Swimming or massage? Go for both at Ace Water Spa!

I'm a crammer. I mean, I always crammed when I was a student, willing to stay up all night or wake up early in the morning to study before an exam.

Thanks to BDJ for my coupon!

And so it is when I'm using up my Belle de Jour coupons. I have been using a BDJ Power Planner for (if I'm not mistaken) 5 years now, and it's quite unfortunate that I have been unable to use a lot of their coupons because I always forgot to use them even if I almost always carry them in my bag. I mostly use the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf discounts, or those for the White Hat yogurt (they don't have them for 2014, though). (For those interested, you can check out the planner and other BDJ products here.)

Well, this year, the planner includes two coupons for Ace Water Spa. One coupon is for January to June, the other is for July to December. It's a "buy 1, take 1" promo, which is good as it allows you to bring someone along, for free!

I used the first coupon, which was good until June 30, as a Father's Day treat to hubby. We decided to bring our niece-cum-daughter Kaye along because she loves the pool. I'd read from their website (you can check it out here) and reviews that entrance fee for adults is at P550, while those for kids (up to 4 feet) is at P250. Unfortunately, Kaye measured a thumb-width taller than their 4' board and no amount of cajoling and begging could make the lady at the counter allow us to pay just P250 for her. (She even said that we could be seen on the CCTV. Sigh.) The rates, by the way, are good for four hours.

Anyway, we were pretty excited. Ace Water Spa has heated and scented pools for hydrotherapy massage. The pools are equipped with jets targeting different parts of the body at different strengths. Quite an experience to look forward to! We opted to go to their (original) branch along San Francisco Del Monte in Quezon City, but they have another branch along Pioneer St. in Pasig City (which has a hotel).

So I read about their do's and dont's to know what we were up for, and I was able to prove that these were true:

• DO wear a one-piece bathing suit (for ladies) or one of tight-fitting spandex material. (Board shorts are not allowed.) Aside from allowing your body to benefit fully from the massage, some of the jets are so strong they could literally expand your suit or make it ride up your body -- watch out, wardrobe malfunction!
• DO bring your own towel. You may, however, rent towels or swimsuits/trunks. Goggles are only for sale. Life vests for kids are available for free at the pool area.
• DO eat some before you swim, if you plan to stay for the full four hours. Food is prohibited in the pool area, but they have a restaurant where you can buy food. They come at a price, though.
• DON'T expect to be able to take selfies at the pool. Cameras and celfones are strictly prohibited in the pool area.

There are, of course, separate locker rooms for male and female. At the door, you are asked to leave your footwear, and are given a key to your locker. You can wear this key as a bracelet when you swim. You will also be given swimming caps to use.

The locker room has dressing rooms, shower stalls (which you use before heading to the pool, of course) and toilets. The shower stalls have shampoo and liquid soap in dispensers; the sinks have hair dryers.

Now on to the water spa. Take your pick from the different areas that have signages which indicate the body parts the jets target; the massage pressure (soft, medium or hard); the health benefits (good for those suffering diabetes, arthritis, constipation, muscle aches, etc.); and advice on how long you should spend in them. There are buttons that turn the jets on, and while they automatically shut off after about three minutes, you can still press them for reactivation. Common courtesy dictates that when there are a lot of people, you don't stay in one area too long, but you can go back later if it's vacant.

There are those that target the waist and butt area; the legs; the lower back; even the head. Most have sitting areas; some are best taken while lying down. My favorite must be the rainfall acupuncture, where you lie face down and water falls on your back, from head to toe, like a really strong shower. I particularly also liked the one (I think it was the bubble pool) where the jets are under your feet, and are strong enough to lift your body up while massaging your butt and the back of your thighs. Take heed, though, of areas where there are steps underwater, as they may not be visible under the bubbles or churning caused by the jets.

Top photo: Lazy River.
Bottom photo: Rainfall acupuncture.

The QC branch has 9 heated pools and one cold pool. And when I say cold, it's REALLY cold. It's right beside the herbal pools. Speaking of herbal pools first, there are two for each herb. You immerse yourself first into the lavender pool which is at 40 degrees Celsius. You then move over to the jasmine pool which is at 38 degrees, then relax a bit in the mint pool at 36 degrees. The lavender and jasmine pools have jets to massage your torso while you sit. You have to ease yourself carefully into these pools until your body gets used to the temperature, and signs advise you that you don't spend more than a total of 10 minutes in each pool. You can lean your neck onto the cold metal "pillows" or bars to somehow regulate your body temperature and blood pressure. There are also sauna and steam rooms near the hot pools.

Afterwards, you cool yourself off with the bucket splash (you stand under a bucket high over your head and pull the rope to get doused), or in the cold pool. Take note, though, that you only need about 5 seconds in the cold pool, which is literally ice cold. I tried sitting in it longer that that and I could practically feel the veins in my feet contracting, almost like a cramp, and my hubby complained of the same thing. I urged him and Kaye not to stay too long for risk of hypothermia, har har.

I also liked the "Lazy River" going around the larger pool area. You get one of those big paddle boards and cling to it (some kids sit on it) and the current pulls you along.

By the way, I saw a lot of senior citizens at the spa. I guess they wanted the hot pool and the massage sans the physical pounding from masseurs, which could be bad for their brittle or fragile bones. I really think my mom would enjoy herself here, and she suffers from diabetes and osteoarthritis. My hubby, who complains of symptoms of arthritis, liked the warmth of the water and the massage he gets onto his lower back.

Not all their pools are for hydrotherapy, though. There's a long pool that's for swimming. I understand that they offer swimming classes here, too, under Bert Lozada. There are three cordoned-off lanes for those who want to swim laps, so stay out of those if you just want to paddle around. The depth ranges from 4.3 feet at the ends, and 4.8 feet in the middle.

The restaurant (QC branch) looks out onto the lap pool
and gives a glimpse of the massage areas.

Clean restrooms and water dispensers are situated strategically around the pool area, so there will be no need for you to head back to the shower/locker room when you feel like going or if you're thirsty. There is also an area where you can just sit and rest if you're tired or just want to rest before going back to the pools.

Lifeguards around the pools keep an eye out for children. This eases parents' worries while they're being massaged. (This does not give you license, though, to be negligent since the lifeguards are NOT babysitters.) The lifeguards are highly visible with their yellow t-shirts.

View of the pool area in QC branch.
(I sneaked a celfone shot from outside the shower room.)

Before I forget, we got a desk calendar from Ace upon paying for our entrance fees. The calendar has a page filled with freebies for each month of the year. These differ from the spa to hotel room rates, even banquet and buffet:

Monthly freebies in their desk calendar

Hubby and Kaye

We stayed for almost four hours at Ace. (How do they know if you've exceeded, I wonder?) Some people have enough after about three hours. Based on reviews, it is best to go in the early morning or late afternoon to early evening (their hours are from 6:30AM to 10:45PM). After four hours, you really get hungry! But since we left at around 12 noon, we opted to wait until reaching home to eat our lunch.

Let me also say that after four hours, you just want to sleep! And then, ironically, hubby and I were complaining of sore muscles. I guess we must have overdone it. After all, body massages (with masseurs, that is) are enough for one to two hours max. Hmm. On the other hand, Kaye liked it so much she wanted to go back soon.

But still, hubby posted on Facebook that he enjoyed my treat, and that it was fun. I countered, "Does this mean I have to foot the entire bill?" Well, at least it was Father's Day. See how content he and Kaye looked -->

The good thing about Ace is that since it's indoors, it's all-weather (rain or shine) and you don't have to put on sunblock. So I do believe I will avail of that other BDJ coupon before the year ends. Last Father's and Mother's Days, they offered a buy 3-take 1 free promo for four adults!

You can also check out their FB page (Ace Water Spa (Official)) for promos, which I've seen them offer on discount sites.

(P.S. A couple of the pool shots are from the calendar.)

Mother's Date dinner at Elias Robinson's Magnolia

I chose Elias as venue for our Mother's Day dinner because I was looking for a good restaurant at Robinsons Magnolia. I thought of Conti's at first but after reading out loud to my mom Elias' menu on Munchpunch, she said she wanted to eat there. It helped that we'd eaten in Crisostomo at Resorts World in 2013 and we liked the food too. The place was packed, but we luckily got a seat in the "outdoor" seating -- that is, one outside the main restaurant, but still within the air conditioned mall premises, not in the al fresco area. 

For appetizers, we got the Victorina's Secret (P300), which were actually fresh oysters with native vinegar and chili. And, being a sisig-lover, I was of course adamant in tasting their Sisig Lengua (325), or ox tongue cooked sisig style. 

Victorina's Secret (P300)

Sisig Lengua (P325)

The oysters were indeed fresh, served on ice, and complemented perfectly by the vinegar. We were also pleased with the sisig -- a different take, with chunky bits, compared to the usual pork sisig where the meat is usually presented in finely diced pieces. Needless to say, we really lapped up every chunk.

We chose La Paz Bulalo (P545) for our soup. The meat was soooo tender and the soup was really tasty, like what you get when you boil meat for hours. I think the fresh veggies, the corn, and the peppercorns really added to the flavor. 

La Paz Bulalo (P545)

For our entree, we had Santiago (or Lechon Kare-Kare at P525). As you can see in the pic, the veggies were also fresh. As for the meat -- well, I'm not really fond of lechon (really!) except for the skin, and only when it's crisp. Since the lechon was already steeped with the kare-kare sauce, of course I didn't touch the dish except for the sauce and veggies, and attacked instead the fork-tender bulalo beef :-)

Santiago (P525)

Sago't Gulaman (P85)

As is our practice when it's our first time in a restaurant and we really want to enjoy the fare, we ordered plain rice. (We think ordering garlic or other types of rice makes the tastes "battle" each other.) Whew, their pandan rice costs P60 a cup! Thankfully, it was a big cup and it was so fragrant and deliciously cooked that we thought maybe it was jasmine rice.

For drinks, my mom ordered Fresh Buko juice (served in a coconut shell for P150), my brother Ed and his GF LA bought lemon iced tea (bottomless at P98), and I ordered the sago't gulaman (P85).

They served my drink with a paper straw instead of a plastic one. So of course, when it got soaked I asked for a plastic one. They gave me a thin one (used for softdrinks and iced tea). Then another crew member may have noticed me slurping at my drink and came over to give me another plastic one, this time much thicker in diameter, the same one you use for your regular sago drinks. So why didn't they give it the first time? I ended up contributing two straws to trash :-(

Narcissa (P200/slice)

For dessert, I had read good reviews about Crisostomo's favorite Narcissa (Quezo de Bola Cheesecake at P200/slice) so we ordered two slices to go. On the way home, we stopped by a Starbucks and decided to eat the cakes there. Wow... Yummy on the palate for me, but the uniquely salty taste may be a put-off for some not used to that unique quezo de bola taste, and I'm not talking about the cheddar cheese version! Quite a change from the usual American-style cheesecakes.  And at that price, you would really eat up each falling crumb!

Now you might be thinking, "That's all you ordered?" Well, it was a late night dinner (we started at almost 9PM because we had to wait for my brother who had a shoot somewhere in Ortigas). And as you can see, the price was no joke, hahaha! But we already expected it, since I had browsed the web the day before (an advice to anyone who plans to eat somewhere). This resto chain (which includes Crisostomo) is a bit on the high-priced end, actually. And some may even say, "But that's Filipino food we can easily make at home or is available in other restos like Max's, Aristocrat, or even along the street, etc." But my mom wanted to be in Rob Magnolia (she likes the ambiance) and she wanted Filipino food and wanted to try out this restaurant so that's what she got. Thank goodness Mother's Day only comes once a year and I can split the tab with my brother, LOL.  

After eating my mom said, "Thank you for bringing me here." She was so pleased with the food. Delicious indeed.  The servings (except for the drinks, of course) were good for two to four people, depending on the appetite. So it was probably one of the rare times where we did not have any leftovers to take home -- except for the sauce of the kare-kare. After all, we may also have worked up an appetite from browsing for almost two hours at all those P88 stuff at Daiso while waiting for my bro, haha. 

Anyway, while browsing the day before, I chanced upon their FB page, and I saw these two promos:

Mom's Day promo

Free sago't gulaman when you like their page in-store

So while we were selecting what to order, I first showed the free drink promo (via my FB on my mobile) to our server, but he told us that they had no promos. Then when we were almost through, we noticed that not one customer seemed to be taking home an eco-bag, so we thought maybe they'd run out of stock (like I said, the place was pretty packed, but we were sure those red bags would be easily visible) and did not ask for our bags anymore. So we ended up empty-handed, but I still commented on these posts in their FB page. 

Well, guess what. Their operations manager, Ms. Aileen Laig, contacted me and apologized for the "shortcomings" of their staff. Then she told me that she would be sending over two bags to the branch over the weekend and I could pick them up. She said we could also claim our free sago anytime by just following the instructions (like and share the page in-store). Thanks Ms. Laig! 

Anyway, I forgot to try their "Sinigang ni Eva" which is your sinigang with watermelon. Yep, you read that right. How interesting could that be? I read about it in their FB page and even read it out to my mom, but we forgot about it (note to self: next time, write down your preferences beforehand!) The funny thing is, why did the servers not promote it or ask us if we wanted to try it? Hmm. Were they too tired? I guess, they need to be trained more on new dishes that are being promoted.

You can view Elias' main page here or go straight to see their menu by clicking on this link.

December leaves, and anticipating 2014 holidays

It's December 16 and a lot of people are still asking, "Is December 24 a holiday?"

Well then, if you don't know it yet or can't believe it is, here is an infographic of the holidays for 2013 as declared under Presidential Proclamation No. 2012-459:

As you can see, December 24th, which falls on a Tuesday, is a holiday. 

That being said, I think a lot of us will be extending their holidays starting December 21 which is a Saturday. Those who still have leaves to spare may take December 23 (Monday), 26 and 27 (Thursday and Friday, respectively), off, all the way to January 1st since December 30 and 31 are also holidays. That's a total of 12 days off, unless some extend it up to January 5, 2014 -- making it a total of 16 -- yes, sixteen!!! -- days. Lucky for those who have a lot of vacation leaves stored up (like us in the government, where our leaves just add up).

Here's a calendar of December 2013 so you can easily see what I'm talking about:

Thinking ahead, here now is a list of the official holidays for 2014, as declared under Presidential Proclamation No. 2013-655. Sorry, as of now they don't have an infographic of it yet and I'm tamad to do one myself, but here's a screen grab from that page :-)

January 31st, which is the Chinese New Year, will usher in a three-day weekend. The next official long weekend is on Holy Week-end (April 17-19). Other than these, I can see a lot of people absent on Fridays when holidays fall on at least three Thursdays: May 1 (Labor Day), June 12 (Independence Day), and August 21 (Ninoy Aquino Day), which is followed by another holiday on August 25. 

As for the Islamic celebrations Eid'l Fitr and Eidul Adha in 2014, they will fall on July 28 (Monday, hooray!) and October 4 (Saturday, awww...), respectively. By the way, those dates are based on Philippine time zones, of course. 

(Segue: I think I will always remember Eidul Adha because in 2013, it was celebrated on October 15, a Tuesday. It was the day a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck northern Bohol, my province. The holiday spared more people from getting hurt or killed in public places such as schools, because many were home at 8 a.m.)

Funnily, I find myself focusing on those last five holidays in the end, WHICH IS A YEAR AWAY! Ha. ha. ha. The government has declared both December 24 (Wednesday) and 26 (Friday) as additional holidays, but not the 29th (Monday). What? Yep! That day is as much as sandwiched between holidays as the 26th, but they "forgot" to declare it. :-) If they did declare it, then people would have an official, extra-long nine-day weekend beginning from the 24th to January 1st. Unofficially, people taking the time off from December 20th all the way to January 4, 2014 would have another sixteen-day hiatus. 

To get what I'm saying, here's a calendar showing December 2014 :

So... I guess I'll be earning my vacation leaves next year and take that option at the end of 2014. I would have deserved it by then, don't you think so?