Bohol Bee Farm, Bohol - Something Yummy!

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In this weekend get-away, we were blessed with the chance to stay at the Bohol Bee Farm.  True to what I have learned online, the place is best cited for it s organic food and good service.  I personally liked their home made ice-creams, and the fact that they do not supply them anywhere else, so people would come to this farm for this treat.  The ice-cream is like an Arce dairy type loaded with extra extra  cheese and extra creamy milk (carabao's?), plus natural ingredients of malunggay or melon, or watermelon, pandan etc ( all natural) at Php 60 pesos for a cone with two full scoops.  Other meals really worth your money are their very freshly picked different kinds of leaves as salad (hahaha, too lazy for me to get the salad name), and that you get to see the flowers in full and put them in your mouth to chew.  :)


The things I didn't like, well, the meat (stew something) or any kind of meat they serve is - s w e e t. ugh.  The bangus sinangag breakfast is caramelized with honey, so it's more for kids, and spoils the real taste you're anticipating for in an early bangsilog, to dip in vinegar. The bread spreads could have been okay I think, if sweetness is minimized.


The Bohol Bee Farm rooms, are fine.  If you do not want to share a public toilet just pay a little bit more for a beehive suite, and it's not so expensive.  I remember P2,500 a night inclusive of free daily breakfasts. 


We took the day tour and I resent not preparing for it, but in the end it does make sense that we will need to hire a car, since there's only three of us, and the group tour will cost us more.:)


Another minus point for Bohol Bee Farm is that there is no beach, actually, it is a cliff on a beach.  My son nevertheless enjoyed dipping on the water with super white sand, in the afternoons, when it was low tide.  The owner and his family lives there, and the girl in the beach playing with my son is the owner's daughter. :)


The internet wifi is fast but accessible only in their office.  I had to bring my laptop there, which they don't mind.  :)


All in all, I will recommend this place.  And Bohol with its chocolate hills is one amazing wonder. :) I was inspired to do my planting back home, and if they do sprout, will surely post about it!   Take care guys!  Thanks for reading.. :)




P.S. 

This is it. Inspired by the Bohol Bee Farm, I did some planting at home, and there it goes..I've got living things! :)  The seed pack says 'pechay', it looks far from the pechay I knew. :(  :) :) :)

Have you been to Bohol Bee Farm?  Share us your thoughts..

Saigon - I just LUV LUV LUV Saigon!

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We stayed at the Blue Diamond Hotel :) The rooms have fast internet connection, at no extra charge. We can just walk out of our hotel to the Ben Than Market and other historical sites. The buffet breakfast has a lot of choices and tastes excellent.  We look forward to this Saigon treat every morning! :)

Everything is sooo cheap, my son had beef steak every day for US$6!! The quality is of the same steak we pay for US$25 in plush restos in the Philippines.

Saigon is a good place to shop for unique items, not for branded goods.  However, the salesperson will honestly tell you, for example, if the Northface bag is genuine or class triple A.  The authentic ones are being sold for $40, which are still way below the prices back home. I got a jade bracelet for $9 and pearl necklace for $13!! Real things, the saleswoman placed the pearl under a fire (lighter) just to prove that it's not plastic. Besides I can tell real pearls from fakes, so I am delirious with my haul. :) I also got Saigon shirts for $3 each.

You need to be street smart, walking across Saigon entails crossing motorcycle infested streets, but the people are all generally nice. Cross on small, narrow streets, do not attempt the highway like ones. :)

You need to watch out for your bag and your cash, according to online forums. Count the money, and be ready with your conversions, otherwise you'll be ripped off 100,000 dong instead of 10,000 dong.

Don't take just any taxi, the recommended ones are Vina Sun and Maeh Lin. We had a private tour with our own driver - no I am not trying to sound rich, I have mentioned everything is sooo cheap, our private 2 day city tour on a Ford car with driver, is an amazing ka-ching Php 1,500 only (for 2 days huh!).  Yes message me. :)

The Vietnamese do not like being photographed.  You may ask permission or take stolen shots. :) I took some and got yelled at when caught. :) (Shouts in Vietnamese language, waving hand for me to go away)

I love to feel like a millionaire in Saigon, our US$100 became 2.5 Million Dong! :)

We found real good bargains for novelty items.  There's a line of painting  stores in a street beside Parkson.  Good paintings are being sold in Saigon from $10 to $45.  We find this very affordable considering the quality of work and in comparison with our pricing back home. I forgot to take a photo of one great 'antique' kind of box we got, will post it next time.

We see people place plastic stools out in the streets where they just sit and eat and have a chat.  Saigon has a very simple way of living, which we find unpretentious and charming. 

We will be back for sure.  

Do you have any interesting information about Vietnam?  Tell us about it!

Pearl Farm Beach, Davao, 2011

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This is a quick weekend trip to Davao.  The Pearl Farm Beach is one of Davao's most popular (and expensive) resorts, located in Samal Island, just around 45 minutes boat ride from the Marina.  I like Davao City for being so orderly and clean.  I learned this must have been due to their strict ruler, but it looks like this iron rule works for the good of everyone.  The city is far from being a remote place in the Philippines, it in fact feels like a cosmopolitan place, and grand sophisticated malls are sprouting all over the place.

I learned it never gets visited by typhoons, so this explains why it became one of the favorite places for tourists and businesses to thrive in. (Not until recently though, when the whole of Mindanao got soaked in a nasty flood) :(

Davao is now officially one of the best options for me when I want a quick getaway.  There are as lovely beaches near Davao Pearl Farm to use, so I know next time where to go without spending too much (no regrets though, we paid for the experience). :)  And honestly though, I will go to the less expensive ones when we get the chance to go back to Davao.  The stiff prices and also the strict checking on food in our bag, in spite of the fact that we have a kid in tow, hence the need for kiddy chips (which they took away) is a turn off.  If only that factor gets addressed, this place can be a thumbs up all the way.

What I like most with Davao are the pearls.  We went to Aldevenco and finally got my lush set of south sea pearls!  At a fraction of its cost back in Manila.

I recommend you to go to Davao, and yes try the Davao Pearl Farm.  You deserve it!

Have you got any tips about enjoying a Davao vacation?  Leave comment and share! :)

Trip to Pandan Island, Mindoro

I am hesitant to write about this trip because I want to keep this island to ourselves. :)  It's like a paradise.

It's Pandan Island in Mindoro, Philippines and no one is supposed to know about it. :)

We had a blast.

The trip to Pandan Island Mindoro is a serious adventure.  From the airport, we boarded a van that took us to a bus station, which initially seemed harmless, but my memory flashes a 2+ hour night trip along very dark (no electricity!) roads. As the late afternoon closed into night, the trip became a ride into the unknown, and my imagination started entertaining the chainsaw massacre with vampires and white ladies.  Imagine this rough, bumpy ride in the middle of nowhere, and had we not brought our son with us, I will easily turn into a sissy chicken. And yes my sister tagging along kept everything under control. :) So I braved it like an adventurous diva, and the driver was so kind to drop us at one tricycle driver whom he asked to bring us to the 'marina'.

When we finally got into the marina, the water that will bring us to Pandan Island is 'out of service'.  It was low tide and the driver brought us to this nipa hut, with a couple advising us to stay for the night, until the water comes up high and the boat can transfer us to the island.  err..uhh..err.. this is so getting to be like the movies.  Fortunately I do not need to do much thinking on what to say, my husband vehemently said NO (of course, I can sleep on any surface, he cannot).  Turns out, this driver brought us to a competition banca, and Pandan Island's owner, Marina, came out of nowhere and scolded him for not bringing us to her service.  All's well that ends well, err again not so I mean, we had to soak ourselves to the bank, literally walk on the wet sands to the water to reach the place where the small boat can float.  
So much for adventure, my son got loads of it with this Pandan Island Trip. :)

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Will you stay in a beach without electricity?  Why yes and why not?  :)