Celebrating my 27th @ Lake Pandin San Pablo, Laguna

I'm just simple..even small things became meanigful to me. Why am I saying this?? Well beacuse its my birthday and its my turn.. Yebahh!

Well ofcourse I'll be spending it with my special someone. Before my birthday he asked me where I wanted to go and since its just one day trip due to conflict of our schedules we need to be in somewhere near Manila. He asked me to think of any place but he suggested Laguna so its for me to decide where exactly it'll be in Laguna. I try to find a place and things that we can do
 there and I want it to be something different this time.

Ive read something about San Pablo,Laguna.. City of Seven Lakes. It represents the seven lakes of San Pablo: Lake Palakpakin , Lake Sampaloc, Lake Bunot, Lake Mojicap, Lake Claibato and the twin Lakes Yambo and Pandin which will be our next destination.

                          

In these Lake (Pandin and Yambo) you can go rafting, you can go swimming and you can also enjoy the food served by the natives living there. I saw the price and its so affordable!

Our starting point is from Antipolo and I'm familiar w/ the route since we passed through it a lot of times.
                                                  


While enjoying the overlooking sceneries I didnt notice that we are already in Laguna and it was just so fast.Some of Ron's relatives were from Laguna and Dada his father grew up in Siniloan so he is also familiar w/ the place but haven't been to the place where we will go. San Pablo is located at the southern portion of Laguna Province.

First stop over... The Big tube that Ron used to describe whenever we talk about Laguna. It was a big tube that you can see on the mountain and it just looks like a thin line from afar but if you came near and see it in person its really big. This tube creates electricity from the water current of Caliraya Lake down to the plant. We stopped and we asked permission to the guard to take picture but as all security guards favorite line "Its not allowed" but he's not  aware that I already took picture of it haha :-P

 

Another side trip we did is on Caliraya Lake in Cavinti, Laguna. We go up and took some pictures then we go down again and proceed..

Caliraya Lake

 

In Nagcarlan, we saw another landmark w/c is the underground cemetery. Its really nice if you'll use it as a subject for photography. Unfortunately we were unable to get inside since its close so we just took a picture of it from the view outside the gate.
                  

 

We've reached San Pablo at almost 1pm.  We saw a signage going to Bato- bato falls but the way going in seems too rough so I told him not to proceed and just go straight to what we are looking for.

On the road we also saw other signs going to Lake Mojicap and other lakes.. a few kilometers we already saw sign pointing its way to Lake Pandin and Yambo.  Its so off road not knowing that we can leave the motorcycle on the parking lot outside and you can just ask someone to watch over it but we didn't even saw that parking lot but that's ok atleast we didn't took a long walk.

After that I already saw the Pandin Lake. Its just a small lake with lots of balsa. Lake Pandin's residences were bussy doing their chores but when they've notice us they immediately approach and welcome us.

 

Monkey named Budoy is also an attraction.. I gave him banana:-)

 

 

They asked me if we were scheduled or if we texted them for reservation and we didn't. But they said its fine however all food they've used to prepare and serve for the guests may not be complete since we didnt call in for reservation and we were not even aware that we need to.

What we had in the table were fern salad which became my favorite starting that day,the small shrimps w/c is very delicious. I even have mais con yelo and banana but the grilled tilapia and buko juice is not there but they provided water and extra salted eggs and tomatoes..

Look at me.. I'm sooo happy :-)

Since we are on the road for 8 hrs we are so hungry so what do you expect! hahaha!

Aftermath.... 

The food is really delicious. It's very Pinoy. I even find the fern salad so weird but when I tasted it I never stop eating and Ron have same reactions too.. All for 800php inclusive of rafting but I find it expensive since I've read that it's like 180 php only per head but they said since we are only two its considered as special rate so its a bit higher .

 The ambiance is so peaceful and very very full of nature. You can hear different sound of birds echoing all over the lake.

 

 

The water is pristine you can jump and swim but you need to use a life vest since its like 100+ meter below sea level so for your own safety you need to wear life vest.

It just became a bit boring w/ the two person who is pulling the balsa for us..they are kinda quiet but they are nice its just that they not so entertaining.

                

And unfortunately its raining but not so hard..we need to still stay inside the balsa...



When we are on the other side of the lake there's a short trekking going its way for you to view Lake Yambo and we did! We only took picture and a short video while taking a walk to Lake Yambo.


View from the other side of the Lake...

 

 

 

 

 

 OUR RAFT...

Overall it was a very nice experience.The food, the travel and the place. First time rafting while eating delicious food. The ambiance is very relaxing however what I'm really concern about is our traveling time since its been 8 hours and we have only stayed in Lake Pandin for like 2 hours so its really kinda tiring...

 

Going Home..Its almost dark just like my boyfriend haha.. :-) #bully

SO FAR..THIS IS MY FAVORITE.. Not knowing that I would really enjoy Laguna..If you have plans its really nice for family outing and if you want to get closer to nature there's a lot in Laguna: Lake,mountains,cave,falls...name it! There's a lot of things you can do there and its just near Manila you can have a short but great escape.. DEFINITELY GOING BACK I'm gonna miss their fern salad for sure!!

Happy birthday to me :-)