Phuket versus Boracay

I should not be comparing these two resort places since I am Pinoy and therefore I should favor Boracay over Phuket. But I would like to compare these two popular beach destination for the very purpose of knowing which one is really a better destination.

We are set to go to Phuket by November 28 and to Boracay on Dec 21. But let me tell you off the bat what  I have noticed when searching for hotels in these two places:

Hotel rooms in Phuket are much much cheaper than those in Boracay.

We are staying in Sugar Palm Karon Resort  in Phuket.

A two night stay costs me only S$142 in this hotel

In comparison, at Boracay it costs me S$172 for the two nights accomodation we have secured fromAlta Vista de Boracay(this price is soft opening price) 

Sugar Palm Karon Pool

Alta Vista De Boracay Infinity Pool

I shall get back to you about comparison in food, entertainment and cleanliness factors after our visit to these places.

How Hotel Reviews Help

If are visiting a plAce for the first time it helps to get the opinion of other travellers who have visited it. In termsof choosing hotels I have always relied on websites like Yahoo Travel and Trip Advisor since they carry reviews of actual travellers like me.

The HK Hollywood hotel is one of the best family hotels we have stayed in

If you want my unbaised opinion of hotels I have stayed in, click on this link,  I dont get paid for doing the reviews. I just want to help fellow travellers to get a good idea of what they are paying for.

Staying in 3 of the Worlds Largest Hotels

   I have stayed in 3 of the Worlds Top 15 Largest Hotels namely: FIrst World Hotel(1st) in Genting,Malaysia and two Vegas hotels: Excalibur ( 7th) and  Monte Carlo(14th) and I can assure you that being big doesnt necessarily mean the best service.

 First World Hotel: We have stayed in this hotel thrice of the 5 times we have visited Genting.The rooms are small and dont have airconditioning since it is quite cold in Genting. The bathrooms are small and it always takes us 2-3 hours to check in specially on school holidays and week ends. The check out however is facilitated by key drop boxes. The lobby is big and quite impressive. The lifts are fast and plenty for each floor.

The breakfast however is very basic but the place is an all in one theme park,shopping, entertainment and hotel complex.

Excalibur Hotel:Hubby and I stayed in this hotel in 2005 and since we booked via internet our check in was very fast. I think most Vegas hotels have fast check in and check out services.

The breakfast and dinner buffets in this hotel is very extensive and we were wondering what they usually do with so much food left overs every night.

The lobby of this hotel is a little bit dark since its supposed to be a castle., I am not particularly fond of the interior though but its good waking up to a good view of a Disneyland like castle. 

MontecarloVegas. I stayed in this hotel in APril 2008 together with my 2 best friends and our check in and check out is quite fast. However during our visit there was a lot of construction going on around this hotel and there is a very noisy club at the corner of the hotel.

These are the top 15 largest hotels in the world (2007 list)

1. First World Hotel, Malaysia - 6,118 rooms
2. MGM Grand, Las Vegas - 5,690 rooms
3. Ambassador City Jomtlen - 4,631 room
4. Luxor, Las Vegas - 4,408 rooms
5. Mandalay Bay (Inc. The Hotel), Las Vegas - 4,341 rooms
6. The Venetian, Las Vegas - 4,027 rooms
7. Excalibur, Las Vegas - 4,008 rooms
8. Bellagio, Las Vegas - 3,993 rooms
9. Circus Circus, Las Vegas - 3,774 rooms
10. Flamingo, Las Vegas - 3,565 rooms
11. Hilton Hawaiian Village, Honolulu - 3,386 rooms
12. Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas - 3,349 rooms
13. Mirage, Las Vegas - 3,044 rooms
14. Monte Carlo, Las Vegas - 3,002 rooms
15. Las Vegas Hilton, Las Vegas – 2,956 rooms

AIR ASIA CANCELS OUR JB-MACAU FLIGHT

When I opened my email last Friday, I had to think for awhile since the message was about “Macau Flight Cancelled”. At first I  thought that Air Asia decided not to fly to Macau anymore but when I opened the email, it said…..

My only complaint about this message is that they gave me a Malaysian number which was very hard to reach. Since I am very familiar with online reservation I searched for their Singapore number.

After being placed on hold for about 15 minutes I was lucky enough to get hold of their representative who immediately gave me an option of flying to KL and taking our connecting flight to Macau from there.

The same will be true on our return trip.We fly to KL and connect to JB. The only problem is that there is only one flight going to Johor Bahru(JB) from KL and it leaves KL at 7:50 in the morning . This meant that we had to stay overnight in KL.

Now my only problem is getting our hotel for the overnight stay in KL. We are landing at and departing from  the KLIA-LCC and not the KLIA(KL International AIrport) 

Any suggestions?

A Spunky VP Candidate Palin

The VP Presidential campaign in the US has shifted from Obama/Mc Cain to its Vice Presidents.

Just because a VP former beauty queen Palin is in the limelight everyone has their eyes on her.

She reminds me of Punky Brewster (the 70s small kid actress in her own TV show) 

See that wink?

and this!

The hell where did Mc Cain get this woman…choosing a VP is hard enough…why choose her?

WE ARE GOING TO PHUKET

I had a last minute decision to buy our tickets to Phuket. Tiger Airways was offering flights at 0.04 cents (exclusive of taxes). The sale is only till  midnight tonight and I purchased our tickets at 11.15.

The cost of our tickets(4 of us) is like the cost of our tickets from Manila to Boracay which is rather cheap. Phuket is only 1 hour and 30 minutes away from Singapore and we will just spend the week end there during the kids school holidays.

Good timing since November is Loy Krathong month in Thailand. Maybe we will have a chance to see the Krathongs and lanterns being lit in the skies of Phuket. 

IT PAYS TO BOOK UR VACATIONS EARLY

By December we are off for our annual vacation to Manila. Normally I book way way in advance to get discounts on flights and hotel.

This year part of our annual vacation plan is a trip to Boracay. I had already booked a flight in May for our Dec 21-23 flight to Boracay. Just to give you an idea of how much we have saved. This is our total package plan breakdown:

Tickets via Cebu Pacific for 2 adults and two kids                                                 P19753.00

Current cheapest Cebu P ticket for Dec 21-23 flight o Boracay                           P26,136.32

 SAVINGS                                                                                                                         P6,383.32

Hotel Bookings

Current Charges for Alta Vista Dec 21-23 (two nights)                                   S$184.00

Our payment booking made in May 2008                                                            S$172.00

SAVINGS                                                                                                                       S$12.00(P390.00)

TOTAL SAVINGS                                                                                                             P6773.32 (S$208.00)

This amount is more than enough for our food and shopping. So if you really want to save up on that vacation, better book early or when there is a sale online.

Happy trip!

PINOY JOB HUNTERS IN SINGAPORE

 The most recent Diaspora of Pinoys in SIngapore is a revelation to me…more and more College graduates and mostly graduates from far flung colleges and universities are coming here to this small country to find work as sales personnel, restaurant and hotel attendants, maids(yes maids) and bargirls.

In the 70s,80s and 90s most Pinoys who get jobs in Singapore are oftentimes Engineers,Architects ,Maids and nurses but now almost every nook and cranny of the airport ,Orchard Road shops and Singapore restaurants have Pinoys working as bus boys, helpers, salesperson etc. I am very sorry to observe however that the new crop of job seekers dont know how to speak English well.

I have yet to see graduates from well know universities like UP,Ateneo, La Salle trying to find jobs in SIngapore probably because they easily find jobs in Manila. A lot of those coming here now are coming  from lesser known colleges that sometimes I have not even heard of.

It makes me feel a sense of pity for these young Pinoys accepting jobs that dont really study for. Why complete a course in Accountingm, Commerce etc when you will just end up folding t shirts in Lucky Plaza.

Sabi nga ng isang Pinay”OK na rin yon at least I get paid about S$1,200 or approximately P36000″. The entry level jobs now for people in the service industry(hotels,shops etc) is S$1800 but since there is a lot of competition for these jobs Pinoys normally accept jobs even at S$1000-$1200.

If you are one of those who cannot find a job in  Manila and want to find a job here be ready to go job hunting for about 2-3 months.For this periood you need to pay about $300-400/month for bedspace, about $10 daily for transpo and food and sometimes a one month equivalent of starting pay if you got a job through and agency.

Good luck to your job hunting!

My Free HP Mini Note 2133

The HP 2133 Mini-Note has a great design. Everyone in our office agreed that it has a solid chassis and attractive look. The brushed aluminum and plastic casing is durable and hides fingerprints well. It also keeps the Mini-Note lightweight, only weighing in around 2.86 lbs as configured. It has that sleek business appeal, but is targeted toward students as well. One look at the Mini-Note and I can see why. I mean who wouldn’t want an inexpensive subnotebook to tote back and forth to class, especially one that pretty much has a full-size keyboard.

I got this for free yesterday from Starhub in exchange for signing a two year Maxonline internet connection at $56/month. See reviews of the Mini note below
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HP didn’t go wrong with the design. The 8.9″ WXGA display is beautiful and easy to read. It puts off a glare though because of the protective coating. Nothing about the Mini-Note feels cheap. I didn’t notice any signs of flex and enjoyed its good variety of ports and features. The Mini-Note also comes with different hard drive options, so hopefully this might help in the performance section considering the Mini-Note sports a VIA C7-M ULV processor.

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As I mentioned above, the keyboard is almost full size. It is 92% of a full sized keyboard, which is quite impressive for such a small form factor. It is much more comfortable to type on compared to the Asus Eee PC. The touchpad can be awkward though, especially the placement of the right and left click buttons. As you can see from the pictures below it does have a neat power and Wi-Fi switch that lights up and changes from blue when on to orange when off.

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While some consumers might be upset at the absence of a DVD drive in the Mini-Note, that’s just one trade-off you have to make for such a compact design. In truth, there simply isn’t any room left inside the Mini-Note after everything is said and done. The photo below shows that the only empty spaces inside the chassis are where the hard drive and ExpressCard slot are located.

Happy Birthday Singapore

This is the 2008 NDP(National Day Parade) theme song as sung by Hady Mirza, the Asian Idol and last years Singapore Idol Winner.

Tomorrow is a big day in Singapore….its the 45th National Day Parade celebrations.

Ive Been Pre Occupied

I didnt realize I would be celebrating 2 years and a half of blogging in this space by August 18( a day after my natal day).

 So I decided its time I change some portions of my layout.

The headshot is my favorite photo taken at the Hotel Del beachfront in San Diego while the background (how I wish it was Boracay) was taken from my kids photo during low tide in Bintan,Indonesia.

I have not updated this blog as frequent as my multiply and blogger sites. I also have a work multiply site.

So if you dont find me here yu can visit any of the 3 sites that I am maintaining.

Lately I’ve been preoccupied with work, tummy treatments and surfing(the net). OK time to sleep!!! 

NDP 2008 Voucher Booklet Contents

Aside from the NDP goody bag, the other most valuable item in the goody bag is the voucher booklet…if one gets lucky you can get some good bargains from the booklet.

See the rest of the free items here

This year lets see what is actually being given free or at discount from the generous sponsors of the Singapore National Day Parade (NDP) 2008:

GROCERIES:

1) Anlene Milk- $1.00 off

2) 7-11 - 50% off 2nd cup of slurpee- 70 cents

3)Giant-  P5 for $70 purchase

4) House of Gurmet-savings of 66 cents

5) Seagift-10% discount for min of $30

6) Old Chang Kee$2.2 for $8 min order

7) Modestos -30% discount

8) Pizza- $26.8

9) Brown Rice Congee-$5 discount

10) Carrefour -$5

11) Mr Bean- Buy 1 Get 1 Free- $5.3

12) Tony Roma-20% discount

13) NTUC-$2

14) Gelare-Complementary Fondue  $14.8

15)Yummy Crab- 10-20%

16) New Zealand Natural Ice Cream- Buy 4 pay 3

17)Hock Lian-$2

18) Jia Xiang Mee-$2

ROUGH ESTIMATE OF SAVINGS- around $100 if you buy all

BEAUTY TREATMENTS (Total Costs- No savings )

1) Solitaire Facial/Massage-$19

2) Angel SKy Facial Massage/$19/$29

3) Free Diamond Skin Polisher/SLimming

4)  Yu Nam Hair Treatment-$10

5) London SLimming-$12 slimming session

6) NY Skin-$18 skin ttreatment

7) Spa Massage- $23

8) Lifespa Facial/Massage- $28/$28

EXPENSES(Discounted Rates) around $150

Other Good Deals-

Free rides on Singapore Flyer for children and August Bday Celebrants for Aug 2 & 9

30% off for Bird Park Admission tickets (max 5 tickets)

50% Off for Night Safari Admission tickets (max 5 tickets)

15% discount at Popular Bookstore

Hush Puppies $43 off for $180 purchase

$5 voucher for O2 Skin

Genting Hotel Rates at $43

City Gas $10 voucher

The Rest are non essentials

Niles at the NDP 2008 Preview

 My son Niles together with other Primary 5 students all over Singapore are now at the Marina Grandstand watching the National Day Parade 2008 preview show. Its a privelege that all Primary 5 students enjoy yearly.

Last year Nygel was the one who attended the preview show.

As a family we are also lucky having watched the highly popular NDP shows for three years in 2000, 2002 and 2003 . Mind you the tickets to this show is raffled online and it is highly coveted ticket is even sold online to those who want to witness the show and fireworks and get hold of the FREE GOODIE BAGS. 

Moms 4th Death Anniversary and Papa’s 80th Birthday

Yesterday June 20 was my Mothers 4th Death Anniversary. It has been 4 years and time goes so fast. It helps that I am based abroad and I am just thinking that Mama is just in Manila and thus I cannot see her often.Everytime I go home every December I never fail to visit her grave.

But I am still blessed for having my father around. Last June 16 Papa celebrated his 80th birthday. He is still strong and can still travel with my sisters. I hope he will still have more birthdays to come. 

Happy Birthday Papa!We love you!!!

It Pays to Book Vacations Early

Just today the news highlighted the increase of gasoline prices worldwide which would affect the airline costs.

About a month ago, I was able to snag a zero fare bargain flight for the four of us for our March holiday 2009. For only about S$518(Php16700) we have booked a flight to Macau. I wonder how much that flight will cost now.

That is the same reason why I have already bought our tickets for our December holiday to Manila dn Boracay. I have likewise got a good bargain for our hotel in Boracay since this hotel Altavista De Boracay was offering good rates for their soft opening. Its a new condotel which is right beside the soon to open Shangrila Resort in Boracay .

That is the reason why I book my trips early. It pays to be early than sorry.

BELATED MOTHERS DAY TO ALL

  I was so busy this Sunday I forgot it was Mothers Day . I only remembered when hubby kissed me and greeted me "Happy Mothers Day" before I went off to work.At least he remembered, my two boys did not.

Sunday is a working day for me and there was a lot of messages in my handphone greeting me but since hubby accidentally erased my phone directory in my handphone,I dont really know who the messages were coming from.

Thanks to all those who greeted me on Mothers Day and altho I didnt respond I wish the same to all Mothers…..

Happy Mothers Day to everyone specially my Mom, my sisters and sisters in law and cousins. 

Travelling to the US

  Its not really easy to take a long haul flight that lasts for more than 16 hours especially for me since despite my frequent travels I still have a huge fear of flying. WHen the pilot turns on the seatbelt sign I would normally break into a prayer to save me from danger.

This is the very first time after 4 years that I have to take such a long haul flight that despite my not thinking about it I felt a little bit stressed out just thinking about what I will do inflight.

We actually missed our flight so we had to rebook the following da y APril 27 . I would take note not to fly UA again, one because their stewardesses are not so friendly and two because their inflight food is bad.

 Its a good thing we were booked at Holiday Inn Carlsbad by the Sea which is just infront of the Carlsbad Factory outlets and the Flower Fields which are two of the interesting places to visit in San Diego.

Holiday Inn is a quiant hotel that has a homey atmosphere. The minute we walked in to check in we were greeted by two charming ladies.

I think most Americans are polite enough to ask their customers "Howd you doing guys?" which elicits a never ending reply routine from us "Oh we’re good!. Everytime you walk into a store the sales persons would greet you and strike a conversation with about their products etc which is very unfamiliar to me as an Asian customer.

In Singapore , when you walk into  a store ,you are invisible to the sales persons eyes.They only help you out when you ask them for help. This is something quite different in the USA when customer service is I would say excellent.

Beautiful Flowers

The Flower Fields in Carlsbad San Diego is one place that flower lovers must visit every springtime. It is open from March-May 15,2008.

A Pinay in Hannah Montana

 Ask any teenager about Hannah Montana and they would surely know who she is. But me…duh?Hannah Montana is Disney Channel’s Top TV Show.

Until today I didnt even know the show exists. We were not able to catch our LA flight so I was watching the show with my two sons when i saw a familiar teenager. She looks Asian and I know she looks familiar.

Anna Maria Perez De Tagle is Sylvia La Torres grand daughter. See I know she looks familiar. 

US Shopping

With the devalued US Dollar versus the Singapore dollar I think I would do a little bit more shopping in my US trip which starts on Saturday.

My sister who stays in Ontario Canada often cross the border to nearby NY just to buy items in the US .Because of the strong Canadian dollar shopping for her means going to New York or Michigan to buy things.

In the trip, I hope I can buy this bag, the mini black Pink Pony bag from Ralph Lauren.

maidsinsingapore (My New Website)

This is my livelihood.

I had been doing recruitment of maids or helpers for the last 3 years.Its a very easy but demanding job specially if you have maids and employers who have problematic relationships. Its like you are dealing with the union.

I have noticed that most of my clients came from referrals of my past clients and maids that we had placed before.

To advertise my services I just made the website for my business. You can view updated photos of my maid applicants in my website.

I have just emailed this web address to my clients…

http://maidsinsingapore.multiply.com

I hope you can spread the word around.

CALIFORNIA TRIP

 (This photo of Bunny and me was taken at Hotel Del Coronado,San DIego 5 years ago) 

I am very exciited with my trip. I emailed my cousins (5 of them are in LA) and my friend Bunny. My other friend Len who is from Canada is flying over to San Diego to have a reunion with me and Bunny.

Len and Bunny were my officemates in Pilipinas Bank, my very first employer after my graduation from the University. I stayed for barely two years with the bank but we became lifelong friends even when Bunny left for the US about 10 years ago and Len migrated to Canada also the same time as Bunny.

Now we are set to have a reunion of a lifetime. Lens eldest son is my inaanak (I think he is already a teenager) and Bunnys unica hija Mia who graduated from UC San Diego and now taking her doctorate in NY is my inaanak also. In turn my eldest Nygel is both godson of Len and Bunny.

These two are my lifelong friends and I am very excited to see them again.

These two attractions are part of my itinerary with Len and Bunny

The Flower Farm (just 0.2 miles from my hotel,Holiday Inn Carlsbad by the Sea) and

The Carlsbad Factory Outlet(although the last time I was there I found the prices quite expensive)

California here I come!

Blame Mas Selamat for Traffic in Singapore

I have maids who enter Malaysia complaining about the long queue of buses at the Causeway. One maid even cried saying they were asked to walk all the way from Singapore to Johor Bahru. Not that its that far its just a bridge away.

Who to blame(this is Singlish)? No other than MAS SELAMAT.

I havent seen a concerted effort this big in Singapore…searching high and low from rivers, hills and small forests of Singapore just for one man…..cathcing MAS SELAMAT who escaped from detention a month ago.

the result….a  lot of illegal immigrants were caught and the traffic jam at the Causeway is terrible. I hope they find him soon.

Heres a funny video from the opposition(who else). I hope this wont be banned in my blog.

PS. Sa Pinas pag nakatakas ang bilango sigurado papatayin yon. Sa Singapore pag nakatakas ang bilango patay ang Chief of Police .

Yesterday we waited for the bus coming from the Causeway interchange for about 30 minutes…Thanks you MAS SELAMAT po!!!!

iPhone Coming to Singapore in Sept 08

Currently iPhones sell at US$399 plus taxes of 7.25% it sells for about US$425 or about S$500.

We have just unlocked our pair of iPhone . Together with the S$67 unlocking device we purchased online ,our brand new units costs us S$632.

If Singtel will sell each unit for S$699 most probably each consumer will have to sign a two year contract for each unit.

I am now using my unlocked iPhone unit and I think the screen is wonderfully clear,the hand scrolling and magnifyin functions is excellent.However I still have to master using the sms or texting since everytime I write my messages I tend to touch the wrong letters(maybe I should have slimmer fingers).

But all in all I am fascinated by my new iPhone.

Another SIngapore IT Show Opens

This is the annual event that my husband eagerly awaits. This year however he is not so excited to go because he has just received his new laptop from his office. That makes us own a total of 4 laptops at home. One for each one of us, myself, hubby and for my two sons.

However, the IT Show is always a treasure show of surprises. You can specially look for good bargains at the first day and certainly on the last day.

The show is on from March 6(today) till Sunday March 9. Unfortunately we will be in Bintan on Saturday and Sunday. So no last minute IT bargains for us. 

Second Trip to Bangkok

Hubby is again flying off to Bangkok next week and he decided to bring me along. So nice of my husband!

Going to Bangkok from Singapore nowadays is the cheapest route in South East Asia. I searched the internet today and for the two of us flying off on Feb 28(Thursday) and returning  March 1 (Saturday) would cost us less than $1000.

Here are the fares(inclusive of taxes) of 4 airlines(3 of which are budget airlines):

1) SIngapore Airlines(2 to go Promo) - S$804.00  

2)Air Asia- S$682.00

3) Jetstar Asia- S$542.00 and

4) the cheapest is Tiger Airways-S$451.96

See how cheap the tickets are now?

Happy Birthday to My Dearest Mother

 (Our last Christmas photos with Mama and my family)

  Mama would have turned 79 yesterday February 20. I go teary eyed whenever I see this photo because I remember that Christmas , the last time I bought a Christmas present for her..a pair of slippers that she wasnt even able to wear.

When Mama was still strong she would also insist that we buy her presents (usually a dress or pants) from Rustans. I guess Rustans is her favorite store.

I miss her laughter(more of a chuckle) and the way she sizes me up whenever I am about to leave for work and her reminding me to change my dress or put on half slip or buy a new dress.

She was more concerned about how I look. I miss that so much.Now nobody except my husband(from time to time) reminds me about that. 

 I love you Mama!!! Happy Birthday!!!! I know she is happy in heaven!!!

American idol 7-Who is the first to Go?

My Bottom three are:

1) DANNY NORIEGA- I was a little bit uneasy seeing him sing an Elvis Presley song. Just watch and you would know what I mean.

 2) LUKE MENARD- He has the weakest voice among the contestants. Either he or Garrett will be out.

 and 3) Garrett Haley- Its such a waste…He has a cute face and a cute voice. He could have pulled through with the song by Neil Sedaka but he was consistently below pitch. I felt sleepy and awkward hearing him sing.

I could be right with my bottom 3 ,you know!!!

Tony’s Bangalore Snapshots

Tony arrived yesterday from Bangalore. From the photos he took, the places in Bangalore looked like you have gone back in time to the Maharajah era.

Here are some photos of his two week business trip . His favorite singer now is Ayesa takia 

Reynaldo Lapuz- Is He Simons’ New Best Friend?

Meet Simon’s New Best Pren…. Uncle Rey Lapuz(SIr taga Bulacan ka ba,?) He sound s like Bert Marcelo.

Funny guy….this is one way to get all the media mileage..write a song for Simon.

If you want to see Simon’s eyes twinkling with delight, watch the entire video. This guy is funny without him meaning to be funny.