Makati and Boracay Island

Day 1 – Makati

1400: Arrived at terminal 1 international airport, took the fixed rate cab at 330 pesos

1500: checked in at New World Hotel which is near GreenBelt 3. The hotel was modern and the location was great. It is within walking distance to Greenbelt and the Ayala Centre where you can get great food and entertainment. There is a nice garden in between the GreenBelt which has nice cafes and restaurants just for you to chill.

1530: Walked around greenbelt; had Jollibee for lunch. It was pretty crap and so I had my Aunty Anne’s pretzel. Jollibee is their local fast food chain. The portions were super small and they were tasteless. Their seasoning is only just ketchup. However, it was cheap. We then walked around the shopping centres and people watch.

1800: Went to The Spa at Greenbelt 1. It was really good and clean with shower facilities and steam bath for 1100 pesos each=2200 with tip 200 in total.

1930: For dinner we went to a very interesting chain called “Krazy Garlik“. Living up to the name, we had Great hara kiri and pizza which was awesome! Franchise idea? There was even a  SMS feedback with regards to the waiter that was assigned to our table to serve us.

Day 2 – Ayala Centre

1100: Had brunch at glorietta’s food court. Mongolian beef and seafood and Kalbi chicken which was interesting; cheap and filling

1200: Chilling by the centre and had one of the best coffee and ensaymadas at Bo’s coffee. Also to utilise their Wifi

1400: Tour around Manila, stop at memorial park, Rizal park, Manila cathedral and fort Santiago passing by Intramunos at 2100 pesos each = 4200 plus 100 tip

1900: Dinner at Nam Nam Comfort Filipino in GreenBelt 2

2000: Had bad coffee at Seattle’s Best Coffee at GreenBelt 3. But there were a lot of tourists and locals just chilling there.

Day 3 – Boracay Island

0900: Breakfast at Budu near GreenBelt which was a French place but super expensive and food wasn’t great.

1400: Arrived earlier due to change in flight. We flew Airphil Express which allowed us to change to the earlier flight because we were early. We were greeted by shuttle van, air conditioned boat with cold water and Quaker oat biscuit and offered mint all the way (as part of the services by Discovery Shores Hotel at Station 1).  Arrived at suite 304 with complimentary foot wash.

1500:  Had lunch at their restaurant called Island beef with tomato and cheese

1800: Walked by the beach – had Ice cream and Jonah’s shake – one of the best shake/smoothie on the island

1900: Went to D’mall near Station 2 – walked around the mall and had a caricature that costs 300 pesos  and tshirt painted with our names at 1700 pesos. Thought it was a creative souvenir. You get to choose your background etc. Every tuk tuk ride from one station to another is about 120 pesos. However, the hotel provides free shuttle.

2000: Dinner at Don Vito – an Italian restaurant at Station 3 which was mediocre

Day 4 – Boracay Island (Watersports)

1000: Island hopping 1500 pesos and snorkeling 40 pesos. One of the best snorkeling sites in terms of clear water and white sandy beach. The good thing about Boracay Island is that it tries to preserve itself. No smoking is allowed on the beach and all water activities is centred in the middle of the ocean.

1300: Lunch at Army Navy. Great Freedom Fries!!

1400: Jet ski 1800 and jet boat 2600

1900: Dinner at  D’mall at Cyma Greek cuisine; calamari, Greek onion soup, gambas pasta and crab pasta. One of the best meals we have ever had

2100: Had a drink at Hobbit House where everything is like the book and the waiters/ waitresses were small people

2200: Foot massage at Foot Seez; clean rendered by dept of health

Day 5 – Boracay Island (Watersports)

1100: Massage at Palassa spa 350 each = 700

1200: Helmet diving and Zorb 1000 each= 2000

1400: Lunch at yellow cab pizza at Station 2 by the beach

1600: Saw a Korean wedding by the beach which was super lovely. The best thing about the private beach in the hotel is when you choose your deck chairs; the waiters will come with an ice cold drink, cucumber for your eyes, cold tower and even clear your sunglasses for you. Talk about first class service! Definitely one of a kind.

2200: Dinner at Aria – mediocre Italian place by D’mall

2300: Had drinks and people watch at Summer Palace

Day 6 – Return

Advise is to fly into makati and take the Airphil Express to Caticlan as it is closer than Kalibo island. It only takes 2o minutes boat ride from Caticlan to Boracay. Discovery Shores also provide comfortable guest room for us to wait at the airport. All the other flights were delayed except for Airphil Express which was pretty much on time.

Verdict: Boracay is a beautiful clear and untouchable island!

Manila, Phillipines

Day 1

Flew in to Makati City via Malaysia Airlines. We took a van from the airport for the 6 of us. The porters were rushing to get tips from us – that they indicated that all currencies are accepted including RM50! We gave them RM10 because the ride from the airport to our hotel is about USD30 for a 6-seater van which was not metered (still cheaper than the airport transfer arranged by the hotel). The traffic was quite bad; almost equivalent to all South East Asian major cities without efficient public transport – Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. We arrived at the hotel after about an hour. We stayed in Mandarin Oriental in Makati city with the Amex promotion which was super awesome that we had ourselves upgrade to the Club level. We had complimentary wi-fi and access to the lounge on the 17th floor for meals. After we arrived at night, we took the free shuttle to Glorietta and walked towards Hard Rock Cafe Makati in Ayala Centre. There were live performances by the local band Nyoy Volante whose music were very much Indonesian-like. The music quality and the vocalist was very good.

Day 2

The morning my sister and I went swimming in the big pool which was very nice as the temperature was slightly warm but not too hard. By about 2, we went on the city tour around Metro Manila that will show us the old and new city. The tour starts right in the heart of the country’s financial center – the City of Makati where we drove through Forbes Park, an exclusive residential enclave fittingly dubbed Millionaire’s Row on your way to our first stop – the American Cemetery and Memorial – reputed to be the largest and most beautiful of American memorials outside the Continental United States. l.  It spans across 152 acres of land with headstone lined up very orderly and the trees that symbolises those who were given the medal of honour. The memorial was right next to The Bonifacio Global City which is now a rich district with a high number of skyscrapers, even if the city is still rising. Apparently, the woman with 3000 pairs of shoes has a unit in one of the apartments there.

We then proceed to the old city of Manila via scenic Roxas Boulevard (also known as Dewey Boulevard in the recent past), passing through Luneta Park (also called Rizal Park in memory of the country’s national hero) on to the “Walled City” of Intramuros. There were ancient walls, church ruins and other relics of the Spanish Conquistadores and we then made a stop at San Agustin Church, the oldest stone church in the country. We were lucky that we get to witness a wedding ceremony at that time.

At the end of the day, we wrapped up the tour with a visit to Fort Santiago, a Spanish fortress that watched over the entrance to Manila’s Pasig River. There is where the national hero Dr. Jose Rizal spent his last days and wrote the famous “My Last Farewell”.

At night, we went for our Chinese New Year Eve Dinner at a seafood restaurant at Glorietta called Marina. It has authentic cooking and fresh seafood at a reasonable price right smack in the middle of the city. At night, there were fireworks right outside our hotel where half the roads were closed for this celebration to welcome the year of the Dragon.

Day 3

Again in the morning we took the shuttle to Rockwell to the Power Plant Mall which was the poshest mall in town. It was equivalent to Pavilion and then we headed back to Glorietta. It was a day of shopping, sitting at cafe at Bo’s Coffee people watching. At night, we went to the hotel’s bar – The Martini’s Bar. There was a performance by the local Samba school and there were many locals who danced to the music. The way they moved their body was “electrifyingly shocking”. Most of them were very good and the energy was so strong in that room that it was the perfect way to spend our last night in this city.

Day 4

Headed back home with memories and dried mangoes as well as their local water biscuits. ;P