Travel Weekend Getaway: Caluwayan Palm Island Resort

Ask me an ideal weekend travel destination and I’ll tell you a rolling list of luxury resorts and spa I have always dreamed of going to.

If Forbes magazine would allow it, I have my Top 5 Best Resorts here in the Philippines which I believe deserve their feature: the Aman Resorts (Amanpulo), Palawan; Bellarocca Island Resort, Marinduque; Balesin Island Resort, Quezon; El Nido Resorts, Palawan; and Buri Spa and Resort in Batangas. This list goes in random.

My mind dramatically gets lost lusting for the comfort and leisure that these resorts offer. And if that’s a sin, I don’t want to be absolved.

Start daydreaming!

Vacationing to such places enliven our outlook of what a good life is. The lush views, activities, and services justify our sabbatical from the busy life of the city. 

We need not go to the place to know how magnificent it is. Pictures alone can do the explanation. But when the idea of relaxation and fun hits us in the eye, we start wanting it, and we keep wanting more. Santorini, Greece? Maldives? French Polynesia?

The word luxury however is sometimes tricky. The price we need to pay increases as our desires for luxury inflates.

Our family has become a savvy beach frequenter since after we began visiting to long-drive resorts in 2010, mostly within Leyte and Samar.

We are an extended type of family so traveling would usually be made up of 15 to 20 persons, that is 15 adults and 5 children below 12 years old. Having that in mind, we always have to make sure we get the most practical deal possible in every resort we book in. Because of course, we still want to experience luxury with expenses cut down in fractions.

We recently visited Caluwayan Palm Island Resort in Marabut, Samar. It is an eco-tourism oriented resort that is in the pacific coastline. It belongs to the province of Western Samar in the Visayas region of the Philippines. And it is surrounded by towering rock islands, coves, and coral gardens.

I don’t want to bore your time so I’ll talk about how to get to Caluwayan, how to book, what amenities to avail and other relevant details which I know you’ll be interested of knowing in my next blog.

From Tacloban City, we arrived in Caluwayan a few minutes past noon time. We booked online 2 weeks before our check in date so we saved an amount of time looking for availabilities. It was only a 1 night/ 2 day staycation so we had our activities set ahead of time as well.

The resort can easily be recognized from along the road. Upon arrival, a big signage under a wooden anchored thatch greeted us at the gate. Parking areas are available for private vehicles on the left and right side of the resort from the gate.

Now this one’s a usual resort photo, taking a picture in front of a big signage cleaved into travertine rocks.

We checked in 1 Family Room that accommodated 7 adults (including me) and 5 children. It has 2 king size bed  upholstered in white, with comforters, with wooden headboards and a side table. 

There's also an extra bed, a wooden breakfast table for two, a flat screen TV with remote control, DVD players with remote control and 2 movie DVDs, a small walk-in closet, complimentary air condition, modern bath tub and shower facilities, 2 lavatories, electronic card lock and glass slide doors that accommodates us an ample view of the infinity pool, calm blue waters and the surrounding rock islands.

The family room is found in the first floor of the Caluwayan Hotel  near the seaside. A private veranda extends from the room, with chaise loungers and a table, which I highly recommend from any other rooms.

The structure of the hotel room in this photo almost looked like the Thíra of Santorini, Greece. 

This part at the side of the infinity pool was calling me. It's another sublime spot for quiet book reading, spa massage, yoga, and what-else-would-you-do with your Walter Mitty self. 

There's also a part in the resort where cottages are located near the towering rock mountains. Quieted, and in a way, to a point of deafening silence. But sure if you want to take in some quiet moments with few, and seriously fewer distractions, this place is for you.

For now let me give you a sneak peek of the expansive activities that will afford you panoramic views of the rock islands and caves in Marabut, Samar. 

Photo Credits:
1st photo is found on classy (hyphen) daydreamer (at) tumblr (dot) com
all other photos are copyright Syril Tañala, pensnpaper-syriltanala.blogspot.com

A Mother’s Day Blog: If I Should Have a Daughter

Last year I blogged about the value of having fathers in our lives. And today I am posting a recognition to the people who play equal significance to us all-- mothers.

I find it hard to write anything really heartfelt about my mother. Before any cuss words be thrown up on me, I have a good relationship with her and I love her beyond faking.

One reason is, I have way too many laughing moments with her more than I thought. Good memories outweighs the bad.

I spent senseless years thinking that I don’t have a mother who cares about me. It sounds very trivial but that existed in my mind until I was sixteen.  But as tough luck and misfortunes came, I have seen my mother coming to the rescue without solicitations needed. She knew when to speak and when not to.

As I step a little forward towards maturity, I can see how she maintains her strength all through the years. She is able to carry on her youth despite being a wife, a mother, a grandmother, and a daughter all at the same time. And if I’m being overemotional, I’d like to think that every daughter is entitled to feeling that way when talking about her mother.

Few things I like or dislike about her though is that first she isn’t a good laundry-maker. Let her do the washing and you’ll get your white trousers back in red and your black t-shirt in pink. I don’t know exactly how she does that.

Next, you’ll never work with her in the kitchen without leaving it messy afterwards. And by messy I mean total chaos. It’s either you get mad at her for it or you get used to it because there’s no way for her to change that attitude. She believes in speed more than cleanliness.

Third is that you can never take her to a concert because there’s also no way for her to care for music or yet you have to blush your butt from watching drama series on TV every night for 5 hours.

And fourth, God so help me she won’t hate me for writing this. (Love you Ma! :D) These are very minute details about my mother and I just love her for the way she is. Sometimes she just really makes me laugh.

Side note: Here's my mother reading a travel magazine in one of our recent trips to a local resort

But seriously, believe me when I say there’s no measure to a mother’s love; the same love that Mary has shown for her son Jesus. No matter how terrible or unreasonable a mother can be, she’ll still always be the last person standing for you after everyone has left. For sure you know that too. There is no break, time-out, or leave in being a mother. Until her last breath, you will always remain a son or a daughter to her.

As I write this post I have here beside me a book by a spoken word poet Sarah Kay. I could not help myself but cry at how she expressed the great importance of a mother in our lives. Here are the lines:

Wanted Perfect Father

First of all, I would like to greet all the long time dads, new dads, and soon-to-be dads in the world a HAPPY FATHER’S DAY.

Image taken from weheartit.com

Few days ago when NBA and the Lunar Eclipse were the trending topics on the twitter timeline, I caught site of a twitter hashtag hanging at the bottom of the top 10 trending topics that goes, #thatsmydad. I could only remember one thing about my dad that would suit the hashtag pretty well and I tweeted, “someone who plays guitar and sings me ballad #thatsmydad”. 

I don’t exactly know how other families would usually have a good time on father’s day. I for real grew up in a family where celebrating such occasions is so unlikely, at odds to what I typically hear from others where preparations are really done for their father say, a special dinner. 

“I love you”  is a not so familiar line inside the home. After my mother remained a plain housewife for few years, suddenly had to start a job in the city government. And my father, focused most of his time and attention on politics when he started serving as a Barangay Chairman in 1995. My brother was 9 years old then while I was 5. 

Apparently, politics became part of our daily life since then. It wasn’t until I also turned 9 that I mustered the courage to write him a letter for the father’s day (thanks to the 90’s educational TV series for reminding me of such a good conduct) because I thought it’s only on those kinds of occasion that I get the chance to thank him for all he’s done and to let him know that I love him. 

There were times when I would only see my letters for him run into the trash bin few days after. Though I’ve realized my father surely didn’t intend to throw my billet-doux. I remember my aunt even said, “Don’t be discouraged, you know your parents aren’t really fond of emotions popping off letters”. 

We all in the family hardly recognize feelings and thank each other. Endearments are taboo in that trying to open up something like it makes for a very awkward conversation. Though I know the Filipino culture where families are really valued (well I still hope despite of all the issues the country is facing now), father’s day is supposed to be a day when everybody, most importantly children have to give honor to their father and make him feel like he’s the greatest, the best and the most special dad there is. 

As children grow up, perspectives change and greeting dads on father’s day grow to be less and less of a priority. All the greetings if not forgotten just become perfunctory. Some start to move and have families of their own while others get too busy with their individual jobs. I don’t know how fathers really react to this. It is probably one of the hardest things a father or a parent for that matter could ever learn to do and accept as being parents, the stage of emancipation where one has to understand that his children are never his own .