Things to do while in Exile Island

Sigh. I can't believe it's been a month already. That makes me officially "independent" woman for a little over a month. How time flies... (wink wink) So Tagaytay has officially been my choice place to stay at, finally decided to stop with the channeling of a hermit and finally rediscover the place.
Having been to Highlands, Royale, the Cliff House and the slew of bed and brerakfast inns that has been sprouting in this part of the archipelago a dozen of times (oooh but im still loving The Botique and Antonio's!) we decided to do some exploring, and so with that...


The top five things/places to do while in Tagaytay:

1.) Pottery session. No labor day weekend drama here just some good 'ol Housewife in Training alerts. Just 10km away from my hotel (km 45 emilio aguinaldo highway) a new must-see, must-go place is safely tucked away from prying eyes, Cornerstone Pottery Farm. For a nifty 250 bucks you get to have 1 kilo worth of clay, a 10 minute walk in tour of the work floor and of course a hands on pottery session. Oooh think Demi Moore in Ghost. Unfortunately no matter how hard i try to channel the inner Demi Moore in me, it just won't fly. Sans from the very forced compliment i had to extract from EJ (the owner of the place) my pieces were decsribed to be ummm "full of character". It seems Norvino was the only one with a bright Potter future.

2.) Chillaxing at Splendido. I have always passed by this place either on the way to Tong's house in Royale or to Manong's but I have never been able to see what's all the hoopla about. So with bestfriend and boyfriend in tow, decided to spend the afternoon chillaxing like it's BR forever. Cheap ice coffees reminiscent of the Nescafe Ice that was sadly discontinued a few years back. Nostalgia. (I LOVE LOVE LOVE that product - the one with the blue shaker....) Splendido is the perfect spot to just unwind. It gives you a major close up view of Taal Volcano. Never thought it's possible to look smaller up close, but it can apparently!

3.) Gambling at Casino Filipino. Ok so this is something totally not new. AND something we totally always do when in Tagaytay. But what the heck, it deserves a spot in my countdown hehe. I absolutely HATE gambling. Unless I am winning of course, which for some reason unbeknownst to me never seem to happen here in Philippine Shores. (Damnit i won in Macau and aboard Virgo Cruise liner but not a single centavo here in the Philippines). I think it's pretty much established that you shouldn't wear rubber slippers but it still is annoying when one of your friends is denied entrance because of that and yet you see a seaful of old timers wearing rubber slippers, ,hereby dubbed as "PASHION slippers" by the rude night guard. No to slot machines! RIGGED RIGGED RIGGED! :P Too bad there's no craps table in Casino Filipino, Tagaytay. Manong would have loooved that!

4.) Lunching at Taalena. I don't know if it was brought about by extreme exhaustion but whatever they served in Taalena i absolutely devoured! Again you get to have a nice view of that volcano and if you sit outside, you actually get to have the fog/clouds to run past your face when it gets extremely cold.

5.) Late night snacking at Sanctuario. It was rated by Philippine Tatler 

as one of the best restaurant's in Tagaytay. However there was conflicting reviews from the gang. I voted the pizza to be yummiest and yet nobody seemed to want to touch it. Everyone loved their pasta and yet when we ordered another set the second time around, the chef must have felt tired already as all spices seemed to have left the concoction. Still a cool place though.

Week in Review

It's like coming home to a totally different world. Saturdays are now meant for BR activities with the gang such as having our nails done at nail spa, taking massages at urban spa, dinning at sumptuous Japanese restos - a far cry from the past five day's trucking experience *It will all be over soon - 3 more days and you "graduate" from this initiation.

April 15, 2008. After 5 or 6 sari sari store visits we chanced upon this medium sized sari-sari store. And being the over eager person that i am, i told my truck mates *yes, that's what I'm calling them now* that we should open this particular account. So walked up to the store, politely asked the owner if we could come in and proceed to enter, we did. Only... i would have never imagined that the main door would be anay-infested and apparently should not be touched much less be opened. I nudge it the first time and it wouldn't budge. Not wanting to piss off the owner by making her wait, tried my hardest to pull the door open. And then suddenly... Horrors! The entire door came crashing face down in front of me. Hmmm seriously thinking of raising my insurance coverage. 

Bus Ride Home

You're all about free speech - but don't you just hate it when you are trying to take some time to clear your mind about the days goneby and suddenly somebody gets up the bus and starts preaching straight out of a book. Before you get branded as an atheiest let's just clear that one thing first, you believe in the Supreme Being - You've always held that there has to be something infintely bigger than you and everyone else - a higher power that moves this universe - otherwise - why's it worth it?!? What you're totally against at are people shoving things down your troat.

Never been big on the whole religion thing. Spirituality, yes. Religion, hmmm. So when someone takes a stand and tries his darnest to convert you, you almost alway try to look the other way. You never understand the need of people to put labels into something they believe in. Why is it so important to have a label? Will that necessarily make you a better person?

And for whoever's sake, there's an appropriate venue for such - certainly not on a moving vehicle with cars whizzing pass by you at 120 kph - yeah nevermind also that you are barely audible sans a few giberrish sounds because all the windows are up and you hear everything outside - it belittles the message you wish to impart. And please when you start preaching don't follow it up by handing out envelops for donation. It just puts a question mark spotlight right smack your true motives.

Sigh - this is what you get for not waiting for the airconed bus to commute back to the hotel.

Location: Emilio Aguinaldo Hi-Way Tagaytay