Masacrot Spring-A resort enveloped by nature

Bulusan, Sorsogon is rich in natural resources. Bulusan is from the word Bulos which means flow of water or water current. Exploring Bulusan always includes  water activities.

One of the unique and beautiful tourist spot in Bulusan is the Masacrot Spring. It is located in San Roque, Bulusan, Sorsogon. It is known for its mineral water. Actually it should be tested because it has a taste of carbonated mineral water or soda water just like of that in Bura Soda Water swimming pool of Camiguin. You can taste the water right from the spring. The water is cold that’s why the feeling  is like of that swimming in a cold “soft drinks” water. The word Masacrot is derived from the taste of the water meaning a little bit acidic or vinegary because of its carbonated taste like.

The Masacrot Spring has open cottages and tables with chair for rent. The entrance fee is minimal.

The swimming  pool is enveloped with trees, wild ferns, ornamental plants and algae. The trees in here are being embraced by algae and some epiphyte ferns and plants. One should be careful in dipping into the water because there are parts that are slippery because of the algae on the swimming pool itself. It is being cleaned often but algae is one of the microorganisms that grows in there.

All year round visitors flock in there to enjoy and savor the carbonated mineral water and its natural beauty. Don’t forget to drop by in this unique tourist spot when you have time.

Masacrot Spring

San Roque, Bulusan, Sorsogon

How to get to Lusada Cold Spring

Lusada Cold Spring 

The Crystal Clear water of Lusada Cold Spring

The province of Sorsogon has no much organize tour, that’s why most tourist are doing their own way of how to explore and enjoy the place, which somehow adds more to the thrill of the adventure.

To those who want to explore the place in a convenient way you can hire a van ranging from 2,500 up. It depends upon your haggling skills. By the way the nearest airport is the Legaspi airport from there you can take van for hire or public transportation like van or bus. Usually the van is good  for an 8 hours trip although it depends upon how you can agree on some terms that would be favorable to you.

For those who would be coming from the airport, you can take tricycle and ask the driver to bring you to the bus or van terminal going to Sorsogon or Bulan. The tricycle fare is 50.00 pesos one way trip, the capacity of it is 4 persons.

Look for  the bus or van going to Bulan, tell the driver to drop you off in Caladgao, Buraburan, Juban. This trip is much better. The Van fare is 180.00 per head.  With the bus its cheaper. But if there is not straight trip you can take the Sorsogon City trip.

From Sorsogon City you can ride a jeep or bus  with a signage of Irosin, Bulan or Matnog. Tell the conductor  to drop u off in Lusada, Caladgao, Buraburan, Juban.

Lusada Cold Spring is near the Maharlika High way. You will be dropped off on the trail to go there. It has no trail sign but you can ask the locals for the right path.

If your hotel is in Sorsogon City you can take jeep, van or bus in going back. The nearest local hotels are in Irosin, Sorsogon if you want to stay longer. You can reach the place by riding a jeep with a signage of Irosin, Bulang or Matnog. 

Lusada Cold Spring- A crystal spring

In the province of Sorsogon there are many entrance free tourist destinations. Underdeveloped just for the consumption of the locals, "bakasyonistas"( visitors of the local coming from different places) and some tourists that are looking for real adventures unexplored by many.

One of them is the Lusada Cold Spring located in Sitio Caladgao, Buraburan, Juban. It's is along the Maharlika hi-way, more or less 15-20 meters away from the main road. Few minutes walk. Lusada is a local term which means "to go down" from the root word lusad meaning go down. 

It was my first time to visit this place. My sisters, nieces and nephews have been there before but sad to say I didn't. But since it was a hot afternoon we looked for a cold spring to refresh. We grew up loving the hot springs. Our place is blessed with springs because of the Mount Bulusan. We decided to try Lusada. 

Lusada Cold Spring has one natural pool, surrounded by banana trees, bushes, wild plants, ferns and boulders. It is the pool for everybody and serves too as a laundry area. We saw some washing their clothes in one area. By the way it's common in the provinces to wash their clothes in the river, springs, or any form of body of water. 

There is an automatic understanding that when there are new visitors they would vacate an area to accommodate them. It's part of the culture to be hospitable and accommodating.

I saw some put their bottles of soft drinks in one area to make it cooler, the pool is not just a place for swimming and washing clothes but also serves as the cooler. Unique pool.

My companions were enjoying the swimming because the same as in Binarabudan Cold Spring there are fish too. It was getting late when we decided to leave the spring. 

I got disappointed when I saw d surroundings full of used plastic, foil, bottles and other rubbish  meaning those who visit the place just throw their trashes outside the pool. It's the place where local go everyday, hope the people together with the local officials come out with the plan how to maintain the beauty of the place. 

I really hope that someday, we Filipinos can learn to understand and appreciate how blessed we are having this beautiful land. We learn to take care of the natural resources that we have. It's our wealth, heritage, pride  and preserving this will be the greatest gift to the next generation. 

Villa del Prado Pool and Beach Resort-Sariaya, Quezon

We were sort of tight of budget for the summer because the airfare during peak seasons is high. We look for a fun in the outskirt of Manila, since it was summer time we looked for some fun in the beach. We’ve been to Sariaya, Quezon sometimes in 2008. This year our company too was looking for a nice location for our summer company outing. One of the organizers suggested Sariaya, luckily most of us agreed to have it there.

They found the Villa del Prado Pool and Beach Resort; it is located in Bignay I, Sariaya, and Quezon. It is in the southern part of Luzon. It is a resort, which has a combination of pool and beach. The good thing with this resort, everyone can bring a kid, because the kiddies’ pool is just two feet although of course at the restriction of the parents, while the adult pool is five to six feet plus it has a cyclone slide. The kids enjoyed the pool.

Kiddie pool

Adult Pool

Beach Area

We, adults were having fun in the beach. There are some activities too that one can does like, snorkeling, boating, seashells hunting, building sand castles etc. The water is not clear like the one we visited before. Along the shorelines there are some peddlers of souvenirs from key chain to native delicacies. This place is the best for those who are busy that cant take a vacation for days, just a day one can relax in this resort with a clean and fresh air.

Subic Bay Beach in Matain, Subic Bay, Zambales

Our company had a summer outing and we were supposed to be booked in a resort but when we were about to check in, in a resort our group couldn’t be accommodated because we were many around 150 persons. Since we had no deposit on that resort we chose to get the next private resort, not developed but enough to accommodate us. It has no much facility because it was under construction. It is the camaraderie that matters most.

There are many activities that nearby hotels offer like banana boat ride, jetski, boating, snorkeling, island hopping etc. What we tried was boating to enjoy the Subic Bay view; we passed by the White Castle Island, a manmade castle like structure, it is an island with sharp rock formations. The boatman tours us within the bay, showed the nice beaches nearby and other undisturbed shorelines.

The shoreline’s color varies from white to gray fine sand; its water is not as clear like in other parts of the country.

Nevertheless we enjoyed our stay; it was just a day of fun. 

  

White Castle Island

Boracay Island, Malay, Aklan, Philippines

Boracay Island is one of the best beaches around the world. It is located in Malay, Aklan, Philippines part of Panay Island, Visayan Region. It can be reached thru airplane via Kalibo, Aklan or Caticlan, Aklan, or thru Roll on-Roll off, (via ship) program by the Philippine’s tourism. The place is perfect for vacation to get away from the busy life. The shoreline is long; the sand is pristine and powdery. There are hotels that can accommodate one’s budget, from the cheapest to the most expensive. Night life on the island is perfect from Station 1 to Station 3 different kinds of entertainment. During the day there are water activities that one can enjoy such as snorkeling, diving, swimming, rift-walking or known as helmet diving, parasailing, banana boat ride, flying fish, island hopping, all-terrain vehicle riding and a whole lot more. The island is secured; the police visibility is around the clock. Different cuisines can be found on the island. Automated teller machines are available too. One can really enjoy the stay on this island like I did. January is one of the perfect months to stay on the island because not that congested, and can make one really relax the vacation.

Bangui Windmill, Bangui, Ilocos Norte

Bangui Bay windmill is the first commercial wind farm in Southeast Asia. It is one of the tourist attraction in this Part of the country, Ilocos Norte. Aside from enjoying the sight of the windmills, the place is stunning because of the clean shoreline and the mountains on the side. Tourists can find souvenir items on this place.

Hanging Bridge at Sipatan River - Sevilla, Bohol

Exploring Bohol is great, its like u enter a new paradise. The place is enchanting. Every town has its own place to share for everyone to enjoy the stay. U just have to rent a van or any for rent vehicle to tour around. One of the places that u should not miss is dropping by at the hanging bridge at Sipatan River. The fee for traversing the bridge is 10 pesos that is less than a dollar. Actually that fee is for maintaining the bridge. The capacity of the bridge is just 10 persons. Crossing the bridge is fun specialy when ur companions have fear of height and somebody would shake the bridge. Torture for them. The water of the river is not clear its like muddy one but the place has rich in vegetation. Fresh air. There are buko, which is perfect after the tiring experience of crossing the bridge. And there are sourvenirs for sale.

Taytay Falls - Majayjay Falls, Majayjay, Laguna

One Sunday we decided to visit Taytay Falls also known as Majayjay Falls in Majayjay, Laguna. I was fascinated with name of place called Majayjay. According to some folklore “ma” was from the word marami, which means plenty in English. And the word “jay”(pronounced as hay) was from “hay”, which means sigh in English. So the word is full of sighs from appreciating the gift of nature. We had no car of our own so we just commuted to go here. We left at 7:00am in our place then we reached Brgy. Taytay past 12pm already. The trip was long because we had to cut trips. But the trip was really awesome. We met the old ways of Filipinos in accepting guests. The locals were very warm. They let us feel safe. One of the passengers in the jeep where we rode invited us to go to their place in Brgy. Bukal tovisit the water falls there called Bukal Falls. We promised to visit her someday.

The entrance to Taytay falls is 20 pesos per head for day tour. Before we proceed to do the trek we decided to order pancit habhab, a local delicacy but the small restaurant or turo-turo in the local term, had no available noodle for pancit habhab. So we ordered Pancit Bihon(rice noodle) instead. One order of pancit bihon cost 70 pesos. We could not eat all of them; one order could feed 4 to 5 persons. After eating we toke out the remaining Pancit Bihon and brought it to the water falls.

Trekking to the water falls was easy. The path way is already cemented so it so easy to trek. Actually this is the easiest trek that we had. The visitors were all Filipinos. I did not see any foreigners there unlike in Pagsanjan Falls. It’s good to know that more locals are helping the tourism in propagating the local tourism. The visitors in this water falls are dominated by the youth. They put up tent and camp there.

The water is too cold. We couldn’t stay in the water for long. The place is really awesome. The vegetation is still rich. It’s a safe place there are civilian guards everywhere, who remind everyone not too litter and be careful with exploring the place.

The water falls height is more or less 20ft., clear and cold.

We stayed there for just a couple of hour, it was short but we explored the place. The trip was awesome and worth of our time.

Daraga Church-Our Lady of the Gate, Daraga, Albay

Very beautiful and old hilltop church, overlooking the majestic Mayon Volcano. It is Located at the town of Daraga, province of Albay.

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish Church-Casiguran, Sorsogn

Philippines' culture and heritage can be seen through Churches. Filipinos are really religious. When traveling to the Philippines that will always include the Visitation of Churches.
In the province of Sorsogon, one of the churches that is always nice to visit is the one in Casiguran. It is a hilltop Church like one of that in Irosin. This church is in Honor of the Most Holy Rosary through Virgin Mary.

Sinampay-Hanging Clothes

Going to the provinces are nice to experience primitive ways of life. One of the things that Filipinos should be thankful of is having a rich in natural resources. Mostly those who are living in the provinces washing their clothes in the river or spring where they could hang their clothes while swimming too.