Travel Tips

My mother retired this year at the age of 63 and has chosen to go back to her hometown and built a new house. As we convinced her (my 2 older sisters and 2 younger brothers) to retire early, so she can relax and enjoy a new life as retiree. We thought she needed the strength for traveling from Philippines to U.S. She doesn't want to miss her grandchildren growing up. Therefore, she has planned to spend six months in the Philippines and six months in the U.S.

I was excited to see my mom's new house, so my cousins and I drove to Agno, Pangasinan on that weekend. As always, the family van was full of feisty nephews and the 6-hour long drive from Quezon City to Agno felt forever. Although they are always fun to be with, my hyperactive nephews almost gave me nervous breakdown, because of screaming about the food and air condition. Sensibly, I was in cahoots with the three younger ones to keep the snacks from the older ones.

Agno is a big town but too small for a city. Its current mayor is my mom's auntie (grandma Leticia to me). Last year the mayor was grandpa Adan. The town people alternately elect husband and wife as the mayor of Agno since 1980. They love them because of their dedication, devotion, and generosity to the town and community.

After the visit, I felt comfortable knowing my mom is happy. She made the right choice, instead of living in a Nursing Home in US. At least I know that she’s in good hands with her cousins and relatives.

For over three decades, I had never visited my father’s tomb in Burgos, Pangasinan. I’d been excusing myself for selfishly wanting to see the world and the exotic places in the Philippines. This time there will be no more excuses.

I had no recollection of the date of death of my dad until I saw the inscription “Died: May 19, 1969”. I was young then and didn’t know anything about everything. And being there for the first time since 1969 was very emotional. I prayed silently and offered my respect when suddenly my eyes got misty. Refusing to overwhelm the feelings I had inside, I diverted my attention observing around.

The highlight of this trip was supposed to be an overnight stay in Nap's house in Silang, Cavite. Instead, Jessie and I (with Nap) ended up in Laguna and Tagaytay City.

Nap is an artist, perhaps, if I may say he made a name in the world of fashion design in LA and Manila. He has a big house in Cavite, which is located in the midst of the town plaza facing the church, market and city hall. It has a huge balcony emphasized with Greek methodology sculptures standing tall on its sides. If you stand in the balcony, passersby tend to look up and you look down. The structural of the balcony seems to exhibit a division between social classes. All right we didn’t stay here because of the balcony, but a very personal reason. In respect to Nap, it will be off the record.

We voted to spend the night in Laguna Hot Spring, which is about three hours by bus from Cavite. The resort has a big rectangular pool. Around 7:00AM, locals ritually come to bath believing the hot spring would cure their arthritis or rheumatism, or prevent it from developing. As I gathered, the hot spring flowing in to the pool is natural and that Laguna Hot Spring is one of the few resorts able to maintain it. They claim many resorts are hoax. Their hot spring is produced artificially. Believe or not to believe that is the question. In my experience, Tabacon Resort in Costa Rica, White Mountains in Turkey and spas and resorts in the Romanian seaside are still my best choices. Anyway, the company of friends compensated of all these fakes and real.

From Laguna (and for another three hours bus ride), we went to Tagaytay City for lunch at Josephine’s restaurant. It is famous for its seafood and traditional Filipino cuisine.

The restaurant also offers a breathtaking view of the famous Taal Volcano. Service is highly satisfactory and waiters are courteous.

Jessie and I went to the taping of a South Korean movie, “Hustler”, that was being filmed in Tandang Sora, and our friend Ronnie was the production designer.

Ronnie Cruz is a long time friend of mine and he’s been in show business for over two decades. Besides making films, he is presently busy with two TV shows on ABS/CBN.

Ronnie has received numerous plaques and awards for his excellent works in big and small screens. In 1998, the big break came when he won the URIAN (Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino) for the movie “Pila Balde”. Subsequently, UP students of arts and theatres cited him for best production designer for the same movie. While the Filipino Academy of Movies and Arts (FAMAS), which is equivalent to OSCAR, left him out from being nominated in his category for he failed to pay the annual membership fee. But he said he didn’t regret at all.

Jessie flown in from San Jose, California has a bit part in the movie.

Fajardo beach resort is not recommendable for tourist destination. The management fails to maintain the tidiness of the resort. It deems no strict policy on “cleaning up after your self”. You cannot even find a single garbage bin. That is why beach goers just tend to throw anything on the beach and that pollutes the area and the environment. And it was sad to see that debris from a last week tropical storm was still apparent. Low season or unseason is not an excuse to overlook the maintenance of a resort. It is always the first impression that makes a business successful.

Nonetheless, its remoteness was perfect for us. At that time we were the only group checked in, so music was played loud from dusk to dawn while booze was served as the appetizer. We all got wasted and didn't care anything around us. Besides, the idea was to have fun…fun…fun and we certainly did.

Leaving the rest of the gang from Bataan, four of us headed off to Subic, Zambales to have lunch. To avoid the hustles and bustles of Olongapo City traffic, we drove through the SBMA (Subic Base Metropolitan Area) expressway and exited Barrio Barreto. Subic is approximately less than an hour from Orion, Bataan.

I'd like to say many thanks to Rommel and his parents (Ate Lilian & Kuya Renato) for opening their humble house to us, particularly, to Ate Lilian for the great exotic Filipino food she prepared.

To Jerry for his patient and understanding (Jerry Mao is a Chinese national with no knowledge of the Filipino dialects except a few words of Tagalog).

And most of all to the super GENTXT gang of Orion, Bataan for their friendship. Rommel, Pong (he told me he didn't like his real name), Reggie, Alex, Patrick, Jamac and Jay, you guys had redefined the word "Party" in the dictionary. Because I've never had such a blast since my Pace days and felt 15 years younger!