Kat – Page 7 – Katrina Karen

Chasing Cherry Blossoms in South Korea

April 23, 2019

by Kat with 3 Comments Travel

Annyeonghaseyo! My friend, Gail, and I initially planned to go to Japan for cherry blossom season. We have been waiting for good deals for airfares but we have not found something that fits my budget. Then, this photo appeared on my Facebook feed.

This got me thinking: How about Korea? The country has cherry blossoms. With this package tour, we did not have to worry a thing. Or, so we think! Ha! We have been DIY travelers. I have traveled with Gail to Coron, Bacolod, Iloilo, Siargao, Taal and Taiwan. We have relied on our research skills in planning for these trips. Oh, let me rephrase. I have relied on Gail’s research skills in planning for these trips. No travel agency, we booked our own plain tickets, hotels and what-nots. Not having the control can be daunting for us. It was reassuring for me that it was Globelink who took care of us. My cousin owns the travel agency and I know her well. It would be easy to just sit and relax and let them do their job. And yet, we still bombarded them with a thousand and one questions through texts, emails and messenger because we, as travelers, were built that way. We were giddy excited and just wanted know everything. Hahaha! Thank you, Globelink, for your patience.

This was also the first time for me to travel to a country that requires visa for Filipinos. Waiting for the visa application results was nerve-wracking. I couldn’t continue planning for the trip with that cloud over our heads- that they could deny me that visa. Thankfully, we were granted visas. We were really only after the cherry blossoms. The Philippines is too beautiful a country to leave behind for long.

Anyway, back to South Korea. We strategically chose travel dates when the cherry blossoms would possibly start to bloom. There weren’t much forecasts on Korea’s cherry blossoms so we just picked the first week of April.

We arrived at the Incheon airport in South Korea at 10:30 P.M. The airport was huge. We had to ride a train and walk thousands of steps just to get to immigration, get our bags and look for our guide. We had to wait for others in our tour group, too. There were 43 of us in the tour group.

Early April in Korea is cold. It was really cold. That blast of cold wind greeted me as we stepped out of the airport doors to wait for our bus. We actually did our research. Temperature forecast was around 14 to 18 degrees Celsius. I figured that would be “aircon” weather. I have been to Baguio earlier this year; the temperature dropped to single digits and I survived with layers of clothes. I figured I could handle early spring in Korea. Nah! If only I brought enough coats and jackets! I brought only 1 coat! Talk about traveling light! But I am a trooper so I just winged it and still had fun.

Our spirits were still up while waiting for our hotel room assignment. Gail’s mom and her mom’s friend also traveled with us.

The room was clean and the bed was comfy. We had a heated toilet with a bidet that worked with only a push of a button! No more tabo (dipper)!

We woke up to this view. We were near some port area near the Yellow Sea.

But not for long! We were off to Nami Island for sightseeing.

Nami Island is popular with Filipinos because it was the backdrop of ‘Winter Sonata’, a K-drama shown in the Philippines. I have only watched 4 K-dramas so far. Three of which I watched in the early 2000s and I hardly remember the scenes so everything is new to me.

We found cherry blossoms in Nami Island!

The advantage of having a package tour is that you do not have to worry about meals (except for 2 dinners and 1 lunch). There was buffet breakfast every day. And lunch was also arranged. These were our meals during the entire tour.

We made a quick stop at the Soyang River Skywalk.

We also visited the Sokcho Fish Market.

We made a quick photo session with the cherry blossoms lining the streets because we almost forgot them when we spent some time inside the market.

Oh we bought fresh strawberries and our guide gave us face masks so we used them that night at the hotel. We stayed in a new accommodation nearer to the Seorak mountain, where we were off the next day.

The Seorak mountain range was magnificent!!!

We did not find cherry blossoms there but there were pretty magnolias.

Look at all those tourist buses!

The guide, Mr Park, showed us where we should take pictures with the cherry blossoms. They lined along the highway going to the Seorak mountain.

And so we took a lot of photos.

This was a dream come true for me!

Next stop was Everland. Our guide called it the 2nd best theme park in the world. It was the Korean version of Disneyland. Because we had only a few hours to spare here we quickly searched for the Four Seasons garden after having lunch.

Look at all these tulips!

We also went to a safari ride where the bus went near tigers, lions and brown bears.

We rode the sky gondola ( I forgot what it was called) and the cable car.

And off we went to Seoul! I took of this cherry blossom while on the tour bus.

Our first stop on our 3rd day of the trip was the ginseng museum.

I did not know that it takes 6 years for ginseng to mature and, after harvesting, the land where it was planted on would not be used for 10 years because the ginseng already absorbed all the nutrients. Thus, the Korean ginseng they were showing us was very expensive – top of the line. It was supposed to prevent/cure many diseases. I already forgot what ginseng does. All I know is that it is good for the body. My thoughts were on the price- around 200 thousand pesos for the premium one. The cheapest was around 35 thousand pesos, I think. I still cannot afford. Ha!

As part of the tour, we were also toured to the red pine tree shop that sold some medicines and the cosmetics duty-free. The back of my hand was so smooth after trying Korean skincare! As much as I would love to have those products they were demonstrating to us, they were way beyond my budget. I only bought face masks at the cosmetic duty free. I think that if we had done the DIY route, we could have visited other tourists spots instead of these shops. I was not built for shopping but it was an interesting tour nevertheless.

We visited the National Folk Museum. We learned about their culture and traditions.

We saw some cute girls in hanbok.

We hung out at the Cheonggyecheon stream. We ate some Korean street food. We did not stay longer because it was sooo cold.

There was supposed to be a nearby monument of King Sejong, who invented the Korean characters but it was too cold to walk towards the monument so we went to the mall where there was ample heating. Ha!

Night time was free time. It was also the time we planned to meet our high school friends. Since we were staying in Myeongdong area and it was more than an hour before our agreed meetup with friends, we decided to visit the Myeongdong Cathedral first. It was beautiful.

We were able to catch the end part of a mass. It was in Korean though. It was still early so we decided that we roamed a little in Myeondong shopping area. Gail and I walked ahead while her mom and her mom’s followed behind. There were crowds and crowds of shoppers and when we glanced at them, we lost them. What supposed to be a leisurely stroll turned into a manhunt!!! Ha! We retraced our steps and we did not find them. We went back to the hotel and found our high school friends waiting for us. We told them about losing Gail’s mom and we got them involved in the search. Still, we did not find them. We just decided that we eat dinner and hoped that Gail’s mom and her mom’s friend would find their way back to the hotel.

We walked back to the hotel after dinner and Gail found her mom in her hotel room. I could hear myself sigh in relief.

This was a memorable night! Glad to see you, Popay and Clint! Thank you for enduring the search!

On our last day in South Korea, we went to the Namsan tower.

We can actually see the tower when we went to the rooftop of our hotel.

It was grand up close especially with the canopy of trees.

There is a wide open area on top where we could see the Seoul skyline.

We also went to Deoksugung Palace. Many Korean dramas were filmed here but my only concern was to have a photo with the cherry blossoms here.

And here, too. So pretty!!!

This was the grandest one I have seen in this trip.

We also went to the seaweed museum where we learned how to make gimbap.

Of course, I also got to wear the hanbok, a traditional Korean dress.

Last stop was outlet shopping. Since shopping was not in my list, we just hung out with our LINE friends. I actually use LINE to chat with some of my friends.

And just like that, the vacation ended. We said goodbye to our tour guide, Mr. Park. He could already go home to his family after spending the week touring us around.

Kamsahamnida, South Korea!

The compilation of the videos I took during the trip is now up on my YouTube channel.

How I Got an Item Replaced through Shopee

March 4, 2019

by Kat with 3 Comments Good Finds

I started online shopping several years ago when Zalora started their business in the Philippines. They offered free shipping then with no minimum amount of purchase so I ordered the cheapest shirt they sold and I got my order the following day. I have been ordering online since then. I even ordered from merchants on Facebook where I had to deposit my payment first before getting the item. I even ordered my camera online where I had to asked the merchant to refund me because the item was not yet on stock. I was at the mercy of the degree of honesty of the merchant. The amount was returned in full. Yes, the Php 26,000 I deposited to their account. Shoutout to DBGadgets!

I have never encountered receiving an incorrect item until a month ago. I ordered a foundation from L’Oreal’s official store on Shopee. (Why I ordered makeup is another story.) I was surprised to get a box that is bigger than expected. When I opened this is what I got.

A hair dye.

I do not color my hair. I had no use for this. I was already imagining the inconvenience I have to go through. I should have bought the foundation from the mall.

This is what I have to go through to get this replaced.

I was bent on just returning the item and getting a refund since there is no option for replacement. I immediately clicked on the return/refund button in Shopee. I printed the return slip that looks like this.

I was given three days to return the item through MLhuillier. I found the time to go to MLhuillier only on the second day after I printed the return slip. When I was already at MLhuillier trying to hand the package, the staff told me that they no longer accept returns. So I went home thinking if I should start dyeing my hair. hahaha

But I knew that it was not my fault that they delivered incorrectly and that I deserved to be refunded if they could not replace it.

So I emailed Shopee. I anticipated that I would not get a prompt response since they only promised to reply within 24 hours. The system only allows me to return within 3 days and my item’s due date is the following day.

I called the hotline. It was busy. So I used that chat option in the app. In just a few seconds of waiting, someone was replying for Shopee. I went as far as going to another MLhuillier branch as suggested and still the return was not accepted. The customer service agent on the other end assured me that I will not pay for shipping back the item. They would just arrange in their end how to go about the retrieval of the item given that MLhuillier no longer accepts them.

While I lodging my complaint to Shopee, I also sent a complaint to L’Oreal thru chat . Knowing that it was their mistake, they offered to replace the item.

They said they would arrange the retrieval of the item and replace it with the correct one. For this to happen, I had to cancel my refund request and just arrange everything with the seller (L’Oreal). As a precaution, I extended my Shopee guarantee as a protection. “Shopee Guarantee is a feature that protects buyers and sellers against fraudulent transactions to keep mobile shopping and selling safe and easy. Shopee Guarantee protects users by withholding the payment to Sellers until the Buyer confirms the receipt of the order. Once the Buyer accepts the order, the payment will be released to the Seller.” By extending, I still have the option to have the product refunded.

Three days after arranging this, the courier came to pickup the item. By this time, the Shopee guarantee extension already expired. The item is no longer with me and I can no longer refund if they fail to deliver the replacement. It was a 485-peso risk. I was willing to risk it to check how reliable they are. I had only 485 pesos to lose but L’Oreal will lose future sales from me if they fail to replace.

I kept asking for updates to let them know I am still waiting for the replacement.

Lo and behold, I got the item on February 27, 25 days after I ordered it.

Shopee and L’Oreal get virtual brownie points from me for giving me feedback every step of the way.

While I may have a positive outcome with my experience with online shopping, I cannot guarantee all sellers are like this. I am just sharing to let you know that replacement of online order is possible and there are several channels you can course through the complaint.

How I Almost Missed a Trip to Islas de Gigantes

October 27, 2018

by Kat with One Comment Travel

My trip to Iloilo in September 2018 was booked in November 2017 through a promo fare of Cebu Pacific. The one-way trip from Cagayan de Oro to Iloilo only cost me Php 440. Not bad, right? I figured it was a flexible and cheaper route for me compared to flying from Butuan to Cebu and flying again from Cebu to Iloilo. The plan was to meet my friend, Gail, in Iloilo. Gail would be flying from Davao on the same day. Both of us would arrive in Iloilo in the morning of September 18.

The plan seemed perfect until February came. We both got emails from Cebu Pacific informing us of flight changes. Gail’s flight was moved to a 6 PM departure time. She would arrive in Iloilo in the evening. She was thinking of having the trip refunded since we would not able to see a lot of Iloilo given the shortened trip. She was also concerned I would be waiting for her the entire day. But then, I also got an email about my flight. My flight would arrive in the evening. There was an option to cancel and have the tickets refunded. We were thinking about that but we figured that promo fare prices kept increasing each year. We would not be able to book this trip at a bargain again. Plus, it did not cost much. We might regret not getting this short break. We still had 8 months to plan the trip.

Gail is a superb planner and trip organizer. I had always wanted to go to Islas de Gigantes but I thought it was not possible with our schedule. Without considering the arrival and departure days, we only had two full days in Iloilo and the port for the boat ride to the Islas de Gigantes was three hours away but Gail had managed to fit the trip into the schedule. She was able to find a glamping resort with island hopping, land tours and full board meals. She fixed all our itineraries and the Airbnb bookings. She had a list of food places to try in Iloilo. She also managed to invite another friend so we have more fun. The more, the merrier, right?

Everything was in order. I was excited for this trip.

So I packed my things in the afternoon of September 17. I saved my plane tickets in my phone. For some reason, I reviewed my ticket and my heart skipped a beat. Alas! My flight was not only changed from morning to evening but also there was a change of date from September 18 to September 19. I missed looking at the date when I was notified about the change. This meant that I would miss one whole day in Iloilo! We already booked and paid for the reservations. If I fly on September 19, not only would I miss the Isla de Gigantes trip, I would have to book a hotel in Iloilo for the night (and alone at that) because my friends would be in the islands. So I decided to say goodbye to my Php 440 ticket and booked the same flight as Gail. This meant that I would be taking an 8-hour bus ride to Davao and fly from Davao to Iloilo in the evening of September 18. The one-way plane ticket already cost around Php 2,700. I used my GetGo points to drop the cost down to Php 1,600. This was the price I had to pay for stupidity not reading the fine print.

These are the things I would have missed! The glamping resort was gorgeous! And we had the resort all to ourselves! This is one of the perks of traveling on a weekday- less tourists. My anti-social and introverted self was happy. There were lots of things to see in Iloilo City but we just chose what we could cover with the time we had. We had a blast.

I am glad there was a solution to my problem even if it was a dent on my budget. I feel grateful to the greater power up there that pushed me to check my ticket that day since I missed the cue the first time. It could have been worse. I would not know what to do if I found my mistake much later when I am already in the airport in Cagayan de Oro. I guess I was meant to visit Iloilo and it was worth the extra Php 1,600. For that, I am grateful.

Everything That Went Wrong on Our Trip to Dumaguete, Siquijor, and Cebu

September 13, 2018

by Kat with 4 Comments Travel

I love traveling. I always try to go to different trips in a year but when it comes to planning the details of the trip, I now try to be chill. I no longer want to cover every possible tourist spot in a particular destination. I just pick what I want to see and I am happy with just that. For the Dumaguete, Siquior and Cebu trip, I just want to go Manjuyod sandbar in Negros Oriental, Cambugahay Falls in Siquijor and Osmena Peak in Dalaguete, Cebu.

I got what I wanted and more.

We were able to tour around Silliman University in Dumaguete.

We met our friend May and her family.

We ate at pretty cafes and restaurants in Dumaguete.

I flew on a broom in Siquijor.

We went to a flower farm in Dalaguete.

We were able to visit the Sto Nino Basilica in Cebu.

I came home safe and sound.

All these pretty photos were reminders of a memorable trip.

However, there were more stories behind our trip and I felt I needed to immortalize them in this blog post.

This is the part where I start to tell you everything that went wrong.

It was one fine Saturday of August 18 when we took a 655 AM flight from Butuan going to Cebu. We were 5 happy travelers.

It was an uneventful flight which I hoped that all my flights should be. We arrived at around 8 am in Cebu. Our goal then was to reach the Cebu South Terminal since we would be traveling south to reach Dumaguete. There were 5 of us so we won’t be able to fit in one taxi.

I learned through Googling that we could take a myBus from the airport and drop at Parkmall where we could then take a jeep to the terminal. Four of us were in seats that face the rear of the bus and only one friend was facing front. And so we missed the Parkmall stop. And we realized this when we saw SM, the end point of the trip. We thought the driver would inform passengers of the stops.

We resolved to take two taxis to South Terminal.

Upon arrival, we had to decide which bus to take. We had two options: 1. Take a bus to the Lilo-an port in Santander and take the ferry to Sibulan in Negros which is just 15 minutes from Dumaguete or 2. Take the Ceres bus that will take us directly to Dumaguete through a barge in Bato, Cebu. Option 1 is a shorter trip if you don’t miss the ferry ride after. It was already almost 10 am and we figured that it might be difficult to take lunch on the road so we decided to eat first before traveling. Elizabeth mall was near so we just walked.

All was well but as soon as we were almost done eating, it rained. Real hard. We waited for the rain to stop and decided to just take the taxi as soon as it was starting to let up.

After a few minutes of pondering, we decided to take option 1: bus to the port. We were led to a line at the back of the terminal. A long winding line. All the while we thought that the waiting area was in the front of the terminal.

This was our line. And we still had to go through that line at the back.

Good thing that there were chairs. We just had to hop from one chair to another. Why the long lines? All those who would go to South of Cebu ride the same bus route. Whether you go to Carcar, Argao, Dalaguete or Oslob, you take the same bus. That is why everyone “sits” on the same line. Plus, it was the start of a long weekend.
It was already 1 PM when we got on the bus.

A few minutes after the bus left the terminal, the bus made a U-turn and returned to the terminal. The driver felt there was something wrong with the bus. We had to move to another bus. The transfer was organized. We were instructed to sit in the same seat on the replacement bus.

It was a good thing that the driver noticed something wrong with the bus while we were still near the terminal. Imagine the hassle if it happened halfway through the trip. That was a relief until we got stuck in traffic in Carcar. There was an accident. Someone was hit by a truck. There was no alternate route. All vehicles had to wait until the area was cleared.

If only we knew how long we had to wait we could have gone to buy chicharon from these stalls. hehehe

We arrived at the Liloan Port at around 630 PM and we were in luck this time. We caught the boat that was about to leave for the Sibulan. That was a quick 15-min boat ride.

As soon as we landed in the Sibulan port, our friend, May, fetched us. We were all happy to see her and we thought that our string of bad luck was over.

May drove us to The Flying Fish Hostel where we booked a 6-bed dorm room through Airbnb. Much to our surprise, we were led to a 10-bed mixed dorm room. We panicked. Five of the beds were already occupied. We wanted a room all to ourselves. So we decided to have the booking refunded.

On the bright side, we had May still waiting for us outside who immediately got in touch with the alumni hall of Silliman. We were told there was an available room for 5.

May also ordered a feast for us at Sans Rival, that famous restaurant in Dumaguete. We ate our worries away and just indulged every bite. After all that we’ve been through, we were famished.

This was our dorm room in the Silliman Alumni Hall. Not bad for 1,400 a night!

I was so tired. I immediately changed into my sleepwear and called it a night.

The first full day in Dumaguete was a lot of fun. All those bad luck were wiped out from our consciousness.

Or so we thought.

The next day was our trip to Siquijor.

Remember that we just wanted to be chill about the trip? We planned to take the 8 AM boat to Siquijor.
We arrived at the pier at 745 AM. Ha! The tickets have sold out so we bought tickets for the 9 AM trip. On the bright side, we now have time for breakfast. We had breakfast at the Silliman canteen.

It took us an hour to reach Siquijor by boat. Because we learned our lesson earlier, we agreed to immediately buy tickets for the afternoon trip back to Dumaguete. When we learned that tickets would be sold only by 11 AM, our multicab driver arranged for somebody to buy the 4:20 PM trip tickets for us.

Off we went on our tour. We enjoyed our time in the Cambugahay falls. Who wouldn’t?

We enjoyed it so much that we had to cut short our trip to the Salagdoong beach because we no longer had enough time. Our driver had to drive fast for us to make it to the 4:20 PM trip.

As soon as we arrived at the terminal, our tickets were handed to me. We were walking fast towards the terminal area even more so when the person manning the gate already told us that the boat was about to leave. Boarding already started. My friends went ahead of me so that they could at least inform the crew that we were already coming. I was left a little behind because I still had to pay the terminal fees.

I saw my friends whose faces showed relief that they reached the boat just in time. And then one friend realized, ” Why are we in a RORO (roll-on roll-off) boat? Aren’t we supposed to ride a fast craft?” Then we saw a fast craft leaving the dock. That was our boat. We missed our boat by a few minutes.

The crew in the RORO were kind enough to help us on what to do next. They assured us that they would wait for us to secure a refund and buy new tickets. I walked so fast towards the gate to get the refund and buy the tickets.

This is us in the boat. Can you see the beads of sweat on my cheek?

Our ordeal was not over because two of us in the group got diarrhea. Somebody in Siquijor might have put a spell on us. Ha!

The bright side? We got to see dolphins and this lovely sunset.

By the 4th day of our trip, we had become veterans of misery. Ha! We were still amused at the series of unfortunate events that befell us. I kept telling my friends that this was just a test. And that Murphy’s Law was in effect: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong”. So be it!

It was now time to travel to Cebu. We planned to drop by Dalaguete and visit Osmena Peak. We took the Ceres bus this time. We had lunch at the pier where the barge was. The barge would carry the bus to the pier in Bago, Cebu. For the two of us who had diarrhea, lunch was patatas, a local square biscuits. We failed to notice that only our group was left eating. The bus conductor came to tell us that they were waiting for us. The bus was already on the barge. When we reached the bus, we saw that one friend was not with us. We decided to call her and we saw her from a distance panicking outside not knowing where to go. She did not realize that the bus would be loaded onto the barge. She finally saw where we were. All is well that ends well.

We dropped at Dalaguete for Osmena Peak. We were lucky this time because we were able to hire a multicab going to the foot of the mountain instead of riding at the back of a motorcycle. We even minimized our misery by hiring a guide and renting a trekking pole.

We enjoyed both the peak and the flower farm that was suggested to us by our guide. By the time we got back to the Dalaguete highway, we were starving so we enjoyed a bowl of batchoy at a local eatery.

Our tummies were full so we were ready to travel to Cebu. We were waiting at the bus stop along with other passengers. Remember that there was only one line in the south terminal because the route would only drop passengers along the way? Oh well, we were waiting for a bus to Cebu at the end of a holiday. All the buses we tried to hail were full. There were passengers standing on the aisle. I could hear one of my friends asking if there were vans for hire or anything for hire. There weren’t. We were advised to go to another bus stop because there were more passengers alighting there. We hired a tricycle to get us there. We met a passenger who told us that she had been waiting 3 hours for a bus. I guess she was not willing to stand on the bus aisle. We were.

When the next bus arrived, we saw that there were passengers alighting but the seats were still occupied. We asked the conductor if there would be passengers disembarking. He told us that we could stand in the aisle near the rear of the bus because there would be 3 passengers disembarking in the next town. True enough, we only have to stand for a less than an hour and we all got seats. With this, our string of back luck ended.
We arrived safely at our hotel in Cebu. We were able to visit Sto. Nino Basilica the next day. We dropped by SM before we headed for the airport.

It was a memorable trip. I have to give props to my friends for staying positive all throughout our journey.

Traveling indeed is a test of faith, character and even friendship. I am sure to be keeping these friends I have.

“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.” – Anthony Bourdain

That One Afternoon in Taal

August 15, 2018

by Kat with One Comment Travel

I almost forgot to write about this trip. After that Taiwan trip last April, my friend, Gail, and I extended our stay in Luzon to go to Taal, the heritage town in Batangas. (We are from Mindanao, Philippines, btw.) Gail and our friend, Shirly, already went there months before and I wanted to visit the place, too. Gail was so nice to accompany me even if she had gone there before and even if we were already very tired from our trip. (We have become Titas!) We both wanted to go home to our provinces but we also had to take this trip because we already paid for our overnight stay in Lemery. We decided to take our time. Rushing would only stress us. I think we left the Airbnb we rented at 9 AM. We did not rush. We were chill.

We arrived at a hotel in Lemery at around lunch time and I could not remember if we ate lunch. I think we skipped lunch (*insert a shocked emoji) because we planned to eat our way in Taal.

In Taal, we were greeted with these buntings.

It was the ‘El Pasubat Festival’, a celebration of its founding anniversary. There was a culinary contest at a plaza near the municipal building. While hanging out there watching the activity, we saw Kuya selling ice cream.

We had to buy ice cream! Yum!

Gail had been raving about Taal’s lomi so we had to get one. We just ordered from a random eatery and, lo and behold, we got the thick and savory noodle dish. This was lunch and it was filling.

We dropped by the church which is said to be the biggest Catholic church in Asia. This is the Basilica de San Martin de Tours.

There was going to be a wedding that afternoon.

It is a beautiful church.

There is a balcony attached to the church.

It overlooks a koi pond.

Another food to try in Taal is the halo-halo at a carwash. Since it was a long walk from the church, we figured our tummies were now ready for merienda.

The carwash/cafe was decorated with memorabilia.

The halo-halo was yummy! It was the type with finely shaved ice and minimal ingredients. It reminded me of Razon’s halo-halo.

After that halo-halo, we started our walk around the town.

This is Gregorio Agoncillo’s mansion. Now this space in the blog should be a brief story on who Gregorio Agoncillo was, but I took this photo outside a closed gate. I could have written down the stories of the things I saw inside the house and the people who lived there. Ha! Now we all have to google. Sorry about that.

We were really walking at a leisurely pace that it was past 4 PM when we reached Galleria Taal.

Galleria Taal is a museum with the largest collection (i think) of cameras in the Philippines. I only took a few photos. (Nahiya ang camera ko sa camera nila!) Talk about my camera being camera shy!

These are just a really small sample of their collection.

I was only able to visit one museum. It was already 5 PM when I exited the camera museum. So much for being chill and taking my time! Ha! Ha!

Even this place where we could dress up in Filipiniana was already closed.

We just said hi to Marcela Agoncillo, the woman who made the first and official Philippine flag.

We were following a Taal town map and we saw that there was another church. This is the Our Lady of Caysaysay church.

The church was closed but the caretaker allowed us to enter. He had to get a set of keys for us to be able to get inside.

We said our prayers.

Since Gail had visited before, she also knew that there was a miracle well near. The water from the well was believed to have miraculous healing powers.

The sun was about to set as we left the Caysasay church area.

We dropped by the basilica again and we were able to catch the wedding party as they were taking pictures. Now if we only knew where the wedding reception was, it would have been free dinner for us! Kidding!

The Basilica lit up at night.

We had dinner at a local restaurant and rode a tricycle back to our hotel in Lemery, Batangas.

It was a chill and no-frills trip. Thank you, Gail, for being my tour guide!