Batangas

A different side of Laiya, Batangas - Kabayan Resort

My family (well most of us) went on a 3D/2N beach getaway just this week -- a trip that was bound for Laiya, Batangas. Now, I've heard about the hype when it came to the well-maintained shores of Laiya, and how most resorts don't usually allow any cooking to be done within their premises. But since we were a BIG family, my cousin and I went ahead of ourselves to find that distinct resort that would accommodate both our quantity and our need to cook our own food. This was the only way that we could really save and stay within our budget. Soon enough, Kabayan Resort resurfaced from our endless google searching. And as early as February, we were already booked.

We got lost for a couple more hours on the way to Laiya (Kabayan's map was pretty confusing!?!). But we've managed to reach the resort still way ahead of schedule. And since we were only going to be allowed to check-in at 3 PM, we decided to hit the beachfront to eat our pre-packed adobo lunch. As soon as everyone ate to their hearts content, they rested a bit and went straight to hit the indoor pool.

Now, the pool would be a disappointment on our end. I actually talked to the lifeguard that was on duty that afternoon regarding the water replacement schedule. I was surprised when he said that the pool water wasn't going to be completely replaced. Only 1/4 of it will be replenished with a new supply of water and will be disinfected with chlorine. They didn't want to drain the pool since the pressure from their water source wasn't that strong, and that there were always guests swimming in the pool.

I honestly did not want to accept those reasons. Sure, putting chlorine in the pool will help disinfect the water. But if you were to look at the water, you'd probably get too disgusted to dive into it. It looked to me as if they were maintaining a pond. You could barely see the floor. The water looked thick and felt really warm.

Anyhow, the pool didn't really ruin our trip. The kids still swam but didn't entirely stay for long periods (except for the little kids). But what made up for our trip was the house that we stayed in for those 3 days -- Bahay Sampaguita.

Bahay Sampaguita housed its own living room with Cable TV and two spacious bedrooms -- each having 2 double beds and 2 additional folding beds.

Our room had a mirror, dresser tables, a fully-functioning AC unit, clothes hooks, and each a fluffy pillow and blanket.

Our house also had its own kitchen, cooking tools (pots, pans, griller), eating utensils and our very own water dispenser (which was given to us with 2 free water refills).

Now, our 1 bathroom may not look all spick-and-span. But it did provide us hot & cold water! But that's not all. Free Wifi was also available, and their connection was super strong. So that was another impressive offer from Kabayan Resort -- a feature that made up for all the other 'glitches'.

Ok, as for the beach. Well, it wasn't really that impressive. I started to assume about the other high-end resorts in Laiya, which probably has better looking shores. Kabayan's area actually had a few pieces of garbage lying from one place to another. But if I were to compare it to our previous Nasugbu trip, Kabayan's beachfront looks way better!

Other than our scary ordeal from our island hopping tour (the trip back to Laiya had us glued to our wooden seats since the angry waves wanted to tip over our boat countless times!), we were blessed to able to get back to shore safe and sound. We were only able to visit one island (we were supposed to have one more stop) since the waves were already getting angrier by the minute.

Anyhow, here's some of our photos prior to our ordeal. Thanks to Ate Sands for treating us out for this boat ride!