Two Saturdays ago, to cap off my mother and my brother’s birthdays (which both fall within the same week), we went to Hacienda Escudero (formerly Villa Escudero) for a short day trip.

It was my first time at the estate-turned-tourist destination. It took us a almost four hours to drive down to San Pablo, Laguna / Tiaong, Quezon from Manila. We passed by the route crossing Batangas.

When we arrived at the place, we were toured briefly at the church-turned-museum. It looked familiar for me. No, not because I’ve seen it in the many postcards that it may have appeared in. It was after a few minutes when I realized this was where Wong Kar Wai shot parts of his film Days of Being Wild. Anyway the museum was basically a hogwash of various antiques and Escudero memorabilia, which I found quite interesting.

After the museum tour, we rode these carabao trolleys to the resort’s main recreation area, where we had lunch at the foot of a man-made dam with fresh water falling off the dam’s slope and streaming through our feet. If not for the heat of the midday sun, it would have been a very relaxing and refreshing lunch.

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Tags: Batangas, estates, family, farmers, Laguna, land reform, Quezon, resorts

March 21-22, 2008. The family spent two days in Batangas for the Good Friday and Black Saturday holidays. We dropped by Matabungkay Beach in Lian in the morning of Friday before proceeding to Golden Sunset Resort in Calatagan, where we spent the rest of the short getaway.

We left Quezon City at around four in the morning and arrived in Tagaytay just before six. We had fastfood breakfast in Tagaytay before proceeding to Batangas. Since I barely had any sleep because I spent the entire night till early morning editing my thesis short film, I slept the entire time. We eventually arrived in Matabungkay in Lian, Batangas a little past eight in the morning.

Even if my parents prodded me to take a dip in the salty water to, apparently, help heal my fungal infections, I refused. There was also quite a crowd on the beach and in the waters. Too many rafts, too. Didn’t want to swim at all. I contented myself with taking stolen photographs of Tisay and other people.

Because it was getting pretty boring, we decided to proceed to Golden Sunset Village Resort & Spa in Calatagan where we had a reservation. Didn’t have much fun since I wasn’t really in the vacation-mood at all because of thesis-worries and other such leftover academic concerns. Plus I didn’t feel comfortable swimming with the dark fungal infections I had in some parts of my body. I again just contented myself taking photographs of Tisay, my nieces, and other things around the resort, including the golden sunset from where the place borrows its name.

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Tags: Batangas, beach, Calatagan, family, Lian, resort, Tisay, vacation

It’s my first official long-run. Though, signing up for a five-kilometer run doesn’t seem long enough for some, it was for me just the right first-time experience. My other brods were running the ten-kilometer, twenty-one and the full marathon.

My running partner and I were running at our own pace, enjoying the crisp morning air, and taking in the scenery. A few hundred meters into the run, however, we approached a fork in the road. I couldn’t understand what the man directing the runners where to go, was saying. I thought to myself, nakakahiya naman kung ‘yung mga bata ‘yung sundan namin. Instead of following the little school kids, we followed the police academy cadets who were chanting throughout their run.

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On Sunday, after just two to three hours of sleep, we were forced to get up and head over to the starting line of the Subic Marathon. Anyway, I was driving from Binictican Heights to the track oval where everyone was supposed to assemble. I was following two cars in front of me, one being driven by a brod, the other I didn’t really know but was definitely on its way to the marathon starting line too.

Suddenly, the two vehicles in front of me swerved to the right as if to avoid something. It wasn’t soon enough that I realized there was an approaching motorcycle coming right at us. I don’t know if it was because I hadn’t had enough sleep but I really thought it was simply a vehicle in front of me running the same direction. In a split-second before we had a head-on collision, I made a realization of what was about to happen and quickly swerved to the right. It wasn’t a head-on collision, thank heavens. Instead, I smashed the car’s left side and amputated the entire driver’s side mirror and shattered the glass into numerous pieces that came flying right at us inside the car (our windows were rolled down).

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Last weekend, I drove all the way to Subic with some of my brods to participate in the Subic International Marathon. After a morning ocular with my thesis partner and some of our production crew at our various locations in Manila, I headed over to meet my brods in Katipunan before driving all the way to Subic in Zambales. It’s by far, the farthest drive I’ve had from Manila. It was quite a pleasant road trip, if you ask me. Never mind if I barely remember how to get to Subic. Following the road signs was enough.

After almost three hours, we arrived in Subic Bay Freeport at around 8 in the evening. Before having dinner, we spent an hour or so at the outlet stores looking at running shoes. It was half past nine in the evening when we decided to have dinner. We decided to cross the canal out of the Freeport and have a night out in Olongapo. Hehe.

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Continued from here. Soon enough I found myself along Avenida Rizal where I was supposed to get on a train to Manila North Cemetery. Since I had no idea where exactly to alight nearest to my destintion, I swallowed my shallow pride and asked for directions. The ticket teller at the LRT told me to get off at R. Papa Station to get to the cemetery. Because as I’ve said earlier, I’d rather get lost than ask for directions another time, I didn’t bother to confirm if I was going the right way for fear of looking like a camera-toting tourist.

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Continued from here. It wasn’t long before I reached the intersection of Quezon Boulevard and C.M. Recto Avenue. It was the first time I found out that there was a pedestrian underpass along Quezon Boulevard that crosses Recto and Quezon Boulevard itself. The underpass is similar to the Lacson Underpass in Quiapo, but this one’s lined with garment and tailoring shops.

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Continued from here. I guess it was because I felt like I had time to spare, and because I simply enjoy walking like that, that I decided to walk all the way from Mendiola to Avenida Rizal to ride another train to Manila North Cemetery. I don’t know if that’s really the most efficient way of getting there, but when I looked at the map, it seemed to me so.

Let me tell you a quirk of mine. I don’t like asking for directions. I hate looking like a tourist by asking for directions. I’d rather look at a map myself and get lost than ask for directions. If I do, I’d do it once and then I’d rather get lost than ask another time. It’s a weird sort of pride. I’ll tell you more about this quirk later.

Anyway, I’ve always wondered how it feels like to study in a college or university in the middle of all this hustle and bustle, as opposed to the relative tranquility and foliage in Diliman. Recto Avenue, is of course, aside from shops of all sorts, is lined with schools, colleges and universities, hence it’s part of what people refer to as Manila’s university belt.

To be continued. Click here for more pictures.