Loving Laiya. Wanting More Beaches!

(La.. La.. La.. Laiya II)

Sharing with you what transpired last Sunday and Monday during my trip to Laiya with my High School friends. Our first in four years but we are still not complete as Enrico and Maan were not with us. (I really miss both of them. huhuhu)

6:25a.m. I woke up very excited. I called up Boboy to wake him up. Boboy, being the most pasaway he is, might be late as usual.

6:30 – 7:30 a.m. I had Cereals, bananas and milk for breakfast. After, I attended to my morning rituals.

7:30 – 8:40 a.m. I waited in vain for Bugz and Nhez as they would fetch me at Starbucks Westlife.

8:40 – 9:05 a.m. I was riding a cab with Bugz and Nhez on our way to Boboy’s place. We called him to inform him that we are on our way. We were not surprised to know that he was still sleeping then.

9:05 – 9:15 a.m. We do not expect to leave Boboy’s place this soon as he was almost done when we arrived.

9:15 – 10:10 a.m. We met with Julia and Antonio along with their kids at Petron SLEX. Boboy had his breakfast at McDonald’s. Pasaway talaga. hehehe!

10:10 – 12:30 p.m. We traveled all the way to Laiya, San Juan, Batangas. Good thing, there were very few traffic interruptions. Otherwise, it would have been a horrible and stressful trip.

12:30 p.m. We arrived at Kabayan Resort and had our lunch. Julia brought Chicken Pork Adobo. It was really delicious that I was not able to avoid eating steam rice.

3:05 p.m. Our room is ready!

3:15 p.m. Vina and Rodel arrived. They needed to be late because they had had to attend another event that morning.

4:30 p.m. – 6:15 p.m. Bugz, Nhez and I had photo opportunity and enjoyed swimming at the beach. I really fell in love with the waves of Laiya. Bugz and I played like kids by throwing each other wet balls of sand. It is our way playing of snowballs in a beach. Well, the waves added challenge to our game.

6:30 p.m. Dinner time! Vina brought marinated beef steaks for grilling which Rodel bought all the way from the States. The beef-lover that I am, I relished the grilled steak with tomato slices and a little serving of steam rice . Winner!

8:00 p.m. Happy hours… We drank Kurant with 7-Up and Cherries. I think I had eight servings but I did have a blast. It was really enjoyable as we exchanged banters among each other, things we often do on our rare gimmicks.

10:30 p.m. Antonio, Boboy Rodel and Vina had body massage by the beach while the rest of us went to sleep.

6:30 a.m. My cell phone’s alarm rang but failed to wake me up. I still slept for the next 30 minutes.

7:00 a.m. AJ, Antonio and Julia’s son, woke me up. We all had our morning rituals prior to breakfast.

8:45 a.m. Breakfast by the beach. We had corned beef, eggs, hotdogs, bread and rice. After breafast, it is swimming time again. We tried to eat at a Chowking sattelite store stationed nearby but we were disappointed to know that it was closed during weekdays.

11:45 a.m. We prepared to leave the resort while Boboy left already. He got some errands to do, according to him. (Who is he trying to fool? hehehe)

2:00 p.m. We checked-out. We are not feeling hungry though as we had a very heavy breakfast.

2:45 p.m. Familiarizing with Lipa. We visited the Our Lady of Mediatrix Church. The church is so comforting that it seems like it draws you nearer to God. I felt so blessed with its peaceful ambiance. Then we had a heavy snack of Lomi and Pancit Guisado at Three Kids Lomi House. Imagine, we are 11 and our bill is just 315 pesos.

4:00 p.m. We traveled all the way to Tagaytay on an unfamiliar route. The roads were narrow, uphill and had even more steep zigzags than the way to Baguio.

5:40 p.m. Tagaytay Na Naman! Photo Opportunity at Taal Vista and dinner at Leslie’s. Managed now by Fuego Hotels, it was really great to have rediscovered Taal Vista. Leslie’s has always been consistent with their Bulalo. I enjoyed also for the first time their Crispy Hito and Brewed Cafe Amadeo. Sadly, they were also consistent with their poor service as there were less servers than what is necessary.

9:40 p.m. Thanks to Vina and Rodel for bringing us to Bugz’ house. After getting some stuffs from Bugz, I went home.

What a day it was! I had a great time, as usual. Thanks to the people I grew up with. I hope this would happen again in more beaches and with Maan and Enrico around.

La.. La.. La.. Laiya!

After several years of not having summer outings with the complete group, we finally pushed through this year. Few days before our scheduled trip, it was raining hard and storm signals were announced all over Luzon. We cannot afford to let go of this chance as my friends and I took Monday off from our respective jobs and businesses. Thank God, typhoon Cosme went out of the country last Sunday afternoon.

We went to Laiya, San Juan, Batangas and stayed at Kabayan resort. It maybe far from the Metro, about three-hours drive from Quezon City with few heavy traffic interruptions, but it is worth the while. The sand may not be as white and fine as Boracay’s but it is far better than the other parts of Batangas.

What I love most about Laiya are the waves. Wheeeew! I am not into surfing but I do enjoy when the waters push me to the shore with its walloping waves. Laiya could be the next big summer destination once developed and promoted well with its beauty and purity maintained.

After Laiya, we went to Our Lady of Mediatrix Church in Lipa. The church was so serene that I forgot to have another photo opportunity.

Lastly, we went to Tagataytay. We took several pictures at Taal Vista and had dinner at Leslie’s. I will share more Journey Journals about this trip in a few days.