The Eco-adventure Trail at Tagaytay Picnic Grove

The last time Sam and I were at the Picnic Grove, we saw a wooden bridge but didn't know how to get there.

Since then, Sam has gone back and now she tells me that to get there, we follow the path through the picnic tables. I wasn't able to guess that before as the path goes down the hill.


Once we've come to the bottom of the path, I know it's called the Eco-adventure Trail because of this sign:


The path goes upward again from there, and I found myself taking a breath after some time, wondering when the trail will end.


Before long, we realized we had to cross a suspension bridge to finish the trail.

I am not fond of suspension bridges as (1) It sways, and (2) I fear that the wood is old and rotten, therefore it might break while people are crossing it. It didn't help that kids before us were stamping their way across it.

Despite my fears, I did cross it (I'm the person who went snorkeling even if I don't know how to swim, remember?).


The end of the trail is the other side of the Picnic Grove where you find the nice cottages and the View Deck Restaurant. As the name suggests, on top of the restaurant is a view deck:

As in all places in Tagaytay that has view decks, this place allows you to take a nice picture of Taal Volcano.

Tagaytay: Residence Inn Mountain Resort and Zoo

On the way to Sonya's the bus passed by a zoo. Sam and I decided to visit it next.

Residence Inn Mountain Resort and Zoo is small and more of a petting zoo. At the entrance, they sell fresh fruits and other food that the animals eat ... the animals that could be fed that is.


Parrots and cockatoos are the first animals you'd see. Some of the birds are actually out of the cage - tied loosely to their perches. Visitors can take pictures with these animals.

Past the grotto, you'll find the monkeys and apes.


This is one agitated monkey. It screams at you when you stare at it too long.


This zoo actually surrounds Residence Inn. Personally, I wouldn't choose staying at an inn which is in the middle of a zoo. How much sleep can one get if you could hear the growling of the big cats, chirping of the noisy cockatoos/parrots, and the noise the hyperactive monkeys make? Maybe the air conditioned rooms filter out the sound... maybe.

The last time I visited a zoo was when I was doing a paper for Ecology during my college freshman year and had to go to the Manila zoo. I found the place depressing because I think the big animals do not have enough space to stretch out/roam in their cages.

The animals' quarters are much smaller in Residence Inn.


The rooster and the peacock roam the place freely - they didn't need cages.


The hen roamed freely too. The pony was tied and kids can have their picture taken with him.


Seeing the llamas made me think of the Sims2 computer game.


At a lower level were bigger cages. Sam and I were both afraid of the steep hillside stairs that we never got past the owl cage.


Near the entrance is the building where the reptiles and fishes are.

This snake looked bored.


This fish has an odd hump at the back.

A tiger cub is also at the entrance ... but visitors must pay to take pictures of the tiger. If you do pay, the handler allows you to have your picture taken holding the cub.

Return to Sonya's Secret Garden

When Sam and I started talking yesterday over the phone, we were planning to just go malling today ... but I joked about going to Tagaytay ... which is why I was up early today so that we could arrive at Tagaytay before lunch. We don't own cars so we used public transportation ... as usual.

If deciding to go to Tagaytay yesterday wasn't last minute enough ... how about texting Sonya's Garden for lunch reservation while we were on the bus? You don't just walk in there ... you have to reserve a table. Placing a reservation via text will do. Hope they don't remember that last year I also made a lunch reservation about one or two hours before the timeslot I requested.

Sam has never been there so I decided that we eat lunch there - my treat. It's funny that although her mom has been there more than once, maybe knowing Sonya personally, Sam has never set foot in the place.

As Sonya's popularity hinges on word of mouth and it is not highly advertised, the bus conductor was not familiar with the place. Sonya's sign along the highway is not that big ... so there was a 50% chance that we'd miss seeing it. I was so worried we'd miss the sign that we got off the bus about a kilometer early. At first I thought Sonya's was nearby from where we got off, so we walked along the highway for a few minutes. After asking around we realized we needed to ride a jeepney.

After asking around, someone told us our destination was in Buck Estate. I forgot that Sonya's is located there. We had more luck finding people who knew where Buck Estate is than people who know about Sonya's Garden. Sonya's is not along the highway, so once you reach the entrance to Buck Estate, you take a tricycle to Sonya's.

Things to remember when commuting to Sonya's from Metro Manila: Ride a bus that passes through Alfonso Cavite. Go down at Buck Estate. Take a tricycle to Sonya's. If you are already in Tagaytay, there are jeepneys that pass through Buck Estate.

The menu's still the same from the last time I was there: You start with a bowl of salad greens with a variety of dressings/toppings to choose from. You mix your own salad. Fruit juice and bread baked from Sonya's bakery is served with the salad. Next comes a bowl of pasta, with two types of sauce and three or more toppings to choose from. Fried (?) sweet yam covered in caramelized sugar (camote cue without the stick and cut smaller) and sweet banana rolls (fancy name for a smaller version of the common turon) would be your dessert. They serve tarragon tea with dessert (hot water with a fresh sprig of tarragon).

Visited the garden after lunch.



Some plants were a bit shorter/smaller/had less flowers than the last time I was there. I told Sam that it was lovelier before the typhoon. There was a wedding reception being held in one of the "pavilions" and I realized that had the whole place been reserved for a wedding, we wouldn't get any table today. Sam is a wedding coordinator, so she's now added Sonya's to her list of wedding reception venues.

Near the entrance, Sonya's has its own bakery,


souvenir store,


SPA


and you can even buy potted herbs.


I dragged Sam towards the cottages nearby - last time I was there, only my niece and I were able to look at the place. When we returned bringing my brother and sister along, the gates were shut and we were told only those billeted inside could go in. Sam's lucky now that the gate's open (magic gate - sometimes it's open, sometimes it's not hehehe!).


Very relaxing place ... we plan to stay in one of the cottages in the future.

After taking all the pictures we want/can, we left for Tagaytay. Finding a tricycle to take you from Sonya's back to the highway takes some time though.


See next blog entry for what we did next.

:-)

Tagaytay: People's Palace in the Sky

It was nearing sundown, the family scheduled one last stop for our Tagaytay trip: Palace in the Sky.


The older folk rode a jeepney. My brother, niece and I had some workout walking up from the gate to the "palace" itself.

The sun was about to set and we all began to feel the cold. We all headed to the top, which allows guests a 360 view of Tagaytay.


We all rode a jeepney going down to the gate where the van is parked.

Sonya's Secret Garden

The family was at Taal Vista Hotel till around 1:00PM, when we began to feel hungry and my oldest sister Cely agreed to try out eating at Sonya's Garden.

It was a last minute decision, which could be a problem. To eat at Sonya's, one must make a reservation first. Sonya used to be either a client or an employee of PNB, and I had heard of her garden from office mates. The cellphone number to her place though was given by my friend Rachel who does not work at PNB. I made the reservation using my cellphone while we were boarding the van. Being everybody's first time going there, I texted Sonya's to ask for directions ... and this is how you get there:

Going to sonya's garden ... From tagaytay rutonda head towards the direction of batangas. After passing Splendido and Royal Tagaytay Estate n Sunrise Hill - make a right on Buck Estate 2km

Sender:
Sonya's G
+639175329097

Sent:
21-Jan-2006
13:25:09

We realized that Sonya's is not in Tagaytay, it is actually in Alfonso, Cavite. Because of the distance from Taal Vista Hotel to Sonya's, the restaurant had enough time to prepare a table for our group of eight (the family plus the driver).

Sonya herself decided that my dad eats for free (maybe because we were a big group and he is a senior citizen in a wheel chair), so my sister only had to pay for seven people.

We stayed at Sonya's for about two hours ... that time included eating lunch and checking out the garden.

The garden was charming.


There are many benches and chairs tucked here and there for guests to sit in.


Some resting places were actually the size of a queen size bed.


Lunch at Sonya's consisted of bread and salad first, then pasta, then dessert. For both the salad and pasta, the dressings/sauces/toppings are served, giving the guest leeway on what combination s/he prefers. Fresh fruit juice was served with the meal, and tarragon tea was served with dessert.



Every guest at Sonya's gets to eat the same stuff. The only choice is whether to order roasted chicken or not. It seems that the idea was Sonya's is a house always open to guests ... and guests can only eat what the host has prepared to serve. To add to the informal atmosphere, the china are never matched... which actually takes some planning if they want to make sure that no china used by any one guest is matched.

While waiting for the older folk to finish lunch, my brother, niece and I took a fancy to the comfort rooms. They are unisex restrooms and the one near our table was rather large.


Above is the sitting room inside the restroom.

My niece and I checked out nearby Sonya's Country Bed and Breakfast. It's two or three cottages where guests can sleep. The garden was also pretty inside and with the cottages and the garden, the effect was European. We decided that the others should see this, but when we came back with my sister and brother in tow, the gate was closed.

Since we liked the bread and the pesto spread, we bought some from Sonya's bakery before leaving.

Sonya's accepts credit card payments by the way.