I never thought I’d experience swimming with stars. I’ve been to Liwa Zambales last year, but I didn’t fully appreciate its beauty then. But my visit last weekend showed me how great the place was.

Getting there was not that easy. It was a good 4 hour drive from Manila. And to reach Kuya Bot’s place, we turned left somewhere along the highway. It was a struggle for us. Because our signal light was broken then. Haha. And it was a dusty and lonely road, I never imagined that there would be ‘resorts’ further along. But it was the best place to go to when you need a break from the hustle and bustle of the city life. The gigantic trees in the area have a calming effect on me. And the beach! I love it. It was not crowded.

Every now and then we’d see some plastic floating but we’d fish that out. Liwa beach is too precious for us to destroy. I realized this when we decided to indulge ourselves with some night dip. 

Last March, I decided to join my friends’ surfing trip. Neil & Neil (N2) Surfing Co., regularly organize 2-day surf trips in San Narciso, Zambales for Php 2000.00 per person. This includes the fare, accommodation, food, and surf lesson. I was lucky enough to join the last batch of PawiSurf. Aside from surfing, you also get the chance to release baby Pawikans into the ocean.

We’re N2 Surfing!

The food they served during our stay are all fresh and yummy. I don’t really like fish (except Salmon), but the fish steak was really good! Perfect time to start my Seafood Diet (When I see food, I eat it).

Fish steak!!!

We headed for the beach around 4 PM. We had to pass by these beautiful trees going to the beach. It’s like a nature trip; very peaceful and quiet. 

Road less traveled. lol.

Deserted beach with crystals in the sand.

Sunset in San Narciso, Zambales

My photo did not do any justice to the beauty of sunset in Zambales. I’m sorry, I wish I know how to capture it. It was just pure bliss, sitting there at the shore, with beers and new found friends.

Local folk trying to fish

After watching the sunset, we decided to visit the baby Pawikans. Unfortunately, only 1 egg hatched when we visited the sanctuary. The others are still inside their shells. They’re not mature enough and we have to wait for it’s brothers and sisters.

Hello baby pawikan!

Every night, during Pawikan Egg Laying Season, locals of Lapaz San Narciso Zambales patrols the beach for these eggs. They call themselves ‘Pawi Rangers’. They collect the eggs and transfer it to a fenced sand area where the eggs can safely mature and hatch. As stated in Wikipedia, four species of the sea turtle have been identified as “endangered” or “critically endangered” with another two being classed as “vulnerable”.  The Pawi Rangers are all volunteers that want to help protect these endangered species. When the hatchlings are old enough, the Pawi Rangers then release the pawikans back to the ocean.

Life Cycle of a Sea Turtle

It was a very humbling experience. Imagine being born as a sea turtle, where you have to fight your way to live. Starting from egg until they mature, they always have to fight to survive. Go fight win, Pawikans! I’ll cheer for you and hope you”ll grow old.

Neil & Neil Surfing Co.

https://www.facebook.com/N2Surfing

+63 917 580 6390

Whenever I’m in Manila for work, my default place to stay is GoHotels Cybergate Plaza. Why?

 

Hello EDSA from my Queen-Bed Room 🙂

2. Clean and Comfy. I hate dust and dirt, so I always make sure that I’ll sleep in a clean and comfortable surroundings after a day of hard work. I stayed in hotel rooms that looks classy and elegant, but when you lie on the bed, you’ll never see the sun again because of the bug bites. Eww.

Comfy bed and comfy sheets!

3. Affordable. Yes it is affordable compared to other hotels in Manila. You can get a room for as low as Php 1300.00, if you’ll book 1 week ahead and the prices can only go as high as Php 2300.00. I actually tried walking-in a few times and still got a room for Php 2300.00. Their booking system is like that of an airline company. The prices increase as the demand increase. So if you’re going to book on the same day that you’re going to stay there expect the price to be from Php 2000 – 2300 range. They also have room sales regularly where you can book your room accommodations ahead of time for a lower price.

I also have a list of things I do not like/enjoy while staying in GoHotels:

1. Key Cards. They get f*cking deactivated all the time. This happened a few times to me already and during the most dire times too. One time I went home around 3 AM so tired and sleepy and when I tried the 2 key cards that I have, both aren’t working. Just thinking about it makes me annoyed again. Anyhow, I went down to the lobby again to have them re-activated and that’s when the Front Desk Lady told me that the key cards are sensitive to gadgets and can be deactivated anytime. Who doesn’t own a gadget nowadays???

2. No Room Service. The hotel doesn’t have their own restaurant so when you stay there, make sure you’re prepared to survive. Hahaha. Don’t worry, the building has MiniStop Convenience Store at the Ground Floor level so you can get your water and chips there. As for food / meals, they also have Tokyo Cafe where they serve Japanese Food. Or if you really want cheaper / affordable meals you can just drop by Robinson’s Forum which is just beside GoHotels. They have an assortment of fastfood and food carts inside.

3. Thin Walls. If your neighboring rooms are very boisterous, you can just dial the front desk and request that they notify the nearby rooms to quiet down. But basically, you can hear their stories and sounds if they’re doing something naughty inside. hahaha. You can even hear the footsteps of other guests in the hallways.

So far, the reasons why I like GoHotels still weighs more to me than the dislike list. I still and will always choose to stay in their Cybergate Mandaluyong Branch. Thanks for making GoHotels the place for every Juan! :))

As part of the company’s incentive for our team effort, the whole Task Force Everest Team is going to Europe! Yehey!

Task Force Everest: Me, Ralph, Jephelle, Lai (Renoir Consultant), Elmer, Rachelle, Richelle, Milady, Bino is missing again

I may not have mentioned this before, but last May 2013, I got pulled out from the QA Department to join Project Everest and help reach the project’s goals. It ended last October 11, 2013 and the whole team’s hard work showed positive results. Thus the company granted us the Eurotrip. 😀

So now it’s a whirlwind of Visa Processing, Clothes Shopping, Itinerary Planning, and not to mention saving money! It’s not everyday someone gives you an all-expense paid trip to Europe, so the whole team is planning to make the most out of this experience.

Visa Processing

I am new to this. I’ve never traveled outside the country. If all goes well, this Eurotrip will be my first international trip! So excited! 😀 Going back, like what I said I am new to this visa processing thing. I didn’t even know what the visa is called. Thanks to Google, I learned that we need to get the Schengen Visa to enter Europe. The Schengen Visa grants entry to 25 countries that are included in the Schengen Area (for more information visit: http://www.schengenvisa.cc/). For the Schengen Visa, you can process it in any of the 25 countries, provided that you will stay most of the duration of your trip in that country where you will apply for your Schengen Visa. So for example you plan to travel for 5 days in Europe and you’ll be staying 3 days in France and 2 days in Italy, you’ll have to process and apply for your Schengen Visa in the French Embassy. That’s what the travel agency said. lol.

This is it! Pansit! *cross-fingers*

Clothes Shopping

We are planning to travel during the last 2 weeks of November. That’s almost winter time there so my wardrobe isn’t really suitable for the weather. I’ve started looking for boots, jackets, thermal clothes, gloves, and earmuffs. It’s a ten day trip and I wonder how I could survive that weather?

Trying on some winter jacket 🙂

Itinerary Planning

Neither one of us have been to Europe yet so this part was really challenging for us. It took us a while before we agreed on which countries to visit. It was just initially Paris, France but since we’re there already, we decided to include Barcelona, Spain and Rome, Italy in our itinerary too. Anyone who’ve been to these places already? Care to share where to eat, sleep, and visit in these places? It will be highly appreciated! :))

So excited about our trip! But still need to prepare a lot of things. Gaaah! I’m really really praying and hoping that our Visa Application will be okay! *cross-fingers* Go Team, Go!

As a frequent Cebu Pacific flyer, I’ve decided to come up with the advantages and disadvantages of using the Web Check-In Service offered by Cebu Pacific based from my personal experience.

Advantages

1. Less Worry. You can be at the counter 45 minutes before your flight and not worry about your reservation getting cancelled or sold to someone else in the event of a fully booked flight. Also, if you’re traveling light (no checked-in baggage), you can just print your own boarding pass and go straight to the Boarding Gate and await your boarding call.

2. Bag Drop Counter. For those who are traveling with luggage, CebuPac have specific Bag Drop Counter where you can check-in your luggage and get your boarding pass. Usually, the Bag Drop Counter have shorter lines as compared to your regular check-in counter.

Bag Drop Counter – Genius!

 Disadvantages

1. No More Re-Booking. Yes, If you’ve already web-checked in and in the event that you wanted to cancel your flight and re-schedule it to another date, you can no longer re-book your flight. I personally experienced this during Typhoon Maring last August 2013. I was in Tacloban for field work and was bound to return to Manila for an important meeting. The weather was really bad in Manila then. I decided to push through and use the web check-in service the night before my flight since there are no updates of my flight being cancelled.

My boarding pass

On the day of my flight, CebuPac already announced that they are willing to re-schedule flights To and From Manila because of the bad weather conditions. However, when I called their hotline, this service no longer apply to me as I have already web-checked in. When I got to the airport, the place was jam-packed since the earlier flight of CebuPac got cancelled and a lot of passengers wanted to get in our flight since it was still scheduled to fly. 3 hours later, sorry, I mean 2 hours 55 minutes after, they finally decided to cancel it. Annoying isn’t it? Did you know that if your flight is delayed for 3 hours from the ETD, the airline is required to provide passengers with meals (Passenger Bill of Rights). So they waited until the last 5 minutes of that 3 hours before cancelling our flight. So there I was, hungry and annoyed. It took me another 3 hours before they can cancel my check-in and rebook me to another flight. Grrrr! I never hated the Web Check-In that much since then.

Agitated passengers

2. Bag Drop Counter. Not all Cebu Pacific Counters have this. So far, I’ve only experienced the hassle-free check-in in Davao City and in Terminal 3. For locations like Cebu, Iloilo, Ozamiz, and Tacloban, they use the same counter for your bag-drop and for your normal check-in. So Web Check-In for these locations are basically futile.

3. Not Available to All Flights. Did you know that the Web Check-In is only available for Airbus flights or their short flights? I’ve noticed this when I flew in from Davao to Cagayan de Oro and Manila to Naga. So if you’re booked to these flights don’t bother checking their website anymore as they’re not available.

So far, these are the only ones that I could think of. Do you have some experience with Web Check-In service that you’d like to share? 🙂