Summer season is over…But trips to the beach are definitely not over! Not when there’s the Wet and Wild Beach Promo from PHRS! You can choose from any of these four beach destinations:
Posts Tagged ‘Batangas’
Wet and Wild Beach Promo!
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010
7,107 Islands and Flavors of the Philippines
Sunday, July 25th, 2010by Florie Lyn Masarate
Armed with my ever-present camera and tons of Local Philippines business cards, I set off to Megamall last Friday, July 23, 2010, for the ITTE (International Tourism and Trade Expo) event, “7,107 Islands and Flavors of the Philippines”.
The event was being held at Mega Trade Hall 3. When I arrived, a lot of people were already registering at the ITTE booth. Others were waiting to be allowed to enter. Participants range from company representatives, business people to college students from different universities around Manila.
While waiting, I chatted with the Miss Tourism candidates who were positioned at the entrance to welcome the guests. The candidates were all pretty and accommodating. They posed and smiled when I asked to have their pictures taken. And readily answered my questions as to where each of them was from.
The event officially started after the ribbon cutting ceremony headed by the newly appointed DOT Undersecretary, Vicente Romano III and the Region II Directress Blessida Diwa.
DOT Undersecretary Romano gave a speech about promoting Philippine cuisine around the globe. He said that the goal was for Philippine food and delicacies to be a part of other cultures that are not our own. He pointed out Chinese and Thai cuisines as examples. These are the dishes that can be found anywhere in the world and are being eaten and enjoyed by people of different nationalities.
“Adobo” and Jollibee was also mentioned in his speech. Adobo, he said, is already well-known to many foreigners. While Jollibee can now be found in different countries. But, the DOT Undersecretary emphasized, there are still a lot more delicious trademark food and delicacies that Philippines can offer. And all that is what the DOT and its sponsors want to promote and make our country famous for.
The cultural presentations were next. Groups of men and women presented numbers sporting the native “bahag” and “malong”, the “tinikling” dance plus choral groups who sang traditional Filipino songs.
The food demo began right after. Food preparation and demonstration of CCA, Del Monte and Mama Sita’s, were presented onstage. Food tasting was open for everyone.
It was during these presentations that I started going over the different DOT branches, hotels and resorts participants to promote Local Philippines. I had the good fortune of talking to friendly representatives from DOT Zamboanga, Laguna and Palawan. Other company reps I talked with are Cebu Pacific, Duty Free Philippines, hotels/resorts from Manila: The Pearl Manila Hotel, Greenhills Elan, Hotel H2O, and from other parts of the Philippines: Soto Grande (Cebu), Tagaytay Country Hotel, Tanawin Luxury Apartments (Boracay), Punta de Fabian (Rizal), Royal Northwoods (Bulacan), Island Cove (Cavite), among others.
The highlight of the event for me was when I approached the DOT Region II Directress, Blessida Diwa, for a friendly chat about the event, destinations on her region and would-be plans for similar events. The Directress is very friendly. She even asked to have a picture of us retaken when she previewed it and saw that the resolution was too dark. And, she personally gave me her card, complete set of Region II flyers and asked for my business card in return.
It was when I already left the event that I realized I have not tasted any of the delicacy or food presented there. Ironic, considering it was a culinary event.
But I left contented, carrying numerous flyers, pamphlets and business cards from different organizations, travel agents and a list of people to follow up on.
Overall, the event was a big success! Cliché, I know. But that indeed, is the only word I can think of to describe the “7,107 Islands and Flavors of the Philippines”.
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I would like to thank the various hotel and resort representatives who offered special discounts, promos and free ocular inspection. I’m taking up on all your offers. 
Philippine Diving Sites
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010Here are the country’s best dive sites. The list is a good guide for people who are into diving, and the perfect time to go diving is this summer. [Source: April 12, 2009, the Sunday Lifestyle Inquirer of the Philippine Daily Inquirer]
- Tubbataha, Sulu Sea, the Everest of Philippine diving. Check out Tubbataha Reef, too.
- Apo Reef, Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro
- Malapascua Island, Cebu
- Anilao, Batangas
- Donsol, Sorsogon
My La Luz Adventure
Thursday, January 7th, 2010Bus to Lipa = P127.50
Jeep to San Juan = P58.00
Jeep to La Luz = P45.00
Trike back to San Juan to the San Juan-Manila van = P400.00 (You read that right.)
MEMORIES AND STORIES AND BONDING: PRICELESS
Needless to say, the fare prices are record-breaking. I’m never complaining about fares again! hahaha
My friends and I have long planned to take a much needed break to (relatively) nearby La Luz for quite some time, but as is almost always the case with my friends the planning didn’t start until 1 week before we were supposed to leave town. A friend called the resort we wanted to stay in, only to be told there were no vacancies on the date we wanted. Not a great start to our long-awaited weekend, not to mention we had a really tight budget. But we had a Plan B (an island somewhere in Anilao), so we thought we’d just go to Plan B then.
So ANYWAY… we found out that the waves were too strong that day and it would be too dangerous to ride a boat to the island we were supposed to go to. We learned about it while we were on the bus already, by the way, so we decided to try La Luz again. We were on a Lipa-bound bus anyway, so we thought we’ll just figure it out by ourselves. We alighted near Robinson’s Lipa where there was a jeep going to the next stop in our journey.
The jeepney ride was interesting. First of all, I have never in my life paid that kind of amount for jeepney fare. For a taxi ride, sure, but jeepney? I could actually feel my butt getting numb from sitting for such an extended period of time. We were thinking how far the ride was because hey, from the MRT station in Mantrade to my apartment is only minimum fare. How far can we go with P58? And yes, it was very far, but knowing how crazy we people are, we looked for ways to amuse ourselves throughout the trip. We Manilans are admittedly a cocky bunch. We feel that we know the ways of the world when really, we are all the same if we are new to a place. Case in point: The people in the Lipa-San Juan jeepney were handing 100-peso bills, 500-peso bills, and ultimately one lady handed a 1000-peso bill, which made us dumbfounded and reduced to floods of laughter. We also had a death grip on those bills as we handed them over to the driver because the wind was fierce that day and if one of those bills slipped from our hands, we would have to replace it… and then that would be trouble because we were on a tight budget, remember?
We reached San Juan, Batangas, and luckily it was a palengke (local market) so we were able to relearn how to walk and buy a drink. After eating, we decided to find some mode of transportation to take us to La Luz, and thankfully there was a jeepney terminal bound for La Luz. We were the first passengers, and with our large bags we looked like we were headed to the beach. The locals asked us where exactly in La Luz we were headed and we all honestly answered: “We don’t know.” One of the locals then told us his mom had a place very near La Luz and that there was a vacancy. Okay, first off, we found it strange that people were helping us and we distinctly thought this was the way most horror films start. So we figured if any trouble ensues or we did not like the place then we could just try to find some other nearby resorts. We told the man that we’d just meet him in La Luz, and off he went to tell his mother that she may have lodgers for the weekend.
After another numbing jeepney ride, we finally arrived at La Luz, which was literally at the end of the jeepney route. The guy’s mother was there to meet us, and she showed us the place we were gonna stay in. It was clean and it was new and get this: IT WAS RIGHT NEXT TO THE BEACH RESORT, as in right behind the perimeter wall. If you look right out the window, you’d see the same view the resort goers were seeing. Another perk was that she talked to the staff of the beach resort (all of whom were here neighbors) so we could get our meals from the resort (for the same rate the resort goers were paying, which was P950 at the time). Looks like our vacation is set.
Needless to say, it was an awesomely relaxing time. We had a place to stay, and the owner of the place was so motherly that she kept reminding us of the times the resort had meals and asking if we needed any more blankets or pillows. We also had access to the beach and the resort’s facilities. The food was delicious. And where else can you have gin-spiked mango shake at 10:00 in the morning? It was heaven.
It was really hard to leave the place. We put off packing until the last minute. We opted for the afternoon tricycle ride (at P400) to the terminal instead of the morning jeepney ride for about P48. Fun times are difficult to let go indeed.
It has been a while since I’ve been to La Luz. I think it’s about time I return with my friends.
By Liee Lozano