papa and nini's beach

ah, yes..jet lag..when we had decided to leave by about 10 am, we had already been awake since 4 am!! whoa! none the less, we headed to the foreign exchange to get some pesos, and off on our adventure we went!

the view from mom and dad's apartment in makati is beautiful (as you will see by the first few pics of todays slideshow)..the buildings surrounding each other..but the views on our way out to their beach front property, in the barangay of san diego, in batangas..they get even better... :)

from the bamboo scafolding on some HUGE popcans at a building, (an apology - there are some out of the window car shots, cuz my dear fatherinlaw doesn't like stopping.. :) ) to the lovely royal taal hotel, tagaytay, where we had a buffet lunch at "cafe on the ridge", that included some stuff squid that i just could NOT get enough of! the food was wonderful..the fruit..oh baby, the fruit! and they had sushi, and the wasabi was carved into a fish..crazy! there was a 3piece band playing while we ate, and they eventually came to our table and sang.. mom even requested a song! :)

after we looked at the view - lake taal is the oldest inactive volcano in the middle of lake taal - which was so incredible, and by the way a huge pomagranate tree, we continued our journey to the beach property. as we were pulling out of the hotel, a guy was outside the car trying to tell us to come for a boat tour..i took his picture and he giggled..

on the way out to the beach, the scenery is full on rain forest..so plush and full..just gorgeous..pictures from the car window do it NO justice!

the road on the way to the beach had some flooding from the rains..enough so that we had to walk a bit to the property. rosie was like, "how come everyone's staring at me?" which led into a discussion of the rarity of natural blond hair and that staring in the philippines isn't rude as it is in canada..i think she understood.. :)

yes, the beach front.. it was lovely... the banka boats there... so many and colorful.. there was a mountain on the one side that was gorgeous.. wow. we visited a property down from theirs that a member in their church is building already - "sands of san diego" is absolutely resort/spa like! dad described what their beach house will look like..so cool..they'll start building in a couple months, money willing! right now they have a fence around their property.. oh, and while we were walking to their property, amongst all the garbage washed up on the shore, there was a NEEDLE! mom was SO not impressed. it even had the needle still in tact.. oh dear..

the waves crashing on the shore is something i could get used it..but then again, i LOVE the beach and water, so.. :) after a nice walk on the beach and surrounding areas, a little visit and some pictures taken mostly of little emma :), we then headed out..can't wait til we see the beach house the next time we come back.. :)

on the way back into tagaytay, while passing thru the little town of lian and passing tons of trucks full of sugar cane for the factory there, there are little stores lining the roads - and not just one..as in 10 stores that sells plants, then 10 that sell flowers, then ten that sell fruit, then ten that sell trinkets. we stopped at two - one for flowers and one for bamboo painted wind ornaments for the kids.. :)

i had read on the internet that in tagaytay is a place now called PEOPLES PARK IN THE SKY. it used to be the PALACE IN THE SKY, which was the unfinished guest house of the former president and wife, ferdinand and imelda marcos. they had started building it for the visit of the then president and mrs reagan, who turned out not coming over cuz of the unrest inthe country. so it never got finished..and it's so run down..its so sad..chuckle, one of the stair cases, out of wood branches they made F's and I's..those marco's were so vane, no? :) it could d be such a nice park for the philipinos..sigh..it made my heart sad at the factor. the views were breathtaking..so far up, such a haze over the land fromthe clouds..and much cooler! i dont think i mentioned the heat http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif- it's been about 30 degrees or hotter. so up there was a nice 25. :)

we then had dinner back in tagaytay, at good old filipino JOLLIBEE! ah, take me back thru m memory lane!

we finally arrived home just after 8, the children passed out...and ready for bed!

what an amazing and fun day we had! tomoro is shopping at greenhills and who knows what else! :)

enjoy!

papa & nini's beach slideshow