PAUNAWA: as to why so late a post..
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April 7 2006
Andy’s Room at nearby Picnic Groove
Tagaytay City

spent the early morning at carmona. jen’s aunt prepared breakfast for us. jen and her ‘nay prepared for their trip to batangas, while i prepared an overnight pack for my solo trip to tagaytay. around 9, jen’s brother in-law picked us up. jen and her ‘nay were to attend her niece’s kindergarten graduation. thus, jen’s in-law robert drove them to batangas and dropped me off somewhere in tagaytay.

prior to reaching tagaytay, jen informed robert na ihagbung ko sa tagayatay… good ole robert thought it was a cebuano joke and dismissed jen, thinking that i was going with the pack to batangas. newsflash: we just passed the area where i was supposed to be dropped off. too late to make a turn around, told jen that i’d be all right if they’d proceed driving to batangas and just leave me where we are. splendido viewing site?!?…

splendido. it’s where robert drove us to see a magnificent view of lake taal. the area was a favorite stop for those with private vehicles. the place solely served as a viewing deck as there were no facilities nearby. that day, a lot of people, both local and foreign, pulled over to check the view. few minutes after, all 3 of them headed to batangas while i was left to fend for myself [btw, at my insistence].

ha. truthfully, i got a little scared as soon as they left me. unlike my solo trip to CDO and Davao where i had accommodations arranged in advance, i didn’t have any idea where i could stay for the night. armed with my lonely planet philippines edition travel book, my trusted sandals [hehe, just a reason to insert my vetlongwalks mark -- i could still remember the freezing cold air] and robert’s instruction to hop on a jeepney or bus going back to olivares rotunda, i was set to explore tagaytay. minutes after they were gone, a jeepney passed by Splendido. hopped on it, didn’t even bother to ask where it’s headed.

first off. tagalog. had to remind myself that people here don’t speak bisaya nor english AND they don’t knock the jeepney’s roof. “ma-ma, para po!” as soon as i spotted the rotunda, where earlier robert bought something at the drive-thru of jollibee. hah, for some reason i couldn’t remember where we saw Rooms 4 Rent signs, nor of any hotel except for Taal Vista Hotel.. nway, Taal Vista was dollars, so it wasn’t an option. i swear we passed by several, thus the safest decision for me was to follow robert’s instruction. the area near the rotunda houses several familiar places [Shakey's, Chowking, Greenwich, and Jollibee]. thinking that i’d be in for a time-consuming accommodation search, decided to grab an early lunch. after lunch, proceeded to nearby 7-Eleven and bought myself a bottle of water. still no idea where to go, i approached a lady selling peanuts. . i was hoping she could recommend a place for overnight stay. heck, the lady was clueless. good thing there was this tricycle driver who seemed to have the answers I needed. at first, i was hesistant to trust the guy. he looked like he’d ripped off somebody like me. what did it for me was the guy showing me a catalog-looking object. it showed the typical spots of tagaytay. so i thought, this guy’s probably a legit pseudo-tour guide. thus, i hopped on his trike and he brought me to Andy’s Room.

1:00 PM – got to Andy’s Room. the trike driver talked me into checking out the famous spots for a fee. found nothing wrong with the arrangement, thus agreed for him to pick me up at around 4 o’clock.

Andy’s Room – as soon as i got myself settled. i got the worst headache imaginable. bummer. i’m in tagaytay and my headache decided to tag along. so much for my theory that it’s office work that’s been giving me the headache. ended up texting my sister and one of my officemates about my plight. both of them urged me to not let my headache ruin my trip. sure, that’s what’s in my head too, but the throbbing headache made it more difficult to enjoy the trip. thus, i popped a pill and slept for an hour or two, hoping for the headache to vanish. ha. when i woke up, the headache was still there. got into the bathroom, showered, waited for the trike driver. after 15 minutes of waiting, no trike driver in sight, and with a now tolerable headache, proceeded to exploring tagaytay on my own.

tagaytay sceneries
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April 8
Andy’s Room
Tagaytay City

bummer. day before, i rented a fan room. the place is just a few steps away from picnic groove. well, i opted for a fan room since i was trying to scrimp on money, hehehe, tried to save two hundred bucks. it’s P1,500 had i opted to get the airconditioned room.
i woke up a little past 4 A.M. today. definitely, so unlike vet to wake up at this time of the day. nope. i wasn’t excited to roam around the city again. i’ve been to people’s park in the sky and picnic groove. in my opinion, i’m done with tagaytay. i’ve achieved my goal. the goal – was very simple, to step on tagaytay land, stay for the night and that’s it. i’m not much of a nightlife person anyway. heck, i even passed the opportunity to watch in person the object of many female fantasies, good ole sam milby. yeah, he happened to have a concert at the nearby local restaurant. nway, back to what caused me to leave the land of zzzz… . he! i woke up with a clogged nose! i had to literally breathe for air through my mouth. ha! my room was freezing cold! the temperature in the room equalled that of an airconditioned room whose unit was turned to high cool and its thermostat turned to 10. mein, i could even hear the wind howling outside. the wind was so strong that you would think someone’s trying to open the door of my room. as much as i wanted to crawl back to bed, the cold temperature outside didn’t stop me from hitting the shower. in my mind, i’d brave the cold morning and hopefully catch a good sunrise. hmmm.., i got frustrasted yesterday when my 6-day old cam’s batteries went D-E-A-D on me just when the mighty sun decided to set. the view/sunset over people’s park was spectacular, only i wasn’t able to capture it. perhaps, it should be the reason for me to go back sometime soon.

views from people’s park in the sky, tagaytay