It's more fun in: Laiya, Batangas

Every year we've made it a family rule that we should go to the beach.  The nearest beach area that we always go to when we're trying to stay within a budget is Laiya, Batangas.  A quick Google search would show you all the resorts in that area so I won't go into much detail.  There's a resort for every budget so do your research beforehand.  Also, if you're planning on going during Holy Week, reserve your spot 2 months in advance.  Better to be safe than sorry because resorts get full quickly ahead of the Holy Week.  I learned the hard way.  Do note that most of these resorts in Laiya are all on one stretch of the beach.  So it's OK to find an affordable resort because it's all on the same beach.

One of the places we went to a few years ago was the Kabayan Beach Resort.  I chose this resort because it had affordable rates and they still had a room free when I called them up.  Lucky for us they did because we only decided to go there about a month before Holy Week.  The room we got was a bit more expensive than the usual rooms we try to book.  We got ourselves a 1 bedroom, with private bathroom, aircon, and kitchen because we wanted to cook our own food.  That's always been part of the fun in going to Batangas.  The damage as I remembered it was around P4,000 ($100).  This was about 3 years ago and I'm too lazy to go and check out their website right now for the latest prices.  You can do it yourself by going to:  http://kabayanresort.com.ph/

I also liked the fact that I could deposit the down payment of about 30% into their bank account and pay the rest off when we get there to check in.  They also have a large barkada room good for like 12-18 people if I remember right.  That was very affordable because you could divide the cost between everybody and it'll be like P300 per person.  This room has bunk beds but they're comfy enough especially after a day at the beach.

From Manila it takes about 3-4 hours by car to get to the resort.  It's a nice and fun ride considering that the roads going to Laiya are now paved unlike a few years ago.  It was a pretty bumpy ride back then.  There's no need to cook your own food since they have plenty of restaurants there but hey, we like to rough it.  There's plenty of stuff to do when you get to the beach.  You can play volleyball, badminton, the usual water sports, and other things.  But we opted to be lazy and just lounge around the beach and get a tan.  Pictures are worth a thousand words so enjoy!  Besides, I'm quite lazy today to write.  I also don't remember a lot of the details since this was a few years ago.  That's how long it's taken me to write this blog!  Man, I gotta put some time away to write on this thing.  Next adventures, Subic, Illocos Norte, Palawan, and Bantayan Island.  Yes, I've been pretty busy.

As Promised! Pictures from Texas. Enjoy!

Ahhh, business lounge in Manila...

Ahh...after months of not blogging I'm finally back.  I have so much stuff to write about but oh so little time.  I've been keeping busy with work and my new sideline doing some photography and article writing for a local food site.

That pretty much keeps me busy nowadays.  Have to edit the pictures and then write the article.  I've been trying to write a short novel too.  But then again it's hard when you have to also do homework for your masters. hehe.  Busy much? :)


Travel in Style, go Business class for free food.

Darn it, how can I arrange these pictures?  Anyways, gotta study up on how to make my blog look better.  These pictures you see here are taken with my good old camera phone.  Which I've already replaced with a nifty new BlackBerry and a new Nikon DSLR.  Ah!  Finally got my hands on one of those.  Been wanting a new camera for a few years now.  Now, I have to buy a new bag, new lenses, new flash, etc. haha.  There goes my money.  But when you love doing something you have to do it.  Now if I could just finish my short novel then I'd be a happy camper.

Ah ok...uhm, I'm writing down here because I couldn't figure out how to move the pictures to the side without deleting them or changing them.  No time to do it too since I'm writing this while the wife is still busy.  Gotta write quick before it's my turn to do the dishes.  ;)

So, these are just a few pictures from my trip to Texas last year.  Yeah, wow.  I've been trying to post these since last year.  Now i'm up for another trip to Texas and I barely have my pictures edited and posted.  I've already been to Palawan and Ilocos Norte and I still haven't gotten to write about that.  And then next week I'm going to Bantayan Island in Cebu and I have to write about that!  Urgh, how will I ever fit all this stuff into my schedule?  Maybe I'll skip lunch and just hang out at Starbucks and write.  Or I could eat lunch and hang out there?  Need the free wifi.

So I promise to myself, and to whoever gets to read this, I'll make sure to write about my experiences travelling and post tidbits of information that could prove useful to your own travel needs.  Hey, you might even pick up some tricks of the trade in getting good travel deals.