Thailand: Sri Panwa Phuket

Sri Panwa Phuket is no doubt one of the best resorts in Phuket, Thailand! I spent two nights in one of their luxurious pool villas one rainy September. Although I couldn't explore much since the weather was gloomy, the pool villa definitely was more than enough reason to stay indoors. The sprawling resort is nestled on a hill in Cape Panwa, the southeastern end of Phuket.

From the main reception area, resort transportation took me to my villa facing the ocean. Every villa has a gate for added security and privacy.

One of the main features is your own infinity pool which connects from the sun deck, bed room and living room all the way to the large bathroom (which has its own jacuzzi and sauna) at the opposite end of the main bedroom. A sound system provides relaxing pipe-in music all throughout the villa.

The room is no doubt spacious, with glass walls that offer a beautiful view of the sea. There were so many corners where I could work or relax and just look at the sea, depending on my mood.

For dinner, I'd eat at Baba Poolclub where a larger infinity pool provides more relaxation to guests.

Pizza is one of their specialties and I obviously choose something different: Tom Yam Pizza and Parma Ham Truffle Pizza. I also tried the Massaman Curry with Pork.

Breakfast was at the main reception area. Aside from the usual offering, they have local Phuket dishes. But these have to be pre-ordered the night before which I made sure to try: Phad Se-Ew with Chicken, Phuket Style Dim Sum, Roti with Chicken Curry, and Phuket Style Soya Milk.

The resort also has its own private beach if you want to stay away from the crowds in Phuket's public beaches.

My stay at Sri Panwa Phuket was extremely pleasing! How I wish I could visit again. Definitely highly-recommended, especially for those who want to spend their honeymoon in Phuket.

Bookings can be made through the Sri Panwa Phuket website.

Related article
Beach hopping in Phuket (Rawai, Kata, Karon & Patong)

Thailand: Beach hopping in Phuket (Rawai, Kata, Karon & Patong)

People don't realize that Phuket is actually a large island, a province of Thailand in fact. It took me an about an hour to get from the Phuket International Airport on the northern end of the island to my resort on Cape Panwa, the southwestern tip of Phuket. I stayed at what many consider to be among the best resorts on the island, Sri Panwa Phuket, an experience I will share in another post.

Phuket actually has quite a number of popular beaches. Unfortunately, I had a hire a car to take me to see all the beaches. It was a rainy September when I was in Phuket so the sun was not out. But I got to see Rawai, Kata, Karon and Patong Beaches, albeit under overcast skies.

My first beach stop was Rawai Beach which was closest to the resort, being on the south side of Phuket as well. It's not really popular for swimming but you'll find traditional fishing boats and long tail boats moored at the beach, which tourists hire for snorkeling and sightseeing trips to nearby islands.

Kata Beach (Kata Yai and Kata Noi) and neighboring Karon Beach are popular surfing beaches. Kata, with its village atmosphere, is more family-oriented, and a quieter version of party Patong. Kata Noi has the resorts, restaurants and tourist shops while Kata Yai is the less-developed beach.

Karon Beach is the second largest tourist beach of Phuket, with three kilometers of white sand. Most of the beach is public since a busy road separates the resorts form the beach itself. The beach is said to be the most upscale of the beaches of Phuket. 

Patong Beach is Phuket's party beach. It gets rowdy especially in the evening with numerous hotels, restaurants, nightclubs and bars to choose from. While accommodation here can get expensive, backpacker accommodation is also abundant in the area. It actually caters to everyone from budget to five-star.

At the time of my visit, winds were strong and waves were high. While it was surfer's paradise, swimming was not allowed in certain areas. So watch out for the red warning flags before you head for the beach. If these flags are up, please do heed them. Hopefully, I get to visit Phuket again now that there are direct flights from Manila.

We arrange tours to Phuket, Thailand. Contact us at tours@ivanhenares.com for more details.

Masbate: Buntod Reef Marine Sanctuary, Pawa Mangrove Ecosystem & Bituon Beach

Masbate may have been the last province I visited. But it's definitely not the least. It was an exhilarating feeling as I stepped down from the plane into the Masbate Airport, finally having visited all 79 provinces of the Philippines. I wanted to explore as much of Masbate City as I could in a day. So as soon as I found a place to stay for the night, I was off to the beach.


I hired a tricycle to take me to Bituon Beach which is in the neighboring town of Mobo. It's one of the better beach resorts in Masbate. It took about 30 to 45 minutes to get there. If you want accommodation around Masbate City with a beach front you can swim in, this would be it.


But I wanted a more spectacular beach. And after inquiring around, it turned out there was a sandbar off the coast of Masbate City. So I hired a pump boat to take me to the Buntod Islet which is part of the Buntod Reef Marine Sanctuary.


It takes about 20 to 30 minutes to get to Buntod Islet. And from a distance, you could see that the scenery was stunning. On one side of the island was a small forest of dwarf mangroves. This area was covered with a lot of broken shells on the sand.

The opposite end of the island was a long sandbar. On one side of the sandbar, the water was warm, while the other side was cooler. There's also a large wooden structure which acts as a ranger station, where you could have lunch, take a nap or escape the heat of the sun. I didn't realize that Mayor Socrates Tuason was with his family at the hut that Saturday. He even invited us for a drink.



He suggested that I visit the Pawa Mangrove Ecosystem and Wildlife Park which I did. The main attraction is a 1.3-kilometer wooden bridge that connects Barangay Pawa and Sitio Daang Lungsod. It requires some hiking from the National Highway to get to it. There are some huts along the elevated boardwalk where you could have a picnic. And the area is also a great place for bird-watching.


I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening sleeping and resting from the heatstroke that hit me since the sun was scorching hot that day. In between beaches, I got to see some heritage structures around Masbate city including the Masbate Provincial Capitol, several Gabaldon schools, and the Bayot Ancestral House.

Rodeo Masbateño is the main festival of Masbate. But I'll have to come back in April to experience this rodeo show. If I had more time in Masbate, I would have arranged a visit to one or two ranches which are several hours from Masbate City.

Where to Stay in Masbate
I stayed at Baywalk Garden Hotel for one night which is quite comfortable and has free WiFi. It's actually by the shore (can't swim though since it's too shallow) where the nightlife is. But it's not close to the town proper. I moved to GV Hotel which is in town and closer to the airport since my flight was very early the next day.

Baywalk Hotel - (0907) 3042331 / (056) 3336648
Bituon Beach Resort - (056) 3338065 / (056) 3332242
MG Hotel - (056) 3335614
Hotel Sea Blick - (056) 3336911

Where to eat in Boracay: Fishbar Boracay and Zuzuni

Boracay just has too many restaurants to choose from. And many are really good! Here are two of the restaurants we ate at during the SEAIR and Microtel Boracay Bloggers' Tour. The first is Fishbar Boracay in the D'Mall area. And the second is Zuzuni located along the beach front in Station 1.




Fishbar Boracay is obviously a seafood restaurant. But they do serve other dishes too (good for me)! We were served a whole gamut of dishes from their very popular Beer Batter Fish and Chips, Fish Burger, Calamares and a large platter with a little bit of everything among many others.



For dinner, we had the most authentic Greek cuisine on could find on Boracay at Zuzuni. We were first served pita bread bread with three kinds of dips: Melitzanosalata (eggplant dip), Tirokafteri (feta cheese spread), and Tzatziki (yogurt dip). Then there was the Greek Summer Salad made with kalamata olives, tomatoes, cucumber tossed with herbs, olive oil and red wine vinegar and topped with feta cheese.

On skewers was the Souvlaki which is assorted grilled meat or fish and vegetables. There also was Garides Saganaki Pasta which has prawns in pomodoro sauce, and Moussaka which is something like lasagna with eggplant , ground beef and ground pork, topped with bechamel sauce and cheese.


But the pièce de résistance is none other than the Mati Chocolate Sin dessert. In fact, Zuzuni is very famous for it. This dessert is Valrhona chocolate cake served with vanilla ice cream. I can still remember the rich chocolate ooze out of the cake as I savored every bite.

Zuzuni
Boat Station 1, White Beach, Boracay
+63 920 982-9848
+63 36 288-4477

Boracay: SEAIR and Microtel Boracay Bloggers' Tour

Boracay has many other beaches aside from the very hip and happening White Beach. In fact, many of the other beaches offer peace and quiet one would not think is still possible on Boracay. Diniwid Beach is one of them. And thanks to the SEAIR and Microtel Boracay Bloggers' Tour, I found myself back in Diniwid Beach since we stayed in the very comfortable Microtel Boracay.


Here's an old post I made on Microtel Boracay which says it all. I was pleasantly surprised that Diniwid Beach got its sand back since when we first visited two years, the beach was almost gone. It actually looks like a shorter stretch of White Beach now sans the activity.


For our first night, we had dinner at Mama's Fish House, the restaurant of Microtel Boracay. After dinner, we all boarded the free shuttle of Microtel to check out what was happening at White Beach.

Microtel Inn & Suites Boracay
Diniwid Beach, Malay, Aklan
Tel No. +63 36 2884311
Fax +63 36 2884312
Mobile +63 917 7165004
E-mail boracay@microtelphilippines.com

Cebu: Bantayan Island & island hopping to Virgin Island

I found myself back in Bantayan Island, Cebu. Early in the semester, I asked my tourism students to vote on where they wanted to go for their Out of Classroom Learning Activity (OCLA). And after a long deliberation, Bantayan Island edged out the competition. So with 45 students in tow, we trooped to Bantayan Island.

Arriving on the first flights, I had arranged for a private bus to fetch us at the Mactan Cebu International Airport since we were a really big group. We first had a buffet breakfast at Abuhan Tres for Php150 per head before making the three hour drive north to Hagnaya Port, the jump-off point for Bantayan Island.


Unfortunately, despite being sunny, the seas were a bit rough that afternoon. But we managed to arrive in Bantayan Island in one piece. After checking-in at the Santa Fe Beach Resort, we had lunch and some free time.


Since it was a tiring trip, I allowed the rest of the class to stay at the resort while those up to it joined me to Bantayan town to visit the centuries-old Bantayan Church and what's left of its old houses. It's sad to see that just a little over a year after I last visited, at least two houses were now gone or in a state of disrepair, replaced by modern establishments which could have adaptively-reused the old structures. For more attractions around Bantayan, read Bantayan Island, Cebu is rich in heritage and great beaches!


Back in Sta. Fe, more jeeps ferried the class to D'Jungle where we enjoyed their sumptuous Php300 buffet. No doubt, everyone was happy!


The next morning, I made sure my students were up early since we were going to visit one of the smaller islands around Bantayan. Although the beach front of Sta. Fe Beach Club is already nice, others opt to visit Virgin (Silion) Island or the other nearby islands such as Hilantaga-an, Jibitnil and Guintacan for more beach options.



The boat ride should cost about Php1500. While there's a Php50 entrance fee for Virgin Island. But you can spend the whole day there and simply relax and enjoy the sun and sand. We didn't get to stay too long since we wanted to catch the ferry back to Hagnaya before lunch for us to reach Cebu City before sundown. We had a walking tour around the city's historic center scheduled.

So after five-minute showers at the resort, we rushed to the ferry for our trip back to Hagnaya. Fortunately, the waves were not as bad as the day before.


Where to eat / restaurants in Bantayan Island
Despite its relative seclusion, food is not a problem in Bantayan. In fact, it’s one of the island’s attractions. And most of the restaurants are owned by Europeans.

Highly-recommended is dinner at D'Jungle, owned by Franco-German chef Robert Merbach, where they serve sumptuous buffets every Friday and Saturday. Any serious foodie will be in food heaven! Their buffet spread can have as much as fifty dishes which include a wide variety of seafood, meats and greens cooked in various styles. At Php300 per head which includes bottomless iced tea, how could you go wrong? It’s most definitely worth it to come back to Bantayan if only for this buffet.

Offering a similar buffet is the Marisqueira O’ Portuguese Bar and Restaurant next door which competes with D ‘Jungle head on with its own weekend buffets and great Mediterranean food.

Other interesting restaurants include Mabuhay Balikbayan Restaurant which serves great pizza, pasta, salads and seafood; Blue Ice, HR Restaurant and the Floating Bar are all owned by Swedish nationals. Floating Bar which literally floats on water, serves great tacos and burritos. There's also Coucou owned by a Belgian, and Hard Kock Kafe. If you’re looking for food stalls, Arjaymay serves great grilled seafood.

Where to stay / hotels and resorts in Bantayan Island
Here's a list of places to stay in Bantayan Island in alphabetical order:
Abaniko Beach Resort (0919) 2427622
Budyong Beach Resort (032) 4385700
Hard Kock Kafe ‘n’ Kottages (032) 4389075
Hoyohoy Villas (032) 4389223
Kota Beach Resort (032) 4389042
Marlin Beach Resort (0917) 3647027 / (032) 4389093
Ogtong Cave Resort (032) 4380165 / 4389129
St. Bernard Beach Resort (0917) 9636162 / (032) 4389833
Sta. Fe Beach Club (032) 4389090 / 4389107
Tristan’s Beach Resort (032) 4389041
Yooneek Beach Resort (032) 4389124

Zamboanga del Norte: Dakak Park Beach Resort in Dapitan

When flying to Dipolog, make sure to include Dakak Park Beach Resort in your itinerary. In fact, most tourists fly there to visit Dakak, a really popular beach resort which has maintained its quaint 1980s charm. Their representative picks you up at the Dipolog Airport which is about 45 minutes away from Dakak and conveniently ferries you to the resort in an air-conditioned van.


After checking in, we had to walk a small distance to get to our villa room. The resort is sprawling! They have swimming pools in the resort. But I personally liked the privacy of the beach at Dakak. You can just spend the whole afternoon on the lounge chairs for a relaxing nap. Or visit some of the nearby islands.

The afternoon we arrived, we went around the historic center of Dapitan which is full of memories of Jose Rizal's exile there. But I'll talk about that in another entry.


We went back to Dakak to try their popular dinner buffet. I've heard a lot of good stuff about their dinner buffets and I wasn't disappointed. But more than the food, it's the cultural performances which make the dining experience at Dakak complete. In fact, it was a showcase of Filipino songs and dances, including local Bisaya songs. The next night, it was a Hawaiian-themed cultural performance and they do it quite well.


From Dakak, there are package tours available including city tours such as visits to Gloria de Dapitan and Gloria's Fantasyland, a cove hopping tour, visits to Aliguay and Selinog Island and the Dampa and Burgos River Cruise (take note that this boat leaves only at 11 a.m. and prior reservation is needed since there is a minimum of 10 people) similar to the one of the Loboc River in Bohol.


Dakak Park Beach Resort also has an Aqua Sports Facilities Center where you can rent boats, kayaks, hobbie cats, jetskis, go water skiing or take a banana boat ride. You can also rent scuba diving equipment and even go night diving! Other recreational activities include golf, bowling, billiards, horseback riding, tennis and mountain bike riding around the park among others.

Dakak Park Beach Resort
Taguilon, Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte
(0919) 7959416 / (0915) 3185238 / (065) 2136813
Manila: (02) 7241461 / 7247375
Cebu: (032) 2310200