weekend escape

Sunday, March 28, 2010

roadtrip getaway

Michelline's sandbucket

Out on a whim last weekend we finally headed for a summer road trip and caught ourselves driving up north. I was anticipating any unplanned summer getaway and dealing with crowded and fully booked reservations in resorts. What made me reinforced of really deciding to pursue with the getaway was the thought that my little daughter always said: “I like to go to the beach.” As a fact, at the age of three, she has not experienced of going into any of the beaches. She only sees the pictures from her books. So my wife told me “how about just going to a nearby clubhouse for a splash? We have not made any reservation or planned anything yet.” But…..hmmmm okay then, I said: “how about pack your clothes and let’s see where we can go for a swim.” And off we rolled out of the metro. Too bad going out of the city took us 45 minutes considering that we live in the upper part of Quezon City. But once we hit the expressway (NLEX), everything went in a breeze until we exit our way into SCTEX. That was when we had already decided to go to Subic. Here is quick look of the storyboard.

Typical of SCTEX highway since it opened 2 years ago: No slipstreaming buses,
criss-crossing tricycles, suicidal pedestrians, and nasty jeepneys. Plus a great view!

I'm bored..... where's the beach?

Got amused that my old decade car still easily
managed to hit the 140kph needle :)

Enjoys the trip with the camera and the
little one still bored at the back.....

Upon touch down after 2 hours and 45 minutes of drive:
view from the beach is the Camayan Beach Resort entrance

Finally! I'm here!

View under the lifeguard's station

Ahem! feeling ala baywatch hehehe!:)

Family pic.... smile

sand castle.... sand bucket... :)

Refreshments!!!!!

My precious two

Another view
source: camayanbeachresort.com

Kayaks?

Ethnic performances start
in the afternoon till evening
source: camayanbeachresort.com

View of the hotel
source:camayanbeachresort.com

Time for dinner but where's the food?
This is in the Reef restaurant. Food here is great but the downside is
the service - it's kinda slow and waiters get confuse of mixing-up the orders.

haaay..... where's my pancit canton?

Reef Restaurant
source: pinoyislands.com

interesting prints

Lifeguard's station

Video: Michelline at the beach

Monday, January 25, 2010

Michelline in Avilon Zoo

Indeed there's no Africa here with the wildesbeest plying around our forests. But I'm surprised that there's a zoo within proximity here in the city. Trying out something different to do after watching the NatGeo channel and seeing the wild animals makes me wonder where can I see such animals. Ofcourse the only way is to travel out of the country and see it for myself the real thing. But being realistic for a weekend holiday, Avilon Zoo is just several kilometers away.

With my wife and daughter, we drove within in some parts of the twisty road of San Mateo in Rizal for almost 45 minutes. There was traffic in the commercial areas-apparently part of the crawling development of Metro Manila's suburbs. From Batasan Road, we drove down Batasan-San Mateo Road and turned left to Gen. Luna Ave. From here the traffic began spontaneously at every town proper we had passed by. Joining this road was J.P. Rizal (not the typical road you find in Kalookan and Makati) for about 5 kilometers and ended at MH Del Pilar St. About another 2 kilometers we turned left to Eastwood residences. After the subdivision, we dealt with a one kilometer rough road. Not advisable for a lowered car.

Upon entrance a large lagoon can be seen. And from here moving forward I looked for the map because the area was big. A bit feeling of a Jurrasic Park came in. First we roamed around the aviary, and then the snakes' turf. We saw an anaconda and it was really huge with almost one foot diameter. It can swallow a person in one big gulp. The exciting part was the mammals area. Too bad the lions were in their dens. I couldn't see a good glimpse of them.