Macau, Great to be back!

Well, after enjoying the first trip, the second trip was just the same enjoyable except that I didn't have my family with me this time. I was there to attend our company's leader's conference. This time, we had more visits in hotels and casino, i didn't play of course.

One hotel that caught my attention was the Venetian. I simply couldn't describe how great this hotel is. Just go and visit. We stayed at the Grand Waldo Hotel.

We also went to the nearby Zhui province, Mainland China, to do shopping. It was just an hour away from Macau

Macau Experience

Much have been said about this great asian destination, the new Vegas of Asia, the city of great lights, a place much talked about in many magazines as a "must see" hub for tourists.

We booked through Philippine Airlines. Hongkong as our entry point. Macau is just an hour away from Hongkong via ferry boat. The ride was so comfortable since you get to choose what ferry you would like to take. From first class to economy class, you just have to choose. Of course, nothing less for my wife and daughter, we opted for the best. The port was just on the second floor of our hotel, Royal Pacific Hotel in Hongkong. By the way, you can choose if you prefer to travel to Macau via two ports in HK, either in the kowloon or hongkong side. It would all depend which side of Hongkong you're in.

After a little trouble with my wife's passport as it was strictly scrutinized by the HK immigration, we finally boarded the ferry. 1 hour travel and we were there.

Our guide picked us up from the ferry terminal in Macau and she took us to our first destination, the Macau Tower. There, you get to see the entire Macau. It was designed by the same person who designed the CN tower in Canada. At the top floor was a glass flooring. It was a shaking experience at first (i have a fear of heights) but then seeing my wife and daughter enjoying the glass-bottom walk made me feel comfortable as well. Among the activities that you can try doing at Macau Tower are bungee jumping and skywalking.

From Macau Tower, we went to the St. Paul ruins, Macau's great heritage and a little walk took us to the Senado Square. There were different shops in senado square like giordano and bossini among others. These two shops will really give you value for your money. Don't leave the place without spending some of your pocket money in these shops.

Luch time: Our guide took us to a seefood resto where we also had a taste of authentic Macau delicacy.

Then we went to A-ma Temple where we did a little shopping of Macau's famous egg tart. After visitting all these sights, we were given time to do more shopping.

And so our Macau Day trip came to conclusion. We went back to the port to catch the 6pm boat trip back to Hongkong.

As usual, it was another great experience for me and my family. By the way, we went back to Macau and as expected, we enjoyed it just like our first trip.

Underground River

Planning for this trip to palawan was made easy by my wife weng. She did all the airline booking, not to mention that she did some re-bookings as well. I swear, we wouldn't risk our travel with Air Philippines anymore, never again. Anyway, some little troubles in the beginning spiced up our great travel to palawan.

Upon arriving in puerto princesa, our friend from Hotel Fleuris (Bench) arranged our transfer to the hotel. My daughter ingrid was mesmerized by the size of our room and with all its luxurious amenities inside, it was the best room though, room 306. The hotel was very nice, staff were so friendly and courteous, service was great, and the location was the best i've known in the city. Ingrid enjoyed dipping in the pool late in the afternoon since she needs to rest half of the day to recover from the dizzy feeling brought about by our bumpy airphil ride. Our first day commenced with a very good dinner at ka Lui.

Second day: We woke up early for our Underground River Adventure, people in palawan termed it as UR Adventure. We left the hotel at around 6:30 and arrived at Sabang at around 8:30. The roadtrip was made comfortable and fun by our tour guide Jasper, a seemingly witty and intelligent guide in palawan, and very popular at that. What the other tourists percieved as a long and boring roadtrip was never hard at all. So erase that thought that the landtrip will be hard, it wasn't at all hard. We didn't wait that long till we were called to board the boat that will take us to the beach where the Underground river is. A 20 minute boat ride and we were there. We walked through a little forest (not the actual forest that you would think of) for a little less than 10 minutes before we get through the mouth of the Cave, registration Area. After the registration, we waited till we get board the paddle boat that will take us inside the Underground River.

The excitement is slowly unfolding, our curiosity is waiting to be satisfied and what used to be a thing seen only in Tv is about to be unveiled before our very eyes. My wife and daughter were both very eager to see for themselves this beauty of nature.

Finally, our boatman and guide kuya toting paddled us inside the cave. Complete darkness welcomed us all, only the light from our boat showed us through. I couldn't help but be mesmerized by this holy work unfolding before me. The feeling was totally unexplainable, enchanting, and unbelievable.

Kuya Toting made this trip inside the cave very memorable for all of us. I highly recommend that you patiently wait for him to guide you through. Forget about the discomfort of not being able to go first inside the cave. Just wait for him and i assure you that your tour inside will be unforgettable.

The tour inside lasted for almost an hour, it was all worth it.