Spend Your Afternoon at Tagaytay

If you want to get away from the hustle and bustle of Metro Manila without sitting on a carseat for too long, then going to Tagaytay would be one of your best options. Tagaytay is 1-2 hours drive from the Metro and when on the right spot, it offers a great view of the Taal Volcano.

I and three of my officemates went there for half a day not only to unwind but also to have a taste of their famous bulalo.  The cool breeze alone was worth the almost 2 hour drive. When I tasted the food and saw the magnificence of Taal Volcano from afar, it was even more worth it. Unfortunately, we weren't able to discover the beauty of the famed underwater volcano because of lack of time and extremely expensive boat ride. For me, 500/pax for a ride to Taal, isn't a worthy offer at that time. At the right season and with the right haggling skills, I can probably get that ride (hopefully soon) at a cheaper price.

At Bulalo Point. Php300+ each for this sumptuous lunch+ fresh buko juice

Spending the afternoon sipping coffee with the beautiful Taal Volcano as our backdrop.

If you're in town, Picnic Grove is a great place to experience outdoor fun,  view the Taal Volcano and eat bulalo. Entrance fee is Php50.  Souvenir shops and food stalls also abound the area.

At Picnic Grove. From here, you can see the beauty of Taal Volcano.

My Jumpshot

They spent Php200 each for a henna tattoo (after less than an hour, umulan ng bonggang bongga.boom! *evil laugh)

From Pasay, you can ride a bus going to Tagaytay for Php100-200 one ride. Once you're there, there are jeepneys and tricyles that can take you from one place to another. 

A thousand pesos would be enough to take you to and back from Tagaytay. It could be lesser than that if you spend your money wisely. 

*Thanks to Chris, Irish and Zeth for being a great company

The Ultimate Experience at Manila Ocean Park

Hearing about mountains, oceans, animals, and forests wakes the nature-lover inside of me. I find solitude everytime I see pristine white sand beaches or see the moss-covered earth of the forest, hear the splash of the waves or running water, chirping of birds or whatever sound animals make. Being with nature makes me see how beautiful our world is and lets me appreciate the simplicity of life. Manila is such a busy, complicated and polluted place to be and visiting Manila Ocean Park is a breathe of fresh air.

Manila Ocean Park is for the whole  family and people who love to be with the sea and animals. Some of the attractions may be pretty expensive for some but the worth of each attraction depends on every person's interests, likes and level of satisfaction.

When I first heard about Manila Ocean Park, I was really at awe and envied my friends when I saw their pictures taken with the famous oceanarium as the backdrop. Visiting this ocean-themed park is on top of my list when I started living here in the Metro. So when there was a cheap promo for Manila Ocean park tickets at work, I never hesitated to get one for myself. For an Ultimate adventure (Oceanarium, Trails to Antartica, Fish Spa, Jellies, The Marine Life Show, Musical Fountain Show), I only paid Php600 which was a total steal!  The ticket for Oceanarium alone is Php400 if you pay it at one  of the park's booths and just imagine how much I saved by getting that cheap ticket at the office.

The Attractions

Oceanarium. Want to know the different fish species  and life under the sea? The Oceanarium is the best place to be.

Different sea creatures.

 Personal experience rating: 2 out of 5. 2 because I was expecting a better experience and better interior. The tunnel-like aquarium would be an excellent backdrop if your purpose of going there is to take pictures but when it comes to activities, hmnn, not that much. I was expecting that it's going to be a long tunneled aquarium but it's not. Aside from reading a little info and seeing the schools and varieties of fish swim, the other thing that you can do is camwhore.

Trails to Antartica. Offers the slide-o-fun which will let you experience a bit of thrill while sitting on a tire as it slides down the sloped and iced pathway. 

At snow village with Mr. Snowman.

 Other than the slide-o-fun, you will also see cute little penguins inside an aquarium. In addition, Trails to Antartica offers the Snow Village where you get to experience Antartica inside a room with subzero temperature. 

Marine Life Show. Meeting the entertaining sea lions is one of my most memorable experience when I visited Manila Ocean Park. They're adorable and highly-trained sea creatures that you cant help but become amazed at how fascinating they were. 

A kiss from a sea prince.

Jellies. Is where you can see different species of Jelly fishes. The mirrored walls, soothing sound and changing aquarium lights create a stunningly beautiful ambience perfect for those who want to get away from the mob of the park.

Fish Spa. After walking to and from inside Manila Ocean Park, it's nice to have your feet pampered for a while. Fish spa is the best place to be where you dip your feet on water full of nibbling schools of fish. Tickling at first but eventually you'll get used to it and will definitely love the sensation it brings. After a 10minute foot spa, your feet will feel relaxed and less tired. 

Musical Fountain Show. It showcases a jaw-dropping presentation of lights and fountains plus a theatrical presentation of artists wearing sea creatures costume. Thanks to the storm, we weren't able to get decent pictures yet at the same time, the lashing wind and rain made the musical fountain show our ultimate experience finale when we visited the Manila Ocean Park.

A random picture from Google

Had to wear this raincoats during the duration of the show.

My visit at the Manila Ocean Park is definitely an unforgettable experience. 

Grazing the streets of the Metro

Travel has never been an unfamiliar word in my family. At a young age, my parents introduced us to traveling even if it means motion sickness and plenty of travel mishaps.  We would frequently go to my mom or dad's hometown and our relatives' place. But most of those trips were in Mindanao and the farthest family trip we got so far was maybe Bohol via Cebu. Basically, it was not of cityscapes and crowded streets but it's more of the rural landscape and the panoramic view of the sea. The town where I was raised is urbanized enough to give us more than the basics but it made me wonder what life is beyond those huge mountains and the vast ocean. I have and will always love my hometown but there's a part of me that had always dreamt of leaving my comfort zone and see what the big city has to offer.  After countless long talks with family, friends and even myself, I set off with resources just enough  for me to survive a week or two. But I was and  am still fully-equipped with determination and success in mind that  even the threat of a huge storm and flood wasn’t able to stop me from leaving.

Early Morning at BoniHigh Street, Taguig

 Night Life at Metrowalk, Ortigas

The gates of the famed yellow house, Quezon City

Malls abound the Metro and one of them is Greenbelt5 where you can find posh restaurants and boutiques.

University of Makati is just a stone-throw-away from my workplace

enjoying summer at Cavite

Experience the thrill of StarCity, Pasay

Experience Underwater Life while in the big City at Manila Ocean Park, Manila

The first time my feet  landed on the wet cement of NAIA's ramp, I said to myself that this is it! It was a sunless and cold day of June 25th. It was the month when rains and storms start to lash this part of the country. But despite the bad weather, there I was feeling excited, happy and sprightly. My feet felt so springy because I just couldn't wait to graze the streets of the metro. With that dream, I am crossing out some of the items on my bucketlist. Now I know how it feels to live in a highly urbanized city. Everything's fast paced but things turned out great for me that I didn’t realize it has been a year already since I had first caught the polluted yet full-of-promise smell of Manila. 

Island Hopping at 100 Islands

When it comes to travels and getaways, I'm the type who doesn't need convincing. If someone invites me, my immediate reply would be "when"?  But this 100islands trip was just a spur-of-the-moment yayaan when I and Zeth saw this cheap voucher at Metrodeal and we never took it seriously. If it wasn't for Jerome's constant reminder (to the point of nagging), we wouldn't have paid that voucher and we wouldn’t have seen and experienced the breathtaking beauty of 100 islands in Alaminos, Pangasinan.

100islands (123 islets to be exact) is wonderfully situated in Alaminos, Pangasinan. We took the route via Cubao, Quezon City to Alaminos which took us  an estimated 4hours of travel. Normally, it would be around 5-6hours but since we took the 11pm bus trip, there was less traffic which saved us a lot of time. Victory Liner fare cost is Php393. We arrived around 3am in the morning when most of the city' still asleep. Upon hopping down the bus, local tricycle drivers would immediately flock around passengers offering their services of driving you to your destination. If you're on a tight budget don’t immediately say yes to the first driver who will offer you his service. Step out of the crowd, breathe in and out and prepare those haggling skills. When we asked a local, we were told that normal fare would be Php50 going to Lucap Wharf. Lucap Wharf is where the leg of the island hopping starts. On our end we paid Php80 out of gratitude since the driver was kind enough to bring us to the Tourist Welcome Center when our point of destination was still closed.

The Tourist Welcome Center is where you can find ATM, souvenir shops, cheap food stores and a plethora of information about activities that you can do while  you're at 100 islands. The people there were simply accommodating that it made me think this is going to be a great trip. Just outside, you can see the magnificent lighthouse of Alaminos and to make it more captivating, add the stunning sunrise as the backdrop.

To make the most of the moment, we took a lot of shots along with professional photographers. After that we had macaroni soup bought from one of the cheap food stores to warm our tummies and headed back to Maxine by the Sea restaurant where we had a delicious breakfast and where we met our point of contact for the island hopping. What I loved about the voucher we bought online was  there were no hidden charges and the travel agency that organized the trip gave us the best of what we can get from the Php1450 that we paid. Since only 3 islands are included, we paid additional Php400 so that we can tour other islands other than the three main islands (Governor's, Quezon, Children's).  I and Zeth also paid additional Php150/pax for snorkeling gear and life vest.  

Our first stop was Governor's island. Since I have seen a fair share of beautiful beaches, I was not that awestricken when I saw the island from our boat. But after a plight of stone steps, breaking a bucket-full of sweat  and seeing a lot of vegetations and wild trees, the view from the top simply caught my breath away. You just have to be there to see how beautiful it is.  And at the back of the island, the sparkling blue water, white sand and a cave nearby are just too much to take for they were a beauty to behold.

simply breathtaking

The rest of the islands hold their own magnificence, each of them waiting to be seen and explored. We had lunch at Quezon island, snorkeled,swam, camwhored at Children's, Marcos, Romulo, etc. 

of rocks and caves

Most of the islands had beautiful rock formations created by the hands of nature. Many of them have mini caves where you can see random bats flying to and fro.

marine life

Snorkeling is one of the fun activities that you can do while doing island hopping in this part of the Philippines. Personally, the underwater life of Hundred Islands' not that rich. You can see that in some parts of the islands, the corals are dead but glad to know that I was still able to see random schools of colorful fish and giant clams. 

island fun

There are a lot of fun activities that one can do while staying at Hundred Islands. Island hopping is of course the most famous, followed by snorkeling, kayaking, parasailing and many more. However, fishing of any form is not allowed to help preserve and restore this wonderful creation of nature.  

foods

What to expect when going to islands and beaches? Of course, seafood! On our first day, we ate breakfast at Maxine by the sea after having a warm soup from one of the cheap foodstores nearby.We also had lunch on the same restaurant on our 2nd and last day. I always prefer to spend less while traveling but it's no crime to give yourself a treat once in a while. If you're up for some delicious calamares, try eating here. The crab dish was a treat by the only thorn among the roses.

Pieces and details

Accommodation was part of the voucher we bought online. We stayed at Vistas delas Islas, one of the best in town. Roomrates start at Php1000 and up. Pool is free to use which opens at 6am to 10pm. Our stay at the hotel was so far so good. 

Fun while camwhoring:

This Island Hopping at100islands was one of my best trips so far. I wish to go back to Pangasinan but  by that time, I guess it would be Bolinao. I heard that there are beautiful caves and tourist spots there just waiting to be unraveled and experienced. 

Quality Time at Pansol, Laguna

Frequent team buildings is common when you're working in a BPO company. Activities such as this remind us that life doesn't only revolve in a heavily air-conditioned and carpeted call center.It also breaks the ice from our dull and routine-oriented work. When my former team planned to spend their team building at Pansol, Laguna, I never hesitated to join. That was my first time to go outing with my first teammates in the BPO company I'm currently working for and it was my first out-of-town trip outside Manila. That trip however didn't focus on the beauty of the destination but it focused on building friendships and having quality time with great people.It was fun and we all had a great time.

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