Sunday, July 31, 2011

Livin La Bellarocca


Bellarocca is the one of the best resorts and the most 'sosyal' Ive been to.hehhe Credits to Warner So for helping us out to get the accommodations.

From Manila, we took a plane (Zest Air) to Marinduque and from the airport everything is handled by by the resort. They picked us up from the airport, gave us bottled waters, and cold towels in the van.


Van from airport to the dock is like 45 minutes and then they dropped us and waited for a speedboat to pick us up going to the private island.

We waited for almost an hour for the speedboat. The disappointment is that they only have one speedboat available and almost all of the people who boarded the plane is going to the resort. So we were like the 4th batch to be fetched. 

waiting for the boat

 Then when we arrived, we went to the hotel's lobby for the welcome drinks and a brief welcome from the hotel's resort managers and chefs and gave us the list of activities that we can do during our stay. Then, we rode a golf cart to our terraza that is actually just near the hotel's main lobby. We still dont have our luggages though but they said that they will just deliver it to our room..sweet!

The terraza is..well amazing!...we have 2 rooms with seperate bathrooms, a kitchen, dining table, personal ref, mini bar and a veranda. The rooms upstairs has 2single beds and the one downstairs is a queen size bed.

Room Upstairs (Me and Tin)
LCD TV


bathroom

dining

room downstairs (luvz and edz)

 



mini bar
They also prepared welcome chocolates for us! They really have a very welcoming ambiance and good service. Well, well, well...all the things that money can buy..a life without bliss!


  Since Bellarocca is a private island, golf carts are the main transportation inside the resort. They have two main buildings which is the main lobby where the lap pool is located and the other one is the sea side area where you can find the infinity pool. We decided to take a tour to the whole island.

posing with the golf carts

infinity pool


relaxing near the beach





villa

Lap Pool






Santorini inspired

piano room

 Aside from the nice view, excellent service and luxurious accommodations, they also have different activities at the resort


getting ready


kayak

billiards

wind surfing

 Water activities like snorkeling, Kayak, windsurfing are all free. They also have a game room where you can play billiards. In that same room, they have pc's that you can use with internet connection and another room where you can read magazines, books and a small collection of dvds that you can watch in your room.

On the second night of our stay all guests had free cocktails by the sunset, which was so nice..=)

 


Food in the resort ranges from 400-600 per meal. They also have buffet dinner for P750 per head.

tapsilog breakfast (P350)

My food from the buffet


desserts from the buffet

The Bellarocca experience has been two days of luxury and VIP living. Great experience and I hope I could get back someday probably on my honeymoon or better yet, wedding! ahahhaha..=)


Rates for Bellarocca published 2010


                                                                                                                      per room/night (in USD)
Hotel deluxe rooms                                                                                   420
Hotel Junior suite                                                                                      480
Hotel 1bedroom suite                                                                               660
Terraza                                                                                                     540
Villa 1 bedroom                                                                                         840
Villa 2 bedrooms (4adults max)                                                                1320
                                  

you can also check their website at http://www.bellaroccaresorts.com/







Friday, July 1, 2011

SARRRAAA-PPPP!

BABALA:

WAG BASAHIN ANG BLOG NA TO KAPAG GUTOM.LOL


nachos


bbq weekend market

chicken bbq weekend market

lechon kawali La Preciosa Ilocos

crispy dinuguan, La Preciosa Ilocos

Calamares, Bigbys Moa

Sisig @Gilidans

Beef w/ Brocolli @Tagaytay

beef tapa @tagaytay

Carbonara @ afiques Iloilo

spicy ragu @Afriques Iloilo

Afriques Pizza @Afriques Iloilo


thin crust pepperoni @afriques Iloilo


buttered Shrimp @dampa

Ginataang Crab @Dampa


baked tahong @dampa

chicago white @Sbarro

Discover Guimaras| Ilo-Ilo City Sidetrip

We arrived at the airport past 5am since we took the earliest flight to Ilo-Ilo.It was raining hard for the past few days in Manila because of typhoon Falcon, and were so glad to see the sun (thanks Bro!)





Straight from the airport, there were vans and cabs available. The plan was to go directly to Guimaras so we took a van to Ortiz Warf (P500 max of 14pax).



From Ortiz warf to Guimaras island, you have to ride a boat like this. Public transport is  P15/pax and travel time was about 15mins. There are also ones that offer private trips for P500.00, a boat like this can accommodate more than 15pax if youre traveling in large groups.




When we arrived at the port, they have a tent there that was designated to assist tourists. Sweet! All their rates were being monitored by the government to avoid over charging. We took a van to Sebaste warf since the resort were going to is in the other side of Guimaras. We got the van for P1000. The vans that they have for rent are kind of old and rusty and the travel time is for only 45mins-1hr so that's quite expensive.

van door acting up
 The van dropped us at Sebaste warf, where we've set up transfers with our resort Costa Aguada Resort in Inampulugan Island Guimaras. The resort charged us P600/pax roundtrip for the transfer from Sebaste Warf to Inampulugan Island which later I realized was so expensive since the boat ride is only for 30mins and we have 7 people in the group.(seriously? thats overpricing).

From Sebaste warf you can arrange other trips to get to Inampulugan Island just talk to the bangkeros there and I bet it wouldnt be so expensive.




boat to inampulugan island

 It would take a 15 min ride from the port to the resort. Transfers are free from the resort.

 We got our rooms for P2000/pax for 3days 2 nights inclusive of breakfast, non aircon room. No hot water available though.




 The resort was so big and quiet. They have tennis/badminton/basketball courts and a pool.

the pool

We ordered food from the resort and it was expensive! But the service was great though.


I took a picture of the menu and the food were expensive and the taste couldn't justify the price.Too bad you don't have any other options since you're in an island. The viands is good for one person only.





The island hopping services from the resort is P4200/ trip. Good thing we got a number from a guy we talked to at Sebaste Port. We talked to him for island hopping services and to prepare our food as well. Their boat only costs P2000/trip which is was more cheaper. Here are some pictures from the island hopping.




food, we asked them to prepare adobo/liempo






The beaches in Guimaras is so nice and still untouched. Maybe because the destination is not that famous to tourists. You can see the corals under the waters even on shoulder deep waters. Too bad I didnt bring snorkels because they have good spots for snorkeling.

Theres still enough food for dinner so we hid it in our bags and ate it inside the room since were not supposed to bring food inside the resort.lol

The next day we left Guimaras and headed back to Iloilo City where we will be spending one more night. Before going back to Ilo-Ilo we dropped by the local market and bought pasalubong, but do not spend all your pasalubong money here because there are also pasalubong centers in the city.


we bought pasalubong at the local market

One other thing that we want to check when we travel are the local food and delicacy in that place. We all know that Ilo-Ilo is famous for their La Paz Batchoy so we went to Ted's for a taste.

The term batchoy means a combination of offal such as pork meat, spleen, kidneys and liver that’s why it is the main ingredient of the dish. 


we ate La Paz Batchoy at Teds @Iloilo City


checked in at Westown Hotel


We checked in at Westown Hotel Ilo-Ilo, you can check their rates here. The location of the hotel was really an anvantage since we wanted to check the city and the hotel in Smallville where restaurants and bars were located, much like Timog in Manila.

We decided to chill at the pool and their pool was really nice! I love the lights, it was picture perfect!





 After swimming,  we ate at Crave's Burger, just walking distance from the hotel. Their burger has a thick patty and its soo good=) P170


The next day, we checked out at 12pm and left our bags at the hotel since our flight would be around 6pm, we decided to go out and check the city.

bought pasalubong@ Biscocho Haus, check their butterscotch and Biscocho.So yummy!
PS: Do not forget to buy lots of butter scotch, and I mean lots of it because it was really good. 

We also had lunch at Afriques, Ilo-Ilo, best tasting pizza Ive ever had! Its a must try. Dot not forget to ask for their "super hot" hotsauce.


carbonara from Afriques Pizza near the Hotel

pizza.yum!

so good pepperoni pizza

hot! hot! hot! hot sauce



After lunch we went to SM Ilo-Ilo to watch Transformers to kill time. We headed back to the hotel after the movie to get our things and the hotel offered to send us to the airport (airport transfer for P700). There are also metered taxis available but they usually charge higher if they know your going to the airport.