Author: Rochelle Sy Chua

FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2011

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On July 15, 2011

FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2011

Who would ever thought that a girl like me would appreciate the sexiest women party in the Philippines? Mostly guys look forward to the FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2011 and indeed, the World Trade Center where the event was held was full of guys!

FHM 100 Sexiest VIP crowd

I’m just fortunate that I was one of the few bloggers given by PLDT myDSL Watchpad tickets to the party!

If you weren’t lucky enough to win tickets to the FHM 100 Sexiest Women party, I hope you were able to catch the live streaming from PLDT myDSL Watchpad earlier.

PLDT myDSL WatchPad FHM 100 Live Streaming

The place was really jampacked. We were the first ones to enter the venue and we can see several booths set-up. Brands like Belo, Premium condoms, Citizen watch, San Miguel Light, RRJ clothing line and of course, PLDT myDSL were there. All guests can take pictures with their models.

premiere max FHM 100 Sexiest

FHM 100 Sexiest RRJ booth

FHM 100 Sexiest Belo

However, the highlight with regards to the sponsors, were their segment in the FHM 100 Sexiest Women show. Each sponsor had their models walk the ramp and dance while on it. I can feel how silent the men were. Are men that silent when they see enormous number of sexy women?

San Mig Light FHM 100 Sexiest

FHM 100 Sexiest Sponsor Show

Belo show FHM 100 Sexiest

After the sponsors segment, there was an announcement that we’d have such a treat as we’d be able to see some of the FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World finally! Eula Valdez (#46) opened the main part of the FHM 100 Sexiest Women show by dancing her way in the stage. Eula really just proved that age doesn’t matter. If you’re sexy, you are sexy!

eula valdez FHM 100 Sexiest

Then we started to see the rest of the FHM 100 Sexiest Women do their own dance numbers! I was in total awe. I can’t help but admire those women!

Wendy Valdez FHM 100 Sexiest

Iwa moto FHM 100 Sexiest

michelle madrigal FHM sexiest

Last, but definitely not the least, the host introduced the women who are part of the FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2011!

FHM 100 Sexiest

I was rooting for Sam Pinto (#1) this year and I’m glad she won. BUT(!) when I saw Wendy Valdez (#53), I was like sooooo surprised as to how sexy she is! I shall say, you guys should vote for Wendy Valdez next year! She deserve to be at least in the top 5! Seriously, I never thought she has a perfectly toned body.

Sam Pinto FHM Sexiest #1

Sam Pinto FHM Sexiest

Wendy Valdez FHM 100 Sexiest Women

Here are the ladies that caught my eye at the party:
Michelle Madrigal 100 Sexiest FHM

FHM 100 Sexiest Women

Katrina Halili FHM Sexiest

Iwa Moto FHM 100 Sexiest Women

Regine FHM 100 Sexiest

This was my first ever experience to watch the FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World party. I shall say it was a great experience and I hope to watch it again next year. I really wish I can get lucky again like this year. It was a sexy party indeed! Well done, FHM!

P.S. Before the show started, Daiana Menezes (#44) was in the VIP area interviewing guests. I was one of the lucky ones chosen to be interviewed. Because of that, I was able to have a photo op with her 🙂

Daiana Menezes interviews Roch at FHM 100 Sexiest

P.P.S. More pictures can be found in the HeaRty’s Haven Facebook Page.

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Unilab Ideas Positive

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On July 13, 2011

Unilab Ideas Positive

We generate ideas numerous times. We talk about them when we go out with family, friends, colleagues & classmates. We even share our ideas with strangers. Why not make those ideas a reality?

In relation to this, I would like to share a very good news for students as Unilab Ideas Positive is back!

Unilab Ideas Positive (now on its 2nd year) is a two-in-one initiative where college students are invited to share their unique, creative & innovative ideas to address the health & wellness concerns of the Philippines. Unilab helps the students turn their ideas into a reality by guiding the students in further developing their proposals through a social marketing bootcamp and by funding the winning student groups’ social marketing projects with a total of Php 250,000 seed money.

Isn’t that way too cool?

All you need to do is form a group of 5. You must be currently enrolled in the same university to qualify as a group. Then follow the full mechanics posted in the official Unilab Ideas Positive site and share your innovative idea. You’ll never know you might be one of the student groups who can make a difference in a community! unilab%20ideas%20positive%20logo The hands clasped together symbolize the Bayanihan spirit of people reaching out and working with each other, this time represented in a variety of colors to reflect the youth’s diversity in background, upbringing, personalities, and way of thinking.

The differences may seem discouraging, but when held together by a common beneficial cause, such diversity produces a beautiful and powerful show of positives—both ideas coming from the youth, and the transformation in the health and wellness of Philippine communities.

I can’t wait to see in the news what ideas this year’s youth groups will come up! I especially am excited to see those ideas turn into reality! Last year, Unilab had three student groups making a difference as illustrated below.

Unilab Ideas Positive newspaper clips

Aren’t we glad that we are giving back to the community? If you’re a college student, hope you can influence 4 of your classmates and join the Unilab Ideas Positive contest! You’ll never know how far your ideas can go. Be a part of a great initiative for a better Philippines!

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Iwahig Firefly Watching

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On July 10, 2011

Ihawig Firefly Watching

I never thought that touring in Puerto Princesa, Palawan will be that educational. I was in total awe when we had our Iwahig Firefly Watching & Stargazing in Palawan. This was an optional tour in the AirPhil Express Puerto Princesa Adventours. I strongly suggest you take it. It’s a once in a lifetime experience that you’ll totally remember.

Ihawig Firefly Watching Banner

Iwahig Firefly Watching is an ecotourism project between ABS-CBN Foundation and the city government of Puerto Princesa under Mayor Edward Hagedorn. It started October 2008 wherein ABS-CBN gave initial funding. The Puerto Princesa community will then continue on with the project and sustain it.

The goal is conserve the natural resources of the city and provide the community opportunities. At the same time, it offers tourists a unique experience of the wonderful Iwahig river.

As we entered the place, Eric even joked that the lights displayed were fireflies. Well, I almost believed it but they were actually just candles hehehe. The place was very dark at night which is what the place should be as we can’t see the fireflies if the place is well-lit.

Ihawig Firefly Watching Entrance

The Iwahig River Tour will need us to ride a boat good for 3. Each boat costs Php 600 (good for 3) but if you were coming from somewhere and you would want to experience the food too then you can go for the Php 1,100/person fee which includes transportation via van and dinner 🙂

I still suggest you go for the AirPhil Express promo so you don’t have to worry about anything.

Ihawig Firefly Watching Boat

Before we ride on the boat, we were asked to wear life vest and conical hat (cute!).

Ihawig Firefly Watching Roch

It was pitch black and I had a hard time taking pictures. Honestly, I decided to stop taking pictures altogether when the 45-minute boat ride started. I just enjoyed each and every minute of the tour.

Seeing the colonies of fireflies was totally astounding! And even in the waters, when you move your fingers, you’ll also see the amazing bio-luminous planktons. It just shows that the environment is clean and not polluted (or else, they wouldn’t be there!).

I listened intently to the boatman who shared so much information about Iwahig River, the fireflies, the stars, the mangroves and the planktons.

The boatmen are volunteers and they do it mainly for charity 🙂 Do you know that they are even trained by experts? You’ll notice it when you get to experience the Iwahig River tour and listen to them. They obviously know what they’re saying and you can feel their passion. They have my respect!

ihawig river firefly watching

Here are just some of the things that I learned from the awesome Iwahig Firefly Watching and Stargazing tour:

Fireflies are winged beetles (they are not flies).
The light of fireflies came from their lower abdomen (not from their tails as shown in movies).
there are no crocodiles in Iwahig River
Frogs and Bats are Fireflies’ predators.
Fireflies cannot hear and make sounds (not scientifically proven but this was an assumption of the volunteers in the Iwahig River project)
Presence of fireflies and planktons indicates a healthy and thriving ecosystem.
Fireflies only lives for 2 months.
Male Fireflies are bigger than female fireflies.
Male fireflies illuminates stronger showing more power (or more machoness hehe :P).

Ihawig Firefly Watching Group

Iwahig Firefly watching is definitely one of the must do in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. With this experience, I can truly say, WOW Philippines!

Ihawig Firefly Watching Exit

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Iwahig Firefly Watching, Mangrove Eco Tourism & Wildlife Park
Highway km. 20 Barangay Iwahig Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, Philippines

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Buffet Lunch at Honda Bay

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On July 8, 2011

Buffet Lunch at Honda Bay Palawan

Having lunch at the Pandan Island in Honda Bay was a blast! Some of us even used their hands in eating. I stuck with using spoon and fork though 😛

The food was exceptionally good. If you’re wondering how much this costs, the buffet lunch is included in the Puerto Princesa Adventour Package (with Honda Bay tour) by AirPhil Express.

We ate at the available wooden tables and chairs in the beach. It was a different setup compared to what we usually have in the restaurants but eating good food with a view of the beautiful beach was just perfect!

Honda Bay Lunch Setup

Not to mention how delicious the food looked like. We were like soooo drooling as we see the food being plated in the buffet table.

Honda Bay Lunch

The food tasted as great as how it looked like! We had the ff.:

Cucumber & Tomato Salad

Honda Bay Salad

Chicken Adobo

Honda Bay Adobo

Shrimps

Honda Bay Shrimps

Pork

Honda Bay Pork

Fried Fish

Honda Bay Fish

It was a complete meal. We had servings of pork, vegetables and seafood! Everything were home-cooked. Some dishes were even prepared in the beach itself! We had such a wonderful meal in Pandan Island at Honda Bay!

If you want more, there are vendors who will offer crabs and other food items that they can cook on the spot and serve on your table. The prices are actually very reasonable. We didn’t get more as we are very satisfied with what our tour guide prepared for us 🙂

Honda Bay Lunch Tour Guide

We were just so lucky to have Anne as our tour guide. Not only was she very cheerful but she was one multi-talented lady. Aside from being able to provide history in each of the places we visited in Palawan, she was able to prepare such a beautiful meal for us in Honda Bay.

Suffice to say, sometimes, eating food in this setting is much better than eating in a fancy restaurant.

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Honda Bay Island Hopping

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On July 8, 2011

Honda Bay Island Hopping

As part of the AirPhil Express Puerto Princesa Adventour Package, we went on an island Hopping in Honda Bay. Honda Bay’s original spelling was Hunda Bay but since people kept pertaining the place as Honda Bay, they decided to change it to Honda Bay.

Honda Bay in Puerto Princesa, Palawan is known to be a great place for snorkeling and fish feeding. With that in mind, we dropped by a rental store before going to the pier for our tour.

There were fins, aqua shoes, snorkeling equipment, diving clothes and even camera case (so you could take pictures while snorkeling)! Each item can be rented for Php 150. I was ready because I brought my own snorkeling gear but I did buy some bread (Php 20) as I wanted to experience feeding the fishes.

snorkeling rentals

We were asked to register at the pier before boarding the boat for our island hopping.

honda bay registration

Boat fare ranges from Php 1,300 to Php 1,500 per boat with minimum capacity of 6. Additional person will be charged Php 220 for a 1-3 cylinder boat and Php 250 for a 4 cylinder boat.

honda bay ride

There are numerous islands in Honda Bay. The boat can transport us there. If we decide to stop over one island, we also have to pay for the entrance fee. The rates are as follows:

Cowrie Island – Php 25/person
Pandan Island – Php 50/person
Snake Island – FREE (give donation to use the cottages)
Starfish Island – Php 70/person (Php 50 if paid at the pier)
Lulu Island – Php 50/person
Pambato Coral Reef – Php 50/person

But why do you have to worry about all those fees if you can just avail one of the Puerto Princesa Adventours by AirPhil Express? All you need is to pay just one package ALL-IN then enjoy the wonderful Honda Bay Island Hopping. We certainly did! 🙂

honday bay boat

Among the 18 islands and islets in Honda Bay. We visited three, they are:

Pandan Island

Pandan Island

Pandan Island is known for the numerous Pandan trees in the place. I actually exclaimed ‘Pandan Juice’ when the tour guide was sharing the information. I was so wrong! hahaha! The Pandan tree is not the same Pandan used in juices but the one used in making products.

honda bay pandan tree pandan island

I liked Pandan Island a lot! There were white sands, the weather was beautiful when we went there and the scenery looked so good! We took a lot of pictures there. Here’s me trying to strike a pose 😛

Roch at Honda Bay Pandan Island

Our tour guide prepared a beautiful buffet lunch for our group. I’ll share more details in a separate post. I must say, dining with the beach in full view was heavenly!

Honda Bay Buffet

As I said earlier, Honda Bay is ideal for snorkeling. Some of us already started the snorkeling activity in Pandan Island as well as feeding fishes. I was busy taking pictures and admiring the beautiful island that I decided to just go snorkeling in our next Honda Bay island destination.

Honda Bay Swimming Area

There were other recreational water activities to do in Pandan Island too! Fun activities like banana boating, jet skiing, surfing, G-force and UFO. Try it out when you visit. A few hours just isn’t enough to enjoy such a beautiful place.

Snake Island

Honda Bay Snake Island

Snake Island is another island located in Honda Bay. This was our 2nd destination. It’s called as such as the place is shaped like a snake.

Honda Bay Snake Island white sand

It’s best to visit Honda Bay during low tide and I’m glad we arrived at the perfect time.

Honda Bay Snake Island Halo Halo
Photo by Boom Boncan

If you do stop over at Snake Island, do not forget to order their halo halo as my travel companions never stopped raving about it. I tried a spoonful as I was too busy snorkeling! 😛

group pic at Honda Bay
Photo by Boom Boncan

This is the first time that I really enjoyed snorkeling. I saw so much fishes! Fishes like Tuna, cavalla (talakitok) & nemo! Good thing, I brought bread as whenever I try to feed them, lots of fishes came my way. It was a great experience, I hope I had a waterproof camera with me.

Pambato Coral Reef

Honda Bay Reef

Last, but definitely not the least, we visited Pambato Coral Reef. It started to rain so I felt a lil lazy and decided to stay in our boat. I wished I had aqua shoes though, coz if I did, I would have gone and enjoyed myself there. Pambato Coral Reef has 2 sections: one is perfect for snorkeling bigger fishes while the other other for viewing coral reefs.

Honda Bay is definitely one of the popular places in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. If you love the waters and snorkeling then this is a must-vist!

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Honda Bay
Purok Honda Bay, Baranggay Sta. Lourdes, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, Philippines

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