Have you ever felt that need to escape the hustle and bustle of the city, the longing to see the fields and tress instead of buildings ... the serenity that only you can find in the province? I'm a city girl through and through and i can't imagine myself living in a rural area (no offense to those who live in the province - this is just me talking) but i do like to get away from city life once in a while... just to feel the unpolluted air caressing my face and the wind flirting with my hair... just to smell the grass and the raw earth... and be at one with nature.
that's why lisa and i decided to go on a road trip (to laguna in particular) friday afternoon and set to leave saturday morning. that's one of the best things i like being single, you can plan a trip in mere minutes without worries, no questions asked!
call time is at 7am but when she texted me if im already awake at around 6am i was like yeah just woke up, will just txt you when i'm ready yadda yadda and was about to go back to sleep when she texted again its raining, i was like - shit! and go over to the window and wahhhhh it cant be! we dont need the rain on this trip! nevertheless the rain didnt stop us, i was like it's only raining in manila, i'm sure it'll be sunny in laguna... guess am not a good fortune teller!
me and lisa raring to go and reach the city limits ...
see its effin rainin.. but still happy to see that we're leaving manila
already in the SLEX... still raining, have i mentioned that we really have no idea where we're going?
we planned to follow the sun or the viaje del sol which im sure you've heard before, for those who doesnt know yet...
viaje del sol is "the way of the sun" a colorful map of batangas, laguna, and quezon that has hidden treasures of cafes and restaurants, inns and country homes, and artist studios
our first itinerary is to visit the PettyJohn Pottery somewhere in Bucal and boy am glad to say that were able to reach Calamba with no problems at all (meaning we didnt get lost yet - uhmmm i forgot to mention that i am the "navigator" of this trip! so good luck)
but before anything else we have to stop at jollibee calamba crossing to have a breakfast and look who welcomed us? none other than jollibee himself! :)
yummy breakfast.. beef tapa and coffee, but wait...
i swear jollibee loves me!
after having the hearty breakfast we're set to find treasures... with a firm vow that we'll never ask for directions, we'll find these treasures on our own... yeah right! well that's where the thrill of the journey is ayt?
ok, so i guess we're lost... need the map to remind us that we're actually looking for the next turn or whatever... PettyJohn pottery is located somewhere bucal and pansol according to the map but hey, were like traveling for an hour already and still no pottery in sight! so swallowed our pride and began our "where is...." questions!
yep this is at pansol, the hot spring bed of laguna with colorful array of donuts in the road
uhmm at this point i can't count anymore how many times we got lost and asked for directions! so it seems we're way too far now to look for the pottery so decided to reach san pablo and look for kusina ni salud
too bad it never stopped raining so we cant go out and play in the fields as planned...
we were like traveling for quite some time now and realized we're heading in the wrong direction! we're like oh i think this isnt the place.. we'll just notice we're lost - noting that there are no other vehicle ont he road just us - and giggle like fools - but at least our instincts can tell us that we're on the wrong track!
tracing our way back and decided to pull over here... if laguna have mmda's on the road, boy we surely have gotten tons of tickets for those illegal parking and turns we've made!
i am surprised and quite happy that these folks knows this so and so place, so when we stop and ask for direction they willingly help us, guess we really look helpless and lost or maybe they think we're some stupid city gurls!
yehey! finally we we're able to find san pablo!
one of the funniest "where is..." we have is when i was askin where can we find kusina ni salud, and the man was like, kusin ni san luis daw! the other man said mali, lusina daw! LOL we cant help but laugh and then an old lady butt in and helped us and say we're way over off the track...
so finally we're able to reach the street where we can find the elusive kusina ni salud, about time i'd say since we're like travelling for almost 3hours already! yeah 3 hours from calamba to san pablo... go figure how we're able to do that! ;)
nice carabao but a bit snobbish i think...
hmmm lil did i know that am going to eat his kind at kusina ni salud... sorry kalabaw!
the tiring journey and the quest to find kusina ni salud is all worth it i'm telling you... but i just have to post all about it tom.
meron kaya halimaw sa banga? if you'd notice they do have a mini aviary and would love to check out the garden but since it was raining we just headed inside to eat, after all we are already starving!
entrance
main lobby
reception, old school fon o. i really like the place they have lots of antique carved wood figurines
ok so we ordered their best seller, carabao salpicao... first time to eat carabao meat and it is delicious and tender, you should try it if you're going to visit kusina salud
also tried their seafood karekare
food trip... also included in their specialty is fiddlehead fern (pako) salad! of course we didnt ordered that one! :) i also loved their iced tea pandan flavored.
yosi sa silong, busog na
another dining table for a big group, it just seem that we're the only patron in the photos but i'm telling yah, they do have lots of customers... this table was just cleared when i took the photo
smoking area, not allowed to smoke inside the house itself
the smiling buddha
staircase, customers not allowed to go upstairs, didnt bother to ask why so just ask them yourself when you get there ok and get back to me ;)
big window, i really love these kind of old school windows
igorot
nude gurl
leading to patio
i'm fascinated with those heads hanging in the post
still checkin out the heads
heads uli
altar
buddha
my friend lisa here is praying to buddha - help her find a boyfriend!
a bit crazy sometimes but she's sane i can vouch for that! minimum qualification - guys with masteral degree, PhD after your name is a big plus... for further inquiries drop me a note, i only get 10% commission here. LOL
oh btw you can download the viaje del sol map here, after you reach any of the places included in the itinerary for the viaje del sol, they will give you a big and colorful map as a guide and will also help you in giving directions how to go to the next stop... which in our case is the sampaloc lake
