Hide Away in Surip, Bani: A Chilling Experience

Hide Away Resort, Surip, Bani, Pangasinan

It was a scene straight out of R.L. Stine’s Fear Street series. We’ve been driving for what seem like an eternity through a rough path surrounded by thick bamboo trees on both sides. We had no idea where we’re supposed to go or what we were looking for to know that we’re there. We checked our phones – no signals. Our colleagues told us earlier that it was a resort, but failed to mention the name. So naturally we thought there would be lots of lights to guide our way, but no. The forest-like trail was jet black except for the small areas that the beam of lights from the car’s headlamps shone through. The sound of crickets filling the air did not help to calm us down either. By then our imagination just started to ran wild. We kept thinking that a ‘white lady’ would appear in front of the car to stop us and the next thing we know she’ll be sitting beside us hitching a ride and holding our hands. As we continued to drive along holding back emotions of fear, we passed by a spotted dog - kinda like a local Dalmatian, o sige askal na - with his eyes glowing brightly reflecting the beams from the car’s headlamps, natural right? Then all of a sudden a huge – when I say huge I meant tall and thick - Acacia Tree appeared blocking our path creating a fork on the road, my eardrums busted as my seat mate shriek in fear as the tree appeared out of nowhere. We tried moving on, but things just kept on getting weirder and weirder. For instance, we passed by the same exact dog twice after our first encounter, and every time we see it, a huge Acacia Tree appears either in front or on the side of the road. For a moment we thought of taking off our shirts and putting it back inside and out, thinking that a super-natural being decided to play with us and we have to counter its curse. And as we were about to expose each other’s body, a sign caught our attention, a sign that sent chills down my spine personally, the hair at the back of my neck stood up as I still try to grasp what I have just read, still thinking that this can’t be true, my knees by now started to tremble, ladies inside the car started crying and yelling.

WELCOME TO HIDE AWAY RESORT, located in Sitio Surip, Centro Toma, Bani, Pangasinan. Yeah! Finally! A sigh of relief. We’ve arrive to our destination. Oh…Sorry if the ending was a bit disappointing.

The owners never thought twice naming their resort ‘Hide Away’, owned and managed by foreigners who fell in love with the Philippines, George Wilson and Bill Gault. The place is very much as the name suggest, hidden deep inside a ‘forest’ and I highly recommend that you travel by day when going there unless you want the same exact experience as ours.

Unlike some Jumeirah Beach Hotel which I bet is full of amenities, the Hide Away Sea and Beach resort, only has the basics and is more of a get-away-from-it-all abode, just a place to enjoy nature in peace rather than a luxury holiday resort. Beach lovers will certainly not be pleased though as there is no actual beach, no sand, just sharp rocks and some squishy sea stuff beneath your feet, but as the saying goes - one man’s trash is another man’s treasure – as this place would make landscape photographers go shutter-happy. Facing the South China Sea (West Philippines) the crushing waves formed the most beautiful rock formation as you may find and some of the constructions made by the resort perfectly complimented the view.

Just check out more photos below to actually see what I've been blabbering about or you can just check out the official website for more details and ignore this post enitrely. Thanks =D

Hide Away Seaside Resort