San Antonio, Zamabales with kids

The beautiful thing about Zambales? Gorgeous beaches just 3 1/2 hours drive away from Manila. Think: just an hour further than Subic. Gorgeous in that they are also unique-looking since they are back-dropped by breathtaking mountains.

Pundaquit beach, San Antonio. View from the boat.

Where we stayed:

In an airbnb house in the town of San Antonio recommended to me by a fellow school mother. It turned out to be perfect. Upon researching hotels in the area, they seemed overpriced for what they offered. This 2-bedroom house was just a little bit less than PHP4000/night for up to 5 adults (kids are free). But, there are abundant mattresses around so up to 10 adults can be accommodated. This house is modern, clean and fully equipped and had everything we needed for a comfortable stay: great kitchen, air-conditioning, generator (we experienced a brown out), patio for eating outdoors, and washer/dryer (it was great to be able to do laundry after a grimy day at the beach). Also, staying in a house was perfect for this not-yet-super-developed area in that there aren't a lot of restaurant choices around, so we ate most meals at home. And it was also perfect because it was located in the countryside, so when not at the beach, we could take in the gorgeous landscape of Zambales. Here's a photo of the house and a view from it:

The house can be viewed and reserved here.

As you can see from all the reviews on airbnb, Analyn and her husband (the caretakers of the house) were wonderful hosts- responded to questions I had promptly, made sure we had everything we needed, and arranged our island hopping tour. FYI, there is another 3-bedroom house on the same compound that is also available on airbnb if you are going with a large group, it's just not as well- equipped.

The best part about the house was the view, and the land all around it. There are also fruit trees, cattle, pigs, goats and a carabao in the compound for the kids to enjoy. One more plus of the house: there's a roof-level lanai for stargazing at night, which was pretty amazing.

Fruit tree, carabao, fields, eggplant tree, pig

What we did:

We spent one afternoon attempting to surf at Crystal Beach resort in the next town over, called San Narciso. But, there were no waves so we weren't able to. FYI, rental of surfboard at Crystal Beach is PHP400/hour. We had lunch here and it was fine. Kids enjoyed fish and chips and BBQ chicken. Their menu is pretty extensive with many Filipino dishes.

Crystal Beach

When Crystal beach didn't work out, instead of paying their day tour rate of PHP195 per person, we thought we'd try the free public beach next door to it (the one behind the town's children's playground). It did the job beautifully!

The public beach at San Narciso. At dusk we got to watch the fishermen go out on their boats.

We did one day of island hopping to Camara Island, Capones Island and Anawangin Cove. The jump- off point to all of these is Pundaquit beach in San Antonio (10 min drive from the house). Analyn accompanied us to Kristel's beach resort (the owner is a friend of theirs) and helped us secure our boat for the day. For the 6 of us, it was PHP2000 for a medium-sized boat with two staff members to take us to all three islands. 10-minute ride to Camara (it's a small island so only stayed about 30 minutes), another 10 minutes to Capones (views were breathtaking here and snorkeling great so stayed about an hour), then a 20 minute boat-ride to Anawangin Cove. Here, we enjoyed a picnic lunch under the pine trees.

Anawangin Cove is divided into about 6 resorts where you can pay a fee to enter to use their picnic tables and CRs. Or you can rent hut for varying prices (PHP100 to PHP1500 for a really nice Nipa hut for the day). Or you can pay to camp for the night (which we didn't do). My only recommendation is to not go to the resort that's right in the middle of the cove called Mansayon beach resort. It seems to be the party campsite (lots of alcohol bottles lying around) and also the least maintained (garbage everywhere). It's the one we walked into not knowing there was more than one resort, and we were disheartened by the excessive littering. I was relieved to see later that the other resorts were better maintained and kinder to nature. We brought our picnic and water on the boat as there are only limited sari-sari stores at Anawangin Cove. Annalyn had brought us to the market in San Antonio to get everything we needed before heading to Pundaquit beach. After lunch, we played at the the beach. There is also some good snorkeling. If you have your back to the water, there is good snorkeling at the left of the cove where the rocks are. Here are pictures from our island hopping:

Camara Island

Capones Island

Views from Capones Island. Note that apparently the Navy doesn't allow people 

to climb up the lighthouse on the island anymore. 

Setting for a picnic at Anawangin cove. Memorable.

Panoramic shot at Anawangin cove

Other things to do:
- There is a mango farm in the area which you can visit. My friend Amber of A Momma Abroad went there and loved it. See her blogpost here.
- There is a short, kid-friendly hike to a waterfall from Pundaquit beach too, but we didn't do it as it's not recommended in the dry season. You can read about on Bantog Backpackers' blog.
- Visit Nagsasa Cove, which is about another hour further than Anawangin Cove by boat.

- Visit Casa San Miguel in San Antonio. It's an art gallery, a music school, a bed and breakfast and a cafe. Us and Casa San Miguel just weren't meant to be as the first time we went it was booked out for a wedding, and the second time, brown out! But look how pretty the cafe is, and more information about Casa San Miguel is on wheninmanila's website.

Cafe at Casa San Miguel

Finally, another blogpost that helped me plan our trip: Two Monkeys Travel Group (look under destination #5 Zambales). And it seems the boat fares are pretty standard at Pundaquit, but if you need a recommendation, we really liked Kristel's resort for hiring our boat for island hopping (which our hostess Analyn brought us too). The owner, Florante, is organized and efficient, and his staff are all friendly and kind. When we brought our friends back two days later to get them settled with a boat, he organized everything for them too. Here's Florante's info and rates:

Recipe: Malunggay Pesto

I love being able to use local produce, and I love it even more when it's something the whole family (i.e. the kids) will eat. And even better when that local produce is highly nutritious. I have enjoyed discovering malunggay and it's amazing nutritional properties. Some examples: it has 2 times the protein than yoghurt, 4 times more vitamin A than carrots, 7 times more vitamin C than oranges, 3 times more iron than spinach, double the calcium than in milk, and 3 times more potassium than bananas. I love that is is available so abundantly and so inexpensively in the Philippines. We even have a malunggay tree in our yard. I found this book at National Bookstore that encourages people to make use of the benefits of malunggay by incorporating it into more of our meals. Apart from in Tinola and Munggo stew, I've also thrown it into smoothies and pureed it into pancakes, with varying success as to the palates of my kids depending on their mood that day! But one way that they enjoy it for sure, is in pesto sauce! So, here we go, posting the recipe.

Recipe from "The Malunggay Book" by Day Salonga and Mon Urbano

Makes about 2 cups

2 garlic cloves
2 cups fresh malunggay leaves
1/2 cup basil
1/2 cup cashew nuts, unsalted and toasted
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
3/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Puree until it turns to a paste. Season with salt and pepper.

From a tree in our yard, to the blender, to the pasta. 

We need some green: Bangkong Kahoy Valley

Just got back from a fabulous 2-day, 1-night trip to Bangkong Kahoy Valley in Dolores, Quezon Province. 2 1/2 hours away from Manila.

It was just the outdoor, nature experience we were in need of. 

Why we loved it: 

1) You can PICK WILD RASPBERRIES there!!! Called Sapinit in Tagalog. Season is from Jan-March. The temperatures here are as cool as Baguio. The low at night was 21C and the high during the day was 26C (in Feb). It was so exciting to come across a blogpost a few months ago about these berries, and then to go and find them at BK Valley, and even better, to find that they weren't out of stock! Lots of berries for the kids to pick. If you're just picking handfuls, it's free. If you're picking a lot, it's PHP400 for 1 1kg. (Note: sapinit bushes are found near the parking lot of the villas, and in another area. When you leave restaurant as if you are exiting BK valley, it's the second left where the "cement yurts" are, pass the sayote squash gardens and the raspberries are in the field on your left. Sapinit are also found higher up in the mountains, the workers of the farm go up there, they said it was too far away for us to go. I saw a man come back with two grocery bagfuls of raspberries from there!). The wild raspberries have a tougher skin than normal raspberries, are a little crunchier, more seedy and not as sweet. They are a glorious red color and were such a delight to pick and eat! 

2) Nature, nature, nature. Bangkong Kahoy Valley is located between Mount Banahaw and Mount Cristobal. This farm is huge! So much space to be free! The kids got to run in an open field, ride a horse, run in open soccer fields (equal to 4 of them, in fact), dink around at a pond, and hang in hammocks scattered around the farm. We also enjoyed the views and went on a great trek in the jungle. (Note: while there were a lot of signs for trails, it was hard to get the info on where they really started. We found a great trail that starts at a lodge a bit lower down from the restaurant, you hike down to thick, mossy jungle. When you leave restaurant as if exiting BK valley, it's your first left. There's a parking for ATVs and a black gate to a lodge. At the very right of the black gate, there are stairs going down.... follow these stairs down the ravine. We loved the thick vegetation and listening to the sounds of birds. Rocks and moss are slippery, recommend long pants because of thorny bushes.)

The flora and fauna of BK valley

3) It was a perfect balance of being out in nature, and yet having the amenities we needed at hand. We felt completely free at the farm. We went on a Friday-Saturday. Friday there weren't any other guests. While it takes a lot of people to run the farm, and while we did encounter workers who were all so nice and helpful, we felt on our own and free to roam enjoy the grounds of the whole farm. As meals were taken care of and at a set price (see below), I didn't have to worry about what food we were going to eat next. We met the caretaker of BK valley, Dion Pullan. He is an environmentalist at heart and genuinely wants people to take care of and enjoy the benefits of nature. And that's what we felt at BK Valley, a place to enjoy nature freely, and yet have the amenities close by. At BK Valley, you can camp in a tent that you bring, stay in an open cottage (I wish we were adventurous enough to stay here- they looked really fun and airy), stay in a  basic, but clean, villa which sleeps 4-6 people, or stay in a lodge room that has TV, hot water, wifi and a more comfortable set-up. Photos and prices below. We stayed in a villa, and the rusticity of it was just right to match our outdoorsy experience at BK Valley.

Open cottages range from PHP 2000-3000 depending on the size. The one in the two photos at the top are of Antonio's cottage which has a bed in the loft as well, for PHP2800. We stayed in a villa (Dio's villa. pictures in the two photos at the bottom) which cost PHP3500 for a queen bed and 2 sets of bunk beds.

There are also comfortable lodge rooms for PHP6000.

See BK valley's website for more info on the rooms, and you can book by texting Elena at 0929 819 8537.

4) The food set-up and the food itself. All meals are at an open, airy Robinson Crusoe-type structure. Before coming to BK valley, you can pre-arrange which meals you will be eating there. We had lunch, afternoon merienda, dinner, breakfast the next morning, and morning merienda at BK valley. Before coming, they asked us what kinds of meals we might be wanting (I told them adobo, pancit and vegetable dishes, as I had heard these were their specialties). When we did arrive, they had a lunch ready for us. They also asked us what we might want for the kids for dinner- they offered fried chicken and rice, which sounded great. For the meals and meriendas, they charged us a flat rate per person (see price breakdown below) and served all the food family-style. The food was simple but diverse and plentiful, and very much based on vegetables that are grown on the farm (organically). Here's a list of what we ate. If you go, I recommend giving them an idea of which meals and what you would like to eat, because they need to know beforehand to prepare. All of the food was fresh and tasted amazing in the outdoors. 

-Lunch (PHP1000 for 4 people, that's what they charged us for our family of 6): Vegetable nilaga (broth w/ sayote and string beans), breaded fried fish (two kinds), shitake mushrooms and carrot dish, rice, and watermelon. 

-Afternoon merienda (PHP360 for 4): mushroom burgers (their specialty, they were good! Maybe ask to be able to put on your own mayo and mustard), kamote (sweet potato) fries, and hot chocolate.

-Dinner (PHP1000 for 4): Chopsuey, fried chicken, corn and carrot soup, coleslaw (which was delicious), fried oyster mushrooms (another farm specialty), and fruit cocktail. 

-Breakfast (PHP800 for 4): Fried eggs, longanisa, hot dogs, cabbage omelets, rice, fried rice, and hot chocolate. 

-Morning merienda (ended up being complimentary): Taro pizza (more like a pancake), fried sweet potato slices, and fried plantains. And beautiful dishes of wild raspberries!

Next  to the restaurant, there is an honesty store which sells produce from the farm and you choose your produce, weigh it, calculate how much you owe and leave your money in a box. They also sell other products there like wild raspberry jam. 

Mealtime at the canteen

BK valley specialties

 Morning merienda

5) The staff family. They were all so cheerful and helpful, and happy when serving our meals, arranging for us to ride horses, or finding raspberries for us to pick. 

 Here are the ladies who worked the kitchen- chopping mushrooms for their mushroom burgers.

All in all, Bangkong Kahoy Valley was a wonderful place to go as a family and to be free in nature. We went with family friends and this is a great place to enjoy in a group as there is lots accommodation (and for all budgets), food is taken care of, and there is so much space and so much to enjoy in the outdoors. It could be done as a daytrip or as an overnight trip. Who knew there was a place with cool temperatures just 2 1/2 hours away!

Here are the two blogposts where I learned about BK valley:

Guiltless Getaways

Mommy Writes 

And here is an article about the wild raspberries of Quezon province:

Choose Philippines

We need some green: Fort Santiago and San Diego Gardens, Intramuros

First of all, to get to know Intramuros, I highly recommend Carlos Celdran's walking tour. He does an amazing job of going over Manila's history from Chinese to post-WWII times in a theatrical tour. He passionately gives his audience an appreciation and understanding of how Manila came to be the way it is today. See his blog for tour dates/rates:
https://carlosceldranwalks.wordpress.com/

Two places in Intramuros that are particularly kid-friendly below. If you need a place to dine, we love Ristorante delle Mitre which is like an old Spanish bistro, for it's quaintness and old spanish/filipino food at very reasonable prices (we like the pancit, the fresh lumpia, the kangkong and okra dishes... and any pasta and the fried chicken for the kids. Their desserts/tarts are good too!)

1) Fort Santiago: Old fort with manicured lawns. Kids can enjoy the grass and greenery, climb on old ruins, and walk the steps of Jose Rizal. Entrance fee is PHP75 for adults, 50PHP for kids. Open daily 8am to 5pm.

2) San Diego Gardens: Gardens connected to one of the baluartes (bastions) of Intramuros. The remains of the bastion itself are impressive and surrounded by an area of green where kids can run around and balance on ruins. In what felt like a hidden garden, kids can explore: potted plants, flowers, leafy archways, bonsai trees, and the walls of Intramuros. We went at 9am on a weekday and had the place pretty much to ourselves. It was quiet and fun to explore this rudimentary secret garden with a backdrop dripping with history. Entrance fee is PHP75 for adults, 50PHP for kids. Open daily 8am to 5pm.

We need some green: Cintai Corito's Garden in Batangas

Did a daytour at Cintai Corito's Garden in Lipa, Batangas with a girlfriend and our 7 kids between us (got a discount on dealgrocer, it was PHP1350 per adult for the daytour and paid PHP600 per kid aged 3-12). Why it was great: it took us exactly 60 minutes to get there from Makati (it's close to the freeway exit so hardly any slow roads!), lots of paths and garden for children to explore, three different swimming pools to play in (one of them has pretend beach by it (pebble beach... felt like we went to the beach), included lunch is basic but good, included merienda (afternoon snack) was suman and chocolate sauce!, a large playground, animals like peacocks and poneys roaming around (they give poney rides), and clean bathrooms to change in. We spent all day there (10-5pm) and kids played all day long.

Culture: Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar

Two and a half hours away from Manila (in no traffic), this is a collection of old Spanish houses that have been transplanted from all parts of the Philippines or are replicas. They did a great job of landscaping and planning the site tastefully and artistically, it’s like walking into an 18 hectare-town of old Spanish houses.

We loved it with the kids. Reasons why:

1)      The “town” is so fun to see, you feel transplanted into another era. All the staff are dressed as in Spanish times. Beautiful greenery, it’s by the water, and they’ve even made an inlet so there’s a section that has canals. Great outdoor museum/cultural experience for the kids. You can follow a guided tour (every hour, lasts 1.5 hours) and they tell you about approx. 20 of the houses, you even enter some.

2)      Las Casas has three restaurants: one Filipino (pricier, PHP500 and up per dish, sometimes only offers buffet-style, PHP 650 per person),  one Mexican-Filipino (around PHP250 and up per dish, they do actually have tacos) and one Italian (around PHP250 and up per dish). Food was great and not only that, the restaurants are in the old houses and have great settings/atmospheres. At Mexi-Filipino, we liked beef salpicao and the grilled prawns (and the homemade French fries). At Italian, the pizza and pasta were great (pizza made in brick oven) and the soups and salads we got were yummy too! The only disappointment of our whole time at Casas was the buffet breakfast. I think westerners will be disappointed because it is all rice and pinoy sides (scrambled eggs, corned beef, dried fish) and limited bread selection. Even as far as Filipino breakfasts go, I think variety is slim and quality not great (esp. compared to the other food we had at Las Casas).

Setting of dinner at the Mexi-Filipino restaurant

3)      Loved the touches of being able to do a kalesa ride through the town (15 minutes, 50 php per person age 4 and up), a stand that sold Filipino treats like puto bumbong, palitaw and pichi pichi. Also loved the in-house bakery!

4)      Las Casas is located on a beach, it’s a beach resort! Kids were so happy to be able to play at the end of the day. And there’s a really fun pool too (looks like a watering hole, pretty local, loved it). It was a great atmosphere at the beach at dusk with so many families there enjoying themselves together.

5)      Cultural show every week-end night at 6pm!

6)      The hotel rooms! So fun to stay in an old Spanish style room- clean, comfortable and spacious! We got a superior deluxe room (good for 2 adults, 2 kids, and toddlers under 5 stay for free; was about PHP7200 including taxes). You can ask to see the rooms first- only important because some are half the size of others! And also, the first room we checked out smelled mildew-y whereas the room we ended up in did not. Be sure to use this website http://web.lascasasfilipinas-bataan.com/ to book because Las Casas has another website that doesn't show the rates for these rooms, but only the more expensive rooms. In fact, probably best to call them to get their rates because even on the website, they are higher than the walk-in rate that we paid. There are also deluxe rooms for around PHP 5800 (1 queen bed, good for 2 adults, toddlers stay for free). 

And a pic of the bathroom bc that's important for a mom to decide if she can stay here or not

7)      Las Casas can be done as a day tour (they have a day tour rate). Or overnight with getting there for lunch at one of the restos, checking in at 2, doing the heritage tour of the houses in the afternoon, then pool and beach, then cultural show and dinner. Breakfast in the morning, more pool and beach before you have to check out. We just went for one night, felt like an escape and a great getaway. Culture and beach and fun restaurants.

These buildings are facing the beach, these are where some of the hotel rooms are. The jeepney is the shuttle that takes you around the resort.

Scenes of Las Casas along the water. Quite the escape, right?

8)      And I almost forgot, the staff there are all so nice and sweet to the kids. And I loved all the people visiting Las Casas- everyone’s just happy to be discovering such a neat place. We went in January, there were so many happy balikbayans (Filipinos who live abroad but returning for vacatin) there who were all so friendly and proud to see this great site of Filipino heritage.

Vigan with kids

Sightseeing Vigan with kids is so great because you hire a kalesa and take it everywhere you go. So the sights are broken up with kalesa ride (= shade, breeze, rest and a ride!) and kids don't even realize they are sightseeing. Kalesa rental is 150 php/hour from Called Crisologo (the main old, Spanish street). We did 4 hours. Things we enjoyed seeing with kids:

1) Bantay Belfry and St. Augustine Church. Climb up belfry and see views of the hills surrounding Vigan - beautiful. There's even a cemetery perched on the hill faraway. I loved the grounds of St. Augustine Church, particularly the quiet, Chapel by the Ruins garden. Along the exterior walls of it, you can light a candle here with a prayer for peace.

2) Ilocos Sur National Museum (now in the provincial jail where Pres. Quirino was born). This was a good break for kids because indoors and air-conditioned. Shows important parts of Ilocos Sur livelihood like agricultural tools and pottery. I loved this tapestry of embroidery showing local life on a woven blanket. Large paintings showing Ilocos Sur's history. There is also a series of paintings showing Ilocos Sur's history. 

 3) Jar factory (Type of pottery is called Burnay). I think there are a lot around but the one we went to was RG jar factory. They had tons of very big, decorative jars on display. Kids got to try throwing their own jars on a big wheel (for a tip) and see the huge kiln the pottery is fired in  (I want to say 30 metres long). Look at these miniature cooking jars that would be fun for a kids play kitchen if they weren't so breakable.

4) Abel weaving
Ask Kalesa driver to take you to see the weavers. The ones we saw were Cristy's and Rowilda's (in the same countryside neighborhood outside of Vigan). Both were great and had people working at the looms when we visited so kids could see and watch. Both had cool products to buy. (But if you can only do one, I would choose Rowilda's only bc products were a bit cooler and seemed more unique to Vigan. Christy's products I felt you could find in Manila).

 Rowilda's

 Cristy's 

Cristy's

5) Crisologo Street
The earlier in the day to walk here the better. We walked there at dusk and it was much more crowded than in the morning. Look at these fun wooden products for kids' dollhouses. And we tried Vigan empanadas at Irene's on Calle Crisologo (one of the famous empanada places).

6) Lights and music fountain show on Plaza Salcedo in the evening. You watch from bleachers (or standing) around the fountain. But there is also a section of fountains coming out of the ground where kids can run around. On the ground, there is also a map of the Philippines projected with lights that is fun for the kids to run on.