Tag Archives: Los Banos

Los Banos to Pampanga

Today we had to check out at 11 am, but Don’s dad was not able to pick us up until 5. We didn’t know this until this morning around 9, we just assumed he would be there around check out time. So we left our luggage at the front desk and had lunch here.

After lunch it was around 1230 so then we just hung out by the pool. The internet wasn’t working. I mostly just read and relaxed. Don took a nap. I got in the pool a few times to cool off.

The internet did start working and I was able to check facebook. From facebook I learned about the Boston Marathon Bombing. It was so sad to hear of this. Who would think this would happen?

His dad and his dad’s brother, Boni, arrived at the resort around 530. Boni brought his 2 grandchildren, Fiona and Sean. They were probably around 7 and 5. This made the ride to Pampanga really crammed and it wasn’t comfortable. We were all sitting in the backseat. There was so much traffic when we got to Manila, it was unbelievable. We arrived in Pampanga around 8 and checked into our hotel.

His dad booked us a room at Hotel Gracelane in the city of San Fernando in Pampanga. We didn’t stay long at the hotel though because we left immediately to have dinner at Tita Remy’s. We have been hearing that people from Pampanga are known to be good cooks and this seemed to be true at the dinner.

We were really tired so we went back to the hotel around 9.  We watched a lot of news coverage on CNN about the bombing.

Los Banos 88 HotSpring Resort

Today I woke up around 8 and decided to get an early start on relaxing. So I went outside and read for awhile. I am re-reading The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. It’s been a long time since I’ve read it and it is one of my favorites. I did a little swimming and then got cleaned up to go out to lunch with some of Don’s family.

We went to lunch with Tito Boni and his wife, Tita Doree, Tito Mar and their kids Eunice and Jonas. We ate a very cool looking restaurant. All of the tables were on their own little floating room. I have a picture that can show it better.

The food was good. We just ordered a bunch of dishes and shared them all. When we came back Tito Boni talked to us about our relationship with Jesus. He is a Christian minister and has his own church. It was a good talk.
Then we went out and explored our resort more.

That water slide was very slow! The first time I went on it, it was fast and fun. But then I would always be dragging down it haha. 
Once we were done swimming we decided to go out for dinner. We took a tricycle to a Max’s Restaurant. This time I had a chicken sandwich; it was pretty good. Don ordered breakfast. I then ordered a box of caramels. The way it was described I thought it would be like chocolates and caramel but it was more like a caramel brownie. Still good though. 

Quezon City to Los Banos

Today we woke up around 9. I could have slept more but the roosters outside were going crazy. Plus I could hear other people getting up. So I woke up Don and he was a little hungover. We ate breakfast and then got ready. Once everyone was ready we all went to the cemetery to see Lolo’s resting spot. It was very emotional. You could see how much their grandfather was and still is loved.

After that we went back to the house. We looked at Tito Rom’s chickens and roosters. He has a lot. I believe he is raising them in hopes of putting them in fights…Then we had lunch and hung out for awhile. Then we got back in the van so we could be taken to Los Banos. Tito Boni had helped us book a resort in Los Banos. We will be staying there for 2 nights. It’s called the 88 Hot Spring Resort and it’s a Korean owned resort. We got to Los Banos around 2 and we checked in. The place was really nice looking. There were a lot of pools and the resort was beautiful. After we got checked in we went over to Tito Mar and Tita Doree’s house. There we visited with them and saw Jonas and Eunice. We were also able to see Tito Boni and his wife.

Tito Rom wanted to go back to Quezon City so we stayed a bit longer with Tito Boni. He let us try coconut water straight from a coconut. After we drank all the juice we put ice cream in the coconut and scraped off the edible pieces. It was very good. This was the first time I had eaten fresh coconut and drank coconut water. After we had this Tito Boni took us back to our resort. On the way we were able to stop at a pharmacy. I needed new deodorant because mine broke and some first aid stuff for my foot. It is still not healing from when I cut it on the rock in El Nido.

Once we got to the resort we wanted to check out the pools. There were so many of them! We have one big one right outside our room. When we got in we were surprised that it was warm, like hot. But it felt really good. Then we moved to the next area where there were 9 round hot tub looking pools. They were very hot, I couldn’t even get in them. The sign said you were supposed to stay in each one for 5 minutes. We didn’t want to do that! We tried out all the pools we could find. We found one that was colder but still warm.

After we were done with the pools we got cleaned up to go to dinner. They have a restaurant here that is Korean food. We ordered bibimbap and a noodle dish along with some spicy beef. But then they brought all these little plates with things on them. It was a little weird, I’ve never seen anything like it. I was also very surprised when I got my noodle soup and it was cold and it was supposed to be this way. Like really cold. I wasn’t expecting that and I didn’t like it really at all.  When I first saw the soup I thought “oh that’s weird there’s ice cubes in my soup.” I do not remember the name of this dish and did not mention it was cold noodles so needless to say I was disappointed haha.

After dinner we relaxed in our room. It has been the best room we have had all trip. We splurged a little for this hotel. It is our own little bungalow. The room is very nice and the TV actually works! The shower is great and the water gets hot! Ahh…love this place. Only thing is, the bed is very hard. Like sleeping on a floor haha, maybe the Koreans like it this way.

Philippines Trip-Lolo’s Birthday

Today we woke up and walked around the University. Then we walked around Los Banos and we got foot massages.

rice fields at the university
rice fields at the university

Later in the day we went to Tito Boni’s church and house and to celebrate Lolo’s birthday. It was his 94th birthday. Both of his sons, Boni and Rom, also celebrate a birthday soon. Here are some pictures from the party.

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Tonight is our last night. We are going home with Don’s dad and then early in the morning he will take us to the airport to go back to the states.

This has been an amazing trip. It was awesome to be able to meet Don’s family and help his grandpa celebrate his 94th birthday. We are also leaving this trip engaged! Can’t wait to tell all of our friends and family.