Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Saturday, February 10, 2007
PICTURE: Old Eaves Against Eternal Sky (Vigan, Nov. 2006)
I was walking around the Calle Crisologo area one hot afternoon. After checking out the Syquia Mansion, the ancestral house of Philippine president Elpidio Quirino, I noticed another old house at one corner. It seemed desolate but you could see the former grandeur, now sagging under the eaves, worn by time and battered by the weather. What stories it harbors in its crannies? What events it has witnessed. The windows looked out to the neighborhood. The eaves protruded to the sky, the sheets of roofing almost falling from their shingles. The picture is nostalgic. Sad but at the same time hopeful. Just like Vigan.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
The Spectacle That is the Amazing Philippine Theatre
The Manila Film Center, inside the Cultural Center of the Philippines complex, looks less abandoned now. Posters of pretty women in gaudy costumes adorn the facade together with the blemishes of weather and age. The garden lights are much brighter, lending the building a sense of grandeur at night. Occasionally, the tourist buses arrive but not for the history of the building nor for films, for which the building was originally intended. The Marcos-era building now houses the Amazing Philippine Theatre, which produces the all-male, song-and-dance spectacle The Amazing Show almost every night for five years now, mostly for tourists.
What proves to be remarkable about the show is that it is performed by transsexuals. This fact is a drawing factor as much as the ostentation and the entertaining nature of the show. The men, lithe, statuesque and beautifully made-up, parade in gowns and whimsical costumes. They dance with an amusing grace. Women in the audience regularly joke about feeling insecure. Garbed in flamboyant costumes, these men are more beautiful than they are and carry themselves with such aplomb that leaves observers astonished. More likely, the description “amazing” refers to this fact.
But it also refers to the show, according to William Lee, the Korean chief operating officer and director of sales and marketing of the Amazing Philippine Theatre. The Amazing Show can rival, if not surpass, the ones being put up in Thailand, well-known for musical shows featuring transsexuals and to which the Philippine show took its inspiration.
The wealth of talent as well as the beauty of transsexuals in the country inspired Korean investors headed by its chairman and owner Lee Jong Hyun to put up the Amazing Philippine Theatre in 2001. At the first audition, they hired 80 performers to make up the first pool of talent. Investors decided to rehabilitate the Manila Film Center to make it the venue for the shows with an initial capital investment of about US$ 1.4 million. The selling of the show was concentrated to the Korean market.
At the start of the venture, business was slow. There were times when the show opened to small audiences, even once to only one customer. But the show pushed on. Over time and with perseverance, the Amazing Show is slowly gaining more audience and a respectable reputation.
Formerly with the Dulaang Universidad ng Pilipinas, Elmir Castillo is currently responsible for the choreography and the production, which is frequently likened to the Thailand shows.
Currently, the Amazing Philippine Theatre has about 60 performers. About 25 of them perform male roles while about 35 female. Castillo admits they are having difficulty in creating a substantial pool of talents. Many of them leave for a more lucrative job in Japan. They regularly hold auditions for new talents though. Aspirants usually range from 19 to 35 years old or as long as they look young. And the company put an emphasis on beauty over talent. After all, they can teach and train them.
The Amazing Philippine Theatre also holds an annual beauty pageant, and winners are given contract to perform with the company. This is one way of discovering new talents. The winners are also fielded to an international transsexual beauty pageant in Thailand.
Despite their looks, only a few of the performers have undergone sex reassignment surgery (SRS), though many are planning to have one. One post-operation transgender is Lena Macarasig, one of the beauty queens of the Amazing Philippine Theatre. The surgery was performed in Japan. Christina (Christopher) Dandan, the tallest and one of the most beautiful performers, had a breast enhancement operation fiannced by the company. Her operation was financed by the company. Although the Amazing Philippine Theatre does not sponsor SRS or any kind of operation of their talents, Dandan’s operation was a gift of the company for her good work attitude and excellent performance.
Every night, Dandan performs at the Manila Film Center, whose lobby area, 850-seat theater and second level office spaces are rented by the Amazing Philippine Theatre.
The lobby still has its old grandeur. The company has built a café for the visitors. On the left wing of the building, there is a restaurant that looks like a cafeteria but serves delicious authentic Korean dishes. The theater has also been renovated. Decrepit chairs were replaced and re-upholstered. The stage has also been renovated to accommodate the lavish sets. There are many set changes during the show, which last an hour and ten minutes.
The show is made of several sequences and concepts in a vaudeville or Las Vegas style. Cultural references and styles are used liberally and with modifications.
The prelude features a gowned performer lip-synching to “Kiss Me Once.” “This sequence is intended to warm the audience and enchant them for them to stay for the whole duration of the show,” the company explains.
The prelude features a gowned performer lip-synching to “Kiss Me Once.” “This sequence is intended to warm the audience and enchant them for them to stay for the whole duration of the show,” the company explains.
The first sequence is their trademark Egyptian-inspired spectacle with a Sphinx monument and a parade of men/women is glittery costumes. Called “Serpent of the Nile,” the sequence is said to tell the love story of Mark Anthony and Cleopatra, with the dead Cleopatra brought to life by two goddesses of love and beauty.
Another sequence is inspired the Ramayana, particularly the love story of Rama and Sita, who find themselves in a magical forest, and Kali, an evil sorcerers tries to kill Sita to have Rama for herself.
A medley of Philippine folk dances from an Igorot ritual to the singkil forms one of the highlights of the show. Equally delightful is their Arirang Korean fan dance. The gentle movements are accompanied with a fast-paced pop tune. The performers use only fans as props, collectively forming waves and flowers that glow in the dark.
On the other hand, the popular Chinese love song “Wa Ai Ni” is lip-synched. This is punctuated with gigantic flowers and little butterflies illuminated by black lights.
The show also excerpted for the movie Moulin Rouge, with the dancers doing the cancan. The rest of the performances incorporate Hawaiian and Latin pop themes. There are also a tango sequence and a medley of ballroom dances. The finale is a rousing contemporary dance spectacle to the tune of “If You Could Read My Mind.”
The Amazing Show is mounted twice, at : 30 P.M. and 9 P.M., from Tuesday to Sunday. Every three to four months, they add or change something in the sequences.
Lee said they plan to have a night market and build an “Oceanarium.” This is part of their thrust of enlivening the tourism activity in the area, and of the Philippines in general.
The Amazing Show is mounted by the Amazing Philippine Theatre at the Manila Film Center, Leona Florentino corner Dela Rama Streets, Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City. For information and reservations, call (632) 833-5758, 833-5785, 832-9866 or fax (632) 832-9866. The Amazing Philippine Theatre Cebu office is at 9-2 Hadsan Cove Resort, Agus, Maribgao, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu. For information, call (6332) 495-2592 or (6332) 495-2593, 0917-8072713, email 95020265@hanmail.net. Log on to www.amazingshow.co.kr.
The Amazing Show is mounted by the Amazing Philippine Theatre at the Manila Film Center, Leona Florentino corner Dela Rama Streets, Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City. For information and reservations, call (632) 833-5758, 833-5785, 832-9866 or fax (632) 832-9866. The Amazing Philippine Theatre Cebu office is at 9-2 Hadsan Cove Resort, Agus, Maribgao, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu. For information, call (6332) 495-2592 or (6332) 495-2593, 0917-8072713, email 95020265@hanmail.net. Log on to www.amazingshow.co.kr.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Mundane Pleasures at the Foot of the Mystic Mountain
Pilgrimage and tour to Mount Banahaw, considered mystical and sacred by many, may not be possible right now because the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has closed it off to visitors in order for the mountain and its ecology to recover, one can at least explore the springs and enjoy a stay in a quaint café in Dolores, a town in the province of Quezon at the foot of the mountain. It is a popular jump-off point of pilgrims and climbers.
We went there after a stay at the acclaimed The Farm at San Benito, where de detoxified and ate raw vegetarian food. We plunged into the bustle of Lipa proper and headed east to Dolores for Kinabuhayan Café Bed and Breakfast. It was an uneventful hour or so drive through the towns of Padre Garcia and San Antonio and entering Quezon province through Tiaong. Dolores was a quaint town with narrow, sloping roads.
On Dejarme Street in the quiet neighborhood of Barangay Bayanihan stood Kinabuhayan Café, equally quaint as the town, near a chapel and an elementary school. A big tamarind tree marked its location.
Opened in the Holy Week of 2003, Kinabuhyan Café is owned by buddies Jay Herrera, production designer, and Winston Baltasar, motoring journalist and former managing editor of Top Gear magazine. It stood on Herrera’s family property, which was before an empty lot with a garage. The two established this only bed-and-breakfast place in the area with Herrera designing and acting as chef. Herrera lives here while Baltasar goes home to Makati. The café is named after the barangay at the foot of Banahaw where some natural sacred shrines are located. The name means “place of resurrection.”
The café in white paint was charmingly accented with details like numerous different windows, which Herrera collected along the way. In the yard, there were two open-air, two-story huts as accommodation plus a nice three-level tree dwelling at the tamarind tree. The tree was in full bloom, thus anyone sleeping here would be sprinkled with tamarind blossoms upon waking up. The huts had bamboo slats flooring and an open-air bathroom at the side with its own garden. Each hut can accommodate two to eight persons. A bathroom and toilet with hot water are very welcome amenities in this part. Now, mountaineers, trekkers and pilgrims to Mount Banahaw can journey with relative ease. But Kinabuhayan café itself is fast becoming a destination.
In the café, you dine with their black, fat, laidback dogs lounging around. They were so people-oriented, that is, ultra friendly even to strangers and unmindful of the passing and going of people. The fattest was called Chongki. Herrera, who wore his salt-and-pepper hair long, liked telling us how, when calling the dog, some people would look up. A pregnant black cat also stalked the whole area. She was friendly too.
The food prepared here they call “Pinoy gourmet,” Filipino dishes with European touches. For lunch, we were served a large plate of treats: risotto with black mushroom, slices of singkamas and chayote, mung bean sprouts, fresh pako or young fern, and best of all, baked chili chicken. Dessert was sweet potato cooked in pandan and vanilla-flavored syrup, served on crisp open fried spring roll wrapper and topped with cream. This was concluded with cups of Quezon barako coffee flavored with pandan.
Winston told us that Jay grows a chesa tree in the backyard. I don’t know of anyone who likes chesa, that deep-yellow, heart-shaped fruit. Perhaps, Jay might be one. He makes samosas out of them stuffed with ground pork, chili and oyster sauce. He calls it “chesmosa.”
Along the way, I saw several angel’s trumpets, small trees with large, pendent, peach-colored flowers, which seems to have a fondness growing in mountainous areas. Sandy told me that the local name is talampunay and is said to be hallucinogenic. The leaves can be dried and made into cigarettes while the flowers can be boiled and drank as tea.
We went there after a stay at the acclaimed The Farm at San Benito, where de detoxified and ate raw vegetarian food. We plunged into the bustle of Lipa proper and headed east to Dolores for Kinabuhayan Café Bed and Breakfast. It was an uneventful hour or so drive through the towns of Padre Garcia and San Antonio and entering Quezon province through Tiaong. Dolores was a quaint town with narrow, sloping roads.
On Dejarme Street in the quiet neighborhood of Barangay Bayanihan stood Kinabuhayan Café, equally quaint as the town, near a chapel and an elementary school. A big tamarind tree marked its location.
Opened in the Holy Week of 2003, Kinabuhyan Café is owned by buddies Jay Herrera, production designer, and Winston Baltasar, motoring journalist and former managing editor of Top Gear magazine. It stood on Herrera’s family property, which was before an empty lot with a garage. The two established this only bed-and-breakfast place in the area with Herrera designing and acting as chef. Herrera lives here while Baltasar goes home to Makati. The café is named after the barangay at the foot of Banahaw where some natural sacred shrines are located. The name means “place of resurrection.”
The café in white paint was charmingly accented with details like numerous different windows, which Herrera collected along the way. In the yard, there were two open-air, two-story huts as accommodation plus a nice three-level tree dwelling at the tamarind tree. The tree was in full bloom, thus anyone sleeping here would be sprinkled with tamarind blossoms upon waking up. The huts had bamboo slats flooring and an open-air bathroom at the side with its own garden. Each hut can accommodate two to eight persons. A bathroom and toilet with hot water are very welcome amenities in this part. Now, mountaineers, trekkers and pilgrims to Mount Banahaw can journey with relative ease. But Kinabuhayan café itself is fast becoming a destination.
In the café, you dine with their black, fat, laidback dogs lounging around. They were so people-oriented, that is, ultra friendly even to strangers and unmindful of the passing and going of people. The fattest was called Chongki. Herrera, who wore his salt-and-pepper hair long, liked telling us how, when calling the dog, some people would look up. A pregnant black cat also stalked the whole area. She was friendly too.
The food prepared here they call “Pinoy gourmet,” Filipino dishes with European touches. For lunch, we were served a large plate of treats: risotto with black mushroom, slices of singkamas and chayote, mung bean sprouts, fresh pako or young fern, and best of all, baked chili chicken. Dessert was sweet potato cooked in pandan and vanilla-flavored syrup, served on crisp open fried spring roll wrapper and topped with cream. This was concluded with cups of Quezon barako coffee flavored with pandan.
Winston told us that Jay grows a chesa tree in the backyard. I don’t know of anyone who likes chesa, that deep-yellow, heart-shaped fruit. Perhaps, Jay might be one. He makes samosas out of them stuffed with ground pork, chili and oyster sauce. He calls it “chesmosa.”
Along the way, I saw several angel’s trumpets, small trees with large, pendent, peach-colored flowers, which seems to have a fondness growing in mountainous areas. Sandy told me that the local name is talampunay and is said to be hallucinogenic. The leaves can be dried and made into cigarettes while the flowers can be boiled and drank as tea.
Jay and Winston like to tell a story about how musician Joey Ayala got stoned drinking a concoction made from angel’s trumpet flowers that he ended up putting his shoes inside the refrigerator.
But a more acceptable way to get high is with lambanog, which flows ceaselessly in this café during full moon nights. With the smoking and talks and intoxication, I wondered about the wellness aspect of this place. Most probably, it is the energy from Mount Banahaw, which Winston believes in and gushes about. He also said that the water that springs from the mountain is therapeutic.
Off we went to the mountain, about 15-minute drive from the café. We fetched our guide Minda Godoy, a sixty-ish Rizalist, in barangay Santa Lucia. We passed by the large compound of the Rosa Mistica religious group. Banahaw harbors multitudinous religious groups and cults. Kinabuhayan proper is a thriving community with a basketball court. Rows of stores selling fruits, vegetables, souvenirs and herbal cures lined the narrows steps towards the church of Tatlong Persona Solo Dios. A left turn would bring you to the foot of the mountain itself. Because of human traffic had taken its toll on the mountain, Banahaw, a declared protected area, is closed for five years, starting 1994 to be able to recuperate. We could go as far as the Kinabuhayan complex where the Kinabuhayn spring was with a large submerged stone bearing an imprint of a foot. The site is called Yapak ni Kristo (Christ’s footprint). We lighted some candles. Nearby was a cave with a stone and an image of Mary at the entrance. As we go inside the dark cave, our lit candles revealed many religious images, mostly those of Virgin Mary and Santo Ninos. Aling Minda was chanting as we went along. After visiting these sites, we wade into the gelid water. Winston filled his plastic containers with spring water. Around us, there are several religious images tucked in crevices. Also there were empty sachets of shampoo, wrappers and other garbage items. Serious mountaineers and religious members are okay, said Winston. It’s the jologs crowd that throngs the mountain and leaves heaps of trash including pornographic materials and bottles of liquor.
Body wearied but soul replenished, we sank into the comforts of our car seats as we headed home.
_____
Prior booking in Kinabuyan Café is required. Contact Winston Balatasar through mobile phone numbers 0917-3271106 and 0917-5241106, or e-mail kina_cafe@yahoo.com. Visit its website at www.klar.us/kinabuhayan_café for more information, tour packages, pictures, detailed directions for going there and prices.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Creating Colors in Calatagan
Celebrity beauty tycoon Ricky Reyes may really have a predilection for colors and cosmetic beauty. The coastal area of Barangay Uno in Calatagan, Batangas, used to be barren save for clumps of shrubs and weeds, patches of sugarcane fields and a collection of little houses and fishers’ shanties.
Now, his resort sprawls over it, its swimming pools complete with contraptions that spurt water like summer rain, playgrounds, pocket gardens and lawns, fishponds over which traverses a bamboo walkway, a hulking plastic slide, an artificial waterfall, cute multipurpose huts, neon colored flags flapping and pale salmon-pink and beige cottages, all new and bright like big, shiny toys strewn on the rocky shore.
The Golden Sunset Resort appears like an oasis after a long drive. Along the main highway traversing Calatagan, the hacienda and golf course of the Zobels, the town’s most prominent family, stretches on one side, with rows of stores, fields and houses on the other. There is no sign of the resort from that point except for a big green-and-yellow poster, inviting one to enter a small road that winds through a quiet neighborhood and sugarcane fields. Houses become fewer and smaller and farther apart. The road becomes narrow, snaking through drab, undulating tracts of land dotted with scraggly trees and wayward goats and cows. Just as one feels lost does the resort appear, its high fence dressed in a series of tarpaulin posters boasting its amenities and activities.
It was a bright June morning when we arrived, after a two-and-a-half hour drive from Manila. Though it was the tail-end of summer, the heat was still oppressive. The entrance of the reception hall had a large picture of a radiant Ricky Reyes, welcoming visitors. The resort staff was on hand with leis of small bamboo, beads and bright artificial flowers, and welcome drinks of bright yellow and sugary pineapple juice.
The hall had a billiards table at one side, and a small function hall at the other. Catching our eye was a wall of photographs, capturing, in beautiful angles and light, images of the town: salt beds, farmers, fishermen, the quaint town church, the carabaos, the old Cape Santiago Lighthouse, the fields, the sunsets, the beaches. Historic sites and touristy spots and everyday scenes made touristy.
The resort, in partnership with the local government, had hosted a group of photojournalists and held a photography contest with the town as subject. This was one of the activities that aimed to promote tourism in the town. Peter Oliver Palacio, the town mayor since 1998, has been eyeing the tourism potential of Calatagan as of late.
Formerly an extensive hacienda of the Roxas-Zobels, the 10,527-hectare town is a peninsula jutting out of southern Batangas with the South China Sea at one side and the Balayan Bay at the other. My impression from a few visits of the town was that it was hot and dry and almost barren. It is because it is generally flat, a friend said. Indeed, the town’s name means a “spread” or a wide “expanse” in Tagalog.
The wonder of Calatagan¸ which is110 kilometers south of Manila, lies under its plain topography. The town is chiefly known to be an important archaeological site, and artifacts, mostly pottery, have been unearthed there, suggesting a thriving pre-European contact particularly with the Chinese as well as a sizable community in the area. These artifacts though can be seen at the homes of private collectors and in museums in Manila, particularly at the Ayala Museum.
Coming second in antiquity and interest is the Spanish-era lighthouse at Cape Santiago, nine kilometers from the Poblacion, the town proper, which stands as the town’s prime heritage structure and top point of interest. Here, 47-yearold Antonio Coz, third-generation lighthouse keeper, has maintained the structure for 22 years now. The lighthouse was built in 1890, he said. The iron stairs have 65 steps. There’s a ghost of a woman haunting the area but I haven’t seen it, he smiled. And there’s an escape tunnel in one of the rooms. Relatively well-maintained and still functional, the 51-foot lighthouse affords visitors a good view of the sea and a stretch of shore. Other than that, Calatagan is rarely a tourist destination. But this may change, the mayor hopes. And he has been “partnering” with mostly facility investors.
There are currently 10 major resorts in Calatagan including Lago de Oro, which is known for its wakeboarding facility and Rosegold Beach Resort and Hotel, a handsome cluster of cottages standing on the sea. The Zobel-owned Punta Baluarte is closed but the golf course is open. An exciting development though is underway. Landco Pacific Corporation, a major developer, is building Playa Calatagan, a 74-hectare resort community project at the barangay of Santa Ana at the town’s western coastline. The plan boasts of seaside homes, hotels, a commercial center, apartment and condominium buildings and recreational and tourist complexes.
It will get busier when the pier opened, the mayor said. A ro-ro (roll on, roll off) port is under development, and it will service those going to and from the provinces of Occidental Mindoro and Palawan.
Meanwhile, the mayor was excited about Golden Sunset Resort and was proud that a celebrity has decided to put up a resort in his town. He prodded Reyes to open it to public when it was initially built as personal retreat, and paved roads going to the resort.
Arguably the best-known hairdresser in the Philippines, Ricky Reyes is very visible with television commercials and shows and big billboards advertising his chain of beauty salons. His rags-to-riches story struck many chords. With perseverance and marketing savvy, he rose from salon attendant to beauty maven. With salons dotting the metropolis, a resort seems to be an unlikely business venture. But as mentioned, he didn’t plan it that way.
A mutual friend tipped him off about a property in Calatagan. He bought eight hectares of it and began developing it into a getaway for himself and his family and friends. However, many people persuaded him to further develop it into a resort, which he did. For two years now, Reyes has been personally seeing through the resort’s progress, making embellishments here and there. He formally opened the resort on January 2006.
The ever sunny and affable Ricky Reyes took us for a short tour of the place, his now familiar voice and peals of laughter sprang like drops of sunshine on water and his make-up not running even in the summer heat.
Many people call the Golden Sunset Resort the Ricky Reyes Resort. Why not call it Ricky Reyes Resort? Mother Ricky, as he is fondly called, just laughed at it. “You must discover for yourself why it is called Golden Sunset Resort,” he winked.
The reception hall affords a commanding view of the resort. I saw layers and differing shades of blue. Two swimming pools occupy the center, the larger one having a big slide, almost serving as a centerpiece of the resort. Behind the pools are the wide fishponds, and behind them the sea. Beside the reception hall is a butterfly sanctuary (Open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with an entrance fee of P50 for adults and P30 for children) and a children’s playground. Reyes liked to compare himself to a butterfly, particularly noting its ability to metamorphose.
Specially designed green jeepneys or golf carts can take guests around the resort. Flanking the big swimming pool are the waterfall and a café, Café Veranda with tarp roofing and menu of drinks and sandwiches. By noon, the café’s coin-operated videoke machine was cranked up by day-trippers. After them, we hogged the machine from afternoon till dinner, our singing melding with the sound of the waterfall.
At the edge of the fishpond is the Cucina de Oro Restaurant offering Filipino and foreign dishes, all personal favorites of Reyes. A bamboo walkway traverses the side of the fishpond, leading to the cottages and rows of rooms. A big pavilion with lounges accent the walkway, where one can enjoy the view or go fishing. Milkfish and tilapia are raised in the fishponds. To make fishing more rousing, one can rent a small boat docked on the side of the walkway and paddle around the fishpond, accented with cement outcroppings made to look like rocks and painted with a beige color.
Midway, there is the Fishpond Restaurant, a small mess hall with screens as walls. Artificial vines snaked on the corners through the ceiling festooned with artificial flowers. Industrial lights hang from the ceiling. “Kalandian ko lang ‘yan!” exclaimed Reyes. We laughed. Kalandian in Tagalog means “flirtatiousness.” Here, it could mean “whimsy,” “caprice” or fancy, or perhaps a burst of inspiration. It was his standard answer when asked how did he come up with the design of the place.
“Dati ang motif ng salon ay plastic vines and industrial lighting. Now iba na. Spa look. Kaya nasa restaurant na siya,” (Before the motif of the salons were plastic vines and industrial lighting. Now, it’s different. Spa look. That’s why they’re now in the restaurant),” he explained.
The layout and design of the whole resort came from Reyes himself. He just followed his impulse, instinct or kalandian. Only a percentage of the property was used for the resort, the rest he planned for a residential subdivision.
After the short tour, he bid us to explore and enjoy. We went to cool off in our room, which had a small television, two beds, a painting and vases of artificial flowers.
Brackish water ran on the faucets of the bathroom. Aside from this standard room (P2,520 to P3,080, according to season), the resort has rooms with lofts, non-air-conditioned rooms, dormitory rooms which can accommodate six to fifteen persons (ranging from P2,700 to P7,000, according to season). Across the fishpond is the Garden Cove cluster of rooms with its own small pool. The cottage here can accommodate up to six guests (P4,050 to P4,950). At the far end corner of the resort is the Premiere Guest House, which accommodate 12 persons, with three bedrooms, private swimming pool, multi-purpose pavilion, dining hall, kitchen, and satellite television (P31,500 to P38,500).
Aimed with passport in different denominations, so that guests will not need to carry cash around the resort, we proceeded to Café Veranda for refreshments and snacks. In the searing afternoon sun, boys were playing volleyball. A paint factory in Cavite was having its annual company outing. The employees were mostly young men, most of them attractive, running around the pools. The air vibrated with playfulness and the place became golden with sunlight and bodies.
By late afternoon, we went to try out its spa by the side of the fishpond. The massages are performed at open-air huts. The Serendipity Spa offers an ample range: shiatsu (P500), Swedish (P500), foot (P300) or combination Thai massages (P500). Their specialties are called the Golden Touch (P500) and Indulgence (P1,200). The Golden Touch uses a combination of elbow and foot stretching techniques, aiming to relieve muscle stiffness and other body aches. On the other hand, Indulgence promises to be pampering treatment, beginning with a footbath and scalp rejuvenation treatment. These are followed by a hydro massage, a volcanic stone treatment and a massage by a pair of masseuses.
In addition, the spa offers beauty treatments: foot spa (P150), manicure and pedicure (P200 each), and hair treatments like hair spa (P500 to P1,500), hair reborn (P500 to P1,500), hair booster (P500 to P1,500), hair shining (P500 to P1,500).
Saturday night is abuzz with activity at the resort as a dance show is regularly put up for guests. Tables were set up for an al fresco dinner. The smiling dancers came performing Filipino folk dances. The girls did a Tahitian dance while the boys an exhilarating fire dance. As a culminating activity, the dancers invited the guests to dance and there was a contest of who among them could best do the Tahitian steps. Male guests were made to wear grass skirts to the amusement of the audience.
But a more spectacular and electrifying show happened at the shore before this performance. The pebbly shore was not much to look at, but it set the stage for a magical burst of colors. The sunset cast its magic on almost everything: the craggy shore, the huts on bamboo rafts, the moored fishing boats, the neighborhood children, the empty grassland, the fishponds, the giant plastic slide.
The sky wore tatters of periwinkle, violet and coral over a mantle of orange. As minutes passed, swirls of magenta, vermilion and lilac floated, and disappeared in a surge of mauve and deep purple as the sun went down, a fancy of the heaven and conceptualized by a greater beauty expert.
For booking and reservation, contact Travelpros at SM Megamall through tel. no. 02-6343109 or 02-6361687; Travelpros at SM City Fairview through tel no. 02-9388742; Travelpros at SM City Lucena through tel. no. (+6342) (042) 7104055; Travelpros at SMSouthmall (LasPinas) through tel. no. (+632) (02) 8000467; and TPI, Flight Center at Market! Market! through tel. nos. 02- 8897296, 8897297, 7572250, 7572251 or 8897396. E-mail info@goldensunset.ph and/or visit website at www.goldensunset.ph.
Now, his resort sprawls over it, its swimming pools complete with contraptions that spurt water like summer rain, playgrounds, pocket gardens and lawns, fishponds over which traverses a bamboo walkway, a hulking plastic slide, an artificial waterfall, cute multipurpose huts, neon colored flags flapping and pale salmon-pink and beige cottages, all new and bright like big, shiny toys strewn on the rocky shore.
The Golden Sunset Resort appears like an oasis after a long drive. Along the main highway traversing Calatagan, the hacienda and golf course of the Zobels, the town’s most prominent family, stretches on one side, with rows of stores, fields and houses on the other. There is no sign of the resort from that point except for a big green-and-yellow poster, inviting one to enter a small road that winds through a quiet neighborhood and sugarcane fields. Houses become fewer and smaller and farther apart. The road becomes narrow, snaking through drab, undulating tracts of land dotted with scraggly trees and wayward goats and cows. Just as one feels lost does the resort appear, its high fence dressed in a series of tarpaulin posters boasting its amenities and activities.
It was a bright June morning when we arrived, after a two-and-a-half hour drive from Manila. Though it was the tail-end of summer, the heat was still oppressive. The entrance of the reception hall had a large picture of a radiant Ricky Reyes, welcoming visitors. The resort staff was on hand with leis of small bamboo, beads and bright artificial flowers, and welcome drinks of bright yellow and sugary pineapple juice.
The hall had a billiards table at one side, and a small function hall at the other. Catching our eye was a wall of photographs, capturing, in beautiful angles and light, images of the town: salt beds, farmers, fishermen, the quaint town church, the carabaos, the old Cape Santiago Lighthouse, the fields, the sunsets, the beaches. Historic sites and touristy spots and everyday scenes made touristy.
The resort, in partnership with the local government, had hosted a group of photojournalists and held a photography contest with the town as subject. This was one of the activities that aimed to promote tourism in the town. Peter Oliver Palacio, the town mayor since 1998, has been eyeing the tourism potential of Calatagan as of late.
Formerly an extensive hacienda of the Roxas-Zobels, the 10,527-hectare town is a peninsula jutting out of southern Batangas with the South China Sea at one side and the Balayan Bay at the other. My impression from a few visits of the town was that it was hot and dry and almost barren. It is because it is generally flat, a friend said. Indeed, the town’s name means a “spread” or a wide “expanse” in Tagalog.
The wonder of Calatagan¸ which is110 kilometers south of Manila, lies under its plain topography. The town is chiefly known to be an important archaeological site, and artifacts, mostly pottery, have been unearthed there, suggesting a thriving pre-European contact particularly with the Chinese as well as a sizable community in the area. These artifacts though can be seen at the homes of private collectors and in museums in Manila, particularly at the Ayala Museum.
Coming second in antiquity and interest is the Spanish-era lighthouse at Cape Santiago, nine kilometers from the Poblacion, the town proper, which stands as the town’s prime heritage structure and top point of interest. Here, 47-yearold Antonio Coz, third-generation lighthouse keeper, has maintained the structure for 22 years now. The lighthouse was built in 1890, he said. The iron stairs have 65 steps. There’s a ghost of a woman haunting the area but I haven’t seen it, he smiled. And there’s an escape tunnel in one of the rooms. Relatively well-maintained and still functional, the 51-foot lighthouse affords visitors a good view of the sea and a stretch of shore. Other than that, Calatagan is rarely a tourist destination. But this may change, the mayor hopes. And he has been “partnering” with mostly facility investors.
There are currently 10 major resorts in Calatagan including Lago de Oro, which is known for its wakeboarding facility and Rosegold Beach Resort and Hotel, a handsome cluster of cottages standing on the sea. The Zobel-owned Punta Baluarte is closed but the golf course is open. An exciting development though is underway. Landco Pacific Corporation, a major developer, is building Playa Calatagan, a 74-hectare resort community project at the barangay of Santa Ana at the town’s western coastline. The plan boasts of seaside homes, hotels, a commercial center, apartment and condominium buildings and recreational and tourist complexes.
It will get busier when the pier opened, the mayor said. A ro-ro (roll on, roll off) port is under development, and it will service those going to and from the provinces of Occidental Mindoro and Palawan.
Meanwhile, the mayor was excited about Golden Sunset Resort and was proud that a celebrity has decided to put up a resort in his town. He prodded Reyes to open it to public when it was initially built as personal retreat, and paved roads going to the resort.
Arguably the best-known hairdresser in the Philippines, Ricky Reyes is very visible with television commercials and shows and big billboards advertising his chain of beauty salons. His rags-to-riches story struck many chords. With perseverance and marketing savvy, he rose from salon attendant to beauty maven. With salons dotting the metropolis, a resort seems to be an unlikely business venture. But as mentioned, he didn’t plan it that way.
A mutual friend tipped him off about a property in Calatagan. He bought eight hectares of it and began developing it into a getaway for himself and his family and friends. However, many people persuaded him to further develop it into a resort, which he did. For two years now, Reyes has been personally seeing through the resort’s progress, making embellishments here and there. He formally opened the resort on January 2006.
The ever sunny and affable Ricky Reyes took us for a short tour of the place, his now familiar voice and peals of laughter sprang like drops of sunshine on water and his make-up not running even in the summer heat.
Many people call the Golden Sunset Resort the Ricky Reyes Resort. Why not call it Ricky Reyes Resort? Mother Ricky, as he is fondly called, just laughed at it. “You must discover for yourself why it is called Golden Sunset Resort,” he winked.
The reception hall affords a commanding view of the resort. I saw layers and differing shades of blue. Two swimming pools occupy the center, the larger one having a big slide, almost serving as a centerpiece of the resort. Behind the pools are the wide fishponds, and behind them the sea. Beside the reception hall is a butterfly sanctuary (Open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with an entrance fee of P50 for adults and P30 for children) and a children’s playground. Reyes liked to compare himself to a butterfly, particularly noting its ability to metamorphose.
Specially designed green jeepneys or golf carts can take guests around the resort. Flanking the big swimming pool are the waterfall and a café, Café Veranda with tarp roofing and menu of drinks and sandwiches. By noon, the café’s coin-operated videoke machine was cranked up by day-trippers. After them, we hogged the machine from afternoon till dinner, our singing melding with the sound of the waterfall.
At the edge of the fishpond is the Cucina de Oro Restaurant offering Filipino and foreign dishes, all personal favorites of Reyes. A bamboo walkway traverses the side of the fishpond, leading to the cottages and rows of rooms. A big pavilion with lounges accent the walkway, where one can enjoy the view or go fishing. Milkfish and tilapia are raised in the fishponds. To make fishing more rousing, one can rent a small boat docked on the side of the walkway and paddle around the fishpond, accented with cement outcroppings made to look like rocks and painted with a beige color.
Midway, there is the Fishpond Restaurant, a small mess hall with screens as walls. Artificial vines snaked on the corners through the ceiling festooned with artificial flowers. Industrial lights hang from the ceiling. “Kalandian ko lang ‘yan!” exclaimed Reyes. We laughed. Kalandian in Tagalog means “flirtatiousness.” Here, it could mean “whimsy,” “caprice” or fancy, or perhaps a burst of inspiration. It was his standard answer when asked how did he come up with the design of the place.
“Dati ang motif ng salon ay plastic vines and industrial lighting. Now iba na. Spa look. Kaya nasa restaurant na siya,” (Before the motif of the salons were plastic vines and industrial lighting. Now, it’s different. Spa look. That’s why they’re now in the restaurant),” he explained.
The layout and design of the whole resort came from Reyes himself. He just followed his impulse, instinct or kalandian. Only a percentage of the property was used for the resort, the rest he planned for a residential subdivision.
After the short tour, he bid us to explore and enjoy. We went to cool off in our room, which had a small television, two beds, a painting and vases of artificial flowers.
Brackish water ran on the faucets of the bathroom. Aside from this standard room (P2,520 to P3,080, according to season), the resort has rooms with lofts, non-air-conditioned rooms, dormitory rooms which can accommodate six to fifteen persons (ranging from P2,700 to P7,000, according to season). Across the fishpond is the Garden Cove cluster of rooms with its own small pool. The cottage here can accommodate up to six guests (P4,050 to P4,950). At the far end corner of the resort is the Premiere Guest House, which accommodate 12 persons, with three bedrooms, private swimming pool, multi-purpose pavilion, dining hall, kitchen, and satellite television (P31,500 to P38,500).
Aimed with passport in different denominations, so that guests will not need to carry cash around the resort, we proceeded to Café Veranda for refreshments and snacks. In the searing afternoon sun, boys were playing volleyball. A paint factory in Cavite was having its annual company outing. The employees were mostly young men, most of them attractive, running around the pools. The air vibrated with playfulness and the place became golden with sunlight and bodies.
By late afternoon, we went to try out its spa by the side of the fishpond. The massages are performed at open-air huts. The Serendipity Spa offers an ample range: shiatsu (P500), Swedish (P500), foot (P300) or combination Thai massages (P500). Their specialties are called the Golden Touch (P500) and Indulgence (P1,200). The Golden Touch uses a combination of elbow and foot stretching techniques, aiming to relieve muscle stiffness and other body aches. On the other hand, Indulgence promises to be pampering treatment, beginning with a footbath and scalp rejuvenation treatment. These are followed by a hydro massage, a volcanic stone treatment and a massage by a pair of masseuses.
In addition, the spa offers beauty treatments: foot spa (P150), manicure and pedicure (P200 each), and hair treatments like hair spa (P500 to P1,500), hair reborn (P500 to P1,500), hair booster (P500 to P1,500), hair shining (P500 to P1,500).
Saturday night is abuzz with activity at the resort as a dance show is regularly put up for guests. Tables were set up for an al fresco dinner. The smiling dancers came performing Filipino folk dances. The girls did a Tahitian dance while the boys an exhilarating fire dance. As a culminating activity, the dancers invited the guests to dance and there was a contest of who among them could best do the Tahitian steps. Male guests were made to wear grass skirts to the amusement of the audience.
But a more spectacular and electrifying show happened at the shore before this performance. The pebbly shore was not much to look at, but it set the stage for a magical burst of colors. The sunset cast its magic on almost everything: the craggy shore, the huts on bamboo rafts, the moored fishing boats, the neighborhood children, the empty grassland, the fishponds, the giant plastic slide.
The sky wore tatters of periwinkle, violet and coral over a mantle of orange. As minutes passed, swirls of magenta, vermilion and lilac floated, and disappeared in a surge of mauve and deep purple as the sun went down, a fancy of the heaven and conceptualized by a greater beauty expert.
For booking and reservation, contact Travelpros at SM Megamall through tel. no. 02-6343109 or 02-6361687; Travelpros at SM City Fairview through tel no. 02-9388742; Travelpros at SM City Lucena through tel. no. (+6342) (042) 7104055; Travelpros at SMSouthmall (LasPinas) through tel. no. (+632) (02) 8000467; and TPI, Flight Center at Market! Market! through tel. nos. 02- 8897296, 8897297, 7572250, 7572251 or 8897396. E-mail info@goldensunset.ph and/or visit website at www.goldensunset.ph.
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