Caylabne: Las Casas De Cala Buena

The name sounds really posh - Las Casas De Cala Buena...  and it really was.  This is yet another random trip that we took with the FamBam because... wala lang... just because we love random trips.  I'm actually amazed at how we were able to push through with these trips since it's really not easy travelling with more than 20 individuals at a time.

Las Casas is part of the Caylabne Bay Resort, it is a group of mediterranean-inspired villas separate from the resort's hotel itself.  From Las Casas, it's probably a good 5-minute scenic walk to the beachfront from where the hotel, the restaurant and the other facilities are.  One will pass by a nice bridge (see pic below) where you can take postcard-wannabe photographs of the mountains, mangroves, and the estuary - where the river meets the ocean and where the boys were able to catch a lot of fish.

Ironically, as this is a trip to the beach and although I was able to enjoy the beach, I had more fun taking in the serenity of the mountains and the forest hence I realized I only took very few photos of the beach itself. 

We stayed in a villa with its own private pool. Imagine the joy of the kids swimming and playing in it until the wee hours of the night! :) It was nestled between a forested mountain on the left and a healthy mangrove swamp on the right.  Although the place, not just our villa but the whole resort, seem to have seen its better days, there is still this distinct luxurious feel to it.  It looked like an old and deserted mediterranean subdivision.

Deserted was nice since we seem to have the place to ourselves (I will not tell ghost stories in this blog).  We were able to play around, relax and bond.

I could not imagine how one can get to this place without private transportation since it seems complicated doing so.  It is located in Ternate, Cavite and is near Puerto Azul (which I gather is pretty well-known to everyone, well, except myself) and we also passed by what they call the "magnetic hill".  It is also near the jump off point for trekkers to Pico de Loro - the mountain not the beach club in Nasugbu.  The drive was quite fun and scenic especially once you leave the main road.  We spotted birds, eagles, lizards, and monkeys!  Lots of monkeys!

Monkeys wearing blue rompers holding on to a camera while two other little monkeys looked on.

Not the usual beach weekend for us but definitely one for the books.

VICTORY LINER: ZERO CONTINGENCY PLAN

At 10:30AM last April 29, 2012, we were finally aboard bus #846 bound for Olongapo from Victory Liner’s Pasay Terminal. That was after lining up at the ticket booth for more than 30 minutes.

The moment we reached our seat, I immediately placed my bag on the floor, checked the AC, reclined my seat and prepared to doze off for the most part of the trip. Although it was one of Victory Liner’s older buses, it was okay, I am not a very picky traveler, I was even happy that it had a free wi-fi connection onboard.

There was a delay from the original 10:30AM departure since the ticketing agent messed up the tickets and overbooked the trip. There were several passengers holding the same seat numbers.

When we were finally north-bound, near the MRT Taft Station, we went on a halt without knowing why. Apparently the bus hit a vehicle so the driver and the conductor need to settle it with the owner and the traffic officer. We only knew of this because some passengers went up and checked the commotion. No one from the bus company relayed the incident to us.

I’m not sure how long the settlement went on but after that the bus U-turned and went south-bound when we reached Magallanes. Some of us speculated that we are going back to the Pasay Terminal maybe to transfer to a different bus. When we reached the terminal, we were not asked to alight the bus, so we stayed in our seats and after a few minutes, we were north-bound again only to turn back south AGAIN when we reached Magallanes. Ang gulo ng sentence, ang gulo kasi talaga ng nangyari. This time, the bus went inside the terminal.

We have been around Edsa for a good 2 hours. No one from the bus company spoke to us nor kept us informed of what the plan is. I went up to the driver’s seat and asked them what’s going on and I admit, I already raised my voice. Another guy who was travelling with his family (with two kids) also came up and demanded an explanation.

We went to the office and the staff there are already taking their lunch, before we could get an answer from them, we saw the other passengers alighting from our bus and transferring to another, so we ran back to where the bus was parked. Amidst the high sun, passengers were hauling kids and baggage to the new bus assigned to us.

So we did transfer to a different bus and finally we were off to Olongapo. I am so close to calling the trip off and getting off the bus but we had reservations with a resort. I am still lucky because the other passengers mentioned that they were already late for some appointments and some mentioned that their kids are already hungry.

Accidents happen and the passengers understand that.

The problem is, we were expecting for Victory Liner to be ready with a contingency plan for such events. WE NEVER GOT AN APOLOGY NOR AN EXPLANATION FROM ANYONE FROM THE BUS COMPANY AT ALL. It was a blatant disregard of the welfare of the passengers.

I went online to their website and tried to fill-out their Customer Satisfaction Survey – (1) there’s no option for the Pasay-Olongapo route (2) after filling out the form and clicking on “Submit” the page froze, it did not go anywhere. I’m not sure if the survey got submitted at all (even after trying thrice) because up until now I did not receive any communication from Victory Liner even if I left my mobile number and my email address. Very poor customer service.

I cannot say that I will never take another Victory Liner trip again but in my next travels, if there is an option, I will definitely go with a different bus company.