Villa Filomena Natural Spring resort is a must-visit place in Indang Cavite. Budget friendly, cool and relaxing ambiance, perfect for a solo, couple, friends or family getaway.
My office mates and I went here last Friday, January 6th, and we enjoyed it a lot. We were 7 in the group (6 adults and 1 kid). It was actually an unplanned travel, thankfully it was successful and we had a lot of fun. After all, mas natutuloy naman talaga pag biglaang group lakad 🙂 .
Location
Villa Filomena Natural Spring resort is a public resort located in Purok II, Kaytambong, Indang Cavite, 57 kilometers away from Manila, only an hour drive (according to their website ) if you have a car and if you’re lucky enough at walang traffic jam.
How to go to Villa Filomena
For the budget travelers (or yung mga walang car, like us, haha) you can commute from Manila and travel time may take up to 3-4 hours depending on the traffic situation.
1. Take a Jasper Jean bus from EDSA-Shaw bound to Dasmarinas Cavite. Alight at Waltermart or Palapala (mas malapit daw to as per kuyang kondoktor) in Dasma.
Fare: Php70
Travel Time: 1 – 2 hours
(You can also take a bus from Coastal bound directly to Indang Cavite.)
2. Take a jeepney or a bus bound to Indang Cavite and alight at Jollibee Indang.
Fare: Php30
Travel Time: 1-2 hours
3. Go to the tricycle terminal and and look for the tricycles going exactly to Villa Filomena Natural Spring Resort.
Fare: Php13
Travel Time: 10-15 minutes
In our case we didn’t go to the tricycle terminal. We just hailed a tricycle in front of the Mercury Drug Store/Jollibee going to Villa Filomena. We took 2 tricycles (3 in each tricycle) and we paid Php50 each tricyle, divided by 3 so that’s Php17 each (rounded off).
Total Fare (going to Villa Filomena): Php117 /person
Going Back to Manila
1. Ride a tricycle from Villa Filomena Natural Spring Resort going back to Jollibee/Mercury Drug Store.
Fare: Php13
2. Take a Bus bound to Pasay (LRT, Rotonda) just right across Bahay Kalamay or the Church or in the intersection in front of Mercury Drug Store.
Fare: Php70
Total Fare (going back to Manila): Php83
Villa Filomena Natural Spring Resort Offers the following:
* Spacious Parking Area * 2 Infinity Pools * 1 Mini Pool for the kids * Accommodations (Cottages/Room for overnight stay) * Natural Spring Water * Man-made Mini water falls * Panoramic View * Relaxing and cool ambiance
Operating Hours
Cottage/Room Rates and Entrance Fees
Can I bring food inside the resort? Is there a corkage?
Yes you can bring food inside the resort and there is no corkage. It fact it is highly recommended that you bring your own food and drinks. There’s a sari-sari store in the area, pwede din magpaluto, mejo mag aantay ka nga lang. There are grilling stations provided if you want to make ihaw-ihaw.
Can I bring my own tent?
Yes but you are required to rent at least 1 cottage. There is not much space to set up your tent though as most of the cottages are set up on a hill-like area.
Is there a Dress Code in the Pool?
Nope, i don’t think that there’s a dress code in the pool. Just wear any swimming outfit that you’re comfortable with (if bet mo mag maong while swimming by all means, GO!).
CR and Shower Area
They have a quite spacious CR and shower area with a working faucet (with flowing water, sa iba kasi wala). Each cubicle are also provided with a pail and ladle.
Other Things To Bring and Remember
* Insect Repellent (Off Lotion, baka lamukin ka bes! lalo na pag nag overnight)
* Bring your own life-jacket/floating device if you don’t know how to swim and you want to swim in the spring.
* Sunblock
* A power outlet is available in each cottage so you can bring chargers for your electronic devices.
* Be there as early as possible if you want to take instagram-worthy pictures.
* Avoid going there during weekends as the area might get as crowded as EDSA.
* There is no locker/cabinet/safe in the cottages, so secure your personal/valuable items.
* Bring a waterproof bag (if you have one) so you can take your gadgets with you everywhere.
Villa Filomena Natural Spring Resort is also open for team buildings and other corporate events. They can accommodate up to 300 guests and they offer group-rates (10 – 20% discount).
List of Expenses
Back and Forth Fare: 200 /pax Entrance Fee: 150 Cottage: 700 / 6 pax = 117 /pax (rounded off)
Total: Php467 /pax
Please note that the food isn’t included in the list of expenses. We assigned each one of us what food to bring. Then wen combined it all together so I won’t be including it here. But to satisfy your curiosity I spent Php150 (i was assigned for the drinks).
Feel free to leave your comments for any questions, clarifications or any incorrect information in this article and I’d response immediately. Otherwise please contact Villa Filomena’s management. (sourced from their website) .
Villa Filomena Natural Spring Resort
Address: Purok II, Kaytambong, Indang Cavite
Contact Person: Andres C. De Chavez, General Manager
My first Palawan experience was a blast! Even though it was only for two days, we were able to visit few tourist spots and had some island hopping. It was a two days full of non stop tour and we really made the most of our time. Though due to time constraints we had only toured destinations in Puerto Princesa area which gives me more reason to go back and explore other places especially Coron and El Nido. Of course, I won’t be keeping those happy thoughts with me, so let me share with you my 2 -day Palawan Escapade 🙂 .
Originally, Palawan is not included in my travel itinerary for this year until the 2nd quarter of 2017. I already have travels lining up until June 2017 and already had plane tickets booked. It was last May when Cebu Pacific had a seat sale and Ivan’s friend from Singapore will have her yearly vacation here in the Philippines, so right there and then last May 15 we booked a round-trip ticket to Palawan for Php2410/pax. I was excited and at the same time worried-about our budget, coz I also have a trip to Tacloban this October, just a month after our Palawan tour. But then, due to the strong “travel force” within me I still chose to pursue both travels :), blame it to the seat sale! haha
We booked a land tour with MOFU Travel and Tours. We were all busy to arrange the itinerary on our own and since we were traveling by group (we were 10) we thought that it’ll be better to just pay for a group tour and let them arrange everything. We paid Php3999/pax for the land tour which includes a round trip airport transfer, 3 days 3 nights hotel accommodation, Underground River Tour with Buffet Lunch, Honday Bay (Island Hopping) with Lunch, all entrance fees, permits and Licensed Tour Guide. Not bad huh!
Day 0
We all met up at NAIA Terminal 3 and since we already checked-in via web, getting our boarding passes wasn’t a hassle and we didn’t have to wait on the long queue. Travel Tip: Airlines nowadays offers a self-serve check-in online as early as 72 to 2 hours before your domestic flight or 72 to 4 hours for international flights so might as well take advantage of it for a speedy check-in process. The plane was late for just around 5 or 10 minutes which is a big improvement on the status of our airport :). It was quite a bumpy plane-ride. There was a strong rain that time as we drew closer to Puerto Princesa Airport so we had to sit tight and buckled up as the plane shakes because of a turbulence due to a bad weather. Thank God we landed safe and sound. It was by far one of my bumpiest plane ride experience, kinda scary and nakakahilo!
Puerto Princesa Palawan Airport
Heavy rains greeted us on our arrival.
A hotel representative was waiting for us outside the airport and lead us to a van which took us to the hotel. We stayed at Marianne Hotel which I really recommend due to our superb experience as far as customer service is concerned! The hotel was just around 5 minute-ride from the airport and is near the public market which makes it very convenient for buying pasalubongs and other essentials. I’m gonna be writing a different post/review about this so for the mean time, keep reading… 🙂
Marianne Home Inn
Marianne Home Inn’s Facade
We were all hungry when we reached the hotel so we settled our things and asked the accommodating front desk staff for a good place for dinner and she suggested K’na Boyet. We hailed two tricycles which drove us directly to the said resto. K’na Boyet is an open resto near the baywalk and they sell different seafood from small to huge ones. What’s good about this resto is that, they sell fresh and live seafood and you just have to choose what you wanna eat and they will cook it as to your desired menu. Cool, right? Though I must say that price is not really that pocket friendly. So after our sumptuous dinner we head back to the hotel and called it a day.
K’na Boyet
Look at these huge seafood! and some of em were still alive!
Loooooobster!
Woah! Huge crab called Kuracha!
Picture muna kahit super gutom na!
Day 1
Our first and official day in Palawan. We woke up as early as 5 AM and prepared ourselves for a whole day tour. Our call time was 7:00 – 7:30 AM so we really had to wake up early. We had our complimentary breakfast at the roof-deck of the hotel and the food was really generously provided, another thing that I liked most from the hotel.
First on our itinerary was the Subterranean Underground River. It’s dubbed as one of the longest navigable underground rivers in the world and is also one of the seven wonders of the world. As they say, you haven’t really been to Palawan if you didn’t visit the well-known Underground River. It was quite far from the city center, roughly around 2 – 3 hour drive but in our case, we reached it around 5 hours or more.
As per our tour guide, Kuya Manny, Puerto Princesa Underground River tour often has a paired side-trip, so prior to going to the said tour we went to Ugong Rock Adventures. It was roughly a 1 – 2 hours side-trip. Ugong Rock Adventures is a place for adrenaline rush and thrilling activities such as caving, spelunking and Zip lining. A 75 feet high limestone in the middle of a rice field, with different caves and passageways inside leading to a viewing deck on the top of the rock. It is called Ugong Rock because there are some limestone inside that makes an Ugong or humming sound when tapped. Of course it was all our first time so we didn’t let that moment pass without trying the adventures. We tried their caving which isn’t really much challenging (yabang! i have been to Lumiang and Sumaguing Caves in Sagada and so far no cave has topped my experience yet with the said caves). I also tried the zip line, superman position. They have two options for the zip line, sitting and superman postion and sitting is kinda boring so I chose the latter 🙂 .
Groupie at the entrance of the cave
Yes! I survived!
Right after the Ugong Rock Adventures we head to Sabang beach and had our lunch. It was a buffet lunch and the food was really delicious, fresh veggies and seafood cooked in a local pinoy dish. After we had our lunch we head to the wharf and hopped into a pump boat which took us directly to the island where the Underground River is located.
My lunch! 😀 lakas maka PG!!! 🙂
Walang pansinan!
Puerto Princesa Subterranean River is dubbed as the longest navigable river in the world and one of the Seven Wonders of Nature. The cave is more than 24 km long and contains an 8.2 km long underground river. Tourists are only allowed to navigate up to 1.5 km via a canoe (small boat) ride and would take approximately 45 minutes. As per our tour guide if you want to explore the remaining 6.7 km underground river, you will have to secure a special permit.
It rained hard the night before our tour hence the murky water.
The entrance to the underground river cave
the usual groupie 🙂
The underground river cave is stunningly huge and contains different rock formations. Huge stalactites and stalagmites which took thousands of years to form. The cave is also home to thousands and thousands of bats and many other creatures.
walang kamatayang groupie 🙂
Right after the underground river tour, we head back to the wharf. Our guide was rushing us, haha, maybe because the weather was starting to act up like crazy that time and he thought that a heavy rain might pour and we might get stranded in the island. But it didn’t rain so thank goodness. We head back to the city and since we still had time we decided to buy pasalubongs.
Pasalubong Center!!
We were suppose to have our diiner at KaLui but for some reasons the travel agent forgot to reserve us a slot. Unfortunately KaLui do not accept walk-ins so we had to eat somewhere else. The hotel’s front-desk staff suggested K’na Buch. It is a resto-bar and is also one of the well-known restos in Palawan, so since we were all hungry and didn’t really had a choice we decided to eat there. Unlike K’na Boyet, their menu is like the typical restos which serves different local pinoy dishes. After having our dinner we head back to the hotel and had a mini inuman sesh to cap our first day off.
Day 2
Our second and last day in Palawan. Our only activity that day was island hopping. We woke up early, prepared ourselves and packed our things for an easy check out. We had our 2nd day breakfast at the roof deck of the hotel. By around 7:30 AM mr. sunshine was shinning bright and high, we hopped into a van which took us to the wharf where we commenced our Honda Bay island hopping activity. We had a different tour guide on our second day, Ms. Katrina.
We visited three islands, Luli Island, Starfish Island and Cowrie Island. Before starting our tour as per our guide Ms Katrina, we had to rent an aqua shoes and snorkeling gear. Wearing an aqua shoes is mandatory. If there’s one thing that I like about Palawan, that is their city wide ordinances. They have almost all kind of ordinances which I think is really good and effective in taking care of their city and its people.
First on our list was LuLi Island. Derived from the first two letters of the words Lulubog Lilitaw. It was named after the latter because the island itself sinks and rises with the tide. Composed of 3 sandbars, your best chance of seeing it is during low tide. During high tide the island sinks into the sea-water and you can only see the cottages as if they are floating. You can do snorkeling in this part of the tour but just a heads up, there are no fancy or stunning coral reefs, just lots of different kinds of fish. Fish feeding is also allowed in the area.
Next stop was the Starfish Island. From the name itself, it was called Starfish Island due to the abundant starfish in the area. A white-sand beach and clear water that you can just see the star-shaped creature by just looking down. As per our guide, we are only allowed to take the starfish out of the water for 3 minutes max. As many of us might not know that they don’t have a blood and they only rely on the sea water so taking them out of the water for even 3 minutes is not recommended. After some photo ops and swimming we had our lunch which was also included on our package.
Our 3rd and last stop was the Cowrie Island. Named after the sea snail called cowrie. It has cottages, cabanas and pavilion, ideal for picnics and swimming. Different water activities were also available like the jet ski ride, banana boat, flying saucer and kayaking. We stayed there for an hour or less and enjoyed our Palawan moments.
It was around 3:00 PM when we head back to the hotel and prepared for our flight back to Manila. This is another thing that i really liked about Marianne Home Inn. Supposedly our check out time is 12:00 noon but they let us use one-room and even generous enough to let us use 2 shower rooms so we could take a bath and prepare for our way home. Superb customer service and if given a chance to go back to Puerto Princesa I’d stay in Marianne Home Inn again. Really had a very good experience their.
So there it is! I hope you enjoyed reading my 2-day Palawan escapade. Bitin right? But it was indeed an unforgettable first-time Palawan experience. I will have a separate post about all destinations mentioned above so, wait for it.
It has been more than 2 months since I celebrated my 25th birthday, i’m now a quarter century old! I’m happy and blessed to have reached this age and looking forward to many more birthdays to come. So far, this has been my super relaxed and “self-pampering” unplanned birthday celebration.
I had few plans on how will I spend my 25th birthday. First I thought of spending it by doing charity works. With my 2 friends/workmates, we planned to have a lunch/party for the street children but due to lack of time preparing and looking for sponsors, it didn’t go through. So my second plan was to spend my birthday by travelling to a place where I’ve never been before. I planned to go to Bicol but then again due to time management issues it didn’t go through. My third plan was to just spend my birthday here in the city but should be somewhere comfy and something first-time so I bought a Dinner by the bay with Yacht Cruise at metrodeal. When I emailed them for reservation, I was told that the yacht is on dry-dock and that it will resume its service by August or September. (Read more about my frustrating experience with Legworks) Okay! Finally I gave up. Plans were not working plus work was really not doing good, lots of challenges to a point that I stopped thinking and planning about my birthday.
Three days before my birthday, the start of my 2 days off and 2 days leave at work ( so I had 4 days free time without any plans at all ), I was sad and upset because nothing was working, it was my birth month yet everything wasn’t working the way I wanted them to be. Ivan noticed my not-in-the-mood look so he asked me to go to Baguio. I was kind of hesitant at first because I’ve been to Baguio quite few times already and it’s not really a place where I want to celebrate my birthday but then since I have 4 days with nothing to do, I decided to go. So right there and then after we had our lunch we went home grab some clothes and went straight to the Bus terminal bound to Baguio. As always we took the Joy Bus (Genesis Bus) which is one of my fave Bus ride whenever I’m going to Baguio. Click here to know more on how to book a ride to Baguio online.
Our very comfy ride to and from Baguio
We arrived in Baguio at around 10:00 PM. Since it was unplanned we had to look for a place to stay. Whenever we go to Baguio we always stay in a transient house coz it’s way cheaper than the hotel but since it was my birth month and I want to have a self-pampering-me-day we decided to stay in the hotel. We stayed at Golden Pine Hotel, all other hotels that we checked first were fully booked and it was getting late plus it was super chilling outside so we decided to book the available room which is Double Delux Room. Looking for a place to stay in Baguio? Click here
Two single-sized beds in our room
We stayed for 2 days and 2 nights and the price was good enough. We paid Php3000 for the room with two double-size beds and a complimentary breakfast. The hotel itself looked old but everything in it was still functioning properly. We were in fact amazed of their elevator, pretty fast for an old one :). Font desk staffs were friendly and accommodating, they even offered us a discount! The room was big enough for us and the air conditioning worked very well, though the only thing that we didn’t like is that we didn’t have the AC’s remote control, so we had to call the front desk every time we want to have the temperature adjusted. There was a 42-inch flat screen TV with basic cable channels but unlike other hotels, the reception is much clearer. The bathroom was big enough with hot and cold shower and a bath tub, though when I tried to use it the water won’t drain so we had to call the maintenance to have it drained, it happened twice. One thing that I loved about the hotel was the complimentary breakfast. Since it’s free, hotels would usually offer scrambled eggs and hotdogs but not in Golden Pine Hotel, they let us chose what breakfast we want from their menu which was amazing.
Our flat screen TV with very clear reception 🙂
You know what these are!
Spacious bathroom sink with hair-dryer
Kinda old hot/cold shower but still perfectly working
The bath tub that doesn’t drain with horsie 🙂
We really didn’t have any plans on our first day so we just relaxed and stayed in our room the whole morning. We had our breakfast delivered in our room, we paid Php100 /person service fee. The service was incredibly fast! Our breakfast were delivered in less than 20 minutes after giving our orders. On our first morning we ordered Beef Tapa and Daing na Bangus with scrambled egg. It also comes with our choice of hot chocolate or hot coffee, so I chose the hot chocolate and Ivan chose the hot coffee and it also comes with two glasses of orange juice and two bottles of water! Amazing, right? Worth it for a complimentary breakfast. On our second day, we both ordered Vigan Longganisa with scrambled egg.
First day breakfast 🙂 Bon appetit
Second day breakfast with my surprised birthday cake! 🙂
We got quite bored at the hotel on our first day, just lying on the bed watching TV, so we decided to go out and visit Choco-Latte de Batirol. It was around 1:30 PM when we got to the place via cab (whenever I’m in Baguio, cab is always my fave mode of transpo, haha). The place was super relaxing. Read more about my Choco-Latte de Batirol experience here.
Choco-latte de Batirol
After enjoying a serene and super relaxed moment at Choco-Latte de Batirol, we decided to visit the PMA grounds since I haven’t been there before. I enjoyed taking pictures with the helicopters and warplanes which I was so amazed coz it was my first time seeing those in person. We roamed around the area and even took a picture with the Cadette. We spent some time by observing the cadettes as they march and go to their rooms and also by just appreciating the beauty of nature. We decided to go back to the hotel at around 4:00 PM and had some rest. We planned to have our dinner at Good Taste but since I was so tamad and nilalamig na, we ended up eating at Mang Inasal just right across the hotel 😀 .
Sad we were not allowed to have a ride 🙂
Cute plane
Cool!!!
Pwede na ba? haha
On our second day, we just stayed at the hotel the whole morning up until we checked out. There was no hassle in checking out, we paid the Php400 service fee (for our breakfast in “bed”) waited for a minute as they checked the room (in-case we stole or broke somthing, lol) and that’s it.
Suman with Mangga from Cafe by the Ruins. This was the only good thing that I experienced there.
We had our lunch at Cafe by the Ruins. We wanted to dine in here the last time we went to Baguio (that was last December when we celebrated the New Year) but it was closed that time due to holiday. We were very disappointed as far as customer service is concern, very disappointed. I will have a different post regarding our experience at Cafe by the Ruins and i’ll tell you why we were so disappointed. After our lunch we really didn’t want to go home that early, so we decided to just chillax at SM, haha as if walang SM dito sa Manila. We secured our ticket first going back to Manila before roaming around. As usual, we chose Joy Bus as our ride back home. We also killed some time by walking along Session Road, spotting on something to buy and just going with the flow of different people on the street. It was around 4:00 PM when we aboard at our super comfy bus and waited until 5:00 PM to depart from Baguio going back to Manila.
Indeed, it was one of my super relaxed birthday celebration. Though a lot of not-so-good things happened still I am very thankful to have reached this age and very blessed in so many ways. I was so busy planning for everything that I got upset because everything’s not falling as it should be. One thing I realized is that, sometimes it’s ok to just let go and go with the flow.
Minalungao National Park has been an instant nature-celebrity in social media recently. The turquoise-green water of Penaranda river walled by a 16 meter tall limestone circulating around the net has become famous. No wonder a lot of people are wanting to see this place. Let me share to you how to go to Minalungao National Park and other frequently asked questions.
HOW TO GET THERE (via Public Transpo)
The park is in Nueva Ecija, 2-3 hours away from Manila. To avoid heavy traffic build up, it is better to leave early in the morning.
From Cubao/Pasay, take a 5 Star or ES Transport Bus bound to Gapan/Cabanatuan. Alight at Gapan Nueva Ecija. Fare is P150 – P200, Travel time is around 2-3 hours.
From Gapan, ride a jeepney going to General Tinio (not sure about the fare, maybe around 30-50 pesos, one way). Then from General Tinio take a tricycle going to Minalungao National Park. Fare is P50 – P150/pax. Travel time is around 45 minutes to an hour.
If you want to have a hassle free trip, you can rent a tricycle from Gapan which will take you directly to Minalungao. Fare is P500 – P700 (depends on how good is your bidding “tawad” power is). Travel time is around 1-1.5 hours and the tricycle will be waiting for you on your way back to Gapan.
PARK RATES AND FEES
Entrance
Fee
P50/pax
Tricycle/Car
Entrance Fee
P30
Comfort/Shower
Rooms
P10/use
Cottage
P300
Bamboo Raft
P300 – P800
TIPS
Bring your own food and water.
Good for a day trip or side trip.
Not advisable to visit during rainy season as the road gets muddy and the water level is unpredictable and the current is strong.
Visit the park during weekdays to avoid heavy crowd.
SUMMARY OF EXPENSES (divided into 3 persons)
Bus
Fare (Back and Forth)
P300
Tricycle Fare
(two way)
P700 ( P233
each)
Breakfast
P120
Cottage
P300 ( P100
each)
Comfort/Shower
Room
P150 ( P50
each)
Guide
(optional)
P150 ( P50
each)
Total
P823
Please note that fares and rates may change without prior notice. Fares and rates are as of April 2016.
The water doesn’t look exactly like this. I don’t know what’s wrong with my phone, but this is the only picture that I have covering the whole river
“Leave nothing but footprints; Take nothing but pictures; Kill nothing but time”
The jade-like water sandwiched by a 16 meter tall limestone and rock formations is one of the famous scenic view in Minalungao National Park. Located in the Municipality of General Tinio (known as Papaya for the locals) Nueva Ecija, this 2,018 hectares park is a national treasure and said to be as one of the hardly remaining natural environments in the Philippines. This was declared as a National Park and protected area on 1967 by Republic Act No. 5100.
This is what the water really looks like
It was one boring day while I was scrolling through my Facebook feed when I saw the picture of Peñaranda River which immediately caught my attention. I then messaged my friends and we all agreed to visit Minalungao after our Hong Kong trip. We chose to go there on a weekday to avoid the crowd but there were already quite a lot of people. I can’t imagine how does the park look like on a weekend, might be as crowded as EDSA, aw! So I suggest that you plan your visit on a weekday if you want to enjoy and experience serenity (hopefully) with mother nature.
We wanted to be there as early as possible and to avoid heavy traffic so we depart from Cubao on a 5-star Bus bound for Gapan/Cabanatuan at around 5:00 AM. We arrived in Gapan at around 8:00 AM. Our plan was to take a jeep going to General Tinio and tricycle to Minalungao or rent a tricycle from Gapan to Minalungao, whichever comes first. Right after we stepped off the bus a tricycle driver offered to take us directly to Minalungao for 400 pesos. It was quite expensive so we declined, then he lowered it to 350. We thought that it was for a two-way trip so we agreed. We made a mistake when we didn’t ask if it’s for a two-way or one-way trip and yes! it was 350 one-way which obviously makes it 700 pesos for a two-way ride.
It was all our first time going to this part of Nueva Ecija and we were quite excited. Adventure is what we are looking for but little did we know that a very unexpected adventure awaits us on our way back home, I’ll tell you more about it later.
We reached the park at around 10:00 AM. It’s quite far and some roads are steep and bumpy and some parts are under construction. Going to the park on a rainy season is not a good idea as the road gets surely muddy and water current in the river might be too strong so it’s kinda dangerous for you to swim.
There were already a lot of people when we came. The park has a parking area, one eatery, comfort and shower rooms with a P10 fee per use. Bamboo rafts are also available for rent if you want to have picnic in the middle of the river (this one’s good for a group of friends or family) and the rental fee ranges from P300 to P800.
The dry part of the river which serves as a parking area
Bamboo rafts available for renting. Life jackets are also provided (i think if you only request for it)
A kid named Christopher offered to guide us so as first-timers, we all agreed to have him as our tour guide. He brought us to different picture-perfect spots. He also led us to the cave which is not really an adventure-like. The guides don’t have a specific rate, so we gave him P150.
The steel hanging bridge. The other end of the bridge leads to what they call “1000 Steps”. If you are up for hiking and has a reliable knee, you can climb up the hill with 1000 steps. There’s a big cross on top of the hill and you can make a wish.
Bamboo bridge made for an easy passage
Inside the cave which is sadly ruined and vandalized.
So after all the photo ops and sight seeing….it’s swimming time! yey! We rented a cottage just right beside the river, we paid P300. The scorching heat of the sun made us more excited and eager to plunge in the water. Now this is where first of the unexpected adventure happened. My partner put his 9-day old iPhone 6s+ in a zip-lock bag and brought it with him in the water. He was not comfortable leaving it in the cottage unattended due to a lot of people are also occupying the cottage just right beside us. After around 30 minutes of enjoying in the water he noticed that his 9-day old phone was also swimming inside the zip-lock bag! The water came inside the zip-lock bag! We all don’t know how because it was zipped twice plus another lock outside, there were no holes either. We tried to revive the phone put it into a plastic of dry uncooked rice and after a couple of hours it still won’t turn on :(. Good thing the phone is insured so we’re just now waiting for a replacement.
Keep swimming! keep swimming!
It was around 3:00 PM when we head back home. This is where the second unexpected adventure took place. While on the road, a heavy rain suddenly poured and yet the tricycle driver didn’t pull over so we can take cover or maybe he was thinking that the rain would stop so we ended up soaking wet! Third unexpected adventure: in the middle of nowhere with zero visibility the tricycle ran out of gas. We were on the road, under a heavy rain soaking wet and shivering. I was scared because the lightning could hit us any moment on the road, good thing the driver pushed the tricycle and we hid under a tree. He managed to get a gasoline by the help of his fellow tricycle driver but this time the engine won’t start. No matter how hard he tried it just wont turn on. We waited for an hour until a help came. 🙁 We had no choice but to endure the cold in the bus. It was a 2 hour trip back to Manila and we were all soaking wet inside an air-conditioned bus! But nevertheless we were still thankful that we were able to go home safely (except for the iphone).
One last pahabol picture! ^_^
So there you have it! That’s the story behind the unexpected Minalungao adventure. Overall, our Minalungao National Park trip was indeed fun and full of adventures, very unforgettable.
