a month of sundays: 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.