Grandbay Resort is known to have one of the biggest pools in the whole of Laguna — about 1,350 square meters all in all. The place is very accessible and is just a few minutes away from Calamba Exit at the South Super Highway (SLEX).

They also have a hot spring swimming pool that is helps to relax and detoxicate our bodies while enjoying the water. The resort can accommodate a total of 2,000 persons. For those wanting to stay overnight, they have aircon rooms, fan rooms, pool room, cottages and pavilions.

Room Rates:
Aircon Rooms: Php3,150 up to Php4,550 (2 – 6 people)
Fan Rooms: Php2,050 up to Php2,850 (2 – 8 people)

One does not need to go as far as Camarines Sur to go wakeboarding. Lago de Oro Resort in Calatagan, Batangas has one you can enjoy and have tons of fun wakeboarding.

Just a couple of hours drive from Manila (about 115 kms), Lago de Oro is the next best thing in water sports.

There are normally two schedules for wakeboarding — one is in the morning from 9:00AM to 1:00PM and another from 2:00PM to 6:00PM. You will have to be early for these schedules in order to maximize your surfing time. On occasions, there will be a lot of people there so you’ll end up spending more time falling in line rather than in the water.

The half-day sked costs Php840 per person. For two people, you can book a room for the night at Php4,400 which comes with free breakfast and 2 half-day tickets for wakeboarding.

If you are staying overnight though, you may want to skip the resort and go somewhere else. The food inside are very expensive. It would have been better to stay and eat in Tagaytay and drive the rest of the way for an afternoon session. Imagine regular steamed rice for Php80!

The equipments (vests, wakeboard, skis, etc) are inclusive of the tickets. You may bring your own boards if you don’t want to line-up and take turns with their equipments. Also make sure to do some stretching before hitting the water. The cables pull you off at an average 30-32km/hour and the continuous tugging could end you up with body pains later on.

Summer is here and with the weather heating up, it would be perfect cooling down with some fun in the water.

Up north at Bonuan, Pangasinan we’ll find the Leisure Coast Resort which is perfect place to cool down for summer. Leisure Coast has three slides (all three-storey high), a wave pool, nice water-playground for kids.

Expect lots of people this summer. Avoid the weekends when there’ll be more people sharing the pool and making longer queues at the slides. Book in advance if you want to stay overnight in their cozy cabanas (keep the doors closed, keep the insects out).

Have fun, stay kewl!

Visit the Leisure Coast Resort website.

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Pagsanjan Falls is believed to be the best water falls in the Philippines, or so I thought. About 2 hours drive to the south in Laguna via the South Super Highway (SSH), you’ll just have to turn right at the end of the Calamba junction. Go straight until you reach Bo. Pinagsanhan in Sta. Cruz, then turn right until you find some of the nearby lodges where you can stay overnight.

The boat ride to Pagsanjan Falls is about 1 hour upstream rowed by two men on a banca. A trip costs Php650 per person and a boat can carry up to 3 passengers. You’ll also need Php90/each as toll fee on your way there.

Depending on the season, the ride could get really wet and rough as the banca men with wade they way thru strong currents, huges rocks and monkey’s throwing objects at you. You can bring a camera with you but be careful it might get wet. Better bring a zip lock plastic wrap to protect your belongings. You will be passing several likely stop-overs where you can have a picnic, buy a quick meal or some drinks.

When you get to the falls, you can ride a raft (or balsa) to go directly below the very strong falls. That’s another Php90 per head. During the rainy season, the river could get really high and newer falls could appear at the ravine halfway. The current may also be too strong that the banca can only get to the first stop.

The beauty that once was Pagsanjan seemed to have faded already.

On Monday January 8, 2007 at around 5.30 pm the statue of the Black Nazarene will be taken to the Quirino Grandstand where it will be exposed to the public for an overnight vigil. Fireworks will mark the arrival of the statue in Rizal Park. This will be followed by a candlelight ceremony led by Archbishop Angel Lagdameo. Penitential services will be held from 10 pm to 12 midnight.

Tuesday January 9, 2007 at 6 am a mass will be celebrated by Cardinal Rosales. This will be followed by an “agape” or sharing of food by devotees. At around 9 am there will be a parade of bands (Paseo de Banda), performances of brass bands (Parangal kay Nazareno) and Bayanihan dances. Finally at 12 noon the traditional procession will bring the Nazarene back to Quiapo Church in a motorcade.

(You can find additional information about the Black Nazarene here and here.)

Source: My Sarisari Store

]]> http://www.pinoytravelblog.com/roadtrip/439/change-of-venue-for-the-feast-of-the-black-nazarene/feed 0 http://www.pinoytravelblog.com/retreats/309/health-and-wellness-at-the-farm-at-san-benito-batangas http://www.pinoytravelblog.com/retreats/309/health-and-wellness-at-the-farm-at-san-benito-batangas#comments Sun, 09 Jul 2006 22:23:28 +0000 ka_edong http://www.pinoytravelblog.com/roadtrip/309/health-and-wellness-at-the-farm-at-san-benito-batangas

I was looking for a place to get away. Where we could relax and leave all our worries behind? I chanced upon it by accident via their website. And The Farm at San Benito turned out to be a great find! So much more than what I was expecting!

The Farm at San Benito is a refuge for relaxation, healing, wellness and healthy eating. It’s tucked away in a 49 hectare property in the woods and rolling hills of Lipa, Batangas, with a good view of Mt. Malarayat. The Farm has 9 hectares of developed land (the rest are forestry, wildlife, agricultural lands).

The developed area includes three swimming pools, more than 40 cottages, a library, many relaxation and meditation huts, a 100% vegetarian restaurant, an amphitheater, a meeting hall and reception area, at least two ponds, lots of green green grass and trees, a SPA, a gym and … a farm (almost missed that).

The farm is open for day tours, overnight stays or even extended stays of a week or more. It offers SPA treatments, strictly vegetarian food, some medical services and health and wellness classes such as meditation, yoga, stretching or even psycho-emotional counseling. Ah, perfect for a psychotic like me.

The vegetarian food was a wonderful experience, being an adventurous eater that I am. The chef and crew cooked up very interesting dishes. It was fun how we would look at the food, taste the food, guess what it was and relate it to some of the food we’ve tasted before. Some of the dishes I could distinguish as having Asian, Indian and Mediterranean flavors. I liked how the chefs made use of indigenous ingredients (coconut, gata, kalabasa) in many of their creations. It was also my first time to taste seitan, a protein food similar to tokwa but thicker. Have you tasted a pina colada cake, or a Nori biscuit? Well, I did, at the Farm at San Benito.

At the SPA, I had a taste of Moxa Ventosa – also known as “cupping”. I chose it because it looked …. Um, exotic. And yes, after the treatment, I looked like an exotic ladybug with all the two-inch wide polka dots on my back.

But it was the serene landscape, the quiet evening, the relaxing and warm swimming pools, the strolls amidst the trees and singing cicadas – these are some of the simpler features that completes the relaxation package that is The Farm at San Benito.

Right in the heart of Taytay, Rizal is an exciting resort which boost of a 9,100 sq. m. lagoon-shaped mega pool which resembles Laguna De Bay. Club Manila East Central features aside from the mega pool, a kiddie pool, an adult pool with giant slide, olympic size and bean shaped swimming pool, plus a golf driving range, 54 cabanas, 40 air-conditioned villas complete with all the nice amenities.

There are a lot of fun water activities that can be held in the resort. The megapool has an area for kayaking where one can experience paddling a kayak minus the rapid waves of a real river of course. Another area of the mega pool has two hoops at both ends similar to a basketball court. The giant 3-loop slide is enough to give you that adrenalin rush before plunging into the water.
Accomodations in the resort is not a problem and is very reasonably priced. A cabana complete with tables and chairs and a toilet can be rented for php1000/6 hour. Enclosed huts can be rented for php500 for the 1st 6 hours. For overnight accomodations, 40 air-conditioned villas, equipped with 2 single beds, a queen size sofa bed, reheating stove, TV and refrigerator, are available for php2900 on a twin sharing basis.

One drawback however, is that bringing of foods and drinks is not allowed. You have to buy your food and drinks from food shops located inside the resort. The good thing is, those food items are reasonable priced and taste decent enough. If you are tight on the budget, you can bring your own food and drinks, and just go out whenever you want to eat.

For other details, visit: http://www.clubmanilaeast.com/cntrlrate.htm

If you are looking for a getaway place that is not heavy on the pocket, try the Tagaytay Picnic Grove. The place is located just a few minutes away from the Tagaytay town proper and it is overlooking the Taal Volcano and the coastal towns of Batangas.

Entrance to the 13.5 hectare of rolling land area is 25 pesos per person. Inside the Picnic groove, there are a lot of cottages available for rent that costs from Php100 to Php250 depending on the size. Overnight accomodation in cottages ranges from Php 1,400 ($26). As an added attraction, the Tagaytay Picnic Grove Eco Trail which takes tourist to a more exciting view of the Taal Volcano, via a more rigid pathway , would surely challenge one’s stamina.

For more details and other attractions visit: http://www.philtourism.com/tpg_interest.html.

Technorati Tags: Tagaytay, Picnic, Taal

The Rico Beach is just one of the several beach front resorts in Brgy. Alubihod of Nueva Valencia, Guimaras. My grandfather (my mother’s side) owns it and it’s now being managed by my uncle who’s the youngest of my mom’s 7 siblings.



The whole area used to be called just Alubihod. However, when residents of the area who are all relatives to the first and second degree made good fortune in making a living out of it, partitions were constructed and names were attached on patches of land fronting the beach — the Raymen Beach and the Rico Beach, among others.

Although the Rico beach resort is the smallest in terms of land area and the least developed, it had a huge boulder (or a mountain) bordering it on the east side and it has been developed on a certain degree to host 3 cottages on its slope.

I have long been wanting to construct a small hut on one of the inner slopes to serve as my vacation house whenever I visit Guimaras but it has been pushed back many times due to other more urgent priorities.

Alubihod is among the most popular destination place by the locals, including visitors from neighboring province of Iloilo and Bacolod. They call it “the poor man’s Boracay”, as the place is easy to reach, cheap food and accomodations. You can get a multi-purpose hut for Php350 or an overnight cottage for Php700.

I’ve been watching MYX the past days. I see my kababatas (childhood friends), the Romawac siblings of Session Road. They shot a music video at Corregidor Island. “… Like little angels falling from heaven!…” Let’s talk about Corregidor …

Corregidor is an island off Manila Bay, between Bataan and Manila. Corregidor was the first line of defense of Manila. Cannons were setup in the island to intercept any battleships trying to come into Manila Bay.

Corregidor is a fun way to learn some history lessons while touring. It’s a convenient daytrip for family and friends. It takes a ferry boat ride from Manila Bay (a pier near CCP) to reach Corregidor. The ferry boat ride includes a video documentary of Corregidor and a intro spiel from one of the tour guides.

Tours are packaged to cater to a wide range of tourists. For people on a budget, you could get just a ferry ride without a tour (bring your own baon, discover the island on your own).

If you want a tour, a professional tour guide will take you around the island with a shuttle designed to look like cable cars. Among the stops are the Malinta tunnel where soldiers bunked in, there’s a sound and lights show, a Filipino-Japanese friendship garden, a memorial, a museum, the ruins of the “mile long barracks” and a light house.

For lunch, tourists have options again. You can go for BYOB (bring your own baon), a set meal or an eat-all-you-can buffet.

And how can I forget! The cannons! The cannons! Boy, they are huge! These were the weapons used to keep the battle ships away. With an animated commentary by the tourguide, “you’d almost be there”… I was taken back in time. My imagination went put me in the middle of a war. I was in the middle of a history book….

For the tourists on daytrip, it’s a full day visiting the many tourist spots around the island. The ferry boat ride back will be a good time to reflect on our history, the war and how it has affected our grandparents, parents and our generation. The boat will be back at the Manila Pier by around 5pm.

For guests on an overnight package, there is a hotel with an old-house ambiance as well as a good view of the beach and the island. And towards sunset, this is when the more excitement begins. The sunset tour gives tourists a view of a magnificent Manila sunset from a breathtaking vantage point in the island.

There is a “ghost” hunting expedition which takes adventurers around some of the ruins of what used to be a hospital during the war. Another trip to the Malinta tunnel presents a sound and lights show. Gave me the shivers.

Try out the tour. Hope it gives you the shivers too.

Contact Sun Cruises:

Booking Office
CP Terminal A. CCP Complex
Roxas Boulevard, Manila, Philippines
Tel Nos. (632) 831-8140
(632) 834-6857-58
Fax No (632) 834-1523
E-mail add suncruises@magsaysay.com.ph
Sales Office
G/F Magsaysay Building
520 T.M. Kalaw St., Ermita
Manila, Philippines
Tel Nos. (632) 526-9753, 526-8888 loc 9511-12 & 9523
Fax Nos. (632) 521-5850
E-mail sales_mttci@magsaysay.com.ph

URL: www.corregidorphilippines.com

Mabu-hey!

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