VACATION LOG: Ada goes to Bataan - Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWYEAH. I'm on a roll! 3 videos in a row. Granted, this video wasn't too hard to edit. It was basically just stitching and picking from a ridiculous amount if clips I took from my vacation LOL.

So as I promised, I'm diversifying my posts. It's no fun for anyone if all my posts are just about beauty and fashion, so for my oldie readers out there, here's a little travel blog.



So my labmates and I had the amazing opportunity to visit Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar which is a heritage resort created by Gerry Acuzar, an art collector with a passion for traditional Filipino architectue. He's made a hobby of collecting and restoring old, neglected, ancestral houses to their former glory, and to support and bring awareness to such pursuits, he opened up this wonderful resort.

This was the first stop on our 2-day lab strategy planning ;) I'm no stranger to Bataan. My family owns some property in Morong and I probably visit almost once a month. But I'd never really explored Bagac long enough to get to know this place.

This place is breathtaking - a far cry from the state of a few of the old houses in Manila. We were fortunate enough to experience a tour of the 34 renovated houses which were transferred from their original homes to this complex. The resort isn't too far off from its goal of 50 fully-restored Filipino houses :)

Some houses have been restored and renovated as lodging for resort guests and some are owned by the creator's friends and family.

There are even entire houses that are for rent if you want to experience immersion into the 15- and 1600s. I didn't bother asking for the price. It's almost definitely out of my price range.

We ended up renting out two rooms at Paseo de Escolta (pictured above and below), built based on a strip of commercial structures replicating the Escolta buildings in Manila, dating early 1900s. The first floor is all shops, services and tourist information while the 2nd and 3rd floors are some pretty legit rooms. Our room had a loft, two queen-sized beds, a bathtub, shower, and cable TV. It's not exactly roughing it when the room is fully air-conditioned but hey -- it makes for a great stay ;)

Each house has its own history, secrets and mystery. Most houses were transferred from their original foundations in different parts of the Philippines - Binondo, Quiapo, Cagayan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, La Union, Quezon and a lot more. Each house has part of its original structure incorporated (mostly the preserved wooden workings and grand staircases) while the rest of the unsalvagable portions are recreated.

 The house we're standing in front of below is their First Class accommodation. It's ridiculously posh with murals and ceiling mosaics, fancy tiles, chandeliers and table settings. If I'm not mistaken it has five bedrooms that are all fully air-conditioned and all its toiletries and amenities are reportedly Hermes.

Sounds like a dream come true right? Well for 150,000 PHP a night, you can make you dream come true and rent out the entire house ahahaha. That's just way out of my budget.

Even their Reception Area is a spectacle. There was very little of the original structure left and they only had one front-facing picture of it to go on while creating it. The rest was left to the architects' imaginations.

We even got to see Casa Hidalgo, designed and built by the first Filipino to practice architecture in the Philippines during the Spanish Era. It was originally used as the first campus of the University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts.

After which its less remarkable history took over and it was utizlied as a boling alley, boys and girls dormitory, sex live show house (wth? :o) and an abortion clinic. It stands here fully rebuilt and reconstructed according to its former glory.

The rest of the resort is just as beautiful and rich with history. Even the house of Teodora Alonzo (Jose Rizal's Mother) has some of its juicy secrets and stories. I'll leave that for you guys to find out yourselves when you get there. (You guys should definitely go!)

Overall, the ambiance of the entire resort is absolutely surreal. The statues, the roads, the lights and the architecture all contribute to its overall appeal.

And if you're not much of the scenery type, you can always enjoy their wonderful beach front and pool. Even their pool blends perfectly into the atmosphere of the resort, being modeled after a natural batis or pond similar to those used in early times.

Overall, this has been one of the most informative and enjoyable trips that I've had in a while; not only because of the resort, experience and scenery, but also because of the wonderful people I got to enjoy them with.

Thank you Disease Molecular Biology and Epigenetics Laboratory for this wonderful strategic planning trip! It's one I'll never forget! :3

 All pictures courtesy of my good friend and lab mate, Brandon Sy. 

So tell me, did you like this post? Should I do more like them? I really hope you enjoyed this because I really do plan on bringing more to the table than I did before :3

But that's it for now! Tell me what you guys think!

Ada, signing out!
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