Garando's Kawawang Trip to Batangas City - part 2

read part one

Our drive to Batangas city was like a scene from one of my favorite cartoons. That scene where a little raincloud would persistently follow Wile E. Coyote, dropping rain and lightning wherever he went.

The weather was so wet & gloomy that the only stopovers we made were at restrooms, washrooms, and toilets. We even had to buy a Kit-Kat to cheer us up.

No matter, after about 3 hours and a few wrong turns we finally reached our objective.



Boy, was this NSO office tough to find! After all that searching apparently it was just right between the garbage dump and the two homeless dudes. Who would've thought of that? They should've just given me those landmarks instead of the postal address. It would've been easier to find...


After finishing our business with the NSO, Garandee and I hit the road again. It was getting late, but we were determined to experience an authentic Batangas Bulalo!


We checked out "Grace - Sister of Rose" Restaurant after seeing 3 vehicles parked outside. If these people were eating Bulalo and rice at 4:00PM, then it must be good!

There were about three big families in the restaurant feasting on a humongous bowl of Bulalo: Generous portions of vegetables and beef shanks boiled for hours in a delicious beef broth.

But when we got served, we ended up with this...


Bulalito (Bulalo Jr.)
Garandee and I just sat there, staring at it. Is this a joke or is it because there were only two of us, so we got a bowl half the size of the one the families had? It didn't even have any vegetables in it! I felt like reporting Grace to her sister Rose because I don't remember seeing a "Mini-Bulalo" on the menu. In fact, I don't even remember seeing a menu. I just told them I wanted Bulalo.

Out of sheer greed, I asked the waitress to be fair and serve us THE Bulalo. She took our bulalito away and came back with this...


Yeah! Now that's what I'm talking about! It was Bulalo with the works! We finally felt like we belonged. We felt accepted in the Bulalo eating society of Batangas City.


So how did it score? Well the broth was great, it tasted fresh. The meat was a little tough, I was hoping it would fall off the bone but I ended up struggling to slice the meat off with a tiny bread knife. Garandee on the other hand, was watching me mutilate that bone, realizing that she married a savage Neanderthal.

There was no way I could finish it... Garandee ate mostly vegetables like a good vegetarian. We just had the bone put in a doggie bag and brought it home.

Well that's it folks! That just about sums up our kawawang trip.

Total time on the road: 5.5 hours
Total time in Batangas City: 50 minutes


Garando mode:
My butt's still flat from all that driving...

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Garando's Kawawang Trip to Batangas City - part 1

read part two

Darn it.

She was already preparing breakfast when I woke up!

Sigh... I couldn't help it, the weather yesterday was horrible. The morning was cold and dark, and it wouldn't stop raining. I didn't even feel like getting up...

But I had to.

I also had to endure Garandee giving me THAT look and THAT sly grin while I was finishing up my extra large tortang toron. After breakfast, I hurriedly printed out the directions, grabbed my roadtrip cd's, made sure I had the house keys, and headed out the door. Garandee followed clutching her cookbooks, our chips & drinks, and more cookbooks. Everything was set! ...until we got in the car.

Garando: "Are you ready Garandee??"

Garandee: "Chu! Shempre!"

Garando's Car: " ...click..."

Garando: " ?? "

Garando's Car: " ...click ....click"

Darn it!


My car's battery finally ran out of juice, we weren't going anywhere.

Now I'm not about to let a dead battery stop us from getting our marriage contract. I already posted about the trip on my blog! Good thing they actually deliver car batteries in Manila just like they do with Happy Meals.

So I dialled the delivery hotline, ordered for a car battery, had it upsized to a no-maintenance "Gold Type" battery. Lo and behold, the battery was at my doorstep in less than 30 minutes. The delivery man was even kind enough to install it for me because I was too busy holding up the umbrella for us.

Then we were off! For real!


dark & gloomy
It took us a bit over 3 hours to get to Batangas City. Ideally it should only take about 2 if I wasn't making stop overs in every gas stop on the highway to relieve my bladder. Again, I couldn't help it... The weather was cold.

to be continued...


Garando mode:
Gone for one day, and my office inbox stack up like crazy...
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Wake Up Early, Garando!

Garando: "Dee, we must leave very early tomorrow to avoid traffic. Hopefully we can make it to Batangas City before noon so we get another chance to eat some authentic bulalo!"

Garandee: "Hai! PLEASE wake up early OK? You have to be up by 7am or else!!"

Garando: "Eh?! YOU wake up early! The past week I always woke up earlier than you."

Garandee: "NYO. I wake up earlier, I just sleep again. I win."

Garando: "really..."

Just getting a copy of our marriage contract requires a long road trip. I guess this is what we get for deciding to have an out-of-town wedding.


On the bright side, it will be another tiny-adventure for Do & Dee.

I better make sure to charge our camera overnight, hopefully I'll have something outrageous to post when we get back. If not, well... I'll post about a toilet.


Garando mode:
I'll sleep extra early tonight. Let's see who wakes up first! Ha! Read More......

The Farm: Health & Spa Resort in San Benito, Batangas

Garandee always bugged me about this spa resort called "The Farm". She probably heard a lot of good things about it from blogs and friends, but it took a lot of persuasion (and sometimes blackmail) to get me to agree to accompany her on this one.

After my buddies told me that their spa package is inclusive of enemas, that unconventional way of quenching my thirst from the back-end is already a hard sell! I'd rather watch "Tyra" for one straight week than have my behind plugged with a hose. I even had nightmares that my ear drums popped and water came bursting out like a busted fire hydrant.

But Garandee got me to agree eventually. Apparently there was a package fit for me, I just pay for the room, all services are charged on a "per use" basis. Sounds good. She won't allow me to bring my PURE FOODS corned beef though, so I guess I'll have to deal with two days of vegan.







The ambiance was enough to detoxify me, so no need for the enemas really.




If that's not enough, the vegan food was out of this world because it didn't taste... vegan. Prepared by their in-house German chef, the quality and taste was top-notch.


The poor thing hid behind a rock after it noticed me staring at it funny. After two days of vegan diet, she sure looked tasty...


Garandee and I loved taking photos of this peacock that was set free to roam around the spa bullying the ducks. I'm particularly proud of this shot: based from the broken feathers looks like it was roughed up pretty bad. I guess enemas aren't exclusive for humans after all.


Garando mode:
super tired...

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Tadaima! (We're home!)

We're back! I'm still pooped because I probably drove a total of 4 hours each going and back... But I'm really excited to share some of the highlights of Garando & Garandee's trip!


#1 Cows
There were a lot of cows. Garandee has always been fascinated with the animal (maybe because she likes milk so much), so she really had a blast taking photos of the resting cows as they munched on melamine-free grass. It was almost like we were in New Delhi again.



#2 Buko tart
One of my favorite pasalubongs! Tried the "Rowena's" brand for the first time, it's pretty good! But I heard there's one brand that's really known for making the best buko tarts. Wish I knew what that brand was... maybe you do?



#3 Blooming Flowers
We watched flowers bloom! Garandee would take photos of buds around 6am, then come back after a couple of hours to watch in awe as they bloomed into flowers!



#4 Rocky
OMG.... saw this ad during a quick stopover in Sucat. So if ever you're feeling lonely and happened to be in town, Rocky seems to be available! With that look, I bet gender won't be an issue. Do leave us a comment so we'll know if his "massage" was up to your expectations.


Garando mode:
So exhausted...
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Let's Go Garando!

5:15 am

Garando: "zzzzz...."

Garandee: "wake up, Garando...."

Garando: "5 more minutes pleazzz....zzzz..."

5:30 am

Garandee: "Garando, wake up already...."

Garando: "wake me up again when you're done changing....zzzzz"

5:50 am

Garandee: "GARANDO! GISING IKAW!!!! (wake up already!)"

Garando: "HAI!! I'm up, I'm up! see? heading to the bathroom now..."


It's 6:00 am and all is ready....

Garandee: "do you have our sandwiches?"

Garando: "HAI!"

Garandee: "do you have our drinks?"

Garando: "HAI! water, tea, and more tea!"

Garandee: "do you have my..."

Garando: "Yes, yes, i have all your cookbooks."

Garandee: "OK!! LET's GO BEBE!"

Garando: "...AGH!!!! Don't lock the door yet!"

Garandee: "?"

Garando: "I don't have our house keys..."

Garandee: "ai naku..."



Garando & Garandee: We're going somewhere for a couple of days... We'll see you when we get back!



Garandee mode:
Let's GO Garando!! Chop chop!!

Garando mode:
Why do we have to leave so early....



*photos courtesy of Garandee.

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