AdventureScapes

Crescent Moon Cafe Culinary Experience
Angono Petroglyphs
Art Houses: Nemiranda and Blanco Museums
Balaw Balaw Restaurant: An Extraordinary Fare

Next on our list was the Nemiranda Art House, owned by Nemesio Miranda, Jr. He is a well know painter and sculptor, and his works can be seen all over Angono. In 1975, he founded the Angono Atelier Association, the first group in Angono to popularize sculpture in concrete.

Nemiranda's Gallery

The Art House itself, was surrounded by huge sculptures of his work, often mythical figures in graceful poses. This particular sculpture below is known as the Mermaid of Angono.

The gallery of paintings showcase the paintings of Nemiranda and his children. I think I was more interested in exploring the house. It just had so many twists and turns, and was by itself, a form of art. In my opinion, anyway. Lol.

The Mermaid of Angono

Our next stop was the Blanco Family Museum. On the way, we were awestruck by the sheer number of sculptures, murals and paintings that lined the streets of Angono. If we had more time, I wouldn't mind just walking along the streets to get a better look on the art pieces.

Did you know that there is a family from Angono whose every member is an accomplished painter? The head of the family is renowned artist Jose "Pitok" Blanco. All his seven children are gifted painters and their museum showcases their work.

Done by one of Pitok's children

The gallery is arranged from the works of the youngest Blanco child up to the father, Jose Blanco. The children's works had their ages posted together with the painting. Even at 7 years old, the Blanco children's work rivaled professional painters. As the children grew older, their styles became more developed and the vast improvement of their skills really shone through.

Jose's wife, Loreto "Loring" Blanco, also paints but she started much later, at the age of 48. Jose Blanco was inspired by the works of Botong Francisco. One of his works I particularly liked was the Filipino version of the Last Supper, where a group of 13 fishermen dined on shrimps they caught.

The man who is bent over is said to be "Judas"

The "Angono Fisherman's Festival" is also considered to be Pitok's Obra Maestra. All the people depicted in this painting were people Pitok personally knew and he obtained permission from each one to include them in his masterpiece. Pitok also painted himself and his family in this painting.

Angono Fisherman's Festival

Interestingly, the Blanco Family logo was an upturned fish with a bulging belly. The museum guide explained that Jose Blanco was the son of a fisherman and people often called him "Pitok Bunggan" because he was bald with a huge stomach, vaguely resembling an upturned fish when he was asleep.

All too soon, it was time to go and we needed to heed the calls of our growling stomachs.

Crescent Moon Cafe Culinary Experience
Angono Petroglyphs
Art Houses: Nemiranda and Blanco Museums
Balaw Balaw Restaurant: An Extraordinary Fare

Information on the Petroglyhs from the mini-museum

Therefore, there was no better place to be the home of the oldest work of art in the Philippines, the Angono Petroglyphs. These are 127 human and animal figures carved onto the surface of a rock that dates back to 3000 BC.

From Crescent Moon Cafe, we travelled to Fiesta Resort and Casino in Binangonan, since this was the site of the petroglyphs. See the map below.

Map to the Angono Petroglyphs. Click to enlarge.

Before actually going to the petroglyphs, we passed through a short, unlit tunnel and took a five-minute walk to the mini-museum. There was an entrance fee of I think Php 20 or Php 30 per person. I can't really remember. A guide accompanied us to the viewing deck.

The figures

I could make out a turtle, some frogs, and a group of people gathered in a circle for some sort of celebration. It was unfortunate that erosion has caused some of the figures to be less discernible.

I learned that this site was discovered by Carlos V. Francisco, popularly known as Botong Francisco and (surprise) a National Artist of Visual Arts. Didn't I mention already that this place had a lot of National artists?


 Today, the Department of Tourism and the National Museum are trying to preserve this heritage site, and it is listed as one of the Cultural Treasures of the Philippines.

Crescent Moon Cafe Culinary Experience
Angono Petroglyphs
Art Houses: Nemiranda and Blanco Museums
Balaw Balaw Restaurant: An Extraordinary Fare

Crescent Moon Cafe Interior

A co-worker suggested that our first stop would be at Crescent Moon Cafe in Antipolo. We were supposed to have brunch here but we late in starting so it became lunch, instead.

Feeding the koi

We left Ortigas at 10am and arrived at Crescent Moon at around 12 noon. The place has a very homely feel.  It is owned by Lanelle Abueva-Fernando, the niece of the National Artist for Sculpture, Napoleon Abueva.

This restaurant is unusual in that it has no set menu. You walk in and order whatever is the dish of the day. It's still guaranteed to be awesome. While waiting for our meal, we had fun exploring the place.

It was obvious that careful thought and love went to building the restaurant, with small personal touches here and there, like the crescent shaped tiles in the walkway, or the shell and starfish windchimes. There was also a pottery workshop, while the finished pieces were displayed in the restaurant.

It was a pleasant surprise when we were handed a small bowl of fish food to feed the huge koi in the pond. One of them vaccuumed the food straight from my hand!

Appetizer

The restaurant is famous for its's appetizer, called the alagaw. The alagaw leaf is said to contain medicinal properties and it is used as a wrapper to hold the ingredients such as bean paste, dried shrimp, minced onions and coconut shavings.

We had fun wrapping them in the alagaw leaf and taking a bite. The taste is unusual but definitely a must try! Next, we were served a bowl of pumpkin soup that I positively enjoyed. I'm not usually a fan of vegetables but I really liked that soup. Lol.

The rest of our meal proved to be just as awesome. I can't name them though. I'm not good at cooking and can never identify half of what I eat. Lol. Let me just say that the food was great and leave it at that.

Suman with mango

I know the desert, though. It was suman (sticky rice cake wrapped in coconut leaves) with a slice of mango. The suman was so delicious that we bought a dozen more to take home.

On weekdays, meals cost Php 350 and Php 450 on weekends. It's also a good idea to make a reservation first so that you won't have to wait too long for the food. You can reach them at 658-3866 or 09175232356.


A map to Crescent Moon Cafe is provided below.

Map to Crescent Moon Cafe via Ortigas

Next, we headed to Angono to see the ancient Petroglyphs.

I'm sitting here in BDO waiting for my friend to finish her transaction. I had just deposited P2,500 to the merchant's account of after securing ebay coupons for a trip to Mt. Pinatubo. My deposit today means that I had just paid in full for the trip that was to be scheduled on May 5. More or less 2 months in the future.

I was uneasy at first. I don't like paying in full when I can't be sure if the deal was a scam or not. I understand Ebay was trying to protect its consumers by only requiring a downpayment of the total deal. The remaining amount would be payable to the merchant. So I called up the merchant and found out that in order to even book with them, I have to deposit the rest of the payment. It kinda defeated Ebay's protection.

Eventually, the deal turned out fine. It wasn't a scam. But the stress probably shortened my life by a tiny fraction.

I reminisce the other times I have had near misses with group buying sites. Fortunately, nothing major has happened yet. *knocks on wood*

The first one was an honest mistake. Cash Cash Pinoy put up a deal for a Fotosnaps photobook. The deal stated it was for an 8x11 album with 36 pages. I quickly bought a voucher because I've availed from Fotosnaps before and thought it was a good deal. An hour later, the deal advertised only 24 pages. Cash Cash had made a mistake. The 36 pages were for the 4x6 album. So, I called to complain. They reimbursed my payment through my credit card in a week. Problem solved.

The next one was a voucher from Metrodeal for a dinner buffet aboard a yacht from Prestige Cruises for P250. I bought 2 for my boyfriend and me, thinking it would be a romantic date.

A month later, I was reading dozens of horror stories from people who went on the "cruise". The ship was old and rusty. There were cockroaches on board. You had to pay an additional P100 if you wanted to be seated on deck. The food was dismal. The "salad" was nothing more than chopped carrots and cucumbers. And there wasn't enough food for everyone! Guests had to line up for 30 mins to be able to get to the food. Some guests didn't even get to eat because the food ran out. So much for the "all you can eat buffet". The chairs were plastic with bare tables. One writer commented that she saw a woman who was dressed to kill. She probably thought it was a fine-dining experience. Desert was two pieces of cookies from a canister.

I called Prestige Cruises first. I said I wanted to cancel my reservation because of the bad reviews. They agreed without much fuss. Then I sent an email to Metrodeal. They said they needed to confirm with Prestige Cruises first that I hadn't used my vouchers. A week went by with no response, so I emailed again. They said they couldn't reimburse me through credit card. They could only give me points on my account to use to buy a different voucher. I accepted that. I figured I would buy something sooner or later, anyway. Once again, problem solved.

Another occasion was the Anawangin deal we bought from Groupon. I personally didn't handle this. My friend did. At first, she could contact the merchant. Then as our trip date neared, the merchant vanished into thin air. Groupon reimbursed us, though.

When buying food deals, I also learned a valuable lesson. If it's mentioned in the deal that they do delivery services, call first! Sometimes, the cost of the delivery charge is more than the deal! Or, there might be a minimum order limit that didn't include the deal price.

It's also worth noting that you should be familiar with the merchant before buying their deal. Or at least do some research first. We bought a deal for an adobo meal. I forgot the name of the merchant but it was in Global One, Libis. When we got there, their store was just a booth in a foodcourt setup. A lot of the choices in the menu was unavailable. And in my opinion, the deal price wasn't worth the quality of their food. I couldn't believe they sold their food for the regular price!

All of the above did not discourage me from group buying sites. They just made me more careful. I still get a lot more good deals than bad ones. It's just that it's the bad ones you really remember.

Nowadays, I call the merchant first before I even buy a deal. I'm wary of merchants that provide only cellphone numbers as contact numbers. I google them. I check their facebook accounts for testimonies of customers.

I'm especially cautious of travel deals. When I call them, I ask how long they have been in business, when was the last tour they offered, and if they could send me pictures of trips with their customers. I listen carefully and try to gauge if the person is hesitant or appears to be lying.

I believe this cautiousness has helped a lot in preventing me from getting scammed. Hopefully, other people would take the same level of care when buying from group-buying sites.

Time		Activity
3:30 AM		Depart Manila for Capas
6:30 AM		Arrival at Sta. Juliana, Tarlac
		Payment of Environmental Fees
		Transfer to 4x4 off-road vehicle
7:00 AM		Depart for Crow Valley
8:00 AM		Arrival at Trekking Point
8:30 AM		Photo-ops, start trekking
10:00 AM		Arrival at the Crater Lake
		Swim
12:00 NN		Lunch
2:00 PM		Trek back down
4:00 PM		Arrival at Crow Valley
		Depart on 4x4 vehicle
5:00 PM		Arrival back to Sta. Juliana Capas, Tarlac
		Shower in Spa Town
6:00 PM		Departure. Stopover at Pampanga for dinner
		at Aling Lucing's Sisig.
11:00 PM		ETA Manila

Mt. Pinatubo Trek Itinerary

Our Pinatubo Eco Trip was unusual in that we bought a voucher from a group-buying site, namely Ebay Kuponan, to avail of the trip. The merchant was Nature Trip Travel and Tours.

The voucher advertised that for only Php 888, it already included the 4-wheel drive and a tour guide. I didn't do enough research, else I wouldn't have bought the voucher. It didn't include food, the environmental fee and the transport from Manila to Tarlac. So really, for that price, we could have hired our own 4x4 vehicle and tour guide at a lower cost.

4-wheel drives

There were initially 5 of us but one person backed out, although he was already fully paid. One thing that got us really irritated with Nature Trip was because they grouped us with another couple even though we paid for our own 4x4. We wouldn't have minded the additional people but on the way back, they made us wait an hour before returning to the vehicle and we couldn't leave without them. We blamed Nature Trip for wasting our time by sharing the vehicle with others when we fully paid the price for five people to be able to have it all to ourselves.

Still, aside from that negative experience, we enjoyed the trip as a whole. It started when we left Manila at 3am to travel to Tarlac. By 6am, we were already at Sta. Juliana at Capas, which was the meeting point.

Picture perfect. This was just before we reached the trekking point.

We boarded the 4-wheel drive vehicle and journeyed for an hour from Crow Valley to reach the trekking point. The ride was rough and muddy from the rain early that morning. Mud would fly along the sides of the vehicle to splash my sides. I didn't mind much because I was busy looking at the vast expanse of white, volcanic sediment in front of me. We passed by giant, white mountains of ash deposits and I could see huge craters that our guide told us were from bomb tests.

You see, Crow Valley is really a bombing and gunnery range used by the Armed Forces of the Philippines. They use it for bombing and strafing practice, as well as ground unit maneuver and live fire exercises.

This is mostly what you will see.

All too soon, we reached the trekking point, from where we would hike for two hours to reach the crater lake.

 It was exhausting for me but I had no choice but to trudge on because one of our companions was an experienced climber and I had to keep up or be left behind!  We passed by mountains of volcanic debris and also had to walk across streams. I suggest bringing footwear which you won't mind getting wet and one which pebbles or sand can't easily get into.

We hardly stopped for any breaks and made it to the crater in record time. One and a half hour. The view was truly magnificent and of course, we rushed to have our photos taken.

We've finally arrived!

I was the only one who swam in the lake. I was thankful for the refreshing dip after all that trekking. Boat rides were being offered so that people can explore more of the crater lake but we were too tired to do anything else.

We also ate our packed lunch here, and after a little while, it started to rain. That's when we decided to go back down. The trip back was way easier, partly because it was all downhill and partly because of the rain. It was hot when we first climbed up and I really prefer the rain over the sun in times like these.

All that trekking was worth it to see this.

I was soaking wet by the time I reached the 4x4 vehicle but I knew that I could take a shower back in Spa Town, which I did, for P50. So, refreshed, we prepared to leave for home.

On the way back, we had dinner in Pampanga, at a very delicious sisig house: Aling Lucing's, the original inventor of the sisig. It was the perfect end to a very eventful day.

Activity		Cost		Comments
Ohayami Bus (Manila-Banaue)		450
Ohayami Bus (Banaue-Manila)		450
Breakfast (Sat)		150
Lunch (Sat)		150
Entrance Fee: Banaue Museum		50
Jeepney Hire		4000		per group, 2 days
Batad Lodging		200		one night
Dinner (Sat)		150
Breakfast (Sun)		150		per pax
Guide Fee (Batad)		1200		600/day, 2 days
Lunch (Sun)		200
Dinner (Sun)		250

Time		Activity
DAY 1
9:00 PM		Assembly at Ohayami Trans, Manila
10:00 PM		ETD for Banaue
DAY 2
8:00 AM		Arrival at Banaue
		Buy return tickets to Manila via Ohayami Trans
		Hire Jeepney for tour
8:30 AM		Breakfast
9:00 AM		Start of Tour (Banaue)
		Viewpoints, Hanging House
11:00 AM		End of Tour (Banaue)
		Head for Saddle
12:00 NN		ETA Saddle. Hike to Batad
12:45 PM		ETA Batad. Check in Batad Pension House
1:00 PM		Lunch
3:00 PM		Hike to Viewpoints, Batad Village
5:30 PM		Return to Batad Pension House
DAY 3
9:00 AM		Trek to Tappiyah Falls
10:00 AM		ETA Tappiyah Falls
11:30 AM		ETA Batad Pension House
12:00 NN		Lunch
1:00 PM		ETD Batad Pension House. Hike to Saddle.
2:30 PM		ETA Saddle. ETD for Banaue.
3:30 PM		ETA Banaue. Visit Museum.
4:30 PM		Eat at Banaue Hotel
5:30 PM		ETD for Manila
1:00 AM		ETA Manila

Taking the Ohayami Bus to Banaue
Experiencing the Rice Terraces
Tappiyah Falls and Banaue Museum

Banaue-Batad Itinerary
Banaue-Batad Expenses

The next day, we woke up to a beautiful Batad morning. It was slightly foggy after the rain the night before, but the rice terraces still looked spectacular.

The plan today was to hike to Tappiyah Falls, but unfortunately (or fortunately) for me, I felt sick and didn't go. I later found out the trek was hard, as described by my boyfriend. There were several places were they were almost hugging the edges of the mountainside.

Tappiyah Falls

They got back sometime before lunch time, when we had to wait again for the food (even though we already ordered before leaving).

When we prepared to take our leave to hike up back to the Saddle, an American tourist we met at the pension house asked if he could join us back to Banaue. Of course, we agreed. He asked what our professions were and when we said we were programmers, he later admitted that he knew we would be taking lots of breaks on the hike back up to Saddle, and was happy about it, to which we laughed.

Batad Pension House and Restaurant

We stopped at every single rest point. Lol. So it was almost 2:30pm by the time we reached the Saddle. Little did we know that we also had a lot of company going to Banaue.

Children of all ages came with us because they had school the next day. There were so many of them that we filled up the whole jeepney.

Another one hour trip and we were back in Banaue. We decided to visit the Banaue Museum near the Ohayami bus terminal. Around this time, we learned that Manny Pacquiao lost to Timothy Bradley from a text message. That was quite a surprise.

Info we gleaned from the Banaue Museum

Our last stop was to have lunch at the Banaue Hotel. This place was huge but empty, and kind of dark. I had the impression that I was roaming an old haunted mansion.

Menu from the Banaue Hotel

We shopped here for souvenirs. I bought a pair of cheap gold earrings in the standard Ifugao design.

Soon enough, it was time to head back to Ohayami to take the trip home.

Taking the Ohayami Bus to Banaue
Experiencing the Rice Terraces
Tappiyah Falls and Banaue Museum

Banaue-Batad Itinerary
Banaue-Batad Expenses

A tip from a friend who had been to Banaue several times before, advised us to buy return tickets as soon as we arrived in Banaue. Sometimes, the buses going back to Manila could run out of seats.

So we bought return tickets first thing after getting off the bus. The latest trip back to Manila was 5:30 pm on Sunday.

Then, as we were doing so, we were approached by people offering tours. Usually, even before we arrive at our destination, I would have everything planned and a contact would fetch us upon arrival to start our tour. But for this trip, I trusted my friend when he said to book everything upon arriving in Banaue. I was a little worried because it was a long weekend and there might be a lot of people and we'd run out of accommodation or transportation, but everything went fine.

View from one of the many viewpoints around Banaue

So we chose one of the people who offered tours, a guy who was himself the driver of the jeep. We agreed to pay Php 2000 per day for 2 days, which, according to my research, was the correct price.

By now, we were starving, so we followed our new guide to a nearby restaurant to have breakfast. One thing I specifically can't forget about Batad and Banaue is that food preparation takes a long time. And I mean LONG, especially in Batad. We joked that they were still trying to catch the chicken to serve to us. But in this case, it was probably true.

After breakfast, we started the tour. Our guide took us to see the popular rice terraces viewpoints. As far as I know, there are five viewpoints but my friend said it wasn't necessary to go to all of them, just the best ones. We visited 3 of them, including the view of the Php 1000 bill which is from the Aguian viewpoint.

P1000-Bill View from Aguian

A kindly old Ifugao woman (who spoke excellent English!) entertained us while we took photos with her and her cute granddaughter.

We also visited the Hanging House, a house built on stilts on the edge of a cliff. I doubt anyone really lived there, though. We did see some caretakers.

Donate to the people of Banaue and get a nice memory in return

After the Banaue tour, we headed to Batad, about an hour by jeepney from Banaue. The ride was rough and sometimes scary, as we skirted very near the edge of cliffs.

Jeepneys and other vehicles could only take us as far as the Saddle, after which, we had to reach the town on foot. Our jeepney driver promised to pick us up the next day at 2 pm. He also found us another guide who would take us to the town proper.

The Hanging House

Now, I was prepared for everything but this. Somehow, I didn't know that the trek to the town proper took about an hour. My feet hurt from all the walking on rocky ground. And to think this was the easy part since it was mostly downhill. Sigh. I knew I was NOT going to make it tomorrow when we needed to hike back up.

I hardly have any physical activity but for this trip, I started exercising two weeks before by climbing up and down our staircase everyday. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough and I still got tired very easily. Still, it was way better that I exercised because at least, I didn't almost black out like what happened in Caramoan. That particular experience was my greatest worry about this trip, because I knew I might have a repeat of the incident if I pushed myself too hard.

Batad Village

Tired but otherwise okay, we arrived at Batad just in time for lunch. We checked in at Batad Pension and Guest House. I originally wanted to stay at Rita's or Hillside Inn but they never contacted me back after several attempts at text, and no one was answering my calls.

But the view at Batad Pension was lovely and it was where our guide led us. Rooms were simple. No electric fan or air-con. At only Php 200 a night, I didn't expect anything, really. Besides, Batad is not a place for luxury hotels. We were there for only one night, anyway.

Carved souvenirs

Breathtaking Natural Beauty

We ordered lunch that took a looooongggg time coming. Like an hour or more. I almost fell asleep waiting. We resolved to order our lunch at 9am the next day so that it would be ready by 12.

After lunch, we did some trekking again. The view of the rice terraces from Batad was simply amazing. Some parts of the rice terraces were deteriorating and it was sad to see that they were falling into disrepair. I know that there was a volunteer group to help build the rice terraces but we didn't have enough time to help with the work seeing as we were only there for a day.

Around 4 or 5 pm, we went back to the pension house to take a bath and order dinner. Some of my friends and I, opted to get massages after an exhausting day. I befriended the therapist and she told me all sorts of stuff about Ifugaos. Mostly about how expensive Ifugao weddings were. Lol. She also taught me a few phrases in Ilocano!

Then, we just talked until it was time to sleep.

Taking the Ohayami Bus to Banaue
Experiencing the Rice Terraces
Tappiyah Falls and Banaue Museum

Banaue-Batad Itinerary
Banaue-Batad Expenses

It's been a long time since I last updated this blog and I'm ashamed to say I almost forgot about it. A friend of mine recently started a blog and made me remember mine. Lol.

Still, my adventures don't stop like my writing does, so let me share my trip to the Banaue and Batad Rice Terraces.

Now that's what I call green!

One thing I learned immediately while preparing for this trip was that most of the popular bus lines that traveled the Manila-Banaue route like Autobus and Florida were now forbidden to do so. They were never licensed to travel this route and in fact, only one bus line had a license. This was the Ohayami bus line. Before this trip, I had never even heard of this bus company.

But, in times like this, Google is my best friend and with hardly any effort, I was soon calling their office (09276491711 or 09058814361) and inquiring about bus schedules.

Now our planned date was the Independence Day long weekend, June 9-10. We saved 11-12 as rest days. Why June, you ask? Isn't that a rainy month? It is! But I read an article that in June, Banaue rice terraces are green while Batad rice terraces are golden in color. Well, I later disproved this because everything just looked green to me. Maybe in August, when it's harvest time, do the rice terraces truly turn gold.

Ohayami informed me that we had to personally go to their office to buy advanced tickets to secure our reservation. However, after checking their website (www.ohayamitrans.com) now, it appears they accept online reservations. It's still a good idea to personally buy the tickets, though, because you learn the best way to get to the terminal and don't waste time getting lost.

I do believe there are a few golden flecks here and there.

Ticket fares cost Php 450, one way from Manila to Banaue. We chose to take the 10 pm schedule on June 8 because we still had work during the day. Travel time was expected to be around 9 hours.

To get to the Ohayami bus terminal, the easiest way is to meet up at the Jollibee store directly below the Legarda LRT2 station.

The Jollibee store is right alongside Figueras street where a lot of tricycles wait for passengers. Ride one of these to Ohayami Trans. Fare is Php 10. Right before you reach the Florida bus terminal, the trike will turn right and go along Fajardo street. Ohayami buses are a bright violet so it should be easy to spot them.

This is Batad. The pictures prior to this are from Banaue.

We left at exactly 1 0pm. The bus was quite crowded with passengers even on the center aisle, making it hard to get out during stopovers. I felt bad for the people on the aisle since they always had to get up when people wanted to pass. Fortunately, the bus we took going home didn't have center seats.

We took longer than the estimated time because we arrived at 8 am in Banaue. See my next post for our activities that day.