't "golf". Wt#, isn't the name of the resort a give away already?? Yet, the privacy and luxury provided compensate for the lack of noise and vibrancy and that's quite fabulous for old hen like me. Not so much for my teens thu' . So I tried to balance it for them. We kindah had 60/40 of both Boracays. That_ I would share in my coming post. But now, here let's go around the resort.

It was easy to get spoiled here. Generous shuttle services were provided both for around resort and around town.

Inside the resort,they used e-shuttle like this. I've seen similar version of it in other resorts in the country.

I'd say the hotel lobby was the ugliest part of the resort. It was tired and outdated. Opposite of the brand new villa we stayed-in. It seemed to be the oldest structure in the resort. Definitely in need of total make- over to match the rest of the resort.

The resort / hotel has the following facilities :

• Exclusive clubhouse
• Food and beverage outlets
• Mari's Spa (Salus per aquam)
• E-jeepneys (24 hour shuttle service inside the resort, as well as pickup in D'Mall every hour until 10 PM)
• 40 new eco-friendly golf carts
• Over 250 well-appointed guestrooms
• 18-hole championship golf course
• 4 private beach coves
• 2 Infinity Pools (the biggest freshwater pools on the island)
• La Terraza Restaurant
• Ballroom/Convention Hall
• Meeting rooms
• 24 hour security

* yep. I copied pasted again. from their website. haha.

Buffet breakfasts were served at La Terraza Restaurant with awesome ocean view. The food? Oh well, later at my food blog. I've started posting some of our Boracay food trips there. If you're keen about food. jump here.

Daughters were excited to have their morning swim after breakfast. Seemed like we were too early cos the first pool was under treatment when we came. It was the elevated one Did you notice that beautiful rock structure at the background?

I'd be happy to have some photo ops there, but it was currently close to the public.

Daughters insisted on swimming pool, so we went to the one right down the beach.

We walked down to one of the coves of the resort. Let's ignore the awesome white beach for now.. you gotta drop by again later for the rest of them on my next post..

Cos right in there we reached the other infinity pool...

It was so pretty facing the vast ocean, we immediately got off the camera and enjoyed the water. So if you wanna see the beach coves and some more of the resort..

abrupt ending here.
it's going too long.
gotta stop here.
don't you think so?

see you later ;)

I'm A Sinner

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 11:49:00 +0000

Whoa!!! It's grandmaMadonna!!!

wt#?

.. she still got it!

.. on her concert last week at Madison Square Garden, NYC.

In my bucket list, to see even a single Madonna concert, before I die.

Another dream come true..

..mine_ not yet,__ but hers!! ahh I'm jelly#* hehe. I grabbed those photos from my friend's fb account, with her permission thu'. :)

Zorb @ Boracay

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 02:43:00 +0000

Older daughter had mentioned early on our Boracay trip that she was interested in one only and only one adventure activity_ zorb. Then randomly, I spotted an e-shuttle service of Bubble Boy Zorb right down the road of the resort we were staying. We didn't have to go out of our resort. We were at the right place for zorbing cos it was exactly where we were_ at Fairways & Bluewaters. If you wanna see our room, you can scroll down after this post or jump here.

Daughter just got lucky cos no opposition party around ( the dad, haha!). No problem with me, I was as eager as she, haha. I actually had done almost all sea activities in Boracay : helmet diving, parasailing, banana boat, flying fish , island hopping, paraw sunset sailing, jetski.. but yet missed out land activities of the island like this zorb so I wanted to try too.

So the orb/inflated ball with us inside would roll downhill from this bamboo slope

It was a package of two rides. First was the hydro.One by one, with upper half body first in, they pushed us inside the orb with water in it. The entrance hole was quite narrow so it felt like a fish thrown in a ~~aquarium~~ bottle. Okey, ok_ I've never been a fish in my life, but I've seen a fish being thrown in a bottle, haven't you? haha. It looked exactly like that!!

We positioned like this. The water was just tummy level. Its purpose was to aid us glide inside the orb while it was rolling down the slope.

Then it was time... @#$%^&*. haha. It was so fast and furious!!!.. I didn't know what happened next!!

I thought the bones in my arm crumbled cos we literally went up.down.in-between, all around of each other while the ball was rolling. haha. I guess the ride was not really for three persons and ideally for two only. Yet it was so fun we couldn't stop laughing even off the orb.

Then the part two challenge_ the harnessed ride. Younger daughter and I decided to stop torturing ourselves, haha!

My braver older girl said yes! It was the extreme zorb. Thu' harnessed, it's more challenging cos the rider would roll the way the orb rolls. Unlike in the hydro ride where rider just glides inside.

We asked the girl photographer of Bubble Boy to join the ride cos it needed two riders for balance.

.. and the rolling begun!!!!!

.. inside daughter kept on shouting incomprehensible words, haha. Until the ball reached the bottom.

Well, ask her about it :)

Boracay2012: Our Room 1

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 02:42:00 +0000

Glad I was able to take a photo of the beds not yet messed-up-to-the-max. I had to shout to my girls, whose first instinct upon entering a hotel room would usually to muddle a perfectly done beds, to please off the beds first so I could take even just a single quiet photo. Done. haha. So this was the room we stayed at Fairways & Bluewater, Newcoast, Boracay, almost two weeks ago

The room is very masculine. Just like a few good men I know, it's straightforward, practical and well equipped. I miss you so much husband *insert luggage full of heart here*. Yet effeminately comfortable. It got all we needed.

• Air conditioning

• Bathrobes
• Coffee/Tea Maker
• Complimentary bottle of water
• Daily newspaper (available at the restaurant)
• Desk
• Hair Dryer
• In Room Safe
• Wireless Internet Access (subject to charges)
• Ironing Board (upon request)
• Mini-bar (subject to charges)
• Non-smoking rooms
• Refrigerator
• Satellite/Cable Television
• Shower

*above (list of amenities) I copied-pasted from their website cos i hate typing bullet items. But here I could assure you I got them all in our room.

There was one thing lacking thu'. According to our needs, and not included in the hotel's list. Good ass phone. Yes no phone in the room and we were housed on the 3rd level! Not that I needed phone to do outside call, we have cell phones ofcouse st..id cupid!! But the reception/concierge desk was down at the ground floor. No elevator in the building. So if we did need anything, we had to get down ourselves. I wasn't able to ask about why no phone. The possible reason would be between the following : a). the particular building we stayed-in was so newly built, it hadn't completed yet its facilities fully. b). it's a damn resort concept, haha!

The masculine vibe sways up to the bathroom. I particularly admire the choice of floor tiles here which perfectly suited a beach hotel/resort room. One of my girls got the whole bathroom floor flooded with water (wtf# she normally uses bathroom like that, haha) but in a very short while, the floor dried up real fast. By itself. Without any floor mopping done.

From there on, I noticed that the entire room had the same dried-up fast floor. So clever and practical. You know how always beach resort's guests enter the room with wet and sandy (especially there in Boracay ) feet, that floor really works.

This was our window view. No ocean view, just greens and open sky, but...

..at night or on an early dawn when the blinds were drawn..

.. the view turned into a silhouette painting..nice or not?

We were actually housed in one of the infinite nos. of villas inside Fairways & Bluewater.

This is how it looks outside. Quite a modern building. Lots of this around the resort. This is no. 26, if I remember it right.????

Across our villa is another type of villa. I saw other types of villa also but no pics.. Fairways & Bluewater Newcoast is madly huge!!! In exaggeration, almost as big as the whole station 1 white beach or is it a lot bigger??? Seems like.

Later I'll try to make a post on around the whole resort.

Got tons of photos here.

Gotta share.

See ya:)

Boracay2012: Land & Sea Transfer

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 00:17:00 +0000

This was the queuing scene we arrived at in Terminal 3 to check-in for our 6am flight to Boracay. I was actually ecstatic to have had booked this flight in less than 24 hours prior to our departure. I was x2 glad cos it was Caticlan bound, not Kalibo. And I was x3 satisfied cos I was able to grab the cheapest fare rate for the day. Take note that this was at the height of a fully booked holiday (Nov.1-2++long weekend) so I took it as pure luck.

It was 4 am and T3 was full of passengers that were half asleep. In particular, daughters and me.

Because I was half asleep during the check-in, I could barely remember what transpired there. So, might as well_ jump off with us to the boarding gate. Holy my! This was my first time to fly on a peak season so I was not used of being in a boarding gate that full.

It looked more like a bus terminal rather than an airport. People were already sitting on the floors cos all waiting seats were taken.

Including daughters who were at this point couldn't fight the call of sleep anymore.

Good thing, it took us only less than an hour on the floor then we already got boarded.

The girls' stash! chips/chocolates/cookies/cakes/bottled juices.. they thought they would have appetite to snack on them before and on the flight but realized they needed sleep quite a lot more than food!!!

It figures, on this day of budget airlines in Ph, height doesn't matter much for local airline stewardesses. The one who assisted us couldn't even reach the luggage compartment. I had to do my luggage and my daughter's as well. I felt so tall..

After an hour, we arrived at Caticlan. Still @ zombie mode. We were welcomed by a hotel rep lady who was so tall, my height suddenly dropped. haha.

My naughty girls were giggling about my name on the white board the airport rep was holding. They were teasing me about being a V.I.P./ swag, haha.

Insisted on borrowing it and took a pic. haha.

My girls loved the electric shuttle that would take us to the resort's private holding port in Caticlan while waiting for our boat to Boracay.

Later in the resort, we would have a lot of this prototype vehicle.

The resort's private port/waiting lobby at Caticlan was huge. If it's your first time at Boracay, you could easily mistaken it as already the hotel/resort lobby with the ocean view at the back.

We were served welcome drinks and it didn't take long_ the boat was ready for us.

We were advised to change our footwear unless we wish to be carried by the crew on to the boat. That would be too much thu', haha. I didn't bother to change my bottoms, I thought I would just fold them short.

Ahhh, glorious beautiful morning ! The ocean wind blew and right away we felt refreshed. Erasing the
tiresome sleepless earlier morning.

This was our boat. Big time! All ours!

We own the boat. Just the 3 of us. I thought it could accommodate atleast 20+ passengers.

In a while, like after 20 mins, the familiar jetty port of Boracay was already visible.

Another set of hotel staff assisted us towards the car that would send us to the resort.

I had to pay for terminal fee I think, which was the only thing that was not included in our land & sea transfer. It was P100 per head for the terminal fee.

These were the hotel service cars. One of these took us to the resort. I wasn't so impressed. But later as a staying guest of the hotel, I came to appreciate the practicality of their choice of car. A lot of these in the resort for members and guests disposal, around town. The electric shuttle kind is used only inside the resort.

And if you're keen on our accommodation.. you could drop by again for my next post.
See ya:)

Promo Airfare

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 03:38:00 +0000

I wasted couples of airfare for Boracay this year before I was able to push thru with the trip with my girls this recent (Nov.1-2 ++) holiday.
Good news : they were all promo fares from different Ph budget airlines.
Bad news: still those were cash/money down the drain.
That's the curse of availing promo airfares.
You have to take advantage of the slots way too early (like a year ahead or min. 6 months earlier) before your target date. You take risk against whatever weather condition, health condition and social status you find yourself in on the actual date of departure. Promo fares are usually irrevocable of everything : no return/no exchange, non-transferable and you may only use them on the date you booked for, period. Meaning it's all up to you!
Ooops! Check the Cebu Pacific ticket above. Have you spotted the " may change until.." under booking details? I don't think that's for the passenger's advantage. Rather it's the other way around, I think it says, the airline management may change the date, not that the passenger has the right to change it. I had experienced it more than twice with a particular airline. They called me for adjustment of my flight scheds.
Sucks!

Creepy Boracay

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 02:04:00 +0000

This holiday (Nov.1&2 x long weekend) I went to Boracay with my girls not to halloween. I even forgot that the day we arrived (Oct. 31/12) was the Halloween peak. But surely, the first zombie who greeted me upon arrival, had reminded me. Forgive me, I'm an old hen. Here in my beautiful 3rd world country, I didn't grow up with tricks or treats nor attended a ball in outrageous costume. How I wish.

I noticed how Halloween business has been thriving in our country lately. Malls and other establishments are being decorated with Halloween theme, atleast the whole month of October. There are also lots of events that are Halloween coordinated. Definitely, our new generation is more adept on it.

For the record, this was my girls' first Boracay. It doubled the fun that they were about to nibble some Halloween bits by the beach. A world famous beach at that. They were excited. I was too.

But first thing first _ Boracay was as usual that day. As usually perfect_ pristine, blue, white and astonishingly beautiful. I had to make a cut for my girls thu'. We would have the rest of 4 days of that perfectly hot beach anyway. I told them we better check the Halloween scenes five steps away from here.

The establishments in station 2 & 3 were still busy preparing for the big night.

We all know how cottony clouds can get up on Boracay sky, but these were more cottony and amazingly floating below the coconut trees!!

Had no idea what's inside this paper boxed house. Nor daughter wanted to peek inside too, haha.

Almost all establishments had coordinated events for the Halloween night.

We practically spent our first day tour-walking the long beach which seemed to get creepier as the day progressed:)))

Hungry???

Everyone looked like a zombie to me.. don't ya?

Apparently, there was a contest going on. That explained the numbers on the zombies. Also tipping was encouraged in exchanged of the photo ops with them. Why not?

I guess this group of kids was not included in the zombie contest, haha. I think they were guests halloween-ing by the beach.

The sun went down on us still doing our walking tour of the long beach. We took an early dinner.

We saw more of Halloween parade participants about to go out to the beach..

But creepy skull, we were too damn tired already. We went straight to the beach from the airport, had just thrown our luggage in the hotel room and a quick outfit change. And by 6pm, we were dead tired.

What you say?? Halloween night??? There.. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..zz..

Travel Health

noreply@blogger.com (Mylene Concepcion) — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 17:07:00 +0000

Are you serious? ( # me talking to imaginary readers of this blog, anybody out there?? haha ) You wanna know where/what I had been to these past weeks? Seriously? If you insist, below were the instructions that I had to follow when I entered the first location :

1). take off your clothes & bra, wear the gown

2). take off your necklace

3). tie your hair up/in a ponytail

whaaaatttt???

Those numbers I followed after these men in the queue Now I wonder if they too had to wear the gown? haha. I guess they got different instructions in the male room thu'.

You guessed it right, I had been in a diagnostic center for a number of laboratory procedures. It wasn't only me. My two daughters too. We went through those tedious, infinite queues with empty stomachs. We did 10 hours fasting before we got there_ we were so hungry we wanted to eat every little flesh we saw infront of us ;)))

My younger daughter who's only 13 years old, didn't have to do the fasting thu'. She didn't have to undergo the blood chem tests. It was only me and the older daughter. I'm not used to these lab procedures. I rarely got sick and hardly (only twice in my whole life, when I gave births) got hospitalized. So far, the only instances that I went through similar lab tests were for prenatal sake and for few ( like thrice or maybe 4 times? forgot ;) pre-employment medical. I hate needles. I didn't look while being extracted with blood. I tried to distract myself and before I was able to create happy thoughts, it was all over. ThanksGod! I was surprise to see like 5-6 test tubes of blood had already been extracted from me in that so short of time.

No worries about chest xray, physical exam, urine, but doubted the optical. For sure both of my teens have 20/20 visions but their old mother has gone to being far sighted this year. I would have had aced it too thu', I was only asked to read the small alphabets in a distance ( my problem is when reading near, everything gets blurry), but I guess the fasting that had gone overdue that day had blurred my vision in a distance. Only in the smallest part thu, like maybe there were only just two letters I failed to read right.

If you would have to undergo the same lab procedures, especially when pre-fasting is asked, I would suggest you throw in some food in your purse to snack on after the blood extraction and in between transfers to/from various laboratories. You won't have time to run to the canteen during those procedures. You can eat thu' while in a queue. Also ofcourse, just like a good student, you don't just take an exam without preparation. You have to make sure, atleast you don't have even the simplest colds, runny/stuffed nose or cough by the time of the medical exams. For females, time it before or after your monthly menstruation, never during. As for the result of our exams_ everything is well on us!!! I pray that we would be able to maintain the gift of good health for the longest time.

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And you thought our "clinic trip" had ended there? Nope cos almost the whole last month we spent almost bi-weekly visiting a dental clinic.

Yup, this was not a beauty/derma clinic , although really looks like one cos of those celebrity clients photos on the walls. Seems like it's following the Belo's peg of having her derma empire risen up from showbiz ambassadors.

I'm not easy to get by marketing anyway. More often, I'm actually discouraged by it rather than encouraged. By the way, I am a Public Relations major myself and have numerous marketing /sales job experiences. I chose this dental clinic more on its accessibility. Definitely, quite heavy on the pocket, but in the end, the staff and the dentists didn't disappoint and were able to deliver the goods. Have to mention too that their facilities are fab and very comforting during supposedly painful dental procedures.

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And I was back again in a diagnostic clinic early week of this month. It wasn't me, it was my brother who needed to have his vitals checked cos he was feeling stabbing pains in his chest, his blood pressure readings were fluctuating, he had serious headaches.. in short, he's unwell.

The doctor sent him to the laboratory to undergo almost the same lab tests I did but not in the same diagnostic center I went with my daughters which was quite far from our residence.

His_ was an emergency case and we ran to the nearest one. Hi-Precision Diagnostics.It was just right across our village.Yes, I'm mentioning the name of the laboratory clinic and this is not a paid post. It's because we really had a good experience with them. Hi-Precision has been there across the road for as long as I can remember and it hadn't occurred to me to go there during the times we needed one. Mostly because we always shy away from crowded places ( be it a restaurant, hotel,resorts, theater, whatnots) and I passed by it always seeing it full with clients/patients.

That day, brother needed the earliest laboratory for his blood chem (also with 10-13 hours fasting). I was surprise when brother found out that HP was already open as early at around 6am. The best thing was to find out too that they charged almost half the price of lab testing fees against the leading hospitals in our area. For instance 2D Echo is like almost P4000 in a hospital and there at HP is like only P2000 plus. I was also wrong to think that service would be awfully slow cos of the huge number of clients. Infact it was the opposite. Their system was great and quick. The number of staff was sufficient and dependable. The queue was already mad huge that early when we arrived but it was refreshing to not get annoyed by it cos it was moving quickly it didn't make us stay the whole day, the way we badly experienced it from other clinics.

Releasing is also easy. We got the results after just few hours on the same day. Results are also available on line. We love the accessibility. Superb. I also have to add that they are easy to talk to. When brother ( per advised of his doctor) had to cancel a particular procedure which had already been prepaid via credit card, it was not an issue, They cancelled it and released the amount in cash to pay the credit card. How's that for a no headache resolution?

Let me end this post with this cute grandma I snapped a photo of, I saw her in the waiting area at HP,so cute she was busy tinkering on her mobile phone. A real lola (grandma) techie :)

"Health is not valued till sickness comes"