Author: shellan

Where to eat in Tagaytay

Posted on by shellan

It’s been months already since I stepped outside my home town. That is also the reason why I stop updating my blog here. No content, no blog. Also, I’ve been busy with other essential stuff in order to cope up with the new normal brought by the pandemic. And now, slowly, the government is starting to open up again the tourism industry.

We have learned so much this year. 2020 has bluntly made it clear what are really essentials, and there’s no need for me to mention it because you too, am pretty much sure, knew it already.

And since, we are finally coping up, business establishments, such as food industry, following the guidelines of the AITF, started to operate. And since we are able and permitted to travel within the province, I got the chance to eat at an eco-friendly restaurant somewhere in Tagaytay — Balinsasayaw.

Balinsasayaw is a name of a bird found in Tagaytay, well, at least that’s what I know. Not sure, what’s the english word for that.

Balinsasayaw restaurant in Tagaytay offers fine dining inside a kubo (nipa hut), that let’s you in hale fresh and open air while enjoying your food. You can check out the vicinity in this link: https://youtu.be/itLLaiUIjNs

What I like mostly about the place is that you can see Filipino culture all over the place, even the banyo (toilet). Making it look ethnic, and therefore, instagrammable

Yep, their food presentation is excellent, also the taste. So if you’re looking for a food trip in Tagaytay, Balinsasayaw is one of the perfect places to go to

Here’s some of the photos:

Excellent food quality

I didn’t get the chance to take lots of photos of the place and find more instagrammable spots, but the place, I assure you, is a winner( (panalo!). Maybe you can share your own find of instagrammable spots once you get there and comment it down here in this blog for additional insights.

Thanks for reading. Hope you’ll have a safe trip. Stay healthy and cautious. Shalom.

Meanwhile, here’s additional photos not from Balinsasayaw but taken somewhere in Tagaytay:

Overnight at Mt. Sembrano (A Guideline)

Posted on by shellan

This was my first hike this year, and since we were planning to climb Mt. Pulag, we decided to climb this mountain first to prepare ourselves for it. Thus, an overnight.

First of all, you must consider the weather before climbing this mountain, wheather it’s a day hike or an overnight. It will become much difficult to climb the summit during rainy season but if you are looking for a challenging hike, then go for it. Just be very careful.

Mt. Sembrano is 700+ MASL, and is 4 to 5 hours to summit, if you’re planning a dayhike. What’s good about this mountain is that there were less backpackers hiking here. The mountain isn’t crowded.

We were close with the nature for more than 24 hours. Yes, it was very relaxing and refreshing. I don’t know about my team but I wasn’t bored at all.

Here are the trail you will face in case you plan a trek here:

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The trail after passing Manggahan Camp Site becomes very steep. But the summit is as always, very rewarding. Here the photos at the summit:

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To further visualize Mt. Sembrano, you may watch our hike on this link: Overnight at Mt. Sembrano with Manggahan Falls

Meanwhile, here are additional guidelines for your hike:

MGA DAPAT DALHIN

Lente.

Emergency light.

Pagkain.

Extra damit.

Pang laban sa lamig.

Hygine kit.
First aid kit

Medicine para sa may sakit
Extra pera
Pang sipol (incase of emergency, naligaw, nawala ganon)
Power bank

Tent (Walang rentahan ng tent but our tour guide helped us find someone who has tent for rent)

Energy bar .

Dalhin ang magagamit dun wag magdala ng sobra na d nmn kailngan para magaan ang dalahin

Garbage bag wag mag kalat.

“Leave nothing but footprints take nothing but pictures”

 

Itinerary:

1:30 Call time, Tejero Gas Station

2:00 Departure

6:00 ETA Pililia, Breakfast,

6:30 Registration

7:00 Start of Hike (including Manggahan bathes)

1:00 Summit, Lunch

-Free Time-

6:00 Cook Dinner

7:00 Dinner

9:00 Sleeping Time

5:00 Cook Breakfast, Sunrise viewing, Cofee Time

6:00 Breakfast

7:00 Pack Up, Clean as we go

7:30 Descend

10:00 Jump Off Point

10:30 Departure to Cavite

(Lunch along the way)

2:30 Tejero Gas Station

Budget for overnight hike: P1050/Pax (Registration P50, Tour guide P1000/5pax, Van Transfer) Under Kulay Nature Travel N’ Tours. I highly recommend this Travel Agency for your future tour. They were very accommodating.

Here are additional wonderful photos captured by our team, highlighting the wonderful creation of God:

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P.S. When you take a hike here, don’t forget to share some water with Everest, the tour guide doggo. She’s the doggy on one of the  pictures.

The Historical Casa Hacienda

Posted on by shellan

Cavite is one of the most historical places in the Philippines. And there are must-go-to places if you would like to tour its historical places. Top on the list is Aguinaldo Shrine. I have already made two blogs about it, another is this: Hidden Instagrammable Spot at Aguinaldo Shrine. But have you heard the Historical Casa Haciend?

Again, I am not here to google-feed you the information about this place but I can give you a brief overview about it. Primarily, this place, Casa Hacienda, was the first venue of Philippine Election. It wasn’t a domocratic election. Officers from KKK and some other organizations joined together to form an official government, hence that election was held. As you can see in the picture above, commotion had happened.

If you would like to know more details about that history, you can personally visit Casa Hacienda and take a tour. Pamphlets are available containing the full history of it. Yep, I am not going to share it online because I’d like people to experience it first-hand.

Also, there’s this tunnel in Casa Hacienda connecting to Aguinaldo Shrine. Here’s the photo:

Here are other instagrammable photos we’ve taken at the place:

If you want a virtual (vlog) tour of this place, here is the link: Casa Hacienda Virtual Tour

The best time to go here are during Monday mornings. Security Guards are dressed up like Guardia Sibil:

P.S. There is no Registration Fee but you need to ask permission and get a pass from the local government to do your activity.

Hidden Instagrammable Spot at Aguinaldo Shrine

Posted on by shellan

If you are planning to tour in the Province of Cavite, then Aguinaldo Shrine should be on your top list.

Whatis Aguinaldo Shrine? Historically, it is the first Malacañang of the Philippines. It is where our first official President, Emilio Aguinaldo, resided together with his family. I am not here to google-feed you, so the rest information is up to you to search or research.

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During “Ber Months” it becomes more attractive and becomes 200% tourist attraction due to its dancing lights. But what do we expect here during the first 3 quarters of the year? Aside from the annual celebration of the birth of Aguinaldo, this place could also be perfect for tourist/vloggers/bloggers who are looking for instagrammable place.

This  place is already well known to many Caviteños, but I don’t think that they already know this hidden spot somewhere the parameter. So here I am, sharing these tips.

First of all, photoshoot is prohibited inside the palace (maybe unles you ask permit from the municipality office), so you can only do it outside. But you can take photos inside like this one, Reminiscing Independence Day at Aguinaldo Shrine

Alright, let’s cut the blah, blah, blah… Here are the photos and portraits we have taken at the hidden spot I’m talking about:

Now, maybe you’re thinking where’s this hidden spot. It’s not as hidden as you thought it could be. Just go around the corners and you’ll discover it too.

Meanwhile, here’s the footage of our trip here: Roadtrip at Cavite, Aguinaldo Shrine

Have a safe tour. Hope you had learned something. Shalom!

New Things You Need to Know Before Hiking Tungtong Falls and Nagpatong Rock Formation

Posted on by shellan

I’ve been in this place last year (Nagpatong Rock Formation and Tungtong Falls) and was reconsidering to return here. And so last week, we scheduled a trip here; them for the first time, me for the second.

Since we were only a group of 5, we decided to commute all the way here because it will cost us much if we’ll rent a van. I will breakdown our expenses at the end of this blog for your reference.

So, what’s new?

During our hike at Nagpatong Rock Formation, I noticed some new signage aside from that it’s pretty well the same.

We reached the summit of Nagpatong in less than 3 hours. Unlike last year, we spent almost 5 hours climbing up and down because of the muddy trail.

At the top, we were amazed by the creation of God. Sierra Madre Mountain range is as beautiful as always. I didn’t took its photo this time (the mountain range) because I don’t want to exploit its beauty. I don’t know, but I felt like not everybody deserves to see the beauty at the top. Besides, to be able to appreciate its beauty even more, one must be in the process or experience the climb if they can. They will worship God even more through that beauty.

Here are some of the photos during our climb:

After having lunch near the registration area, where we walked our way for around 20 mins. We rode a tricycle and a habal-habal to the jump off of Tungtong Falls.

Now, here’s what you need to take note before trekking Tungtong Falls: the other entry/exit point of the trail here (that is privately owned) is not allowed for tourists anymore. So you will be rapelling down and up on your way in and out there. Yup, twice the exhaustion and difficulty. We weren’t aware of that until Mang Pablo, our tour guide, clarify to us, while we were rapelling, that we’ll be doing this again (back trail). I never knew we could do it twice, I was actually pleading to Mang Pablo to take us to the other trail on our way back instead because we can’t do it anymore, but he kept saying that it is prohibited now. So yeah, we were left with no choice, armed with prayers, we marched our way back to rapel up after taking some rest at Tungtong Falls. Thank goodness I was with my fiance, he insisted on helping me carry my stuff.

We didn’t get amazing photos at the falls but that doesn’t mean it was less awesome and amazing. It was even more memorable than before. Still, here’s some of the few:

Check out the footage of our adventure here for further detail: Nagpatong Rock Formation and Tungtong Falls 2019

As promised, the budget breakdown for DIY commute from Cubao and vice versa:
80 – Van fare to Tanay
150 – (750/5) Tricycle from Tanay to Brgy. Cayumbay and to the jump off
100 – Registration fee
160 – (800/5) Tour Guide Fee including tip
20 – Habal-habal to Tungtong Falls Jump off
100 – Tricycle from Cayumbay to Jeep Terminal
24 – Jeep to Tanay
52 – Jeep from Tanay to Crossing

Itinerary:
6:15 – Crossing
8:00 – Registration Area
8:15 – Start of Trek to Nagpatong
11:20 – Summit
1:00 – Jump off
1:30 – lunch
2:00 – Trail to Tungtong Falls
3:30 – Tungtong Falls
6:00 – Brgy. Hall
7:00 – Uwian
9:00 – Dinner at Starmall

There you go! Have a safe trip and enjoy! By the way, Mang Pablo is a recommendable tour guide. And say hi to this buddy:

Road Trip to Kaybiang Tunnel

Posted on by shellan

If you are a motorbike rider, then most probably you get to set an scheduled road trips to awesome scenery in the country once in a while. And here in the Philippines, Kaybiang Tunnel is one of those attractions a rider (even tourists) must see.

Kaybiang Tunnel made an easy way access from Maragondon to Nasugbu and vice versa. It connects two wonderful provinces: Cavite and Batangas. Travel time from Manila will take 3 hours or more via Motorbike. If you want to know more about Kaybiang Tunnel, Google is just a click away.

Witness our road trip here: Kaybiang Road Trip

And here are some of the photos we had on our trip:

Plus the bonus scenery few meters away after passing through the tunnel from Maragondon:

Enjoy and God bless on your trip! Wear proper safety attire, riders! And be armed with prayer.

You can also check some of the previous photos we had at Kaybiang Tunnel few years ago: Pico de Loro (Mt. Palay-Palay) and Expectation VS. Reality: Carabao Island (Maragondon, Cavite) When Summer’s Over

Cavite Beach During Pre-Christmas Holiday

Posted on by shellan

If there’s someone among my followers here in this blog who misses my hiking adventure, don’t worry, I miss it too. And I was hoping to climb another soon, together with my fiance, just like these road trips with him.

But anyway, being connected with nature is not limited with climbing mountains. Where we went on this trip can relieve stress too. Peace and serenity were found too (only during this season, I guess). Wonderful nature can be seen too. Instagrammable spots are just bonuses. Besides, we travel to enjoy and savor the moment; to refresh us from within and not to get many likes nor countless post shares. Otherwise, you’ll end up draining yourself even more.

Obviously, if you’re in Cavite and you wanted to reconnect with nature, beaches are the ones you can easily go to since it is a coastal place. Hence, we went to one.

There were only few people in this resort, and we even went there weekend. So if you’re the kind of person who hates crowded places but loves being on a beach and has no money to rent one just for yourself and your family then go there during this season.

Here’s my vlog to see exactly what I’m describing: Beach Vlog and Roadtrip

Meanwhile, here are the instagrmmable photos we got on this place:

And if these photos urge you to visit a beach now, please do yourself a favor by going. But remember that instagrammable shots are just bonuses, it must never be your reason why you travel.

Thank you and shalom!

A Road Trip At Angono, Rizal

Posted on by shellan

I’ve been far from keyboard for quite some time now due to some personal reason? Will I tell it here? Okay, I’m not updating this online travel journal because obviously I haven’t been on any trip (or a trip worth sharing) since our last trip at Tanay Rizal and it is because my mom is on a medical condition that we need to attend to every now and then. (Yes, prayers are still appreciated though she is doing great already.) I can schedule a trip, but I choose not to because scheduling itself is harder than planning the trip.

Okay, enough of the background story and let’s get it on the topic. Just this week, my boyfriend and I went on a motorbike trip to Angono, Rizal and have tried to discover places to visit in there. Why Angono? The very reason why the question pop up your mind is the very answer to that: it is one of the least “to go to” places in the Province of Rizal when it comes to travelling like this. And as a result of our exploration, here I am sharing quite instagrammable pictures of the places we went about the place:

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If you want to know the whereabouts of these photos just go around the place of Angono because we, ourselves, don’t know it either. Just use helmet and most especially, prayers, on your road trip.

You can watch our vlog here for more cinematic escapade ? : Places to go on a motorbike roadtrp

And here’s a bonus photos from our trip:

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These are my favorites:

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Treasure Mountain, Calinawan Cave (Tanay Tour Highlights)

Posted on by shellan

If you are eager to see wonderful scenery and be amazed with God’s creation on top of the mountain but not in the mood for an exhausting climb, then Treasure Mountain is one of the few that awaits you.

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After conquering Mt. Ulap, most of us in our group are now looking forward to climb Mt. Pulag next, but few of us request for a least difficult climb for the next trip. And since I am one of them, the next trip was of course an easy one, and which led us to plan a trip to Tanay, Rizal, specifically Treasure Mountain.

If you are following my blog, you already know that we are a DIY climbers, but since having a trip to Treasure Mountains comes with other Tanay Travel Destinations, such as: Calinawan Cave, Pililia Windmill, Regina Rica, Kawa Hot Bath, Daranak Falls, etc., we booked a trip at Tiff’s Travel and Tour Agency

As early as now, I am telling you that the highlights of this tour are Treasure Mountain and Calinawan Cave. Highlight means the best among the destinations (this was based on my taste, of course). Daranak Falls can also be considered a ‘highlight’ but because we missed the chance to enjoy the place for a longer period of time due to the travel agency’s itinerary, it did not fall under that category. But we will schedule a trip back there for that falls, and I’ll be making a separate blog about it. But just so to tease you, here are some of the photos at Daranak Falls:

 

We started the tour at around 8AM at Treasure Mountain, and is only a 5-10 minuter trek, which kind of reminds me of Mt. Gulugod Baboy. To further help you organize a DIY tour here, below are the photos of our tour in chronological order (from Manila):

Regina Rica
We did not explore much of this place, that’s why these were only the photos we captured. This place is most likely a retreat camp venue; a sacred sanctuary. It has a large statue of Mother Mary at the center that again, we did not take photos of.

 

 

Pililia Wind Mill

There are souvenir shops surtounding this site. Snacks can also be bought here.

 

 

Lunch at The Gathering Cafe
Expect 10-20 minutes before they serve your meal after you’ve made your orders. You can check their menu below. Sisig and Sitaw/Kalabasa taste great.

 

 

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Calinawan Cave
This cave is 10-15 minute trek, which has a different exit point. We passed through only the first and 2nd floor of this, again, due to the travel agency’s itinerary, but 3rd to 5th floor are available and optional, just add additional payment for the tour guide. I will not write about the details which our tour guide mentioned and explained during the trek to make your trip here more informative and exciting when you visit it.

 

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Daranak Falls
Aside from the pictures I’ve shown above, here are the others.

 

 

Kawa Hot Bath and Hobbit House
These were located in one place — El Patio. This is near Treasure Mountain and you can actually make it your second destination but since this is also along the way going home, we saved it for the last, also there were no available Kawa when we checked on it after our Treasure Mountain trek.

 

 

There you go. I hope this blog gave you an idea for your future trip in Tanay. I don’t know the exact budget breakdown for each place since we were booked on a Travel Agency but do prepare not more than P1,000 for a DIY tour.

Here are some of the fees:
Treasure Mountain: P150
Daranak Falls: P50 Entrance / Cottage not included

Check out our short video with this trip: https://youtu.be/AObgZNdLwEY

Also, this is so good. You should never fail to try this at Pililia Wind Mill.

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P.S. Don’t forget to start your trip with prayers. 🙂

Majestic Summer and Winter at Mt. Ulap (Overnight Camp)

Posted on by shellan

I once believed that there were only 2 seasons here in the Philippines: Summer and Rainy seasons. But spending a night at Mt. Ulap made me realize that Winter is possible in our country too. ?

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Mt. Ulap is located in the Northern highland part of Luzon: Itogon, Benguet, a province where you can also visit the Summer Capital of the Philippines, Baguio City. It was coined as that because of the large number of tourists during summer because everybody was after its cold weather. And yes, we had a short side trip at that place (which is my very first time): Baguio Market and Burnham Park.

 

Ulap is a Filipino word for Cloud and Mt. Ulap is also famous for its scenery with ‘sea of clouds’, that’s why we were expecting to witness such. And if you are following my blog, you already know that I am very excited to experience that majestic scene. But again, we fail. But that didn’t mean we were less than happy compared to our previous climb.

Benguet is an 8 hour-drive away from our place (more or less, depending on the traffic), so we started the road trip night before the climb.

We reached the registration area / jump-off around 8AM and started the trail at 9AM after a short activity and warm up, hosted by our travel agency.

I decided to contact a travel agency this time because I was not in the mood to know the requirements, places to eat, and all other necessities a traveler should know to an unfamiliar place. And also, I was considering the expenses between DIY tour and having a travel agency; it turned out that the additional payment for travel agency wasn’t that big.

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We were a total of 17 backpackers: 12 from our group, 1 coordinator, and 2 pairs of joiners.

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The first lap is, of course, a warm-up but already trying to push us to our warm-up’s limit. ?

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I am not going to discuss anymore our step by step journey to the summit. So, here are the scenery as we climb up higher:

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Some part of Mt. Ulap reminded me of Mt. Batulao because of how worn out they are.

Before we go to the views at the summit, you should know that there are 2 peaks before reaching the final summit:

 

We reached Campsite 2, which is very near the summit, at around 3PM. Imagine how exhausted we were with that almost 7 hours trek. ?

We started to build our tent to have some rest before climbing the summit and witness the sunset there.

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Due to exhaustion and very cold weather, 2 of us did not join them, ?. Yes, I was one of the 2. ? But I was able to witness the majestic sunset at the campsite.

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Meanwhile, here are their shots at the summit during sunset:

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If you think I gave up climbing the very summit, you’re wrong. ? After some breakfast, we went to the top and this time witness the sunrise. It was more majestic for me.

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I almost forgot to share the view of our night sky (captured by our friend) at the campsite, which has a degree of 7 Celsius that night, here it is (click the picture to clearly see the night sky):

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We started the trek (traverse) down Mt. Ulap at around 8AM. And it took us 3 hours to reach the bottom. Traversing Mt. Ulap was easy but the scenery were still breathtaking. Here the photos on our way down the mountain:

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There you go. I hope these insights motivated you to visit a mountain too, if not this mountain. Ever since I started climbing, I realized that reconnecting with the nature is important part of life. We need to see these awesome creation of God once in a while. There are reasons why He created the nature that way and us too. They are vital part of life and therefore need to be taken care of and be preserved.

Thank you Lord, for this awesome experience. 🙂

P.S. The photos above were taken by these fun loving people:

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P.P.S. If you are planning a trip here and is looking for a travel agency, I am highly recommending Tiff’s Travel and Tours. Aside from being very accommodating, they are fun-loving with a touch of TLC.

Also, if you’d like to see the footage of our adventure, you may click this link: Majestic Overnight at Mt. Ulap