Short Trip to Tagaytay

As mentioned in my previous post, last Monday (National Heroes Day), I went to Tagaytay. Dunno the last time I've been there, but for sure it's been a while. It was a really short trip, one of the shortest (if not the shortest) out of town trips that I've had. We only went to the convent of the Pink Sisters and had dinner then we went home. Though short, it was a fun experience. I went there with my dad, ninang (dad's side) and my cousins.

So on the day of the trip, I had an overnight stay in Marikina at my dad's and we would be going to Tagaytay in the afternoon. In the morning, I went biking all over Marikina with dad. Pretty enjoyable ride, though it was tiring and at one point messy because a part near the river was really muddy. Good thing I wore rubber shoes. :)

In the afternoon, we left for Tagaytay. The ride on the way was enjoyable already, but at one point, we got lost in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. When we got to Tagaytay, we went to the Pink Sister's Convent. I wasn't in the right clothes when we went so I didn't go in the chapel out of respect and we wrote our petitions. Me and one of my cousins went all over the gardens for a bit and then we left.

After visiting Pink Sister's we had dinner at this restaurant named Buon Giorno at this place that had more restaurants, overlooking Taal Volcano and the lake. When we came to the viewing deck, we were greeted by the view. Amazing I gotta say. Unfortunately the pics I took weren't clear >_<. Still, it was nice to see the place. Now, on to the food. All of us, except ninang ordered a rib eye steak (at medium rare) and we also ordered this salmon dish and a salad. Ninang paid for the dinner. While waiting, they served bread as an appetizer which was dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The salmon and the salad were good and after that, the steaks came. Wow, the steak was big and it tasted great along with the sides it came with. I'd say, it was worth it. A steak alone was 600+ pesos, by the way. :D
Just so you know, there's a restaurant next to the one we ate in and my one of my cousins (when they went to the same place in another trip before) told me that the steak there naman was 3000 pesos (yes, as in). Makes our steak's prices look cheap. :P

After that, we went home. When we came to the Metro, we noticed it was raining hard and it flooded at some parts. We went to Marikina first and from there, dad took me home to my place in QC.

Overall, while short, it was an enjoyable trip and it'd be nice to go out of town again for another vacation. ^_^

Some pics:

Pink Sister's Convent

 Buon Giorno @ Cliffhouse Tagaytay

Cliffhouse Tagaytay (found out the name of the place in the 'net)

Taal lake and volcano. Pic's blurred >.<

Dinner at Buon Giorno, Tagaytay.

Rib eye steak. It's bigger in person, plus it tastes great.

Sunset at Tagaytay

Cliffhouse at Tagaytay. Love the lights, it's like Christmas. (which is coming soon)

The Long Weekend

It's been a busy long weekend. As we know, last Thursday and yesterday were both holidays; Ninoy Aquino Day and National Heroes Day respectively. So yeah, it was a long weekend, meaning it was chance to have a break for some of us, although some of us too might've been busy with something, maybe like work or school. In this post, I'll be sharing about some of the stuff I've been doing in the last few days.

Thursday - August 21

Didn't really do much on Ninoy Aquino Day. Uneventful really. :(

Friday - Aug 22

Fridays this semester are no school days for me, since I have no classes scheduled for this day. Yet last Friday, I went to my school (UST) because I had to go to the general assembly of school organization. Other than that, nothing much, aside from homeworks and reading this long novel for one of my classes. Weird novel... :/

Saturday - Aug 23

Busier than the day before. I had to go back to UST to attend the general assembly of another org I joined (Yeah, I joined two orgs. I won't attend every activity though since I've got other things to do). In addition to that, before going to UST, I went to SM North EDSA to attend some event. Didn't finish the org GA, so I asked permission to leave after the dinner portion and I went back to SM North after going to UST. Of course, I still did my homeworks and was nearly done with them at that point.

Sunday - Aug 24

Much busier. By this time, I finished much of the bulk of my homeworks and did my readings. In the afternoon, I went to Marikina and had an overnight stay there with my dad. During my stay, me and him rode bikes all over Marikina during the night. Good experience plus we ate at this pansiteria (forgot the name, it's near the market area, but a bit off) for dinner. For something that's 90 pesos, the pansit was a great deal since it was 1) a big serving (it could feed 2-3 guys) and 2) it tasted good. :)

Just sharing some of my pics I took:

Sunset at Marikina

Taken at the pansiteria where me and dad had dinner during the ride.

Monday - Aug 25

Of all the days, this was the busiest day without a doubt. In the morning, me and dad had another bike ride all over Marikina which we finished by noon. Man, though ride. We rode by the river (which was really muddy. Bikes and my shoes were a mess. :( Good thing I wore my rubber shoes :) ), through the "bayan", took the bike lanes all over the city, headed to Marist (my old school) and from there went home, but not without having lunch first at this Pares house next to Concepcion church. Didn't bring my camera this time though unlike the night ride.

Later naman in the afternoon, I went to Tagaytay with my dad, ninang (Dad's side) and cousins. Of all the out of town trips I went to, this was one of the shortest ever, if not the shortest. We only went to the Pink Sister's Convent and had dinner at this restaurant that had a great view of Taal volcano and the province of Batangas. While it was short, it was fun. :) I'll be focusing more on this in another post so look out for that.

Pink Sister's Convent, Tagaytay

Taal lake and Taal volcano

And today, classes were suspended in UST, adding another day to the 5-day long weekend. Oh well, more time to do my homeworks and/or other stuff. :) All in all, enjoyable except for a few mishaps that happened. :)

And man, September's upon us again. :)  It's almost the start of the ber months. :)

Going to the Sayaw sa Obando 2014

The month of May is known to be a month of fiestas and I don't know what made me, some college student think about it for a while, but I decided to go see the Obando Fertility Rites in Obando, Bulacan, one of the well known fiestas in the country. Well known to even be referenced by Jose Rizal himself (guess it was already famous back in the day), the feast is a 3-day celebration held on May 17th-19th honoring the 3 patrons of Obando; San Pascual Baylon, Sta. Clara de Asis and the Nuestra Senora de Salambao on those 3 days respectively. During the feast, couples come to this town to dance to the song "Sta. Clara, Pinung Pino" in hopes of having children in the future. People and tourists come to the feast as well and dance along to the music to have their prayers answered, or at least see this in person. It's so popular that people from all over come to Obando in these 3 days of dance and merrymaking. I have never been to this fiesta... until now.

Now, I have already been to Obando before, just once though, but I have never been during the feast. Since it isn't that far from our place and not wanting to miss an opportunity to see a good fiesta up close, I thought of it for a while and I decided to go there for the 1st day of the feast. It was exciting also because it was the 1st time I'll be going there in person and by the way, I went there by myself :). I left the house at 6 am, had breakfast at a Jollibee near Munoz and arrived in Obando at around 7:30 AM. The mood was festive, vendors were all over and there were a few puddles on the way (dunno why, must've rained before). When I came to their church, a beautiful old church, it was already packed because of the people attending the mass and waiting for the procession. It was later that I found out that the procession started earlier at 7 AM, and people were waiting for it there. I had to ask where it was and went around to look for it along the procession route when I saw it. For the 1st time in the feast, I heard the tune of "Sta. Clara Pinung Pino" and saw people dancing to the song. From a distance, I saw the image of San Pascual Baylon (but not yet Sta. Clara and the Virgin Mary) and after that, I headed back to the church. I saw what I came for in Obando. The procession made it's way to the church and it was there where I saw the other two images in the procession, accompanied by bands, dancers and hundreds (if not thousands) of people. By the time the 8 AM mass ended, the images of the Saints entered the church and everyone in it started dancing to the hymn to Sta. Clara. I cannot deny, it was a powerful moment, seeing a great expression of faith and the joy was just infectious. I left Obando around 9:30-40-ish, tired but happy.

I'll share some pics of the experience.

Festive mood all over Obando

San Pascual Baylon Church, Obando

Inside Obando church

The 3 patrons

It's more fun in Obando

Performing the Hymn of Sta. Clara

Sayaw sa Obando

Dancing to "Sta. Clara Pinong Pino"

San Pascual Baylon

Sta. Clara

Nice bamboo instruments

Nuestra Senora de Salambao

Some of the dancers

San Pascual enters the church

As the images enter the church, the people erupted into dancing to the music of Sta. Clara's hymn

Dancing to Sta. Clara Pinong Pino. A beautiful moment. Pic is blurred though

High altar of the Obando church where images of the 3 patrons are enshrined

What an awesome experience to be there. At least, in a way, I was able to go out of town this summer (Well... it's in Bulacan, so... :P). Next year, hopefully, I am coming back. :D