Valentine's Getaway in Manila

Me and my BF went to Manila for our Valentine weekend trip through the Cebu Pacific pisofare promo. I bought our roundtrip plane tickets last August 2011 for a total of PhP1548 only.  Our Cebu Pacific flights going to Manila and coming back to Iloilo were delayed (as usual) though.

To save on this trip, I frequently looked for promos from deal sites like CashCashPinoy and Ensogo. I was able to get a deal from CashCashPinoy for our hotel room at Gran Prix Hotel worth PhP1500/night. Then I also booked an Aqua Room at Hotel H20 via Ensogo for PhP5,850 including a set breakfast for 2 at Makan Makan Asian Food Village and Zenyu Eco Spa treatment for 2. 

Spend our first day at SM Mall of Asia

 We coincidentally saw his HS friends

 Had breakfast with my friend Michelle and his BF Clarence at Global City

 Back at MOA before going to Ocean Park. I love the Dark Chocolate with Almonds from Cacao.

 Aqua Room at Hotel H2O

 Oceanarium

 Jellies!

The foods are expensive but totally worth the price!

I honestly did not enjoy the Ocean Park attractions that much. The entrance fees are expensive but the attractions are not that fun. The penguin arctic tour-something was the most boring. You just enter an icy room, watch some penguins swim, and ride in a not-so-thrilling slide. The Marine Life Show with the sea lions were a bit entertaining though. 

The Hotel H2O experience, on the other hand, was amazing. We were awed with the room's interior design and features. It was very modern and sophisticated for ordinary people like us.lol The food at Makan Makan Asian Food Village were fantastic that we just set aside our diet plans that day and enjoyed the delectable foods on their menu. The hotbed treatment that was included on our Ensogo deal was, well, really HOT but very stress-relieving. According to the people from Zenyu Eco Spa, the hotbed treatment room was made of materials that emit negative ions helpful in promoting good health. After the hotbed, SWEATY treatment, we just added PhP600 each for a full body massage to have a very relaxing sleep on the last night of our trip. :)

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Girls' (Over)Night Out!

It was during college days when F4 was a phenomenal hit in the Philippines. So me and my other 3 closest friends called ourselves F4 just for the fun of it. The last time we had a get-together was more than 4 years ago. Michelle, went to Manila to find a job after that get-together and Shella went to Abu Dhabi almost 2 years ago. So it's just me and Grace who are left here in Iloilo.

Last February, it was a coincidence that Shella and Michelle went home for a vacation. So we had a chance to catch up after 4 years. Grace and I came earlier than the agreed time because we did a "baby bump photoshoot". It don't really want to call it a photoshoot because I'm not a pro photographer.lol I just got my DSLR last December and I have a lot to learn about it. We chose the carnival which was temporarily located at the back of SM City Iloilo.

   

I'm not proud of my shots there but I just thought I'd include a sample here. Not satisfied with the shots at the carnival, we headed to Plazuela de Iloilo for more cam whoring and just waited Shella and Michelle there.

Gracey with all the props ^^

Then Shella and Michelle joined us and we started our cam-whoring session!

     

We had our dinner at Red Corner restaurant located at Plazuela de Iloilo courtesy of Shella ;)

     

     

     

Eating is something that we enjoy together back in the days. Some fun memories we shared were:

1. Go out from class to have lunch at JD Infante. After enjoying our lunch, we just go back to class. There was even a time when we were going back to the room, our classmates were already at the lobby, some carrying our bags, because our professor dismissed the class early. ^^

2. Bring a KFC Bucket Meal at Mang Inasal Mandurriao where Michelle used to work. LOL

3. Pig out on a Saturday morning after our night shift. Usually at JD Roadhouse, General Luna St. Iloilo City.

Anyway, after dinner, we went to Smallville Complex for some dessert at Nothing But Dessert:

          

     

     

As we were talking/gossiping, Shella suggested that we go on a videoke. Since it was getting late already, it will not be a safe idea for Michelle and Shella to go home so we decided to check in on a hotel and spend the night together. lol The unplanned always turns out to be more fun! We first checked the room rates at Smallville 21. Then we went to Westown Hotel and it seemed that they have lower room rates so we proceeded to check in immediately. As we got to our room, we felt tired and just decided not to go on a videoke and just talk/gossip all night. lol And our winning topic for the night was AIKO MELENDEZ! I won't go into details why Aiko was our winning topic because it will be another long story to tell.lol

It was really fun and it wasn't so obvious that we missed each other so much that we had to check in on a hotel just to continue catching up. I don't know when the 4 of us will get to meet again. Perhaps on another coincidence? ^^

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Boracay Despedida

2012 started as a busy year for me. I had to cope with my "vacation hangover" when I started my first days of work for this year. Then I attended several despidida parties for sun2 as he was about to leave for Canada. By end of January, we had our last memorable trip to Boracay before he left:

Camwhoring at the beautiful Boracay sunset!

Boracay SUNSUNset ^^

Dinner! (forgot the name of the place)

Getting ready for a banana boat ride under the scorching heat of the sun...

We were shouting "Boring!" because of the boring and not-so-bumpy ride until...

all of those who were in the right side of the banana boat fell! LOL

and there was me laughing out loud despite my sore throat.lol

trying the trampoline at PhP200 per person for 5mins (hmm I'm not actually sure if it was 5mins or just 3, I forgot :D )

had a few drinks at Guilly's on our last night at Boracay... body-aching, almost voiceless, and less energy to enjoy the night.

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