Bukidnon: Dahilayan Forest and Adventure Park



We initially planned on going swimming when we went home to Bukidnon last month but decided to go against it since it was really chilly.  We decided to just bring the whole family to Dahilayan Park in Manolo Fortich instead. 

Dahilayan is around an hour and a half away from Malaybalay, my hometown and the capital of Bukidnon.  It is probably half an hour away from Cagayan de Oro City. One will have to pass through the vast pineapple plantantation of Del Monte Philippines in Camp Philips and it is truly a delight to see the huge-ness of the plantation even for a local like me (ano pa kaya para kay J na laking ciudad, lol), it is definitely a sight to see and experience. 

Before we reached the park, we dropped by my sister's aunt-in-law's house.  Their place was great and very relaxing.  My mother said she wouldn't mind retiring in a place like that... Ako man, di na ko choosy noh, ganda ng bahay nila! 

My sister Meryl and J

friendly puppy



yep, this is part of their bakuran

with the kids

I was disappointed that there were a LOT of people when we arrived at the park but then if all these people will experience the beauty of my homeland and spread the word it will be a huge help to boost our tourism. With kids in tow, we went on to enjoy the place. 

sibling with mom & niece

Awww, giraffes!

ahemmmm

My sister and brother-in-law tried the Zorbit... you'll go Jack & Jill down the hill strapped inside an orange bubble. Good luck! They came out fine, dizzy but fine. :)

 

that orange bubble

strapped



We continued goofing around and having fun.

Acting, good job!

bagay



mas bagay

Feel na feel namin

it was so chilly someone eventually fell asleep

Next... Experiencing Asia's longest zipline.

The National Museum of The Philippines

The National Museum of the Philippines  is offering free entrance for the whole month of October, we, of course, decided to take advantage of it and took the kids to a mini field trip yesterday. 

It was also J's first time to visit the National Museum and he got all the teasing from me because I couldn't believe that they did not even have a field trip there when he was still studying.  Anyway, I personally think that all students of the country should experience visiting this museum. 

we love stairs and huge windows

Chean and Jaja



Some of the exhibits were pretty 'ordinary' for someone like me who spent half of my life in the province but I think it was pretty educational especially for the batoots since they all grew up here in the city.

One unforgettable piece was that heirloom rosary made of ivory and gold... I mean, man, how regal can you get?! Ivory and gold! My favorite section however was that of the huge jars and Chinese plates. It was fun imagining how the people before us used them for their daily lives... they were very intricate.

It was a kakaibang weekend for the fambam...needless to say, we all had fun. :)

Subic: The Cliff Royale

We came across The Cliff Royale through the net while we were looking for a place to go to for a family event. I can't honestly remember what that occassion was and this was a few months back (yes, this post is long overdue).

So anyway, as mentioned we were looking through the net for a resort for the family and The Cliff Royale seems to be a good option because it's just in Subic, J & myself are frequent Subic visitors - but that's a different story. The family did not end up going there but J & I decided to still visit the resort for future reference.

We decided to go there via public transport, aka, Victory Liner to save on gas and so J can also relax and have a day off driving. We went there on a weekend with a reservation for an overnight stay which I arranged a few days ahead through SMS.

To get there:

• Victory Liner - from Pasay to Olongapo
• Jeepney - just near the Victory Liner Terminal in Olongapo, make sure you get the one with a roof painted in blue. Jeeps are color-coded in Olongapo, the yellow ones go around the city proper while the blue ones ply the neighboring towns outside the city proper. Ask to get off at Baloy Beach (this is pretty known in the area)
• The Cliff Royale is just at the corner of the street going to the resort strip along Baloy beach, they have a giant wooden gate with The Cliff on it. (just right beside Palladium Resort)

lovely lady, I mean, lovely windows ;)

We got the cheapest room because we're only staying overnight and honestly, their cheapest didn't seem cheap for me at all.

• PHP2000/night
• Two wooden double beds
• AC
• TV
• Hot & cold shower
• Personal refrigerator
• Nice stained glass on the windows and the bathroom door

What I didn't like about the room:

• It smells old - like wet wood or old blankets stored and forgotten in the closet, it's not mabango
• Poor ventilation
• Creaking beds
• Bathroom has poor drainage
• No towels - for the price, most resorts would provide fresh towels and toiletries
• It wasn't as clean as I expected

Naturally the room was our first stop and I was already disappointed with what we're getting for the price that we are paying for but I still kept my hopes high and looked forward to enjoying the resort, especially the pool.

the pool

see the color?

Much to my disappointment, yet again, it was nowhere near the clean blue color of a swimming pool, it was green... if I hadn't known better, if there weren't people in it and if I hadn't browsed on their website, I would have thought that it was just a giant pond! A freakin' pond with water lilies and koi -- I am exaggerating, no lilies and no fishes, but it was really moss green, warm and had a lot of sand and floating leaves in it. I confess, we took a dip in that dirty pool. At that point I was thinking that maybe, just maybe, they were gunning for a shabby chic look for the pool and intentinally colored the pool tiles green, I realised it I was wrong when we went in.
After that unfortunate dip in the pool, we just bid our time taking pictures around the resort.

the resort's up there, you have to go through a
cemented spiral staircase to go down the beach

one gazebo had a swing!

The Coffee Shop's famous tacos, yum!

The Coffee Shop is also just walking distance from the resort so I insisted that we have dinner there since it's going to be J's first time to see the giant tacos that Karen & I were boasting about.

After dinner, while walking back to the resort, we saw various bars and night clubs already open for business. I realized this must be one of the famous night strips back in the days when the US base was still here, there were still a lot of foreigners mingling around that night. It would have been an experience to go in on one of the bars to satiate the curiousity but I wanted a quiet night (read: I didn't want J oogling at those girls clad in itsy-bitsy tiny bikinis) so we just dropped by 711 grabbed a few bottles of...was it beer or vodka, I can't remember because I think I passed out just after finishing off half a bottle of whatever it was.

The next morning was a lot better... we went down to the beach, had our quiet time at the shore taking pictures and chatting with some fishermen.

the sun!

great view

effort!

The Cliff Royale seems to be a nice resort but one who has seen it's glory days. Maybe we just caught it in a bad time but they really could do better. Capitalize on their prime location, the beautiful beach, the great view from the cliff and improve on their services. I am nowhere near an expert on managing a resort but I am saying using the eyes of a frequent traveler and a guest.

• Centralize their reservation process - I confirmed our reservation several times, but when we got there it seems like the lady did not have any idea about it. I didn't know if there was really a room reserved for us or we just got lucky there was one available.
• Clean-up - they may be short of manpower or whatever but guests pay special attention on how clean the place is, they should prioritize this...from the rooms to the pool and even to the plants around the resort. If the kids were with us it would have been a disaster not having a clean swimming pool!
• Customer service - we could very well ran-away with the keys to our room because when it was time for check-out, their office was close and we couldn't find anybody except for the gardener. We handed the keys to him.
• Rates - I once stayed in a small resort along Baloy Beach (which was just a few minutes way by feet) - cleaner room, fresh beddings, and friendly staff.

I am not picky traveller. I can do with rustic, I actually love rustic, but at least give me clean. Looking back, the resort would have been okay... but the room and the pool did it. Maybe they just magnified the things that I would usually overlook.

I didn't want to show J my disappointment, afterall, we planned this weekend getaway to unwind and enjoy by ourselves. I still did my best to enjoy and we did enjoy our weekend although I don't think I'll be recommending this resort to any of my friends and definitely not to the family.

Sagada: Kiltepan Sunrise

Of all my trips to Sagada, it is the first time that I've decided to trek to Kiltepan to see the sunrise. 

I am definitely not a morning person but getting up at 4am was well worth it.  Sitting at the edge of the cliff, enveloped in the chilly Sagada fog while waiting for the sun's first rays was nothing short of magical. 

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.

Sagada Love!

For an overdue "away-from-city-life" escape, I went to Sagada with some friends a few weeks ago.  It's not my first time in this shangri-la but in a lot of moment, I'm still left in awe.

Getting There:

• Cable Tour Bus (MLA-Bontoc) - 12 hours, P650/pax, you can find them along E. Rodriguez Ave, QC.  It's quite tricky finding their terminal, it's inside a compound between St. Luke's Hospital and Trinity College.  Ask around, if I didn't I would be able to find it AT ALL.  I love it that the bus is air-conditioned yet I can open the windows so I can take pictures. Buses leave at 830PM daily. Contact them: 09185216790 / 09282305330.

• Jeep (Bontoc - Sagada) - 45mins, P50/pax, ask around where you can find these jeeps as they don't really have a terminal. We wanted to ride topload but the jeep loaded sacks of cement & rice so we decided to stay put in our seats.

Stay:

• George Guesthouse - P200/pax per night - private toilet/shower, hot water, free wifi, tv. Cheap! :) We made reservations prior to our arrival which I highly recommend that you especially if you are going in a big group or during peak season. Contact #: Teodora +639185480405 or Irenius +639206070994. 

Eat: 

• Bana's Cafe - all breakfasts were taken here.  Food is great and we adored their homemade bacon! Average cost per meal - P80-P150.

• The Yoghurt House - I love this restaurant when I first visisted Sagada back in 2004. I wasn't that impressed this time - service was really slow and food was just so-so.  I still love their yoghurt though.  I had the one with banana & muesli, K had strawberries... we mixed them together. I'm a big yoghurt fan, so I'm happy.

• Vincent's Cafe - first thing you'll notice here are the paintings on the door and a mural on the wall.  Those were done by Russel who we were able to share a couple of beers with. Had a very relaxed, fun, and cozy feel.  We met new friends here since the place is very conducive for conversations. We were the only Pinoys when we went there. Very global, we made friends with Russel (Canadian), a British guy and two Aussie girls. Order the fish & chips!

• Lemon Pie House -  hands-down, my favorite! It's very homey, coffee (P30/cup) is good and pies (P25)are cheap yet very yummy.  Free wi-fi and stories from Ate Loida. This place is really love.

  Coming Back:

• Lizardo Bus Line (Sagada-Baguio)  - P220/pax, approx 6-7 hours, last trip leaves Sagada at 1PM.  This part is a blur to me (and to my friends) - reckless driver, highest highway in the Philippines (Halsema Highway), and super thick fog. Such a shame because the view in Halsema was really great but we weren't able to enjoy it since we were busy holding on to our seats. Driver drives really fast, takes the counterflow lane even on blind curves, and ignored our not-so-silent gasps. Hmp. Will not recommend this bus line - at all!  Just take the Sagada-Bontoc-Banaue-MLA route.
• Victory Liner (Baguio-MLA) - P460, 7 hours. Leg room, comfortable seats, deep sleep. 'Nuff sleep. :)

These are just the basics.  Will blog about our activities next time. Sagada is really LOVE. :)

***click on pictures to enlarge

Pahiyas Festival 2011

Pahiyas Festival is held in Lucban, Quezon every 15th of May in celebration of the Feast of San Isidro Labrador, the patron saint of farmers.  You can read more about Pahiyas here.

This year was my first time to be in Pahiyas.  Went there with my FPPF batchmates...  so technically it was my first photowalk with them outside the realms of Intramuros. :)

I anticipated a very long trip but it only took us around 4 hours to get there. At around 7am and after a breakfast of pansit habhab (P10/serving) we all decided to walk around and went trigger-happy with our cameras.

Colorful.

Yummy.

Whimsical.

and HAPPY.

There were just so many people so it was difficult to navigate through the streets and a lot of photo enthusiasts to elbow with for good shots... nevertheless, it was really fun. I'd like to go back next year.  :)