TravelBook.PH's 4th Anniversary Summer Blowout and Special Hotel Rates for Holy Week

It's my first time to actually hear about TravelBook.PH and honestly I haven't used the service. I only use one similar service from another website and never had the opportunity to compare the two. I often used that service because they always say they have the lowest rates and even reward you if you find something lower than their rates. That's exactly where I was wrong, TravelBook.PH has been operating for 4 years now and their published rates include special deals with local hotels as they operate locally too. Case in point, the rates this Holy Week at Seqoia Hotel. 

Same Room, but look at the difference between TravelBook.PH vs AGODA. That's almost 500 pesos per day, money you can buy lunch or dinner with. Crazy!

Now did you know what Manila is the top destination during holy week? A lot of people think they spend time out of town to travel but no, they actually stay at home or do staycations with the family. This has been solidified by the findings in the latest report released by TravelBook.ph using the latest data March-April or this Lenten Season. Aside from Manila, Tagaytay comes close second, then Cebu, Mindoro, Zambales, Palawan, Ilocos Sur, Boracay, Baguio, Albay, Batangas, Pangasinan, Camarines Sur, Davao and Laguna respectively.

When I was also in their 4th anniversary celebration, I learned that you can book online or through their call center at 6621111.You can also conveniently pay through credit card, bank deposit, over-the-counter (OTC) banking, or bayad center facilities. They also have the option of letting you pay at the hotel when you arrive which would be convenient for those who don't have a credit card. Now I don't know of any other hotel booking service that does that and since they are based here, it'll be fast and efficient to attend to your needs if in case you get into problems with your hotel. I'm trying one this Holy Week to have my Mom and Dad stay in one of the hotels nearby so they could get a more comfortable sleep, and perhaps celebrate small things with me and the rest of my family. I'm glad I know TravelBook.ph now, I was fooled by other sites, at least now I have something to compare to. They also are doing a Summer Blowout this month together with specials for Lent. You should check it out before your other hotel booking sites because trust me, there's a huge difference!

I'm glad I got to know TravelBook.ph, here's to more travels and hotel stays in the future!


KUMAGCOW
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Experiencing a Connected Rizal with Smart

We spent a whole day of fun at Rizal particularly in the Antipolo and nearby areas to experience what the biggest network SMART calls a #ConnectedRizal. They've already done this with several cities like Davao and the best island in the world Boracay just so people could see what it feels to have a fast network with infrastructures that are capable of ideal LTE speeds; they have already upgraded the antennas in this part of the country. Mind you, it takes a ton of man hours to actually do it because you have to manually climb the tower and change several things physically in the antenna plus several items in the site (because they have upgraded the switches and transmitters into external ones) wherein before was required to be air conditioned, but now have external versions of it. 

Mon Isberto, Head of Corp Com at PLDT - ‎Smart Communications, Inc says "As we roll out LTE on our networks, we are also preparing for the not so distant future for 5G. We have to pay attention to your devices, we know you need to get the best out of your network. As soon as we complete the upgrade, it will get better."

If you want to experience it too, visit the Antipolo Church and use the OPEN SIGNAL app and test the speed. You'll be surprised at what you'll get in this part of town.

In just a few minutes, it'll test the networks found in the area and if you're not that sure about what you're seeing, take it to another tourist spot like Hinulugang Taktak!

I didn't know Hinulugang Taktak is open already! There are still parts of it being constructed, but you can have picnic and journey in the meditation area by crossing the hanging bridge. I strongly advise though not to breathe in the smell on the actual falls as it is still a little dirty, but pretty soon they will revive this place!

This is the cell site, the one on the side that comes with every cell site contains very sensitive equipment that requires air conditioning. Some of it were transferred outside because of new technology, they now have external switches and boxes that can work even with high temperatures.

I tried climbing up the antenna, but it was too high for comfort. Imagine what network engineers need to do to in order to change those things on top, they have to do it manually because they need to change the structure, plus the boxes too.

Those boxes (large ones are for the new 700 Mhz which they acquired from San Miguel Corp.) while the small ones are for the 3G signals. This is why it takes time to change all of those things, it's not done in an instant.

Joachim Horn, Chief Technology and Information Advisor at PLDT - ‎Smart Communications, Inc says "We don't want to have a network with that image and we're doing significant improvements in areas such as Rizal. Everyday we have hundreds of people putting up network as we need to constantly upgrade and optimize it. We need to have good coverage so you could have good signal so we are rolling out this effort in different parts of the country. We need about 30 permissions for 1 cell site and a lower frequency penetrates buildings better. But they are building new ones and it's one of the work that we are doing everyday. It covers the signal and we build towers to resolve that. It takes 8 months to 1 year to build one, we have made efforts in Rizal and we also have equipment outage and breaks which our engineers have to fix too. We also have power outages, cable theft and natural calamities, but we still have to build a better network possible. As of now we have 2G, 3G, 4G or LTE and it's the fastest right now."

As for the speed, you be the judge. This was done in the afternoon. I wonder if this would also improve slightly one non peak hours, I'm impressed!

He adds "We also have LTE-A and new technologies coming, so we are improving. If you have a good network, you also need a good smartphone with the best sim that supports the network. If you have good network plus good device, you will get the good experience you deserve. We are one of the few countries that support 700MHz and LTE-A (carrier aggregation). It will be better for the more advanced users. Check bit.ly/700mhzdevices if your phone is included. There are not many countries that have this and we are fixing the network as we are currently updating LTE service across 2,500 cell sites in Manila, hopefully to finish 95% of the Philippines by the end of 2018. We're doing 120 in speed tests in Boracay, 80+ in Davao and about the same in Rizal. You will experience that later. Not only Smart, but PLDT is also connected via Fiber networks. We also have Smart Wifi rolled out on airports, sea ports, bus terminals and more. Also if you don't know, mobile data costs less in the Philippines now. We have addressed that problem including fixed broadband price, it's not a fantasy anymore. We are not alone, we need national and local government to standardize permits and fees, allocate property to build infrastructure and the DICT is very supportive, making it 7 days to process it. We also hope you are ready also for 5G in 2020. In the end we want good service for our customers."

So if you're wondering why it's taking a while to change and improve your network speed, I hope I got you to at least get a glimpse of how it works behind the scenes. If you think your village or community is hampering with the building of these cell sites, make your presence felt and tell them that it's not harmful to have one in your place because it's also been certified by local and international institutions, including DOH. Don't complain about your signals if you are in areas where they put up policies that don't allow these antennas to be placed because in some way, YOU are the problem. It's good news though that agencies and local government units are now supporting network companies to standardize the papers in putting up cell sites, that would really make the process faster because of less red tape. Thanks to SMART for letting us experience a #ConnectedRizal, I hope I can say the same #ConnectedQuezonCity pretty soon, as I know they still have a lot of cell sites to improve in the coming months, and years. The effort alone is something I really appreciate and I hope a lot of people do to. As you may have witnessed, this BIG job is no joke.

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La Española at Madrid Fusion Manila

We're in Madrid Fusion Manila today for another round of Taste Setters, SYSU International's Series of Workshops this time discussing about Olive Oil Trends. Trends? I don't know about that but isn't Olive Oil just supposed to be the regular one and the EVOO? Well I was wrong. La Española has been doing this since 1840, and aside from the classics, there are a lot of other varieties apparently. Chef Xavier Btesh told us "People think Olive Oil is fancy, but it's really not hard to cook with it. You can even use it for your skin, and find it all around the mediterranean sea. We lost a lot of trees in the past but only Olive trees went back to life. It's forever going to be there and in fact, we've got a healthy sald we'll prepare with Extra Virgin Olive Oil". He then proceeds chopping the ingredients, mixed it and voila!

Tabouleh has couscous, tomatoes, raisins, mint and parsley. It was really good. Olive oil should at least have a little bitter but have a peppery note.

He also taught us how to make our own Mayo with Dijon Mustard, Red Wine Vinegar, egg yolks, salt and pepper. Of course you have to  He also introduced to us QUORN which is a meat free option, a mycoprotein. It's best for those who want a healthier meal and is available in leading supermarkets in the Philippines. You can keep it until the day after though (the mayo). It's so different from the one you buy in jars, and it was pretty good, the Quorn tastes like a chicken nugget! They also used the Extra Virgin Olive Oil on Vanilla Ice Cream then sprinkled with tomato, parsley and basil. You just have to melt the ice cream a little before you combine it with the olive oil and the more you use it, the more bitter the note will be. It's been a new thing in Europe, crazy, but crazy good.

Chef Xavier Btesh will also be launching his first this May in National Bookstore and leading bookstores nationwide. 

Ms. Marjorie Cleofas also adds "Apart from the world's first olive oil from spain, we have flavored olive oils in Basil, Garlic and Lemon. It's available in all leading supermarkets and online at www.sysuinc.com.ph."

Madrid Fusion Manila was just super fun! I'll feature one of the vendors next!

KUMAGCOW

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The New EON E-Money App

It looks like Unionbank's EON card is changing shape, taking the challenge of the ever changing nature of internet banking and wanting to answer the needs of their clientele. 

"Unionbank is challenging the status quo, we listen and we will do EON banking differently. It's a selfie bank, you can now bank for your self, with yourself, reinvent it and cocreate with us your bank and your future. You are part of this." - Dr. Justo Ortiz

"In 1999 people were starting to buy online, to pay stocks, and people were not using credit cards because of the fear and introduced EON Cyber Accounts. It was used for online transactions, used for EBAY, and word of mouth used and endorsing our product without us knowing who they are. There were early adapters and EON was their preferred product. People were finding use for it, it was taking a life of it's own. That's when we realize the spirit of Co-creation. They made use of EON more than what we intended, and that's why we brought in technology so they can be involved. We made sure they have the hands on experience and tell us what they need."

"We found out that our users are using EON for a lot of other things that what we expect them to be. We tried to find out what they need and made the platform, passwords were then very troublesome to change and that's when we thought of Selfie Banking. We got the best in class technology and put it in an app. This is the same technology as with Homeland Security in the US. This the new EON E-Money Account. It's the first of it's kind that you can buy in a convenience store. Most of our users are also buy online locally, as shipping is also a problem, now we have MyShoppingBox through the EON E-Money account. They want to use and transfer money too, so we researched this and got people to a security standard that people would be comfortable to use it. So far we are enhancing that technology, to make it more reliable. At the core of it is the experience, we had to make sure our customer experience is attuned to that, in real time transactions. We are getting to see a digital bank, a digital experience that does everything real time 24/7. Analytics and geo location too. It's just gonna get better everyday." - Paolo Baltao EON's Head Advocate

You can now download the app on the Apple Store and and Google Play today! 

KUMAGCOW

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