Laiya Trip

A summer outing to Laiya.  The idea was proposed by Joey.  Then everyone got on board.  Since it was already May, it was kind of hard to find an affordable place.  We almost booked La Luz, but someone beat us to the last availabe slot when we were about to confirm.  We ended up booking a cottage at Blue Coral resort for June 6-7.  No one we know had been there before.  We hope the place is as nice looking as it did on their website.

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June 5 - Friday

We were supposed to show up at the resort lunch time Saturday and leave before lunch Sunday.  We decided to leave for Laiya early Saturday morning.  That meant a number of us sleeping at the PNB dealing room.

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June 6 - Saturday

Joey and Teddy were hungry just before dawn, so we hopped into Joey's van and had a pre-dawn meal in some lugawan located at a street near Gil Puyat.  When we got back to PNB, everyone's who's going on the trip had arrived so we all placed our baggages at the back of Joey's van, hopped into the van ourselves, and left PNB. 

When we got to Lipa City, a number of the guys said they were hungry.  I spotted a restaurant along the road and suggested we breakfast eat there.  The place was called Gotohan sa Barangay and the food was value for money.

After a wrong turn, asking for directions more than once, and bumping into a rooster (which we hoped survived), we got to Blue Coral before lunch. Since our cottage wasn't ready yet, we couldn't check in.  We decided to spend the time walking by the beach, passing through a number of resorts and climbed The Rock situated near the La Luz Resort.  We were tired by the time we got back to Blue Coral.  It rained briefly before lunch so we hung out at the bar near the pool.  We finally got to check in before buffet lunch was served.

Dennis, Joey, Ted, Menchie and Shayne headed out to the beach after lunch.  The rest of us hung out at the pool having had enough of the beach on the walk earlier to La Luz and back.  Dennis bought some squid from a vendor by the beach and asked the vendor to grill it and bring the food over to the resort.  We had that and some beer for merienda.

Stayed in the cottage and watched cable TV after dinner but some of the guys decided to take another walk along the beach.  Was asleep by the time the guys started playing poker.  They said they drove out of the resort after their poker game to find a place to eat at midnight. They were snoring by the time I woke up before dawn.

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June 7 - Sunday

Dennis, Ted and Joey were at the beach once they woke up.  After breakfast, we packed our things, then took some pictures around the resort.  We then checked out, paid the bill, dragged our bags to Joey's van and left Laiya.

I don't remember who suggested it, but we all agreed we'd eat lunch at Tagaytay.  We got there later than we planned because we missed a turn - again.  Joey actually fell asleep on the wheel, and we didn't notice it - which is scary to think about.  Good thing there were few cars along the superhighway.

Dennis suggested we eat at Taalena Restaurant.  We took pictures around the place as we waited for our table, which was located at the balcony overlooking Taal Lake.

After a filling meal, we took more pictures before leaving the restaurant.  Stopped by the road to buy fruits from the street vendors.

I had been seeing posters along the road announcing the opening of a Conti's outlet and since we're already on some kind of road trip I suggested we have dessert/merienda at that place - my treat.  No one said no to that.  We noted at the next poster that the Conti's outlet was at Nuvali Sta. Rosa so we headed there. I wanted mango bravo but Rey told me to try Mango tart so that's what I ordered.

We headed back to Metro Manila after that.  They were joking about having dinner at my place to complete the day (breakfast at Laiya, lunch at Tagaytay, merienda at Sta. Rosa) but I said no.