April 05-09, 2018
Bicol, Philippines
This is my third outing with PascualLab Supply Group and this is the best one so far 🙂 I’m not saying this just because I was part of the committee (heh) but because finally, family members were given more free time to roam around + the tour buses and hotel rooms were a hundred times better!
We previously went to Ilocos (Vigan is one of my faves!!!) but we were dead tired because the buses were not comfortable and we were stuck in hotel rooms with dirty bathrooms. The aircon was not functioning properly back then, too. This year, we stayed in Embarcadero Hotel but sadly, I forgot to take photos. Promise, it’s worth it 🙂 I slept like a baby!
DAY 1
After a long fourteen-hour travel, we finally arrived at Daraga Church. We didn’t go to mass anymore since we celebrated mass before we left the manufacturing plant.
Look at all these pictures of the old church and blue skies, with the perfect Mayon Volcano as a backdrop!
We headed to Cagsawa Ruins not long after and at first I thought we will not be able to see Mayon. But God is good and it appeared after a while! I was here two years ago but the weather then was a bit better–less clouds and it didn’t rain. For our trip, the weather got so unpredictable. It rained heavily for a few minutes and then it was scorching hot a few moments later.
When we arrived at the hotel for brunch and check-in, we had the chance to rest and freshen up. This is our view, by the way. Imagine waking up to this two days in a row! The Mayon Volcano view is spectacular!
I slept for a bit and showered, got out around 4pm and roamed around Legazpi Boulevard. We saw the Sleeping Lion, too. It was underwhelming (sorry!) along with the so-called boulevard because we had to ride the bus to go there so it’s just barely a ten-minute walk.
Spot the Sleeping Lion!
We ate at a Pares restaurant after several failed attempts. Some restaurants have unreasonably higher prices so I’m glad we found a place with affordable + good food! I ate Lechon Kawali with Laing and softdrinks and I’m very happy of course. LOL. I slept soundly later that night. Some of our officemates brought alcoholic drinks and while I thought our teammates would invite us in their rooms to drink, I guess everyone got tired and slept earlier than usual. There were just two of us in the room so I had a good night’s sleep.
DAY 2
Woke up at 6am because we’re going to have our photos taken after breakfast. The executives also arrived so while we’re complete, we wore our summer shirts that day as well.
Our first stop: Sumlang Lake. Not many people wanted to ride these because it was too hot but for 50 pesos (and a photo op lol), then why not. I wanted to try new things as much as possible. It wasn’t a great experience since the sun was unbelievably hot and we only get to experience it for less than fifteen minutes, lol. It wasn’t that bad either. I just wouldn’t recommend it 😉
Then we went to this place where we can see the slopes of Mayon Volcano. It was majestic in person and I don’t think photos and videos can capture how beautiful it is compared to seeing it right there infront of you.
I was surprised to know that it was only around 28 degrees hot because it sure felt like 40 to me. I had this picture taken in less than 10 seconds because I couldn’t stand the heat of the sun. Aahh, I don’t think summer season and I can ever be friends 🙁
Went to Kawa-Kawa next and I was so excited for it because I heard the view is great! What I didn’t expect is that we had to “hike” before seeing the said view. Being the unhealthy and weak person that I am, I was shocked and was kind of forced to join since the VP and CEO of the company accidentally joined my group. Hahaha, my bosses were with me as well and I had no choice! LOL.
The path was too steep and I found it hard to breathe since I was sweating so badly. Then we were told that the path is actually the Station of the Cross and we were just on the second station but my legs were literally shaking! My knees are in bad condition (jsyk, my weight is no longer in the normal range so I have to do something about it asap) so I was in pain the whole time, huhu. I just got home from Taiwan when I walked nonstop, I think my knees haven’t recovered yet. The bosses said that we only need to finish until the 8th station because after that, it was just a straight path. After the eighth station is the view they were talking about, I think.
So yup, we’re almost there! It doesn’t look like we we went too far because it didn’t seem that high in the pictures. But if you zoom in, our buses were way below the white church in this picture.
So this is the view. Was it worth it? I’m not sure. See, I’ve always known that I prefer cities more than nature, haha. I don’t know why exactly, but I have to get back to that as soon as I found out why. Haha. The air was super fresh tho, so at least I got something good from it even though I was in so much pain.
We were almost done with the hike but they decided to go back and see the Sunflower “Farm”. Imagine my disappointment when I saw that this is the farm they were so excited to see! There were more flowers in UP Diliman, fyi. Hahaha. I was ranting endlessly I’m sorry. It’s been a week and my knees are still aching lol.
Went to the Mayon Skyline next. We were not supposed to go here since there’s still an Alert Level 3 when we were planning the itinerary. But two days before the actual trip, it went down to 2 and we were allowed to go.
Now THIS is more of my type. Haha, it was so cooold! I LOVE IT.
This little girl was crying silently in the corner 🙁 I asked her why and then her parent/relative told me it’s because she was cold. Huhu, poor bb. I hope she’s all right.
We just took pictures here and watched a short film about Daragang Magayon ❤︎ Sad that we had to leave right away because we have an event to go to later that evening.
We reached the hotel around 6:45 in the evening but we had to leave by 7:15pm so we can arrive at St. Ellis Hotel by 7:30pm. I showered hurriedly (my showering skills were put to test! Most of my officemates were not able to take a bath because of the really short time we had to prepare hahaha. This is something I do every morning to avoid getting late so it’s not new to me okay? 😀 ) and dressed up a bit.
Upon arrival, we weren’t allowed to eat first because the team prepared a very short program. Haha, my favorite part was the bosses dancing to Dying Inside, of course! I took a video (posted below :P) because I just couldn’t miss that moment.
The food was great (but the laing could be better?) and I enjoyed it so much albeit the very short time given to us. We almost didn’t take pictures during the two-hour dinner which is a shame since almost everyone dressed up! Oh well.
Our call time the next day was 6am so I had to wake up at around 5am. Some of them had drinks and while I was tempted to go out with everyone, I decided to just drink coffee and sleep. Heh.
DAY 3
Aww, we had to say goodbye to Mayon already! It’s been a fun and eventful two days 🙂 Mayon looks perfect in all angles, I’m not even exaggerating.
After breakfast, we went straight to Misibis Bay. We were supposed to go here two years ago but we arrived after lunch so the day tour seemed too expensive. So when I learned that this is part of the itinerary, I was elated. But not for long, heh.
Sure, it looked pretty in pictures but I had to admit I was disappointed. I remembered feeling so excited to swim here before because the lobby was really beautiful so I expected the beach and pools to be as pretty. Sadly, it wasn’t. I feel like Anvaya and/or Camaya is more beautiful than this?
I wasn’t able to swim as well because it was too hot outside and then it rained. The weather was crazy that I got a bit sick. Or this is just an excuse, I actually got lazy. Or because it was so much more attractive in my head than it is in person. I thought it was much more exclusive but there were quite a lot of people huhu. There were not a lot of pools available as well, so I think it was a good idea that I didn’t swim.
There was an ecotour so I joined because it eventually got boring. We didn’t go anywhere except for the amphitheater. Again, I got too lazy even just to take a picture. I went home feeling sick, lol. We ate dinner at SM Naga and got better after I threw up. /TMI, sorry/
Overall, it was one of the best experiences I’ve had with the company so far! We didn’t spend that much money except for pasalubong~ I didn’t buy a lot since it’s not the first time I was able to go there. Hopefully I can come back next time, but in a plane instead. The more than half a day trip was too exhausting!
***
Ending this post with a short video I made for the trip. I only used my iPhone7 and I’m quite proud of how it turned out! Thankfully, it wasn’t as shaky as the other videos I previously made so I hope you at least get a glimpse of Bicol and its beauty 🙂