Pico de Loro

Pico de Loro Cove is a  “Residential Resort Village”  in the “Premier Sustainable Coastal Resort Town” of Hamilo Coast located at Nasugbu Batangas. 

 It is some 70 kilometers away from Manila.  It is quite a big resort nestled inside a huge forest on top of the mountain or a dormant volcano as others would say.  But with an elevation of 688 m (2,257 ft) above mean sea level, you don't expect to reach the place that easy even if the roads are good. You need and expert driver to get into this place because you are basically ascending toward a very high place.  If you are not a member you can still enjoy the place by either staying at Pico Sands Hotel, or book a condo unit from a member.  On top of your expenses for accommodation you will be required to entrance fee so you can make use of the facilities around.

This is not a white sand beach though but it is not bad at all because the place is clean, relaxing,secluded and exclusive.

Here are are some photos to give you more ideas about the place.

White Beach, Puerto Galera

White Beach, Puerto Galera Oriental Mindoro is one of the most visited beaches in the Philippines. I was able to experience that place last summer together with my office mates and family.

Going to Puerto Galera will not be possible without riding a ferry boat not unless one is travelling by air. It took us almost an hour before our ferry boat arrived in the place. When we saw the view of the place from the Ferry Boat, we were all clapping our hands and cheering for we arrived safe and sound. It was my first time to cross the sea and although my companions could not notice, I was really very scared and was praying all along.

Now let me tell you that if you want some privacy, The White Beach is not the place for you. There is certainly no privacy in this beach (unless you isolate yourself inside your rented room) because this is a public beach.  It was summer and holy week when we went there. The beach was crowded. It was peak season so what more could I expect.   As we arrived there I immediately took a look at the sea and how disgusted I was when I saw it almost grayish. But I saw the people enjoying  the water just the same, swimming, riding banana boating, doing all sorts of water fun, and taking photos here and there. Honestly, I was quietly asking myself why people would even cross the sea for just a very ordinary looking public beach like this.

It was only when the night came that I discovered that most people were actually flocking into this place because they want to enjoy a different kind of  night life in this place.  After we took our dinner we all went out to see how it was near the beach and I was so surprised to see the whole place turning into a big, big red-lighted area. The shops along the shore turned into small bars and each was playing noisy music that customers enjoyed while sipping their beer or any drinks of their choice. There were some gays performing to attract customers to their respective bars. Customers were really enjoying, some were even dancing, laughing and chatting and making the most out of their night life in every sort of way.  My whole family moved out of the noisy place for that was not the kind of enjoyment we went there for. We instead went farther near the coast were therapeutic massage were offered for only PHP300. After the relaxing massage we bid the whole beach good night and headed to our private room to sleep.

The next morning, while all my office-mates who drunk the night out were still fast-asleep, my whole family took advantage of the early morning to enjoy the privacy of the sea. At least there were not much people that very early 5:00 am and surprisingly I found the water clearer this time. The water felt good in that early morning and we were able to enjoy the picture taking without the hassles of too many people walking around.

Then, when the sun turned brighter and hotter, we moved out of the sea and enjoyed food tripping along the mini stores around. Then we started our shopping galore. The prices of souvenir, shirts, native bangles, necklaces, slippers, hats and many more are definitely lower here. I was able to buy scarves of different colors for only PHP100 each. A scarf cost around PHP 120 to 150 in the city so I took advantage of the lower price and bought all the colors of my choice. The bracelets could be bought for as low as PHP10 each only.

As the sun got even hotter we started  dropping from one stall to another again to have a taste of  halo-halo, ice cream, juices, sago, gulaman, and any cold stuff that helped quench our thirst and cool down our throats amidst thick groups of people that come and go . Later we went around the shopping stalls again to see what more could be bought. I should say I truly enjoyed my shopping galore here.

While my office mates truly obviously their very noisy night life, my family on the other hand enjoyed our early morning swimming, food tripping and shopping galore.  At least we enjoyed Puerto Galera in our own fun but clean way.

Mushroom Burger

"Your visit to Tagaytay City will not be complete if you will not drop by the Mushroomburger." I read this statement on on the net one time and this made me quite curious about the place. I've been to Tagaytay City several times before but I did not really bother going to Mushroomburger. To satisfy my curiosity,  the next time time we toured aroundTagaytay City with my family I made sure I would not be missing the Mushroomburger place again. At 7:00 am instead of eating the complimentary breakfast being served at the hotel, my husband and I drove along Tagaytay-Batangas Highway, Kaybagal South of Tagaytay where this burger house is located. 

A view of the place from our car was not at all impressive. The place looks quite old and not even painted. I really wondered why the owner did not even bother to make improvements of its facade. Well at any rate, we entered its premise just the same. In fairness, they have very wide and secure parking lot. After securing our park, without much ado, we went straight to the counter and took orders. It was only then that I found out the burgers are not really made of plain mushrooms. Where is the vegetarian mushroom burger that I was reading from reviews? I found nothing here really. The choices are mushroom with beef, mushroom with pork, and other choices which I failed to note. But my expectation that I would be eating pure mushroom burger here was definitely not met. With no choice at all because I and my husband do not eat pork, we ordered the mushroom with beef burger at PHP69 each. Well, well, well, nothing to regret anyway. The burger tasted really good. It is definitely better than all the other burgers in the Metro city. I got filled and satisfied as well with the taste. I would say it is really worth trying.

In conclusion, I would say I agree with the opening statement of this post. So, folks when you go to Tagaytay, you should not really miss the Mushroomburger. I hope next time, the owner will improve and make the place more decent looking though.

Baguio City

Baguio City is one of my family’s favorite destinations. This city is 1,500 meters above sea level. Its cool climate apart from its beautiful places makes it very attractive to tourists during summer when the lowland is experiencing terrible heat. But my family prefers to go to Baguio City during  last week of February which is in time for the parade of flowers which is part of the  famous flower festival or Panagbenga.  Baguio City has abundant flowers to boast about so that my I really feel ecstatic every time we go to Baguio to experience the Flower Festival.

I find it not so enjoyable to go to Baguio during summertime because place is definitely filled with tourists on this day so that booking a hotel room would be quite hard. Besides, the prices of commodities turn higher due to high demands.

What do I love about Baguio City? The way to Baguio alone could awe the eyes with the spectacular sight of the mountain sides, greeneries, rivers and even waterfalls. Well, as one reaches the place there are so many tourist attractions to enjoy. I’ve been very familiar with the famous spots in this place but they never fail to delight me each time we visit them.

We always enjoy the picnic ground at the Camp John Hay. There are some tables there where we always bring food to feast on. It is a nice feeling to savor the foods while enjoying the chilly weather as well. This has always been a well manicured place with tall beautiful trees and flowers are blooming all over. We also discovered a wishing well as we further exploited the large ground of this place. The kids really enjoyed throwing coins while wishing. Well, they are kids and would believe just about anything.

Of course the Burnham Park is always one of the very first places we visit. Different flower could be seen here just as well and it is always  cool and enjoyable to sit on every nook of this big park. There is also big lake in its midst where one could enjoy boating for a fee. The place also offers bikes for hire to those who love this sport have areas for tennis and basketball areas as well. Many vendors loiter around this place. They will sell you lots of things, fresh vegetable, fresh fruits, potted plants, sweets and goodies, handicrafts and so many more.

Another fabulous attraction is a famous place where views of the Cordillera Mountains and valleys and the copper and gold mines of Benguet could be seen. This is the Mines View. A wishing well is found in this view deck where people are enticed to toss coins and wish. I wish their wishes really did come true but I doubt. I do enjoy the many stalls here selling native handicrafts and many more. There are also peddlers that will sell you knives, hats, honeybees, native delicacies and many more.  I also enjoy going to the The Mansion House which is the official summer residence of the President of the Philippines. It is so beautiful as well with its grand building and impressive landscaping.
As there are many place to visit, a one day stay won't be enough for you. You have to stay at least three days in this place to have a more enjoyable feel of the entire city.
Don’t you ever miss going to the Strawberry field where you can truly enjoy picking strawberries. There is nothing really exciting than eating fresh strawberries right after picking them.

Baguio is such an enjoyable place indeed. But if you want a more peaceful visit then don’t visit during summer for certainly you will not enjoy the busyness of the place and the large number of  tourists going here and there. For me February is the best time to go to this place. Aside from the 30 days Panagbenga, the Flower Festival celebration, the weather is wonderfully chilly as well unlike during summer when the place turns warmer.

SONYA'S GARDEN

WE had the chance to visit Sonya’s garden the other week. We made a booking for a dinner with them a week before our arrival to their place. It is necessary to book before going to the place in order to be accommodated. We paid PHP610 per person on Buffet set up (Eat all You Can). The menu includes Create your own Garden Salad ( consisting of lettuce, arugula, mango, broad, beans eggs, cucumber, jackfruit, pineapple, white corn, etc. drizzled with Sonya’s Secret Salad Dressing); whole wheat sesame bread with different dips and toppings, pasta with two kinds of sauces and toppings such as sun dried tomato and chicken cream with mango topped with ratatouille, salmon belly, shitake mushroom, black olives, capers and grated parmesan cheese. The dessert consisted of glazed sweet potato with mint leaves, banana rolls with sesame and jackfruit, and homemade chocolate cake. Bottomless fresh dalandan juice and tarragon tea was also served. An extra order of braised chicken with potatoes would cost you PHP650 while roast chicken, PHP495.

At PHP610 I thought I was quite shortchanged. In the first place an Eat all You Can dinner has always been not applicable to me because I think my stomach is too small to accommodate too much food. Besides, I never overfeed myself.  Now for my other companions who can really eat as much as they could, I think the PHP610 has been worth. They enjoyed eating as I observed.  As for me I enjoyed the fresh dalandan juice and the green salad too. Now for their dessert, I found nothing special about the glazed sweet potato and banana rolls because those are but the ordinary snacks we eat in the office almost every afternoon. Well anyway the place is teeming with plants which make Sonya’s garden look like a restaurant inside a forest. As I went around the place, I found the flowers around enjoyable but I noticed the gardens need to be manicured especially in the Bed and Breakfast section. The plants are sprouting just here and there. I thought it would be better if it was arranged and trimmed well just as like those in famous parks. The cosmos flowers are all over which reminds me of my elementary days because my school then was also filled with cosmos plants and they were blooming all year round. They have a very big greenhouse which looks well cared with all the plants looking healthy and blooming.

We had the chance to meet the gracious owner, Ms. Sonya who is a very cordial lady. Even the staffs were accommodating and hospitable too.

If you have the time go and visit Sonya’s garden and have a feel of this place and see how you will rate this.

The Thrill of Daytripping

I do enjoy visiting places! Whenever there is opportunity, I and my husband would always plan leisure trips for the whole family. My husband and I are very compatible when it comes to this passion. It is not surprising if our only son also loves to go on excursion. We've been working hard and we all believe we deserve some break. When the going gets too tiring we are one in the idea of going out of town even for just a day or two. As the old saying goes, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Of course, none of us wants to become dull so whenever we feel like going places, we are one in saying...GO!

Having a short vacation is one effective way of relieving stress. If your budget is limited, you don't need to fly out of the country. Although of course, a vacation across the miles is another great experience but if the pocket is not ready for this there is no reason to be deprived of the equally beautiful places just around the country.

Apart from the opportunity of relaxation there are many benefits to gain in touring around. It is nice to have in-depth feel of various places. It gives opportunities to see beautiful sights, taste different kinds of food and delicacies, know more about the different customs and traditions of various places, and learn innovative ideas from different people you meet.Orlando: 4 Days & 3 Nights in a 2-bedroom Condo Plus 2 Theme Park Tickets.