Batangas: Walking tour around old Taal

After our visit to Taal Volcano, we drove all the way to the heritage town of Taal, Batangas via STAR Expressway to visit the grand old houses and other heritage structures there. I've been to Taal many times before. But the town never fails to fascinate me. In fact, we're in the process of stakeholder consultations to determine if the town wants to push for inscription in the UNESCO World Heritage List.


Unfortunately, it is not yet in the tentative list. But the Taal Volcano Protected Landscape is. To make a stronger case for UNESCO inscription, countries usually cluster sites and structures into a single inscription that together, tell a compelling story with universal value to humanity.

One idea would be to expand the Taal Volcano listing from a natural site into a cultural landscape, to include the underwater ruins in Taal Lake and the town of Taal. Together, these sites tell a story of resilience amidst volcanic eruptions and how communities rise after every eruption of the volcano.


For this trip, we got to visit to visit the Taal Basilica National Landmark and Agoncillo House, as well as the Villavicencio Houses. As always, I stopped by the Taal Market to buy piña cloth for my barongs.


It's a good thing new restaurants have opened offering several local dishes of Taal. We had Taal Longganisa and Taal Tapa among many others at Don Juan BBQ which is right beside the Taal Market.


There are several tour options in Taal. you can contact Heritage Tours and Travel through Bennet (0918) 3155634 for a guided tour of the heritage town. There are half and whole day packages with meals (see their site at heritours.multiply.com).

You can also visit Villa Tortuga for a different kind of tour experience. It includes lunch at the old house complete with colonial-period costumes for you to wear while dining. Contact Lito Perez of Camp Suki at (02) 7250819 or (0917) 8246900 for reservations.

Where to stay in Taal
Baby Joven-Quiblat and Benny Quiblat have rooms available for visitors. You can reach Baby at (0917) 8970363 for rates and avalability.

Robert Arambulo, a balikbayan architect from Sta. Rosa, Laguna, also has rooms available in his restored Taal house called Casa Severina. Contact him at (0917) 5018060.

Casa Cecilia has eight bedrooms and a restaurant that serves great tasting Taal cuisine. Specialties are bulalo (with a twist) and their maliputo. Contact numbers are (043) 4080048 or (0906) 2225339.

Batangas: Taal Volcano trek

While most only get to see Taal Volcano from the Tagaytay Ridge, a few adventurous souls venture down to Talisay, Batangas to set foot on Volcano Island and trek to the crater lake. A good number ride a horse going up to the view point, while others trek up. Even more challenging is the trail that leads all the way down to the banks of the crater lake.


Boats to Volcano Island are readily available. In fact, you'll see touts with small signs trying to get you to ride their boats around Tagaytay. But the problem with this is having to haggle with them. So I decided to take a boat from the Taal Lake Yacht Club where fees are fixed and parking is free. The boat and guide to Taal Volcano costs Php1,800 there (maximum of five passengers).


This time, I chose to trek up to the crater lake viewpoint. The trail is 1.7 kilometers and you can finish it in about an hour. It was quite funny that the horses and their caretakers followed us up, hoping that we'd get tired and decide to ride a horse the rest of the way. The horse ride should cost Php500 for the trip up and back. You can arrange this at the resort to avoid haggling when you get to the island.



Note that there is also a Php20 landing fee when you reach the island. Along the way, you get to see vents spewing out sulfuric gases. The view from the top is really stunning as you get to see the entire lake as well as the coast of Batangas.

As I mentioned, you can opt to go down the crater lake. But this would cost a bit more. I've never been down there. And too bad we didn't have time to do it since we planned to visit Taal Town after lunch.

Taal Lake Yacht Club
Talisay, Batangas, Philippines
(043) 7730192

Dinagat Islands: Tagbirayan Beach in Cagdianao, Surigao del Norte

Dinagat Islands was a province of the Philippines until February 11, 2010. If it still was a province, I would have been celebrating my completion in December when I set foot on Dinagat Islands, my 80th province (81st if you count Shariff Kabunsuan, another defunct province).

But even if it's been ordered back to Surigao del Norte, I was quite surprised to discover that the Provincial Government of Dinagat Islands is still up and running. In fact, a few days before I arrived, the Bugkosan sa Isla or Dinagatan Festival 2010 had just ended.


To get to Dinagat Islands, you have to hop-on a ferry in Surigao City. As soon as I arrived in Surigao City from Cebu, I rushed straight to the ferry port. There are ferries to various towns in Dinagat Island such as Dinagat Municipality and the capital town San Jose. The one for San Jose leaves at 12 noon. While the one for Dinagat Municipality leaves at 1 p.m. Make sure you mention the exact town because if you say Dinagat, they will point you to the ferry that goes to Dinagat Town.


Since I just stayed overnight, I got to visit only a few places. One of the beaches I saw in Dinagat was Tagbirayan Beach in Cagdianao. We were actually trying to look for a beach in Dinagat Municipality but couldn't seem to find one. So we crossed to Cadianao, the opposite side of the island which faces the Pacific Ocean. I noticed that the waves were stronger there. I later read that they have also have a surfing area in Cagdianao.

The gold sand is very soft and your feet will easily sink in. They have several resorts in Tagbirayan Beach. If only I had more time in Tagbirayan Beach, some of the nearby islands looked enticing. Tagbirayan is definitely a must-visit when you are in Dinagat Islands.

Update (03/29/11): The Supreme Court flip-flops again and reverses its earlier decision nullifying the creation of Dinagat Islands. Dinagat Islands becomes the 80th province of the Philippines.