Mambukal Resort-Bacolod City (Nice!)

I always thought that the meaning of life relies on how you decide to live it. Say, there’s more to life than stress. And this, place Mambukal Resort in Bacolod answers the prayers of those people drown in working. It offers all the relaxation you need.

                Aside from the welcoming falls in the entrance, the resort is also all green and clean. It’s located in the outskirts of the city and caters those tourists who prefer peace and silence. Looking high up to the tall trees, the place looks as if you’re in the Jurassic era.

                The resort has this super cool and infinity-pool-like lagoon. The waters flow through a bridge down to a river. You’ll be mesmerized and artfully inspired witnessing the view of the lagoon with the surrounding garden and an islet at the middle. Though a thought of piranhas or huge crocodiles and snakes in the deep green waters may pop, the water is faithfully safe for a nice boating. There are resort folks ready to assist you with your life vests with Php30 per person. A zip line also hangs above the lagoon offering another fun thing to do for guests.

                Journeying deep to the place, they have these numerous sprigs and famous falls. It seem liked Mother Nature blessed the place with all her wonders. The pool usually used by swimming classes offers natural cold spring water. There was also a sign of a melting mud thing for guests but we didn’t get the chance to see it. Not far from the pool are the numerous restaurants for guests who prefer local food cuisines. Offering grills and soups, they invite not only the resorts’ guests but also the by stoppers.

                Climbing the above left side of the restaurants is the bridge which leads to another barangay in the area. But what’s noticeable is not the rushing river under the bridge but the bats above hanging in the trees. It’s a free for all bats watching area. There were more than 3 huge trees inhabited by the bats. I suspect there are a thousand of them not including those pretty covered by the lushly green leaves.

Focusing a few meters from the bridge is the dipping hot spring pool. For Php50 you’ll be relaxed and slightly boiled (for me) from the sulfur filled dipping pool. It was my first time to dip in a hot spring and it was quite hot really but bearable though. The workers there say it’s good for the body. 

 After unnoticeably sweating ourselves from the hot spring, we climbed to the place’s famous falls. It was somewhat a 30mins mountain trekking. Above the track is the hanging bridge, which is kind of abandoned already. We don’t know if it’s still safe but the resort still offer it for Php50 though. We passed through the river, the same river under the two bridges in the lagoon and beside the dipping pool. A few sweating and rock hopping, and huala! There was the first falls. We thought that it was the true highlight of the place but we realized that it just the first falls. We bumped into a number of kids there who introduced themselves as guides to the seventh falls. “What? Seventh falls, so you mean there are still the 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th and all? That’s amazing”, I thought. Well, almost because we decided to not pursuit it for some time shortage. We’re catching a free ride to the city that time so we had to go back early. I could have imagined how amazing the seventh falls would look like.

The Mambukal Resort was said to be a few hectares big according to the map given to us. However, we didn’t get the chance to fully explore it for we’re only there for a certain conference and not to totally relax and savor the place. Maybe, for people who need a naturally relaxing place and not yet tourists populated, the resort is the perfect place to be.

To the beauty of Baguio!

Photo credits to pinoylakwatsero.com

The first reason why Baguio is one of the memorable places I've been is that I keep on misspelling it. Sorry. But I’ll admit, misspelling the place is a great insult to its wonderful beauty.

                From main city Manila, you have to endure back aching bus ride to reach the place. I don’t know if there is a plane you could ride to Baguio so we took the bus. However, the long hours of sitting lets you peek through the other places in the track. The least that I remembered passing by is Tarlac.

                When we finally arrived, we went to its SM mall. I can remember people passing by with scarves and thick jackets. I feel like I’m in Korea, strange for a tropical country. Then I thought that the temperature in Baguio is way colder because it’s a top mountain place. So I felt the weather seething in me. My family took tour flyers just along the streets. People were asking if we would like a ride to this place and that. I got excited! The folks there told us that there are certain months when the weather gets coldest, and fogging the place at sunlight. I also heard that people living there have hot showers. That was summer then but I could still play with my viewable cold breath. It’s fun for a person who never experienced winter. Furthermore, I was stunned by the houses built on the hillsides. Literally people dug the side of the hills and built houses there. I felt fear for them during storms; a good landslide could easily cover their houses.

                First, we enjoyed the Burnham Park. Tourists were everywhere taking pictures of the place and of themselves. Of course, we were not exceptions. We were boating in the center lake of the park. It was fun splashing our way to the center. Then I catch something at the corner of my eye, horses! People were riding horses with different hair colors, so colorful!

                There were also Ifugaos or other “Katutubo” making a living by letting the tourist take pictures with them. With the Ifugaos were seedless grapes vendors. The price per kilo was way cheaper than in the stores plus the grape size was self-satisfying. Moreover, we went to a place where there were gigantic man-made statues. Well, I estimate it as 10 ft tall. It appeared like occultists statues. Roaming around, we bumped in to the ride with fee prepped horses. The horses had these colored hair and shiny mats on their backs. My sister rode on one. We also went to Baguio Botanical Garden where there were lots of kinds of flowers and other exotic plants. We made sure that we take a picture of the big sunflowers and orchids.

                Moving on, we went to this wide strawberry garden. It was mouth watering seeing all those strawberries fresh from their stems. Each one of us was given baskets to harvest it for our own purchase. The place was also flooded with strawberry jams vendors and we got hold of the delicacy pretty plenty.

                Hmmm… It was a good family trip. You don’t only get to spend quality time with each other but also discover a beautiful place with rich culture. Tourist from all over the Philippines and even foreigners go there to wind out their stress. I guess there’s more to life than stress.