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Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Laguna Road Trip

A new team lead has been hired as part of our team, and to break the barriers between the old (i.e. SP hehehe) and the new, the team decided to have a road trip! No one  from the team experienced road tripping before so we decided to visit a place near manila, Laguna! 
Definitely we’ll not get lost there,  it would just take you 2 hours or less to reach Manila.
When we speak of Laguna, Mt. Makiling comes to our mind as well Jose Rizal’s house from Calamba and Pagsanjan falls – these are their famous landmarks. Unbelievably, we didn’t visit any of these.  Laguna has a lot to offer has a lot to offer, they have more than that.

I volunteered to prepare the itinerary for our travel, ehem,  as if I am well-travelled so I just pretended to be. I am just being proactive for the long waited promotion. Hihihi. So there. So to get our itinerary off the ground, I used this simple yet very helpful map to trail our destination. Among the town shown in the map, we only drop off to 4 towns, Calauan Pila Kalayaan > Paete.
* I created a separate post on each pitstop. Click the link to view that page


Cheers!


Jack



1st Stop: Macalauan Farm - Calauan

The town is famous for the killing of 2 UPLB students by former mayor of Calauan - Mayor Sanchez, hihihi. (Am I promoting laguna or what?). Among the 4 places we visited, this is where I enjoyed most. Why? Just because my long time dream of milking cow happened here. Yehey! I was able to milk a cow, but this is not just an ordinary cow it’s new zealand cow, two spotted cow – black & white – like what you see on Birch Tree.

Here I am, internalizing the milking session hihihi. Unfortunately, I haven’t got good captures of me milking the cow.


Also take notice of cows above, their eyes are swelling. It’s because a sucking machine – I don’t know how they call that – performs the suction of the cows milk. Its hurting them terribly. According to our guide, a single cow can fill in two containers of milk. The container’s size was like I think 5 gallons of water, I am not sure. But I think it’s the same size of the largest container of purified water we place in water dispenser. Yes they have plenty of milk, imagine if they don’t have those sucking machine, it would take them hours to totally fill in the container.


How pitty the cows are being abused, look at these!!!  How crowded they are in that cage they can’t even move a finger. Animal cruelty!. No I was just kidding hihihi! They are prisoned this way on purpose so that they won’t escape when they go wild over those sucking machine that’s hurting them. Poor thing. So don’t waste a drop of milk. Now I really do believe that those powdered milk are fomulated:
Milk = Tons of tears + Swollen eyes 
 You are not just after the spotted cow in this farm, the views  are great too.


They feed the cow “kapok”, a dried coconut with molasses in it. This what makes the milk taste milky-coconutty! I don’t know the word to best describe it but it’s the bestest fresh milk I’ve tasted so far!


3 cows


Another 3 cows, 1 hiding.


This is the old maiden all forlorn … That milked the cow with the crumpled horn…
That tossed the dog … That worried the cat … That killed the rat … That ate the malt … That lay in the house the jack built!

Group of cows are called herd like these. Its not courting season yet if I am not mistaken.


A baby cow! Only one week old, but already big as a full-grown dog.


They’re not related. FYI
At the end of the farm is a landscaped garden.


They have this mini "kubo" there, but weren’t able to stay to that kubo because Señora – the owner, is around. I am serious about the Señora thing. The "haciendero" and "haciendera" were actually called Señor and Señora there. I thought the connotation were only used in telenovela to imply social order. Since the cat is not away, we ended up strewing blanket anywhere and have a picnic. We spotted the best spot, under a tree and beside this striking man-made falls.



Lovely isn’t it. A striking view deserves a striking shot. So then an unplanned photoshoot was conducted.


The "Sumusunod sa galaw" pose.


LBM?


The "Dyesebel" pose
Ok we’re done with Calauan. After your trip, you can buy sample of their product the prices are below it's worth while buying, you can’t find it in any supermarkets around (as far as i know).
1 Liter Milk – Php 80.00
Packed ready to drink millk – Php 20.00
Yogurt – Php 30.00
White cheese (kesong puti) – Php 120.00
I highly recommend you to buy the yogurt and milk, delicious. The kesong puti is one of the best kesong puti I also tasted by far. Its not salty at all unlike the others. Our tour guide suggested to make cheese sticks with it  and I tried it it was good. The cheese was like mozarella, it melts and sticks on your teeth like bubble gum. Don’t forget to bring coolers, you will need it so your milk will not spoil and reach manila still fresh. They will provide you the ice don’t worry.


Cheers!


Jack



2nd Stop: The Old Houses of Pila - Pila


Pila was recognized as National Historic Landmark by the National Historic Institute. Pila is actually a small town composed of old spanish houses. If you plan to take photoshoot, bring barong and barot saya with you, capture in sepia tone and then there walah! you have now time travelled. Picture that you are Sisa looking for Basilio and Crispin hihihi.

Most of the restored houses are situtated around the town’s municipal hall. It is what you called “Ayuntamiento” in the spanish colonization era, where residents surrounding the ayuntamiento are those of “Maharlika” or high classes. I was born one. Ehem. That’s the municipal hall above.

Fire trees are all over the square. It makes a good photo background.


Do remember that the secret for a stunning shot, is a good background take that in mind. Hihihi. Peace Michi you're gorgeous in this photo (imagine how I am crossing my fingers at my back while typing this). And so this photo of teacher Joel its so F4.


Photoshop really did a great job! Hehehe. No this is not photoshopped. This was shot by world renowned  photographer Mauro Zamora with his high-tech Canon camera with built-in photoshop. Hihihi.









I am a fan of old architectures. If ever I’ll be building my dream house it would certainly be inspired by old houses like these. If only most of houses in metro manila were like these, if we just adapt the old designs for new houses being built, then our culture will be enriched and not doubtful. We should proliferate Filipino identity, at least in houses designs. Filipino touch in house design and interiors are deteriorating, we are getting more modern, and I am afraid the next generation will missed this.




Cheers!


Jack



3rd Stop: Exotik Restaurant - Kalayaan

If you find that I mispelled Exotik, your wrong. It is spelled that way.  


It would take you 20-30 minutes to reach Exotik restau from Pila. The restau was built beside a hill. You would need to climb several steps to reach the top.


Climbing up is tiring but look at the bright side. It is a good exercise for the oldies. Hihihihi.


It takes extra sweat to reach the top. But just don’t mind it, the view will blew you away. Its overlooking Laguna de Bay.
As the name implies, Exotilk restau offers exotic cuisine. If you want a challenging meal, go order pating, snake, rabbit, pagong, sawa.

Our reaction upon seeing the menu.


I don’t get it why you have to make eating hard for you. Good thing we arrived on a perfect timing, exotic food are not serve during lunch so we order ginataang alimasag, bulalo, sweet & sour etc. etc. The viand cost around 150 to 300 per serving.




Cheers!

Jack