As I gaze down the narrow rough road entering the barangay of Malabog, I reluctantly tried to keep my poise while balancing my motorcycle, preventing a possible skid into the lose limestones unearthed for the purpose of transportation. Our late departure made us exposed under the full brightness of the sun thus draining our energy after more than an hour ride. We stopped by a small store to take refuge as we try to rehydrate ourselves thinking it would still be a long rugged road ahead. Little did we know that it was the final stretch of that one hell of a road trip. We arrived at the town center of Malabog few minutes later...in the afternoon.
I could not come up with a better way to describe Malabog than a pretty 'laid back’ chilling town. The vibe was surreal summoning a nostalgic throwback memories of our bukid in Leyte. But our limited time did not allow us to tour the small town as we headed right away to our first destination.
Camp Eleaga Resort
Among the more known resorts that lured us to Malabog was Camp Eleaga. I’ve been seeing this post on my newsfeed from time-knows-when which made us decide to experience the fun ourselves.
Eleaga’s main attraction was the partially trapped cold waters of Lake Macaduhong where one can enjoy an hour or two of bamboo rafting into the convent lake peacefully glimmering through the bright rays of the sun.
I personally find the lake eerie as if there were unknown creature lurking beneath its shallow depth waiting for its prey. Lol. We still availed it anyway and surely had fun rafting.
While the lake water was purposely trapped to offer a more natural way of enjoying nature, the resort also has a wide swimming pool which offers a safer way of enjoying the cold spring water of Macaduhong lake and the resort as a whole.
Other things we did which you can do too when you decided to visit Eleaga was photo-opping. This place is a selfie haven for people who loves to paste their face on every single photo of the place they’d like to go. Instagrammable talaga siya bes!
We’ve only spend about an hour at Eleaga since we needed to go to our next destination before we cap our road trip.
Remy Areja’s Mountain Spring Resort
Going to this resort was never easy. I almost had tantrums while dealing the steep, loose rocky white stoned rough road to the mountain of Sitio Nursery where this resort was located. It was another set of (enter-foul-words-here) traipse which looks like an endless pursuit of nonsense. A little further ahead and we ended up into the hilltop of Nursery and there we were greeted by this ‘nothing-special’ resort at the hillside. I almost burst out my frustrations but I didn’t let my negative emotions take over the moment.
We paid a whoppingly cheap entrance fee of 25.00Php and was directed to the stairway leading to the resort. It was already 3:30 in the afternoon and he had only a minute to enjoy the place so we hurriedly went downstairs and settled in one of the cottages free of charge. My frustrations were gone after I was able to appreciate the whole setting of Remy’s. I wanted to stick to my initial impression that is has nothing special but I can’t help and appreciate the simplest joy this resort brings.
Remy has one pool for the kids and another one for adults. Adult pool features a slide in a very steep setting which gives an extra level of excitement for the visitors. I’ve tried it myself and it was invigorating. I instantly fell in love with the place after that first slide. Lol. So childish.
The balcony adjacent to the adult pool overlooking the lush forest of marilog creates an ideal spot to lay under the dawning sun. I can’t help but be thankful of the opportunity while watching the clouds slowly drifting in front of me together with my wife and my friends.
How I wish we could have stayed longer but time does not permit. Although our trip to this resort was as momentary as we are in Eleaga, it was enough to erase all the negative emotions I once had earlier. And just as the sun was about to set, we slowly took the road back into the reality bringing with us the memorable journey of our day well spent.
All images in this post are mine.
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