An average day in Tagatay...

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Tagatay was our next destination and an easy transition from Baguio - Manila and then Manila - Tagatay. It was the usual ordeal of not having any idea where we needed to get dropped off when asked by the bus conductor so we got dumped in the plaza and wandered around looking a bit lost until some kind local helped us find our way!

For the first time ever we purchased a local country SIM card and were really glad we had on this occasion as the accommodation in Tagatay is spread out along the supervolcano wall in a long line covering about 8km. With our handy phone (the wonders of modern technology!) we were able to call the guesthouse we'd selected to see if they had any rooms before we jumped in a never-ending tricycle ride. Accommodation here is a fait bit higher than we're used to, make that a fair bit more than we've paid on our whole trip but wow what a room we got for our 1,000PHP a night. We opted for the cheapest guesthouse we could find so this gives you an idea on just how much it was at just over £13 a night but the standard was among the best we've had on our trip so we certainly didn't grumble.

The room was quite small but fitted in it was a lovely new bed with a duvet.. yes an actual duvet... 4.. yes four plump pillows, a tv, a fridge (complete with shop priced drinks), a dressing table and a table and chairs but this was not it.. yes there is more... in the adjoining fully tiled in coordinating tiles bathroom was a sink.. complete with both cold and hot taps, flushing toilet (with toilet paper seat and lid) and the best of all... a super posh hot 6 jet spray plus two showerhead shower.

Ok so this all sounds a bit run of the mill to people sat back at home with their baths and showers, but for backpackers you normally make do with a handmade bed with a 1cm matress, two flat stained pillows and a sheet that isn't big enough for 2 people. The room accessories are normally a nail to hang your clothes on, and maybe a chair, and in the bathroom a cold showerhead at the end of a hose, a sink with one cold wobbly tap if your lucky (and no sink and no tap if you're not!) a toilet with a bucket of water to flush it, no seat and very rarely toilet paper so as far as we were concerned this room may have well been a 5* hotel and we were going to make the most of it! To top it all off they only offered meals as room service (with no service charge) so we didn't have to leave the comfort of our room to eat our yummy food washed down with the contents of beer from our room fridge. Yep we lived the high life for our 2 nights there!

But we'd really come to see the Taal Lake & volcanos that live in it so we had to drag ourselves out of our room for our one and only full day there to go and see what we'd actually made the journey here to see. After a relaxed room service breakfast in bed we took a walk down to the jeepney junction to try and get a ride to Talisay the small town nearest to the volcano islands inside Taal Lake. After shunning the tricycle riders offers of a lift we'd intended to get a jeepney down to the bottom but after walking a little way we decided it was such a nice day that we'd walk the 5km downhill to stretch our legs a bit. It was a really nice but steep walk past some very strategically placed houses making the most of the panoramic lake view.

We got about 2/3 of the way down then saw a turnoff to what we thought might be a viewpoint. We'd made a decision on the way down that we'd actually skip the boat ride to the volcano itself and just enjoy the views from the lakeside. The turnoff led to what we think was an old resort which now resembled a ghost town, and the road down to it was so steep we practically had to run to stop ourselves from rolling down there. This all turned out to be a waste of time anyway because the views weren't what we'd hoped and we had to walk straight back up again which really took it out of us after the 6 hour uphill trek the day before. By this point we were pretty much volcano viewed out anyway so waited by the shops for the promised frequent jeepney to take us back up to Tagatay as we really couldn't face the walk.

Honestly, this area is nice but it's not quite the awe inspiring views we'd thought it would be. Maybe it was because it was quite hazy or maybe when we compare it to the views we saw at Mt Bromo which has a sort of similar multiple volcanos inside a supervolcano layout but without the lake, things just can't quite measure up. With the afternoon to fill we opted to walk back to our guesthouse to get in some more exercise in the sunshine and see the lake & volcano view from a few different angles as we went along, the clouds had really come down by this time though so we didn't get to see a lot more which was a shame so retreated back to our super room to watch some tv and wait until it was time to order our dinner!

The following day we left to go back to Manila, something we never look forward to but we needed to run a few errands while we were there and it was only for one night before we had to catch the ferry to our next long awaited destination of... Palawan...

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Comments

[Aries and Rinka]

I was laughing a lot when you started describing a standard hotel room, like it was a luxury villa. Guess, it was really a long time since you guys had a decent lodging. Your blog are always a fun read!

[ella]

visit mt.pinatubo :)