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Last Saturday was my friend Ktin’s bday celebration (today is her birthday, Happy Birthday, Ktin!) in her house in Cavite. We drove for about two hours to get to Dasmariñas. After the party, we visited Souk Kafe in Robinson’s Dasmariñas and met with the very bubbly owner of the restaurant. We were there until 12 midnight.

We already had a plan to go to Tagaytay after the meeting. I searched for lodgings that are economical since we’re only going to sleep the night away until we go sight seeing in the morning. Too bad it was hard to find these places in the internet. Only the more famous, and of course more expensive accommodations were at the first few pages in the searches. I even searched for resorts, so just to be prepared, I brought a set of swimwear.

Since we finished late, we still tried to call up Microtel, which was said to be 10 minutes away from Souk Kafe, but it was fully booked, and so was Days Hotel. I was ready for an adventure, anyway, so me and my travel buddy decided to go up to Tagaytay and canvass for accommodations when we get there.

It was a really dark drive from Dasmariñas to Tagaytay, and there were a few forking roads, but stay on the right side until your gut feel says you’re almost there! Well, our gut feel would know because our way started to get foggy with a really fine drizzle. We rolled down the windows a bit and… brrr! The second sign of getting near the Tagaytay Junction is the “hotels / room for rent” signage in every couple of meters. Then the famous rotonda (junction) with 7-11 on the right.

From the rotonda, to the right (side of 7-11) is the way to Nasugbu, Batangas and to the left is to Sta. Rosa, Laguna. And somewhere there is the famous Taal Lake that we were not able to see because of the darkness.

I dropped by at 7-11 to pick up some snacks (that amounted to Php 485) and from there, I could see Overlook Inn so we checked it out. They have a room for two at Php 1350 with a small bed and Php 1670 with a bigger bed. Both have a T&B, TV and free breakfast (hotdog, egg, rice). Since the rooms were a bit small, we tried to look for other places further down the street to Nasugbu. We found Tirona and Eufel. We did not ask for the rates of Eufel because we did not quite like the look from the outside (like a real house, so there’s probably some common areas with the other guests) and Tirona seemed fully booked with all the cars parked around it. Then a man, from nowhere, came y my window holding what seemed to be two coupons. I opened my window and in his hands he held two business cards for Jessar Inn and REHM Rooms for Rent, their rates and amenities. He talked to us saying that Jessar is his Aunt’s place and he’s on his way home and he could guide us there with his tricycle, which was four minutes away, en route to Sta. Rosa, the opposite side of where we’re at. He even wanted to show us his ID. He does not look shabby so I said there’s no need for identification. What got us interested was that there’s free wi-fi connection on both places. And so we followed him. It was around 10 minutes away at 40 KPH.

There’s a hundred peso difference between the rates of the two Inns, the cheaper one, REHM, has two available rooms while Jessar was fully booked.

We checked out the next day at around 2PM, went to Ming’s Garden and Sonya’s Secret Garden. Had super-late-lunch/early-dinner at Taj of Tagaytay and passed by Olivarez Complex (where there’s Mercury Drug and Mc Donalds) and left at exactly 9:20 PM. We were in Kamuning at 11 PM with no stop-overs but with a bit of wrong turns and getting lost, when already in Manila! All in all, it was a fun time though I was not able to use my swimwear.

I’ll be posting separate articles about the places I’ve mentioned, but for now, I shall hit the sack.

Related Posts:

Souk Kafe
REHM Apartelle, Tagaytay City
Ming’s Garden
Sonya’s Secret Garden
Taj of Tagaytay