The Fat Foot Adventures: La-ne's Kalapyahan Beach Resort

It’s the time of the year again. Our love story is another year older. It’s different this time around, though, for we are officially one year Mister and Missus Tocmo. We want to stick to our yearly tradition as much as we could, and that is to spend some quality time together.

This year we decided to go on a road trip, something we haven’t done in about a year. Sure we travelled to Ilo-Ilo last year on our honeymoon and went to Bohol with the entire Sumalinog fam this year, but we have not travelled by land in his motorcycle for more than a year already. If my memory serves me right, I think the last time we went on a road trip was on November 2016 (we went to Cape San Agustin).

Since we missed the ride so much plus it’s our 1st wedding anniversary, we decided to go on a road trip back to Mati. This time around, we planned to go on an island hopping adventure to Pujada Island. My husband did the research this time and was able to get help from some random stranger he met in one of the FB groups he joined.

On June 10, we left Davao at around 2:30 PM and arrived in Mati at 5:00 PM, then we met with “bossing” who accompanied us to barangay Lawigan (I think the farthest and last barangay in Mati) to meet with our boatman. After discussing with our boatman, we went back our way to look for a place to stay.

It was actually a terrible idea to not book ahead because we had a hard time finding a place. We first went to Gregorio Beach which still has available rooms for us but we didn’t like the room and the ambiance of the resort (and the cheapest aircon room they have costs P2000 which we think was not worth it because the room is made of combination of amacan and wood and I didn’t like how it smelled – I want a clean smelling room – theirs smelled like salt and damp cloth. The room is on stilts and the bathroom is something I cannot stand). So we head to Blue Bless resort but it is already full. Then we head to Bahia resort and again, there is no more available closed rooms. They only have a huge tent (costs P2000 but the staff said they’d give it to us for P1000) with around 4 – 5 beds but no bathroom. I didn’t like the idea of sleeping with only half privacy so we passed. We had no more choice but to go back to Dahican since there was no more resorts around Bobon/Dita area.

As we got out of the Dahican - Lawigan road and into the Dahican highway, the very first resort that greeted us was La-ne’s Kalapyahan. We went inside hoping to finally get a room and thanks be to God because we were so fortunate to get the last available double bed room.

So after we settle our payment, we are given our keys and led to our room. Room #6 is located on the second floor of the building at the farthest right side of the resort (facing the sea) and beside the building is the fence separating La-ne’s Kalapyahan from Botona Beach Resort.

This is our room on our first night

The room is roomy enough for 2 people, has tv, cabinet with hangers, own bathroom with hot/cold shower, and a veranda with chairs and table, plus it is over-looking the see but some coconut trees could get in the way of the view. Nevertheless it was still a very good room accommodation.

Our first night at La-ne’s was a Sunday and Botona beach was playing this very loud “budots” music which was heard inside our room. La-ne’s Kalapyahan is serene and peaceful but the neighboring resort was the complete opposite. Thank goodness the music was turned off at around 10 PM so we were able to enjoy peace and quiet.

This is our room on the second night

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT LA-NE'S KALAPYAHAN:

- The resort itself seems fairly new and the rooms doesn’t show any sign of age yet

- The rooms are priced reasonably considering it has a good view, is airconditioned, has own bathroom, with Cignal Cable TV, and has veranda with nice view.

- They have a restaurant and the food is delicious and the price is also very reasonable. Food serving is good for sharing – perfect for groups

- The ambiance of the resort is cozy, peaceful and relaxing. The whole resort itself is well maintained and clean. Has lots of trees and open spaces. There are also wooden benches by the walkway under the trees which are perfect for an afternoon chill or a night time “muni-muni”

- Staffs are courteous and friendly and accommodating

- They accept debit card (not sure If they also accept credit card)

- There is NO WIFI and poor data signal which is pretty okay for me since I want quality time together with the husband

AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT:

- On first night we stayed at Room #6 – the bathroom’s water pressure is low (not sure if it is the same with all other rooms). The toilet bowl cannot flush in the evening because of low water pressure but it was functioning okay early in the morning. However, they put “balde” and “tabo” in the bathroom so you can manually flush the toilet.

- On second night we stayed at Room #7 – the toilet bowl is still an issue because the flush seemed busted. There is enough water pressure but the bowl’s tank is not storing water and it seems the drain of the toilet is a little clogged (it’s difficult to explain). So again you need to manually flush toilet.

- There is no phone inside the room so if you need anything, you need to walk to the separate building where the front desk is located (my husband has to do this multiple times :D)

The beach of the resort is rocky and it is a few minutes’ walk towards the part of Dahican with sandy beach. So it is quite an exercise if you prefer the sandy part of the Dahican beach. We didn’t really mind this as we are already aware that it will take us a longer walk going back and forth.

Overall, we are so pleased with our stay at this resort because we got what we paid for. The room, the food, the staff, and ambiance are all worth the money we paid for. If we ever think of returning to Mati, this resort is definitely on top of our choices.