GK Enchanted Farm

Enchanted Farm really does justice to its name - not merely because of how beautiful the place is but because of how kind, generous and charming every single person in there is. 

It's a short drive from from Congressional Ave in Quezon City. We left around 6:30am on a Saturday morning and arrived before 8am at the farm. Incidentally, there were almost a thousand Citibank personnel over as part of their CSR so GK has a set up a product display of the different brands - or social enterprises, as they call them. One of my favorite chocolate brands - Theo and Philo is also a partner of GK Enchanted Farm and I was pretty glad to find out. The great thing about these social enterprises is that a significant percentage of their profit goes back to the community. 

One of their newer enterprises is called Plush and Play which they produce in the farm as well. Their toys have silly localized names like Anne Kamatis, Maria Manga, Buko Martin (which I got - so cute!) and of course, they also have the pambansang kamao, Manny Pakwan amongst others..

Aprons for those who love being in the kitchen! :) 

The Human Nature room

The first thing we did in the farm was attend one of their product seminars- which was a chocolate demo by no other than Philo of Theo and Philo! (was sooo excited!) He says that we do not really produce our own chocolate using local beans - most local brands are cocoa powder mixed with vegetable oil which makes the price lower and the taste different from imported chocolates (w/c contain cocoa butter and has gone through the regular chocolate production process).

After which, we sat under a Durian tree and listened to Tony Meloto talk about the farm and its vision. It was an honor having met him - he is very inspiring and where GK is now is a testament to how his vision is lived out. 

The third part of the day was cheese making. If there are two food items that I love, those are cheese and chocolates. So imagine how ecstatic I was! Gourmet Keso is a very young brand and their product line up is still limited. They have really, really, really good kesong puti - it's firm and it's light and the taste is just. so. amazing.

After lunch, it was time to visit the Plush and Play production line! 

Can you spot Buko Martin? ;) q

I got the chance to make a toy heart! :) 

From this 

to this ( i know it's uneven hahaha) 

The last part of the day was a tour around the farm - which like the other activities, I also loved! The gardener in me was so excited. They sell potted herbs I already have everything they sell except for Stevia but unfortunately there wasn't any available for sale.

Herbs, herbs, herbs!

Lettuce! :) 

Sunset at the Bamboo Palace is so pretty. 

Infinity Pool

The second day, we went to the animal farm! It was quite a bit of a walk but it was a beautiful morning.

The first activity as to harvest this algea to feed the animals - it's like a sea of Matcha!

Hello little frogies :) 

After harvesting the algea, we went to feed the chickens and the ducks which was pretty fun.

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay in the farm. I have met the most self-less people there. And the place is just a breath of fresh air - literally and metaphorically. I'm planning to visit again in the next week and I'm bringing my girlfriends with me. Can't wait!

The Enchanted River of Minalungao National Park

2.5 hours away from Manila lies this enchanting river that is a part of Minalungao National Park. While quite popular with the residents from nearby provinces, it isn't something that the beach-loving Manilenos often visit.

I have been to a couple of beaches recently - all of which are nothing short of beautiful. But visiting the beach, although different ones, has lost its novelty for me. I have been looking for an adventure that being in a new environment gives. And when I saw photos of Minalungao, I was sold. I love the water. And swimming in a river is a completely different experience from being in a beach. And it doesn't hurt that it looks enchanted. 

We went on a Sunday, left Manila (by bus) at 6am, arrived in the Gapan city proper around 8am and commissioned the first tricycle we saw to take us to the park - which was another hour away through (very) rough roads.

We hired these 2 kids to take us around (all the 'tour guides' are children who treat the place as their playground), hired a balsa to take us to the entrance of the cave and started our adventure there. It being summer and a Sunday, there were a ton of people there so we chose to go farther up the river where we can be far from everyone else.

We got off the balsa and crossed the river to the cave. And so we went caving. in my maxi dress. haha There weren't much to see but the live sparkly stones were quite nice.

At the exit of the cave

haha just had to :p

The midday sun was scorching hot, and after climbing up the steep entrance to the caves, we were ready to enjoy the water. We settled the shallow part of the river to avoid the crowd, took in the beautiful scenery and was ready for a dip.

The cool water was a great relief to my hot skin. And I laid there as the weak current ran through me and listened to the sound of the surrounding mountains. It was very peaceful, and it was a good choice to stay away from the crowd.

Our 'tour guides' were having fun playing photographer and playing with our cameras.

We left the river to go to the cross, where we had to climb 1000 steps. and oh my goodness, was. it. hot. By the time we got to the top, we were dead tired.

We were very hungry so we decided to take the short way back instead of going through the limestone path - which they say is extremely beautiful.

Minalungao is extremely beautiful. And being so close to Manila, we should visit it more often - but maybe on days with less people ;)