Out-of-town Weekend Adventure at Amansinaya Mountain Resort ~ <strong>Simple Things in Mind</strong>

Ever since I moved in to my new job I no longer had time to do other stuffs like blogging. I even missed a lot of paid blogging work. But I don’t really regret it though because I’m actually enjoying my work and I’m having fun working with my current officemates, as well. Being so MIA in my blog for almost a year, I’ve thought I would never be able to go back into blogging again but I guess I just couldn’t stand not to. I miss blogging so much; thus, I decided to make it a habit now to update my blog every weekend (since that’s the only free time I have unless I need to work overtime).

So, to start my blog for this year I’ll be sharing about my experience from my out-of-town adventure last week at Amansinaya Mountain Resort in Laurel, Batangas. I was with my fiancé and my soon-to-be siblings and cousins then. It was a fun and exciting Saturdate with them.

The resort wasn’t really familiar to me. I haven’t actually heard of it before, not until I saw it in an online deal/discount site which I’d rather not mentioned its site. It was offered for 56% OFF promo for a day-tour package which includes ziplining, mud sliding, trekking at Ambon-Ambon Falls, wall climbing and of course, swimming in their 700sqm pool. Upon reading the description of the resort and seeing its lovely picture in that particular discount site, I got totally amaze and decided to share it to my fiancé and to our cousins by posting its link in our group in Facebook. At first, we were quite hesitant to grab the deal since not one of us knew or have heard of the place. But since the promo was quite affordable for just 299Php/person so we have decided to just grab it anyway. Hehehe!!!

Well, as we have already purchased the deal everyone decided to hold it on weekend to avoid conflict in schedule and so that no one will have to take a 1-day off from work. Then, majority of us voted for Saturday to do this out-of-town bonding so we can still have a long day rest before going back to work.

Since the deal was just for a day-tour package which is between 7am to 5pm, we decided to set our call time between 4:30 to 4:45 the max. So, we could start traveling early and be able to reach the place on or before its opening time; in order for us to enjoy all the perks included in the package. However, since it’s inevitable not to be late; thus, we weren’t able to follow the said call time. Hahaha!! But it’s just a-OK though coz we still arrived in the location early. As we travel to our destination, most of us are asleep including me. I only woke up when we were about 1 town away from Laurel, Batangas. And as I opened my eyes I was awestruck with the beauty of Taal Volcano seeing it almost near. I have been to Tagaytay before but I have never really seen it as closer as this. Then as we enter barangay Poblacion in the town of Laurel, getting to the place had been a bit terrible due to dusty road. Good thing that we have rented an air-conditioned van because if we have just rented an ordinary jeep I could just imagine how dusty our faces will be.

The Amansinaya Mountain Resort is actually located inside Las Haciendas Evergreen Communities. Las Haciendas just from the word itself is a “hacienda” that has a lot of different amenities to offer such as their nice clubhouse where you can actually see from afar the Ambon-Ambon Falls and the mountain/green sceneries surrounding it, their camping site called “Pugad Lawin Adventure Camp” and many more.

Upon entering the said place, I just noticed that the Las Haciendas Evergreen Communities signage looks like needed a little bit of cleaning/maintenance. Hehehe! First thing you’ll see when you entered the hacienda is their camping site then next is their main office/clubhouse which called Patio Filipino.

Entrance of Patio Filipino


The lounge area

The ceiling inside Patio Filipino

They mainly entertained their guests in this area and it is where the food is being served as well. It has a nice and clean washroom outside which I haven’t get to take a picture of. At the back area, you will see a single pool big enough for a couple to spend a romantic escapade.

Patio Filipino Restaurant

The pool at the back of Patio Filipino

Also, you will see 3 nipa huts that serve as cottages and sets of tables and chairs for 4 underneath a not-so-tall coconut trees and most of all you will be overwhelmed with the beauty of nature as it gives you an overlooking sight of the falls and its green surroundings.

The Nipa Huts


The overlooking view of Ambon-Ambon Falls and its green sceneries


Me & the man I love with the Falls in the background

First activities we did were the outdoor activities included in the deal which are located in the Pugad Lawin Adventure Camp. The site is a bit far from the clubhouse but no worries because the resort has a service vehicle which brings their guests to all parts/amenities inside of the hacienda. As we were heading towards the camp, everyone was kind of excited.

We were all teasing each other on who can successfully do the wall climbing thing. Hehehe! We tried the zipline first then followed by wall climbing wherein I was able to climb the top of such a high wall. We were just a bit disappointed with the zipline though because we were actually expecting it to be really high and long but nevertheless we still enjoyed it and had fun.

Me and my soon-to-be-hubby are full gear for the zipline & wall climbing activity :)

Going up to start the zipling (the stairs are quite narrow...one wrong step and you'll surely fall)

Already on top with my hubby- and sis-to-be

Ziplining mode :P

This is how tall the wall we have climbed. Just forgot to ask their staffs on how tall the wall is. (By the way, it's my sis-to-be nearly reaching the top)

Me doing the wall climb, starting my journey on top :P

Almost half-way to the top

I'm almost there

Finally, I made it on top :)

And the next thing we did was mud sliding. I only tried it once because during my first try, I kind of reached the bottom/water part area a little badly which made lots of water entered my nose and it was damn achy! So, I decided not to give it a try anymore but the rest of my companions’ goodness gracious! They didn’t just do it thrice but 10 times. I guess they’re just enjoying the sliding part that they did not care enough about the part where the water gets to enter in their noses. 0_o Hehehe!!

Here I go...

Woohoo!

Here's the full view of the mud slide from the top view

Picture-picture after were done with the mud slide activity

Trekking to Ambon-Ambon Falls was the last activity before we had our lunch. And since the trek to the falls is actually outside the Hacienda we were again brought by the resort’s service vehicle in the place where we have to start the trek.

Place where we've been dropped off to start our trek to Ambon-Ambon Falls

It was quite a long trek but we do have a tour guide going to the falls. According to him the trek usually took about 45-minutes one way. But it seems we did it an hour and a half just heading to the falls because we did a lot of picture taking in every place we passed by. Hehehe!

Trekking starts N-O-W! :P

Stop...Look...and Pose! :)

We had crossed 4 rivers but I think it’s just actually 1 long river that just seems 4 due to many left- and right-turns that we took.

Crossing the 1st river

Stop over #2: Going to the 2nd river

While we're half-way heading to the next river, we saw this on the way. I believe this is a coffee bean

One of a few houses we have passed by

We're now on the 2nd river

Stop over #3: heading to the 3rd river :)

Me, myself and I :D


Me and akachan on the 3rd river

As we were trekking, I was so amazed with the greener surroundings — the trees, the plants and the rice field. I just so love the place. I find it so relaxing to look at.

At the rice field

I really love looking at this place. So green -- so relaxing. It feels so stress-free!

Me and my sis-to-be (Abby) on the way to the final river

Before reaching the final river and the entrance of the must-see falls, we found a mini-falls which is cute. And of course, I didn’t miss the chance to have a picture at it. Hehehe!!

The mini-falls in my background

This is the last journey going to the 4th river

We're now about to crossed the 4th and final river before heading to the much awaited falls and we were awestruck with the beauty of the seemingly entrance leading to the falls. And of course, I also took a picture pointing at the background/way leading to there. Lovely view, isn’t it?

Such a nice view! I love the background! :)

We're finally on the last river leading to the falls

This is the narrow entrance to the falls

And finally, we reached the Ambon-Ambon falls that we’ve been anticipating to see. The view is really astoundingly beautiful. I couldn’t even believe seeing it in my own eyes because it’s my first time to really see one.


The 2-falls :) Cute!

My cousin-to-be (Cristonick) with the Ambon-Ambon Falls as his background. Nice shot! **photo taken by my akachan**

In all honesty, I never expected that such a nice view exists in this quiet and seems a bit secluded town. :D

Upon reaching the locations of the falls, of course, we didn’t miss the chance to experience going near it. The water is cold.

Experiencing the falls...whoa! The water is so damn cold but we lovin' it :)

Picture-picture!

Me and my soon-to-be family (without nanay & tatay) **from left to right: my akachan (Leo), Me, sis-to-be (Ria, gf of Amiel), sis-to-be (Abby) and brother-to-be (Amiel)** I just so love this pic! Cute, happy family!

I guess the reason why the falls was named as that — Ambon-Ambon Falls — because when you go near the falls you can actually feel the water pouring nonstop on you as if it’s a rain pouring down on you.

After a couple of minutes of picture taking and swimming in the falls, we decided to go back to the resort. And if going to the falls took us an hour and a half, well, going back only took us half an hour. I guess it’s because we were done taking pictures of the sceneries and all of us were all damn hungry and a bit tired, as well. Hehehe!!!

The food that we ordered for lunch are: Sinigang na baboy sa sampalok, liempo, fried chicken, crispy pata, rice and a lot of extra riceeeeee :D

Sinigang na baboy sa sampalok & the fried chicken at the side **still covered with plastik** :D

Liempo

Ang pampabata sa lahat -- Crispy Pata :P

Lunch time *nomnomnom*

In all fairness, all the foods tasted good and we were all satisfied with the taste, the servings and the service of the staffs there particularly the one who mainly entertained us — Mr. Arnel. I remember I’m on a “no rice diet” nowadays but since I was so tired from all those outdoor activities we had and the foods are quite good and tempting, I can’t help myself from eating rice but it’ OK because I have just eaten just 1 order of rice (and it’s true) :D

And I think I just have to mentioned that their water taste like “Pandan”. This is because they really put a pandan-flavor on it. I guess to make it taste like “Palamig” :D Also, upon looking at the picture frames on the walls, I’ve found out that some of our local actors & actresses have been in this place already. I guess it was part of a shooting scene :)

After we had our lunch, we decided to take an hour of rest first before we start swimming. So, we stayed in their nipa hut cottages.

Resting mode

I really love the view! <3

Then, to cap off with our day-tour activity we had our swimming moment in their biggest pool. It’s located in the upper part of the hacienda, so we were brought their by the resort’s service. And here are the pictures of the pool and some of our “kulitan” moments. And 1 of the guest house/air-conditioned room where you can stay overnight. Enjoy viewing!