Explore Luzon: Tagaytay's Bulalo and Taal Volcano

I used to work in Makati (a city located in Luzon) as a hotelier 12 years ago but I have never visited nor traveled its neighboring towns or cities. For someone not familiar with the Philippine's geography, it is divided into 3 major island groups namely Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The capital is located in Luzon - Manila to be more specific.

Travelling was not my thing before. Exploring the metro via buses and train was already a daunting task, much more than the rest of the places up north. Nada! Over the years, my preferences have changed and as they say, when travel bugs bite you, you will never be the same. Unfortunately, yes, because I am living from paycheck to paycheck, spending most of my funds traveling. Lol

While waiting for our pick up

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Bonifacio Global City

Last month, we visited our college friend and decided to explore Luzon. The first in the itinerary was Tagaytay and its attractions. As soon as our friend arrived at the airport to pick us up, we immediately strolled the metro prior to our trip to Tagaytay. We went to BGC, one of Taguig's major business areas. My friend also works there. There were a lot of changes from the last time I went there. One of the experiences that amazes me was the x-zebra crossing. Sorry for being ihas (naive, haha I was not able to take a photo though.

Photo taken from BGC facebook page

There were plenty of art installations and murals almost in every few blocks. I'm not sure if these are commissioned or the work of private artists trying to paint the town beautiful.

Screengrab from google image search result

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Tagaytay City

After roaming for a few minutes, we grabbed some sandwiches from pan de manila, and off we drove to Tagaytay. I can't remember how much time we spent on the road as I was sleeping every now and then. I have not slept as I just got out from a graveyard shift at that time. Because we were starving from a long drive, our first stop was at Tagaytay's famous market that serves bulalo (beef stew) just inside the market center overlooking the meat section. Tagaytay is famous for bulalo as there are several cattle farms in the province. In fact, their beef is not expensive although I am not sure if it was a premium variety.

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Bulalohan

The food stall was located in the second floor. There were several stalls lined up occupying the entire floor. We ordered their famous bulalo and some local dishes. And by the way, Tagaytay's weather is chilly as it is situated at a high altitude. I regretted not bringing a sweater. But thanks to the stews high calorie content it made us feel warm.

So there goes the bulalo and all its grease in a huge aluminum bowl along with some cabbage and sweetcorn. It was a huge leg part with bone still intact and its marrows almost giving up. It was sumptuous but it was not good enough. I expected a lot I guess because of some great reviews I read online. And because we have the same food business back in Mindanao serving the same stew. The kare-kare is what I enjoyed the most. It was my first time eating an authentic kare-kare (according to the server) smothered in peanut goodness.

After finishing all the foods left on the table the cafeteria offered complimentary kapeng barako as a common practice among the bulaluhan in the market. Kapeng Barako is also famous in the area as the coffee variety is particularly grown in Batangas and Cavite. It was freshly brewed served with brown sugar. And you can drink all you want - for free!

After our coffee extravaganza, we explored their market looking for something locally made to bring back to the city. We were surprised that the fresh produce and fruits were very affordable. We bought a suman(steamed sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves) and some fruit.

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Taal Lake and Volcano

Tagaytay has a vantage view of the lake and volcano. Just so you know, Taal Volcano is the smallest active volcano in the world. It is located within a lake. It erupted just recently which created havoc in the surrounding communities.

source here

Because there were not a lot of parking areas nearby where we can have a view of the lake and Taal Volcano, we decided to drop by at Starbucks which has a vantage view of the lake.

It was very scenic and picturesque and dangerous at the same time. We enjoyed the view for a couple of minutes and left the place when the crowd started to build up.

If we only had the luxury of time, we could have stayed overnight. But at least we have another reason to go back.

Have you been to Tagaytay? How was your experience?

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