A Lake in a Volcano on a Lake

Post date: 19-Jan-2010 00:31:39

Carol, me, Rosa's Grandma, Rosa, Colin and Liam

For most of our trip Colin and I have been fortunate enough to stay with locals. We spent our first week in Manila with Liam, her aunt, her cousin Rosa, and Rosa's Grandma. We really appreciated their hospitality and company. For our two weeks in the Philippines, we also had our own personal tour guide, Carol. Colin knew Carol, Liam, and Glenda from when he trained them in Manila 3 years ago.

A great benefit of staying with locals is getting to take local transportation. Many people in the Philippines do not drive. They take taxis, buses, trikes, jeepneys, or hire a driver for the day.

Tricycle

Jeepney

Liam's aunt hired a driver for the day and took us for a picnic near Tagaytay to a park above Taal volcano. The volcano is on a lake and also has a lake inside it. Pretty crazy. It was bit cloudy, but we still had a great view of the Lake and the volcano. We had an awesome picnic lunch which consisted of pancit, chicken, bread and cheese, spaghetti, and ice cream.

After the volcano, we visited the People's park in the sky. The park used to be where the president had his home, but after he passed away it became a public park.

    • Carol is probably the only person I've met who likes ice cream even more than I do. She said I had to try the Filipino dessert Halo Halo. It was quite sweet but was an amazing combination of textures and flavours among all the layers. From the bottom to top, it consisted of the following:Lime jello
    • Red beans
    • Jack fruit
    • Some sort of weird jelly sprout
    • Egg yolk
    • Crushed ice
    • Coconut
    • Milk
    • Cheese curds
    • Ube ice cream

Here are a few photos of food in the Philippines:

Ice cream in SM mall of Asia

Brownies in SM mall of Asia

Best Sign I've ever seen

Copyright Infringement? You decide

Here are a few photos of Liam's aunt's beautiful house:

Shower

You can view our 173 pictures here.