May 23 - 24 - Just shy of a week, I found out that Patrick was supposed to head to Clark to cover an event for the magazine where he works. There was going to be a drag racing event at the Clark Speedway and he needed to be on top of it. Well, I figured if he was going to Clark for the day, we might as well join him and make it an overnight trip :) We haven't been to Clark as a family and this was an opportune time as any. Sort of the last out of town trip before school starts.
So we booked a room at the
Lohas Hotel New Well Being Spa. We chose the Suite Room because it offered 2 bedrooms (with queen beds), 2 bathrooms, a living room, a terrace, complimentary water and coffee, buffet breakfast for 4 and sauna treatment for 4. All for only P4500 (excluding the 10% tax). Here are some pictures of the resort:
The Jimjilbang is an authentic Korean sauna. At the hotel, they'll give you a locker key, slippers, towels and sauna clothes. There are separate men's and women's locker rooms but the sauna itself is mixed. You need to pass through three stages: First, the intense heat of the Bulgama. It was so hot that I couldn't breathe the first time I entered the room. As I asked the attendant, the trick was to sit down immediately on the mat and breathe through your mouth just to get used to the sensation. But within seconds, you really will be sweating buckets and I mean buckets!! LOL The nice thing is while you're inside the bulgama, you can order iced tea and other drinks haha If you feel that the heat is getting to you, go out for a while, relax a bit, dry yourself off and then come back inside again. The next round, your body is more acclimatised to the heat and will release more toxins and sweat. When you're through with the Bulgama, you may rest a while in the Charcoal room. The heat here is less intense but the room is lined with charcoal for a better absorption of the toxins that are still being released from your body. Once done, you need to close up your pores and that's where you go - to the Ice Room. To describe it, it's one big refrigerator or freezer hahahaha It's refreshing even though it's freakin' cold! LOL After such an experience, I felt several pounds lighter and cleaner hahaha Patrick's clothes were soaked through :))
Of course, you can't be at a resort and not take a dip in the pool so that's what we did :) The kids loved the pool because it's not so deep, there's a section that's only 2 ft high and the deepest is 5ft. There's even a portion where if you stay under the columns, it's like you're getting a massage from the water that falls on your shoulders.
For dinner, we ate at the hotel restaurant so that we can experience unique and authentic Korean food. Kudos to our Filipino server Ann that night who very patiently explained the Korean dishes on the menu hahaha We had something like stif-fried beef that should be wrapped in veggies with a spattering of special sauce and balsamic vinegar. That was delicious! Spicy but delicious!! woohoo The appetizers were an entire meal itself hahaha There was Kimchi, baked baby potatoes, some squid, an egg roll and some whose names elude me at the moment. We also ordered Korean noodles and all I can say is WOW!!!
Morning the next day, we spent eating our buffet breakfast and swimming some more. The kids were tired and spent some time sleeping too. Then it was time to go and the staff were kind enough to grant us a late checkout without any additional charges. Actually, we were supposed to take advantage of their massage but the schedule got screwed up.
Then we left around 2pm and headed on to Patrick's drag racing event, a few minutes away. We finished the day with dinner at Kenny Rogers along the expressway.
Our stay at the hotel was really good. The staff was great. The facilities were superb. The hotel was really clean and well-maintained. I would recommend
Lohas Resort to everyone :)
If you want to see more of the pictures, click
here.
