My Bbeyb's Birthday Trip. 😎

This trip was drafted early this year to celebrate my beyboss' birthday. These, for me, are seven great reasons to visit and revisit El Nido in no particular order:

1. Seven Commandos Beach

 

The polvoron-like sand in the Seven Commandos beach is so pure that it seemingly melts when you rub thru your skin, same as salt scrubs. Bbeyb enjoyed the foot scrubbing part. If we didn't have time limit, she may have stayed longer. ✌️️

 

This island can be reached via motorized boat and is 15 minutes away from El Nido Town Proper. If you are availing the tours offered by the hotels, this is part of Tour A. 

2. Talisay Beach

If you wish to swim and still enjoy the powdery white sand, this is the best place to go.

 

 

Book the Tour C package being offered by El Nido hotels. Most tour providers also cater their free picnic lunch here as part of the package. 

This is bbeyb's favorite part: buffet lunch by the beach! 🍴

 

3. Lagen Island Resort

If you are booking this resort, choose the water cottage. It's pricey, but is definitely worth the pennies. This is her personal choice of room. 

 

Here's why:

 

The water cottage also has the best view at night.

 

They offer packages that include buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner with access to all motorized activities and access to all resort amenities.

This again is her favorite part: buffet meal. 

 

They also provided a slice of cake for the birthday celebrant.

 

Happy birthday, bbeyb. 😘

4. Dibuluan Island Beach Club

This island is 15 minutes away from Lagen Resort via speed boat. We were lucky that nobody else was there when we visited.

It's like a birthday gift to the gorgeous celebrant. 😘

 

We feel like we owned the island for that day. They have sailboats, kayaks, paddleboards and other motorized activities in the island. 

 

When you're at Lagen, make sure that you book this tour as part of your itinerary.

5. Big and Small Lagoons

These are part of Tour A and can be reached via motorized boats from the town proper. 

The birthday celebrant enjoyed this part of the tour, and added, "no filter needed" on almost every posts she had.

 

There are also kayaks for rent.

 

6. Secret Beach

From the name itself, you wouldn't know it exists from the outside as the opening is really unnoticeable. To reach the beach, you need to swim through the rocks until you reach the other side.

So that's the celebrant, tired from catching her breath from the long swim.

 

7. Matinloc Resort

This newly opened resort is the latest apple of our eyes in El Nido. 

 

They have beachfront rooms, forest rooms, mountain villas and a lot more. 

 

The rooms are spacious and follow a modern interior design. The infinity pool and the beach areas are also commendable.

Their restaurant also serves the best food choices.

They also offer snorkelling activities where corals are abundant.

 

This, so far, for me, is the best part of this trip. What made this trip better, is that, I am spending it with the birthday celebrant, my beybabe, my partner, my beyboss and my lifetime food and travel buddy.

Happy Birthday, bbeyb. 😘 I wish you all the best of everything. I hope you're enjoying this trip as much as I do.

 

Until our next trip. 

 😎😎😎

Love,

Beybabe ❤️

City of Pines Weekend Getaway

Baguio, also known as the City of Pines, is an alternative getaway for a weekend holiday (minus the beach). Though the city itself is crowded with tourists and locals, the weather is still colder than the metro, and is still a good place to enjoy a weekend.

There are several good places for foodies in Baguio. We used to have breakfast at Volante's, but this time we tried Hill Station. Food was great and the view, too.

It is best to roam around Baguio early in the morning, so you can enjoy the early morning fresh air as the sun starts to rise.

Since this is a short weekend trip, we only visited few spots within the city proper. Our first stop was Mines View Park. 

The crowded park did not let us stay long.

After shopping for native products, and a photoshoot with the famous pet in town, we went to the other spots outside the city.

We had an hour drive (mind the heavy traffic) to the famous Ben Cab museum. It is the home of Benedicto Cabrera and other various popular artists showcasing their paintings, sculptures and other masterpieces with an overlooking view of a beautiful landscape.

We stayed there until early lunch time. Cafe Sabel inside the museum is a good place to dine.

Afterluch, we went to Tam-awan Village.

It is a vilage resembling the houses of natives of Benguet and Mountain provinces. 

It took us an hour to explore the whole place.

Everything there in Tam-Awan Village is uniquely amusing.

I bet you'll stop at almost all of the village houses to take photos as souvenirs.

Our next stop was at Strawberry Farm, in La Trinidad. 

Aside from the strawberries and fresh vegetables that we bought for not even a quarter of our metro grocery prices, these sunflowers astonished me.

Define bold and beautiful. 🌻🌻🌻

We also had a short stopover at Rose Farm.

As expected, roses and all sorts of flowers are bountiful and equally beautiful. 💐🌺🌸🌷🌹

The vast land is filled with flowers and other ornamental plants, and according to the local farmer, is the main source of flowers that are being showcased in colorful floats during Panagbenga (Flower) Festival.

We stayed there until late afternoon and drove back to the city.

After a sumptuous dinner at Cafe by the Ruins, we roved back to Manila for another seven hours on the road.

Until our next trip. I hope you enjoyed. 😎

My Weekend Birthday Trip to HongKong 😎

If you only have three days in Hong Kong, and you want to maximize your weekend, here are some tips (for an average backpacker):

1. Book an outbound flight that will arrive Hong Kong in the morning. 

2. Book a roundtrip airport express travel pass. A roundtrip pass costs 350HKD which includes unlimited rides to MTR, light rail and MTR Bus for 3 days. You may keep the card as souvenir, but you may also return it with a refund of 50HKD. 

3. Stay at a hotel within Tsim Sha Tsui area. This area has several restaurants, shops and attractions that can be reached by foot.

4. Book Disney, Peak Tram tickets and other attraction tickets in advance. Disney one day pass is 539HKD, Tram pass with Sky terrace access is 88HKD.

There are some booking agencies like Klook which offers discounted rates. Our Disney tickets were complimentary passes from our dear friend who works in Disney Florida. Thanks Bry and Vivi. 😎

5. Wear light clothes and have a small backpack with light clothes. The weather is humid and you may need to change clothes or freshen up once in a while.

6. Bring extra batteries for your phones and camera or bring powerbank. With limited time, you may not have enough time to charge batteries. Also, make sure you have travel adapters ready.

7. Have a small MTR map handy. This will help you save time looking for the next train stop.

8. Plan what to eat and where. 

9. Book a return flight that leaves HKG at night.

10. Choose your favorite travel buddy. ❤️

Here's our itinerary:

Day One:

Touchdown HKG: 9:05am

First stop: Immigration clearing; foreign exchange; purchase of train tickets and train ride to city.

Airport Express (Photo above) train ride with bbeyb to HongKong station. Did you notice my bag? That's the only bag I brought with me. Weight: 2.5 kg.

Time check: 10:00 a.m. Brunch at Crystal Jade IFC mall.

Must order: Xiao Long Bao

Their pork buns are delicious, too, though Tim Ho Wan's are better.

Next stop: MTR red line (from IFC mall). Alight at Tsim Sha Tsui station. Follow the signs to the exit of where you want to go.

Our hotel is within the area. After checking in, we roamed around some famous HK attractions.

There are several areas for refreshment at the Avenue of the Stars area (which is closed for renovation when we went there). We had a quick break at Starbucks Victoria Harbour before our next stop - Lantau Island.

(Photo below) MTR to ride to Tung Chung: Gateway to Ngong Ping 360.

From Tung Chung, follow the signs to Ngong Ping 360.

We booked the crystal cabin on our way to Lantau island and the regular one on our return. Rountrip ticket: 240 HKD.

Trip to Lantau by cable car is approximately 20 minutes. 

Last cable car ride back to Tung Chung station leaves at 6:40 p.m. Be sure to be at the gates before closing time.

Next stop: Mong Kok for dinner and ladies market.

After dinner and shopping, we went back to our hotel and spent the night at the Victoria Harbour.

Day Two:

First stop: Breakfast at Canton's Kitchen 

Next stop: Disney Land 

We used purple line (East Tsim Sha Tsui)  to connect to yellow line

(Sunny Bay) - interchange to pink line (DisneyLand Station). We stayed there until night time.

After one long day, we had dinner at Xia Xiao Fai K11 Art Mall.

We also strolled the side streets and hunt for these egg, chocolate and cheese tarts.

Day Three:

We had breakfast at Canton's Dimsum Expert after few hours of outlet shopping.

We checked out at 12 noon and went straight to the peak tram station. 

We used red line MTR and alight at Central station. 

The tram was closed for maintenance and they offered bus ride instead. 

We didn't risk riding the bus as we need to be at the airport before 5:00 p.m. 

We stopped by St. John's Cathedral on our way back to the train station.

We went back to Central station and had some refreshments at Godiva, IFC mall.

We also had few snacks at Tasty Congee, IFC Mall.

Next stop: Airport 

While waiting for our boarding time, we had some frappe break at Starbucks.

I also had a chance to play Pokemon Go while waiting for our flight.

I caught Pikachu, too.

Departure at HKG: 7:30 p.m.

Arrival at MNL: 9:25 p.m.

It was indeed a short trip, but really worth the long wait. 😎 Until our next trip.