Three for P100

The randomness of our recent weekend trip, packed only with the barest essentials, made us bought 3 for P100 (less than P35 each) rubber slippers from the wet market of the town we landed. Right away we doubted their strength. haha.

Shame on branded trekker pairs! cos those cheap pairs stood by us sans a single tear all throughout the edgy trail we took to reach. .




. . the summit of Pinagbanderahan Peak. No way easy at 2000 ft. above sea level, the cheap pairs of slippers definitely raised the bar of conquering the challenge of getting up there both unharmed. Us and the slippers:))


Next. Cueba Santa
on the way to Pinagbanderahan Peak
aww, my ligaments are pure sore right now :(
See ya.

Acasia Hotel : Room

After  those chairs, I was up in the 4rth floor of Acasia Hotel Manila for that overnight stay  in a deluxe room.

Although far from a suite room, I was happy that it has a small veranda facing down the Samanea (just one floor below) which I think is an alternative outdoor events place of the hotel. It's also just a floor jump to the pool area in the 3rd floor.

What's with the robe? ahh, immediately upon entering the room, I had to run a bath as I came from a distant trip.




Was happy to find the robe waiting in the closet,

along with other amenities like an ironing board and iron ofcourse, a flashlight and a safety deposit box. There was also a miniest sewing kit and laundry bag. This early, I have to mention here that prior to check-out the following day, I asked the housekeeping for an extra laundry bag for our wet (from the swim) clothes and was quite happy when they added a number of small plastic bags to hold our individual swimsuit. Very nice!

The bathroom was nice, new, spick and span and yes very 5 star-ry. Check the efficient  hair dryer and the tray of toiletries,

 Another touch of innovation is the inclusion of the bathroom scale. yeheey! Sorry to say but that 65.8 kg. wasn't mine. I'm proud to announce that I'm slowly getting to my ideal weight_ at that point (last weekend) I weighed 53kg. yeheey again!!!! Around 116 pounds I think. I'm hitting for less 4-5 pounds more then I'll be okey even perfect, haha! Please bear with my weight blahs. Me and husband are working-out quite real these days. Everyday, we're already up in the road of our village at 4am. Running for a good sweat of one hour.   




Both of us coming from a heavy scaled numbers, so far right now we're happy to see results of our hard work. I only wish we could sustain the energy. Wistful thinking ;))




anyway, another set inside the shower area.

enclosed shower facilities,

very nice shower head.

The bathtub which size to me is just ideal. Other hotel tubs are quite gigantic which I thought is over the top unless there would be 3 of you who would bathe together. Towels were quality and quantity.

Stepping out of the bath, you would find the rest of the room with a big LED tv. Back-up by almost all our country's cabled servers/ channels combined.

Along side is the study. .




with usb's, hdmi, etc's ports.

The wifi was free and allowed up to 3 devices max. At one point we couldn't connect our 2nd laptop and immediately was provided with a LAN cable. That's awesomeness!!

This was the welcome/complimentary fruit plate in the room. That night, before we retired, another plate of sliced fruits was served in the room.








fully stocked mini bar, each content priced x2 or higher (compare to grocery tags) as usual:)

Complimentary tea/coffee facility with 2 bottled water.

The beds and pillows were comfy as they looked.

I'll end this superlative-ly long post of a small room in Acasia Hotel with the photo above.

ps;

yes,exactly:)

World Largest Coin

Yap stone Money was used at the Pacific Islands of Yap until World War 11, with the largest as much as 12 feet (4m) in diameter! The largest stones were used as symbol of wealth to be displayed outside houses. The hole in the centre was for a pole so that two people could carry it!

Imagine that !. . using it today! haha. 

Found it at Singapore Coins and Notes Museum, Pagoda St., Singapore.

Those Chairs @ Acasia Hotel

I frequent Filinvest (Alabang) cos I usually do weekly grocery in that area. For a certain period of passing in and out of the area, there was one establishment there that had never failed to catch my inquisitive eyes, the Acasia Hotel Manila. I would always roll down the car window and extend my neck outside  to have a good view of the attractive facade, stretching my glimpse right through the visible glass walled lobby.

The hotel is somewhat elevated from the road and really it's eye candy. Not so grand but very catchy. From the road, the low legged, full back, vibrant patterned upholstered chairs in the lobby_ looked so inviting.

So much so that I found my way to sit on one of them last weekend when finally I was able to use my almost over-due booking of a night stay in this 5 star hotel.

The chairs that got me there, are actually serving "The Lobby at Acacia", one of the restaurants in the hotel. But the initial smile on my face would turn to. . .

. . an impatient frown. Beforehand I actually requested for early check-in (just an hour earlier) cos we were caught on transit from a previous trip.

daughter fell asleep for the waits. When I approached the front desk to check-in, the staff told me that there was no room available yet. It was like past 1pm, ( I requested for 12nn to 1pm check-in at the reservations weeks ago) and I was told to just come back at 2pm which is ofcourse the regular check-in time.

other daughter diverted her disappointment to her book. The denied request had easily killed my enthusiasm about this beautifully chaired hotel.




A friend had stayed here last month and was in awe of the awesome grand lobby. I was consumed by initial disappointments and had no appetite to confirm her praises. I could easily be bought if the staff had initiate a little consolation like a complimentary/welcome drink or atleast offered me a place to wait. But no, nothing. Where's the 5star-ness there? I actually just sit on this chair (without being offered )  to wait which by this kind of situation appealed no more to me, the way they did when I used to pass by the road infont of this hotel.
I used to be a frontliner. 5 star hotels were my first job sites after college graduation. Aside from the pampering I had experienced with countless international hotels I had stayed during my trips. Those made me quite expecting as far as service is concern.  " First impression lasts". But I chose to move-on and so after an hour of waiting, I checked-in and left the disappointing reception in the lobby.
That says too why no awesome photos of the lobby.
Will share the room. Next.  

S'pore Cable Car

In S'pore, there's the cruise ship, and always captured up above it would be the lanterns like cable cars. Sg cable car is a costly ride to get to Sentosa. It would cost you around Sg$24 for a one way ride. In my past Sg visits, we usually brought a car, took a cab or rode the train to get to Sentosa, all cost so much lesser than the cable car ride.

Daughter wanted a ride. It would also be my first cable car ride here at Sg.We headed to Harbour Front Tower 2 and took the lift up to the 15th floor.

*a touristy shot before we enter the car:)))

 #now we get-in:)))) A friend commented upon seeing my recent Sg visit photos that we should have had tried the Singapore Flyer instead. I actually had done that during my earlier visit of Sg. Take a glimpse of it here.






On board, we were greeted with the sun about to set, up above the Lion City.

Down below, these cable cars look like some lanterns hanging on the sky. Seeing them on the same level viewing perspective_ now they look like pretty jewel boxes dancing infront of me.

After so many beautiful photos of us:))) and bird's eye view city shots of Sg, we alighted at some part of Sentosa (I forgot where, must be at Imbiah Lookout??) to take our dinner ( now at my food blog ) and watch some attractions at Sentosa.

Calling it a day, on our way to our temporary home, we decided to take the cable car again. This time we wanted to enjoy the night views of the city.

Although our tired cameras (the blame is on us, actually, haha) produced disappointing night photos, we actually enjoy the night bird's eye view scenes on board the cable car.