Day Trip: Liliw | Nagcarlan | San Pablo, Laguna

Last February, I went on a day trip adventure with some of my high school friends and a lot of new found friends, whom I just met at the day of the trip. I love trips like this because it's always fun to explore new places with new people. Also, it's not usual trip where my friends would go to the beach. This time, we went exploring and sight seeing. You don't really need to go far and wide, since there are a lot of beautiful places here in the Philippines. That being said, we went to the charming city that is Laguna.

Hello, traveling friends!

We were a group of 13, so we opted to rent a van. We met up at around 7:30AM in McDonald's Vito Cruz, and headed to Laguna around 8:30AM.

We were caught in traffic near Sto. Tomas, so we arrived Liliw at around 10:45AM. We went to the historic St. John the Baptist Church (Lilio Church) for our first stop.

This church has been around since 1605 and is known for its red brick facade. Adjacent to the church is Balay Celina (Museum), where they showcase various religious images and artifacts.

At exactly 11:15AM, we had lunch at Arabela (located at Rizal Street). This restaurant has the charm of the small restaurants I usually see at Maginhawa Street in Quezon City, where the upper floors serve as the owners' home. This restaurant serves Italian food (some with a Filipino twist like Kesong Puti Pizza) as well as rice meals.

After lunch, we walked to Gat Tayaw Street (just next to Rizal Street, where Arabela is located). Liliw isn't called the Tsinelas Capital of the Philippines for nothing. Take a look at these!

Along the street are rows of small shoe stores that sell all styles imaginable. There are the traditional tsinelas that go for as low as 3 for P100.00, slippers, slip on sandals, flats, heels, etc. The price range is from P200.00 to P300.00 for a pair of flats. Way, way cheaper compared to the mall prices here in Manila.

I was eyeing this pretty red sandals since it made my feet look really pretty, but then I decided to go for the beige one instead.

Which is also really nice and more wearable. I was able to buy this for just P230.00! :D

Next stop is Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery (which is just across Petron Gasoline Station). This has been declared a Philippine historical landmark. This cemetery has been around since the World War II days. I'm actually not a fan of going to cemeteries, so when my Mom found out that I was going to visit this place, she gave me a necklace to ward of spirits. And so, I wore it!

With Benny!

The exterior of the cemetery is actually very beautiful and colorful. It looks kind of happy, and it a huge contrast to what lies beneath.

The first thing you will see when you enter the place is this.

There's a staircase on the right which leads to the underground cemetery. It's dark and eerie down here, so I was able to just stay for a few seconds, while my friends were all busy taking photos...

and bought some meringue from Ate over here instead. :D

After that, we went for a quick hike to Pandin Lake. Pandin Lake is a 30-minute hike from the highway, and Yambo Lake is another 30-minute hike from Pandin Lake.

Meet Budoy! He's tied up though. :(

Here, you can ride a bamboo raft for P180.00 per person without food or P360.00 per person with food. The menu includes small shrimps, talong, seaweed salad, tilapia, and buko. Since we already ate, we opted to go without food, but they served us fresh buko juice, too.

The bamboo raft is manually pulled by 2 women, so my friends opted to assist them whenever necessary.

Beautiful view ♥

If you want to take the raft, contact the tourism department at Pandin Lake to reserve the boats.

You can swim at Pandin Lake provided you have a life vest on.

Take a sip of this miracle water. It's said to have healing properties. If you do take a swim, you can use this too to cleanse your skin.

The raft transported us to Yambu Lake, but we had to hike a bit with on a semi-steep trail. The view was so worth it!

The next 2 lakes we visited were Palakpakin Lake and Mojicap Lake.

My favorite photo from the entire trip, since I took it myself. Haha :D

We made it to Palakpakin Lake just before sunset. No swimming here though, I think there are a lot of tilapia thriving here.

At last, a complete group photo! I had a lot of fun with Tiff, Linx, Marnie, Yuri, Sid, Benny, Desi, Jat, Tim, Kat, Gen, and Tope! More travels soon? :)

The sun was quickly setting when we arrived Mojicap Lake. Again, there was a quick hike going down, but since it was so dark, the trail (or just the concrete steps going down to the lake) was kind of scary since there were no lights. The view was awesome though.

This was the last place we visited before we headed to SM City San Pablo for a quick dinner before going home. I arrived home around 12:00AM, and had to go to work the next day. Tired, but happy! I can't wait for my next travel adventure.

This trip was brought to you by #TopeTravelandTours.

Love,

Helen

PS. Itinerary and photos of this trip are from the magnificent mind and talent of my friend, Christopher Chan. You may not use the photos without permission.