WHEN A ROMANTICALLY BLISSFUL VACATION BECOMES A NIGHTMARE

Laguimanoc Bay, Padre Burgos, Quezon Province 

It was a day full of hopes and excitement, a day when my mind is so relaxed planning and looking for a time only for myself, "a nice vacation".

It was early August when I planned and decided to take a week leave from my demanding work, regardless of the hectic schedules, I was granted to have my vacation leave in the midst of September, (my being persuasive helped me a lot) "lucky me" are the words and the only words that uttered my lips, at last, after a long busy years of working, I'll have time for myself, oops!!! I forgot to mention, was not just only for myself, but was for me and my special one (yes I am no longer single, sorry guys).

Being a fashion designer, front liner, jack of all trade(I'm too much, just joking), I've no time(literally) to check places to go, tho I've a lot in my mind, but those are places I've  already been, not once but many times.  The only thing that serves as a window for me and connecting me to the world are my laptop and Internet connection that helped me find a place easily and it also serves as my shopping buddy.

Searching for a place - I came across a website of a resort who claims to be just a guesthouse once and opened itself to public due to rising demands(according to them). As I moved the cursor and I scrolled down,  an appetizing view of a beautiful sunset and a clean water beach will make you mouthwater,  not only that, it also included a tour for two in an isolated picturesque island, surrounded with a a white sand, that offers a romantic view of a golden sunset, and waking up to an energetic rays of a bright yellow sunrise. "Wow Philippines", I said to myself silently, "this is it", I want to go and spend my vacation here. I carelessly seized my wallet out from my bag, took my credit card and wallah!.... 'all done, with just one click. Such a big help.

Tamarind Tree House Resort

Days passed and finally the moment of the truth has arrive, from Manila, the resort is reachable by a bus that stops at Lucena City, and from there, we rode another small bus going to Padre Burgos Quezon Province, south of Luzon where the resort is located. A tiring six hours and a half was used for us to reach the resort.

Blue wavy sea, fresh air, powdery golden sand and a glimpse of the sunset kissed welcome us peacefully, such an uplifting beautiful view of the nature and the moment of deep relaxation unravelled us, a true medicine for a hard working stressed souls that needs a break from work and to add up, from the long hours of travel. This is such a nice place to recommend. Okay! okay, I got carried away, yes the title says it all - "when a romantically blissful vacation becomes a nightmare".

As we arrived, we had a hard time locating the resort, as there's not a badge or a name arrowing or pointing out the location of the resort from the streets, what we did is to ask some locals to guide us to the resort. An old wooden gate fronting the beach, being tied by a chain and locked up with a metal locker is the main entrance. A man dressed in a dark green shirt and a rugged short pants unlocked the gate and welcomed us, he was so cheerful, smiling and accommodating but I didn't expect that he was the manager, I thought he is just the caretaker or the maintenance(sorry but that is how he looks like to me). "Come follow me, I'll walk you around the resort and will show you the treehouse(room) you booked for two", he said, we followed him, he toured us inside the resort and showed us the swimming pool(which that time was so dirty), the dining room(which that time was a little messy) and our small room(good for one).

A small beachside room.

I booked a room for two, staying for three days and two nights near the beachfront, because I wanted the vacation to be romantic and relaxing, I also booked a dinner and a breakfast, no lunch, as my plan was to go out for a walk and have lunch outside the vicinity. To my surprise, the room they gave us was a way too far from the beach and was so small that when you need to use the bathroom you have to go out the room and find it somewhere. "I don't like this", I said to the manager, we want another room with a t.v. set and a bathroom inside, so accommodating he showed us another but he said "you need to pay extra as this is not the room you booked". So I paid an extra just to end the conversation even the t.v set was not working properly and the bathroom's hot water was not hot but just warm.

The Deluxe beachside room

Dinner time arrived and he called us from our new treehouse villa (they call it). We went to the kitchen as we were  not allowed to eat inside the room(for I don't know what reason). While sitting and waiting for our dinner the manager, maintenance, cook, waiter all in one, arrived with the tray of food wrapped in a cellophane cover and were no longer hot, we were having our food for the whole 3 days like this so I asked him "why the food came from outside the resort, don't you have your own kitchen and cook here?", he answered back, "we have a kitchen here which you can use for cooking but your booking goes together with a meal so we order the meal  from a caterer outside the resort and serve it here".. WHAT?????, anyways it's okay, we have no choice but to eat and continue. I don't know if this was all my fault as when I booked everything over their website, I was inside the office and working, maybe i was so busy and unaware that I didn't notice anything from the pictures they were showing, but I did a double check and I was so so so right about what I saw and read,  in their website they presented their resort beautifully but it was all contradicting to what is the reality.

To make it worse, the next day, a typhoon was schedule to arrive, that we didn't  enjoy the beauty of the beach and the wonderful nature, nor the Island hopping that was included in the package due to a rough sea that might be unsafe to sail. Unfortunately we ended up our whole vacation inside the room cuddling and listening to all the music provided by our cellphones. We wanted to watch something but as I've said the t.v set isn't working properly, we also wanted to use the swimming pool but they didn't bother to change and clean the water. It's so disappointing knowing that the resort has a potential, if there will be some improvements, and someone to take care of the place literally.

I've been travelling in and out the country, stayed from a bed and breakfast to a five star hotels,but the experience I/we had in this resort was so frustrating, aside from the caretaker's hospitality, his over all look isn't presentable at all, the food they're serving were cold as ice, the rooms were clean but for God sake make it clear in your website and provide some "REAL" photo for your guest's knowledge so we know if we booked a room for two or not.

As a blogger, I am not taking advantage about the power of the pen or the laptop's keyboard, not even doing this to bad mouth the "Tamarind Tree House Resort". I'm writing this, hoping that this will reach the knowledge of the management so the necessary action and a needed improvement  will be taken to make the place a real resort,  I am just expressing and sharing my views and opinions, writing what I think for them to do, as I've seen the potential of the place.