After more than a month of planning and searching for the best resort to spend a weekend together, this is the day we've been waiting for... the Bolinao Trip!
We found this resort, again...over the web. Kat and I immediately decided that this is the place we've been looking for. A nice off-white beach (they even quoted this as "Boracay like sand"), side trips like caves, lighthouse, a 400-year old church, and a falls. All of these in one places is a jackpot.
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| Welcome to Pangasinan, its still a long way to go! |
Its a 6-hour drive from manila, so you need to have a good rest before starting this long drive trip. We left our office building at 7am and reached the resort by 3pm...(we took 8 hours going to this resorts because we have a lot of stop-over)
Going to this resort needs a lot of patience especially when entering the Brgy. Patar, because half of its road is still a rough road - I guess the mayor did not finish his project because the road leads to his competitors resorts... Treasures of Bolinao is 15KM drive from the entrance of Brgy. Patar.
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| Entrance of Treasures of Bolinao |
The resort looks nice, but the pool is so simple and there's nothing special on it, its landscape is very simple and the place is a bit small compare to what I expected. We reserve a 2 junior Suite room located in their Main House. When we got inside the room, I was a bit disappointed. The room is just compose of 2 double size bed, plus 2 extra bed,and a small aircon that took a little longer before the room gets cold, and there is no television! - Sorry I was not able to take a photo of the room because its not really good in my eyesight.
After taking some rest, we decided to roam around the resort. You need to walk on the other side of the resort to find a beach swimming spot, since the resort created a floating cottage instead of making the beach front a place to swim for their guest.
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| Patar Beach |
I love the beauty of the Patar beach, with its off-white sand and a cold water. This is what I've been looking for...well when it comes to Luzon Beaches.
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| pool at night |
If you are going in this place, make sure you pack your own food, because the food in this resort is not cheap. They charge 300 pesos for a buffet dinner, a bit of rice, a bit of meat, a bit of veggies, and a bit of fruits. Well since its a buffet, you are allowed to go back. But they will still serve a bit of everything plus a one-time ice tea. After having a dinner, we play poker and videoke. We are bit frustrated with their videoke machine, because its microphone gets grounded and they don't even have spare. We ordered SMB pale pilsen since they ran out of stock for SMB Light, again...if you are planning to have a good time in this resort, you need to buy your liquors/beer outside, Because it was just 9PM all of their drinks are already sold-out. And their hard drinks are so expensive, imagine a Ginebra Premium Gin cost 700pesos in this overly expensive charge resort!
In the morning, we decided to eat our breakfast. Our room accommodation includes breakfast by the way. We were not able to avail the Breakfast buffet, because we woke up late. Only the people in the other room was able to avail tit - hindi man lang nang-gising, makasarili!...
So we only ordered a platted meal, a Pangasinan Longanisa - 3 small pieces of longanisa, egg, tomato, and rice. After eating, the waiter came for us to sign the coffee and a milo we had. And guess what, they charged 120pesos for a 3 packs of milo!!!! WTF?!
We left the resort by 11AM. Then we go on our side trips.
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| Bolinao Lighthouse |
First stop... Bolinao Light house, its just a few meters away from the resort. They said this is the tallest lighthouse here in the Philippines.
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| Inside enchanted cave |
Next is the Enchanted cave, you will see 3 caves upon entering Patar. Enchanted Cave, Wonderful Cave and Cindy's Cave. They said Enchanted Cave is the most beautiful cave among the 3. We only visited the Enchanted cave, the cave has an entrance fee of 50 pesos, but if you're going to swim they will charge you 70 pesos. Why is bolinao so expensive! damn!
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| St. James Fortress Church |
We also visited St. James Fortress Church, it was builtin 1609, it is the only church bearing the Seal of Queen Isabel of Spain.
We ate lunch at Adoras eatery, just beside the church. After eating lunch we decided to go home.
We were not able to visit the Tara Falls because we need to travel 6 hours going back to Manila.
I just want to remind everyone, if you are planning to visit Bolinao make sure you have a lots of money. Because this place charge big time!
If you are planning to visit the resort, here's their web page: http://treasuresofbolinao.com/
Again, please bring your own food and drinks...if you're on a tight budget
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| Patar Beach |
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| Bolinao Lighthouse |
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