This is probably the laziest I have ever been in planning summer vacays. Almost everybody I know looks forward to summer trips, I was looking forward to it too but kinda lacked enthusiasm. Probably due to scarcity of budget and the scorching summer heat, which makes me just want to stay in the office or the mall and get airconditioning for free. Okay, it's mostly just because of the lack of budget.
But then again, I am a summer person! Who am I kidding? I was born on a summer holiday! I don't think I can ever resist summer, the beach, the pool. And every hour, every minute, everyday I would see people's beach getaway posts in social media. How in the world will I be able to resist that??? So, I gave in... And it waaaaaas worth it.
Searching for a place to stay, it took me hours to find the perfect resort (at least what I think is perfect). I wanted to relax and just spend some quality time with my family, away from the hustle and bustle, and the stressful environment of the metro. And I found it! I never imagined a place like this would be situated in the middle of Subic Bay, Olongapo. We we're also in Subic last year but in the beach area where it was crowded and loud, so at first I wasn't sure if I wanted to come here again but I'm glad I did.
Mountain Woods Resort Hotel
The resort is located inside Kalayaan Village. You may check out the link below:
http://www.mountainwoods.com.ph/default.aspx
The place looks really lovely in the website, and when we got to the place it looked a little bit gloomy. Well it was raining bad that day (The irony of things, summer rain.) so I was hoping not to be disappointed once I step inside the hotel. And I wasn't, I was ecstatic!
It was lovely, just exactly what I wanted. Spanish, Mediterranean, old fashioned interior that I simply adore.
Just look..
This is the lobby that will welcome you. I could live here forever.
Lovely! Isn't it?
They also have a restaurant called Le Jardin.
The weather cleared maybe about an hour after we arrived at the hotel. So we rested up a bit, had lunch then went out for a swim.
Someone's super excited!
With the kulets!
Mamu!
The water was kinda warm which was fine, I was expecting it to be cold since we're on a mountain but the water temperature was perfect.
Then came sundown, had dinner then poof! Off to LA LA LAND. Early morning, the weather was again really bad. There were even thunder, which I thought, what a summer vacation this is going to be?! But when I looked out the window, it wasn't even raining. I was like, what is going on here? The culprit?
This guy!
And a whole lot of other monkeys!
They were on the roof and running around outside of our room. That was crazy scary! They said they were looking for food. Which is kinda sad cause they can't get enough food in the forest. But we were instructed not to give them food or they will never leave us alone.
It was then time for breakfast.
After breakfast, of course we went for a swim.
And played some billiards after swimming.
Then my most favorite part!!!!
Photoshoot!
Inside our room, love the 4 poster bed.
I think that's enough photo collage for now. Haha! Maybe more later on.
That was it for day 1, to be honest there wasn't much you can do in the resort but to just eat, sleep, swim, repeat. Which was totally okay, I loved it.
The next day came and it was the same, monkeys waking you up, them running around outside the room, breakfast and then swim. The swim however was terrifying! While we were in the pool area, I decided to get food from the room. I placed them on the table then went into the pool, all of a sudden there was this big monkey watching us. My son and I got frightened, then after a few minutes there were like 20 plus monkeys surrounding us! They must be really hungry, Jeff grabbed the monopod to scare them away but it didn't work. Till we decided to jump over the fence to the other side just so we can hide inside our room. I managed to get the food, but we left the inflatable beach ball in the pool and the monkeys tried to get it thinking it was food. That made me feel bad and helpless at the same time. Just take a look.
The hotel staff shooed the monkeys throwing rocks at them till they were finally out of sight. We waited for an hour so we can go back to the pool, it was our last day there so we really wanted to swim some more.
Then it was time to go home.
We stayed here for 3 relaxing days and 2 peaceful nights. Now, what I really loved about this place is the ambiance, the rustic and romantic feel which I am crazy about. You saw lots of photoshoots (please don't hate me) and a lot of projecting and posing. LOL! I'm sorry, but I fell in love with the place. Will definitely come back here.
Will miss little guy too. This is Andrew btw, he is the baby of the owner. So cute, always smiling and always in our room eating our junk food. Haha! See you again soon Andrew!
Disclaimer:
The staff and the owner aren't very friendly, I guess they were just shy? Except for the old lady, who seems to be the all around person there and Andrew of course. They aren't that bad of course, just not very accommodating. The aircondition in our room wasn't functioning well, so it wasn't too cold, we requested for a fan but no fan came. They lack staff, definitely.
The place is very nice tho, but they were renovating, as per a friend of mine who has been there years ago, she said they were also renovating then. So they are probably fixing the place ever since God knows when. But who cares? Still a lovely place. What's missing here is, there's not much place you can go to which made the stay just a wee bit boring, I love nice long walks and checking out new sites.
Overall, it wasn't a bad experience. I wouldn't really call it a grand vacation, but nothing beats being with my family in a very relaxing place.
Till next time! Cheers!
