Come'on La Union

If I haven't tried a lot of resorts, I wouldn't have appreciated Thunderbird Resorts & Casinos Poro Point. With an average overnight room prices not lower than P7,000, who wouldn't think twice and ask what is so special with this resort aside from being featured in one of the local movies.

Let me start with its Santorini themed design. Very refreshing to the eye. Since you can only find it in Greece, now you can have a taste of it here in the Philippines.

  The ceiling from the reception area. Lovely :)

(photo credit: google)
With a room that is very relaxing - comfy large bed, big flat screen tv, cool AC, complimentary fruits. Who would want to go outside?

But of course, I don't want to get comfortable inside the room all day so I decided to breath some fresh air. They have a very nice view here.  Accommodations are inclusive of buffet breakfast at Olives Restaurant. 

  You can enjoy their swimming pool while ordering drinks at the pool bar.

It was month of July when I went here. There are big waves during that time so I wasn't able to experience the beach. I can see clear blue water with some rocks and moss though from a far.

They have a very large property you can walk and explore the place. Best for bonding with loved ones.

They have team building facilities too so a company outing is encouraged.

After a long day, you can relax and dance to the music from a band in their bar just beside the reception. They also have a casino with scheduled shows. Just ask the concierge. It's a bit far so you need to take a shuttle.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Been to Thunderbird Binangonan Rizal too, aside from being near the Metro, it's no measure to Thunderbird Poro Point La Union.  They have small pool, no beach & no Santorini architectural themes.

Here's a peek:

This place is good for family & small group bonding. They also offer competitive prices for company outings with full board meals and use of team building facilities.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For one night at Poro Point I was able to experience a luxurious stay at a Mediterranean inspired resort and I definitely have no regrets. All worth it! :)

Subukan mo sa Lucban

From an overnight stay at Cagbalete we headed directly to Lucban, Quezon. From Mauban, we rode a jeepney. Then we rented a tricycle from Sampaloc Lucban for P150 to bring us to Kamay ni Hesus then waited for us so we can also go to Kamayan sa Palaisdaan.

Kamay ni Hesus is a healing church and a pilgrimage site for those who want to repent, be healed or just give thanks to the Lord.  Founded by Fr. Joey Faller also known as the Healing Priest. It will take 300 plus steps from the grotto entrance to the Shrine of The Ascending Christ.

 Inside Kamay ni Hesus is the Garden of Eden and Noah's Ark with animal playground.

 You can light up candles and say your prayer intentions. 

Right after Kamay ni Hesus we went to Kamayan sa Palaisdaan Complex where you can find rows of restaurants. We chose to visit Air Summit Gourmet because it's the newest place to go.  

They have like airport where you can stay while waiting for your queue. They have staff dressed ala stewardess that will give you the menu where you can choose a variety of highly priced food. Nevertheless, I still want to experience dining inside a plane. Yes! you read that right! 

When it is already your turn you will hear a voice announcing just like what you are hearing at the airport. It felt awesome when i heard the voice saying "Calling the attention of Ms. Lourdz Canonce, please proceed to the boarding gate".  Whoa!!! So coool!

This is what it looks like inside the plane. Very elegant. Each table has its own chandelier. Tables have different colors of cloth and waiters are dressed like pilots.

Food is fine.  I am able to enjoyed their nicely cooked from the grill pork chops best partnered with mashed potato which is surprisingly color green.  Their calamari is quite just like any other's. I ordered melon shake but it's not available so they offered watermelon shake. I hate watermelon but for some reason, I loved their watermelon shake :) and from this moment on, most of the time I order it for my drink. 

We left the place still with rooms in our stomach for more food. We wanted to try another resto before going home. We thought of eating seafoods ☺

We went to this place still inside Kamayan sa Palaisdaan. They gave us welcome turmeric tea drink. We settled on one of the floating kubos. We waited for somebody to approach us but to no avail no one went to our kubo.  We are being bitten by mosquitoes already so we just left.

We rode a tricycle going to Sampaloc again so we can ride a jeepney going to Lucena Grand. 4 hour travel started again as we hopped on a bus going to Buendia. 

♥ Cagbalete Baby ♥

Summer is about to end.  Me and my friend haven't had a blast yet.  We wanted to go somewhere new but not too far from Metro Manila.  Somewhere that doesn't require plane ride but worth the visit.

Upon keen searching on the web, we discovered Cagbalete Island.  A tranquil place in Quezon Province where you'll find serenity. 

We started our trip by riding a bus at Buendia going to Lucena.  4 hours travel.  Fare is P210. Got off at Diversion (Jollibee) then rode an ordinary bus going to Mauban, 1 hour travel for P54,  In Mauban, a lot of tricycle drivers will invite you to ride tricycle going to the port. No need.  You may want to buy food or water before riding the boat so just walk.  Go directly to Tourism Office to buy tickets. Boat fare cost P70 plus environmental fee of P50.  It will not leave until a total of 70-75 passengers are riding.  Travel is approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour.  

Upon reaching the island, a small balsa like will fetch you from the boat going to Sabang port.  No more extra fare.  It's a little nerve wracking because everyone is just standing and It felt a bit overcrowded.  Good thing its just few minutes away from the shore. 

You may want to ride a smaller boat to bring you to your resort.  You can also walk but the trail is quite long.  In our case, we opted to ride motorcycle @ P50/person/motor to bring us to two of the resorts we wanted to check because we don't have reservations.  We tried to call a lot of resorts but all of them are fully booked.  The first we reached is Pansacola Beach Resort.

As expected it's jam packed!  I wanted to try another resort but it's too far and maybe it's also fully booked. They offered us their only vacant AC room for P3000/night.  Pricey but better than nothing. It just made me think twice when they told us that we are required to pay P1,000 each person to cover our full board meals. Meaning no choice to what food they will offer.  I don't like a set-up like that and we already brought food for our dinner and snacks so we just decided to pitch a tent! Isn't that exciting?  No forced payment for food, rental is just P300 and entrance P200/person.

Tent pitching by the beach is new to me while it is a norm here in Cagbalete.  I know it'll be hot and tight and uncomfortable but I really wanted to try this :)  This is quite challenging! 

We then told the motorcycle drivers to pick us up 9 am the next day.

I was kinda board looking at the beach this afternoon because it's low tide. 

The weather is very good but we can't swim. Good thing we love photos so we just roam around and below's the evidence.

                        

 Low tide created a sand bar.

Look at the sand.  So white and fine, formed into waves glistening with the sunlight.  I am in love :)

Because the water is hot we cannot swim by this time.  But the others are enjoying so I think it's temperature is bearable.   

Here comes the challenge.  After a very sunny afternoon, the rain poured.  We were at the shower room then, when we came back, there's already flood inside our tent.  We felt a little misfortuned so please don't ever go tent pitching after April.  The rain lasted for about an hour.  Some of our things are soaking wet except those inside our bags.  We were very hungry after clearing the water.  We ate dinner then decided to wear our rash guard while sleeping so we will be prepared to swim just in case it rains again :)

We still can't sleep.  We are hearing loud sound coming from the reception area.  Whoa! there are fire dancers.  We still watched even if we felt awkward in our rash guards :)

We woke up to a very beautiful morning.  The beach is in it's normal state.  We are so excited to swim.

There are floating leaves in the water but it's fine.  This is maybe because of the heavy rain last night.  There are small creatures forming a hole in the sand.  I was scared so we ask one of the locals if the creature bites.  He told us -- > sometimes :)  Luckily small creatures did not bother us at all.

While swimming, we begun to tell each other that we like this place already.  This is like paradise.  No need to air travel to experience fine white sand and nice beach.

It's nine in the morning and we are ready for departure but the motorcycle drivers did not show up, good thing there is a lady vendor who is kind enough to help us.  You cannot get out of the island unless you reserved a boat or in our case we contracted a motorcycle (no show) or walk 30 minutes with your feet under the sun.  We walked for few minutes and we reached the house of the lady vendor.  She told us that they owned a small boat and her husband can bring us to the port so we immediately agreed.  We gave them P200 for that.  

While we are on our way back to Mauban, we planned to go to Lucban, Quezon to see Kamay ni Hesus and have our lunch at Palaisdaan.  I'm gonna have a separate blog for that.  

We left the island with all smiles in our faces.  We are so astonished that an island like this exists in a place not too far.  This trip is one of my favorites.  Will definitely come back next summer and try tent pitching again ( minus the rain ☺)