291: Hotel Review: Saved by the Bell!

Image from PH Hotels

Hotel in Focus: Red Planet Hotel at Kalayaan Avenue, Makati City

I booked on this hotel very spontaneously. I was in the metro and have to pick up my sister and since I had no place to stay, I decided to book in this place. Why? I could not afford any hotel at the heart of Makati as they are too expensive for my spur-of-the-moment-stay. This is not the first time that I had been in Red Planet Hotel. The first was at Aseana place. What I love about this hotel is that it's affordable. This is the type of place a traveler would book if you only need a roof above your head without exposing yourself to risk because you opted to choose a low budget lodge. For 2330 (as of April 2016) a night you get the following:

an air conditioned room
two fluffy pillows
a ginormous bed
a glacial pace wifi

Also, for that price you can choose between a large bed, or a two single bed. There's no actual difference in price.

All in all it's not bad if you just need a place to sleep, and nothing fancy.

cross post from my TripAdvisor review: Here

283: the Coast Calls: A Quick Get Away to San Juan

If I can move out from the city and live a provincial life, I'd definitely choose to move to La Union. This place is starting to get its way into my heart. In Urbiztondo, I found my other home.

What I particularly love about Urbiztondo is its people. The people there are friendly. It was easy to find friends with the easy living surfers, and local people. In fact, I've made too many errors in riding the right jeepney to my destination but these drivers were nice to take me nonetheless. These drivers didn't even accept my additional payment for the hassle.

So last week I found myself back in this wonderful place. I went there with my good friend to celebrate her birthday. While I stayed twice at Sebay surf, this time I told myself to stay at San Juan Surf School Resort.

If you want to know, the San Juan Surf School Resort is just next to Sebay Surf. The reason why I chose not to book myself here initially is because judging by exterior it looks expensive, so I didn't bother. But when my other friend said that Sebay and San Juan Surf School is almost as the same price, I told myself to give it a go.

.. and I'm glad I did.

While I like Sebay Surf, the San Juan Surf School Resort offers a modern, and classy style. Just as Sebay, the San Juan Resort rooms have a cabled t.v, air-conditioning, fridge, and their shower has a cold and hot temperature dial. For 2, the room was priced as 1,986 PHP (as of July 2015 see prices here). But what I particularly love about the place is its restaurant-bar.

I swear I have weakness for good aired restaurant and bar. I love that some of their tables allows you to have a (partly) view of the beach (but this is where the Sebay beats them in terms of beach view from the bar).

 

I wish I took more photos! Forgive me though because I swear after the 9 hours travel all I wanted to do was to lie on the bed. So apologies I never thought about taking a picture of the room, and it never crossed my mind. But I would next time. Rest assured though those that you will see in the tripadvisor was enough to give you visual projection of what to expect.

All in all, it's not obvious that I will be back in La Union soon enough, and if you are going to ask me where I will book myself, it's no brain-er because I'll definitely book myself at San Juan Surf School Resort again -- again just because I am a sucker for a good restaurant - bar.

282: Finding the One in Caramoan

Last weekend my friends and I went to Bicol, then to Caramoan for our summer get away. This vacation is my 3rd and my last summer vacation. Having this place as the last is a great choice for a conclusion.


Before we settled in Caramoan, my friends and I arrived in Bicol last Saturday through Cebu Pacific. We were able to book our flight for 1,700++ (again, thanks to the Promo). I'm not sure how much is the regular cost, but the 1,700++ price to get a once in a lifetime experience is a winning case.

Before we proceeded with activities, my friends and I ate in Bigg's Diner at Albay. The place was a decent restaurant and with a good diner ambiance. Although the location does give you a local ambiance, it however, serves local favorite dish. The one I had was a pork chop with laing. It was the best! I love the laing and amazing soft meat of the pork.

Our first stop in Bicol is the Lignon Hill. This hill was supposed to give you a great view of the Mayon volcano. The ever shy Mayon volcano was not in humor that day, she hid her peak with the clouds all through out our stay. But it was such a majestic view to see her beauty in person.

here are my friends and I in the Lignon Hill

I believe that there are few activities that you can do in the Lignon Hill. I saw that there's a zip line activity and there's map for travelers to check out. We just passed by because it was so hot during that time that we cannot afford to stay longer in the place.

After the Lignon Hill, my friends went to Cagsawa Ruins. The Cagsawa Ruins is actually the historical place that we often see in our books in high school whenever we talk about Bicol. It's great that it's being preserved and kept clean in spite of the many visitors that it had.

During on the Cagsawa Ruins, there are these guys who roams around the place looking for interested tourist who wants to trek the volcano using an ATV. We paid 800 per person, but you can haggle if you are in large group. We were lucky enough that we are 13 and we were able to get the best deal.

The 800 would allow you to trek only on the foot of the volcano, but there's this 1800 price per person that will allow you to trek the 'lava trail'. We travel for a few kilometers and honestly, you'll enjoy the scenic view that you'd want to go even farther. If you'd ask me, we should have gotten the 1800 instead. But the 800 was not bad, at least you get to ride the ATV and have a decent view of the volcano.

My friends and I in the ATV

The one day trip in Bicol was great. The activities that we did were just the tip of the iceberg. I believe that there's so many things that Bicol can offer. It's just unfortunate that we did not stay long as our real goal was to get to Caramoan.

I hope you'll have your chance to immerse yourself in Bicol and get to know it as better as we had because it really deserves to be checked out.

When my friends and I got into Caramoan, one of the things that struck me the most is the scatted little islands, and rock formations. In fact, My friend, who had been to Palawan, said that Caramoan looks like a little 'Coron' . I, however, were in silence as I was trying to marvel on what I am seeing.

Oh, hi there!

Indeed, Caramoan is one of the place that one should visit, as it offers different variety of activity and at the same time experience. In spite of its found fame, thanks to Survivor Franchise, Caramoan remained commercialized. I really pray that the place would keep its provincial, and quiet look and not follow the footsteps of Boracay.

If you are wondering how much I spent for the whole journey, it costs me around 5 thousand++ (not including the airfare, and we are 13 in the team). This 5 thousand includes the stay at Rex Inn (read the review in the tripadvisor here), payment for the island hopping, eat in a hut in the middle of the sea, and souvenir shopping.

What I particularly love about my experience here is that this is where I experienced free diving, riding on top of the jeep, eating in the middle of the sea, and incredible happiness with my friends. I think so far this adventure in Caramoan  is one of my memorable experience ever.