Enchanted Kingdom, Hot Spring in Laguna and PBA Live with Cebu Friends

Though my Friday was really busy for me, but the weekend plans has got to push through and nothing should stop me, rather, us to enjoy it. My friends from Cebu went to Manila for a great fun and adventure. Thanks to Olga for arranging/managing/coordinating the itinerary for the planned getaway.

Saturday at around 5:30AM, I heard a hard knock on my door and my body just did not mind who was it or my mouth never cared to opened and speak up, I just found myself opening the door and forcefully opened my sleepy eyes. It was Olga and Agnes and they were very alive and kicking and already dressed up. "What? - a bubble thought I had"; so I jumped! I got a soap and wash my face and I took a gargle of Listerene - mouth wash. I then changed my sleeping wear to something suitable. The girls waited for me like for 5 minutes. I actually forgot about the whole fetching thing and for that I did not set my alarm. After everything were set, we went to NAIA 3 to fetch our friends. Morning sunshine is there and the darkness enveloping the sky began to fade away and good thing the plane which our friends were on board hasn't arrived yet. We got to the airport just in time. After some five minutes of waiting, our friends got out of the arrival area. We then went outside of the airport and got a taxi bound to our place. Okay let me introduce them to you who these people are:


(from left to right: Jason, Sly, Olga, Bloom, Ronan, Genesis, Yanna, Jez, Agnes)

We went to McDonalds but it's still so early so we decided to go to our condo to leave their belongings and stuff. After everything was set, we went back to the fastfood to take our breakfast. It was Opaw who cracked the first joke which sent us to laughter. Since we speak another language called, "Bisaya", we would usually have fun trying to translate English words into Tagalog. So basically everyone laughed at the translation for French fries which is "piniritong Pranses". After the chit-chat at McDonalds, we then went back to our condo and prepared for our adventure and our first trip was to Enchanted Kingdom. I have been to the place once and going back their still sounds fun. We got a taxi to Glorieta and went to Glorieta 2. Yanna, Jez and Bloom was with me. We passed by at Ayala Avenue and I sort of acted as a tour guide mentioning the buildings which they will find interesting. Ofcourse, I did not fail to mention Rufino plaza, an old looking building in Makati which was the tallest building in the Philippines in year 1996. We stopped at Glorieta 3 and headed to Glorieta 2 where we can buy our tickets for Enchanted Kingdom. There was a long queue and we waited there for almost an hour after we were attended by the guy in red polo shirt. They had a problem in their ticketing as there was no more printable sheets for the receipts. Anyway things got served but our stomachs were getting angered already.

We arrived at E.K. after an hour ride and that was 1:40 P.M. or something in the afternoon. There was a crowd of all sorts and it was drizzling. Olga the "Girl Scout" of the group had an umbrella and so we were shielded from the slight rainfall while we were waiting for our turn. Jez got us a snack while waiting outside. Some of our friends went somewhere to do some hunting that's good for the eyes. We got our turn and our Cebu friends, got the ride-all-you can tickets and we bought the regular tickets. When we got inside of the theme park, we hurriedly scout for a place to have lunch as we were hungry as beasts already.

After we had a really awesome lunch just enough to give us the energy booster we needed, we looked for a good place to start the fun. Since, my condo-mates and I got the regular tickets, we just looked around and took some pictures. GMA 7 stars were having a show so we just sat there and observed several actors/actresses passing by and stole some pictures of them. Our friends from Cebu on the otherhand, just couldn't be stopped from the rides. I was planning to get a ticket upgrade but I had limited funds so I just decided to feast my eyes for anything that was interesting and beautiful. My condo mates and I decided to walked around and checked for something to buy. We craved for something sweet and so we found ourselves at the counter of an ice cream parlor, while waiting for our friends from the roller coaster ride. The last ride our friends from Cebu took was the space shuttle. The queue was really long and they waited for almost 30 minutes. We actually waited from the roof deck / observation deck where we can capture some scenes. While waiting for them, we also took some pictures. At last, when they had their chance to scream their hearts at the top of their voice, we decided to had our chance to get a ride. My condo mates and I went to ride the carousel. It wasn't heart pumping as what our Cebu friends experienced but it was fun as Ronan made some comical acts. Well it was getting dark and we decided to get our bags from the EK's locker area. After that, we decided to get to our next destination, Rockpoint Resort - hot spring resort in Laguna.

We arrived there at around 8PM and we were very hungry but we did not forget to take some pictures. Ronan did not go with us as he needed to meet his cousin(as if I believed him and he confessed that I was right hehehehe). We got a huge room with ten beds. After we put our things into safety, we went down to their mini restaurant for our dinner. They actually serve Western and Filipino dishes and most of us ordered Filipino food. After we had our dinner, some of us decided to bathe in their hot spring. Of course, everyone were excited and so the tired and aching bodies need to have a good bath and why not in a hot spring? To most of us, it was our first time to go to a hot spring so there was no denying in our face that we wanted to have a nice hot bath :) Everyone got relieved from the stresses of the city, and everyone felt so so relaxed. Well we went to bed after that long night.


It was a Sunday, Nov 16 at 9AM when everyone was awake. We just hit the mini restaurant of Rockpoint and ordered food for breakfast. We actually planned to go to Tagaytay after the hot springs, but it seems that we haven't enjoyed the stay their, so we just finished our food and then headed to the hot spring.

Well we sort of decided to cancel the Tagaytay trip, to not to rush ourselves from the schedule that we have set. We don't want to be stressed from our vacation, right? Hehehehe.

Anyway everyone had a great fun at Rockpoint. We made some comical acts and remarks and specially Opaw who cracked most of the jokes. They were corny but really funny and intelligent sometimes.


After three hours of fun at Rockpoint, we decided to go back to our rooms and prepare for the ride to Manila. It was 12 noon and everyone was hungry. We thought that we need to eat somewhere so we decided to go to Binalot just few meters away from the hot spring compound of Pansol, Calamba Laguna. "Binalot" is a dialect which means wrapped. Well, the food that they served to us wasn't wrapped so I don't know how they call it then. But in Makati where they have a "Binalot" branch, the food they served were wrapped with banana leaves. Anyway we ate and satisfied our stomach.

We then got a bus bound for Manila. It was a almost a two-hour ride. We stopped by at Mantrade and took a PUJ. We were a little in a hurry already because we don't want to be late from the church service at Greenbelt chapel. When we arrived at our Makati condo, we just changed our clothes, washed our faces aka clean ourselves then off we went to the Sunday service. The mass was interesting as always. It talked about God-given gifts or talents to be put to use according to the teachings of Christ. It was enlightening and thought provoking. The priest never failed to deliver the message across (on my part). After church, we decide to go to Cuneta Astrodome so we can watch PBA in raw, live action drama. It took us 3o minutes to get to the sports dome. We don't have our tickets yet and good thing there were business people who offered us some tickets and so we purchased eight of them. It was too bad that we did not watch the game together since the tickets were not in order but even so, we still had fun. Yanna had her dream-come-true moment when he had a picture with Alvin Patrimonio - a once famed basketball star. Agnes got her chance to have her's when she had a photo with Kenneth Duremdes. As for the rest of us, it was crazy. I am not a basketball fan of all sorts but it turn out really awesome. For one thing, I was cheering both Purefoods and Ginebra team who ever gets a point. Yanna wanted me to cheer with her so I just changed which team to side but sometimes I couldn't stop from cheering Ginebra team simply because their play was also amazing. Well the game ended with Ginebra winning it and toppling Purefoods team with a bang.

We were hungry again and decided to go to MOA to dine at Yoshi no ya. After, we had our dinner, we just strolled by at the MOA bar strip and checked them out. We also took some group pictures. We did not want to have some booze because tomorrow would be work already, and so we just continued the long strolls. It was getting dark and everyone wants to eat something again. Good luck to those who were on a diet but nothing can stop a sweet tooth in us, so we again check the delights at a particular ice cream parlor. I just ordered a peach mango shake and Agnes had a parfaite. The rest got halo-halo. After we ate, we strolled again and listen to some live music. When we felt tired and sleepy already we went home and call it a day.