Overnight Stay at Camp Bryztoff (Dulag, Leyte) | Philippines

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Merry Christmas and Happy 2020 everyone!

Today, I will be sharing some photos during our overnight stay at Camp Bryztoff, a new glamping site in the municipality of Dulag, here in Leyte.

About a year ago, I remember passing by their place with just 3 cottages and few white tents that time. Now so much has changed. They have more cottages, installed beautiful lights everywhere, did some landscaping, and added new activities such as archery and ATV.

We chose this place for our Christmas Party as suggested by one of our colleagues. We wanted to have a different venue this year, not the usual house party like what we had from the previous years.

Cool breeze, the sound of waves, fun games, the all time favorite videoke, and few beers - everyone did had a wonderful time. A rare moment where we are together not for a meeting to discuss reports, activities and issues that needs to be settled, but to have fun - just pure fun and play.

It was a night away from the ASAP reports, where we don't have to do triaging and treatment, and talk about Fully Immunized Child (FIC), Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR), 4 Quality Prenatal Visits, Severe Acute Malnutrition, and other work related stuff.

We were there just to celebrate. We had Leyteños favorite "lechon" (roasted pig) for our dinner. Of course, we loved it (who doesn't love lechon right?). Haha. We also played the drinking card game. Wherein one has to pick a card, then do the task. I think, it was what we enjoyed most. Haha. I have videos saved in my phone that makes me laugh so hard whenever I replay it.

This was our cottage, and our accommodation for the whole night. The room that we were supposed to be renting wasn't available that time. We did not book ahead and call for reservation since we were undecided of the exact date of our Christmas Party because of so many conflicts with our schedules. But we decided to just go on that day (ganon talaga pag biglaan, natutuloy. Haha).

We had a bit of issue lang because when we inquired for the rates upon arrival, it was at 800Php ($16). Then after dinner (mga more than an hour na ata kami andun), 2 of the staffs from the camp, approached us and informed that they will be charging us another 200Php ($4) for the night differential, which wasn't disclosed earlier. LOL. It wasn't about the amount, because they really had good rates, but it was the "indecisiveness" of the staff. Haha.

Also, they agreed to charge us 500Php for the videoke, it was originally priced at 1,000 for 24hours, but since we arrived there at about 6:00PM, and we will only be using it for few hours nalang, one of my colleagues tried to make a deal, and they approved it. Hours later, they then took it back and said, we will only be allowed to use the videoke until midnight because that's a policy, that videokes are only until midnight. Thinking they were complying with local ordinances, we obeyed, and just came up with a new agreement to just pay 5Php per song (kase lugi kami sa 500Php, and past 9PM na ata kami nagstart).

Then at midnight, someone came and politely reminded us that its time to stop the videoke session. We then transferred to our cottage and brought chairs (which supposedly may bayad din daw).

Then about 15-20 minutes after we left the videoke area, another group of people took over and had their jamming session. I fell asleep around 2AM and the group was still there. Either, there was no existing policies or they just decided to break the rules. LOL.

So aside from those teeny-tiny "miscommunications", the whole Camp Bryztoff experience was great. Let me also emphasized that the staff were all very nice and accommodating. Paiba iba lang sila ng rules, and there were so many people deciding and talking to us, so it was really confusing. But these are just minor stuff, and was written here as a heads up to future campers to always make a clear agreement prior. We also discussed our concerns to one of their staff so they can come up with solutions and improve.

The place was really nice. There was really *glamping feels kahit hindi pa tapos yung ibang rooms and cottages nila. They also have a sort of a function hall that can be rented for events like birthdays.

As mentioned earlier, they have different activities at the camp. I'm not sure about the rates but I heard ATV was 300Php ($6) per 30 minutes, and Archery was 5Php ($0.10) per arrow. They're also planning to add more activities soon, which is really exciting.

We did not try ATV or archery that time, because were too busy enjoying the beach. But I'll make sure to try it on my next visit, especially archery because I haven't tried it yet.

By the way, you may also play beach soccer, and I think they have a basketball court within the area lang din. I wasn't able to explore the place coz we needed to leave early the next day. So this post is just an overview of the place, plus some images on how photogenic it is at night.

We didn't get the cottage with small rooms which is at 1,500Php ($30) because some of us brought tents and a hammock. Tent pitching is free but you need to bring your own because they have no available for rent.

Few minutes after they set up the tents, I was already sleepy (titahood) so I decided to take a nap. Just as I was about to enter dreamland, and start snoring, it started raining so hard, and water penetrated inside the tent in just a matter of seconds. Haha. Bummer!

We immediately evacuated to the cottage, cold, sleepy and some are already drunk. Haha. I kinda realized that time that we should've opted the 1,500Php cottage instead. I was really super battery low, I was even planning to sleep on the sand under the pouring rain. Sleep is my greatest weakness guys. I cannot literally function well without it.

Thankfully the rained stopped after few minutes, and we found some areas where we can get through the night. I woke up to a beautiful and relaxing view of the beach. I'd probably consider it as one of the best mornings in my entire existence and glad I recorded it. Here's the video if you want to check it out:

Video was made in iMovie and found a perfect background music for free. As I was recording the video this kind of genre was playing in my head. Some sort of country feels, an intro scene of a drama movie, or something like that. You know what I mean. Haha.

Early morning walk at the beach is a wonderful way to start a day. We head towards the fishermen, bought some fresh catch, and grilled it at the camp. We then had our breakfast, a little chitchat, and went home around 9AM.

What a way to celebrate Christmas - spending quality time and building a real (not virtual) connections with other human. Made me reflect, on what aspect of my life that I needed to work on.

This has been probably the laziest and the most antisocial year so far. I have been slacking off, unmotivated, chaotic, out of focus, trying to be apathetic and ranting a lot. Haha. I wasn't on my best behavior, I know.

With all these realizations, I hope to take action and do some changes. It won't happen in a snap of a finger, but admitting my shortcomings and accepting that I needed change seems like a good start. :)

Cheers to a more productive and better me this 2020! 🍿

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