Tagaytay's Go To Places

Today is steady Saturday.

Every Saturday, I would post (as much as possible) something about my travel experience. For this year, I am really blessed that I was given the opportunity to travel for work and leisure. I could attest that our country is full of surprising places that you never thought exist in the Philippines. There are so many things to do that you would find exciting and exhilarating.

Since long weekends are still a few weeks away, your weekends could still be spent outside the chaotic Manila. Tagaytay is my go to place when I want to escape the city even for just a day. 

Budget-wise, you don't need to spend a lot of money.  You could visit People's Park with a minimal entrance fee and see mountains and kilometers of greens. You could eat famous bulalo at Antonio's or even at a cheaper alternative at Leslie's.

For this entry, I would like to focus on the place that I always visit -Convent of the Pink Sisters and a new one which I discovered last August - the Taal Volcano.

Pink Sisters is frequently visited by families and exam takers (like me). A paper and envelope is provided to you on the side of the chapel where you could write your prayers, put it inside the envelope, and seal it.The sisters will pray for you. They even send you a letter when you indicate your home address in the paper. Some visitors often leave a small amount of money in the envelope as a church donation but it is not mandatory.

Technically, the Taal Volcano is one boat-ride away from Talisay, Batangas and within the boundary of San Nicolas and Talisay, Batangas. However, we were approached by agents outside Antonio's restaurant in Tagaytay. We went down a mountain through a tricycle and we never thought we are actually going to the Batangas boundary.

The descent via tricycle was a long and scary  one. The roads are a little steep, winding and one wrong turn might lead you to a ravine. Also, pray that your ride will not encounter any problems because it is very difficult to find a vehicle that will bring you to your destination. The tricycle ride took us 30 minutes.

The tricycle will bring you to the boat that will bring you to Taal Volcano. By the way, damage to the pocket of riding that tricycle and the boat is Php 1,800.00. There are 2 of us so that makes an expense of Php 900.00 per head. 

The boat ride was exciting. We were asked to wear our life vest since the water was not that tranquil. When we arrived at the foot of the volcano, we find out that there is still a long way to trudge before we could reach the crater. We have a choice of walking a few kilometers or ride a horse for Php 500.00 per head plus additional Php500.00 (for the two of us) for the tour guide.

We thought that the fees for the horse ride and mandatory tour guide were expensive but when we saw how far the guides had to walk while watching us and how dangerous it could be, we thought that it was worth it. The one way 30-minute horse ride was tiring and somehow risky because one wrong turn and we could fall in the ravine! The ride back to the foot of the mountain was less scary maybe because we already became used to it.

The crater was picturesque but we stayed for only 20 minutes. At that period, you could already take a lot of pictures and souvenirs. The real deal is actually the horse ride and i bravely took pictures while on top of the horse despite the chagrin of my guide.haha. There are also merchants on top selling various souvenirs, sodas and even allowing you to strike a golf ball!

The trip to Taal volcano was indeed a one of a kind experience which you should try.

You could visit the Convent of Pink Sisters and Taal Volcano all in one day. Just be early of course. This could lessen your expense since you don't need to stay in a hotel anymore. You could go back to the city within 2 to 3 hours. Ayos, di ba? :)