SPONTANEOUS WEEK Part Three – ANTIPOLO TRIP

05.05.09 Tuesday

Nagyaya si Lui pumunta ng Antipolo and suggested that we checked out some resorts.  Ayoko sana umalis kse kelangan ko pang antayin ang fax message ng isang supplier for the May 24 dedication.

Kaso mas mabilis si Lui sa supplier na yun. Nasa Buendia na daw siya. Tapos nagtext pa si Omie na nasa kanto na daw siya ng street nila. So ayun, lipad ako sa Buting in less than 20 minutes. Naka-automatic naman pala ang fax machine. Mamaya ko nalang babalikan 🙂 hehehe.. (laboy!)

Actually, what tempted me to go out and join them is to see how Antipolo looks like now, especially at night because of its famous ‘overlooking’.

 

 

 

Ang pasimuno, si Lui. 🙂

She’s from the south pero sanay na sanay sa Rizal. Panu pala kahit highschool pa lang siya nakakapunta na siya Antipolo.

 

 

 

Omie, the Videoke King and a new friend, Carla, the Videoke Queen. 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We visited the Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage Church. (Antipolo church) which is walking distance away from Mc Do where we ate.

It was already past 10:00pm, as expected churches by that time is closed to public.

Not this church, most doors are closed, the central door  though barred with grills  is open enough to view the altar. 🙂

 

 

 

 

Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage is the patron saint of travelers, seafarers and drivers. 

Dito nga daw madaming nagpapa-bless ng mga sasakyan nila bago ibyahe. Para daw ligtas sa anumang  aksidente.  Mga seaman naman, nagsisimba muna sa Antipolo bago sumakay ng barko.

Interesting talaga mga paniniwala ng mga pinoy. 🙂 

 

Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage  image courtesy of Zarateman.  Source : Wikipedia

 

 It started to drizzle when we left the church. 

I noticed the lights hanging by the trees in the church compound is shaped like the delicacies that Antipolo is famous for —  the  suman sa Ibus, kasuy and uraro.  Sayang walang pictures eh. Next akyat nalang ulet. 

 

We took the road to  Hinulugang Taktak where there are lots of resorts lined up. The night was so quiet and dark.  Very relaxing.  For awhile I wished I could spend some nights and sleep in a quiet place like this.

I’ll do that one of this days.  🙂 

 

Our first stop was at  FEMAR GARDEN HOTEL AND RESORT at Taktak Road.  According to Lui, nakapunta na siya dito before during a client’s conference.

 

Even in a gloomy, dark and drizzling night, you can have a glimpse of beautiful scenery of trees and city lights. 

One can really relax and enjoy swimming in their pools while overlooking the bright city and listen to the sound of birds and wind kissing the tree leaves. Making a very relaxing sound.  ( if not for that videoke machines, its almost perfect. )

 

 

The place is nice. It may not suit our requirements for our upcoming overnight swimming with our batchmates though. 

Preferrably, its better that we get a private area for us, which FEMAR can’t assure us.  They have an open area with tables and chairs and a videoke machine (can be rented )  good for 20pax for only Php 1,500.00, but the pool nearby cannot be closed for our private use. We have access with the other pools though. Their rooms are mostly good for couples only. Overnight room rate is at Php 900.00/room.

Arnold, the desk attendant who toured us around the place suggested that we check-out also their sister resort, Boso-Boso Highlands.

I tactlessly exclaimed, ” Ang panget naman ng name ng resort”. Miski naman si kuya eh natawa, nagpipigil lang. 🙂  Tapos sabi ni Lui baka may mga “taong labas” pa dun, in which he calmly responded,  ‘Wala na pong mga ganun ma’am”.  Hirit ko, ” Asenso na sila, baka resort owners na din sila ” hehe..

Sa isip-isip siguro ni kuya ” Mag-sialis na nga kau ang kukulit nyo. “ hahhaa..

Obvious ba na di kami dun magsi-swimming. 🙂  But he and the other desk attendant, politely said thank you and good night to us.

Arnold also suggested that we drop by Mountain View Resort owned by Jose Manalo when he showed us the way out.  Since gabi na baka wala na daw mag-eentertain sa amin dun.  But we can get the contact  numbers posted outside the resort naman daw. Which we did on our way to Villa Sampaguita.

 

 

Parting shot at FEMAR. 

It was drizzling that night and the moon is shying away from us. Ayan di ko tinigilan hanggat matimingan ko siya.  🙂

 

 

 

 

Our next stop was Villa Sampaguita.

Okey lang din yung place. If not for the additional costs that we may incur if we rent the videoke exclusively at Php 1,000.00. Check-out time is 5am.  I can imagine all of us rushing at 5:00am. 

Rooms for 2-4 pax is at Php 600, 700 and 900.00. Difference vary if the room will has a porch or not and if there will be in excess of 2 pax.

We can rent a private pool at Php 8,500.00 for 12hours.  No rooms yet included. Plus we need to pay the entrance fee of Php 100.00 per head. Open cottages is at Php 300.00 to 800.00 while pavilion is at Php 1,500.00 and can accomodate 20pax. 

 

 

 

Parting shot at Villa Sampaguita. I don’t remember who made a witty remark as :

” Nakakailang naman mag-inuman dito. ”

I wondered why.

 

Kse daw Mama Mary is everywhere.  Parang nakabantay.  hahaha.. 

 

That’s one thing  I noticed with resorts in Antipolo, ( including the ones I browsed over the internet ) karamihan or lahat ata,  may grotto.   

Take note, bawal magdala ng hard liquors. Even hard beers like REDHORSE and COLT 45, which is  understandably bawal talaga. (particularly at Villa Sampaguita even if we get a private pool for us )

 

Beside Villa Sampaguita is TERRA VILLA RESORT. That night the guards on duty seemed to be on a slumber mode. 🙂 So we just got the numbers and checked out the website for photos.

Rates is close to that of Villa Sampaguita’s.  Except the latter seems to have a friendlier staff. 🙂

 

Just a little trivia about ANTIPOLO.

The city was named after the Tipolo (breadfruit) tree (Artocarpus incisa) which was in abundance in the area. Antipolo was also derived from the Greek words “antirl” meaning “a source of many products”.