Summer Getaway!

Long time no post! And it's already last week of April! How's your summer?

The heat is incredibly unbearable here in the Philippines and what's the best way to beat that? Swimming!!!
So last Holy Week (sorry, this has been a long overdue post as I've been busy with my work) we had a chance to go out of town. My sister decided to go to Batangas because she's the one that's in charge for the expenses together with another sister because it was her daughter's birthday last April 4. So we're like 'sabit' lol. I went over the net searching resorts for reservations but to no avail! They we're all fully booked for April 7-8. I can't find any resort with available rooms for those dates so we decided to just get there and find a resort that has available rooms for us to rent out. We left Manila at 4 am in the morning and got to Batangas at around 6am. No traffic! :D

At last, after inquiring from a couple of resorts we finally found a place to stay in. La Primavera Beach Resort located at Matabungkay Lian, Batangas. When we got there, the rooms that we're going to rent out are still occupied but the owner told us that they're about to leave so we just waited for it and sat down at some random tables there that are not occupied. The 'elders' prepared our things and cooked some food while the kids and kids at heart went out to swim while me together with my kids and hubby roam around to see the place. The resort has a pool (for adult and for kids) and the beach is really crowded. :/ 

The pool is not that huge but it's okay with me as I don't know how to swim am not going to swim that much either lol. The beach is okay too but as I've said it is crowded. Too much people! And there were also plenty of 'balsas' to be rented out. I think it costs around Php 5,000 for half(?) or whole(?) day but I'm not sure of exactly how much because a guy approached us offering their balsa but I'm not the one who talked to them. Anyway, back to the beach lol. As I've said it is so crowded I can't even swim. I'm afraid that I might get caught between those balsas or bang my head onto it while I swim or get tripped by the ropes underwater (for the balsa not to be drifted away from the shore) and get drowned. I can't even stay on the shoreline because of it but when I get passed through the areas where the balsas are 'parked' the water is already deep. So I just decided to stay in the pool.

 Finally, the occupants in the room left and we moved in. We rented out three rooms (air-conditioned, two on the ground floor and one on the second) Each room on the ground floor can accommodate about 3-5pax while the room above can have 8-10pax but they lack mattresses. We stayed on the second floor. As the day went on, the weather is getting hotter and hotter but I can't jump into the pool because of the scorching heat of the sun that I might get burned easily. We stayed inside the rooms and chilled out with the air-condition. 

But guess what? It blacked out! WTF! Wait! The resort blacked out? No. Just us. Just our rooms. Ugh! We immediately talked to the owner and she apologized for what happened. She said the linemen were fixing something that's why it blacked out and our rooms are connected to it while others have different connection. What else can we do about it? We slept. No, it was too hot inside the room to sleep. We swim, No, the sun is still shining oh so brightly! We ate. Yes, we ate. We got in and out of the resort just to get ourselves occupied and avoid dying because of boredom lol. We stayed at the tables that we occupied before we moved in to the rooms. We didn't had electricity for about 4 hours I kid you not! We got there to enjoy and relax and chill out and what we had is just stressful uber hot summer vacation.

Anyway, when the sun go down a bit we decided to have a swim. Yay! But to my dismay, I can't get my daughter to the water because she's scared! No choice but to get out of the water. :(

As the night rolled in, I've nothing much to do so I played with the kids. I told to them hug each other but whenever the camera captures the picture, they're already separated. We slept early because we're dead tired and don't want to swim anymore. Too bad I didn't because I missed this.

*photos taken by my niece*

The next day, we thought we will never experience the same thing that happen yesterday but we're wrong. It blacked out again and the worst, the water line got messed up too. We again talked to the owner and asked what kind of service do they have we don't have water and electricity at the same time. The owner apologized for the inconvenience and said that the linemen we're fixing again the electrical lines and they we're just fixing something in the water line. Okay, but we told them we want a refund as we paid in full the moment we got in. We didn't ask for full refund as that would be inappropriate but just ask for what they can  give back. Come afternoon and we're all ready to leave the resort and my sisters decided to head to Tagaytay! Good thing the resort owner give us back Php 2,000 and off then we go!

We took the route to Tagaytay by Aguinaldo Highway but hell! It was super traffic! We had about 3-4 hours drive just to get to Tagaytay! We stopped by at Colette's Buko Pie to get some 'pasalubongs' and proceeded to Picnic Grove. Plenty of people were there but thankfully we didn't had a problem with parking. I think there are tables for rent there but we didn't bother to do so. We just walked around to see the park and there was this main attraction (I think) the Tagaytay Zipline! For weekdays the rates are around Php 200-400 per head (sorry I forgot) and for weekends and holidays it was Php 400 per head and Php 600 if you want a souvenir. That includes 2 pictures and a mug with your picture on it.

These are not the souvenir pics because hubby haven't scanned it yet. Hubby asked me if I want to try it and I said why not? We don't know when we'll going back here so better try it now right? lol So we went to the ticket booth and talked if we want it with the souvenirs or not but the guy on the booth told us that he can give it to us for Php 1000! Pretty good deal! :D

No, I'm not biting the rope okay? lol It was an awesome experience getting hanged up there and while your ziplining on your side is the majestic view of Taal Lake. But honestly, I haven't notice it because I was damn scared and busy screaming my lungs out lol.  After us were my sister and her daughter who is 4 years old, and my niece together with my sister's sister-in-law tried the zipline too! They got it for Php 1,800 with souvenirs. :/ I was like if we joined them with maybe we got a bigger discount? lol This part of the trip was what I enjoyed the most. Really!

At 6pm, we decided to leave the park and got home at around 9pm by the way of Sta. Rosa, Laguna. When we got home, we just ate some snack and prepare for bed and doze off.

That's all for my summer vacation! I hope you already had yours too and I hope you enjoyed it! 

How about you? Have you been on a summer vacation already? Where are your favorite summer destinations? Care to share?