How much of the Philippines have you visited?

As you can see in the map below, not much. I have a shameful grade of D.

My Lakbayan grade is D!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

Obviously I have only traveled half of Luzon. Quite shameful really for someone who loves to travel.

But I am hopeful for the coming years. I want to visit at least a part of Visayas and Mindanao and possibly most of Luzon. Guess we need a lot of saving up to do.

How much of the Philippines have you visited?

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North Luzon Expressway (NLEX)

The last time we passed by North Luzon Expressway or NLEX was exactly two years ago. We were applying for a change of name for the second hand car that we bought from a seller online. The car was originally registered in Pampanga.

Last week, we passed through NLEX again. The in-laws were planning on getting a second hand van and they decided to go to Zambales, Olonggapo City in particular, to look for the options gathered by their dealer there.

I do not remember the rate of the North Luzon Expressway toll fees before but the image above shows how much it is. Uncle-in-law said the rates increased again but is still considerably cheaper compared to SLEX or South Luzon Expressway toll fees. We paid 41PHP when we entered Balintawak Toll Gate then another 100PHP when we took the San Fernando Toll Exit.

I like this sign here seen in front of the toll booth. It has other variations but I particularly like this. I agree, our van feels like a brand new vehicle when we were driving in North Luzon Expressway.

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Grilled Spareribs

The second celebration of my 25th birthday was a day spent with my dear friend Ada. To refresh your memories, I first celebrated my birthday with DK by having lunch in Pen-Pen Restaurant.

Anyway, Ada impulsively decided that she wanted to go on a road trip to Tagaytay. Being a lakwatsera myself, I said yes. Just so you know, we both don’t know how to go to Tagaytay by bus. We have the general idea of where to ride a bus and that’s it. So we went to Baclaran and asked around. We left her place in Makati in the afternoon and reached Tagaytay in time for dinner. The servings in Leslie’s Restaurant are made for families. We decided to order something that we thought we could finish, a serving of Grilled Spareribs with unlimited Bulalo soup.

We didn’t have time to do anything else in Tagaytay since it’s already late and we didn’t get to reserve a place to stay there. With crossed fingers, we waited outside Leslie’s, hoping that the outgoing bus to Manila didn’t leave us. We were lucky to say the least. Had we stayed a bit longer in the restroom, we would have missed the last trip to Manila.

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Leslie’s Restaurant in Tagaytay

Hubby and I celebrated our 4th year anniversary as a couple (not yet married at that time) in Tagaytay in 2007. It’s our first time visiting the city and we only based our directions on a map we bought in a bookstore the day before. With numb behinds after two hours of traveling with his motorcycle, we finally reached Tagaytay proper and it was all worth it!

The first thing we did when we arrived Tagaytay was eat. We decided to eat at Leslie’s Restaurant and they didn’t disappoint. We shared a bowl of Sinigang na Sugpo (prawn), green mango with shrimp paste (bagoong) and fresh buko juice. It was so good!

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Rainy vacation in La Luz Beach Resort

My entry for Tuesday Travels are old photographs found in my mailbox.

I love the beach. But I seldom get to visit it. Our visit to La Luz Beach Resort is quite memorable.

For one, it’s the first time I went to the beach without my family.

Two, we planned our vacation before a typhoon. We already made the reservations and we didn’t want to backout and I’m glad we did. It was a fun experience despite the huge waves, gray skies and occasional rain.

Three, I got sick on the first night. And got worse when we were on our way home. It sucks but it’s still fun. I still get to wear my bikini (with shorts) and had fun bonding with friends.

I miss that feeling of chilling out and thinking of nothing else. I miss the sun burning my skin and the sand under my toes. The salty sea water and the strong ocean wind.

I miss the beach. So much.

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