Last Friday, on a suppose to be busy day for the Metro the guys at Ford Philippines invited us for a Lunch Break to Tagaytay to get a hands-on experience on the all-new Ford Fiesta S. We all converged to Ford at Fort Bonifacio at 10:00AM, five of us bloggers were greeted by five different colors of Fiesta S. DigitalSpidey was privileged to take the wheel of the Chilli Orange. (This color is only available on the 1.6 5-door top-of-the-line model.) 

It was a convoy of five Ford Fiesta S, a real head turner in the highway! Few sub-compact cars competing with the Fiesta S tried to overtake us while on SLEX.  Let’s get it straight. Driving the sub-compact Sport Series Ford Fiesta will make you smile! It gets you to 140km/hr speed and the car yet this little baby still run stable.

Earlier this year DigitalSpidey and Calvinshub were able to test the Sedan model of Fiesta. We took it to Sta. Rosa for a day of fun at the Enchanted Kingdom on their 15th Anniversary, and I personally used it in the city in the next couple of days and one thing I noticed is the fuel efficiency. It was delivered to us full tank, stayed with us for about a week and we returned it still half the tank. The Sedan model has 1.6L and 1.4L variations.

The actual experience.
On to the Fiesta S model, this one is different sporty & techie ride which will be liked by many young professionals, students and probably Mommies on the go. There is one comment I would like to make though, the arm rest and the controls are really made for an average Asian, smaller than Pinoys. You should see for yourself and decide. But, other than that – the ride, suspension, the hands-free voice control technology via Bluetooth, the Hill Launch assist which will not require you to engage the handbreak on inclined scenario, are all superb.  Another feature I noticed is the wheel stability, the faster you drive the car the more stable the steering wheel, you will never feel that you are driving a sub-compact car. On a slower speed, you get to experience the real power steering which helps you maneuvering specially in a very challenging parking lots.

I tried the hands-free feature of the car, Anika (AVP for Corporate Comm of Ford PH) helped me paired my Blackberry to it and on the way back to Manila, I excused myself to my passenger and started making calls to my clients while driving. It was one of the cool features of the car.

According to the guys at Ford Philippines, the new Fiesta will be available in three models: Style, Trend and Sport. The three trim options are offered in the following configurations: Style is in a 1.4L 4-door manual transmission, while the Trend trim is available in both a 1.4L and a 1.6L engine in both 4-door sedan and 5-door hatchback, and the Sport model boasts of a 1.6L 5-door hatch back body with 6-speed PowerShift automatic transmission.

All of these will be built in a new USD 500-million passenger car facility at AutoAlliance Thailand (AAT) in Rayong, Thailand.

Pricing.
The Ford Fiesta line-up still starts at a P670,000 for the Style in 1.4L 4-door sedan with manual transmission.

The 1.4L Trend models are priced at P685,000 with a choice of either a 4-door or 5-door in manual transmission, while the 1.6L Trend models touting Ford’s 6-speed PowerShift automatic transmission, standard ESP and Hill Launch Assist are also available in either sedan or hatchback with a price tag of P766,000.

The Ford Fiesta Sport variant is priced at P816,000. coming equipped with a 1.6L 6-speed PowerShift automatic transmission as well as SRS airbags on both passenger and driver’s side and the In-Car Entertainment package of Voice Control with USB Connectivity and Bluetooth.

Some useful links:
Ford Fiesta FB Page
Ford Fiesta webpage
Digitalspidey’s Photo Coverage

Dive Solana is one of the more popular destination for people who want to get a taste of the Philippine underwater scene. It’s basically a regular hot spot for diving or snorkeling.

Problem is, a lot of tourist and visitors often get lost when going to this Batangas resort. So here’s a quick guide on how to go to Dive Solana.

1. Take the South Super Highway.
2. Pay the toll at the end and turn right at the Batangas Lucena Exit.
3. Go straight until you reach the Star Tollway entrance on your right.
(Star tollway is 40kms/24mi from start to end of toll)
4. Go to the end of the Star tollway and pay the toll fee Php 55.00 (approx US$1.15).
5. The road will split into three in 200meters/.1mi. Take the one straight ahead that will lead to the Batangas pier.
6. You will see a Toyota car dealership on the left.
7. Keep going straight until you see the flyover. Go UNDER the flyover and turn right at the intersection.
8. Keep going straight on this road for about 4.5km/2.7mi until you see Jollibee (fast food restaurant). Turn right.
9. Follow the road until it curves to the left.
10. Keep going, you will see Metrobank on the left, then Petron gas station on the right.
11. Shortly after Petron gas station, you will cross a short bridge.
12. Right after crossing the bridge, turn left towards the shipyards. You will pass AG&P and Keppel Shipyards.
13. In about 8.8km/5.4mi, your will reach the circular Mabini shrine, turn right.
14. Stay on this road which heads out to the Anilao pier.
15. Turn left before the pier, you will start seeing resort signs along the way.
16. Continue on this road which will take you to the Anilao resorts. Solana is approximately 10 kms (6.21 miles) from this point.
17. Solana will be on your right.

Bagasbas Beach, Daet, Camarines Norte

This is one of those less well-known surfing spots in the Philippines — Bagasbas Beach.

Some 350 kilometers south of Manila lies one of the country’s [little known] surf spot.

Approximately 7-8 hours drive south of Manila is Daet, Camarines Norte.

4 kms away from Daet town proper is Bagasbas beach, one of Philippines’ surfing, skimboarding and kiteboarding spot.

We had the chance to drop by Bagasbas beach on our way to Camarines Sur. It was around 10am and it was a low tide, the water was shallow and we had a good time beach walking.

On an ordinary day the waves reach 3-6 feet and on a lucky (surfer’s) day, it can reach up to 8 feet. The wave is good for those who are just starting to learn how to surf and also for the intermediate surfers.

Food and accomodation is cheap, though most inns and restaurants around the area are not fancy.

click here for more photos

Summer is still here and you still have time to go out of town on a competitive budget. If you are a group of five or maximum of twenty, or if you are a team who just want to have team building on a mini out of town trip, Hide Away Resort is the place to be.




If you are coming from Manila, this place is around three hours travel. Count in the heavy traffic in the entry of South Luzon Expressway (SLEX). To get there, just head on to SLEX and exit on the last tollway down south, go further until the end of the SLEX, that road will take you to the National Highway of Calamba. At the intersection ahead turn right, that is the highway going to Pansol. The home of private hot spring resorts in Laguna.



We went here last weekend for a team building/bonding activity of the group. We were total of 16, three cars, and an individual contribution of P835 per head. Total rent of the place was pegged at P8,000.00, the excess cash went to the food, utensils, drinks and to the props used in the team building.

The place has two swimming pools, one kiddie and the other that is 5 feet hot spring pool. It has three rooms, the bigger one has A/C and the rest has electric fans. Inclusive in our payment is the use of the entire facility; the rooms, kitchen, videoke unlimited. The best of all, it is exclusive only to us.

Mang Nanding owns the place, and for more information you can contact him at +63 0926 696 4633.

There is a separate post here and some photos of the place.

Batangas is one of the most visited provinces in Luzon every summer, more so during long week-ends and holidays. This Holy Week, scuba diving is one leisure activity that’s hot among a lot of resorts in Batangas.

One such place is Batangas that’s always a hot spot among divers is Anilao. Actually, it’s been a consistent location for a lot of divers whole year long.

Dozens of resorts specialize in scuba diving in Anilao, Batangas and one of the newer ones offer more than the usual over-night accommodations. The Bambu Villa Resort is about a couple of kilometers into the coastline from the Anilao port. It’s just newly constructed so a couple of the amenities are not yet completed.

For one, their rooms are not yet retrofitted with the usual TV sets and cable. The management says they are in the process of furnishing each rooms with one very soon. The Bambu Villa is a 2-floor building made mostly of concrete, bamboo and other hard wood. This is mostly for thematic accents that plays with the name of the resort.

Another building beside it is the dining and entertainment hall. The resort offers accommodation with four buffet food servings a day for Php2,800 per head on a quad-sharing arrangement (Php3,000 for triple sharing). If customers prefer to order their own meals, the room rates are Php4,800 which is good for 2 persons (additional Php1,000 for extra persons).

The buffet rates are actually affordable considering you get four meals a day with that. The ala-carte meals are a bit more expensive.

The place also has a small swimming pool up front and over-looking the beach and gives it an infinity pool look. There’s also a viewing deck down the hill where visitors can relax and watch the ocean as well as an entrance into the beach for snorkeling or scuba diving. They also have WiFi there but it’s not strong enough to reach the guest rooms. They’ll probably fix that and expand to the entire place anytime soon.

My recent trip to Cagraray Island in Albay is one of the most fun ever in years. There are lots of stuff we can do on the Misibis Bay Raintree and one of them is driving around the island with an All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV).

We took this video while driving around Cagraray and this part was taken on the hill top where you can see the entire island and the other islands around it. We’ve been recording a lot throughout the trip and we used the Sony Handycam HDR XR200 which takes full 1080p HD videos. While a digicam with HD video recording could have also done the trick, Sony’s Handycam gets ou full 1080p videos and can store as much as 120GB of video in one go. Perfect for long trips since you also get good battery life.

Here are some more footages of Misibis Bay using the Sony XR200:

One of the most visited resorts in Batangas is the Lago de Oro Resort in Balibago, Calatagan, Batangas. This is mainly because of the wakeboarding activities found in the Cable Ski Park in front of it.

Check out this short video clip of visitors riding the wakeboard all day:

Lago de Oro is situated about 115 kilometers South West of Manila on the shore of the South CHina Sea and on Zobel highway. Estimated travel time by land is about 2 to 2.5 hours, depending on traffic at South Super Highway.

Video taken using a Samsung IT100 point-and-shoot camera.

The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River in Palawan made it to the Top 77 phase of the worldwide search for the New 7 Wonders of Nature. We also blogged about it here a year ago.

The voting has been suspended after the Top 77 poll ended last July 7, 2009. The panel of judges will publish the results of the Top 28 and will further slim it down to the final Top 7.

Probably one of the grandest churches in the Philippines. The Church of Santo Tomas de Villanueva in Miag-ao Iloilo is truly a sight to behold!

Continue reading about the Miag-ao Church here

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Iniiwasan ko parati ang DelPan na malapit sa pier. Napaka-notorious ng lugar na yun, kung bagito ka nga malamang pagtitripan ka. Pero di ko aakalain na ang Del Pan ay nabibilang sa isa sa mga pinakamahahalaga nguni’t mukhang nakakalimutan nang maksaysayang distrito ng San Nicolas sa kalagitnaan Maynila.

Katabi nito ang Pasig River sa timog, ang bayan ng mga Tsinoy na Binondo sa silangan, ang pinakamalaking bargain place sa bansa, ang Divisoria sa hilaga at ang mga pinakanotoryus na lugar ng DelPan at Parola sa kanluran. Madaling puntahan kung galing kang Divisoria o Santa Cruz dahil may mga kalesa (na P50 kada byahe) o di kaya ang jeep (P8.50 ang pamasahe) na may karatulang San Nicolas, ang pwedeng sakyan papunta dito…

Isang tip, laging magmukhang simple at laging vigilant. Huwag ka nang magbalak pang lumampas ng Calle Barcelona papuntang Del Pan “kung gusto mo pang mabuhay” sabi ng mamang pulis sa detachment doon.

Sa mga kapanahunan ng ika-19 na siglo, maunlad ang lugar na ito dahil nga napapagitnaan sya ng Chinatown, ng pier at ang malaking pool of human resources. Bagsakan ng komersyo at pagawaan. Dati andito ang mga pagawaan ng pabango, general merchandise at marami pang iba. Dito rin ipinanganak ang mga bayani na magkakapatid na Luna.

Maraming nagsasabi na ang mga lumang bahay na bato na nakalatag sa San Nicolas noon ay nakaligtas sa pagbobomba ng mga Amerikano noong “Liberation” ng Maynila noong 1945. Sira ang Maynila, pero ang San Nicolas nakaligtas.

Sabi ng mga matatanda doon, halos ang buong komunidad ng San Nicolas ay napupuno ng mga bahay na bato na panlaban na sana ng Maynila sa Taal sa Batangas at Vigan ng Ilocos.

Nakapanghihinayang isipin na dahil na rin sa kapabayaan, nakalimutan na ang dating alindog ng old world charm ng Maynila. Unti unting nasira ang mga lumang bahay, ang iba giniba, ang iba nasunog. Iilan na lang ang natitira.

Mga bahay na bato na meron pa ring marka ng nakaraan. Marami sa mga ito ay pinarerenta, ang iba condemned, ang iba ay bodega. Pero kahit papaano, may iilan sa kanila ang nag-preserve o pinangalagaan ang mga lumang bahay na ito dahil na rin napamahal na sila mismo sa lugar.

Marahil notoryus na sa generation ngayon pero ang mga tile na street signs na mismo makapagsasabi na ang lugar na ito ay isang pamana na dapat pangalagaan. Isang natatanging karakter ng Maynila na parang nanganganib nang mawala. Ang San Nicolas na marahil ang isa sa pinakamagandang halimbawa ng urban decay at neglect of patrimony. Kung hindi aaksyunan, maaaring mawala ang mga unique na streetscape na ito.