Manila Chronicles: Driving to and From Tagaytay at Night

 

      Tagaytay is a city some 1 to 1 1/2 hours away from Manila.  It is on an elevation so it's cold in Tagaytay.  There are always mists and fogs,  and it's really beautiful as it overlooks the famous Taal Lake and Taal Volcano.  The volcano, an active one, as you may know, is reputedly the world's smallest volcano: a volcano on a lake within volcano with a lake.  Or, the Taal Lake as the largest lake within an island in a lake on an island.  Phew!  Did I get that right?

     Anyway, a week ago, my cousins with my nieces and nephews went for a drive going to Tagaytay.  We took my cousin's old Isuzu pick-up because my 7 yr old nephew wanted to ride at the back of the truck; he was accompanied by her mother and my other nephew while and I stayed inside the pick-up with my sister and nieces.

     Considering that my relatives just decided on a whim to go to Tagaytay, I rushed dressing up, and I used some of my autumn clothes I bought for travel to Beijing.  Well, it wasn't so cold, just in the 20s C, I suppose, but we were there at midnight. It was not chilly, though.

     So, what did we do there?  We just bought coffee from Starbucks and ate a local rice porridge.  That was all.  Of course, we saw no view.  It was so dark, although a saw pantomime in front of Starbucks in Tagaytay.  He was a hoot!

     After consuming our coffees in like, less ten minutes for a grande cup (it was cold outside and the hot coffee got cold way too fast), I climbed up at the back of the truck with everybody else, except for my cousin who was driving, and had a thrill riding in the city.  My cousin would make the pick-up swerve every now and then to scare my nephews and nieces, including his own kids. Well, the older ones in their 20s were freaking out.  They're such a wuss.  They were specially scared when we went up to the Palace in the Sky, apparently, the highest point in Tagaytay.  The fog was so damn thick in there; zero visibility.  But my cousin stopped the car roadside, on a place where there were no lamp posts, turned off the engines and cue in screams by my younger relatives.  Hahaha!  Anyway, the place was just so damn eerily beautiful; haunting but romantic at 2 in the morning.  You could only barely see the road because of the fog but the yellow cast from the lamp post was just so pretty.  Or, maybe because I left my eyeglasses at home and I could barely see (I can only see lights from cars and lamp posts far ahead, but they all look like christmas lanters/lights to me).

     We went back because of the thick fog; I think, we weren't able to reach the peak.  Going down, we drove by a row of flower shops along the road.  I bought a large sunflower, which wasn't cheap at Php 100.00 a piece.  My little nephew wanted a gerbera, so bought him an orange one.  Oh, yes, the flower stalls are open in the wee hours of the night.  We were there around 2:30 a.m.    

     Finally, we drove down back to Manila.  We remained at the back of the truck, with the little kids safety stowed inside, until we reached home.

      I learned one thing about myself while I was riding at the back.  When we got to the flower shop, my little niece told me that my skin looked so pretty; apparently, my face was so white.  Perhaps, due to the cold.  However, I was not even cold, only that cold air was blasting directly on my face (my cousin was driving really fast).  Whenever I'm outdoors, even if it's cloudy, but if it's humid, I'll definitely have rosy cheeks.  That is the reason why I barely use blush-ons.  So now, I know that whenever the cold air blasts, I'll have a paler and whiter skin.