Fairmont Hotel Makati: our gym + pool experience

i think i mentioned before na while i was looking for good gym + pool facis around makati, one of the places i called was Fairmont. during that time, exclusive to guests pa lang ung gym + pool nila but they mentioned that they're opening it up for membership soon.

at yun nga, one day they called me na open na raw sila and is offering me a free trial! yeheyy! so ako naman, kahit na during that time eh member na ko sa golds, go parin ng go para ma-checkitout ko rin yung place and malay nyo magustuhan ko hehe

so one sunday i brought my sister with me to makati! nga pala, raffles fairmont hotel is just beside landmark and across greenbelt 3. and their fitness center is located at the 4th floor. >:)

terai and i preparing to swim!

the first thing we did was swim! in fairness ang liit ng swimming pool nila but i love the water cos it doesn't reek strongly of chlorine like most pools. in fact mejo salty pa nga ung tubig hahaha.

the pool in different angles, mejo makulimlim hehe:

it's really small and what disappointed me pa is that ang babaw lang nya hahaha i guess the deepest is 5ft na hehe. nevertheless terai and i enjoyed our swim! as usual walang tao, di rin naman ganun karami guest ng fairmont at kung meron man, foreigner! haha

kung sa ambience eh ang masasabi ko lang eh maganda! maganda talaga! i mean, yeahhh. hahaha 

after swimming, gym naman! their lifeguard slash trainer accompanied us to the gym area for our free trial. at dun na nagsimula ang kalbaryo namin. haha i thought the free trial meant we're free to just try the place as we wish, yung pala kasama pa itong workout session na sobrang na-ubos energy ko! 

kuya bernny was the one who "trained" us for an hour. cardio muna, then squats, then weights, and weights, more weights and situps. mamatay matay na kami ng kapatid ko seryoso. di naman stressful, pero if you know us you'd probably realize how it's so hard for us to workout HAHAHA sobrang phyisically fit lang namin. nakakahiya na. hahaha

pictures! 

terai cardio-ing haha

free weights area

ang sosyal na bottled water

after workout. glad it's over haha

the truth is, we enjoyed it! kuya bernny's training method just goes to show na pag inaraw araw mo yung routines nya, papayat ka sigurado. but that's probably the same for any PT right? at madami akong natutunan sa kanya!

learnings from kuya bernny:

lesson 1: sabi nya, when a person loses weight, here's the order of "noticeability" haha kumbaga, pag pumayat ka eto yung unang lumiliit (in order!):

1. face

2. arms

3. thighs

4. belly

at! pag tumaba ka naman, unang lumalaki ang: belly, followed by thighs, arms then face. baliktad naman ngayon. kewl.

lesson 2: if you want to lose weight, you have to grow muscles because they burn fats.

lesson 3: para masaya, focus on the 3 biggest muscle areas in your body. the thighs, the flabs (i mean abs), and the back. 

lesson 4: a common misconception with women is that they should limit lifting weights when trying to lose weight para di mag mukhang body builder. sabi ni kuya, wala naman kaming testosterone so we're not going to buff up like those hardcore body builders. sa isip ko naman, di ba may testosterone parin ang babae? onti nga lang hehe. anyway, point is, lifting weights is important! haha

thank you kuya, because of you naging makabuluhan ang paghihirap namin!

summing it up, from a prospective member's point of view, eto mga masasabi ko sa fairmont:

PROS:

- the place is beautiful, the gym is big and has a lot of space

- the equipment are all new. in fact, halos TechnoGym lahat (same w/ fitness first pero mukang higher model na). sosyal!

- the showers are big and clean

- towels are provided

- the lockers are hightech na rin. no need for padlocks, parang vault type ganito o:

ang elibs na locker!

- the staff are all nice and friendly!

CONS:

- there are no installed shampoo/conditioner/bath gel dispensers in the showers so lalabas ka pa just to reach the tray of bath essentials. hassle kaya yon haha although i know they'll work it out somehow! hehe

- no enough space to dress up. malaki yung room pero malayo yung lockers sa area where you can put your bags down and dress comfortably.

- the pool is small and shallow

- no hair dryer! big deal to sakin seriously hahaha

- and finally, it's super duper mahal. nasa 90k ang annual fee keri nyo ba yon? ako hindi eh. luho na yung ganyang rate sakin. daig ang annual rate ng Makati Shang! haha

anyway, it wouldn't hurt to give it a try! i'll give them 8.5 out of 10 stars! >:D thank you so much for the experience fairmont! >:D

for more details you may reach their fitness club at the following contact numbers:

Raffles Fairmont Makati

Willow Stream Fitness Club

tel: (+632) 555 9777

fax: (+632) 555 9799

the EASIEST way to turn your paypal funds to cash (PH residents only)

nako i'm telling you, you will love this solution specially if you're from the philippines haha
given that you have a verified paypal account already but doesn't want to be bothered by the tedious steps and the loooong wait to get your money at the comfort of your atm account...

i highly recommend, PesoExchanger!!!

it's very simple really, you send your paypal funds to them, and they deposit your funds to your bank account! simple diba?

eto yung service na matagal ko nang hinahanap dahil nag-close na yung EON account ko (inactive haha), tinatamad na ko magopen ng bagong account, magbayad ng 300+ annual fee, 10 pesos withdrawal charge, at maghintay ng halos isang linggo para magcredit yung paypal funds ko sa atm. so i looked around the net kung meron bang tao na nag-ooffer ng ganitong service. and voila! PesoExchanger ranked on the search pages haha

to know more about their services, just go to their website (linked above), or contact them via facebook. mabilis sila magreply and are very professional.

to share my experience ganto yun:



1. thursday morning (may 9) i applied for online verification from their website. this is the first step you need to do in order to request for an exchange. i think they do this mainly to identify you as isang mabuting nilalang na hindi sila lolokohin at legal ang source ng income online. hahaha

2. that morning before lunch, i got scheduled for a verification session on 1:30pm. live pala nila itong ginagawa. what they do is chat with you on facebook, ask you questions, and access your PC via a remote software.

teka wait, ACCESS MY PC?! katakot ba? natakot din ako nung simula bilang alam kong delikado yung remote access. pero you can watch them naman while they surf your PAYPAL account. at pwede mo paring ng gulu-guluhin yung mouse hahaha

teka wiat, THEY WILL OPEN MY PAYPAL ACCOUNT? oo teh. bali ikaw naman-maglologin pero sila yung magb-browse browse. basically jyza (their staff) just ran through my transactions to validate my source of income. and to check if totoo yung pangalan na nasa account ko.

3. after the remote session, she continued to ask me questions about my paypal transactions. although yung iba feeling ko alam naman nya yung sagot kasi nasa details naman nung mga pinagb-bukas nyang page, i thought maybe naninigurado lang din sila. haha

4. after i passed the verification process (which i only need to do once, yeheyy!), i can now proceed to request for an exchange. here you'll tell them na how much you'll send them and the bank account you want your funds sent to. they'll also give you their paypal email address. hehe

5. i gave them my account details and they said na they have to register it first as a 3rd party account. i know this process kaya alam kong legit haha. 1 business day pa ang aabutin so pray pray lang din ako HAHA

6. KINABUKASAN mga 9am ata they told me na ready na yung account ko for transfer so blah blah blah kinakabahan pa ko mag-send ng paypal funds sa kanila.. malay ko ba? madaming beses na kong na-scam eh! anyway, i searched DTI naman and their name appeared so after sending some 3K nagreply naman naman sila agad..

7. after an hour, my money was transferred to my BPI account na!

hooray!

see that? this is much faster that applying for a new EON altogether... and partida, naka-upo ka lang. hahaha tumayo lang ako nung iwi-withdraw ko na.

thank you PesoExchanger for this awesome experience! till our next deal (pagnagka-project ulit ako haha tumal eh)

hotel intercontinental makati: gym + pool

i've been meaning to kwento my experience looking for a substitute gym for fitness first kasi di na kaya ng budget ko hahaha i looked around ayala ave and found a lot of gyms pero wala akong nagustuhan given na naghahanap nga ako ng mura at may swimming pool at malapit sa office.

anyway, i found Gold's Gym at Intercon at natuwa ako kasi eto na yata yung pinaka-murang gym with pool na nakita ko around makati hahaha >XD

kung swimming lang naman talaga habol mo pwede ka na dito sa intercon! :)

3-9ft ang lalim! sarap!

as for the rates, i joined their april promo and was able to get exclusive limited visits with pool access for 12,500. that's 96 visits sa intercon + 12 complimentary visits to centris/glorieta/binondo good for one year. para sakin okay na rin sya. hahaha

eh dahil pool lang naman talaga ang habol ko, di ko na pinansin yung gym. sawa na rin naman ako sa gym. but then... objectively, eto pros and cons if you workout at intercon.

PROS:
- mejo mura compared iba, considering the pool access
- malinis yung pool, araw araw tine-treat the chlorine
- wala masyadong nagsswiming, kung meron, madalas foreigner
- til 12mn ang gym pag weekdays, til 9 pag sat/sun
- they offer group exercises such as yogilates, zumba, bellydance, streetdance, etc.

CONS:
- hanggang 8pm lang yung pool
- maliit yung gym
- they only have 4 shower stalls + 2 toilets
- onti yung lockers and bring your own padlock pa
- on peak days madalas puno lalo pag may group exercise
- anliit din nung group exercise room
- ANLIIT NUNG BUONG GYM

ayon. if you wanna try Gold's, don't go exclusive on Intercon unless you're just into the pool like i am. try their Elite membership na lang, there are much bigger and better branches out there. haha

UPDATE:
Hotel Intercon has closed

Kettle Korn: Poppin’ Fun All The Time!

if you were to star in your own movie, what would your story be?

that's a question that made me recall all of the many many stories i've plotted in my head before back when my mind was still full of imagination hahaha. if i were to star in my own movie, i wouldn't turn it into some kind of autobiography of how awesome i am. surely, my life as it is would barely generate a decent script. instead i'll brew it into some kind of a twisted (or tragic?) romance comedy that goes like this (note that this is entirely fictional and has nothing to do with my real life hahaha either way, ako bida!) ...

meet grace, a very smart and hard working university student, struggling to get a degree in chemistry. she's often told to quit being so buried in her books and for once, get a life, hang out with a few friends and meet someone. but she just won't. people wouldn't normally come to her because most of them think she's crazy. she herself admits to being detached to the real world, but that's only because she prefers to live that way. 

until she met daniel, a good looking, happy-go-lucky fellow student who wouldn't leave her alone for who knows what reason. turns out he's in one of her classes and is showing some kind of interest in her. eventually, he got into her. they became good friends and did a lot of fun things together. he taught her how to loosen up, and she welcomed him in her world, influencing her in a way she hasn't felt before. for the first time in her life, she's in love. 

to make the long story short, they both fell for each other. but even though a lot has changed about her lifestyle, it seems like there's still something lacking. no one seems to notice. one day she brought daniel up to her parents' house to introduce him, and this is where the conflict arises.

"honey, we don't see anyone." her mom said. walking up to her, brows knit in worried confusion. 
"but ma, he's here!" grace insisted, "tell them, daniel!" tugging on his shirt. her mother who was beside her heaved a nervous sigh as she sees her daughter getting frustrated over something... unseen. 

she was immediately discharged from school and was taken into rehab. her designated psychiatrist would do rounds of interviews about her relationship with daniel. during these times, they never saw each other, and  grace would get bad headaches contemplating which part of her life is real and which is not. but even so, grace would write to daniel every week through mail. holding on to that hope that they'll still see each other after everything is over. but two years has passed and she never got a reply. 

after a lot of conditioning with the doctors, her parents and herself, it was time for her to decide if she wanted to let go of his memories and live a normal life.

so what do you think, will she? if you were in grace's position, and you found out that half the life you're happily living is brought about by a mental disorder, would you still want to let go?

hirap ba? popcorn ka muna. try mo mag-kettle korn, yung cheese. siguradong mae-enjoy mo magmuni-muni. sa sobrang sarap baka mapa-isip ka pa nga kung totoo ba yang popcorn na kinakain mo? o bunga lang ng imahinasyon mo? pero yung totoo, tunay yan. sarap no? :)

ADVENTURE TIME: Iron Man 3 @ Newport Cinema, Resorts World

i was so excited when nuffnang announced a contest to win 2 tickets for a special screening of Iron man 3 this friday at Newport Cinema, Resorts World! nakakatawa pa cos i was in the middle of debugging some shiz at work when i received the email. stressed na ko non kasi mega delayed na ung project na yon, tas biglang ung contest pala ay for first 80 bloggers lang! lalo akong nastress! 

i was connected to the internet naman pero with restrictions (in short, blogger is blocked!) so uhm, in short... just to make sure that i get into the first 80, i disconnected from work... FOR AWHILE. it wasn't so hard for me to boast about sun cell postpaid naman cos i'm a subscriber as well! anyway, to make (the first part of) the long story short, i won!

it's actually a pretty cool week for me, aside from winning free iron man 3 tickets, i also won a buffet meal at Vikings from OpenRice.ph. so the plan was to bring jeckie to iron man, and bring terai to Vikings. para well distributed ang blessings! haha

unfortunately, jeckie can't make it to iron man 3 with me that night. so in such a short notice, i called my sister to meet me at our office in makati so we could both ride Resort World's FREE SHUTTLE!!! hahaha mega research talaga ko ng ways to commute to Resorts World, eventually i found na they have free shuttles naman pala at various points in the metro! it was very late na, mga 6:30pm and we're planning to catch the 6:45 shuttle at Paseo Center. kaso when we got there, PUNO NA!!!

oh my. registration closes at 7:45 and all the taxis are full. take note that it's also a friday night haha. sa kakalakad namin pabalik kung san most probably may vacant taxi pa, umabot kami sa McDonald's Valero where there's another RW shuttle scheduled to leave at 7:15. when i got there, di pa full! so lucky! but when i asked the driver, may priority seating pala! members first policy. huhu and since we're not members, we were asked to wait until 5 mins before departure at kung may vacant pa, gorabels kami.

and by God, 5 minutes before leaving, may vacant pa nga!!! KASO ISA LANG!!! oh no. BUTI NA LANG the last group of passengers have 2 kids with them so naki-usap na lang ako (with the driver's permission shempre) if they could kandong kahit isang kid lang so we could all fit. buti na lang the member was really kind sabi nya, "okay lang basta makasakay kami lahat". so go! i told the driver na pumayag na yung isang family so finally, he let us sign dun sa log sheet.

but that's not the end of the story pa, pasakay na kami ng van when suddenly 3 more members came, all wanting to get a ride of course. and what's worse is they have VOUCHERS (apparently more powerful than a membership card) pa! also, meron pala silang isang kasama na nasa loob na, just waiting for them.

we were so nervous. i thought mapapaalis pa kami. buti na lang and super thank God kasi in the end, the one passenger waiting for them inside got out the van and joined them na lang (na mag taxi). so now, dahil may umalis na isa, kasya na kaming lahat with the kids and all. no kandong needed! yeheyy! hahaha ang galing lang ni Lord! >XD the ride was super fast and peaceful kasi ba naman nag skyway! hihi

eh first time namin ni terai sa Resorts World so mejo ala promdi kami. wow dito wow doon. i mean, honestly there's nothing really architecturally impressive about Resorts World but that's until we got inside the mall! sobrang posh lang! hahaha

at dahil dyan, iron man 3!

terai and i under a well lit mejo secluded area para di obvious ang vanity. haha

cinema 2! popcorn and drinks all set for everyone!

after the show i was like, "so, how do we get home?"

haha i checked online for the shuttle schedule bound to McDo Q.Ave, and found that it's leaving by 11pm and next ride is at 12mn. eh kakalabas lang namin ng 11. so we took the chance to register as RW members para libre na sa shuttle haha. free registration naman sila aaaand agad agad mabibigay ung ID as long as you presented a valid gov't ID (i didn't so temp ID lang sakin) so, we waited until 12mn for the shuttle! kahit na matagal, libre naman! >XD i also learned from one of the drivers there that the VOUCHER is given to those who played at the casino. kaya naman pala high priority sa shuttle hehe. so in order of priority: voucher, member, non-member (chance passenger).

that's all. thank you. bow. >XD

Sun Cellular, The Good Choice in Postpaid

i've been a loyal postpaid subscriber of Sun Cellular for more than a year now, and i might say that their services have been particularly helpful in ensuring that me and my loved one (read: jeckie! <3) are always connected. and because being with Sun Cellular has saved me a looot of money through their very cheap call/text promos, i encouraged the whole family to come with the sun too haha. and now, all four of us are always in the loop, all thanks to sun!

true enough, Sun Cellular has made communication a very accessible feat by making it very affordable to all. this time around, i couldn't get more excited to announce that Sun Cell is offering two exciting postpaid plans featuring Alcatel's thinnest and slimmest phones yet!

with the new Sun Plan 600, you get:

Free Alcatel One Touch Idol

unlimited sun-to-sun calls and texts

Php 250 pesos consumable load

350 free texts to other networks

Alcatel One Touch Idol specs are as follows:

Android 4.1 Jelly bean OS

4.7 inch IPS capacitive touchscreen

1GHz dual core processor

512 RAM

4gigs (up to 32gigs)internal storage

8 Megapixel camera / 2MP front

1800mAh battery

if you ask me personally, the plan 600 is already more than enough for me. although i'd say the 350 free texts to other networks will probably come short, that's what you have the 250 consumable for. you can register it to other prepaid promos as you wish so you can maximize your extra-net transactions. 

with the new Sun Plan 999, you get:

Free Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra

Unlimited mobile internet

Unlimited Sun texts

4 hours Sun calls

Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra specs are as follows:

Android 4.1 Jelly bean OS

4.7 inch (720x1280 resolution)

1.2GHz dual core processor

1GB RAM

16GB internal storage

8 Megapixel camera / 1.3 MP front

1800mAh battery

for a phone this big and beautiful, the plan 999 is just perfect. if you really want to maximize the use of this phone, i'd say you go unli data! and that's just what this plan offers. you might be shocked that it lacks so much on the call/text feats but i say that unli mobile doesn't usually come in cheap. and to be able to get it at 999 only? that's a pretty steal! after all, in this generation, being connected is almost synonymous to being online all  the time! tip? you can actually use your mobile internet on your laptops/PC! just hook it via USB tethering, or go wireless by making your phone into a wifi hotspot (alcatel one touch ultra has that feature).

So what are you waiting for? Get hold of these plans and experience postpaid like never before!

panaginip!

in fairness naka-alala ako ng panaginip! kanina lang to eh, i dreamt about someone i know (sa office yata). sa panaginip ko, kasama ko sya somewhere, shopping ata not sure then while walking he kissed me on my left cheek! hindi ko tinanong kung bakit pero gusto kong tanungin na, "pre, yung totoo, may gusto ka ba sakin?"  pero shempre hindi ko tinanong. inassume ko na lang haha. hindi ko na maalala yung nangyari after pero may naalala ako na he hugged me from behind. answett naman. di ko na rin maalala ung ibang detalye. nakakakilig naman. at yung suot nya sa panaginip ko yun din yung suot nya nung huli ko syang nakita so mejo vivid yung dream. HAHA

pero napaisip ako dun sa taong yon, bakit sya? crush ko ba sya subconsciously? mejo attractive naman tong tao na to per hindi ganun eh? dahil ba naasar ako sa kanya nung huli kaming nagkita? kaya hanggang panaginip nang-aasar? T_T;

anyway, who cares! i loooove my boyfriend forever and ever! yeyyy! <3 <3 <3