the ATELIER

we finally had our long-delayed company outing sometime last month. as luck would have it, the organizers decided to book our weekend trip to momarco resort (somewhere in laguna). and so off we went.


a couple of days before we left, we checked its website -- just to see what we were getting ourselves into. i must admit the pictures looked impressive and even the description made the place inviting.

the travel time (more than 2 hours) was a bit of bummer (i was sleepy, so i guess that accounts for my grumpy outlook) but i'd been looking forward to this rare weekend break so i resigned myself. our first sight of the resort was a bit of a letdown (too remote and it wasn't exactly in tip-top shape) but the pool looked great.


i don't want to drag this too long. actually, just about the only cool thing about the place was the pool, really. the service was a hit-or-miss affair, and the facilities weren't that great either -- i guess we sort of let our expectations run high because of momarco's beautiful online presentation. the staff is composed of a few people who seemed to vanish as soon as it got dark. we couldn't find anyone in sight (to ask for directions) because the clubhouse was closed and the pool wasn't well ventilated at night. after the sun had set, there was basically nothing else to do except to swim, eat and sleep. to top it all, there were no TV sets in the guestrooms to relieve the tedium.


as resorts go, momarco leaves a lot to be desired. even the much-ballyhooed mini-zoo/nature treking feature that they advertised online was nothing more than a few animals (a couple of monkeys, some huge snakes, etc.) housed in cages, and the hiking trails...? frankly, we were basically counting the hours till we could leave.