DAVAO ESCAPADE: SAMAL LEG

It was September last year when J & I decided to bring our folks to Davao.

It was a timely trip for the family as we were all just adjusting to our new life without my Dad who recently passed on.

Sakto din that my in-laws decided to join us.

So, what was supposed to be just a trip for Jon and I, turned out to be a big group that ballooned to a total of eight (8).  Mas masaya pag mas madami (magastos nga lang, hehe)!

So, bring out the stroller and the wheelchairs - this family is hitting the road once again!

We flew Air Asia in Clark this time as I have already purchased the tickets a long time ago when they had a big inaugural sale.  I just bought additional tickets for the late joiners.

The trouble with flying from Clark is that you have to leave at least four hours before your flight considering the distance. Pero with tickets costing around 200 pesos only, I really could not complain.

Maga pa ang mga mata ng mga Oldies sa puyat  pero all smiles pa din sila.

Di man kami nainip, we already heard our boarding announcement.
At, dahil budget airline itey, we prepared ourselves for the long walk to the airplane.
Thanks to our old yet  trusty wheelchairs and strollers who have been with us  everywhere.

At kung kasing pogi naman ni Kuya Spi ang magpapayong sa amin, keribels

na keribels na di ba?

Fast forward to approximately an hour and a half later, we were already fastening our seatbelts in preparation for landing. Yahoo!

It's big, it's new, it's international.  

Isa lang ang ibig sabihin noon: Mahal ang terminal fee! Waaaaa.

"MALIGAYANG PAG-ABOT" so says my boy.

   Even if he does not look it, hehe.

 Upon arrival, we looked for our hired Van with Driver for the day. This is a must when travelling with babies and oldies.  Hindi puwedeng makipagsapalaran sa pag co-commute.

At para masaya ang paglilibot, we decided to have lunch first.

Our Driver recommended PENONG'S.  Sabi niya it is their version of Mang Inasal.
Di na kami nagpatumpik-tumpik pa.... ATTACK NA!

As in TWICE lang ha.  

Pag THRICE, bubuhusan ka ng mainit na sabaw!

Here's the picture of the whole gang minus J and I who were the photographers/taga-order/tagapag-pakain ng Driver forever.

Kuya Spiro:  YES ! Mukhang unlimited rice ito ah.  Ready na si Kuya Waiter sa likod oh.

So, did we like the food?
WE. LOVED. IT. IMMENSELY.
As in, we are still dreaming about it now.

Here were our orders:

Seafood Bilao - yes those are scallops!

Fried Hito - My Mom and my Father in Law fell in love with this!

Chicken Inasal - Super mouthwatering, I kid you not.

As in, it tastes good as it looks. No bola yan.

We actually ordered more than those I posted pero we failed to take pictures na dahil kinakain na ng large intestines namin ang mga small intestines.  Nuff said.

The best part of it all, very affordable ang Penong's.  Sayang lang that they have not brought it to Manila yet. Pero I understand, it is all around Mindanao na.

After lunch, we went directly to Samal Islands where we would spend the night.
This is the mala-Boracay beach ng Davao and it is around thirty (30) minutes away via pumpboat.

Let's do Samal, shall we?

While there is the famous Pearl Island for a luxurious stay, we opted not to go that route as we were watching our expenses of course.

So, I searched and searched on the internet for alternatives and found Bluewaters.

Promise, blue talaga ha.

Well, it is not comparable to Pearl Island really (I have stayed there a few years ago) pero pasado na sa amin because it is clean and best of all, affordable and value for money.

Bluewaters in Samal Island: Check!

Say Cheese!

After settling in our respective rooms, we all relaxed by the poolside to watch the sun go down.
It was a relaxing experience especially when both of our Parents were with us...

Another day is over.  Thank you Lord for all the blessings. :)

Sunset by the infinity pool.  Precious bonding moment ng aking Mag-Ama.

 At diyan na muna nagtatapos ang blog entry na ito.

Soon to come:  Davao City tour.  Thanks for reading. :)

TRIP TO LEGOLAND MALAYSIA - LAST PART

Fatigue + Lack of Sleep + Heavy raining outside = BORLOGS to the max.

The three of us were so well rested when we woke up that day.  We did not even notice that it was almost ten o' clock in the morning.

We would find out later that it was raining so hard pala the whole time.  No wonder para kaming hinehele sa duyang tatlo!

Okay na sana ang lahat except for one thing:  today is supposed to be LEGOLAND Day. Booo!

We had no choice but to stay in bed some more and entertained ourselves until the rains stopped.

Well, it did stop after lunch so we quickly got dressed, ate lunch at a Mexican Steakhouse (which was yummy, by the way) and off we went to  Legoland.

It was Legoland or bust for the Paule Family.  Rain or Shine ang batlecry namin! 

R was amazed with the whole theme park.  As in hindi nya alam kung ano ang uunahin niya.  Eh since it was still drizzling, we first went inside the shop to buy merchandise and make Lego designs for ourselves at their DIY corner.  It was fun!

It was a delight seeing my boy so busy putting his imagination into good use.

We went outside to see the other attractions pero hindi talaga maitanggi na umuulan at basa ang paligid. Huhuhu.

Rain rain go away, little R wants to play...

Tumitila naman ang ulan from time to time and everytime it does, we would seize the moment and enjoy the great outdoors.

Para siyang Disneyland for little boys.

Train!

My boy was not allowed here yet as he is under three when we visited.

   Babalikan namin ito next year God permitting.

He would look at each of the figures with awe.  Kakaaliw lang talaga.

One of the "advantages" pag umuulan sa theme park is that you get
to enjoy it facilities to the max dahil kaunti lang ang tao. Yey for that!

Everywhere you look, the figures were bigger than my little boy.

What's on your mind my Prince?

       In fairness, marami din namang rides designed for bigger children.  

       We were just so focused with the attractions catering to our boy's age bracket, hehe. 

Legoland is indeed very promising and for sure it is going to be more and more exciting in the coming months/years.  I even read somewhere that a hotel is in the offing plus the addition of more rides and attractions.

Pero in this particular visit, what I love the most in the park is the MINILAND.  It is a collection of different replicas of world sites made of Lego bricks.  Really amazing this area talaga!

Their version of the TAJ MAHAL in INDIA.

Not sure what this is exactly pero malamang Borubodur Tempe in Indonesia

Arc de Triomphe in Vientiane, Laos

You've got to give it to them for their attention to details. Kahanga-hanga talaga!

This is Bolinao, Pangasinan!

Typical Pinoy neighborhood talaga di ba? Galing galing!

SINGAPORE

Lego bricks na maliliit lahat yan mga Vaklush! Ang henyo lang nila ano?

KL Airport.  Parang tunay di ba?

              Here's R looking every inch like a giant.

              Pag pinindot mo yung pinipindot nya in this picture, it will  let out an airplane sound 

             na parang totoong totoo talaga.

At syempre pa, mawawala ba naman ang kanilang iconic Twin Towers?

It was almost 6PM when we rode a Taxi going back to our hotel.

We stayed na lang in the lobby for around thirty minutes and off we went to the airport na rin to catch our domestic flight to KL.

When we reached KL, we checked in agad sa Airport Hotel (Tune pa din, whereelse?) and catched at least 3-4 hours of sleep.

We were up very early the next morning for our 7AM ride back to Clark.

This was all in all a FUN trip and  I thank the Lord for the resources and for keeping us under His care all throughout the vacation.

Now, J and I could truly say na hindi naman pala kami pabayang magulang kasi  we were able to bring home the little one in one piece. Hahaha.

On our flight back to the Philippines, my boys were asleep most of the time.
Pagoda cold wave lotion kasi sa mala-amazing race naming bakasyon.

TRIP TO LEGOLAND MALAYSIA PART ONE

The little man celebrated his 2nd birthday last January and, unlike last year, I promised myself that there will be no extravagant party for this year.

True enough, R just had a simple backyard party at home surrounded by relatives and friends.

Yey, we have just been recruited to the "TERRIBLE TWOS" Club!

The money that we saved?

Well, we allotted it  to yet another trip to Malaysia!

Actually, we have just been to KL less than a year ago but when we learned that LEGOLAND has just opened in September, we opted to come back.

Here's our itinerary:

Day One      - Take the afternoon flight  to KL from Clark via Air Asia
                    - Spend the night in the Airport Hotel (Tune-LCCT)

Day Two      - Take the first flight out to Johor Bahru (where Legoland is) via Air Asia
                    -  Spend the day bonding and go to Puteri Harbour in the afternoon
           
Day Three    - Spend the whole morning relaxing in the hotel
                    - Go to Legoland after Lunch
                    - Take the last flight out back to KL via Air Asia
                    - Spend the night in the Airport Hotel (Tune-LCCT)

Day Four     -Take the earliest flight out of KL to Clark via Air Asia
                    -Back in the Philippines in time for Church

Some Interesting Points:

1.  It was our first time to travel just the three of us - J,R and I. Ate Lyn ( R's Ate since birth) was not going with us on this trip.  It was a decision I made at the onset.  The objective was for J and I to bond with R exclusively. As in no help at all from anyone. We figured that since he is already two, it is about time that we take this challenge.
     Many times, I was tempted to give in and buy Ate Lyn her tickets.  Not because I was backing out of the challenge but because I pity Ate Lyn who is sad with the fact that she will be away from her ward for four (4) days.
     But in the end, I stood my ground for once and went with the trip as planned.

2.  Notice that for the four days that we were out on this vacation, we were riding an airplane every single day.  I thought this was too tiresome, but as it turned out, okay lang naman pala because the kiddo loves airplanes and was thrilled to be riding it everyday.

3.  I had a mistake of booking Clark-KL tickets when I could have just booked Clark-SG.  Johor Bahru, (where Legoland is) is  very near Singapore.  We could have avoided the Domestic Flights to and from JB.
And since, the KL  City Centre is at least two hours away from the Airport, we never bothered going there at all. We just stayed in the Airport Hotel.

4.  It was, all in all, an awesome experience.  I noticed that J bonded really nicely with R.  Not even once did he (R) looked for Ate Lyn.  He was very thrilled that he got both of his Parents' undivided attention.
     Shall I do this again?  Hmmmm. Only when our itinerary is this simple.  I would not dare leave home without Ate Lyn ever again if we are in the company of our other travel buddies or when the itinerary is hectic.

So shall we proceed with our kuwentuhan? Taralets.

As previously mentioned, we took the 6AM flight from KL to JB.
We were literally "pupungas-pungas" as we of course, had to be in the airport at 5AM at the latest.
Good thing, Tune Hotel was a few steps away lang... Pero still, super hirap pa din kasi we arrived around 9PM the previous night from Clark na so "ngaragers" lang talaga ang peg.

My boys got busy agad with their gadgets the minute they were seated.  

The flight was just a short one and we were touching down in JB even before we knew it.
We took the Airport Taxi to our hotel in JB - Tune Hotel Danga Bay.
As you may have noticed, we are getting to be a big fan of this budget hotel.  Well, bukod kasi sa mura, their buildings are new.

Our room was SPACIOUS and DIRT CHEAP.  Hooray!

 Siyempre, once we were settled, the first order of the day was too catch up on some sleep.  And, when we awoke a couple of hours later, we got ready na to go out.

Our room was so big that we had enough space for a photo session before we left.

Notice our baons?  Well, if you have a baby in tow, you need to be prepared at all times, you know.

We went straight to PUTERI HARBOUR where the Little Big Club and Hello Kittyland were.
We so loved the place although the entrance was kind'a expensive for an indoor park.

We first went to the area where BARNEY was!

Yang halayang Ube na yan ang may kasalanan kung bakit kami nagsadya dito.

My kid is sooo in love with Barney!

Istatwa pa lang yan ha, pero parang hihimatayin na ang anak ko sa galak!

Ayan, halos maihi ang anak ko ng makita nya sa personal si Barney!

Kebs lang siya sa ibang tao, he literally walked his way to the stage

  to confirm if he was not dreaming. LOL.

At hanggang magsara na ang pinilakang tabing, ayaw pa din paawat ni Kulit.

Right after seeing Barney, we went to the other areas where the different characters were featured.
Sinulit namin ang bayad and let the little bub play to his heart's content.

Anak, baka naman masira mo yan ha, wala tayong pambayad!

There was Thomas and his Friends, Bob the Builder at kung sinu sino pang mga

Characters whose names I could not even remember nor pronounce correctly. Hehe.

Pero kahit anung tagal namin doon sa Area na yun, di kailanman ako nagpakita ng pagkabagot.
Dahil I know, right after my boys have their field trip, ako naman ang maliligayahan dahil we are to go one floor up to the HELLO KITTYLAND!  My secret obsession eversince I was little.

Pero kahit nag ha-hyperventilate na ako, dedma lang ako bilang hindi naman proper na kiligin ang hindi naman kabataang si Ako. Hmp.

Pero kaunting kaunti na lang mga kaberks, bibigay na ako!  

Buti na lang at nakapagtimpi pa ako.

Pwede bang akin ka na lang?

Napagod din naman ako sa aking obsesyon.  Kaunting sandali lang ay nagyaya na din ako umuwi  pero not before I brought my Mag-Ama to the merchandise store hoping I could but t least one Hello Kitty item that is original at hindi galing sa Divisoria. Hehe.

But I was surprised that the prices of the items inside were ridiculously expensive! As in OA na OA lang ang peg mga Ateng.

Dinedma ko tuloy. Haha.  Back to DV na lang ang drama ko.

We hailed a cab and asked to be brought to JOHOR PREMIUM OUTLET or JPO as everyone there calls it.  We paid a hefty amount for our fare because the Taxis plying the area are "Executive Taxis".  As in parang it cost us 85RM. Shuckadoodles talaga!

Unfortunately (or is it fortunately?), hindi pumatok sa amin ang outlet na ito.

We left empty handed pero it was worth the experience naman so keribels na.

On the way back to the hotel, we discovered na pwede naman palang mag BUS at hindi mag TAXI much to our delight and relief!

We took our dinner in one of the eateries near the hotel and slept in complete abandon the whole night.

Stick around for the next installment of my kuwento ha.  Malalim na ang gabi at nagrarambulan  na  ang Mag-Ama ko sa kama.

Thanks for reading peeps!


             
         

THE WINNER (AND THEN SOME...)

Hey you guys!
I am back from my recent hiatus.

It has been one whole week of "pesteng ahems", "walang puknat na ubo" at kung anu ano pa.
I am just so glad that I am over THAT feeling now after gulping medicines and forcing some "down" time to the ever so busy ME.

I am feeling a lot lot better now...and my blogging mojo is oh so back as well!

Anyhoo, before I tell you more of my travel "kuwentos", let me first tell you about my first blog giveaway.

I am happy to note na may sumali naman kahit papaano, hehe.  Salamat sa mga kaibigan at kamag-anak na napakiusapan. :)

Last Monday, in the presence of some of the contestants, we did the raffle draw manually bilang epic fail ang aking rafflecopter churva. #pagaaralankoyanpromise

Are you ready folks?

Syempre pa, R did the honors of picking the lucky winner.

Pick me! Pick me!

So who is our winner Anak?

Sino ba yan?

And the winner is DIVS MUNAR!
You won for yourself three (3) tickets to Enchanted Kingdom.

Please email me at mayflower_learn@yahoo.com for the details on how to redeem your prize.

Dahil sa kaligayahan kong pinatulan nyo ang abang "contest" ko, I chose to pick some more Winners!

Congratulations to:

1.  Anieline B. Buce
2.  Lara N. Budiongan
3.  Purisa S. Costinar
4.  Clemen C. Perea

Please email me for the details of your prizes!

Again, thank you all for joining.

At, ika nga sa TV, stick around for more!