Quezon Adventure: Off to Lunok Falls via the Real-Mauban “Coastal Highway”
One of the best things we did during our Holy Week Quezon Adventure was roughing it out to get to Lunok Falls. I found this wonderful place through a blog in the internet while looking for other things to do in Real, Quezon other than BBQ in the beach and swim in the sea. I’ve always wanted to see something in a natural state, away from all the people who have come for holidays. We started our morning with breakfast…yes, we had to look for a breakfast spot in Real since our resort didn’t have free breakfast with the room. It was too early and we were too lazy for barbeque and so we hit the talipapa, hoping for somethiing open.
In the seafood market in Real, you don’t really have many choices at 8am. So we opted to in a small dark, carinderia (small eatery), which was up early, serving breakfast to several people. I of course, went for Filipino dishes, and made sure that I was eating things off the stove (you’ll never really know if the food you’re eating in a carnderia has been sitting there since last night!). So I asked the nice man, who turned out to be the chef, which ones were just-cooked. And he was happy to offer me a paksiw he had just finished cooking and was transferring onto the serving plates for the people to order.
We went for rice, scrambled egg with ampalaya, tomatoes and onions and the mustard leaf wrapped paksiw (Paksiw is anything cooked in vinegar, garlic and salt) of fish. The rice was piping hot and the paksiw was just a rice guzzler! I just wanted to eat more of it if I had enough stomach space.
After breakfast, we finally asked some of the town folk on how to get there…at the mouth of the Real-Mauban “coastal highway” Mig and I realized that my poor sedan would not be able to handle the rough SINGLE road, so we had to reverse for a bit and park the car at the mouth. We then looked for a tricycle, willing to take us to the place and wait. He agreed, and for only Php 300 two-way, the driver, Mig and I began a pretty rough but scenic journey to Lunok Falls which took about 30 minutes of winding and hill-y roads.
The scenery was just awesome, everything was beach front, and the pacific ocean was just powerfully beautiful!
When we got to our destination, we had to cross a small stream with ducks! Yes, free roaming ducks, to get to a small line of houses. One of the ladies told us to get a cottage for P150 (this part felt like a scam because we weren’t going to stay long) but we paid anyway, just so our stuff would have a place to sit on since we had no idea what to expect.
A 5-minute treck through the woods, following the small stream leads you to Lunok falls. They built 2 small bamboo huts there, one which we rented. We had the place all to ourselves for the entire hour! Everyone who passed us on the way to the falls said that we were lucky to be early since they were expecting a lot of people to come in considering it was Saturday. The water was crystal clear and I actually found cichlids, gobies and cichlid eggs on the rocks. The water was refreshing and very cool.
The falls was very small, and the pool surrounding it as well, so I would think that it does get very, very crowded here since it is such a nice place to hang out. Only the sounds of birds and splashing water aside from our voices were present. It really was paradise for the hour that we were there. We could’ve stayed longer but we didn’t like the idea that a lot of people would be pouring into such a small space to swim and hang out.
We packed our stuff as soon as the first few people with pots and pans began to arrive. I guess a lot of them would be having picnics.
Our tricycle driver happily waited for us and we went on a rough journey back. Mig and I made a stopover at a small, rocky reef, whose waters were very clear, but the waves were slightly strong.
The Philippines truly is a beautiful place! That is basically how I felt about our short trip. If there are places this beautiful so close to home, then there must be an entire truckload of beautiful places in the Philippines, yet to be discovered!
More pictures down here:
