Blogs from Lake Taal, Philippines, Asia

Admittedly, it was probably a mistake to party till 6:30 AM after 2 days of flying on my first night in Manila. Especially since my plan was to wake up at 8 Am to ride a horse up a volcano in the town of Tagaytay and Lake Tal. So, I was going to go to sleep 9ish, which turned into a couple of beers with the French and Canadians in the hostel, which turned into a few more beers, and then a ridiculously belligerent cab ride to republic club accompanied with belligerent French songs the whole way. The club was sweet. 600 Pesos cover ($15 - more than I ever spent in Austin to get into a club and in the Philippines, that's an average day's salary). Dancing and drinking with the locals and fellow travellers, ... read more

Lake Taal,Tagaytay. Christmas Eve was at Lake Taal in Tagaytay with Squish's family. For those of you who are not aware, Taal is the world's smallest active volcano. Having said that – it is in a lake formed in the caldera of an older (“now dormant/extinct”) volcano. I'd been here before (2000) but had only seen it from the upper edge of the caldera (and Google Maps of course), but this time we stayed at a resort on the shores of the lake. Quite a different experience. Met a retired United pilot (Rick) who is the resident expert on Taal (I know because he told me several times) who told me that Taal is a lake within a lake within a lake – 3 lakes in all. We made do with seeing one. Rick is also ... read more

Die Nachtbusfahrt von Vigan nach Manila (600 P) dauerte zehn Stunden. Wir kamen durchgefroren vor Tagesanbruch in Sampaloc an und nahmen gleich ein Taxi zum Friendly’s Guesthouse, unserer freundlichen Oase in Malate. Die Betten im Fan Dorm waren leider ausgebucht (von einer Gruppe junger amerikanischer Missionare, ugggh), aber wir bekamen noch zwei Betten im ac Dorm für 340 Pesos. Wir gaben lediglich unser Gepäck ab, da nach dem verbummelten Tag in Vigan ein straffes Programm mit einem Tagestrip zum Lake Taal, 60 km südlich von Manila, anstand. Wir fuhren mit dem LRT nach Pasay und bekamen gleich Anschluss nach Tanauan (1 Stunde, 98 P). Von Tanauan nahmen wir einen Jeepney nach Talisay (30 min, 25 P), am Ufer des Sees. Hier mussten wir eine Banca chartern für den zwanzig minütigen Trip zur Vulkaninsel im See. Das ... read more

After our very scary trip across the ocean we decided to stay put in Batangas at the nearest available accommodation, Travellers Inn. The accommodation worked out fine even though it had a very strange policy, where you were charged your room price for 16 hours on the first night, and anything over that was extra. We didn't complain, thankful to have a room with electricity, our first proper wash for a couple of days and even better a tv. Batangas proved to be a very lively town with lots of people bustling about. We were both a little bit intimidated at first as many locals were staring at us. We remedied this by smiling at people and often the stares would turn into smiles and acknowldegement. Maybe the locals are curious as to what you're doing ... read more