Mom and dad decided not to go to boracay since the airfare was soo expensive as well as the accomodations. So, we instead went to Bataan. I was not expecting anything in Bataan. A friend once told me that it's nice to go there.. But i really didn understand what was nice about Bataan. I didnt research about the place nor i asked further questions as to what to see in the place.. Maybe i lost interest when they said that the beach has dark sand.. Im not a fan of dark merky waters...
Anyway.. We traveled, not knowing what to expect.. I was sort of imagining a simple place where we could eat native delicacies of bataan and will go home after. My mom protested with the idea of going back home after a long travel... My sister mentioned a hertitage hotel which i imagined like peninsula hotel.. But i doubted that with a place so rural amd so far away from the city..
We finally Arrived to the so called hertitage hotel. Mom's expression was priceless when she saw where we are: it looked like we were entering a factory/ school/ village, nothing like a hotel. Mom wanted to go back. Hahaha... There were men in costumes like the ones you see at fort bonifacio, though. I thought that was strange in a place like that... They opened the gates and the guard asked "may reservation po?".. In my mind, "saan naman kaya kami magrereserve?". Te place looked nothing like a hotel.. They let us in... And....
...i felt like i went bac in time. It wad like going to the walled city, indeed. It was such a beautiful place. I wanted to twirl and do cartwheels in the cobble- stoned floor. There were traditional song and dance performances at the main area. Wow. I kind of remembered the Peace camp we had in Iloilo way back in 2003, wherein after a every eventful day, we had a big dinner outdoors surrounded with folk music. It was pleasant, :) I forgot what that place in Bataan is called. I just remember "Heritage Village". I'm not even sure. It's like an artificial Vigan. From what i heard, the owners buy really old houses (materials) and rebuild them there.
The more affordable rooms were all booked so we had to stay in our very own heritage house. All to ourselves! Kinda felt at home. We settled down our stuff and headed for dinner at a really nice hertage looking fine dining resto. We were serenaded by a singing couple who call theirselves "lolo and lola". They're not even old looking. Odd. Mom refused to be serenaded cos she thought i'll cost something. Hehehe. But still they sang us a couple of songs including Joey Ayala's "Walang Hanggang Paalam". <3. Dinner was great.
We went back to our heritage house, tried to watch a movie, but we all got sleepy. We all went to bed. Aircon was coooold. Awesome to be with parents again. I feel like a small child. I always do when im around them... I am their eternal baby.
The next day, we woke up, breakfast waiting for us at the fine dining resto we ate at last night. In the morning, it looked more friendly and less intimidating. And then we all checked out the gray beach. Mommy was all geared to swim but she back out. She didn't fancy the mirky waters, too.
We swam at the swimming pool. Last swimming spree we had was way back when we were kids (elementary days), until Bataan. And then, ate rochie and i did kayaking. That was fun. But it wasn't like the white water rapids we had in CDO.
We ate our late lunch at an italian resto still in the heritage village. We ordered a lot! Loved the mango juice, as usual. We were serenaded again, this time by a 3 pc band. Labamba!
Then we had a tour around the village. There was a lot more to see. But some art galleries were closed. The guy doing the tour looked like Gibo. Missed the kid.
Anyway, we went home happy together. Best part of the trip was the activities we did as a family which we seldom did when we were little. :)
2/24/2014
