Venue 88 General Santos City

  Recently, I reunited again with my one true love, General Santos City. Wherever we may go, nothing beats the comfort of home and for me, it always feels great to come back to the place where I was honed to become the person that I am now. The one week vacation I had was definitely well spent with family and friends. Of course, it gave me sometime to discover the changes that happened for the past 2 years that I was away. One of these was the former Le Jardin Arnevel now called Venue 88. 

  For those who are looking for a place in Gensan to beat the heat, then it's time to take a look at this simple yet elegant resort and events place.  The first time I came here was back in 2009. The look of the place before was more of native Filipino style because their cottages were built of Nipa huts and the place was sprawling with Bermuda grasses and a couple of trees. After 4 years, voila! A transformation has took place. It's now better and more pleasing to the eye. The two pools are still there. One for adults which I guess is about 4feet or more and one for kids. The pools offer a shade at each side to avoid sunburns for those who want to take a dip. The place is cleaner and the cottages are elegantly designed in a simple way. Also, you can book one of your special events here. When I went there with friends, we got to see a nice and short display of fireworks thanks to the bonggang event that was currently happening in their event's hall. 

  Entrance fee will be Php50 for those who come in the morning until 2:30pm(use of the pool will be till 10pm). For those who come in from 2:30pm onwards, it would be Php75. Cottages are available at Php500 and Php250(common). There's also a corkage fee for drinks. 

How to go there?

  One can simply hire a public tricycle from the downtown proper to Mabuhay Road. It will take less than 30minutes to reach there. If you're 4pax and up, one can pay Php10-15 depends on your haggling skills. 

  You can click the link to check their facebook page for contact information: Venue 88

Baguio

I had been idle for months and my feet was extremely itchy wanting to hop on the next bus ride to nowhere. So when I saw this commercial on TV about the Panagbenga festival in Baguio, I

enthusiastically chattered about it to my roommates. After hours of trying to convince them, we headed to the Summer Capital of the Philippines the next night with no thorough knowledge about the city except for the obvious fact that it's cold and that they grow strawberries there.

After a very quick preparation, we headed to Pasay Terminal and took the 10:30pm trip for Php455 per person. That approx 7hours trip had only two stops for eat-and-pee-break and most of it had been utilized to wander off dreamland. Kennon Road had made it impossible for me to elude motion sickness but gladly I was able to hold it off.

It was Dawn. It was Baguio. It was freezing. 

When we arrived at 5:30am it was extremely cold due to the location of the city and the oncoming drizzle and light rain. The long trip had given us backaches and we were so darn tired to argue and haggle. So when this somebody came to us and offered a supposedly nice place to stay, we took the offer, regretted it but eventually looked on the brighter side and decided to just enjoy the stay at King's Court Pension House since we're just going to use the room for sleeping anyway. Well, for  Php1500/room (good for 4 persons) I guess it wasn't pretty bad. Aside from the burned out light bulb  (was changed at 2pm after a tiring yet fun city tour), the room offers a nice view at night of the glowing city lights. The restroom was clean and provided hot and cold shower. 

What to Do in Baguio

Do like any visitor would normally do when new in the city. Visit tourist spots!

Burnham Park

Burnham Park has a man-made lake where one can rent a boat for Php150/30minutes. You can have the option to let someone paddle for you or you can do the paddling yourself. 

Play dress-up with this Igorot costumes for Php10/shot while you're at the Park.

If you have plenty of time, you can rent a bike for Php40/hour and burn those excess calories. 

Mines View Park

View from the top of Mines View Park

Aside from admiring the beautiful view at Mines View Park, your eyes can also feast on the souvenirs and pasalubongs being sold which are super cheap. When at the Park, don't forget to have your picture taken riding on a horse or together with one of the St. Bernards.

Si Vice Ganda daw to. Take a pic for Php10/shot.

This scene was simply breathtaking when I took the picture. Sorry for the bad resolution, I only had my camera phone to use for all the shots. :-)

Wright Park

If you want to try horseback riding for Php200/30 minutes then the best place to go would be Wright Park. There are also plenty of vendors there who sell souvenirs na super swak sa budget!

Across Wright Park is The Mansion, the official summer home of the President. All you can do here is take a picture and going beyond the fence is off limits. 

We were able to tour most of the tourist spots in Baguio for half a day which meant that we had plenty of time to just sit back, relax and take everything all in-that we were truly there in Baguio. The next day, we headed to La Trinidad to pick fresh strawberries straight from the farms of Ibaloi farmers. 

 La Trinidad, Benguet

Yes, Php300/1kilo is expensive compared to the already picked strawberries sold at the markets but the experience of picking the strawberries right from their farms is incomparable especially for those like me who don't have strawberry farms. 

Where to Eat

There are a lot of places in Baguio where you can eat and yes it's true that most of the food there are way cheaper compared to Manila.

Eat at Sizzling Plate, Session Road. Cozy ambience, great food and excellent customer service. Prizes for full meals start around Php100+

Still at Session Road, Solibao offers delicious Filipino dishes in huge servings at a reasonable price. Great for group eat-outs. For this, we paid Php400+ and I'm telling you, we're so full we can barely walk after.

The Pizza Volante branch just across Wright park let's you enjoy the cool outdoors while eating their yummy and very affordable pizzas.

We enjoyed our 2days/1night Baguio trip because everything fell into place even without us planning. If you would ask me if I want to go back there? Definitely! I even want to stay there for quite some time.  I hope you will enjoy your trip to Baguio as well :-)

Spend Your Afternoon at Tagaytay

If you want to get away from the hustle and bustle of Metro Manila without sitting on a carseat for too long, then going to Tagaytay would be one of your best options. Tagaytay is 1-2 hours drive from the Metro and when on the right spot, it offers a great view of the Taal Volcano.

I and three of my officemates went there for half a day not only to unwind but also to have a taste of their famous bulalo.  The cool breeze alone was worth the almost 2 hour drive. When I tasted the food and saw the magnificence of Taal Volcano from afar, it was even more worth it. Unfortunately, we weren't able to discover the beauty of the famed underwater volcano because of lack of time and extremely expensive boat ride. For me, 500/pax for a ride to Taal, isn't a worthy offer at that time. At the right season and with the right haggling skills, I can probably get that ride (hopefully soon) at a cheaper price.

At Bulalo Point. Php300+ each for this sumptuous lunch+ fresh buko juice

Spending the afternoon sipping coffee with the beautiful Taal Volcano as our backdrop.

If you're in town, Picnic Grove is a great place to experience outdoor fun,  view the Taal Volcano and eat bulalo. Entrance fee is Php50.  Souvenir shops and food stalls also abound the area.

At Picnic Grove. From here, you can see the beauty of Taal Volcano.

My Jumpshot

They spent Php200 each for a henna tattoo (after less than an hour, umulan ng bonggang bongga.boom! *evil laugh)

From Pasay, you can ride a bus going to Tagaytay for Php100-200 one ride. Once you're there, there are jeepneys and tricyles that can take you from one place to another. 

A thousand pesos would be enough to take you to and back from Tagaytay. It could be lesser than that if you spend your money wisely. 

*Thanks to Chris, Irish and Zeth for being a great company