Villa Escudero- A day tour

Villa Escudero Plantations was originally a sugar plantation but converted to coconut plantation. It's a 2.5hour ride by bus from Manila and it is just located after the arc of Tiaong Quezon


The plantation opened its doors as a resort in 1981offering village tours, museum tour, food and accommodations. One can experience Philippine culture and history in a beautiful rural setting.

The reception area is spacious and has this nice lighting in native materials.

After paying the fee at the reception they will give you stubs to the museum, carabao cart and food.. You can start your tour and  proceed first to the church turned museum. Bags and cameras are not allowed inside the museum.  However, smartphone is allowed for calls only and no picture taking or video recording.

A church converted into a museum houses a vast collection of religious artifacts, Chinese porcelain, antique furniture, ethnic clothing and costumes, memorabilia from World War II, clothes of Philippine presidents, butterflies.

After the museum, you will ride a carabao driven cart complete with singing female staff accompanied by a guitar played by a male staff. You will pass some rice fields and coconut trees and arrive at the pathway to the waterfalls where you will have your lunch.

They also have bamboo rafting activity. Labasin lake is about 30ft deep and you need to have a vest when doing the activity.

Two new large swimming pools are also available to adult guests. There is a small pool and water activities for the kids.

The resort is perfect for nature lovers; it is clean and well kept and lots of greeneries.

How to get to Villa Escudero:

Public Ride
Take a bus bound for Lucena at Buendia MRT station. Fare is Php140. Tell the conductor to drop you off Villa Escudero. Cross the main road and ride a tricycle to take you to the resort. Fare is Php50

Private Car
Drive all the way to Sto Tomas Batangas, turn left at the junction , drive all the way towards Quezon, passing SM City Lucena. Slow down upon seeing the Arc to Tiaong , turn left on the marker of the resort. Follow the dirt road to the reception.

Chasing Waterfalls - Aliw Falls, Laguna 2017

For our chasing waterfalls activity, we went to Aliw Falls in Lousiana, Laguna on May 1, 2017 which is a public holiday.

We hopped on a JAC Liner bus at their Buendia terminal. Bus bound for Sta Cruz Laguna cost Php140. Passing thru Pansol, Calamba , we encountered a stop and go traffic due to influx of people to the hot spring resorts. Took us at least 3 hours getting to Sta Cruz. From Sta Cruz, we hopped on to a Lucban bound jeepney. Fare is 30 pesos if I remembered it right. We told the driver to drop us at Dafi Resort in Brgy San Jose which is our jump off point. We passed by Brgy San Salvador where Hulugan Falls is located. You can do Aliw Falls after Hulugan Falls as the distance between the two barangays is about a kilometer.

From the main road, you need to walk around 50 meters to get to Dafi Resort.

We saw parking space for at least 5 cars. We registered at the resort for our trek to the falls.

There is no fixed registration fee just a donation. We donated Php100. We were assigned a guide. His name is Danny. There is no fixed guide fee. Fee is from your heart whatever you feel is right. We decided to give our guide Php400.

The trek to Aliw Falls is fairly easy, path is not steep unlike at Hulugan Falls with 70-80 degrees angle. Kuya Danny's children can even negotiate the rocks by themselves.

The path is shady, lots of bamboo trees and there are patches of rice fields.  Our hike was more or less 20 minutes. The trail is dry and easy to navigate with some gentle slopes. Wearing a sturdy and no slip shoes is advisable especially during rainy season.  Upon reaching the waterfalls, we noticed that the cascades was not strong simply because it was in the middle of summer. However, Kuya Danny has advised his fellow guides to open the dam located on top of the waterfalls. And the cascades slowly began to pour more. According to Kuya Danny, during summer time, they collect the water atop the waterfalls so that when visitors come in summer there would be strong cascades. This way the visitors would enjoy the cool cascading waters.

The catch basin is about 17 foot deep. Need to have floaters in case you dont know how to swim like me. Also, you can jump from one of the cliffs onto the basin.

Our guide showed the path to the second tier which has a little steep angle but still manageable. At the second tier, we enjoyed the strong water falling on our heads. It was so refreshing.

At the third tier lies flat surface. The area is safer and you can roam around. There are small wading holes where you can just dip and relax.

We spent 3 hours at the waterfalls. We went back to the resort to bathe and change clothes. Shower fee is Php15 and toilet fee P5.

We left the resort and headed to the main road and there are stalls selling rice cakes.
We bought 3 pieces sticky rice cakes topped with cheese for Php100

We were very delighted going to Aliw Falls. It's off our bucket list.  Till our next waterfalls

My Singapore Food Trip

Singapore is a haven for food lovers. Food choices abound; hawkers and kopitiam serve delicious local dishes..

At a hawker's place beside Clementi Mall , we tried the grilled stingray in sambal sauce.

We also ordered grilled squid and kangkong in sambal sauce.

Grilled Squid

Kangkong in sambal sauce

For black papper crab, squid rings, cereal prawn and carrot cake, we headed  to Makansutra beside Esplanade. You will have choices of good food and best view of Marina Bay.

black pepper crab

cereal prawn

Here are the other delicious dishes I tried.

Ban Mien is popular among locals . It's noodle with hot broth topped with scrispy ikan ( fried fish fry)

Bak Kut Teh - is a soup brewed with pork ribs dash with complete herbs , spices and garlic. The super tender meat is delicious and best eaten with steamed rice. Song Fa located across Clark Quay station is the more popular restaurant serving bak kut teh.

Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee - a stir-fried noodle dish cooked in aromatic stock made of pork bones and prawn heads. This noodle dish  has juicy prawns, squid, pork belly strips, egg that makes the dish taste extra good. Sambal chili goes well with this noodle as well as a squeeze of lemon for that added zest.

Chendol - a popular dessert can be found in many kopitiam. The basic ingredients are little green jelly noodles, red beans, mochi, grass jelly, corn, shaved ice, smothered with palm sugar syrup. This is a refreshing dessert.

Cheese tart by Crystal Jade - chewy  pastry is balanced between crisp and soft center.

Salted egg tart - buttery, creamy and the salted egg is not that too salty, blends well with the cheese.

Fish ball noodle soup- can be found in all kopitiams. The more popular Eat foodchain serves the noodle in light broth with fish ball and fish cake. Season it with fish sauce and chili for added kick.

Ice Kachang- shaved ice with grass jelly at the bottom,  topped with red beans and drizzled with milk , gula melaka syrup and three neon colored syrup.

 Katsudon - I was surprised to see an Ippudo outlet while waiting for my flight at Changi Airport.
This bowl of rice topped with a deep fried pork cutlet, egg and sprinkled with green shallots and japanese soy sauce is filling. Pork topping was tender and delicious.

You will never go hungry when in Singapore. For sure, there are kopitiam and cafes near your place.

V Hotel Lavender -Good location but small room

Conveniently located directly above Lavender MRT Station, V Hotel is a 20-minute train ride away
from Changi International Airport Terminal 2 via green line. Alight at Tanah Merah station and change to train going to Joo Koon also on the green line.

Hotel lobby is spacious and since check in is 2pm, you can leave your luggage at the concierge if you happen to arrive early. You can explore the surroundings , check where to dine and shop.

 There is a Kopitiam / foodcourt beside the hotel. Subway, Burger King, Toast Box are just across the hotel. Foreign currency exchange is just outside the hotel lobby.  Walking through a building across you will find Fair Price which is a popular supermarket.

Each floor is accessible only with an electronic card key which is also your room's key.

The double room is quite small. It has the regular amenities like

- Mini refrigerator and hairdryer
- In-room electronic safe

- Soft but firm spring mattress
- Quality linen and bed spreads
- Complimentary toiletries and bathroom slippers
- Complimentary beverages (tea, coffee and bottled water)
- Tea-making facilities

Room also has WiFi Internet access. You need to pay additional SGD 10 a day should you want a city view.

Toilet and bathroom is clean and water pressure is good. There is no bidet though.

Hotel restaurant and swimming pool are located at level 4. The pool is for adult only at 5foot deep.

 Sleep quality is good and staff are cheerful.

Will likely to stay in V Lavender Hotel again.