January birthdays

January celebrations! This year, we have more people to join in the January birthdays.

Obviously, baby Velda is the highlight!!! Velda turns ONE!!!

We dine at Szechuan Court at Fairmont Hotel, and the food was good! Love the peking duck, the suan la soup, and the fried rice!!! Good quality, but pricey.  

As the parents were busy and me, busy closing too, we didn't manage to pre-order a cake for Velda, so we made do with Breadtalk Hello kitty cake. Lots of cream and it's tiramisu inside. Not very nice. haha.

The normal cake for the adults. haha.

All the January babies  (except Lucas, he's turning 2 next month).

Velda and my mum share the same date. :)

My family and 2nd sis-in-law family.  

Kick Off Meeting @ Resorts World

Even though we hit our Plan numbers, we weren't allowed to go overseas due to Area saying budget cut. So... We ended up at Resorts World Sentosa.

The kick off meeting was from 10-12 Jan 2014. Friday morning was our meeting before checking in in the afternoon. It was bad bad co-ordination. Not sure if was MCI problem or Festive problem. But I suspect it's Festive.

The thing is, we actually did indicate the number of people going (we could invite immediate family members to stay), but at the end, some of us didn't have extra bed.. like me. I had 3 person including me, but I had no bed. So, they switched me to another room. And the room was worst than this below.

This is apparently the newer one (at 8th floor) which is brighter and cleaner. But this room cannot add extra bed. WTF.

After a big whooha with several people who got affected, we finally settled down like at 5pm.

Festive Hotel review: 

Bad service. Some beds are not clean. Smell like Genting. Quality like Genting. No 5 star feel.

Breakfast was... UTTERLY BAD. Worst ever breakfast. No much spread and not nice at all. I think I cook nicer.  

Will not stay there again for such a price. I think it cost about $350++.

After playing awhile of blackjack, it was time to go for our dinner which is at Universal Studios Singapore!

They open just for us. :)

Love this board. Very nice.

The red carpet inviting us in.

There was a pre-cocktail event at the threatre before the actual dinner. And they hired sesame street to hang around just for our event. Family members were invited for the dinner as well, so that's why I think they hired them cause got alot of kids.

In addition, the also extended the spielberg show for us.

And the dinner begins! Right in the middle of USS!! It's amazing. hahaha...

Side tracking...  

I think they spent alot of this event since we couldn't go overseas. So comfort abit lah. haha.

Not only they spent alot on this dinner, we also did receive RWS dining vouchers for $100 per person you have. Which means, I registered for 2 person, I have a total of $300!!! Imagine we have about 100 employees for ANI, that's a whooping $30,000!!! Just on vouchers!

Also, all registered person have free entrance tickets to what you have previously chose on the activites for Saturday. There were USS tickets, Aquarium, Adventure Cove. Imagine those tickets mutliply by the numbers of employees + kids + spouse. *sweat*

Overall, dinner was slightly better than lunch at Festive. But still, not worth paying.

Had buffet and also Spot award and achievement presentation. Whole event ended at 11pm.

The Stage

                                           Sweet GGH gave me this in the middle of the dinner.

The next day, my brother and sis-in-law came for swimming with baby Velda before heading to USS. Yes, I brought them cause it's Velda's birthday, and my eldest bro recently also already went to RWS as well. And, I also gave them the USS tickets. haha... I nua-ed at the hotel, swimmed, gym-ed, and people watch at Starbucks. Good life. haha. And I gave half of my vouchers to them to spend!!!! There goes my $150 :(:(
But oh well, I think Velda had a great time there so it's okay! :)

Grumpy?

At night, we surprise Esther which happens to be on 12th Jan!!! She's leaving us this Feb... sobs...

She's my qing ai de in office. :)

That sums up my kickoff meeting :) Oh ya, we have officially moved to IFO - International Finance Organisation. We no longer belong to ANI already. hahaha. dunno good or bad.

Travelogue Boracay - Reviews

Hotel Review

I think I did a review in my first post. But whatever, i'll just do a proper one here.

Stayed at Patio Pacific Hotel near Station 2.

It's about 10-15min slow walk to the main D'Mall shopping area.

As you can see below, it is very basic setup and the bed is not as good and firm.

You can feel the spring when you sleep.

Our view from our main door. Yup, isn't very fantastic. haha..

The Garden Cafe - breakfast area. The breakfast is very simple, and it changes daily. Only thing that didn't change was the omelette station. 

The setup when walking towards the swimming pool.

Activity Prices

And the MOST IMPORTANT THING!!!!

Prices!!! How not to get cheated in Boracay!

Yes, they will double or even triple the prices, so this is the local rate.

Do your research before you go, and hopefully you chance upon my blog. hahaha.

Good luck and have fun!!!

P/S: Worth to try is Parasailing when sunset which I totally regret not doing. :(

Last but not least, you may always ask me and I'll try to help!!! :):):)

Travelogue Boracay - December 23rd - 27th 2013 (Day 4-5)

For Day 1 & 2 of Boracay trip, click here.

For Day 3 of Boracay trip, click here.

Here's the last leg of my Boracay trip, Day 4.

Today is a rest & relax day, as half of the group went diving in the morning. So the rest who didn't go diving, slept in later and did our own activities.

For me, I went to the Town Centre to send post. :) I have the habit of sending postcards since my Aussie trip because I thought it would be nice to have a mini souvenir from the country's local stamp. And of course, pretty post cards. :)

Thereafter, we walked down the stretch of beach again and did abit of shopping. Tried the crepes that looked pretty but it was actually so-so only.

GGH bought Havaianas slippers for both of us. :) It's cheaper to buy there. Mine cost $30+.

After that, we went for a dip in the pool.

After the rest were back from diving, we all headed for Puka Beach! It's BEAUTIFUL!!!

Peaceful and photo worthy! It's not alot of people so it's very good for relaxing.

Puka Beach is actually 20min ride from our hotel, and it's uphill. It's right at the corner of Boracay left.

Like the chinese movie "Na Xie Nian"



Love this pic. Happy moments. :) (minus the extra haha) 

I totally forgot about taking picture for our Day 4 dinner so... this marks the end of Day 4.
Day 5 was go home day. So we only had morning free time. So, both of us went to cover Bulabog Beach which is just behind our hotel. So basically, we pretty much covered all the beach in Boracay. haha.
Bulabog Beach is quite dirty.. we went in the morning which was after a heavy rain so i'm not sure if it's the tides that brought up the dirt or it's just dirty every morning. But we saw people cleaning up the beach.

Bulabog Beach is more famous for Kite surfing and more atas house ard here. This is where you can see sunrise. But you will have to get up early as their sunrise is like 5am. haha..

We headed back to pack our bags, check out, and have our last meal at White Beach.

We went to the famous REAL COFEE to have their Calamansi muffin.

It's a very small shop so you need to really keep your eyes on to find it. I cannot remember where. hehe.

The real deal - Calamansi Muffin

Our last group photo

This marks the end of the wonderful trip. Love this trip and love the beach!!! It's really one of the best beaches I've been to and I'm gonna miss it!

Travelogue Boracay 23rd - 27th December 2013 (Day 3)

Ah. Back to my Boracay trip. This has been sitting in my draft post for about a week or so already. Year end closing is causing this is delay! But nonetheless, better late than never eh?

So Day 3 WAS the highlight of the trip - ARIEL'S POINT!

The price we paid was PHP1,600 per person. This package includes: (obviously) cliff jumping, kayaking, snorkelling, BBQ lunch, tea time snacks, and full flow drinks once you are on board the boat to Ariel's Point!The day begins at arriving at Ariel's Point Resort which is located near Station 1, very near to the Jonah's Shake, at ard 10am, before heading out for 30min ride before reaching the actual place. The day will end ard 4.30pm where you will take the boat back while watching the sun set.




Ariel's Point

 

My 5metre attempt. The Ariel's Point has 3 different jumping boards, lowest is 5m, then 10m, and highest 15m. You are advised to start jumping from the lowest one before moving up.

My advice: Do not stand at the board for too long. The more you hesitate, the more you will be scared to jump. Just walk off the board. I'm serious. haha.

Another advise, please please jump straight in, try your best not to bend your body cause you will get hurt very badly. You will get bruises, bad bruises, which I did when I jumped 10m. Ouch. Serious ouch.

Proof below. :( 



Me looking down thinking hard if I should jump. haha

 

Simple BBQ lunch.

Snorkelling. The beach is super clear, and has good view of beatiful corals and school of fishes. Boracay is definitely one of the best places to snorkel. :)



The big boat

Another advise: When returning back to shore, go early and chop seats on the upper deck. They limit the number of people on the upper deck so better go up the boat when they ask.

Why? Because, firstly the wind is good, and you get to view the sunset and of course, take pictures!

We ended the day with us settling for Shakey's Pizza. No photos because too hungry. haha... only got leftovers. But it's good. Better than Pizza Hut. haha.