Adventure Travel

Panglao Island Nature Resort and Spa 0

Feb 17, 2012 by Admin in Adventure Travel, Cebu Travel, Nature Trip Tags: ,

This beautiful island of Bohol, more popularly known for the chocolate hills and the smallest primates in the world, the Philippines Tarsier, also possesses gifts from nature, which are in the process of making its name to the world.

Philippines may be known for the white sand beaches of Boracay, but Bohol also has something to be called a counterpart of Boracay. I am a person who loves beaches, enjoying the breeze of the sea, and seeing the horizon lit up and go darker through a sunset.

Panglao Island, BoholBohol really amazed me, taking pride in having a lot of sugar-white beaches. Ideal for a summer escapade with people close to your heart, it will surely make moments many times better with scenery of nature. Basically, a good place for honeymoons and lovers who wished to create more cherished memories.

One particular beach, probably the most noted one is the Panglao Island Nature Resort and Spa. Located in Bingag, in the island of Panglao, Bohol Philippines, the resort is a mixture of the Filipino culture and a tropical paradise. The traditional Nipa Huts are common in the resort complex but the resort offers a pool that seems like connected to the ocean itself.

Being just few hours of the sea trip from the nearby Metro Cebu, getting to Panglao is near by resort spa that will immediately relieve tension from working in a busy city. They also have a website where quick reservations can be arranged. Offering Superior, Forest Bungalow, and Sea view bungalow, gives the tourist the choice of which is the best spot for the right occasions.

Children can also enjoy this Shangri-La to the utmost extent. Staying in the resort alone is a soul-feeding experience but the other services that they can provide make them even more competitive tourist destination. They were able to develop eco walks that lead to the caves deep in the forest. A magnificent architecture of nature, beautiful rock formations and colorful stones is what makes this cave a marvel.

Apart from the walks, swimming and long distance travel, they also have spas and good therapists who ensure replenishing touches to the body. They have various methods of applying forms of massage to visitors who were developed from foreign techniques but most of them originated from the traditional massage techniques of the native Boholanos.

They even provide the best venue for an invigorating massage. Soft mattresses enclosed in a room that gives a feel of real nature that will definitely tear down those stress and tension away.



Image: Anita Sainz

Tiendesitas – A Different Taste of Delicacies 0

Feb 13, 2012 by Admin in Adventure Travel, Food Trip, Practical Tips

One of the things that makes a vacation ‘GOOD’ is the fact that you have the opportunity to get along with different other cultures. This basically includes some wide choices of food. There may be a lot of restaurants offering different delicacies from other cultures, but the best restaurants are run by natives and the ingredients used are indigenous, original and authentic. Being a Filipino, I would definitely say that our own version of oriental cooking is a great competitor against all others. May it be main courses or just simple snacks.

My cousin has an American boyfriend, and he just arrived a few days ago. Now, she decided that we will bring him for lunch to a restaurant that offers purely Filipino food. I’ve asked my friends which restaurant would be best for this, and they said Tiendesitas offer good food. Our stay was just purposely made to fetch his boyfriend and go home to Iligan soon after we finish our business in Manila.

From our hotel, we took a taxi, with the traffic of course because it was 11:30am, the drive took 30 minutes to Tiendesitas. We arrived there and luckily, there was one more seat, and I figured it out that it was really meant for us. The place was full of buzzing, talking and the sound of spoon and forks hitting the plates.

But in spite of all the noises, it was the overwhelming smell of the food that is most distinguishable above all. We took our seats, and the waitress came to our table and led us to the very big buffet. Indeed, they have lots of Filipino-authentic dishes coming from different local cultures around the Philippines.

We asked Beau (the name of my cousin’s American boyfriend) if what dish would he like, but he didn’t know what to choose so he lent us the opportunity in choosing which we thought was best. I chose my favorite dish, Kare-kare which is a particularly sensitive dish made up of either beef, tripe, oxtail or the combination of the three, some spices and a lot of peanut butter.

It may sound weird to find a lot of peanut butter in this dish, but it is the highlight of Kare-Kare. Then I picked Ginataang Kuhol, basically, “ginataan” means a dish with coconut milk, and kuhol is a species of edible snails. Then, I added to the list, a serving of Papaitan. Papaitan is beef stomach cooked with bile and other delicate spices.

Rice has always been a partner of almost all Filipino dishes, so a platter of cooked rice is included. For drinks, I ordered Madre de Cacao, it’s a chocolate drink made from freshly ground dry cacao seeds. Finishing our meal was a suman (a traditionally flavored rice cake wrapped in a banana leaf) and Puto Balanghoy (steamed cassava cake with coconut custard on top). It was such a filling lunch, and Beau is such an eater to have munched the last pile of rice on the platter, he said that we should come back here every time we are in manila.


Credit : diaz

Palawan Subterranean River 0

Feb 10, 2012 by Admin in Adventure Travel, Nature Trip, Practical Tips, Travel Tips Tags:

I am really grateful for the fact that the Philippines may be small and an economically challenged nation, yet it still has something worthy of being called as a beautiful country. Last month, I was seeking the internet for possible, beautiful tourist attractions that are potentially helpful in bringing foreign tourists to the Philippines and help boost the economy of the country through tourism. The new7wonders foundation, started a voting campaign to declare the new 7 wonders of nature.

The Philippines had four nominees namely; the Chocolate Hills, Mayon Volcano, the Tubbataha Reef and the Puerto Princessa Subterranean River National Park. Today, the voting campaign is now in the third phase, and 3 were already eliminated, except the Puerto Princessa Subterranean River National Park. I have heard some hearsay about this attraction from a lot of people, and they said that it was such a magnificent place to witness. So a group of friends went with me to see the attraction firsthand.

We availed a package tour from an agency. It just had a few days of processing time, and we headed there immediately. Surprisingly, I also found out that they were sending many tourists to the Subterranean River of Palawan every week and a lot of other travel agencies experience this frequency too. We arrived at Puerto Princessa at around 9 am in the morning, we checked in the hotel, left our things and went down the lobby to catch our ride to our destination.

It took us just around one and ½ hours of land travel to get to the town of Sabang, where the natural landmark is located, I was enjoying what the tourist said to us on the trip, her name was Annie. The river is in fact, the longest navigable underground river in the world, reaching up to 8 kilometers. It is the only surviving Philippine nominee for the new7wonders of nature, which is on its third phase of voting as of now, there are species of monkeys and massive monitor lizards around the cave.

We arrived at the beach, crowded with tourists, most of them are Filipinos, and I could see the caves mouth ahead. We stepped off the van, and Annie led us to a part near the shore where people are given safety equipment like life jackets, helmets and flashlights. Small traditional Filipino pump boats are also waiting nearby ready for loading.

When we finally got settled, it took 10 minutes for the small boat to reach the cave. Normally, it was dark, but there was a particularly strong smell and the man driving the boat said that it was bat poo, also known as Guano and this is also common to other caves too. Looking at the ceiling, the roof of the cave was tremendous, full of rock formations, and hanging bats of course, look creepy.

There are many bats too, which are flying just above us and some might even hit. As the small fleet headed deeper into the caves, there were magnificent structures like mushrooms, grapes, candles, jellyfish, sharks and the one that struck me the most was the image of Jesus Christ. The river opens up to the South China Sea, but we headed back to where we left because we will also be leaving through there too.


Via : ricky_artigas
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