Paradise in Boracay Tropics

We have stayed in many hotels, including the faux-hotels, but Boracay Tropics Resort Hotel, located in Station 2, Boracay Island, Aklan, breezed to our top five favorites. I have stayed there three times this year and each time was great!

It's in the details, I'd always say. The "little" touches create the best impact and leave the most lasting impression. I take my hat off to BTRH's owners Bert and Cely Sarabia for their diligence, class and Christian values. These are evident in their staff members' high morale and sunshiny smiles, their hotel's elegant rooms and facilities and the efficiency of their hotel's operations. If you'd like to know more about the Sarabias and their grand oasis, do check out www.boracaytropics.com.

My hubby and I love the rainforest showerhead in every bath and the bidet in every toilet. This is Asia, after all, and (1) water is scarce in many places, thus, a shower is a luxury, much more a rainforest shower and (2) we do use a tabo -- a plastic dipper to wash our behinds with in the absence of a bidet. These two amenities are sadly absent in a lot of hotels -- even major ones here and overseas -- we've stayed in. My sis even brings her own miniature tabo when checking in at hotels. Who knew?

The bath towels are lush, clean and smell of Downy. I may be wrong, of course. It could be Vernel. And the beds! Firm mattress, crisp white linen (I didn't get to check the thread count) and enough fluff on the pillows to give us a good night's rest without the stiff neck in the morning.

Best of all, its just that feeling of clean all around. You know it, smell it and feel it the moment you enter any place or establishment. And the friendliness of the staff just adds that sweet icing to our very comfortable stay. Aaaah, paradise indeed!

Nicked again by a bad pedicure!

Aaargh! I can count the number of times I have had a salon pedicure -- ten fingers will cover it. Yup, that's how seldom I've availed myself of the luxury. It's not just that I don't trust the way salons do it -- it's that they haven't done it right a single time for me!

Oh yeah, my toes would look all glossy and immaculate, but @#*^%! A digit or two would swell the next day and my foot (whichever one is infected) would be in pain for about a week. What irks me even more is that the pedicurist will never admit to nicking my toe or cutting out my ingrown nail!

I thought my favorite facial place, aptly called "Let's Face It" (where I had my pedicure), would be different. Well, I guess I now know why they didn't call the place "Let's Nail It".

Jollibee's free-bee and good food

You know what I love about Jollibee? It's local, it serves relatively good food (never mind the fact that it's fastfood junk) and it gives me a free newspaper with my breakfast meal! Super! That means hubby and I have to order a second cup of coffee -- not free -- so we can peruse the pages of our free daily.

I also love the fact that they tweaked their fries to finally make it as crunchy as its competition (you know, McDonalds?), that they have more variety to offer (imagine getting palabok fiesta!) and that their fried chicken is the best! Yo, Chicken Joy! Their longganisa is tasty without the dripping fat and their pancakes are fluffier than McDonalds'. I'm getting hungry...

What I absolutely can't stand is their super sweet spaghetti. Since when did an Italian tomato-based original become laden with saccharine? Eyeuwww! Do kids really eat this stuff? Parents, do watch out that our kids don't get diabetes so soon with all the sugar added to their meals.

Jollibee's staff have been friendly and courteous so far so there's another perk. Keep it up, guys! Buy Pinoy!

Bukidnon's rolling hills & carabao's milk

I never knew carabao's milk can taste so good -- and so fresh! I guess the thought of drinking a horned black animal's milk put me off but the fresh air and verdant rolling hills of Bukidnon convinced me to take a sip.

Hubby and I spent two days at the Philippine Carabao Center in the heart of Bukidnon. The center sold, what else, but carabao's milk products. My taste buds agree with some new found friends that carabao's milk does taste fresher and lighter than cow's milk. I also didn't experience the usual tummy twirl after drinking a whole glass-full (it's called lactose intolerance). For those whose stomachs can take a beating, I highly recommend sampling all the center's freezers have to offer, including the super rich chocolate milk, soft milk candies (pastillas) and of course, the fresh milk.

I also enjoyed inhaling the fresh air, sans the refuse of carabao from the adjacent farm, and marveled at the utter lack of "urban development" for miles. If those hills were in Manila, they would've been leveled and sold to the real estate developer with the highest bid.

Anyhow, kudos to the PCC and the Bukidnon local government for keeping it's hills alive with the sound of moo-sic.

Cagayan de Oro's damp hotels

For those of you who don't know, Cagayan de Oro (or CDO) is a city in Mindanao, the 3rd major island south of the Philippines. My hubby and I travel within the Philippines quite a bit, mostly to serve and train church workers. It can be a very rewarding experience wrapped in less than sterile conditions. CDO is not a clean place and I found it necessary to check the soles of my shoes every now and then just to be sure I didn't step on something undesirable.

We stayed at Nature's Pensione -- a "faux" hotel, which my sis and I coined to refer to hotels with less than 1-star rating. It's dark, damp and all corners of the room unsuccessfully hid water stains that never saw the light of day. The beddings were 60 degrees off the white scale and the towels felt rough and worn to the core. And to think this was even a recommended hotel!

What I really ask myself many times is this: Why are most smaller hotels in the Philippines this much short of clean? Hubby and I even checked out another hotel nearby, just to see if we had better options, and ended up even more disappointed. No offense to our Chinese brothers but they are not exactly known for their cleanliness, right? I forgot the name of this Chinese-owned hotel but it was made to look grand outside (which is not surprising) and was priced much higher -- but looked even more seedy and damp than Nature's Pensione. The carpets were green (what's with the green carpets???), old, dirty and heavily stained on all corners. Yuck!!!

I wish I took a photo of the rooms. But then again, I think I know why I didn't bother.

Toepy & Beans

We don't have kids - we have pets. Two dogs, one black the other white. Toepy is our white (with some black spots strategically located to give her a "panda look") furry mongrel and Beans is our black labrador retreiver.

Toepy, having been with us for almost five years now, is fiercely loyal and has the mentality of a chihuahua. She follows us everywhere in our tiny home, gets easily startled, feels abandoned whenever we walk two feet away from her, longs to be carried (as if she does not weigh 15 kilos!) and actually hangs on to every word we say to her. She absolutely hates competition, for our attention, that is, and ruthlessly guards her dark aquamarine bed like a fortress. Who does she guard it from?

Beans. Yup, just a year and three months old and weighing in at a hefty 25 kilos (we guess). He came into our lives with the zeal and excitement of a gnat on my bare leg and expected everyone to feel the same -- even Toepy. You guessed it -- she hated him.

But that's all history now and they play like your typical cat and mouse -- Toepy being the cat, of course, the alpha dog, and Beans being the submissive mouse at the growling reprimand of his master dog. But the playfulness remains, as long as it's on Toepy's terms.