day 8: (1/19)
Like I mentioned on my previous blog, day 8 was our wedding day but I wouldn't talk about the boring details here but if you're curious on how it was like you can go to: 2sqrtof3.blogspot.com
day 9: (1/20)
Our bestman, Ed, before we left for the Philippines, sent us this powerpoint presentation with the title 24 Truly Terrific Things (here's the link, see slide 6). He sent it to us because the Philippines is in the powerpoint presentation. When the hubby saw it he was amused to find out that it was Villa Escudero on the photo. So he immediately replied back to our Bestman (Ed), who doesn't know our itinerary yet, and told him "we're actually going there!". If you haven't seen the powerpoint presentation yet, it was a picture of the waterfall restaurant, with tables on the water at the foot of the waterfall so you will be eating with your feet submerged in ankle-deep water. Don't worry, the water is continuously flowing so you don't have to worry about it being too icky.
So anyway, on January 20, the day after the wedding, we all headed to Villa Escudero with all our huge luggages. Villa Escudero is in Quezon and part of the town of San Pablo. It was a 2-hour drive from Filinvest, Alabang (where Vivere Suites is).
When we got there, first thing we did is of course checked-in. There's a lady going around carrying a tray offering sago't gulaman (vanilla drink with tapioca and jello) as a welcome drink. We had a few glitches upon checking-in because apparently, the person I emailed the deposit slip to (which is for our full payment for the 4 rooms) didn't put our reservation in their log file that when we got there the people in the reception area were all surprised that we're there! Good thing I still have the deposit slip and it wasn't a busy season so they haven't given away our rooms yet. I don't know what they'll do if they have already given our rooms to someone else. Ngee, I shudder at the thought. I pride myself as very good at travel logistics, so I don't like check-in hassles like losing your room. I know it happens, but as much as possible I try to minimize that.
So we checked-in, then I asked my guests to take the carabao ride to our rooms. I took the less exotic ride because I have their luggages with me. I told them to pack an overnight bag so we can just leave the heavy luggages in the van but both our guests forgot to do that so we ended up taking all their luggages with us. But I don't want the poor carabao to carry all those luggages so I just took the motorized service vehicle with the luggages and asked all my foreign guests to take the carabao ride.
It was just a short ride. Like, 15 minutes? But they enjoyed the ride because not only was it a unique experience, but along the way a group of Villa Escudero musicians hopped on their carabao cart and played and sang songs while they are absorbing their carabao ride experience.
I was already infront of one of our rooms (we booked 4 river side, fan rooms) and was already
unloading their luggages when I saw them arrived. We took our overnight bags (or in the case of my two other guests, the luggages) in our rooms and we started walking to the restaurant by the falls. It wasn't hard to find. We just followed the cemented pathway and followed the sound of the falls. You have to go down a flight of steps to get to the restaurant. It's a buffet lunch. I think it was already past noon when we got there and I was a bit worried that we won't finish in time for the cultural show. The cultural show is at 2:00pm. But we made it. My guests are not big eaters and most of the time they were just sampling the food so we finished fast. The plate is covered with banana leaf so that's a first for them too. The food consists of grilled and some common filipino dishes. They have fish, pork, vegetables and some soup. So there's food for everyone. I didn't eat much but I did devoured all their banana cue, lol. I even brought some while watching the cultural show. The funny part during our falls' lunch is when they ran out of coconut. The hubby was chuckling over that: "we are at a coconut plantation, what do you mean they ran out of coconut?". The hubby even joked about climbing one of the coconut trees to get some coconuts for all the other guests in the restaurant. But lack of coconuts is no big deal for us we still enjoyed our lunch, we just thought it's ironic.
After lunch we went to the other restaurant. It's bigger and semi-indoor (semi because it has roof but no walls). We went there to watch the cultural show. Show started at 2:00pm. My guests were entertained by the cultural show, which Villa Escudero calls Philippine Experience Show. Villa Escudero did that cultural show really well, atleast in my opinion. I was actually feeling so proud about their whole performance because I get to show off how colorful and wonderful the Philippines culture is to my foreign guests.
They performed a wide variety of cultural dances from all parts of the Philippines. From the Kalapati dance of Luzon to the Singkil dance of Mindanao. They also have a Rondalla group who played while the dancers are performing (well, during half the whole presentation, anyway). I used to be a Rondalla member and I can play Banduria and Octavina, so I was entertained by that too. Our bestman and I also ordered halo-halo, stuffed that we already are, while watching the Cultural show because all other else watching the show are having halo-halo and I just couldn't resist it. The bestman, on the other hand, likes trying new stuff so he went and bought one for himself too. The Cultural show is held in their bigger more formal restaurant (the name of the restaurant skips me at the moment) and the dances were all performed by resort employees.
After the show we went to our rooms and rested for a bit. I took a nap by the hammock while my
sister-in-law read her book by the balcony, facing the river. My sister-in-law loved her room so much. It doesn't have airconditioning, no tv, no fridge but who needs all that when what you have is a unique room with bamboo flooring, bamboo furnitures, a view of the river and lots of fresh air. My sister-in-law was so mesmerized at the place that she even joked about wanting to stay there for good. I was smiling from ear to ear when I heard that.
After recharging we went to the bamboo rafting area. Since we booked an overnight package, everything is included. The waterfalls lunch, dinner and breakfast. The use of bamboo raft is free. The entrance fee to the museum is free. The cultural show is free. So, anyway, as I was saying, we headed to the bamboo rafting area to try it. When we got there there were no bamboo rafts left so we waited for a bit. We didn't have to wait long though and as soon as there's a bamboo raft approaching the dock the person manning the rafting area started giving us a life vest to put on. Below is a video of us on the raft and the river huts with someone standing taking photos (or video, which by the way is my friend Deng) is one of the four riverside huts that we booked. There were two of us per bamboo raft.
Then we went back to our rooms for some nap time and headed out again for dinner. The dinner is the same place where we watched the cultural show. The food is nothing fancy. It's your typical Filipino dish but I was very happy with the food. I am glad my foreign guests are willing to try new stuff so they just try whatever the Villa Escudero offers. We, however still made some choices. You can choose pork, chicken or fish. I forgot what I ordered but I liked it and my guests liked theirs too.
I think we stayed in the restaurant longer than we should but the servers don't seem to mind. We just sat there at our table chatting and enjoying the sound of crickets, occasional dogs barking, frogs croaking and the soft breeze. It was really relaxing.
Then in the morning, we packed our bag and headed out for breakfast. On our way to the
restaurant we peeked inside their cafeteria. You can only get their free wifi from the cafeteria.
The cafeteria was also a very nice place. It would be a wonderful spot to have breakfast too.
Breakfast is the same for everyone so we really didn't get to choose. Again, it's a Filipino dish. It was a wonderful breakfast with the view of the river and the Mt. Banahaw on a blue sky.
After breakfast we made short trip around Villa Escudero and got to see their wedding reception areas. My guests were amazed by how tall some of the coconut trees are and the leaves used on the roof (anahaw). After that quick tour we headed to the museum. You won't miss it because it's pink and it's right across the reception/receiving area.
I'm not really keen on seeing their museum because I have this notion that I would just be looking at junks that the Escudero family have accumulated thru the years but I was pleasantly surprised. The manang who was manning the museum was touring us around and was very helpful at explaining us how old the stuff are, or what a certain weird looking item is and other trivias. They have a lot of neat collections. My sister-in-law is into arts and she sculpts so she really enjoyed looking at all those oversized poon (religious images) made of ivory. There are more interesting items there that I would suggest to allot some 2 hours to see the whole of the museum.
I had to leave the museum ahead of my guests because I had to run to the reception area to check-out. Turned out, it's OK to check-out a little later because there are no other occupants after us. On my way to the reception I saw a bunch of photos being sold and saw photos of my guests in the carabao kart and while in the falls restaurant. I find it really cute so I bought two of the photos and left the other photos. I made a mental note to remind them about the photos so they could decide for themselves if they want to purchase it or not.
Then we went back to our rooms to get our luggage but before that we swung by really quick at the souvenir shop inside Villa Escudero to buy some, well, souvenirs. An hour later we were bidding our farewell to Villa Escudero.
But we are just getting started. That's just the start of more wonderful adventures!
Here's how much we paid per room:
all photos are by the author unless otherwise specified. please don't use any photos without permission.
Like I mentioned on my previous blog, day 8 was our wedding day but I wouldn't talk about the boring details here but if you're curious on how it was like you can go to: 2sqrtof3.blogspot.com
day 9: (1/20)
Our bestman, Ed, before we left for the Philippines, sent us this powerpoint presentation with the title 24 Truly Terrific Things (here's the link, see slide 6). He sent it to us because the Philippines is in the powerpoint presentation. When the hubby saw it he was amused to find out that it was Villa Escudero on the photo. So he immediately replied back to our Bestman (Ed), who doesn't know our itinerary yet, and told him "we're actually going there!". If you haven't seen the powerpoint presentation yet, it was a picture of the waterfall restaurant, with tables on the water at the foot of the waterfall so you will be eating with your feet submerged in ankle-deep water. Don't worry, the water is continuously flowing so you don't have to worry about it being too icky.
 |
| view of the falls restaurant before heading down thanks to our friend ed b. for sharing his pinas photos with us (click image for better view) |
 |
| entrance to the reception/lobby area thanks to our friend ed b. for sharing his pinas photos with us (click image for better view) |
 |
| photo while taking a carabao ride thanks to our friend ed b. for sharing his pinas photos with us (click image for better picture) |
 |
| ascending from the waterfalls restaurant |
It was just a short ride. Like, 15 minutes? But they enjoyed the ride because not only was it a unique experience, but along the way a group of Villa Escudero musicians hopped on their carabao cart and played and sang songs while they are absorbing their carabao ride experience.
 |
| see their feet submerged on water? thanks to our friend ed b. for sharing his pinas pix with us (click the image for better view) |
I was already infront of one of our rooms (we booked 4 river side, fan rooms) and was already
unloading their luggages when I saw them arrived. We took our overnight bags (or in the case of my two other guests, the luggages) in our rooms and we started walking to the restaurant by the falls. It wasn't hard to find. We just followed the cemented pathway and followed the sound of the falls. You have to go down a flight of steps to get to the restaurant. It's a buffet lunch. I think it was already past noon when we got there and I was a bit worried that we won't finish in time for the cultural show. The cultural show is at 2:00pm. But we made it. My guests are not big eaters and most of the time they were just sampling the food so we finished fast. The plate is covered with banana leaf so that's a first for them too. The food consists of grilled and some common filipino dishes. They have fish, pork, vegetables and some soup. So there's food for everyone. I didn't eat much but I did devoured all their banana cue, lol. I even brought some while watching the cultural show. The funny part during our falls' lunch is when they ran out of coconut. The hubby was chuckling over that: "we are at a coconut plantation, what do you mean they ran out of coconut?". The hubby even joked about climbing one of the coconut trees to get some coconuts for all the other guests in the restaurant. But lack of coconuts is no big deal for us we still enjoyed our lunch, we just thought it's ironic.
 |
| the other restaurant where they show the cultural show thanks to our friend ed b. for sharing his pinas photos with us (click image for better view) |
After lunch we went to the other restaurant. It's bigger and semi-indoor (semi because it has roof but no walls). We went there to watch the cultural show. Show started at 2:00pm. My guests were entertained by the cultural show, which Villa Escudero calls Philippine Experience Show. Villa Escudero did that cultural show really well, atleast in my opinion. I was actually feeling so proud about their whole performance because I get to show off how colorful and wonderful the Philippines culture is to my foreign guests.
 |
| cultural dance show in Villa Escudero (click image for better picture) |
They performed a wide variety of cultural dances from all parts of the Philippines. From the Kalapati dance of Luzon to the Singkil dance of Mindanao. They also have a Rondalla group who played while the dancers are performing (well, during half the whole presentation, anyway). I used to be a Rondalla member and I can play Banduria and Octavina, so I was entertained by that too. Our bestman and I also ordered halo-halo, stuffed that we already are, while watching the Cultural show because all other else watching the show are having halo-halo and I just couldn't resist it. The bestman, on the other hand, likes trying new stuff so he went and bought one for himself too. The Cultural show is held in their bigger more formal restaurant (the name of the restaurant skips me at the moment) and the dances were all performed by resort employees.
 |
| two of our river side rooms - our room and the sister-in-law's room... it has a divider in the middle but we just removed it (click image for better image) |
 |
| what the room looks like inside (click image for better image) |
sister-in-law read her book by the balcony, facing the river. My sister-in-law loved her room so much. It doesn't have airconditioning, no tv, no fridge but who needs all that when what you have is a unique room with bamboo flooring, bamboo furnitures, a view of the river and lots of fresh air. My sister-in-law was so mesmerized at the place that she even joked about wanting to stay there for good. I was smiling from ear to ear when I heard that.
 |
| the bamboo rafts when not in use (click image for better picture) |
After recharging we went to the bamboo rafting area. Since we booked an overnight package, everything is included. The waterfalls lunch, dinner and breakfast. The use of bamboo raft is free. The entrance fee to the museum is free. The cultural show is free. So, anyway, as I was saying, we headed to the bamboo rafting area to try it. When we got there there were no bamboo rafts left so we waited for a bit. We didn't have to wait long though and as soon as there's a bamboo raft approaching the dock the person manning the rafting area started giving us a life vest to put on. Below is a video of us on the raft and the river huts with someone standing taking photos (or video, which by the way is my friend Deng) is one of the four riverside huts that we booked. There were two of us per bamboo raft.
Then we went back to our rooms for some nap time and headed out again for dinner. The dinner is the same place where we watched the cultural show. The food is nothing fancy. It's your typical Filipino dish but I was very happy with the food. I am glad my foreign guests are willing to try new stuff so they just try whatever the Villa Escudero offers. We, however still made some choices. You can choose pork, chicken or fish. I forgot what I ordered but I liked it and my guests liked theirs too.
I think we stayed in the restaurant longer than we should but the servers don't seem to mind. We just sat there at our table chatting and enjoying the sound of crickets, occasional dogs barking, frogs croaking and the soft breeze. It was really relaxing.
 |
| the cafeteria...the only place to get free wifi (click image for better image) |
restaurant we peeked inside their cafeteria. You can only get their free wifi from the cafeteria.
The cafeteria was also a very nice place. It would be a wonderful spot to have breakfast too.
Breakfast is the same for everyone so we really didn't get to choose. Again, it's a Filipino dish. It was a wonderful breakfast with the view of the river and the Mt. Banahaw on a blue sky.
 |
| mt. banahaw kept hiding behind the clouds. but on our last day it finally showed up (click image for better image) |
 |
| view of the mt. banahaw reflecting on the river while having breakfast. (click image for better image) |
I'm not really keen on seeing their museum because I have this notion that I would just be looking at junks that the Escudero family have accumulated thru the years but I was pleasantly surprised. The manang who was manning the museum was touring us around and was very helpful at explaining us how old the stuff are, or what a certain weird looking item is and other trivias. They have a lot of neat collections. My sister-in-law is into arts and she sculpts so she really enjoyed looking at all those oversized poon (religious images) made of ivory. There are more interesting items there that I would suggest to allot some 2 hours to see the whole of the museum.
 |
| the pink museum of villa escudero thanks to our friend ed b. for sharing his pinas pix (click image for better image) |
Then we went back to our rooms to get our luggage but before that we swung by really quick at the souvenir shop inside Villa Escudero to buy some, well, souvenirs. An hour later we were bidding our farewell to Villa Escudero.
But we are just getting started. That's just the start of more wonderful adventures!
Here's how much we paid per room:
1 River unit = 2 persons occupancy/unit at P 4,145.00 /person/night, total price is: 8,290
3 River units =1 person occupancy per night at P 5,440.00, total price is: 16,320
They charge per person per night. Inclusive of welcome drink upon arrival, museum tour, carabao cart rides, bamboo rafting, use of swimming pools (strictly proper swimming attire), 3 full meals & room accommodation. No need to pay for the P1,400.00 entrance fee anymore.
all photos are by the author unless otherwise specified. please don't use any photos without permission.
