An old-aged man and an almost deteriorated FX Shuttle whose engine sound will give you an impression that it will be having a hard time reaching its destination. What would you expect?! If I only knew that this will be the one I am riding on my way home, I must have bought some chips and peanuts on my way to the terminal because I expect that this will be a long and boring trip. I opt to take the next shuttle but because I’m already starving and it takes time for the vehicle to be filled up due to rare passengers because it’s already late, I ended up taking the disfavored shuttle. A few minutes after leaving the terminal, I doze off easily due to hard days work. Then suddenly, I was awakened by abrupt breaks and acceleration. As I grabbed my consciousness back, I realized that we are moving at a fast pace. This man is one hell of a driver! We would go past other cars with just an inch of a clearance and there were times I thought we would knock off motorcycles as we overtake them. By just merely looking at the driver, I can easily say that he is around 60 years old, but if his age will be based according to his driving prowess, it seems that he is at his late 20’s. This driver reminds me of Mang Antoy, a company driver from my previous company. I recalled one experience with him and a co-league as we managed to arrive in Makati from one of our client in Sta. Rosa, Laguna in barely 30 minutes! We felt like we're in a live Daytona car racing, overtaking one car after another at an incredible speed of almost 130 - 140 kph. A real heart-stopping, blood-pumping experience!
One lesson I learned regarding this experience is to never underestimate and judge people and things by the way they look and by the way we feel about them. Sometimes, the one that we thought to be a born-loser will emerge victorious in the end and often times, the one who is heavily favored to finish first would end up settling for last place. Just like this old man and his old fx shuttle which at first I thought and predicted to be a long and boring trip, proved me wrong as it became a short and exciting one in the end. As old saying goes, looks can really be deceiving..
It was saturday morning, the sun is up and were wondering what place to conquer this time. We just drive and drive, dont care where the road will lead us until a bright idea came up from nowhere.. "Punta tayo Crater ng Taal!". That was indeed a spontaneous one. We really had no idea of going there until that very moment. And since both of us havent gone to the place yet, we decided to go and headed to south. But the funny thing is, both of us have no idea on how to get there. We thought at first that we just have to go to the people's park and from there, there will be a boat waiting to bring us to the volcano crater.
But as we approach Picnic Grove, we saw some bystanders holding some signboards with taal Crater written on it. So we decided to ask these folks for some informations. We found out that we still need to drive around 15-20 more minutes from the park and go to the resort where the boats are stationed. "Magkano ang boat ride?" I asked them and the man told me it's P1500. I told them, "Wala na bang bawas? Dalawa lang naman kami na pasahero, hindi masyado mabibigatan ang banka nyo.." But according to them, the price of the boat ride is fixed, no matter how many passengers are taking the ride. So we thought that's its better to go there in group, but since were already there, we made some few negotiations and finally settled for P1200 pesos. And after we close the deal, the guy boarded our vehicle to accompany us to their port area. I thought we were given a high price, but as we saw other competitors rate, its a bit higher compared to ours plus the fact that those others with higher price were not registered/licensed resorts to operate the business. So I told myself, "not bad.."
As we stand in the shore getting ready for the boat ride, we can clearly see the Volcano Island and it really commands a forceful presence and that what makes us more excited to reach the island in the middle of the lake. As we reached the island shore, we need to do some more haggling for the horse ride. On the way to the island, the boatmen gave us a hint that the folks in the island they would normally charge P500 for the horse ride to the crater but we have to do the negotiations ourselves. But since they thought that were from a wealthy society because of our appearances (ahem!), we couldnt do better than P600/person. Walking is an option, but you need to endure the heat as well as the dust every time the wind blows, not mentioning that the way to the top is indeed a steep one. It is a 20-minute journey to the top, and after that horse-ride, man!! sakit ng pwet ko.. hehehehe..
Finally we reached the top and the view from there was really awesome! Its a refreshing sight for both the mind and body. Good thing there are huts where you can rest your tired body so we sat there, take a rest and relax for a while enjoying the view. There are some vendors selling refreshments like softdrinks and buko juice, and badtrip!!, there is a vendor there offering us buko juice but since we havent taken our lunch yet, we refused to buy some. We continued to enjoy the scenery and by just merely looking at the crater and the view makes our thoughts fly until the vendor (who is selling buko juice to us) approached us telling us to go somewhere else since there are I think Korean people coming. "Lipat na lang kayo ng pwesto, d naman kayo bibili eh.. Ung mga Koreano bibili yan." mentioned the vendor. This really made my blood rise and I replied, "Bakit kelangan ba bumili para makaupo dito?!" I really dont want to leave the place where we were sitting just to annoy the vendor but the vendor would not stop talking and whispering to co-vendors. So just not to spoil the day and our taal get away, we left our resting haven and start exploring the place, taking some pictures and stuffs. The sights were indeed breath-taking. We saw some tiny holes in the ground releasing some sulphuric gas (I guess) which lead us to the idea that this one is still an active one. The place was clean and was properly maintained by the Tanods there.
Around 2:30 pm, we decided to go back down to the shore while the sky are still a bit cloudy and also were already starving. On the way down, the horse guides who were with us are cousins (if I remembered correctly). And on the way down, we were really in a hurry. I would tell the boy, "hey dont be on a rush", because it was really painful in the butt (hehehe) because the road is not smooth. He would slow down for a while, and afterwards start to gain speed once again, overtaking other horses that came our way. I later found out that this boy was trying to run after his crush which was couple of meters ahead of us. Because of that, I didnt gave him that much of a tip.
As we reach the port area, we took pleasure eating baked macaroni as our lunch, which is just one of HER many specialties, and one of the best I ever tasted. =) And at the end of the day, all we have are tired bodies but it's all worth it!
Here is the AVP of our Taal Journey, which is included in our first AVP, Episode 1.
I took a leave today to celebrate a very special day with my man, his birthday! Thank goodness for my back pain I need not make a lame excuse to justify my absence. I’ve been enduring my sore back for a couple of days now. Since we can’t plan much on what we’ll do in this special day I figured it would be a good time to have my massage together with him. :D I’m grateful he enjoyed it naman. At least that’s what he said.
I woke up amazingly early without difficulty to see him. On my way to their house, my eyes captured a very majestic dome. I said to myself, it must be a church. And it is! But how come I was not aware of it?? I thought I’ve researched every church there is in Manila. I guess not. Anyway, I’ll just blog about this some day..back to my story.
We started it off with a free breakfast at Gambrinus in InterCon courtesy of Priority Privilege. We sampled a variety of pastries from pan de sal to a very sumptuous chocolate croissant. But it’s the mini bottled jam that made our breakfast exciting! I know how funny it is but we enjoyed sampling each jam with a selection of pastries discovering which jam is most compatible with what pastry. Simple joys shared with love!
After the satisfying breakfast, we took a stroll to burn some calories we gained! We looked for a spa for our much needed massage. We requested for a couple’s room wherein we were simultaneously massaged by two therapists. In this way, we still felt it’s an activity we shared together. After my back had been relieved, the game is on at Time Zone! I’m a bit scared to strain my back again but who cares! I love shooting hoops and playing air hockey with my love. Stressful but fun! Hehe.. We had a late lunch at Chilli’s. I had all the waiters sing a birthday song to him! He’s sssoooo cute trying to like all the attention he’s getting (from the waiters)! Hahaha! Thanks Chilli’s for a warm service!
After our lunch we headed straight home. His parents prepared a birthday bash to celebrate his birthday as “SINGLE” for the last time. I don’t mind sharing him with his clan for I know that I will have him for the rest of my life! All in all, we both had a great day! I even felt it was a weekend!
To those who might not know, we are not just celebrating my love’s birthday! But we are also celebrating the first anniversary of the first day we first met. Last year, I can still remember the nervousness I felt the whole day before meeting him personally! If not for my work load, I may have bugged my officemates the entire day to release tension. Anyhow, I’m grateful for that special day. As much as I am grateful to God for bringing you to life..and into my life!
Happy birthday sweetheart love! I love you so much!
