A healthy weekend

'twas the weekend before Christmas... so we decided to go on a healthy weekend break.  We'd heard about The Farm at San Benito through the Lonely Planet originally and then from friends who mentioned it during our time in Manila.  It's a coconut plantation which has been transformed into a health farm/retreat.  It sounded wonderful, if a bit expensive.  And if I'm completely honest, I never thought that we'd manage a break there.

But, we decided to treat ourselves.  Our options for getting out of the city are becoming more and more limited as the due date of the baby nears.  The Farm is only a drive away.  And it's Christmas, so why not treat ourselves!

We were picked up by The Farm's transport on Friday afternoon.  Traffic was thick getting out of the city, but once we were past the airport the rest of the drive was fairly quiet.  On arrival, we were given cold coconut water with a slice of cucumber - very refreshing.  It was dark, but the whole resort was atmospherically lit, including our room.  We stayed in one of the Sulu Terrace rooms.  On the ground level there is the bathroom and a Thai-style chill out area.  On the first floor, the small but perfectly formed sleeping quarters.

With my big belly and increased need for night-time toilet visits I was a bit wary of the steep steps up to the room.  But, this is where we were to stay so we just compared it to camping and got on with it.  There were no broken bones to report at the end of the trip.

Upon check-in we were reminded that the resort only serves vegan food.  The receptionist was keen to double-check with Mr H that this was ok.  His face must have given away the impression that he couldn't survive 2 nights without meat!

The food throughout our stay (2 dinners, 1 afternoon tea and 2 breakfasts) was very impressive.  I just couldn't believe the variety you could achieve using only vegan ingredients.  The highlights were the chocolate and pecan pie on the first night and the granola for the first breakfast.

The portion sizes are not vast, but if you go for the set menu you can choose between 2 to 5 courses.  On the first evening, we weren't sure we were going to be full, so we ordered some bread.  It was delicious, and it came with 3 spreads (cashew 'butter', pesto and coconut 'butter') but it was rather overpriced for what you got - 300 Pesos (almost £5) for 6 very thin and small slices of bread.

What is there to do at a health farm?  Each day there is a set of activities which you can choose to join, or you can simply find one of the chill-out points around the resort and enjoy the silence doing nothing.  There were 3 yoga classes a day, various other exercise classes, walks around the resort and flower arranging.  We didn't do any of these.  We lay by the pool, or in the chill-out area under our hut and just really relaxed.  I've been having really swollen feet recently, and at the end of the weekend my feet were back to normal size.  It was brilliant.

It was all over too quickly, even though it was nice having 2 nights in a place for a change.  As we headed back to Manila, the air became thicker and smoggier.  But it was wonderful to have fresh, clean air for a whole weekend.

I'd recommend a trip to The Farm, even more so if you can get a good offer.  It's not cheap, but it is very special.

A flying visit to Mactan (Cebu)

Photos from Crimson Resort & Spa, Mactan (Cebu)

Between arriving back in Manila from our UK trip and the baby arriving in February, we had a long period of potentially being 'stuck' in Manila.  December seemed the perfect time to get some weekend breaks in before it would be a bit more difficult to travel (being unable to fly after 35 weeks of being pregnant) or just too risky to be too far away from a hospital.  So we decided to go to Cebu, or more accurately Mactan.

There are numerous flights everyday from Manila to Cebu, and once you get there, there is a good variety of resorts to choose from.  It should be an easy hop, skip and a jump from smoggy city to beach.  If you don't have flight delays of over an hour in each direction.  But we won't let that ruin the trip.

We'd booked in to stay at the Crimson Resort & Spa.  It was delightful from the moment we arrived.  We were greeted with a refreshing welcome drink (I can never tell what's in these welcome drinks, but pandan perhaps in this one?) and then driven in a golf buggy to our room.  The room was a 'Garden Deluxe' and very spacious and luxuriously kitted out.  There was a big opening between the bathroom and the bedroom, but luckily there was also a wooden blind which could be pulled across.

The resort was extremely well kept - neat pathways lined with gardens and trees between all the rooms and the public areas.  3 swimming pools, 4 eating spots, a bit of beach (although all beach on Mactan is man-made) and lots of sun loungers for chilling out on.  The weather was fine, so a perfect break all round.

The only disappointing thing was that we were there for such a short time.  We made the most of this by mostly lying on the very comfortable loungers at the pool bar.  We also had a bit of a dip in the infinity pool at sundown, whilst the resort staff performed a dance symbolising the fishermen coming home after a long day at sea.  

The food at the Azure pool bar and for the breakfast buffet was very good.  We had a little extra entertainment at breakfast too when we spotted a couple wearing matching PJs.

A perfect way to spend 24 hours, and to feel rejuvenated after the smog and craziness of Manila.

I did get my refund, without travelling to Araneta!

I was so enraged by the refund fiasco that I wrote an email to their customer service department.  Even though this was on a Sunday, they responded almost straight away.  The upshot - I managed to take my tickets back to a ticket outlet within walking distance of our flat and they electronically refunded me the money.  Why couldn't they just do that in the first place?  Anyway, at least I got the refund without having to travel to the other side of Manila.

I just want to get a refund

Maybe we are a little spoiled living in the UK - with the mostly flexible refund policies on bought goods.  Or maybe it's just a more customer-focused economy.  The policies here in the Philippines don't seem to be so flexible.  Or customer friendly.

In normal situations, you'd probably be a little ticked off if you *had to* go back to the same place where you purchased something to get a refund.  You might expect that you can go to another store / outlet of the same brand and be able to get a refund there.  What if you had to go somewhere completely different to get a refund?  Somewhere that is a good hour away by taxi from where you bought the item.

This is what happened to us, to get a refund for a cancelled concert ticket.

On the reverse of the concert ticket, one of the 'Terms and conditions' states: "In the event of a show cancellation, pls. return ticket to the place of purchase."  (I have transcribed that exactly as it reads on the ticket.  Don't get me started about the use of abbreviations like 'pls').

So that's what I did.

When I got there I was told that I had to go to Smart Araneta.  Which is in another part of the city altogether.  And it's not close by.  I was told that they don't have any processes in place to give me a refund.  I pointed out the text on the back of the ticket.  The lady serving me just looked at me as if I was from Mars.  And then said 'Sorry ma'am you have to go to Smart Araneta'.

I was fuming.

At a combination of things.

The absolutely ridiculous policy that you have to go to somewhere else altogether to get your refund processed.  The fact that the information printed on the ticket is plain incorrect.  The gormless look on the face of the lady serving me.  The fact that I would have to sit in traffic for an hour or so each way to get this refund processed.

And I suppose at the fact that we didn't get to see Two Door Cinema Club live in Manila.