Soft Luxe Travels: Taal, Batangas - Souvenirs, Volcano Views, and a Zigzag Road Trip to Tagaytay

After we were informed that the food will arrive after 30 minutes, I asked mom if she wanted to go with me to Taal Tees next door and check out the souvenirs and merch.

I took a quick shot of Taal Basilica when I went out

The shirt that I liked only came in large

I wanted to buy those bayongs (woven straw bag), but I felt that they were overpriced. The smallest was about $3.15

This one costs $78.66

It was still early when we finished eating. My sister didn't want to go back to the market anymore to check out the Filipiniana because she said that they were expensive. She decided to go to Tagaytay instead to buy some goodies.

Very reminiscent of Calle Crisologo but the buildings here are well-maintained

Minor Basilica and Parish of St. Martin of Tours

We also passed by Marcela Agoncillo's house, but I wasn't able to take a photo. We were supposed to go there, but my sister wanted to go to Tagaytay as soon as possible as we might get caught in the rain.

The Road to Tagaytay

I am a city girl through and through and I take photos of malls wherever I go. 😁

Just a little mental note to visit that place one day.

Lemery's welcome arc is better than Taal's!

Waze made us pass through different routes and before we knew it, Taal Volcano was right in front of us!

We stopped here, so Kuya and I can take photos

There were so many of these wild grasses that my sister absolutely abhors as they give her nasty allergies.

Waze took us to another dirt road. We were in the middle of nowhere!

How far from the city exactly?

This far!

This carabao was eating!

On our way back from Vigan, we saw this on the road. And now we get a carabao!

Look at that road and those trees! It looks like a scene from a fairy tale...or a portal to another world!

There were lots of coconut trees around

Another glimpse of Taal Volcano

Finally, we reached Laurel, Batangas. This town is named after the Laurel clan, of which Jose P. Laurel became the 3rd President of the Philippines. He is my grandfather's uncle. Here we'd call him great grandfather, but as I understand in the west, he'd be my great uncle. His son, Doy, became a Vice President.

The Long and Winding, Zigzaggy Road

After all that beauty from Taal Volcano and Taal Lake, came this very challenging route.

This mountain path had a lot of zigzags and sharp curves. We are so blessed to have a very skilled driver. I've never had more respect for Kuya Fil than on this road. It was about 25 minutes of this. It's worse than the Baguio zigzag road.

They put these up to prevent landslides, but they don't really do much. The ones in Baguio didn't stand a chance after the last typhoon and now (as I write this, the present typhoon Ragasa).

These are dangerous curves and this path is not lighted, so imagine passing by here at night!

Kuya Fil said that if you're not a seasoned driver, you'd get dizzy on this road. I really don't like Waze as it will suggest routes that don't have traffic, regardless of the driving conditions. I'd rather have traffic than this.

This was a ravine. It's scary to look down.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of dirt roads, wild foliage, and steep curves, we were back in the city and entered Tagaytay!

Stay tuned for my next post about what we did in Tagaytay!

Soul Notes: For Your Journal Tonight

Come sit with me for a while. I have my journal open, and tonight I’ve been thinking about something I suspect I do more often than I realize. I turn healing into another thing I need to accomplish. I want to know when I’ll be over something. When I’ll stop thinking about it. When something that hurt will finally stop hurting. When I’ll feel like myself again. And somewhere along the way, healing quietly becomes another deadline. Another invisible date on a calendar. Another thing I can somehow be late for. But maybe healing doesn’t work particularly well under project management. Maybe there are things I will understand quickly and things I’ll have to revisit again and again. Maybe I’ll feel completely fine one day and unexpectedly tender the next. That doesn’t mean I’ve gone backwards. It means I’m still moving through it. I remember one day, many years ago, when I had fibromyalgia. I lived in constant pain. I just couldn’t get a good day. And then one day, in the office...

Used to the Last Drop: The Ones I’d Already Told You About

There’s something particularly satisfying about finishing a product you’ve already written about. Not testing it. Not forming first impressions. Not wondering whether I’ll still like it three weeks from now. Finished. My Molang Honey sheet masks and this body scrub both made it all the way to the end. (Finally for the Molang sheet masks, right?) I’ve reviewed both before, so I won’t review them all over again here. But perhaps using something until there is nothing left to use is its own kind of review. Beauty products come through my bathroom rather frequently. Some are lovely for a week. Some get pushed to the back of a shelf. Some simply stop working for me. And then there are the ones that quietly disappear because I kept reaching for them. Maybe an empty container is the shortest review of all. I liked it enough to finish it. If you want to read my thought about these products, just type them on my search bar. —- With elegance and quiet fire, Lady E Founder, Glow by Lady E...

Part 1: I Finally Had Enough of My Dry Feet and Did Something About It

I have been annoyed with my feet for months. Not because there was anything particularly wrong with them. They were just dry . Really dry. And you know I have a problem with dryness (hello skin, lips). And somehow, despite noticing this constantly, I kept doing absolutely nothing about it. The moment that gets me every time is when I’m waiting for my son at piano class. I’ll sit down, cross my legs, look down at my slip-ons or sandals and there they are. My dry, flaky feet. Then I become painfully aware that there are other people sitting beside me who can probably see them too. 😂 Every time, I think, I really need to do something about this. And then piano class ends, life resumes, and apparently my feet are no longer part of my jurisdiction. Eventually, I had enough. I found this Mond’Sub Chamomile Foot Peeling Spray at KKV and decided that my poor neglected feet were finally getting some attention. The process wasn’t glamorous. There was peeling skin involved. There were bits...

Glow by Lady E

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