When it comes to travels, I have only two consistent buddies from my college friends aside from my hubby since everyone is busy with careers and personal lives. The meet ups are usually short, mostly dine out which is also not consistent due to conflicts of schedules. Oh the adult life. :) With this challenge, the plan of getting together is more on just an overnight weekend bonding in somewhere accessible to everyone. So it means, no airplane rides. :( When it comes to accessibility for everyone, it is either around Cavite and Batangas. Mostly meet ups happen at Tagaytay. Since everyone agreed of the overnight, we picked the Club Balai Isabel which is just an hour or less from Tagaytay.
We rented a van which will bring us to the resort. Pick up point is at Olivarez, Tagaytay.
View from the road
Entering the Club Balai Isabel..
Welcome spot of Club Balai. A wooden area floating in the lake with the overlooking Taal Volcano. And my growing belly which was at my 7th months.
The lake was a little dirty. I'm not sure if it was good for a swimming and if they allow it. They put a fence in the whole perimeter of the resort but I think there was an exit going to the lake as we saw a number of jet ski docked on the lake. Another activity to enjoy the place.
We arrived at the resort around lunch time and they strictly implemented the 2:00PM check-in time. So we had our lunch first at their restaurant.
Looking at this photo made me so hungry. Bulalo is a must.
And this is our view from the restaurant. The main pool of the Club with the overlooking Taal Lake.
After lunch, we check the amenities around while waiting for the check-in time.
Club Balai Isabel has a large park inside where you can walk around or simply sit and enjoy the surroundings. I love that they kept a lot of trees and the green grass despite that some of the path walk was already concreted. They have a man made creek, a tree house just beside the lake, a number of swimming pools and a Chapel. Maybe that is why it becomes one of the favorite wedding destination in the area.
When you found a nice photo location. :)
Then the husband joined the shoot...
And my belly too. :D
The walk to the Chapel was a little challenging on my part because it was on the far end area from where we came especially that it was a little sunny at that time. Though I'm glad I didn't skip it.
There was also a lot fish pond. And you can do that one where your feet will be soaked and the fishes will feed on it. I think it is called fish spa. Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not really sure. Never tried it yet and I don't have plan of doing that anytime soon.
When it was check-in time, a shuttle brought us and our things to our room. The room was quite far from the receiving area. And I noticed that there are residential part of the resort. I thought at first that Club Balai was fully hotel and resort only. It's not bothering though because they were far from the rooms and seems like a quiet community.
We were all 8 in the group. So we rented a one bedroom unit that was located in the 3rd/F of Orchard Lane. The bedroom (sorry, didn't got a photo) had 2 large beds which can actually fit 3 persons per bed but they decided to gave it to two couples, (me and hubby, Ace and Shelle), so we were lucky, the 4 of us got the room all for ourselves. :) The sala has just enough space for all of us where the two sofa beds were also located. Each sofa bed can accommodate 2 persons. So presto, we have all the space to sleep. It has also a nice and clean kitchen and small dining table. The kitchen was equipped with a small refrigerator, complete cooking stuff and utensils and plates and glass for dining. We were happy with that. And a balcony was a nice addition to the cozy room.
When everyone had rested, we change on our swimming attires to get ready for another challenge. Find the pool from our location. :)
While we were on our way to the pool, look what we had found. A hidden forest. Don't tell anyone we found it guys. :D
Going to the pool..
They have I think 3 main pools in the area. But this will be the largest. We spent much time in here.
For our dinner and siesta night:
Then wake up the next morning to this. It's always nice to have someone in a group who can cook and willing to do it for everyone. Thank you Arem. :) And a place where cooking is possible. It saves us money and you will be sure that what you will be eating is clean.
Then back to pool area.
So, that ends our overnight bonding. Club Balai is a nice get away for family and friends. Though I think overnight stay is more than enough. It's nice to experience it on hand.
x o x o
Faith
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