A few weeks before the holy week, I told my boyfriend Mike, “We’re going to Subic on the holy week with the family.”
He raised his eyebrows at me and asked, “What are we going to do there? Pray?”
Confused, I repeated, “Pray?”
“Well,” he said, “You said it’s the holy week. So I asked if we’re going to pray.”
I couldn’t help but laugh! Apparently, his previous experiences of the holy week were indeed holy. One involved him tagging along with his family to visit seven (or probably more!) churches in a day, and another one involved watching men flagellate themselves as they re-enacted the Passion of the Christ.
“No, we’re not going to pray,” I giggled. “We’re going to the beach.” Knowing my kooky family, there was going to be plenty of booze, crunchy swearing, and a lot of monkeyshines. Holy? I don’t think so.
My tita (aunt) Carol was lucky enough to have a client who either owns or manages (I can’t remember which one it is) Camayan Beach Resort, a resort in Subic Bay just right across Ocean Adventure so we got a discount on the rooms. Normally, the Holy Week rate for a Superior Room is Php 5,500 but we got ours for Php 3,600. The rate already came with free breakfast, so I would say that it was a reasonable rate.
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| The villas where some of my family members stayed. |
Unfortunately, I was not able to take photos of the room because as soon as we came in, we just plopped down on the bed and rested. We were all feeling really tired from our Ocean Adventure trip earlier that day, so we wanted nothing more than to lie down and cool down. The room that we were assigned to was slightly smaller than some of our family members’ rooms. It was very cozy and homey, with its wood interiors and soft, yellow lighting. The beds were pretty nice and comfortable too. Our room didn’t have a bath tub, though, although other rooms did have one.
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| A Superior Twin Room at Camayan Beach Resort. Photo credit: http://camayambeachresort.com |
Because we were so exhausted, we spent so much time taking a nap. It was already around 5:00 in the afternoon when we decided to go out and explore.
It’s true – these monkeys have lost their fear of humans! The staff reminded us to lock our doors because these monkeys have trained themselves to open doors and steal guests’ food! In fact, the next morning, my tito (uncle) Ed told us that they saw a huge group of monkeys hanging around their front porch, and one of them ate the bagoong (shrimp paste) that was accidentally left on the table. Meanwhile, some monkeys stole KFC chicken from inside the room above theirs. These monkeys are probably sick of eating bananas all day and just wanted some meat for a change. I wonder if they stole some gravy to go with the chicken too?
Mike and I were feeling a bit lazy so we just walked around and took photos.
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| The beach was packed but it doesn’t look it at all in this photo |
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| The “mandatory” artsy sunset shot |
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If you keep walking to the left of the beach, you’ll get to this part with all these rocks. Mike thought he saw a mermaid somewhere in the horizon. Haha!
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| Mike trying to look like a conquistador… or a shepherd. |
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| That is the look of someone who badly needed a vacation and just got one. |
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My beach getup consisted of a loose crop top (that I sometimes wear to sleep) and these blue palazzo pants that are just crazy comfortable!
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| Our first beach trip together for the year! |
My family and I waited until sunset to go for a swim because we didn’t want to get sunburned again. The water was okay except that there were some parts that were too rocky, so every once in a while, our big toes will bump against a rock, and one or a few of us would exclaim “owwwww!!! @#$%” followed by a passel of profanities. It was really painful! There were also a lot of floating objects scattered on the water, which were mostly seaweed and wood, and not garbage, thank God! Maybe it was just like that for that particular part of the beach, though, because the next day, we went for a swim in another area of the beach and it was perfectly clean and clear.
At night, we just had dinner while the men of our family plus Mike and my cousin’s boyfriend had the usual drinking session. After that, after much goading, I jammed onstage with the band that was playing by the beach front.
It was Easter Sunday the next day, and we welcomed Day 2 with a hearty buffet which was included in our room’s package. I was a little late for breakfast, though, so when I got to the restaurant, there was not much food left.
It was our last day at Camayan Beach Resort, and we didn’t want to leave the place without trying out at least one beach activity. I wish we had woken up earlier so that we could do more things. My cousin Christel woke up at 6:00 in the morning (whoa!) and got to feed the fish. I’m jealous! Oh well, at least we got to go kayaking!
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| Such nice colors! |
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| My cousin Matt and my nephew Bryon paddle away |
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| Great way to work out those flabby arms! |
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| My cousins Cindy and Chloe asked us to guard their things while they went kayaking. They had too much fun watching the school of fish that they only came back after about 30 minutes! |
On our first day, I wore a really cute swimsuit but hid it under my shirt because I felt awkward about being the only one in the family who was not wearing a cover-up. My mom was, er, pressuring me to take it off and bare my bikini because it was her birthday gift for me and she was proud of it (and her amazing fashion sense). It’s funny — most mothers, if they see their daughters wearing a skimpy bikini, would rush to cover them up with a towel, a blanket, anything! But my mother? “Tanggalin mo nga yan!” (“Take that off!” – referring to my cover up)
I got away with not taking off my cover up on the first day, but on the second day, my mom had her way. She specifically told me to have my photo taken as I wearing my swimsuit and told me to tag her.
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| Here you go, mom. You win! |
The swimsuit really is pretty though! It’s the Barbados Fringe Bikini Set from Tomato‘s 2014 Swimwear Collection. The colors are refreshing and bright, just like summer. The frills on the pink top are playful and fun, and they make this swimsuit really unique. During my stay at the resort, I have not seen any other swimsuit like the one I had. I also loved the Aztec print on the green bottom of my bikini. That little slit on the side also gives this swimsuit a touch of sexiness. What is nice about this bikini is that even if it is sexy, it doesn’t look too raunchy, and I later realized that I didn’t need to wear a cover up after all. A pretty swimsuit like this shouldn’t be concealed. I guess in this case, it’s true that mother knows best!
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| Photo credit: Tomato.ph |
While the kayaking and photo-taking were going on, my uncles, aunt, and cousins paid about Php 600 to pose with this cute seal:
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| Tito Randy gets a kiss — not from another woman but this cute seal! |
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| Gold, Tito Ed, and Tito Randy are sticking out their tongue, and the seal shows them that he can do it too! So smart! |
It was really a blessing to reconnect with family and we are grateful to the management and staff of Camayan Beach Resort for welcoming us and making sure that we had a memorable stay. I’m sure this will not be the first and last time that we visit the place.
Camayan Beach Resort
Address: Camayan Wharf, West Ilanin Forest Area, Subic Bay Freeport Zone, 2200, Subic, Zambales
Phone Number: (+6347) 252-8000
Mobile: +63908-887-0369 or +63917-726-3510
E-mail: Reservation@CamayanBeachResort.com
Website: http://camayanbeachresort.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/camayanbeachresortandhotel
Twitter: https://twitter.com/camayanresort
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/CamayanBeachResort
