It’s been 4 months since I last landed my feet in my beautiful country, the Philippines. Every memory I had there was still fresh. The clear vision of the green lashing trees combined with the distant sound of the singing birds and the river’s calmness play a constant preview in my mind. Thinking… that! That was the exact scene when I decided to visit a resort in Laguna. 

A well appointed resort should be on anyone’s travel list especially when they are  planning to visit the southern part of Metro Manila. I wanted a nature touch, a relaxing one, so I scheduled a quick escapade away from the busy city. Good thing, a blogger friend of mine has been generous enough to join me on this little adventure.  

 We found a place located in the city of San Pablo, Laguna which is quite close to the province of Quezon. There are many selections.If I am not mistaken, it is a 2-hour bus ride and maybe, an hour and a half if you are driving a car from Manila. What makes these resorts special is what they exceptionally offer – village and museum tours, buffet food in the waterfalls and cozy accommodations. By the way guys, as much as I wanted to share all the photos I have on this place, I’m afraid I won’t be able to do that because I accidentally reformatted my memory card. I’ll just try my best to share my story through words and show you some of the photos I have kept. Please bear with me. 

 The first thing that greeted us in the resort was the famous thirst quenching drink it serves – “Sago’t Gulaman”.  Normally, you can drink as many as you can,  so I had three. This is actually a good way to prepare our body for the upcoming activities, starting with the cultural experience – the museum and village tours. We headed towards the “pink cathedral”. Imagine a church covered in pink paint and its pillars in white. Don’t be mistaken, as it was not really a church but inside of it was a museum wherein, it showcases the vast collections of the Escudero family from all over the world. They have even managed to preserve the old furniture, household utensils and other stuff dating back to the Spanish period. Next was the village tour. We rode in a carabao to see the personal home of the owners, some houses and chapel while listening to live Tagalog folk songs. I swear, I can really fall asleep because of the woman’s golden voice, adding the cool breeze coming from the trees. It was pretty amazing how generous the owners of this resort are because the houses that we saw were actually the houses of their employees and its families. No wonder why the smiles of the staff of the resort, who by the way wore traditional Filipino attire, are from ear to ear as they were really taken care of.  

Let’s now go to my favorite part – the buffet meals! The venue where lunch was served really surprised me. Why? Because lunch was served in front of man-made waterfalls. Tables were placed in the river and we ate with water underneath us about half a knee deep with some fish swimming. Traditional Filipino food was served in a banana leaf and we had a sumptuous feast. This really gives a unique experience.  After we had our meal we proceeded to the restaurant area, where they have a large stage to accommodate the cultural presentation. Unfortunately, the presentation is only available on weekend.  

So for us not to waste our free time, we have decided to visit the pool area which is huge. Since I cannot morph into a mermaid because I didn’t bring any extra clothes, we have stayed at the rafting area. Only 2 people can accommodate in each raft but my friend was wearing rubber shoes that time plus he had experienced it many times so I ended up rafting alone. At first, I was a bit scared because one wrong paddling and poof, I will be soaking wet.  But that single thought never really bothered me so I paddled and paddled while I witnessing the nature’s beauty and tranquility. It was so relaxing. 

As much as I want to stay in the resort and experience its cozy room for a night, I can’t because I have planned another itinerary, this time an international trip which I’ll be sharing with you as well. With that, my friend and I drove back to Batangas where he picked me up and I went back to Manila by bus with some delicacies like Cassava cake and “Pichi –Pichi” which is really a take-home. All in all, it was a quick trip but loaded with treasured memories to treasure on. For the record my record was the Escudero.