My brother decided that he wanted to go on a picnic on the day before Christmas so he could introduce his wife to his friends in our hometown. At first he wanted to go to Bolong Beach, but changed his mind and chose Woodlands Resort instead because it was a lot closer.
He borrowed his friend’s “drive at your own risk” multicab to drive us over there and there was a funny moment when we couldn’t even get out of our own drive because it was too steep. Then he turned around and found another exit but nearly rammed the car into a concrete wall, so we had to get out of the car and his guy friends pushed it.
By the time we managed to get on the main road, around 30 minutes had elapsed. It’s not more fun in the Philippines. Funnier, yes.
We finally arrived at the resort and paid the entrance fee of P50 per person. We walked in and looked for a cottage. All the big cottages near the pool were already occupied, which was a good thing because we found one at a better location, near the edge of a lake with this breathtaking view.
Isn’t it gorgeous??
It’s perfect for an “emo” shot.
Or a postnup.
Other views:
You can actually ride that train for a fee. There were other activities, too, like bikes and even horseback riding.
Anyway, this was our cottage named Acacia and cost P500 to rent. There are smaller cottages costing P150 surrounding the pool.
They don’t allow you to bring your own food into the resort, so we ordered lunch at their restaurant.
The sister-in-law and I were put in charge of ordering, so I suggested the bilao which already has many different kinds of food in one plate like milkfish, shrimps, squid rings, chicken, and green mango and even comes with a small pot of soup.
We just ordered platters of rice and a few other additional dishes like tuna belly, chopsuey, and green mango with bagoong. The green mango turned out to be apple mango, my favorite! Yay! We also ordered a few mango splits for dessert. Everything was delicious and affordable.
After eating, we spent a bit of time sitting on benches near the lake. I tried to read a book on my ipad mini but my brother’s friends kept engaging me in conversation so I gave that up.
After some time, the sister-in-law invited us to go swimming. I said I didn’t bring any extra clothes, but my brother’s friend who owns the car said that we had a car so I could just go home in wet clothes.
The resort does not require swimming clothes in their pool, just that you don’t wear anything with zippers, so this could actually be done. It was a ridiculously hot day and the pool looked very inviting, so I obliged, and for the first time in my life, went swimming in a dress.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve swam in non swimwear before, it’s the norm in my conservative hometown where you only see people in swimsuits in high end hotels. But it’s usually t-shirts and shorts or even long sleeved shirts and pants (for when I didn’t want to get tan). A dress is not the norm because the skirt drifts up. So I tied its ends between my thighs to keep it from doing so. Haha.
I’m glad I went into the pool. It was so refreshing! I especially liked standing under the “waterfalls.”
We swam for a bit but mostly just stayed on the shallow end and talked. That’s probably because most of them don’t know how to swim. A lot of people in our hometown don’t know how to, actually, even though we’re beside the sea. I only learned when I was already working in Makati.
We left when the sun set at around 6pm. Luckily I had brought a shawl, so I wrapped that around me like a makeshift dress so I did not have to go home sopping wet. This is one reason why I like bringing one everytime I go out. They’re just so useful!
It was a fun day. 🙂
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