So last Febuary 9, 2018 ( Friday) Taluli and I ventured out and went on a spontaneous trip to Tondol Beach. I only planned to go and not much about "going" like planning or how some people would take a "relaxed" vacation. My idea of a relaxed vacation is spontaneous, unforgettable, unexpected and a continous discovery . I would call this the road to chill.
So on to the detail.
After going off of from my work at BGC, I booked an Uber to pick up Taluli from Fairview Q.C. at about 9:30 am in time for our planned 10:30 am descent, which did not happen. 10:30 am, the only bus available was the bus going to Anda, Pangasinan, which was straight up on point to our destination ( Tondol Beach is Located in Anda) but not airconditioned. I am game for anything but the kid wants his aircon so we decided to hop on a bus going to Bolinao instead. So I picked up food in andoks, 4 pieces of emergency Dokito Fried Chicken and 2 pieces of liempo just incase food will suck once we arrived. The bus left cubao at 12:00 pm
While I was on the bus ( Thank you Fivestar Free WiFi) I searched for accomodations in Tondol and called them one by one. With all the resorts I called the most straight up and no nonesense and simplest person I talked to was ate Sally of Tondolandia Beach and Cottage Resort.
She gave me a good rate of 1500 PHP for an off peak 2 nights stay that started from 8 PM Friday night to 7:00 AM Sunday on a Nipahut Cottage with shared bath and offered to pick us up at the Tara Junction. As to where the Tara Junction was, I was not sure at that point good tjing Five Star Bus Co 's conductors are very friendly and courteous.
6:45 PM we reached Tara Junction, ate Sally's Van was waiting to pick us up with 2 gentle folks to assist us, we drove the oh so paved road to the beach proper where all the resorts lined up before reaching ate Sally's resort, and boy it did not dissapoint. Amongst all the resorts hers is more secluded and special away from the common dwellers with a pretty view.
We we're greeted by Ate Sally, a woman on her retirement with semi ashen blond hair with grace so fine who knows a thing about entertaining, her sister and some folks who we're their family. Taluli easily warmed up to all of them as if he knew these folks and did his Taluli charm. They had a quaint store that sold pretty much everything you would need that you might not have brought along with you and it was everything in our stay. Taluli would come by when he is hungry and thirsty to get a snack and have it listed to my account. It did not cost an arm and a leg either so it was the perfect store at the moment. We were briefed with how we can forage food, fishermen passing by their resort from the bay with their super fresh goods can be accessible and is a smart way to go. Paluto doesnt cost much.
I downed 2 bottles of Red Horse and went star gazing with the boy till we hit the sack at 10 pm. So we came up with a morning plan, swim till 10 am and hop on a boat to Cory Island.
We were so excited that we woke up 5 am and waited to catch the sunrise. We were surprised to see the water level recede to a vast Kilometer of sand almost to the next island.
We headed towards the stretch to walk around and heard the water rustling about to fill the seemingly white sand poolbed with water. By 7 am you can already see her almost filled up by ankle deep water.
7 am we decided to go for a swim, as the sun rose the view grew prettier into a Kilometers wide, white sand almost perfect swimming pool of a place with quiet water and star fishes a plenty. It dawned on me that nowadays you won't see this in most of the places anymore. I am so thankful to have shared this rarerity with Taluli. He saw this huge brown starfish with spikes and asked me if it was a Toy, that was how surreal it was for him.
We basked in this beauty and did not realize it was noon already. We were pretty content with the activity so the cory island plan went on the back burner.
We winded down at around 6pm baked as fudge with super brown skin and pretty red cheeks happy about how our day went. We had our seafoods prepared and my Red Horse cold ready to chill in my tummy for a very satisfied sleep.
We woke up very early and tried to witness the process the beach goes through every waking day, I decided to take a panoramic photo of the place bare and no water.
Said our goodbyes and vowed to come back. Ate Sally had us Driven on our way back to Tara Junction for our bus going back.
We will definitely come back.
xoxo Tondol.
The travel was long but I promise you, it is so worth it.
Ok enough of the emotions.
Here is the breakdown of our cost.
Going:
Food and stuff : 500 PHP
Bus Fare: 420 PHP for me Kid is 360
Red Horse: 90 Php for 2 Bottles
Food for day 2: 150 PHP ( 1 kilo of fresh fish @100 pesos, Cooked rice 30Php good for the wholeday and 1/4 kilo seaweed 20 php)
Store Account: 470 PHP which includes snacks and drinks for both, Paluto and condiments)
Accomodation: 1500 PHP
Leaving:
Bus Fare : 420 PHP for me 360 for Taluli - Dagupan Bus Co
Snacks: 150 PHP
We left Tara Junction at 8:00 am and arrived 2:45 pm in West Ave to catch an Uber to go home. I recommend going there riding Dagupan bus because it is more spacious and they have newer and more cozy buses.
Total Cost: PHP 4,420
Approx 5k if you consider the Uber rides.
But the basics are just approximately less than 4,000 if you think about it. for a 3 day 2 night vacay I can say it is a cheap ass quality trip.
To view the graphic visualization of this trip, visit our YouTube Vlog here:
So on to the detail.
After going off of from my work at BGC, I booked an Uber to pick up Taluli from Fairview Q.C. at about 9:30 am in time for our planned 10:30 am descent, which did not happen. 10:30 am, the only bus available was the bus going to Anda, Pangasinan, which was straight up on point to our destination ( Tondol Beach is Located in Anda) but not airconditioned. I am game for anything but the kid wants his aircon so we decided to hop on a bus going to Bolinao instead. So I picked up food in andoks, 4 pieces of emergency Dokito Fried Chicken and 2 pieces of liempo just incase food will suck once we arrived. The bus left cubao at 12:00 pm
While I was on the bus ( Thank you Fivestar Free WiFi) I searched for accomodations in Tondol and called them one by one. With all the resorts I called the most straight up and no nonesense and simplest person I talked to was ate Sally of Tondolandia Beach and Cottage Resort.
She gave me a good rate of 1500 PHP for an off peak 2 nights stay that started from 8 PM Friday night to 7:00 AM Sunday on a Nipahut Cottage with shared bath and offered to pick us up at the Tara Junction. As to where the Tara Junction was, I was not sure at that point good tjing Five Star Bus Co 's conductors are very friendly and courteous.
6:45 PM we reached Tara Junction, ate Sally's Van was waiting to pick us up with 2 gentle folks to assist us, we drove the oh so paved road to the beach proper where all the resorts lined up before reaching ate Sally's resort, and boy it did not dissapoint. Amongst all the resorts hers is more secluded and special away from the common dwellers with a pretty view.
We we're greeted by Ate Sally, a woman on her retirement with semi ashen blond hair with grace so fine who knows a thing about entertaining, her sister and some folks who we're their family. Taluli easily warmed up to all of them as if he knew these folks and did his Taluli charm. They had a quaint store that sold pretty much everything you would need that you might not have brought along with you and it was everything in our stay. Taluli would come by when he is hungry and thirsty to get a snack and have it listed to my account. It did not cost an arm and a leg either so it was the perfect store at the moment. We were briefed with how we can forage food, fishermen passing by their resort from the bay with their super fresh goods can be accessible and is a smart way to go. Paluto doesnt cost much.
I downed 2 bottles of Red Horse and went star gazing with the boy till we hit the sack at 10 pm. So we came up with a morning plan, swim till 10 am and hop on a boat to Cory Island.
We were so excited that we woke up 5 am and waited to catch the sunrise. We were surprised to see the water level recede to a vast Kilometer of sand almost to the next island.
We headed towards the stretch to walk around and heard the water rustling about to fill the seemingly white sand poolbed with water. By 7 am you can already see her almost filled up by ankle deep water.
7 am we decided to go for a swim, as the sun rose the view grew prettier into a Kilometers wide, white sand almost perfect swimming pool of a place with quiet water and star fishes a plenty. It dawned on me that nowadays you won't see this in most of the places anymore. I am so thankful to have shared this rarerity with Taluli. He saw this huge brown starfish with spikes and asked me if it was a Toy, that was how surreal it was for him.
Suffice to say that by 9 am this place become officially paradise because 9 am is when Tondol Beach took my breath away, stole my and Taluli's heart and hushed my praning mommy mind as I saw Taluli go meters away from me swimming on his own, with an inflatable plastic swim saving tire of course because you never know right?
We basked in this beauty and did not realize it was noon already. We were pretty content with the activity so the cory island plan went on the back burner.
We winded down at around 6pm baked as fudge with super brown skin and pretty red cheeks happy about how our day went. We had our seafoods prepared and my Red Horse cold ready to chill in my tummy for a very satisfied sleep.
We woke up very early and tried to witness the process the beach goes through every waking day, I decided to take a panoramic photo of the place bare and no water.
Said our goodbyes and vowed to come back. Ate Sally had us Driven on our way back to Tara Junction for our bus going back.
We will definitely come back.
xoxo Tondol.
The travel was long but I promise you, it is so worth it.
Ok enough of the emotions.
Here is the breakdown of our cost.
Going:
Food and stuff : 500 PHP
Bus Fare: 420 PHP for me Kid is 360
Red Horse: 90 Php for 2 Bottles
Food for day 2: 150 PHP ( 1 kilo of fresh fish @100 pesos, Cooked rice 30Php good for the wholeday and 1/4 kilo seaweed 20 php)
Store Account: 470 PHP which includes snacks and drinks for both, Paluto and condiments)
Accomodation: 1500 PHP
Leaving:
Bus Fare : 420 PHP for me 360 for Taluli - Dagupan Bus Co
Snacks: 150 PHP
We left Tara Junction at 8:00 am and arrived 2:45 pm in West Ave to catch an Uber to go home. I recommend going there riding Dagupan bus because it is more spacious and they have newer and more cozy buses.
Total Cost: PHP 4,420
Approx 5k if you consider the Uber rides.
But the basics are just approximately less than 4,000 if you think about it. for a 3 day 2 night vacay I can say it is a cheap ass quality trip.
To view the graphic visualization of this trip, visit our YouTube Vlog here:
