Thursday, February 19, 2015

Isdaan Floating Restaurant: Tarlac

Just before we call it a day (a looooonnnggg day) we went to Isdaan Floating Restaurant at Gerona Tarlac. This is the first and original branch, the other one being in Laguna.

The ambiance is really similar from the one in Laguna, except the cottages are actually floating. And you can sometimes feel the wave when inside the cottages.

There is also a small lake that offers boat rides for certain fees.

One of us actually noticed the difference in the statues. In Laguna the statues are female (because they have boobs). In Tarlac, they are more like manly boobs XD


There are lots of Koi fish too.

The boodle feast was way too expensive so we just ordered per dishes.
 
 Bulalo

 Grilled Pusit

 Rice

 Spare Ribs

Tinupig na Manok
One of their signature dishes

We didn't try the tacsiyapo wall this time and the food is still expensive but good :)



Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Subic Pearl Beach Resort

After the Hot Air Balloon Festival, we went to Subic Pearl Beach Resort. It took us around 2 hours from Clark to Subic.


 The parking lot is a bit cramped. It barely fit 6 cars.
 
We bought a voucher from Ensogo for 1 room which is good for 8 persons max for PHP4500. There are 3 queen sized beds and 1 sofa bed. There is also a bath room inside.


common dining area
The stairs lead to the rooms.

day time view from the room balcony

day time view from the room balcony


dogs and kids swimming


night time view from the room balcony

night time view from the room balcony

Resort Rules

Menu
 You can also borrow utensils and cook your own food


If you're going to order food, order it at least 30 minutes in advance. Because the food is cooked and delivered from their hotel nearby.
Waiting for Breakfast :)

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

19th Hot Air Balloon Festival

For Valentines Day this year I planned a road trip with my friends. Our first stop was the 19th Hot Air Balloon Festival held annually at Clark Pampanga.

We bought our tickets online via PayPal which costs PHP300. You can also buy tickets on site. The tickets serve as contribution to help deserving students study aviation related courses.

List of activities for February 14

The best time to catch the hot air balloons is around 5am. Unfortunately I'm not a morning person and so are my friends so we decided to just go after lunch time.

The next opportunity to see the hot air balloon is at around 5:30pm when they fly back in so we thought we could just see that one. We set off from Quezon City at around 10:00am and arrived at Clark around 12:00pm

On the way the picturesque Mt. Arayat will welcome you.

WARNING: The parking lot is sooo full of dust. If you washed your car to impress your date.. well good luck about that.

At the entrance, we presented a soft copy of the QR code tickets, they scanned it and let us pass.


On the venue, a lot of people are flying kites and setting up tents and blankets.

There are portable toilets around the venue which to my surprise is not that horrible.

There are also a lot of food concessionaires around the venue.

Kid flying a kite

Kites costs around PHP100 and up at the venue depending on the size.

Though I'm not sure how much this giant kite cost. Is it genie? I don't know it looks creepy the more you look at it floating above you. XD

Gliding with the kites

Air gliding demonstration. This looks really fun but dangerous at the same time


There were also jet exhibitions.

Contest for capturing the balloon. 

Sounds easy huh? Someone will release a balloon from the ground and the jets from different flight schools take turns to try and catch/grab the balloon. And some of them actually succeeded. See that small yellow dot in the picture? That's the balloon.


There were also jets and racing cars displayed at the venue.

Paragliding #morefuninthephilippines

You can experience this yourself at a certain cost. I actually enjoyed watching this more than the Hot Air Balloons and would like to try it for myself someday. Hot Air Balloon rides cost 300USD per person.

After 10 years only 1 hot air balloon came flying back in which was really disappointing.

When the sun has set they started setting up the hot air balloons for the night glow. Which didn't really last long because the winds were too strong.

After that the Jeepney TV concert started which we didn't watch. We all feel so filthy with all the dust around we just wanted to go home. And it took as an hour just to get out of the parking lot T_T

If ever I would go back, I would make it a point to go in the morning where more hot air balloons can be seen or even ride one myself. IF I go back. XD

Check out this site to learn more: http://www.philballoonfest.net

Monday, February 9, 2015

Baguio Craft Brewery

Our last stop for the evening was Baguio Craft Brewery. It is located near Victory Liner Bus Station.


They have a tasting room for first timers.

This shows the list of beers they offer. Sorry it's blurred and no I'm not drunk XD
 The numbers on the left indicate the alcohol content and the bitterness level.
The number on the right indicate the price per glass.


I only tried the fruit based ones since I'm not really into beers. They taste pretty much the same to me but the Ripe (the one with the passion fruit) smells really good.
 Taste test is free but they also offer a set of beer in different flavors for a price.

 The ambiance was really nice. It's a really cool place to hangout probably when waiting for the next trip to Manila or just simply chill with your friends.

 For once I regret not bringing my camera. The place has a really nice view of the city. My phone camera didn't do any justice.

 This is like a fireplace which feels really good in the cold weather.

 Beer Glasses.

We were already sleepy after more than 24 hours without sleep XD