Forever 28~

My Fitness First Malaysia membership allows me to visit other Fitness First club over the world, so I am taking this advantage to visit Fitness First in Manila while I am here. Two club that I’ve visited during this trip; they are Fitness First in Fort Bonifacio and Fitness First Platinum in Trinoma mall. Now I would like to share my experience about Fitness First in Manila.
Generally, both clubs do not provide soft drinks and tea such as in all clubs in Malaysia. Fitness First in Manila only provide coffee and drinking water. Then, only Platinum Clubs provide towel service to members. I went to Fitness First in Fort Bonifacio for workout and I didn’t bring towel, and then I was told that only Platinum clubs provide towel to members. However, there is CineFit room in Fort Bonifacio club. The CineFit room plays movie in big screen and you can watch the movie while running on treadmill or cycling. I like this idea.
Fitness First Platinum in Trinoma Mall which provide bath towel and extended toiletry such as powder and body lotion for members. Besides that, the lockers use access cards instead of key. I found there is drawback for this method because members have to remember locker number that he is using. I always have problems to memorize it.

As conclusion, I still prefer Fitness First in Malaysia. It is much better than those I had visited in Manila.

If you are traveling in Manila and will be departing to other placing by flight, then don’t forget to keep some peso for paying the airport tax. At the NAIA airport Manila, you have to pay P 200 for domestic flight and P 750 for international flight. The airport tax is collected for departure flight only. This is because the tax is not included in your air ticket.

The airport tax is various in the Philippines. I went to Bohol few months ago, and when I departed from Tagbilaran airport, the airport tax is only P 20. So, don’t spend all peso you have in the city, you have to keep some peso to pay for airport tax in the Philippines.

Recently, McDonalds has launched a lot of promotions such as buy one get one free for double cheeseburger, and free McChicken burger. In these promotions, you need to print out the coupon/ voucher from the internet, then you can enjoy free burger when u give the coupon/ voucher to the cashier upon purchased.

Due to the popularity of the promotion, there are faked McDonalds coupons/ vouchers circulate around. The fake coupon/ voucher is about get a free GCB burger upon purchased the same item during 21-23 July 2011. McDonald’s has officially announced that there is no such promotion going on. So, do not redeem this deal in McDonald’s restaurant because this is not valid.

Basically, public transport fare is considered as affordable in Manila, Philippines. Once I arrived to Naia airport terminal 3, I took taxi to Fort Bonifacio to visit my friend. It is about 15-20 minutes ride from the airport. Usually the charge is around P 120 to P 150. Taxi fare is really cheap in The Philippines. The flag fall rate is P 40 and P 3 increased for every 300 meters distance or 2 minutes ride. So usually I will travel around by taxi.
However, if I need to travel for long distance, I would choose to take MRT/ LRT. If you depart from Bonifacio Global City, you can choose to take West Route bus which will stop at Ayala Avenue Station. The fare is P 12. Then, you can go around to the places you wish to go by referring to the MRT/ LRT route below (courtesy of MetroPlanet). The fare is from P 10 to P 20, very affordable.
Perhaps of the cheap MRT/ LRT fare and heavy traffic jam in Manila, you will see a lot of people taking LRT/ MRT at all the time! I tried to avoid peak hours but it is still a lot of people. I missed two trains (due to the crowdedness) and only get into the third train coming. That was 11am.
Travel in MRT/ LRT and bus will definitely save your money, but if you want a pleasure ride, you can consider taking taxi instead.

I’ve never participated King of the Road (KOTR) that is organized by Adidas. This year, Adidas organizes KOTR 2011 in five different countries; there are Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and The Philippines. I was thinking to register for KOTR 2011 in Malaysia, but the registration was closed on 19th July 2011.

The dates for each race are as follow:

• Thailand: 31 May 2011
• Singapore: 28 August 2011 (Venue: The Padang)
• Indonesia: 25 September 2011 (Venue: Pantai Carnaval Ancol, Jakarta)
• Malaysia: 2 October 2011 (Venue: New Pantai Expressway Sunway Pyramid)
• The Philippines: 23 October 2011 (Venue: Bonifacio Global City)

If you are the winner and runner-up of each country’s 16.8km category win an all-expenses paid trip
to the Philippines to compete with the best of the best in Southeast Asia. The details are available in the official website: http://adidaskingoftheroad.com

I have friend who is staying in Bonifacio Global City. It is a nice place. Since KOTR 2011 in is already closed for registration, I am so tempted to register the run in The Philippines. Any runner from Malaysia wants to join me?