Tagaytay

Do you want to see the smallest yet one of the most active volcano in the Philippines? Then go to Tagaytay and you will be greeted by the small but mighty Taal Volcano.

Taal Volcano is mysteriously located in a lake. Why is this so? It is believed that the currently small yet active volcano forms part of a very large volcano which erupted many years ago. Taal volcano actually looks just like an island in the middle of the lake.

These are some of the places we visited in Tagaytay:

Picnic Groove. This place is like a very huge park. Yes, I guess it is a park. They have a nice and cozy restaurant.  This is a family area where you can spend time with your kids flying kites while having a great view of the Taal Lake and Taal Volcano. There's no need for you to actually bring your own kite because there are many vendors selling kites there. I read somewhere that Tagaytay is the city of winds. And yes, Tagaytay boasts cool breeze.

Residence Inn. If you want to experience bottlefeeding a baby Tiger, then this is the place for you. I can remember a minimal fee of P50.00 per person (aside from the entrance fee) if you want to have your photo taken bottlefeeding a tiger cub right on your own lap. Residence Inn also has a lot of animals, some of them are owls, lions, snakes, rabbits, even a camel. When we were there, we were informed that they are planning to add a few more animals in their collection. You can also get a good view of the Taal Volcano in Residence Inn.

We planned to go to a lot of tourist attractions but because of time constraints, and the fact that there was a biking competition on that same day which caused the heaviest traffic that I have experienced, we were only able to go to two places. But it was worth it!

The author would like to apologize for not posting the estimated rates of entrance fees and transportation costs due to the long delay of this post. Human memory can only remember so much.

Booked for Manila

I will be going back to Manila this coming April 13 to attend the oath-taking of new lawyers. The oath-taking ceremony is scheduled on April 14, 2011 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) at 10:00 AM.

I hope that the one day allowance to secure the clearance would be enough for me since I cannot leave Davao earlier due to my work commitments.

Some information for this year's oath-taking:

I quote lexjurat of phBar.org:

I called up OBC last Friday. Total cash out is P4,050, representing cost for oath-taking, certificate of admission to the Bar, clearance, IBP membership, etc. Schedule of Roll signing is on 'first come, first served' basis according to date you accomplished your clearance, though promdis are given priority to limit their expenses. We can begin processing our clearance tomorrow until April 13.

For those interested to know about the report of ratings, here's lexjurat's quick reply:

OBC will mail it. It's the reason for the envelope we had to submit along with our petition. For those interested to get their notebooks, the earliest date we could file the petition for it is June 2012, according to the OBC personnel I talked with last Friday.

Safety First

On our way to my sister's community outreach program in Mahayag, Bunawan last weekend, we stopped by the Shell Gasoline Station along Diversion Road. After we had our fill, we were informed by the pump attendant that our car smells like something's burning. We opened the hood and there was thick white smoke coming from it. I was about to panic but nobody is panicking so I just stood by and we parked the car away from the gasoline pumps. The pump attendant got his fire extinguisher and aimed it at the engine compartment.

Twas the first time that I've actually seen the fire extinguisher being used! And I was amazed when it emitted pinkish smoke, it looks a lot like cotton candy clouds!!! I remember my Rainbow Brite childhood. Too bad I was too nervous at that time that I did not get a photo of it.


Kidding aside, we learned afterwards that the reason for the smoke was because the insulation foam stuck to the hot engine and caught fire. The engine and all of its other parts were, fortunately, not damaged, just the insulation foam.

The gasoline attendant cleaning the engine compartment after putting out the fire.

Lesson learned? Don't just check the engine: check EVERYTHING.

Cebu Pacific Sale!!!

Again, thanks to Cebu Pacific, I booked my sister and her friend, Carl, for their travel to Manila this coming May 8. My sister will be attending her review classes at Topnotch Review Center this coming May for the Physician's Licensure Examination on August.

Below is Cebu Pacific's Seat Sale until March 5, 2011 or until seats last.

One-way flight to Manila with their promo sale just cost me P1,303.68 and that's with checked-in baggage.