Adventures of the Traveling Georgina: Talisay, Batangas

Like Mommy and Daddy, our little Queen B loves traveling!

The first Monday of September is a holiday in the United States. It is their Labor Day. Since J works as a CISCO engineer for a BPO (business process outsourcing) company that service the United States he was required to take a vacation leave. With nothing to do at home, J and I gladly accepted my sister’s friend’s invitation to visit Talisay Batangas, her family’s hometown.

The town of Talisay is a third class municipality in the province of Batangas. It is less than an hour drive from our home in Santa Rosa, Laguna. We entered South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) via its southbound entry in Santa Rosa. We went straight until we reached the end of SLEX and entered the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (also known as the STAR Tollway). We went up the ramp at the Tanauan City exit and turned right. In the National highway, we followed the road until we reached the town of Talisay.

Upon our arrival, my sister’s friend immediately conducts her business at the municipal hall while we did some picture taking.

Georgina, those are Grandma and Tita Joan. They are just wearing shades. 

Hey baby, look at the camera. 

Love this picture. Captured by J. 

After her business at the municipal hall, my sister's friend toured us around Club Balai Isabel, a popular resort in Talisay, Batangas. Actors Kristine Hermosa and Oyo Sotto have their wedding ceremony and reception here years ago. Of course, we took this chance for more photo opportunity.

Great spot to view Taal Lake. 

No suitors until you're 18, well, for Mommy. Daddy's opinion is entirely different from mine. 

Daddy J with our little Queen B who refuses to cooperate with our pictorial efforts. 

After our short tour at Club Balai Isabel, we went to their ancestral house and had our lunch bought from the nearby cafeteria. We were supposed to buy Gotong Batangas for lunch but it was already sold out. Instead, we have various types of silog (Silog means rice and egg. It is usually paired with meat. If it’s Beef Tapa then it’s called Tapsilog or Longsilog if it’s paired with longganisa or pork sausage.)

We wanted a closer look of Taal Vocano and Lake so we went to Talisay’s wet market after our filling lunch and short rest. In front of the wet market is the town’s boulevard where you can view the second most active volcano in the Philippines. It is also considered as the smallest active volcano in the world. The smallest volcano in the world is Cuexcomate in Mexico but it is classified as an inactive volcano.

Mama having her touristy photo with Taal Volcano. 

Talisay's boulevard with lots of benches to relax and see the majestic view of Taal Volcano. Like that they were able to maintain its cleanliness. Good job people of Talisay! 

Talisay is the starting point of trips to the Taal Volcano crater. Boats going to the Volcano Island are lined up at the shore near the boulevard. Hopefully, someday we’ll be able to make that trip. We decided not to do it that day as we don’t want to risk the safety of our little Queen B.

Mama posing with Talisay's rescue boat and boats you can hire to go to Volcano Island. 

Someday, we'll go see Taal's crater my baby. 

We bought a kilo of Tawilis, a freshwater sardine, at the market. Tawilis (Sardinella tawilis) is an endemic fish species in Taal Lake along with Gnatholepis volcanus and Rhinogobius flavoventris. This became our lunch the next day along with Pork Sinigang, an all-time favorite dish in our household. 

Crispy Tawilis perfectly deep fried by J and Pork Sinigang. Our Yummy lunch a day after our trip to Talisay, Batangas.

J and I love to travel. In our almost 7 years of being a couple, we had been to various places in the country and dream to visit more. Hopefully, we’ll also be able to have an international travel soon. Since we are now a family of three our little Queen B will surely be part of our future journeys.

Our trip did not end here. Since none of us want to go home yet, we decided to stop by Nuvali and later on at Paseo de Sta.Rosa for snacks and dinner which will be the topic of my next post.

How about you? When is the last time you had a spontaneous trip? Share it at the comments section.

#xoxo