Bintan weekend getaway part 2...

Sunday morning, I woke up around 7AM. Pg Boy was still fast asleep, so were the other three guys. I took a peak outside and saw that the sun was already up.

I told a half-asleep Pg Boy I was going out for a walk.

I may have missed the sunrise, but the deserted beach, the morning sun, and the sound of the waves still gave me a good morning walk.

Around 9AM, I met up with the guys at Lotus Cafe for a major breakkie. Hehe! Okay, I have to say that there are points for improvement, in terms of the service. One of the waiters got my order for the eggs, but it never came. I had to go up to the omelette station and ask for it again.

But other than that, I thought the food was okay.

Then, we headed to the beach to enjoy the water. It was only me, MkSurf8 and RKGreg who went into the water. Chris already swam at the pool the previous day. Pg Boy swam at the pool and at the beach the previous day. Both of them just decided to stay under the shade and chill. Meanwhile, I definitely enjoyed the water.

By the way, the Banyan Tree Bintan was just right next to us. There was no wall separating Angsana from Bintan. There was just a small signage that read Private Walk to Banyan Tree, and a few steps aways a signange that read Private Walk to Angsana. I dunno why, but from the outside the Angsana looked better than the Banyan Tree. Hehe!

We checked out of the hotel at 1PM.

The shuttle brought us to the ferry terminal at 230, which was a good idea because immigration also took quite a while.

We reached Singapore shores almost at 6.

It was truly a great weekend! Thank you so much, MkSurf8, for letting us celebrate with you!!! :-)

Bintan weekend getaway part 1...

If there is one thing I really miss about the Philippines (other than the glorious food), it has to be the beach and the countryside.

Any excuse to head to the beach and I will (almost always) say yes.

So when MkSurf8 invited to take a weekend trip to Bintan, I just had to say yes. He just had his first anniv at the new workplace and the weekend trip was the celebration of sorts.

Also joining the trip were RKGreg (who flew in from Manila! Wooohoo!), Chris and Pg Boy.

Fifty minutes away from Singapore is a happy place on earth.

Because of the excitement to head out of Singapore and to be at the beach, I woke up ahead of my alarm on Saturday. Being the morning person, I was tasked to give the Keows and Chris a wakeup call. Hehe!

Around 7AM, we met at the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal. An hour later, we were boarding one of the vessels of Bintan Resort Ferries.

The trip didn't seem to take that long. Except for RKGreg who was just as wide awake as I was, the other three guys seemed to have fallen asleep.

Upon arrival at the Bintan terminal, we headed to immigration where the clearance almost took an hour because there were only four or five immigration officers who had to attend to the long queue of guestss for the weekend.

Once we were all cleared, we boarded a bus that took us to our home for the weekend - the Angsana Bintan Resort and Spa.

Days before the weekend, I already checked out the website when MkSurf8 told us which resort he booked for the weekend. The photos definitely made me wish it was already the weekend. Haha!

When I was reading up on reviews about the Angsana, I saw a number of previous guests complaining about this and that. However, as soon as we alighted from the shuttle bus, the first thing that came to mind when I saw the lobby was "Wow! This is awesome." There were some comments about how the hotel lobby had no A/C and blah blah blah. Uhm, hello. If I remember correctly Shangri-la Mactan does not have A/C at the lobby as well. It's all part of the tropical island feel that they want guests to experience, I suppose.

We headed to one of the comfy couches just after reception where a friendly lady with a warm smile welcomed us and took care of our check-in. The usual check-in time was at 3PM, but we asked if we could do an early check-in. She told us she'll get back to us. With hours to kill, we decided to change into (ready for) swim clothes, dropped our bags at the concierge, and explore the resort.

From the reception and the main lobby, there is a short flight of stairs that leads to the Lotus Cafe, which then leads to the pool. I really thought the cafe was nicely done. The interiors looked very elegant, but not too loud. If you go further, it leads to the spa I think which had beautiful Indonesian decors to welcome spa guests.

By 12 noon, we were told that the room was ready. Wooohooo! Major plus points for Angsana for that. By then, Chris, Pg Boy and RKGreg had already enjoyed the pool. MkSurf8 and I were just on the lounge chairs chillaxing.

In the afternoon, Pg Boy and I headed to Pasar Oleh Oleh for a massage. Pasar Oleh Oleh is a small village for tourists. There one will find massage places, cafes, souvenir stores. The area can do a bit more of marketing. There were hardly any tourists. It makes me wonder how the businesses are surviving.

Around 2PM, RKGreg, MkSurf8 and Chris joined us for lunch at Cafe Helo Helo where we had lunch. I read about the cafe/restau and I thought we should give it a try. The food was okay. It's quite expensive though. By expensive, I mean it's the same price as Singapore. We didn't even have to buy local currency. We just used either SGD to pay for things. Prices at shops were either in SGD or USD anyway.

From Pasar Oleh Oleh, we headed back to the resort and spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening just hanging at the beach.

For dinner, we went for the buffet at the Lotus Cafe. The spread  had a good mix of some Western and traditional Indonesian food. The satays, in particular, were really great. I was one happy boy as I enjoyed the different kinds of satay. I can't remember how many sticks of seafood and chicken satay I had. Haha!

Stuffed from the dinner, we headed back to the room and spent the night watching X-Men with RKGreg's deadly mixed drinks. Hehe!

To be continued...

THE Victor Platon's Comeback and Simulparty - MNL...

The night-out last Friday was epic!

After a stressful week for the usual suspects, we were all just looking forward to a really fantab Friday (more like Saturday) gimik night!

What made this particular weekend gimik much more awesome was the simulparty in Singapore. Hehe!

Yep, good friend Richie organized the Singapore nightout.

As I wrote in a previous blog entry,one of the happy things I did while I was in Singapore was introducing my becks friends from different groups to each other.

That way, the becks family in SG keeps on growing.

I was really ecstatic when I received a text from Richie regarding the Neil Road Educational Tour. Haha! I loved it! Leave it to Richie to come up with a creative invite. Haha!

The SG cast even had an additional invitee - Chris. Haha! I told Chris about the planned nightout. I gave his number to Richie. I gave Richie's number to him. And that was it.

SG represent - Richie, Mon, Cyp, Jon,Sarge, and Chris. Uhm, not sure why Ian didn't go.

And Manila represent - Me, I-van, Arthur, Edsel, Adrian, JC, Luis, Jofer, Cholo, and comeback queer Ms. Victor Platon. Haha!

It was an awesome night! We started with drinks at BluFrog and from there we moved to our happy happy joy joy place that is O Bar. Haha!

I loved it that Richie gave us a call around 2AM to tell us what was happening in Singapore! Super, super fun!

And I'm glad I brought Hanschen with me because I have pics and videos of the very memorable night! Too bad some photos and videos will never be available to the public. Haha!

As with previous night-outs, we ended the looong night with bfast at Banchetto!

All Friday nights should be like that one!

The next one would be like that again! That's because Cyp and Jon are coming over to Manila for the Chinese New Year!

We're going to paint the town pink! Haha!

THE Victor Platon's Comeback and Simulparty - MNL...

The night-out last Friday was epic!

After a stressful week for the usual suspects, we were all just looking forward to a really fantab Friday (more like Saturday) gimik night!

What made this particular weekend gimik much more awesome was the simulparty in Singapore. Hehe!

Yep, good friend Richie organized the Singapore nightout.

As I wrote in a previous blog entry,one of the happy things I did while I was in Singapore was introducing my becks friends from different groups to each other.

That way, the becks family in SG keeps on growing.

I was really ecstatic when I received a text from Richie regarding the Neil Road Educational Tour. Haha! I loved it! Leave it to Richie to come up with a creative invite. Haha!

The SG cast even had an additional invitee - Chris. Haha! I told Chris about the planned nightout. I gave his number to Richie. I gave Richie's number to him. And that was it.

SG represent - Richie, Mon, Cyp, Jon,Sarge, and Chris. Uhm, not sure why Ian didn't go.

And Manila represent - Me, I-van, Arthur, Edsel, Adrian, JC, Luis, Jofer, Cholo, and comeback queer Ms. Victor Platon. Haha!

It was an awesome night! We started with drinks at BluFrog and from there we moved to our happy happy joy joy place that is O Bar. Haha!

I loved it that Richie gave us a call around 2AM to tell us what was happening in Singapore! Super, super fun!

And I'm glad I brought Hanschen with me because I have pics and videos of the very memorable night! Too bad some photos and videos will never be available to the public. Haha!

As with previous night-outs, we ended the looong night with bfast at Banchetto!

All Friday nights should be like that one!

The next one would be like that again! That's because Cyp and Jon are coming over to Manila for the Chinese New Year!

We're going to paint the town pink! Haha!

Hello, 2011...

Happy new year everyone! :)

How was your first day of the year, of another decade?! :)

I thought mine wouldn't be a good one, but things got better. Haha

Yesterday, I woke up feeling feverish. I thought it was nothing so I went on with my plan to go to the gym. The workout did me some good. I was sweating like a pig the whole time and I was hoping that that would make the feverish feeling go away.

It didn't.

When I got home in the afternoon, I took a nap and woke up because I was shivering. I only had the fan turned on, but I was really burning. I had to wear a sweater and bundled myself up in a blanket. I was like that until just before midnight. I don't know why but it seems to be a Dec. 31 curse. Last year I was in the same exact situation. It was much worse though because I brought myself to the Emergency Room. Haha! I won't dwell on that anymore since there's no point in doing that.

Going back to last night, my Mom woke me up before midnight. I was shivering, but I didn't want my Mom to see that so I just tried very hard to put on a happy face. I could hear the sound of the fireworks of our neighbors. I looked out the window and it was all smoke. I could see my Dad, my brothers and my nephews and nieces watching our neighbors with their fireworks. Haha!

I didn't go out of the house anymore to join them. Instead, I joined my Mom at the kitchen/dining area to wait for the guys to return for our Media Noche. For the first time, I was overwhelmed by the amount of food we have on the table. We've always had the same number of dishes prepared every year, but this is the first time it came to my mind that boy, do we prepare a lot! And there's just five of us in the family. (My kiddie nephews and nieces would join, but still there's so much food left to last for two more days. Hehe!)

Anyway, I didn't eat much. I had some pasta, some ham and the 12 pieces of grapes (which my Mom has been making us eat since we were kids. Haha!) After dinner and though feeling sick, I stepped into the shower and took a bath. I promised some friends that I would be joining them for a party at our happy place in Ortigas and I intended to keep that promise. Haha! Fever or no fever, I was already psyched to go out with my friends for our own party to welcome 2011.

The gods seem to have seen the importance of the party because as soon as I got out of the house, I found a cab. I was worried that it was going to be difficult to get a cab, so I could have hugged the Manong when I saw him and his cab. Hehe! I picked up Marl near his house and then we set off for Ortigas.

We met up with Francis, Vince and Joffer, Richard and Gerry, and I-vanchy. When I saw that it was starting to be a couples' gimmick, I had to text I-vanchy to hurry up and get to the bar already. Haha! Just kidding, just kidding. I don't really mind being the third wheel (at first to Marl and Francis), then fifth wheel when another couple arrived, then seventh wheel(?!) (Haha! Is there such a thing?) when another couple arrived. I'm really happy to be with friends on the first few hours of 2011, and I was even happier because I saw that so and so patched things up. Yeyyyy!

The next few hours were spent just dancing, raising our bottles/glasses, and toasting to friendship and so on! Surprisingly, there were a lot of people at the bar. It wasn't like the maddening Friday volume of people but there were still many partygoers. Fun! I have to say that I-vanchy and I missed Edsel, Arthur and Vic since it's usually the five of us wreaking havoc at the bar on Friday nights. Haha! Edsel was in Cavite. Arthur was in Olongapo. Vic was in Sydney.

We left the bar just as the first sunrise of 2011 took place (Gerry and Richard left earlier though). The six of us got into a cab and headed to Rufo's at Shaw for bfast. It was closed. We tried MickeyD's at St. Francis Square and it was also closed. We ended up at a grill/restau in faraway Makati Ave.! Haha! I fell asleep while waiting for the food, maybe because I was feeling sick and just dead tired. Haha!

I got home by 8AM. After saying hello to my family, I headed straight to my room, changed into something more comfy and just hit the sack. Haha!

Good start for 2011! :)