misstinapie

We have arrived at Quirino probably past lunch time. I remembered we had breakfast at Chowking Santiago so my estimate is probably right. We ate lunch when we reached our house but an hour or two later, we are on the road again to Maddela. They recommended Governor's Rapids but after a long dizzying trip we've reached said place fully packed, cars are actually parked up to the road. We drove back somewhere else which my uncle said was part of of the waters at the Governor's but less tame. There was no entrance whatsoever. I don't even know what it was called! All I know is that it's rocky and the waters near the rocks are green with algae. At first I was up for going but seeing the algae brought the city girl in me. Nope. No amount of coaxing will make me dip my feet there! Everyone went at the rocky land as you see on the photo except for me and my sister who is also afraid of slipping. Took tons of photos though which looked so dramatic at this angle. What I hated...

We were told by our relatives (mother side) that our Mamang (Grandma) wanted to see us. So just in time for the Holy Week, we decided to visit her at Tarlac. Our final ETD is evening of Thursday and will be coming home by Sunday morning. With that in mind, we have two days to go to roam around the city... if there was anywhere to go. Upon our research we found out that there isn't much that Tarlac has to offer. Maybe because of their neighboring Clark that they decided to nothing about it. Or maybe Hacienda Luisita is just too large there is not much land left for recreation. Speaking of Hacienda, they do have a museum but it's not open for the holidays so that's already out of our IT. + Monasterio de Tarlac + We woke up a bit a late the next day (Friday) that the sun was already up when we started to drive to Monasterio de Tarlac. We passed by Tarlac TechnoPark but didn't bother to go since half of us are seniors and would probably not enjoy the activities they have th...

We started our journey right after breakfast and checked out. We navigated towards Taal which is hailed as Vigan of the South. We had high hopes for the so called ancestral houses but said buildings were a bit sparse and the moniker is just a bit exaggerated. It is clean though. For a town center it is very well maintained. We've visited Basilica of St. Martin of Tours, Asia's largest Catholic Church (yay!) in Asia and it's gorgeous inside. This is why I love going to Catholic Churches around the country because it's Art on it's own. There's also another smaller church we've been, Shrine of Our Lady of Caysasay. The facade is nothing special but the altar looks amazing. Maybe if they could renovate the exterior it would be so dramatic. None of the galleries were open when we came (it was a Monday) which is ironically what happened to us when we were in Vigan as well. We had lunch at Cafe G which is usually recommended at Taal. Cute interiors, food are ok as ...

La Chevrerie We are all in awe at the villa. The place is just comfortably huge you can fit like 7-10 people easy. There are tons of beds and the sofas are huge. There are also two baths, large TVs on both floors and an overlooking balcony. Even the table is good for hosting a large family gathering. The price of the villa is within the 20k++ range but I only get to pay half because the other half is the total price of what I won. Also my winnings include full course meals and a massage for two. I'm not comfortable with a massage so I had my sister and father claim that themselves. There are other rooms available but they are on a separate building below because the resort is not in level with each other; the pool, L' Atelier and most of the rooms are steps down. So in case by dinner time your calves are already screaming foul going up and down the villa and the pool you can just call the cafe to deliver your food. The pricing of the food is expensive as well (if you can afford...

Whaaaaaat!! I'm posting an old roadtrip?? Yes way! So I won a contest last year from Nailaholics: a one night stay in an exclusive resort at La Chevrerie. It was supposed to be for 2 people only but I thought I should bring the family along instead. Upon conversation with the management of the hotel, I could get another room for two but that would be weird since there are 3 of us girls and our father. Plus the price of another room is the same amount I could put in on their private villa. I got that instead. From Cavite, the trip was extremely long. There wasn't any traffic but then I realized I should have volunteered to drive some miles. It's impossible for me to mess it up right? Traversing the road with the windows down is awesome. The air is fresh and the view is breathtaking. At first it was just like trees and the Taal, until we saw something looking out of the ordinary: Since we're trying to get there after lunch time, we didn't stop over. We attempted on th...

As planned we went out of Sagada as early as we can. We weren't able to do lots of stuff here but I intend to go back anyway. Plus there is a concert I need to go to right after this and that I can't miss :-D so we have to make do on the time limit we have. A lot of people recommend Kiltepan Peak for sunrise but I think we had a taste of it somehow when we snaked out of Sagada. Higher above the clouds it's a breath taking view. There is no sun yet but cloud rising beneath (yes you read it right) the mountains is something you have to see in real life to appreciate. Everyone of us was just in awe. Two things we weren't able to do going down was eating breakfast and filling up gas. We suppose that there are lots of choices out there since we're not the only ones travelling, right? Well. Sort of. This station right here doesn't have rice meals but we were greeted by friendly dogs and chickens. We left without eating anything (except my youngest sister...

It was the only inn that would take us for reservation 2 months before Holy Week and I am more than glad in getting anything at all. A night for 4-5 people will cost you 1000 pesos. We got a double deck and a larger bed fit for four. Initially our reservation entitles us to 6 beds but we switched with the other group of guests (they have not come yet but the keeper told us about that while we have missed one guest, they added another so they needed more beds). There is also no private bath so you have to wait for others to finish before you can even shower. I took mine as soon as we went back after our tour but it took a while to actually bathe because all are taken. The shower is as simple as it will get, a toilet and a shower of death. It doesn't have any heater installed so basically you are bathing in ice. You can choose to not take a bath if you're such a winnie but I chose to since we planned to get out of Sagada very early in the morning so I can skip taking ...

More trees. And houses. After 2 hours, my sisters have to do a number 1. We figured it will be another long drive so they went out to the last gas station of the day. I've already spent 1500 earlier and we filled now with 500. We're using diesel so we have a much cheaper option. By 2 pm we reached a cute gas station. You will never miss it as it has a really distinct decor. The Safari Adventure (Gas) Station Kids will surely enjoy this place! It's refreshing to see a quirky station out of all the monotony of the day. And what do you think about that Mr. Bean right there? Kinda cool don't you think? For as long as it's the morning anyway. I would totally freak out seeing that in the middle of the night. Just look at those eyes boring in your brain. Eee!!! Unnamed View Point I might have missed if there were any signs to declare the name of the view point it but we stopped for this special place anyway. It overlooks the turn to Banaue and ...

First pitstop of the day was Kuya Lar's. It's a small airy place for travelers who wanted to grab lunch before a much longer journey. We arrived here almost 12pm exact but not that much customers around. We were seated as soon as we went out of the car.  They serve local food, carinderia style so if you're really picky, you're better of going back and find yourself fastfood or any fancy food you can think of. However, they do have servers and heat your food so that is a plus.  We had fried fish, laing and ginataang langka. We also brought out our adobo. Their food is really carinderia-ish (haha) so don't expect too much. I was a bit disappointed with the langka, the bangus is a huge cut, as for the laing, well, I never touched laing in my life so I've no idea but family said it was perfect.  And oh, before I forget. Out of snacks? Well, grab yours here too: (Sorry if I can't post our total bill because I missed logging i...

This year we planned on going to one of the most sought after vacations in the upper region of Luzon-- Sagada. Officemates planned on Boracay but I'm not really a fan of beaches so I'd rather spend it in the cold mountains, far from the humid salty air of a lower sea level region. Initial IT was Manila-Banaue-Sagada-Banaue-Manila but we ended up doing a Manila-Banaue-Sagada-Bontoc-Baguio-Manila trip. Cool huh? We get to do a round trip around the Cordillera region! March 27 We left Cavite around 4am, arrived at MoA to fetch my sister from work and left around 5am and had a sweet quick ride via NLEX. When I woke up we're already at Cabanatuan (around 9/10 am).  There are 3 of us in the photo. She's also not aware she's on it. Maybe one of the attributes of being there that early is because not everyone is out on the streets yet. So if possible, you find yourself planning for a road trip, be early ahead of everyone going up. It's not...