road trip 20070611

i've never given the practice much thought, but just the same, i was expecting something of the kind to happen; and it did: the holiday aspect of independence day was moved to the 11th (a monday), from the 12th (a tuesday, the actual commemoration of the event). so that made a three-day weekend (well, for the rest of the working populace that don't have a half-day saturday at work).

given the prevailing heat in the metro - notwithstanding the official start of the rainy season had been announced a couple of weeks past - i'd felt that it'd be nice to have lunch in tagaytay on sunday and thereafter while away the afternoon taking pictures at various photo-ops. however, something about a late saturday night leading into a late sunday wake-up put paid to that.

instead glenn (makati housemate) and i decided that a look-see of the new ayala mall right next to sm city (north edsa?) was achievable. in the spirit of killing two birds with one stone, we decided to go to sm city first, park there, pay a bill or two, and then walk over to the "trinoma."

suffice to say, it's kinda bewildering (but then again, any new place would be); kinda large, kinda curvy within. right now, my impressions of the place can still be mutable. let's see what the next visit or two will bring...

monday dawns, bright and early. i'd intended to leave at 9, but glenn has some work-related emails to churn out; so i do some pre-flight checks on the car: tire pressures, windshield fluid reservoir, radiator and catchment bottle (?); attempted another unblocking of the left-hand side windshield washer nozzle...

10am, and we are off. ...to the local caltex station. add about 700 pesos worth of gas (takes the gauge about a needle-width above halfway). should be good enough. so, a few turns later, are on the cloverleaf and heading south on the slex. the car is fairly quiet at speed (average 80kph, or about 2500rpm in 5th). there is little by way of traffic, the only slowdowns are where the lanes divert to one side or the other around areas where the slex is being resurfaced. in fact, i took one such diversion and managed to miss the shell megaplexreststop thing on the right. but no matter, we were making good time. the only bit of uneasiness was with the exit. i've never driven enough to tagaytay to constantly remember which exit to take (santa rosa, as it turns out), or even how many exits past alabang it is (didn't manage to count this time, either), or what the exit immediately before is (just to get ready to make the lane change).

santa rosa exit, past two stoplights, and the two-lane road to tagaytay beckons. with some mobile chicanes (trucks, tricycles). nevertheless, an hour and ten minutes from setting out, we were at the bag of beans. made good time, indeed. the expected congestion was nowhere to be seen - which is good: i haven't quite gotten the hang of clutchwork in heavy traffic.

bag of beans is an interesting place; how best to describe it? hmm. i really ought to make notes and take more pictures with the borrowed-cam(tm).

to find the place, coming from the santa rosa road, you can find the place past the main rotonda and then a main junction and then a "reverse fork" in that two roads merge into one. past that fork (and keep the fork in mind when going the other way), on the right, there'll be a stretch of gravel between the road and a highway fence (metal rail on concrete posts, to keep cars from falling down the slope). that stretch of gravel affords the parking for bag of beans. typically, you'll see the cars parked before you see the sign itself. the sign itself is beside the shop that is practically the place's only presence on the road. flanking the shop, though, are two gates by which you descend into the establishment proper.

one could call it a restaurant in a garden. there are two main dining areas that are enclosed by screens, and a couple of other roofed though open air "huts." first thing you see coming down the left-hand stair is a large bird cage... ...and my memory fails me for the other details. i will endeavor to provide a more detailed account next time i happen to swing by there.

on to the food. the sign says "bag of beans" and "english pies and bread." that would be their specialties, then. i'd tried their apple pie before, quite nice. this time, though, being very hungry - skipped breakfast - i ordered the first thing on the menu that caught my eye. grilled salmon. glenn had porkchops and something called "mushroom clear soup."

being ravenous, once the food arrived, i dug in immediately (although i did have time to fiddle with the camera's macro mode while waiting, subject being a lone flower in a bud vase on the table). no pictures of the food, though. food was good.

off on a tangent: as a result of the tune up and oil change episode, the car was running quite well. wikipedia has it that the car's engine has 97bhp. now, i have no idea how that compares to other cars in terms of response, but once or twice when called for on the way up, the car did appreciably move with alacrity when i got on the gas pedal more than usual. (i rarely venture past 2000-2500rpm on the tachometer - this time, overtaking, i managed 3000-4000rpm, and it didn't take a long time for the needle to get there.)

anyway, lunch done, and we got back in the car. pulling out of the parking, i wondered aloud what was there on the right. see, last time we went to tagaytay, there was the mother of all traffic jams i've ever remembered on the ridge. i did recall that there was an unbroken line of cars heading to and away from the road to the right.

interesting prospect. so, instead of heading back to the junction and rotonda, i decided to follow the road wherever it led...

...more next time.