Snorkeling at Apo Island

Based from research, I know Apo Island is best for snorkeling because of its big turtles which you can see even near the shore.  There are also nice corals and marine sanctuary that can be found here.  This is why we had to include this in our trip to Dumaguete/Siquijor.  Besides, Apo Island is quite accessible coming from Dumaguete.  But we opted to come from Siquijor going to Apo Island since we availed Coco Grove Beach Resort's, the place we stayed in Siquijor, package trip.  You may read more info about it here. 

The resort's package tour to Apo Island costs Php 1,600 per person which includes boat transfer, entrance fees, lunch, snacks, snorkeling gears, aqua shoes and tour guides.  This is quite expensive compared to DIY from Dumaguete to Apo Island.  But it doesn't matter to us since we prefer to stay in Siquijor a bit longer and we no longer need to worry about anything since everything will be taken care of the resort.

Coco Grove's nice boat

Their boat was quite big which I think can accommodate to up to 20 pax.  It has an "indoor" and "outdoor" lounging area and with small restroom.  We aboard the boat at around 8am.  Travel time from the resort to Apo Island is about 2 hours.  The travel was not a smooth sailing because of the waves but still safe since the boat is quite big.  Upon reaching Apo Island, we walked our way to Apo Island Beach Resort, which we heard was Coco Grove's sister resort.  We just left our things there and proceed to the registration for snorkeling activity.  Snorkeling area was just near the registration area.  It is said to be called "the village" where locals stay.  It is also the area where big turtles can be found even near the shoreline.

Registration Area

Apo Island Beach Resort

Apo Island Beach Resort Accommodation

Apo Island Beach Resort on the left end of the beach

Rock formations surrounding Apo Island Beach Resort

Now feast your eyes below on what we saw :)

I don't know what this is. Creepy.

Turtles being fed by one of the tourist

My fiance trying to chase the turtle.  They swim fast!

See how big the turtle is!

Closer look of the turtle

Nice color of the turtle

Lunch was served buffet style at the Apo Island Beach resort.  It was a simple lunch with 3 viands, rice and dessert.  Location of the Apo Island Beach Resort was on one end of the beach where nice rock formations can be found.  It was a nice photo op location.

Panoramic view in front of Apo Island Beach Resort

When everyone is done, I thought we were already heading back to Coco Grove.  But it turns out, we were off to another snorkeling area!  Not far from Apo Island, our boat stopped and let us snorkel again.  I wasn't able to ask what the location is called.  I'm not sure if this is what they called the Marine Sanctuary which is located at the back of the village.  Anyway, these are what we found.  Not so clear pictures but the corals were beautiful!

Going back to Siquijor was a more "dizzy" ride.  Aside from its already raining, the waves were stronger and some waters were coming in our boat.  But again, it wasn't so scary since the boat is quite big.  And by the way, even if the travel time is quite long, you will not get bored since Globe data signal is strong even in the middle of the sea!  You can just browse Facebook and post status while cruising.

Visiting Apo Island is really worth it, most especially to those who likes snorkeling or even diving.  I heard there are a lot of diving spots in Dumaguete including those in Apo Island.  I would surely want to explore those someday. 

If you want to know how to plan your Dumaguete, Siquijor and Apo Island trip, you may read my previous blog post for some details.

Review: Blue Lilly Villa Resort Boracay

Going back to Boracay, we always prefer beachfront stay in station 1. After some research on various budget accommodations in Station 1 of Boracay, we finally decided to book at Blue Lilly Villa. We even got the room at a discounted price through my boracay guide website.  It is my second time to book hotels/resorts in MyBoracayGuide.  The first one was when we stayed in Willy's Beach Club in 2012 and now here in Blue Lilly Villa.

We booked for a standard room, which is just behind the reception area. The room was quite small but very clean and with strong a/c. The room has its own hot and cold shower, LCD TV, mini ref, extra mattress, queen size bed and desk fan. Wifi is also strong in our room. Each room is equipped with room service button where you can ask for anything from their friendly staff, to be delivered in your room.  I noticed in our room that it lacks clothes hanger.  Outside our room was a bamboo hanger but i'm not sure if its for everyone's use especially for the 2 rooms behind the reception area which is perpendicular to our room.  I wasn't able to ask about it.

The bed with extra mattress underneath

Room service button beside the bed

Mini ref and electric fan

Small LCD TV with small table and chair

Given that its only 3 stars, only mini soaps and towels were provided. The toilet/shower area was quite small. While inside, you need to stay away from the door for you to be able to close it and use the toilet. The faucet was quite at the edge of the water bin which makes it difficult to use.  Nevertheless, water flow was strong and everything was functioning well.

The bathroom.  See the door?  That's already full open.

Need to close the door to access the toilet

The free breakfast was just so so.  There were times when the viand seems reheated several times as it was somehow hardened already.  Nothing spectacular on their food but somehow edible.  You can also ask their friendly staff to buy food for you from outside stores.

Service was great. They allowed and delivered our breakfast in our room when it was raining one morning. They will also be the one to offer to clean your room if you like. We requested for that even with our valuables still in our room and nothing got lost.  The staff also helped my fiance in preparing a surprised proposal for me.  You may read the story here.

The room rate was cheap for a standard room. But for me, the discounted rate we got should be the right price for their room considering it was quite small. We stayed in other beachfront resorts in station 1 at the same rate as their regular rate but the room was bigger.

Overall, we enjoyed our stay and most probably I will recommend this to my budget conscious friends.  Besides, it is a memorable stay for me and my now fiance as they help in the preparation of the proposal.

Taiwan Excellence: A Mother's Role

They say that one of the most difficult jobs in the world is being a mother.  Some may not truly understand it because most mothers just stay at home.  But one may not know that mothers have the most difficult jobs because they are juggling various tasks and roles in the house.  She is the wife, the mother, the helper, the driver, the all-around and know-it-all of the house; especially in the Philippines where mothers are named as the light of the house, without it everything will be dark.

With these tasks performed by mothers, it is very important for her to be always available to her family and provide comfort, love and support.  She must ensure that she gives all the best to her family and loved ones and making sure that they live an excellent lifestyle.

To help mothers achieve their goal in providing excellent lifestyle to her family, Taiwan Excellence, a campaign organized by Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) and implemented by Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), offers high quality and innovative products that she can choose from.  The wide range products of Taiwan Excellence like cookware, appliances, sanitary ware, sports items, IT products and many more will give mothers choices in achieving her goal and provide different needs of her family.  

With Taiwan Excellence’ seal of quality, mothers will not have a hard time choosing products for her family as she can be assured that these products are not only innovative but also passed the strict and high quality assurance process.  Aside from the high quality, mothers can also be assured that through the products with Taiwan Excellence seal, she can provide health, comfort and safety for her family. 

Mothers can now produce sumptuous and healthy meals through the various cookware available in Taiwan Excellence products, assist her in making household chores easy with their various household products and also help her manage her schedules through IT products like laptop and tablets.  This is also beneficial to working moms where she can balance her work schedule with her responsibilities at home.

Taiwan Excellence now carries 56 different brands under various categories like sports, transportation, home and living, personal care, cookware, appliances, sanitary ware, IT products, electronics, health and fitness products and many others.  Everything a family or a household needs can be provided by Taiwan Excellence products.  This will become a one stop shop for mothers and help her make a sound decision when shopping for her family needs. 

To know more about Taiwan Excellence, you may visit their website and Facebook page.

*Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post.*

How to Avoid Traffic

Traffic is inevitable especially nowadays in the streets of Metro Manila.  As we are nearing the holidays, there seems to be traffic everywhere!  You might think that there is no longer a solution to Metro Manila traffic but you are wrong.  Yes! There is a solution to the traffic.  How?  Use a bicycle!  Hey, do not underestimate the use of a bicycle.  Do you know the benefits of riding a bicycle?  If not, read on and you will find it interesting.

Health Benefit

In our busy schedules, I’m sure most of us have no longer time to exercise.  With the stress of using public transportation or driving your own car in Metro Manila traffic, you will definitely have no time to exercise anymore.  You might prefer just to go home and sleep.  With using a bicycle, you not only avoid traffic but you also get to tone your muscles, strengthen your body and give you more energy.  Did you know that cycling is a good form of cardiovascular exercise?  It can burn calories without hurting much your muscles and joints.  That’s already enough to keep you fit and healthy everyday.

Environmental Benefit

With today’s age, climate change has become one of the problems faced by everyone in the world, not only in the Philippines.  Riding a bicycle is somehow one of the easiest way where you can help Mother Earth.  It will help reduce your carbon footprints, less pollution or even no emission of carbon gases.  At least in your own little way, you are able to help worsen climate change.

Financial Benefit

If you drive your own car, I am pretty sure that one way or another you have experienced price escalation on gasoline a number of times per month!  That’s quite hard on the pocket especially if you are just earning enough for your day to day expenses.  But if you own and ride a bicycle, you no longer need to worry on shelling out money for your gasoline and even on the maintenance of your car.  Likewise, you will no longer need to worry about expenses in using public transport.  Riding a bicycle is really economical!

There could be a lot of different bicycles available in the market.  But good thing there is Taiwan Excellence that provides Taiwanese Bicycles that are not only economical but innovative as well.  Taiwan Excellence, a campaign organized by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Bureau of Foreign Trade in Taiwan and implemented by Taiwan External Trade Development Council, is helping Filipinos get the best product and brands for their everyday needs.  All these brands pass through a strict quality assurance to ensure products are of high quality and can provide excellent lifestyle to Filipinos.  Aside from that, our very own Iya Villania is the celebrity endorser of Taiwan Excellence.  You can know more about them through their website and Facebook page.

Taiwan Excellence produces innovative bicycle brands like Strida, Tern and Pacific-Cycle.  These brands provide a very unique foldable bike which makes it more convenient to carry around.  Their bikes are also lightweight but sturdy which will definitely give you ease in traveling while providing good benefits of riding a bicycle.  You can now conveniently travel from one location to another on time without the hassle and stress of Metro Manila traffic as well carrying a big bike.

*Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post*

Going to Bantayan Island The Convenient Way

Bantayan Island is located in the northern part of Cebu.  To get there, if you are from Manila, you will be using all modes of transportation: via air, land and sea.  You will need to book first a flight from Manila to Cebu.  Then from Cebu, you will ride a jeepney or a cab from the airport to go to the bus terminal where it is headed to the Hagnaya port where you will ride a ferry going to Bantayan Island.  If you compute for the time in all these modes of transportation, it will take you about 8 hours just to get to Bantayan Island.  This includes waiting time from the airport (about 2 hours).  Once in Cebu, travel time takes about 5-6 hours including waiting time.

An easier way to go to Bantayan Island is via rented van, private vehicle or taxi.  Of course this will entail additional and more expensive cost.  But if you are a group, the share of expenses will be lighter.  And if you are press for time with no worries about additional cost, then you can opt to ride these.

Getting a taxi or rented van will take you only 2 hours travel time from the airport to the port.  Another 1 hour for the ferry ride going to Bantayan Island.  All in all, that's only 3 hours!  Aside from you will get there easily, you will not also feel tired.  Its just like traffic in Manila, haha!

Anyway, I made this separate post particularly in getting to Bantayan Island the convenient way is because I wanted to share the contact details of our taxi driver.  I prearrange taxi transport service with Anika Island Resort (where we stayed in Bantayan Island, blog post to be uploaded soon) as they provided the cheapest taxi transport service I found.  Normally, the cost is Php 3,000 per way from Mactan Airport to Hagnaya port.  Some even charge as high as Php 4,000 (according to ad post in olx.com.ph).  The lowest I inquired was at Php 2,800 then I found Php 2,500.  Finally, Anika Island Resort told me that their charge is Php 2,000 only per way and payable to the taxi driver directly!  That's already cheap!  At least for us.  Because Air Asia moved our flight to a not so early morning, we wanted to maximize our time and at least arrive in Bantayan Island by lunch time.

Mr. Jimmy Pacifico is our taxi driver.  We learned that he not only caters transport service to Anika Island Resort's guest but to several resorts and hotels as well.  He can even take the passengers to Maya port (pickk up point going to Malapascua Island) at a cheap rate of Php 3,000 one way and even to the port going to Camotes Island.  He's a very jolly man and with safe driving skills.  We never encountered any problems while riding his taxi.  He does not own the taxi but I'm not sure until when will he be driving it since we learned that his son will soon be working in Singapore and part of their plan is to have their own taxi company so maybe later on he will no longer be the driver but the owner of the taxi.

Just to know how affordable his Php 2,000 rate is, he turned on the meter reading on our way to Hagnaya port.  The meter read Php 1,100+, not a lot difference from his rate to think that he will still go back to Cebu City with no more passengers.  We also asked him to fetch us from Hagnaya port going to Shangri-la Mactan on our 3rd day in Cebu.  Again, he turned the meter on.  Once in Shangri-la, it read Php 1,500+.  Again, he has no passengers on the way to Hagnaya port.  So we thought, his rate was really reasonable.  We handed him a tip for a very safe and convenient ride.

You may contact him at 09176961523.  Just tell him that one of their passengers from Anika Island Resort last October 24 recommended him to you.  I'm not sure if still remembers us but for sure we will never forget him.  We will get his service again on our next trip to Cebu, maybe going to Malapascua Island.

Taiwan Excellence: Made to Enjoy Christmas Contest

Christmas is generally the celebrated and anticipated season for most Filipino.  This is the season where people exert extra effort in giving special gifts, sharing their blessings, setting up reunions and holding Christmas parties.  With Christmas just almost a month away, people have surely prepared something for someone or even for everyone around them.  Other than birthdays, people treat Christmas as one of the most important event where they would give something extraordinary and memorable gifts to those people close or special to them.

It is good to know that Taiwan Excellence, producing quality Taiwanese products, recognizes the importance of Christmas to Filipinos that is why they are offering a one of a kind gift giving where you can get any of their products of your choice for free!  How?  Through the Taiwan Excellence – Made to Enjoy Christmas Contest.

Taiwan Excellence – Made to Enjoy Christmas offers wide range of products for different people which could provide them with an excellent lifestyle.  There’s Acer, Asus, BenQ, and MSI for IT related products; Pacifica, Strida and Tern for bicycles; HCG, Teco, Tatung and Sakura for home and living products; Miacare and Microlife for health and medical products and many others.  These products have Taiwan Excellence Seal which is known to provide quality, reliable and innovative products.

To get any of these products for free, just register at http://www.MadeToEnjoyTheLife.ph and select a Taiwan Excellence item you wish to give as a gift to your special someone.  Upload your photo and share why you want to give the chosen Taiwan Excellence gift to your selected recipient.  Ten (10) winners will be selected to receive the chosen Taiwan Excellence gift and one (1) of them will have the opportunity to have their gift delivered by Taiwan Excellence Celebrity Endorser in the Philippines, Iya Villania – Arellano.

The best part in joining this contest is that no initial purchases required in entering or winning the contest.  You can even share the Taiwan Excellence – Made to Enjoy Christmas to your family and friends.

The contest runs from September 28, 2014 until November 23, 2014.  So hurry! Register now to get that special gift to your love ones for free!

Taiwan Excellence’s theme, Excellent Lifestyle is a campaign launch in the Philippines by one of the organizers, Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), a non-profit, semi-governmental trade promotion organization in Taiwan.

*Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post.

Discover Products of Taiwan through Taiwan Excellence

With the emergence of e-commerce and online shopping, people around the world have now plenty of choices in buying products that they like and access to numerous products and services across the globe.  However, one cannot guarantee the quality of the products posted online.  A thorough research on the background of the product or manufacturer maybe needed or even a product review to determine that you are getting your money’s worth in buying their products. 

Good thing there are several countries that exert extra effort in making sure their products are of good quality and passed through rigorous quality assurance process to ensure the high satisfactory rate of their consumers.  Such country is Taiwan where one can discover products of Taiwan through their Taiwan Excellence entity.

Taiwan Excellence is a campaign established in 1992 by the Taiwan government to promote Taiwanese brands that guarantee high quality and value products.  These products go through a screening process to determine whether they will pass a high standard quality for them to bear the Taiwan Excellence Seal.  But how would they qualify a certain product to be of high quality?  You may wonder.

Any Taiwanese brands who wish to have a Taiwan Excellence Seal are entitled to join this campaign.  Their products can fall any of the categories such as fashion, information technology, arts, culture, transportation, sports, home and living and many others.  An international panel of judges will evaluate the products based the following criteria: Research and Development, Design, Quality and Marketing Strategy.  A score per category will be given on each product.  After thorough evaluation and computation of scores, selected products can now carry the Taiwan Excellence Seal which they can use locally and internationally.  People will now be able to discover products of Taiwan through Taiwan Excellence.

Further distinctions are given to selected products who can be awarded a Silver and Gold Recognition Award.  Thirty products will be selected among the winners.  Only ten will be given the Gold Award, which is the highest recognition in the Taiwan Excellence campaign while the rest are given Silver Award.

In the Philippines, where various brands competition are emerging in the market particularly in terms of price, many consumers wonder which of these brands will give more value to their money.  Since Taiwan Excellence campaign was first launched in the Philippines early this year, now Filipinos can be assured of quality products of Taiwan brands such as Asus, Acer, HTC, BenQ, KingCom, MSI, Transcend and many others.  Filipinos will now have the confidence in buying these products because they pass through a rigorous screening process in obtaining a highest form of quality seal. 

The campaign, with a theme of Excellent Lifestyle, will not only benefit Filipinos of good quality products but will also let them recognize how these products will enable them to have an “excellent lifestyle”.  With about 56 Taiwanese brands with Taiwan Excellence Seal launched in the Philippines, these products provide consumers with innovative and state of the art products which will aid them in their day to day activities whether at home or at work.  One will surely discover products of Taiwan through Taiwan Excellence to be having good quality product that does not only give value for money but provide meaningful use of the products in their lives as well. 

*Disclaimer:  This is a sponsored post.