Feed My Vanity

Oct 28 2009

El Nido escape

Category: Travel — Minay @ 5:50 pm

Sorry for the lack of updates. I went on a starch- sugar- cholesterol – fat- fused trip to Iloilo, and it took some time to burn it off my system.

Before I post the reason why I waddle now, I want to continue on to my El Nido entry to burn off the remaining calories.

Miniloc Island is the recond resort under El Nido Resort’s belt. It’s more laidback, with a sleepy-like quality to it.

Miniloc Island

Below that shallow pier, is a fantastic world composed of Nemos, Dorys, Jackfishes, and assorted coral fish! A few flippers away is a diving spot which enables its visitors to get up close with walls composed of shimmering silver fishes, and huge bored-looking fish, and scaly whatnots.

Miniloc's snorkeling area

I’ve discovered I’m no water baby though, as I panicked before I reached the planned 20-feet descent.

Lunch was held at Entalula Island. I can see why our hosts brought us there. The sand was powdery white, and it felt like a completely different world.

Entalula Island

I had the chance to try the Hobie Cat here. If you’ve tried windsurfing before, the idea is similar, except multiply that ten times over. It’s an exhilirating sport, not for the faint of heart, or for those without a sense of humor. Point taken:

Me to Instructor: (uneasily) kuya, may tumaob na ba dito?

Instructor: oo naman, madalas (of course, most of the time)

Me: *gulp*

Instructor: Pag hindi nakikinig ang turista, o mali ang pagdistribute ng weight talagang tataob (If the tourist doesn’t follow instructions, or we don’t distribute the weight correctly, then yeah, we’ll capsize)

Me: *dutifully follows instructor*

hehe.

Lunch was delicious, not just because of the food, but come on, a picnic lunch in a semi-private island?!

Lunch

Lunch was composed of grilled squid, tuna, beef, pasta, salad, and cookies we couldn’t get enough of.

PARTING SHOT:

Charlie!

Meet Charlie! The adorable son of one of our companions. He took a tumble later in the sand, and he didn’t even cry out even though his whole face was covered with sand!

Anyhoo, El Nido is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places you can ever visit in the Philippines! It exceeds all expectations of a paradise. I would have to point out though, that this isn’t a place for those who’s looking for a bit of nightlife. There’s Boracay for that. But if you want to enjoy nature in luxury, then this is the place to go to.

Must-visits and activities in El Nido:

1) Lounging in Lagen Island

2)Diving in Miniloc

3)Lunching in Entalula Island

4)Going for a dip at the sandbar of Snake Island

5)Visiting the Lagoons

6)Caving

And much much more!

For more information on El Nido Resorts, visit www.elnidoresorts.com.

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Oct 22 2009

Snake Trip

Category: Travel — Minay @ 11:06 am

One of our stops in El Nido was Vigan Island a.k.a. Snake Island because of its shape, with the island as its body and the winding sandbar as its tail.

Snake Island's Sandbar

The guys look as if they’re walking on water noh? The tide was kind of high when we went there but you can see the faint outline of the sandbar here. The swimming area near the sandbar were shallow so me and another girl took a short dip even though it was cold as hell because of the rainy weather. After taking a few pics, our guide took us on a short hike of the island.

Vigan Island's hiking trail

pretty pebbles pave the trail

A clump of pitcher plants

The hike was short and uneventful. My favorite part of the hike though, was the view it gave us when we reached the end of the trail.

A view of the snake's "tail"

If you look really close, you’d see the boat we took to get to the island.

I don’t have a parting shot now. Life has been really hectic. Tomorrow I’m off for a media familiarization trip of Iloilo City, Iloilo province and Guimaras Islands. I was invited to Lee’s, as well as Crissa’s presentation on fashion week, and I’m torn whether to go or not. I want to but I haven’t packed yet.

I don’t want to end an entry on a frustrated note though. TGIF tomorrow! Woohoo!

Tags: El Nido, Palawan, Snake Island, Vigan Island

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Oct 19 2009

Say it with cake :D

Category: Events, Food — Minay @ 3:30 pm

I think this was last week Monday, I went to the launch of Shangri-la Hotel’s Emoti-cakes.

Creepy or Cute?

When it was unveiled to us what emoti-cakes were, we all went “HOW CUUUUUTTTEEE!!!”. But in retrospect, I found it kind of creepy actually, I mean, the frowning ones.

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But whether you find it creepy, cute, adorable, cool… it won’t fail to make anybody smile.

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Haha, me trying to imitate the diva-ish smiley!

The mimes in the event were a great touch! Meet the bartender:

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Cheff Guillame with a mime making faces behind him. Hahaha.

The emoti-cakes are the brainchild of Chef Guillame, Makati Shangri-La’s new pastry chef. The emoti-cakes come in 50 different expressions, and it’s cheap too and comes in an equally cute box.

cute cake should, of course, have a cute box

I remember that the small one is P350, but I forget how much the big one is. But believe me, the P350 one is enough.

The cake comes in chocolate and cheesecake. I got chocolate, I had my boyfriend try it out, and he said it was good.

By the way, most of these pictures were taken by my good friend Kristine. Good thing she was there because I didn’t have a camera with me!

Kristine!

Get your emoti-cakes at the Circles counter at Makati Shangri-la or call (2) 813-8888 ext 7463 to place your orders.

Tags: Circles, Emoti-cakes, Makati Shangri-La, pastries

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Oct 18 2009

Believe it…

Category: Events, Travel — Minay @ 11:56 pm

…I did go to El Nido just to have dinner. Hahaha. But of course we made the most of it by cramming in as much as island hopping, sunbathing, and activities as we could.

The resort, aside from being known for its number of activities available such as diving, snorkeling, rock climbing kayaking, etc., is also known for it’s being eco-friendly. Now El Nido Resorts is also aiming to become a gourmet destination (and yes, their food is FAB!), thus the reason why I went there to have dinner, for a winemaker’s dinner to be exact.

So many forks...

It was a five-course meal! So of course my diet went out of the window. haha. The delicious wine were provided by Cape Jaffa Wines while the yummy food was masterminded by El Nido’s chefs along withthe chefs of Kai Restaurant (in Greenbelt 5), and Lemon Cafe (in Bora). I apologize that I do not have any pictures of the food since I really am a lousy photographer when it comes to poor lighting. But the meals were scrumptious and went well with the wines it was paired with. I had a lot to drink that day (4 cocktails, and several glasses of wine), but I never felt sick, and I have never been big when it comes to drinking.

Dinner was lovely, which we finished with a nightcap at the resort’s poolside bar. It was a lovely, lovely, LOVELY evening spent over a glass of red with new friends.

BTW,we stayed at Lagen Island, probably El Nido Resorts’ most luxurious resort which I would have never been able to afford to go to on my own!

View from my room

Lagen Island has three accommodations you can choose from, the Forest Cottages, and for a bit more pampering, the Forest Suites, or the Water Cottages. I was given a Water Cottage with a stunning view of the ocean of course!

Lagen Island's Water Cottages

view from my room's veranda

Me trying to get a wifi signal

That’s it for now. I have so many pictures and so many stories and must-sees in El Nido, but this is the kind of place that one blog entry will not be able to encapsulate. My life is kind of in a fast-track now, thus the lack of updates. Until my next entry then.

PARTING SHOT: