I was casually browsing Facebook for some streaming updates from different pages I am subscribed when I stumble upon this very familiar Bicolano terminology – Bicol Air Express. No,  I am not talking about the favorite chili-rich dish in Bicol, it is a local airline which was launched in December.

BICOL AIR EXPRESS now can fly you from Legazpi to Virac in Cataduanes and in Masbate. South West Air Corporation makes a breakthrough in the airline industry as they finally started serving tourist who want to visit the island provinces of Bicol Region.

Launching in Virac was held in December 7, in Legazpi City on December 12 and in Masbate on December 15, 2011. The three launches highlighted SWA guarantee of safe and on-time flights for all its passengers. It also promotes the boutique airline’s promise of providing a unique flying experience punctuated with a courteous in-flight crew.

To kick things off, a tropical event was held at Twin Rock Resort in Virac, Catanduanes to celebrate the island’s feast. The resort a prime destination that BAE will promote as the company aids in enhancing the image of Catanduanes as one of the main Tropical Island destinations in the Philippines. Countless guests, including Catanduanes Governor Joseph Cua, turned up in their beach outfits and were treated to an array of local delicacies with non-stop entertainment throughout the evening.

The Legazpi launch, on the other hand, was a different form revelry as guests showed up in their grand cocktail dresses and suits for the party held at South Road Bar in Pepperland Hotel. Highlight of the night was the presentation of the Aircraft, along with footage of the actual successful landing at the airport. The event was well attended as no less than Albay Congressman Al Francis Bichara and Department of Tourism head Nina Revilla with former Department of Tourism Director Nonie Calleja were present. To show his support to the airline, Cong. Bichara encouraged his constituents and all Bicolanos to support the Boutique Airline.

Capping the grand launch was a simple gathering held in Masbate. Despite the BMC conditions not allowing the plane to arrive in the city, the team from BAE managed to successfully push through with the event. A short program was held, which included a ceremonial ribbon cutting led by executives from BAE.

I had an inside info that they are also covering Naga City in March.

Images are all courtesy of Bicol Air Express, via Facebook.

Back to back post at Digitalspidey.com

Enchanted Kingdom, the country’s first and only world-class theme park is celebrating its 16^th year of bringing MAGIC to families and friends. Happy 16^th Birthday EK!

Check out this month’s activities for EK’s 16^th Anniversary celebration.

Sweet 16 Birthday Celebrants Promo (Wednesdays to Fridays from October 1 to 31)
A birthday treat for you! Free RDP tickets await park guests who turn 16 in October, plus 20% off on tickets purchased by the celebrant’s companions, maximum of 10 persons.
Student Sembreak Anibersaya Promo (October 12 to November 13)
An anniversary treat for students of ALL levels! Every purchase of one EK Day Pass for Php350.00 shall entitle you to one hotdog on a stick and 12 oz. Pepsi drink.
Enchanting Sweet 16 Merchandise Promo (October 1 to 22)
Get the chance to win EK merchandise treats! Simply claim your raffle coupon at the Eldar’s Tent and drop in the designated drop box. The Enchanting Sweet 16 raffle draw will be held on October 22 during the Asian Sky Wizardry Fireworks Competition.
16th Anniversary Sale (October 1 to 31)
Eldar the Wiz treats one and all to a 16% discount on selected premium EK merchandise, including Eldar’s Hat and Crystal USB.
Take Me Home Eldar Doll (October 1 to 31)
Park guests who avail of a Regular Day Pass will be entitled to a 25% discount on any Eldar toy! Simply present your ticket or wrist tag and bring the magic home with your very own cuddly Eldar.

Enjoy PEPSI for 16! (October 1 to 31)
A special anniversary treat from Pepsi! Park guests may purchase food items from any EK cart or kiosk, and Amazon Grill and Launch Time restaurants. Upon purchase, guests may avail of the P16.00 discount on the 16oz. size Pepsi.

PARK SCHEDULE:
Starting October 1, 2011 to December 16, 2011, EK is CLOSED from Monday and Tuesday.
Weekdays: Wednesday to Friday
Time: 12:00 NN to 7:00 PM

Weekend: Saturday & Sunday
Time: 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM

SM TICKETS Partnership
With its recent partnership with SM TICKETS, you can now purchase your Enchanted Kindgom Tickets in all SM TICKETS outlets located at all SM Cinema branches nationwide.

Call SM Customer Care at 470.2222 for inquiries and reservations.
TICKET PRICES

REGULAR DAY PASS-WEEKEND
Php 500
REGULAR DAY PASS-WEEKDAY
Php 400
SENIOR REGULAR DAY PASS-WEEKEND
Php 358
JUNIOR DAY PASS-WEEKEND
Php 320
SENIOR REGULAR DAY PASS-WEEKDAY
Php 286
JUNIOR DAY PASS-WEEKDAY
Php 250
CAROUSEL SPECIAL
Php 150
SENIOR CAROUSEL SPECIAL
Php 108

You can still purchase your tickets at EK Makati Sales Office, Monday to Fridays, 8:30am to 5:00pm at G/F The Biltmore Condo, 102 Aguirre Street Legaspi Village, Makati City (at the back of AIM Building, near Greenbelt 1)

Useful Links:

Enchanted Kingdom’s website

EK’s Facebook page

Follow EK on Twitter

SM Tickets website

SM TIckets Facebook Page

Enchanted Kingdom, the country’s first and only world-class theme park celebrated its 15^th Anniversary last year. A number of activities were held to commemorate its fifteen wonderful years of bringing fun and excitement not only to kids but also to people of all ages.

A month-long celebration was held during its anniversary month of October, including the launch of its newest ride, the 150 feet EKstreme Tower Ride and The Annual Search for EK’s Little Prince & Princess. Also on the same month, EK gathered the best of the local and international fireworks makers and competitors for the first ever Enchanted Kingdom Asian Sky Wizardry Fireworks Competition.

Last December, a gift-giving event dubbed as EK’s Make an Enchanting Wish Come True was held for the victims of Ondoy. Kids were treated to a whole day of fun – games, snacks gift-giving and storytelling session led by EK’s VP for Sales & Marketing herself, Cynthia R. Mamon.

And just when we thought the party was over, EK celebrated the arrival of the New Year by bringing the International YouTube sensation and Hollywood star CHARICE in a concert entitled “Enchanting New Year’s Cheers with Charice”.

“As Enchanted Kingdom approaches another milestone in its corporate existence – a decade and a half of magic – we are poised to continue to break records.  We shall continue to strive to exceed our guests’ expectations, not only through new, innovative and exciting rides and attractions and blockbuster entertainment, but also through superlative guest service that surely will result in positive and lifetime magical experiences,” explains Cesar Mario O. Mamon, EK’s Chairman and President.

In photos are EK’s Chairman and President, Cesar Mario O. Mamon, (Blue) and EK’s VP for Sales & Marketing, Cynthia R. Mamon (Red) with Eldar and Princess Victoria. Photo taken at EK’s gift-giving event.

Children living in resettlement areas from all over Laguna at EK’s Make an Enchanting Wish Come True.

CHARICE at “Enchanting New Year’s Cheers with Charice” click here for more photos.

Enchanted Kingdom’s website

Enchanted Kingdom’s Facebook Page

From January 8 to March 25, 2011 EK will be open Thursdays and Fridays from 12NN to 7PM and on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays from 11AM to 9PM.

Fireworks display is staged on weekends at 8:30PM.

Adrenaline junkies, Enchanted Kingdom’s latest thrill ride is finally open in public as part of its 15th anniversary.

The EKstreme Tower Ride is a Philippine’s first and another world-class ride attraction. The thrill of accelerating towards ground level from 150 feet after gently being raised to that level will surely take your breath away as EKstreme plummets from the sky.

EK’s President and Chairman Mario O. Mamon said “EK’s EKstreme Tower Ride is our 15th anniversary treat to all of EK’s valued and faithful patrons.”

The ride raises riders 150 feet into the air — 10 feet for every year that Enchanted Kingdom had been continually providing magical experienced – before dropping them suddenly and safely back to ground level. Eldar the Wizard’s hat sits as the “crown” on top of the ride representing Enchanted Kingdom’s “towering” milestone achievement and continued leadership in the local amusement industry, being the first, and continues to be, the only world-class theme park in the Philippines.”

The EKstreme Tower Ride is not part of EK’s free rides. It has an entrance fee of Php100 but the thrill is really worth it.

Enchanted Kingdom is open Thursdays and Fridays from 12NN to 7PM and on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays from 11AM to PM until December 17. Fireworks display is staged on weekends at 8:30PM.

Got to be among the first to try this ride and I must say that the short adrenaline rush was kinda addicting. Read here.

The peak season when going on a vacation in Boracay would be in the summer which is sometime between March to June. However, those periods are also the peak season which makes it the most expensive time to go there. The same is true during November and December where a lot of tourists and foreigners spend the holidays on the island resort.

The alternative would be to go during off peak or off season. It’s more quiet, less crowded and the hotel rates are at its cheapest. However, the weather might not be the best — it could be a bit rainy, windy or sometimes you get caught in a typhoon.

July, to October would be considered off-peak in Boracay. Sometimes you get lucky and see the sun the whole day. Some times, all you get is a heavy down-pour.

During our trip to Cebu, we spent a day in the city. There aren’t a lot of tourist spots to visit in the city so the next best thing is to try the country’s only sky attraction, the Skywalk Extreme and the Edge Coaster at the Crown Regency Hotel & Towers.

The Crown Regency Hotel in Cebu is the tallest building in the city spanning 38 floors. On the 37th floor is the Sky Walk where you will walk around outside the building and get a view of the whole city. The Edge Coaster on the 38th floor is a ride around the edge of the building where you can tilt your seat downward for a vertigo-inducing view.

We took a cab to Crown Regency at Fuente Osmeña and entered the hotel. The receptionist told us to head to the 19th floor to inquire about the rates.

Rates

Since we went there after lunch, we didn’t avail of their buffet with rides rate. There’s also a 4D theater available but we only opted for the Sky Walk and Edge Coaster ride.

The rate for the two rides is Php600 per head inclusive of a light snack. Not bad I might say considering how expensive the sky walk in Macau is. For complete rates and packages, check out their site.

After paying, we head up to the 38th floor and went outside to check out the view of Cebu city first before doing the rides. You can already see Bohol from the hotel.

Skywalk Extreme

This is the first and only Sky Walk in the country so it’s something you might want to try when you’re in Cebu. You will go outside for a 10 to 15-minute walk around the walkway with a cord attached to the ceiling and into your harness.

You need to wear a flight suit and rubber shoes. No slippers nor any loose items. No cameras allowed as well! They will give you a locker for you to place your belongings. If you don’t have any rubber shoes on, you need to buy a pair of socks (Php20) and they will lend you the shoes.

Once on your suit, you will put on your harness. There’s also an instructor who will brief you on some safety procedures. He will also lead you during the walk and act as some sort of tour guide. There’s also another personnel who will be taking photos during the walk.

As you do your walk, your guide will make you stop at certain points for some photo op. You can walk near the edge and look over below if you want.

Make sure you ask the photographer to take lots of photos with different poses. Take your time at each stop. It’s probably going to be a once in a lifetime thing so make the most of it.

When you’re done, you have the option to buy your photos on a CD or have it printed.

Ok I’m going to take some time talking about claiming the photos. I was surprised when I learned that the CD costs Php550!!! It gets more expensive if there are more of you so splitting the cost won’t do any good. Unbelievable! The photos were amateurish despite using a DSLR camera (there were a big speck on the lens) and we only had 10 shots. You can’t say no because you want to bring home something from it. Having a photo printed costs about Php200+. What a rip off!

Ok that’s enough ranting… for now.

Edge Coaster

Back at the 38th floor is the Edge Coaster. This is a 3-minute motorized ride around the edge of the building so you can get a nice view of the city in all angles.

No need to get into any harness here, your seat will keep you secure. You can control how your seat is tilted. Backward if you’re afraid of heights and just want to enjoy the view from the top or forward until you’re literally facing the pavement below.

Just like the Sky Walk, you are not allowed to bring your camera with you. You can ask a friend to go outside and take photos of you while on the ride though.

I was hesitant in buying our photos because it’s another Php550 for a CD of amateurish shots. They won’t even put your Edge Coaster and Sky Walk photos in one CD so you have to pay more than the rides. Geez! We settled for a 6×8 printed photo for Php230 because Tia insisted on it.

Afterwards, we headed back down to the 19th floor for our included snacks. It’s just a choice of a donut, dimsum or sandwich and an iced tea for your drink.

It wasn’t really a thrilling experience especially if you’re not afraid of heights. If you are then it’s best that you go at night. You won’t see the ground but you’ll get to enjoy the city lights.

If I’m going to do it again, I’m just going to go for the Sky Walk and have more photos taken. If not for the absurd cost of the photos I would’ve enjoyed my time in the Sky Experience Adventure.

One of my best vacations this year was our recent trip to Miniloc Island at El Nido, Palawan. It was a sweet 3 days and 2 nights stay at one of the best island resorts in Palawan, and probably the entire Philippines.

To get there, easily, you might want to take the direct flight (chartered) to El Nido and land straight in the nearest island airport. Then you have to take a speed boat ride to Miniloc for about 45 minutes.

The place is one of the smaller islands in the dozen of islands along the northern end of Palawan. There are close to a hundred rooms. The speed boats will dock about a hundred meters away from the dock to avoid hitting the rich corrals. A smaller banca will fetch the passengers from the speed boat and bring them to the docking station.

The place is amazing from the moment you step off the banca. The staff will welcome you will all smiles and sing festive songs to celebrate your arrival. The entire staff will heard you to the restaurant and serve cold fruit drinks and cold towels for you to relax while you check-in. The relations manager will then orient the visitors of the facilities, activities and some ecological rules and policies around El Nido.

From there on, it’s all relaxing time, buffet meals and a lot of tours around the islands of El Nido You can go snorkeling at the from beach where they’ve made a small lagoon, go kayaking around the island, or scuba diving for the more adventurous and just spending a nice relaxing afternoon bathing under the sun.

Grandbay Resort is known to have one of the biggest pools in the whole of Laguna — about 1,350 square meters all in all. The place is very accessible and is just a few minutes away from Calamba Exit at the South Super Highway (SLEX).

They also have a hot spring swimming pool that is helps to relax and detoxicate our bodies while enjoying the water. The resort can accommodate a total of 2,000 persons. For those wanting to stay overnight, they have aircon rooms, fan rooms, pool room, cottages and pavilions.

Room Rates:
Aircon Rooms: Php3,150 up to Php4,550 (2 – 6 people)
Fan Rooms: Php2,050 up to Php2,850 (2 – 8 people)

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.

On July 3, 2010 with much anticipation of our weekly “coffee break”, the team decided to spend the weekend in one of the resort hotels located at the foot of Mt. Makiling in Los Banos, Laguna.

We droved about 50 to 55 km. from Makati southbound, took the last exit of the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), Calamba Exit. And since it was Saturday, and the usual traffic situation in the metro is moderate, we hit the place in just about 2.5 hours. We had our brunch at David’s Tea House which is five minutes away from the resort.

Splash Mountain Resort is a hot-spring resort in the area, enjoying the nature-supplied hot water from Mt. Makiling. The resort houses three hotels in a one huge private compound which is on the left side of the national highway. The three hotels in the compound are Splash Suites, Splash Hotel and Splash Oasis. We choose Oasis for obvious reason – the lobby has free internet access, and just beside our room downstairs is a 5-feet swimming pool with mini-slides for kids.

Oasis has three different types of rooms to offer, the Superior Room for the VIP’s. It can accommodate 4 persons, with 2 large beds and costs P3,810.00, they got 2 of these rooms. The second type is the Deluxe rooms, they got 34 of these – can accommodate up to 4 persons with 2 beds, and located at the 2nd and 3rd floors of the hotel, costs P3,510.00 for 4 pax and P2,800 for 2 people. We chose this room since the VIP is no longer available when we checked in. The last is the Standard room which is best for couples has one double bed, they got 3 of these and costs P2,110.00. All rooms have cable-TV, mini-bar, of course hot shower, and internal telephone system.

The resort has lots of swimming pools — all hot! It has two giant and crazy slides, but too bad it wasn’t operational anymore when we went there because it’s no longer the summer season. When we were toured, we brought the wrong lens, so I apologize we don’t have picture of the giant slides.

Check in time is 2:00PM and check out time is 12:00noon. Upon check in, all guests will be issued some sort of tags which will identify if you are just a day visitor and want to go swimming or picnic, or a hotel guest, a color coded tags allows you to go swimming on designated pools only.

The Splash Suites which is the newest hotel in the complex has very nice rooms with indoor pool. Rates in this hotel with the indoor pool starts at P1,800++.

The complete rates can be found in there website, or you simply click this link. You can visit the resort without staying in the hotels, you can just go swimming – they have this swimming package.

DigitalSpidey has more photos, click here to view.