Laiya Beach, San Juan, Batangas

First and foremost, the title should have been Calaguas Island, Camarines Norte, but due to a tropical storm that hit the Bicol region, the trip was cancelled. Many had withdrawn because of safety reasons, after all there's a 2 hour bumpy boat ride. Another reason, as many of them had DSLR camera, was the gloomy beach( yup that's right), gloomy skies, gloomy atmosphere and they wont make great shots and all that. But it did not stop me from having the weekend at the beach! Yey!

Laiya, Batangas

Me, Greig, Pe, Aiko, Mico, Mark, Ronette, Ella, and Cecil taken by Nico

Luckily my college friends had planned a trip that is much closer to Manila. It coincide with the date but on a lot later time. I immediately accepted to join because its about time to catch up with them.


The planned meeting was 8 PM on Jollibee San Pedro, and as usual many of us kept waiting till 9 cause some was still at work ( they were working in Makati and it's Friday, traffic southward is hell), I guess that's forgivable.

I was surprised that our ride is a jeep, and I thought it will be rented by us but it carry a lot of other commuters with a lot of baggage. (Whew, so much for my expectation).

Direction to Laiya, San Juan, Batangas

Laiya shoreline

from Manila, take the South Luzon Expressway take the Batangas, Lucena, Legaspi Exit & the head towards Sto. Tomas from Sto. Tomas turn right to the Star Toll Way Entrance drive all the way to Lipa City take the Tambo Exit at the end turn right & head for Lipa City turn right to the road before the Mc Donald’s restaurant traverse C. M. Recto Ave. then turn right at P. Torres St. (Mercury Drug) towards Padre Garcia head straight to Rosario at the Intersection turn left (Tricycle Terminal) at Gualberto Ave. to San Juan in San Juan turn right (Municipal Hall) to Laiya drive until you can see tons of resort, which is on the left side of the road Manila going to Laiya: 3-4 hours The group planned to stay on Triple G Resort for 2 Nights and 2 Days. We arrived around 12 midnight and rented the Sky Blue cabin.

After tyding up our things, we drank, played  cards the unusual game "The Killer: Ella Style"

Here's how it is played: 2 Kings that represent the killers. 2 Aces that serves as policeman that will catch the killers. 1 Queen that correspond to a doctor. Number cards that will symbolize the citizens. A facilitator - this can be drawn to or assigned. Rules and Procedure: 1. The facilitator shuffles the card and let everyone pick. 2. The facilitator lets everyone close their eyes and tell a make-up story. The facilitator is the one who commands here to when to close and open the eyes of the participants. The interaction between the facilitator must be strictly silent in this part.       a. The killer/s are the first to open their eyes and they must agree to kill a           participant, and closes their eyes again.       b. The facilitator then inform the doctor to open his/her eyes and save someone           - it could be anyone including oneself.       c. The facilitator then commands to open the eyes of the policeman and let them           choose who to catch, then facilitator will tell them by thumb if they guessed           correctly or not.       d. The facilitator then instruct everyone to open their eyes and must tell if someone           died and tell the identity of it. 3. Everyone will panic and will be afraid that they can accused any 2 participants. 4. They must then defend their self that they are not the killers. 5. Everyone alive will now vote who will be punish to death. 6. The evicted citizen will then show his/her card. 7.Repeat Number 2 till 7 until either the killers or the police prevailed. This game seems complicated at first, a dry run will get everyone pump up and know the flow of the game. Sometimes, the doctor can be a bomber to fast things up. The bomber can kill a single participant if and only if he/she got voted in the trial. After we got weary of the game, we take a dip in the water and lay down on the beach watching the stars, catching up with each other, comparing jobs, and mostly gossiping on our other batch mates. Morning comes and Mark, Mico and I take a long walk along the shoreline. Going back is another thing cause we really walked a distance and got to crossed several resort along the way. We then have breakfast and got ready for snorkeling! The 20 minute boat ride to the snorkeling spot Lots of unusual fishes Picture Snorkel Going back Happy faces Vain Perfect Later that day, we stayed on the water and catch huge waves.. Wave Hopping Weeeeee Swimming In the evening, we played charade and the punishment will be a mark on the face! Our group was composed of Mark, Grieg, Ronette and Me. Clearly we were losing the other team was Mico, Nico, Ella and Pe. Happy clean faces Here's the final result.... We didnt have much to do on our last day, sp we pretty much played cards and chat. Getting ready to go back home A 10 mins walk to the terminal going to Lipa

Overall, it was fun

Goodbye!

Budget: Php 2500

Beach Ratings:

Type of Trip: Outing

Sand: 2.5 stars                       
     - white sands beneath charcoal ones
Sea Water : 2 stars                         
     - The water on the shore is grimy
Cleanliness: 3.5 stars                   
     - Clean environment but need regular maintenance of the shoreline
Value: 3 stars                           
     - A good place to relax
Water Supply: 5                                  
     - Abundant Supply of water
Food: 3                                   
     - May vary depending on the resort
Ease of Travel: 2.5                      
     - Long travel hours
Price: 3
     - Reasonable pricing
Amenities : 3.5
     - Snorkeling and Taal Volcano Tour
Resort/Rooms/Cottages : 5
    - Vast choices suitable for your budget

"The place for a quick get-away"