What:  Sky Day Tour (Team Socials)
When:  Friday - August 27, 2010
Where: Crown Regency Hotels and Towers
 

This was the final agreement of my former team after receiving the CSAT incentives for July in which we ranked the top team. We have agreed to take the Sky Day Tour 888 promo, it consists of a lunch buffet at the Wang Shan Lo, one admission to 4D experience Theater Show, one Prana Medisa Treat (a selection to a body massage/foot massage/diamond peel) and one ride pass @ Sky Experience Adventure (selection of a sky walk or one edge coaster ride) in the country's tallest hotel tower, Crown Regency and Towers in Fuente Osmena, Cebu City. The Sky Day Tour Promo starts from 10:00am to 6:00pm so we went there at 11:00am. And that starts the day, a special day full of first times for me and some of my colleagues.

First step to the country's tallest hotel - Yes it was my first time to enter the said hotel, I was in college when it was constructed and that I had never imagined myself to go in to that hotel, maybe because of the thought that it was expensive and that the people who gets in there are those that are more fortunate or shall I say "rich". But anyhow, I was able to get there and that marks the first time. Inside in the lobby, I could sense the luxury of the hotel, here are some of the photos I took using my Sony Erickson C902:
 

We then went to the second tower's 19th floor to get our tickets for the Sky Day Tour. I took some photos of the view when we were there, from that point, I can almost see the whole Cebu city, the SRP road is really a nice view and the sea line was a wonderful spot. Here are some of the photos:

The lunch buffet was the first stop; we started eating almost 12 noon. The food tables were full of different viands, from sea foods to veggies up to the variety of meat. It was my first time to eat the "Century Egg", they told me that those were eggs preserved and stored for many many years, its looks seem to be disgusting but it was tasty. I took some Kim chi, that is the food which are mostly eaten by my favorite Korean movie artists. I was really curious about its taste, after taking some, I told myself to be aware of Kim chi, sorry to my favorite Korean artist, but your Kim chi is really spicy and hot, my mouth can't take it, good thing I only took some, whoa! For the desert, there were variety of fruits, leche flan, some sweets, there were puto cochinta and white puto as well, yema was also present and maja. There were siopaos and siomais and other Japanese foods. Here is my first plate:

First to use chopsticks, yes! After 22 years of existence, I finally got the courage to break a chopstick and use it with my bare hands. I found it really difficult but I managed to take some fruits using it. Hehehe. That was such a good experience. We took some pair of chopsticks home too, lol. 

After lunch, we went straight to next stop which was the 4D experience. Yeah! I had seen movies in 3D like the Avatar, so I had more to expect about the 4D movie. Unfortunately, the available movies were all animated cartoons but it was fun. It was our first time; I mean all of us have never seen 4D movies before. Once the movie had started, we were all shouting up until the end, try to imagine, if there are bumps or impact in the movie, our seats would as well fall, it made us scream every time it does that, it will also shake like at the earthquake scene. There were animals in the movie and it felt like it was really true, there was an elephant, and the it threw water to the leading man, we didn't expect it but we were sprinkled by water as well, when a tiger was about to bite him, there was a wind hush as well. So overall, 3D and 4D are totally different I may say because, in 4D movie, it makes us feel like we are in the movie as well instead of just watching it.

Next stop: Body Massage, whew...this is a major first time. I have never been to any spa or something because first, I never had the courage to let someone touch my body or so, second I don't have someone to be with before and third, it is costly. But thanks to our account's incentive program and now, I finally had my first body massage. Four of the girls decided to choose the body massage, so we went inside, we were given keys for our lockers, mine was:

After changing, we went inside a cool room with I guess, more than 10 beds on it. The lady asked us to lie facing down the bed, it has a hole so there was no problem about breathing, she also asked me to take off the cloth I was wearing (I only had my lower undies then), ha-ha. The lady started pressing on my body, that time there was a bed sheet covering me, so I thought it was safe but then she took it off down to my butt, she even pulled down my undies, whoa!!! I could almost shout, but I held it since the room was totally quite and I can only hear music. She continued and the rest was history, she had seen my whole body that time including the upper one, wahahaha! Such a major experience, I could not look her in the eye after the session. When we were in the comfort room, we were all laughing about the experience but it was worth it, so refreshing and relaxing.

Last and final stop: Sky Walk. It was past 5:00pm when the body massage ended, since the Sky Day tour would end at 6:00pm, we hurriedly went to the 38th floor for the Sky Walk, actually we were arguing what to take, we need to only select one, either the Sky Walk or the Edge Coaster Ride. We then agreed to take the Sky Walk because the Edge Coaster Ride is only a 4 minute ride.

So we registered at the counter, we saw many photos from those who had taken their walks as well, like the world's famous boxer, Manny Pacquiao, Senator Kiko Pangilinan, ABS-CBN Trip na Trip hosts, my ever crush: Mark Nelson and a lot more. As part of their rules, only eight persons can walk at a time excluding the guide and the photographer. Since we were twelve, we were divided to two batches; I was part of the second batch together with Mommy Dy, Tita, Charmaine, Reggy and Janet. It was an unforgettable experience to be there, felt like I was at the top of the world. We started walking almost 7 in the evening so it was already dark; the view was so nice because of the Cebu City's lights. There was an orientation and we were obliged to wear a suit and shoes. We had photos during the walk and we were taught how to do a one foot stand on the edge of the flat form and the ever heart trembling look down from the edge. When I looked down, it was like gravity was pulling me down but there were no worries because a harness was attached to our suit for protection in case we fall down, I was confident about it so I was not afraid. At the end of the walk, a certificate has been given to us to prove that we have survived the sky walk extreme. Here is mine:
 

It was already dark when we went home, it was such an unforgettable day for all of us, we have eaten great and plenty foods, had our 4D experience, took a body massage, conquered our fear of heights and survived the Sky walk extreme. 

FYI:
Within the year, Crown Regency Hotels & Towers will open their "ZIP LINE" from the top of the second tower to the third tower and their "FREE FALL" as well.

More photos:
 

I can still feel the rush of my blood going up to the tip of my ears while sitting and staring at the 2k worth of gift certificates.

I was working on my blog in my station when my colleague pulled me and said that I was called by our Manager to receive an award. I thought it was just a joke or something because I was not listening to the Awarding Ceremony. 

I hesitated to walk towards them until my former team lead pointed me and signaled me to move towards the awarding personnel. I then walked faster to our Account Manager, Training Team Manager and some other managers. They then presented and gave me the 1k Premium Pass for Sodexo accredited merchants. I was kinda disappointed at first because what was on my mind was a bill with Ninoy's face on it, but later on, I realized, it is actually the same. I then thanked the managers and turned my back, started walking towards my station. But before I could go any further, my name was again called. This is a major major surprise! I received another 1k worth of gift certificate... Weeeh! I love this day, I felt like I was the luckiest person. Lol. Anyway, a huge drum was beating so fast inside me while handing the second certificate.  The first thing that came to my mind that time was "Grocery." Well, I love to grocery actually, I love to see the cart full. And 2k worth of groceries is too much for me, every payday I only set aside Php 500 for my groceries and now, I can get any food that I like. Evil Grin, Drool...

Aside from the award that I received, our former team also won the first place for the Team Stack Ranking and the Top CSAT Performer which has corresponding amounts: Php 3,500 and Php 5,000 respectively. We are planning to conquer and face our fears with that amount of money by going to Club Ultima and go on sky riding. Isn't it exciting plus the diamond peel/body massage/foot spa selection per person, whoah! More grinning!!!

And oh! I almost forgot about the movie tickets that I received today as well. I got six of them, so that counts them as part of the awards...

Here I am with the certificates...Am I that happy, no...I am definitely happy...hehe

Before I could end this post, I would like to share this quote from google mail which I can also relate to the incident at the Quirino Grandstand last Monday.

One of the reasons why we went home was because of my cousin’s wedding. Manong Junior or Jun was getting married the next day, which is August 22, 2010 with Ate Pamela at Dauis’ Church. So early morning the next day, we went to Tagbilaran, FYI, Dauis is an Island connected via bridge to Tagbilaran City. If you are familiar with Panglao, then you know Dauis as well because the island has a lot of white sand beaches and resorts in it where foreigners always visit.

The wedding started at 10:00am sharp, I met my relatives there many of them were my cousins from Alicia, Bohol and from Cebu. While the ceremony was pushing through, there were a lot of negative things that James and I had noticed, but we had just get it off of our mind and focused on the event. The ceremony has ended with the picture taking part; we went straight to Villa Alzhun for the reception. We were kinda unlucky that time because we arrived at the place late so we waited for the waiters to serve our food while others were already eating.

Some of the photos during the wedding:

Daryl Gapor Lim had sent you a message:

"Its mah birthday..kaon lang ta pizza..mao ray ma afford.
just be there..kung mag dala mo og visitor bayad jud mo..hahaha..."

"It's my birthday, let's just eat pizza, that's all that I can afford, just be there, if you will bring a visitor, you must pay, hehehe" 

It was an invitation for Daryl’s pre-birthday celebration, his birth date is on August 22 but he decided to make a pre-celebration together with his friends and colleagues then spend the actual birthday with his family. It was me, Voltaire, Tanya and Loreto who went there together. Since we were not yet familiar with the place, we agreed to meet at Robinsons-Fuente.  So that was it, we went to Mama Maria’s Pizzeria located in Gorordo, near Datamex IT school. You can ride a 04C PUJ if you are from Robinsons-Fuente or you can ride on 13C if you are from Ayala.


When we arrived at the place, Daryl and his two college friends were already there. The place was big enough for a normal pizzeria. While we were waiting for the others to come, we chatted with each other and we had took photos of the place as well.

Here are some of the photos:

At 6:30pm, almost everyone was there so we started the most awaited part of the celebration which is the eating time. Voltaire started it with a prayer and we sang the “Happy Birthday song” as well. All had taken what we love to eat; I had a square piece of the huge Hawaiian pizza and a slice of the ultimate “Big Bang”, it was a Casa Verde’s huge sized hamburger.

I couldn’t eat everything up because it was really more than my average piece so I went straight and got a piece of Red Ribbon’s rocky road, it was the sweetest thing. I had a couple glasses of iced tea and soda too. James arrived at 6:45pm so he had his own slices as well. Everyone was already full but there were still pizzas left. Three big full pizzas were too much for 25 people. That was my first time to personally see those very huge pizzas so I really thanked Daryl for the treat. We went home first because we still had a trip to catch. James and I were going to Bohol so we went first. I told Daryl that it was really a blast!

More photos:

All went well and we took our way back to our each others' places, James and I had to go home first because we still need to catch the 9:00pm trip to Bohol. Read story here.