A Quaint Affair

Dec. 5 for my family is a day to celebrate. It marks the day my husband was born and it is widely celebrated in Bangkok. Well, not because of his birthday actually but because it coincides with King Bhumibol's natal day too. It is thus a holiday in the country. Hehehe how's that for some trivia?

Anyway, for the 2nd time, we went to Cavite to pay our real property tax and proceeded to Tagaytay after that just as we did last year. Ikee had no class that day so she willingly, joyfully and excitedly went with us. The trip from our home to the City hall took about 1.5 hours. We got there at 11:30 am and Boyet rushed inside because it was almost noon and their break starts at 12 so noone, not even the nymph nor any of the province's mythical creatures, can break that "employee-declared law". It was good, though, for us because it meant we were out of there and were Tagaytay-bound before 12 noon.

After we had gone from the municipal hall, we drove up to Tagaytay to have lunch. Deciding for a place to dine had always been a matter of discussion for my family. We seem not to have any place in mind. So, as it has almost always been the case, I suggested we go to Antonio's. I had seen and heard of them from VT and the ratings have been good.

There were very few people at the resto when we got there - perhaps 3 families and a couple. Although I had wanted to try their steak, Boyet and Ikee were not up to it. Thus, we had settled for the breakfast items which, yes, they serve until 4 pm. I had corned beef as suggested by our waiter, Ikee had sausage, and boyet had eggs and longganiza, which is the local sausage of course. We also had a serving of fresh vegetable salad.

The meal was very delectable. The venue was serene and tastefully designed. The price was ok but their steak are expensive. Maybe it was good, I don't really know. Didn't get to taste them. I will next time though. I'm posting some pics here for you to see.

Philippines' Not-so-Hidden Secrets: Port Barton, Palawan

Don't you get this feeling that you can't seem to write about anything even when you really, really want to? The writer's block. I have that so often that I wonder why I even have this much number of articles already. LOL

Anyway, to always have something to write about, I've decided to come up with a series of articles on the Philippines. This is my first article.

Perhaps one of the best, if not the best, vacation trips that we have had as a family was during a trip to Port Barton back in 2006. My dad's invitation to visit the place had been long standing. His persistence is admirable. Just to tickle our visual senses, he'd brought home pics from SEAir that featured Palawan and Port Barton.

When we finally decided to go, I told them we'd stay only 1 night at Port BArton. From dad's description, I deduced that the place is a laid back which nothing else to do but lie on a hammock and bask. Now can you blame me for alloting just 1 night there? What's more is that I didn't get more info about the place from the internet that I did from my dad. We wouldn't be flying that far and doling out so much moulah to go to a place to sleep with only 4 days to spend. No sirree, it wouldn't, couldn't happen.


But my dad's assessment had been as accurate as it had always have. It was the best part of our trip. The sand, the sea, the night sky - these were perfect. It wasn't your usual resort with the grand structures that you would see on the pages of a travel magazine. But it had more of the natural setting that one would look for. For one, the hotel, Greenviews, that we stayed in had huts that were typical of a tropical island - the roof was made of grass, the walls were made of woven bamboo with just an electric fan to augment the cool breeze; the beds were made of coconut lumber and had thin mattresses; the floor was made of wood; the windows were of native materials too.

For an urban family, we are so accustomed to the luxuries of the usual hotels that they all looked so alike and having to stay in a hut is something out of the ordinary. That was just part of the thrill.

The night we got there, like I had said in my other article, everything was pitch black. But this just gave us a wonderful sight - I saw what had been the most beautiful nightsky I had seen ever. The stars were countless and seemed more like twinkling diamonds set on a huge onyx, with occasional sightings of meteors rapidly flashing across it.


The beach was sandy. It wasn't as fine as powder like that of Boracay but it didn't have anything that would hurt our feet - no stones, no thorns, no trash. It had some trees that gave some shade that it had been a shame we didn't have time to lay on a hammock underneath them.

The water - ah the sea - was so clear that even at a depth of about 30 feet or so, the bottom looked like it was just a few meters below the surface of the water. The additional treat there were the tortoises that came so close that it had almost poked our boat. and the fish seemed almost too eager to investigate on the strangers that had paid them a visit. Fishing and snorkeling were all that we could muster in such a short time. I would have wanted to have an introductory dive because the fish and corals were as I had seen in some of the screensavers on my desktop.

The food in the hotel was both pleasurable to the eyes and to the palate. From that time on, I had spoken of Port Barton as though it were paradise. Well, that it really is to me. I would be back there if it weren't for the fact that I plan on getting my daughter to go to more places than I had when I was a child. Soon, though, I hope we'd have time and resources to go back there as we had planned before we even left the place.

*Note: the pics have not been edited to give you a picture of how the place really look.

Returning to The Walled City - Intramuros, Manila

The last time was in 2003, when my cousin Erin was around and we showed her the place. Luckily, that wasn't my first time in Intramuros but it seemed all new to me because the first time I went there it was nighttime and there were some bands playing some tunes over near the ruins of a church.

This time we went there to walk around the area with our guest, VirtualTourist.com member Barbskie who has been living in Switzerland for the past oh, 20 years or so. The rustic charm of the walled city is still evident. Some areas had been restored while others still stood where it was 400 years ago. Like the San Agustin Church. Nothing much has changed. Although what really caught my eye, which I didn't notice before, were the chinese figures (in the likeness of dogs) that were made to stay under the idols in the facade. there, of course, was the contrast of the Spanish and Chinese cultures. The european touch is more simple and predictable while the asian - as mysterious, alive and invigorating.

There was the Manila Cathedral where several weddings were being held literally one after the other. It's rather costly to get married there these days and I heard that if you would like to tie the knot there, you'd have to book it 1 year in advance. 1 year?! Facing the cathedral was a statue of King Carlos (I think that's what his name is) who had sent vaccines to the Philippines. Good guy? I wouldn't be so certain. Maybe so to deserve a monument. The Spaniards may have wrought havoc in our land but they did do some good things too.

As we walked along, coming from the ruins of a church, I noticed a lone brick window of a dimly lit room. It looked really old and I couldn't be certain whether it was made to look that way or it has really stood the test of time. Anyway, it did catch my fancy so I figured it was worth having a creative shot of it. I tweaked the settings of my camera (it is one of those point and shoot cams with some manual settings on it), positioned myself right in front of it and took the shot. As the flash came on, a voice emanated from that dark room... it was a man, in his underwear, his back facing me! Apparently, he was startled by my intrusion and got up from where he was. I was surprised too and got a little scared, that I ran toward my companions who were about 100 meters away from where I was standing. They had a laugh when I told them what just happened.

We didn't have the time to go to Fort Santiago because the guys wanted to watch the sunset at Manila Bay. After all, that, according to some, is one of the most picturesque in Manila.

Intramuros is still beautiful and would be a perfect venue for a Filipiniana wedding. Well, you might be wondering about the Manila Bay sunset - we were late!