We later found out that Sonya has a book published no where but here. She insists that it is personal and that's why it can only be found at Sonya's Garden. My mom decided to buy two issues, one for her and one for my dad's client. When we purchased the books, the lady asked us to stay there for a while. We were puzzled. Stay here? What for?? She explained that she's going to get Sonya herself so that she can AUTOGRAPH the book personally. Whoah! It was that personal to her. Not just that, we got to choose from a variety of scented inks and coloured wax seals. That was another pleasant surprise. Unfortunately I didn't snap any photos; my sister did that. Then Sonya suggested we try the food out here.
So heeding her advice, we went to check out the food. They had this buffet offer, which costs some RM50 if you were to convert it to our currency. But this people were all incredibly health conscious: all they had in the menu was spaghetti and greens, NO MEAT whatsover.
We gave up and snuck out quietly so that the waiter didn't notice us. They had already served us drinks.
Then we tried to go to Breakfast at Antonio's, which was the only restaurant to make it to the Top 50 list of best restaurants in Asia. It was the only place in all of Tagaytay where no Filipino was dining there. I got skeptical. And then we saw the menu. Hot dang, it was expensive!! A drink alone was equivalent to one and a half meals somewhere else!
My grandmother and granduncle admiring the wall of photos there
So we again, ditched the place and headed to Jerry's Grill instead. They had, again, nice food there and we were stuffed. Juan told us that the restaurant will have a Halo-Halo (THE BEST DESSERT I'VE TAKEN) on the house if it was your birthday. But all our birthdays are months away. So my father claimed that day to be his birthday. We all kept mum. Typical Malaysians. Hahaha!
Day Four
Thursday, we went to another distant place suggested by Juan as Tagaytay was getting monotonous already. I didn't catch where we were heading, so the place we visited still escapes my mind. Something like Escudero Mansion. It took us some 3 hours or so to get there. But we had a
carabao (bull) cart to bring us around the whole compound. At the back of the carriage sat this elderly couple who provided the live music to serve the occasion. They sang rather beautifully olden classics like "You Are My Sunshine" and "月亮代表我的心" (yep, they knew the song). It was nice at first, until my sister and grandmother joined in. Then it got a little... annoying. Ah Mah, you know I love you a boatload but it was a bit (I stress, a bit) hair-pulling to hear you and my little chipmunky sister singing.
Then we had a buffet lunch
at a man-made dam. It was very unique of an experience (but a pricey one!). The rocks were slippery due to the moss and I cursed myself for not wearing my slippers. I was terrified when guiding my grandmother across the stream. A small slip would spell disaster for her aging body. Nevertheless, it was very soothing to feel calm, cool water rushing fast your feet. Very serene.
The whole bunch, kung-fu mom attached
We were stuffed when we left and the staffs there kindly gave us copious amounts of tissue paper to dry our feet. To make matters more interesting, my grandmother asked them for more tissue paper - in Malay! Boy was that awkwardly funny.
Then we visited the museum there. It was started by the Escudero family, who were closely tied to the Americans when they occupied Philippines, according to the tour guide. The current generation of the Escudero branch is the sixth and they still reside in that exact estate. Photography was prohibited so I couldn't take any pictures. But the entire ground floor hosted tons of Jesus Christ statues from churches all across the nation. The second floor showcased the antiques from the past century, like Ming vases and other commodities bartered in the early days. They even have the clothing of the nation's leaders and patriots such as Emilio Aguinaldo and Jose Rizal. I also took some opportunity to flex some History know-how.
We then hit a shopping mall for dinner. We finally had out hands on some Jolibee and god it was SUBLIME for fast food! Juan was once a manager there and he revealed to us that their policy of keeping food fresh was responsible for making them the fast food powerhouse in the country. He said that if the chicken is not sold in 15 minutes, they'll dispose of them. And the food is actually as good as Carl's Jr.!
Day Five
We felt that Tagaytay had nothing more to offer so we headed to Manila since they have cheap motels which can be rented for half a day. So we first went to shop around a little where I took the opportunity to get the
polvoron molds from the Goldilocks store there. It would be one of the most epic scenes of my life. That event can be broken down to four stages, each stage represented by a worker I talked to.
Stage One
I went to the lady working at the cashier and I asked: "Do you sell
polvoron molds?". She looked past me at the rack selling
polvorons and pointed there. "Ah,
polvoron.", she said. "No, no. The molds." I replied showing the action. She just frowned and asked me to confront another lady.
Stage Two
The next lady worked at the custom cake making and delivery department, so I presumed her command of English may help me out.
I asked the same question, adding "the one used to make the
polvoron itself" at the back of that question. She mistook shape for flavor and replied: "Ah, chocolate." and pointed to the rack beside me. So I proceeded to Stage Three.
Stage Three
Back to the counter I went. I asked her the same question from Stage Two and added (again) another "it's to create the shape". She replied: "Yea, only oval shape." I rephrased the question and she just pointed to the basket of
polvoron on the counter. She got puzzled and went to the back to get more help.
Stage Four
Along came this young woman with gloves from the bakery at the back. I tiredly asked her. And she (surprisingly) gave me a straightforward answer: "No we don't." And that concludes my quest for the
polvoron molds.
Then we went to the seaside to witness the sunset. Here are some pics I took with my phone.
And here are some of the sunset.
Then we went to this huge shopping complex known as the Mall of Asia. Seeing it in person, I could understand why. It was easily FOUR TIMES LARGER than One Utama here. And we were just in time to witness their fireworks display. It was wonderful, however due to the dark surroundings, I deemed it the Night of a Thousand Flashbangs. I managed only three photos as my phone's camera has no proper scene mode for night photos, not to mention the slow shutter speed.
Inside, they have a ice rink where we witnessed an amateur ice hockey tournament. We also bumped into this shop called Spoofs. They sell shirts with - you guessed it - spoofs on them. Like the Got Fatter (instead of God Father) and Fart and Furious. I got the one which says Facebulok (bulok - inferior in Tagalok) and my sister got Twoilet (from Twilight).
And then... nothing much significant happened besides the shopping and the sleeping at the motel.
Day Six
We woke up and had to board the flight already... So we said our goodbyes to Juan, and he gave my brother his jersey he wore during the Petronas 3-on3 basketball competition he participated in years ago, autograph included.
And THAT! Ends my month-long post. Hope you guys didn't burn your eyes out reading this. You can also check out
part one,
part two and
part three of pictures taken by my sister. Though it may contain lots of useless pictures, no offense. Cheers. And till the next trip, happy reading.
Wonder - Dan Black