I managed to score a complimentary pass thanks to Anton Diaz of OAP. I went there yesterday just to shoot the place so I didn’t really get to try out all the interactive exhibits but I will come back soon because I want to bring Kamille, her brother and my nephew there. I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.

I will be writing a more detailed review soon but I’m publishing this now so you guys can view the 360 virtual tour. Enjoy!

Two weeks ago, I finally got to go. Guess with whom? 3 girls.

Kaye and Prinz are my high school friends. Kaye was the one who organized the whole thing, she saw some promo on a group buying site (I’m not sure what website). She took care of everything so we could all go. Thank you kaye!

The coupons were from a company called TrekPros. I won’t recommend them since they seem to be new with the whole trek business. The coordination was poorly done and I read some really bad reviews over the Internet. I did get the number of our driver his name is Kenny Dizon – 0923.834.216. These trek companies are just middle men and you can directly go to the drivers to arrange the tour. You can slash a big amount from what the trek companies are charging. So if you’re a kuripot type of person go directly to the drivers. If you’re the type who just wants to pay, sit back and relax then go find some tour package.

We initially scheduled it early February but due to bad weather we had to move it again and again. There’s a reason why we initially wanted it on that month. The blue green hue on the water is seasonal. According to wikipedia – The best time to visit the lake is during the dry season, from November to May. We did go on April but we already missed it. So I suggest you wait and go on January or February. Anton of OAP also put on his 2012 calendar that January is the best time to trek Mount Pinatubo.

As for the reason why it is blue green on a certain season? According to Yahoo answers – “blue for the skycolor and green for the trees around the lake”.

The Balikatan Exercise 2012 was on going when we went so there was a cut-off time. All the 4×4′s had to be inside the Pinatubo gates before 7AM. We had to leave Manila early because of this. We drove instead of taking the shuttle trekpros offered to save on travel cost. We left Cubao Edsa around 3AM and arrived at Santa Juliana around 5-5:30 AM. I created driving directions from NLEX Sta. Ines Exit to Santa Juliana. Click here to see the map.

Santa Juliana is the meeting place for all the people trekking to Mount Pinatubo, the 4x4s will pick you up here. The main road has some restaurants, the famous spa, a DOT office. From here the 4x4s will take you to the starting point of the trek. It took us around 40 minutes to get there. The first thumbnail on the 360 above is not the starting point, it’s just a stop over where people can take photos.

The trek took 2 hours 15 minutes. This is not something your grandma can do. I admit going up was really tiring. The guide said the trek took only 30-45 minutes before but Ondoy came and destroyed everything in its path including the 4×4 trail.

Group pic with the local kids. I’m not sure what face I did here.

Strange rock formations.

Huli ka Kamille! ikaw lang pala gumagawa nyan!

After 2 hours of trekking. A sign greets you “Your trek starts here”. I Imagined if Ondoy was a person he would be laughing like Muttley while looking at this photo.

I forgot we trekked 2 hours after taking a dip at the lake. I didn’t have extra clothes but the water was so inviting so I jumped in. My shorts was all squishy on the way back.

Last group pic before we left the crater.

Hmm…There’s some one missing in this photo.

All the 4x4s where stucked at the trek starting point because the Balikatan exercise was on-going. When the U.S. military guys patrolling the area gave the signal to go, the drivers went crazy. It was like a 4×4 frenzy.

Is that a landmine or a cow dung?

The sunset made the 4×4 ride even more breath taking.

Accidentally took photos of some U.S military vehicles in the dessert.OohRah!!!!

I only spent around Php 2500 ( 999 for the tour, 390 DOT fee, 600 food, 300 gas.) for this trip and it was all worth it.

• Getting your feet wet is inevitable. Wear sandals with strap don’t wear running shoes like me look what happened to my trusty nike shoes. I was not informed!!!haha. No they did mention that on the email I just didn’t read it before hand.
  
  
• Wear a cap or hat. Put sunblock or get a sleeve similar to what Allen Iverson or Tricycle drivers’ use.
• You will want to take a dip on the lake, so bring extra clothes. They have make shift changing rooms there or look for some secluded area and change there.
• We bought food with the tour and the guide brought it along with him so we didn’t have to carry it with us but bring extra food, we craved for snickers when we were on the crater.
• Wait for January or February!!! The view was stunning but if the water were green / blue it would have been even more breath taking.

NLEX Sta. Ines Exit to Santa Juliana

I remember around 8 years ago we discovered this place. During that time not a lot of people knew about it and we had the resort all to ourselves every time we went here. Back then there was only one big pool and the giant slide, now they have 2 wave pools for surfing and swimming, a kayaking pool, a lap pool, a shaded pool and a kiddie pool. They also added a zip line which will give you a good view of the resort. On the zip line scaffold (7th thumbnail on the tour) you’ll get a nice panoramic view of Ortigas center and Makati. Too bad my bald head was blocking some of the view .

One of the attractions I really like was the Cliff dive pool. There’s a ledge you can jump of that is 20 ft high. I didn’t try it because I had all my camera gear with me (lame excuse haha). It’s the 5th thumbnail on the tour. I got a shot of a guy before he hit the water there, quite cool.

I was quite surprised that I still enjoyed our visit to the resort even if I’ve been there a handful of times. So give it a visit I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. Get some surfing lessons and try the Cliff dive, don’t be a sissy like me.

Facebook Page – www.facebook.com/clubmanilaeast

Website – www.clubmanilaeast.com

Phone – 284-4740 to 41 / 284-4754 or 58 / 284-4768 to 69 / 660-2801 to 02

Mon – Sun: 7:00 am – 9:00 pm

The resort is located inside Poro point free port zone similar to Subic. It has a Santorini inspired architecture like Bellarocca, the buildings are white with a few sections colored blue, which I think is off. They should have just went with pure white to make it look more classy. Based on the development plan I saw in the lobby, the resort is maybe 50% done there are still a lot of unbuilt structures. It has a golf course, swimming pool, beach and garden wedding area.

John Estrada and Priscilla Meirelles’ wedding was held here. You can see the garden where the ceremonies was held on the 360 virtual tour, its the 4th thumnbnail above. I also embedded their wedding video below in case you want to see it.

I heard parts of the film “No other woman” was also shot here although I haven’t seen the movie yet. One of the steamy scenes was shot at the beach.

• The Sunset was awesome (5th thumbnail on the virtual tour) and the Cliff areas were really nice. I got a 360 shot of the 9th hole in the golf area but it turns out hotel guests are prohibited from going there, that is if you’re not playing golf.
• The rooms were spacious (I forgot to take take 360 photos!) and the buffet breakfast was great.
• Beer is not too expensive during happy hours

• Food was expensive. We had to eat out.
• 6 hours drive is too far for me.
• The beach had white sand but it was rocky.

Some Photos from that trip

According to wikipedia – “Circuit training is a form of conditioning combining resistance training and high-intensity aerobics. It is designed to be easy to follow and target strength building as well as muscular endurance. An exercise “circuit” is one completion of all prescribed exercises in the program. When one circuit is complete, one begins the first exercise again for another circuit. Traditionally, the time between exercises in circuit training is short, often with rapid movement to the next exercise.”

The gym doesn’t have machines or thread mills but stations labeled with numbers. There are 20 stations in the gym. Each is classified as either an active station or an active recovery station. The active recovery stations are the odd numbered ones. on these stations you do cardio, its either you do jump rope, jumping jacks, ali shuffle, jog in place. On the active stations (even numbered) you do muscle building exercise like push-ups, pull ups, arnold press. Each exercise is done for 30 seconds, a beeping sound indicates if 30 seconds is up and a recorded voice says “please move to the next station”. 3 rounds on the circuit is 30 minutes.

I’m not the fittest person but I do exercise regularly, I lift weights and do cardio at least twice a week. On the first round I thought it was easy I was able to do pull ups, push-ups with ease but then when I got to the 20th station on the ab roller my body was already shaking. I’ve always seen the ab roller on infomercials and It looked so easy on TV but trying it out for the first time just gave my body a shock. When I asked Dexter( the gym instructor who assisted me) to show me how it’s done, It was a breeze for him.

I had to catch my breath before going on the 2nd round. This time I could barely do pull ups and I was taking pauses between push-ups. By the end of this round I was already sweating like crazy and breathing heavily. Dexter was already asking me if I still wanted to continue. Of course I had to, I didn’t want to look like a sissy. The 3rd round was more of just like an excuse to finish the routine. My muscles were already giving up I could no longer do a full pull up so Dexter said to jump on the way up and control it on the way down. Fortunately I got to finish without passing out. It took me around 45 minutes to finish 3 rounds in the circuit.

I can say that the workout is effective because the next day my body just hurt. The only downside was I just stayed in bed the whole day.haha. According to Dexter doing circuit exercise with proper diet will give you that Bruce Lee / Derek Ramsey look, the lean and sexy look. And I do believe him, to the point where it made me rethink my whole workout regimen.

So would I consider getting a membership? Yes, but I have a fitness first and slimmer’s world membership. I just terminated my fitness first membership because I moved to a different office but I have until end of march before it finally takes effect. I got a membership at Slimmer’s world just this month because it’s closer to where I work. So technically at the moment I have 2 gym memberships and I rarely use any of them. (I have so many excuses nowadays haha). Another consideration is the location right now 360 fitness club in Makati is far from where I work and I can’t see a way how I can regularly visit the gym. If it were a building beside then that wouldn’t be a problem.

They don’t have a joining fee. They have annual, semi-annual, quarterly and a 10-visit pass. I really encourage you to get a trial workout to see if this is the gym for you, they won’t bully you anyway into signing a membership unlike other gym’s out there.

360 fitness club rates.

They have adjustable dumbells and kettle bells instead of free weights.

Each station has a picture of the exercise that you can do depending on your fitness level

Each station has a number and says what you need to do. Here you’ll do jumping jacks

Look who works out here, Slick Rick! Yeah Men!!!!!!

• From Paseo de Roxas heading to Greenbelt 1 turn right on Dela Rosa Street (This is the street at the back of Enterprise Tower).
• Go straight and then turn left at Don Carlos Palanca Street.
• I think it’s the 4th or 5th building from the corner. You’ll see it on the right side.

I actually tried coming from greenbelt 1 but Don Palanca is one way so you’d have to come from Dela Rosa Street. On weekends you can park on the street there’s a 3 hour limit. There’s also Dela Rosa Carpark if you can’t find a vacant parking space along the road.

Website – www.completethecircuit.com

Facebook Page – www.facebook.com/360FitnessClub

Phone – Makati Branch: 0917-860 0360; Ortigas Branch: 0917-560 0360

Ortigas: 13/F Strata 100, F. Ortigas Jr. Road, Ortigas Center, Pasig.

Makati: 7/F Dolmar Gold Tower, C. Palanca St., Legaspi Village, Makati City.

Their slogan is “Best view of Taal” and I couldn’t agree more. Take a look at the view from the top floor and inside the rooms and you’ll see why. Aside from having a great view they have really nice facilities. I was surprised that they have a basketball / badminton court at the basement and an auditorium type learning center. For weddings they have a couple of ballrooms and an events lawn outside the restaurant.

If you’re going to Tagaytay and looking for a nice place to stay I highly recommend Summit Ridge Tagaytay.

• From Sta. Rosa head straight to Tagaytay until you see Econo inn, you have nowhere to go but right.
• Go straight and you’ll see the rotonda, go around it and exit at the opposite side.
• keep going straight for a few kilometers and you’ll see the Summit Ridge building to your right.

Website – www.summitridgehotel.com

Contact Numbers- (632) 240-8888 or (0922)852-6800

This is the first time I’ve seen so much koi in one place. Some were even jumping out of the water as they were being fed. It’s really a sight to see and I’m sure everybody not just the kids will enjoy it. It’s a good place to bring your family, dine out and enjoy some outdoor activities.

Fish Feeding schedule is from 8am – 5pm, Mondays to Sundays. You can buy fish feeds for P15 per pack. There’s also boat ride for P30/head and Bike Rental for P60/hour.

As you can see on the 360 virtual tour the place has this 50′s and 60′s vibe. There are old movie posters and antique items all over the place. There’s also a gift shop and a salon at the back.

I’m no expert on food so I won’t give a review on that. I just had a set breakfast, all I can say is that they are generous with their egg serving.

• From Sta. Rosa head straight to Tagaytay until you see Econo inn, you have nowhere to go but right.
• Go straight and you’ll see the rotonda, go around it and exit at the opposite side.
• When you see Starbuck’s on your left and 7-11 on your right, take the next right turn, this is Magallanes Drive.
• keep going straight until you’ll see Memory Lane on your left. It’s hard to miss.

Website – Facebook Fan Page

Phone – 09178581950/09228298487

Mon: 11:00 am – 9:00 pm

Wed – Fri: 11:00 am – 9:00 pm

Sat – Sun: 9:00 am – 9:00 pm

I never appreciated UST until I saw it at night with all the lights on plus Kamille gave me a tour of her school and I realized how much historical value the place has. So when we headed back there I decided to bring my camera and shoot the place.

I got to shoot 4 areas : the Main building, Arch of the centuries, Plaza benavides, and the Quadricentennial sqaure. I wasn’t able to shoot the UST Carillon because the lights were turned off when I was just about to start. The Rosarium Garden looked nice when I first saw it but when we got back the lights were off. I heard from Kamille’s friend Chris that in celebration of the 400th year UST will close down the place to cars and will only have horses and carriages inside the campus and the guards will be dressed up in old Spanish soldier uniforms. I’m just not sure when that is or if it’s already happened but I’d love to see that if I get the chance.

If you’ve read the post on our bicol trip This is the second part I was referring to. So We came from Legazpi City and were driven by Shella’s driver to Camarines Sur. From there We took a boat ride which brought us to the main island of Caramoan, I’m not sure what its called but this is where the main town is, where the schools, church and inns are located. From there we rode a tricycle that brought us to Villa Juliana inn.

Here’s a picture of Carlo in front of the Inn. The whole inn was covered in yellow, I saw some other blogs where it was pink. So I guess the owner changes the color from time to time.

The inns were the only option we had for accomodation. The famous Gota village Resort was fully booked for the following months because of the survivor taping. It would have been much more expensive to stay there anyway. I saw several inns which looked like old houses converted to mini hotels. I just wonder if they can accommodate all the tourists on peak seasons. When we were there we were the only ones staying at the inn.

Villa Juliana inn was only a few minutes ride to Paniman beach, this was where the boats for hire are located. We were supposed to only take a trike ride to get there but the bridge was being renovated. It could only let people, scooters, bikes pass so we had to switch to motorcycles.

Abed and Nina enjoying the ride

When we got there we didn’t get trouble looking for a boat man / tour guide. It’s easy to find entrepreneural manongs going around the area.

We only had the afternoon to see the islands on our first day and it was raining! We were able to see Lahus, Matukad, Minalahos (I have identified these islands on the map above even if some dont have a 360 view, just click the yellow “Show Map” button on the left). Matukad island was where the survivor set was located, the “bantay” wouldn’t allow us to take photos so we secretly took snapshots. There is a lagoon here which I had only known now! So when you go here try to ask around how to get to it.

Here’s a picture of us in Matukad Island

After matukad we moved to Lahus island. Lahus is the first 360 shot you’ll see above. I believe this is where this ad of Ding Dong and Marian was taken. We loved this island so we spent a few hours here. It was drizzling so you’ll notice some black clouds in the photo.

After Lahus we went to Minalahos. this is the island in front of Gota Beach. Unfortunately it was already high tide when we got there so we didn’t get to do a lot, we spent maybe half an hour here and went home after.

On the second day the weather was nice. We got to see Mother of Peace Grotto, Cotivas Island, Bugtong beach and Sandbar of Manlawi Island. The Mother of Peace Grotto is located at the top of Caglago Mountain in Barangay Tabgon. We climbed 500++ steps to get all the way up there but the view was stunning. It was hot though I felt like the sun was at the back of my neck and we were sweating like crazy. But it was worth it.

After the grotto we proceeded to Cotivas Island. I didn’t see anything special in Cotivas so I didn’t take 360 photos. Cotivas is one of the places good only at a certain angle. The only thing I remembed about it was this dead tree that looked nice. Here’s a photo of it by Carlo.

We had lunch here and rested for a while. When we were refreshed and recharged we headed out to see Bugtong beach. When I visited the Caramoan islands website there was no mention of Bugtong beach or the Manlawi island sandbar but these places were the ones I liked most. Bugtong beach is a virgin beach there were no huts, sari-sari stores, no concrete structures, CR’s unlike Anawangin. The sand was fine but it isn’t compact like in boracay. It was kinda hard to walk because the sand was soft but I liked how you can leave a very distinct foot print. We spent around 2 hours here and then we headed to Manlawi island.

The gang in Bugtong Beach

The sandbar of Manlawi island is the highlight of our Caramoan trip. We enjoyed this place so much that we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon here and not see the rest of the islands. The boat man did say that the other islands we were supposed to see weren’t as majestic as this sandbar. We we’re there at around 4 in the afternoon, the water was just starting to rise so we were able to see the sandbar slowly disappear. When the water got knee high we felt as if we were in the middle of the ocean. Combined with the view of the island and the tranquility of the place it was truly quite an experience. When we got our heart’s content we decided to head home.

Fish Eye Shot in Manlawi Island Sandbar

We were only able to see 5 of the Islands identified as top 10 in the Caramoan website. I marked them x below.

• Lahuy
• lahus – x
• matukad – x
• Tinago Beach
• Pitogo
• Gota Beach – x
• Minalahos -x
• Hunongan
• Sabitang Laya
• Cotivas – x

The grotto, bugtong beach, Sandbar of manlawi island is not part of the list but they’re a must see when you visit the place. Our Caramoan Trip was one of the most memorable and affordable trips I’ve ever had. I’m definitely going back there to shoot the places I wasn’t able to see. I just hope that by the time I get to visit it again It would still be the same and it has not been ravaged by tourism.