Travel Destination, Philippines: May 2008

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Travel Destination, Tagaytay, Philippines

I'm back again, and want to share to you all my experience in Tagaytay last week.

We went there again with the whole family enjoying the last few days of summer. Tagaytay is just an 1hour and a half from manila, it is located in southern part of luzon. Tagaytay is at the top of the mountain just like baguio but a little bit lower. People go there to experience a nice weather and a little bit chill in the wind, because of it's high altitude.

Taken at tagaytay with taal volcano and taal lake below us

Taal Lake, Taken at tagaytay

We went there around lunch time and headed first at picnic grove. Picnic grove is a place in tagayatay, where you can relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery. It is not a hotel, it's like a public park where you can bring your food, and cook it there you can even grill hotdogs, steak or anything that you can cook. Cooking there is free you don't need to pay as long as you bring your equipment with you. You will spend your money only if you use their cottages and tables. 300 pesos being the expensive cottages and 100 pesos for the small table that is good for four person already.

If you just want to go there and just want to see the view. You can also do that but you will pay 50 pesos per person for the entrance of the park. you can sit there and relax, you can even bring kite or you can rent it from there. The wind is nice for kite flying. But the time we where there the wind is too strong, about 60km to 70km per hour, so it's kinda strong, but we where enjoying it as the wind most probably will blown as away. lol.

There are some attraction at picnic grove. They have a horse back riding that they offer, but we didn't tried. Over all picnic grove is a good place to go if you are in a tight budget. Considering the magnificent view of taal lake and taal volcano.

More pictures of picnic grove...

After we finished our lunch we went to my brother in laws vacation house. It's near picnic grove and still in the vicinity of tagaytay. It is called canyon woods. In there the house and the view is more than i expected, it's wonderful.

Canyon woods is a private subdivision it has all the amenities that a traveler like me would ask for. It has a huge clubhouse, a sport club, a golf course, a swimming pool etc. Not everyone can go there, it's not open for public. You can only go there if you have a friend who have a house and a membership in the club.

We stayed there and spend the whole afternoon and evening together. My kids loves the place because the garden is huge. They run they pick some flowers and some insect that they like to collect. while we do some cooking, We played card games, we say jokes on each other, we had a lot of fun and we enjoyed every moment, until it's time to sleep, and so we rest and looking forward for a beautiful morning.

The morning came and we ate our breakfast, we stroll around the subdivision we went places there and i can't express my self anymore, so i hope the pictures might give you an idea of what we had experience.

Thanks and i hope you can experience tagaytay also. They have a lot of hotels out there for the rich and the not too rich people, so I encourage you and your love ones to visit tagaytay and all the places here in my country called the PHILIPPINES........

Here are more pictures i took in canyon woods...

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Saturday, May 10, 2008

Destination Puerto Princessa City Palawan Philippines

Yes it is me again, snake island palawan, Philippines

Been there in palawan two times already. the first time i went there i guess it was 2003, but the time i enjoyed the most was 2006. it's summer time i remember it was April of that year. I went there via a shipping vessel. The trip took as about one whole day before we arrived at the port of puerto princessa city. Before that I was amazed by the people who work for the shipping vessel because, they have this farewell song and dance upon leaving the dock in manila. it was so funny and nice they sing and dance all together in almost perfect timing. So we left manila and head to the open sea. I am very happy because it's my first time to ride a cruise ship or should i say shipping vessel. The experience for a first timer was terrific.

Picture of dos palmas beach resort and snake island beach. I never went there at dos palmas because my budget is tight and cant afford the place. But snake island is free, you dont have to pay anything there it's open to everybody as long as you will respect the place and the environment.

While we are cruising our way to palawan, I went on the top of the vessel feels like titanic and i said "I'm on top of the world" like leonardo de caprio said a.ka. jack dolsen in the movie. Anyhow i saw for the first time a wide and vast open sea where i can't see any island but water in front of me. I even saw some fish who swims along the ship and they fly. Yes they do actually fly, but of course not flying to the sky, but instead leaping through the air and use this glider like fins that they have it's a pity on me I didn't had the chance to shoot some pictures.

I was hoping that I might see some dolphins. As my friend told me that if we get lucky, we might encounter some. But ladyluck is not on our side that day. Never the less I couldn't ask for more.

We arrived at the port of palawan a day after we left manila and the thrill is just beginning to unfold.

Some pictures I took in my adventures in palawan. Nice right?

After we dock we straight to this small hotel. It was very nice and the hotel theme is exotic native like. they used woods and bamboo as building materials you will feel like you are really one with nature. We took a rest and we ate at a near village there, they called it Vietnamese village. The reason why they called it that way, is because it was or still a refugee camp for our brother and sisters from Vietnam. Who left their country during the Vietnam-American war.

There is no place like it in manila. in manila we have several Vietnamese restaurant but nothing beats the real deal. Why? because real Vietnamese are cooking for you. The food was great at about 350.00 Philippine pesos you will get this set of meal that would cost you thousands of pesos in manila.

Picture of the hotel that we stayed, and the picture of my friend and abacus band, also in the hotel lobby.

After we ate our lunch we went back to the hotel, and get ready for our first adventure. We are going on an island hoping tour. This is the "WOW" part lol.

We went to the beach and we ride the boat as you just saw in the picture, yes that was the boat we used for our island hoping experience. We went back to the sea again and saw magnificent site all over. By the way i forgot to mention that palawan is the biggest preserve rain forest in the Philippines and I am proud of it.

Our pictures on our Island hoping tour

We reach our first destination. It is a small island white sand and very beautiful but we can't swim over there we can just stay there and relax, but we decided to move to the next island in where we can swim and have fun. So we moved forward and reach the place to be for nature lovers out there like me. The Snake island. They called it snake island because it is shape like a snake, There is no place like that for my own experience who loves to travel and see places within our country.

We jumped to the waters and swim towards the shore and set camp there. there is no cottages no rooms just one table. All is white sand and beautiful scenery. I went back to check the water and shocked of what I saw. Just two steps from the shore line hundreds of marine fish and other marine life welcomes me. It was so beautiful and gave them some bread to feed.

Snake Island, as you can see there is only one table and a hut to cover you from the sun.

Just a few steps and you will be greeted by these amazing fishes

My curiosity is not over yet it's a good thing we are ready for this kind of experience. we brought along us some snorkeling gear, and we snorkeled our satisfaction over the reef. lol. Feels like I am in paradise being with this creatures and being one with nature. Priceless.

After that we ate some foods because we are kinda tired already. We took some rest and took some pictures. We enjoyed our stay in there and talk about the place even though we are already there. Here are some pictures we took.

Happy Moments, and I got lucky to have a picture with our local celebrity. Katya Santos

And so we are about to move on to our next stop, and it starts raining and we have no choice but to cancel the remaining trip. We headed back to our hotel and ate our dinner and drink some beer and talk about our experience. Yes we talk for hours and it seems like it will never end.

We had to retire and go to sleep because the next night we are having a rock concert. Would you believe it is us who are going to perform?. Yes it's us well I am not included in the band but i manage them, And the night would never be the same for both us and the people there.

So this will end my story about Palawan, there is more to tell about this one very, or should i say great destination for people who loves nature at it's best. If you like peace and harmony, tranquility and all this is the place to go. It's not like boracay with sugar like white sand and hot babes and bars, but it's a place to relax and enjoy and think about your lives.

But boracay is one nice destination also. As i will tell you my experience over there soon on my Destination Boracay Philippines. Soon.

Pictures at the concert

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Destination Subic Bay Philippines

It's Me

Its been a long time since I haven’t gone back to the place where I spend my childhood days, I was born there and lived there until I was in grade 4. many have change when me and my family left. Subic bay was occupied by the American navy until it was asked by our government to leave the area I’m sorry I don’t know the exact date. As a kid i rarely visited the inside of subic bay it was a naval base before so not everybody can go inside except you are working there or you are a member of a family who is working inside. We called it “loob” in tagalong meaning inside in English. It was opened for anyone when the Americans left the area. I cant imagine how the Americans preserved the rainforest over there it was amazing everything your eyes can see especially in the mountains are all green, lots of big trees and lots of wild animals are still living and thriving there. From being a military base the government convert the area into a trade area, open for many business opportunities hence many are now having business over the area.

Tourism is one of the attraction at subic bay. You will find many resorts and restaurants and lots of water, many activities are there for people to experience and enjoy.

My Family & My Dad, nice background right?

As I’ve said we went there and stayed in one of their hotels there I think we stayed at bayfront hotel it was a small hotel with a fair enough swimming pool but the place is great for it’s price. It was located in front of the beach near the boardwalk. There is a lot to do there you can do water sports etc. you can eat at many restaurants and small food booths and you can see the water in front of you, not as perfect as boracay but fair enough for other things you can do. The sun sets behind the mountain and it has a magnificent view as you can see in the pictures. At night they have a band playing their music and they have this small casino in which I got some money lol I won. But I’m not recommending gambling for anyone I just tried and been lucky and won but most of the time they say you will loose.