Boso-Boso Highlands Resort and Convention Center - A Hit Treat!

I know, I know summer's almost over, but I guess it'll never be too late to hit the water! (As much as I'd like to say we hit the beach, unfortunately no beach for the wicked this summer -_-)

Let me start this with a question. Do you have that thinking that you have to leave your city to see better or more exciting resorts? 
I did - guess you already know how this review will go.

Boso-Boso Highlands Resort, located along Marcos Highway in Sitio Cabading, Brgy. San Jose, Antipolo City, is nestled in the lush Sierra Madre ranges perfect for adventure seekers, nature lovers, and swimmers (and frustrated swimmers) of course. As of the moment, and hopefully for longer generations, the place is still free from pollution, the amazing view is quite picturesque it is impossible to leave without a photo taken (that is if you have a cam with you).

THINGS YOU MAY WANT TO KNOW:
Is it affordable? Yes, just the usual rates these days.
Is it clean? Yes, the place is quite refreshing (although I think peak season's over, so...)
Is it worth the money? Yes!

WHEN DID WE GO:
Just yesterday, June 7, 2015, so details as to the entrance fees and all are the current ones.

HOW TO GET HERE:
Coming from Manila/Cubao:
Ride the LRT2 to Santolan, then ride a jeep/fx to Cogeo Gate2. From there, ride the jeep to Paenaan, then just inform the driver to drop you off at the resort. Easy peasy! Travel time from Cubao might take you 1 1/2 hour.

HOW MUCH ARE THE ENTRANCE FEE AND COTTAGES:

As of June 2015

Their 150 rate for kids are available for 3-7 years old. 2 years old and below are for free. You can also add 70/50, adult/kid, for an extension of 3 hours.

For other queries, you may check here, especially since their facebook page is not that active and updated.

SOME RULES:

Unfortunately, this is not indicated in their website nor in their facebook page. What caught my attention is the prohibition of dark colored shirts; you might want to bear that in mind, although I don't know why they did not call my attention as I'm wearing all black. 

WHAT TO DO HERE:

So here's the fun part!

#1 - Of course cherish nature!

I'm really a nature lover so this is already worth the money for me!

#2 - Enjoy your company - have a social media detox for a while!

Places become better a thousandfold if spent with your loved ones!

Who doesn't have a jump shot?! Ugh, me.

And random poses?!

Grill and chill!

Take selfies!

And groupies!

And brothies! What?!

#3 - Zipline!

Doesn't get too old!

#4 - Hold your events here!

The place is quite vast they have lots of spaces, rooms and amenities for events like wedding, teambuilding activities or conferences. Here are sample photos I grabbed from their page. 

Here's a vicinity map for a better overview of what amenities they offer

This resort boasts off their Convention Hall, cottages and villas, open fields for activities, basketball court, playgrounds, and of course their swimming pools, which leads us to the next thing to do!

#5 - Swim, slide, have a massage and a workout!

They have 6 pools, save the private and hotel pools, of different depths, which is really nice and safer. 

The first pool that'll welcome you is their awesome kiddie pool! 

This is by far the best kiddie pool I've ever seen, it makes want to be a kid again even just for the time being! Kids will definitely have a very good time with this one. The round arcs squirt sort of cold water so staying inside is really a must try!

Then the 3 other pools are strategically placed in terraces form, if you may call it that. Hehe

This is the topmost pool. it has a small slide and an even smaller slide with water
sprinkling above. I stayed here for a little while 'cause it's just relaxing.
This is around 5 feet in depth I think.

Then these are the 2 lower pools. The 2nd and 3rd pool is 4 feet and 6 feet in depth
respectively, I think. Poor in measurement, sorry. Haha I just know I already
 tiptoed on the edges and I'm 5'2" in height. I can barely reach the center area, poor me.

I love the fact that it has differing depths so you'd feel free to choose which one you'll dip into. The topmost and the lowest pool have slides which are pretty awesome. I slid down the longer slide for more than 5 times just because it was really fun! (even if I have to ask my dad to wait for me down the pool and grab me to the edge 'cause I told you I can't reach the flooring :( )

Then, a little too far from these 4 pools are the 2 others. You have to go down the 250-step stairs or use your 4x4 vehicle 'cause that's the only car they allow down here.

A glimpse of the *gulp* stairs

This is the pool in front of the Paradise Hotel

And then the wave pool!

So just when you think they're still the usual pools! It's pretty cool and not bad for the 170 entrance fee we paid! Too bad I wasn't able to use this slide 'cause the area with the wave ball is 7 feet in depth I think. Will surely drown!

Don't fret if you can't swim, the long and tiring walk is still worth it because the area near the, sort of, breakwater is more shallow, while that with the 2 dolphins are really shallow just enough for you to sit, relax or have a massage on the 2 dolphin fountains, if you may call it that :D.

OTHER QUESTIONS:
Do they have a canteen? Yes.
May we bring in food? Yes, but take note of the corkage fees for some drinks. Check here.
May we bring in electrical appliances? Yes, but they also incur electrical charges.
Are the hotel rooms nice? I'm sorry I don't have an input 'cause we only rented a cottage. You may check their website or check reviews.
How is their customer service? Well, let us just say I don't care so much about it, but we noticed that they seldom smile, they talk to us with a poker face, but maybe I just don't mind too much about it since I'm there to enjoy. Let's just keep our temper cool, shall we? Hehehe


FINAL THOUGHTS: 
I surely loved the place! I recommend it. You just really have to pace yourself for the strenuous walks and slides, but for the price you pay, you'll definitely have a lot of things to do here!

~~

I live in Antipolo City and going here just took us more or less 30 minutes! This outing was actually unplanned, and we really doubted if we'll like the place just because it isn't located in the usual summer destinations such as Laguna or Batangas. Sorry for not being localistic, but I surely learned a lesson. This makes me want to try some more of the nearby resorts. It pays going against the bandwagon sometimes! I think this resort is somewhat underrated because they're quite hidden in the mountains, but I think that's what sets them apart from the usual pool resorts! I guess this is going to be my next place to just hang out and relax! Hope you'll like it too!

Thanks for reading! :*

Daranak Falls and San Ildefonso de Toledo Parish in Tanay, Rizal

Hi guys! :)

So here's a quick post regarding our Holy Week getaway in Tanay, Rizal. If you want to know more, just keep on reading. :)

As their Facebook page says, Daranak Falls is a natural resort in Tanay, Rizal about 9 kilometers away from the Tanay proper with 14 meter high falls and almost 30 foot deep.

Their page: https://www.facebook.com/DaranakFallsinfocenter

First thing, I live in Antipolo, Rizal, so Tanay is just a 2 hour drive tops from our place. We left at around 12 noon and arrived in Daranak Falls at around 2 in the afternoon (that is because we kept on asking for the way since we're not familiar as well). We brought a private car so I'm not sure of the fare, sorry for that.

How to get here:

If you're coming from Cubao, you shall ride a jeepney (pangharabas), fx (medyo sosyalin), taxi (yayamanin), or you could walk (nah, just kidding), to Cogeo Gate 2, which will be an hour ride or less.

From there, there are available jeepneys going to Sampaloc, Tanay, which I suppose will be a 2 hour travel. Drop off at Tanay market and from there you will be fetching a tricycle to bring you to Daranak Falls.

As to how to get out, tricycles camp out the entrance so there could be no fuss about that. Just fetch one to take you to the main road again.

Just an additional information, there may be a season when Daranak is not that crowded, so I will suggest that you inform the tricycle from Tanay market to get back to you at an agreed time, so you don't have to worry about going out.

How much is the entrance fee:

As of April 2015

Adult and children have the same entrance fee of 50 (Philippine) pesos unlike before, which I think is a bummer, since some in the family do not prefer to swim anyway, specially the adults.

As to the picnic tables/sheds, there are places where you could just stay to eat if you do not like to rent, like the 'cafeteria'.

So here is the 'cafeteria', well I do not know how to call it. Hehe.. beside this is a store selling some food, and the bathrooms are also near this place. I am not sure if you need to pay to occupy a table, but we didn't, we just asked the attendant if we could just eat for a while, to which he agreed provided we clean afterwards, and so we did, of course! It's something my family always do anyway, we do not leave trashes wherever.

What time is it open:

As you can see, it is open from 8 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon. It is worth noting that they do not entertain overnight stay in here.

What to do here:

Of course one thing you could do here is swim!

Jaraaan! It's the dry season in the Philippines so that explains why the falls does not seem to be abundant. I personally would like to see this not during summer, and maybe during an off peak season.

Please don't mind the guy, I do not know him. Hahaha.. I just want to show you this picture since this is another reason why the water is deeper on the plunge pool area; they close that part for a larger swimming area near the falls. If you want to swim on shallow waters, you can opt to stay on the other basins through the stretch of the river, such as this part:

You could also have a full body massage on this area right here, I actually wanted to try this, but I did not plan to swim (kj, I know). 

And of course, take lots and lots of pictures while you savor the feel of nature and the company of your loved ones!

Who doesn't have an 'emote' pic?

We occupied this for free since nobody's asking us to pay anyway. :D

Roots!
This is quite a scary place to take a picture on but it's also very
beautiful I actually wanted a pic there too!

I just love this picture of my mom and dad! <3

Hi! ;)

I know there's not much of information in here, but there really is not much to tell, what is in here is too much to feel and savor! Our nature is just very inexplicable in simple terms. What I could assure you is that it comprises every thing you could see in nature, river stretch, a waterfall, mountains, this is also near a cave named Calinawan Cave (which we failed to visit, maybe next time. :( ), so if you're a nature lover like me, you'll surely love this place. :)

Additional Information:

I'm not sure if it's just the weather, but it's very (verrrry very!) humid here, I feel very uneasy not wearing a cottony top. So a suggestion would be that you should wear very comfortable clothes when going here.

Also, you might want to go here on an off-peak season, since the place was crowded these days due to the summer vacation and the holy week.

Aaand, there is another waterfall on top of this, named Batlag Falls, but we're disappointed not seeing it 'cause they're charging us 50 pesos per head even if we're just going to take a look at it; and since it's already 4:30, we didn't anymore bother pay and visit, tsk..

Here are the rates in case you're wondering.
Also, this is open for an overnight stay unlike in Daranak.

For inquiries please contact Tanay Tourism Office at 736-1059/ 655-2195 loc 212/213 / 0998-9881590/ tanaytourism11@yahoo.com (Info as of April 2015)

We left the place at around 4:30 to attend the 5pm mass at the San Ildefonso de Toledo Parish also in Tanay. Just a good 20 minute ride from Daranak is this 400 year old parish, though this structure is only around 260 years old.

Sorry for the low quality of the picture, my camera found it hard to take a pic since it's already 7pm when this was taken. :p

The structure looks really big from the outside, but this is what it looks inside.
I suppose they already reinforced it and opted to do it from the inside since the least we'd like to do
with old structures is to disturb its image, ayt? :)

The church's retablo looks spectacular!

Upon entering the premises, you will be welcomed
by this very nice carving of an acacia tree made by sculptor from Paete.

Churches like this just amaze me so much so I wanted to share a little sneak peek as well. I might do a separate post on churches next time. 

For other places to explore in Tanay, Rizal, (and I tell you, there are lots and lots!) you may take a look at these ones:

So there it is! Hope this helps. Let's keep on exploring! Just always bear in mind, nothing beats being safe during travels. Until next post! ;)