That day in Albay had so far been filled with unexpected adventures – hiking in the morning, walking into a coal-black cave and exploring an underground river in the afternoon.
After taking a much-needed shower and quick rest, Alan, our tour guide/taxi driver, asked if he could take us next to a relaxing place. Oh yes please! And ‘relaxing’ better be the key word here, Alan.









We mentioned to Alan that our original plan was do a fireflies tour in Donsol in another town in Albay, but we thought that we’d just go back to the hotel and call it a day.
But Alan had another thing in mind. He sheepishly suggested that he could bring us to a place not with fireflies but also with lots of lights – Christmas lights!
We were all glad that we went. It was wonderfully Christmassy in there. It was our first time to see a nativity scene with live animals!










- Sumlang Lake is located in Camalig. You may call this number before visiting +63 917 777 0257.
- Sumlang Lake is less than 5kms away from Cagsawa Ruins, so you could visit both on the same day.
- FarmPlate is in the town of Daraga and you may call this number +63 52 483 3841 before heading out. We recommended this relaxing farm.
- Alan was our taxi driver/tour guide. Our hotel made the arrangements with him but here are his contact details.

Other posts on our volcano road trip in the Philippines:
Three Volcanoes and a Road Trip
Mount Mayon: The Majestic Lady and the Rugged ATVs
Mount Mayon: ATV Summit Trail Video – All the Way Up
Sumlang lake is so beautiful especially with the volcano backdrop! Great pictures!
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Thank you for the kind words Daeng. But these pictures are so far from the beautiful pictures in your blog. 🙂 We were quite lucky that Mount Mayon wasn’t so shy during our 3-day stay in Legazpi. I bet you would enjoy taking pictures of her. Perfect cone. Symmetric. Majestic. 🙂
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You’re too kind, Amor! Yes, definitely take tons of pictures if i’m there haha. I haven’t been to the Philippines. I have plans in mind but perhaps after the pandemic is over 🙂
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Yes after this is over. We stay put for now and keep safe. 🙂
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I could certainly do with a Stress Free Zone! Nice to see the Nativity scene, albeit without the horse. Best wishes.
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Oh there’s another cow actually but it was ‘chasing’ after my older son. Silly cow, or silly son. 🙂 But yeah don’t we all need that Stree Free Zone, especially right now. 🙂
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Aaaah, teleport me there!!! 😍
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I know right. We all need to be somewhere stress free right now 🙂
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I enjoyed reading about Albay. Fab photo of the volcano in the background.
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Thank you Amanda. We were quite lucky that Mount Mayon wasn’t so shy. 🙂
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👍
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What a fun post! Love the bamboo rafts (have never done that, for sure) and those magical looking pigeon houses. Also, what happiness is in this post — all seem to be enjoying travel, which makes me happy as well.
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Thank you Rusha for reading my post. It was a perfect ending to an adventurous and tiring day. Those pigeon houses were BIG! 🙂
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Loved those pigeon houses!!!
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what a gorgeous and enchanting place Thank you so much for sharing it. Cris
http://www.photosbycris.com.au/?p=10104
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Thank you for checking my blog out Cris. And thanks for sharing the link to your website. I’ll be sure to visit it soon 🙂
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Fun time with an amazing beautiful view. I need to visit this place one day. Nature at its best. Thanks for the adventure. Have a great weekend to you and your family.
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We also did not expect Albay to have many interesting places. We liked the FarmPlate a lot. The horses and cows were roaming around along with the turkeys and ducks. Such a treat for our kids. 🙂
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The Philippines has so much to see and discover. I wish I did more traveling there before moving to the U.S. I worked in Boracay for a year & it wasn’t enough time to even scratch the surface of its many adventures. Perhaps when I retire, I get to back , but for now,it’s California.
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I’ve only been to Boracay once and it was beautiful. You must have had a lot of fun in Boracay during your time there?
California is a beautiful place too! We loved it there. I think your family would have endless things to do there. We did not get to go to Yosemite (I chickened out because of bear warnings hahah) so that would be a reason for us to go back, oh and San Francisco too!
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California has so much to offer is we look on its positive side & when we bases our happiness on simple things like a day outdoors or eating all kinds of global foods. A relative left the state & relocated to anther because he & his wife California is getting worse. So not true. No place is paradise until we decide that it is. Keep sharing & living the adventures my friend.
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Was he refering to the riots that happened a few months back? That was quite scary.
But I agree with you, we could always decide on our own paradise. 🙂
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No, I think he was referring to everything , fires, covid, civil unrest from Racial tension , but he was looking at the negatives , what I saw a beautiful place, expensive but beautiful place with so much outdoors and delicious foods from all over the world.
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Hello.
Wow, what sceneries! I cannot imagine that so beautiful places are on our planet! Thank you offering us possible to make a virtual tour there.
Have a good day!
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Amazing planet indeed, Matti. Very different from your side of the world but also very beautiful. 🙂
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I wish there’s something similar nearby! I’m up for any place that’s a stress free zone
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Yes pls stress-free zone anytime!
During this pandemic, whenever my hubby feels stressed, I’d send him pics of quiet places from our travels and tell him to pause and be still, bawas stress. 🙂
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Saw you on This Man’s Journey … thought I’d pop in. These pictures are great!!! Love the giant pigeon houses plus palm tree background what a trip!
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Hello there! I’m glad you stopped by. Yeah those pigeon house are really big. It’s amazing that farm, nothing spectacular but it was really relaxing and fun with animals freely roaming around like they own the place 🙂
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