After quite a long hiatus, my officemates and I finally hit the road again. Tired of seeing the cube farm day in and day out, we decided swimming on freezing cold waters under a waterfall isn’t such a bad idea.

Leaves were filed and restdays swapped, a few backed out but it didn’t stop new faces from joining the trip.

So come a cold Saturday dawn later, we were all queued up on HM Transport’s station in Cubao, boarding their coach to Sta. Cruz, Laguna. Their buses looked pretty good and it cost us Php150.00 for the fare. Buses leave the station starting 4am and every 30minutes afterwards.

The trip took three hours, with the traffic at the South Super Highway delaying the supposedly two-hour journey.

We alighted at the station’s terminal at Sta.Cruz then boarded a jeep to Majayjay which took about an hour. It was unsurprising that we were charged 30.00 for the fare then.

From the jeepney terminal, it was one more ride to Majayjay’s Taytay falls. Jeepneys here wait ‘til all seats are filled. Not wanting to waste time waiting, we decided to buy off the empty seats so we can go right away. The fare which was supposedly Php15.00 was almost doubled to Php27.00. Fair’s fair I guess.After three transfers, we were finally at Taytay Falls’ drop off point. We quickly paid for the Php20.00 entrance fee, the Php150.00 tent fee, and bought some food from the carinderias nearby. Visitors can also order Pancit Habhab, Lucban’s famed noodle fare, which would be then delivered to your camp once cooked.

At last, it was time to go to the famed Taytay Waterfalls.

Descending down some stone steps, we were greeted with a concrete path lined with lush vegetation. Railings keep visitors safe from the sheer drop on the right side of the trail. This used to be a natural trail before it was upgraded to what it is now.
 
Some who had been to the falls before actually prefer the old trail as it was more natural and makes going to the falls actually more of a challenge. I’m actually torn which I liked better though, as the new path actually makes it safer for everyone, especially kids, to traverse the road to the waterfalls.

The hike which should have taken us ten minutes to finish, naturally took more than that. It seemed that we were stopping every other minute to take pictures of the gang and the scenery.

No waste though as the view was really quite refreshing, more so to us working at the cube, this is definitely much much better than the computer screens we’re used to seeing everyday.

 

HM Transport
Edsa cor. Monte de Piedad St., Cubao, Quezon City
Drop-offs at Calamba, Los Banos, Bay, Pila, and Sta. Cruz
First Trip 4am | Last Trip 10pm
Bus Leaves every 30 minutes