When the sun goes up. .

Sad.. summer is over. The recent typhoon Butchoy ( heard still around in the country today and tomorrow a new one is said to come :( ) says a lot about the onset of the season I hated most_ the wet ( reads as typhoon ) season.



The whole summer, we never missed our mornin' jog everyday, until the second week of June which cut my denial that sunny days were truly over. Can't do anymore roofless fitness. Means to settle down with  indoor activities such as cook + eat + eat = weight gain :( yaeeks.. hate it x100!!

You say, I can always go to the gym. Been there.done that. Failed cos when the rain fell, my feet were too cold to go to the gym to sweat.



One fateful day of the concluded summer2012, during our stay at Acasia Hotel Manila , husband and I woke-up the following morning early to workout in the hotel's gym.( this was at the height of our self-inflicted/personal fitness program that we didn't let any disruption got into our daily fitness routine), only to find out that the hotel's gym wasn't ready yet for the guest. Good thing the interested guests were sent free to Golds Gym (in Alabang) instead. So we hopped in the hotel car and were brought to the Golds Gym. The car left us and reminded us to just call the hotel to fetch us back. The gym's guard met us at the gate to announce that the gym was close that day ( I forgot what day it was..) cos it was some cleaning/maintenance day. wtf!
We didn't call the hotel for the car back, we decided to just jog around the area. But ofcourse I did confront the concierge when I got back, haha.

Anyway, what I'm trying to arrive at is how we discovered our latest jogging hub that summer. It was at the vicinity of Filinvest, Alabang. We saw that many people were already frequenting the area. But we don't always love crowds, so we walked furthermore. .



passing by some high-end residences and The Palms Country Club, at this point we're now free of the jogging crowds that seemed to mushroom at the previous part of the area.

Since then, we frequented the area the whole sunny mornings of this year's summer. It was a haven. We love that it was secluded, the air seemed fresh. .









with a beautiful landscape ever. .

beautiful not only to the eyes but for the legs too. There were hill-y parts that were quite challenging and therefore more benefiting to our fitness goal.

. . greens everywhere. How could you not start the day right with that freshness? In a city? It's a rarity.



We really miss our mornings there. Well, it's out of our control now. The weather has the say for the mean time. We'll be back when the sun goes up again, I guess.
This reminds me years back when the MOA (SM) was yet on the construction phase. It was still crowdless and we used to jog there then too. One day when we went back, the buildings were all up already and the crowds were hopelessly massive, that's the end of our mornings there.
I know the same thing is coming to this latest fave of ours, hope not that too soon thu'.
We want more morning runs there :D

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:)

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.