It's been a long time comin', but we here now! (yeah, it's a 2NE1 reference) - it has been DECADES since we had a summer trip and a MILLENIA since I posted something here! 🤣

I post more things on my side blog (Everyday Myka) these days just because travelling, convention and other social events were restricted; making this one the actual side blog for now. 

Get ready for a photo heavy post! Let's go!

Travelling from Cavite to Quezon

Going to Lopez Private Beach Resort

Lopez Private Beach Resort Amenities

Goodmorning Agdangan, Quezon!

Enjoying Day 2!

Since almost everybody was still sleeping, we stopped by and looked at Mark and Tin's property nearby. The location they picked was very lovely! It's on a higher plane and the breeze is so good up there.

Once we head back, all of the other guys are up, so we explored the beach area together and took tons of pictures!

The beach area upfront of the resort doesn't have a wide beach area but the touch of the mangroves made it unique and an awesome excuse to use their kayaks.

There's also this nice little beach spot right beside the resort. It's beside a steep hill with lots of trees so there's shade and plenty of area to play around and sunbathe.

We saw a stairway that leads up the hill, but we are not sure if there's a resort at the top or not. 

After more photos. we head back to the resort knowing that our check-out time was 11AM - so D and I washed up and put away our things.

The rest of the gang were still enjoying the kayak and the mangroves so they asked the owner if we can stay a little longer. Surprisingly, the owner said that we can stay as much longer as needed because they don't have bookings that day - lucky!

We pass the rest of the time with videoke! We put in all the songs we could sing until it's time to checkout - for reals.

If you want to read my full review on Lopez Private Beach Resort, click here.

Exploring more of Quezon

It's our last day and initially, we wanted to do a day tour on a second resort, but we decided to just have lunch at Calilayan Cove instead.

Calilayan Cove is a public beach park and restaurant at Unisan, Quezon. The place was packed but not crowded, which was good. They have huts by the beach and air-conditioned rooms.

They also have this cute activity area and tons of photo ops spots that they've set up all over the place

They have this little area for their restaurant but we have a big group so we requested a different area to dine in, and the staffs were very accommodating and friendly.

The staff gave us tables and chairs that were perfectly placed at the center of the resort. The view was so nice that the photo we took can pass as a Windows Wallpaper. :) 

A weekend well spent!

It has been ages since we saw each other and I think this is the longest trip we've had - 3 days and two nights. It's usually just 2 days and 1 night, and it's all worth it.

We are grateful to the owner of the resort we stayed in, we made more stories we can talk about in the future! It was a very chill trip and we hope we can do more of these trips in this new-normal world.

Thank you for reading all the way through!

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Quicklinks:

• Lopez Private Beach Resort
• Calilayan Cove Beach Park and Restaurant
• More photos here: [link 1], [link 2], [link 3] [link4]

Our last day was spent primarily in Taipei Zoo. We started our day as early as the trains opened.

Their zoo was waaaaay far from any establishments, like literally. There were no nearby stores and though it's easily accessible via train, there weren't much vehicles that travel around. We arrived just hours away they open and we were the first ones there too.

We waited few hours outside, but it's better to be first in line too. Inside, we were greeted by a McDonald's joint - had our quick breakfast and started to explore.

All the attractions has specific time stamps when you are allowed to go in. They also have stubs to control crowd entry. The place was MASSIVE, there were tons of people roaming around but it didn't felt crowded at all.

Taipei Zoo has given me new meanings on "zoos". I didn't felt that the animals were "caged". All of the creatures were given ideal spaces, just enough for people to explore.

My favorite spot of all is the bird's area. It was a huge space for all of the birds to fly around. There were no cages. We could actually interact with the birds up close of we want to. But of course, no feeding!

Looking through my albums, we didn't get much photos of the animals there. It was more of just like stop-view-go. But we did took one of the most visited creatue of all - ze Panda! :D

They also have amazing structures inside, all dedicated for particular species. This right here was for nocturnal creatures. It was made to mimic a cave, they've setup up red lights inside enough for you to observe the animals inside.

They also have these bus stations where it will take you to a different part of the zoo. Like for the bigger animals, they have a particular area for them.

It's like a huge rainforest in one and on the other side it looks like a huge ranch, and on the other it will look like a safari. Whoever made the map of their Zoo is a genius!

Roaming around the place was tiring and they have vendo machines with watered bottles. The snack bars were strategically placed where people can rest, and that's away from the animals too.

If we were casually strolling around, I say we'd really spent the whole day inside. We got all tired with all the walking like the big kids we were. lol

We also tried the cable car! We stepped out the first stop and had a meal there.

We had another traditional tea there, but it was nothing like the experience we had at Jiufen. The food was delicious tho!

Then we head back to the train station via the cable car again and find our way back to the main city.

We tried to walk and shop at the Underground Mall, but as we enter shops, I just got sad, cause everything is cheap and I can't take them back home 'cause I don't have extra space on my luggage anymore T___T.

In general, I love Taiwan! The long drives and long walks would be something to get used to, but it's a nice way to enjoy the sceneries. Streets are clean and I love how the attractions are not cramped in just one area and their train system is amazing. It would've been nice to roam around the city at night tho.

Foods are amazing, especially that 5 spices that they put on almost everything! Asking for water is automatically served hot and their 7-11 food choices are as good as dining out.

Language is indeed a struggle but all their public signages are well illustrated and funny too. People are also well-adjusted to conversing with tourists.

If you want to experience travelling overseas, Taiwan is a nice first. It's friendly and quite laid back.

Thank you for reading all the way through!

You can go back and read our first day >>here<< or our day two >>here<<

**The photos used at this post are taken with my Moto G5s phone and collectively grabbed from my sisters. Applications used: Adobe Photoshop.
More of our Taiwan photos here: https://kristalynhazel.tumblr.com/tagged/taiwan

Day 2 of our trip was an arranged tour, just like the one sister-san rented on our Davao Trip. We started early with a 7-11 breakfast and got picked up by our ride right away.

It was a long ride from the city to our first stop at Jiufen. Our driver / translator has been very informative and nice during the whole trip despite his struggle on choosing the correct English words.

It was damp and there's a bit of rain shower when we arrived. We were early enough to stroll around the place with less people and few open stalls

All the food at the main street are so mouthwatering and was new to taste! Of course, we did have our first tea, the traditional *tea time* way.

The place where we had the traditional tea was a pot museum. It had multiple rooms

At the back part of the museum was the most perfect view of the Sky Castle Tea House, the tea house that was inspired by the Spirited Away movie.

Our next stop, Shifen Waterfall Park. It was a loooooooong walk! Good thing is the walkway already has a cement trail.

We went so far on the trail that we didn't had enough time to get back to the start point and meet with our ride to the next stop. We hailed the taxi nearby but unfortunately the driver didn't understood what place we were suppose to be dropped of.

We ended up going to Shifen Old Street where they do the lantern thingies.

Our driver was suppose to drop us off at a different train station where there was lesser crowd. We still went there and took few photos and decided to get our trip back the city.

The drive was long but we got back the city enough to explore more nearby things, like this awesome temple!

We also walk ourselves to the street where they have these street food and all the yummy things.

We browsed the whole street first and picked out our last snack for the day as we head back to our hotel.

Our day ended with a long warm bath and a happy full tummy! Yey!

Continue reading our day three at Taiwan >>here<< or go back and read our first day >>here<<

**The photos used at this post are taken with my Moto G5s phone and collectively grabbed from my sisters. Applications used: Adobe Photoshop.
More of our Taiwan photos here: https://kristalynhazel.tumblr.com/tagged/taiwan