our second day in the Philippines :
last night after settling in our room, we dozed off immediately. i planned to wake up early to swim in the pool but couldn't leave the bed and didn't want to get wet. so the swimming was postponed. (wish i could jump to the pool from the second floor bc it was right in front my room!)
while waiting for the breakfast to get ready, i walked around taking photos. flowers in the philippines are quite the same as the ones in Thailand, due to our similar climate.
look! who i took picture with. he was samuel, a 17-year-old part-timer. he was so cute and i couldn't help flirting with him and asking him to have a picture taken with me!
it turned out i was the one who looked timid (and a bit shaken when he sat next to me, i must confess!!)
our breakfast and some philippines styled-breads
..we were waiting for a bus to Pagsanjan Waterfall, standing in front of our hotel..
here came the bus! firstly, we had to stand in the bus as it was crowded with university students and some other passengers. but after they got off the bus in front of their uni, it was incredibly empty!
getting off the bus, we waited for a tricycle to go to the pier to board a long-tailed boat to Pagsanjan Waterfall.
we were in santacruz now (am i right, seina??)
and here we were in the tricycle again.
it was just a short ride from the bus stop to the pier.. i think it took us just 10 mins to get there..
before hopping into the boat, we had to listen to the local guide for the details of our trip and what we were going to experience..
after agreeing with the price, we separated into 2 boats. i went with siena and tang with cindy..
it was a sunny and baking day.. lucky i wore long-sleeved shirt. (actually, it didn't help much!)
in each boat, there were 2 boatmen sitting on the head and the tail of the boat.
bye tang and cindy! have a nice trip!
this is my boatman sitting on the head.. he was around 17-19 years old.. nice boy.. (sorry i didn't remember his name)
leaving the pier, we were towed by a powerboat. it went pretty fast and we didn't feel too hot with the strong sun, instead we enjoyed the wind blowing against our cheeks..
the powerboat left us at the mouth of the stream and then the boatmen had to paddle against the stream until we reached the waterfall.
at some parts they had to get off the boat and use his left leg to propel the boat along the rocky & watery trails..
the view along the way was gorgeous, lush with mangrove trees and tropical forest.. i wish i could lay back and watch the high blue sky..
around 30 minutes later, we stopped half way to take photos of the first waterfall we saw.. (again i couldn't remember the name..)
look! how tame he is!
while the boatmen rest, we walked to the waterfall to take pictures.
and now the journey went on
and the boatmen still worked hard to get us there.
due to some big rocks, some trails were unreachable by boats. so the local people put together round bars for the boatmen to be able to lift the boats across the rocky trail.. (that's why they need 2 boatmen in each boat.)
once the water got higher, they just paddled leisurely..
Pagsanjan Waterfall
and finally we reached the waterfall
at first i didn't know the highlight of this waterfall and didn't understand why the tourists riding the bamboo raft before us kept screaming when they reached the cave behind the waterfall..
..until we joined other tourists in the raft and being pulled towards the big chunk of the falling water..
the fun and crazy excitement had finally begun!
when we were right under the massive chunk of the falling water, the raftman stopped the raft and let us have the biggest shower of our lives.. we suddenly screamed our lungs out!! damnmm.. it felt ridiculously good to scream every pound of our lungs.. until the raftman was pleased with us being tortured, he pulled us into the cave.. we rested and explored the cave and jumped into the water for a while.. the water was incredibly warm which we could stay in it as long as we wanted to. on the way back, the guy did the same things but we knew what we were going to experience now.. however, we couldn't help, started screaming again..
getting back to the other side, i asked the raftman if i could jump into the water. he said 'do as you wish.' so i jumped as many times as i could. i like the free-falling feeling (though not too high) while sinking into the water. it felt substantially awesome.
the raftman asked if we wanted to go for the second time. why not? we immediately jumped into the raft and rode it towards the second excitement.. this time he told us to lie face down. we did as he told us, as though we were his slaves..
damn! the second time was the meanest torture! we were under the water until we couldn't bear it anymore.. we finally asked the guy to pull us away from the waterfall.. while having the second shower, i had to fold my calves to protect them from being bruised and broken and i had to curl up to hide my limbs under my wet body.. we screamed until we no longer heard our own voice.. the raftman looked pleased seeing us being tortured. he eventually pulled us away.. we sat up and laughed insanely while being pulled back to the shore.. ..
and you know what? cindy and siena went for the third ride.. tang and i prefered swimming in the water..
when it was time to leave, we agreed to have lunch at our first stop. the lunch was included with the package. it was yummier than it looked bc we were hugely hungry and tired from playing in the water..
after lunch, we paddled back. it was easier for the boatmen as we went downstream. they didn't use much of their energy to drag us along the rocky trail. in some part, they just let the boat float along the stream..
seeing the view both sides, i thought of the time i went kayaking in krabi. they looked actually familia.
all of us got darker and burnt from the boat ride, though we applied sunblock along the way.. but it was immensely worth it..
last shot before leaving
we rode the tricycle back to the bus stop.
this picture reminded me of bali. volcano and rice paddy field.
a view from my seat in the bus
about an hour, we reached the hotel. i was really surprised knowing that we could check out at 5 pm. i've never heard of that kind of hotel before.
getting into the hotel, we walked past the reception area and saw that Samuel was having a meeting with his workmates at the same hut we sat having breakfast this morning. i sneaked peek at him and we secretly smiled to each other.. and i felt divinely highhhhh ;]
this is why tang's real name was hugely popular here. 'atchara' means pickle. so she was not so proud of her name when being called by her real name here..
walking back to our room
we got back to our room to pack and check out
but still had time to pose around.
later after we checked out, we hopped into a jeepney to Calamba and checked in at Laguna Hot Spring hotel. here we would soak into the natural hotspring pool which open 24 hours.
leaving our bags in the rooms, we walked out and hopped into another jeepney to town to have dinner.
we got off the jeepney at an intersection and then walked along the road. i like the buzzing feeling of the town. i like orange-ish sky at dusk and i like street lights.. they gave me sense of adventure.. it felt like i were Alice in Calamba.
after walking around looking for a nice place to devour our dinner, we hailed a tricycle to the nearest mall.
did you see that sign 'Jollibee'? no no no no, we would say no to Jollibee tonight.. though we were a big fan of Jollibee, i wanted to feast on other things tonight.
so we picked this restaurant which served unlimited rice with grilled chicken.. yummy!! during this trip, we ate chicken like we were chicken-eating beasts!
we ordered foods like we were going to feed an army. plenty of things. we ate until our tummies nearly explodede. here, we could have unlimited rice.. again, the rice here reminded me of bali; soft and with with off-white color.. being here for 2 days, i was not homesick yet..
tang wanted to kiss good night to the guy before leaving for the hotel..
getting back to the hotel, we hesitantly changed our clothes and went to the pool. why hesitated? bc there were too many people soaking in there; kids, elderly people, teenagers. every corner of the pool was filled with weekenders. they came to soak and enjoy their sunday afternoon there and most of them had a picnic here too.
thinking that i would not have time to soak into the hot pool tomorrow morning, i decided to do it tonight. gosh! i was glad i did it tonight. at first the pool was luke warm but when i walked to the right spot, the temperature was increasingly but bearably hot..
the water looked dark because underneath the pool was naturally floored by volcanic rock which produced hot spring. Siena told me that when the landlord primarily found out that the hot spring was under their piece of land, they started to dig deeper. as a result, hot water started to come out more. then they decided to make a pool and later came the resort..
around 9.30 pm, tang and i retreated to our room while Seina stayed a bit longer. i felt astonishingly light and calm after having the long hot bath.. getting back to my room, i found out that the shower was also hot too! how couldn't it be? as the water was pumped up from the pool..
i went to bed feeling happier, thinking that tomorrow morning though i didn't have to jump into the pool, i would have a long hot shower in my own room..heaven... good night, people!
