TAGAYTAY PICNIC GROVE

 

Tagaytay is a popular tourist spot, being located close to Manila and normally somewhat cooler than the capital.
One of it's biggest claims to fame is the Taal Volcano, which made the news recently when it had a wobbly and chundered ash over places as far away as the national capital. 

We will be covering much more of Tagaytay in future posts, so here we will concentrate on one of the more popular locations for families to spend time.

All the following photos were taken at the 'Tagaytay Picnic Grove', a lovely location with lots for the family (picnic areas, horse rides, zipline rides and much more).

Picnic Grove on TripAdvisor.

If my old brain remembers correctly, it was P50 per head to enter, along with a further P30 if you wished to part you vehicle.
Between the carpark and the areas of interest, there were a number of shops selling souveniers, local fruits and sundry other guff that, I admit, I took little notice of.
The Guyabano fruit was absolutely awesome though.

The view of the Taal Volcano is unbeatable from here.

 You could only imagine the spectacle during the recent eruption, assuming you were game enough to be standing there.

The zipline is available for people seeking far more excitement than I will ever need.

The picnic huts are fantastic for a family lunch, and come with a wonderful view.
But be careful of some of the local web spinning creatures that hang around there as well (see below).

Some of the many relos that joined us for the day.

Some more relos soon after arrival at Picnic Grove.
For some reason they are deeply engrossed in the wife's $20 point and shoot camera.

With a sister-in-law and a couple of cousins.
L to R: Bolinday, Zeny, myself and Anabelle.

A bridge that I had as much confidence using as 

I did that zipline :-)

Since none of the family wanted to risk their lives on the zipline, a couple of random strangers demonstrate it here for you.

A couple of the earlier mentioned locals that lurk 

around the picnic huts.
These are the 'Batik Golden Web Spider', known to exist in the Philippines and numerous other countries, including Australia.
The big ones seen here are females, the males are a fraction of the size and far less fearsome. Something most of us guys could probably relate too.
 Apparently, mating can take up to 15 hours, which makes me more than a little jealous.

Video about the spider type.

Service with a smile :-)
Lots of yummy snacks are always at hand.

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Divisoria / Tutuban

 

Divisoria, and the Tutuban Mall, is another of those locations that don't rate high on the tourism lists, but carry a great appeal for me.

For women, the area is a shopping mecca, tonnes of cheap clothes, kitchenware, produce, electrical goods, toys and just about anything else you can imagine, probably a few things you can't.

All the photos appearing in this blog entry were taken in the area of the above map.
The green square marks Tutuban Mall, the original Tutuban railway station.

Divisoria, a Spanish term meaning divide or division, is the busy commercial centre between Tondo and Binondo.

A lot more historical information can be found here on Wikipedia. How much of it is correct.......well...

Love this shot of the old Jeepney. Gives a feeling of the image being taken earlier than it actually was.

So much happy.

I really have no idea what a lot of the items being sold actually were.
But for most things, the competition was quite fierce, with many seemingly waiting ages before a customer came along.

Tutuban Mall (former railway station).
We are lucky that, despite the heritage vandalism that went on converting the location to a mall, the magnificent front entrance has been retained.
It is a fine example of early railway architecture, and well worth a visit just to have a bit of a look.
 Security guards here can have a wide variety of attitudes. For most visits, they have just gone about their duties. Though on one occasion, one tried to stop me photographing from the public road outside, well outside his mall jurisdiction. 

Below: another look at the fine brickwork of the original Tutuban railway station. There is often talk of the mall being redeveloped into a railway hub, something we can only pray will happen.

People walking around the mall would likely notice all the dark green Iron Corinthian poles that abound.
More than just a nice decoration, these were all used on the platforms of the original station, further adding to the heritage value of the location.

These walls were built to last forever.

Below are some of the huge amount of vendors to be found in the Tutuban Mall.
The bottom shot being two I regularly went in to Tutuban to see. Alas, they had gone by the time of my more recent trips :-( 

Actual photographer of above photo was David Xuereb.

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