Bali, as they say, is one nature and beach destination you can totally afford. Before I venture into this trip, I searched for the average rates of food, transportation and hotels in each area. Some of the costs like clubbing in Sky Garden wasn't really planned. But there was a free entrance voucher for ladies on a Wednesday but my new-found Ukrainan friend that time missed the opportunity. Below are the actual rates I spent (except for those in red which I forgot the exact cost). Currency Exchange rate is USD 1 .00 = IDR 13,600 (November 2015).
Total spending is Php 37,279 or USD 793 for a 5-day Bali trip. I know I could have spent less if I've made more affordable choices. I'd probably be able to spend less if I shared a room with someone or stayed in with a Couchsurfer to totally eliminate my accommodation costs. But you can't blame the birthday girl for spending, right? Once in awhile, I treat myself into an accommodation I dream of staying or dine in a restaurant with a live playing band and sumptuous good food.
Whatever your spending choices are, just make sure you don't regret them. Happy Bali trip!#
I get to stay at La Carmela because its included in the
the online voucher my friends has purchased.
The room was spacious and
enough for groups of four. Our other friends got the room beside us and they
requested to have the connecting door opened. Coldness of the aircon was just
enough but I really don't like the HARD PILLOWS! At first it was soft but when I
woke up, it was not only me who had my neck ACHING. I don't like the lighting of
the room because it does not give you a feeling of coziness. I suggest that they
put on some yellow lighting and not all white bulbs.
I just have to
commend the service staff. You can request for your room to be cleaned (one
thing we needed if you have quite messy room mates). The voucher included two
dinners and two breakfast which is quite reasonable for the price I paid (if
only I stayed for two nights since I spent only one night in Boracay w/ my
friends).
Breakfast food was okay and the staff was accomodating. I can
still remember Mr. Renan who I think favored to serve us everytime we had
breakfast. We weren't able to taste the dinner food in this hotel because we
wanted to eat elsewhere. As I saw, there were no freshly grilled food for dinner
which had me wanting to eat somewhere else.
Overall, La Carmela is okay
if you're with a bunch of friends who are always travelling out of the hotel and
lounging on the beach. Its location is perfect because its just at the front of
the Station 2 beach. I just don't like that the hotel is very open to the public
(it doesn't have gates). So for me, security of the place is quite doubting
although we weren't robbed or anything. Thanks La Carmela staff :)
Room Tip: "Request to open the connecting door if
you & your friends have bedrooms next to each other. More fun to switch rooms and create a party" ...
I went back to Pagsanjan Falls again 2014 but now I brought my family to experience the same joy I had from my trip back then in 2012. This time our family drove to Cavinti using our family car and it took us 4 hours to get there. Ofcourse, we've had our usual breakfast stopover at a restaurant in a gas station.
We still stayed at Pagsanjan Falls Lodge but since it was summer and a weekend, there were plenty of people checked in. Sadly, we weren't able to stay at the big room we have checked in before. The Lodge was not that relaxing because of the amount of people staying. Anyway, I told my father (who was already mumbling how he felt discomfort with the rowdy resort crowd) that the experience to the waterfalls will be worth it and he wouldn't think about the crampy room we got in.
Since the advisable time to go there is in the afternoon, we left at 2:00 PM, knowing that the travel back and forth to the falls will be a total of four hours. That is exactly a wonderful time to catch the sun set!
The boat men are still as hardworking as they were before. We got two boats as the maximum number per boat would be 4-5 persons. The fee is still Php1,450/head regardless if you are only one or four on the boat rented. I find it quite schemy as the boatmen would still have you pass by a drink spot at the middle of the trip and you'd be forced to buy Php50 bottled water or softdrinks for the two boatmen. But ofcourse, you'd understand how tiring it is for the boatmen to push the boat up and under the rocks of the river. You might want to check out my video on youtube, to see how physically tiring it is for the boatmen:
We are required to wear our lifevests while on the boat. The boatmen were also advising us to duck our heads down or sideways if there would be a rock or a big tree branch that can potentially knock us down or get us out of the boat!
Here is my family (without Mommy and older sister) and with my cousin and Auntie before we ride a raft to the famed Pagsanjan falls. The pressure of the water is so hard that we have to wear these blue helmets. Since we'll all be getting wet, our boatmen secured us that we can leave our belongings with them on the boat.
We'll be passing under the falls and get ourselves inside a very small cave.
We'll have to wait for our turn again to go back and experience the rush of water the second time around! It was an exhilarating experience even if I've done this trip two year ago. The feeling of natural water on your back and thighs are really heavy like a giant giving you a Swedish massage!
I've got a video of me being silly and pretending that we are on a typhoon. Even if you don't play the video, just see how chaotic my face reaction is :)
Oh how lovely it is to see again the great scenery on the way back to the lodge. Way more more beautiful than what we had on the way to the falls. If you are a nature lover like me, make sure you either breathe in the fresh breeze and sense the warmth of the sun on your face. (Make sure to put on sunblock to prevent you from getting a lot of sun which causes skin cancer.)
The best part for me is whenever we go into a very dark part of the forest and seeing the light peek through the mountains. It is such a spectacular view!
Once the boat trip has ended, we took photos from our boatmen. Warning: They would ask for a tip and mostly they'd tell you stories on how hard life is for them in Cavinti Laguna. Which is actually true because of the low job opportunities they have in Cavinti. They get to row only once a week! There are a lot of tourists who go to Pagsanjan Falls and the number of boatmen would go upto 800-1000! The identification numbers are written on their clothing. (See ours has #676)
As the night falls, we had our dinner at the restaurant and I invited Ate Lor, Tintin and my sister Louise for a stroll around town. Letting yourself walk around and explore the way of life of the people there is a good experience to feel like a local.
We like getting lost and not riding any vehicle. I wanted to buy some local bakery pastries but the shops were already closed. Unlike in Manila where stores would only close by 9-10pm, in the provinces the stores will close as early as 7pm. You wouldn't see much any local strolling around except if there's a fiesta or event at the town center.
It was still a wonder to see that the buildings are lighted at night. Two of these are the Municipal hall and their main church in which at that time has an ongoing mass.
Town proper at Cavinti Laguna
When morning arrived, it was sunny and serene. Pagsanjan Falls Lodge has the most blessed view of the river going to Pagsanjan.
And we ofcourse, had our final photo shots around the area. The hotel actually has a swimming pool but we didn't swam in it as there were a lot of people during our stay. It was noisy ang overly crowded. I may advise you to go here on a weekday so you can reserve a good room with a view and enjoy the place more.
TRAVEL TIME: 4 hours Quezon City to Cavinti, Laguna
ACCOMMODATION: Pagsanjan Falls Lodge
TRAVELER TIP: Go on a boat trip to Pagsanjan Falls on an afternoon at 2:00PM which the sun is tamer and the breeze of the trees is just perfect!
Almost all of my trips with famil and friends out-of-town, I'd lose some weight because of endless walking on tours. But in South Korea, we still walked a lot but the food is divine! Now that the weather is a mix of semi-hot in the afternoon and coldness at night, Korean food like Samgyeopsal, Bulgogi, KamJetang and many more hot dishes are so out of this world!
Here's a glimpse of what we ate on our 4-day South Korean tour.
I love food and travel and anything unique and exciting. I love life itself and its a great joy for me to share my food and travel experiences with you.
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