Never again, Sierra Madre.

The view from Sierra Madre Resort, Tanay. Was it worth everything we went through, the lousy resort service and ugly rooms?

Sige na nga.

Sabi nga nila, you can’t have it all. After an amazing night and sumptuous dinner at Isdaan, Tarlac — we decided to take another roadtrip to Tanay, Sierra Madre Resort. I’ve been there before for Ate Tin and Kuya Mel’s prenup photoshoot. What can I say, the view was lovely - it deserved a second trip.

The only difference for this trip was that we decided to get a room and stay overnight. Ayun na — that’s when trouble began. With all honesty, sana nag picnic nalang kami sa labas instead of getting a room. Sobrang hassle.

Let me tell you how our 2,500 per night went.

First, they gave us “Henry Suite” which doesn’t look like a suite at all. We can forgive the lack of A/C since we know it’s gonna be cold in the evening. We can open the windows, baka manigas pa kami sa lamig, right? WRONG. You can’t open the windows coz there’s no screen! Di ko na maimagine just how many mosquitoes or other insects ang papasok sa room. Secondly, there was no TV or phone in the room. TV was forgivable, yet again — I just made a rationale that we were there to take a weekend off - so the absence of technology is a good start. But no phones installed in a room? Bakit?? What if there was an emergency and you need to call the frontdesk? You have to climb flights of stairs and walk to get to the entrance. What if there’s something you want to order? Sige, wag na order. Pero the emergencies! Di ba nila naisip yun?

So by mid-afternoon, we decided to go for a swim. The walk to the pool meant going up and down many flights of stairs, which signaled “HAZARD” for accident-prones like me. So we went to the front desk and asked them if there’s any more rooms located near the pool. They said there was none in the Sierra Madre Resort,  but there was one available in their sister resort, Spring Valley, which was located “Sa baba lang po”, —the exact words. I mentioned we have a baby na gusto namin kasama sa may poolside, picnic-style, pero masyadong dangerous ibaba-akyat sa hagdan nila.

So — they arranged for the transfer. They told us the pool was just right across the room so walang akyat-babang magaganap. What they failed to tell us was that the road was very steep, buwis-buhay, and it was so narrow it can only accommodate one vehicle. Imagine anong mangyari pag may kasalubong ka, sino magbibigay ng daan - yung paakyat o yung pababa? Either way, it’s WAYYYY too much dangerous for everyone.
And no, there wasn’t a SINGLE lamp post. Kahit make-shift lang. WALANG ILAW.

So to cut the story short — we were transferred to Spring Valley Resort. We were given a room, again without A/C and no screen. Pero this one was worse. Ina-anay na yung room! The room smelled like alimuom ba tawag dun? It smelled bad, the CR — omyGod I can’t even bring myself to describe it. It was stained yellow — the flooring was @#@!##$. And the ceiling looks like it can fall off anytime.

And I’m not even exaggerating, God I hope I am.

When Ian (the one who assisted the transfer, and by far the only decent staff they have) was about to leave, I asked him if the restaurant from Sierra Madre Resort can deliver food there. He said no, and we have to walk - WALK! from there to buy food and then walk back. I asked him if there’s any way that he could order for us, since meron siyang motorcycle and I’d just pay him extra for doing it. He said NO, his shift ends in an hour. There were two more motorbikes and I asked him who owns it so I can ask the favor from them, he said the same thing — leaving us with no choice but to really HIKE up just to buy food.

Diyos ko.

To calm the nerves, we decided to finally get that SWIM - which di naman pwede magtagal kasi we have to walk, este HIKE nga para bumili ng food. So thirty minutes swim ata yun and we prepared for the ultimate hike of our lives.

When I say buwis-buhay, eto na yun. We had to climb/hike the very steep road, na hindi kami pwede magbagal because the sun was setting already and baka abutin kami ng dilim sa daan so we hiked, as fast as we could. Believe me, I felt like I was going to faint already. My thoughts were “This has got to be worth it. The food must be worth it.”

Lo and behold, pati sa food - DISAPPOINTMENT sila. I ordered Crispy Pata, Pork Sinigang and Inihaw na Bangus. WALA NA DAW AVAILABLE. But it was written, well and nice sa menu board nila for the day. Wala bang nagkusa man lang na magbura ng hindi na pala available para naman hindi nakakadisappoint diba? We ended up buying Sinampalukang Manok, Liempo and Fried Bangus since it was all they have. While they were cooking, I asked them again, “Wala ba - in any way, na pwede maghatid samin sa kabilang resort?” I saw three or four services with their name on it, but then they said they have no shuttle or service to bring us to the other resort. “Delikado po kasi” was all the excuse they gave me. EH DELIKADO PALA, BAKIT PA KAYO NAGPAPAPUNTA NG GUESTS DUN????

Believe me, it took all my strength not to cause a scene in their lobby. Believe me when I say I haven’t felt so irritated, disappointed and mad like that before. Grabe sa pagiging lousy ang service nila. NOT ONE APOLOGY WAS GIVEN TO US FOR THE HASSLE. And the lady - Thank God I don’t know her name - she was so disrespectful! Walang kasympathy sympathy, it was like kasalanan namin bakit kami napunta dun at pinagdadaanan namin yun.

To cut the story short, our order was FINALLY served about an hour after. “Baka gabihin na sila” ang sabi pa nung isa. So they really know what danger yung pwedeng mangyari kung gabihin nga kami? So we walked, again. It was a lot easier since pababa, but all the while, I was trying not to think about what would happen if we miss a step and fall down. We were literally, in the middle of nowhere.

We had dinner, and by the time we were finished, we were too tired to take another dip in the pool. Then by 7pm, the family who was in the other room was preparing to leave already. That means we will be alone dun sa baba, wala nang ibang guests. If you’re there, you can imagine how scary the thought was for us. We were planning to leave na rin, but since there were no lights nga dun sa matarik na way pataas, we decided to sleep through the night and leave first thing in the morning.

Ang kasama lang namin dun sa baba ay ang caretaker — na umiinom ng beer at hindi na nahiya, niyaya pa sila Bob at Ryan. Gusto ko nang sumigaw at that time. Caretaker na naglalasing? Just how dangerous can this get??

I wasn’t able to sleep that night. I kept thinking, if something happens to us, walang way to contac the outside world. No cellphone signals, no landline phones. We were literally, in the middle of nowhere. I was so scared that I wasn’t able to appreciate the place. For me, it was the scariest place on earth at that time. I was constantly worried about Nathan and I vowed never to put him in that kind of danger, ever again - in my entire life. I was constanly saying sorry to my Baby, who — thank God was deep asleep during that time. Never again, Baby. Never again will Mommy bring you to a place like this. I’m sorry. That was going on in my mind, paulit ulit.

At 4am, I was able to sleep a bit. Nagising naman ako ng 5am sa lakas ng tunog ng kulog at lakas ng kidlat. We figured we can’t stay there and risk the chance of a heavy rain — baka mag landslide or maging malambot yung lupa, di kakayanin ng sasakyan. So we waited just for the sun to rise, kahit medyo madilim - we were already packing up.

And since di kakayanin ng sasakyan kung lahat kami nakasakay, Joy, Ryan, Bob and I walked, este hiked again.

When we reached the top, all of us safe - dun lang ako nakahinga ng maluwag. God is good kasi di niya pinatuloy yung ulan. Gusto ko na sanang umalis and leave our 1k balance behind kasi sobrang nanghihinayang ako na bayaran pa sila ng 1k for everything we went through, but we decided to pay parin. Ian (who lied na patapos na ang shift niya at uuwi siya), was there to greet us, obvious na kagigising lang.

He said, “Mam, ang aga niyo naman mag check out.”

Believe me, I almost said “Oo, sa pangit ng service niyo at sa lahat ng pinagdaanan namin, dapat lang mag early check out kami.” Instead, I just looked at him and nodded.

I think this is the longest blog I’ve made about a lousy service. Notice that I don’t have any photos coz it was way too disappointing to even bring out my camera and take photos of the place. Mas nagenjoy pa kami on the trip pauwi, dun lang ako nakapagshoot.

Babalik pa ba ako sa Sierra Madre Resort sa Tanay? NO. NEVER AGAIN. The view is nice and heavenly, but it’s not enough. Staff of that resort needs to know how to entertain guests properly. Heck, the resort needs renovation. Wag niyo naman pabayarin ng 2,500 per night ang guests niyo para sa room na ganun kapangit. Please have value on our money. 2,500 din yan — hindi yan maliit na halaga.

Kahit na money is the slightest issue here, yung experience — you can never just shut it off and forget how scared you were for your life. Yun yun e.