anvaya (oh yeah)

Was at Anvaya with the family Monday! Thank goodness for the fantastic weather. Left Krista's apartment in Quezon City at 6 a.m., had a quick breakfast at Jollibee NLEX, left there around 7, and arrived in Morong, Bataan via SCTEx around 9:30-ish. Not bad.

Anvaya's pool complex. Definitely the strongest point of this place.

It was a bit crowded (against expectations) but it was all right, as the resort space was huge and there were a lot of available tables and beach seats scattered all around the pool and the shore. Ayala really knows how to landscape its places and Anvaya is no exception -- complete with fountains and koi ponds, the works. The entrance to the beach club itself was wide wooden plank bridge over a pond that housed white ducks (DUCKS!)

There's also no complaining about pool space -- there are about six of them, including a kiddie pool (which we did not visit) and a jacuzzi pool. The sea is good, if not for my trauma with jellyfishes and, well, stray fishes. No corals though, I was told; the seafloor was soft sand, save for stray rocks.

Pool complex partial photo. Shot from atop a five-story tower.

A bit disappointed about the lockers and showers though -- after being spoiled at Hamilo Coast the previous week, that is. Anvaya's open-air lockers were a bit cramped for space (comment for both the locker and the locker room entirely), and the limited number of shower stalls (about six or seven only) caused a line or two to form toward the end of the day. Plus points though for the heavenly shower head, the seat inside the shower stall, the thoughtful inclusion of a green plastic bag in the locker for your wet stuff and a nifty swimsuit dryer beside the lockers.

I loved the food though -- at least they offered more than pizzas hehe. We had rice and grilled things -- Dad had fish, Auntie and I had liempo, Wy had chicken while Krista had prawns. Their shakes were also fantastic.

Liempo/beach = OTP. Also, this is why I'm fat.

After lunch, toured the place a bit and found it irresistible just not to try the adult playground/jungle gym/excitement place a few meters beside the pools. I just decided to take photos of my decidedly more agile/able siblings for fear of possibly injuring myself. Hehe.

Ngl just seeing this on the sand made me giddy.

ANYWAY. Pics or it didn't happen!

Still a dream: Beach volley with beach mates. Haha what is Project Summer 2012. Let's not forget our volleyballs next year!

Shoreline.

Love how the pools are separated by not-quite-walls -- can virtually transfer pools by wading through them. I'm lying down on one when I took this shot haha. Also in this photo: the tower.

Sibs! Krista and Wy, plus a couple of huge decorative rocks and kuya lifeguard, who has been worried all day re: Why the hell do we keep on dipping this cam into the water?! Kuya, relax!

Back to me. Auntie, Wy, Krista, rock.

Gratuitous Photo of Myself hanging out with a giant rock (an easy favorite -- nice one, Ayala.)

View during lunch time. The life. See those rolling clouds over those mountains? Oh man. Also: Haha bad flashbacks about MOUNTAINS this side of the world. (See also: The Agaw Buhay Adventure)

A few sea shots. As I was kinda spooked by talk of jellyfishes.

Playground for the not-too-young-but-not-too-old-yet. Haha. Very Glorietta, yes? Hahaha.

Check out Wy's certainly ANTM-inspired pose

With knees shaky as hell haha. This would have been blurred had it not for the fantastic lighting available.

The sea at the golden hour.

Technical notes on this trip: Anvaya: Day visit to Anvaya P400/head, inclusive of P250 consumable on food and beverages, plus free towel rental (worth P50 each). Locker rental cost P50/head. Ayala Land Premier property specialist Coco Midel graciously endorsed us to this weekday daytrip (coco.ayala [at] gmail) -- thank you! :) Meals start at P225 -- inclusive of rice and veggies. Drinks start at P65.
Transpo: Rented a van this time around as our pick-up truck was in no condition to drive from Cavite to Bataan hehe. Sleek Starex c/o KD Transport of the Taguiam couple (kdtransportservices [at] gmail -- thank you!) drove us safely to Morong and back. Breakdown: P3000 van, ~P2000 gas, P730 2-way toll via NLEX, SCTEX. Seeing my dad and auntie thoroughly relaxed and divested of driving duties for this entire trip: Priceless. :)