The Monina Midtown Inn and Restaurant: Tubigon

There was something we discovered while transferring from Ligaya’s to The Monina’s. Waiting for a trike, we decided to walk a bit, hoping to find the ride at some corner. This time though, we decided to walk rightwards from Ligaya’s gate so we could see the other parts of this town. There was/is an elementary school that we passed by, so we were sure we’d easily find available tricycles at the corner. Voila! And OMG! We instead saw the unmistakable roof of The Moninas looking just a few meters more! Wheh?! So we walked going there instead! How did that happen?! We talked about it as we walked and noticed that the road (that use) going to Ligaya’s just made it seem far, but in reality it was just 2 or 3 blocks back of the church. Sus! So, after that leisurely walk along residences with gardens and trees everywhere, turning left at the highway where there is even a bank, we approached The Monina’s from the north. Whoa!

The Monina RM Midtown Inn & Restaurant. That’s its real and complete name. Weird-sounding yeah, but the only real hotel in town as far as I have known or seen. The lowest-priced room good for 2 persons was priced at P1,500 though am not sure what I/we said or did that we were able to get it at P1,200 instead. We were actually surprised to have seen something like this in Tubigon. It’s a real hotel building in terms of form and function. I mean not your usual run of the mill accommodation managed by a family and their house-help who progressed or were promoted to become front desk staff and so on. There is a formal front desk – even a lobby. And the crews are real – obviously trained to function in the hospitality industry. They’re uniformed and can easily outshine many a hotel staff I have encountered in many of the resorts all over Panglao.

Oh, lest I come out like advertising them hehe, let me go on to our experience in this facility…

Room. Uhm, fairly regular. Nothing fantastic and come to think of it, I have forgotten to take at least a single picture of the room. But its something like this… Room 216 is big enough just to literally fit the double bed that’s propped right across the door and nothing else hehe. Space around the bed is walking space, about 2 feet or less. Well yes, there is an open-shelf cabinet to the left upon entering the door and its taller than me. Above it hovers the TV. So that, the most practical way of watching anything is to lie down on the bed since sitting or even standing would strain your neck! That’s how high the TV is perched hehe. Behind that wall by the head of the bed is the bathroom that you approach via the only window of the room but that’s where the aircon unit is. Ah relief, the small bathroom has its own window so its nice and bright to have a morning shower with a view of the neighboring vacant lot and houses beyond! Well, just look at that illustration!

Food? Hotel / Resort style… meaning generally delectable and not your common household cooking. Example? The adobo (called humba in bisaya) has more ingredients like pineapple tidbits making it a bit westernized. But the pizza? Aw, very Filipino and just the way I like it! Matamis – even down to the kind of melt-cheese used! Sorry am not a fan of real Italian or western-style pizza that tastes more of the tomato paste making it sour hehe. Garnishes and presentation? Ah, this is the only real hotel in the area! Setting? Nice homely restaurant with high ceiling, hardwood furniture plus you have a choice between the main restaurant area facing the pool or some kind of anti-room nearer the lobby, internet café, specialty sops. Beware the aircon at the restaurant. They usually set it to wintery conditions, so if you’re coming from the pool, you’ll easily shiver hehehe!

Elsewhere? Clean and uncluttered everywhere. The verandah at second floor lobby is surrounded by plants and has a sitting area that even has those big tentlike umbrellas. Good for an outdoorish tete-a-tete for the smokers. The pool is to die for! I think I even have more beautiful pictures of it, than the hotel’s website has! Yey! Water is warm in the evenings (cuz it absorbed the sun’s heat for a day?) and cold in the mornings (cuz it cooled down in the evening?). This one I find uniquely fantastic: around the pool and around the building, birds have decided to nest on the surrounding plants and trees. I mean the real maya bird that was formerly this country’s national bird – not the brown bird with black streaks that you commonly see everywhere (no thanks to ignorant metropolis folks who call them maya). Hey, this hotel even has a spacious (though a bit muddy) parking area! And that is that vacant lot just front of the entrance hehe!

Finally, the crews are real professionals, from the uniform down to their decorum. I peeked at the kitchen and the crews there are uniformed too! Yes, I think they have a chef hehe. The frontdesk girl though keeps on hiding unto some crevice probably to doze off hahaha!

We loved our stay at this place with a weird-sounding name… the Monina RM Midtown Inn and Restaurant!

If you want to read the chronology of all stories on this tour, click the following:
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34

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