Bryan's Travels: Tagaytay, Manila and Corrigedor

A couple of weeks ago, one of my daughter Ygrayne and her friend were visiting us in Manila. We took a few trips around the capitol area and down south towards Batangas. First we visited the Taal Volcano at Tagaytay. Fortunately we left around 8 in the morning, and arrived at the Taal lake by 10, we were on the boat across to the volcano island by 10:30. It is funny, because as you approach the lake from Tagaytay, there is an outcrop on the right side of the island which looks like a volcano crater/cone.

I immediately assumed that was where we would go. Upon arriving in the boat, I realized that that is just one of the eruption points on the island, but that the main volcano is more central to the island. Once we arrived on the Island, both the girls had decided to ride the horses up, but I wanted to walk. So we set off.

The horses set off at a faster pace than I expected. They got to the top in about 30 minutes. It took me 45 or so. It is a pretty direct climb up, though not too far. We had been sold face masks, which weren't really necessary, but would have been useful if the weather was a bit hotter and drier, or if the wind were blowing more. I used mine a couple of times on the way down when the horses were stirring up the dust and manure and the wind was blowing.

Once I got to the top, I had a cold Buko (Coconut) juice, but the girls just wanted water. We looked around for about 20 minutes, and headed back down.

Ygrayne rode down, I walked down with her friend. Along the way we met someone who was walking up near the steam vents by the side of the path. We were trying to see if we could capture a good picture, without any luck. He stuck his hand down on a vent, and then jumped back saying "it's hot". I told him not to do that any more as he could burn his hand. Pretty stupid, steam is usually hot. I guess not everyone knows that. After taking the boat back to the mainland, yes I know Luzon is an island, but it seems like mainland when crossing the lake back from the volcano. We got somewhat wet on the way back because the wind had picked up and was creating a bit of chop on the lake. Afterwards we decided to go up to Peoples Park in Tagaytay to get a good view of where we had just been, and have lunch. We got there and it was totally ensconsed in a cloud. So the view wasn't so great, but we did have lunch there.

After visiting People's Park, we headed for Batangas and the resort. We stayed at Vivere Azure. It was a bit overpriced. They claim to be a 5 star but are more like 3+. The best part is that they have a coral reef right off the beach, so you can go snorkeling any time. The bad part about this is having to negotiate the beach without getting scraped up on the rocks as Ygrayne did. We enjoyed our stay there though, especially the sunsets.

A couple of days after the resort, and before they had to leave, we took a 1 day trip to Corregidor. This is the fortified island at the entrance to Manila bay where MacArthur spent his time before having to be evacuated to Australia. The president of the Philippines was here at the beginning of WWII as well. It was subsequently taken by the Japanese, and then retaken by the Americans towards the end of the war. It is an interesting historical place to visit. The tour takes you to various batteries,

war memorials, the lighthouse,

and just around what is actually a beautiful island. We were fed lunch there, and on our tour bus, there was a group of 4 people taking group photos at each location, mostly jumping in the air.