Honeymoon Destinations

I've been helping some friends look for their honeymoon destination. One of them preferred staying within the country while the other preferred a cruise or something outside the country. I finished looking for resorts within the country before I finished the one with the cruise (Sorry Char!), so let me share with you some resorts in the Philippines that would be great for honeymooners. My friend wanted to stay in a beach resort nice enough to just spend time inside their rooms. Since I haven't been to these resorts (except Pearl Farm, but we didn't stay overnight there), my recommendations are only based on the photos in their websites hehehe.

1. Pearl Farm Resort in Davao



As I've said, we've been here for a day tour and we really enjoyed the food and the beach. They have a honeymoon package worth P24,000 per couple which includes: 3 days/ 2 nights in Samal House, welcome drinks, fruit basket, 2 days breakfast, 2 days lunch, 1 day regular dinner, 1 day special romantic dinner, body massage for two and roundtrip boat transfers.

2. Bella Rocca Resort in Marinduque


This resort, I first heard from a friend and then Anna blogged about this, too. It's like Santorini in the Philippines and you know I love Santorini. Their Mi Amore package includes 3 days/ 2 nights accomodation, roundtrip land+sea transfers, welcome drinks, 2 set breakfast, two private evening cocktails, two 3-course set dinners, one bottle of wine, one hour full body massage. Rates start at P19,300 per person.

3. Misibis Bay in Legaspi



I first read about Misibis Bay in Rajo Laurel's blog. And then my cousin went here, as a member of MPO and played for a wedding, he said the place was really beautiful (which reminds me, I should blog about his gig in Amanpulo - super lucky!). Misibis Bay offers a honeymoon package at P18,888 per person which includes: 3 days/ 2 nights stay in a junior suite deluxe, full board meals, scuba diving trial, roundtrip transfers plus 30 activities to choose from.

4. Club Paradise in Palawan


My friend really wanted to go to El Nido for their wedding but they wanted to have other choices so I surfed for other nice beach resorts in Palawan and came up with this. Club Paradise doesn't offer honeymoon packages but the room rates already include full board meals, welcome drinks and roundtrip Palawan transfer. Rates start at USD190 per person per night.

5. Antulang Beach Resort in Dumaguete


I included this in my list because this is where Ryan proposed to Juday hahaha. Antulang's honeymoon package starts at USD800 per couple which includes 3 days / 2 nights accommodation, roundtrip land transfer, welcome drinks, fruit basket, full board meals, sunset cruise, intro to diving, horseback riding, unlimited snorkeling and kayaking, his and hers massage, bottle of wine, souvenir shirts and a personal butler.

Photos are from the websites.

Island Hopping in Krabi

Summer is all over too soon. I haven't even gone to the beach. Was not able to go to the beach last year as we were preparing for the wedding. Didn't want to get sun burnt before the big day hehe. But we hit the beach on our honeymoon. On our second day at Krabi, Joema and I were able to do some island hopping. We were picked up early at our hotel and proceeded to the port.


Most of the other tourists were Europeans. In our speedboat we were the only Asians. Funny the tourguide was speaking in English telling us about the tour, and then he walked up to us and started talking I think in Thai. Maybe he thought we didn't understand what he said in English. We just smiled at him and shook our heads telling him we do not understand. And then he started talking in another language, and we still don't understand him. He gestured his hands in surrender as if telling us that he's giving up and doesn't know how to communicate with us hahaha.

Our first stop was Pranang cave where we had a swim for a little while.

Next was Chicken island. See it really looks like a chicken.

Nearby this island we were able to snorkel and feed the fish.

We had two cameras during our honeymoon. I borrowed my parents' Olympus camera because I wanted to take underwater pictures. Here is the last picture it took. The camera died on us. Water started filling up the battery slot and it wouldn't turn on anymore. Sigh!

So Joema and I, a little bit disheartened, went back to the speedboat and rested for a while. Before we knew it, all the other tourists were back and we headed to Poda Island where we had our lunch and stayed for a bit to rest.

Kunyari I'm not worried about the camera.

This is the life.

Goodbye poda island.

Our tourguide next brought us to Tup island. It's actually connected by sand dunes to Chicken island, if I remember it correctly. But I was too chicken to walk going there since the tide was a bit high when we were there. So we enjoyed every bit of the sand dunes before heading home.

F1 newbie

My husband is a Formula 1 fanatic. So as the obliging wife, I watch it with him hehe. Not that I'm complaining. I'm starting to learn the ropes of the race unlike with his other interest i.e. soccer - which he can't get me to sit down and watch the whole game (90 minutes of passing the ball around with a meager 1-1 score sometimes..sorry to soccer fans) but that's an entirely different thing. Atleast with F1 I'm starting to get excited watching it, even the qualifying round. Although I have yet to watch an entire race hehe. Joema is rooting for the Ferrari team consisting of Massa. So I guess you would've known by now that after the Chinese Grand Prix I'm cheering for a totally different team and driver. Yes folks I'm now cheering for Sebastian Vettel, he's second win for himself, his second win in the wet, his second win for a maiden team. His first win was for Toro Rosso. Call me cheesy, but I was a bit teary eyed when they got to listen to Red Bull's team radio right after Vettel crossed the finished line. He was saying thank you to everyone, to the mechanics, to the whole team. Such a kind hearted person haha. Joema tells me he is a "kind" driver as he always is the first one to say sorry to other drivers when they hit each other in the track. Much like what happened in the Australian Grand prix when Vettel was vying for third place but ran into Kubica before the last three laps.

Vettel savoring his win in the Chinese Grand Prix

Yes, I'm starting to be fan. I can now understand Joema's excitement when we got to visit the Sepang F1 circuit when we were there last November. Here are some pictures of the circuit and my very happy husband.

Renault billboard on the way to Sepang Circuit

A peek inside the track

Happy even though we're just outside

Welcome to Sepang F1 Circuit

With the grandstand behind him

We went inside the museum where they feature different automobiles. Joema posing at the F1 cars display

Joema with photo of the track

The newlweds outside the Sepang F1 Circuit

Our First Thai Festival

For the third day of our honeymoon we went to Krabi, Thailand. When we arrived at the airport, someone from Pakasai Resort was already there to welcome us. The welcoming party gave me my bouquet of flowers and directed us to the parking lot. When we got to the car, he gave us our bottled water which I appreciated because it was hot when we got there, not that I'm not used to the heat hehe. When we got to the hotel, they gave us our welcome drinks and cold towels to freshen up our faces.

Our welcome treats

Our room was wonderful – really perfect for honeymooners. This is what you'll see when you enter.


Can you read what's written in the bed?


View of our room from the veranda and from the bathroom. You can slide the partition between the room and the bathroom or leave it open like that.

Complimentary toiletries.


They also provide a beach bag which includes two beachmats.


The flat screen TV.

Right after we settled in, we ordered room service. We were famished as we haven't had lunch yet and it was I think almost 4pm by then. Here's Joema ready to attack his lunch.

After eating we went directly to the pool.


We swam for a bit but we didn't stay that long because they closed the pool area early. There was supposed to be a dinner treat for the resort guests by the pool. They were celebrating the Loi KraThong Festival then. But unfortunately it rained so dinner was transferred to the resort's restaurant.

So after taking a bath and dressing up for dinner, we went to the restaurant. We were greeted by this staff making krathong.


During dinner there were dance presentations, I think atleast three dance numbers by Thai girls. Their costumes are awesome. The details of their clothes are so intricate, and those head dresses are something else. And it was like a wedding reception because after every dance, the girls table hop and have their pictures taken with the guests hehe.


Honestly, I didn't enjoy much of the food but atleast I was entertained by the dance. My plate and margarita with krathong as center piece.


We wanted to leave after the second dance, but the staff discouraged us and told us there will be a parade after the dance and dinner so we stayed. Good thing we decided on staying because we experienced how they really celebrated the festival. So after dinner, all the guests lined up and we paraded down to the beach. Each of us holding our krathong while the resort staff were dancing around us while someone was beating the drums for some music. When we arrived at the beach, we let the krathongs float in the water and washed away by the waves. While some were lighting lanterns and flying them like kites. It was fun watching the lighted lanterns.

Here's hoping this won't be our last Loi Krathong Festival.

Hopping On and Off KL

The next day of our honeymoon after we had breakfast, we asked the hotel front desk where the nearest stop is for the Hop-On Hop-off Bus. This bus goes around KL and stops at various tourist spots or places of interests. They pointed us to the Aquaria. We stepped out of the hotel and walked towards Aquaria. When we got there and asked where, the person we asked gave us directions - go up the esclator, turn left and then go straight. So we followed that but it lead us out of the building. We didn't bother asking someone for directions (which we should have, we learned later on) so we went on walking towards the Petronas Towers. When we got there, I was already getting tired so we kind of asked people for directions. We were pointed towards the main entrance and then from there we went to a bus stop right in front of KLCC. Good thing there was someone asking about the ticket or we wouldn't have found out that there were no booths to buy your tickets from, there was just someone there who you have to ask about the ticket. And then she will give you the ticket. There weren't even posters. She should have worn a big sign over her head "Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tickets Sold by Me". Anyways, if we'd ask the girl sitting on the steps just outside Aquaria, we could have bought our tickets from her and saved ourselves the walk. But that's part of the adventures of travelling. You make mistakes along the way. We bought our tickets (costs RM38) and waited for the bus. The bus has a guide who checks the ticket and orients you that it can be used for 24 hours and that you can get on and off the different stops. He even asked us our nationality, which I think because the bus is really for tourists. And there were actually headsets inside the bus you can use and you'll hear a guided tour of the route. Although most of the headsets on that first bus were busted.

The couple next to us, talked to us when they heard we were Filipinos. Apparently they've been in the Philippines so many times. They don't really like Manila because of the traffic and pollution but they've been everywhere else - Bohol, Palawan, Cebu, even Dumaguete and Siquijor to name a few. They were living in a hotel in Chinatown and when they got off they told us where the shops are there. The bus stop in Chinatown is not where Petaling is. Petaling is like their Divisoria, tiangge all over the place.

National Palace


Our first stop was at the National Palace. Not so much to see there because you can't enter. That's why the bus stops there for a good 5-10minutes so that you can take pictures. We took pictures of the palace guard and their horses and the palace gates. When we were about to go, a new set of palace guards were trodding down the gate. Too bad we missed the changing of the guards, it's supposed to be a visual treat watching the changing of the guards.

National Museum


I don't remember how much the entrance fee is but I think we paid RM4 each. Learned a few things about the history of Malaysia. Joema had fun looking at the old cars and artillery. There's this item in the museum that looks like a box made of metal and then the description was it's what the soldiers used as backpack to keep their things. It looks so heavy you wouldn't want to be the that soldier hehe

Old Railway Station


At the time we were at the National Mosque, it was time for their prayers so we went across the street to see the Old Railway Station. There's really not much to see there but the architecture of the building. That building behind us is now houses the KTM Berhad and the station across it is, I think, already a hotel although we didn't enter it. KL Sentral is the new railroad station of KL where most of their trains pass thru.

National Mosque


When we got back, we were finally able to enter the mosque. They lend women robes (so cute they're in purple hehe) and you have to be barefeet. When we went in I admit I was a bit scared. It must because of my ignorance of what to do and not to do in their place of worship. There were people there who oriented us on some things about the Muslim faith. I don't really remember much of it now. They handed us pamphlets about Allah and Koran and some other things you need to know about Islam. This is going to be those TMI (too much information) moment but I just have to share: when we were about to get out of the complex, I was reading the pamphlet and it's written there that women who are menstruating are not allowed inside the mosque and I'm like ohmigosh I have my period and I'm inside their mosque I'm gonna get killed here! Joema was hurrying me to get out of the place and even joked that "Is this our till death do us part already?" hehe I hope I don't offend any Muslims reading this..I'm so so sorry.

Titiwangsa Lake

It was just amazing to find a lake in the metropolis. It's like a park and that were the Eye in Malaysia used to stand. Too bad it wasn't there anymore around that time. Like in the National Palace, the bus stopped for 5 to 10 minutes at this place.

KL Tower


We didn't go up the tower, we just had our picture taken on the grounds. The bus also stopped here for a good 10minutes. There's a revolving restaurant at the top floor of the tower so it will also be worth it to go to the top plus you get to see a bird's eye view of KL.

Chinatown


We went back to Chinatown for some shopping. Bought shirts and keychains for our pasalubong. This was the last stop we made on the bus.

Here are the other places we've seen while inside the bus. We didn't bother to go down and have a look-see.

Stop No. 6, strip of Bukit Bintang; Stop No. 16 Sultan Abdul Samad building; Stop No. 16 Merdeka Square; Stop No. 3 strip of restos and restos

We went back and arrived at our hotel around 8pm. We expeirenced rush hour traffic in KL. We were so tired that night that we just ate at Secret Recipe along Bukit Bintang. Not really your hole-in-the-wall resto where you get to eat authentic Malay dishes but you can eat Malay dishes from there nonetheless. Since I was so hungry, I didn't really want to be adventurous in my choice of food that night so I just ordered the grilled chicken hehe. After eating we walked around the area only to find out there were a lot of hawker stalls there. Tsk! Should have eaten there instead.

One of the malls on the cluster of Bukit Bintang

This high-end mall was just across our hotel; this is the entrance along Bukit Bintang.