Pontefino Hotel Batangas

Whenever my parents go to Batangas to meet with their clients, they always come home super late at night because traffic is so bad. There was a time I tagged along, even though I knew it will be an entire day of sitting in the car for me, and we ended up staying the night at Days Hotel because we're stuck in traffic. It was okay though 'cos it'll be like a family bonding na rin lol!

Thankfully during their next appointment, a client sponsored a night for them at Pontefino and I was like, can I tag alooooong? And yup, that leads us to this pic spam.

Pontefino is probably one of the biggest hotels in Batangas City, also one of the prettiest too hehe 'cos I don't really see any good mid-rise hotels around. I've only stayed at Days and it sucked, and I haven't seen other big hotels nearby. I think there was a boutique hotel somewhere but it's super expensive haha

Here's their lobby, facing Robusta, their restaurant.

My mom's client booked two rooms for us but we insisted on staying in just one room since it has two single beds naman and all four of us can fit, also because our clothes are mixed up, and we brought food (as usual) so it's hard to stay in separate rooms haha.

The hallway leading to our room smells of dingy carpet, I almost thought it'll be like our stay in Days Hotel where every where you go looks old and scary lol. That place is so misleading, you'd think it'll be all bright and modern because the exterior is painted in white but nope, everything is old and smelly.

Thank God our room looks nice and new!

Totally digging the layout of this room :) I love the tiles too. And the lights! They're neutral white, which is something between the warm white and the cool white basta haha. I thought it complements the walls so well cos they're like light grayish blue. Argh. I love the palette in this room.

Printer and laptop are my dad's.

What we're really looking forward to is the complimentary breakfast, because who doesn't want free breakfast lol.

Bread, juice, coffee, rice, tocino, soup, vegetables, omelettes, etc.

The rare family picture.

I was supposed to swim but we had to check out early because my mom has another appointment and will be heading straight to Quezon Province. Here's the pool nonetheless,

They also have a small gym but I didn't take a picture of it hehe.

Pontefino also has other residence buildings, they have townhouses, mansions, and condotels. This one beside the hotel is a row of townhouses which is super duper cute!

And at the back of the hotel is Pontefino Terraces. If I heard correctly it's a mid-rise condotel, and it's gorgeous!

That's my ideal condo right there, mid-rise, with balcony, and super spacious. :)

That's it! It's not much of a family bonding 'cos I pretty much just squeezed myself into their schedule. What's important is that we got to spend time with each other and eat free breakfast haha! :D

Lettering in the Wild

So I was bored at work and I was browsing through random photography classes in Skillshare when I chanced upon this short tutorial by Jamie Bartlet about incorporating your lettering into a photograph via masking.

The result should be like this, where the letters are kindof blending into the scene and not simply stuck there like it would as a normal text. I hope I did it right though, I tried my best!

Here's a photo of New York skyline with its byline (taken from Unsplash.com). This isn't perfect and by all means I'm seeing all the sharp edges and fake overlays lol but I enjoyed this one and learned a lot.

If you want to take the same class here's the link to it: http://skl.sh/2lhCXk0

It's a premium class so you need to pay for it, but if you sign up using my referral link, you can get 3 months Skillshare Premium membership for just $0.99. That's the promo I'm using right now and I tell you, it's every well worth it, what with the amount of quality classes facilitated by incredible artists. Sign up now and start learning!

The class is a very straightforward Photoshop tutorial and I was so happy to have finished it in one sitting haha! It's been a while since my last Skillshare class so you could say I'm pretty pleased!

Jeckie has taught me about masking before but I've never really understood what it's for. I always get confused about that white layer you're supposed to scratch off or something. This tutorial definitely cleared things up. Highly recommended!

 Here are a couple of my other trials,

Hope you enjoyed this post! :)

Part 3: Singapore Pic Spam

Changi General Hospital, Bugis Mall, the $1 ice cream sandwich, and going home.

Related:

Part 1 - Singapore Pic Spam

Part 2 - Singapore Pic Spam

For a public hospital, CGH looks so nice. They're very high-tech too. We were visiting my uncle who was confined in a ward and we had to register as visitors. They gave us each a slip of paper with our name and some barcode on it which will be used at the entrance. Only 4 people are allowed to visit at a time and since we're 7, we had to split in 2 groups. Super galing lang cos their turnstile will not let you pass if you're the 5th person visiting the same patient. >8D

After the visit, we came back to the bungalow to rest and recharge before heading to Bugis Mall. But before that, we checked out the pool first where our little nieces are playing around. It was so big! Too bad I wasn't able to try it!

We missed the shuttle to Tanah Merah so we're down to getting a GrabCar to get to our destination. 

Bugis is filled with tiangge's, similar to Divisoria or Greenhills Shopping Center. It's supposed to be one of the cheap places to buy souvenir items and stuff, but it's not really that cheap when you convert it. I did end up getting a shirt and a figurine though. :D

We arrived there too late so we weren't able to catch the food stalls open. We tried looking for food stalls out and across Bugis complex but most of them have packed up already. My sister, on the other hand went on a search for the famous $1 ice cream sandwich.

And found one!

I got a mango wafer ice cream but I was a bit unimpressed because it didn't taste natural. My sister enjoyed her durian flavored ice cream though. :D

And there you go, the last leg of our Singapore trip.

The next day we booked a GrabCar and flew back to Manila. :)

I thought I liked long flights but flying Cebu Pacific is a literal pain in the ass. 

I hope to be able to explore more of Singapore next time! I wanted to try the rides at USSR, visit Orchard Road at night, check out China Town, visit Gardens by the Bay, and many more! :D

Part 2: Singapore Pic Spam

January 22 - this covers: Singapore MRT, ride to Sentosa, and Universal Studios

Related:
Part 1 - Singapore Pic Spam
Part 3- Singapore Pic Spam

But first, my super cute nieces and nephew!

This was the day we decided to try out the SMRT (Singapore MRT). NSRCC offers regular shuttle services to and from Tanah Merah MRT station which helped a lot because we were so far from public transport. 

We had the whole bus to ourselves yey. 

I will always be impressed with their MRT system. It looks intimidating at first but once you get how it works, it's pretty simple and straightforward. If you follow the system map closely, you'll never get lost. 

We were headed to Sentosa so from Tanah Merah we need to alight at HarbourFront station where VivoCity is, then take the train entering Sentosa Island from there. I learned a lot about navigating the city via their train system and it's now one of the things that excites me about Singapore! Will definitely go back someday! :D

VivoCity mall reminds me of Fairview Terraces, one of my cousins said it looks like Robinsons Magnolia. Everything looks familiar because of the stores, we all have them here haha so I wasn't really thrilled to explore it. 

We booked a 4 dollar train to enter Sentosa Island and dropped off at the first stop where USSR is.

We didn't pay the entrance fee 'cos none us were game to try some rides. We just wanted to take pictures. Gosh we're all such titas. 

Another proof of tourist-ness lol, the globe! 

After taking pictures at Universal Studios, we headed to Changi General Hospital to visit my uncle who was hospitalized that morning due to low blood sugar. I just had to commend the hospital, 'cos their ambulance came so quick! And thankfully, one of the medics was Filipino so we didn't have a hard time communicating. One of my cousins is a doctor too so we weren't too stressed about it. Yun lang, the hospital fees! XD

On the way to the taxi bay...

Aaaah everything shined at this place.