A blogging colleague of mine, Tyler Cruz lives up in the far, frozen north of Canada (well. not really that far north, Tyler lives on Vancouver island on the beautiful Strait of Georgia, down in Canada’s lovely southland, but it’s altogether far enough north for me
A week or so ago Tyler emailed me and said he was coming to the Philippines for the first rime ever, and a primary purpose of the visit was to meet his Lola (grandmother) in the town of Baliuag (also spelled Baliwag … Philippine spelling is an entertainment source all to itself), which is only about 20 or 25 kilometers (about 12 or 14 miles) from our home here in Marilao Bulacan ( or Bulakan if you prefer ). Knowing that Mita and I were already established residents he asked what seemed a reasonable question … if we knew anything about hotels in Bulacan … after all, the distance is less than the distance across our last city in the US, which is no giant, as cities go, Colorado Springs).
But distances here can be really deceiving. he might as well have asked about accommodations in Malaysia or Mongolia … I’d know just as much. We do take a Philippines newspaper, but there are seldom any ads for local businesses, and unless you happen to know someone from the town, it’s like a far off land. Actually, even if you do know somebody from a particular town, chances are they never use any local hotels and they’re unlikely to be able to recommend anything for a visitor anyway.
Long story short, Tyler emailed me back right away and said his dad (who is a bulacaeno) had already recommended a place, a hotel resort near his Lola’s, so everything sounded fine.
My wife an I are always up for a ride, and when my mother-in-law heard about Tyler’s visit she cautioned me that I shouldn’t let a friend go to a hotel sight unseen, it might have turned into a ‘short time” hotel or something worse. Besides, said mother, ”I’ve never been to Baliuag in my life”. When mother wants to go, we generally go, so we went.
The 8 Waves Resort, Water Park and Hotel is surprisingly well maintained and well laid out facility right on the outskirts of the town of Baliuag proper. Surprising to me anyway in the sense that it is clean ,,, I mean clean in the corners and behind the doors in the bathrooms and such, and they have easy-in, easy-out highway access and plentiful, spacious parking.
The building is well constructed decent in decor, well air conditioned, has all modern conveniences like elevators, internet access and such, and has a very nice franchise restaurant in the lobby, part of the Pancake House chain of franchises. The food is well above average, the menu has a lot of variety, international dishes as well as Filipino and you can tell by the picture on the right, where two of the happy diners (they’re sitting down because they are busog … full) are discussing with Lolo what part of dinner they liked best.
A very nice find, close to home. My thanks to Belle, the assistant manager for her hospitality,. the wait staff and the rest of the crew at 8 Waves for a very pleasant visit, and Tyler? I’m pretty sure you’ll be well satisfied with your stay. Recommended. http://www.8waveswaterpark.com.ph