The Shady Chronicles: Hotel H2O

FEATURE

If our post on Manila Ocean Park piqued your interest, you might like to know that you can also check-in at the park's Hotel H2O.

Our first stop was Makan Makan, which is designed to look like a hawker plaza from Singapore. They serve a menu filled with Southeast Asian culinary delights and which is pretty reasonably priced.

Teh Tarik and Barley with Lemon

The Teh Tarik was satisfying but we were surprised with how tasty and refreshing it was. I was a bit apprehensive about the lemon at first but it gave the drink a kick that made it better than the version of Wee Nam Kee.

Crispy catfish salad

The serving plate of this was a little too narrow, which made the salad hard to mix. There was a generous helping of catfish though and the tangy dressing brought it all together.

Roti canai with curry dipping sauce

The roti is lightly crisped on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. The slight sweetness of the bread went so well with the fantastic curry too. This was a great choice of appetizer.

Crab fried rice

Sambal squid

Here's one of the avian friends we met at the bird exhibit, just off the main floor. You can take pictures with them against jungle backgrounds if you're into that sort of thing.

And now we move into the hotel proper. Our first stop is the Zenyu Eco Spa, where you can get massages, nail care, the negative ion sauna, and the full-body fish spa.

This is the private version of the fish spa we went to at the park. You can have a seat in the pool and relax (or try to) while hungry fish nibble away at your dead skin and tickle you everywhere. It takes a bit more time to get used to compared to the foot spa version but this one leaves you feeling smooth all over.

This is the showcase feature of the spa, the negative ion hot beds. The brown tiles here emit negative ions that are designed to cleanse your body of toxins, keeping you fresh and healthy. Also, each bed costs about half a million a pop, so they better work. :D

There are also rooms for smaller groups if you mind sharing the space with sweaty strangers.

Thanks to D's dad, we got to tour the rooms a bit. This is the bay view room, which features, you guessed it, a really nice picture-worthy view of Manila Bay.

The rooms are all new and modern but with touches or retro design that go with the look of the hotel.

The rooms offer really good views because the hotel actually sticks out into the bay, standing on stilts.

The beds and sofas looked so comfortable and the sheets were impeccably clean. Spending the whole day in lounging in the room doesn't seem like a bad idea.

Many people need a good look into the bathrooms before they can feel safe in a hotel. The shower area is quite spacious and everything looks pretty clean.