Sunday retreat @ Villa Escudero

June 16, 2013 Sunday

Ensogo offerred a Day tour + buffet lunch voucher at Villa Escudero at 999php, so I immediately grabbed this deal and bought 4 vouchers. My mom also wanted to go here ever since we were young, so I wanted to give her this gift. Since we would only be travelling via public bus, we decided to avail the voucher in pairs to ensure that someone would be left to take care of my baby niece. We-my sister and I-used our voucher so it's our turn to babysit this coming Sunday. But that's another story...going back...

Going there

This info was a bit hard to research via the Internet. Most people have cars or rented vans to go here, so information via public bus was scarce and they didn't have pictures. In order to answer the question of those who are commuting, this was what we did: 

Hacienda Escudero signage and if you walk further down 

the path, you will see the guard post and there will be a 

tricycle available.

We rode a bus going to Lucena and told the conductor that we will alight at Villa Escudero

This was the usual answer that you would encounter. I even asked the booking office via email and they gave me the same answer. I think the fare would be lower if you told the conductor that you'd be going down at Villa Escudero rather than saying Tiaong that's worth 158php/pax(JAM bus). At 5:30am, we left the bus station. Important reminder: Don't rely on the conductor to cue you to your stop because they tend to forget.

Reception Area: pay for your tickets here

Alight the bus once you pass the Quezon arch

This was not an exaggeration. Look to your left and you'll see "HACIENDA ESCUDERO". These are the list of towns that you will pass starting from the SLEX exit: Makiling, Laguna; Calamba, Laguna; Sto. Tomas, Batangas; Alaminos, Laguna; San Pablo, Laguna. San Pablo would be the last, so get ready. Do not depend on the 'McDonalds Villa Escudero' posters, you will be far from where you need to go if you see this. Travel time will be 2 hours. 

Hacienda Escudero

Villa Escudero is far from the highway. It takes a little more than 3 minutes via tricycle to get to the reception area. You could walk or you could ride the tricycle at 50php. Once you get there, go to the reception area to pay for tickets. The day tour included the ff.: museum entrance, bamboo rafting, swimming, carabao ride, and buffet lunch at the Labasin falls.

Museum

Museum

The musuem's facade looked like that of a church. Inside, you will immediately see various religious statues. Another turn would lead you to a display of preserved animals and a wall of deer head mounts. Don't miss the New Testament that looked like an ordinary white wall poster with the portrait of Jesus and cherubs. Another hallway would have an array of religious items. Once you get to the second floor, you'll see old versions of our currency and other countries' currencies, dolls, pots, jars, other things that you'd normally discover on shipwrecks, traditional costumes, guns and a huge frame of knives. If you're not that interested, you could just walk past the display and go towards the exit.

Ligaya is the name of the carabao

Carabao ride

The carabao carts would be just behind the statues of the Katipuneros. During the ride, you will be serenaded by 2 employees singing old Filipino songs. They will drop you off to where you could find the bamboo rafts, Labasin waterfalls and swimming pool.

Bamboo rafts

Bamboo rafting

We didn't try this because we're just too lazy to row and it was too sunny ^_^ I'm not sure if you could fish in the waters but the lake does have tilapia.

Swimming pool

Swimming

We also didn't take a dip even though we brought swimsuits. 

Labasin Waterfalls. Entrance to this area 

will start at approximately 10:30am.

We were the first ones in line to reserve

 the best seat. Good thing it 

didn't rain.

Labasin Waterfalls

Our lunch: Grilled tilapia, ginataang kalabasa, roast chicken
grilled pork, pancit, plain rice, caldereta, misua soup on the side

This is a man-made waterfall and the water came from the lake. I thought that it was a good idea to dine near the waterfall but having your feet immersed in water for the whole time during your meal doesn't feel too good. Don't expect too much from the buffet table. The only dish that I appreciated was the caldereta. Everything else(except for the grilled tilapia) was either salty or bland. You could order a coconut that costs 40php.

After lunch is siesta time. You could walk around or swim or raft or you could simply sit at the restaurant and wait for the cultural show. I suggest you try their halo-halo, though we didn't get to order this because we were still full from lunch, a lot of people did. We tried their Hazelnut Iced coffee and for me, it was really good. Not that sweet and you could taste a slight bitterness from the coffee. We also ordered french fries while waiting for the show. At 60php, it was good for two and the cut was not like the typical french fries. Though I don't understand why it had to be covered in flour, the fries went well with  the mustard-relish-mayo dip.

Singkil dance

Cultural Show
The first rondalla was performed by teens. It was good but I would've appreciated it better if they smiled. The main program was performed by the employees and they demonstrated at least 10 traditional Filipino dances-complete with costumes, makeup, props, and music. I absolutely loved it. Do take time to see the show because it was worth it.

It was tiring yet it was also enjoyable. If I'd be given a chance to go back, I would be there to taste another variant of their coffee and order a glass of halo-halo :)