We entered the gated resort and paid at the guard.
Only in the last stretch that it got rough and partially cemented. The good thing was the roads were all paved making driving smooth. It was located in the middle of a forest like area and was far from the main road. Went to a day tour and the location of the resort can be daunting without a GPS navigator. Yet to capture that sense of harmony and tranquility for a little longer is possibly worth the price. Overnight cabins are available but quite expensive. It may seem a bit pricey for a day trip, but if you head down early – to beat the traffic and make the road trip as quick as possible – you can then dig in until dusk. And the entrance fee, Php 1,800 per head, includes the lunch as well as a welcome drink and merienda, so at least it’s not an extra cost. That said, the setting was so appealing, and the breeze so cool and gentle, I found myself less perturbed by the quality of the food than I expected. My suggestion would be to smuggle in a picnic, or go elsewhere for lunch. Desserts are dreary, and while there is plenty of variety amongst the savouries, the only one I really enjoyed was the beef Bicol Express. Endless complaints on Trip Advisor don’t seem to have affected the chef one iota. I’m sorry to say it, but the kitchen really lets this place down. A trio of folk singers wandered between the tables, singing ballads and Christmas carols, as we chewed bravely on fatty pork and battered fish fried in my not-so-favourite rancid palm oil. For lunch, the Veranda Valley is a large, on-site al fresco restaurant. Be wary of doing this in bare feet, as we did, as the joy of a bamboo massage on the soles of your feet quickly wears thin, but it made the last stretch easier, where we had to clamber over rocks and through rock pools to reach the falls. It is a short hike from here to the less cultivated hidden falls at the end of a kilometer stretch of bamboo walkway. The whole area is kept immaculately clean, and the peace is addictive. Eventually we reached the smaller Lover’s Pool, tucked cozily into the hillside at the bottom of a winding path. Later, we rambled on, down the path to Lovers’ Pool, and found ourselves clambering up a bamboo ladder to walk along the trunk of a vast tree that apparently came down in the typhoons of 2013, and now lies across the pathway. True or not, these two pools are even lovelier than the first, the surroundings landscaped to allow for sun lounges and a couple of spacious salas or gazebos tucked up amongst the trees. The Soda Pools are so called because the strong flow of the stream apparently allows you to experience water massage similar to European spas.
Eventually, we wandered on to explore the other pools on the property. The water is a lovely temperature: comfortably warm, fresh and unchlorinated and as clear as glass, the bottom lined with clean grey volcanic sand. It was mid-week and the smallest top pool was already quite full, but downstream we had the two larger ones entirely to ourselves. A steeply winding path led down to the edge of the Warm Pools. The pools are filled by a mountain stream that flows down the mountain and cascades into the first pools before racing over the rim and on down into the second and third, before escaping back into the valley. We meandered along a broad footpath through lush tropical gardens, giant ferns and tall native trees, to a bridge overlooking three clear swimming pools cradled in a narrow valley and shaded by the lush vegetation of this tropical rainforest. The sweet, nutty, mocha scent of cocoa beans hung in the air. Clear blue skies mocked the rain and pollution we had left behind in Metro Manila. We had booked a tour with Seat-In Coach Tours, which may not have been the cheapest way to go, but it saved us a lot of angst, and our guide proved to be a terrific source of information on Filipino politics, education, tourism and history.
Hidden Valley Springs is a private resort in Laguna, secreted between Mount Makiling and Mount Banahaw, a few kilometers off the highway to Batangas.
0 kommentar(er)
