PIAO OUTING @ TAGAYTAY

PIAO OUTING @ TAGAYTAY For the second straight year, our small unit at PIAO will be holding our annual team-building at Tagaytay. Nope, it’s not exactly our favorite place in the world… In fact, I get to visit this place about twice or thrice each year but heck I still never get tired of it! But compared to last year, where only Keith and I were able to come (because the hubby had an important ballgame) this year I was able to take Kaye with me since Jun went with us na din. First stop, as usual, was Bag of Beans for breakfast and their brewed coffee. Afterwards, we wanted to shed off the heavy meal we just ate so we went to visit a zoo but a different one this time and not Paradizoo since its entrance fee is quite steep and so we opted for its sister zoo – the Residence Inn.

They even had the chance to have their pictures taken with live animals…of course for a minimal fee but that’s OK… they may never have the chance again e so might as well get it over and done with! I’m sure they take the necessary precautions naman e so doing it would not be so dangerous… still, I can’t help but remain apprehensive when it was Keith’s turn to have a pic with a baby tiger…even if it was just baby, it is still a tiger with its fangs, claws and all!

Next stop was People’s Park to walk off some more our heavy meal/breakfast. An added plus was the zipline that allowed the kids to take part in another daredevil stunt! I decided not to take part in it na lang…not really because I am afraid of heights (although partly, I guess) but because of money concerns. A roundtrip costs PhP300 and one way is PhP150 and so I had the hubby join Keith na lang while Kaye and I opted to ride the cable car with Jude and his equally fearful daughter, Gianna.

The highlight of the day was lunch at another bulalo restaurant - Taalena (I think!). And as usual, we ordered bulalo and tawilis (Tagaytay’s specialty food) This time, their bulalo was still great but not very spectacular. We also ordered crispy pata – another food good for the heart (hehehe!) and we even tried the restaurant’s other specialty – adobong dilaw! It was OK naman but I missed the saltiness of the true adobo with toyo. Here are pics of the food we ate.

Suffice it to say, we were all stuffed after our meal and so we spent some time resting at the resto grounds and taking pictures. It had a pretty garden and some nipa huts to house those who may wish to drink and dine outside. Before heading back to Manila, we stopped by Mahogany market to buy some beef, pineapples, and other pasalubong stuff… we all went home happy for the fun time, good food and special friends we spent our day with.

Food tripping in Tagaytay

On the last week of May, our unit this time (coz the last one at Ocean Park was my husband’s unit outing) had our team-building or maybe I should say 'food tripping' in Tagaytay. It was originally planned to be held in Boracay, in consonance with the office working trip to Bacolod but there were problems with the scheduled return flight from Boracay to Manila… well, I wasn’t really too keen on going after I learned that we had to take a one-hour ferry to Iloilo, a three hour road trip (by van or bus) to Aklan and another 30-minute boat ride to Kalibo; and besides, I didn’t want to go if my husband wasn’t coming with me so I opted not to join the outing. But when plans for the return flight became awry, they decided to just scrap it altogether.

And so a week after we got back from Bacolod, we decided to just have our outing at Tagaytay. Still, the hubby wasn’t able to go with me because they had an important basketball game to win that day so I took my son, Keith. Besides, I knew it would all be just one big food trip and who better to take with me than someone who has an appetite big enough for the two of us… and so off we went that rainy Wednesday morning for a trip to that cool city which proudly boasts the smallest active volcano in the world.

First stop was coffee and breakfast at Bag of Beans. We left the office at around 8 and I offered that we take the shortcut via the Southwoods route since it is what we usually take when our family goes to Tagaytay. But our driver apparently did not know the way so we ended up not taking the shortcut but the regular route even passing by the towns of Dasma and Silang; oh, well I guess it’s my fault for not remembering the exact directions…

We reached Tagaytay at around 11, a bit late for breakfast but still way too early for lunch so we decided to just eat light. We only ordered bottomless kapeng barako and a few kids’ meals like pancakes and kiddie cheeseburger. While the others, including me, just ordered pie (shepherd’s pie, beef and mushroom pie and apple pie) Little did we know that their servings would turn out to be quite humongous or that the pie (even if a bit on the small side) – was totally filling and delish! (just check out the pics!) Even the place was so cool – the resto was set in a garden and there were wooden tables and metal ones with an umbrella canopy. There were also huts/cottages for diners who may opt for a little privacy. There was also a completely covered and screened dining area that can be closed off for gatherings/seminars when the need arises. We left the resto after a few pic taking, totally satiated and raring to walk off all the gorgeous food we just consumed.

I recommended the trip to Paradizoo – after having visited the place just last March, it was truly a sight to behold, one I wouldn’t mind going to again. Besides, the one-hour tour would surely be enough for us to shake off all the fat and carbs from our previous meal and make enough room for the next scrumptious lunch we had planned. And so off we went to the sleepy town of Mendez. We only paid a hundred each for the Paradizoo tour since we decided to forego a visit to their other zoo, at the Residence Inn.

We had a different tour guide this time – a girl and she seemed a bit tame or not so energetic like our last tour guide (whose name I completely forgot!) Or maybe she just got so overwhelmed by the kind of questions the guys in our group asked --- you know the totally inane ones that guys just ask for the sake of asking… I guess she may be a bit pissed but just didn’t show it.

Well, anyway the tour started with the dromedary camels with single humps and we took pics feeding the camels. There were also some deer, sheep, ostriches and the five-legged bull (Bulltes five, I think it’s name was) in nearby cages. There was also a funny-looking zebra – a brown one with white stripes… turns out to be a horse they painted with white! Next stop was the goat/sheep cage where the last time the kids were able to bottle-feed baby kids and try for themselves how to milk a goat but the guide told us that this time this wasn’t allowed – only during weekends… tough luck huh? They should have given us a discount if some parts of the zoo were not totally functional…well, at least we got to see some goats though not all because some of them, even the big one named Sid was out at pasture.

Next were the llamas and alpacas which the guide warned us not to get too near to because they tend to spit on people whenever they’re angry. So we kept our distance and moved on to the gardens. There were lotsa pretty flowers and organic vegetables, enough to make a salad but as always we didn’t get to buy any (budgetary constraints!) We also saw some pretty orchids before going down to the fishing pond… I remember also visiting a mushroom growing facility near the gardens (the last time I was here) so I knew our guide didn’t really take us to all the areas we needed to see but I didn’t push her na…maybe she has her reasons for not taking us there, I also didn’t want the others to know we were shortchanged…

After the ponds, we passed by a campsite (which they rent out to those who want to stay overnight) on our way to the butterfly farm. There were only a few butterflies, the guide said because it was already rainy season. We also got to visit the honey factory with many bees. This time around they were offering us honey but at 120per bottle so we declined. Anyway, I still have some honey left from our trip to Abra just last month. Next stop was the pet cemetery then the piggery. Once again, we took another shortcut because the guide said we can’t go see the racing dogs because some of them got exposed to viruses and may in turn cause other people it comes in contact with to acquire the said virus. I’m not sure if she was just pulling our leg or truly wanted to cut our field trip short so off we went to the canteen to rest and have some drinks. The kids bought some trinkets at the souvenir shop but I didn’t buy any because the prices were a bit steep and I was still mad at the guide for taking shortcuts and not giving us the entire tour.

We left after a while to eat lunch at Leslie’s Diner. The place was nice and it had a breathtaking view of Taal volcano. The interiors of the resto were quite inviting and made of native materials and they also had small huts for small groups who want to eat and drink in private. We feasted on bulalo, sisig, ensaladang talong, and fried tawilis. The fish was fried so crisply that we were able to eat almost everything even heads and bones. The sisig wasn’t so spectacular but it was spicy and had a nice zing to it that would remove the ‘sawa’ or ‘umay’ that one would get from eating too much bulalo. But the bulalo wasn’t also all that magnificent. It tasted pretty much like the regular bulalo we have tasted the last few times we were in Tagaytay so it’s not something I would rave about. If you would notice the soup leftover was a bit brown as if too much patis was already added to the dish which made it a tad salty. Still and all, we had a satisfying lunch.

Next on our itinerary was a visit to Mahogany market to buy beef and pineapples. After that we visited Mushroomburger… no! not to eat again but to take out some burgers for pasalubong… and also eat as snacks on our way back home. It was 5 pm already and I wanted to go home na but the group said it was still too early. So off we went to visit the People’s Park in the Sky… yeah it’s someplace I’ve already been to also but what the heck! I took the hike with them, bought some souvenirs for my boy and posed for pics. It was almost 6 when we finally made the return trip back to Manila and though we didn’t encounter much traffic, we were still able to get home at past 9…I’m glad I brought my son with me. Not only was he a big help when it came to carrying our pasalubongs, it also gave us a chance to bond - just the two of us – no whining little sister or a bully of a big brother grabbing my attention away from this moment with him. I just hope he enjoyed it as much as I did…