Holy Week at Prado Farms

Long-overdue. I know. 

Anyhoo, our yearly Holy Week are always reserved for D's friends escapades. This year, we went to Prado Farms in Pampanga. They wanted something serene that's why. 

To start, I want to apologize for the quality of the pictures. I was so lazy to bring a proper camera lately so I'm only using my mobile phone. Also, I'm not really up to tell lengthy tales today so I hope you wouldn't mind the picture flood.

We got the room with the loft plus the other room for 2 which were adjoined by a common bathroom. I forgot how it's called since I'm not the one who did the reservations. There's a balcony with this view. There's jackfruit and guyabano trees. Nice!

Here's our bed. The room is small for my taste. There's not much space to move around.

Oh by the way, this is the famous gate of the Prado Farms. We didn't take much pictures as we were too excited to go to somewhere with aircon. Too hot! And yep, that's old gas tanks. From what I've read from the other blogs, the farm used to be a gas plant or something.

The first thing I checked was the infinity pool. Not bad! I didn't get to swim on our first day though.

We learned that Prado Farms is just across Pradera Wake Park so went to take a look. The boys didn't want to wake board though. They said the sun was too high. Oh well, we went there after lunch. What do you expect? We'll come back someday.

We returned to the resort to chill while the kids go biking. By night time, we availed their buffet dinner. All the food they served came from the farm. To which, I believe was not catered for me. I eat vegetables but I did not like it that day. Hehe! But I did like this some sort of like peach-flavored ice and pandan juice!

And the sweet potato too!

We all agreed to go out the next day to find something else to eat. It was also too expensive, imagine Php450 per head for a bunch of veggies?

The next day was another chill day at the farm. We rode this sturdy looking carabao to go around the farm. In the middle of the tour I wanted to go down because I was so concerned for the carabao. Look at how she was being handled. A rope is tied to her nose and then the caretaker is pulling her. What a torture!

D and I decided to just walk by foot to go around the houses. The sort of like museum houses are at the front of the farm. In the middle are the accommodations and at the back are the pool and the farm itself.

This is the Yellow House.

We found an office at the second floor.

This is it from the outside. Sorry I'm doing it the other way around. I walked through the back doors since I came from our accommodation.

This is the big house in the middle. Maybe the Red House?

Inside, it looks like a function hall. Maybe a big group can use it for team building purposes.

There's a little pool at the side.

And this thing. What is this??

It was way far from Christmas but there's still a nativity scene here made up of old gas tanks, twigs and some metal wires.

My personal favorite is the Blue House

Loft style with creative chandeliers.

And this weird looking structure that's apparently made of newspaper.

From the window, you can see the pond with live fish. The staff said we can go fishing. The pond was shaded by our very own Cherry Blossoms - Bougainvilleas.

Upstairs is another office. If you look down from the window, you can see the pond and the swimming fish!

Next is the Pink House. This is actually the main building where the reception is.

So we did circle the farm again, we passed by this another pool. I wasn't able to swim here but I think it's more relaxing here with all the shade and trees.

See?

There's a place with a No Entry sign which is apparently the owner's place.

Scattered in the farm are structures like this. Kids loved these!

And then there's this some sort of like secret garden.

Inside is where they usually roast farm pigs for dinner. You know you can order meat also. That's I think Php 7,500 for a small roasted pig.

This is where you do cult practices. Haha! JK!

Here's where to unleash the inner monkey in you.

There's a chapel, if you want more peace and quiet.

Still up to the theme.

A better view of the pool.

There's another set of Jacuzzi below the infinity pool.

Across the pool is the farm. See all these greens?

If you go inside, you can see these pigs! All organic fed.

But they are still the skinniest pigs I ever saw. I didn't know that pigs can be this sexy.

Oh by the way, here's how Prado farms look from the Hi-way. I took a shot as we were leaving for lunch.

The reception area. They have this thing of hanging around old objects.

We checked out on the third day already because we will be going to Sandbox. The boys loved it there. Not for me, it was too hot.

I didn't get to take pictures inside since I just stayed at the lobby. 

Buy anyhaw, it was a Holy Week well spent. Now, where to go next year?

Very hot this holy week,

Yosh

Bataan with the Fam

By this time, I should be blogging about our Holy Week trip but you know I have a lot of backlogs (as usual). So, for now let's forget about that annual Holy Week thing and get it on with one of my backlogs.

Last March, my side of the fambam went to Bataan to celebrate my Tito's birthday. Yup, it was one of those libre trips from my Tito. One of those times also that I'm so thankful that my Tito and his wife are so generous.

Ok, so a little side kwento. I was the one who planned this trip. The requirements my Tito gave me were (1) It should be just for a day trip (2) He wants us to go to church as a family (3) A nice lunch (4) He wants to sight-see.

My suggestions were:
(1) Mass at Caleruega, Lunch and Sight-see at Tagaytay
(2) Roadtrip to Laguna de Bay (Pakil, Liliw, San Pablo). Mass in one of the old churches
(3) Kamay ni Jesus, Silangang Nayon Quezon Province
(4) Mass at Manaoag, Isdaan Gerona Tarlac
(5) Taal Basilica, Taal Heritage Town
(6) Mt. Samat Cross Bataan, Mass at Balanga

They chose Bataan since none of them have been there. Nice!

At around 5 in the morning, we left Taytay, Rizal. We stopped by NLEX first for a quick breakfast then went straight to Balanga Cathedral. We reached Balanga past 8 in the morning. The church was actually in front of a park but we had a hard time finding parking slots. We circled around the plaza area twice but we cannot see one. Our drivers decided to drop the group off at the park so we can enjoy while they were looking for parking. The next mass hasn't started either so the kids (and the kids at heart) get to enjoy the giant I heart Balanga sign and the playground.

We attended the 9:30 am mass at Balanga Cathedral aka Saint Joseph Cathedral.

The church was cold, by the way. No need for hand fans. See those gigantic ceiling fans below? It was so windy I almost slept.

After the mass, we went to Bataan Tourism Center. No entrance fee for this establishment. You just need to sign their logbook. It was some sort of like a museum where you can read about the History of Bataan. There's a lot of old pictures and some statues. They also have a gift shop where you can buy souvenir items and specialty food.

Next stop was for satisfying our hungry stomachs. Yay! We dropped by Ima's Pamangan which was on the way to our next destination. It was like a carinderia, only upscale. I've read a lot of reviews about it online but we didn't get to try what was suggested since we didn't order ala carte. My Tita decided we try the Lunch Buffet. For 250 pesos per head, you get to eat everything on the Buffet table. Nice deal eh? Not for me. I didn't like everything I ate. My family didn't like it either but they like that they get to eat a lot. Haha!

Last stop for us was Mt.Samat cross. Since we brought our own transportation, we need not do the 7kms hike to get to the cross. Whew!

We just paid 30 pesos per head upon reaching the gate. The guards said we can just park our car near the gate, or park near the museum, or park straight up to the cross. The fambam was so excited to reach the cross since I told them that we can go up to the actual cross so we decided to go straight to the cross first. While traversing up, I was reminded why I was so scared of this place. The roads were so steep especially for vehicles! All of us in the car was screaming when D was making his way up. My God how did we do it riding a motorcycle before?! My Lola got so scared that she hit Darwin once we alighted. She said D should have slow down. To which D answered, If I slow down titirik tayo. Hahaha! Anyhoo, the sight up there was worth the scare.

But unfortunately for us, the elevator that is supposed to take us to the cross was broken. Damn! We just spent our time in one of the cottages there and watch the monkeys. This one in particular was very charming because she brought her baby with her! They didn't hurt people naman. They just ask for food.

The scare we experience going up was the same going down. My Lola said she kept her eyes close during the descend. D jokingly said, he did too. He was the one driving! So my Lola hit her again. Hahahaha!

Next stop was the museum. I didn't get to see this museum during my first visit so I went down with the group. It was nice! There's a lot of old things. Museum nga e diba? Haha

There's also a lot of opportunity for photoshoot.

We went home na after this. Oh wait, we dropped by Razon's for Halo-halo then that's it. Trip ended. I really wish we can get to travel a lot as a family. Well, it is a nice year for us. It's just March but we get to see Ilocos and Bataan already.

Wishing for more trip to come,

Yosh