002: Splash Mountain Laguna

As a kid, my family goes to Laguna weekly but as our family grew, weekly bacame monthly and currently, we go there rarely.

 Photo: Map of Laguna from WikiPilipinas

Being a jeep away from the bus stations heading to Laguna, a trip to this place isn't that far from possible.

And One in particular I want to visit is the Splash Mountain Hotel in Laguna. It was referred to me by a swim buddy and it had been in my options to visit for our anniversary last year.

Going there is just a bus ride. Budget: PHP1000 for all the transportation from Makati and back.

Accomodation is a Couple's room at PHP 2,500.00 with an hour of jacuzzi at PHP 350.

 Photo: De Luxe Room from Splash Mountain

Things to do:

1. Lunch at Oasis Restaurant. Budget: PHP 1,000.00
2. Swim at their pools, especially the Giant Slide Pool

Photo: Giant Waterslides Pool from Splash Mountain

3. Dinner at Oasis Restaurant. Budget: PHP 1,000.00
4. Breakfast at Oasis Restaurant. Budget: PHP 1,000.00

 Photo: Oasis Restaurant from Splash Mountain

This is another relax all day trip.

Estimated Expenses at PHP 6,500.00

001: Tagaytay

I have been in Tagaytay numerous times and if I own and know how to drive a car. I probably went there more times.

Photo: Tagaytay from Pinoy Lakwatsa

Tagaytay is 2-3 hours commute from Pasay Terminal. You could ride a bus, an FX Taxi or even a jeep (which I won't do).

Transportation Budget: P1000/back and forth Manila and Tagaytay including jeeps and buses to get around the attractions.

 Photo: Royal Taal Inn from Google

Accomodation may be in a 3 star hotel or a simple inn. Budget around PHP2.5k to 5k.

Things to do: 
1. A visit to Leslie's Restaurant is a must. Budget: P2k for a hefty lunch.

Photo: Leslie's Restaurant Street Sign from Visit Pinas

2. Breakfast/Snack at Mushroom Burger. Budget: PHP 300

Photo: Mushroom Burger from Blog Monster Comments

3. A massage in a Spa. Budget: PHP 1000

Photo: Nurture Spa from the Gloss

4. Take out Dinner. Budget: PHP 2,000

5. Stroll in Picnic Groove. P100

Photo: Picnic Groove from Pinoy Travel Blog

The next Tagaytay trip is full of rests and eating...

Total Over-Estimated Trip: PHP 11,400

OA ang estimate pero better safe than sorry...

1st 100 Day Challenge: 100 places in the Philippines I want to visit

From Jomar Hilario's website, I chance upon a challenge of creating a blog post detailing anything for 100 days. after n days of consideration, I decided to begin my 100 days today.

My first 100 days challenge is about 100 places in the Philippines I want to visit. Each blog post will contain pictures and probable budget of the trip. Each blogpost may talk about a province, a city, a region, or even a particular restaurant.

Let the 100 day challenge begin!

Group Voucher Deals = Weekend Dates

I am lucky enough to come across sites that offers group deals. These sites offer discounts on purchases at restaurants, spas and other venues of services when you decided to buy before using a company's service.

First weekend: Repertory Phillipines' Play with Dinner at CIBO Greenbelt

I love watching plays and when Cash Cash Pinoy decided to offer 50% discount at Repertory Philippines' Shakespeare in Hollywood, I bought tickets for two.

Photo: Play Photo

I live in Makati so going to the play's venue was easy. The play was fun, super funny. It was a adaptation of a Midsummer Night's Dream set in early Hollywood. I hope they have a deal when Peter Pan is out.

After watching the play, we were already hungry as it was almost 10pm so we went to CIBO Greenbelt have a great dinner. This time, the voucher we used was from Pakyaw, another group deal site.

It was a hearty meal were we both had pastas and drinks.

We wouldn't normally go to places like CIBO but group deal sites made it possible

Another Weekend: ACE Water Spa

It wasn't our first time in ACE Water Spa but it was nice going back with discounts. It was relaxing to float around the laxy river and be massaged by water. All thanks to Cash Cash Pinoy!

Next Steps

Almost 2 months ago, I declared a deadline to quit my job and find another one.

But upon reflecting, I decided I don't want another job. Another job is just replacing one "prison" with another "prison". The pay may be great.

 Photo: Job Prison

The recent pay increase had made me richer that I have ever been but having an office job prevents me from finding my own path.

So I am aiming to make my current job, my last IT office job. My ideal situation is an 8-5 work at home job that pays around PHP 20k to 30k every month (I live a lavish lifestyle). Before 8am, I would jog/run and after 5pm I would do strength exercises at our condo gym. And possibly have weekday classes on language and other topics

That would be my ideal day. Once a week, I would go out to deal with customers of my real estate endeavours and earn an extra PHP 10k to PHP 100k.

Working all day and Earning a Salary monthly isn't the way of life of the rich in this generation.

So continuing on my current career isn't a good option. It is stupid even.

I haven't been able to create a concrete plan as I have been putting it off numerous times but I have to do something soon. My deadline of its achievement is the beginning of next year...

Wish  me Luck!

The first step will be happening on May 28 with my attendance of the VA Seminar by Jomar Hilario.

 Photo: Jomar Hilario

Our KL to SG Trip Part 18: SG Rush to Road Home

So we dropped by our hostel and claimed our baggage and headed to Lavander MRT. We were pressed for time as we only had less than 30 minutes before our bus heading to Malaysia left. On a whim, we ran towards the bus station and arrived 5 minutes before the bus leaves and was the last passengers to board the bus before it travelled to Malaysia.

Lesson: Don't be late in buses. You should be in the station hours before departure like in air plane flights.

On our SG to KL bus trip, we went down the bus twice. The first time to depart Singapore. Where we only needed to bring our passports and the next one to arrive in Malaysia where we brought all of our luggages.

The bus trip lasted 5 hours almost on the dot so we boarded a taxi to KL Sentral worth MYR 20 and hung out at the 24 hour Mc Donald's Branch and left to the airport at 3am. Out flight was 7am and spent most of the waiting time half asleep. The flight was fine and we arrive in Clark in one piece.

We rode the same bus company home and rode a bus to rest on our arrival.

That trip was real fun!

Our KL to SG Trip Part 17: Suntech Fountain of Wealth and Marina Bay Sands Hotel

From Promanade MRT, we made our way to the SunTech Fountain of Wealth at that time the huge fountain is closed and the small fountain in the middle is open. That fountain is the fountain of wealth. Instructions says that a person had to put his hand in the fountain and go around 3 times to become wealthy so we followed the instructions and hope it pays more.

After which, we headed to a bus station and rode a bus to Marina Bay Sands Hotel. There wasn't much to see since we opted not to go to the Sky Park since it was too expensive and not much to see. So if you are not planning to see Lion King or go up the Sky Park. Skip going to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. Riding the right bus takes a lot of time, too.

Our KL to SG Trip Part 16: Little India

It was our last day in Singapore and we went to explore the temples and malls around our hostel.

First Stop is the Sakaya Mini Buddha Gaya Temple

It houses one of the biggest sitting buddha statues in the world. 2 years ago, taking pictures of the buddha wasn't allowed but times change and we had photo ops with the statue.

Next Stop is the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple

It houses intricate designs of the hinduism religion. I had visited this place before so a short photo op sufficed since Jessie wanted to have lunch already.

Next Stop is the City Mall

We had lunch in this fairly new mall. I had Murtabak and Jessie had a Korean Spicy Fish Meal.

Last Stop is Mustafa Centre Mall

This is one of the 24 hour malls in Singapore. It contains pretty much everything. We got new earphones in this mall. It was cheaper there than in music shops in the Philippines.

Our KL to SG Trip Part 15: Night Safari

From the Ang Mo Kio MRT, we rode a 45 minute bus to Night Safari.

We were kinda in a hurry during this travel but we arrived just in time to catch Jessie's Aunt's Friend who gave us a 50% discount on our tickets. We bought the tickets and was just in time to catch the Creatures of the Night Show. The show featured Nocturnal Animals performing neat tricks. It wasn't my first time in this park but I wanted Jessie to experience what the park had to offer so I added this to our IT.

It was a great show but a hard one to catch on a camera since flash photography may bother the nocturnal animals. After the show, we had the most expensive dinner of our vacation. Each meal was almost SGD20 and with drink, we spent around PHP 3,500. It was worth it, though. The meal was hearty.

We then boarded the Tram where we experienced the first half of the tour. We went down to explore the Leopard Trail but 10 minutes into our exploration and heard a loud roar from a lion and came running back to the tram for the second half of the tour.

At almost midnight, we finished our trip to the Night Safari with photo ops around the place. There were only a few people left so taking pictures was easy. However, it was late at night so our only option was a bus ride to Ang Mo Kio MRT Station and Taxi to our Hostel. Our Transpo back to the City was less than SGD 20.

Our KL to SG Trip Part 14: Sentosa

On a whim, I urged Jessie to take the board walk so from Vivo City, we used the walkalators to arrive at the waterfront monorail station. It was extremely hot so we took a 5 minute break in the Resorts World Customer Lounge.

Then, proceeded to the Beach Station where we went to Palawan Beach to catch a photo op with a a parrot. Then, we went to the Southern-something mostpart of Asia and I had an earful 'coz I didn't planned swimming in the Sentosa beach since net reviews said it was dirty in which it wasn't so do try to bring swim stuff to Sentosa.

We, then  had more photo ops in Siloso beach where we bought tickets for parajumping experience. From Siloso Beach, we walked to the Mega Zip Adventure Tent and did Parajumping...

Para jumping was scary at first but it was fun during the jump. I urge people to try it. In preparation of doing bungee jumping.

We had a small snack and them headed to Ang Mo Kio to go to the Night Safari.