No Better Time, No Better Place - Part 2

Days 2 and 3, March 17 and 18

It was the best birthday ever.

As planned, Manny, Jog, Tif and I heard the 6:30AM mass taking the Discovery shuttle which is available anytime. (The night before, Tif took the shuttle at 10PM to go to D’Mall to buy tequila. They even waited for him.) Guest Services had told me that the mass was not in Tagalog. So I assumed it would be in Visayan. To our pleasant surprise, it was in English. It was our first time to hear mass together as a family since Christmas 2007 (Jog and Tif hear mass with their girlfriends), so that was blessing enough for me. After mass, we decided to walk back to Discovery along the beach. While I was busy reading my text messages, I looked up and saw a faint rainbow. But it was fleeting. As soon as I saw it, I asked Jog to take a picture of it but it disappeared before he could even get the camera out of the case. I took that as God’s gift to me. It was the first of many surprises of the day. :-)

Breakfast was again the buffet at Discovery. Except for the fruits, the cheese platter, the noodle, egg and pancake stations, everything was different. Instead of champorado, they had arroz caldo (very good with all the condiments); instead of longganiza, tocino, and instead of sausage patties, honey ham, etc. Again, we ate a lot. After breakfast, the guys went back to sleep, while Manny and I went to the beach to lie on the beach beds. When the beach attendant greeted me “good morning,” I replied and said “it is a good morning because it’s my birthday.” As we were relaxing on the beach beds, the attendant plied us with pandan flavored ice water which was so refreshing. About an hour later, the food and beverage staff and beach attendants surprised us as they came singing happy birthday and bearing a small chocolate-pistacchio cake. It even had 1 candle which I blew. They were so nice!

Around 1PM, we went to D’Mall to have lunch. I opted to have Filipino food and we went to the chicken inasal restaurant where we had batchoy (for long life), and chicken inasal. Both were good. (There is another inasal restuarnt – Mang Inasal – but it was crowded and they didn’t have batchoy.) We then did a little shopping (P900hammock for a friend, 2 for P150 T-shirts for the household staff, and 7 for P100 bracelets for Jog’s staff). We then rushed back to our suite for our massage (not at the Mandala spa but the roving masseuses recommended by the beach attendant and sanctioned by Discovery) which was only P400 per hour. Not bad for a hotel. The three of us had the massage while Manny soaked in the tub. (In this way, Discovery is also very accommodating. They do not force guests to use their own facilities. The night before, the Yellow Cab delivery boy went up to our room accopanied by a Discovery staff to deliver the pizza. We didn't have to go down to the lobby. Similarly, even if Mandala Spa is located in Discovery, they allow outside masseuses vetted by them to do massages for their guests in their rooms.)

After the massage, we went back to relax on the beach beds and swim a little in the beach and then in the pool. After the swim, we had a water massage in the heated Jacuzzi. It was so invigorating. We could have stayed there the whole night except we got hungry. When we returned to the suite to dress up for dinner, there were a plate of mango with sticky rice (the best I’ve tasted) and a round birthday cake for me with the words “Happy Birthday Mrs. Cabugao.” :-)

For dinner, we decided to stay in Discovery and partake of their Mongolian buffet (P610 plus 10% service charge). There weren’t too many selections – beef, chicken, shrimps, squids, mushrooms, and greens and about 6 sauces – but it was good enough since the buffet included a delicious clam soup, a salad bar, and a chocolate cake. After dinner, we had wine in our balcony. So it was a birthday of surprises and doing all the things I love to do. Coming on the heels of the wonderful parties last Saturday which were filled with love and laughter, Manny’s recovery and Anna’s pregnancy, my 55th birthday is undoubtedly the happiest ever.

On Wednesday, our last day, Manny and I again woke up early to hear the 6:30AM mass. But the church was closed when we got there. It turned out that the weekday mass is at 6:30AM except on Wednesday when it’s at 5:30PM. So we just went back to the hotel to change and then walked on the beach from Discovery to Boracay Regency where we stayed last June. It was low tide so the beach was a huge white powdery expanse. It was beautiful! When we returned to Discovery, and having used up our complimentary breakfasts, we just had the tea, coffee and fruits in the suite plus my birthday cake. Then we went out to relax on the beach beds and swim in the beach. Again, we were spoiled with a constant supply of pandan flavored water, and were also given a refreshing macapuno ice candy and calamansi juice. All the time, the attendants were there to clean our sunglasses, refill our glasses, take our picture, fix our towels, etc. For lunch, we went to next door Kasbah, a Mediterranean restaurant, where we had gambas and chicken-beef-scallop-prawn kebabs with basmati rice and pita bread. Everything was good except for the beef which could be more tender.

Discovery had nicely agreed to extend our checkout to 1:30PM so that was when we left paradise. But when we got to the airport, we were advised that our flight was delayed for an hour due to the heavy air traffic in Manila. So that was the only sore point in our trip but at least I got to write this account of our trip. And that’s nothing compared to the wonderful experience we had in Discovery Shores. Their motto is Service with a Heart. Indeed, it would be difficult to find such excellent service anywhere – consistently friendly, efficient, and anticipatory but not intrusive – at all levels.

My do over list? I’d bring my Ipod because the bedroom has a nice Ipod dock and also to block out the noise in the Caticlan terminal, and my goggles because the pool is heavily chlorinated. I’d also not rely on the Discovery shuttle pick up. After our shopping at D’Mall last Wednesday, we called the hotel for pick up. They asked us to wait for 10 minutes but we ended up waiting for 30 minutes because of the numerous airport transfers which understandably take priority. We couldn’t take the tricycle because the bumpy ride might be painful for Manny’s surgical wounds. But taking the shuttle from the hotel was always a breeze. We didn’t have to wait more than 2 minutes for our ride.

So one of my best family holidays ever. It helped that we had been to Boracay many times before and had seen all the places and done all the water activities we wanted to do. So we had all the time to enjoy Discovery Shores. And we can’t wait to go there again and stay longer.

Here are the pictures. Please double click on the photo for bigger pictures.