Sunday, May 14, 2006

Tagaytay, Philippines, 7-9 April 2006: Taal Vista
Sleeping Volcano And Resort


Lake Taal : Volcano Within A VolcanoI fly into Manila noon, Friday. The car ride to Tagaytay is a good 2 hours' battle through the notorious thick city traffic. It is made dizzyingly longer by the interminable bumps along the way. Relief, however, is sweet at journey's end.

Entrance, Taal Vista HotelTagaytay is a resort town built on the rim of a volcanic crater that holds a lake with yet another sporadically active volcanic cone within. The latter is veiled by a pall of mist that appears to hang over the lake year-round, except during the driest of high summer months. The view of the lake from the terrace of the Taal Vista Hotel is stupendous.

VillageTaking a short morning walk from the hotel, I find myself in a village. Zinc-roofed huts and narrow walking paths of well-trodden earth form a haphazard labyrinth, from which the occasional denizen emerges, sometimes with startled timidness, but mostly with studied indifference.

Colourful Jeepneys: Embodiment of Filipino Enterprise and SpiritThe tranquility is broken abruptly by a cacophony of multi-colour balloon-decorated jeepneys. They are a gay, glorious and godly Church-going procession. For today is Palm Sunday.


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These are the 30 countries that I have ever set foot on. Airport stopovers don't count!