1. South East Asian Airlines (SEAIR) and Microtel Inns & Suites will be choosing eight lucky bloggers to join an all-expense paid bloggers’ tour of Boracay from September 10 to 12, 2010. This includes round-trip tickets from Manila to Caticlan and accommodation at Microtel Boracay.

2. To be selected, you will have to write a blog entry telling us why you should be chosen to join the tour. Each blog entry must have a link to the SEAIR website, the SEAIR Facebook Fan Page, and the Microtel Philippines wesbite.

3. You can publish your entry from 12:00 a.m. of July 26, 2010 to 11:59 p.m. of August 20, 2010. Only one entry per blog will count.

4. To let us know about your blog entry, post it as a link in the SEAIR Facebook Fan Page. It has to be posted from 12:00 a.m. of July 26, 2010 to 11:59 p.m. of August 20, 2010. Once it is acknowledged by our administrator, your entry is counted.

5. Three winners will be selected by a panel of judges based on which is the most compelling. The top three entries with the highest scores from the judges will be invited to the tour.

6. Three winners will be selected by fans based on the number of “likes” to the link. The three entries with the most number of “likes” by 11:59 p.m. of August 25, 2010 will be invited to the tour.

7. One winner will the selected by the SEAIR Adventure Club. The entry with the most number of votes from our resident travel bloggers will be invited to the tour.

8. One winner will be selected at random in a manner to be determined by the organizers.

9. We will notify the eight (8) winners on August 27, 2010. In case any of the winners cannot make it, we will invite the one next in line.

10. The decision of the organizers in final. Good luck to everyone!

SEAIR Announces Special Anniversary Promos

Southeast Asian Airlines (SEAIR), the Philippines’ premiere leisure airline, offers special anniversary promos in celebration of its 15th anniversary on March 25, 2010.

Travelers can avail of the special morning rates of as low as PhP 1,999.20 per way all-in when they book as early as February for travel from March 2010 onwards. The special rates are available for limited seats for all flights to and from Boracay before 7 a.m.

SEAIR is also offering exclusive discounts for online bookings. Vacationers can get PhP 1,500.00 discount per way for all seats, flights and routes when they book via www.FlySeair.com. To avail of the promo, online users can type iloveseair15 in the promo code field when booking on Jan. 11-18 for travel on Feb. 19-March 26, as well as when booking on March 14-25 for travel on June 15-Oct. 15.

This is SEAIR’s way of thanking travelers for their continued support. The airline has been serving key tourist destinations since 1995, most notably Boracay, and has the longest history of uninterrupted service to Boracay direct via Caticlan.

SEAIR now offers up to 27 flights per day to Boracay (Caticlan) and is now flying daily to the island paradise of Batanes. It also flies to El Nido, Palawan every Wednesday and Sunday, as well as Marinduque every Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.

SEAIR is the nation’s second-oldest airline and has flown almost 3 million passengers to local destinations including Tablas (Romblon), Cebu, Clark, Zamboanga, Jolo, and Tawi-tawi. SEAIR also offers the most routes from Caticlan with flights from Caticlan to Manila v.v., Caticlan to Clark v.v and Caticlan to Cebu v.v.

To avail of the SEAIR 15th anniversary promos call SEAIR Reservations at (632)8490100 or book online at www.FlySeair.com. Join SEAIR Facebook Fan Page for updates on promos.

I wasn’t too familiar with Moroccan cuisine so I didn’t know what to expect. Moroccan food use an assortment of spices including mint, olives, paprika, cinnamon, nutmeg, chillies, lavender, and saffron which is considered as the most expensive spice out there. It was dinner time when we arrived at Kasbah.

While waiting for our food to be cooked, we tried out their freshly baked Hummus that you eat along with three different kinds of dips. Their signature drink is called Fez which tastes a lot like a mojito because of the vodka and mint blended with iced tea. (Speaking of Fez, you can check out their ‘Fezbook’ account here. They don’t have a website yet.)

A blurry image of the Fez.

Different blends of dips for the Hummus.

The food were served in special dome-shaped Moroccan pots called tajines (or tagines). Apparently, this is where they cook the food as well. A tajine somewhat resembles a convection oven so it keeps the food moist and bursting with flavors. We got to taste some of Kasbah’s specialties like the Beef Tajine – the meat was very tasty and tender, Chicken Tajine – not as spicy as I expected, Moroccan Grilled Shrimp – very juicy and a bit spicy, and Seafood Saffron Tajine – very rich in flavor. Too bad their best-seller Lamb Tajine was not available at that time but we were able to sample Lamb and Seafood Kebabs.

Those are some large, nasty Moroccan Grilled Shrimps… yummy!

Nope, that’s not Chicken Curry. It just looks like one.

Seafood Saffron Tajine. It looks and sound expensive, but it’s worth it.

Overall, it was a very hearty dinner we all enjoyed. Very exquisite. Very different. Truly Moroccan. At the end of it all, we were served with Moroccan Mint Tea. And like all the Moroccan dishes we have sampled, this mint tea tasted uniquely different. It was cleansing and addictive because of the combination of sweetness and mint. I kept coming back for more cups while everyone was busy chit-chatting.

As for the place, what more can I say. It’s very Moroccan, duh! You have blue tables and chairs, tajine pots all over the place, brass Moroccan lamps, and even the little things like the ashtrays and curtains all have that Moroccan look and feel.

Kasbah Moroccan Bar and Restaurant in Boracay (Station 1)

The people in Kasbah including the owners (Donna and Martin) are very friendly. If you’re planning to go to Boracay and want try eating at a place that is something out of the ordinary, then you should try dining at Kasbah Moroccan Bar and Restaurant. If you have any questions, you can get in touch with Evelyn Pena (Operations Manager) at 0923-3533803 or email them at kasbahboracay@gmail.com.

Eric of Byahilo.com wearing a Fez hat while drinking Fez.

Boracay Sunset (Photo by Gail dela Cruz-Villanueva)

Then last December, we ended up spending a weekend in Boracay once more during the long Christmas vacation together with some friends courtesy of South East Asian Airlines (SEAIR). They still use the “Fastest flights to Boracay (and most flights to Palawan and more)” tagline and true enough, we landed in Caticlan airport in just about 35 minutes.

A few weeks before the trip, the original plan was to visit the beautiful beaches in Tablas, Romblom – one of the many regular destinations of SEAIR. It’s a place I have never been to. But something happened at the last minute so it had to be canceled. All our stuff and gear were already packed and ready to go. After the SEAIR folks broke to us the bad news, they asked ‘Wanna go to Boracay instead?’ We all said yes!

White Beach, Boracay Beach (Photo by Gail dela Cruz-Villanueva)

So off we go to White Beach, Boracay (December 19-21). Surprisingly, there were not too many people at that time of the month. It wasn’t too sunny and hot as I hope it would be. So what did we do there? Lemme see… since most of our companions are aspiring food bloggers too, we did a lot of eating here and there.

We visited and dined at places like Bulabog beach where people do kite surfing, Gasthof – Boracay’s famous babyback ribs, Bugs Grill where we had lunch buffet for only P200, and the one-of-a-kind Kasbah Moroccan Restaurant located in Station 1 to name a few. We stayed at the lovely and very affordable Taj Guesthouse located along Station 2 just a few meters away from D’Mall. (Will provide more details about these places we visited in another blog post soon).

SEAIR flies regularly to Boracay via Caticlan. For reservations, you can get your tickets through the SEAIR call center +632 849.0100 or log on to the SEAIR website to reserve online.