Maya Banana: August 2017

Bebots at Hillcrest House, Tali Beach Nasugbu Batangas

1:21:00 PM

I shouldn't really blog anymore. I'm lazy.

Anyway, the girls and I have been planning on going out of town for a looooooong time. We initially planned on going to Caramoan but since Jamie's vacation here in the Philippines was postponed, we changed our plans to going to La Union instead. Then it became Bolinao, then Batangas, then back to La Union, then long story short, we ended up in Nasugbu, Batangas.

Cliff diving spot

Nella found this wonderful house on Facebook, we instantly loved the clean and old feel to it! The house was spacious, had large windows (capiz windows, btw), three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a spacious kitchen, a dipping pool, grilling area, and car port for two cars.

Here are some snaps of the place if you'd like to see.

I couldn't find the photo of the third bedroom but it has a four-post bed, a nice chair, and its own bathroom.

What I loved about the place:

Spacious living area on the first floor and 2nd floor (we never stayed on the 2nd floor though). Perfect for the drinking sesh later in the evening.
The beds were super comfortable.
Kitchen was fully functioning.
The white paint versus the brown furniture was a fresh combo. The house's vibe was so chill and fresh.
Decor and furniture were on point. Super love the details in most of the accents.
The caretaker was very nice and helpful. He was very friendly and he attended to all of our concerns.

What could be improved:

The faucet in the kitchen was broken. It fell off when we turned the knob on. Good thing the boys were very helpful in fixing it.
Not enough comfy blankets. We had to scour the house for blankets. I used a fitted sheet as a blanket, not comfy at all.
The extra pillows smelled kinda moldy.
The dining area is small, there were not enough chairs for all of us.
There were no spoons, coffee mugs and not enough drinking glasses.
Power failure for a couple of hours in the evening. We cooked dinner in the dark, ate dinner and drank in candlelight which was pretty cool. It's just that we couldn't take proper photos during the night! It wasn't so much of an issue, at least for me, since it was not hot and there were no mosquitoes.
Paying was such a hassle. Payment can only be made through UCPB and there weren't a lot of branches around. I had to go back to UCPB thrice to complete the payment. First payment was for the down payment, half of the total. Second was for the remaining balance, two days before our arrival. The third was a day before, I didn't know we have to pay for our driver. I asked if I could just hand over the payment when we arrive but they insisted I have to make the payment via the bank.

All in all, despite the minor setbacks, we still had a great time at Hillcrest. We were able to finally spend time together! We went to the beach in the afternoon and in the morning the next day (not all of us, we preferred to sleep in a little more) then dropped by Calaruega on our way home.