Kamay ni Jesus and Majayjay Falls... Just a side trip

            December 24, 2012, we arrived at Pantalan port in Mauban from Cagbalete. It was around 9:00 in the morning. We still have plenty of time since our original plan is to stay in cagbalete until afternoon. We changed our plan and included majayjay falls.

             From Mauban, we decided to take an early lunch (brunch) and went straight to Kamayan sa Palaisdaan. This is well known dining establishment in Quezon located in Brgy. Dapdap, Tayabas Quezon.





          Kamayan sa Palaisdaan is known for its bamboo cottages on a floating raft. That's actually a fishpond.

Eating time... yehey


After satisfying our stomach, we now headed to Kamay ni Hesus in Lucban Quezon.

            

             It only took us 2 hours to explore the place. Rain is a frequent visitor in Lucban Quezon so better be ready with umbrella.

              By 2:00 in the afternoon we started travelling to Taytay falls. It is also called as Majayjay falls/ Imelda falls. Brgy. Taytay, Majayjay Laguna is just a few kilometers away from Lucban. We paid P20/pax as entrance fee and P20 parking fee.

          There are no cottages and tables here, no electricity but thank God there's a restroom.  This is more of a camping site. One can stay overnight using a tent. There are stores and a carinderia in the drop-off point.  You can rent a tent and they'll set it up for you. You can also try their "pancit lucban" other calls it "pancit habhab". We paid P70 for one order of Pancit lucban which is already good for 4 persons.

            The waters of this falls is very cold, as in ice cold, which makes it very hard for me to start the dip. But once you get used to it, you'll surely enjoy swimming. It's very refreshing.

            We started to prepare before it gets dark. By 6 pm, we were already driving back home.



Cagbalete Island

From Lipa city, we drove all the way to Mauban Quezon. It's just a 2 hour drive from my place. If you're coming from Manila, it may take 3-4 hours  depending on traffic situation. From Lipa, we passed by the town of Tiaong, Candelaria, Sariaya, Tayabas and then finally we reached Mauban Quezon. If you like to commute, tou can take a bus bound to Lucena Grand Terminal. From there, there is a bus bound to Mauban, Quezon. Fare is just P50.

We parked our car inside a school near the municipal hall and paid P100 for an overnight parking fee. We took a tricycle and ask the driver to drop us in "pantalan", we don't know the exact name of port so we just told the driver that we are going to Cagbalete Island. We paid P50 or P10 per passenger.



photo of "pantalan"

You'll find a tourist assistance office just as you entered the pantalan port where you can buy ticket for the boat ride to Cagbalete. But the driver told us to pay once we are in the boat. Boat fare is just P40 thus avoiding the additional P100 environmental fee.

We were able to have a small talk with the locals there while waiting for the boat to leave the port. The boat left the port at exactly 10:30 in the morning.

It's like a roller coaster ride caused by strong and huge waves. Luckily, I do not have this fear of water even though I do not know how to swim. We just enjoyed the ride.

We arrived at villa cleofas at around 12:30 in the afternoon. We rented some utensil from them and they also let us use their kitchen.

very relaxing

my sister flor - enjoying the view

i love this place

venus and neri - ang makukulit na dalaga

Except for a couple, we were the only guest in villa cleofas during that time. And because of that couple, we had an electricity from 6 pm till morning. We tried their videoke but the quality of the speakers are not that good. After singing 2-3 song, we stopped and went in the shore again for star gazing while having a bonfire.





At around 6 in the evening, the tides were already low exposing the sand ripples. Unfortunately, its getting dark so I was not able to see the sand ripples clearly. But that gave me a reason to come back here.

There is only one trip bound to Mauban from cagbalete and we were afraid to miss this so we left the island early.  The boat ride going back to Mauban is more exciting and made my heart beats a little faster. We covered ourselves by towels to avoid getting wet from splash of waves. Waves are more stronger and bigger, as if they are chasing us.

We arrived at pantalan port at around 9 in the morning.

Great vacation to end year 2012

Before 2012 ends, I, my sister and her friends planned for a great vacation. 2012 was not a good year for me as it brought me lots of trials. So it's like celebrating the end of 2012 and hoping that year 2013 would be different in positive ways.

I planned for a 2 day trip to Cagbalete island in Mauban, Quezon and then a sidetrip to Kamay ni Jesus in Lucban, Quezon.

Lucena City in Quezon Province is my hometown but I never knew that there is a nice beach in Mauban, Quezon (which happened to be my mother's hometown), until I read and saw a picture of it in a travel blog.

I read a lot about cagbalete island, how to get there, the schedule of boats to and from cagbalete, the accomodation available and other important information. Finally I've came up with this itinerary;

Day 1
    6:00 - 8:00    travel time from Lipa city to Mauban Quezon
    8:00 - 9:30    breakfast, buy food in public market
    9: 30 - 10:00  we must be on board the boat to Cagbalete
   10:00 - 11:00  travel time from Mauban port to Cagbalete
   11:00 - 11:30  trek to villa cleofas
   11:30 - 01:30  lunch
   01:30 - onwards  enjoy the beach


Day 2
    06:00 am - 12 noon   beach bumming/ bonsai island
    12:00 - 1:00 pm         trek back to port
    01:00 - 02:00              travel time to Mauban port
    02:00 - 03:00              travel time from mauban to lucban quezon
    03:00 - 06;00              visit Kamay ni Hesus
    06:00 pm                     travel back home


This is the original plan. But when we reached Mauban on 23rd of December 2012, we were informed that the boat travels during morning only. Their afternoon trips are cancelled. Quite disappointed but I dont want to spoil our vacation. So i inserted Majayjay falls, which is just a few kilometers away from Kamay ni Jesus, in our itinerary for the second day
 

My first blog

It's 2:30 in the morning and this is actually my first blog. I don't really have something in mind to share at this very moment. But at least i made my first step to be a blogger, hahaha (a blogger wanna-be).

It was in 2009 when made a plan to travel by plane (my first time, hehehe), a domestic travel thou. I chose Puerto Princesa, Palawan and that's when I started reading blogs. I'm really afraid to get lost so I read blogs and forums before I visit a certain place. I always wanted to be prepared to maximize my time and money. And I think I was infected by the travel bug since then. I started checking the website of airlines to see if there's a promo fare, i read blogs to know where will be my next destination and other stuff. 

Since then, I've been to some places here in the Philippines but I never had the chance to share all those experiences. Its only now that I thought why not  share my own experiences and adventures just like the others.

Well I guess, this is it for now. I don't even know how would this page look like, he he he..