DAY 1
It was a last minute decision to proceed with the trip to Manila last Mar. 16-18. Plan for this trip to go to Tagaytay was already done months before the trip or just right after we booked a promo fair with Seair/Tiger Airways as we were very excited to go on a family vacation. Had it not been for kind-hearted, family-oriented & adventure-lover friends we wouldn't have proceeded with this one as we were on a tight budget during that time. But as they say if you ask everything out to the Heaven Almighty he does things you don't expect to get you your hearts delight.
The trip was supposed to be scheduled Saturday, 7:15 am but we received a notice from Seair that they have cancelled this flight & were willing to, either, move our flight to 1:55 pm of the same day or they proceed with the refund of the ticket. Well, how about our return ticket? It would have been easy cancel the whole trip but the return flight wasn't covered with the ticket refund. So after a few days of thinking & praying we finally decided to proceed with the trip.
So here we were on a trip to Manila via Seair with the family & a friend of ours, Arra. Angel was so excited to be able to ride a plane again. Seair plane wasn't that big compared to Cebu Pacific's, but what's important is they get us to our location safe. Anyway it's only an hour travel.
Arrived in Manila around 3:00 pm & met a fifth member of the escapade, Karen. Immediately proceeded to Pasay bus station via walk, trike & walk for a bus bound for Tagaytay. It was already late in the afternoon when we arrived in the bus station. We took the Batman Starexpress bus bound for Batangas via Tagaytay. As searched through the internet there are no buses from Manila bound for Tagaytay only. Buses from Pasay to Tagaytay were all destined for Batangas.
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| Seair flight DG7005; Cebu-Manila |
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| photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43793290@N03/7368316114/ |
It was already around 5:30 pm when the bus journey proceeded. A bit worried since it was getting late & we didn't have any room reservation yet. Read through blogs that Tagaytay had a lot of hotels & inns where it wasn't necessary to have an advance booking to get a room. That is if you don't have a preference on the type of room you are going to get. Well it's part of the adventure. The travel was quite annoying especially when you get along NAIA Rd & Roxas Blvd where the pace of traffic was slower than a snail. But after getting by this intersection the travel was better.
An observation I had during the travel was that they do allow passengers to stand in an aircon bus. City buses & North-bound provincial buses we've taken had a foldable chair in the aisle. But with these buses it was like riding a non-aircon bus like here in Cebu where passengers squeeze whatever space is available in the aisle. But overall, the travel was very good. It was also my first to see a "conductor" using a "high-tech" ticket machine. He wasn't using the stab-type where an amount is printed per ticket color. Or the old-school puncher-ticket type. We paid Php 78.00 for adult & Php 62.00 for kids fare, Pasay-Tagaytay.
It was just about dinner time when we arrived in Tagaytay Rotonda, 7:30 pm. Took dinner in Mang Inasal. During dinner we called up 5R Rooms which was the cheapest that we had searched in the internet prior to the travel. Luckily they still had rooms available. So we hopped on a tricycle & asked the driver to send us to 5R. We could feel the cold wind during the tricycle ride, different from what we were used to in Cebu. Now this tricycle driver suggested to take us to a "better" place to stay. So we heeded his suggestion hoping that it was indeed "better". 2 places later both were fully booked so we asked him again to take us to 5R Rooms. Upon arrival in 5R my wife & her friends checked on the room available while I was left with the tricycle driver outside the hotel. Manong driver kept on talking that if we want he can take us to another hotel, this time in a hotel owned by his sister's husband who was a foreigner. I was getting agitated with him already as he was kind of ruining my welcome in Tagaytay already. The worse part of it all was that when I asked him how much we were going to pay for the ride he said "only Php 100" when in fact before we hopped on his trike he mentioned already Php 40 was the fare. Maybe he forgot about it but Php 40 was all we paid him up.
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| 5R Rooms front @ night (photo: c/o Arra) |
We took the family room which originally costs Php 2500 per night but was given to us for only Php 1800. Maybe they were enamored by my wife's charm. :-) Problem with this room was that the shower heater wasn't functioning. Arra & Karen took the fan room @ only Php 1000. After a few minutes of rest we went out or an evening walk. Went to 711 along One Tagaytay Hotel to buy some stuff for our stay & just to see the place at night. There wasn't much activity along the way as the place was more like a residential area. Also noticed that this part of Tagaytay had a lot of hotels & inns aong the way. 5R was just beside Keni Po, 88 hotel & much more.
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| 5R Rooms >> rm no. 306 |
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| 7-11 (photo: c/o Arra) |
Lights out @ 11:00 pm.
DAY 2
Always start your Sunday with a mass. That was what we wanted so as I woke up 5:00 am I went out to ask the hotel front desk where's the nearest church. But unfortunately there was no one in the front desk during that time. So I went out the main road to hoping to ask someone. Well, there was no need to ask any one as Ina ng Laging Saklolo Parish was only around 10 meters away from me at that time. Checked on their posting of mass schedule & the first mass is 6:30 am which was perfect for our schedule.
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| Ina ng Laging Saklolo Parish mass schedule (photo: c/o Arra) |
Went back & got ready for the mass. It was quite unusual to hear a mass in Tagalog but what's important was we did our Sunday obligation before having fun. Even with the sunlight out you can still feel the cool breeze of the wind in Tagaytay. It was like having a centralized aircon unit in the whole place. Amazing...
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| Ina ng Laging Saklolo Parish |
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| The other side of the church |
PICNIC GROVE
After the mass we proceeded to Picnic Grove for, obviously, the site-seeing & breakfast. Entrance fee was Php 50 head. Picnic Grove had a perfect view of the Taal Volcano. Took our breakfast in Alamat Restaurant which was quite expensive for a breakfast meal. But we were there & were so hungry since it was already around 9:00 am. Food was good as it was like a heavy breakfast meal for all the things we'll be doing the whole day.
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| Alamat Restaurant in Picnic Grove |
Now on to the sight seeing.
Other attractions in Picnic Grove:
After Picnic Grove we're off to Enchanted Kingdom in Laguna.
http://friaslaag-tagaytay.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-enchanted-kingdom-experience.html
http://friaslaag-tagaytay.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-enchanted-kingdom-experience.html
DAY 3
After the trip to Enchanted Kingdom we transferred to another room in 5R, this time in their Standard Room @ Php 1500 per night. This time shower heater was functioning well. After a good night's sleep we packed our things up and checked out from the hotel. Continue with Tagaytay tour, this time the Batangas side.
MUSHROOM BURGER
Had to try this as I haven't seen any mushroom burgers in Cebu. Took a jeepney ride along the Rotonda to get to this place. The building isn't the typical fastfood store wherein it's a modern design. It was an old-school designed place.
Bought some pasalubong which were very cheap compared to what vendors were selling in Mahogany Market.
Bought some pasalubong which were very cheap compared to what vendors were selling in Mahogany Market.
After this we decided to go to the Mahogany Market. A public market in Tagaytay. The guard outside Mushroom Burger suggested to us to take a hike, a short-cut, across the other side of the road off to the Mahogany Market. Thinking that a road across would take us comfortably to the other highway we took off with the suggestion. Along the way the road was only a pathway for people to cross. It was like a pathway leading to the mountains. But it was all good. The place was safe.
MAHOGANY MARKET
Main product in Mahogany Market is the cow's meat. With many ranches around Tagaytay cow's meat is definitely cheap here compared to other places.
JOSEPHINE RESTAURANT
Josephine Restaurant is one of the best place to dine in Tagaytay with a scenic view of the Taal Volcano. Ambiance & food was great. This was our last stop before heading back to the airport bound for home. It was around 10:00 am when we got there. Good time to relax & for lunch.
After a sumptuous meal we headed to Rotonda to catch some pasalubong @ Loumars.
Remember the saying "you get what you paid for"? That's what happened to us when we didn't buy buko pie @ Loumars since we were already in tight budget at that time. Loumars buko pie costs Php 160 per box. Since we were not really that enamored with it we forego buying one. Inside the bus going back to Manila there was this vendor who went inside the bus selling buko pie. He was selling it, first, at Php 140 each up to a point where he was already selling it at only Php 80 per box. After a few more minutes of convincing we bought a box just to have an idea how it tastes, since it was really really cheap at that time. Lo and behold when we arrived home & tasted it, we couldn't understand what it was like. Can't get the taste of the buko, it was plane bad. Nobody bothered to get another taste of that pie again. Trash-bound.
It was already 1:00 pm when we finished off everything in Tagaytay. Took the San Agustin bus, which was parked just on the highway, bound for Cubao, which was passing through Baclaran church where we will be disembark and head to the airport. It was a 2-hour trip back to Manila.
Bought some stuff in Baclaran before heading to the airport for our 6:30 pm flight back home. Arrived in NAIA 4 Seair check-in counter at 5:15 pm. Buzzer-beater for check-in.
Definitely a nice family trip made better with friends. As they say "the more, the merrier".
'Til the next destination.....
SUMMARY OF THE TRIP:
date: Mar. 16-18, 2013 (Sat-Mon)
the cast: Jerry, Marilyn, Angel, Arra, Karen
flights: CBU-MNL >> Seair flight DG7005
MNL-CBU >> Seair flight DG7014
buses: Pasay-Tagaytay >> Batman Starexpress
Tagaytay-Pasay >> San Agustin Bus
stay: 5R Rooms (2 nights)
places: Picnic Grove, Enchanted Kingdom, Mushroom Burger,
Mahogany Market, Josephine Restaurant, Lourmars, Baclaran Church
Josephine Restaurant is one of the best place to dine in Tagaytay with a scenic view of the Taal Volcano. Ambiance & food was great. This was our last stop before heading back to the airport bound for home. It was around 10:00 am when we got there. Good time to relax & for lunch.
After a sumptuous meal we headed to Rotonda to catch some pasalubong @ Loumars.
Remember the saying "you get what you paid for"? That's what happened to us when we didn't buy buko pie @ Loumars since we were already in tight budget at that time. Loumars buko pie costs Php 160 per box. Since we were not really that enamored with it we forego buying one. Inside the bus going back to Manila there was this vendor who went inside the bus selling buko pie. He was selling it, first, at Php 140 each up to a point where he was already selling it at only Php 80 per box. After a few more minutes of convincing we bought a box just to have an idea how it tastes, since it was really really cheap at that time. Lo and behold when we arrived home & tasted it, we couldn't understand what it was like. Can't get the taste of the buko, it was plane bad. Nobody bothered to get another taste of that pie again. Trash-bound.
It was already 1:00 pm when we finished off everything in Tagaytay. Took the San Agustin bus, which was parked just on the highway, bound for Cubao, which was passing through Baclaran church where we will be disembark and head to the airport. It was a 2-hour trip back to Manila.
Bought some stuff in Baclaran before heading to the airport for our 6:30 pm flight back home. Arrived in NAIA 4 Seair check-in counter at 5:15 pm. Buzzer-beater for check-in.
Definitely a nice family trip made better with friends. As they say "the more, the merrier".
'Til the next destination.....
SUMMARY OF THE TRIP:
date: Mar. 16-18, 2013 (Sat-Mon)
the cast: Jerry, Marilyn, Angel, Arra, Karen
flights: CBU-MNL >> Seair flight DG7005
MNL-CBU >> Seair flight DG7014
buses: Pasay-Tagaytay >> Batman Starexpress
Tagaytay-Pasay >> San Agustin Bus
stay: 5R Rooms (2 nights)
places: Picnic Grove, Enchanted Kingdom, Mushroom Burger,
Mahogany Market, Josephine Restaurant, Lourmars, Baclaran Church
