我的Blog: Philippines Feb 09

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Philippines Feb 09

First time going on a sponsored conference..

First time taking Singapore Airlines..

I guess the SQ experience is the better of the two so far.. Seats with pillow and leg space, with ample food and entertainment to keep me occupied the whole journey.. I didn't even managed to catch a short nap as planned..

We went to the Mall of Asia on the first day we arrived. It was rather big and we couldn't finish browsing all the shops in the 2 hr plus we were there. So we're planning to go back again another day. Furthermore there's a nice big ice skating rink which looked so familiar.. Seen in TV before!

Welcome drink at hotel

Second day..
Start of the conference.. Nearly got cheated by cab driver.. Coz we already sat into the cab and he started driving. But he refused to charge us by meter although he has a meter in his cab. Lucky we consulted the hotel reception before taking the cab and insisted on the price the reception told us, which we afterwards realised that it was still more enough if we were to be charged by meter.

Garden of conference hotel by the sea

Went to Robinson's Place (shopping mall) in the evening to have dinner and shop ard. Quite a big mall as well, and we only had time to survey level 1.. Got to come back another day.. =)

Beauty Bar shortlisted for manicure n pedicure =P

Bought a pair of sandals here.. Very patient and helpful sales lady..

Third day..
The conference ended too late and the sky had turned dark.. Looks like we can't have a romantic stroll along Manila Bay (which is a really very very long stretch just by the sea.. South China Sea?) to see the beautiful sunset.. with the yolk sinking into the boundless ocean..

We had a super hard time trying to get a cab to go back to our hotel as many ppl had missed the shuttle bus timing and all fighting to get a cab, thinking they're the most impt ppl ard.. Being not aggressive enough, we lost out and decided to pay a much higher fee to travel by the hotel's taxi service.

with conference recept

Dinner at Robinson Place.. 5 mins walk from our hotel

Fourth day..
After class, a local participant offered to bring us around at Mall of Asia. Since we haven't finish walking around the first time, we happily agreed. As a bonus deal, we got a shuttle bus to fetch 10 of us to the mall at only 100Php!

SM department store.. Found happy feet.. Tink only some will understand this joke =P

Ahh.. yah I bought sth again.. Naf Naf! y so cheap here.. =)

Ice-Hockey game at the big big skating rink

Siying very happy with her many many buys.. *陷害*

Group photo of the items conquered today! =)

Shoe collection in our room.. Certainly don't look like a room for two~

Fifth Day..
Ahh today we were tired, so decided to just go back Robinsons Place again to walk Level 2. Invited our fellow Thai course mates to join and brought them to get the famous dried mangoes.

Tried Kenny Rogers's Mango ice-cream.. But was disappointed that it was simply Vanilla ice-cream dipped in Mango sauce. =(
Had dinner at this Japanese restaurant but I found the food to be abit on the salty side again. *Miss mummy's soups at home*
Bought some 7D dried mangoes today as we found some good buys and also got a '布袋‘.
Will be interesting tml, Conference dinner at Intramuros.. Time to slp..

Sixth Day..
Went to Casa Manila, Intramuros for end-of-workshop dinner. It's actually a museum (someone's house many many yrs ago) and we had our dinner in the courtyard of the museum. We get to visit the museum as well. おもしろいね~

No photos allowed in the museum.. But the furniture there were interesting. =)

Courtyard.. Dinner with performance

Photo with Siying.. my buddy for the ten day trip..

Seventh Day..
We went shopping at Ayala today.. Many malls there! Shop n shop n shop..

Lunch at Ayala's Greenbelt1

Big teddy bears at SM mall!

Chinese food for dinner at Robinson's Place
Ended with a Manicure n Pedicure at Robinson's Place before heading back to rest. Oh first time I did manicure n pedicure. Feels abit weird coz other ppl triming my nails, so scared they'll cut me accidentally.. But lucky that didn't happen. *Phew*

'Enjoying' the 'Dazzling Diva Manicure Pedicure Combo' at a cheap price of coz =P

Finished product~ =P

Eighth Day..
Siying's parents' frens were very kind to bring us for seafood dinner today.. Here's shopping in the market for our 'dinner'.. Let's see what's for dinner..

Yummy crabies..

Ahh.. wu gui? Of coz not.. too cruel to eat them..

While waiting for our dinner to be cooked..

What a spread..
There are more.. But can't fit them into the picture.. Btw, the calamaries are really yummy.. Yummiest so far of those I've ever tasted! Maybe becoz the squid are very fresh? Hmm..

Popping by Manila Hotel for picture taking.. Its the oldest hotel in Manila!
Very grand lobby although it looked normal on the outside.. Wonder how's the rooms..

And we went back to our hotel with the super full dinner still in our stomach.. Cant sit down..

Nineth Day..
Went Robinsons' Place again to make our last purchases of local products and things we wanna buy back..

Dinner at this dessert n coffee place..

Tenth Day..
Went SM Mall of Asia again to get 7D mangoes coz Robinsons' Place don't have this brand..

Dinner at old spaghetti house..

Eleventh Day..
Went Taal Volcano today for a half day trip.. This is a very interesting 2-in-1 volcano becoz there is a smaller, active volcano situated in the middle of the lake which is the crater of the dormant big old volcano. And the smaller volcano in turn has another small lake in its crater. But this one was spewing smoke still. Didn't regretted taking such a long car ride. Can't remember how long it took.. But I fell asleep, woke up and fell asleep and woke up again and still haven't reach. Think took us abt 2 hours to reach Tagaytay, the town situated at the perimeter of the bigger volcano. Had a coffee break at a scenic little Starbucks house, overlooking the bigger lake with the smaller volcano. But sadly Siying's camera had problem taking daylight pictures, so we had no pictures to show. However it looked quite the same as pictures that can be found on the web.

After which we took a ~25mins drive down to the jetty place where we took a small sampan type motored boat to go to the smaller volcano. This 'exciting' boat trip had us busily blocking splashes of water with a piece of canvas provided. This bigger lake has now become home to many touristy establishments providing boat trips and also there are quite alot of fish rearing farms on it as well. Half wet when we reached the little 'island' in the middle.

The smaller volcano in the middle

Then we took another even more exciting horse back ride (with a 16 yr old local guide riding the horse tog, seated behind) to get to the top of the small volcano, which is not very small la.. 5km to and 5km back. And my little white horse, Arn, likes to gallop. So I spent alot of energy clinging on to the small piece of boney protrusion/handle in front of the saddle for dear life. Patted the horse now and then as well coz I scared it will flung me off when it gets too tired. The galloping part (along steep slopes just beside) is a once in a lifetime experience and I doubt I will have the courage to try that again when I'm older, coz there were no ropes or strings securing me to anything on the horse!

We took some videos on top of the small volcano crater, coz we found out that the camera can still take video normally. It was a nice view but I tink the Jeju one is still prettier. =)

View from top of volcano

Little white horse that I rode on

Took the boat ride back again, this time with disposable raincoats on. =P
Had a good meal and we headed back to our hotel to do our final packing.

Twelveth Day..
Woke up almost instantly when my alarm clock rang at 5.20am in the morning! Guess I'm too eager to head home after so many days. Had a quick breakfast and took a cab to the airport. But sadly the cabbie driver refuse to issue a receipt. *irritated*

Clear blue skies so we touched down earlier than expected. =)

*Home sweet home*... So tired..

Some other photos: