a night & day @ EDSA SHANGRILA

 October 10, 2012 the School of International Hospitality and Tourism Management from Baguio had two days tour in Manila. This is where we stayed for the night after the morning tour. But before anything else, we had our seminar upon checking-in. At those time, I would say that this hotel is the best hotel I've visited so far. But that was almost 7 months ago. Now, I have new best hotel in mind --- the Mactan Shangrila. Stay tuned for another blog about how beautiful Mactan Shangrila is. For the meantime, let's focus about what to see in Edsa Shangrila.

What's great about this place is that most of their staffs although not all are very hospitable. They'll give you satisfaction.

Lets start with the facilities I enjoyed so much. The pool. We took a night swimming since we had a hectic schedule in the morning. The area is actually wider than it looks like. There are more to explore around this hotel.  The bar is located on the other side in this picture.

The room was a real comfort. Relaxation is really in your hands upon reaching your bed. The bathroom gives you all what you need. And that's not it.! The hotel has a lot of facilities for your activities. Like fitness gym. 

But what I actually enjoyed so much is our breakfast in one of its restaurant named HEAT.! I don't know to you guys but for me, I love buffet for breakfast :)

 HEAT will offer you wide varieties of culinary cuisine! From Western, Eastern, Europe and Asian Cuisine! This place is actually a busy place. The place was very very nice that I never mind the staff who doesn't know how to smile.  I was more focused on the food and the place rather than the people.

 And just a tip about coffee, if you are not a coffee lover, don't ask for a coffee. This is because their coffee are not like a typical filipino mild coffee. Their coffee are really really strong and black one :)

So here I'm just sharing more photos of the restaurant where we had our breakfast and ofcourse what's inside.

For bread and cheese lover --- you'll love this place too!

Not need to worry for those who likes light meals for breakfast, cereals are also offered in here.!

 

They also have Korean foods for everybody.!

 

And some more if your stomach isn't full enough :)

So this is where my blog about EDSA Shangrila ends. I hope to see you again in my next post! Stay tuned! Have a great day! :)

What's Next to Expect in Bohol Plaza Resort

 This....... is Bohol Plaza Resort. I've mentioned a short description of this hotel on my first blog. What did I wrote? It's horrifying! And yes! I still think this hotel is really horrifying. There's always a reason why someone won't like a place that much right? This is where we stayed for one night in our tour in Bohol. We'll I'm just so glad we only stayed here for one night! I have a very strong opinion in this hotel since I've been really disappointed. Why was I disappointed? Please continue reading! just to avoid you from experiencing what we've experienced. :)

So after our day tour in Bohol with all the fun and amazing stuff we did, we arrived in our hotel finally at around 16:00 in the afternoon. And because we were so exhausted with the heat and dust we gained around our tour, we just wanted to take a bath and relax for a while. Yes All of us did wanted to do same thing. Unfortunately, things didn't turn out as what we've expected.

It was a real wow, for the scenery and view that Bohol have. This hotel is a bit far from the city, it's actually located on top of the hill, and yes you will surely enjoy seeing the pride of Bohol. But there are more things to unlike in this place than to like.!

What are those all about? It's written below.

The rooms really need some renovation and huge improvements! Our room has the perfect view of beautiful Bohol, unfortunately it is very dusty. I could see and scrape the dust in their lamp with my finger tip!  So, why is their room dusty? Didn't they had the time to clean every room before their guest arrive? And the worst part is... the shower wasn't working. Even some of the students have no water in their shower. And the room just in front of ours, their water was hot, you wouldn't want to dare touch it if you don't want to get minor burns. The closet have it's unwanted scent you wouldn't want to inhale.! The toilet was rusty. And the staff? They were really not that accommodating. I called the room service to address all our problems. I even asked if its possible to just changed the room because i didn't want those dust to transfer to all our stuff when they do the cleaning. And we were really unfortunate to hear that the hotel was fully booked. Really? that hotel was fully booked? or it was just us who made the hotel fully booked since we are one full bus and one coaster of about more that 50 students. So ok!! Guess what was the solution for our not working shower ---- a pail and a dipper! yehey! atleast we got water from the faucet !!!! Some? they just have to had their shower in the hotel's public shower near the pool. So what do they have more?

 They have function hall. This is just one plus for this hotel. They have good function hall, fully conditioned. But we were actually late for our seminar since we've got troubles in our shower. And oh! another plus for this place, they have wi-fi. But the wi-fi doesn't work in our room, just in this area and somewhere near here too.

So there, we managed to stay in this hotel for at least one night. The next morning, we had breakfast in the same place. The food was nothing special. It wasn't that bad either. We were just craving to get out of this hotel and reach our next destination at that moment! I hope you learned from our experience! Never under estimate the power of student travelers :) Have a great day everyone! :)

IB

What to expect in your way to Bohol

This is where the history begun! :)

March 10, 2013 our day has just begun. We are packed and ready to depart. This is actually an educational tour for the students of International Hospitality and Tourism Management. And so we waited our time for our departure from Baguio to Manila. And I could tell you, that travel is really exhausting since we are travelling 6 hours going to Manila. Continue reading to learn more from this travel :)

So here we go... during our travel we had to have stop over for some snacks and toilet breaks. This is our first stop at Sison Pangasinan. This is actually a small typical filipino style restaurant (so called Karinderya) we actually stopped by to have some snacks and what's actually cool about this place is that they have live band. ( that's really cool! and funny at the same time) It would be interesting to guess if the others have live band too. Another plus in this place is that they have wi-fi (better than any other restaurants huh!). We access their wi-fi by getting the password from one of their staff after I ordered mami with egg at cost of 45 pesos only. :) and you know they have fast connection too!!. 

So we finally arrived in Manila. We just had our breakfast in Chowking some part near MIAA domestic airport of NAIA then proceed to the airport. Chowking really need some more improvements on their products! would you believe that they served us cold iced-tea in the morning? who would want iced-tea in the morning! well, I just actually don't but it doesn't seems like a big deal for everybody so I just had it without complaining. I would prefer something hot though to waken up my senses after long hours of travel. This is where the fun part begin!

This is Bohol! -a view from the top. Their landscape is pretty amazing! You'll love to see this place from above. At first, I really got nervous when the plane is getting ready to land. you'll see the very nice view but it really looks like the plane is going to land in the water. But wow! that was really so amazing.

     

so here I'm sharing more photos from above. I just really loved that view so much ;)

And so!!!! finally we've reach the land of Bohol!

This is Tagbilaran Airport.! I would say the Airport wasn't so bad. Except that it's actually really small. And the Toilet's door doesn't have locks at all. (I just laughed at it since we won't going to stay long in that place anyway.) And oh, the toilet is actually very small either. There's only two toilet bowl inside and 5 person wont fit in the grooming area at the same time. But what's good about this airport is that, you'll see inside various pictures of activities you would want to try while you're in Bohol. Outside the airport on its other side, you'll see people who'll offer you ride and accommodation as well. But we didn't got much interest on that since we've already booked our stay in Bohol Plaza. I'll write a new blog about how was our stay in Bohol Plaza so stay tuned! Well, I'll give a few description about that place ---- it's horrifying! Please wait and read my next blog to know why I said that :) For the meantime, lets go turn around the city of Bohol for while :)

This.... is the Baclayon Church. Well, while we are on our way going to this church we've passed a lot of old churches too. I would say this is just one of their oldest churches. What's actually interesting about this place is that the building is made of coral stones, they used bamboos to move and lift the stone in its position, and yeah they also used millions of egg whites as cements. I couldn't imagine how does it smells back then but it was fun knowing that :) What's next to this old amazing church is actually a museum. There are more to see inside that museum but we were not allowed to take photos so I'm afraid I won't be able to share about what I've seen there inside. Why don't you just go and visit the place and see for yourself! That would be better right?

Ok, so what's next in our list of chores?

The Loboc Cruise Restaurant! You should never miss this out during your visit in Bohol.!! This place is a huge plus plus in your most memorable experiences. This is where you'll have meals on a floating restaurant. It's actually a very good idea for a romantic dinner with your special someone. You'll go turn around the Loboc river, see all the beauty of nature, and enjoy the music with your love. For us, we just had our buffet lunch in this place. This is actually one of my favorites. 

    

 I enjoyed our lunch so much in this place. The food was ok. The music was great. The view was awesome!!! And there was one dance entertainment too when we passed by in a balsa with a group of old folks in their attire.  I would never want to leave this place but I just have to because our next stop is one of the most exciting things i'd love to see as well. 

This photo was taken by a friend of mine.

 Unfortunately my camera was dying at this moment and need a little charge. But I am lucky they have their own cameras :)

Next stop!!! 

 Yes that's it!! The Tarsier conservation area. You should have guess it right! This is the world's smallest primate. Actually, you will not only see this little animals with enormous eyes in the Philippines because I've heard some countries in Southeast Asia also have this one. But it's an honor to have such kind of species where we live right? They are actually endangered species already, meaning there are only few of them lives. 

So this!! is a rule you must obey when you get in there. They are so kind to allow us taking photos but use no flush please! And yes! silence is a must!!! They are actually pretty scary when they opens their eyes because it really looks like they're going to commit suicide already. At least  that's what it looks like for me :)

They are mostly asleep and lazy during daytime, so I am lucky to take photos with their wide eyes open :)

There then we left the tarsier conservation area. On our way to our next stop, we passed by in one of the most outstanding site I've seen with my naked eyes.

This is the man-made mahogany forest. It's a real wow for someone like me who really love seeing the beauty of nature. And take note! it's man-made. We must treasure what our ancestors left in our hands.! It's such a beauty.!

 This is a place for a good photography too! wouldn't you agree to that?

And here now we will continue our tour!  I hope you have great patience in reading my blog. Don't miss out the rest of the fun!

Let's now proceed to our next destination. Ofcourse! you shouldn't let yourself miss out seeing the Bohol's most famous spot. The Chocolate Hills.
It's actually a little green in my photo because the plants are actually not dried and withered yet. But  because summer is approaching fast, the hills will soon turns to brown which when they'll have the reason to call it chocolate hills.

 You'll see it's view from below as you arrive there but there's a better view that awaits you from the top. You'll just have to passed the stair challenge :) But i will assure you! It's gonna be worth-ed..






And so after the chocolate hills we've went to xzootic animalandia. You'll see typical kinds of species that you'll also see from other zoos you've been. But if you want something really memorable, try this one:

take a photo with a huge snake that can eat you alive within just a sec. Oh but well... it's not hungry at your time of visit so don't worry. I've managed to conquer my fear as well ;)

Also, outside the zoo there's a shop for Bohol's fomous food. Try the peanut kisses. You'll buy the cheapest one in this area.

Actually, the souvenir shop we've been after our tour have higher price than the souvenir shop you'll see at every stop you'll visit. So it's advisable to buy what you liked in every place you've been already rather than going to one of their main souvenir shop.




The souvenir shop is actually the last stop we've visited but before reaching there, we've also stopped by in the blood compact monument.

This is written in the history of the Philippines that happened during the Spanish Era. 

And so... that's the end of our Bohol Tour. We arrived at the hotel after the tour and just so exhausted. That's also the reason why my clothes from the first photo never changed :) Stay tuned for what's next to expect in Bohol Plaza Hotel. Have a great day! :)