A Day in Tagaytay

It’s always nice to spend a little time with family

Last Sunday, February 10, my family and I went to Tagaytay for a much needed R and R. It was planned for 3 days, quite short to be honest. I was apprehensive about going because payday was a long way off and I have only 3k in my wallet. But because my feet are itching and I really want to go somewhere nice, I agreed to go.

A day before I bought 4kls of chicken, 4kls of Hotdog and 36 hamburger sets. My Auntie Lee also prepared 3kls of Pork Adobo, Half a tray of salted egg, 1 kl of tomatoes, 1 kl Ripe Mangoes, ½ kilo Dragon Seeds and a lot of tsitsirya for our trip. A lot huh? But then again, my family likes eating…

5:00AM

The food is prepared; my bags are packed; my 3 boys, my husband and I are ready and we are just waiting for the rest of my family to arrive. We agreed to meet at my house at 5:30 AM. At 5:15AM, my mom, my sister Melissa and her daughter Shelly, my sister Cristina and her son KC, and my brother Von arrived. At 5:30AM, my Auntie Lee, her husband Kuya Nog and my cousin Nego arrived. As usual, my sister Myrene and her kids Honey and CN are late. They arrived at 5:45AM. 6:00AM Sharp, we are ready to go.

From my house near Ynares Center in Antipolo, we decided to take the C6 Road going to Tagaytay. That means we will be passing by the town of Taytay but will be saving us around 1hr travel time because there is no traffic. 

This is the road that we traversed courtesy of Google Maps

Ortigas Avenue Extension           

Tikling Junction onto Manila East Rd       

Sharp Turn on Market Road

Turn Right on Highway 2000       

Continue on to Barkadahan Bridge          

Continue onto Ejercito Ave        

Turn left onto Eusebio Ave         

Turn right onto C6           

Continue onto General Santos Ave         

Slight right to stay on General Santos Ave

Turn left to merge onto SLEX

Take the Exit towards Governor’s Drive

Turn Left onto Kaong

Continue onto Silang – Gen. Mariano Alvarez Rd

Turn Left onto Emilio Aguinaldo Highway

FIRST STOP: Our Lady of Lourdes Church – Tagaytay City

Since it’s Sunday and it’s important not to miss our Weekly Mass, we decided to go to the Parish Church of Tagaytay first and attend the 8:30AM Mass. We arrived at 7:30 AM so we have a lot of time to take pictures and ate our hamburgers first. The mass started on time and also ended exactly at 9:30 AM (unlike the masses in Antipolo Church :P)

SECOND STOP: Picnic Grove Tagaytay

After the mass we continued on to the Tagaytay Picnic Grove. We got there around 10AM but it took us 30mins to find a good parking space. The Parking is free but Entrance Fee per person for 7 years old and above is P50. As expected, there are throngs of people who decided to spend this Sunday in the area. But what the heck, the place is big and can accommodate everybody. We ended up parking near the Zip line and Eco trail area away from the Horse Riding and Kite Flying trails.

So there we were, all 19 of us jam-packed in a small picnic table. Good thing my husband decided to bring a big tarpaulin advertising a Mayoralty candidate in Antipolo. (That’s the only use I have for them.. hehe) We spread the tarpaulin, opened the food we brought and dived in.

After Eating, we rested for a bit while the kids went to the playground and imitated the monkeys :)

At 1PM, we decided to head out to the Eco-Trail which led us to the Zipline area. My cousin Nego and my 4 nephews all wanted to try it. So with a little hesitation on the parents, they lined up. These are the updated rates and fees.

Zipline and Cable Car per person (Weekdays) – 200 (one way)/300 (Two-way)

Zipline and Cable Car per person (Weekends and Holidays) – 300 (one way)/400 (Two-way)

We then continued on to the Eco-Trail and got lots of pictures. It was hot since we were wandering at around 2:00PM. We finally completed the eco-trail and ended up in the Kite-Flying Area where my son and nephews bought their kites for P100 each.

Since I have 3 boys, I ended up in the shade while watching my husband and my 12 and 3 yr old kids in their attempts at flying a kite. Within 15mins, their kite is already 30-40 feet in the sky. They managed to keep it there for 30 minutes or so until a really big wind came in causing the thread to snap and the kite got caught in the branches of a tree 30 feet away. They then bought a second kite, one with a little wind hole in the middle to lessen the air pressure and played with it again for another half-hour.

Around 3PM we went back to our picnic table, ate again and rested for a bit. The sun is hot but the breeze is cool even if it’s the middle of the afternoon. We started packing our things by 3:30PM while my Auntie Lee lined up in the payment center to pay for the picnic table and entrance fees. In return, she got an exit pass that we were supposed to give the guard at the gate. I’m wondering now, what happens if we don’t have a gate pass, are they going to detain us inside? Hehehehe, just kidding.

THIRD STOP: People’s Palace in the Sky

Anyways, we got outside and travelled about 15mins to the People’s Palace in The Sky which is also the DOST Doppel Satellite Station. The place featured a big pineapple that would put Spongebob’s house in shame. The view is breathtaking, expect your hair to be whipped up by the wind and feel the presence of the Almighty as you breathe and smell a lungful of fresh air. Honestly, words cannot describe how overwhelming it is.

The place also featured a human-mannequin which moves whenever people throw in some money in their box. The kids had a lot of fun playing with it- and the mannequin had a lot of coins to show for his effort.

LAST STOP: Mahogany Public Market

Our last stop-over was the Mahogany Public Market where we bought beef for P160 per kilo, Ripe (and  sweet) Pineapples for 6 pieces per P100, Mangosteen for P90 per kilo and a few other items. Fruits and vegetables are really cheap and very fresh. If you have a green thumb, there are also a lot of fruit and flower bearing plants in little pots that you can bring home for a very small price.

Surprisingly, I still have P1K of the 3k pocket money I have when I got home. Plus I have 3kls of beef, 1 kl mangosteen and 6 pieces of pineapples. Not bad…

At the end of the day, it’s not about the amount of money you spend nor the extravagance of the place you will be going that matters. The important thing is that you spent some quality time with the people you love. It is true that Life is so short. Too short in fact to waste it curled up in front of the TV or the computer and too priceless to spend curled up in bed. :)