Just when I thought that another of our Tagaytay trip would be spent in any of our comfort zones—Starbucks, Carlos Pizza, Yellow Cab or just feeling the chilly wind in People’s Park—I was so happy when another idea came into the picture. We thought why not bring our baby boy to Residence Inn for a change. It would be his first and ours have been several years already since the last time. Besides, being inside the mall on a Sunday is already starting to be a bore for all of us.
The plan turned out to be better than expected. Coming from La Salette after hearing mass, my wife remembered that foods are not allowed to be brought inside the place so we decided to have lunch before coming in. After discussing where we’ll have our noontime meal, we chose Bag of Beans. It was just I and wifey when we first dropped by late evening last year. This time we tried the rest of their menus.
After the hearty lunch of breakfast menus we headed straight to our main destination – Residence Inn’s zoo. Its parking seems to be a letdown because I can’t exactly remember if I parked our car several years ago inside (or near the inn’s entrance) or it’s been this way that parking for visitors is just along the road side left entrusted to the pasalubong vendors. Another surprising thing we soon discovered was that the entrance fee has already soared from just around Php 70 to Php 199. Ti abi. No fee for kids two years old and below.
The steep fee wasn’t that bad once we stepped inside. Seeing our little boy wide-eyed at the white lion just at the start of the trail cheered me up. And sooner as we went along the other cages in the zoo, my wife and I became like small kids as well.
We spent more than an hour roaming around the whole zoo. Our baby boy, although being carried all the time, has already fallen asleep right after the last stop at the aquariums. Little did we know that the best of this trip is yet to come. We would visiting the Paradizoo farm through the Inn’s coaster–all inclusive from the entrance fee we paid earlier. Not bad. If they would have made this clear in the first place, I would not have complained.
The ride from Rsidence Inn to Paradizoo took approximately 15 minutes where we were welcomed by a tour guide. I never thought that the farm visit would be organized as I was thinking that we would be dropped off and left on our own to discover what’s in it and just to be picked up after an hour. Gladly, another of my assumption and expectation that day came to be wrong once more.
I never knew that our Sunday would be like no other Sundays and that somewhere in Tagaytay are two better places than the pricey coffee shops or pizza parlors. Being closer to nature and seeing the animals at the zoo are more exciting and educational than being inside the air-conditioned and over-crowded noisy malls.
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Mood: 2/10 Honks!
Marcus Can Blog 