Since it’s already summertime, and I haven’t been to the beach yet (what a loser?!), I decided to just write about one of my most visited beach here in the Philippines, Laiya, Batangas. I’ve been there so many times, both with my family and friends, that I’ve lost count already. The Laiya beach is one of favorite beach destination for city dwellers since it’s just a 3-4 hour drive from Manila. The beach is beautiful as well, with grayish white sand and colorful underwater ecosystem. Don’t get your expectations too high and compare it to Boracay or Palawan, but it’s still decent to say the least. The resorts and accommodations are quite affordable as well, so it suits both family and barkadas goers.
Just last year, I’ve been there twice, one with my family, and one with my college friends. As always, I ended up arranging our itinerary and accommodations again. My college friends and I visited Laiya, Batangas May of last year, if I’m not mistaken. Planning this trip is one of the most frustrating trips I’ve ever organized. We really wanted to visit Caramoan that year, but since JC and Mae don’t have leaves yet in their work, they can’t have a vacation other than their weekends. So our only option was to find a destination near Manila. What was more frustrating is that my friends were not replying at all to my messages to get this trip planned out. I reached a breaking point, and decided not to plan the trip entirely, and let them do the planning if they still want to have a summer escapade. Summer was about to end that time, and almost all the hotels and resorts in Laiya were fully booked. My threat did seem to work, and our trip did happen, although some of the boys backed out, and it was only Ralph who was the only guy left. the I looked for several hotels and resorts in Laiya, including Kabayan, Sabangan and Casa Remo Apartelle. We ended up staying in Casa Remo Apartelle where they have a vacant room on the date we scheduled our trip.
Since only Jamie knows how to drive, but her dad won't allow her to drive out-of-town, we ended up riding a bus. We caught a bus of Jam Liner in Cubao at around 6 in the morning. After about 3 or 4 hours, we arrived at the town proper where we rode a jeepney to get to the beach itself. The Casa Remo Apartelle is along the main road, so we were able to get there directly from our jeepney ride. It's not on the beach front, but at the price of P5K for 8 persons, we didn’t mind. We arrived at around lunch hour at Casa Remo Apartelle but since we can only check in at 2pm, we decided to look for a place to eat. We checked out the restaurant the nearby Kabayan resort, but the food didn’t look so appetizing and the prices were not really worth it. We saw a carinderia on our way to our resort, so we decided to check that out instead. The manang was really friendly and accommodating, and her home cooked meals looked delicious so we decided to eat there. Continue reading here.
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