Roxas City – Plaza

December 26, 2016August 7, 2020Leave a comment

The second post for my Roxas series is about the city itself. For the first post about Roxas City’s food, click here. Since our hotel was near the plaza, we just walked there instead of hailing a tricycle. We don’t mind walking since the river is clean, there’s no funky smell here compared to Metro Manila. There were even fishermen in the morning fishing in the river for tilapia. Some of the houses here are old, which I appreciated since this is also a rare sight.

Daily walk to the plaza. The bridge there is around a century old!

As I’m not an architect, I’m so sorry I can’t describe in detail the houses in these photos. But I appreciate their design still. You could do a mini city tour by yourself since these areas are just a few steps away from each other.

City Hall with classic architecture improved with modern twists.

Immaculate Conception Cathedral.

Ang Panublion Museum. Entrance here is free – visit here to know more about Capiz & Roxas City.

Current exhibit featuring Jovita Fuentes.

We also attempted to visit President Manuel Roxas’ ancestral home. We thought it was closed so we texted the number at the door to see if we can visit the next day. Unfortunately, they replied too late. They were apparently open when we went – but we didn’t know because from the outside it looked like it was closed for the day. Maybe we should’ve shouted “Tao po?”.

Info.

And that’s it for the this entry. Next one would be the one & only tour that we got for this trip: The Palina River Tour!

Roxas City – Food

December 26, 2016August 7, 20201 Comment

First of all, Happy Holidays! I finally had time to sit down & blog about our Roxas trip last month. While editing the photos, I thought maybe I should separate this entry into 3 posts. So the first one that I’ll do is about the food.

We bought our Roxas tickets just days after our Davao trip. It was a really good deal – around 1500php per person. That’s the price for a one-way ticket to Davao. Why here? Well, aside from being a good deal, we both love seafood and I researched that Roxas City is the Seafood Capital of the Philippines.

Once we arrived at Roxas airport. We took a tricycle to Baybay beach. Famous for their fresh seafood dishes.

One thing I didn’t like though, is that we took a tricycle outside the airport gates to go to Baybay beach. He charged us 50php per person each. In our future trips, it was only 50php for both of us. Maybe the city should enforce stricter regularization of prices? Sigh. The tricycle driver took us to his relatives’ restaurant instead of the famous seafood court. Since we’re there already, might as well eat here. Note to self, be firm with people.

Fresh oysters for 40php!

Meat comparison. HAHA.

Prawns for 240php

Lato salad for 80php. Lato is also called Sea Grapes.

Cat fish.

Our first lunch at Roxas was a pleasant experience. After that, we checked in our hotel. We chose Wallabies Hotel for our stay. It’s only a few minutes walking distance to the plaza. For dinner, we went to Cafe Terraza. It’s located at Pueblo de Panay, just a tricycle ride from Robinsons Place Roxas. After dinner, we learned that there’s a roundtrip jeep to Robinsons Place. I chose this place because we didn’t get to do a “dinner with a view/mountains/hills” at Davao.

This is the view. Not that nice in the photo. But it really pretty. With the fresh air & cool breeze lol.

Seafood karekare! 265php.

Baked scallops. 195php.

Iced mocha & blueberry cheesecake.

Inggo’s dessert. I forgot the name.

The next day, we woke up a bit late. We explored the plaza looking for a place to eat. We ended up at Spanggo – a Spanish+Ilocano restaurant just near our hotel. Apparently this place is famous for its pies.

Spanggo interior.

Dragon balls. 180php.

Palabok. 99php.

Beef Caldereta. 165php.

Bacon Meal. 110php.

The most delicious apple pie I’ve ever tasted! 55php.

Crumbly goodness.

Fried Halo-Halo. 85php.

After this huge lunch. We rested for a bit back at the hotel. After a while, we decided for some reason to walk to Baybay beach. Yes, walk. It took an hour, but we did it HAHA. It wasn’t tiring, since we got some refreshments at City Mall. And we enjoyed the scenery.

Baybay Beach at dusk.

For dinner, we decided to eat at Coco Veranda. It’s one of the top ranked restaurants on Trip Advisor. They have a huge board with the current prices of seafood, but I didn’t get to take a photo of that. Same with the other restaurants at Baybay, this one is also a cook as you order setting.

Clam soup.

Garlic crab.

Baybay at night. This is the seafood food court. We didn’t get a chance to eat there HAHA.

I got food poisoned the second night. I didn’t know from where though. So the third day was awful for me. Maybe it was from too much clams and oysters. They were so cheap here HAHA. Yes, they were fresh. It was too bad that we didn’t consider the season of other seafoods like the diwal – a native shellfish famous here, and crabs & shrimp we also not in season so they were not as cheap as we imagined.

But it was still a nice experience. Next post will be about the town.

Davao 2016

May 31, 2016August 7, 2020Leave a comment

We celebrated our 8th Anniversary in Davao! So happy that I got to travel again with him for the 3rd time this year. ♥ Again, the main reason for our travels is for the food. My cousin’s family kept on mentioning that Davao has the best seafood. Is it really? Image heavy post ahead!

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Breakfast at NAIA 3. I think this is a new food court. Glad that they’re improving the facilities bit by bit.

2016 05 davao airport

Lunch at Hukad, SM Lanang. Love the pendant light! I think its inspired from Puso rice?

Guess how much this is? Baked scallops for 150php!

The waiter suggested this dessert to us. Delicious!

That night, we decided to eat at my cousin’s family’s highly recommended place: Ahfat. After googling its location, we discovered that Ahfat 1, 2 and 3 are located at the same complex HAHAHA. We ate at Ahfat 2. Here are some of the stuff that we ordered:

Seafood hotpot for 250php! SO CHEAP. Filled with sea cucumber and various seafood. ♥

Inggo ordered this Bacon roll out of curiosity. Surprisingly good!

Slipper lobster!

We attempted to visit the Aldevinco Pasalubong Center after. Sadly, it closes at 8pm. But we discovered that there’s a night market nearby. The Roxas Night Market is just a few blocks away from the pasalubong center. There are ukay ukay, bags, and food stalls. Got to try genuine gelato for only 35php for 2 scoops! I didn’t get a clear picture but it was so good!

Freshly cooked buchi for 3pcs / 30php! They had choco, ube, and monggo filling. We both loved this ♥.

Buko and Avocado shake priced at 50php.

We went to the night market twice. This is the famed Mang Danny’s durian ice cream. 6 scoops for 30php I think? We braved the long line for this.

A discovery like this is what makes wandering so much fun. Traveling without any expectations is better than being disappointed. I’m glad that it’s the same for him. ♥ We went back to the hotel after that to rest. What they say about the taxi drivers are also true. They’re all honest and actually grateful when you let them keep the change. Kudos also to the help desk of Red Planet for answering my questions in their app.

For our second day, we went up to the mountains to visit Malagos Garden Resort and the Philippine Eagle Center. With the help of google and the Red Planet staff, we opted to commute rather than ride the taxi. Saved us a lot of money!

Lunch at Malagos Garden Resort. They were renovating so we got 50% off their entrance fee. Lucky!

Tuna sashimi for 150php.

Why did we go here? I heard that this place won awards internationally for their chocolate. This one is their hot chocolate. A bit bitter, and fruity.

We found this funny.

There’s a bird sanctuary inside the resort. You could feed the love birds! ♥

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I find birds funny looking. Look at the lower right bird! Parang ready mang-aaway HAHAHA.

We then went to Philippine Eagle Center after. It’s located inside the Davao City Water District. Entrance fee for the Water District is 5php, while for the PEC is 150php. Worth it since you’re contributing to the conservation of our national bird.

2016 05 philippine eagle

2016 05 pec owl

2016 05 pec eagle

2016 05 pec eagle 2

2016 05 pec

After PEC, we took a habal habal back to Calinan and rode a van that will take us back to Davao City. We decided to try out the Crab Buffet somewhere in Roxas street.

Before.

After.

Blugre coffee the next day. They’re famous for their durian coffee.

What I bought for myself from the Malagos farm. Chocolate tablea for hot chocolate cravings!

Airline – My aunt taught me that its cheaper to buy airline tickets months before your flight. If there’s a seat sale, grab it since its a good deal already. So for the tickets, we got it for 50% off during a seat sale of one of the airlines here in the Philippines.

Hotel – As for the hotel, well, we booked one a month before our trip HAHA. There are a lot of choices of hotels in Davao with a reasonable price. We chose Red Planet as our hotel. Good price, comfortable room with the basics (bed, hot/cold shower, AC). We found the app pretty useful too.

How to commute to Malagos Garden Resort & Philippine Eagle Center:

Take a cab/jeep to Bangkerohan. (Taxi can take you straight to Malagos, need to negotiate though).
Ride a van to Calinan for 40php. (Travel time around 30-45mins)
Take a tricycle to Malagos for 10php / Habal habal for 20php.

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Looking forward to our next adventure! ♥

Dive & Trek Batangas

April 17, 2016August 7, 20201 Comment

Last month, me, Inggo & my cousin’s family went to Batangas for the Holy week weekend. We went to Dive & Trek resort at Bauan, Batangas. This is a good resort to learn the basics of diving and getting your certification. But none of us did that HAHAHA. My aunt selected this resort due to the house reef just in front of the resort. So our routine during this vacation was : Eat, Swim, Eat, Draw, Swim, Draw, Eat. ♥

2016 04 dive&trek dock2

2016 04 dive&trek dock

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My cousin (left) drawing, my seat in the middle with my watercolor stuff, my Beloved (right) trying to connect to the wifi HAHA.

Sunsets are the best. ♥

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A different kind of art tambay. ♥

I brought my Monologue notebook, Prang watercolor set, Mixing palette, and a water container with me. The day before the trip, I did a lot of lineart at the office :)) I managed to finish some of them during this trip. I love this kind of art tambay! Great view, conversations, and companions with an iced cold coffee. ♥ We only did this when it’s too sunny to swim or the waves are too strong.

I would definitely go back here! All the staff were accommodating, friendly, as well as environmentally conscious. We learned a lot about this resort and their love for nature from their stories. They take care of giant clams, you know! You could actually see them during low tide when you snorkel (we didn’t though! UGHH that’s one of the reasons why I want to go back) Oh and their house reef ♥ There were so many fish in different shapes and sizes. We swam until we got all wrinkly. Swam in deep waters without life vests (but accompanied with a floating donut thing for safety). They have unlimited coffee, tea, and milo all day! So imagine how many cups of coffee I had everyday HAHA. Food was delicious and overflowing ♥ Their rooms were simple: aircon, bed, hot&cold water, you know, the necessities. I heard that some were iffy with the rooms (how it’s not nice, etc). But uh, you came to a DIVE resort, to DIVE (or snorkel for us) all day. Meep.

I wish for more days like this.

Suffrie

Category: Travel

Roxas City – Plaza

Roxas City – Food

Davao 2016

Dive & Trek Batangas