Treasures of Bolinao, Pangasinan

Summertime! Summertime! We need to escape! The beaches of Boracay is already crowded. We need a place that is serene & secluded for a couple getaway. Treasures of Bolinao is the place to be. It's a resort fronting the South China sea, at the northern part of the Philippines, West to it is the Lingayen gulf. Val and I went with our bestfriends Jaqui and Maan H. It took us 7 hours drive from Manila to get here. Since the resort is really secluded, it is best to bring food for your snacks (there is a corkage fee about P200 for all of us). We had our meals in the resort which just has simple fare (they considered juice as dessert) but their grilled tilapia was delicious after a day in the sun. On our first day, we stayed in the beach on the left side of the resort and enjoyed the sunset. The next morning, we played with a kite which we bought on the way to Bolinao. We then explored the right side of the resort which is full of tidepools and a virgin beach. We were the only visitors in the resort so we had the whole place to ourselves. We sunbathed, took loads of pictures and explored the different rock formations. Jaqui even spent an hour with his snorkel and his head submerged in a small tidepool which is full of assorted fishes. It was like natural spa with "jacuzzis" and "saunas." Then we went back to the resort beach and just lounged around the wide expanse of shallow waters. We also sang on their karaoke on our last night. On our last day, we left right after breakfast so that we could visit Alaminos to have calamares and our lunch at Maxim's by the sea, a favorite childhood restaurant of Val's whose home province is Alaminos, Pangasinan. We then visited the local market to buy calasiao puto, suman/rice cakes, ripe mangoes by the basket. It was a long trip but truly worth it! We have indeed discovered a treasure!


Note: The running water is a bit like seawater so we resorted to using "tabo" to take a bath instead of waiting for the slow trickle of the shower.

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