The amazing trip to Davao, Philippines with Cebu Pacific Air (Part 2)

Hello guys, I’m back to share with you the 2^nd part of my adventure in Davao, Philippines.

So after a good night’s rest at the very comfortable Park Inn at Radisson Hotel, we checked out and started our 2^nd day of adventure.

Our 1^st stop was to the beautiful Samal Island for the “Taklobo” Giant Clams Tour, which was about an hour boat ride from Davao. And since we had time to spare, why not snap some photos of our #ootd? =)

Outfit sponsored by Billabong

I’ve yet to visit Maldives but the boat ride to Samal Island already blew me away with the amazing view.

We arrived at our snorkelling site and started gearing up. All of us couldn’t wait to get into the water!!

Some of the beautiful photos captured by our official photographers, Christian and BJ, from Cebu Pacific Air.

The Giant Clam Sanctuary on Samal Island is an ongoing conservation project of the Davao del Norte State College (DNSC) Marine Reserve Park and Multipurpose Hatchery.

Can you count the number of giant clamshells? There are approximately 3,700 giant clamshells spanning across the 14-hectare sea.

We then snorkeled to shallow waters and were greeted by a ton of starfishes!!!

It was the first time holding on to living starfishes and it was really fun. We realised that there were a large amount of tentacles and could get pretty strong! =)

After snorkelling, we took a short boat ride to Maxima Aquafun. When hearing the name, I was reminded of our very own Fantasy Island in Sentosa back in the days. If you guys do not know what I’m talking about, you are probably 10 years younger than I am. Haha.. And boy was I right. They have this giant slide that throws you right into the sea!

So after taking the endless stairs up to the very top of the giant slide, which is constructed next to a cliff, I was ready to take my plunge!

I was holding on to a GoPro throughout the ride and I honestly can’t wait to see the priceless expression I had when going down to slide…haha…

After the whole day of activities under the sun, it was time to head back to wash up for a sumptuous dinner at the Waterfront Insular Hotel.

Before dinner was served, we were treated to a cultural performance by the Kalumon Performing Group. The performance showcased pieces rooted in the culture indigenous to the Filipinos. The performers performed with so much passion and enthusiasm, which stirred up many emotions within me, even though I couldn’t understand the language.

Dinner was served after a heartwarming speech by the Regional Director of the Philippines Department of Tourism.

A group shot to end Day 2!

Head over to Limaran’s blog, limaranagustina.blogspot.com, to find out what we did on Day 3.

On our final day in Davao, we decided to head out to buy some souvenirs for you guys!! We were all given a budget to pick up anything we want at a popular shopping spot, the Aldevinco Shopping Center.

Aldevinco is an 8,370 sq meter commercial complex that is filled with arts and crafts, showcasing the culture and heritage of the Mindanaoan.

With a limited budget and only an hour to browse through all the small shops, I tried my very best to pick up something the best represents this beautiful city!

Here are the 2 items we picked out from the thousands and thousands of souvenirs. I know you can’t really see what I bought, so don’t forget to head over to @nuffnangsg’s Dayre page to see what we all picked for you guys =)

This pretty much sums up my amazing journey in Davao City. With a city that is so safe and filled with good food and eco adventure, this is definitely a new playground for Singaporeans. I will like to thank Cebu Pacific Air and Philippine Department of Tourism – Region 11 (Davao) for reaching out to us Singaporeans, sharing this new treasure spot with us. As we made our way back to our lovely country, we were served by yet another
awesome team of heart warming flight crew from Cebu Pacific Air. Really love the newuniform on them. =)

Cebu Pacific Air flies to Davao City thrice weekly from Singapore at the very affordable rate and fares start as low as SGD182.

Click here to find out more or call +65-315-80808 for bookings and promos!

TANGS #ShopForGood Campaign

[Sponsored Post]

In this fast paced and developed city of ours, everyone is always spending money on the latest technology to the latest clothing on the rack! We are a citizen of shopping addicts and nothing is going to stop or slow us down in our spending habits.

This month, TANGS unites brands in support of good causes and socially responsible shopping with exclusive products and promotions for various beneficiaries and lets you #ShopForGood.

For the month of October, TANGS will donate 50cents to the Singapore Children’s Society for every receipt generated (up to a max. of $100,000). More than 50 brands have come on board to be a part of this wonderful social movement.

I was fortunate to be invited to TANGS’ shopping event on 10 October for an afternoon of fun and responsible shopping. There were also a number of interesting workshops that were happening at TANGS and I was more than happy to join in!

First stop, Terrarium Workshop by Mossingarden. Mossingarden is a verdant venture that began with an idea to re-purpose products naturally. No products are the same though identical. Through adventures and the love for nature, with a flair for artistic beauty, it seeks to merge together art and nature to a whole new level. All works are produced with delicate care and creativity.

My very own jar of MOSS!!!

With the founder of Mossingarden

Next stop, I went to Royal Selangor for some banging and clanging. I’m not talking about the iron paradise aka the weight room; I was at Royal Selangor to make my very own pewter bowl!

Got my name engraved on the pewter bowl before we started with all the banging and knocking!

I had the lovely Vivian to guide me through the whole process of making my pewter bowl. I was determined to make a really nice one because I wanted to give it to Limaran =)

The friendly but serious teacher

The final look of my pewter bowl & my proud teacher

Make your very own pewter bowl for $30 and Royal Selangor will donate 50% of it to charity! How cool is that?

After all the hard work, I was led to TANGS beautiful Hideaway at level 7! I didn’t know that such a place in TANGS existed. And while we were taking a breather, the star for the day arrived. I’ve been watching his shows since I was little and he has always been one of my favourite TV actors. This guy never grows old and I was so honoured to be sharing a personal conversation with him about his journey in the entertainment industry.

Ladies & gentlemen, the one and only…….EDMUND CHEN!!!

Edmund Chen was invited to TANGS as he collaborated with Samsonite to produce some really beautiful and limited edition travel luggage.

All proceeds from this series will be donated to Thye Hua Kuan Moral Society during TANGS’ very first Silent Auction on 29 October, 7pm. (http://bit.ly/TANGS-SilentAuction)

Edmund Chen was led to the huge crowd awaiting his appearance at level 3 where he did some Samsonite giveaways.

I am truly impressed how TANGS can bring everyone together with a powerful movement and yet at the same time not requiring consumers to change any habits at all. Just do what we, Singaporeans, do best and we’ll be doing a good deed with responsible shopping =)

#ShopForGood is a conscious decision by TANGS to take the first steps to a whole new way to shop, for the greater good. 

So head over to TANGS this month to do your part!

Tech Talk: The Jawbone UP3 Review (Part 1)

Being in the health & fitness industry, I’ve had the privilege to do product testings for different sports products. But the one thing that always interests me the most is fitness trackers. 2014 was said to be the year of the fitness trackers/wearables and true enough, many players came in to try competing in this new “space”. And I’m sure you’ll agree with me that many of these players are not found in this market anymore.

But for brands that are committed to improve their products continuously, some pretty amazing things start to happen.

This year, Jawbone launched their most sophisticated fitness tracker yet, the Jawbone UP3.

I will be dedicating 2 blog posts for the Jawbone UP3 as there are a good amount of functions that is worth looking at =) Lets go!

If you have been following the Jawbone UP line, you’ll know that the UP is already having some pretty cool functions that some of the other well-known fitness trackers still do not provide. For example, the Sleep Function.

Before I go into the details of the product, let’s have a look at the new UP3.

The Jawbone UP3 comes in a nice clean packaging with the user manual & charging port nicely hidden away. And rightfully so, the main product is the band itself. This band is a one size fit most with an ultra-light weight of only 29grams.

       1) Activity Tracking

Like most activity trackers, the Jawbone UP3 tracks the number of steps that I take. I am able to set daily goals and even have a challenge with friends who are using any Jawbone UP products.

As Limaran and I are both testing out the Jawbone UP3, I sent her a 3 DAYS DUEL. The person who takes the most amounts of steps in 3 days wins. And here’s the result after 3 days =(

Limaran leads a super active lifestyle as a person trainer. She’s always up on her feet as she’s training clients throughout the day. During her free time, she’ll be getting her workouts in and preparing her meals in the gym. She hardly sits down!

As for me, I spend a good amount of time sitting in the office settling business proposals and maintaining my clients’ accounts. And I’m really ashamed to say that I can be sitting down for 2-3 hours without getting my butt off the chair! Plus I drive and Limaran doesn’t, so that all adds up.

The Jawbone UP3 not only tells you how many steps I take a day, it takes this data to the next level by explaining to me my level of activity:

I especially like the function where it plots on the graph showing the level of activity at different time of the day. And looking at the daily overview, I seem to be able to hit my daily activity goals only during the weekends.

Like the rest of the Jawbone UP products, there is an idle reminder function. When you’re idling for duration of time, the tracker will vibrate and prompt you to move about. This is particularly useful for desk bound workers. =)

      2) Sleep tracking

The one function that I find Jawbone surpassing its competitors will be none other than the sleep tracking function. The Jawbone UP3 has the advanced sleep function where it tracks your heartrate throughout the night and tells what kind of sleep you’re actually getting.

Light Sleep – During the transitional stage of sleep, you tend to move more and can be easily awakened.

REM(Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep – Characterised by dreaming, REM sleep is essential for consolidating memories and replenishing mood boosting chemicals like serotonin.

Deep Sleep – Deep sleep’s many benefits include boosting your immune system and aiding in repair of muscles and tendons.

This function gave me a huge shock when I saw my sleep results after the 1^st night:

Out of the 6hr15min of sleep, I only had 13min of deep sleep and 0min of REM Sleep!!!! I was basically getting zero quality sleep. This explains why I tend to feel tired even after a long night’s sleep, feeling like I have never rested at all.

I will like to show you how a good night’s rest look like:

As my account is linked to Limaran’s, I’m able to see the kind of rest she’s getting every night. Limaran gets good quality rest  as compared to mine. This made me start to read up on the things I should and shouldn’t do to promote Deep & REM sleep.

After making 2 small changes to my pre-bedtime regime, the quality of my sleep improved slightly.

I’m probably still a long way to reach the ideal good night’s rest but I will keep trying!

That’s all I have for you in this post. If you’re already wanting to know where you can get your hands on the Jawbone UP 3, Visit Ban Leong’s Webstore at: http://banleong.com/sg/jawbone

Ban Leong is also throwing in Free Express Delivery when you enter “Freeshipping” at the checkout page.

Till the next post……….