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July 21 - 23, 2008 were the days I was in Mt. Malarayat Golf and Country Club in Lipa, Batangas, for a family vacation. Got the accommodation for my family of 5 persons free of charge and my Uncle's, family of 4, who just signed up for the membership, I think it's a promo. Hehe! Anyway, it was just a short journey from Manila, almost 2 hours of driving since we weren't familiar with the place yet, 2 cars on a convoy, me at the tail following my Father's. We reached the place 1pm, one hour earlier than our reservation. I wasn't really impressed in the place, I just don't know why but it's just like a normal Village country club to me or maybe it's still on the developing process. So, we had lunch first, dropped our things in our suite then head out on each itenerary. Weather's not that bad though, first stop was the Bowling Alley, no one's playing on their 4-lane room, so we went on bowling (me, my sister, brother and my 2 cousins). We asked the attendant that he should inform us if the first game is already done since it's just 50 pesos per game for members and 50 pesos for the shoes, so as we play along, we haven't noticed that the game was not being cut and that the attendant was lost from our sights until the time we realized it's not stopping and we've already reached game 5 for each lane. So, we stopped for a moment, looked for Lawrence, the Bowling attendant, and asked what happened to the game, was it still a promo or not, he said "Sir/Mam, inopen game ko po kayo", what the heck when we asked him at the start of the game to inform us once we're done with our first game so we could also budget the money, and now he's charging us way too much?! My Aunt got a bit histerical and mad to Lawrence, that he should have asked us first if we want an open game or not or even inform us the he opened the game. But no word from him, to make this Bowling story short, my Mom and my Aunt went ahead to the Reception area to complain on what happened. Imagine, it was our first day and was our first try on one of their "amenities", but didn't turn out well!? Manager said that it would not happen again and that they're sorry and hoping for us to still stay and continue the membership. So, we forgive them. While my Uncle and my Father were busy playing golf, me, my siblings, my cousins, mom and aunt next stop, was in the pool area. Wow! I was so excited to jump in, swim and relax. But what the heck again, it's still Lawrence, the bowling attendant and now presenting.. "the lifeguard". Hahaha!! My mom and aunt asked him, "Are you the only attendant on this area?", because the Bowling alley isn't that far from the pool area, and then he answered "Mam, all around po ako dito." Alright, slight conversation was done, all the persons in my group were already in the water, I took some shots first before I get wet, now, it's time, it's time for me to jump in and release the heat from my body. Now what!!? The so called all-around guy came over me and ask if I have other clothes available like "two-piece" or "bathing suit", WTF!!! I want to yell at him if he has 20/20 vision, do I look like I'm gonna wear those stuffs? Duh! So, he pissed me off, my siblings and my cousins were teasing me to use my sister's two-piece, of course not, I just stayed around a while, had some walk around the country club area and took some interesting spots to lessen my disappointment. Dinner came, we went on their so called "economical" restaurant around 8pm, it was a huge down moment on their side again, all the foods we've tried to order like kare-kare, sinigang na hipon and some Filipino dishes weren't available anymore, the waiter said "Ubos na po halos lahat" then my Uncle and my Aunt faces can't be painted anymore, of course they missed filipino dishes, after almost 15 long years away from our country they would much love to eat our own delicacies but Mt. Malarayat's Economical Restaurant failed them, and what did we have for dinner? Steaks and Sinigang na Bangus, that's it no more no less. Whew! What happened to our first day?
Second day, we woke up as early as 6am, we were divided to three groups now, after breakfast, one group went on the golf course (my dad, uncle & his eldest son), another group went on the Reception area (my mom&brother, aunt) to get some wi-fi access since we don't have it in our suites and the last one which was my group (me, my sister and my 12-year old cousin) came into fishing on their wide area "man-made lake" (as what they called it) to catch some tilapias. Now, I'm having fun, everybody's having fun now as we try to text and call one another once in a while. By the way, their fishing rods which were just made of some thin bamboo with a nylon thread at the end and a hook ("sima") can be rented for just 100 pesos for the whole day, till 8pm. So there, we've caught a lot, but it's just too hard to pull out the hook off the mouth of the fishes, it was my first time to fish that's why I had a hard time pulling out the hook from them. I think we caught like about 4 kilos of tilapias, and guess what? Hehe! That was our lunch! Yeah, we asked their restaurant chef to cook it for us, (120 paluto), it was fried as my uncle wanted. So we had some small picnic at the pool side 1pm. It was fun eating the fishes we've caught, it's like a mix feeling of enjoyment, pride and bonding moments for the whole family. It was a literal saying of "Don't give him a fish but teach him how to fish" for my younger cousin. He was so damn proud coz he caught most than me and my sister and not just that, he caught the bigger ones. It was so exciting, at first I thought that fishing were only for people who have long patience, so I thought it's not for me, "mainipin" ako, but I was wrong, I loved it and I wanna do it again. Lunch's done. Swimming time again! and, Lawrence was there again! In short, I won't be able to get into the water. Sigh. My mom noticed that I was really pissed off, and my aunt too, so they confronted Lawrence again for the second time why won't he allow me to swim with my muscle shirt which is really used for diving, he said "black po kasi". But of course, pang dive nga eh, usually they are in black color. To make the story short again, after a long confrontation, he allowed me to swim. At last!! Alleluiah!! Amen!! I hurried out from my seat and jump all the way I could into the water like a 10 year old boy. Wow! I won, I won! Haha! So that was it, that was my struggle in the pool area. I'm done swimming. We went to their gym facility first before dinner, for 50 pesos also for members. All machines are new and of course in great condition, not bad at all. Dinner came, and not again, we won't allow what happened on our first day dinner. My Aunt's kinda wise, haha, we were surprised that she already booked us in their Korean Restaurant near the Golf Driving Range, food was great than last night. Pretty tired and full, everybody's eyes showed sleepiness, didn't waste any minute, after some group family shots, went on each car, drove back to suite, packed our things, slept, took a bath and left the country club at 4:30am without breakfast to reach our 6:30am home goal since I still have work at 7:30am.
So, there it was, my experience in Mt. Malarayat Golf and Country Club, Lipa, Batangas. "There's always a first time", words I've heard from my family and my Uncle's while waving goodbye.
March 21, 2008, Good Friday, met w/ some long time friends (chris, bryan & some of the image perfect camera club admins) to shoot a penitensya procession in Rosario Cavite. It was fun, holy and so bloody.....ehehe...
