Oct.20 - Hidden Valley

I'm in paradise. Today we went to a place called Hidden Valley Hot Springs Resort in Laguna (the province where my parents grew up).

This place is so amazingly beautiful. There are 2 sets of falls that we went to. One is cold spring water, and the "hot" spring is about the temperature of a bath. The hot spring drops down to 3 pools. As you go lower down, the water gets slightly cooler. There are all these little falls you can sit under. The falls gave me an even better massage than the spa did! I could have stayed there forever.


Since it is off season, we practically had the whole place to ourselves. The only other people crazy enough to come for a vacation during typhoon season were other Canadians! We're not scared of a little rain! Luckily during out stay there it never rained - it was cloudy and the pools had tall trees all around it so I never had to wear sunblock. For me, this was perfect. It was cool enough so I didn't get hot at all.







We had a little cabin to ourselves with a bedroom upstairs and a bedroom downstairs. Me, my dad and my Uncle Chito stayed there. It also had one of the nicest bathrooms I've ever seen. Unfortunately I never got to use the big shower there. I know you're thinking "What? You never showered while you were there?" We spent all days in the Hot Springs. It's the first time that I can remember going swimming, drying off, and feeling clean afterwards.




This place is huge and all-inclusive, which means a lot of good food: breakfast, lunch, marienda (snack) and dinner buffets. Regardless of how many people are staying here, they always cook for at least 25 people. And there were only a handful of people during the meals. Therefore, I think it was my duty to eat at least 8 plates of food at every meal!

For part of the lunch, we were the only people there. 3 waiters for 3 people! Plus there was a singer and guitarist that were playing music just for us.

For dinner, we sat under the stars (sun goes down at 6) with the people playing soft music. One funny thing is they kept playing Christmas songs even though it was only October. I guess they were practicing for their busy season - December is when everyone visits the Philippines - no more storms, cool weather and Christmas parties. A little weird to hear those songs in October, but the food was good and I was tired, so I was fine!

Hands down, the best place we went to in the Philippines!