Valentino Spa and Resort and a Side Trip to the famoue Batangas Lomi

It was quite a busy season, hence our summer outing was postponed until about early July. We were looking at other options but Valentino Spa has offered us a perfect overnight stay for our alloted budget for about 20 people.

We stayed in a 2 dorm type room, with 4 double deck beds; There were only 2 bathrooms, hence we took turns taking a bath; There were shower areas near the pool at the back of the location where we were situated at and it sure helped the boys so they left the two bathrooms mostly for us girls to use.

Valentino Spa and Resort offers Villas too, for families and friends alike. They have a spacious area, suitable for team buildings too. There were about 3 swimming pools, and a jacuzzi (that is always on).

Since it was past the peak season, we almost have the whole place all to ourselves. We were able to do some team activities without disrupting other patrons. It sure was a great place to relax and take a dip.

Here we are, waiting for our turn at the famous Corcolon's Lomi in Batangas! Its a must try if you are nearby. We waited close to an hour before we were served with our orders! It's cheap and tasty! Cholesterol overload, though. =)

 

Tali Beach, Nasugbu Batangas

I was quite excited when I heard we are going to Tali Beach Resort for my birthday weekend. It was such an exciting countdown since I haven't been to the beach this year, nor have I had any trip outside Manila for a Vacation.

 

Tali Beach was in Nasugbu Batangas. Off we went from Fairview to Batangas at 6AM. There is a slight delay due to some MMDA officer thinking we were riding a Colorum Van. (This shall qualify for an entirely different post, I'd say).

 

Ready as we all are, we arrived in Tali Beach Subdivision, with high hopes of a great swim day. The weather is lovely, it is great for a late afternoon Swim. =)

 

We were directed inside the Subdivision. The Place was not yet as developed as the Terrazas de Punta Fuego. Well I thought maybe that is why we have not heard much about This membership place.  \Our friend has advised us that there are is no Clubhouse, and no pool to swim in. So We are only headed to the beach side.

 

The house we rented is Php 17,500. It was a huge house, with plenty of beds to sleep on. I counted 4 big rooms, with at least 4 beds in each room, All air-conditioned.

 

The Kitchen was well ventilated, Complete with kitchen utensils, knives, gas stove, microwave oven, plates, cooking pans, and so on.

 

Up we went to the roof top to further explore the house; It was a huge space, where the whole family and friends can stay and unwind and have a nice long chat feeling the cool wind blowing.

 

The House had a rooftop Jacuzzi too! The view was that of the Sea, when facing the back of the mini pool.

 

So we prepared for lunch, rested for a while and to the beach we go. =) It was a 3 minute drive from the house we rented to the beach sides; There were many mini beaches along the "Beach Drive" of the subdivision. There was the Tali Beach, Palm Beach, Marina Beach.

 

The Stairs going down to the beach side wasn't that bad. SO excitement was still in me... not until I was close enough to the beach that I saw piles of trash in the water! If you swim, you will literally be swimming with the garbages! What a heart dropping scene when all you want is to take a dip in the sea. =(

 

 

We stayed and took photos of the surrounding... It was great except for the huge pile of plastic bags, chips packages, tetra, juices, and some other garbages you'd normally see in your black bag.

 

 

We were told to try out the other beaches, so we went to Marina Beach, just a minute from where we first stationed. But this beach was no different. There were a lot of dead corals on the beach side, there were a lot of small rocks too, and dried weeds all over.

 

Overall ratings: Nope this beach is not for Swimming. I would not even dare come back to this side of Nasugbu. It is way too costly for a dip in the small Jacuzzi, and not be able to enjoy the Beach. Why would I even travel 3 hours for a small pool? =(

 

 

 

 

Bataan to Subic Road trip!

After our Montemar Beach Experience... We headed off to Morong for a Bataan White Corals  Experience.. From Bagac, we traveled up to morong, following only the road signs leading us to the Pawikan Conservation Center. It was a long drive with worries that we might soon ran out of gas as the sign keeps popping up that the car is low in Gas now. hehe

Finally, At the Pawikan conservation Center... We found 3 Sea turtles, small medium and average sized ones. they are the only ones there, no baby turtles, no other worth seeing... :( quite disappointed that the conservation center did not have much to offer. The pawikans are lovely though, It is the first time i have come so close to one and have actually touched their "feet". The caretaker said they bite to we cannot touch the head. 

We gave the person there that asked us to enter the place 50 bucks as "entrance fee". After going to the site.. we decided to go to further, but having changed our minds in going to the Bataan white Corals, we then headed towards Subic Bay, after seeing the road signs. :) I thought there might be more to see in Subic than in another beach resort that might just be similar to where we have been. 

Going to the subic bay, We saw low rates sign of the Subic Bay Venezia Hotel... Hmm thought we could just spend the night there for lower rates; the concierge was very nice at giving us additional discounts since we checked in at almost 4 in the afternoon already. The room is very comfortable, the bed sheets are nice, the amenities are complete and they even have a water heater for our coffee. They also have a Casino in this place... 

Oh prior to this, we also had a great time go Karting. It was our first go kart experience and we had to try it at Subic! haha as if there are no go kart places here in Manila. 

The next day, we decided to have lunch first before going home; we had to go too the bay view area (
Waterfront road) but there are limited choices, i think we will not enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed our Aristocrat meal. We were so full and I sure do love to eat their chicken barbecue! It is really the best barbecue ever!! 

It took us another 2 hours of long road trip from Subic bay to Manila, A very worthy travel of fun and spontaneous decisions. haha I like to have planned events, journey, etc... but being spontaneous at times helps add spice and adventure! :) 

In the spirit of fairness, I think this was built for the Maya birds. It was called Villa Maya. hehe I thought this one is  cute, isn't it so we took the time to take a picture and have it shared to everyone. 

This can be seen at the Subic Tipo entrance. It is on your right side coming from Subic - Manila bound and  on your left when entering Subic (from Manila).  

Bataan... Churches and Beaches (Montemar Beach Resort)

It was a clear day when we left manila at around 6AM. Heading towards the north with no clear plan at all.. We just have a list of Bataan hotels and resorts where we can stay for the night... not sure where exactly though. haha We have planned to stay in Balanga Crown royale Hotel, but passing thru the small "Inn" looking hotel, we decided not to stop by and I am sure we will only be staying in our rooms if we did stop there as the Balanga is the "city" of bataan where there are not much nature attractions.

First Stop was in Abucay - we went to view the Balanga Catholic Church. It was close at the time of our arrival and only the small chapel beside it was open. We managed to take a few pictures of the church's front facade, which is not very attractive compared to the Manila(Intramuros) area churches. The left side of the church is a cemetery(it does not look like a century old cemetery but a very common one). The right side of the church is where the small chapel is, it also has its office to its right with very little space for car parking.

After our stop to the said church, we headed off towards Bagac Bay, with the hopes of having an accomodation facing the beach; we were informed that the bagac beach is a nice place with cheap rates too. Unfortunately the bagac beaches have suffered greatly from the "Ondoy" typhoon, soome cottages still need to be cleaned and the beach shore needs to be cleaned as well. We did not stop and take aa further look around, as their day tour rate is a stagerring 300 bucks!!

Next option is Morong Beaches... But we called and have been answered by someone from the Montemar Beach Club, so we did not go to Morong and decided to go visit Montemar First. Their overnight rate is about 3100bucks with free breakfast and well, we were told that the Montemar has really nice rooms and the beach is also quite heavenly. Since we are in Bagac stopping by won't hurt anyway. We were asked to call the front office first prior to the guard allowing us go inside the resort vicinity. We were given a room at the first floor, sea and pool view, but we requested to have a room at the 2nd floor instead, and they allowed us to change rooms and did not even charge us an extra hour since we arrived prior to check in time. 

The view is really great, the waves are almost perfect, but the water is rough and not quite good for non-swimmers. The Montemar Beach is in between two land formations...

There are lots of things to do in this resort, 2 swimming pools, but the one is closed when we got there. We dipped into the blue pool, the water is cold, chlorine free! We enjoyed the almost an hour dip and chitchat at the pool because it was shaded and we were not much exposed to the heat of the sun at noon.

Non-water activities are available as well and there are spacious places for sports like basketball and volleyball, and even a small children's playground. There was also a hanging bridge joined and supported by two old trees, one must be careful climbing these trees as the structure needs to be repaired, some soft spots can cause accidents, so I did not dare try to cross it.

There are some cottages where you can relax and just listen to the beach waves, and the bird's sweet humming sounds... even the sounds of the dancing trees makes the day in relaxation perfect!

At sunset, the montemar beach isn't the best site for sunset viewing, here is a picture of the sunset here in Bagac... its just ordinary, but still romantic, in my opinion... The weather too is perfect, it was such a blessing that we did not encounter rains and have enjoyed going around the resort from "left" to "right". If it weren't for the cost, I would have loved to go to this place quite often. From the services, the courteous greetings, the beach shores, the huge rock formations, the trees, the spacious rooms even is just a perfect getaway! We were there at a time where the beach is not packed with people and it feels as though we have the place all to ourselves!

It was such a sad time thinking about leaving the place... :( I was so relaxed at this place, felt as though I am really close to nature, and though there are no other things we did at the place aside from walking from one beach side to the other, it seems like the time is not enough for more than that! Oh if other beaches have ant holes in the sand like the ones in potipot, Montemar beach has a number of baby crablets! haha they are not biting, but are really cute crustaceans that walks or crawls really fast when they see moving people on the shores. No worries about the sea water too, it is really very clear - like that of a fresh water body. Montemar, by the way is a Triple A rated resort, and it does feel like everything is indeed rated triple A in this resort. :)