Road Trip: Marikina–Infanta Highway and Infanta, Quezon Province

Last Sunday, my husband and I have embarked on another road trip. 
This time, it wasn't a spontaneous one and it was for a "cause".

The father of my husband's former colleague, and close friend, has passed away last week.
Their hometown is at Infanta, Quezon province.
Since we were still recovering our energy from the recent Holiday celebrations, we weren't able to attend the wake.
So, we've decided to attend the burial instead.
PS - We didn't bring our son because, we feel uncomfortable on bringing him to such occasions.

In preparation for the trip, we diligently Googled all the possible and nearest routes going to the province.
Here, we've found out about the new highway called Marikina–Infanta Highway.
Based from the routes given, one can easily tell that it is the fastest route going to the Quezon Province.
And so, off we go.

On the day of the trip, we got out at around 4:45am.
We went out quite early because we had to meet the rest of my hubby's friends at Robinson's Metro East.
After meeting them, we continued driving along the Marcos Highway.
Upon reaching Felix Avenue, the road made a slight shift from Marcos Highway to Marikina–Infanta Highway.
This highway, which is also known as MARILAQUE Highway (or Manila-Rizal-Laguna-Quezon), is a new road on which we believe is yet to be discovered by other travellers.
There weren't any traffic jams, which was cool!!!
BUT, be sure that to have a strong heart if you want to take this road!

Since the highway is new, it still doesn't have proper street-lighting.
We had to set our headlights to high beam since it was only 5:30am then and the road was still in total darkness.
For 30 minutes, would you believe that we didn't see any vehicles cruising along with us.
The only vehicle that we came across (opposite side of the road) was a motorbike.  After that, we were alone again.
Aside from the pitch-black darkness, mobile and radio signals were intermittent AND it was slightly foggy.
It was scary, actually, because it was like a scene from horror films!
I was even praying that nothing will happen with the vehicle (or US) because, nobody would be able to come for our rescue.
To light up the mood, I played a couple of MP3s on the stereo.

After literally driving through alone, our slightly tensed feelings were replaced with awe and astonishment when the sun has finally shown up.
We didn't know that we've been surrounded by majestic and towering highlands and local rivers!

The Agos River

The Agos River

We were able to reach Infanta, Quezon within 3 hours of travel time, shorter than the usual 4 to 5 hours.
We immediately went to the house of my hubby's friend and paid our respects to his father.
He was buried at around 3:30pm.

Afterwards, we ate at a local burger chain and left the province at around 4:30pm.

Here are the pictures that I've managed to take while on the road:
NOTE:  I didn't take too much pictures of the province itself because it was a burial and I gave my respects by not photos.

Infanta Fishing Port

Overall, the whole trip was literally EXCITING!!!
I've already experienced foggy roads "from and to" Baguio City but, I am telling you, this was a whole new experience!

Road Trip: Caleruega, Don Bosco Retreat House and Tagaytay

Last Friday morning, my husband and I were thinking of where to go this weekend before my long Holiday vacation ends and go back to my busy days again.  So, I started Googling these different "places to visit" way down south and saw this place named Caleruega.

I began checking out forums and reviews about this place on which, coincidentally, one of my FB Friends posted pictures of it.  I initially thought this place is OK, considering my hubby who likes seeing old building structures and heritage places, so I forwarded him different websites about it.

Come Friday night, after our evening stroll at Bonifacio Global City (BGC) with our son, we never talked nor planned about it.  I was thinking, he might already be tired to do so.

Saturday morning, I got so surprised when my husband suddenly asked me to check on how to go to Caleruega!  So, in a hurry, I've downloaded a map on how to go there while we were preparing stuffs to bring for our "so-called" Road Trip*.
* - This is our second spontaneous Road Trip, on which the first one is posted separately. 

And so, off we go!


Details of "How-To-Go-To's"...

From Pasay City, we head on going to Magallanes and then Skyway.

Along Skyway

From Skyway, we took SLEX and then the Sta. Rosa Exit.

Our first stop was Nuvali, Sta. Rosa.

The well-known Koi Lake at Nuvali

We went out quite late (around 10:30am) and even encountered a minor traffic jam along EDSA-Taft Rotonda due to the crowd of travellers at the Provincial Bus Terminals.  So we've decided to have our lunch at Nuvali.

After lunch, we then head-out to continue our trip.

We just cruised along the Sta. Rosa Road.

At the end, we reached the Tagaytay-Calamba Road, Tagaytay.

It's a T-Road on which we turned right.

Go straight and you'll reach Tagaytay Rotonda.

From Rotonda, go circular and take the road on the left (the road where you can see BPI and Bag of Beans).

You'll pass-by the famous Bulalo Restaurant named Leslie's.  By this time, you are now cruising along the Tagaytay-Nasugbu Highway.

You'll pass by the following:  Dencio's, Starbucks, Max's, Taal Vista Hotel, Mushroom Burger, Residence Inn, Splendido and two (2) Petron Gas Stations located on both sides.

Just continue and you'll pass by another Petron Gas Station (this time a smaller one).  Turn left.

This road will then lead you to:  Evercrest and Chapel on the Hill – Don Bosco.  Just go straight.

When you see a sign indicating Caleruega, turn right.  It's a very bumpy road going downhill but it's quite a scenery.

The scenery going to Caleruega

At the end of the road, you'll see Caleruega.

There are Parking Spaces everywhere BUT, just go straight ahead until you reach the gates of Caleruega.  The assigned Security Guard will ask you to pay 30Php per head.  Upon payment, the Security Guard will give you Pamphlets Tour Guide and will open the gate to let you in.  Glad we were able to secure a parking slot.  There was a wedding at that time so, we've considered ourselves lucky to be able to park inside the premises.

The facade of Caleruega

Inside, you'll be captivated by the place.
The cool breeze of Tagaytay and the calmness it has.

There are a lot of spots for you to just sit down and contemplate.

When we were done, we then head out back to path that we've went through.

Our next stop was the Don Bosco Retreat House.
I've had my High School and Church Choir Retreats at this place.

This place is indeed a sanctuary.

It has a number of gardens and quiet ambience for you to reflect and recollect.

After having our own recollections, we then head back to Tagaytay.
We attempted to go to Sky Ranch but...as expected...it was insanely crowded!!!
Literally, no parking!

So we just head out to our favorite restaurants in Tagaytay...no other than...LESLIE'S, where we've finished our road trip with some sizzling sisig!

Road Trip: Taal Heritage Village

Last Friday, we were thinking of places to go to this weekend.
Since my husband wants to see Ala-Vigan type of places (which are not that far), we've searched our way through Google.
We came across this place called "Taal Heritage Village" (or Town).
At first, I had an impression that this place is a less-traveled one.
Seeing not too much reviews, my hubby hesitated to go.

Come Sunday, my hubby had an extreme change of mind and have decided to go out and explore this place.  Talking about spontaniety, huh?!!  We didn't even get a chance to research on how to go to this place.  We did read some articles about it BUT, we forgot to check out maps or directions on how to go there.  Silly us!  We were only equipped with a single knowledge (or CLUE) that our point of reference is Tagaytay.

And so, what the heck, go!


Details of "How-To-Go-To's"...

We cruised along Skyway and then, SLEX.
From SLEX, we went through Sta. Rosa Exit.
Since it was a spontaneous road trip and we went out late (roughly past 10am), we've decided to have our lunch somewhere along the way.

Our first stop was:  The Paseo de Sta. Rosa.

It was our first time to visit this new promenade.

Here, we ate at The Spaghetti Factory to further orchestrate (at least) a small plan on how to get to our chosen destination.  Good thing, they have free WiFi!

While planning our path directions, we went "all sweet-tooth" and dug in to their Colossal Choco-Chip Cookie ala Mode.

TOSH:  Colossal Choco-Chip Cookie ala Mode

This is one "heavenly" dessert!  The only catch is, you should order this immediately along with the main course.  It takes 15 minutes to prepare since they're baking the cookie upon order.

After havin' lunch, we strolled around the place for a bit and then went on.

We just cruised along the Sta. Rosa Road.

At the end, we reached the Tagaytay-Calamba Road, Tagaytay.

It's a T-Road on which we turned left.

We turned right to Ligaya Drive (a path that we've just found out via Google while havin' lunch).  Be careful, though, this road is like the Naguilian Road in Baguio.  It's a downhill zigzag!

When we've reached the end, we asked a local which way to go to Lemery (the location of the Taal Heritage Village).  She pointed us to the left road* (coming from Ligaya Drive) on which, she (the local we've talked to) is much more familiar with.

* - We just found out that we should have taken right!  The one going to P. Laurel.

By asking different locals, we cruised along the Tanauan Road.

Even went into STAR Tollway.

Until we've finally reached Lemery.

Since we took the long road going to our destination, we've arrived quite late (around 5:00pm).

However, we were so blessed to have a sunset capturing the beauty of the Basilica de San Martin de Tours (Taal).

When the sun totally went down, we couldn't explore the town further.

There were streets that are not lit plus our son was already tired.

And so, we just went on to have dinner at one of their well-known BBQ place named Don Juan.

Here, I didn't pass the chance to drink their genuine "Kapeng Barako"...and it was good!!!  :)

We know we didn't maximize all the places to see in this town.

So, definitely, we'll have a Part 2 of this exploration.