The Greg Secker Foundation Village

I feel really lucky to be able to spend time with these amazing people, most especially the forex guru and philanthropist, Greg Secker, on a weekend filled with a lot of interesting activities.

We flew to Iloilo and stayed at Richmonde Hotel, then we flew to Lemery via a helicopter. We visited the Greg Secker Foundation Village, and met a lot of nice people there.

After three days and two nights in Iloilo, we flew back to Manila. We were able to volunteer at the medical mission of Starkey Hearing Foundation, and I was able to meet Bill Austin, the founder of Starkey Technologies, the top manufacturer of hearing aids in the US and 6th globally. 

Oh, we actually rode the chopper from BGC to QC and back. So while in QC, we also went toy and book shopping at Trinoma, which we donated to the children of the House of Refuge.

We really had a fun and productive weekend. :)

Boracay Trip 2016 with the Queens

While we were in Davao, we talked about how much we missed Boracay. Dayanna has been wanting to go there as she kept hearing good stories about it. Therefore, we decided to fly to Boracay immediately the morning after we landed in Manila. Thanks to Lady for securing our free Skyjet tickets. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to join us. Gosh, imagine how tiring our Davao-Manila-Boracay-Manila 6-day trip was! But no regrets 'cause we had so much fun! Well, it would have been more fun if the weather cooperated.

Anyway, we would like to thank the following for the quick but fun trip:

-Skyjet
-Henann Lagoon Resort
-White Sand Aquasports
-Wave Bar
-The Pig Out Bistro
-JB Alonzo Law Firm
-Caticlan Airport Officials
-Manila, Cebu, and Boracay friends

Sharing with you our post-Boracay video.

A Quick Boracay Summer

So there I was again, without any plans of going to Boracay, I got dragged by a friend who wanted to celebrate her birthday at the island. I was only able to make up my mind on the last minute. And because we took Air Asia, it meant another delayed flight, so we waited for more than 2 hours. 

We flew from Manila to Kalibo International Airport, where we met up with our friend who came from Dumaguete, but flew via Cebu. It was already midnight when we got to the boat from Caticlan to Boracay. The boat rates really inflate at those hours so it's better to take day flights. We got to the island at 1am and we just headed out for a quick meal before going to bed.

So basically we did a lot of eating, photo op, and partying (without even drinking much). But I would say that eating was the highlight of our trip haha! In fact, this was the only Boracay trip wherein I have completed all the daily hotel breakfasts. It's because we've been going to bed early because we're not drunk. Talk about change! haha

It's also great to find out that some other friends were there too, so I got to hangout with them. Anyway, here's how the trip went on:

Boracay Getaway from Roycie S. on Vimeo.

Day 1
Station 2 - Friend got a Henna Tattoo
Two Seasons - Oyster Sisig and Four Cheese Pizza (never fails!)
Station 1- Photo Op and a bit swimming by the beach until sunset
Olé - Late dinner
Summer Place - Friend met up with a guy from Tinder but ended up being with a better person we met by the bar
Epic - I met up with my friends from Manila and hung out 'til the break of dawn

summer girls :) #summer2016 #boracayhits #islandlife #citygirltravels #girlsquad

A photo posted by Roycie S. (@royciepoisie) on Mar 31, 2016 at 4:56am PDT

Day 2
Puka Beach - Swimming and chilling (super pretty beach but the drinks were overpriced)
Spider House - Dinner with new friends
Epic - Party (and some drinking)

Day 3
Real Coffee - Lunch
Don Churros - Churro and Lava Cake fix
Jonah's Fruit Shake - Of course, we won't miss this
Las Brisas - Swimming and bonding by the pool
Station 2 - Buffet Dinner (another must for every Boracay trip)
Epic - My friend's birthday celebration
Then while we're a bit tipsy 'coz of our drinks, we had to go back to the hotel to get our stuff; then we headed to the port then the Kalibo Airport to catch our red-eye flight. However, our flight was ultimately delayed for like 4 hours, so we wished we just stayed and rebooked our flight (it's free anyway).

A photo posted by Roycie S. (@royciepoisie) on Apr 2, 2016 at 5:19am PDT

And that's another quick but awesome summer trip! Where to next? Just wait for it! :)

Stepping Up the Beer Game: Pinoy-made Craft Beers can go world-class too!

(As published on Hardware Zone Magazine's November 2015 Issue)

Pinoys are certified beer lovers. From simple hangouts to big parties, beers are always a part of almost every Filipino gathering. Typical beer drinkers consume highly commercialized local beers; but these days, the craft beers produced by local microbrewers are gradually changing the drinking scene.

With the emergence of locally produced craft beers in the local alcoholic beverage industry, the Filipinos are offered with a more diverse selection when it comes to flavors and beer profile.

As defined by the Brewers Association, craft brewers are those that are small, independent, and traditional. Craft beer may be produced in small volumes but it actually steps up the Filipino beer game. These local craft beers can actually go up against imported beers because of their world-class quality.

I recently got to visit the state of the art brewing facility of a new local craft brewer in Imus, Cavite. While other microbrewers do brewing manually and in small workspaces, Great Islands Craft Brewery uses high-tech equipment in a big work area, making it the biggest craft brewery in the Philippines.

 Great Islands takes pride on its Master Brewer, Allan “Baldis” Agala who graduated from the World Brewing Academy – Siebel Institute of Chicago. Another brilliant mind behind GICB is Mags Villafuerte, an importer and distributor of alcoholic beverages and one of the co-founders of The Beer Club of Manila, a beer enthusiast group that aims to educate Filipinos about beer and beer styles. To complete the team is Mario McDermott, a passionate American beer brewer who used to brew beer back in his hometown in Texas before moving to the Philippines as a microbiology scientist in a multinational pharmaceutical company.

Great Islands presents a wide range of beer flavors. Two of its seasonal flavors are the Halo-Halo Ale, inspired by the famous Filipino dessert that is perfect for summer, and the Bicol Express Wild Chili Ale, inspired by the famous spicy dish from the Bicol region. Its all-year round flavors are the 7107 Wheat Ale and its bestseller, the Pearl of the Orient Indio Pale Ale. The latter goes perfectly with Filipino “pulutan” such as Sisig, Crispy Pata, and Adobo.

You can now enjoy these interesting local craft beer flavors in the following establishments: The Bottle Shop, The Perfect Pint, Chihuahua, Buffalo Wings and Things, Big Bad Wolf, and Belle and Dragon.

Wanna get a discounted trip to Palawan?

One of the best local destinations I've visited is Puerto Princesa, Palawan...and I would always keep coming back to this paradise.

It was in 2012 when I last visited this place and I could still remember the kind of adventure I had together with my classmates from graduate school.

Let me share to you a couple of photos taken during the trip and find the special discount coupon code at the bottom of the page. :)

Mitra's Ranch

Ugong Rock Adventure (spelunking)

Underground River Tour

zipline

before the boat ride to the Underground River

Island hopping at Honda Bay

Besides these places, we also visited the Palawan Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center, Plaza Cuartel, Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral, Baker's Hill, Binuatan Weaving Center, and we also watched fireflies at Iwahig. We've tried really good food places such as the Badjao Seafood Restaurant and Kalui Restaurant. To know more about these places, you can visit my previous blog posts: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3.

You too can visit Palawan...and with a discount! Just check out http://letspalawan.com and use this coupon code: CityGirlDiariesC029

Enjoy your trip! :)

Moving loved ones closer through LINE Premium Call

Stronger connections through an exclusive promotion for Filipino users

On August 6, 2014, LINE, the world's leading mobile platform with 490 million users, has launched a new LINE Premium Call promotion exclusive for the Philippines during the "LINE More, Be Closer!" event held at Makati Shangri-la Hotel. For Filipinos, communication is vital in preserving and strengthening relationships. With an aim to build lasting relationships, LINE formally introduced LINE Premium Call, a globally renowned call service, along with loads of other surprises exclusive to its Filipino users.

Since its launch in the Philippines, the global messaging and call app continued to roll out exciting new features that brought its Filipino users closer together. LINE sees this as one of million reasons to celebrate its evolution from a budding messaging application to a full-fledged mobile ecosystem with pools of rip-roaring features. LINE Philippines has also launched partnerships with some of the country’s biggest names from various industries—including Jollibee, Bench, and Family Mart.

“With the launch of LINE service and TV commercial last year, LINE has become one of the leading mobile platforms in the Philippines,” said Greg Kim, head of LINE Philippines, during the event. “We have come up with a campaign exclusive for the users in the Philippines for them to connect and be closer to their beloved friends and families.”

Building stronger connections with affordable price

LINE Premium Call allows users to make low-cost calls domestically and internationally to both landlines and mobile devices from inside the LINE app. With over 490 million users worldwide, the globally renowned app helps users in the Philippines reconnect with their families and friends through enhanced call quality and better network conditions.

“Compared to other leading brands, LINE Premium Call provides the lowest price in all the Philippines’ most popular calling destinations because we believe that closer bonds among our loved ones should start with stronger connections,” added Kim. “LINE promises to enhance its services further through exciting new features and add-ons to give our users more ways to communicate with their loved ones.”

Better call quality

Since the launch of LINE free call service, LINE has been fully committed to consistently improve the quality of our LINE-to-LINE voice call, video call and LINE Premium Call. As a part of this commitment, LINE conducts ceaseless research and experiments under the testing environment that meets the rigorous international standards, including ITU-T[1] recommendations.

As a result, LINE’s voice call usage experienced a huge leap of 5.6 times and the clarity of the voice quality improved by 120% between late 2012 and the first half of 2014. Moreover, Japan’s leading newspaper Nikkei even recognized LINE Premium Call as the Best New Product of Q2 in 2014 based on its competitive price and quality. 

---

[1] International Telecommunication Union’s Telecommunication Standardization Sector

LINE is my number one choice when it comes to communicating with my loved ones,” said Jessy Mendiola, one of this generation’s leading actresses. Likewise, host-actor Matteo Guidicelli said that nothing can match LINE in terms of call quality. The two rising Filipino superstars who are the brand ambassadors of LINE, featured on LINE TV commercial, joined the event to share their personal stories and to encourage other LINE users to use LINE Premium Call.

LINE Premium Call promotion

The event also marked the launch of LINE’s newest Premium Call promotion exclusive in the Philippines. LINE will be giving away coupons with 300 LINE Premium Call credits to diners of 23 Munchpunch affiliated restaurants in 100 branches from August 14^th to September 13^th. These call credit coupons will also be given out to online shoppers of Lazada website from August 14^th to 23^rd.

“LINE promises to continue its efforts in focusing more on features that these Philippine users will love while providing the best communication experience. Latest features including LINE Selfie Stickers, Hidden Chat and many other initiatives are all part of our ongoing effort. We always strive to provide everyone the best messaging and call experience. We hope more users in the Philippines are connected with their friends and family through LINE Premium Call,” Kim concluded.

At the event, there was a demo of the LINE Premium Call, which actually worked well. And I gotta try it on my own too! Anyway, I enjoyed the event and what I loved the most was the loot bag I got which was full of LINE premium items, my favorite of which was the stuffed toy! :) Here are some of my photos during the event:

LINE's brand ambassadors: Jessy Mendiola & Matteo Guidicelli

sad BROWN

I posed with Cony while I was holding Moon :))

ambush interview

please excuse my haggard self :))

xoxo,

city girl