Sunday retreat @ Villa Escudero

June 16, 2013 Sunday

Ensogo offerred a Day tour + buffet lunch voucher at Villa Escudero at 999php, so I immediately grabbed this deal and bought 4 vouchers. My mom also wanted to go here ever since we were young, so I wanted to give her this gift. Since we would only be travelling via public bus, we decided to avail the voucher in pairs to ensure that someone would be left to take care of my baby niece. We-my sister and I-used our voucher so it's our turn to babysit this coming Sunday. But that's another story...going back...

Going there

This info was a bit hard to research via the Internet. Most people have cars or rented vans to go here, so information via public bus was scarce and they didn't have pictures. In order to answer the question of those who are commuting, this was what we did: 

Hacienda Escudero signage and if you walk further down 

the path, you will see the guard post and there will be a 

tricycle available.

We rode a bus going to Lucena and told the conductor that we will alight at Villa Escudero

This was the usual answer that you would encounter. I even asked the booking office via email and they gave me the same answer. I think the fare would be lower if you told the conductor that you'd be going down at Villa Escudero rather than saying Tiaong that's worth 158php/pax(JAM bus). At 5:30am, we left the bus station. Important reminder: Don't rely on the conductor to cue you to your stop because they tend to forget.

Reception Area: pay for your tickets here

Alight the bus once you pass the Quezon arch

This was not an exaggeration. Look to your left and you'll see "HACIENDA ESCUDERO". These are the list of towns that you will pass starting from the SLEX exit: Makiling, Laguna; Calamba, Laguna; Sto. Tomas, Batangas; Alaminos, Laguna; San Pablo, Laguna. San Pablo would be the last, so get ready. Do not depend on the 'McDonalds Villa Escudero' posters, you will be far from where you need to go if you see this. Travel time will be 2 hours. 

Hacienda Escudero

Villa Escudero is far from the highway. It takes a little more than 3 minutes via tricycle to get to the reception area. You could walk or you could ride the tricycle at 50php. Once you get there, go to the reception area to pay for tickets. The day tour included the ff.: museum entrance, bamboo rafting, swimming, carabao ride, and buffet lunch at the Labasin falls.

Museum

Museum

The musuem's facade looked like that of a church. Inside, you will immediately see various religious statues. Another turn would lead you to a display of preserved animals and a wall of deer head mounts. Don't miss the New Testament that looked like an ordinary white wall poster with the portrait of Jesus and cherubs. Another hallway would have an array of religious items. Once you get to the second floor, you'll see old versions of our currency and other countries' currencies, dolls, pots, jars, other things that you'd normally discover on shipwrecks, traditional costumes, guns and a huge frame of knives. If you're not that interested, you could just walk past the display and go towards the exit.

Ligaya is the name of the carabao

Carabao ride

The carabao carts would be just behind the statues of the Katipuneros. During the ride, you will be serenaded by 2 employees singing old Filipino songs. They will drop you off to where you could find the bamboo rafts, Labasin waterfalls and swimming pool.

Bamboo rafts

Bamboo rafting

We didn't try this because we're just too lazy to row and it was too sunny ^_^ I'm not sure if you could fish in the waters but the lake does have tilapia.

Swimming pool

Swimming

We also didn't take a dip even though we brought swimsuits. 

Labasin Waterfalls. Entrance to this area 

will start at approximately 10:30am.

We were the first ones in line to reserve

 the best seat. Good thing it 

didn't rain.

Labasin Waterfalls

Our lunch: Grilled tilapia, ginataang kalabasa, roast chicken
grilled pork, pancit, plain rice, caldereta, misua soup on the side

This is a man-made waterfall and the water came from the lake. I thought that it was a good idea to dine near the waterfall but having your feet immersed in water for the whole time during your meal doesn't feel too good. Don't expect too much from the buffet table. The only dish that I appreciated was the caldereta. Everything else(except for the grilled tilapia) was either salty or bland. You could order a coconut that costs 40php.

After lunch is siesta time. You could walk around or swim or raft or you could simply sit at the restaurant and wait for the cultural show. I suggest you try their halo-halo, though we didn't get to order this because we were still full from lunch, a lot of people did. We tried their Hazelnut Iced coffee and for me, it was really good. Not that sweet and you could taste a slight bitterness from the coffee. We also ordered french fries while waiting for the show. At 60php, it was good for two and the cut was not like the typical french fries. Though I don't understand why it had to be covered in flour, the fries went well with  the mustard-relish-mayo dip.

Singkil dance

Cultural Show
The first rondalla was performed by teens. It was good but I would've appreciated it better if they smiled. The main program was performed by the employees and they demonstrated at least 10 traditional Filipino dances-complete with costumes, makeup, props, and music. I absolutely loved it. Do take time to see the show because it was worth it.

It was tiring yet it was also enjoyable. If I'd be given a chance to go back, I would be there to taste another variant of their coffee and order a glass of halo-halo :)

Free movie night

June 13, 2013

We were given free tickets to the movie "Man of Steel" in 3D with free regular sized popcorn and a 12 oz. drink. I'm not really a Superman fan nor a 3D movie fanatic nor a popcorn fan(except those Chef Tony/Taters/Holy Kettle Corn types)--just watched it because it's free. ^_^  The bbq flavored popcorn was just ok. Don't expect too much from this movie though. More than half of it just contains explosions, collapsing buildings and Superman fighting the bad guys. In my opinion, it's better to wait for it in cable.

Dinner date at Kao Chi

April 25, 2013 6:00 PM (This entry was looong overdue)

I had a dinner date with my family at Kao Chi restaurant located at Retiro cor. D. Tuazon in Quezon City. We came early since our 1 yr. old niece was with us. We were the first customers at that time.

The Restaurant

Dominant colors were red and black. The light was dimmer than the usual lights inside Chinese restaurants. Note: I'm assuming it's a Chinese restaurant. But unlike others, they have rectangular tables (which I prefer more than round tables..though they also have a section for round tables). 

The Attendants

Since we were the first ones to arrive, their attention was concentrated on us. They were also polite and attentive. What I didn't like was they were literally waiting on our table. It had advantages, but it was a bit uncomfortable.

The Food

The reason why we came here was: we were looking for a restaurant serving good Xiao Long Bao. Since Shi Lin ( from my previous post ) was a tad far from our home, my sister's friend recommended this restaurant.

  

Xiao Long Bao

Xiao Long Bao (6 pcs): I liked their version of this soupy dumpling. It was creamy and light. Eat it immediately because it will stick to the paper and you'll risk having the soup flow out of the dumplings. I forgot the price but it was cheaper than the ones in Shi Lin. Though I say that they're both delicious. With Shi Lin's version, you may or may not put some soy-vinegar-ginger sauce, but Kao Chi's version will be enhanced with the same sauce.

Steamed Fish Fillet: We absolutely loved this dish. My niece preferred this over our order of wanton noodle soup. 

Fried Xiao Long Bao: This is the fried version of their steamed ones. We'd still choose their steamed counterparts. Nothing wrong with the taste. 

Shrimp Balls (6 pcs): I've been looking for these for the longest time. I haven't had them since I was young. If your not a fan of the coating(since this could really taste oily), you could remove it and eat the shrimp inside. It's great with sweet and chili sauce.

Wanton Noodles Soup: Rumor has it that they make their own noodles. It wasn't a rumor when a bowl of this was served. The noodles and the wantons tasted good. But there's still something that's missing in the broth. 

Rice: We all ordered a bowl of rice. I don't know why but this bowl of rice seems to get you very very full even if you've just consumed half of it. I'm a rice person and I love my rice. With the taste of the food we're eating, I imagined ordering for a second bowl if it was the ordinary rice variant.

In addition to these, you will be served with hot tea. You may ask for spoons and forks if you're not comfortable in using chopsticks.

In the end, we were really grateful with my sister's friend. She recommended a restaurant that we may visit anytime soon.

Last Hurrah!

Last Day

I hope you could see the Bangui Windmills from this photo

Pagudpud Beach

My sister and I woke up early so that we could have the beach to ourselves before anybody wakes up. From the hill near the resort, you could see the windmills. We brought along our goggles but it's better if you could also bring snorkels. You could see fish even if you're near the shore. After an hour, we washed up and ate our breakfast. The breakfast for our last day was longganisa. This was different from the Vigan longganisa- it had more stuffing and served in pairs. It lacked seasoning but it was better than nothing. I was really against staying beyond 10am, but what can a person do versus 30+ people. So we spent time waiting for the drivers to finish eating and everybody else to finish preparing. They could have done so a little bit faster. In the end, we left the resort a bit late and arrived at Laoag for late lunch(1pm).

Bolusan restaurant

This is a restaurant serving Chinese, Japanese and Ilokano dishes. We ordered shrimp sinigang(I think this had 4-5 pcs of shrimp), Bagnet with KBL(in case you're wondering, KBL stands for Kamatis, Bagoong, Lasona - tomato, bagoong, onions), fried chili squid and Yang Chow fried rice. Our food was a bit expensive and I was a bit disappointed with their Bagnet(deep fried pork) but overall, the food was tasty.Though I really appreciated their chili squid(not tough) and the Yang Chow fried rice. Price ranges from 250-400php per dish. This restaurant also had several pots of orchids used as table centerpiece.



Badoc Museum

This was supposed to be visited on our first day. When I saw it, I knew that I regretted the decision in agreeing to skip it. Museums are closed on Mondays. So what is Badoc Museum? It's no less than the home of Juan Luna. Who is he? He's a great artist/painter and one of his works was the Spoliarium which can now be found at the National Museum. 

After Badoc Museum, we proceeded to the longganisa and bagnet factory in Vigan. (This was not in the itinerary. I think they only dropped us there so that they could get freebies from the owner, OR someone from our convoy asked the drivers to recommend a place where they could buy these and the drivers proceeded there with the entire group without even consulting the other passengers. How irritatingly unfair for those who were not interested in purchasing anything!) I didn't take note where this was exactly but it was at a corner lot and one of the roads near Calle Crisologo. It was also beside a multi-purpose hall. There were no taste samples for the longganisa so we only bought a small pack. If you wanted a longganisa that's more on the sour side, then you could buy these. But if not, I recommend that you skip it. If you want Vigan longganisa, I would recommend the one that's served at Marsha's delicacy. As for the bagnet(local term for lechon kawali), we usually buy ours at Laoag's public market. I didn't get to taste the ones they offered but my sister assured me that it was nothing special.

Vigan Heritage Houses

What you need here is a good camera --one that could produce good pictures even if it's night time. I bought most of my souvenirs here. I suggest that you also try the avocado flavored ice cream sold by the local sorbetero(ice cream man). It is also advisable to come here earlier(around 2 pm) and ride a kalesa for a tour of the town. We stayed here until 7:30 pm before heading home.

So there you have it, our trip up north with SMB using vouchers from cashcashpinoy worth 4k. In my opinion, this was a rip-off. Using 16k(4k for 4 persons) SMB could've provided us with our own car, driver, accommodation and food, since apart from the 4k, we were required to give "tips" worth 150 pesos per person. And we could've arrived earlier and went home earlier instead of waiting for other people to finish their business which was quite a hassle, especially if they're uncooperative. And yes, this is a downside for not having my own car.

On architecture and God's creation

Ilocos tour - Day 2

Macy's Counter

Before anything else, we went to the market to buy bagoong - a fermented fish condiment. After this, we had our breakfast. By the way, we stayed at Hotel Tiffany. It had the basics - bed, blanket, pillow, towel, soap, hot/cold shower, unclogged toilet, tv, aircon, mirror and sink. They have a restaurant named Macy's where we ate our breakfast. The restaurant had that 60's design and they even have a working jukebox. I loved their beef tapa--it was just like my mom's. Their hot chocolate drink was a little on the sweet side, I don't know why they even bothered adding a sachet of sugar on the side.

This jukebox was actually working

First stop: Cape Bojeador and Burgos Lighthouse

Burgos Lighthouse

Cape Bojeador

Too bad the tower of lighthouse was off limits. You could only take pictures of the perimeter. Again, there are too many tourists and it was scorching hot even if it's still early. But the view was priceless. Too bad they don't sell lighthouse keychains.

Second stop: Kapurpurawan Rock Formation (Puraw = white)

This was the closest that we could get to the actual rock formation

I've been hearing good things about this and I was really excited that it's included in our tour. There's an entrance fee but kept to a minimum(30php). I thought that you could climb the actual rock, but it was a restricted area--probably to maintain the form of the rock. Too bad we weren't able to try and climb one of the white rocks with grooves that looked like steps. Make sure to bring your shades(or umbrella) and apply sunscreen. 

Third stop: Bangui Windmills

First five windmills

I don't know why, but I'm one of those people who were totally amazed of these gigantic windmills. Maybe because its a great backdrop for photos :) The windmill photo on the left was under maintenance at that time. It was almost noon so we stayed on where the shadow of this windmill was cast to shade us from the heat of the sun. There were stores near the windmills where you could buy souvenirs (keychains, t-shirts, photo frame, etc.). I bought a t-shirt printed with facts by national geographic even if it was a size bigger.

Lunch @ Kangkang Cafe by the windmills

One variant was good for 3-4 persons so we ordered 4 cups of rice, tinola, and grilled squid. Since we were a large group(3 vans with more or less 12 people inside) the orders came 1 hr later. It was really slow--or so we thought--surprisingly, all orders came in after waiting for an hour and everybody finished eating at almost  the same time. Our tinola(250php-i think) was a bit bland and the chicken pieces were small and it contained more skin and bones than meat. The grilled squid was not overcooked, it also went well with soy sauce.

Since we still had time, we agreed to finish all our destinations for the third day. That way, we could relax on our last day.

Kabigan Falls

Fourth stop: Kabigan Falls

I've been to several water falls, and so far, my favorite was the one in Puerto Galera - the Aninuan Falls. The height was not that high but you could have the place to yourself. Going back, the trek on the way to the falls was not that difficult. There was also an entrance fee (30php comes with a guide for a minimum group of 10). If you're really a fast walker, you could reach the falls in 15 minutes. The pool was a bit small in diameter , shallow, and most tourists were in it. We didn't bother swimming, we just took photos instead.

Doesn't look that clean compared to other waterfall pools

On the way back, you could buy tupig - an delicacy made with ground sticky rice, molasses and coconut wrapped in banana leaf  or karioka - a fried ball shaped snack made with sticky rice and coconut  rolled in brown sugar  or refresh yourself with a cup of fresh coconut juice sans the milk and sugar.

Patapat viaduct

Fifth stop: Patapat Viaduct

This is a road connecting Cagayan Valley and Ilocos Norte. 

Sixth stop: Paraiso ni Anton

Paraiso ni Anton

If you drive to the end of the Patapat viaduct, you would drive by the Paraiso ni Anton. I don't know who 'Anton' is, but this is a small waterfall where locals consider its water "miraculous". We did try drinking water from this. It was cool and refreshing and it didn't taste like soil. We refilled our water bottles from this mini falls and the bottles became sweaty. You could also see that the water is really clean.

Seventh stop: Blue Lagoon

Blue Lagoon

The driver swears that this is a really beautiful place-even comparable to Boracay. Yeah the sand was offwhite and fine but the water wasn't blue. Probably because it was late in the afternoon. Our consolation: we saw Mark Gil (a celebrity) and he was kind enough to accommodate our request to take a picture with him. Here, the most popular resort-Hana Resort-according to our driver a.k.a tour guide, offers the longest zipline above water. We considered trying it but when we saw a person hanging from the line and moving ever so slowly, we decided to skip it. Imagine a zipline where the line is just like a conveyor belt--very boring. We also didn't bother taking a swim since there were a lot of people at the beach and there was no place to wash up. So my sister and I decided to eat dinner. Just in time, we were done eating and our tourmates were done swimming.

Our dinner: grilled maya-maya and eggplant ensalada

Last stop: Polaris Beach Resort

This was where we stayed for the night. It had the basics: beds, pillows, soap, water heater, unclogged toilet, tv, aircon. But--the blankets were too thin; it can't keep you warm, there were insects(though not the bloodsucking types), and you still have to ask for towels at the lobby. 

Road trip to the north!

May 2013 (last weekend)

I won't go into the details of how much hassle the agency caused us. But I would like to give my honest opinion on SMB(Sarap Mag Byahe) travel agency -- they still lacked experience in organizing group tours. If the tourist spots were not worth it, I would say, their name 'SMB' is very inappropriate.

Night before Day 1:

Our plan: Get to the meeting place early so we get the most comfortable seats.

Outcome: Unfortunately, we had a biased driver. He picked up his "acquaintances" before going to the meeting place.

My opinion: Very unprofessional. It also casts a gray area on whether the van fee is really divided by the number of passengers OR by the number of passengers not related to the driver.

My suggestion: The agency should purchase a mini bus for conducting group tours to give equal space to all passengers. Vans are only good for max 8 persons(for comfort) not 13. Convoys are a waste of time--most especially during tours like ours---without prepared meals.

Day 1:

View from Quirino Bridge

Adventure zone

Quirino Bridge

Old Bridge

New Bridge

Honestly, I didn't know why we ever bothered stopping there for more than 10 minutes. It's not like they gave an educational talk on the bridge. Don't get me wrong, the view was great. I think it would've been better if the first van arrived there and took pictures for 5 minutes, then left to give way to the next van. You couldn't get a decent picture of the bridge when a large group of people spread around and take pictures.

Marsha's Delicacy

We arrived at Marsha's at 7:30am. I ordered a Vigan longganisa meal (PHP 120) for breakfast. This is inclusive of rice, sunny side up, atchara and a choice of iced tea or coffee. The meal had 3 cutie little pieces of longganisa(just like the size of your thumb). Their version of Vigan longganisa had a balanced taste--unlike others that have the vinegar dominate the flavor of the longganisa. My sister ordered a Corned beef meal. At 130PHP, this meal is affordable considering that the corned beef brand used is Palm corned beef. We left the place at approximately 8:40am. 

You'd say that 8:40 is still early right? But the original time indicated in the itinerary was--we should already be at the Baluarte ni Chavit(zoo) by 8am.

First stop: Bell Tower and Vigan Church

The location of these two is approximately 10-15 minutes away from Marsha's Delicacy. There's a registration table and a donation box before you proceed to the Bell Tower. You may want to take your picture all the way up where the bells are --but watch your step!

Second stop: Syquia Mansion

If you're not interested in the story behind the mansion, then you could just go ahead and take pictures of the whole place. But listening to the caretaker would give a whole lot of meaning to the furnitures, paintings and other objects in the house.

Third stop: Baluarte ni Chavit

Contraption for extracting sugarcane juice

There are a limited number of animals here. One thing worth doing--which we didn't know at that time--was to fall in line and have your picture taken with a tiger. You could also have a taste of the freshly--I'm not sure if this is the proper term--"pressed" sugarcane to cool you down from the summer heat. You could also take a ride on a mini cart pulled by a pony.

The drivers suggested that we go to Badoc Museum on our last day. I'm so tired and sleepy that I forgot to oppose because our last day would be Monday-and museums are closed on Mondays! >.<

This was where we ate our lunch. The food was good though. But honestly, by this time, you would just like to sleep and wait for the next destination.

Fourth stop: Marcos Mausoleum


Taking pictures was forbidden to pay respect to the late President. You only need to spend less than 5 minutes in this place.

Fifth stop: Paoay Church

Paoay Church garden

I'm always at a loss for words when it comes to old churches. The Paoay Church's facade is picture-perfect. To my surprise, the church stretched out longer than I thought.

Sixth stop: Malacanang of the North (near Paoay lake)

Outside Malacanang of the North

We weren't able to enter this house. A group of foreigners who were, I guess, doing some sort of documentary about the place had requested the cooperation of the local government to close it to public for the day.








Seventh stop: Paoay Sand Dunes

View from Paoay Sand Dunes

Paoay Sand Dunes

At 2500php/hour for 5pax, you could ride a 4x4 truck and go sandboarding. But for us who were feeling icky since we've been on the road for the whole day, we decided to skip the sandboarding, thus reducing the fee  to 1500php/30minutes on a 4x4. I was expecting the 4x4 that closely resembles an owner type jeep. But our ride was more of a 4x4 pick up truck. Later on, we found out that the one driving was the founder of the whole activity and he was the one who taught the other drivers how to go about the dunes.


Last stop: Laoag City

Rainbow

Doing all these activities will leave you exhausted and feeling sticky from the heat. A warm bath will guarantee a good night's sleep. But this was not our last stop. Since my grandma is living near Laoag, even if it's late, we decided to drop by and give her a visit. All in all, it was an activity-filled day.