Its six hours drive from Puerto Princesa to El Nido. We dont mind travelling that long for this paradise. They asked me which is more beautiful Coron or El Nido? Both have their own unique beauty, and I would love to go back to these places again and again .

This is the seashore on the town proper of El Nido, not yet crowded with commercial establishment

Waiting for our boat for the island hopping

Island hopping

Island hopping

Had our lunch here, the boatmen are also good cook, they prepare these food in an hour

Who would not love to be back in this beautiful place

the stillness of the water can calm a weary heart

All I can say is thank you Lord for the beautiful world, for the sea , the sun and the blue skies

Bohol unlocks the wanderlust in me. It was my first out of town travel. I had been very busy making a living and with family responsibilities that travelling is the least in my priorities. Thanks to the company representative of a hotel chain who was persuading us to buy a time sharing. Of course I did not buy, its very expensive, but still they gave us a ticket for 3 days and 1 night in a hotel in Bohol.

We arrived late afternoon , toured around the city and ate our dinner in a karenderia near the pier.The following day we rented a car for our whole day trip. Our driver is also our tour guide and photographer.

You have not been to Bohol if you do not have a picture with the famous chocolate hills.

the tarsier is so cute

this man made forest inspires us to have our own .We started planting trees and hopefully we can have like these this coming years, beautifully lined up trees

the Baclayon Church before the earthquake ruined it.

the Blood Compact site, a historical place. Aside from picture taking , theres nothing much to do here

Bohol is also famous for its river cruise.They are serving delicious Filipino dishes . Along the river bank there are women dancing the “tinikling”

Early morning the next day we went to the Panglao Beach Resort.

After this Bohol trip I made sure that I have at least one out of town or country per year depending on my budget

I am a “Ninang ” (pricipal sponsor)today in a simple wedding , a civil rites held in a Barangay Hall. The town mayor officiates the wedding ceremony.

After the wedding ceremony ,reception follows at the adjoining hall . The 12 pairs of principal sponsors, the parents and the relatives of both the bride and the groom joined the newly wedded couple in their 1st meal as husband and wife.

All the guest were already seated . The bride and groom still stand at the entrance of the hall. Then the emcee announced “the newly wedded couple cannot walk towards the dining table infront (10meters in my estimate) without something to walk on, we call that money bridge” then the family members and guests lined up the bills in the floor from the entrance to the table . I was shocked , I have attended hundreds of wedding receptions , this is the 1st time I heard this money bridge thing..

After the bills were lined the bride and groom march towards the dining table

After eating, the bride and groom had there first dance and money were pinned in their clothes..This is a very popular wedding tradition practiced in the Philippines specially in the rural places

When you are in Kuala Lumpur dont miss this place of good food and good view of the city.

After the 272 stair climb at Batu Caves we headed to the KL Tower where the Atmosphere 360 is located.

The restaurant revolve 360 degrees in one hour.

These are the foods in Atmosphere 360

The dessert is a bite size of cakes, for the meantime we forget measuring sugar and carbo on our meal

There are plenty of food choices, we ate to our hearts content.

The main course

the best roti

Our group

A panoramic view of the city

After eating we can not see the exit easily because Atmosphere 360 had already revolved

We went down to the observation deck to have a much better view of the city

More pictures at the Observation Deck

Outside the KL Tower compound is another tourist destination the Upside Down , its not in our itinerary . We just took picture outside.

Its a shop and is amusing to learn that its name literally means we knock hard the steel to form something. The easiest one to make is the bowl, I presumed its the easiest because it’s simple and the wooden mold is shallow , we made it fast and right the first time. Pewter making is one of the oldest craft in Kuala Lumpur brought by chinese businessman.

We were toured around the Royal Selangor School of Hard Knocks before the actual workshop

A certificate was given at the end of the workshop and we brought home our masterpiece …lol and our apron

Pewter bowl with my name in it , nice souvenir

Listening to instruction…. Knock from the side to the center

the production area

A snacks is served at the caferia after the workhop

A very memorable experience

There are plenty of food but the choices are Malaysian native dishes and chinese food only . Malaysian food are spicy. It is a dinner buffet, we had our food trip here. We are adventurous when it comes to food, we discovered dates taste better after eating someting spicy.

One thing good about this restaurant is the cultural show.

After the show we pose with the dancers

The traditional Malay dance

Malaysia acknowledges the Chinese influence in their culture even in their dances

A wedding dance

The best part is the bamboo dance, we also have that back home, we call that tinikling

The guest were invited to go up the stage and learn the basic steps of the bamboo dance

Saloma Theatre Restaurant has a good view outside

When we were in Kuala Lumpur we were looking for a place where to eat, at the front of our hotel we saw this place SUKA bar and restaurant . We were wondering what are the foods there

Back home “suka” has 2 meanings, vinegar and vomit. We are curious, but to be safe we choose other place lol..and besides the place is intimading..it seems pricey

Another thing, when our friend from Kuala Lumpur brought us to a street food stall we hesitate to order the “ayam”. Back home “ayam” in a local dialect in our province means dog. We would not eat dog meat , but our friend assured us its a chicken, so we ordered and its delicious

Last time we were in Hongkong, Macau, Singapore and now Kuala Lumpur for our 4th Dreamtrip.

Our trip in Kuala Lumpur was a glimpse of Malaysian culture . We climbed the 272 stairs in Batu Caves- the Hindu holy place, visited the fascinating sights in the city which includes famous attractions like the Royal Museum , Royal Palace, Independence Square and the City Gallery We had our buffet lunch at the Atmosphere 360 in KL Tower, dinner buffet with cultural show at the Saloma Theatre Restaurant, and the most memorable was the pewter smithing workshop at School of Hard Knocks of Royal Selangor.

In my previous blog post I mentioned that I will check if what was promised to us at the time of booking will be actually delivered.

So here goes

Day 1

Airport -Hotel Transfer. Good. We did not wait long , the In -destination support team member arrived on time . But unlike in Hongkong , there was no desk where we can immediately see the blue sign “you should be here “. Overall, the airport hotel transfer met our expectation

A pose at the arrival area

It took an hour to travel from the airport to Hotel Istana. We were happy for the welcome drink upon arrival in the hotel, a refreshing pomegranate juice .

Check in was pre-arranged so all we had to do was to get our keys, take a rest and prepare for our welcome dinner.

There is always a welcome gifts from Dreamtrips

The Welcome dinner

We do not have a picture of the main course

One of the exciting activity of every Dreamtrip is the welcome dinner. All travel club members whose birthmonth falls on the dreamtrip schedule celebrates birthday together with a birthday cake

Our travel buddy Manay Nellie celebrated her 68th birthday at Hotel Istana , with fellow dreamtrippers

The local singer entertains us while having a dinner. There is an audience participation and we voluntered Margy. She sings well, I think she can have a second career after her present corporate work.

Day 2

We meet at the hotel lobby at 9 am for our whole day tour. With us in the bus are the Mandarin and English speaking guide. A bottled water was provided during the tour

1st stop is Batu Caves. A climb to a 272 steps to reach the entrance of the cave. This is a test of stamina.

I have a separate blog post for Batu Caves

2nd stop is Atmosphere 360 and observation deck at Kuala Lumpur Tower. The buffet lunch is superb, plenty of food choices .

The main course

Foods, and more foods

While having our lunch the restaurant revolve in 360 degrees for 1 hr and we got to see the entire city below

After our lunch we went down to the observation deck

Within the Kl Tower compound is an upside down house

3rd stop. Istana Negra , the Malaysia’s former National Palace and now the Royal Museum.

Afterwards we had our city tour.

The light and sounds at the City Gallery shows the history of Malaysia and its physical development through the years. I feel envious when they show their development plan . I hope our leaders back home have at least a vision for development.

The development plan in Kuala Lumpur

The light and sound show

Inside the hall of city gallery

After the lights and sound show we roamed around the Independence square.

At 4 pm we were back at the hotel and meet again in the lobby at 7 pm for our dinner
Before the dinner we had few minutes picture taking at the front of the Kuala Lumpur’s landmark, the Petronas Twin Towers

We had our dinner at Saloma Restaurant. Its a buffet dinner and most of the food are the native foods in Malaysia, everything is spicy. My secret, I ate dates after eating a spicy food.

There is a cultural show during the dinner

Its nice to see that we have the same bamboo dance , back home we call it “tinikling”

Day 3

For platinum members we had a tour in the new Royal palace where the present King lives today. When the yellow flag is up the King is inside

Outside the palace gate are tourist taking photos

Next stop is the School of Hard Knocks , we made our own pewter

They gave us a certificate and we brought home our pewter bowl

A simple snack is served at the cafeteria after the workshop
If I were to rate the tour – its Excellent.

Now let us check the hotel.

Hotel Istana .

The room is spacious and clean although it is not as elegant and luxurious compared to our hotel in dreamtrips Macau where we stayed at Harbourview Hotel

The buffet breakfast is good although food choices is limited to American, Arabic and Malaysian dishes. No Japanese and Korean food
I love the Nasi lemak, a malaysian food

Arabic food for breakfast is a good try, pita and fattoush is delicious

There is a swimming pool but due to hectic schedule we did not try it.

The staff are kind and helpful . I will definitely recommend this Kuala Lumpur Welcome Dreamtrip to other Dreamtrip members. Special mention to our in destination support team member Ms Pauline Khoon. Thank you Ms Pauline for taking care of our hotel to airport transfer on our 4th day

I consider it my achievement when I was able to climb the 272 steps going up to the main entrance of Batu Caves considering that I dont have a regular exercise before the trip .

On the right side at the foot of the stairs is a very large and tall statue of a Hindu God.

the stairs to the entrance of Batu Caves

After 100 plus steps..we sat on the landing stair , catching out breath, lol.

At the left side of the main entrance to the Batu Caves is a smaller cave called the Dark cave. There is a big billboard and the monkeys love to sit on it

The main entrance of the cave is very huge. I thought the place is dark, but no , the sun rays penetrates the place . We were not able to see the next chamber because doing so will require another climb in 100 plus steps and its steeper this time

After some photos we decided to go downstair. We can see the nearby city, its a nice view. But for those who has vertigo going down is more difficult than going up. I feel a little bit dizzy

here is a nice view of from the top

Is it worth visiting the place? For me yes. I am always curious about other peoples religion and culture. Temples, shrines , cathedral , what ever form of house of worship I visit always amaze me. I wish there is someone who will explain to me what it is all about. When we visited a buddhist relic temple in Singapore our guide was so passionate about his religion that he explained to us very well. This time our guide did not accompany us to the cave ,so no one explains to us. But no problem, there is mr google with ready answer.. lol

Address: 73 Jalan Raja Chulan, Kuala Lumpur

Lets take a look at the room.

We are booked in a deluxe room with 2 single beds. The room is clean and spacious. There’s a minibar with free bottled water, coffee and tea. There is a safe, a refrigerator and a telephone.

The toilet is clean but a little bit outdated. A hair dryer ,slippers is provided , but there are no bathrobes. The toiletries are not branded, like in other five star hotels.

we have a nice view from our room

The Food

We had our breakfast at Taman Sari restaurant.

Our guide, Pauline, taught us how to make a Nasi lemak. Its a combination of fragrant rice with coconut, crispy fried anchovies, peanuts, chili paste, chicken rendang and cucumber. This is a favorite dish in Malaysia, its sooo yummy

I tried the Arabic food on our second day breakfast- pita bread, fattoush and mudammas- which also tasted good

Chinese and American food are also available

The lobby.

There’s an outdoor swimming pool but we haven’t tried it due to busy schedule .

Location:

Hotel Istana Kuala Lumpur is conveniently located near many of the shopping destinations, both high-end and low-budget.

Staff:

The staff of Hotel Istana are kind and helpful , and are good looking.

Our trip to Kuala Lumpur was booked in Dream Trips of World Ventures. The airport to hotel transfer is included in the package. The schedules were 10:00 am, 1:00 pm , 4:00pm and 6 pm

We arrived at 10:40 , had our passport stamped at the immigration office and our lunch at 12:30 to 1:00pm. The in destination support team member assigned to pick us up is already waiting for us to transfer us to Hotel Istana. They are very helpful and courteous. If I would rate the airport to hotel transfer of Dreamtrips, its excellent!!!

It took 8 hrs to travel by land from Naga City in Cam Sur to Makati City. We could have travelled by plane and it will only took us one hour but the airfare is 3x higher. The best part of the long travel is catching up. We are the accountants of the same company assigned at different provinces. Being in the same company for decades, we develop friendship both on a professional and personal level.

Along the high way are plenty of restaurants to choose from, we had our lunch at Lolo Ompo in Calauag. Organic red rice is of generous servings, the sinigang na salmon is fresh but little bit salty for me. the fried dilis is so crispy Id like to learn how to cook this.

Bright and sunny day

A zigzag alternate road in Atimonan in the middle of the forest has a breathtaking view but not recommended for those who has vertigo. The driver must be very careful with its sharp curves going up and down the mountain

There’s a small park where we rest for a while after a long hour drive

Restroom20 in Lucena City change the way I look at public toielts. Its possible to have a clean and well maintained public restrooms. I dont mind paying 20. The lounge is spacious , better than a budget hotel.

I dont know why there is a powdered milk in the living room of Restroom20

The cleanest public restroom Ive been to.

We arrived in Makati at 7:00 pm and stayed at YMCA

Address: 7 Sacred Heart St, San Antonio Village, Makati

Tel no 02 8996379

Infront Sacred Heart Store

An affordable place to stay in Makati . Family room is 2,500 can accomodate 5 people. Deluxe room for 2 is only 1,100 per night.

There is a 24 hr burger stand at the side of the parking lot , other than that there are no fast food nor restaurants in the area. I woke up at 5 am and cant find a store where I can buy at least coffee. A small eatery opens at 6am. The nearest convenience store is several blocks away

What can be more exciting than planning a weekend get away with friends since high school who seldom see each other but remain friends for life. Its 35 years of friendship and counting, we are all busy with our lives doing multiple roles of a woman but we never forget to have fun.

So on early morning of Saturday (March 18, 2017 ) we went to Subic Bay which is 4 hrs drive from Manila. The long travel is a good time for catching up.

Next time maybe we can rent a yacth for P20,000 for 2 hrs. We only planned for sight seing the Subic Bay and the adjacent place , Olongapo. We were not prepared for sailing.

From the yacht club we went to the mountain side in the afternoon to see the fruit bat. Those trees are full of bats that are sleeping on day time. The bats are hanging in a tree that resembles a fruit that is why its called fruit bat

Then back to the seaside to see the historic marker of the turnover of the Subic Bay from the USA govt to Phil govt

I brought my 10 year old son to  the Albay Park and Wildlife on one weekend this summer and this bring a lot of smiles on his face. 

Albay Park and Wildlife is more of a park than a zoo. Horseback riding is one of the favorite activities aside from boating  and biking

Sheep are freely roaming around the park

There are only few animals in the zoo

We travelled almost two hrs to see this place.

I wish there are  parks near the area where we can spend our weekends.

The clear crystal waters, the beautiful rock formations was surreal. I was left in awe.

My heart was singing, ” oh Lord my God when Im in awesome wonder , consider all the work thy hands has made….then sings my soul my saviour God to thee, How great Thou art how great Thou art”

It is located at San Pascual ,Burias Island, Masbate. Sombrero Island has a small and big island, the small one resembles a hat.

Few meters away from this area is a white beach, the swimming area.

Sombrero Island   gains popularity these days , the guests  tend to flock the area specially on long weekends.

If you are joining a group tour , be very careful in choosing an agency or travel guide or you might be duped.  At the time of booking with Burias Escapade we  were made to believe that we are only 25 in a group. On the day of our travel , we were surprised that they booked 70 people

Also, we were told that the package includes an open cottage, much to our dismay,  there was none!!!. Good that we booked a closed cottage for additional 3,500 pesos for one night.  

We were so disappointed with the way  Burias Escapade  handled our travel. The food in carenderia is even better than the food they served us during lunch, dinner and breakfast in the Island. Hindi kami maarte but with the price we paid to the agency we deserved better.  Its not all bad though,  they serve us   a sumptous lunch in San Pascual  on our last day with lechon and seafoods, but  we ate at 2 pm.

But we would not want to ruin our vacation. We just enjoyed the beautiful view and the company

Sunset 

Sunrise 

Island hopping

I think its better to visit this place on week days. And DIY.  The shore  is  crowded with banca in the afternoon that swimming is nearly impossible.

The place is beautiful only that maybe we went there at the wrong time and we booked with the wrong travel guide.