kathangisip travelogue » japanesecake

Cebu Pacific P1 seat sale this July!

japanesecake — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 02:03:56 +0000

The Philippines’ largest national flag carrier, Cebu Pacific (CEB) promotes our newest routes Zamboanga to Tawi-Tawi and Iloilo to Cagayan de Oro with a P1 seat sale from now until July 7, 2011 or until seats last. This is for travel from October 14 to December 15, 2011.
The P1 seats are available on CEB’s new daily Airbus A319 service from Zamboanga to Tawi-Tawi, as well as its new thrice weekly Airbus A319 service from Iloilo to Cagayan de Oro. It is exclusive of government taxes and surcharges. Both flights will be launched on October 14, 2011.

You can also buy CEB’s trademark low fares to some of our more popular international destinations, for travel from August 1 to September 30, 2011.

P888 seats are available from Manila or Clark to Macau, and from Cebu to Hong Kong including P1,888 seats from Manila to Beijing or Shanghai. This fare is 52% off the lowest year-round fare for Beijing and Shanghai which is P4,999.

Other destinations up for sale are P488 seats from Manila to Naga, for travel from July 16 to September 30, 2011. As well as P688 seats from Manila to Dumaguete, Tacloban or Zamboanga, and P888 seats from Manila to Cagayan de Oro or Davao. This is for travel from August 1 to September 30, 2011.

Tali Beach, Beach House at Nasugbu Batangas

japanesecake — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 07:11:17 +0000

Last June, our very small team from the company I worked in decided to have a little outing out of town. There were a few choices considered, but we have certain criteria for where we want to go to. Number 1 – the place should have a swimming pool. Number 2 – it should have a beach. Number 3 – it should be near Manila. Luckily, Tali Beach in Nasugbu Batangas was available to us..

Tali Beach

Tali Beach actually resides on a private subdivision/community. Only owner’s or guests can go in. As for us, We rented one of the houses there, and were allowed in as guests of the Los Balcones beach house.

We got to know Los Balcones through one of our officemate who has been there a few months back. She was raving about the cliff and the beautiful beach house, that I researched it myself after she told the story. Unfortunately, this place is very expensive if you’re thinking of group that are 20 or less. The place is mostly rented for special events.

We got in touch with the beach house’s manager and booked us a weekend at the place for our outing. By this time, I was already encouraging my office mates to jump at the cliff. I really wanted to.

Los Balcones

Going at Nasugbu, we all went in batches, car pooling to anyone who can take us in.

Entering the Tali Beach, we were halted by the guards on the gate of the community. Like was said, tali beach is a private community. The beach house’s manager already let the guards knew of our arrival.

It’s a few minutes drive before the house, and we already were starting to get excited as the houses we passed by were beautiful. Wishing the houses we passed by is as beautiful as the place we were going to stay in – and it was.

The Beach House

When we arrived in the house. We were immediately awed by the beautiful scenery from the house’s balcony. It was a view of the sea and the sole swimming pool of the house.

The house has 2 floors, and 5 rooms and lots(!) of entertainment items.

They have a wooden monopoly and scrabble play set.

A foozball table which we violated too much while we were there. It was so fun playing that thing.

And a poker set, which we forgot was there, and didn’t even use!

Near the kitchen is the ”Main DVD Home Theatre” system, which has this huge HD flat screen tv. We actually planned to bring one of our office mate’s PS3, but didn’t know if the tv was HD. So there you go, bring your game consoles! hehe

They also have a mini slot machine, a billiard table, and a piano. Need I say more?

We even set up some music through their centralized sound system, which can be heard through the whole house. They also have mic with that sound system.

The rental fee for Los Balcones includes house helpers, for when you want certain foods cooked. We gave them a tip for their services.

There is also a mini bar near the kitchen, but the drinks are not for sale. Bummer.

The Rooms

The house has 5 rooms, I wasn’t able to picture all rooms as I didn’t even realize it was that many. All rooms were just plain room, each room has it’s own bathroom, but there is a common cr downstairs.

The master room was the best room of the house. It has a big bed, a tv, a bath tub. Our boys stayed in this room. Their only complain was the bathroom door is loosely locked,and you can easily be seen from outside. At least that what they told us.

The cliff

One of our office mate, who told us about this place, did her jump on this cliff when she first went here. Unfortunately, she has her monthly visitor so she didn’t do it this time. I was kind of hoping she’d jump first so I could see how to do it. (and if it’s really safe). I’m not very good at swimming, I took a swimming lesson two years ago, and still not as confident as I want to be. Plus the height could possibly post a problem to me.

We went there the morning after we arrived at Tali Beach, it’s about a 5 min walk from the beach house. The water is on it’s perfect height. The afternoon before it was low tide, and people were scared too jump because of that. But that morning when we got there, we found our boss already doing jumps from the highest point. I didn’t believe at first but when he did it. I was so impressed, and decided I will do it. I should do it. This will possibly the last time I’m at this cliff.

So there were three brave souls. J*g, K**n and me. 2 boys and me, the only girl. I watched the two boys first. They know how to swim so I asked one of the boys to wait for me on my jump.

I did it. Two times even! It was my first time to jump on a cliff, and swim on the sea without a vest. It doesn’t hurt at all, except on the initial impact, but I didn’t even feel that as painful. There were even this couple (not with us) who did their couple jump. We don’t have pictures of the jump, we have videos instead, hehe.

There was a lower part of the cliff, which some of my office mates jumped on. It was so cute cause the girls jumped on the lower part and our boys would just rescue and dragged them to ground after. Awesome team work.

After that we went to the beach to do actual swimming, since the wave in the water near the cliff is getting a bit violent. I again loved the water in Tali beach. It’s white, not fine sand, but definitely better than most beaches in Batangas I’ve beent to.

The afternoon before, we did some ridiculous jump shot near this landscaped area near the cliff, then waited on the sunset. Didn’t brought my camera that time since I thought I would be jumping then.

We left the place at around 2, but were allowed by the owner to stay until 5 pm. Gorgeous place.

Oh, before we left I used my awesome GF2 to capture some crazy GIF’s of our team

For more info. Please visit the Los Balcones web site : http://losbalcones.webs.com

More pictures on our album

South Korea Day 3: Gyongbokgung and the Blue House

japanesecake — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 02:19:48 +0000

Gyongbok palace
Hyehwa to Gyongbokgung station

Seoul may be a modern city. But would you know that in this city lies a big network of caves? Surprise, surprise! Line 3 (orange line) certainly is full of surprises. It’s one of the new subway train station and its theme is nothing but modern. We were awed at the “cave” that surrounded this subway. Of course, the train is modern and there’s no need to fear for a possible cave man attack.

In the pictures, it’s very sunny. Don’t be deceived, it’s extremely cold that morning. Our first stop is to check the most famous among Seoul’s palaces, Gyeongbokgung. Since they all look similar, we didn’t bother to check the others.We alight at Gyongbokgung station and off we went to check it out. It was very cold outside that being sunny was a welcome relief. Now I understood why Koreans love the sun so much.

Inside Gyongbokgung is the National museum of Korea, and another museum that I forgot the name. Since I’ve been to the Forbidden City in Beijing already, I’m not that impressed. It was small compared to the Forbidden City, probably 1/20th of its size, and the palaces were obviously restored.

What we did in Gyongbokgung? Jump shots of course! These are one of those moments where you jump in an ala-Karate Kid setting. There here weren’t too many people yet when Japanesecake did hers. Followed by Xty, Lyka and Jeff who got the shots in a few attempts. Catna03 however..needs more practice! haha.

BTW, did I mention that the characters inscribed in the main gate is Chinese and not Korean? It’s normally called Gyongbokgong, where gong in Mandarin means palace. Also, the changing-of-the-guards ceremony still takes place. It’s worth checking it out.

One thing I noticed that that the roofs of the palaces in Korea was bluish-green, while in China it was yellowish-brown. The yellow roof in China symbolizes Earth. I’m not sure what the green roof in Korea signifies.It might just be part of the restoration process.

For those who haven’t seen the Forbidden City, touring the palace is an excellent way of checking out old Korea. But I’m not sure if it’s recommended during summer. I suppose it’s very hot during summer (just like in Forbidden City) and I can’t see any covered areas aside from the palaces itself.

The best scenic view of this palace is Gyonghoeru which is a pavilion surrounded by a pond.

Blue House
Blue House is walking distance from the Gyongbukgung palace. It is found at the southern end exit. It is the Malacanang palace of South Korea as the president resides here. It’s off-limits so we just took pictures outside.

More pictures of South Korea on our album

Cebu Pacific Seat Sale for Jun 2011

japanesecake — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 16:52:54 +0000

P288

Cebu to Butuan, Cagayan de Oro,

Davao, Dipolog, General Santos,

Ozamiz, Pagadian, Siargao,

Surigao or Zamboanga

P588

Davao to Zamboanga

P588

Manila to Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Cotabato, Davao , Dipolog,

General Santos, Ozamiz, Pagadian, Surigao or Zamboanga

P888

Davao to Iloilo

P888

INTERNATIONAL

Cebu to Hong Kong

P888

Cebu to Singapore P1,488 P888

P1,488

Travel is valid from Jul 1 – Aug 31, 2011. Sale is only until Jun 7, 2011 or until Seats last!

Walking Tour : Raffles Singapore

japanesecake — Tue, 31 May 2011 03:20:32 +0000

After visiting the Merlion statues, we decided to walk going to Marina Bay Sands. We stumbled an ice cream vendor on the side of Fullerton and decided to have a quick snack there. Singapore weather was hot that time, but thankfully not as humid as Manila on afternoons.

Btw, that Selecta looking logo is called Wall's there, dunno if it's the same though

behold, the ice cream sandwich

And yeah, you can’t miss this jumping kids brass sculpture on the bridge near Fullerton.

bombs away!

Fullerton at the back

There was this lake at the back of Fullerton, which was connected by bridges. These bridges were lit at night. The lake looks man-made though.

bridge

And tourists would often flock this part here of a bull brass sculpture, of course we didn’t miss a photo-opt of it ourselves

the gang

It was a never ending photo-opt with brass sculptures that time, including this one from the business center.

statue touring

More pictures on our album