be CREATIVE, be a THINKER at CRE8TIVE THINKERS

One of the advantages of having a toddler is that you could easily grab an affordable worry-free tour through the school's field trip...

My First Grade daughter had an educational tour at Creative Thinkers located at boom na boom near Roxas Blvd.

Here are some bits of the 1st part of their educational tour..

We were lead to a room where traditional Filipino band sings and plays welcome songs for us..
Then, they ask for the kids to join them, and  perform in front...

My daughter is the biggest FROZEN fan, so she and one of her older classmate sang in front, to the tune of Let It Go....

Then, we were lead inside the audio visual room.. again they asked for volunteer performers..
So my bibong bibong daughter doesn't want to miss the opportunity...




So from this vibrant green background....










... to this visual effect background...
(the effect kinda didn't worked as planned because of the color of the kids' shirts)







 they also have this room with dioramas of different tourist spots in the Philippines..

My daughter again volunteered to act for the hologram effect...





We then hit the Robotics Room...

                     this little guy, walks and talks..





This little robot is the highlight,  because it can actually dance to the tune of GANGNAM STYLE..

(its cute and all but it was way too small)







Moving on.. we transferred to another room,  it was a mirror maze room... The staff will hand you gloves on your way in (so that the mirrors won't get hand & finger prints, otherwise the illusion won't work)..

                                                              Anak!!! you've been cloned!!!

 Last stop...   a trick art room...


















 
                           Hanging out....                          
















                                  ***** loving mother nature.....




************************************
Well that wraps up the morning tour... next stop lunch at Blue Bay...
Then watch out for the second part our field trip... EK!!! yehey!!!

rated PG: puerto galera

I was surprised to find that our trip here was not as expensive as our trip to Baguio..

We left our house half past three in the morning and arrived at Buendia bus terminal around four..

We immediately boarded the bus going to Batangas Pier (CALABARZON) and in less that 2 hours we finally reach Port of Batangas...

It was still dark, we headed to the ticketing office of Minolo Shipping to get our reserved round trip tickets that was included to the package of buena lynne's resort, then we proceed to the boarding area of  terminal 3 to wait for the 1st trip ferry bound to White Beach, Puerto Galera..

                       super excited!!! it's still dark!!!



  Prayer room at Batangas Port



After almost 2 hours of waiting.. We're all boarded and left the port at 7:30 am..

ang bata ay sinusumpong na.....











happy na.. on the way na...

.... nearly there...

Once landed, my mom saw a guy holding a bond paper with my name on it.. He was from buena lynne resort waiting for us at the beach to accompany us at the resort.. We proceeded first to the minolo registration area to confirm our trip back and to ensure that we got a slot for the 1:30 pm trip on our 3rd day..

We walked near the other end of the stretch of the beach.. Buena Lynne's is almost at the beach front.. they allow us to make an early check-in w/o extra cost... :D  "great"..

We rest for a couple of hours, and try to get some snooze, we haven't slept the night before because of the prep and the early trip...

Our room is okay, clean but not spacey, although, we have a terrace with patio table and chairs.. no pictures sorry.. hehehe..  The room is equipped with small TV (not much channel), 2 double beds and 1 single bed..  The room is just right for six adults and 2 kids...

Around noon, we walk and tour the area, eateries and shops are all over, selling the same things.. beach outfits, souvenir shirts, and protective covers for your gadgets.. We also go out to the main road (about 5mins walk) to see what's out there for us.. There were mini grocery stores, talipapa (mini wet market), tricycle station, water refilling station and local restaurants...

...  We just spend our first day.. checking out the place and beach bumming in the afternoon...

We had dinner at Foodtrip sa Galera...

Enjoying the night life...

Fire dancers, here, there and every where...









We turned in early because we have an early Island Hopping tour on our second day...



After breakfast, our boatman meet us at the resort's resto for our Island Hopping...

We took a tricycle to the port where the tour boats are waiting for the Island hoppers..


My daughter (shades) and my aunt's daughter, posing by the dock...







Fam-groupie while waiting for our boat..

Mom, my daughter, my brothers, their girlfriends and I....

Our first stop, the GIANT CLAM, we tried to swim from our boat's location the so we don't have to pay for the smaller boats which cost 200/pax and can only accommodate 3 persons,just to bring us closer to the giant clam, but the current is too strong for us, and leading us to different direction...  

a kind boatman (small), leads us to the giant clam by letting us hold to the katig , the area of the giant clam is shallow that's why big boats are not allowed to go near the corals..

**too bad, I don't have an underwater cam***
     and our snorkel sets were still in transit...

I decided to avail the kind boatman's offer so we could also go to the fish feeding area and the hidden cave... He agreed to lower the rate to 100/pax, kid=free, and he ask another boatman to give the same rate to us since he cannot accommodate us all...






                   *************NEXT PROJECT DECENT SPORTS CAM*****************
                                                                  IT'S A MUST




 PAA talaga ni kuya bangkero ang highlight dito.

  This is not like the imelda cave in hundred islands...

The water isn't deep and that cave thing isn't high either...

                                       ***************    FAA-mily Groupie   ************** 

  Upon reaching the Cave's exit...  Need to be very careful, cause the stone formations are too low..














We meet our original boatman in a virgin beach..
the water is so clear.. but after an hour of dipping.. The water became stingy, like something's biting us.. kinda creepy so we decided to go back and enjoy the white beach...





    Word of advise, you should bring enough food and water so you could stay longer and tour longer.. I think we only spend a total of 3 hours for the Island hopping because we only have bread and boiled eggs.. We didn't bring lunch so we are super hungry when we get back to white beach...






 We spend our last night at Galera, enjoying the nightlife and taking advantage of picture taking with the fire dancers..

 Once you pose with them for the photo ops,
the dancer will whisper that the their tip can is the canister nearby, I gave him tip coz I think its their source of extra income...

**** The bars along the beach put up stage at night for performers and comedy acts...  We bought our drinks at the grocery on the main road after our Island hopping

We just had our breakfast around 11am the check out...  We  brought a nice kite that I got from a sale at SM.. Its windy on our last day so we played with the kite while waiting for boat to arrive...


We didn't bother to buy pasalubongs because there aren't any delicacies here.. I just bought souvenir shirt for my self...  That's why, I find it cheaper than Baguio...

Next time, I'll bring my gear and will go for a land tour as well..

Happy gala everyone!!!!

Baguio - La Trinidad .....full packed adventure ( Day 2 )

After a full night's rest.. I woke up 4:30am on March 17.. I turned on the TV and search for Disney Channel to see re-plays of the Sitcoms.. (watching funny and corny stuffs gets me going)

I decided to fetch some hot water at the reception area to warm my self with instant coffee that i brought from Manila and eat the Vanilla Almond Biscoti that I bought at Figaro.. 

While watching TV and drinking coffee, I started to organize my backpack to lighten the heavy load from yesterday's adventure.. When my mom woke up, at around 5:30 am, she made her self a cup of coffee and went straight to the bathroom to take an early morning bath (its a good thing that the hotel has a hot & cold shower because most of the cheap hotels or transient houses here in Baguio does not offer the same)..  At past 6:00 am I decided to take a warm bath and woke up Vlad so we could start our La Trinidad Adventure..

We left the Hotel at past 7:00am and we are a bit behind our schedule because my plan is to arrive at La Trinidad at 7:00am because I wanted to see the Strawberry Parade (which was initially posted by a website that will start at 7:00 am)... 

As the Jeepney pass the La Trinidad Market I heard the sweet clinging sound of the lyres and booming of the drums ahead..

Traffic is starting to get tight because half of the road was occupied by the parade.. The Jeepney that we riding started to run slow, and right there inside the jeepney as we head to La Trinidad Strawberry Farm, we witnessed half of the parade after a few meters and as we reach the turning point of the parade, the driver ask us to get-off the jeepney, at first I thought he just heard me say that we will get-off if the jeepney will pass the starting point of the parade so we could watch the whole event, but to my surprise I saw the signage pointing at the street where the parade started, and it read "Strawberry Farm"

 After the parade,we walk straight that road and head to Strawberry Farm.. At first I was annoyed at the woman assisting us because she was the one doing all the picking and she seemed to be in a hurry.. I told her that there is no need for us to rush because we are there for the experience and I am actually paying for the experience and not for the strawberries (frankly because all the nice fruits has been harvested and all that was left are either rotting on the other side or starting to mold).. She then told me that it is okay because we can still select pay only what we want to take..

My mom was able to pick about 5 berries, Vlad manage to pick about 3 pieces (the place was all muddy and slippery).. Next to the strawberry bed was the salad bed where beautiful green lettuce were grown and adjacent to it is a gorgeous bed of flowering Garden Mums, then right next to it is another strawberry bed..

The woman assisted us told me that we are not allowed to take photos at the flowers and also the strawberries beside it are not to be picked as well..

But being me, I don't simply follow a bland instruction.. How come we cannot while others can??? So I started taking pictures at the flowers and guess what??? I finally found the berry that I want to pick and I took 3 (hahahaha)..

My mom then recognized that some pickers also got flowers with roots that are still intact so she asked the guy that assist them and we were advised that they have different bed assignments and he is the one assigned for this one and the flower beds (most probably they get portion of the profit  for the berry picking on their assigned station that is why we were ask not to take anything from other beds by our guide)..

I asked the guy that we also want to take home some flowers and advised him to get each of every kind and colors.. The flowers cost us P5/each and the picture taking is P20/shot (but I only pay for 1 shot hehehehe)
.
When we head back to the registration area to check the berries, one of the staff forbid me to select and choose only what I wanted to take and weight everything in the basket, I was annoyed and told to his face that we were previously advised by the guide that we could leave behind what she picked for us if we don't want to.. After all we paid for the experience of picking and not to assist the picker, if that would be the case I will not pay for anything in that basket!!! (well, the basket weighs almost 1kgs, imagine how many berries are there knowing that we only manage to take 12 all in all including the berries that I picked from the other bed).. I probably scare them off because they allow
us to select the finest in the basket... And I think they should have because almost half of the basket contained berries that are rotting and molding or even have holes... I told them that we are not stupid to get things that we won't be able to eat... So the final weight is 500 grams.. and the price is P300/kilo..

It was already past 10 in the morning and our check out time is 12nn so after we bought some more strawberries, blueberries, pinipig kakanin, and strawberry ice cream, we head back to our hotel to rest for a while, prepare our things and bathe Vlad as well...

At exactly 12nn we check out at Blue Mountain Hotel and head straight to SM Baguio where we left our things at the supermarket's baggage area..

We bought souvenir T-shirts at Naduma one of the souvenir shops out side the mall and head straight to Session Road to Grab some late lunch at Oh My Gulay!

The place is worth the climb, the view and the ambiance is great. and the food is worth the effort especially if you are a veggie lover because the place            
                                                                                                      only serves vegetable dishes..

After the late lunch we cross the street and found that we are at the foot of the stairs going up to Cathedral, I decided to visit the Church earlier than I planned (again) it was nearly 2 in the afternoon.. I felt blessed that moment because after the tiring 140 steps we reach the church while the mass is just starting so I decided to attend this one instead of late in the afternoon..

We then made some last minute shopping at the Market and to our final adventure place. Burnham Park.. We went boat riding and indulge ourselves over Strawberry Taho..

Finally we went back to SM to fetch our things and grab an early dinner before we head to Victory Liner.. I was able to get a good seat at a bus heading to Pasay at 11:50pm (it was only 8:30pm). On the good side the journey took only 5 hours because we arrived in our home at exactly 5:30am, Monday.. I manage to take a nap, get ready for work around 9:00am..


Huh!!! hope you find this blog informative and helpful for you future full-packed adventure...

Happy GALA everyone!!!!!












see also: baguio-la-trinidad (day-1)